Quentin Coldwater (lostinbetween) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-10-23 21:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, alex manes, julia wicker, kyle valenti, quentin coldwater |
Who: Alex Manes, Julia Wicker, Kyle Valenti & Quentin Coldwater
What: A friendly check in
When: 21st Oct
Where: Kyle & Alex's home
Rating/Warnings: G | None
Status: Log | Complete
Quentin really had no idea what you got for somebody who had just woken from a dream missing a leg. He liked to think he knew Alex pretty well at this point but he was definitely stumped.
He’d swung into the city to grab some ice-cream of the non alcoholic variety along with a couple books that he knew were a good read but avoided anything else. He’d also been working on the magic that had been seeping through from the dreams so that could be a good distraction if needed.
He glanced over at Julia as the pair approached the door of the home Alex shared with Kyle before he just took a breath and rang the bell.
Almost immediately he heard Biscuit followed by a shushing from Kyle as the other man pulled the door open a moment later. “Hey, come on in.”
Julia smiled, following Quentin into the house and then pausing to fuss Biscuit and then hug Kyle. “You okay?” She asked, cloth bag on her shoulder filled with three bottles of strong alcohol - as promised. “You need to get out of here for a bit or do you just wanna hang out in the kitchen?”
Kyle curled an arm around Julia’s waist as he returned the hug before he greeted Quentin with a smile that was a little worn around the edges. “Alex is in the living room.”
Quentin squeezed Kyle’s arm before he ducked past to head in the direction of the living room.
“Let’s hang out back,” Kyle gestured towards the kitchen. “Pool is pretty nice right now.” And by that he meant sitting by the pool.
Julia nodded, "I have drinks, so we can just go chill outside and enjoy the weather and you can get some stuff off your chest. Q'll keep an eye on Alex for you."
She slid under his arm and wrapped hers around his waist, leading him towards the kitchen so that he could just unwind for a little bit.
Alex, however, was in the lounge, prosthetic resting against the coffee table and he was tying a knot in the right leg of his sweatpants. His crutches were lying against the couch and there was a bottle of pills on the table. He'd needed the stronger pain pills that had come through from his dream; the impact of losing a limb on the rest of his body - which hadn't been prepared for it - was shocking.
He leaned forward and raked his fingers through his hair, just taking in a breath before realising someone was in the doorway.
"Hey Q," he greeted, an awkward shift as he looked like he was going to pull a blanket over his leg but thought better of it.
Kyle slid his arm around Julia's shoulders and led her through the kitchen and out the back, turning to lock the door in a half open state so that Biscuit if she wanted to could join them. As was the way with Orange County it was another beautiful day so rolling up his jeans and settling by the pool with his feet in the cool water seemed an ideal way to unwind.
Quentin approached with a smile and lifted up his bags of treats. "I come bearing gifts, figured you might be jonesing for some ice-cream and some distraction so company and well, books." He was glad to see Alex and to know that despite losing his leg he was still very much alive and as well as could be expected.
"How you doing?"
Alex smiled a little, though it was tired and wan. "I mean, I've been better?" he said with a lift of his shoulder, shifting slightly so that Q could join him on the couch if he wanted to. "I've given up on trying to work out how to secure that," he waved his hand in the direction of the prosthetic that was standing by the table. "Looks like the practise I had in the dreams at putting it on hasn't passed through on muscle memory just yet."
He adjusted the pillow behind his back. "How're you? Have you had any other dreams? Are you okay?"
Quentin did join Alex on the couch as he'd also thought ahead and packed spoons for the ice-cream which he dug out and offered with a smile. "You'll get the hang of it I'm sure, just takes practice, right?" He grimaced faintly as in hindsight that was probably not the best thing to say and apparently Converse trainers did not taste good.
Ugh.
"Not here to talk about me," he pointed out with a look aimed at Alex. "I'm here for you."
"Yeah, probably," Alex agreed quietly with a lift of his shoulders. "There's a pin and release mechanism along with this sort of vacuum thing but I don' t quite get how it works. And from our research, this is just an... every day one? So I can't run or swim in it." Not that he had done a lot of running before. He tipped his head up at Quentin and added, "At least this gets me out of having to do a physical before my discharge from the Air Force."
He chuckled, settled back against the couch and took one of the tubs of ice-cream Quentin had brought, and the spoon that accompanied it.
"You can be here for me without us talking about me," he pointed out. "I just- I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say." He already felt like a burden, crashing in Kyle's guest house. Now he felt worse.
Quentin glanced in the direction of the prosthetic and he was already curious as to how it worked, maybe if Alex was open to the idea he might be able to help him out with that. He was good with puzzles and complicated machinations, possibly due to the fact he'd mastered street magic at a young age.
"Well, you can start by letting me know what you need from me," Quentin offered with a small smile. "So, what do you need?"
Once he knew that then he could actually help.
Alex shook his head, honestly replying with, "I have no idea," because he didn't. He had no idea what he needed, other than for this to not actually be his reality and all for this to be part of the fucked up dream reality. He needed to be able to move around on his own and not be in constant pain, he needed to not be more of a burden on Kyle than he already was.
He'd probably need to look and find somewhere else to live.
"I just-" he popped open the lid of the ice-cream and stuck the spoon inside. "I don't know, Q. I just- it'll take some getting used to. But this is my life now so I can't really just dwell on what it was before."
Quentin nodded his head, appreciating Alex's honesty with where his head was at. "So, I may not have dreamt a whole lot more since you last saw me but I have learned a couple new things." He figured the best course of action was to act normal because whilst Alex's personal circumstances had changed their friendship hadn't.
"It's kinda cool."
"Oh?" Alex shifted to the side slightly, the movement causing his hip to catch and tug painfully and it took him a second to re-control his breathing before he settled, facing Quentin a little more. "Magic related?"
"Yep, magic related," Quentin said with a nod as he ignored the obvious pain Alex was in as he didn't think the other man would appreciate him making a big deal out of it.
He dug into his satchel and pulled out a deck of cards that he'd taken to carrying with him and rested them on the nearby coffee table before glancing at Alex. "Watch this." He bit his lower lip as he brought his hands up and made a few intricate and complicated movements that resulted in the lid of the box of cards being opened without being touched. The next thing that happened was that the cards came flying out before Quentin clearly caught their movements with another elaborate flair of his hands and then he began to turn them onto the edges and spin them into a detailed pattern.
Alex watched, head tipped to the side slightly as he watched the way that Quentin's brow furrowed in concentration, how he caught his lower lip between his teeth and looked adorable as he concentrated on the cards.
The box opened and suddenly the cards came flying out, almost telekinetically controlled as they flew around them and then started forming patterns, until they began to stack carefully on the table all by themselves.
When they stilled, finally, Alex let out a low whistle, genuinely impressed.
"That- wow, that's amazing. You- can you move other things or is it just cards?"
Quentin let out a breath when thankfully the magic did as he asked because he had long since learned it was less about demand and more about give and take. "I can move other things now. It was just cards to begin with, but now it's anything I want to move. I can also do this-"
And to illustrate he made a few more movements with his hands and a sudden explosion of fire sparked from the ends of his fingers until being extinguished as he folded his fingers into a fist.
Alex chuckled, "Despite anything else that happens in your dreams, I think you won the lottery of stuff that'd bled across." He smiled a little, took a spoonful of his ice cream and leaned into the cushions. He was genuinely impressed with the magic, and knowing it was real and not sleight of hand was even more impressive.
"You sure you're okay? Are the dreams getting better, at all?"
Quentin smiled a little as he quit playing around with the magic he'd discovered and leaned back into the couch, turning his head to look over at Alex. "Well I have a psychiatrist now so that seems to be helping with the whole dream crap that dream!me seems to be going through."
That and medication.
"Taking it one dream at a time."
"I mean, that's the best way to take it," Alex said with a nod of his head. "One at a time I mean. And you can always come talk to me if you want. I'm... significantly more limited in my movements for a while so you've got a captive audience." He winked.
Quentin reached over to squeeze Alex's forearm, offering a soft smile. "I know it's super shitty but I'm really glad that the only thing you lost was your leg. I don't think I could've coped with losing you, period." He gave Alex's arm another squeeze before giving it a gentle pat.
"But, yeah, I might take you up on that."
Alex was... touched by the comment from Quentin about how he wouldn't have handled losing Alex properly. For someone who felt that he was relatively inconsequential to the people in his life - Kyle being the exception - it was almost heartening for him to hear that he'd be missed if he wasn't there.
He was used to being ignored and told that he wouldn't be missed. He just caught Quentin's fingers with his own gently and squeezed before letting go, in silent thanks.
"Any time, man."-