Backdated to 4/6/2015

Finn was released from the hospital on schedule - which was perfectly expected, as it was a very minor injury - and he cashed in on some of Anabel’s remaining sense of guilt to bum a ride home. Once there, he set the wolf pelt aside somewhere that it wouldn’t get dirty (it was a lovely gift, but he was at a loss for what to do with it) and sent Arkady out with a grocery list and his debit card. He expected her to come back with significantly more pop-tarts than he’d specified, but that didn’t seem like such a bad thing right at this moment. And as for him?

He was on the couch, curled up under an outer-space-print twin-sized comforter he salvaged from his childhood bedroom, flipping through his Netflix list and obsessively checking every communication device available to him. From the sounds of it, something big had happened while he was laid up under general anesthesia, but he was having trouble getting the whole story - knight rings did not, unfortunately, have answering machines, and his had been in a bag labeled patient’s possessions for the better part of the last two days.

What he mostly understood, and had covered on the car ride home, was that Aleksy needed to speak to him and needed to do so in a somewhat urgent matter. (“I’m on my way home now,” he instructed. “Meet me there in about half an hour.”)

So here he was, all bundled up, the front door of his apartment slightly ajar as he waited for Aleksy to arrive. The building was mostly empty these days, which was lonely - perhaps he’d find some more tenants soon - or see if Aleksy was ready to have some space that he didn’t share with Iouri.

Hearing a light knock on the door, he called, “Come in.” That, he supposed, was probably Aleksy.

Shibrogane
It was Aleksy, who toed the door closed behind him and settled down on the floor next to Finn's couch without so much as a by-your-leave or a greeting. He did give a cordial head-bob, like nodding to someone was a substitute for saying how are you doing, sorry to hear you got hospitalized. Maybe it was in Aleksy's head but that was an odd place since his return from Camlann and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. The Negaverse had done a lot of s**t but it hadn't branded him, or whatever that mark was.

"I heard the invalid broke your balls," he said. Maybe the nod was a better greeting. "Why is there a wolf pelt on the chair?" Both salient questions, he thought, but tangential. He had bigger concerns. "If I transform to show you something, will your friend who owns the building swoop down and light my hair on fire?"


“Um, yes, that happened,” said Finn awkwardly, watching Aleksy settle in. “I’ll explain the wolf pelt later. It was a gift from Arkady.” He wasn’t sure how people would take the whole we got space married and didn’t invite anyone deal, so he was just going to put it off for as long as he could and maybe avoid the conversation. Perhaps Aleksy would forget about it… which was unlikely, as the wolf was staring up at them from the chair and had not stopped.

It was a reasonable question that followed, although one that made Finn terribly suspicious. What on earth could Camlann possibly need to show him? Had he been promoted already? “Seeing as Kaatje is currently in Japan for the foreseeable future,” he reasoned, “I don’t think that’s likely.” It was a good rule to stick to, but if they could keep things under five minutes then they would probably be safe. It was the middle of the day - what were the chances of a powered Negaverser lurking nearby in broad daylight?

“Go ahead,” he said, sitting up a little straighter - his back was getting stiff from all this inactivity. “What’s going on?”

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He transformed without further bullshitting, proving himself to still be a squire. It was when he removed his left glove that the issue at hand (ha ha) became obvious. He displayed the black mark on the back of his hand, fingers balled in because--he hadn't expected to be marked by his Wonder. Aleksy wasn't sure how he felt about this.

The transformation released, he dropped his hands into his lap. "Arkady says that only happened to you after you stuck a second star seed in your chest," he said. "I do not seem to have any other symptoms, as you do. Only that glowing mark. Do you know what's happened to me?"


Finn grabbed Camlann’s hand and pulled it toward him, examining the mark. Close up, it was obvious that it was glowing, despite the dark color. Of course, then Aleksy dropped his glamour, leaving Finn holding his hand, and - awkward. “It’s called transcendence,” he said, releasing the other man’s fingers. “Mine happened after I did that, yeah, but it can happen for other reasons.”

“You must have done something that counted as being in service to your wonder,” he said, after giving it some consideration. He hadn’t exactly met very many people who’d been through it - at least in the present - but based on his own experience, he thought that seemed to be the key. His connection to Babylon had only increased afterwards, after all.

“It comes with benefits,” he said, adjusting his blanket. “You can’t be corrupted. You have more power. You can go to your wonder more often. So that’s a thing.”

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Aleksy scrunched up his nose, wiggling his fingers to force the tingle out of them. “So it just happens when you do what you’re supposed to do,” he said. He had the thought that Finn wouldn’t approve of his method of becoming transcended, so he didn’t elucidate. His decision to execute Megiddo had been personal, and it would stay that way. She’d survived--he was going to have to fix that sometime.

“Quartz will be upset,” said Aleksy, rolling his eyes. Corruption had never been a risk for him, though; he had plans for the instance. They involved biting off his own tongue and bleeding to death, so, there was that. “Going to my Wonder will be a delight.”

He paused. “You are not the only person in the hospital. Megiddo is, as well.”


Finn narrowed his eyes at Aleksy, certain that he was having some kind of trouble discerning sarcasm. Would he enjoy visiting his Wonder more often? He’d never seemed particularly enthusiastic before, but perhaps some part of the experience struck a chord with him. “Yeah,” he said, “I guess you could say that. It happens when you do what you’re supposed to.”

As for Megiddo, well, he hadn’t heard anything of the sort but he wasn’t sure it surprised him. She’d been cruising for a bruising for a long time - he wondered who had finally given her what she had undoubtedly provoked. “I didn’t know that,” he said after a moment. “What happened to her?”

Camlann had had quarrels with Megiddo in the past, he knew - quarrels that she had started. He didn’t think he’d blame Camlann if he’d been the one to put Megiddo in the hospital, given what he’d seen of their interactions.

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“Someone cut her throat,” said Aleksy, which was not a lie, it was also just leaving stuff out in a big way. He was sure it would come out eventually, though. Leaning on the couch, an elbow propped up on the cushions, he shrugged. “Do you know what her name is? Her civilian name, is what I mean.”

He continued, “I am glad to go to my Wonder more often. It interests me. Seeing the sun from so far away, and so many moons, it makes me happy.”


Finn gave Aleksy a measured look. “Yes,” he said, “but it’s not my place to share it. I’d extend you the same privacy - I don’t distrust you, but it’s not my place to share another of our order’s identity like that.” Not when he wasn’t close with Megiddo. Not when he knew that Camlann would be perfectly justified in bringing harm to her.

Not when he suspected that Camlann had already brought her harm.

It wasn’t his place to make moral judgments. Not when he knew Megiddo as well as he did. So he turned his attention to the matter of Camlann’s wonder. “I’m glad you feel so connected to it,” he said. Some knights never found that connection, or they had to go through some kind of trauma first. “I’d like to go with you sometime, if you’d be open to that? And I’d like to invite you to Babylon in return.”

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Well, that attempt hadn’t gone well. He’d check in with a few other contacts. Like Mistral. Someone had to know and be willing to spill their guts. He shrugged. It’d been worth a try--now he knew where Babylon drew the line. That would be useful in the future, he supposed, if anyone took offense to what he was doing. At least he could stonewall them with Finn.

“I will consider it,” he said. “I can promise nothing more.” That likely seemed ungrateful, but he wasn’t sure. “I do not know the layout of all of it yet,” he admitted. “It would be unpleasant if some harm came to you there and Arkady caught wind of it.”


“You’re right,” sighed Finn at Aleksy’s warning. “That’s a good concern to have.” He’d already freaked Arkady out enough for the rest of the year, probably, and she’d taken it as the opportunity to get space married. The next major injury he had would probably be her excuse to start trying for a baby.

He blanched. That probably wasn’t too far off, anyway.

“Anyway,” said Finn. “Thank you for coming by. And. Uh. Congrats on the transcendence. It’s a big accomplishment. Really.”