[PRP] who lights the way for the aimless? [Alexis/Jeremiah]

[azuredreams]

"And?" Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. "Or is it purely your desire to be able to strike back at the being of fire that hurt you, and others you care about, that makes you want to get your powers back?"

No, he was not going to make this easy.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

The urge to fidget was high under their skin, but Alexis pushed it down, solemn. "This isn't my life. The only thing I had in common with them was my magic and our names." It seethed and bubbled in their fingers, wanting, wanting.

"I want t'be better. I want this all to be better and I want to see it change."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"What does that have to do with it?" questioned Jeremiah. "Your magic and their magic may have not even been entirely the same." A pause, before he gave a short nod.

"To want to be better, to want to change, is all well and good- but what will you achieve? What will you do? If you had your magic back right now, what would you do with it?"

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Alexis huffed. Conceptually it had all seemed so easy to explain, when they'd thought to ask for the meeting; but when thoughts came to lips, something stumbled, something tangled. Their words never came out the way they wanted them to - and it was, as always, so ******** frustrating they wanted to rip their hair out.

But they didn't let any of that show. Instead they deliberated. "There's not a right answer to that - I want t'help people and I want to make the Otherworld better, okay, 'cause I don't know if you've noticed but half the Nobles are ******** in the head." Alexis paused. "Includin' me. And probably you. But - I don't - I want t'help with what we make of this. I want to finally do something good with myself."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It is not about a right answer, or even a wrong answer, but that you want to do something." They were trying and Jeremiah could appreciate that - understand it - but they would also have to eventually learn to mind their tongue. "Inaction is the worst thing any of us can do, so wanting to make something of yourself? To change? Yes, these are all good things but I need to hear more.

"What are you willing to do, Alexis? Is this simply a means to an end? I want to change things and better myself and I can do that by having magic? What if you never get it back? Would you still want to change? Or would you give up?"

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I don't want - " well, they wanted to have their hands occupied, to be doing anything else, to not have to think so much; but they'd dug their own grave - "I can do better, with it. I can do more. Not havin' it feels like I'm blind." (Not that Alexis wasn't already a sixth-blind, but that wasn't relevant, not really.) "An' - I want t'make up for things I did. Before we reset and I can't do it anymore."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"No," said Jeremiah simply. "Try again. What if you never get it back? What then? Are you still willing to change even with a chance that you may never get them back?"

He wanted the answer.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Alexis didn't think about it. "It's better than nothing. I want to be better. Even if I never get them back - I can still know I'm a better ******** person than I used to be and that matters."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"That I can work with," replied Jeremiah, "and is a better mindset. To want magic to better yourself does not work but a desire to be better yourself? That does."

A breath escaped then, his fingers snapping and a heavy document landing in his hand. "If we're doing this, we'll be handling it in the new method for those who wish to become a Noble." A pause. "This means it will be a contract- an agreement between us."

Daekie

TL;DR - harvey can suck it

 

[Daekie]

Alexis leaned forward slightly, hands on their knees. "Long as y'don't steal my other thumbprint, yeah? Having one missin' I can figure out an excuse for, but - both would be hard t'explain." Their shoulders had settled, hackles no longer raised, voice calming.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah rolled his eyes, hand held up and his thumbprint equally missing. "You'll have to learn to mind your tongue," he replied, "as well as carry out a few other things as part of this process. You will have to satisfy me first before we even begin to consider visiting Silk to petition to see Melany. That means that I have to think you are more than capable of being a Noble as it is now, not as it was.

"In short: that no longer means only the strong survive or the strongest will rules. We are advocates, Alexis, we are the voice for the beings of what is left of the world that came before the Cage and more than that we are meant to serve as guidance to those who come to us. We are no longer the be all, end all point. Do you understand?"

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Alexis shut up like their jaw had promptly been wired shut, and the stifled flash of panic in their eyes when Jeremiah raised his hand was out of their control. How could it be anything else, when things were like this?

"I know," they said quietly, and the brashness was gone. "I understand. 'm sorry." And they were. But anything more to say would sound more like pleading their case than they were comfortable with.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah sighed then, hand settling back down and his fingers spreading across the heavy document he had summoned. "You will also learn that I am not Schulz, nor am I the Burning Man. What I do to you will not strike at your body, nor will I punish you for being you but I will expect better if you want to have your powers back.

"Are you prepared to hear my stipulations, Tucker? This contract will be binding and unless you uphold all of it, I will not petition for you." With one final agreement, he was prepared to explain just what he wanted from them.

Daekie

iamsososorry. life ate me after harvey. just now kind of chilling out.

 

[Daekie]

"I'm ready to hear them." Their fingers twisted in their lap, intertwined, thumb-under-finger-over-thumb; repeating, repeating. Idle movement. I can do better, Alexis thought, and half-believed it enough to think this would work.

Mostly it was trying not to be a pessimist about it. It was still hard to accept this world as normal, sometimes, as the new normal.

azuredreams

/pats you gently/ it's okay i think we all died