Stranger Things - Alexis and Zac

[endejester]

He knew that Alexis had a key, he’d known for a while, He’d for a while started putting extra dishes into the fridge with a bit of masking tape, and Alexis’s name on them denoting them as ‘safe to take’ and ‘probably easy to eat’.
Sometimes that included smoothes, and a blanket folded at the end of the couch, just in case.

Today though, Zac himself was sitting on the couch, feet tucked up under him, chin on the armrest with Mogget lying on his shoulders as they watched a movie together. Not perhaps his normal faire,

He let out a small breath not quite a laugh at the actions on the screen, shaking his head in a mute judgment, the blanket was tucked over his feet, and pressed up along the length of his back which has Mogget delighted, because it’s soft and fluffy.

He was barely thinking about the movie, because there was a lot of other information on his mind in all honesty.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

Alexis wasn't sulking. They weren't. But they kept bumping into things, because the world seemed so dull somehow; they felt so blind somehow -- but -- Zac would know what to do, right? He'd been in this mess, knee-deep in magic, longer than they ever had. If anyone would know how to -- they swallowed -- know if they had to just. Keep going. Accept their magic was lost to them forever, and live a normal life -- they didn't know if they could do that anymore.
Maybe before the sigil's rewriting. Maybe then. Not here, where this life was still a stranger to them.

Then they accidentally tripped and stumbled into Zac's door with a cut-short hiss of pain. Their nose would bruise later. From there it was just one-two-three to unlock the door and let themself in -- and there was something awfully grim to Alexis' face, even if their presence brought no inherent worry today, no magical force bearing down on Zac's mind.

They looked terribly normal and terribly tired and terribly human, was the thing.

endejester

 

[endejester]

He twisted and sat up arching an eyebrow at the sound of the door, the thud that had gone before and blinked, curious and a frowning at the intrusion.

“What the hell?” He said softly.

“…. What happened to your teeth, and your… well, what the hell happened?” He said blinking and shaking his head.

“I mean the stumbling around, did someone flash a strobe light in your face? But, are your teeth normal? You look… ” He waved a hand and shook his head almost at a loss for words. “Like, back when we first were in Other Ashdown.” He finished.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"It's gone, okay?"

Alexis' voice sounds rough. Hoarse. Not from any overuse, but like they don't know how to speak; like they don't know how to breathe right.

"My magic. It's gone. I was an idiot at court and the Lady took it." They sat down next to him, their hands fisted so tight their knuckles were white. "It didn't even hurt. I might have been okay if it'd hurt."

endejester

 

[endejester]

“… And by saying ‘you might have been ok, If it had hurt, you actually mean that you feel it would be an acceptable punishment because you understand pain, but as far as punishment goes, this is probably more effective for what she wants because it’s actually upset you?”

“Prrrrp?” Mogget leapt from Zac’s shoulders, sat for a moment staring around with huge golden eyes and then –dashed from the room his long white tail a bottlebrush.

“What did you do that defines ‘being an idiot’?”

He didn’t mention Eve, and the Breathing, the strange apparent disconnect of an utterly unconscious part of physiology got a very strange look indeed.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I disrespected her, Zac," Alexis said, quiet. "The court is built in her bones - it is her -- n' I didn't listen. I'm not a part of the Court anymore, either." They tried to smile at him, but it was bitter and cracking, and they gave up on that after a few seconds; and they made no mention of his first statement or his look, a little too caught up in their own sudden grief to notice.

"She would've had me learn how to be part of the Court proper. You --" Alexis swallowed. "You were at the ball. You saw what it did to Beaumont, and I couldn't say no, I just stood there -- if your dad hadn't stepped forward I don't know." They paused. "There's so many. Clark -- she's a fetch, Zac. Someone I didn't know. But there's so many." Their shoulders rose and fell with breathing.

"...'m sorry I haven't been around. I'm a bad friend."

endejester

 

[endejester]

He opened his mouth, and closed it.
“So… you, you knew what she was capable of, you know what she’s done, and you mouthed off to her?” He shook his head slightly.

“Alexis, do you… do you have ANY self preservation instinct?” His brow furrowed.
He took a breath and let it out and then said with honestly. “Alexis, I know you’ve got a lot of good places to stay, but, if you want to be a better friend, please, talk to someone, like a doctor. You don’t eat well, you don’t take care of yourself, you…you’re self-destructive left and right. I’m… glad my Dad stepped in, I mean, it’s… It’s good that he’ll have one ‘child’ that he can see. But promise me that you’ll listen.”

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I didn't," Alexis said, half-convinced; "I didn't mean to mouth off to her, I promise, Zac --" they pulled their fists tighter, trying to curl into the side of the couch, trying to be very small. "She said -- she sounded like my mom, I was polite, I was good, I don't know what the problem was. I didn't --" they choked on their words, for a few seconds --

"My blood is on the charter, Zac," Alexis pleaded, "so is Clark's and Rabbit's and everyone who was in that room, we did this to her," and they tripped over every syllable, their mind too fast for her mouth. "We made her into what she is -- I eat, Nasir makes sure I eat, and I talk to Nasir n' I have my mandated appointments and I haven't tried to kill myself again since -"

Alexis snapped their mouth shut very abruptly and went ghost-pale. Back when they'd asked, Jeremiah hadn't said he'd told Zac anything about it being an attempt.

"... that there was an incident in other ashdown at a lake, that you were saved, and that perhaps you need some time to go over things."

endejester

 

[endejester]

“Since…” Zac said firmly, waving his hand. “Since pretty recently, and you just… weren’t going to tell me? I mean, s**t, what the HELL is this charter?” He shook his head.
“Did you make it, this time? Did you make it some other lifetime because goddamn. I was… I was a drag queen in another life, and I’m just going to say right now that’s not the same thing as what I do now.” He said and flipped a hand at the skirt and leggings he was wearing.”

“Guess that means I’m not a…clone of who I was, hell apparently I was super damn friendly with Liam and Renard and I have no idea how I feel about that.”

He poked a finger into Alexis’s chest.

“I am… really, god damned tired of telling myself not to be upset, or mad when people do s**t. I already have a Dad who can’t see me, or touch me. God knows I have a TON of issues, can we notadd to them by you pretending that other people making you eat and do things is the same as seeing someone who can maybe get you help that people can’t offer?”

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"The charter," Alexis struggled for words, "is -- it's what made the court, made Nobles -- it. Split up the magic. I think. Not in this life - when the Court first got made - back when. The Lady was. Just a girl, not --" words, words, words. "Not -- what she is. Now."

"A-and -- and you're being weird about this! I just told you I tried to ******** kill myself and you just swear at me?" Their face was red with hurt, tears starting to glitter in their eyes. "I'm trying! I'm trying! I just want to help and nobody gets it!"

endejester

 

[endejester]

“If you want to help, then damnit Alexis, help yourself first!!” He shook his head, exasperated by the lack of understanding.

“Yes, it’s going to be hard, but honestly, do you think you can help anyone if you just…break yourself? I mean, yes, I want to know more. I want to know who she was before the charter. I want to know ‘why split up the magic’. But more than that, yes, I’m going to swear at you because next time you curse out someone who used to not be broken but is now psychotic and prone to torture, it’s not going to be powers you loose!”

He sat back scowling.

“You want to help, but you need to help you first.”

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I didn't -" and Alexis was begging again. "I didn't, not after the first warnin' - I did like Alois told me! Like he taught me! I called her my lady when she asked, like I'm s'posed to, I did it right, I don't know what I did wrong -" they sniffled and wiped the back of one hand across their eyes stubbornly, trying not to cry now that the emotional numbness was gone.

"I do everythin' right and it still happens, Zac, it doesn't matter what I do!"

endejester

 

[endejester]

Zac folded his arms and frowned. “Was anyone else there who can tell you what they saw? Because maybe you’re too close to it in this case.”

Zac’s clothing shifted as he moved to glance over Alexis again. “Didn’t you say the teeth were a pain? Maybe this isn’t as bad as you’re feeling it is right now” He nodded. “I mean, you can eat better food now without turning it into the worlds strangest smoothie.”

His shirt was now a long grey button down over black jeans. Rather dull for him really.

Daekie

 

[Daekie]

Alexis sniffled, pointedly, and tried to steady their breathing. "All the -- all the Nobles. The ones who're around. We were...meetin' to discuss the charter, and she said - it was in her bones, of course she knew." Deep breath, deep breath.

"...if it was just the teeth, I think I'd be alright. But I am my magic. The water -- 'm not commanding it. It just listens. It feels like my blood's all runnin' the wrong way."

endejester

 

[endejester]

"You're not your magic, you are you." He said with a frown and a firm tone. "You didn't need shark teeth and gills to be pointy and curt when we first met, you threatened Pax just fine if I remember. Do you mean maybe that you just felt... stronger with it?"

Daekie