[PRP] a change of the guard (liam & jeremiah)

[Silverah]

Liam turned towards the stairs, cupped a hand to his mouth, and shouted, "Ascencion! Do you want to leave the house?"

shibrogane

azuredreams

 

[shibrogane]

"Oh my GOD Papa I can't DO anything to them ANYWAY, I am allowed to have VIOLENT FANTASIES SOMETIMES, thought-crimes aren't illegal YET,"

and then a door slammed somewhere upstairs.

Silverah

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah did not move, did not lean back, but he did have the sense to know that Liam was a man more than capable of anything and also not the man he was familiar with.

His response, however, was cut off by Sonny's voice and their exchange with Papa. His lips twitched a little, coughing into his hand a moment later (his throat felt sore but also because the exchange was funny in that parent/child sort of way).

"Can't say I'm not already aware of their dislike," an understatement, "but - as they said - thought-crimes aren't illegal." Clearly Jeremiah had his own opinions as well, which did include preferring to not suffocate any time someone talked about the third principal in his presence.

"It is not the Noble geas," he finally answered. "Which no longer stands. Nor is it like my own ability to geas. It's something similar to the geas the Burning Man put on people to prevent them from talking. Instead of burning pain, the throat seizes and breathing becomes a problem." A deep breath was taken, a wry look on his face. "There is a trigger phrase, though."

Silverah

shibrogane

 

[Silverah]

Liam sighed at the sound of the slamming door, which seemed to faintly shake every object in the room. "She misunderstood me," he said softly, but made no effort to correct his wayward offspring.

"I can't say I trust anyone so keen to hide their identity or intentions," he said, "but my daughter's been kept here like a caged panther for far too long. If you can personally guarantee her safety, it would make me glad to see her have her freedom once more."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah merely inclined his head, in agreement that Sonny had misunderstood. He straightened up when Liam spoke and nodded.

"It will not be difficult to make adjustments with the department," to change things to simply watch, "and the personal guarantee will stand. If Sonny faces any problem that arises, that puts them in danger, or they feel it is necessary, they only have to call for me - need my presence - and I will appear, will do whatever is necessary to ensure they are safe." There was a sense of formality to his words, Jeremiah's own magic behind it. He meant it.

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam nodded slowly, mulling this promise over. Then, he waved a hand, and pulled a sharp-looking fountain pen from the air. Curiously, he pulled no ink.

"Everything seems to be in order. However, I shall require a boon from you, Detective Mercer," he said. "An agreement that any harm that comes to her shall also come to you in time."

"If we have an accord," he said. "Give me your wrist. This is sterilized."

Azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Algie was going to kill him.

Yet they needed this, needed Sonny to their freedom to ensure they could get their hands on the body of their Ascencion and because they deserved it. Never mind that they needed freedom period. If he could do this, where he had failed before-

"Alright, but you'll have to give me a moment. Especially if you want that to actually pierce the skin." Judging by the glint of the metal and the sharpness. His hand was offered out, not the one that bore his wedding band, with the wrist held up towards the ceiling.

It would only take a moment, concentration and knowing what it felt like the last time he had pulled his magic back from protecting one small part of him.

"By all means," he said, fingers wiggling, "it should do what you need it to do."

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

"I will," said Liam sanguinely, taking delicate hold of Jeremiah's wrist with his free hand. He leaned in, hand and pen poised above Jeremiah's flesh.

"This will hurt," said Liam. "My apologies in advance."

His touch was light and delicate, but nevertheless the pen blade stung and raised a beading trail of blood behind it. Liam was careful. His lines were smooth, with nary a tremor to be seen.

When he was done, he paused and met Jeremiah's gaze. "You are bound up in her protection," he pronounced. "Any harm that comes to her shall also come to you. Your fates are entwined."

He set the pen aside and pressed his palm to the inscription, and when he pulled his hand away, the blood had dried to raised scars, a deep garnet color, faintly twinkling.

"I'll tell Ascension of our decision," he said. "I believe there was something else you needed to discuss with me?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Liam was given a short nod as his wrist was taken in hand, cold to the touch. Whatever pain there was, the sting of the pen blade bore without a noise (mostly because pain was a sensation he did not get to experience as often as he used to).

He watched until Liam's gaze lifted to his own and met it, blue-green eyes bright. His fate had been connected to Sunny from the moment he had met her, that time in Heliodora's demesne that she had lifted him up and he had seen that infinite and old starry sky. Everything he was, everything he was part of, was born from their interaction.

That his fate was tied in a more tangible manner was a progression that was, ultimately, not surprising. "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't believe myself capable of doing such. I know they're bound by the Sigil created in the Void and cannot always act when they need to. Something has to tilt that." If that was him, so be it.

His fingers stretched in and out, another nod given to Liam as he shook his hand. It was strange to pull back his magic and the feeling of it returning was odd.

"Yes, though I do not know how much you can do." A pause. "It has to do with Vivien Hawken and the engagement ring she was given that was stolen and in turn used as part of the original Sigil of our world."

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam paused. "I... I haven't heard that name in a very long time. I'm sorry. Vivien was a student of mine in the nineteen-eighties when I was teaching at MIT. I mentored her on her honors research, but..."

He frowned. "Her tumor was tremendously aggressive. Chemo-resistant. I'm afraid I don't know anything about a ring. I don't believe she was ever engaged in this universe."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"That-" Jeremiah let out a breath. "That considerably complicates things. In our world - and the world before the cycles began, so far as I know - Liam Noor loved Vivien Hawken, proposed to her and was going to marry her. At least, until she took her life ..."

His fingers brushed against the raised marking on his wrist.

"The ring he gave to her was one of garnet. Do you not have such a thing? It may not be in a ring setting." Briefly Jeremiah's eyes closed, as if he was plucking at memories before they opened back up. "Sometimes it was a pendant; it took many shapes during the cycles."

5ilverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam shook his head. "No," he said. "She was my student and a friend of my daughter's. I've been married since the eighteen hundreds. I never gave her any jewelry. It would have been intensely inappropriate."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I admit that I am curious to know how both Renard and yourself have had such a long life when it was part of the cycle that caused it in our world." Yet it was not part of the topic at hand.

"Regardless, that is a problem. Vivien - ours - still exists, at least as something of a spectre. She is in possession of the ring, which we need, and will not hand it over unless she is able to speak with Liam and explain why she did what she did." His eyes focused on Liam. "Ours, I assume, because you are no longer him."

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

"Ascencion is our daughter. Her magic grew out of ours. We stopped aging when she did," he said, as if that explained everything.

He pursed his lips.

"I will intercede with her," he said. "I knew a Vivien. Perhaps we will reach an understanding."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

That actually did, for Jeremiah, explain everything. Enough that he was satisfied with it. (Also vaguely concerning because he was now tied to Sonny as well.)

"That may not work. As I said, she wanted to speak with her Liam but if you think that might work." His pen was plucked up, writing something down. "However- if you do manage to get the ring, I need it."

Silverah