[PRP] all these things (aleksy & jeremiah)

[shibrogane]

"It is sarcasm," said Aleksy. "I am at least an oracular corpse." He raised his eyebrows. "Were you and other Aleksy not this way?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"No," Jeremiah replied. "He was-" His lips pressed together. "Not comfortable with it, struggled with it."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"With touching people?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"We used to be like this," his voice was low, "but then- No, he was not as comfortable with being touched or touching. Not after he got back from that house."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"The mirror place," said Aleksy. "All of the monsters in the reflections. I remember."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Yes." Here Jeremiah looked away while his hand ended up curling around Aleksy's foot without thought, a thumb pressed to the ball of it lightly. "He went missing after the Blackfriars incident. I came to talk to him but found the house empty, Laika fretting, and the bathroom mirror broken. There was blood." He had been worried; scared on some level.

"I found him later, back home, but the mirrors were all covered. He had just recently gotten back. He said he died in there, so I curled my fingers around his wrist," for those he cared about it was a habit to check their pulse; to assure himself they were alive and real, "but found no pulse. There wasn't one until he inadvertently fed on me and that's when we realized just how changed he was.

"It's part of why he didn't want to be touched or touch." It had made his chest ache. It still did. "He did not want to hurt people he cared about." Aleksy had been working on it, learning himself all over again. "Even if we were willing." Jeremiah looked back at Aleksy, something in his eyes as he looked him over. "So, yes, we were close but that was when things started to change and I lost things like this." His thumb pressed again to the ball of Aleksy's foot as if to illustrate that Jeremiah was tactile with those he was truly close with.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Yes," said Aleksy, very quietly. "It was terrifying. All those people who were not me. They spoke with my voice. They reminded me of things that were not true. How I wanted to be free And when they offered me a chance to be free of my fear of death, I took it." He picked at the fabric of his jeans, dug his nails in between the weave. "Stupid. I am sure... Finn must have looked at me."

"For me," he said, quieter.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"At you?" Jeremiah looked towards Aleksy, wondering until he adjusted. "He told me similar, how he saw things."

His fingers squeezed around an ankle before he let go and reached for Aleksy's hand. To stop the hand from picking at the fabric, from digging his nails. "Saw things in there that-" A shake of his head. "Finn cares about you greatly. I'm glad you have him."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy said, "You know I am confused sometimes with my English." He let Jeremiah take his bare hand, but there was no feeling of draining energy. There was, instead, a strange feeling of euphoria--a brief moment where all Jeremiah could feel was happiness--before Aleksy pulled away. "That is a dangerous thing to do," he said. "I do not mind it. But it is dangerous."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Another different detail." Aleksy, the Aleksy he had known, had spoken English well. (Okay, it wasn't perfect but then again this Jeremiah, not the one that was gone, spoke Russian far, far better. Maybe it was a trade off.) His eyes widened, were even brighter for a moment, as the feeling of happiness hit. It made him suck in a breath and shake his head.

That he felt it was not so surprising but that Aleksy triggered it was. Finding himself dealing with outside emotions was familiar territory.

"That-" he started, letting out the breath. "That's very different." His hand fell back to Aleksy's sock covered foot. "I did not know you could do that." Then again, this was an Aleksy who was seemingly comfortable with what had become of him.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It happen when I am not eating," said Aleksy. "I do not know why. If I am hungry and abstain, it is stronger. Finnsha thinks the point is, make people want to touch me." He scowled. "Not my favorite."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah made a face, one that Aleksy was probably familiar with. The one that was a mix of protective and not at all happy that he had to deal with something that- Well, Jeremiah remembered the other Aleksy, the one he had known, having rather died than fed on someone.

That his magic did something that made it easier would have made it that much worse.

"I usually ended up sleepy, though it ... never hurt. I felt lethargic. The first time it happened it ended up making me sleep for a few hours but he had just gotten home from that place and was starving." Another small frown. "He sat on my chest to make sure I wouldn't try something stupid like get up." Mostly due to the fact he would have probably just face planted onto the ground. The memory made him smile just a lttle bit.

His finger tapped against Aleksy's ankle (like it was an old and familiar gesture). "Lisichya? There's something I want to ask you about. Another thing that's different and should know about."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"We will butter that bridge when we arrive at it," said Aleksy. "For now, I am quite well fed. I am also sure I would do the same."

He tilted his head. "What is it?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah's lips twitched. No comment about that idiom, just because it was so uniquely Aleksy that he couldn't help but appreciate it. "Of course you would. I'm sure you're well educated in the ways that Jeremiah Mercer tends to not always look out for himself and will not put up with it."

He went quiet a moment as Aleksy's head tilted. "It's about Minerva, my half-sister. Piers and my mother never divorced," they were married until he died," which had not even been ten years ago yet, "so I am not even entirely sure she was born." A breath escaped. "If there's anyone who I would've talked about her with, it's you."

Since no matter the Jeremiah, Aleksy was trusted.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"She was born," said Aleksy, a little grimly. "I think she is dead. You did not think so. What about her do you want to know."

azuredreams