[PRP] Unexpected (Alg & Nathaniel)

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg thankfully didn't have to teach yet, but classes had already started and he was being given a small closet that they called an office. Of course he'd rejected the concept of an office for his time here so far, he was only part-time, but apparently with his upcoming schedule he'd have to keep some level of office hours.

He was closing the door to the tiny room, still with nothing to put in it, and intent on heading to get some lunch before he went home to catch up on working on his current book draft.

Alg was much more comfortable in the bustling school buildings now than he had been previous. The activity and life was a distraction from everything else and... well it seemed as if nothing at all had changed since before the ball.

kuropeco

give me ur child

 

[kuropeco]

Classes felt absurdly normal in comparison to everything that had happened as of late - but it wasn't as though Nathaniel could just hand in a slip of paper that read please excuse Nathaniel Parrish from classes, he was being chased by a giant tree and witnessing the sacrificial murder of a deer-girl.

So it was back to classes for him.

Nathaniel was in the process of being shunted from side to side of the hall by the jostling crowds when he spotted an all-too-familiar man just up ahead, his dark head of hair bent as he fiddled with the door to a room. Nathaniel hastily sidestepped a girl with neon pink hair and a boy with a Ninja Turtles sweatshirt, scooting along hurriedly.

"Professor Mercer," he said, slightly out of breath. "Hello."

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg glanced up, keys slipping into his pants pocket. It was officially too warm for a jacket but the older man still seemed to layer with a vest and shirt and tie. Never not properly attired.

"Nathaniel," He smiled, "Back to classes?"

It was easier than saying 'how did you enjoy the murderball' even though he knew where this was headed.

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

"Yes, well," said Nathaniel, hoisting the strap of his bag a bit higher on his shoulder; with it being as laden with books as it was, it felt unbelievably weighty against his side, the straps digging in to his shoulder, which he ignored. "There was, unfortunately, no possible note I could give to call out sick."

He glanced up at the professor, Nathaniel tugging at his sweater vest.

"How are you and the other Mercer doing?"

He hadn't seen what had happened to either Jeremiah nor Algernon after Adoelle had been killed, the chaos around him and the others too much. He and Lily had simply booked it out of there before anything worse could have happened to either of them.

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Alg's smile was thin a moment, "Yes I'm sure-" He glanced around and his keys were produced again to open the office he'd just closed. "We're, ah, fine."

"Why don't you come in and set that down and we can chat," About things. Magic things. And murder things.

The office was actually empty besides some files he'd left on the desk top and a couple required reading books for some of his classes. "It's a bit naked, I apologize. I haven't had an office until now."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

He knew Algernon had just left the office that he was now opening again, which made Nathaniel feel slightly guilty. But he stepped inside anyway, because it was more private here, without the bustling crowds of students whisking past.

"It's nice," he said, glancing around the small room. "I'm sorry for stopping you on your way to...wherever, I just hadn't seen you, since, ah..."

Nathaniel made a wavy gesture with one of his hands.

"That night."

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

Algie dropped his keys lightly on the table top and perched a bit on the edge of the desk. His smile looked rather sympathetic, and a bit sorry.

"It was an abrupt introduction to the real Ashdown I'm sure..." The true nature of this place and what went on within the shadows. The surprising number of people who had found themselves involved.. and some of them human and helpless.

"I didn't expect that you'd get caught up in this."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Nathaniel toyed with the strap of his bag, giving Algernon a somewhat rueful look.

"I didn't expect to either," he admitted. "But Lily invited me along and she's a good student, so I figured I'd give it a shot. And by the time we figured out it was kinda a mess, it was already too late. I don't regret it, though, even if it was a mess."

His eyes flickered towards the professor.

"How are you doing?"

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"I'm... alright," That seemed like a word he settled on more than a genuine feeling. It was hard to pinpoint how he really felt and not fair of him to impose it on Nathaniel anyway.

"How about you?" Alg picked at his pantleg lightly, "Do you have any questions? I'm... sure you have a million really."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Nathaniel wasn't entirely believing of the all right comment, especially since he himself wasn't exactly all right, but he knew the principle of the matter.

"A million and a half," Nathaniel admitted ruefully. "I don't know what happened after Adoelle died or anything; or what exactly that accomplished, or what it meant, or what happened to the doubles, to start with."

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"I'm not sure what happened after either," Alg looked around at the room, like it would crumble and break- or at least like it should have, "But I know what should have happened."

Alg's elbow settled across it his knee. It made you wonder if teachers learned how to all sit the same, or if desk perching was a finely honed art.

"There are- were- three teenagers who went missing not long ago. You may remember seeing it on TV." He paused, thinking, and continued, "They went to the other side to take up positions, predetermined roles, in order to cage what they call The Enemy."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

Nathaniel absently twisted the watch on his wrist, his gaze following Algernon's, as though trying to see what it was that he was looking for. But he let it flicker back to the professor as he spoke, a slight frown tugging at Nathaniel's lips.

"I remember them, yeah," he said slowly. "I didn't realize that they'd...gotten all mixed up in things, though. So they went to be...a cage? What happened to them?"

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"Adoelle, Michael, and Heliodora.." Alg scratched his temple lightly. "Heliodora is there, on the otherside, in her demesne. She can't leave."

He smoothed a hand over his knee, "Adoelle- you saw. She wanted to break the cage. To keep the enemy trapped is to never defeat it, to keep it held and bound and constantly struggling isn't solving the problem."

Alg frowned, "Michael was killed. By others who seem to want to break the cage as well, I presume. But it's hard to know if we are doing the right thing or simply repeating past mistakes..."

The older man then paused, "It's like a book, Nathaniel, cycles and fate and past lives or adjacent lives.. We've done this all before and if we fail, I assume, will do it again."

kuropeco

 

[kuropeco]

While Algernon talked, Nathaniel had pulled out a notebook and a pen, jotting down notes to what the professor said. He scribbled the names of the three teenagers, then circled the last - Heliodora and added a question mark beside it.

Nathaniel's head rose, frowning.

"She wanted to release whatever this Enemy is in order to defeat it? I mean, that sorta makes sense, in a way. Keeping it caged just prolongs things. But if she's dead, and so is that Michael kid, that just leaves - Heliodora, you said? What happens if she's gone?"

A pause, and then he asked curiously,

"Did you agree with what Adoelle was saying?"

iloveyoudie

 

[iloveyouDIE]

"I don't know what happens.." Alg sighed. "And we don't even know the true nature of the enemy besides that everyone calls it - him - that." He'd been led along to believe it was a 'him', though the pieces of the enemy were as varied as anything else.

"Whether I agree or not-" The Professor shrugged, "Adoelle wasn't just a missing teen. She was more than a child. She and the others had done this before, remembered their cycles, knew they'd made these choices. I trusted her own mind - trusted her to make her own decision in her death. Someone would have seeked her demise sooner or later."

There were moral implications that were deeper, about allowing any adult the mind to decide their own fate, but others held life to a much more sacred standard. Alg was selfish, and without personal happiness, what was there?

kuropeco