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 Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 8:38 pm
The rest of the day had passed quickly, Jace and Irelia solemnly not talking about what had happened that morning. Irelia was really tired, and her finger hurt, and she had bandaged it up with a spectacularly bright bandaid. It made her feel better.
So when Bea had suggested they start a fire and roast marshmallows, Irelia agreed to it and yawned tiredly. It was weird to do something so family oriented after the horror of the morning, and Irelia twitched at every little noise, though she was fairly certain that Jonathon was trapped in the hospital.
Irelia chewed on a marshmallow thoughtfully. She wondered just what she had done back there, and what the consequences for doing such a thing would be.
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 9:00 pm
Around the other side of the campfire, Wisp was chatting to her mother about something long and involved, pulling pieces of molten marshmallow off her stick and burning her fingers no matter how carefully she tried to do it; next to Irelia, Jace was absently toying with her stick, staring deep into the fire. Every so often she would poke her toes into it, unharmed, but somehow satisfied by the action.
After a while, she murmured:
"You okay?"
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Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 10:44 pm
Irelia smiled weakly, and thrust her stick in to the flames, watching as the marshmallow melted off her stick. She wasn't very hungry, and really, marshmallows weren't exactly food.
The flames were dancing in the twilight, throwing everything in to an orange glow, which suited Jace all too readily.
Irelia shrugged.
"I dunno. That was really, really weird."
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 12:45 pm
"I wouldn't use the word 'weird'," Jace retorted. "I'd use the word 'messed up.'"
Even if that was two words.
They were quiet again, except for the crackle of the fire; Jace's marshmallow was turning black on the outside and she quickly removed it, blowing on it to cool it down. After a while, she said in the same hushed voice: "Have you ever done that before? I mean, like... accidentally. Whatever."
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 1:59 pm
Irelia eyed D.D. and Wisp, but they seemed to be locked in their own conversation. Irelia scooted closer to Jace, and started to whisper.
"I-- don't know. I think I must have, I was writing letters that I don't think I've ever seen before, but I knew their exact meetings. It was really scary. But now that I've done it..." Irelia trailed off, and hugged her knees to her chest. It really wasn't that fun acting like a grownup.
"I don't think I can't do it. Its a temptation, a secret about myself."
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:05 pm
"That's really really messed up," said Jace, after a moment's pause, mouth nearly in Irelia's ear so that her mother and Wisp didn't notice their low conversation. "That's freaky, Rel. That's -- that's really terrifying, you know? I mean, what if I hadn't been there, or what if it happened worse than before?"
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:38 pm
Irelia shook a little, still not over the horror of the day. It didn't help that she had been the main cause of that horror, and she was still beating herself up over it.
"I dunno, Jace," Irelia said weakly, "I didn't know that would happen. And it was so arbitrary that I don't think there will be a way to protect myself from it again, if it happens subconsciously. I'll just have to hang out with you more."
Irelia knit her fingers in to Jace's.
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 10:41 pm
Jace gave one of her lopsided half-grins, purely her, nearly self-deprecating -- squeezed Irelia's fingers briefly, gave her a nod of the head. "Yeah, whatever," she said, "I'll save your a** if you save mine. I mean, today -- that was you on the stairs, you got me out of it. And you stopped the ghost somehow. I don't know."
She brooded on that a bit. "What is that book, seriously?"
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 11:23 pm
Irelia shook her head slightly. "I just used the same words that I had written before. Thank god that I knew enough to stop him, if only for a bit."
Irelia sighed deeply. She was so worn out, but she was also brimming with emotion. She had so many questions she wanted to ask, but no one she could bring her questions to. She definitely wasn't going to tell Asher what had happened.
"The book? I don't know," Irelia was a know-it-all and HATED saying that she didn't know, "God, I don't even know who to ask about it. It wasn't natural, what I did. I made something... live from words written on a wall."
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Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 11:54 pm
"Yeah, that's kind of not chump change," said Jace, and she ate her volcanic marshmallow. Obviously she had an asbestos tongue. "I mean, it's like, what the hell? That is nuts. That's really really powerful, Rel. I mean, like -- "
She lowered her voice. "I'd say we go see my Uncle Jack about it, he's a pretty badass sorcerer, only he'd wax my a** for taking you into an abandoned loony bin. Anyway, I bet we can figure this out by ourselves."
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 12:04 am
"We don't have to TELL HIM we went in to a loony bin. We can say we were exploring in the woods or something. Unless he can tell when we are lying. Then we're screwed."
Irelia grabbed another marshmallow, and thrust it in to the fire, charring its miserable white flesh.
"I dunno about you Jace, but that scared the crap out of me. I'd rather it not happen again, even if it means your uncle is mad at us," Irelia blew the fire off her marshmallow and removed the shell, relishing the burnt flavour, "I'm pretty sure no library I've been in--"
Irelia stopped talking for a couple of mins, and just stared straight ahead. Her marshmallow charred and fell off of her stick, until finally, Irelia resumed her conversation.
"--has the kind of language that I was writing in the book. Weird symbols and such."
Irelia had no idea that she had just... stopped for a moment.
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 12:09 am
Jace, however, had noticed; had surrepticiously tried to wave her hand in front of Irelia's eyes, had hidden it from her mother and her sister by moving herself around and looking as though she and Irelia were engaged in a momentary staring competition, was looking at her best friend as though she was some kind of sparkly neon sign labelled WHAT THE HELL.
"Hold up, hold up," she demanded. "What was that, Rel? You completely ******** froze after you said 'no library', or whatever."
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 12:18 am
Irelia looked in to Jace's worried face, and bit her lip. She hadn't noticed that she had started to do that until a couple of days ago, when she realized she didn't know what happened between 2 and 3 in the afternoon. She was sitting in the same position as she had been at two, but her clock said a completely different time than she remembered. What was worse was that she couldn't remember what she had been thinking about right before that point in time.
All in all, really really freaky.
"I dunno why that happens," Irelia said, looking worried. Brightening slightly, Irelia ave Jace a fleeting smile, "At least whatever it means, we know that it has something to do with a library!"
This time, nothing seemed to happen. So it wasn't the word library that triggered it. Irelia was intrigued, and she had to admit, a little excited. She loved secrets, and she was turning in to a pretty big secret herself.
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 12:44 am
"Wow," said Jace, caught between jaded awe and amusement. "My best friend is like a... magical stoner secret keeper."
There were much worse friends to have than magical stoner secret keepers.
"Do you girls want more marshmallows?" said Beatrix, across from the fire. "I hate them, personally, eat the whole bag."
"Shashhh shum fuh muh," said Wisp, who had about nine marshmallows in her mouth. (This probably translated into 'save some for me'.)
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Posted: Mon May 26, 2008 1:04 am
Irelia stood up and grabbed the offered bag from Bea, happily munching away on the marshmallows. She didn't really like them either, but they were camping and marshmallows were a must. Sitting back down beside Jade, Irelia handed her a marshmallow.
"Stoner? I don't think I'm old enough to be in to drugs. Yet."
Poor Irelia. She didn't even need peer pressure to think about drugs. Probably not the best idea, especially with her book spazzing out on her, but she wouldn't try them. At least not yet.
"Do you have any hardcore powers Jace? Other than being able to smash in metal doors. Jesus christ that was amazing."
Irelia had started to pick up her swears from Jace. To Irelia, Jesus was a white man in a white robe with hippy hair that people sang songs of love about. And then blew people up for. Religion = confusing for Irelia.
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