[PRP] The next step (Shiloh & Jeremiah)

[Melancholies]

Shiloh nodded. "If Fell wants...?" He looked to the fetch inquisitively, "I'm not about to boss people around. I'm surprised you offered to help for once, Beel."

The fetch huffed, "Think of my insolence as a challenge to further your lordly career." Which was Beel-speak for 'I kinda like you now, maybe.'

"I'm not sure if I can lock it though..." He pursed his lips, "I mean, it makes sense I guess. I could always try." He looked at the folio and took a deep breath. It wasn't like he could lock the charter itself—that would be altering it potentially—but maybe the folio that held it... he went to tuck it away again, but stopped.

"Actually," He looked around the space before turning to Beel, "Do you have a napkin or anything?"

"Do I look like a paper-towel dispenser?" He huffed a second time, looking and sounding utterly offended, though knowing Beel it was probably played up. Rather than either of those things, Beel instead produced a lacy white handkerchief. Shiloh too it with a quiet thank you.

Very, very carefully, he dabbed it into the freshened blood. "I think this might help too." The stained piece of cloth was handed over to Jeremiah, "I mean, if you're gonna run fingerprints, you might as well run a blood test too right?"

"I'm gonna try to lock it, so lemme concentrate..." He started to put the charter back into the folio, but got distracted when he promptly got a rather ungraceful papercut. Even the dumb ******** paper in this Court had something against him. Beel sighed.

"Try not to tarnish the Court document." He spoke like a mother to a child, exasperated and exhausted all at once.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"I would be honored, Lord Beaumont, to help protect that which you hold." Fell bowed, her odd mismatched eyes focused on the younger Noble and then turning to Beel and inclining her head. For her, this only made sense. She had, when Jeremiah had first met her, told him the reason she had wanted to be his fetch was because she wanted to see the world he would create with his own hands.

This was merely proof she had picked the right Noble.

"I may have to call in a favor for a blood test but, yes, absolutely." Jeremiah leaned forward to take the handkerchief. It was delicately held while he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When they cracked back open there was a brightness to them as his fingers waved over the handkerchief. Something shimmered in the air around it until it became clear that he was creating a container to hold it from magic.

"Cut back contamination until I get it back to the department." Then, of course, he went silent as Shiloh was preparing to lock the folio. Though he did frown a little bit that Shiloh cut himself. Not because he tarnished the document but because he hurt himself.

... it was already covered in blood.

"Perhaps think of wanting to keep it safe, to protect it. That is usually what helps me when it comes to creating shields." Though it felt redundant to say. Shiloh, as he knew him, was more than capable. So he watched.

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

For once, Shiloh didn't deny the title of Lord.

"Thank you, Fell." He smiled only to wince again, his attention going to his split thumb. It was only a papercut—not that deep—but deep enough to be painful for no real reason. He huffed as he smeared the blood on his fingertips in an attempt to get it to stop.

"Do you need a napkin?" Beel inquired curiously, his head tilted to the side. Shiloh shook his head.

"I'll take care of it in a second." He murmured as he gave his attention back to the folio. He took Jeremiah's words to heart; think about wanting to keep it safe, protected, hidden, secure, placed, kept. He was the key, right? He could open things, but he should be able to close things too. Resting his hand on the leather surface, he drew in a deep breath. His mind's eye visualized a keyhole; one that fit no key. One that could only be opened with something more abstract, more... unconventional.

He thought about the version of him back in the Eighties; him and Jamie and Dana drawing sigils on the ground—or were they runes? Glyphs? Magic terminology was hard to comprehend at times. He didn't have fancy lipstick or continent markers though.

The papercut didn't bleed near enough to provide ample ink, but magic seemed to fill in what blood could not. In one contiguously swift motion, he drew out the shape of the keyhole in his head. Something tangible concentrated around the mark, something so physical and real, something that... like... if he just reached out and formed it—it felt so malleable—then maybe—

He tapped his palm down on the mark and it glowed. Brightly at first, and then dimly, the only thing left behind being a light blue symbol. Shiloh's eyes were full of wonder. He looked to Beel like a child who just got exactly what he wanted for Christmas. Being able to do things felt pretty good, all things considered.

"Here, try it." He handed it over to Jeremiah.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Fell gave Shiloh a bow, a small smile on her face. "It is my pleasure, Lord." Then she, like Jeremiah, watched the young Noble.

Jeremiah watched as the magic was worked, his eyes blinking and head tilting as it seemed to be particularly bright in his gaze. Was that because Shiloh was a Principal? Potentially. His eyes always were drawn to magic and this was something else.

"Blood does have a tendency to help make sure things stick," he said after a quiet moment, once Shiloh was done and offering the folio out to him. With it in hand, he tried the simple clasp on it to open it but found that it did not move at all. Nor did the flap even want to lift up. The symbol was studied briefly with a small smile.

"I would say that that is locked." Jeremiah was impressed as he held it back out for Shiloh to take. "There's likely no one else getting into that now aside from you without having to use magic to overcome it and that takes time. Also a great deal of magic and you'd be alerted before they manage anything, I'm sure."

Melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Shiloh seemed... proud, actually. "It worked?" He tried not to sound too surprised, but it came out regardless. Beel offered a little golf clap behind him, but said nothing. Shiloh took the folio back in turn, "It should be safe then, yeah. I wonder if I can lock other stuff..." It'd be something to look into at other times.

He was silent for a second as he watched the leather exterior, almost as if the symbol would fade away or the charter would crumble in his hands.

"Thanks for being there." He said suddenly, "I'm trying... trying to get better about that sort of s**t, but it's still awkward." Awkward being an understatement. "I'm going to take good care of this. I... I dunno. It feels like a lot of the time we do that whole 'one step forward two steps back' sort of bullshit, but... I feel like maybe we can get somewhere with this." Maybe.

Maybe.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Fell even seemed to be impressed, giving Shiloh a polite nod of her head and small genuine clap of hands herself. She was, however, still mostly quiet and watching the proceedings.

"It's certainly a useful skill, so honing it could be to your benefit." Others as well, if Jeremiah really thought about it. He leaned back in his chair, looking at the bit of blood that was now waiting for testing.

"You don't need to thank me," replied Jeremiah. "You're ..." A breath was let out. "It is not an easy situation to be put in, especially given that you're young, but you're handling it better than people who are more than twice your age would. If I didn't think you weren't more than capable of protecting the Charter, I would say something, but in your hands? I know it's safe."

He leaned forward, fingers pressing together for a moment before he sighed.

"It has felt like that since March of last year. That for every step forward, I find myself falling backwards twice that. Answers lead to more questions. Wanting to fix things means finding more things that are broken and must be fixed first ..." A shake of his head. "I think this is dark, it is atrocious and horrible, but there's hope. If they made it, we can undo it or we can remake it. Whatever it takes, Shiloh, to better this- that's what we have to do. No one deserves to suffer. There's already enough going on around us. Enough blood has been shed and it has to stop at some point."

Melancholies

-__- *looks to the future RPs* *looks to these poor things* they don't knooooow

 

[Melancholies]

"Still." Shiloh mused aloud, "You'd think I could handle it." He'd been through the abuse spiel once already, "Or used to it. I guess maybe it's never a thing you get used to." His dad also never had him beaten to the point that Melany did, never had him humiliated and tortured and—

A blank look passed over his face, and then it was gone, almost as if it had been a mark on a dry erase board and someone had just wiped it away with a single thumb stroke.

"You're right though. Whatever it takes... I'm going to fix this." He looked determined, "I'm gonna end it. I think the suffering is inevitable, but through the Court... that can be controlled at least. That can be stopped." He kneaded the space between his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"Anyway, I wanna give this another quick glance over. Maybe take some more pictures." He looked down, "If you never need to look at it then let me know. I can unlock it for you. And I guess—"

"And I guess," Beel interjected, "Now is the time for me to finally show you the rest of this place." Shiloh gave him a deadpan look, his gaped mouth saying are you serious; "Of course I am!" Beel proclaimed, "Listen, listen, I've been sitting here quietly the entire time—on my best behavior even!" He wrung his hands.

Shiloh sighed like it couldn't be helped.

azuredreams

ftb on ur post?

 

[azuredreams]

"I think it's proof you still- I don't know." Jeremiah's fingers were clenched briefly before they loosened. "If we do not react, if we are not affected by it, then ... we have lost something of ourselves. The moment we find ourselves used to it? That is possibly the worst place to be." Or perhaps that was how he looked at it. Were they to become numb to what happened, adapted and used to it, that might lead them down the same path the Nobles of before had been on.

"We may be stuck in these cycles but the one of abuse we can at least put an end to." This he feverently believed. That they could make a difference and change things to not be like this. "I may need to get more pictures of it at some point but I'll let you know." There was a chuckle then as Beel spoke up about showing Shiloh the rest of the demesne.

"I'll take my leave." A look was given to Shiloh. One that said you're on your own because I've already dealt with that with Fell. He looked to the small fetch then, her mismatched eyes glinting with something he could not name.

"I shall stay here. Adze can manage things for a little while and I will assist Beel and Lord Beaumont." Which meant she looked to Beel then for guidance, following his lead. Jeremiah nodded and flicked his fingers towards the group in goodbye.

"We'll talk later, Beaumont. Take care of yourself, alright?" With that, of course, the older man was gone in a blink.

Melancholies

can fade here? lol, don't know if you want to acknowledge fell with a little thing or not but she is gonna chill with beel and shiloh for a bit and be a guard fell.

 

[Melancholies]

"Will do, Mercer." Shiloh nodded, tried to give an encouraging smile, but it was obvious that his mind was heavy with contemplation. Shiloh's weren't meant to be thinkers! But he was doing his best, and that was all that really mattered. "I'll let you know if I find anything else."

Beel rubbed his hands together before turning to Fell. His acknowledgement of the fetch wasn't as warm as it had been with Silk (or any of Melany's fetches for that matter), but he was also trying (perhaps not his best like his patron). "I suppose we'll have to... get acquainted, then."

Try not to sound too thrilled, Beel.

"You're right." Shiloh butted in, "You can come with us if you'd like. Um, like, I know you're gonna help watch but you can make yourself at home here too."

Try not to look too thrilled, Beel.

"Shall we?" He looked between the two fetches before descending into a deeper part of his domain.

azuredreams

A WRAP! ty 4 rp sorry im so slow