reverie⚡inbox

[striketwice]

REVERIE INBOX "THIS IS ALEC. MAKE IT QUICK." ⚡ voice . text . action ↳ OVERFLOW | REGISTRY

( code from supersuits )

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[striketwice]

It's not like the prison is big. I ran out of options eventually.

[ He digs around in his pocket and comes up with a well-folded note and hands it over. It's basically this but with more shorthand. ]

I think I'm pretty much covered.

[vecna]

[Henry raises a brow, but takes the note and carefully unfolds it, skimming over the contents. Eventually, his eyes flick back up to Alec.]

This is still a lot. I saw how much effort it took for you to just create one.

[striketwice]

Oh, yeah. Fucking sucks. I'm beat.

[ Said as he more or less flops back onto the couch, swinging his legs over Henry's own to resume his sprawl. ]

But I also like having all my bases covered at least twice over, so. [ A half-shrug. ] If you think that's a lot, you should see the network I have set up back home.

[vecna]

[He glances briefly down at Alec’s legs practically swung over his lap. This man is the only person in the world who could get away with that, but because it’s Alec, Henry only finds the familiarity somewhat of a comfort. He hands the note back.]

It must be a universal rule that portals take as much time as they do effort to make.

[He would know, too.]

You have them all over the city or something?

[striketwice]

[ Maybe later, he'll sit back and marvel at how comfortable he is just using Henry as a leg rest. Like this closeness is the most natural thing in the world.

Or maybe he won't, and for once simply accept things as they are. ]

The city? [ He clicks his tongue. ] You're thinking too small, Henry.

[vecna]

[Looking even more quizzical now.]

…The country?

[striketwice]

[ A grin. ]

With one or two international stops along the way, yeah.

[vecna]

[Well. Alec is officially more worldly than Henry.

Not like that’s a high bar to clear.]

So your… work involves a lot of travel, I presume?

[striketwice]

Sometimes.

[ He considers a moment, tapping one foot against the far arm of the couch in no particular rhythm. ]

I can do most of my work from the comfort of my own home. It's the work I do for Madigan that has me getting more... up close and personal with the clientele.

[vecna]

“Up close and personal.”

[He can read between the lines. And Henry is, of course, curious.]

And how does that usually play out? Violently, maybe?

[striketwice]

Not if I can help it, but sometimes yeah. I guess I should explain.

[ And then he realizes that this is a hell of an explanation and he should probably start several, several steps back. ]

Madigan's what we call Talented. Which means she's not a wizard who can use the runes like me, but instead she has a singular magical power — her Talent. In her case, that Talent is sex.

"But Alec," I know you're thinking. "What's so magical about that?" Well, apart from being a great fucking time because it's magic, sex magic heals wounds, slows down illnesses. A whole host of restorative things. And it means girls with that particular Talent are coveted.

[vecna]

[The context is undoubtedly helpful, though he does wonder where this ultimately leads. Of course, Alec detailing something like sex magic and calling those with that talent “coveted” gives him an inkling.]

Coveted… and seen as valuable for those who’d like to take advantage of those talents?

[striketwice]

Bingo.

[ He waves a finger lazily, as if to punctuate the statement. ]

Another brief history lesson for you. There used to be runes dedicated to healing magic, millennia ago, but wizards fucking suck and all that was lost to time and inaction because certain people wanted to keep it to themselves and now they're all gone.

These days, odds are better that you'll find a girl Talented in sex magic than you will in straight up healing. Ori's the first person I've ever met who can just do a spell and heal someone. It's like a god damn miracle.

[vecna]

[That is interesting, though not wholly surprising — of course something as useful as healing magic would be lost due to humanity’s tendency to keep all that is advantageous for them and theirs.]

Yes, but I can’t imagine some will treat people any differently than spells when it comes to keeping them for themselves. Right?

[Insofar as treating people like objects that happen to have unique abilities. Guess who has been there before!!]

[striketwice]

Bingo again. That's where I come in.

[ Though he figured Henry would be quick on the uptake. He was in a similar position himself for most of his life, after all. (And that is, frankly, one of the reasons why the whole situation with Sprezzatura rankles him. He won't say as much for Henry's sake, but he can't promise to be kind to her if it should ever come up.) ]

I mentioned Madigan runs a club, right? It's called the Griffonix, and it's a safe haven. Sacred ground. It's a place for women who share her Talent to live and learn to use their magic and make their own choices. The one thing the whole of magical society agrees on is simply that the Griffonix is untouchable.

So she has me track down girls with the same Talent who might be kept in— [ vague hand motions ] —less than savory circumstances. I go kick some doors down, portal some girls back to Vegas, and get a big, fat paycheck out of it.

[vecna]

[Oh. Henry gives Alec a look that might seem hard to parse, his mind churning — in actuality, he cannot help but run what he’s hearing vaguely parallel to his own past circumstances. How nice it might have been, to have someone rushing into the lab to free him before he spent so, so many years under the government’s thumb. How would things have turned out differently for him?

He supposes he won’t ever know now.]

Freeing those kept prisoner, in a way. [There’s something wry about him saying that, though the next bit is all too eager.] When we return to your world, I wonder… Is that something you might need help with?

[striketwice]

[ There's a pause as he looks over Henry. Did he ever hope that one day someone would come and do just that? Kick down the door to the lab and set him free? Bring him to someplace he'd be safe and loved?

Alec is several decades too late to have come riding in light a knight on a white horse. Perhaps now, though, this at least counts for something. ]

I wouldn't say no to a little telekinetic muscle in my corner. But only if you want to. I don't ever want you to feel like I keep you around just because you're useful.

[vecna]

No, I wouldn’t think that. And I would definitely want to.

[He can’t do anything about his time spent in the lab now, and any plans he had on remaking the world and wiping any and all trace of Hawkins National Laboratory off the face of the earth is now null and void, so to speak.

But if he can turn that disdain towards those of a similar mind, in a different universe… It’s an almost too-tempting thought for a man like him.]

I know what it’s like to be kept prisoner because of the abilities you happen to possess, and I know the sort of people that choose to do that to others. I think they deserve a piece of my mind, now and again.

[Maybe even literally.]

[striketwice]

[ Alec does assume he means that literally. ]

In that case, I'm happy to have you along.

[vecna]

[He smiles. Teaming up with Alec for his work never exactly crossed his mind until this conversation, but now it sounds nothing short of— well, fun. In a way only a terrible person would consider fun, probably.]

Just one more thing to look forward to once we’re free.

[striketwice]

[ Ironically, Alec's work for Madigan is probably the most genuinely good sort of work that Alec does. If only the D&D kids could see big, bad Vecna now. ]

Funny how those things keep piling up.

[vecna]

[Oh god, no. The D&D kids can never know.]

Almost too many to count. But just imagine it — I could give them such a scare if I had access to my other form somehow.

[He sounds all too excited about that.]

[striketwice]

[ His eyebrows go up at the idea, grin widening. ]

Oh my god. Oh my god, Henry. That would be the funniest fucking thing. The rumor mill would go insane.

[vecna]

[Wouldn’t it be absolutely hilarious. He figured Alec would think so, too.]

Would it? Even if I wouldn’t be the strangest “creature” in your world?

[striketwice]

You'd be something that no one would have any explanation for, and that would drive them crazy.

[ a laugh ]

Oh, I love it.