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 Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 12:27 am
It had been a text that had made his phone buzz. From Thorne. About Algie. Jeremiah knew already, Chris had made sure of it, but he certainly could play otherwise. It would make things interesting. With so many things going right, it oddly grated him to see- He pulled in a breath, already outside of Coalsmoke and heading to the space he had been too not that long ago. They were so foolish, so oblvious in their affections for each other; just how deep they went. It was easy to read them, to see it in their faces, and it- Thorne had not gotten a text back from Jeremiah, no. The man was now at his door, knocking and his face unreadable.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 12:33 am
Thorne opened the door after two sharp raps, either because he'd been waiting on unfinished business or because he'd been pacing. It was unclear, his expression steel, unreadable, inhuman almost in its complexity and emptiness. Grief was a strange creature, scratching away at everything while the shell remained in tact.
He stared at Jeremiah for a long, long second. And then he swung the door wide and stepped back.
"In or out, it's your decision," he said.
He didn't know what was coming, but he was quickly learning it was easy to anticipate the worst.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 12:40 am
Jeremiah studies him for only a moment, blue-green eyes intent, before his decision was seemingly made and he steps inside. Everything is clear in Thorne's posture, that he does not know what is coming, but that's for the best. It makes it all that much sweeter. "What," the words come out in a calm voice, an even voice, and perhaps that was worse, "do you exactly mean when you say you took Alg?" An explanation is clearly expected. Spelled out clearly because he has his thoughts but he wants to hear the words from Thorne's throat.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 12:51 am
"Algernon Mercer," Thorne says, his voice succinct and empty, destructive in how calm it is, "is my tithe."
He doesn't say, I didn't take him. He agreed to this.
There were no words to defend himself with, even though his throat felt like it could be a weapon, if he filled the chamber with bullets. It was a sick feeling, an emptying one.
Anticipate the worst. Do not hope for the best.
This was his decision, and he would live with it. Chris was gone and Jeremiah was next. Alg would crawl his way out from the Court, because Thorne believed he could, and -
And then Thorne would let them be. Let them rest.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:12 am
"You owe me a bit more than just that, Alexander Thorne." Jeremiah closes the door since Thorne does not, his posture relaxed and his voice still even, still calm. It's only the noticeable chill around him that truly gives him away, that something has been unsettled, but it is ignored. "I would have your reasons." He takes a step, then is gone, and he is there- Right in front of Thorne. Cold fire flickers briefly and then disappears away. "He is my husband and you owe me this. I have shared a bed with a double, a thing that is not him." Still he is contained and there's no move other than Jeremiah. Wants. Answers.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:26 am
"We had a lengthy discussion about power," Thorne responds, "And what he intends to do, and what he can't as he is now. If you want to know, it was a mutual agreement."
He folds his arms behind his back and doesn't tremble, because he looks at Jeremiah's cold anger and sees someone else staring through it, and wonders if he can chase him away too. His mouth sets in a hard line. He feels the rot from the inside out.
"He wanted to help Noeh, he wanted to be more powerful, he wanted to do something and I gave him that chance." Thorne tilts his head forward, stares at Jeremiah. Saying I'm sorry would be a cheap and flimsy excuse. There's a hard flint in his eye that suggests it, that suggests he did not mean for this collateral damage even if he did mean to take Alg. Thorne says, "You can hate me. If you want. I made a choice, and so did he."
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:35 am
Jeremiah stares at him, eyes glowing for a moment without him even realizing it, even here in this place that was not full of magic. The chill is not from fury but from damage done and cannot be undone, it pervades now because Algie isn't- His shoulders sink and he turns away from Thorne, a hand smoothing across his face. For a moment, hidden under that hand is a wry smile but it's gone and replaced with defeat. "I doubt it was just for helping Noeh." The name feels strange on his tongue, especially with his knowledge of who she is. What she could be to him. "Alg-" he starts, then stops and breathes. "It's been eating at him but I haven't known what to do. Where my power grows, his does not and he wants to do more, to protect-" A hand flicks in the air, guilt pervades. "Some part of it is me." There was no doubt that Algie wanted to gain strength, to help Noeh, to help him ... He had been a fool.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:39 am
Thorne watches Jeremiah, too tired, too exhausted, to be truly moored to this moment in time. But his chest aches heavier at the sight, pulling him down and into his body, visceral and chiding. If he were a better man he would reach out and try to comfort him. If he were a better man, none of this would have ever happened.
"We all have someone we want to protect," Thorne says, quietly. "He told me to tell you everything. That you would take care of the rest."
Thorne blinks at Jeremiah. His voice is quiet.
"If you're going to blame someone, blame me."
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 1:54 am
"No," Jeremiah replies, his voice calm and even, regardless of everything else. "I won't." His shoulders straighten and he does as well. "It's not your guilt to bear or your blame. You are helping, Thorne, and I have-" A harsh breath escaped. Failed, he wants to say but the word is clearly stuck in his throat. "If anything, the only thing you are in trouble for is not telling me immediately as you told Alg you would." He turns to face him, wetness at the corners of his eyes but ignored like the chill. They would not fall because of it. "... but I think you've already paid a price for that, haven't you?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 11:05 am
Thorne stares at Jeremiah, every part of him scratched wrong by the words. It doesn't feel right, for someone this close to Alg to pardon him, and he narrows his eyes, mouth working, the pit in him hissing and crackling with unease.
"What are you talking about?" He asks, because he doesn't trust himself to touch any other part of Jeremiah's words, respond to them. He feels as though the world is inverted. At the wrong angle.
Everything in him is screaming that Jeremiah should not forgive so easily for the danger he's put on his husband. Everything feels wrong.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 3:41 pm
"Which? That I won't blame you? That I accept it in your stead? I should have done more to help Alg, should have helped him find his strength-" Jeremiah shakes his head, a hand raised as he rubs at his eyes. He looks like he is cracking between breaths. "Or that you have paid a price?" His eyes fall to the floor, as if he cannot bring himself to say it. It's clearly hard to get it out. "Chris came to me, Thorne, and told me what you did."
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 3:49 pm
Thorne stares at Jeremiah, his eyes unknowable, his entire stature icy and guarded. He regards Jeremiah with scrutiny, eyes night-dark, the restlessness in his veins aggravated by how wrong this all feels.
He could speak out, tell Jeremiah a number of things, but Thorne doesn't want this discussion with Jeremiah. Especially a Jeremiah he doesn't understand. It's too easy, this forgiveness. It's too gentle.
Chris is mentioned, and it's like fault line trembling, that unknowable darkness shattering for a brief second in time. It's a raw, halting look, like surprise and guilt and shame.
With fierce, unrelenting speed though, it is sucked away by the undertow.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Thorne breathed out, a slow, methodical rise and fall. "What else did he say?"
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:12 pm
"... because I wanted to hear your reasons first," he admits in a quiet voice. His eyes find focus on Thorne, looking him over. Jeremiah can see the cracks there in the young man, just like they are there in him. "I needed to know if-" Jeremiah sighs then, as if this hurts to say. "If Chris was right, that you're no better than Melany now. I couldn't believe it because you care about Alg, about myself- You wouldn't do something like this just to hurt us."
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:22 pm
Thorne physically moves back from Jeremiah at that, because it is like the first blow his father landed on him, quick and fleeting, a complete betrayal. The shattering of something worse.
You must not be afraid, Mare had told him, but he was, he was, he was.
"I'm," he chokes out, tries to find his composure, "That's not why I'm doing this."
It's too painful to touch Chris's name, like it might bleed him if he does. So he avoids it, carefully, like handling broken glass.
He steps back, and wills himself composure. He is sharply dressed, cruelly concealed, and the pain in his face wrenches the entire appearance apart. He turns away from Jeremiah.
"Is that what you believe too?" he asks, and looks back at the detective.
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 4:34 pm
There is satisfaction in finally breaking through the cracks and finding the soft underbelly. This part is played well and Jeremiah shakes his head, his oddly colored eyes of not quite blue, not quite green - his father's eyes - look at the young man with sympathy and concern.
Commiseration. That he is a broken thing in this as well, torn apart. "No, it's not. I understand that. You were-" A hand rakes through his hair. "Alg wanted it and you helped him-" A breath escapes. "Chris doesn't understand that but I do. You haven't changed, Thorne, not at all. You are not the monster Melany tried to create. You are stronger than that and Chris can't see it yet."
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