brobeforehos | 001 ⇨ you're the leader, so lead.

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001 ⇨ you're the leader, so lead.

text ⇨ nick ryves;

Nick, |

voicemail ⇨ nick ryves;

Nick – I don’t know if you’ll get this, or if you’re here. Wherever here is. I don’t really know where I am, but if it’s a trap from the Circle, it’s - [freaking me out a little. a lot.] - very bright. If you get this message, call back. Or come. [Help. Please. ]

voicemail ⇨ alan ryves;

Alan, are you here – [a pause; it’s maybe too soon to put all her trust in this one person again, but what choices does she have. gather up your army to get out of trouble, or become it.] If you are, we should probably… Yeah, we should probably meet up. United we stand, you know? [learn the phrase already.] Then maybe we’ll have a shot of getting out of…whatever this is. And maybe you can tell me what it is. Spare no details. Go nuts. Just…answer, if you’re here.

text ⇨ jamie crawford;

~~Jami-~~

~~Ninj-~~

…sailor, we need codenames. Just in case. I – honestly, I hope to god you’re not here, whatever this is. It’s loud and shiny and you’d probably love every corner of the place, but it spooks me off. Like a bad Market. Except I don’t know if there’s a good Market, and there should be, in order for there to be a bad one, right? I’m babbling. Nevermind – if you’re here, and as long as it doesn’t get you into trouble…please answer.

voice; public

…er, hi. They gave me this mobile phone thingy, which I’m supposing is how everyone communicates around here.

Let me just start by addressing the issue of that ’here’, shall I? What is this place, exactly? Some illusion? A bad dream? A nightmare? Because, let me tell you, I’ve ways of escaping all those. And don’t let the hair colour fool you. [pause, for effect. Or maybe just to recompose herself. because what else is there that she can say? as much as she’d want to, calling out the magicians on her own would be One Huge Mistake, so if this is their doing, she’ll have to be smart and figure it out. and if it isn’t, if this isn’t magic - though what else could it be? – then she needs to not make enemies so fast.

and mamma didn’t raise no fool, so.] …thanks.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

... Alan's here too, though. He's better at explaining. Which isn't very surprising, since Alan is the one who actually likes reading.

But I have a guide! I've found it very helpful. Also very terrifying. But the helpful part is good. [And ding! Mae will receive a link to this. Aren't you proud, Mae, Jamie has figured out how to use technology.]

Shocking - not even after the oodles of similarities to Mr. Darcy?

Oh, hey - you sent it. Not that I don't like a good and solid explanation every now and then but I'd rather hear crazy from your mouth than from a book. It's...more attractive.

He didn't appreciate the hot soldier buffet, either.

Are you sure it's more attractive? I was always under the impression that my explanations were very rarely appreciated. I also don't know words that big.

... But I guess I can come and find you. And try to explain with many simple words.

Still holding hopes up for that? [it amuses her that he wants Nick - Nick - to appreciate the soldier buffet.] He'd appreciate it if he could fight it, probably.

Yes, Jamie, come find me. Even if you communicate through sign language, come still.

Yes. Probably. It always comes down to violence with Nick.

And yes. Okay. Five minutes!

[And true to his word, Jamie is there five minutes later. ... Well, if you want to get technical, it's six and a half minutes later. But it's close!] Mae!

[He grins like the hugest dork to ever dork upon seeing her-- texting someone and actually seeing them in person is entirely different, after all, and he's missed her the past month he's been stuck here with just Alan for company. Alan, who lies a lot and treats him like he's twelve. It's been great. Seeing her last week had been something, but it hadn't lasted for long-- and now! She was here to stay. Even if the word "stay" is relative in a place like this.

He wastes no time in giving Mae a potentially oxygen-stealing hug, too.]

[She wants to say that it's not always about violence with Nick. Sometimes he does incredibly human things, like hold her while she cries. But she doesn't want to bring that up, seeing how happy Jamie is. (And she won't be jealous of his time to recover. She'll just smile because it's easy with him.)

In the time he takes to get there, she stars browsing the guides for ideas. They're not books with covers and pages and the scent of books but they'll do well enough right now. It's incredible how fast she can read in six minutes. She's sitting down by the time Jamie even comes close, reading the theories on the messages left by Adrastus' mother behind, and wondering how on Earth this place could be considered safe? (Granted, their world was safe, and then they knew things that made it otherwise.) She rubbed her face, wary of whatever this City was, and then -

- she heard Jamie's voice. Jamie, who had left an hour or so ago for the Aventurine Circle, who'd apparently spent all that time in this place with Alan (the better evil, she guessed), who had said good-bye as if they'd never see each other again, as if someone would die - Jamie, who was smiling, who was as bright as a mirage right then, who made her drop the device into the pocket of her skirt and stand up and grin back at him, because grinning back was what Jamie made you want to do, when he smiled.

And then, Jamie who was hugging her. And Mae was hugging back just as hard.] Hey...

[... Jamie isn't exactly sure how to feel about the City yet. In a lot of ways, he hates being here, because as long as he's here, he's not at home. But in other ways... he's glad. Glad for a chance to escape Gerald, escape the Circle, escape the fact that he can use magic.

Although the latter thing... here, a lot of people seem to have out of the ordinary abilities. Some of them don't require any kind of sacrifice, even-- Jamie would be lying if he said that didn't intrigue him at all, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little jealous.

But for now-- he just concentrates on Mae, and making sure Mae isn't panicking.] So! I think my sign language might be rusty, but I could try some if it was charades-style. Or I could just try to use words, but the basic summary is: I don't know a lot, and what I do know doesn't make much sense. It's all about space and time and dimensions.

[It had to be her brother. He smelled like him, and hugged like him, and even tried to pry away her budding panic like him. She remembered that not long ago, he'd held her hands and hugged her good bye, that not long ago she'd let him go, because Jamie was growing up, and Jamie was strong, and the Crawfords were slowly turning out to be warriors. (She remembered Jamie crying for their mother like she hadn't been able to until he'd left, and it broke her heart a little how much more human her brother was.)

She hugged him closer, and buried her nose in his shirt.] I know. I read the guidebooks while you got here.

[The time dimensions, the universes, everything sounded so surreal, and yet - not, for a pair of eyes that had seen magic and demonic possession so many times in just a year. There would be time to think, later, time to ask questions, too. She had an important one, now.

She pulled away a little, enough to cup his face with both her hands.] Jamie, tell me you didn't die here. You didn't, right? You were safe?

[And this was definitely Mae; Jamie had no doubts about it. Of course Mae would ask something like that first off-- that had always been the way with them, Mae doing her best to protect him, no matter how much trouble he landed himself in.

He's confused, though, momentarily.] Die? No, not last I checked. [And then he remembered what he'd read about people dying and coming back here. Right. That seemed like something he should probably remember.] I've been fine. Staying out of trouble, dangerous situations and also out of the kitchen. Which is basically a combination of the two, if you're me.

[She snorted at that, then set her expression to Poker Face.] Good boy, Jamie. Out of trouble and out of the ki- wait. [She paused.] So what've you been eating?

... Well, Alan's been cooking. We have an agreement. He does the cooking and I promise to never try cooking again, for the greater good. [He may or may not have skipped a meal or two after the Alan And His Knives debacle, but nonetheless.] It's worked out rather well so far.

Well - that sounds like a solid agreement. [Jamie out of the kitchen always sounded like a solid agreement. Toasters were never the same after him. Then again, she was a wreck, too.]

So, I read the guides... Curses?

Yes, curses. They're awful. And not exactly what you'd normally imagine curses to be like! There was one where everyone spent the day speed-dating, and another one where everyone got in caravans and headed for Oregon. So it's hard to predict what they'll throw at us next... they might turn us into scuba-diving giraffes one day. [And there is the only explanation of curses you will ever need, courtesy of Jamie Crawford.]

[Scuba-diving giraffes. Right. Hopefully, the kind of giraffes that could still wear amulets around their necks; not that she needed it anymore with the mark-]

Jamie-

[Now that she was looking at him, there was something decidedly missing. The mark on his jaw, where Nick had stamped his Demon Property sign. It wasn't there. Something - her stomach - dropped with a feeling of doom. What did the absence of the mark mean? He wasn't protected anymore? It wasn't effective in this place? Nick wasn't around? If the latter was true, would it disappear when he joined the Aventurine Circle, too? No. She stiffled a shudder, and touched his jawline with the tips of her fingers, briefly, before dipping them under the collar of her shirt - hers was there. It stung and tingled when she touched it, and it was there.

So then what?] ...I don't suppose that one of those curses are to bring us from...different times, is it? [It sounded stupid just to say it, but what on Earth could take care of a third stier mark, especially Nick's?]

[Jamie frowned at Mae's question-- not because he didn't know the answer, because he'd remembered that part at least, but because it sounded distinctly like she knew something he didn't. While Jamie wasn't very perceptive, and Alan lied a lot anyway, he suspected that he was from further on than Alan, if his reactions to hearing Nick's name were any indication.

But if Mae were from further on than him...] I think it's just... something that can happen here. People can be weeks or months or even years ahead. [Luckily, Mae doesn't look years older.] The last thing I remember from home is mum knocking Gerald out with a golf club. She was kind of badass.

[That confirmed it. And now she was faced with a dilemma. On the one hand, something she'd wanted to be able to do ever since the moment Jamie saw their mom dying had been to erase that pain from her brother's eyes and soul and heart, to make it seem as if it had never happened - as if Annabel was still alive and well and about to call her excessively unique and then drink a cup of expensive tea before bridge with the girls - and now she had that in the grasp of her hand. Jamie was from before the battle - it still felt strange to think of it like that - and he remembered their mother as she should've always been. A little too uptight, a little too cold, but there for her children. There for Jamie, despite him being a magician.

On the other hand, that question might've triggered alarm bells, and she wasn't sure how she could deal with lying to her brother. But she knew with sickening certainty, that to protect him again and assure that he'd be happy, she would. Somehow, it made her a little more sympathetic towards Alan. And a little disgusted at her double-standards.]

Yeah, who'd have known she'd be so effective at golfing with people's heads, right?

[There definitely were some alarm bells triggered, if only because Mae had looked worried, and they hadn't really been in the best situation. And whatever had happened-- with Gerald, with Nick, with Alan... it probably hadn't been anything good. Jamie wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know.]

I didn't think she was going to. [He paused, here. Didn't think she was going to come back at all was what he was about to say, but he didn't exactly want to let that thought be known. Not when he was still sorting out his feelings about... well, a lot of things.] Er, use her golf club as a weapon, that is. No wonder she was so good at fencing.

[Part of being his sister was being able to tell what went through Jamie's head. Of course, one had to be a complete blind person not to know. She'd thought the same thing. Thought of how it would be fine, because it would just be Jamie and Mae against the world again. And that had worked until then, so it would've continued to work - would continue to work.]

I guess she didn't really consider leaving the sword in the golf bag. Though she might've scored higher points - at being cool, you know. [And Nick would've liked her even more, she could bet.]

She scored enough points managing to knock out a magician in under three seconds. [Jamie glowed as he said this-- because, well, what Annabel had done was pretty amazing in his mind. Better than anything their dad had ever done for them; their dad, who had stopped taking Jamie to football games after he'd come out.

Still, Jamie decided to change the subject, mainly because he hadn't worked out whether or not he wanted to ask about the future, his future. He'd leave it for later to worry about, maybe.]

So... do you want to head back to our apartment? I promise it's very neat and tidy and not at all in squalor. Or I could give you the grand tour, except the grand tour includes me pointing at things and pretending I know what they're actually called. It could also include getting lost for a very long time.

[She grinned, grateful for the subject change. It was a safer bet, and she'd be able to postpone lying to his face if he asked her about what would happen afterwards. Hopefully, he would not ask. Hopefully, he'd trust her to tell him what he needed to know because Mae knew what was good for people. Sometimes. (Sometimes, she botched up so many plans and left people without parents and was just - not going to think about it right then.]

Haha, let's just head to your apartment, then...we can meet up with Alan on the way, hopefully. Or completely miss each other like in the chases in Scooby Doo.

[Jamie had grown up with Mae taking care of him-- he was used to falling back into that pattern, even if he wanted to be able to stand on his own two feet. The only thing that terrified him about doing that was... he had no idea where being independent would lead him.

It had already lead him to Gerald, once. He didn't want to make that mistake again, falling for the worst possible person in probably the entire world. So yes, he trusted Mae, and that trust let that subject change be easy and free of awkwardness.]

Right, Alan. [His name is said with some lack of enthusiasm, considering-- well, the mortifying speed dating curse had been enough, and then the knives had happened. Jamie was not convinced it had been an accident.] Except he probably wouldn't like the idea of leaving all the sleuthing to a talking dog. And luckily I don't think we're that hard to miss, considering our stunning fashion senses.

[Jamie started to head off in the direction of the apartment. The vague direction, anyway. They'll get there eventually.]

001 ⇨ you're the leader, so lead.

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text; LIKE THE TITANIC WITHOUT SINKING

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text; AND A DISTINCT LACK OF ICEBERGS :|b

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text; BUT HEARTS WILL GO ON AND ON

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