quietmounds | (no subject)

(no subject)

WHAT Last chance for timefuck except not really
WHERE Wherever
WHEN Day 127, whenever

[So, you've been messing around with time.]

[Okay, we've actually been doing that, yeah. Quiet Mounds is still a bit unpredictable, with the seasons and the clocks a little haywire. Today, there's another little pulse of magic. Maybe some of you find yourself back to normal? Or maybe more people are suddenly the wrong age or timeline. Maybe Deadpool shows up. I don't know.]

[Last post for deage/age-up/etc event, though obviously you can continue to backthread or play at your leisure after this.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah.

[sinks down, fingers curled around his teacup]

[settles next to him, putting a loose arm around him]

[leans against him, eyes closed]

. . .

You were awfully cute.

[smiles a little]

You know that "cute" didn't always go over so well the ladies.

Their loss.

I guess so.

[pauses]

You were pretty cute yourself.

[shakes his head slowly]

That was never "me." Or I guess I should say, I was never Fiero.

[watches him, quiet]

What do you mean?

[tracing a diagram on Steve's chest with one fingertip]

My name was Fiore. I grew up in the Institute, learning magic. When I was around twenty-one, the incident happened that resulted in me losing my eyes, and Wren. So I went back in time and re-entered that timeline to try to prevent it. I tried . . . a number of things, but none were successful. So I went even further back, to the point where I, I mean Fiore, had just started to learn magic and got him expelled at around age thirteen. He grew up outside the Institute and took on the name Fiero. But he doesn't grow up to be Vasily, and I was never him.

But you were the same person to start with, weren't you?

Yeah. I'm not saying there's no similarities, we're just divergences.

[a nod]

Why did you need him to leave the institute?

. . .

Because it was my magic that caused everything to happen. So if he never learned. Then . . .

Your magic caused it?

[he nods, looking very pointedly at Steve's shoulder]

There was this . . . thing? Some kind of magical artifact, that the Institute is in possession of. They call it the Sidereal. I don't know why, but when I came in contact with it . . .

[Steve's watching him, silent, one arm still around Vasily's shoulders]

It . . . unleashed something.

I don't know. That's all you need to know, isn't it?

[after a moment]

Is that everything you want to tell me?

. . .

[rubs at his shoulder, soft]

Vasily?

I don't want there to be any more surprises for you. I want you to feel like you know me and my life.

[Steve's quiet, clearly choosing his words]

I want to know what it was that happened, when your magic interacted with the Sidereal.

. . .

[closes his eyes, breathing shallowly]

Something was summoned. Or unlocked. Unleashed .Something otherworldly . . . something—dark.

[squeezes his arm around Vasily, reassuring]

What did it do?

I don't . . . I don't remember a lot. It was dark—it went . . . I felt it in me. In my head, Steve.