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 Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 1:46 pm
It was early in the morning, earlier than Jamie actually wanted to be out of bed. The impending full moon always did that to him, though, not because of the restlessness or the sleep problems, but because he found himself worrying about whether he'd make it through the veil in time. Getting to the Otherworld was always a chore when it was impossible to guarantee passage on his own. This time Shiloh had mentioned he had an idea and Jamie, desperate as ever, jumped on it. Bothering Shiloh for help felt less intrusive than most of his other options.
Except, well, bothering Shiloh this early felt like a legitimate issue, something he shouldn't do, but was in the middle of anyway. He stood outside his door for quite a while before finally working up the nerve to knock.
"Shiloh?" he called, voice and knock quiet in case he was still sleeping, "Are... are you up?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 2:14 pm
Shiloh Beaumont was, in fact, quite awake. Turns out sleep was an entirely different animal when you were enraptured with constant anxiety, but at least this time he had a purpose. Thumbing over his phone casually, he flipped through his apps. His lips pursed at the screen.
October 15th, full moon.
Jamie's knock was fully expected, with how obsessively Shiloh took to tracking the lunar cycles. He was trading one fixation for another really, and this was far better than fretting over Melany's impending doom. His eyes looked at the wooden door, but his response was delayed, his movements sluggish, his body tired.
"Yeah..." and it cracked with exhaustion, but he rose to the door anyway. Truth was, he had been fretting over this whole thing.
The door opened slowly. "You ready? It'll be pretty quick."
word count: 136
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 2:38 pm
They were both tired, there was no denying that. Unfortunately, Jamie noted each day Shiloh looked the least bit weary and this, needless to say, was not the first. Likewise it wouldn't be the last. It was something he'd come to terms with.
In the meantime, he focused on his own situation, on the need to make it to the other side and the knowledge of what would happen if he didn't. There was no real hurry to get there at this time of morning, no need to rush themselves as long as the plan was foolproof, but if Shiloh was willing to go now he wouldn't say no. It wasn't as if he'd never spent extended time in Other Ashdown. He could handle it.
"I... yeah, I'm ready." His smile was a touch wobbly. "Thanks for doing this..."
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 5:53 pm
"It's no problem." his smile was a tired one, a shy one, a hesitant one. He looked down and played with his hands nervously, looking over the jagged crooked nails there. Would Jamie be mad at him? Probably, to an extent, but that was fine. He could take it. Jamie would probably understand actually; it wasn't like Shiloh wanted a fetch, let alone Beel.
He looked at the window and the rain splashing against it, quietly noting how much this world felt like Other Ashdown in the throes of the storm.
"I just..." he took a deep breath, "When our ride gets here, promise you'll let me explain things first, alright?"
word count: 247
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:05 pm
What a curious way to put things. Shiloh hadn't explained how they'd make it, only that they would. First impressions left Jamie believing Shiloh could make portals himself, that perhaps it was a power that came with his nobility, one he'd recently learned to manage. Our ride had him thinking differently now. Who then was coming to get them?
"Of course," he responded, because Jamie was hardly the type to deny anyone a chance to explain themselves, let alone his best friend. Still, it worried him that Shiloh felt like he'd need to. Was it really that bad?
Curiously he began to ask, "But... who-" and then he paused, wondering if it was a question he should ask. Maybe it would be better to save the difficulties for when they were already safely on the other side. "Um, when do you think they'll be here?"
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 6:19 pm
"Um..." when would he be here? Shiloh scuffed the ground with his shoe. "Soon." was the only indication that he gave.
And soon definitely came before later. The thrum of rain on the window, the cool air of the room, the strange and vague emptiness of the house that came whenever Jamie's parents went away on trips... Shiloh could feel it. It felt like wrong, it made his hair stand on end, sent his arms filled with goosebumps. A split second sensation, but a reaction that bubbled all the same. It felt like jumping into ice water. Shiloh had to remind himself to breathe.
All it took was a single blink and they were there. The room shifted, the colors shifted, the walls shifted. Everything was cast in ivory marble, everything was bathed blue under the light of the rising full moon. It would be a familiar expanse to both of them.
"Do you always dress this way outside of court?" came a familiar grovel, but when Shiloh looked down he found himself bathed in ebony. There was no mask, only formal attire and vantablack ruffles.
Shiloh saw him first, for he was standing behind Jamie. Beel looked incredibly nervous in the audience of the two.
"I-I can go now right? Shiloh?" Beel asked, taking a step back, "I did what you asked..."
Shiloh waited for the fallout, eyes now gently shut.
word count: 479
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Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2016 7:54 pm
Soon would almost be too quick when Jamie realized who it was come to ferry them across the River Styx. The knowledge wouldn't come immediately, of course. What greeted him first was a flip of his stomach, a realization that when he opened his eyes again after this sole blink, he would no longer be in his house, no longer standing in Shiloh's doorway. Familiar, but still disorienting. It actually took Jamie a while to open his eyes.
It was the voice that woke him from that momentarily stasis, recognizable in the most unfortunate way. When Jamie's eyes finally fluttered back open he saw the ivory marble and he saw his own clothes, purer white than snow, bathing him in lace that waterfalled all the way to the gently pointed flats he wore. It was just like the first time and just like the first time, there was someone he didn't want to remember waiting for them.
Jamie turned with sharp purpose, silk and lace gliding around him like the moon circled the earth. It was just as he thought. It was Beel.
Without hesitation and without worry over sullying his clean, white shoes—they'd be gone once they left the court, after all—he swung a foot directly at the fetch's shin. There was sickness in his stomach as he did so, disgust at himself for a lack of control, but more distaste for Beel and everything he'd done. His dislike was heavy in his gut. Sorry, Shiloh, I broke my promise.
"What are you doing here?!" he shouted, voice cracking.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 9:39 am
It was alright. Shiloh hadn't expected Jamie to hold up to his end of the deal. Shiloh didn't expect that much out of anyone anymore really; and that was a bitter thought, but it was one that he had cross his mind all the same. Jamie was better than most of them by far, but... it was hard to rely on people. It was impossible. He wasn't sure he could ever find comfort in trust again. Jamie would be the closest.
He heard a dull sound. When he opened his eyes again, Beel was dropped to one knee, nursing his wounded shin. The fetch groveled from his throne on the ground, but no words could actually formulate in his throat. No, he could only manage vague articulations, small sounds of pain.
"You're being melodramatic." Shiloh murmured as he walked past Jamie, kneeling down to the fetch on the floor. "Stop that."
The fetch bore his teeth like an animal, gritted them with a deep, rumbling sound. "You'd say the same to me," Shiloh added as he stood back up, dignified and ethereal under the light of the moon. In court, he was a noble. In court, he was Lord Beaumont. His clothes absorbed the light around him in their darkness, but still he seemed to glow.
"I belong to him now," Beel hissed, his long gnarled fingers raking along the tender spot on his shin. "I mean you no harm. I can't."
At that, the fetch finally stood. Shiloh did not look at Jamie. He did not make eye contact. He was fixated on the gnarled body of the corpse in front of him.
"We each received our own fetches." Jamie knew this much, for Shiloh had told him so. "Those that killed their fetches received new ones," Thorne, Alois, Hux, Rabbit, "Which had been most of them, granted, but... Lady and I; we didn't. Ours lived. And so..."
His words trailed off. Beel standing here was answer enough.
"Us fetches can travel between the veil at will..." he went on to explain, "Shiloh told me to fetch you at the time of the full moon."
"And here we are..." Shiloh mused, looking towards the moon over head. "Though, I really could have done without coming back here." Beel only shrugged.
"Be more specific next time." he shot back, passive aggression dripping in his tone, though he didn't dare mock him any more than that. Jamie had already proven he wasn't averse to harming him, and after that run in with Shun...
"Duly noted." Shiloh's voice was heavy and dull.
word count: 909
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 10:11 am
The fire drained out of Jamie relatively quickly, leaving an intense chill in his chest that just didn't want to leave. Hearing Beel whimper and whine as if his world had been ended by one tiny teenager with one tiny kick did nothing to sway his feelings, but as he watched Shiloh kneel he knew he'd overreacted. He'd broken his promise and to anyone else that might've seemed small, but to Jamie it felt like a betrayal. This time, he was the one in the wrong.
His head ducked as he listened, but didn't look. There would be no apologies, but he wouldn't lash out again, not unless Beel gave him reason to.
"I... thought when you said you received a fetch, it was..." Well, Jamie thought of no one in particular, only that it was someone new, someone who hadn't yet earned his ire. "I didn't realize it was him." Because if it had been Beel, he fully expected that Shiloh would've told him. Yet, Jamie knew it was wrong to act as if he were owed all explanations.
"You and Lady, huh...?" Neither of them deserved to be stuck with the creatures who'd tried to ruin and claim their lives. He sighed. "I guess... at least he got us here. Thanks again... for that." The gratitude was all Shiloh's, that much was obvious as he turned away from Beel, content to pretend he didn't exist. "It's not quite moonrise... Sorry for, um, making you come so early."
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 3:53 pm
"It's alright." Shiloh's smile was a tired one, a discontent one. He didn't feel any pity for Beel, but the way that Jamie so blatantly spurned him... well, he had damn good reason. He had the most reason out of anyone in Ashdown. Shiloh could, of course, get philosophical were he the type, reasoning and musing about the morality of othercreatures. Did Beel really deserve to be spurned? Surely he knew the different between 'right and wrong', but were things so black and white to a fetch? They lived completely devoted to their noble. They did whatever it was their noble asked; so did their morality therein lie with those that they served? Then again, Beel was obviously cognizant on his own; he didn't agree with Shiloh, not at all, but he would also never say 'no' either.
Shiloh pursed his lips. This was a creature that ruined his life, but could he hate him? He hated him for his snark and his sarcasm, sure, but... it was hard to say. Politics in the Otherworld were messy at best. Still, he wouldn't voice those thoughts aloud, and least of all not to Jamie, not to someone who's heart had been ripped out and stomped on and destroyed, not someone who's trust had been mangled and spit in. It didn't matter if Jamie rejected him. It wasn't Shiloh's place to tell him how to feel or tell him how to cope, and honestly his own disdain kept him from vouching for the fetch in any instance.
What mattered now was that they were here. Beel had done what he had been asked of. "You'll take us back afterwards." it was no question, but Beel knew this. Shiloh's voice was not wracked with anxiety when he spoke then. Rather, it was refined, kingly, commanding.
"As you asked of me before." for all the contempt in his voice, the fetch was agreeable, loyal. Shiloh appreciated it, but could still do without the smarmy aftertaste that Beel's voice left in his ears. The fetch bowed nonetheless, neck bending.
"Trust me," Shiloh spoke to Jamie now, his eyes lightly dusting over the were, blue and cold and dark, "He wouldn't have been my first choice."
"Rude." Beel hummed under his breath. "But I could say the same, going from Madam to a pup."
Shiloh turned on the fetch, hand raised.
Beel flinched.
The noble did not strike.
"Like a master disciplining his dog." Beel, despite the movement, smiled. He didn't have to say it aloud for Shiloh to understand what he was implying.
You looked like a visage of her just now.
word count: 1,346
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2016 7:56 pm
Despite the necessary trip to the Otherworld, Jamie had hoped this would be a good night. In, out, and back home, time spent with Shiloh, that's all he'd really wanted. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to meet Beel again, to learn that Shiloh had the fetch who'd taken his face thrust upon him because they were forced to run that night. The last thing Jamie wanted was to let Beel ruin his evening.
It was hard to ignore someone when they continued to speak, unfortunately.
He refused to look at him, of course, that hadn't changed, but he did turn enough to follow Shiloh. In fact, he looked just in time to see his best friend raise his hand, to see how steeled his eyes remained as he did so. It made that chill in Jamie's chest that much colder.
"Shiloh..." he whispered, a hand at his elbow. Don't listen to him, he waned to say, but the words stuck fast in his throat. It was a crude way to put it, but Shiloh was not the only one who had begun questioning the moral differences between the two worlds and Beel's words made Jamie's stomach sink. It started when they were told someone would have to die. It started when they tried to save Melany, the one who had caused so much suffering of her own will. It started when they were forced to fight Beel, told they had no other option. Fight and kill to save yourself or spare your enemy and die.
So really, what exactly did it mean to be right or wrong? Where exactly was the line? At times Jamie felt like he walked it precariously. He wasn't even sure how he felt, not really, and the deeper they dug into this world, the more unsure he became.
"Shiloh," he tried again, "Let's..." but inevitably, he trailed off into silence.
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2016 7:36 pm
The fist was tight in his palm, his knuckles white, pain searing through his head in a metaphysical sort of way.
"It's a good start." said Beel as he straightened back out, limbs uncurling in an uncanny motion. "You ought to be more like her, if you want to be any good."
Shiloh said nothing. The hand—Jamie's hand—was the only thing that held his lunge back. Behind his gentle touch was a wound up spring, but his arm lowered. Everything about his posture was stiff, like he was a tree made out of gnarled bark that refused to bend any longer. No, this wasn't a product of age; this was a product of rot, disease, parasites. Those three months were rooted in him deep, and the after effects were visible like scars.
"Leave." Shiloh said, voice remarkably soft, but commanding. Beel was the one who remained silent in turn, bowing his head.
When his head lifted, the smirk had all but vanished. The mocking, the prodding, the gouging was over. "I will remain near by." Shiloh didn't find the statement at all comforting, but they would require a way out once the tonight's events were out of the way. The fetch seemed to meld away into the shadows.
It left Shiloh alone with Jamie, for the most part. The noble shifted his exhausted gaze over to the were, his expression sad and apologetic and guilty all at once.
"...let's?" it was a question, his head tilting to the side.
word count: 1,597
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Posted: Sun Oct 09, 2016 9:46 am
Let's just go. The words had been on the tip of his tongue, held back by anxiousness, held back by the possibility that they'd fail in their goal. It didn't matter now, though. Beel had retreated to the shadows at Shiloh's command and that was that, they were alone, or as alone as they would be. Jamie's worries didn't ebb completely, but there was a notable relaxation to his shoulders. His hand never left Shiloh's arm.
Still, the sharp, uncomfortable edge of Beel's words drove itself into Jamie's mind. You ought to be more like her, if you want to be any good. That alone made it harder to respect him, harder to see him as anyone worthy of a second thought, a second chance. Shiloh wasn't perfect, no one was, but there was nothing wrong with the person he was, at least in Jamie's eyes. Shiloh didn't need to align himself the same as someone like Melany.
In that moment, Jamie wanted him to think of anything but her.
"Let's, um, well..." he cast his gaze to the other side of the room, their surroundings familiar and not all at once. "Let's... do something to pass the time." With the softest of tugs, he tried to lead Shiloh away from where they'd started.
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:21 pm
It was fine; Jamie didn't need to say it, because Shiloh understood it well enough. Beel was gone and they were alone and things were going to be fine, because Shiloh didn't want anything else to come along and ruin his night. This was supposed to be a favor to Jamie, not a headache, not a disaster like the night was lined up to be.
Against the lightless black of his coat, a single white lily bloomed. Dark purple vines followed, draping over him like the markings of a cape before his shoulder was swallowed in nightshade. Shiloh seemed unimpressed; that, or purely un-phased.
"Let's." he agreed, voice smooth and fluid like liquid gold. It didn't suit him, but it matched his visage—the vantaback ruffles and the serious expression. Even his hair puffed around his face in loose curls, eyes harsh but understanding. When they fell upon Jamie, they melted into something a little kinder, a little softer, a little less cold—but not completely thawed. Thing was, it would be a while until moonset. He looked to the sky, rightfully a noble bathed in a swath of stars.
Less gracefully, "Uh... I don't... know what the hell we could do." he was, after all, still an eighteen year old boy.
His shoes clacked against the milky marbled floor as he nursed the space between his eyes, willing away his exhaustion and his residual anger. An idea hit him, though it was a relatively silly one.
"You never did dance at the ball, did you?" of course not; there had been too much going on, too many things happening, too much tragedy. "Do you know how?"
Thinking about Jamie was a much better alternative to everything else he could ruminate over, anyway.
word count: 1,890
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2016 7:01 am
Where Shiloh gave no reaction, Jamie surely did, the truth of the flowers lost on him, but their beauty enrapturing. Pausing, he watched, lips gently parted, the softest sound escaping in admiration. The fingers at Shiloh's elbow curled into the faint folds of his sleeve and Jamie let himself think for an instant that Shiloh was lovely.
Even bathed in the purest lace that circled his throat and draped down to his feet. Even draped in delicate pleats that gave elegance and volume and life to Jamie who was normally so small and unassuming. Even then he thought Shiloh looked softer, smoother, so much more graceful.
Except, well, there was something decidedly un-Shiloh-like about the way his expression steeled with seriousness as it did. Jamie wasn't sure yet if he could believe the court suited him, but he couldn't deny he'd noticed since arriving that Shiloh held himself differently, stood straighter, spoke fluently and sure.
It would've nagged at his gut, but then Shiloh turned to him and his eyes grew softer and when he spoke again his voice was the same as Jamie remembered. He smiled.
"I didn't," and shyly he admitted, "I don't really know how." Not once in his life had Jamie danced formally, but he couldn't deny how it tickled him to think he might have a chance to spend time again so close to Shiloh.
"Could you... teach me?"Final Word Count: 1716
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