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

[cibarium]

Leila had returned to the couch and, as Jeremiah and Algernon spoke, slumped down against Eve to rest her head on her shoulder. Her expression dimmed a bit at Algernon's words. She wondered if he'd think the same of Ezra, if Ezra had never caused anyone harm at all.

"They're all fundamentally human," Eve offered, honestly unsure if that made a difference.

azuredreams

iloveyouDIE

 

[azuredreams]

"They all were, each of them, at one point human. The magic changes you after so much time on the other side but humanity remains under it all." Jeremiah glanced towards Eve and Leila, this a topic that was constantly on his mind (given the changes he had gone through; his eyes that were no longer the same as a normal human's).

"While things have changed, while there's a place for Ezra now ..." His expression looked dark a moment, distant. "What was possible then is not possible now. Not for them, at least not that Noeh thinks. It was not as if-" He glanced towards Algie, fingers squeezing. Jeremiah had offered to Noeh- to give her a home if it could be done.

iloveyouDIE

cibarium

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Algie felt very suddenly like the least forgiving, as well as least giving, person in the room. He was not as quick to offer his life, his home, his emotions to anyone no matter what their claims of relation from another cycle.. another world.. another version of himself. The shock was there, the moments of regret and contemplation, but when it boiled down Algernon didn't believe he owed anyone anything.

"We can debate the nature of humanity all day long.." Alg sighed. A human could kill, could be an awful person, and not deserve the rights as someone who wasn't as 'human' by blood. Behavior dictated humanity. Nothing else in his mind.

"All I'm saying is that some of this is beyond us. Beyond our grasp. And it's not always our responsibility to pick up someone else's - even other versions of ourselves - failures."

Jeremiah could surely feel his discomfort, his stubbornness about having responsibilities and relations thrust upon him that he didn't want, ask or do anything to acquire. Noeh could be something to them but... she wasn't exactly being helpful, wasn't open to helping them out beyond riddles, and when it boiled down.. the connection was to different them. Ones that didn't exist anymore.

azuredreams

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Yeah, this a difficult topic," Leila admitted with a small humbled smile. "Sorry, I didn't bring it up because I wanted to start a big debate." Goodness knows they had all already experienced enough of those. "We can drop it if that's easier."

She was leaning into Eve so bodily that the were-fox had pulled her arm around the other woman in a more proper embrace.

azuredreams

iloveyouDIE

 

[azuredreams]

"Something like that," Jeremiah said softly, fingers smoothing along Algie's hand idly. He was, perhaps, too giving and soft and it was the counterpoint to Algie's stance. The same stance that helped him stay grounded and not sink too deeply, though he inherently believed that when he went searching for the answers, he would find them.

That Noeh would help as she had done before with Algie's grimoire and the shawl, though he was still not quite sure of it's purpose. There was understanding in his touch to Algie's hand, as well as a little guilt (but that was always there, always), before he tangled their fingers together.

"What matters is that we fix things, including the mistakes of the past, because it's the only way to see ourselves forward. We may have to look into this undeath bond that they had in the past, if it's affecting things now. There's that rot on the trees in the forest and I'm not exactly wanting to see reality fall apart again." Since strange things like that had started the dominos last time.

iloveyouDIE

cibarium

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"I'm not exactly sure where we are supposed to look anymore.." Alg sighed. He felt Jeremiah's unease, felt his guilt and his hope at the same time. Jeremiah had hope when he didn't.

"We could possibly reach out to Finn abotu the forest. See if anything else strange is going on. And perhaps we should investigate it on the other side. Has anyone tried to visit Heliodora's demesne since..?" Since she died.

He remembered her pool, how she would never leave it. He wondered if it had greater significance or if the demesne, with her not there, also disappeared.

azuredreams

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila shook her head in response to Algernon asking about Heliodora, and then sighed in frustration. "There's too much to do." They'd been wrestling with all this for almost a year, and it felt like they were right back to not knowing anything. "And now we have a deadline."

"It'll get written down and done," Eve assured. "That's one habit everyone needs to start. When I see Renard I'll record as much as I can. It'll help to have that notebook open, too."

azuredreams

iloveyouDIE

 

[azuredreams]

"It isn't there anymore. The spot remains but the mangroves and the pool are no more. Aside from what we know of them, what remains of their presence in other ashdown, it is effectively as if they did not exist." Jeremiah's arm slipped after one more squeeze to Algie's hand to go around his husband and tug him closer.

He had a need at the moment.

"I'm doing what I can and speaking with everyone that has some kind of knowledge. I don't want to see this happen anymore- another cycle or more bad ends." His lips twitched a little at what Eve said. "I don't think that getting it written down will necessarily be an issue for anyone present but our, ah, younger generation? That might be a different beast. Though once you speak to Renard, I would like to hear what he has to say.

"Liam says it was all him, that he kept everything close. The magic that they were attempting grew beyond them and that is part of what lead to all of this."

cibarium

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg adjusted for Jeremiah's arm around him and shifted closer to his husband. He still seeked his fingers with his own once they curled around him. At the mention of writing Alg patted his pocket. He always carried a minimum of 2 books at any given moment, one of which was a notebook and the other his grimoire.

"I just can't help but think they've got to have more help for us... considering they did this." He wasn't sure both of those men were on the same page. How did they all go from dreading the invisible Enemy... to this?

azuredreams

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Eve snickered at Jeremiah's snide remark on The Youth. Instead of interrupting the flow of conversation directly, she slyly set down her wine glass on the end table and swiped out a text message:

azuredreams

The kids will be fine.

If anything it was a sign of how much more at ease she and Leila had gotten as the conversation grew farther and farther from Ezra. That topic was almost more complicated than the whole mystery everyone had gotten pulled into.

"Wish we'd gotten more from the old principals first," said Leila glumly. "Now it's like they never existed."

iloveyouDIE

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah snorted as his phone buzzed, pulling it out and reading it before he swyped out a quick response. (Alg got a slight nudge, the phone visible as they were practically laying across each other, because it was funny.)

cibariumx

but will they really, eve, will they? they don't even teach handwriting in school anymore.

The mention of the previous Principals would have likely made him gone to a particularly dark place if he had not already had several drinks. Algie tucked into his side also made it easier to deal with.

"There's barely any proof back in other ashdown about them and here ..." he shook his head. There was absolutely no proof. "The only ones who can speak at length about them are Pax, Pride, and Sorrow but I doubt even they knew their full purposes." A breath was let out. "Though I still am trying to think of a way, beyond BSL, to speak at length to Noeh- to give her a voice."

iloveyouDIEx

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg's eyes drifted to the phone and there was a small smile, even if texting across the room in a small group was a bit of a party foul as far as he was concerned.

"And from what I heard when you all were in the rift the three of them didn't seem natural to the era-" He'd only spoken to Shun so he could only speak on what he'd heard of the 60's and his other self there, the only one who had noticed.

"Perhaps we can build some sort of support for the triplets. Magically I mean.." It was a lot. Finding out about the nature of the new cage, supporting the failing deer beings, getting Noeh a voice and possibly working on a more organized and together Noble Court.

That of course all in addition to personal problems like newly discovered children and maintaining - or building - personal relationships. Beside they all were keeping an eye on the younger people and trying to not let them fall too deeply into things, too far to come back safe.

"We have a lot on our plates."

azuredreams

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Ezra mentioned something about the triplets," Leila responded, squinting into her mostly empty glass. She hadn't been drinking much, though; instead she kept handing the glass off to Eve. "Whatever bond they had with the principals made them closer to pure magic, but they're still fundamentally human. It makes me wonder if pushing more magic onto them could end up making things worse in the long run."

<Probably talking out my a** though,> she added unintentionally.

azuredreams

iloveyoudie

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah blinked, his head tilting as he- Was that Leila's voice? He glanced towards Algie, as if looking for confirmation before he spoke again.

"Whatever they were, they aren't anymore. They're ... probably closer to being what Sunny is than anything else. Mi-" The first syllable fell out before he could stop himself, lips pressed together a moment. How many glasses of wine had he had to make him loose-lipped?

Still ... it wasn't like they hadn't share but this was still not something easily talked about and he looked downright conflicted.

cibarium

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

The voice in his mind made Alg's head c**k slightly and got a snort from him. He at least understood that feeling. When it came to all this he was very much less informed than others and got most of his news and information second hand. Acting like he knew what he was talking about felt disingenuous.

Jer's slip, or pause anyway, had Alg giving his hand a squeeze.

"Mina," He supported.

They were sharing, right? Besides that Alg kept the girl he'd met as Mina and the being they knew as Noeh seperate. He knew how the world could change everyone, change everything, and perhaps when Mina told him he'd never meet her again, she was correct.

azuredreams

just husbando support unless he doesn't want to talk about it

cibarium