[prp] the apples fell far (moms + mercers)

[cibarium]

Visits between the two couples had, apparently, been frequent for their counterparts in this new timeline, and being neighbors meant the habit was easy to continue after a couple of brief phone and text message conversations about it. There was a lot to do; a whole lot to talk about since the reset, and the friendly company and familiar atmosphere of either home made it an easy fit.

Leila and Eve had plenty to talk about today. Before coming over Eve had suggested to the Mercers they would need more than the usual amount of wine, and now she and her wife were taking up barely more than half the amount of space they normally took on the Mercers' couch. Whatever was on their minds was enough that even being an arm's length away felt like too much, and the company keeping them made them feel safe enough to stay pressed against each other with their arms all tangled up.

Leila had brought a simple folder with Ezra's birth certificate tucked away inside -- this she slid onto the coffee table for Jeremiah and Algernon to look at, in lieu of breaching the topic verbally.

"I know we joked about us being Ezra's parents a while back, but it's real. He's our son."

iloveyouDE

azurdreams

 

[azuredreams]

There was plenty to talk about, though not all of it other ashdown related (but a fair amount of it was) and some of it might have just been friendly gossip shared between married couples because that was a thing.

That Leila and Eve were so close, though it wasn't exactly unusual, it spoke of them feeling both safe enough to do so and a need for it. It meant there was a looked shared between his husband and himself, especially when put together with more wine than usual (something that really, truly was more of a thing they did when they were with Leila and Eve than alone with each other).

His own fingers would find the back of Algie's neck, brushing against the soft hair there (as they were next to one another) idly without thought. At least until Leila was sliding a birth certificate forward and he was leaning to pick it up. Jeremiah did not pale but, at least for the moment, he could not find the words to respond.

Especially given that-

And it was a live birth-

A wide array of feelings flickered and flared through him, and present company meant some of it showed while he was processing this (and Algie, who he had his hand on, certainly felt it).

iloveyouDIE

cibarium

 

[iloveyouDIE]

There was a boost in his social circle after everything had come to pass but Algie had a hard time complaining because it seemed he had good taste in friends no matter what version of the world it was. That Eve and Leila were neighbors was simply a pleasant and convenient revelation. Catching up had been rather easy considering Alg now saw Eve nearly every day when he popped into Equinox.

The professor was settled in against his husband's side, his wine glass just set down on the table so he could take a look at the file with Jeremiah. He could feel the other's feelings, his own surprise echoed, but both of them had different ideas about Ezra - all of them did - and Alg was much better at keeping his expression passive and nearly unaffected.

Only Jeremiah may have known his personal issues with parenthood and this new world seemed to have decided to throw that in his face from all directions.

He took a breath, let it out audibly, and after a purse of the lips asked his first question in a measured tone, "How.. are you both? With this?"

azuredreams

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila's eyes widened in a way that suggested Algie had asked the worst possible question. She shrank back a fraction of an inch into the plush comfort of the couch while Eve smoothed her long, long hair (until recently she rarely wore it down, and the fact it grew down past her waist might have been a surprise to see). They both knew the husbands especially had good reasons to be angry with Ezra, and they weren't the only people he'd hurt. The fact Leila had grown so attached to her son so quickly was filling her with guilt.

Eve squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and drew in a deep breath, thinking. Then she answered, "I don't think we're ready to answer that, Algie, not to begin with. I'm sorry."

"It was in my desk when we all got back, the..."

Leila pointed wordlessly at the folder. "Eve found him... in the library, a little over a week ago. On this side. He studies music here, and he looks..."

"Like Leila," Eve finished. "He looks so much like Leila."

All this relatively mundane information probably told Algernon plenty, especially with how neither wife could keep her voice steady while talking about their son. In addition, the fact Ezra looked like anyone at all was a clear implication he was no longer on fire.

azuredrams

iloveyodie

 

[azuredreams]

There were many reasons that Jeremiah had trouble talking about Ezra, even with Algie, and some of them stemmed from his lack of true anger towards him. Perhaps it had been because of the time he had spent in his household or perhaps it had been some kind of subtle manipulation. Whatever it was, Jeremiah was left largely conflicted when it came to Ezra and his feelings mixed (though there was his own level of guilt because of Algie's feelings towards the man and his own lack of anger).

Algie's calm kept him from sinking too far away, as well as kept him from growing cold. Trust his husband to be able to ask the question he was likely to ask himself though he knew it would likely hurt to ask. The pairs were not far away from one another and Jeremiah, having slipped closer to Algie's side (needing too), leaned forward and offered a hand out towards Leila to take. Comfort freely given when he could hear the quiver in both their voices but it was likely hitting her hardest at the moment.

"Noe-" He stopped himself, not quite ready to talk about that- not yet but it would likely come up over the course of the evening. "The Sorrowful One said he was missing, gone from the Court, so I suppose that explains where he disappeared too." His gaze turned towards Eve. "How is he?"

... because that was a question that was possibly easier to answer when there were so many tougher ones that might come up.

iloveyouDIE

cibarium

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Algernon was probably the only one in the room who didn't have a single fondness for Ezra. He had no twisted loyalty issues or imposed familial connection to him. Being Leila and Eve's son didn't make him any less the Burning Man.. though perhaps the lack of fire was the only thing that could trick him.

If the changes, the new world, had changed him perhaps he could change his mind but for now all he could think was that Leila and Eve discovered they had a son - and he was a supervillain. He certainly didn't expect them to be fine about any of it.

He was quiet for now, leaving Jeremiah to inquire, mostly thinking that unexpected parenthood was something he was entirely too familiar with... but they could get to that later.

azuredreams

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila wasn't used to being a telepath while stressed. The moment she accepted Jeremiah's hand he would get a stack of emotions shoving themselves into his brain like a bite of chocolate cake that had too much frosting and was far too rich -- she felt guilty, she felt unsure, she wanted to see Ezra again -- scraps of memory flooded in too, showing his face and his hair and his burns and his hands and his voice

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With a small gasp of embarassment, she quickly pulled her hand back away.

He really did look like Leila, barely even as tall as her, with bits of Eve in his hair and browline. Without the constant fire obscuring his features, he looked lost and uncomfortable instead of confident and intimidating, or at least that was how Leila felt.

"He's traumatized," Eve answered. It was probably the last word Algernon wanted to hear to describe someone like Ezra, but it was true. "And unsure of himself. He believes Sunny..." She paused to compose herself, a rare sight from her.

"Ezra ruined his friendship with Sunny when he asked her to bring us back to life. He also told us she kills anyone he befriends, and... being caged by the new sigil will only make her angrier, at everyone. He thinks we're all in danger from her."

azurereams

iloveouDIE

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah had known it was a potential risk but had reached for Leila anyway, knowing that somehow faintly she might feel something from him. That she was not hated or anything of the like in regards to this new revelation. Except that instead, he found himself sucking in a sharp breath as the scraps of memories settled themselves into his mind.

What had only been a scant few seconds felt far longer. His fingers ended up closed in mid-air once Leila pulled back, Jeremiah blinking and sinking back against Algie as he pressed a hand to his face.

"It-" he started, a face made as the scent of clementine lingered, and then took a deep breath to dismiss it. "It's fine- I'm fine." Though this was said just as much for himself as it was for both Algie and Leila. Still, he had not expected to see Ezra, to hear his voice but have it not be what he knew it to be. This was not Father, this was-

"... he's so young," he said a moment later, after Eve finished talking, "and not at all-" Imposing. Tall. The image of the Burning Man in his mind did not mesh at all with what Leila had inadvertently shown him. Another shake of his head and he was clearing his thoughts.

"I would believe that, all things considered," his own interactions with Sunny, never mind Ezra's actions when he first met him made more sense with that information, "and that she likely doesn't like being caged anymore than her father does. I just don't know that she's the same as she was before but she's still dangerous."

Then, he was quiet a moment. "... and I can understand him going to great lengths to save his mothers." How far would he go for Algie? For Zac?

cibarium

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

ALg's face hardened, lips forming a thin line of disapproval when Jeremiah gasped and it was obvious something had passed between them. He couldn't help feeling how he did about it, feeling protective of his husband's mind after all that had happened to Jeremiah mentally - often without his own consent. Alg was the one who had to calm him, soothe him, and deal with the aftermath of pushed upon thoughts and emotions.

It wasn't that he believed that Leila had done anything improper, especially not while in a mixed up emotional place, he just couldn't help his own reaction to it.

Alg's hands went to Jeremiah's his own presence working to soothe the shock of things, and still felt out of his depth to comment on Ezra as a person at all.

"Sunny has been on our list-" He glanced at Jeremiah before back at the women, "-for a while. She came up at the Ball as well to be sacrificed.. But we saw her break. How do we know something like that won't happen again?"

azuredreams

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"We don't," said Eve, in response to Algernon. "The new principals would know more, if I'm correctly understanding how the magic behind the sigil works."

Leila had an apologetic face on since she'd broken contact with Jeremiah, and Algernon's look of disapproval had caused it to intensify enough for her to fidget a little along with it. "I should probably explain what just happened with Jer," she said, after Eve was finished. "It's new magic stuff again, basically telepathy that works best when I'm touching someone. So when I took his hand, I dropped a whole memory about Ezra on him. By accident." God, she felt like a huge tool. "I... lost my grip, I guess. I'm sorry. Probably should start warning people or something."

iloveyoudie

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah squeezed Algie's hand, his own feelings a jumble at the moment though they would even out with the other's influence and he continued to sort through what he had just picked up. He sunk just a touch more against Algie's side before he sat back up a bit more properly (though now he remained closer than before).

Especially when Leila was explaining. Some part of him wanted to open his mouth, to explain that he was fine and it was fine, but the words were thick on his tongue with the scent of clementine lingering still.

"You're still learning control and I really should have been more cautious myself." It was not entirely unlike Algie's own magic putting his feelings on display and affecting Jeremiah. The magic was not intentional and it was, for both Algie and now Leila, a loss of privacy and boundaries (even if it was alright to have shared).

Another breath was released before he continued. "I've also spoken with two of the principals and, so far as I can tell, a lot of what has changed was not expected or at all in line with what they wanted. Sunny has been caged, however, and while that stabilized her ..." Fingers flexed in and out of Algie's grip before closing around the others tightly. "It doesn't necessarily ensure that everything will be alright. Instead we've been left with possibility and we've got to seize it before time runs out."

iloveyouDIE

cibarium

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg just squeezed Jeremiah's hand and stayed close. He had nothing for Leila's explanation. His expression said it all. It wasn't his place either to say 'it was alright' and judging by Jeremiah's lack of formulating words on the matter, it wasn't actually totally alright.

Like everything he was uncomfortable with, Algernon simply moved along.

"What's our time frame?" Alg glanced at his husband, "And what happens if we reach the end with no conclusion?"

azuredreams

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"And who did you learn this from?" asked Eve, cautious but not disbelieving. The fairy ball was long over (if it technically even happened in this new world), but there were still personal agendas everywhere.

iloveyoudie

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Liam Noor," Jeremiah replied, glancing towards his husband and then back towards Leila and Eve. "I had a meeting with him earlier and was told that we have until the last months of the year to put this all to rest."

His hands closed tightly around Algie's for a moment before he continued. "While I don't doubt he has his own agenda," given who he was and who his husband was, "that information is something I have no doubt is true. If we reach that point with no conclusion, no resolution, then everything resets once more. It will be the twentieth cycle."

cibarium

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg made a huffing sound, readjusting how he was sitting a moment and shaking his head.

"And Sunny is their daughter-" Since children seemed to be a point here, of contention or otherwise, "I doubt he and Renard want anything to happen to her, obviously. And it was made a point at the ball if I remember."

azuredreams

cibarium