[PRP] Kindred spirits (Oliver & Ezra)

[Melancholies]

Oliver loved school. The routine was a good structure to his otherwise unruly life, and that gave him some small peace of mind at the end of a long day. There might be magic throwing wrenches into everything, but at least he knew there'd be class and a sense of normalcy to return to the next day.

Not to mention his undying love for music. Tuesdays and Wednesdays were his crash courses in music theory, and he looked forward to drabbling over mounds of information that he found fascinating. Unfortunately for his sense of routine, the professor that he found in the classroom was not the same one that usually greeted him. This was fine; it wasn't that big of a deal, but what if they didn't know their s**t? They were just a fill in, and while that was okay in s**t like high school he was actually paying for this education and if they fell behind? Or they messed the syllabus up? What if they didn't follow the syllabus.

He blinked rapidly before slowly meandering to take a seat. Oliver always came early to his classes, and this wasn't anything different, except now he felt wholly uncomfortable being in a room alone with some man he didn't know. Or he was just being really ******** extra.

Well, whatever.

shibrogane

music time

 

[shibrogane]

The handwriting on the whiteboard was not the sort to lend anyone an aura of confidence. It was crabbed and clumsy, the curves over-exaggerated like a child's. The man writing didn't look like a child; he was tallish, with a head of soft black curls, and rather terrible burn scars up his dominant hand and onto his face. That explained the writing... sort of.

He turned to look once he heard a chair scrape back. "Hi," he said. He smiled. "Ezra Fitzpatrick. I'm filling in for Professor Archigold. You must be Oliver Beaumont."

It was a lecture. (It had to be. With hands like those, Ezra probably wasn't playing much of anything anymore.)

There were like fifty students.

HOW DID HE KNOW??

Some mysteries didn't get explanations, apparently. "Pleasure to meet you," said Ezra Fitzpatrick, with a thin smile.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver was very put off.

"That's... very observant of you." If Ollie was bothered by the grotesque burn scars, he didn't show any of it. There might have been a flash of pity—maybe something vaguely reminiscent of concern—but nothing verbal ever left his mouth on the matter. He assumed Ezra to be a practicing musician (He had to be, if he was teaching music), but with a mangled hand...

His hands were carefully clasped on his desk.

Still, what the ********, had he memorized the roster before coming in to fill? Maybe the syllabus would be preserved, god bless this mess, the sanctity of his school schedule just might be preserved. "Do you know my brother or something?" Most of the people who recognized him cited that as the reason anyway, considering Shiloh's two introduction spiels were 'I have the best boyfriend and his name is Jamie Delacroix and here's a picture.' followed by 'I also have a twin, but I'm the older one'. "I mean, it's nice to meet you too..."

He couldn't help himself. His hands slowly unclasped and flattened against the desk, his fingers thrumming against the surface. Damn you nervous habits, damn you.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Ah, my ex was friends with you," said Ezra. "And one of the students I tutor used to attend piano with the same instructor as you. Dhan Badhan? I don't believe we've ever met, but Melany is--" here he hesitated for a moment "--best friends with your brother."

He shrugged and turned back to the board. "Professor Archigold is my thesis advisor, so since he got called away suddenly he's having me fill in. This section is on triad and sevenths construction, right?"

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver was... very confused.

"Melany...?" The name sounded familiar. Had Shiloh mentioned her? He felt like Shiloh would've mentioned being best friends with some chick he didn't know, especially since he had been under the assumption that Jamie was filling that role. "But..."

He looked down at his notebooks that he'd just begun to pull out, his brow still furrowed a little. Should he brush it off? Question it? "He's never mentioned anything like that to me." He admitted neutrally, "But yeah, you're on the right section."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra turned to look over his shoulder again. "Ah," he said, kindly, and with a great deal of understanding. "You're from the other world, like I am."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

That caught Oliver's attention, "You're not from this time?" He seemed... relieved almost, in a guilty sort of way. "I don't remember seeing you there when we made the sigil again, though."

He took the time to glance around the room, but they were still thankfully alone.

"Or from the eighties." He gently set his chin into his hands, "Or did you not know about all of that?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I wasn't," said Ezra. "That's the odd part." He crossed the room and took a seat, giving Ollie enough space that he wasn't going to get all crowded or anything. "I've no idea how I maintained my memories or acquired this body. The last one I had got rather... burnt."

Melancholies

you're still burned ezra

 

[Melancholies]

"Well that is a little curious..." Ollie was leaning forward on the desk, apparently unbothered by Ezra's self invitation. He had time to kill before class started, so why not, "No offense, but you're still rather burned. I'm assuming it was worse, though." After a moment of holding up his composure, he sighed, "It sounds like you have memories of this place too? When you mentioned my brother and your ex, I mean." It was incredibly strange.

"I mean, I met someone else who had memories from the old world. He wasn't there at the sigil ******** either." He shrugged, "Whatever we did really messed up the alignment of things, I guess. I'm not very well... versed with magic or anything. We probably shouldn't have attempted what we did in retrospect—not that I won't own up to it. That would be selfish."

Was Oliver always so selfless?

"It's just a huge bother." No, not really.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Whoever I replaced kept good journals," said Ezra, very evenly. He leaned forward on his elbows, kind of like the prototypical Cool Teacher. The Ur-TA, from which all other TAs were made. "I've had to be very good at faking it."

He shrugged. "I don't know what you did or didn't do," he said. "I wasn't there; I was at Court, where I always have been. But I can empathize with it being a bother."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"That's convenient." He agreed with a nod, "I'm not that lucky."

Court piqued his interest again though, "You're in the whole noble shebang too? Shiloh doesn't talk much about it to me..." He seemed displeased, "I wish he would, but I guess it's a little more complicated than what he's leading on." There was another sigh, "I guess, as far as I could tell, as far as what's been explained to me, they remade the thing that keeps the world together."

"Like, the girl—Sunny? I think that's what they were calling her—she was all manic and wild and made us jump into this void... thing. I guess a lot of the people wanted to help her out so she wasn't a murder machine. I honestly don't know who she even is or was or what." It wasn't his problem. "That was on... November first, and we came back into the world sometime in... December. I remember it really vividly too—the sky was all bright from the sun and that Sunny girl was there and... and then she wasn't. I haven't cared to look into it that much further."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It's the only real way to stay sane," agreed Ezra. "I'm part of the whole noble shebang." He seemed amused by that method of description, but his expression soon flattened at Oliver's description of what happened in November. "Such a long gap," he said. "How long did it seem to you? If you don't mind me asking; I'm rather good at magic."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"It was... maybe a few days?" He looked at Ezra, "Maybe? It wasn't that long at all. We stayed in the memory for a couple nights tops. Remaking the sigil felt like a few minutes." Oliver debated this, "And when we came back, it was almost time for Christmas."

"It was naturally very confusing to step back in." His free hand thrummed lightly on the table.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I expect so," said Ezra. "That's an odd dilation to experience..." He trailed off. "You mentioned a memory of the eighties?"

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

He nodded fervently again, "I guess it wasn't the same for everyone, but my brother and Jamie and I had re-experienced a memory from the 1980s." He let that sink in, "We met past versions of ourselves," pause, "Well, we met past versions of Shiloh and Jamie. There was this girl named Dana too, and um..." He tapped his chin in thought, "We went to a bar, there was a man behind the counter named Liam, a few drag queens on stage..." He trailed off, "It's all a little blurry. We'd get to one specific part of the memory and then it would reset."

He licked his lip for a second, "When we fell into the void, this women named Sunday said we had to go fix the veil or whatever." Oliver seemed... frustrated by this, "We really rushed around and did a bunch of things without really thinking about it, I realize."

shibrogane