[PRP] you are what happens / after the war [Alexis/Jeremiah]

[Daekie]

Quote:

you now have the honor of completing the dark waters challenge. to complete this most excellent quest and unlock the powers that lie within, you must complete these requirements.
- a solo (750 words) or RP of Alexis dealing with the changes brought upon the world and their magic

Alexis knows - Alexis knows, almost instinctively, when the void fades around their group and when Sunny vanishes into the rising dawn and even though nothing clicks in their head like they’d thought it would - there is a nagging feeling at the back of their head, even then, that this is not their world. This is not their place. The weight around their ankle hurts, it unbalances, but it doesn’t solidify into a discernable problem until they get back to Nasir’s place and then it almost burns.

They know that weight, from observation on others given it. And they know, without even having to do much more than glance, the content of the papers scattered across their ‘room’. (They’re still hesitant to call it their own room, really. It’s not theirs. This isn’t their place, and it’s their time, but -- this is Nasir’s house. They’re just visiting.) This is something they’ve always been afraid of happening, and in this new place where nothing’s quite right and the sidewalks are a little different and none of the posters tacked up on storefronts are the same (and it’s two months later, Alexis has lost two months, they’ve all lost two months and nobody seems to have noticed and the snow is powder and the air is cold) and -- there is an ankle monitor on their ankle. It has a light, and it’s bulky, and they hate the way it feels so familiar -- things are different enough in this room that they know it can’t just be two months. This is another world.

Did they fail, then? Or was the world remade anew, and the magic didn’t want them? They’re not surprised. Disappointed, maybe, and a little hurt, but -- of course it wouldn’t pick them. (They’re damaged goods. Damaged goods don’t get the headlines. They get thrown back out on the street until someone has a use for them.)

But Jeremiah Mercer is still Chief of Police. Jeremiah Mercer, who maintained the rift. Jeremiah Mercer, who looked at them so queerly before the void, like something didn’t add up - and Jeremiah Mercer, Chief of Police, who undoubtedly has access to their records so that Alexis can fill in where this Alexis left off.

It’s odd, filling not-quite-them’s shoes for the second time. Alexis doesn’t think they like it. But they’re numb to a lot of things, nowadays, so their opinion on it will have to wait until things are okay. (It’s never. Things are never okay. Never ever ever.)

“Can I speak,” they enunciate to the front desk, closed-mouth smiling to hide their teeth, “to Jeremiah Mercer, please?” Polite as anything. Recalcitrant. Alexis knows how to play them. Maybe they still do. Maybe they don't. But it's worth a shot.

(If he won’t listen to them, they don’t know what they’ll do.)

azuredreams

one quest rp start! <3

 

[azuredreams]

It takes only a moment, the officer working the desk giving Alexis a sharp once over, before they hold up a single finger.

A phone is plucked up and a call is made. Another beat and he's waving them to walk through to the Chief's office. Their ankle monitor is given a look.

"You know the way," he tells them, "and the Chief Mercer is expecting you." Which is to say, do not step out of line.

Jeremiah is there in his office, his eyes oddly bright regardless of the lack of being in other ashdown. His door is cracked open which means he's expecting someone to come in and his admin - Preacher - is unseen for the time being.

His focus is on the computer for the moment, going through things. Reading.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"Mercer," Alexis mumbles, hands in their pockets, scuffing their shoes across the floor, "sorry t'bother you, but -- can we talk?" Their hair is pinned back into a messy ponytail, Nasir's barrettes clearly visible holding back their bangs, and while the outfit is a nice change of pace from their usual grungy attire (or the 1920s-era attire he last saw them in, of course), it almost looks out of place on them. "If you're not busy, uh -- I'd like t'have this talk somewhere else so people don't think I'm crazy. Just." A sharp intake of breath. "Didn't exactly want to come in guns blazing and drag you out, since I figure I'm being watched closely enough already."

If he doesn't know about their bracelet, their monitor, they don't want to bring it up right in here around all the coworkers who have always lived in this world. It'll just dig them deeper.

azuredreams

idk i guess alexis is just wearing whatever my alexis avi is wearing rn. or something like it.

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah looked up from the computer the moment his door opened, blinking a bit when Alexis came in. At least the hair looked right once more and-

Those hairclips looked familiar but the outfit seemed out of place somehow.

"Tucker," he said in greeting and then fell silent as they continued on. His head tilted, looking to the time and then pushing himself up to stand. "I was about to step out for lunch anyway. You're welcome to tag along and we can speak."

There was a small mini-fridge in his office and from there he grabbed his lunch.

"I appreciate your restraint in not coming in that way," he said dryly, gesturing for them to head back out the door they came in. The ankle bracelet was more than noticed but he was not speaking about it.

Not yet.

Daekie

can just move them along to walking outside if you want <3.

 

[Daekie]

"I have plenty of restraint," Alexis protests, but it's subdued -- they know well enough to keep quiet, keep calm, at the station. It's the safest option - was the safest option, even before this, and still is.

They don't have any lunch, but they do have twenty bucks in cash, so it's fine - they'll get fries or a sandwich or shitty junk food - they're not really all that hungry, anyways.

As soon as they were a safe distance away from the station, Alexis huffed, making sure no further officers were in sight. "I was gonna ask to see my records, but iunno if that's really an option anymore, so. I figure you've checked it. What the hell did this me do?" They kick a rock, watching it go skidding across the sidewalk. "I thought comin' back to my life once was shitty enough, and we all missed Thanksgiving, so basically: what the ********, we ******** up."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah just raises an eyebrow but does not say anything. It says enough and the eyebrow raise is mostly teasing. Instead he rolls his shoulders and feels the muscles pull and it eases the ache just a little bit that he has to deal with.

When Alexis speaks, gets to the point of the meeting (and checks for others), he huffs himself. "At the moment? No, it's not an option but I did look as it was on my desk for review." Jeremiah flicks his fingers towards a place to sit, though part of him his tempted to go to other ashdown because at least it was warmer.

"We lost, what, a month and a half? Came back to a reality that isn't the one we left." He shook his head, bright eyes cutting towards them. "I don't know that it was a ******** up so much as unexpected consequence. Though, on the topic of ******** ups- this you got caught."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I don't know what this me did," Alexis says, frowning. "'Least with the fetch she always liked to come back and tell me what she'd ruined that week - but this is -" their shrug is overexaggerated, boneless. "I can't really walk up to the police station and say 'I'm a different Alexis than the one you put the monitor on', yeah? There's -- pictures in Nasir's house, of them." Of me, Alexis very pointedly doesn't say. "They looked pretty good. Healthy. Why'd they go and ******** that up? And it's not like I can just ask Nasir, either, 'cause he's missing a month and a half too." They card their fingers through their hair irritatedly.

"Even ignorin' that, though -- I'm worried about Zac, okay? He's been kinda off since we got back or whatever, n' - I dunno what to do about it. I only know how to deal with it when I'm gloomy, and I just kick the s**t out of myself until I stop feeling as shitty. He's your son. What do I do?"

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Nasir too?" Jeremiah's expression shifts, something concerned but then it eases back into neutral. If they remember then that means that the young cook was definitely more involved than he would've preferred. "What about Wil? I haven't checked in with them yet." He did in the past, he would now, but there was an entire collection of people that he had to look in on.

"... and who knows, Alexis, but it was a laundry list of things that culminated. In all honesty, we all need to be more careful now." His fingers flex once, in and out, before he stops in his tracks at the mention of Zac. Something within Jeremiah's chest seizes and he shakes his head. "You have to-" He lets out a breath and then looks towards them, eyes glowing brightly. "Let me start this differently: what kind of off? Disconnected or ... ?"

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"Far as I know, yeah," Alexis confirms quietly. "But I haven't talked with him a lot since we got back. Been trying to fit in as best I can - everyone seems willing to figure I'm just in a different mood, but - I don't want to have that discussion with people who knew this me. It was hard enough with Rill, and that b***h made me homeless." They spit, a sour expression on their face. "...********, I should check on Wick, shouldn't I." (That bit's quieter. A self-reminder. A responsibility they have to own that they were never ready for.)

They don't meet his eyes. "He thinks he failed. He thinks he got people killed. Iunno how to explain it, right? It's just that kinda bone-deep tiredness where you're a few half-steps off from the world and it won't slow down long enough for you to climb on -- I know what it looks like cause I used to be like that all the time. I don't know how to be worried 'bout someone properly, Mercer."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"Don't be afraid to reach out," Jeremiah says suddenly, "including to the people who you live with. You're likely to make Nasir worry, as last I checked: he is a worrier." There's a short nod given that they probably should Wick though that has him letting out a breath.

"They seem aware that something happened but not what exactly." He had seen Fell briefly when he went to Court to see if other ashdown was different but it was not. It remained the same.

Jeremiah looks at them, studying Alexis's face and then letting out a sigh as they explain it. "While normally I would offer to do what I can, I am not exactly in a position to do anything other than talk to someone whom I cannot hear, see or feel." He understands, more than he cares to admit. "... but the real question is: are you ready to be there for someone? Can you do that? See the darkness in someone else and help them out of it? Zac just needs to be reminded that this wasn't a failure, that for all that we have lost we have saved."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"He worries but he ain't a convicted criminal, far as I know," Alexis snorts, and grinds their heel across the concrete. "It might sound selfish, but I didn't even know he was part of this s**t until now, yeah? He only knew 'bout my fetch because I went to him when I killed her -- I don't know what he is, if he's anything, and I don't know how to ask that question."

They huff, shoulders up to their ears for half a second. "Iunno. I don't trust him. I know he's gotta tell me things, but -- I don't like it, havin' someone who's gotta serve me. It's kind of ******** turn. Pace. There is tension written all through their shoulders, through their arms, through the clench of their fingers; there is anxiety palpable in the air around them, not their own but of their own. "I don't know, okay? I'm not the right person to do that - for ******** sake, I tithed myself 'cause I wanted to kill someone, I'm hardly the right person to tell people everything's sunshine --" Their fist impacts the wall. Hard. "I want to, but I can't, alright? I don't know how. I don't."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"No and neither is his boyfriend, despite many attempts on my part in the past." Jeremiah rolls his eyes but then shakes his head. "He was at the ball, though he kept a low profile from what I know but-" Softly glowing eyes fixate on Alexis. "While the fetch you don't need to trust, as most are looking for opportunities, you should trust those who care about you. You're going to need them and they're going to need you."

This entire conversation is strange and not at all what he expects to be having with them. Not given their last encounter but then again that one doesn't count. That wasn't Alexis, that was a fetch that wore their face.

He frowns as they speak, fingers flexing in and out before he sighs. (That info about being a tithe is filed away for later.) "It's not about telling someone that it's sunshine and bloody rainbows. That's bullshite. It's about getting them through to the other side; it's about being there and waiting and listening for them to come to you. You listen to Zac, you get him through and you are there for him. It's as simple as reaching for someone's hand when you know they're about to fall apart."

Never would he had thought he would be walking them through something like this.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"Stop doin' yer job," Alexis snipes, "it's annoying." There is dew on the ground from a rain that hasn't yet faded -- their eyes flicker down to it and it shakes, it writhes, it splatters across the ground like hot blood on the walls. Despite the obvious display of emotion through their magic, they've managed to school their face thin-lipped, unsmiling. "Next I know, you're gonna set up shop as a psychologist." (It dances around the edge of their shoes, wild, never touching. They're tired of how Jeremiah seems to be able to draw out this part of them so easily.)

"He won't talk to me about it," Alexis protests, quiet. "That's the thing -- he doesn't wanna bother me n' I can't just make him tell me -- I'd kill for him, yeah, but I can't make everythin' ok if he won't tell me - it's stupid. I hate it." Their teeth would be grinding, if it would hurt less. "Feelings are stupid."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah rolls his eyes. "I'd rather not. Especially given that now I have a reputation that I had no part in creating." Living a life that he had not lived but now had to own.

Still, he notices the way the water reacts and he reaches a hand out to place on their shoulder. Calm, is unspoken. It'll be alright, is there as well but still not said.

"Feelings aren't stupid," he sighs, "but they are overly complicated and tend to make things far more difficult than most anticipate." Jeremiah pulls his hand away and rakes it through his hair. "You often have to sit him down and just talk with him. If he won't talk about it, then you talk about something else until he comes to it himself. You wait until he's ready to do so but you're there for him until he does so and remind him, frequently if necessary, that he's not at fault."

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Alexis flinches away from Jeremiah's hand - no matter how dubiously close they may be, Alexis still has no desire to be touched by others. The water ripples - shifts - settles back down, surface tension still actively there; it curls around Alexis' ankles with hair-thin tendrils, nervous. "I can try. I am tryin'. But it doesn't matter if I'm no good at it, does it? I don't talk at things, Mercer, I punch them until they listen. I don't think that's gonna work here."

azuredreams