[PRP] a pack of smokes (sonny & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

Carefully making sure that he had everything on him, Jeremiah had headed to a place he had not in some time. The last time, he was certain, he had stepped foot into the Shore mansion had been months ago.

This version of him at least.

It was something that needed to be done, however, because for all that happened he still- No, that thought was pushed away as he raised a hand to announce his presence. Jeremiah truly had no idea of what to expect with this new version but he was here to meet them all the same.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Sonny answered the door. Their hair was brushed back out of their face. Their blazer was immaculate, the sleeves cuffed up to the elbow. Underneath, there was a purple sweater of her usual shade of purple.

"Hi," they said. "Chief Mercer. How are you?" They didn't step back to let him in. There was caution in those green-flecked eyes, and a decidedly unfriendly tilt to their mouth.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Busy as ever, Miss Shore," Jeremiah replied politely, not quite sure what to do with this Sonny before him. He could see her there, behind their eyes and the tilt to their mouth.

Yet it was someone new at the same time.

"... but I found some time to come see how you were doing."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I haven't left the house," said Sonny. "I've been good. I haven't even gone to the other world. Even when people ask me to! I don't know why you're here. I don't even want to leave the house."

That made the crowding make a little more sense? Maybe?

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Something twisted but Jeremiah could not place what. Still, if he wasn't sure before- He was sure now that it was not the same girl at all. Ascension Shore was truly gone.

"When I said I came to see how you were doing, I did mean how you were doing. Not an inquiry about whether or not you're," he paused, searching for a word before speaking again, "behaving." The fact was that he was not even sure he was alright with her being caged. That didn't fix what they had broken- what he had let break.

"Can you not leave the house at all?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Is this a trick question," asked Sonny. "I am being good. I haven't done even a little bit of magic. I mean, I levitated a tray of cookies with America, and I... I guess..." Had someone told on her? She'd only shown up to Temperance and Shiloh and America when they'd become the principals...

Oh, and once to fight Shiloh.

And she wanted to go out with Preacher...

It was a thought crime if anything.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Su-" Jeremiah started, stopped and sighed. "Sonny," he remembered the difference from Shiloh, "it isn't a trick question. I'm not here to trick you into saying you left the house or want to leave the house."

So, so young.

"I'm not here to catch you in doing anything wrong."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"You don't have to be here for that to do it," said Sonny stubbornly. "Reddit says so."

Evidently Sonny didn't have any kind of friendly relationship with the Jeremiah of their world.

It might be advantageous to make it clear they were different men.

Maybe.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Maybe.

"Reddit says a lot of things." Jeremiah looked upward briefly, wondering what he had done in a past life to bring this upon himself. Except then he stopped that thought because the idea that there were potentially eighteen other versions of him to support just why came to mind.

"Look, to be entirely clear, I don't know what kind of relationship you had with the Jeremiah Mercer that was in this universe but ... that is not me." For starters, his knowledge about magic is far, far more advanced than Jeremiah's was if the books he had found were anything to go by.

"So, if for some reason his entire existence is devoted to catching you in the act of doing something wrong, my apologies."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Sonny blinked once, twice, and then they stepped back to let him in. "He probably just wanted to keep me safe," Sonny mumbled. "Do you want some tea?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Over parenting and over protective is an art form that I'm good at. I can only imagine that he was likely better with far more years of it than I." Still, he wasn't expecting to be let in and he nodded at them.

"I'll even help, if you've not already made it up. Thank you," he said as he stepped inside to follow them.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Sonny still seemed uncomfortable as they led the way back to the kitchen. It was a light, open, airy space, full of single-use gadgets like the NinjaPro Smoothie Machine and a fruit mandolin. "You don't know where anything is," they said. They did, though, so they assembled the required Tea Materials and set about making a pot.

"So you're here to check on me?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Doesn't mean I couldn't help," Jeremiah countered but they were correct. Without knowledge of where things were, he was unable to and he wasn't the kind to snoop without permission.

Who knew.

"Yes, I wanted to see how you were doing." He knew that they were not Ascension Shore, no. This was someone new, someone who he had never met. "Though I suppose I should also say meet you as well."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Sonny didn't seem to have anything to say to that. With the kettle on and the tea leaves properly portioned, they didn't seem to know what to do with their hands or their stare. Eventually they shrugged, hands up by their shoulders. "Hi, I guess?"

They pulled a package of girl scout cookies out of the cabinet and offered some of them to Jeremiah.

"I'm okay, I guess," they added.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Hullo," Jeremiah replied, head inclined and a small smile given. A cookie was taken with a quiet word of thanks (because who turned down girl scout cookies, seriously) as he broke it in half.

"I'm glad then, though you must get a little bored if you're in the house all the time ..." The idea of her being in a cage within a cage- Jeremiah pushed the thought away.

"I suppose," he said with a wry smile, "it would be add to ask if you still smoke?"

shibrogane