[prp] boy these family lines sure are tangled (moms + ezra)

[cibarium]

The unpleasant scent of charred meat hit Eve's nose with revolting force the second someone across the street opened the entrance to Ashdown's public library, and she knew immediately this was a chance to talk to Ezra again. That was, of course, granted she could stomach the smell in close proximity for long enough to get a word in -- but the meeting would be more for Leila's sake than anyone else's, as she'd been the one to discover his birth certificate in her desk, and was still shaken by it. A tense phone call brought the wife quickly over to Eve's side, and they entered the building together.

Being in the 'real' world meant Eve's normal approach for Ezra (turning into a fox and staring innocently up at him until he couldn't resist speaking) wasn't available to her. Instead, she rolled casually up beside him, turned her head his way and spoke first.

"It's been a long time since we last saw you, hasn't it?"  

[shibrogane]

Ezra was at the library. He still smelled like burning, like something old and charred, but the man sitting at one of the study carrels looked... alarmingly human. He had hair.

Granted, his eyes were sort of... firey: high-saturated red bleeding into yellow closer to his pupil. (It looked like he'd popped a blood vessel, too.) And there was an ugly burn scar creeping up from beneath his collared shirt. His dark hair looked clean and well-kempt, and he kept rubbing the heavy paper of the encyclopedia he was reading between his fingers as if he had never felt anything quite so divine. Ezra smelled like a campfire (to people not Eve) and looked like an Oxford scholar.

"So it would seem," said Ezra. "Although I gather it's been both a long time and about three weeks." He closed the book, leaving his fingers between the pages to hold his place. His gaze flicked from Leila to Eve and back again. Without the flames in the way, the similarities in his face to Leila's--cheekbones, chin--were much clearer. "How are you settling in?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"Almost thought I'd get to surprise you with that one," Eve replied with continued cordial grace -- some of it was sincere. "You're right. I last saw you back in 1969, your concert then. There were a few surprises in store for us there."

Ezra's similarities with Leila were so obvious, the two wives didn't need to exchange any looks about it. Instead, Leila stared at him, face dumbstruck from the mixed feelings already welling up, and searched out Eve's hand for the assurance everything they were seeing was real.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I don't believe that was the version of me you're looking at now," said Ezra. "The cycles are interestingly arranged. I would explain, but it's convoluted, and also boring."

He turned back to his book. He gestured: two nearby chairs straightened up and scooted over. Luckily, the library was practically deserted, probably due to the smoky smell. He flipped the page. Felt up the page. There was something awful and naked about his expression; he seemed to know this, and looked away.

"I don't know what it is you all did there. But I appreciate it." He turned his hands over in front of him.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"There were others, of course," Eve elaborated. "All gathered up to draw a new sigil. We can't take much credit."

Leila swallowed some of her mounting dread and took a chair, while Eve simply gave Ezra a quizzical look while taking a spot at the table. She was already in a chair. Clover dutifully sat down next to her charge without a cue because she was a good dog.

"Do the... cycles... do they change--"

It was a struggle for Leila to speak up.

"You were Eve's brother. Back then. But not now...?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I wouldn't know," said Ezra. "That wasn't the me you see now. Relationships change, angles change. Names and genders. It all changes. It's the role that changes."

He pushed the book away. "I'm your son. I've always been your son, as long as I've been alive."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila swallowed wetly and gritted her teeth as her hands tangled together and shook on top of the table. Her eyes were wide and suddenly hungry to know everything. Meanwhile, Eve leaned forward, unsurprised but still shocked -- the reality of it was massive and stark compared to all the clues and hinting conversations.

A formative influence, that's what he'd called her. It wasn't necessary to ask for more clarification

"Can you see us?" Leila meekly asked.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra said, "Yes."

He put his hands flat on the table, and then laced his fingers together. "Why do you ask?"

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

"We learned Sunny cut you off from your mother as a punishment," Eve clarified after exchanging a brief look with her wife. "Did that change?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra made a face. "It wasn't that simple," he said. "In essence what you said is true. But in practice, it's wrong. I was given a choice, and I chose wrong."

He opened the encyclopedia just to touch it.

He really was into this touching thing. It made sense after a bit of thought: he'd been on fire for a long time. A very long time. How much touching could he have done?

"I knew that, given time, the cycle would reset. I couldn't wait." He frowned at the desk. "I should have, could have, but I didn't. I traded my friendship with Sunny for..."

Ezra glanced up at Leila. His eyes, a brilliant red, flicked to Eve next.

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

The touching hadn't gone unnoticed. Leila's influence on Ezra was more than skin deep, it seemed: Eve was looking at a pair of fidgeters, seeing them as mother and son, and cracked a tiny smile at the sight of it. When Ezra met eyes with her she wondered how much of him was searching for familiarity. They must have all sat together like this countless times. Having parents who couldn't remember a single moment of their time together must have been devastating.

Leila slowly leaned forward, and moved to pull the book down and set it aside, so she could offer her hands to him instead.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra's hands were warm like he'd been holding a cup of coffee between them when he took Leila's. A hot cup of coffee, in one of those porcelain mugs what carried the heat ridiculously well.

"You were dead," he said. His shoulders were hunched inwards. "I'd promised Sunny I would never ask her to do something like that. And I did, and she made it so I could never see either of you again. Not and have you know who I was."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

Leila took the one hand in both of her own, tracing her thumbs over the lines of his palms as if she could read his fortune in them if she looked hard enough. In reality she was starved to learn everything she could about him, wanted to memorize the touch and be able to recognize it as familiar. As part of her life. It was consuming her. Ezra was probably getting snatches of the layered grief and curiosity and cautious affection, with the contact allowing it to bleed over into his mind.

"That's why you were so cryptic before," Eve somberly realized. "It sounds like hell..."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Ezra could have been carved from stone. "If I'm not trapped there anymore," he said, "And I'm not--I woke up here, like this--then the magic must be waning. I'm not sure."

He took a breath.

"The deer triplets are missing," he said. "And I believe the court may be falling apart."

cibarium

 

[cibarium]

All three of them, missing? Eve's brow crinkled with concern. "How much of this is bad news?" she asked, honestly unsure.

shibrogane