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xp_logs2015-01-21 12:05 pm
x-scion.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2015-01-21 12:05 pm
Julian, Angelica, Adrienne: Harsh Light of Day
Julian wakes up in the woods and hurries off to find Tandy, finding Angelica, Adrienne and the harsh truth of a new reality instead.
Having helped all he could with Doreen, and she in return helping him, Julian took the steps to the main door in a single bound, with a bit of help from his telekinesis. Entering the house was like entering a dream, as a clash of familiar and storage hit him all at once. And who should be the first person that he saw?
Angel knew she wasn't who Julian wanted - and she was very much not looking forward to what she was about to tell him - but at that exact moment she was too relieved to see the familiar face in a very unfamiliar world to worry about much else. As soon as he was inside he was tackled, Angel wrapping him a tight hug. "God thank you for not being dead," she said as she pulled away. "Wow. Not every day I get to say that."
"What the hell is going on?" he returned the hug, wrapping her in his arms and squeezing with all his might. After a moment had passed he let go, grabbing his friend by the shoulders and looking into her eyes, "The last thing I remember was bleeding out in the woods. Then waking up without a scratch on me."
She shook her head, tugging at a lock of hair. "It's...I'm not really sure what it is to be honest. Something about our universe falling apart and Xorn putting it back together with different elements from other broken universes....it's all weird."
"What's a Xorn?" Julian asked with one of his eyebrows raised. Shaking off the question with a sigh, he held up a hand. "No, that question is likely to have too long an answer. What I really want to know is...um..." he couldn't bring himself to ask.
Good thing he didn't actually want an answer because Angel didn't actually have one. Her shoulders fell as he struggled with his next question, however. She knew what he wanted to ask. "I don't know," she said quietly. "There's been a lot going on, I haven't...really seen her."
For a short time, he stood there in silence, with a blank look on his face. Finally, "Um...uh..." it was not Julian's most eloquent moment. "Who...who have you seen?" he needed to put Tandy out of his mind for a moment. Unfortunately, that just filled his head with everyone else: Adrienne, Megan, Rouge...Nico.
Angel let him have his silence, closing his eyes as she tried to keep the grief under control. Tandy was her friend. She'd lost so many of them. "Things are a bit messy right now," she said finally. "It's hard to tell. There are people we haven't heard from yet, doesn't necessarily mean they're dead, just...not here. Right now." She had to hold on to that hope.
"Which of our kids made it?" he blurted out. Part of him didn't want to know...but he needed to.
Angel's voice was heavy as she responded. "Hope and Topaz." She ran a hand through her hair, sighing. "Come on, we need help to have this conversation."
"Help," of course, being copious amounts of alcohol.
Julian nodded, "Okay, I need to look for her first, but meet me on the flier's platform in fifteen?" she may have already searched the entire place, but he needed to be certain.
***
Julian knocked on the door to his girlfriend's suite, out of breath, after having ran there from the foyer when Angelica said she hadn't seen Tandy anywhere. The mansion had collapsed, it had burned, he knew some were dead...but he was holding out hope that she wasn't one of those. He pounded on the door again before deciding to let himself in.
Adrienne gave a start when the door opened, looking eagerly at it as if expecting Tandy to come through the door. But it was just Julian. She looked back down at the box she was sorting through without greeting him.
Returning to their suite to find that Tandy's things had all been seemingly magically packed away in boxes was possibly the strangest part about all of this insanity. It had been too much for Adrienne, who had retreated to Garrison's suite and tried to forget that Tandy was dead. But then Father Michael had called, wanting to discuss a timetable for picking up Tandy's things. He seemed to think Adrienne had packed the clothes and video games and such to be given to charity.
So Adrienne had been forced to come back here to look through the stuff. Garrison had urged her to, had said that she should go through the boxes and take a few keepsakes to remember Tandy by. After a furious rant climaxing with her dissolving in tears, and culminating in Garrison- as usual- having to talk her off the proverbial ledge and get her to see sense, there was some more crying and then she'd come here to pick through her ward's belongings like she was at some morbid garage sale.
She pulled Tandy's Killer Rabbit slippers from the Monty Python movie out of a box and set them in a small pile she was building.
Julian froze when he saw the slippers, he'd been about to shout for Tandy, but the words would not come. All the boxes...it couldn't be. A quiet "No," passed his lips, as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. "No," he barely managed to get out, a bit louder, though his voice nearly cracked on it- his face contorting in pain.
"Yeah," was all Adrienne could get out, still staring at the box. "I wanna say sorry, but that seems weird. It's not my fault."
Stumbling back into the wall, Julian sank to the ground and tried to hold back tears. He looked up at Adrienne with watery blue eyes, "Was it quick?"
"I don't know." Her voice was quiet and she struggled to keep the emotions out of it. "I wasn't there. No one was. And there's nothing left for me to Read to tell us." Adrienne pulled Tandy's Star Wars Vans out of the box and placed them in her pile. The orange cat Tandy called Sir Names-A-Lot padded over silently and sat on the pile. Adrienne shoved him off unceremoniously and he slunk over to Julian, mewing plaintively.
Julian wanted to rage, he wanted to tear down the walls of reality and demand that Xorn bring back Tandy Bowen...but he couldn't. Instead, slowly getting to his feet, he resolved to get unbelievably drunk to hopefully forget about his second dead girlfriend within a year. "Are you holding up?" he asked, barely holding together.
Adrienne rocked back from her knees to sit cross-legged on the floor and let out a bitter laugh. What an entirely ridiculous question. "Of course," she responded, the laugh turning into a snort. "Some incorporeal monk-dude who looked like he was from that Avatar cartoon she loved patched everyone back together, don't you know?" She laughed some more. "Made everyone healthy again." She tried to rein the laughing in but completely unexpectedly it turned to a sob. "Except the people who really needed it." And then she was crying uncontrollably for what was probably the sixth time already today, which was just completely unacceptable. But she couldn't make herself stop no matter how much she mentally berated herself, which just seemed to make the whole thing seem that much more undignified.
Feeling like an ass for making her cry, Julian slowly got to his feet and made his way over to her on the floor, dropping down and hugging Adrienne tightly. "It's not fair," he said through his own sobs.
Though in pretty much any other circumstance Adrienne would have balked at the hug, she wasn't paying any attention to who it actually was hugging her. All she recognized was that someone was there, feeling the same turmoil she was feeling, the same frustration and anger at the complete injustice of losing someone who was- literally and figuratively- so filled with light and brightness. She knew Julian felt the same cavernous loss she did thinking of the future that would never happen now, all the moments of pride and love that they would never get to experience watching Tandy have her chances to shine. So she clung to him tightly as they sobbed together amid the boxes her life had been packed away in, while the orange cat headbutted their knees trying to share their sorrow and offer its own comfort.
Having helped all he could with Doreen, and she in return helping him, Julian took the steps to the main door in a single bound, with a bit of help from his telekinesis. Entering the house was like entering a dream, as a clash of familiar and storage hit him all at once. And who should be the first person that he saw?
Angel knew she wasn't who Julian wanted - and she was very much not looking forward to what she was about to tell him - but at that exact moment she was too relieved to see the familiar face in a very unfamiliar world to worry about much else. As soon as he was inside he was tackled, Angel wrapping him a tight hug. "God thank you for not being dead," she said as she pulled away. "Wow. Not every day I get to say that."
"What the hell is going on?" he returned the hug, wrapping her in his arms and squeezing with all his might. After a moment had passed he let go, grabbing his friend by the shoulders and looking into her eyes, "The last thing I remember was bleeding out in the woods. Then waking up without a scratch on me."
She shook her head, tugging at a lock of hair. "It's...I'm not really sure what it is to be honest. Something about our universe falling apart and Xorn putting it back together with different elements from other broken universes....it's all weird."
"What's a Xorn?" Julian asked with one of his eyebrows raised. Shaking off the question with a sigh, he held up a hand. "No, that question is likely to have too long an answer. What I really want to know is...um..." he couldn't bring himself to ask.
Good thing he didn't actually want an answer because Angel didn't actually have one. Her shoulders fell as he struggled with his next question, however. She knew what he wanted to ask. "I don't know," she said quietly. "There's been a lot going on, I haven't...really seen her."
For a short time, he stood there in silence, with a blank look on his face. Finally, "Um...uh..." it was not Julian's most eloquent moment. "Who...who have you seen?" he needed to put Tandy out of his mind for a moment. Unfortunately, that just filled his head with everyone else: Adrienne, Megan, Rouge...Nico.
Angel let him have his silence, closing his eyes as she tried to keep the grief under control. Tandy was her friend. She'd lost so many of them. "Things are a bit messy right now," she said finally. "It's hard to tell. There are people we haven't heard from yet, doesn't necessarily mean they're dead, just...not here. Right now." She had to hold on to that hope.
"Which of our kids made it?" he blurted out. Part of him didn't want to know...but he needed to.
Angel's voice was heavy as she responded. "Hope and Topaz." She ran a hand through her hair, sighing. "Come on, we need help to have this conversation."
"Help," of course, being copious amounts of alcohol.
Julian nodded, "Okay, I need to look for her first, but meet me on the flier's platform in fifteen?" she may have already searched the entire place, but he needed to be certain.
***
Julian knocked on the door to his girlfriend's suite, out of breath, after having ran there from the foyer when Angelica said she hadn't seen Tandy anywhere. The mansion had collapsed, it had burned, he knew some were dead...but he was holding out hope that she wasn't one of those. He pounded on the door again before deciding to let himself in.
Adrienne gave a start when the door opened, looking eagerly at it as if expecting Tandy to come through the door. But it was just Julian. She looked back down at the box she was sorting through without greeting him.
Returning to their suite to find that Tandy's things had all been seemingly magically packed away in boxes was possibly the strangest part about all of this insanity. It had been too much for Adrienne, who had retreated to Garrison's suite and tried to forget that Tandy was dead. But then Father Michael had called, wanting to discuss a timetable for picking up Tandy's things. He seemed to think Adrienne had packed the clothes and video games and such to be given to charity.
So Adrienne had been forced to come back here to look through the stuff. Garrison had urged her to, had said that she should go through the boxes and take a few keepsakes to remember Tandy by. After a furious rant climaxing with her dissolving in tears, and culminating in Garrison- as usual- having to talk her off the proverbial ledge and get her to see sense, there was some more crying and then she'd come here to pick through her ward's belongings like she was at some morbid garage sale.
She pulled Tandy's Killer Rabbit slippers from the Monty Python movie out of a box and set them in a small pile she was building.
Julian froze when he saw the slippers, he'd been about to shout for Tandy, but the words would not come. All the boxes...it couldn't be. A quiet "No," passed his lips, as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes. "No," he barely managed to get out, a bit louder, though his voice nearly cracked on it- his face contorting in pain.
"Yeah," was all Adrienne could get out, still staring at the box. "I wanna say sorry, but that seems weird. It's not my fault."
Stumbling back into the wall, Julian sank to the ground and tried to hold back tears. He looked up at Adrienne with watery blue eyes, "Was it quick?"
"I don't know." Her voice was quiet and she struggled to keep the emotions out of it. "I wasn't there. No one was. And there's nothing left for me to Read to tell us." Adrienne pulled Tandy's Star Wars Vans out of the box and placed them in her pile. The orange cat Tandy called Sir Names-A-Lot padded over silently and sat on the pile. Adrienne shoved him off unceremoniously and he slunk over to Julian, mewing plaintively.
Julian wanted to rage, he wanted to tear down the walls of reality and demand that Xorn bring back Tandy Bowen...but he couldn't. Instead, slowly getting to his feet, he resolved to get unbelievably drunk to hopefully forget about his second dead girlfriend within a year. "Are you holding up?" he asked, barely holding together.
Adrienne rocked back from her knees to sit cross-legged on the floor and let out a bitter laugh. What an entirely ridiculous question. "Of course," she responded, the laugh turning into a snort. "Some incorporeal monk-dude who looked like he was from that Avatar cartoon she loved patched everyone back together, don't you know?" She laughed some more. "Made everyone healthy again." She tried to rein the laughing in but completely unexpectedly it turned to a sob. "Except the people who really needed it." And then she was crying uncontrollably for what was probably the sixth time already today, which was just completely unacceptable. But she couldn't make herself stop no matter how much she mentally berated herself, which just seemed to make the whole thing seem that much more undignified.
Feeling like an ass for making her cry, Julian slowly got to his feet and made his way over to her on the floor, dropping down and hugging Adrienne tightly. "It's not fair," he said through his own sobs.
Though in pretty much any other circumstance Adrienne would have balked at the hug, she wasn't paying any attention to who it actually was hugging her. All she recognized was that someone was there, feeling the same turmoil she was feeling, the same frustration and anger at the complete injustice of losing someone who was- literally and figuratively- so filled with light and brightness. She knew Julian felt the same cavernous loss she did thinking of the future that would never happen now, all the moments of pride and love that they would never get to experience watching Tandy have her chances to shine. So she clung to him tightly as they sobbed together amid the boxes her life had been packed away in, while the orange cat headbutted their knees trying to share their sorrow and offer its own comfort.