[prp] boy these family lines sure are tangled (moms + ezra)

[shibrogane]

"All of it," said Ezra. "The existence of the otherworld was predicated on the old sigil." He looked down at Leila's hands around his. "I'm not sure how to explain what the triplets were. Are. But they're just as important, if not more so, as the principals."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

In spite of the loose grip, Leila didn't seem intent on letting go of Ezra's hand anytime soon. She still didn't have much to say -- because there were too many things she wanted to ask, and had no idea where to begin, and none of them had anything to do with the current topic anyway.

"So both sets of three represent magic in some way?" Eve guessed. "Do the triplets have a sigil of their own, or something like it?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra shook his head. "They were bonded with the principals. They represent nothing--they simply are magic, as far as I know."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Bonded?"

It was Leila who'd asked. Ezra would receive a very cute memory of a fluffy baby Biscuit as unintentional context: like a warg does?

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra's brow furrowed. He looked a lot like Eve when she was confused.

"No," he said. "It's likely closer to an undeath bond, where one party offers up their lifespan for another's. I'm not sure. I've never had a chance to ask."

A pause. Then: "You warged a chicken?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

The question made Leila crack a bashful smile as she finally released Ezra's hand and rested her own flat against the table. "I did," she admitted. "I-I wasn't planning to. It's really the familiar who chooses you."

Eve affectionately moved some of Leila's hair behind an ear as she thought. "Packmates have something like a bond too. And then Nobles have their tithes and fetches... it seems magic in general is built on bonds and sacrifice."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Isn't everything?" Ezra fussed with his book again. He seemed to have a hard time making eye contact when he wasn't actively on fire. The burn scar that crept up towards his ear was very shiny and angry-red even in the library's antiseptic white lights. "I've never known anything that wasn't built on a relationship or a sacrifice or a deal."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Ezra..."

Eve's voice was colored slightly by the tone she used for the Spektor twins and her Pack, which she wouldn't even notice until much later -- and by that point she would pay it no mind. She was always quick to form attachments. It was impossible not to develop feelings for someone she was seeing so much of Leila in. Scooting closer, she mimicked her wife's actions and reached out to gently inspect a hand herself. Her approach was less fidgety than Leila's, though, simply holding it still and looking down at it as if it were a book.

shibrogane

come here you big sad crankyface

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra didn't seem comfortable with being held still in any way, but he acquiesced to it. "I haven't," he said, defensively. "It's easier in the Court, you know what it is they expect of you, you know what you have to do." He was looking down at her hand in his as he spoke. "I've never been good at people. In the end it was always easier to force them to comply. I've been at this for most of my life, you know, I know that, that if Jeremiah isn't pushed he won't move, and if I get too close to anyone, then they die. Sunny makes sure of it."

Sitting quietly and letting Ezra talk always has worked pretty well. It's not surprising that this is the most informative he's ever been.

"Being on fire helped," he said. "It's going to be harder to do what I have to do now."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve's expression had darkened a bit the very second Jeremiah's name was mentioned. He was kind of right, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to stay angry about what he did.

"What do you have to do?" Leila asked quietly. The ominous way Ezra was speaking was, to put it bluntly, seriously creeping her out.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra looked up then, with an expression like he'd just seen someone jaywalk across three lanes of traffic. "Stay away from people," he said. "Not care. I told you: Sunny kills anyone I befriend."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Sunny was the Fourth," Eve said, slowly -- at the same time she gave Ezra's hand room to move or slip away if he wanted. "For the new sigil."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Do you think that matters?" Ezra did pull away. He pushed his chair back and got up to pace. "Do you think you changed her fundamental nature? She was a being created to cage others. It started with the Enemy--a stupid name--and it stretched out to me, to Jeremiah, to you, and it won't stop until she's dead or the whole construct is destroyed. Her base nature is control." So was his, but he wasn't the topic at hand; Ezra knew what he was, had explained it, and now was explaining Sunny as well. "Rebranding doesn't change the product! Putting her in a cage doesn't change her nature, it changes the manifestation of it, and she will not appreciate it."

He looked back at his mothers, having come to a stop.

"You, and everyone who changed this world, are in grave danger from her," he said. "I don't intend to add to it."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve heaved a deep breath that was a somewhat evident attempt to cover a sigh as Ezra paced before them, agitated -- he was acting so much like half her blood relatives it was actually making her tense up. Now the family ties rubbed up against her like sandpaper, and it was showing in her face.

"I didn't know whether that would make a difference," she quietly replied, too late for it to matter.

For a minute or two it was unpleasantly quiet. Leila kept her eyes on the table, a defeated look creeping into her face and wilting her posture.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"If all she wanted was to be free," said Ezra, calming just a little, "if that was all she wanted, I would give that to her. If I could." He took a deep breath, but his face in his hands. His right hand was an awful mottled mass of burn scars. He'd mostly kept it tucked up to his chest throughout their conversation. The reason why might have been obvious: even if he was no longer on fire, he still wasn't easy on the eyes. "I don't want to hurt you," he said. "I don't know how to make you understand. She's not a child. She's a, a magical construct, in the same way the deer triplets are. Except the deer triplets had a base in a living human, and she doesn't. The sigil created her out of whole cloth."

He said, "I don't know what to do."

cibarium