element_wizard | (no subject)

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While Alec's exit from Abe's office is quick and clean on the outside, on the inside Alec has decided to go through a scream of panic. He flicks off into the in between spaces of reality to give himself some time to think. Or not time to think. Time is over-rated.

In that not space he paces. Obviously he needs someone to talk to about this. It's been a while since he's gone off and adopted someone... or well... it was something more his older self tended to do. Or...well... time was a chowder soup. In any case, the adopting part wasn't so hard. He knew had to take care of kids and teenagers. Which is what Zack is sort of. The demon... really screwed up in the head part on the other hand is a bit beyond him. Alec is aware enough of some of his weaknesses. Dealing with emotional things is a one.

He needed to talk to someone.

Two people popped into mind.

One he immediately dismissed. Rhys wouldn't be useful here. He wasn't apart of these realities and he wanted to keep his friend out of it as much as possible. The realities. Cross contamination could be bad sometimes.

Which did leave the other. Vahl was from Zack's set of realities and would be familiar with what he was. Also, he was good at dealing with head problems. Besides it would be nice to see him again. It'd be ages.

Flicking through realities like one flipping through the pages of the book, Alec searched around for "his" Vahl. So many different variations. But he could find him. He could find anyone and anything. Perfect sense of direction made it possible.

And there it was, the little flickering bit of him and the bigger flickering of Phoenix.

Good.

Good.

Good.

Being on the edges of Dreamtime amused Alec as he'd been poking at an alternate of himself who existed near the edges of dream and awakening as a Changeling. That one is far away from here in a different part of the Dreaming. They were all connected eventually somewhere. It was one of those ways some people traveled between realities.

Lots of things could travel through them.

In a rather messy ripple of reality, Alec appeared in front of Vahl, ignoring the scenery. "I accidentally adopted a not-demon and he's really screwed up in the head which I'm really bad at dealing with so I was hoping you could help?" Then. "Hi. Long time no see. How are you?"

Maybe a bit backwards there...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"It's glitter. Much like cats can go wherever they want and can't be moved if they don't wish to be, you can never get rid of glitter properly except over time. If you're lucky."

Walking down the hallway, away from the glitter go, Alec shakes his head. "They're not around any more. I want to pick up some stuff. Also this is the safest place I know. Unless you know it exists you can't get here. And technically speaking it doesn't even exist," he said. "So we can talk about stuff. As one might expect I managed to cause a problem or three."

If this was the crabby Phoenix of old, he'd start muttering and cussing about some kind of magical vacuum cleaner or something. He's a lot more chill these days though, so he shrugs it off.

"Okay." He puts a hand on Alec's shoulder, rubbing a little. "Can't say I'm surprised, but there's never any judgement here, you know that. So shoot."

As if they'd not tried that one anyway. Of course they'd tried it.

He leans into the touch, closing his eyes briefly. "Someone might come after you. He's related to the Fool. His parent. He's called Death's Shadow. He's the fear of betrayal. He doesn't like angels... well, angel like creatures." The words come out chipped and clipped as he stared ahead. Still walking.

Of course they have and Phoenix should just let them get on with things.

"Betrayal, huh?" Oh gods, yeah. They all know what a tangled mess that has caused among the Kaori over the centuries. Alec included. "Simon mentioned this guy some time back. Shining Ones they call us? Me. Angels." Creatures like him or whatever.

The Fool had got Simon a little worked up by this Shining Ones thing.

"Not to be blasé , but there's always some kind of defence against everything isn't there?" Well, except Alec, Simon's Cenn, and the Arc. Oh, and most of the archangels and some of the Higher Powers... "I mean, most things."

"The Fear of Betrayal," Alec absently corrected. "Which is worse than just betrayal. Though the Fool is the fear of being made a fool. I'm sure Simon had absolutely nothing lovely to say about him, either. The Forgotten aren't the nicest of creatures. And no, they don't like angels. Angels represent hope. They don't like hope."

He paused at a door labeled, "2b". The where abouts of rooms 2a and 2c are unknown. The next room is "2246Y1" and the one before is unlabeled. Wryly he asks, "Do you know of any defense against those little voices in your head that say 'what if such and such happens'?"

"That thing," he stands corrected. And Alec is right, it is worse. Phoenix and his pack are rock solid. Having been torn apart before, he and Vahl have safeguards in place and they also have Simon. Whom Alec might not really trust, but would give everything he has to keep his pack safe. But still. A Forgotten on a mission could be incredibly dangerous. "He didn't mind the Fool too much, except for the apparent attitude change when angels were mentioned."

He's absently checking out the room numbers and figuring the weirdness is normal for here, and for Alec. "Uh, yeah. Vahl's a pretty good defence. He's grown in power since we last met, and he knows which voices are normal, and which are out of place somehow. Unless of course this Death's Shadow can get to him... but he's pretty strong. Wouldn't be easy."

Faith in his Alphas. He has it. And it's kind of difficult to break the faith of an angel. "I'm not being blinkered though. Or stubborn. You can't afford to underestimate a being like that."

"Yeah, especially since even if he can't mess with your head, he can still stab you with his knife. It's made out of the first murder weapon. And his parent was the first person murdered." And firsts are powerful. "It can even hurt me. I mean not permanently. Nothing hurts me permanently, but it leaves a mark that hangs around for a bit. He doesn't need a reason to do so, either."

Well, he has his reasons, but they're known only to him and he's not interested in explaining.

As for voices being out of place... everyone has it, even if it is annoyance at having the labeled sandwich in the fridge eaten.

The door is opened and it creaks into an office that hasn't been used in a while. There are two desks, one neat with no stacks of papers on it and an empty in and out box. Not even a photo or weird little nick-knacks. The other desk makes up for all of that. It is a place where paperwork has gone to die. There is a couple of photos - but they're facing away from the doorway and a bunch of little shiny knicknacks: a One Ring on a paper stabbing thing, a miniature dried pumpkin, a glittering rock being used as a paperweight and other things.

"He's stabby too, huh?" Sounds like the type whose arse Phoenix would dearly love to kick. If he could. Which he probably can't. "Any gems of wisdom on how to keep him the fuck away from Keldra?"

The contrast between the desks is startling and a little bit funny. Phoenix smirks, but he also glances fondly at Alec. "Or is that why we're here?" he asks, wondering if he can safely poke the pumpkin. However as he's lived with Alec and Older Alec, he knows better than to risk it.

"Yes, he is," Alec said. "From what I can tell, you can keep his host out. Not the actual voices in your head part." You can never never keep the voices in your head out. That is the problem with them.

"And sadly not. He wasn't created when I was working here so there's nothing here. Besides, most of this stuff only works in the fan fics."

It is probably best not to poke the pumpkin.

Skittering around to his side of the desk, he gives a quick frown at one of the photographs. He picked it up. "You ever see a picture of Sari's mom?"

"That works for me," he shrugs. "I usually leave all the warding shit to the Chieftains. They know what they're doing."

"Hey, always wondered, if you're an OC, does everything written about you count as canon? So fanfic doesn't really exist for guys like me?" Phoenix kind of likes being Outside of Everything. It's eye-opening, and he hasn't been tortured for a good few centuries now.

Now there's a euphemism if ever Phoenix heard one.

"Don't think I have?" he says, curiously. "I'm sure I'd have remembered."

"If you're elsewhere and meet a man who is very trustworthy and has a moving shadow, I suggest being elsewhere." Because that's the best description he can give. "Oh, he's got black eyes with red rims." Because that something Phoenix could probably notice.

Now there is an interesting question. "Well... yes...I suppose. I think AUs are the closest we get to fan fic. There's the main us and then the fan fic bits. Though it all depends on what the Powers that Be decide." He nods to the photograph. "Technically speaking they're no longer apart of my canon."

The photo is of an Alec when Phoenix first met him, a shorter woman with caramel colored hair and hazel eyes as well as a boy around ten with her coloring. It's a family portrait. It looks like a happy family. Though for someone who knows Alec well enough, Phoenix can see a bit of tension around the eyes and mouth. Like he's happy but... not really. It's not quite in the eyes. The woman has a similar not exactly stressed expression.

Vahl is already onto the moving shadow thing, and Alec's description, but Phoenix is also taking it all in. "Thank fuck for teleport," he mutters wryly. He'll be elsewhere all right.

"Never thought that way before... when I'm able to, that is." He glances at Alec before taking in the photo. "That's kinda weird, 'cause Sari's part of mine. Even if my timeline's been fucked up the arse by rabid hellhounds."

Phoenix then examines the picture and does notice everything. He knows Alec's face so well, every little tic and tell. He isn't sure whether to ask though. It could be just bad day, but seeing as both Alec and the woman - his mate - appear the same... it bears a little questioning. "Match made in Heaven? Or not?"

That's what Zack thought... heh.

"Sari was born during this time," he said gesturing to the office around. "So she was sort of harder to erase."

Laughing softly, Alec said with a small hint of sadness. "It was before it was realized that hey, gay people 'exist'. She and I were together before we even knew what fan fic was. Like we knew about queer people but we didn't realize it really applied to us as much as it did until here. It was here we got that realization, actually," he said. "The realization just sort of changed a lot of how I saw myself. How we saw me and so my canon got re-wrote so she never existed."

"Must be weird when you're the only one who remembers certain people." He knows Alec's original world is very different to Keldra. "Were you from the same world?"

"Evolution of canon. Huh. Now there's a thing." He's still studying the photo for a while, then looks up at Alec with a grin. "I started out as Hayden Christensen, a long time before that first Star Wars prequel. What does that make Obi-Wan/Anakin slash fiction?"

"At times, it is," he said. "A weird little secret. But things are weird. People get amnesia and pop in and out of existence all the time.

Then he shakes his head. "Earth. From Hercules the Legendary Journeys, to be exact with a bit of fiddling. Don't ask me to explain it. One of those weird moments of canon welding that makes up my past."

There's a lot of it.

"Your canon hasn't evolved?" he asked. "He must have been a lot younger then." He's not sure how old Christensen is. "Slash fic. I mean there's going to be Obi-Wan/Obi-Wan fic out there. I didn't have a 'face' so to speak. Just drawings. Until Pirates came out. Then it was Orlando Bloom."

"That's no weirder than one of our pack belonging to the Die Hard universe. One of our dead gods was from the Hercules Legendary..." He winds a finger, Alec knows what he's saying. "Tai Ravenehad, actually, Vahl's father."

There is a lot of it. Indeed.

"Oh yeah, I started out as Hayden, then I was young me, then I was me-me. The whole planet has changed around me since the early days too, along with most of the Kayori and that we're even called Kayori" Not to mention the freakin' AUs. So many AUs, he loses track of himselves.

"Orlando was a fucking awesome move. So was Viggo. I approve." And just to show he does, Phoenix plants a small kiss on Alec's cheek.

"I sort of belong to..." he stares up in the ceiling and starts counting softly out loud before coming up with, "... I think around at least ten... amusingly not the Lord of the Rings. But it is funny that Vahl and I are sort of connected by that."

There were a lot and he doesn't remember them all. And those are the ones that he counts.

"You hang around long enough and everything changes." Let us not talk about the AUs. There are many, many AUs for Alec as well. Though that is a more recent phenomenon. Before they were all just him. Blame the internet and meeting friends for that creation.

"It was amazing how well he looked like me. Just one of those moments were yes. That's it. Older me was a bit harder. Didn't want to pull from the same canon so to speak. But if it fits, it fits," he said before smiling at the kiss. "I approve of you too. Any of you."

"It was kind of a shame Tai got killed off, but everything got complicated, then the writer wanted Vahl to become a chieftain. So that was that. I think Vahl would like that connection too."

The internet has much to answer for.

"Both suit you real well." Phoenix breaks contact and leans against the tidier desk. "We here to dig something out?" he asks, regarding the ...less tidy desk. "Or am I getting the grand tour?"

"Complications are annoying like that. I'm sure Tai is still lurking around somewhere to cause problems, waiting to come out eventually when the Angst is needed." Because that's how things work. "Mm... wonder how to tell him that one, if at all."

It really does.

"Not much of a tour any more," he said sadly. "Things are fogging up. I'm looking for something."

"Maybe, in some strand or other." Phoenix shudders. "There's constant ideas about a strand where Solus and Versha are decent creatures." He does not want. And clams up every time it's attempted.

"We probably don't need to tell him."

That Alec can ever find anything in his hoarded bits and pieces is a wonder to the angel. Especially when he gets a lot older. He grins though, happy to let Alec poke about for as long as it takes.

"Older me separated out some of those realities into its own little bundle," Alec said poking through a desk drawer. "Probably not. It'd be uncomfortable."

It's his perfect sense of direction. To know exactly where he is, he needs to know where everything else is. That being said, he needs to still dig around the drawer.

"That's... actually uncharacteristically neat of him." Phoenix imagines the strands all tied up in blue ribbons. Or pink ones. Or even labelled with something misleading. Like the genderswitch potion, which Phoenix hasn't forgotten and will never let Older Alec forget either.

He wants to pick up something to fidget with it, but the desk he's leaning against is bare, and Alec's desk is probably vagually hazardous.

"What you looking for?"

"We can be neat if we want to." He can be. "Especially when it comes to important things like your world." The potion wore off. It's fine.

"So, I accidentally claimed a ... not demon... I'm not exactly sure what he is. The first death in a man made apocalypse given human form. He's been living in a hell dimension adjacent to yours. Drake might know it. Anyway, like I said, I accidentally claimed him. He's messed up in the head; Vahl's going to help with that." He's rooting around some more. "He doesn't know how to read... doesn't know a lot... he's been kept very sheltered... so I wanted to get him something to help with that."

Cue goofy grin. Alec thinks Keldra is important, and Phoenix loves him all the more for it, if that's possible. Huh. As did the pink hair thing, as did the rainbow fruit loops, and the turning-Moshti-tartan. Oh yes, Phoenix has a list.

"Hnh, Drake knows a lot of shit; chances are he's familiar." Now the reason for the consultation with Vahl is revealed, Phoenix is actually a little relieved. At least it's not Alec who needs shrinking. Well, he always has been a bit crazy, but that's not the point. "Yeah, when it comes to hell dimensions, 'sheltered' is usually all the kinds of crap that fucks you in the head."

He's a little curious about what Alec has that might help this illiterate not-demon learn to read. What with Alec's dyslexia and all, it sounds like a tall order. "We can help teach him too," he volunteers.

Of course Keldra is important. It's Phoenix's home. What sort of person would he be if he didn't protect it? Blah, blah, blah... he's fine.

"More so than I, at least." He rarely has reasons to delve into hell realms. Shrinking Alec does no good. The reason why he would need help in the head is because of being aware of the 4th wall all the time. That's not something Vahl can help with. "Especially when you've deliberately been kept so. He was spelled to prevent him from thinking too much." There's a scowl briefly.

That spell was wrong. Even if he wasn't a chaos entity, preventing people from thinking just didn't sit well with him.

"Hah!" he pulls out a tablet like thing, but with more symbols on it. "Fic reader; used it to check canon compliance while in the fan fics. They made it so it was easier to read for me."