theo. (escutcheon) wrote in emillion, @ 2013-08-30 18:48:00 |
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When the footman opened the door to let Divina into the sitting room, it was clear urgency had bested vanity. Her hair spilled unbound over her shoulders, its ends curling and damp. The eyes that fell upon Theo were drowsy and bloodshot; the mind behind them reeled yet from the earlier surge of white magicks. For a moment, she attempted to amass what she had left of her pride, to hold herself tall and unburdened— But the weight of a life she had not lived sank against her spine, and she, too, sank onto the seat across the berserker. A tired exhale left her lips as she waved the servants off with a flick of the wrist. Well-trained, they vacated the room. The sound of the lock turning was the only remnant of their presence: a breach of propriety, certainly, but such things were commonplace in the Marcos estate. Wordlessly, Divina dropped a tiered box on the coffee table and pushed it in Theo’s direction. She looked fucking terrible, was his first thought. Theo grunted to himself in disapproval, following her into the sitting room with equal amounts of concern and agitation. Whatever strange ailment was afflicting her, the descriptions she had given him on the network were nothing he wanted to hear. Too familiar for his liking, but then, in that moment he might still be mistaken. He wasn’t some fucking mage after all, whatever the problem was, it could be any number of things he hadn’t thought of. He took a seat near Divina, his face sour, waiting for her to commit to more detailed answers. Theo considered himself ready for whatever it was she intended to show him. “Aye,” he said, picking up the box. “What’s this?” “Dark magic,” she said, regarding him carefully. He didn’t seem as troubled as she was, but perhaps he was managing better than she was as well. It was an irritating thought. At any rate, she didn’t want to dally on truffles, so, without missing a beat, she added, “What do you know of my… affliction?” Theo squinted at the box in his hands. While he was as neutral as he could be when regarding the Dark, and certainly, who was he to make any judgments on the matter, holding some mysterious magic in his hands left a fighter such as Theo feeling a bit incredulous. He balanced the box on one knee, thinking over her question. What was he to say to that? It would be foolish and stupid to spout any theories about what her affliction truly was. If Theo was right, then there wasn’t much to be said or offered. He had lived with his own troubles for five years now, and it wasn’t as if they were likely to go away. And if he was wrong, and it was something entirely different, what sort of disadvantage would that leave him at? After all, he hadn’t spoken about that particular subject to anyone but Domina. Theo ran a hand through his short-cropped hair, understanding that there was no way he was going to have an easy time of things. “You going to show me first?” Divina tensed, biting down the immediate fuck no. Her own reservations warred within her. The exchange over the network had been painful, as if Theo’s questions had forcefully wrung every weakness out of her, word by word. Already had she told him as much as she was able. She still did not know why she had done so; the very thought of giving Gale or Rin the same truths was repulsive. And yet, under his gaze, she felt like a cornered animal, claws shuffling, hackles raised. “Something,” she said at length. Her voice rolled in uneven starts and stops. “Give me something. A reason, perhaps. I don’t—” Divina let loose a frustrated exhale, resisting the urge to rub her eyes. “You were thinking of something specific, were you not?” "Aye, perhaps," he said. Theo huffed and shrugged his massive shoulders in irritation. She was wary and frightened already--what the fuck was he supposed to say? He wasn't Evan, words and niceties eluded him. Whatever he was likely to offer would only swing around with the delicacy of a hammer. "I know some things of these afflictions," he continued. Theo cleared his throat, a deep, growling sound emanating from deep inside his chest. "But I need be certain before we talk of this further. Already you have my word." The assurance was met with silence. Divina held herself still, although her thoughts were anything but. Pretty words died as soon as they were uttered and lost meaning even as they were fastened to paper. What need did she have for such? It should have sufficed that Theo had sworn himself to silence. Yet her every instinct urged that she throw him more questions, demand more reasons, erect wall upon wall until he lost patience and left. Theo was not Li, after all. He was not the man that had cut her up and sewn her anew, that had seen the hurt in her eyes and taught her how to wield it. And so sitting before the berserker was like picking at an old wound and marveling at the blood it wept. But Divina knew her trepidation had nothing to do with Li or Theo and everything to do with herself. Around the room seemed to flutter the memory of winged eyes, hollow and cold as Via begged them to save her. She could almost hear her mother’s voice, the words mahal and halimaw ringing over and over until Divina was not sure where ‘love’ ended and ‘monster’ began. Her hands formed fists in her skirt, knuckles stark white against the red muslin. What did any of this matter if Theo had answers? Words gathered in her throat, contradicting each other even before they’d come into being. Divina swallowed them all. There was nothing to say now that she had come to a decision: she would let the wound bleed. Mechanically, her arms swung over her head, then swooped under her shoulders. The last button undone, Divina turned away from Theo and let the fabric sag slightly from her shoulders. After a beat, she raised her hands to pin her hair in an unruly knot. Theo let the silence fill the room, unsure of what he might say next. Prying overmuch wasn’t his usual habit. If she wanted to refuse him the request it was her right to do so. But concern for his comrade began to batter itself loudly against his usual temper, and so he sat and sighed and stewed in the turmoil of his own thoughts while Divina did likewise. Once she began to work at her clothing, Theo’s mouth thinned into a straight line. He set the box aside on the coffee table and stood up. It wasn’t what he wanted to see. An anger began to burn deep in his belly. He had tried his best to protect her--from what, well now it seemed that Theo had himself a semblance of an answer. With one hand clenched into a fist, his other hand reached out and hovered just above the exposed glyph. “Aye, that’s enough,” he said after a moment. While the words came out rough, an unmistakable concern hinged itself around every syllable. Turning his gaze away from Divina, Theo sat carefully back down in his chair. “So,” he began slowly. “What’s it shown you then? Nightmares, visions?” She had been his responsibility that night, he thought to himself darkly. But more than that, an important question began to boil up to the surface of his thoughts. What must he do now? “I have told you as much,” said Divina, attending to her dress like it was armour. In counterpoint to his concern, guarded hostility bled through her words, the buttons coming up for a portcullis to fall down. “I have told and shown you everything.” Noblewomen were trained from birth to sit still, to opt for gently nuanced suggestion over outright questions. Divina rose to her feet and took a step toward Theo, as if to—she did not know. But a restless, desperate energy had taken hold of her, demanding that she act. “What are you hiding from me?” Theo refused to budge, even as she stepped forward. His inability to navigate sensitive situations became apparent yet again, but he knew well that there was little to be done in a situation such as this. A situation, he supposed, that could only be shared between the two of them. Unless there were more out there in city with this same...affliction, but that thought did very little to relieve his mind. “I know what it means to carry such a thing, but not the name of it,” Theo said, his frown deepening. “Why you and why now, I can’t fucking say.” He shook his head. She likely wanted answers and solutions that, he thought, didn’t even exist. “It can’t be healed and it won’t fade with time. What else is there to tell you?” “How you came to be such a fucking expert on—” Divina made a fumbling gesture. “—this.” If Li knew nothing, if Barnard knew nothing, but the man before her did… She began to pace, drawing up her memories of the night at the tenements. Something had been wrong with him then, something that had weighed upon her enough to seek him out as soon as she was recovered. Abruptly, she halted mid-step to look at him. Dark eyes burned with an impossible mixture of anger and trust. Theo growled. This was likely another good reason he didn’t usually have good relations with women, they were always so damned frustrating. Of course she wanted to have every detail, he grunted, but who was he now to refuse? Standing up to his full height, he stomped over to where she was standing, an imposing, unstoppable force most times--but here, Theo doubted it made much of a difference in her eyes. Even so, he frowned down at Divina all the same, offering up his bandaged forearm as if it was some kind of challenge. “Go ahead if you want,” he said bluntly, a fury now glowing in his eyes (an anger with its edged poised only at himself). “But my words are the truth.” Unfazed as ever by his size, she very nearly ripped the bandages off his forearm. Instead, pursing her lips and stifling her agitation, Divina carefully felt for a loose end. The bandage was gently unraveled, Theo’s own glyph becoming visible bit by bit. And when it was at last revealed in full, she could not contain a shaky exhale. It was so different from hers—whorls and arrows to her waves and chains. There was none of his earlier hesitation—if he didn’t like it, he could break her arm—as her fingers traced the glyph from the bottom up, dallying on one of the swirls. “Ajora,” she breathed. The bandage was slipped under his wrist once more, quickly wound up the length of his arm. If he hadn’t gone through a similar scenario once before, Theo would’ve been more visibly affected by her attention to his glyph. Instead of his former caution and hesitation, however, he merely clenched his fist and allowed Divina to examine his arm. He watched her expression carefully, wondering to himself what she was thinking. “Aye,” he said, pulling his arm away once she had finished rebandaging him. Theo pulled his arms across his chest and remained standing where he was, looming down on her. Now that she had paced around and demanded all the answers, it seemed he was determined to stay put. “So now you know.” She nodded, staring straight ahead, as if to a point beyond his sternum. Fire had met water, and now there was only vapour. Divina felt light-headed, her mind struggling to make sense of the situation. In her rumination, she stepped back and ran both hands through her hair. She did not move any further than that, joining him both in stillness and in… Whatever the fuck was happening to them. Possibly to others, she considered with a wince. “Another beast, was it?” It could not be the Dark, not for Theodore Finch. “How long ago?” “Years,” he said. This predicament was no revelation for him, not any longer. Theo had gone through the shock and the anger long ago. He stood in place and kept watch on her. For what sort of expression or cue, he didn’t know, but his feet felt no desire to budge. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do, or don’t.” He hoped she understood what he was trying to say, if not now then in the future. Theo remained agitated, but he warred with the urge to try and comfort her somehow anyway. He considered trying to put a hand on her shoulder, and after that he wondered if and where she would try to punch him if he did so. “Is that not what it always comes down to?” Divina said, although, indeed, she had yet to realise the context in which he meant it. Her mind had not left the Dark and, not for the first time, she considered how her life would have changed without it, if this would have happened to her in its absence. The speculation didn’t last long. A change had been had, and, like any other animal, she would adapt, molding her life and her habits around it. The decision was easy to make at present, while her thoughts remained a muddled haze of utter disbelief. Further upheaval, emotional and physical, could wait. Divina raised her gaze to Theo’s with a weak smile. “I presume the sleep gets better, at least.” Or she would make it get better, she thought, remembering her agreement with Carolina. “Lest Emillion’s crime rate escalate to untenable heights while you are indisposed.” Theo let out a noise at Divina’s remark, a throaty mix of a cough and a guffaw. It wasn’t the worst of possible reactions, he supposed, but it wasn’t quite enough to put him at ease. “Manageable,” he said with a shrug. Theo recalled his squire’s words during their time at the beach. Even though he’d dismissed Juliette’s assessment of his character as untrue, Theo’s urge to comfort in this situation hadn’t abated and, in fact, had only increased with Divina’s weak attempt at a smile. His squire was having more of an influence on him than expected, he supposed. Why else did he decide to bridge the gap between them and attempt something close to a hug? Taller than Divina, his arms massive, Theo tried his best not to crush her and earn himself a bloodied nose. She froze in his arms, and, in that first breath, was fully prepared to knee him in the gut. But the ground had eroded under her feet, leaving her lost and unsteady. Despite herself, Divina let the tension go and relaxed into the embrace. The warmth was not unpleasant, so, tentatively, she returned the gesture. In her groggy condition, she felt his arm transecting her back, one seal over another. And then Divina realised she had no idea how long such was meant to go on for. Her family had ceased such shows of affection long ago, and her experience was now relegated to brief, polite hugs exchanged with friends. At once disgusted with her ignorance, she pushed away. “I—” she began, faltered, changed tack, “—will not be making it to our usual spar tomorrow.” Theo scratched at the back of his neck and looked away. “Aye,” he said with a shrug. He wasn’t planning to argue with her on the matter. Checking up on Divina again, however, didn’t seem such a bad idea--after all, five years ago he himself had no such luxury. “Best be off,” he added, before any awkward silences were allowed to fill the room. Should you need to find me, he was going to continue, but Theo chose to leave the offer silent. Already he had offered enough uncomfortable gestures, and so it was with that brusque statement and a final look of furrowed-brow consideration in her direction that he turned toward the door. “Finch.” When he paused to face her, Divina swept the forgotten box off the table and held it out for him to take. “Truffles,” she explained, finally. “Share with Evan.” Theo was therefore seen leaving the Marcos Estate frowning more than when he had arrived, even if the reason had now changed entirely. Didn't she mention Dark magic? (For a Knight of the Peace, he could sometimes be particularly thick-headed.) |