self_inflictedexhile | nysm / tvd } { if you will, please move in closer

nysm / tvd } { if you will, please move in closer

In another lifetime, Dylan Rhodes never existed. In another lifetime, he didn't need to, because Lionel Shrike never drown in the Hudson River, Dylan Rhodes stayed Jacob Shrike, and his life went in a very different direction.

At age fifteen, his father started teaching him the tricks of the trade: sleight of hand, how to build a rig, how to do a little bit of actual magic, despite the fact that probably wasn't something he should be sharing, just yet. Shortly after that, Jacob met a young Alma Dray, tagging along with her grandfather, a friend of his father's, stopping by to check up on him. They grew up together, life continued on, and Jacob eventually went to college for Theatre Design and Stagecraft. At twenty-two, just after graduation, Jacob was chosen to join the Eye, his test to help the LVPD clear the name of another magician, despite all the evidence in the world making him seem guilty as sin. There, Jacob met Michael Fuller, his partner a lifetime away, and the two became friends as they managed, despite all odds, to pull off what had been asked of Jacob by the Eye. He continued on into a career as a stage magician in the Eye, eventually married Alma, and continued to occasionally work with Fuller as a consultant, when time allowed.

Over the course of the next few decades, Jacob and Alma tried to have children and failed, and eventually adopted one Jack Wilder, age 10. Using Eye resources, he helped Merritt McKinney get a good lawyer and clear his name after his brother screwed him over. He followed the rising stars that were J. Daniel Atlas and Henley Reeves, and when they decided to call it quits, pulled the both of them back together, forcing Daniel to give Henley a more active role in the show. And eventually, yes, he called the four of them together, not for revenge but something similar, to get them into the Eye. And somewhere along the way, Jacob and Alma tried for children again, and this time managed, giving Jack a brother, Lio, Lionel, named after his grandfather.

Basically, this is the best possible timeline.

And now, it's just after dinner, Jacob off to his nightly rehearsal at 5Pointz, that his space, now, like his father before him. He takes a detour tonight, though, to grab a cup of coffee, beforehand, a little bit of magic pulled around him, to make himself not completely invisible, but at least a little less noticeable. Normally, he doesn't mind showing off or signing autographs, when a fan approaches, and fans do often approach, his notoriety somewhere up there with Penn and Teller, Seigfried and Roy, but -- not tonight. He's not feeling it tonight, a little tired for whatever reason, hence the coffee, so magic it is. And now he's sitting at a table, idly people-watching as he leans into his cup. Have at him, if you can still see him (or, maybe, in certain party's cases, sense him) despite his best efforts.

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Josie sighs as she relaxes, before turning and holding out the coin to him to take. As much as she did agree to let Damien go, that doesn't mean she's okay with him getting off without any kind of consequence.

"That's probably good for a locator spell."

If he can't find him, someone in the Eye absolutely will be able to, using the coin, and so he reaches to take it from her. He even manages to summon up a small smile, at least a little more comfortable with Damien having gotten away.

"Thanks," he tells her as he tucks it away in his pocket. A pause follows, a glance over his shoulder, and then, as he returns his attentions to her, he starts, "Anyway, uh."

What now?

He feels like they won, like they're done here, but he wants to make sure they won.

"I think we're good here." Josie nods in agreement. She glances back over to Marcel and offers him a small smile. "Thanks for coming. You were a big help."

"Happy to," he nods with a smile. "Let Hope know mission accomplished. And you should give her an actual call, not just text her in an emergency."

"I will call. I promise."

"Good." He turns and holds out his hand to Dylan. "Nice to meet you, circumstances aside."

"You, too," Dylan answers, reaching to take Marcel's hand for the shake. Despite the circumstances, that was much less -- something than he was expecting. He'll take it, though. "Maybe next time, we can try this over beers or something."

Maybe the next time they meet will be under better circumstances.

"That sounds infinitely more preferable."

And with that, Marcel is gone. Josie stands there awkwardly for a moment, before glancing over at him.

"I probably owe you an explanation. About my secret?"

"You definitely owe me an explanation," he agrees, turning to face her, a frown coming to his lips. He won't give her too much shit about that being a hell of a way for her to spring that on him even if it was a hall of a way to spring it on him, but he definitely wants to know what's going on.

She grimaces, before rubbing the back of her neck, then looking at the damage to the house. Josie's not sure she's going to like the explanation, but that doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to hear it. She's just worried about one of the neighbors calling the cops.

"We probably shouldn't do this here. Want to go get some coffee?"

Dylan's not sure he likes the idea of giving her any breathing room to figure out how to make that bombshell seem less bad, but they probably shouldn't do this in the middle of the street. He blows out a breath, that in mind, and then gestures back the way they came.

"Let's go get some coffee."

Fortunately for you, Dylan, she knows there's no way to make this bombshell less bad. Also fortunately for you, it's possibly something that the Eye might be able to help with. She doesn't know how extensive their records are, but it's possible that they may have a record of the curse that put her in this position.

She was going to ask, she just ... wasn't really sure how.

But once they're settled at the coffee shop, and have placed their orders, she takes a deep breath.

"So have you ever heard of the Gemini coven?"

"You mentioned it once, when we first met," he reminds her. "And I know you guys have a high rate of twin births or whatever." Or so was the impression he's always gotten. If nothing else, at least, he knows that she's a twin.

If nothing else, after a pause, he adds, "I also know that you have a high mortality rate for twins. One of them disappears or ends up dead or something." And he's starting to get the impression that that's a feature, not a bug, if she already knows she's going to die young.

He's not wrong. Josie nods as she curls her fingers around her cup.

"There's not many of us left. It's pretty much me and Lizzie, but the fact that there are two Gemini twins in existence is enough."

For the curse, anyway. Which she will get to.

"See, a long time ago, a curse was put on the Gemini Coven. Essentially the deal is that any twins born into the family line are put through a ritual called the Merge on their twenty-second birthdays. It's ... like a battle of wills. The twin that wins essentially ... absorbs the essence of the other. And the twin who loses, dies."

She doesn't bother to sugarcoat it because there's not much to sugarcoat.

"Even if I do win and absorb Lizzie, I won't be the same after. She'll be a part of me and I'll change as a result, so as far as I'm concerned the person that I am now won't make it past twenty-two."

"I'm guessing just staying the hell away from each other isn't an option?"

If it's a curse, it can't be that easy -- even if it is an option, there must be repercussions for running away, and Dylan doubts it's anything good. Still, he can't help but ask. It's a kneejerk reaction, asking something inane in the face of horrifying news. He'll catch up in a minute. His brain will catch up.

"That's the current plan of attack." Hence Josie being here and Lizzie not. "But she's my sister. My best friend. I don't want to stay away from her forever. And even if one of us decided to become a vampire, if the other decided to have kids, and we had twins, the curse would go to them."

And she doesn't want that for her kids, to have them be faced with the same choice she and Lizzie were.

"The buck stops here. We just ... have to figure out how to stop it."

Dylan's eyebrows raise and lower at the mention of one of them potentially becoming a vampire, not sure he would have even considered that if this were his problem, and not because he wouldn't have thought about it, period. Living forever isn't really something he's interested in, whatever the reason. He can understand, though, why that might be a choice, even if it wouldn't be his, which is why he doesn't comment.

Instead, he rakes his tongue over his teeth, before, "You know, the Eye's got an archive."

The magical equivalent of the Library of Alexandria. Hell, some of it was probably salvaged from, all things considered.

Josie doesn't particularly want to live forever either. Not unless she has a reason to, like falling in love with a vampire and knowing for a fact that they were her soulmate. But she won't rule out the option either.

"I was hoping they did." She straightens a bit. "Whatever hoops I need to jump through, I'll do it."

"Gimme a couple of days, then," Dylan says with a nod. "I need to ask around, see who I need to talk to, and then actually talk to them, but." But he imagines it won't be a problem. Even if he can't take her to the Archive, maybe he can have the Archive come to them -- or at least have any relevant books pulled.

Josie's face relaxes in relief. An ask like this isn't really an easy one, especially with all the information she just dropped on him. She lets her shoulders slump and she nods.

"Take however long you need. I'm not going anywhere."

Except she is. It may be a few years off, still, but.

But he wisely doesn't point that out, even manages to keep the frown on his face from returning. A nod follows, and then, instead, he asks, "Anything else you wanna tell me, while we're here?"

Okay, so maybe he can't keep a handle on all the unhappiness and worry he's carrying around, now.

There are probably lots of things she could tell him, if she really wanted him to worry, but she decides to keep some of it to herself for now. Instead, she opts for something easier, but still important.

"I'm allergic to seaweed, so we probably shouldn't have sushi anytime soon."

"And here I was, thinking that was something we could do, next time we meet," he shoots back a little flatly. He knows that was a deflection, not an honest answer, and if anything that makes him worry more. Good job, there, kid.

She knows that he's calling her out on her deflection and she shakes her head. "Look, growing up has been ... a lot of trauma and a lot of heavy stories, so yeah, I'm sure there are more horrifying things for me to tell you, but ... nothing that is immediately impacting my future."

Dylan studies her for a moment, still looking sour, before finally, finally he relents, shaking his head. "Alright, alright."

Message received, and he'll be holding her to that, in the future. For now, he just waves a hand at her, as if that will somehow help dismiss his lingering worry, and tries for a joke, for both their sakes. "No sushi, then. Got it."

She nods, understanding, but she's already tired and it's a lot of emotions to delve up all of it. "I'll tell you at some point. I'm fact I'm sure there's probably some stuff about me in the Eye's records that might leave you with ... questions."

Like the dark magic issues she had in high school.

His eyebrows go up again at that, the question of what, exactly, she means on his lips. Against his better judgement, he pushes it away, raking his tongue over his teeth, instead. A shake of his head follows.

"I'll try not to judge too much, until we can talk about it." He's getting the impression that none of these questions he's likely to have will be good, after all.

"I appreciate it." She sighs, before finishing up the rest of her coffee. "But I should really let you go home now."

nysm / tvd } { if you will, please move in closer

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