[PRP] lost pride (jamie & jeremiah & pridey)

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah rolled his shoulders, sitting on a park bench and waiting for Jamie. There had been a string of texts between, a conversation about going to other ashdown and looking for a very, very particular individual.

One that Jamie had seen the most, if one counted the night of Blackfriars. With everything that was going on, it was important that they went looking for Pride ... Part of why he wanted to have Jamie around was that he was a moonwalker but the other part was that he knew the young man was trying to do more, just like Shiloh. To not involve either of them, to let them drift, was wrong and a disservice.

He was on his phone while he waited, a text sent to Algie to let him know he'd be going to other ashdown as soon as Jamie arrived.

xsaedusk

pride hunt 2k17 go!!!

 

[saedusk]

There were a lot of things Jamie didn't know. The topics varied—Other Ashdown, magic, himself. The list went on and on, and though he tried to learn as much as he could, he'd given up on the idea that he'd ever be fully in the know. He'd take it one step at a time, though. When an opportunity presented itself, he'd reach out and grab it.

"Jeremiah!" he called, breathless as he jogged over. "Sorry I'm late, the bus was running slow." He adjusted the pink and blue polka dot backpack he wore today. It was a better fit for an adventure, he thought, less likely to catch on things than a shoulder bag.

Finding the Prideful One... it wasn't something Jamie would've thought to try on his own, but there was no denying his interest in the idea.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

A hand was raised in greeting, Jeremiah blinking and shaking his head with a wry smile. At himself. "You know, I could've just come and got you. That probably would've been smarter. I'm sorry, Jamie." Which was obviously code for don't worry about running late. It was never a thing.

"Besides, we're not really on a schedule with what we're about to do." He gestured for him to Jamie to come closer, checking the satchel on his side for a moment before he looked back to him. "Just need you close to me, if you don't mind terribly, and I can take us both over there."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"Honestly," he started with a small laugh, "I'm so used to taking the bus I do it out of habit, but, um, I have a car in this world. I could've driven myself." Well, it was their car, as in his and Shiloh's, but he was the only one who actually knew how to use the license he had at this point. "No worries, though, I kinda think it's better I leave on my own. My parents know what I am, but I don't think they know the full extent of who I know and what I do."

Without hesitation, he stepped closer to Jeremiah. Traveling to the Otherworld was commonplace at this point. It was a lot like walking through a regular old revolving door.

"I'm ready whenever you are."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Well, I meant meet closer," Jeremiah chuckled. "I may be Chief of Police but that likely wouldn't make it any less odd to be seen meeting you and then disappearing." Thankfully he had picked a deserted area that they were in and doing this would not be seen.

Not that he wasn't surveying the area regardless, Jeremiah's odd eyes looking looking around for anything or anyone. Satisfied, he nodded and focused on a place in other ashdown not that far from the department; the street that lead towards the college.

For Jamie it would be just a blink, a breath taken, and they were there.

His shoulders rolled and he took a step away to look around. "Now," he said looking towards Jamie, "we can get started."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"Wow, we're in a completely different place. I wasn't expecting that." For a second, Jamie turned to survey the area. It was familiar in the way the Otherworld often was, but on top of that it was a street he recognized from back home, too. "At least it's not raining."

Looking up at Jer, both hands gripped on the straps of his backpack, he smiled sheepishly.

"I'm ready," he said, puffing up. It didn't do much, he still looked just as small, but small and determined. That counted, right?

azuredreams

sorry 4 the wait

 

[azuredreams]

"The normal weather here is nice though it's a bit strange considering it had rained for so long ..." Jeremiah thought, for a moment, of those notes in the artbook - of the artist - and first and second moonrise.

"It is nice," he agreed, looking around. "I suppose we can let our feet lead us for a bit. Instinct is often a good thing to follow here. So let's head out ..." Jeremiah's head tilted and smiled at Jamie as they started walking. Honestly, the readiness of the other was, quite honestly, adorable but also showed how far he had come from when they had first met.

saedusk

shibrogane

one precious child following their feet and instinct to maybe find pride and one old gay doing the same (it is not as precious)

 

[shibrogane]

Pridey was an unknown. There was neither a link in name nor a link of the heart to guide them, only the deer triplet's obnoxious declaration of leadership to the moonwalkers, his appearance at the ball. Jamie followed his gut, his instincts, towards the old monolith that was Blackfriars Library: the place where the pack had first transformed.

The place had been destroyed, books shredded apart, shelves scarred.

In the center of this destruction, in its very epicenter, was Pridey. His pale shoulders heaved in the watery sunlight, ash-brown hair hanging in his face.

azuredreams

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

It made sense solely because, aside from Court, this was the only place Jamie had ever met the Prideful One. The meeting had been short, and he couldn't say he knew a damn thing about him, but what little help they'd gotten from his guidance was enough to make him curious. It was enough that he thought about Pridey from time to time. It was enough that he truly appreciated Jeremiah's request for him to come along.

What he expected to find, he wasn't sure, but honestly it wasn't this.

The light of adventure faded from his eyes, replaced with worry, and his heart heaved a thud in his chest as he took those first few tentative steps forward into the mess. "Are you okay?!" he called to Pridey, then turned to Jeremiah and said, "W-What the heck happened?" before stumbling over the wreckage toward the center.

azuredreams

shibrogane

 

[azuredreams]

Blackfriars in other ashdown was not a location Jeremiah had been- ever. It was a place shrouded in mystery and one he had not touched, so stepping into it was something else. More so as they went deeper and discovered Pridey at the epicenter of destruction.

With the heave of his shoulders, Jeremiah had a thought, but he wouldn't consider it to be truth. Instead he shook his head at Jamie. "I'm not sure but we'll find out hopefully ..." A hand reached out to steady Jamie, to make sure he did not stumble and fall as he followed him over to the epicenter and Pridey.

There was no need to ask anything else right now, the initial question of if Pridey was alright was the most obvious and asked. Though Jeremiah was looking the most mysterious of the deer triplets over for anything that looked like obvious injury.

saedusk

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Pridey looked up. He had a delicate face, thin high bones, looked more like a bird than a stag as a human being. There was something familiar about him, like he was someone they had seen somewhere before. "Don't," he croaked, and his voice was higher in timbre than it had been. It lacked resonance. It was disappointingly human. "Don't come any closer. I can't control it."

saedusk

azuredreams

 

[saedusk]

The look stopped Jamie in his tracks before even the warning did. Something about him was familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on what. It was the urgency of the moment that made it too difficult to focus on figuring it out.

"What...?" he said, almost a whisper. "What," this time louder, "Can't control what? Is... is there anything we can do?"

Whatever Pridey couldn't control, Jamie had to assume it had something to do with what had happened here. Blackfriars, what was left of it, was worse for wear. Magic of some sort was his first thought, the obvious thought, and he looked to Jeremiah as if for support before looking at Pridey again.

"Can't you... just believe you can?"

azuredreams

shibrogane

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah's head tilted, a hand resting on Jamie and taking a small step to where he was closer and the teenager not the closest. He, so far as he knew, was mostly damage proof.

"The magic ... may not be responding or listening to him," he replied. "Noeh was without her magic and Pax is in worse shape. There's been a shift, not just because of the change in Principals but with one of the new Principals ..." The change in Principals meant that they were no longer powered by the same things? He was not entirely sure, it was something that they were doing

His shoulders roll, fingers twitching lightly but still reassuringly squeezing on Jamie's shoulder.

saedusk

shibroswol

 

[shibrogane]

"That works for humans," said Pridey, "But I'm not! I haven't been for centuries!"

He covered his chest with an arm--whatever had happened, he'd completely lost his clothes--and said, "Noeh is DIFFERENT. I'm older than she is by centuries, everything's--atrophied--"

saedusk

azuredreams

 

[saedusk]

Jamie didn't want it to seem like he was hiding, like he was afraid. A little fear was healthy, but what guided him now was concern and nothing else. Still, he didn't fight it when Jeremiah stepped in front of him, and instead assured Pridey, "I... won't come any closer if you don't want me to." Even if Jamie wanted to, even if it felt like the right thing to do.

"Is this... really because the principals are different?" he asked. Jeremiah hadn't elaborated on what else he may have meant and it left Jamie feeling confused. Was Pridey wasting away because the magic was different? And Pax, too? Why then was Noeh presumably alright sans magic? Not understanding was as uncomfortable as it had always been.

"Is there a way to stop this?" he asked Pridey then, his voice lightly wavering. For a brief moment he remembered his conversation with Renard, how he'd been told about the stone's use and how it could gather data to create a new spell over time. Was fixing something like this a possibility?

azuredreams

shibrogane