kayakking | (no subject)

[ YEAH. That's exactly why Algric is being stubborn here. Oh sure, he's objectively in the wrong - far moreso than he even realizes right now - but also. They are HERE because JON is bad at STAYING HOME!

Which is to say, Algric stiffens, a flash of anger darkening his face too. ]

Like hell we could have! The instant we told him, he'd have gone off to Elias on his own! At least this way, we're here!

You don't know that. He was going to stay.

[For all their shouting, KidJon sounds almost on the verge of tears, too many emotions for his too small frame. A lifetime of Jon holding his own back for private moments.]

He needed to trust you. And now you're here, so. So keep going and fix it.

I -

[ Don't trust him, Algric nearly says, only calling back the words at the last minute. God. What a miserable situation this is. He hates it and he hates Elias and he hates himself too, for good measure.

His gaze falls on that crack spreading through Kid Jon's shoulder and his heart breaks a little. ]

How do we do that.

[ There's a level of anger in Tim's voice that Algric hasn't heard since his own timeline. The fire and explosions were apt, and here, audibly, it snaps and crackles. ]

Oh, I don't know. Maybe trusting him?

[ He points back to the divots where the rings were in a sharp, quick gesture. ]

[ Algric sucks in a breath, torn between winding up again and giving in. He does a little of both, voice rising —]

You don’t know him like I do. You haven’t seen him make the mistakes I have.

[—but he returns the rings to their spot on the table. ]

[As Algric sets the rings back down, well. It's only natural for something solid and hard that was frozen to suddenly be heated up too fast. The rings once back on the table are cracked through. Once in contact with the ice, they start to slowly be overtaken again, the cold relenting a few degrees.

KidJon watches, the cat licking at the crack in his shoulder now.]

That will help. But to really help him, you'll have to go further in. [He nods to the series of frozen over photos on the wall.] I don't know which one will take you, but one of them leads to the lighthouse where you can see him.

[ There's a satisfied nod and he stalks past Algric towards the photos and then-

well he stops. It's really hard to address dream logic while lucid, honestly. Even as he studies them, he takes a moment to glance back to KidJon and CatJon. ]

... I don't suppose you're allowed to give hints here?

Edited 2021-07-12 14:35 (UTC)

[He looks up at the different photos, trying to see through the frosted over glass... then shakes his head.]

I just know it's wherever a lighthouse would be. So a shore? O-or something. But I can't see them.

[A lot of the photos have vague, frosted shapes of people but no clear faces or expressions. And others are clearly landscapes of some kind but what they are is hidden under the ice.]

[ god. Algric just. Simmers in his own misery for a moment. Takes ina deep breath. ]

Well they all look the same to me. We may as well go at random.

Probably.

[ He still... takes a moment, looking for something, anything that looks, you know, brown enough. Or blue enough. But... it's just ice, isn't it?

So, he picks a landscape looking one, and... again, gives a look back to KidJon and CatJon. ]

Thank you. Honestly. ... Also take care of yourselves.

[ And presses his hand to the one he'd picked. ]

[For the immediate moment, Tim will feel an absolute chill starting at his hand... and that's it. Just ice under it. A bit anticlimactic.

KidJon and CatJon are watching attentively before he points to Algric.]

It has to be him. He... H-he has the Eye and the Lonely. So he can find me.

[Algric had said he could always find Jon.]

[ Ah. That… Algric softens a little, letting at least part of his stubbornness slip away. Focus foe now. Deal with everything else later. ]

Okay, I - I’ll try. I will.

[ He steps forward, looking at the paintings. Trying to feel for the right one. ]

[ He steps back, then.. another step. There's a glance towards the two rings, damaged but intact.

... And he nods, without comment this time. ]

[The two Jon expies watch, and even as Algric steps up, it's clearly having a different effect. The cold Algric feels has a bite to it. While each is emanating that blast of ice, only a couple of them feel a stronger call. And one in particular has that familiar feeling of the ocean spray and the gentle sands that numb the heart.

It's just off center on the wall, three down from where Algric stands. It could easily be mistaken for an empty frame with how little is visible in shape or color.]

[ Ah. Algric shivers, hating this feeling but…

He settles in front of that empty frame, reaching out for it. ]

Here. This one.

[ Tim frowns. ]

Algric.. there's nothing IN that one?

No. It’s - that’s what the Lonely looks like.

[ The place that still haunts his nightmares even now. Algric shivers bodily. ]

[It is what the Lonely looks like.

When Algric's hand touches the frame, it shivers under him. Then starts to grow, expand past its natural frame size. Larger and larger, like a tale of a girl who once ate the wrong side of the mushroom and grew to a too-large size. Until it finally becomes the size of a proper doorway. The sound of the waves gently crashing into the shore drifts into the otherwise silent room, the smell of salt in the air unmistakable.

KidJon and JonCat both watch them, expectant and a little sad.]

Good luck.

[Once through, the beach stretches out, as much as Algric remembers. He hadn't been lying, though. There is a marked change in the distance: a lighthouse. Tall, dark, and Watching. It is undeniable the way the Eye stretches to watch them as the pair encroaches on the Panopticon, with hints of eyes just beyond the clouds in the sky watching as they progress.]

[ Tim steps through a pace or two behind Algric... Is it bad that there being the watchtower, even with the unsettling hint of eyes above is a deep and terrible comfort?

Because he can't quite help it. ]

Shit.

[ He wraps his arms around himself, even taking the odd one out of his pocket to do it properly. No matter how close Algric is, it feels too far... ]

[ Algric -

Algric isn’t there. For just a moment, Tim is alone as the Lonely swallows Algric up, as he loses himself in this memory. God he hates this - he hates it he hates this place—

(He’ll be back in a moment but for now he cannot cope.) ]

[The Lonely fog stretches and curls around. But as Tim walks, the Lighthouse does start t get closer, looming taller and more powerful. A few of the eyes above blink before still watching.]

"Algric!" Tim yells, stumbling towards the Lighthouse, the only point of reference he has in this miserable place. The fog swallows the sound. "Algric! Martin! DAMMIT, answer!"

N-no - no - I can’t be here - god, it was a dream after all, I knew it —

[ Algric’s voice comes from everywhere and nowhere. ]

[ At the first word, Tim starts towards where he thinks Algric's voice came from, but it's no nearer or farther than it was, isn't it? ]

It... it is a dream. But you're not dreaming. This... You have to stay with me.

[ A little bit of desperation to that? Maybe. ]

[ Indeed, the closer Tim gets, the more Algric seems to drift away. ]

No. No, I - I always knew. I never actually left this place. Time travel - what a ridiculous idea.

[ The soft sound of crying is not a happy one but … it seems a bit more solid? Thataway. ]