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 Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:07 pm
He didn’t spend all his time at Aloysius’ home, he had his own place, but he did spend a good amount of time at the other's home. Today was the odd exception where he was here and he was alone, Aloysius had something he needed to do, and Liam had decided to drop in and do some homework and maybe grab a bit of a rest because he was honestly worn out. With music playing, kept down low, he was working on his homework as the music served its purpose of keeping other noises from distracting him.
Socked feet were folded as he sat, indian style. On the living room floor and worked at the coffee table on his work. Notebooks and a textbook were out, he had another textbook in his school bag, he was writing down what he needed for the assignment due in two days.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:10 pm
Melody had been tired lately, something was weird with her magic. It was something she would have to try and deal with but it made her feel weak which she didn’t like. It was her job to be strong and to get through problems like she always did. Thinking about it would not help at this point in time so she thought it might be a good idea to see if her brother had fallen off the wagon yet. He had carefully neglected to give her Liam’s number which meant there was definitely something more than friendship between the two of them. Just because she liked to flirt with people didn’t mean she was going to steal his man, though he probably wanted a chance to make a move first without her interference.
Walking up to the house she pulled out an older spare key that had a pattern of sheet music on it. It was ode to joy if she remembered correctly. The key turned in the lock and she heard faint music as she opened the door. She couldn’t quite make out what the music was but it wasn’t being played on an instrument so it wasn’t from her brother.
“Hello?” She called before she finished opening the door, giving a chance for whoever was there to make themselves decent if they weren’t already.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:11 pm
He didn’t hear the door open but he did hear a voice, one which was not part of the music he was playing, and settled for calling out in return. “Hey, I’m in here.” It felt a bit odd since it wasn’t his home, he was still getting used to being here so often, but as he got up he headed towards the kitchen. He needed a get a drink, he tried to drink a lot during the day, and he’d gone a bit longer than he liked without something to drink. Time to grab a water, or maybe a flavored water which he’d stuck in the fridge the other day.
“Just working on some homework.” He added, as he spied who was there. “Want a drink?” Might as well be polite and offer as he was headed that way anyway. “Aloysius had to go out and run some errands, or something.” He hadn’t understood at the time, with the other calling him while he was dealing with loud people on public transportation…the joy of not owning a car or anything.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:12 pm
Ah so Liam was here and her brother wasn’t? Oh this was shaping up to be very very interesting. “Oh yes, I’ll take a bottle of juice if he still keeps orange juice around. I think it might help with how I have been feeling.” She had finished stepping in and shed her small coat and scarf onto the hooks that were on the back of the door. Her brother’s scarf and coat were gone so he must have gone all the way out to one of the music stores for more black music sheets.
“He has changed quite a bit it seems, I had to pry this key out of his hands when he was drunk one night to be able to come and go as I please.” She walked over towards the kitchen and peaked towards the fridge. It was still barren of alcohol. She whistled a bit in shock at that. “Wow he really hasn’t fallen off the wagon? You must have really gotten to him or something?”
She took a seat and pulled out her thesis paperwork, it was a bunch of graphics and information on music theory and chorus organization. There would be no sheet music that she would have to write for her project but a lot more actual music theory and proving of concepts in action.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:13 pm
Nodding his head, even if she didn’t see it, he went to grab himself a bottle of water and the orange juice bottle.Both items were placed on the counter as he went to grab a clean glass for her, pouring the juice once the glass was set on the counter top. “He does keep orange juice in the fridge.” Among other things, which was expanding as he visited and left things behind.
“Not feeling well?” Liam questioned, wondering if he should let Aloysius know when the older got back. “Yeah, he managed to get past the hard part. Now if he keeps away he should be fine.” Because once you had an issue it wouldn’t take much, just a drink, to fall right off and back into bad habits again.
“He’s been working on his composition more.” He’d also been powering up and gathering energy more…he was doing better and doing more in general. “He’s not back to where he had been beforehand, or so he says, but he is working on it.” Shrugging as he offered her the glass of juice, the bottle was then returned to the fridge.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:14 pm
Melody nodded and took the glass from Liam, it tasted good and made her feel a little better that she was getting some vitamins in her. This probably wouldn’t help the root cause issue but it was nice regardless. Definitely better than the same cafe americano she had every morning on the way to the university. “There has been something odd going on that I am getting used to. The problem should resolve itself in time but who knows. It’s all news to me, this magic and fighting.”
She kinda shrugged as she drank some more of her juice. “It’s about time for him to get off his a** and finish his thesis. I think he’s had it in limbo for a year or two at this point. He must be trying to finish before the next after school semester starts for the classes he teaches. But enough about my brother. What’s the whole deal about all this?” She kinda motioned a circle around Liam and the house. It wasn’t normal for her brother to let people live with him. He had been solitary for the longest time in his drunken stupor.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:14 pm
“It’s new to everyone when we first get brought in, it always takes time.” Shrugging a bit. It was, he imagined, something like when Harry Potter discovered the magical world that existed side by side to the muggle world. This was magic and a war and it did exist within the normal world, rather than side by side, but it was a new world…somewhat anyway. There wasn’t some school or government or laws…but it was as close as they’d get he figured.
“It’s like we said that night, I found him drunk and passed out in the park. You’ll find the dark mirror tend to, generally speaking, be a bit kinder than the Negaverse. We don’t go about killing people and we might be nicer when it comes to gathering energy as well. I wasn’t going to take from some passed out drunk…and I wasn’t going to leave him for someone else to get so I got him up and home. I guess he realized, for some reason, it was an issue and he needed to fix it? I mean he did wind up revealing he was a Negaverse officer to me that night and I told him what I was.” it really didn’t make sense the sudden reason to change, to sober up, but it wasn’t a bad thing either. It was something which needed to happen.
He wasn’t even sure why he’d decided to help but he had. Perhaps it was that he didn’t like how a general was letting himself wind up like this? Maybe it was just wanting to help someone who had obviously needed it and then the added bonus of them being a general? It had though turned into more.
“He did ask me out though, recently.” Liam added after a sip from his water, almost hesitating in telling her this.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:15 pm
Melody almost choked on her juice as Liam spoke. It took her awhile to get out of the coughing fit from that so she could get back to the conversation. “Well at least for the first thing, he was kind of someone who always wanted to be able to rely on someone. Not that he ever really had anyone he could trust that didn’t hurt him in someway or another I guess. I know growing up I was the one who made friends, him not so much. But, that was because of father.” She shrugged a bit thinking back to how she would have sleepovers all the time but Aloy never even got so much as a birthday card in the mail from friends.
“Sooooo did you say yes? I think you guys would be cute together, he needs someone strong to balance out that giant twigginess he has.” She was genuinely curious about all this for now, it would be something to give her ammo if she needed to scold him for doing something stupid in the future. She would be buddy buddy when needed to get juicy gossip, it was sad though because she also thought Liam was cute.
“I hope you are right about the getting used to it thing, it keeps swinging back and forth on it’s power level and its so unpredictable that I am worried it might leave me in a bad situation if an actual threat arose.” It would also be bad if it ended up working way too much and causing people to actually go deaf in the area. She really didnt want that much collateral damage when she was fighting if she could manage that.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:15 pm
“I did. He understands enough about my own past that it’ll work for the both of us, something we could both benefit from.” The other needed someone to help him and who was there for him, a good relationship to have. Liam needed someone who wasn’t going to leave him, because he was too damn loyal for his own good, he needed someone not to use it against him.
“If you’re worried about it I’d suggest finding someone strong, a General, to keep around you till whatever it is manages to stabilize. You don’t want to be weak if a senshi or a knight comes for you…I’ve heard some really go for the kill.” As much as the siblings might not get along he knew it would not be good for Aloysius if Melody was killed…though it might set the General off killing people.
“I’d offer to help as well but I don’t know how much help I could be.” He might go to the gym and be physically strong but he was no weapon wielding General.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:16 pm
“I am going to reach out to someone he recommended at some point. I just thought it would be nice to talk to someone else who uses magic since I guess Generals are mostly physical or weapon using fighters.” She was a bit uncomfortable still about how this was an actual war. Yes she was sure enough to fight but, she was still not sure exactly how things would end up. The number one person to look out for was herself and maybe this might be in her best interest. How could she truly trust either side, she could maybe at least trust her brother and his bleeding heart approach to things. Maybe since they had shown her that her safety was in their best interest too was why she was willing to fight.
“You help with at least talking through things. I still don’t really like my brother much, given everything. I won’t lie and say I’m not bitter that he had me taking care of the house outside of town alone while he wallowed in self pity. But you seem to have a better head on your shoulders, at least from what I have seen so far.” He at least seemed like a loyal enough guard dog and was pretty cute even if taken. That definitely had increased the likelihood that he could be trusted, it took a lot to deal with the worst things an alcoholic could show.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:17 pm
“Yeah, it can be different talking to someone who uses weapons versus someone who uses magic. I don’t think officers, like your brother, have any access to magic aside from teleporting.” Teleporting was useful though, more so than mirror walking anyway, the idea of finding a mirror big enough to walk through was not easy. Even if they placed mirrors about the city some could surely be moved, or destroyed, and rendered useless to their court. Teleporting however was far more useful.
“You don’t need to like him, at least being civil would work for us I think, it seems a lot has happened and needs to be eventually aired out properly. Not to point fingers, or anything like that, but rather so it’s all out in the air and everyone knows where they stand with the other…so you can move on from it and let it heal however it may.” Shrugging a bit while taking a gulp, or two, of water. He wasn’t the best with these sorts of things but he was trying, and referring to what he knew had worked for the other children in the orphanage.
“I doubt he could have handled that house, not with how he was, and he couldn’t exactly tell you why he was mentally and emotionally incapable of handling things. Perhaps in some way it was also to keep you safe that he kept you in the dark? I wouldn’t tell people I cared for about this life - about this war.” How to explain it to someone anyway? How to tell them and keep them out of it even? “Maybe one day you two should talk…” And he’d hopefully be there to soothe things over if need be. Hopefully Aloysius would be strong enough for such a talk some day.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:18 pm
Teleporting would be useful in the future but she didn’t think that was a thing she could do yet even if her magic wasn’t being wonky. A lot of what he said made sense bit she still was a bit bitter about her brother as a topic. “Maybe one day but I need to see some progress maybe from him before I’ll consider it. I’m still not too trusting of the quick change he has decided to pull even if it was spurred on by hitting the rockiest of bottoms. I hear your plea though and I’ll consider it over time maybe.” He really was trying to be a mediator between her and Aloy, it was funny in a way that it had devolved to this over the years but at least there would be a sorta open line of communication even if she didn’t want to text her brother.
“It still wasn’t fair given he’s 7 years older than me. I had to juggle all of that while trying to make it through undergrad. Though I probably wouldn’t have believed him if he had told me about all this stuff going on. I wasn’t in the city to see any of it after everything broke apart in the family.” She couldn’t even call it her family anymore, everything had gone to s**t after her grandparents had died. Money had turned her mom and dad against each other and was like a poision that seeped down into the groundwater of that house.
“I’ll give it one more month before I try really talking to him about these things. Only after then and after he goes back to that house at least once to see it.” She crossed her arms and tried looking like she was giving an ultimatum but she was severely lacking both in height and in frame to be intimidating.
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Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2023 8:18 pm
“I don’t expect things to overnight change, that would be insane of me.” And he wasn’t that nuts, the war hadn’t gotten to him that much yet. But he was hoping that in time, and with Aloysius showing he was better, things might change. It would be bit by bit and Liam knew it wouldn’t be any other way, he’d just help as needed here and there.
“I didn’t know he was that much older than you…but you aren’t wrong - it wasn’t fair. But that’s something for you two to discuss when you are both ready and able.” And once both could keep their tempers, as he was fairly certain Aloysius had a temper it had just not been seen yet.
“I’ll let him know and I’ll have him visit the house, I’ll make sure of it. I think, given the war, it’ll be good for you two to have good communication.” Eventually though, not right away. But it would be good to have the other in their corner, it might be needed, it wouldn’t do for them to not get on well. “I’m going to finish my homework, if you need me let me know?” Nodding his head as he drifted out of the kitchen, water bottle in hand, and headed for the living room and his homework.
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