Julian Atticus Blackthorn (fatherfigure) wrote in valloic, @ 2023-10-03 21:46:00 |
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He glanced again at the note he carried, written in a stranger's hand. Tiberius Blackthorn, Morningside, room 806. His eyes tracked up to the number on the door. The numbers matched. It should have been a relief, but the door was cracked open, and that alarmed him. Instead of knocking, he quietly nudged the door open further, his head tilted as he listened for sounds within. He didn't have an angel blade, or any weapon, but he could manage well enough without one.
"Ty?" he spoke quietly into the room, not wanting to startle his brother but also suddenly afraid for him, here in this strange place without any of his family. "Ty, it's Jules. I'm coming in. Yell if you're in trouble."
There was no yelling in response. But there was a ghost that Julian couldn’t see, just inside the apartment, smiling in a delighted way. Ty was further in, on his bed, engrossed in a book with classical music playing in the background, lynx curled at his side. He didn’t need his headphones here at the apartment, so they were abandoned to the charger for the time being.
But he hadn’t been paying attention, and Livvy had. She sometimes wandered the halls of Morningside, or spent time visiting Kit when Ty was busy. This had been one of those times, and she’d seen Julian coming, which gave her enough time to practice opening doors without Ty even knowing.
It felt a little mean in retrospect, especially as Ty jumped slightly at Jules’ voice and jumped off of the bed with a speed that needed no rune augmentation. But Livvy felt a little better when Ty croaked out a surprised, “Jules?”
Maybe he should’ve been more careful, made sure this was actually his big brother, but Ty didn’t. He just rushed forward, out of his room, and into Julian’s arms with a crushing hug. It had been several months since Ty had seen him - his last potential visit to Blackthorn Hall had been cut short by running into Kit - and he’d missed his older brother fiercely. Into Julian’s shoulder, Ty mumbled, “When’d you get here?”
"Oof." Julian felt the impact of Ty's hug and then the palpable relief that came with it. Ty was too tall now for Julian to prop his chin on his little brother's head, but he rested a cheek against his hair anyway and he hugged back just as tightly. Months away from his family was too long and now it would be even longer, and without Emma by his side too. His smile turned into a deep frown, the ache his chest blooming sharp for a moment.
"When? Just now. Well, an hour or so ago. I don't know how long that whole spiel took." He pulled back and cupped the side of Ty's head, looking him over from head to toe. "Are you okay? Have you felt safe?" His calculating gaze swept over the apartment. A free apartment this nice had to come with strings. Downworlders might work with mundanes here, but that didn't mean there weren't people behind the scenes who wanted to corral them here where they could keep an eye on them. "How long have you been here?"
Ty submitted himself for inspection, used to this when he’d been away from Julian for a few months. The first time he’d visited after starting to attend the Scholomance, Julian had spent a while mumbling about his height. “It takes about forty-seven minutes but that depends on who’s giving it and how many questions you ask.” There were people like Astarion who could badger Outlander Affairs for an entire day, and ones that could manage to slip out of there in a half hour.
“I’ve been here exactly two months, July 27th. Did you arrive at 9:55am?” He glanced down at his watch - not far off from the possibility. “Kit arrived four days after at 9:55am, I’ve been trying to track down a pattern but not everyone arrives at that time.” Ty had been living in a world where Kit wanted to be around him again for a few weeks now, and he had already slipped right back into mentioning him regularly, instead of having to ignore Kit’s existence as a way to mask the hole in his heart.
But mentioning Kit also could distract Julian from the fact that Ty hadn’t answered the safe question.
Julian was very clever; but Julian was also very stupid about the people he loved. He knew Ty hadn't answered the question, but he'd thrown enough information at Julian to distract him and he fell easily into the trap.
"Two months? I guess they were right about the being in both places at once thing. I just talked to you on the phone last night." He frowned and stepped away, scoping out the apartment with a more careful sweep of his gaze than he'd allowed himself so far. Swanky sure, but none of the usual Mundane signs of surveillance. Not obvious ones anyway. He'd need a rune to check the apartment more carefully. He checked his pocket for his stele - not for the first time since arriving. It's comforting weight wasn't an angel blade, but it was something.
"So. You and Kit." He didn't sound mad when he said the name, just curious and a little worried. "You're…talking again?" There was a chance Ty was just stalking the boy, but Julian decided not to bring that up.
“Two months.” Irene picked that opportunity to come out from under the bed - where she’d opted to hide at the sound of a new person approaching. She’d met Julian a few times when Ty had brought her home for school breaks, which made him just asking a few questions enough to get her over early nerves. “But Irene still remembers you. Cats possess excellent long-term memories.”
At the question of Kit, Ty shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets. But he nodded. “We’ve talked some. He got here a few days after me.” WIth that, he glanced back over at Julian, and then let his eyes go from his brother to Irene, never truly settling on anything. “But that just proves people show up all the time. Emma could be right behind you.”
It took every ounce of Julian's impressive self-control to not leap away from the bed as Irene appeared. He just hadn't expected it. This place had him unsettled. The aching empty space next to him where Emma should be was like operating with half a heart and his hands chained behind his back. He breathed out, trying to center himself, and crouched to say hello to Irene, hand outstretched. She let him pet between her ears for a moment before moving past him to Ty. Julian stood.
"I don't know if that's comforting. I don't want her to be trapped here too." It wasn't entirely true, but he said it like it was ironclad. He reached over to clamp a hand on his brother's shoulder. "I wish you would tell me what happened. With Kit. But I know this isn't really the time for worrying about that kind of stuff." Sighing, he dropped his hand away. "Just…be careful, ok? All of this is a lot without throwing in…personal feelings too."
Ty immediately felt a wave of selfishness ghost over him. He had wanted all of his siblings here - Emma included, because Emma was always included - if he was here. But he’d heard the explanations, and Ty had always appreciated a good adventure. He’d figured that Dru would have liked the amount of spirits and ghosts around.
But it was always all or nothing with the Blackthorns. Everyone, or no one. They were a united force and always would be because of Jules.
All of this made Ty a little uncomfortable. Talking about Kit. Worrying about his other siblings, about Emma. “I’ll be careful, I promise.” He rushed over to the kitchen for lynx treats, and did a quick side-step around where Livvy had been watching Julian from the hallway. She was always very good at directing him to what to say or do, and now was no exception as she leaned into Ty’s space and whispered - not that Jules could see or hear her, “Tell him you’ll take him out and show him around. Ask him to stay here, you have the extra room.”
Ty echoed her, but his was far more of an anxious blurting than anything as smooth or well-thought. “Do you want to stay? Here? I got extra rooms for just in case-” He had to call it out to Julian, around the corner.
Ty's evasion was unsettling. Julian followed him to the kitchen with a little frown wrinkling his eyebrows. He was being overbearing; he knew that. But it was hard not to want to fix whatever had Ty looking uncomfortable and a little shaken. He'd stepped oddly to the side for no reason and it did not erase Julian's frown.
It's you. You're making him uncomfortable, idiot. He blew a frustrated breath out through his nose and tried to shake the tension out of his neck.
"If you don't mind. I…didn't tell them much at the DOA obviously, but they did still offer me a room. I'd rather stick close, though." He moved into the kitchen and around Ty, to open the fridge for inspection. He was not at all surprised to find it fairly bare. The pantry wasn't much better. "Tiberius. What have you even been eating?"
Oops. Livvy was laughing now, delighting in the fact that someone here was able to actually boss Ty around and Ty pulled a face. “Um. There’s some pasta in there?” Ty said that knowing full well that the “pasta” in question was one microwavable cup of noodles shoved somewhere in the pantry, because who had time to cook when there was research and sneaking around to be done?
So maybe it was a little difficult of an adjustment to go from Jules cooking for the family to the meals at Scholomance being provided (varying degrees of edible meals, anyway) to living on his own with his ghost of a sister who couldn’t eat. “I’m sorry, don’t be mad!” Ty darted in and gave Jules a quick hug before darting back off again, this time towards the door in a rush. “You should stay here, I don’t mind! I’m going to go get you some stuff. Borrow some things from neighbors. Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back. You should say hi on the network!”
Behind him, Livvy yelled in his direction, “Coward!” as she pushed a cat toy across the floor for Irene to run at.
Julian laughed helplessly and patted his brother on the back before he ran away. "Don't stay gone long," he shouted after him. "I want to see your research!"
He sighed into the sudden silence of the room. "And I missed you."
His pity party of one ended pretty abruptly when a toy moved across the floor without warning. He hurried around the counter, cursing his lack of a weapon, but Irene bounded after the toy and rolled with it across the floor. Ridiculous. Of course, it was just the lynx. He was just so tense and off-kilter. Emma would've handled all of this better. Emma would have made Ty smile instead of bolt.
Unaware that his beloved sister's ghost was quietly staring at him, a soft, sad smile on her face, Julian turned back to take better stock of what little there was to work with in the kitchen.
He couldn't control anything else about this fiasco, but he could do this.