it was all so strange and so surreal
Dec. 17th, 2019 08:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
more_magic“I just want to know if Jodie Foster is here,” said Alex, and Darlington didn’t bother trying to suppress the flicker of irritation that bubbled up within him. They’d seen wonders tonight; the Arcadian peace of that vast forest, the glories of a Parrish painting come to life, reckless sacreligious hedonism in a flower-filled cathedral. And yet all she wanted was to celebrity-watch. Typical.
The fireflies lighting the room swarmed around them, the green-gold flash of their light almost pulsing with the beat of his heart. “For all you know,” he said, the words coming out thick and sluggish. His head reeled; he blinked hard, once, twice. “For all you know, that was Jodie Foster.” The room shimmered, the air suddenly heavy and cloying. They should keep going, finish their journey down; do the job they’d been set to at the start of the night. Before he could say anything, do anything, chivvy Alex along and out of the suffocation of the fifth level of Manuscript’s tomb, Lan Caihe turned back to face them, that enigmatic smile still on her face and the vast mirror of power churning behind her.
Descend.
He shouldn’t have heard her, not from this distance, but the word was as loud as if she’d been standing by his side.
Descend.
It passed through him like a shudder, and the world gave way along with it. He fell--he descended--landing on his feet in the middle of a cavern, the walls slick with moisture and the scent of tilled soil in the air. Someone was humming, something was humming, the sound reverberating straight to the center of him like it was the only thing that mattered. Darlington looked around for the source, his head taking an age to turn from one side to the other, until--
The mirror, that vault of power. It was here, bolted to the wall of the cave, the magic contained within swirling in eddies and whorls for a moment before slowly parting. Something was wrong here, gravely wrong, and he had to look away. But why would he? He’d wanted these glimpses of the uncanny, chased them and dreamed them and craved them, driven by his need to know everything he could about a world he’d only ever been given small tastes of. He could drink his fill now, granted this glorious opportunity by a goddess in celadon robes, and so he stared as the mist parted and the mirror cleared.
It was the room he’d just left, the banquet table still laden, the guests still crowded around the feast now rotted and spoiled, flies swarming around the goblets and maggots squirming in the cheese; everyone there aged and frail, using the last of their strength to lift a cup to their lips or bite into the desiccated husk of what might once have been a peach. Above them all stood Caihe, still youthful, lit by fire and glowing with power, her face changing with every breath: high priestess, hermit, hierophant, king and empress and fool. Darlington stared, shaking, at the face of his grandfather until the next exhalation whisked the sight away. His upper lip was wet; he lifted fingers to his face and saw them come away bloody.
“Darlington?” Someone was saying his name, a voice he knew, one he’d thought of as a broken woodwind when in fact it was the richest tone he’d ever heard, a symphony contained in the three syllables of his name. No, not his name. Not his name, any more than Alex was hers; they’d both christened themselves something new. He looked away from the crimson smear on his fingertips and back to the mirror. Like Caihe, she was unchanged, that Queen Mab crown still on her head and starlight still spangling her skin, her dress a dark flow of fabric along the lines of her body--but no, now she was Mab, a true Queen of the Night, beautiful and breathtaking, the points of a wheel or a crown seeming to turn behind her. Her mouth was lush and red, constellations he didn’t recognize reflected in the pooling blackness of her eyes, so much power coursing through her that it ought to be terrifying.
“What are you?” he heard himself ask, his voice soft with awe. No answer came, but that didn’t matter; he knelt anyway, putting himself at her feet and in her hands. He could see himself in the mirror, not as he was but as he wished to be: a knight with sword in hand, his fealty pledged to the creature before him if only she would choose to accept it. There was an ache in his chest from the wanting of it, another sword plunged into his back, piercing his heart; he felt the tears spill down his cheeks, mingling with the blood, the taste of copper and salt in his mouth.
“An acolyte at heart,” said Caihe, and Darlington knew she spoke truth. Choose me, he thought, he begged, staring up at Alex. She was not what she had seemed, nothing like what he’d assumed her to be, this girl who’d done nothing to earn the gift she’d been granted. She was his queen, and he would serve her until the end of his days, if only she would…
“Darlington,” she said again, one slim hand reaching for him, fingertips brushing the side of his face, cupping his chin. He closed his eyes, and dared to hope.
The fireflies lighting the room swarmed around them, the green-gold flash of their light almost pulsing with the beat of his heart. “For all you know,” he said, the words coming out thick and sluggish. His head reeled; he blinked hard, once, twice. “For all you know, that was Jodie Foster.” The room shimmered, the air suddenly heavy and cloying. They should keep going, finish their journey down; do the job they’d been set to at the start of the night. Before he could say anything, do anything, chivvy Alex along and out of the suffocation of the fifth level of Manuscript’s tomb, Lan Caihe turned back to face them, that enigmatic smile still on her face and the vast mirror of power churning behind her.
Descend.
He shouldn’t have heard her, not from this distance, but the word was as loud as if she’d been standing by his side.
Descend.
It passed through him like a shudder, and the world gave way along with it. He fell--he descended--landing on his feet in the middle of a cavern, the walls slick with moisture and the scent of tilled soil in the air. Someone was humming, something was humming, the sound reverberating straight to the center of him like it was the only thing that mattered. Darlington looked around for the source, his head taking an age to turn from one side to the other, until--
The mirror, that vault of power. It was here, bolted to the wall of the cave, the magic contained within swirling in eddies and whorls for a moment before slowly parting. Something was wrong here, gravely wrong, and he had to look away. But why would he? He’d wanted these glimpses of the uncanny, chased them and dreamed them and craved them, driven by his need to know everything he could about a world he’d only ever been given small tastes of. He could drink his fill now, granted this glorious opportunity by a goddess in celadon robes, and so he stared as the mist parted and the mirror cleared.
It was the room he’d just left, the banquet table still laden, the guests still crowded around the feast now rotted and spoiled, flies swarming around the goblets and maggots squirming in the cheese; everyone there aged and frail, using the last of their strength to lift a cup to their lips or bite into the desiccated husk of what might once have been a peach. Above them all stood Caihe, still youthful, lit by fire and glowing with power, her face changing with every breath: high priestess, hermit, hierophant, king and empress and fool. Darlington stared, shaking, at the face of his grandfather until the next exhalation whisked the sight away. His upper lip was wet; he lifted fingers to his face and saw them come away bloody.
“Darlington?” Someone was saying his name, a voice he knew, one he’d thought of as a broken woodwind when in fact it was the richest tone he’d ever heard, a symphony contained in the three syllables of his name. No, not his name. Not his name, any more than Alex was hers; they’d both christened themselves something new. He looked away from the crimson smear on his fingertips and back to the mirror. Like Caihe, she was unchanged, that Queen Mab crown still on her head and starlight still spangling her skin, her dress a dark flow of fabric along the lines of her body--but no, now she was Mab, a true Queen of the Night, beautiful and breathtaking, the points of a wheel or a crown seeming to turn behind her. Her mouth was lush and red, constellations he didn’t recognize reflected in the pooling blackness of her eyes, so much power coursing through her that it ought to be terrifying.
“What are you?” he heard himself ask, his voice soft with awe. No answer came, but that didn’t matter; he knelt anyway, putting himself at her feet and in her hands. He could see himself in the mirror, not as he was but as he wished to be: a knight with sword in hand, his fealty pledged to the creature before him if only she would choose to accept it. There was an ache in his chest from the wanting of it, another sword plunged into his back, piercing his heart; he felt the tears spill down his cheeks, mingling with the blood, the taste of copper and salt in his mouth.
“An acolyte at heart,” said Caihe, and Darlington knew she spoke truth. Choose me, he thought, he begged, staring up at Alex. She was not what she had seemed, nothing like what he’d assumed her to be, this girl who’d done nothing to earn the gift she’d been granted. She was his queen, and he would serve her until the end of his days, if only she would…
“Darlington,” she said again, one slim hand reaching for him, fingertips brushing the side of his face, cupping his chin. He closed his eyes, and dared to hope.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-30 06:41 pm (UTC)"I asked the Bridegroom for help finding her beyond the Veil," she says, and she refuses to feel ashamed about that choice, no matter how he's looking at right then. "We'd run out of options, and he was always there anyway, so...Yeah. I asked him for his help." She looks up at him, the tilt of her chin almost defiant, daring him to give her shit about it.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-30 10:06 pm (UTC)He'd told her the rules, likened it to riding the subway--and they had subways in Los Angeles, he knew they did, even if hardly anyone in that sun-drenched and benighted town used them--and she'd discarded them anyway, formed a connection and brought herself into danger. Maybe all of Lethe, too. He had no way of knowing, short of dragging yet more scraps of information out of her bit by torturous bit.
None of them had known what they were doing, it seemed, bringing Galaxy Stern in as Dante.
"And please, tell me, did this truly remarkable plan of yours work?"
no subject
Date: 2019-12-30 10:45 pm (UTC)Draining the last of her coffee, she leans to set the mug down on the floor next to the bed, wrapping her arms around her knees. It's on the tip of her tongue - you weren't there. What else was I supposed to fucking do? but she swallows it back down, bitter as it is.
"I don't know," she says. "I'd just passed the effluvia over to him when..." She gestures to her ribs. "Guess I'll never know now."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 04:19 am (UTC)"I guess you won't," he says, suddenly weary and confused, his headache pounding in his temple once more. "That wasn't...I imagine you thought you were doing the right thing, but--" He cuts himself off, breathing out another sigh. "Never mind."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 01:41 pm (UTC)"Never mind," echoes Alex, studying his face for a moment before she looks away. "It was all such a fucking mess, Darlington. Dawes and I...we didn't know what else we were supposed to do."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 09:18 pm (UTC)"Aside from asking me, you mean?"
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 10:25 pm (UTC)She wanted to avoid this, and couldn't - it was inevitable that they were going to have to get to this part eventually. The truth, or some of it, anyway.
"You weren't there," She says.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-31 11:19 pm (UTC)And even if he couldn't, at least he might have shared the burden.
"Where," he says, stopping when he hears the rasp in his voice that sounds almost too much like someone on the verge of tears. He swallows. "Where was I?"
no subject
Date: 2020-01-01 12:38 am (UTC)"Not there," says Alex, fiddling with her hair, refusing to make eye contact with him, then, no matter how sad he sounds. "Sandlow said you were in Spain. Looking at Ley lines or some shit."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-01 05:53 am (UTC)Her happiness, her ease with him, hadn't seemed like a lie, and that's what he chooses to cling to in the absence of everything else.
"I have to think," he says, and his voice is so, so careful. "That after this, I'm on the next flight home."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-01 02:53 pm (UTC)"I hope so," she says, with a little smile. She's glad that she's folded up at the foot of the bed. He's not sure that she could stand being close enough to touch him. "We needed you around, Virgil."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-01 04:50 pm (UTC)There's not much else to say after that, and Darlington finishes his coffee and his share of the toast, setting both the empty mug and plate on the bedside table once he's done.