The house between the worlds

[element_wizard]

And then the house.

The house held memories of a life pruned. The path this house held in his life had been cut away. Pruned to nothing as it no longer fit. It was no longer relevant. He no longer had a wife and children. In a way, it was a relief.

He never cared for them. He'd never, ever, ever admit that out-loud. It's not something people said. They had been given to him because, of all things, a Hercules the Legendary Journeys episode. The one with the baby dragon who'd been caught and made to burn villages as extortion. At least, he thought that was the plot. The episode was only seen once. But the baby dragon caught his writer's fancy. As things did. So, he became the dragon's father. It worked, because his writer wanted it to work. If he fathered a child, then there must be a mother. Thus Braxious and Verra Rose came into his life.

Ah, Verra Rose. Alec reached up to touch one of the many orange roses that grew on the side of the house. He'd planted them for her. She loved orange roses. But he didn't love her. Not like a person loved a lover, the mother of their children. The emotions he felt towards her were just ... friendly. If at all. Not that he'd ever admit that either. There were somethings that shouldn't ever be said.

Saying them gave truth, even if it was a lie.

Their love was just placed upon them. Because that was how the world worked. At least until his writer discovered slash.

He laughed softly. He could remember all sorts of ways the writer tried to have him have sex with other men when they didn't know it was possible to do it as two men. Usually he ended up getting turned into a woman. Gender-flipping at its finest. Naivete. Maybe even the unconscious realities of the writer's gender-queerness.

Once it was realized though... that branch had to be cut off. The heterosexual one. He could no longer go against his character, right? How else could he grow properly?

Sitting down on the stoop he looked out at the large oak tree in across from the house. There he'd buried his family.

Their deaths had been violent.

It had to be. It had to be final. No going back. No retcons. No miraculous back from the dead. That part of his life was over. Done.

He mourned properly and then moved on.

What else could he do?

Which left only the house.

Should he keep it or should he let it go?

He didn't know.

Comments

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

I'm moving to the tropics. Boyfriend to be maybe has a beach house there he's letting me stay at.

Sometimes. I try not to think about it.I miss being a dad a bit. But... there wasn't anything there between me and Verra.

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

Beach house? Not bad. I've never been one for the tropics myself. I like my northern cities, forests, mountains. [Faint smile.] Or southern. But temperate, is my point. Temperate, with snow in the winter. But Glauster's more to do with the world I'm currently in. Been bounced around a lot.

...Yes. The children make it harder. [Beat.] Just the one author involved?

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

I love the ocean. I grew up high in the mountains. Never saw the ocean until I was in my teens.


Children always make it harder. *breathes our hard for a second* One author who came up with the plot and allowed others in to play.

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

Grew up in mountains and hills myself. Highlands, really. Fertile, rich--there were some coasts nearby, I guess, and the neighboring kingdom has them. I just... love my home.

They do. [He looks wistful.] Could be worse, though, I suppose. Were they hers, or one of the others'?

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

We got a lot of snow and rain. The summers were nice though. The ocean just was this huge exotic place. I mean a body of water bigger than a lake! That you couldn't see the end of or go around. Fairy tales.

I suppose. My family and the murderer were hers. I guess it wouldn't have been fair to have someone else do the deed. There was irony in it too.

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

My... well. How to put this. My father's best friend ruled the next kingdom over, so we spent a lot of time there, and it was a merchant, trading place. Plus, honestly, the whole geography of our world is remarkably undefined at the moment. [Eyeroll.] I suspect that there will be ocean nearby for me relatively soon, if I'm reading author intentions properly. Besides, the world-hopping I've done, I think the only geography I haven't been forced into at some point or another is rainforest.

Irony? [Eyebrow raise.] How so?

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

We have maps. There aren't any rainforests that I know of, but where I live isn't suited for that. I imagine further south there might be some. Or to the west.

As for the irony, the person who killed them is now, canonically, my lover.

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there are rainforests in my world. I'm just not sure where. Probably outside what I'll see in my lifetime. Not that that's hard.

Ah. [Beat.] ...It could have been worse. My wife and two of my children weren't acutally my author's. Things are mildly murky as to my relationship status.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

Probably outside what I'll see as well.

That makes this awkward. It's always hard to be in a relationship with someone who's not your author's. Shit happens and there it goes.

What happened... may I ask?

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I'm not too disappointed. I dislike heat and humidity.

Things were a little difficult, but we were trying to fix them. [His face is carefully blank--he lies, a little.] And then the authors had a long-standing sore wound blow up between them. Haven't spoken in eighteen months or so.

I have... sort of a new wife. Sort of a picking of certain key qualities about her and minor changes. But it's not... it's not the same.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

I'm a sucker for heat.

*At that Alec laughs. Hard* Oh gods... oh... that's so... almost had the... actually the same damn.....

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

I'm not. I like snow and dark greens.

[And Tyroshaun just raises an eyebrow, body language clearly demanding an explanation for that laugh. Also, if you look closely, he's a little hurt. He loves her, after all.]

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

*seeing his expression Alec sobers up immediately*

Not your wife! Just... my writer had a similar situation with someone I was involved with that yours did.

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

I gathered. [Pause, then, sympathetically.] It's hard. [He shrugs a little.] She... she'd changed by then, anyway. We neither of us were quite who we'd been, or been intended to be. This is closer, now. Rania and I. I do miss my daughter who isn't with my author--and my son, although he always hated me. He's probably happier this way.

Authors are... ridiculous, sometimes. [Half-smile.]

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

I know. Changing is hard. Change and realization. I suppose it's almost like being a real person.

I'm sorry about your son. They were clearly older than mine. I don't know if that makes it better or worse.


All the times.

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

My author sometimes swears I am real. She thinks I've tampered with things in the real world all the time. [He grins.] It suits my ego, so I let her flail.

[His eyes cloud a little.] It's... a strange situation. My other two children are... kind of in a different time--or universe altogether--than I am, now. So there will be others.

And I do love her. [Faint, sad smile.] I'm not sure if it makes things better or not.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

So does mine. She said that once sort of jokingly at another Comm and got blasted all to Hell though. We're not real, you know, saying other wise is blurring the lines between reality and non and only crazy people do that. *grins madly* Like all authors aren't crazy to begin with.

Ah. I know how that is, yeah.

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

Depends on your definition of real. [He smiles a little, a strange smile.] To ourselves, we're real. Have you heard of a book called Sophie's World? My author is obsessed with it, and there are some interesting questions of reality raised in it.

Well, I still sort of get to go home to her. It's just... not quite the same.

[elementwizard.livejournal.com]

Real is very dependable, I think.

I've heard of Sophie's World, but just the title, nothing else.

A different version?

[brightstarssong.livejournal.com]

It is that.

It's an enjoyable book, and according to my author an excellent substitute for a university philosophy course.

Something like that. It's her, but not--less intense, perhaps, is the best way of describing it. [He shrugs a bit.] She doesn't know the difference, of course--but I do.