[?] Atavist (Horace)

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I know," he said. "I'll have to make her a cake or something in apology. But, I figured you of all people would understand - 'I was taught that I should think before trusting something with my living body.'" Even through his anxiety, he'd taken such thorough notes.

"And I don't know you, but I know Silk. I'm also pretty sure you didn't actually want to talk about how Melany is at all."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"You're the first one to object on that account," said Ezra thoughtfully, but his stare was still too ******** bright, too yellow. "No. That Melany isn't my Melany. And some version of you contributed to that. So I don't feel too terribly bad about telling you that I have no problem with killing you and taking your thumbprint once your consent has become immaterial."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"You're an alien," he said slowly. "You hopped over with the rest and that's why you don't care about her, even thought she's hopeless over you." Horace wasn't actually too thrilled about being told he could be killed. It wasn't the first time he'd been told that and... comparatively, Ezra was a lot less frightening. It didn't mean he particularly wanted to die, though.

"So you don't give a s**t about Melany." His voice was hard. "Then what are you doing? This isn't about her, isn't about the charter. I'm gonna ******** save her, so what're you trying to do?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"If I tell you, will you sign the Charter? It's fairly sensitive information, so if I'm not going to get what I need from it, I'd like to avoid sharing it."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace chewed his lip, thinking. He sighed, and finally spoke. "Okay."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra smiled. The burns were still spreading. "A long, long, long time ago, there was a boy," he said. "A sad, lonely boy. The woman he loved was dead. He knew it; the woman he knew would have never lifted a hand to him, and this thing wearing her face had tortured him and taken pleasure in it. And she had written his name into the book of life, so that he would never die, and he could never leave her. But where her changes had made her immune to the tides of time, they wore away at him. He tried to build a family; he failed. He tried to find purpose in the role she had created for him: consort, seneschal, steward of her lands. But he couldn't.

"She promised him that she would love him forever and treat him with kindness, but she lied; and as his grip on the world around him failed, I came. I said, entrust to me your soul and all your darkness will be loved and your pain made sacrament; when fire drowns all else you will stand ascendant, my son, my heir. And he--"

Ezra paused, cocked his head to the side. "Am I boring you?"

The Semblance of Unity

just breakin it up in case u got questions or smth

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He watched the burns crawl across Ezra's face. Spread and stretch - there was something terrible inside of him, and Horace couldn't say he blamed it for existing. Of course the Spinel Lady had lied, they always lied, that was how they'd been made to be but... but Melany wasn't the Spinel Lady. There was a divorce there that hadn't existed before and he had to hold onto it.

"No," he said. "Far from it. An heir?" Horace took a deep breath and waited.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"An heir," repeated Ezra.

"So I gave him back his mind. He ticked on. Year after year after year. His mothers died. His lover was gone. He built a family for something to rely on. He looked at all of your fine little faces, all of you free of brains and empty-hearted, and he tried, and he gave over more and more of himself to me until there was nothing left at all but the Burning Man.

"Then they tore their otherworld away from the world they'd broken and attached it to your world, your world where nothing was wrong, where the Cage had never been, and the remnants of him tried to replace the man in his place; and I came along with him; and as they say, darkness and blood and the red death followed after.

"What I want from this, my dear boy, is to disconnect myself from this boy. I made no deal with Ezra Fitzpatrick. My deal was made with Ezra the noble. I can only free myself and the boy while the Charter is broken. All I need is time. Won't you do that for him? For her?"

Ezra smiled, slowly. Or maybe that was just his lips peeling back in the heat. "For your father? I could tell you who he is. Where he's been. I know many things."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"So wh-" He paused, swallowed. His father? Supposedly his eyes came from his dad, although Horace wouldn't know. He only had snippets and the mutterings of his grandmother to go by. And she''d hated whatever presence his father had in his mom's life. But there were more important things at stake than knowledge of the past.

"So, who are you? And... and what kind of magic are you trying to do exactly, anyway?" Now that Ezra-not-Ezra seemed to have finished telling part of his story, Horace found himself teeming with questions. ********, he'd have to tell Melany that this Ezra wasn't hers. "We... don't have time. We... if I give you what you want, how does this affect Ezra Fitzpatrick, what does it do to the noble version? What..." The burning thing wanted to be freed...

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I'm Ezra," said Ezra. "I'm who I have been for thousands of years."

He shrugged. "Ezra Fitzpatrick gets his life back. I get to go about my life in the otherworld, doing exactly what Lord Ezra wanted, fulfilling my purpose as a guardian between worlds.

"I fulfilled my half of the bargain." He produced the Charter page. "Now you'll fulfill yours."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"You weren't... you weren't Ezra in the beginning. You just said that. You're something else he made a deal with." Horace looked distrustfully between the Charter and 'Ezra.'.

"How is this going to ******** with Melany?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It won't," said Ezra. "Are you a liar? Breaking an oath made in the Court has consequences, Horace."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He took a deep breath. "Grant that I may never prove so fond to trust a man on oath or bond." Then Horace paused. "Tell me truthfully that this will not affect the dissembling and recreation of the Charter, that it won't affect Melany."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"This will not affect the dissembling and recreation of the nobles' Charter, and it won't affect Melany Dubhslaine, the host of the Spinel Lady," said Ezra.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Okay," he said. "I hope you find your peace - all three of you. But if you've lied to me here, I will find a way in every cycle to undo everything you've ever done. I don't want to disbelieve you, of course." He shrugged, the corners of his mouth tightening. Magic was believing and Horace was completely serious. He held out his hand.

"Take what you need. So, what d'you know about my dad?"

shibrogane