[PRP] Sundae Sunday (Jamie & Renard)

[saedusk]

It was mid-afternoon, not too hot, not too cold even with the breeze, perfect for a light jacket and a long walk in the park. Jamie couldn't say exactly what week or two or three of the past year had been the hardest, but this month was a contender. Tired was an understatement. He slept better than Shiloh as a general rule, but even he was sporting darker eyes today.

In line at a small ice cream cart, Jamie looked up through the thinly grown leaves of a nearby tree. There was no one behind him, affording him all the time in the world to daydream, at least for now. A starkly red cardinal hopped from branch to delicate branch. Jamie wondered what it might be like to live such a simple life.

Then again—he took a step forward as the line moved, one step closer to frosty vanilla-peach delight—the life of a wild animal wasn't really that simple, was it? They had their own struggles, too. Any day they might end up prey to something larger, something stronger. It wasn't all that different really.

Okay, okay. Jamie's shoulders drooped and he looked away from the trees. Time to stop being existential about cardinals and get some damn ice cream.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

There was no one behind Jamie, but a person or two ahead of him was Renard Leroux, and he had a waffle cone with vanilla ice cream, and he was waiting. "Mr. Delacroix," said Renard. "Once you've purchased your ice cream, I'd like to speak with you."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

In all fairness, saying Jamie wasn't expecting this was about as impactful as saying he never expected to wake up magical one morning. Surprises only stayed surprises when they didn't happen every other day.

"Oh... Yeah, okay," he answered, turning his tired eyes up to Renard. That was the only thing he said until he had his ice cream, though, his perfect vanilla cone with a swirl of pink peach flavoring from the bottom to the tippy-top. Even then he took a bite or two before continuing.

"Um," he hesitated, fingertips tapping at the side of his cone, "How have you been?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Well enough," said Renard. He didn't seem offended by Jamie's quietness. Renard seemed like a quiet person himself. "I was wondering how you were getting on. Things have been strange in Ashdown recently, and I think we will agree that I have a rather vested interest in your well-being?" He raised his eyebrows at Jamie. "How are your classes going?"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Whether Renard meant he cared for Jamie personally despite the fact he wasn't the same or whether his interests lay solely with the safety of the spell schema, it was hard to tell, but he didn't blame him either way. "It feels like everything's been getting worse," he admitted, hovering behind the protection of his slowly melting ice cream. He left out the part about accidentally turning in Ashdown and how horrible that had been and likewise neglected to go into any detail about the Court and Shiloh's issues. For now, at least.

"I'm gonna finish what I started, though." Whatever that might be.

He went for the ice cream again, favoring a line of peach flavor before looking back up at Renard. "Classes have been... good. Sort of. I think I'm finally caught up enough to feel like I'm actually learning something."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I'm glad," said Renard. "Not that things seem worse, but that you're catching up on your studies. The you I knew... never got to finish college." With that somewhat morbid statement, he was quiet for a moment before turning his attention back to Jamie.

He said, "Have you been thinking about what you would like to do with the schema? I ask because I would be interested in assisting you, if you would like."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"Honestly, he replied, quiet, thoughtful, "Me too." There were a lot of implications in the way Renard revealed his counterpart had never finished college. Something about it said it wasn't necessarily that he hadn't wanted to, but that he couldn't. It was a sad thought.

"Some help would be nice. I mean, I get the gist of it, but figuring out where to start, what to do..." Jamie shrugged. "With some stuff that happened recently, I really thought about what I wanted to do with it, though."

A pause and then he continued. "Sigils. Could I learn to change them? Overwrite them entirely?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Renard thought about it. "It's possible," he said. "You would need access to sigils to study, of course, as many of them as you can find. Not just recreated diagrams of them, but the body of the sigil itself. The more information the schema has to work with, the more you would be able to control for unexpected deviances or strangeness in the casting."

He glanced down at Jamie. "Walk with me?"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

Hearing it was possible—no matter the amount of effort the research would take—was a weight off Jamie's shoulders. It had been a long, hard choice to make, but if he could do something, anything to ensure they didn't fail this time, he'd do it.

Failing was getting real old, real fast.

"Okay," he agreed, adjusting the strap of his bag as he followed. "I didn't really know sigils were a thing until, well..." he shrugged and shook his head, "I still kinda don't know much about them or who can make them."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Anyone can," said Renard. "Making them while fully understanding the consequences is something else entirely. I, personally, try to stay away from sigil-crafting. Too much potential for error."

He frowned at his ice cream. "Have you considered teaching the schema to simply destroy the sigils?"

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

"Anyone can?" Aside from the void episode, Jamie had never actually tried. There was always a worry he'd mess something up, make something worse. Then again, that was exactly what Renard meant, wasn't it? Jamie had no idea what he was doing when it came to sigils.

That's why confusion furrowed his brow at the suggestion. "What happens if they're destroyed, though? Couldn't that throw things totally out of wack or negatively affect anyone who's tied to it?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"It would cause problems for the principals," said Renard. "Whether it would cause death depends entirely on how bonded they are to the sigil. I wouldn't advocate something which could kill my child if I thought the risk unworthy of the reward."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

That made Jamie's heart sink, his stomach flip, and he immediately thought of Shiloh. Risking his boyfriend's life was the furthest thing from his mind at this point. They had enough threats to deal with on a regular basis without something like this looming overhead. Whatever answer Renard might have, it would have to be stunning.

"What reward could possibly be worth that sort of risk?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Her freedom," said Renard. "His freedom. Yours, and mine." He shook his head. "If the cycle resets, you're dead. I'm dead. And Sonny, the principals, the nobles, all of them keep living. They'll become twisted reflections of themselves, more incapable of understanding human lives with each triggered cycle. I know how incredibly difficult it is to remain grounded through millennia of the same thing. Even I am not as stable as I seem."

saedusk

 

[saedusk]

No doubt Jamie had thought about all this before, especially after Leila's revelation on the listserv. If the world really was going to end in less than a year, they had a lot to do, but more so than that he worried about what would happen if they failed. He'd have to leave Shiloh behind. Would he forget everything, forget him? Even if he was reborn into the cycle again, it wouldn't be the same him, would it?

It was a difficult thing to properly grasp and it made Jamie's heart ache. He didn't want to be alone. He didn't want Shiloh to be alone.

Jamie looked up at Renard and gauged his answer. Even I am not as stable as I seem. It made sense...

"You... really think this is the best option? I don't want Shiloh to have to live like that..." he looked at his ice cream, forlorn, "How would I even go about teaching it that...?"

shibrogane