[PRP] all these things (aleksy & jeremiah)

[azuredreams]

"So," Jeremiah says conversationally, taking a sip of his drink, "imagine my surprise when I ask where one of my sergeants has been spending her too long lunch breaks only to be told in great detail where."

He leans back in his seat, blue-green eyes bright with amusement.

"It turns out that apparently she was meeting up with of the clerks from City Hall. There's this new young woman, 'her eyes are so pretty, they might actually be jewels.'" The way he said it implied that he was repeating her. "Never mind that apparently they were both sneaking away for too long lunch breaks to spend quality time together."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Gross and inappropriate," pronounced Aleksy. He was leaning back into his couch cushions, a can of kvass on the end table, relatively untouched. "One has to remember to keep an eye on the clock when conducting lunchtime rendezvous. It is simple manners. The youth these days."

Aleksy was like five years younger than any of the APD sergeants and he knew it, but it was more the sentiment that mattered. Seriously. It was fine to bone someone on your break, in his opinion, but it was wrong to use time that wasn't yours to do it. "Also, why did she tell you? You are her boss. Surely you were displeased."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah was of the same mind. Time management of liaisons during break time was a thing. "You'd think they would but, no, 'we just get lost in each other'," he sighed, "but that's work time."

His head tilted along the couch, eyes looking to Aleksy again after taking another drink and setting it back down. A look flickered across his face, one that was slightly guilty looking if only for what he said next.

"I was displeased but I wasn't expecting her to tell me." Fingers rubbed the side of his neck. "It was around the same time that I was growing into some of my abilities. If I ask a direct question then people answer it truthfully." Another drink. "Doesn't always work on people with magic," guinea pig Algie, "but those without it sometimes works too well on. I asked a young pickpocket what they'd stolen that same day only to get a rundown of things.

"I've also figured how it not do that all the time." It was the exact kind of thing Jeremiah would have problems with due to it not always allowing for consent. To not have some control over it would have made him never want to ask questions again.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It astonishes me that pickpocketing is such a thing in this nice town," said Aleksy. "Straight up theft, of course. But pickpocketing? It is hardly crowded enough." He didn't appear astonished by Jeremiah's confession of magical powers. He had special eyes, after all, an infinite well of magical body horror for him to enjoy at his leisure. It was lucky for him that a physically intimate relationship appeared to spare Finn the worst of it, really, otherwise Aleksy would've become a hermit long ago.

He shrugged. "But what do I know? I am an ex-prostitute, not a criminal."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah was not entirely aware if the shoes he filled were the shoes of a Noble. That was where his concern was. If someone was to know, it would have been Aleksy.

"Apparently," he said dryly, "it was something of a competition. Especially given the lack of crowds but ..." Jeremiah shrugged himself. "I'm not going to say anything. I was up to worse at that age."

Then he was nearly snorting his drink at the ex-prostitute comment. Mostly because sometimes he forgot about that webcam business.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It was fun, too," said Aleksy of the ex-prostitute comment. "Finn prefers emotional monogamy, I think. He is lucky to be so cute as he is."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"It was something," Jeremiah replied, taking an actual drink this time and not snorting it.

"Most do." His lips twitched. "I will withhold comments, however, about the cuteness of your boyfriend and take your word for it." Which came to- "I am glad he returned."

Since he remembered the phone call. Aleksy calling about Finn's disappearance and then, later, the call that he had come back home.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy frowned at the coffee table, since he was sitting next to Jeremiah and turning his head was so much effort. He reached over for his can of kvass, lifting the sweating can to his lips to take a sip. "He is a moonwalker now," said Aleksy. "I worry for him."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah frowned himself, watching Aleksy as a sigh escaped. His own can of kvass was put aside, half-gone.

"What has you worried?" Specifically. Everything that Jeremiah knew about moonwalkers- They had downsides - every differentiation did - but moonwalkers had many boons to it.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy said, "What isn't there to worry about? He turns into bunny every month now? He was so afraid when he returned? He knows nothing that happens to him while he is gone, he clings for week and weeks, and so afraid. I never have seen him afraid this way."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah was frowning more now, turning to actually face Aleksy. "A bunny?" A breath was sucked in. "He was bitten then?"

He regretted not putting things together immediately about Finn's disappearance and knowing he was a moonwalker.

"It should not always be like that, Lisichya. If Finn is taken over on the first day of the full moon to other ashdown, he will not lose himself." Aleksy probably knew this, however. "There was an incident where I was." The other world. "At Blackfriars during the job fair a moonwalker transformed on this side and went berserk. People were bitten and transformed then. It was traumatic, to say the least. You-" Aleksy at Blackfriars and so, so bloody and pale- His fingers twitched, as if he wanted to do something but stopped himself.

"Your support," he said instead, "is probably going to be the only thing that will help get through it. Perhaps helping him through the full moon too."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I presume so," said Aleksy. "It does not happen this way for many moonwalkers, I am given to understand.

"Eve says to be there for him and ensure he knows that my love is without condition. I am worried this will cause him to rely on me too much."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"No, it does not from what I understand. It happens spontaneously, I believe. You wake up and you find yourself with a tail of a wolf or the senses of a fox ..." Jeremiah shook his head.

"I don't think you should worry too much about that. Sometimes you need the support to know that you can make it on your own. Find ways to help him empower himself- make him realize that he's safe." His fingers rubbed together in thought. "He'll be strong on his own again but know that he can count on you when things are rough."

They would be stronger for it.

"I will admit that I wonder if this would be easier on moonwalkers if the power was one again." Though it was likely for the best it was not.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Like they say in the listserv?" Aleksy shifted positions, put his socked feet against Jeremiah's thigh and got horizontally comfy on literally the entire rest of the couch, as was his wont. It was his couch. If Jeremiah didn't like it, there was an armchair literally three feet away. "I expect this would not be so, but then, I am but a lowly corpse. A corpse with my own invitation to this conference you all discuss."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah's head tilted, an eyebrow raised as Aleksy's feet settled. A finger poked briefly at Aleksy's big toe before he nodded. "Yes, wargs and moonwalkers were once the same thing. Eve told me that moonwalkers can also get a familiar like a warg can if they grow into their powers."

Then his head was rolling along the back of the couch, an eyebrow raised. "I can't say I am surprised to see you with an invitation." Aleksy was given another look then. "You are far more than a lowly corpse," he added.

shibrogane