[PRP] somebody told me (liam & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah hadn't been sure if Liam had known or not but now he did and he saw no point in hiding it. Not if he was, in some ways, work towards at least what seemed to be similar goals. The strength of reaction hadn't been expected.

"I had wondered but then, as you said, most are driven mad." He frowned, thoughts twisting together. Jeremiah was fortunate, he realized, but there were those that were nobles that were not. Shiloh, came to mind, and Jamie. "More of an incentive to see the cage opened, to see the cycles end, so that that can be avoided ..."

Leaning back in his seat, he rolled his shoulders a little. "Has the Court existed as long as the cage has been? Or was it something that came into existence after?" They had been trying to strengthen it at the ball but Liam (and Renard too, he assumed) wanted it open.

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam reached for the bottle and refilled his glass, which he then picked up and turned slowly in his fingers. "It grew within the cage," he said. "Growing stronger each cycle, accumulating magic and power until it became what you saw at the ball."

He took a languid sip from his glass.

"I'm glad we can talk like this, detective."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah had set his glass down, empty, and mostly it was so that he would not fall into his habit of playing with it until it was refilled.

"Myself as well," he replied, "as I've no desire to be antagonistic when contemporaries is preferred," what had been said the night of the ball, "and there's a certain freedom in talking to someone else who is aware." Of far more than he knew himself but that did not matter. "I admit I am curious about the world that came before the cage, about Jerry, but it's long gone and there's other things to focus on."

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

"It's a world I would not return to," said Liam, sighing. "And I world I am not sure can even be returned to. With each cycle, we've gotten farther and farther from it."

"Also," he added flatly, "most of my friends were dead."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

There might have been- No, Jeremiah pushed past it. "Though we've come to a world where magic is blossoming once more, even if people do not understand it."

He was quiet for a moment before he spoke once more. "... but this isn't that world, as you said, yet can anything be done? To save lives?" There were those that were surely dead already and those that were alive because of the cycles but this had all started- "I know you said that this isn't what you meant to happen, so I guess I want to know what was meant?"

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

"The dead are dead," said Liam, looking off out the window. "Sometimes we save some of them. Sometimes we save others. But nothing sticks. I've grown tired of meddling in a repeating past. I want to move forward."

He looked back at Jeremiah. "We intended to find a cure. When we started, there was no science being done. Magic was the only thing we knew. We wanted to eliminate the virus. To reverse its course. But as the epidemic grew... so did the scale of our work."

He took a sip. "It spun away from us. It grew too large to escape notice."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah could understand, in some ways, in letting the dead be and the past as well. Some part of him would be forever curious but it wasn't now. His fingers pressed together briefly, forefingers steepled together in thought.

"It would be a colossal undertaking and that kind of magic ..." Jeremiah's gaze raised back towards Liam. His thoughts whirled towards magic but no science and his own understanding that even science had it's role within magic. "So you were noticed. Was it just Renard and yourself?"

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam nodded. "I was his closest collaborator, but... only Renard knew the full scope of the research. I suppose that's why he's gone down in history as the Enemy, and I'm..."

He shrugged.

"Whatever I am. Second banana."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah did not quite know what to respond to that, though in some ways he understood. It was from the other side, however, that he did because for as deep as he was in all of this, Algie was not.

"What started that anyway? Why The Enemy? That seems so cut and dry when it truly is the exact opposite." Or, at least, that was what it felt like.

Silverah

o m g silv, i am so sorry, i did not realize i missed this q ___ q *worst ever*

 

[Silverah]

Liam laughed, the sound melodic - but not approaching his voice's former internal harmony. That was gone for good. "Long ago," he said, "Someone had a theory before they knew all the specifics - that everything in our world was affected by some negative force. A being they called The Enemy."

He smirked. "It certainly rolls off the tongue better than the well-intentioned homosexual alchemist who may or may not have threatened the very fabric of spacetime."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah laughed, shaking his head with amusement. "It does but it is also misleading and, perhaps, things might have gone differently if that had been the full title."

Still shaking his head, he continued on. "Admittedly, I might have believed that theory last year. Now it sounds ... ridiculous to consider." An eyebrow was raised a little, however, because of the mention of spacetime. "Spacetime? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised given what's happened and this new world of ours. Never mind that there's already something happening- a rot on the trees in the woods."

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

"Indeed," nodded Liam, his smile tight. "But when the whole world's turned against you, you don't exactly have the luxury of controlling how you're perceived. Even now..."

He trailed off, the thought dying on his lips.

"Rot?" he asked. "What sort of rot?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"No one knows, though they're researching it." Jeremiah was pulling out his notebook from his jacket pocket. It was flipped open and a finger was dragged against the page. "Sourceless, no one has seen it before but it's affecting the trees in the State Forest."

The notebook was folded back, what little information Jeremiah had there on it and he leaned forward to offer it to Liam.

Silverah

 

[Silverah]

Liam took the notebook, skimmed it quickly, and handed it back. "That's... troubling," he said, looking apprehensively up at Jeremiah. "Like I've said, this world is off-track from the one I've lived in. This is beyond my knowledge."

He sighed. "Perhaps we'd best conclude this meeting."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah took the notebook back with a nod. "I might come back later, though I make no promises part of it isn't just to talk beyond everything else that is going on."

He shifted, moving to stand. "If I learn anything that might be of use to you, or perhaps helpful in regards to the cage, I'll drop back by." Turning, Jeremiah took a few steps towards the door before he stopped and turned around.

Then he shook his head and let the question go for now. "Thank you for seeing me."

Silverah