reverie⚡inbox

[striketwice]

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

( code from supersuits )

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[striketwice]

[ For once, Alec closes the door behind them with his own two hands. How novel.

Alec's room is much the same as it always in, with very little present to make it his own. However, some new books have appeared on the desk, along with pages of notes in the language of his magic. Drafts of spells by the looks of it. ]

I bet. [ Amused. ] I'm glad you did, too. Glad we all did.

[vecna]

[Is that how doors work? Amazing.

And oh? What’s this? The lack of personal items in Alec’s room just means that Henry notices the books more immediately, and he crosses over to examine the stack more closely. Nudges open the cover of a book with a finger, curious.

He remarks idly about the palace experience:] A little bit of hope and despair go a very long way.

[…Yeah he can’t understand any of this spellwork.]

[striketwice]

[ Well, the book itself is written primarily in English. Plain text standing alongside the runes Alec uses to cast. It's a book on Elementalism. There are a handful of bookmarks on chapters and sections dealing with fire.

Henry can probably put two and two together at this point. ]

If I didn't know better, I'd say the kid was rubbing off on us.

[vecna]

[He chuckles.]

Maybe. But don't tell him that.

[Oh, the text is generally easy enough to read. It's putting two and two together that might as well be a foreign concept to him; magic is not a thing in his world, as he knows.

But he can glean some context -- a focus on fire.

Finally, he brings his attention back to Alec.]

Looks like someone's been busy studying.

[striketwice]

[ A crooked little smile. ]

I told you I was gonna make it work, didn't I?

[vecna]

[He raises one brow, amused.]

That sounds promising. Does that mean you're making progress?

[All this effort... for him. One day he'll get used to the feeling.]

[striketwice]

Some.

[ He shuffles through the notes. A great deal of them are scribbled out or re-written. ]

Like I said, work in progress.

[vecna]

[He can see all the scribbles, the process of problem-solving made visible. He never really forgets how smart Alec can be, but somehow this is just a reminder that he can be as studious as he is stubborn.]

Maybe you'd study better in that student uniform of yours. [From the palace. He will Never Forget. (And he's teasing, obviously.)] What a shame it's gone now.

[striketwice]

[ The flattest look. ]

And would you want yours to go with it or nah?

[vecna]

Oh, no. Those days are long behind me.

[NO THANKS]

But you looked so rebellious in yours.

[striketwice]

Seriously? I already wear a leather jacket. How much more "rebellious" do you need?

[vecna]

[He's giving you shit, Alec.]

It's different in a school setting. "Rebellious" rings out more loudly when teachers would rather have you behave.

[Even if the closest thing in the palace was the... pink bunny guidance counselor.]

[striketwice]

[ He is aware, thank you. ]

I'm learning so many things about you right now Henry.

[vecna]

[So amused.]

Like what?

[striketwice]

Like you've got a thing for uniforms. The fact that they're school uniforms is kinda iffy, though.

[vecna]

[Okay, he walked right into that one.]

I take it back. Wear whatever you want, Alec.

[striketwice]

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[ There's that smug little grin. There and gone again as he switches topics. ]

Speaking of the things that went on inside of Komaeda's heart... I saw that memory you offered over.

[vecna]

[Ah. This isn’t surprising — if he thinks about it, he could see everyone else’s memories with clarity, so why couldn’t they see his?

Perhaps it’s telling, that Henry does not feel the need to hide too much of himself anymore amongst this prison. With Alec, it shows trust. With strangers he hardly knew in the palace? It shows a growing disregard for keeping his mask on, the longer he remains here.

He very nearly shrugs.]

You were bound to find out sooner or later. I'm actually glad I got to show you. [And really, he doubts this surprises Alec.] That night… I actually do have regrets about it.

[Not necessarily the murder parts.]

[striketwice]

I already had my suspicions that you actually had something to do with their deaths and your old man just took the fall for it.

[ So no, nothing truly surprising here. He raises an eyebrow. ]

And what regrets are those?

[vecna]

[Smart as ever, Alec.]

He was meant to die. Not "take the fall" for anything.

[Stupid radio.]

I should have thought it through better. I believed I was going to be free of everything after they were gone, and didn't bother to consider what steps to take after that. [He was only twelve, too. Ah, to be young and stupid.] Or that it gave Papa the perfect excuse to come in and steal me away. I just thought he was a therapist.

[Not the US government. It's almost funny now, in a way that makes him angry. 8) ]

[striketwice]

You were just a kid, Henry. You didn't have a plan besides wanting out.

[ It makes him angry, too. The way things played out for Henry. The constant shuffle from prison to prison to prison. Even ending up here must have felt like landing in yet another cage.

That cycle ends the moment they get out of this place. ]

Did you ever figure out why your dad didn't die?

[vecna]

[But he should have known. Using his powers like that was too much at the time. Of course he wouldn't have been able to take it, of course he would wake up and just find himself in another prison-]

Yes.

[He doesn't expound on that, though, just looking at Alec expectantly. Did you figure it out, sir? That's one of his weaknesses that he said he'd let him suss out, after all.]

[striketwice]

[ How could Henry have known? What information did he have back then that could have possibly saved him? It's a cruel, cruel twist of fate that Henry has been trying to untwist ever since.

Alec looks at him, eyebrows raised. Everyone's memories are so fresh in his head that it's an easy thing to go back and rifle through the details. Alec always latches onto the details. ]

The radio?

[vecna]

[There we go. Not that he expected anything less.]

The radio.

[Suddenly, a little illusion! A boxy 1950's style radio sits on Alec's desk, next to his books. It hisses static, then starts playing that blasted song. Dream a little dream, indeed.

Henry looks at it like it's a mild annoyance he's long accepted.]

It just happened to be playing my father's favorite song. And music that holds sentimental value to a person is... [Frowning.] Hard for me to circumvent. I can't reach that part of the brain, and it opens up a little escape route for someone to use if they can get to it.

It's frustrating.

[striketwice]

Huh.

[ He moves over to the little radio, tries to give it a little poke, if only because he's curious about the nature of Henry's illusions. ]

You're right. That's one weakness I never would have guessed.