INT: Early Evening - The Windgrace Greenhouse
Hector is over the moon. He's been over the moon for much of the day. He spent far too long flying around the campus until finally he came down. The absolute first thing he did was stop by the shop and pick up some 'fun things' and then he went immediately to the Windgrace Manor. He hasn't changed, save for putting his collar back on to hide his wings. He's still in the outfit he wore up to the college. However, he stopped and got some pastries, a bottle of wine, and of course he has a bag from the Apothecary. He was headed to the front when he got a whisper that the person he was looking for was in the garden. So he just rounded beyond the door and skipped...literally SKIPPED his way over to the greenhouse. He peeked his head inside and let his eyebrows dance up and down. "Knock knock...it's your friendly neighborhood pharmacist."
Drystan Windgrace lifts his eyes open, lazily half asleep in the greenhouse. "Hmm? I don't need a chemist...wait.oh. haaa..." He sat up a bit, waking up a tad more. "Well you look like you're about to explode, what's going on?" He laughed a little and rubbed at one of his eyes, and tugged his hair behind his ears.
Hector teasingly gasped and put a hand to his own chest like he was clutching pearls. "You don't NEED a chemist?" He smirked and wiggled a finger in the air as he came closer and sat down right at Drystan's feet beside the chase. "Well, I'm sure I can find someone else that 'doesn't need' what I have to offer." He teased, starting to lay things out on the fluffy rug. He opened a little box of gooey sticky pastries, something raspberry and stuffed with cream. Then he worked on getting the cork out of the wine bottle. "You, Sir, Mister Windgrace, are addressing the newest addition to the Magical Academy's prestigious staff." He wiggled where he sat and then let out a heavy sigh. "Oh holy shit. I didn't think I was going to get through that interview." Leans his head to rest upon Drystan's knee, smiling wide but clearly a little shaky as if a lot of anxiety was draining out of his body all at once.
Drystan Windgrace widened his eyes a bit and let a grin curl up on his face as he started pulling food stuffs out of the bags and then with his words, Oh! " WHAT? PROFESSOR GRAHAM?! HUZZAH!" He yelled, the glass in the greenhouse shaking a bit. He reached out and just grabbed Hec's face and pulled him up to kiss him smack on the lips, giving him short little kisses then a good long meaningful one. He pulled away and smiled at him. "I knew you could do it. You've got skills, young man. And I don't just mean your necromancy things." He twiddled his fingers to imply "that whole death ghost whatever stuff" .."You have a way with people. You listen and observe. If I ever need to know what's going on with this Island, all I have to do is say, "Hello Hector, How's things?" and i will know everything. It's glorious for someone like me, less social, I suppose." He leaned and stuck his finger into one of the pastries, pulling back raspberry something and cream and he popped it into his mouth with a laugh. "MmmmMM! MMHHHmmmmm. Mmm. That is divine."
Hector gasps as Drystan shouts to the point it rattles the glass. Then he's pulled in for kisses and he absolutely melts. The faint trembling oozes away and leaves him a puddle of Hector goo against Drystan. He purrs softly around Drystan's lips and kisses back. When they finally parted Hector's eyes were slightly damp, but only just a bit. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Thank you for believing in me." He said in a sheepish sort of way before wiggling the bag from his shop. "Want to snort a few lines with me?" He swallowed and shifted slightly, the cork popping on the bottle finally and letting steam out. He took a whiff and sighed, holding the bottle out towards Drystan. "The Dean is an automaton. It was...a little startling, but also fascinating. He's very nice and claims sentience, but has no 'soul' like most creatures. I was beside myself." Another deep breath later he smiled and nodded. "I would do that. Now I can look after things better. I can be down here and up above. It was interesting up there. I looked around for hours. The students seemed...fascinated by my wings."
Drystan shakes his head a little and sits up on the chaise, so that he's looking at Hector down between his knees. He waggles his brows at him but that’s all, hitching up the jeans he was wearing and pushing up the sleeves of the henley. “You are welcome. It's easy to believe when you’ve seen, and felt, what you’re capable of.” He nodded in agreement and a little shrug of the shoulders towards him and took the bottle of wine. He lifted it, smelling the lip of the bottle and paused, holding the wine off to the side. “Is that so? The Dean? My goodness. Like that young lady I meet, Thirteen. She was …created. It is a bit strange that they don’t have souls like ours. But I do think that there is a struggle for them, possibly using Aether, to create a sort of soul. I suppose it all depends on how advanced a thing is.” He pondered and then pulled the bottle up to his mouth and drank a sip from it letting it sit in his mouth so the flavor could seep through. He smiled and handed the bottle over to Hec, “Well because not everyone around here has a huge set of wings and an affinity for the biggest of classical witch hats. I mean, I’m fascinated.”
Hector grins up from between Drystan's knees. He's quite happy to sit there, leaning his head from one side to the other. He's just nuzzling and enjoying where he's at. The mention of the hat has him reaching up to pull it down and set it on the nearby rug. It was mostly to get it out of the way, and he did the same thing with his glasses. He took the bottle and gulped down a few long thirsty drinks before setting the bottle purposefully right between Drystan's thighs. "It really got me thinking about what could be possible by combining Technomancy and Necromancy. I...I'm a little bit scared of it, if I'm to be honest, but I also can't help but be curious. I don't want to become TOO curious about it and pull a Mary Shelley..." He shrugged and stuffed his hand into the little paper sack. He pulled out a palm-sized tin wrapped in tissue paper. He removed the tissue paper and opened up the little tin. It had a few thick white pills, a little glass straw and lots of white powder.
Drystan scooted over and patted the spot beside him, and gently took the small tin from him. He held the wine between his thighs. “All things are possible. And that is in fact, a quite scary thought. However once you are able to get past that initial fear, all you have left is pure curiosity, and all the knowledge you’ve ever learned. That's what you rely on.” He fiddled with the small tin a bit, picking up one of the pills and lifted an eyebrow at Hec, “....and these would be?” He plunked it back into the tin and used the glass straw to move and separate a large powdery mountain. He turned his head to the side and coughed to clear his throat, and also took a few relaxed measures breaths through his nose. He then turned back and with a large inhalation, the mountain was gone. He handed the tin over, and lifted his chin, and held his nose just near the tip and closed his eyes, feeling the bitter chemical coat the back of his throat. He snorted a few times and shook his head, a little “woof!” and another cough, and he was good!
Hector climbed up from his spot on the rug to sit beside Drystan and lean into him. The closeness was very much appreciated. One would think that Hector was starved for affection how 'handsy' he was in that moment, but it was just a rush of different emotions. Clearly something else had happened, but he was choosing to focus on the good and let the other just fall to the background. He was there with Drystan and they were celebrating and that was all that truly mattered. "Barbiturates. On the off-chance that the heart starts beating too quickly. I don't think you will need them, but I might." He shrugged and opened his mouth, but then just closed it. He was about to say it had been a while since he'd snorted coke, but no, that was technically a lie because he stuck his face in some the night before. Which was stupid and he knew that. Tonight, he actually made PLANS and was being far less reckless. He waited until Drystan was good and then took the tin back. He licked both ends of the straw and made himself a practiced little line, thin left to right, but thick top to bottom. He closed his eyes and leaned down and made short work of it, holding one side of his nose and then wiggling it, moving his piercings around and making a face before chasing it by plucking the wine bottle out from between Drystan's thighs and taking a drink. "Mmmmm..." He said low and slow before turning to kiss the other, just a soft brush of lips at first, but then he leaned in a bit more forcefully, sucking at Drystan's bottom lip and giving a little tug of a lock of hair between two fingers.
Drystan nodded, giving a little “Ahh..” as he watched him. When he began his line, he reached out and held back some of his locks. He seemed to have a more practiced manner of going about the business of putting powder up one's nose. It was just a minor observation, and then he was done and the wine was plucked from between his thighs. “Hey now!” He laughed as he was kissed, wrapping his arm around him, holding onto that moment of heady highness, when he could taste both Hector's familiar taste and that of the wine and the coke all swirled into one numb sort of mess. A lovely and desirable mess, to be sure. He took a moment while sucking on his bottom lip to close his eyes and listen, and he found Hec’s heartbeat instantly. It was fluttering harder and faster than normal, but nothing out of the ordinary. But he would have that sound in the back of his mind, the feeling of him just in the periphery of his thoughts. He put his other hand on his chest, flat at the base of his throat, below the damned collar. He could feel it there in his palm, and as they kissed deeper, his hand closed in on Hec’s shirt, bunching it up in his hand, pulling him into him.
Hector was inside his own body for a moment, and that body was against Drystan's body. He became his own lips, enjoying the feel of Drystan, the taste, riding along between them like it were a fleshy rollercoaster. He felt upside down and spun round and was enjoying every second of it. It was the feel of fingertips against the collar at his throat which pulled him back to reality. He reached into his breast pocket and took out the key to the collar, carefully placing it into Drystan's fingertips. He drew back to gasp for breath and try to form words. He felt as if for a moment, he didn't really have to speak, but he wanted to...wanted to be able to. "I'll have the key copied for you and now that I have access to the college, I'll work harder to learn to glamour so I don't need it." He wrapped his hand around Drystan's hand, making sure he had a good grip on that tiny golden key before lifting his chin so the Windgrace could unlock it in that moment if he so desired.
Drystan pulled his head back and watched him quietly, as he began to speak. He listened and nodded softly. “I understand.” When Hector lifted his chin, he plugged the little key into the lock and it turned, clinking softly as its mechanics tumbled into place, and the collar was sprung open. He let out his breath, not realizing he’d been holding it, and waited for those beautiful black feathers to unfurl behind him. He pushed the key into Hector's palm, and folded his fingers over it. “You won’t need any baubles or trinkets soon enough.” He reached for the wine, and drank heartily from the bottle, and then placed it back down, going again for the tin. It might be a short time frame for a bump, but that high metabolism and all. He opened it up and prepared two large mounds of it, and up it went, one into each nostril. He tossed his head back and there it was, BAM! There was enough saturation that he was feelin’ it. Though he could barely feel his face. No matter.
Hector gave his head a little shake, like he was letting his hair flap in the wind. However, it was meant so that the collar would fall. Fall it did, slipping down from his throat and crashing to the floor. It sounded far too heavy just then. It was a tiny thing really, but at that moment it felt so large, almost like a shackle. He'd never thought of it that way, but mingling the drugs with other things made it echo. He unfurled his wings, stretching them out one way and then the other. He watched Drystan go in for seconds and with a smirk reached down, rubbing his hand up the eldest Windgrace's thigh and between his legs with a squeeze. "Mmm, I love you." He whispered, having meant to say something entirely different as he gathered the key and stashed it away back in his breast pocket. He blinked a few times and then let out a high unmanly giggle. "I...was going to say something else, but now all I can think about is how amazing you are and I don't want this moment to end."
Drystan fluttered his eyes open, and smirked at the man beside him. He couldn't help but tell him the truth of things, and it made Drystan feel strong. The drugs did too, but he was strapped in and in for the ride. “I love you as well, Hector.” He pulled his hand up to his chin and grinned. “You never want it to end? This feeling?” He could pull that feeling like a string out of the air. It was so well defined in his mind's eye, that emotion, all of the emotions clobbered into this one thing in this one moment.
And just like that Drystan started to do something he’d not done since he’d been to the island. He closed his eyes and held his hands up in front of him, as if he was holding something gently in the air between them. The wind blew the doors of the greenhouse open a bit wider, and it rustled all the plants in the greenhouse. Some flowers and things pulled loose of their firmaments, and fluttered towards the two men. Flowers of Datura, and caps of thin tall mushrooms. They held themselves in the air near them while Drystan seemed to be exerting much more energy. It sort of ..vibrated from him, outwards, something Hector would feel and recognize as something with telekinesis.
In Drystans mind, he was floating, then diving, then swimming. Just below the house, off the rocky coast there were slender caves that held seams of aetherite. Most were too small to bother mining, but they were there, and he’d seen them with his own eyes. He was reaching out so far, and so deep, he could almost see where a small crystal protruded from the matrix of the seabed. Then he had it, and he was pulling with his mind, the gusts of wind floating in and out of the greenhouse grew stronger, but did no detriment to what was inside, a side effect of the sheer willpower Drystan was using. Finally, the crystal broke free and it came shooting through the water, leaving trails of bubbles in its wake before it shot free of the water, and sailed, like an ordinance, up and over, and towards the greenhouse.
Suddenly, along with the datura, and mushrooms, was a nearly dry, salt crusted Aetherite chunk floating in the air. Drystan exhaled long and smooth, and refrained from opening his eyes. “I will recite the words now, and this moment in time will be locked in cycle.” His voice was low, barely a whisper echoing in his chest.
Hector felt his heart momentarily seize in his chest when Drystan said he loved him back. His throat closed up and emotions welled up inside of him. The sting of tears in his eyes began to well up again. They were filled with everything. Every loss, every triumph, every death, every song, he started to pant slightly as the tears started to rain. The vibration only causes them to wiggle free and up into the air. He was crying...up. It was a good thing, however. He always stopped himself when he started to show emotion, no matter what the emotion was. He breathed out, utterly fascinated by Drystan's power. He swallowed hard and brought his hands up, clasping them together at his chest. He started to pray. It was technically to the Goddess of the Earth, but what he prayed was for Drystan to be lifted up by the grace of the world that they walked upon. There were few spiritualities that really 'contradicted' what Hector believed in. He believed he walked upon the back of his Goddess. That the very planet was Life, and Love and Magic. If you added the fact that Aetherite EXISTED it was like his Goddess' blood bubbling up to the surface and then there were Drystan and his siblings who molded, shaped and pulled those crystals up in ways that others could not. It was spiritual and uplifting for him. He opened his eyes just in time for that crystal to come whizzing in. He gasped and then went shock still. He swallowed hard and nodded in a mute way, the tears still rolling, some going up into the air to blow around while others managed to slide down his cheeks and wet his hair and beard.
Drystan was deep in focus with his abilities, and what power he had over the world around him. He blinked internally and saw a simple silver chain laying on his nightstand. It lifted to the air and was out of his bedroom window and gathering with the items floating near the two of them. Next, his mind went to the ritual room, but he stopped himself short of actually feeling and reaching out for anything there, though powerful, there was a reason that room was locked up tight, and nothing could be just lifted out of the room. He was back in his own quarters, and an old alchemy box lay open on his floor, a small beaker full of a light blue fluid clattered around then lifted free of the others and wobbled around a bit, the insides swirling, specks of what seemed like sunshine leaked out through the parts of the bottle not covered in many many years of dust. It too, went out Drystans window and joined the array of items.
He relaxed his shoulders, and allowed his hands to fall to his legs, still palms upwards. “Sit as I sit. Mirror me, my love.” His eyes never opened, but there was a sense that he might be able to somehow still see what was happening, but only by the feel of things around him.
If Hector is to mirror him and sit like he is with palms up, then slowly the datura and mushroom caps would fall gently into his hands. “These will help open your mind, and allow me to pull this moment and capture it, a mirror of it.” He sort of explained, but it also looked like he was speaking under his breath the entire time. Mouth barely moving, lips meeting and then parting…he was deeply chanting something in Latin.
Hector was practically glowing by the time Drystan told him to mirror what he was doing. He turned and placed their knees together neatly and his hands palms up on his knees. Little motes of different colors danced in his palms as the petals and mushrooms fell to rest in his palms. He breathed out a slow breath and relaxed. His mind began to unfold like a flower blossoming. It was a very specific type of flower, one that only bloomed at night, under the strictest and most perfect of conditions. It was a lotus from the Nile River. They spent almost their entire lives under water and only reached above to bloom in the dead of night in the desert. His mind unwound with the petals, coming open to reveal more than just the surface things that were always there. Hector wore his heart on his sleeve to be certain, but his mind was kept in a steel trap. Whispers would follow that opening of the mind. Ghosts would come from all over the corners of the island. Hector's mind 'smelled' like a blooming lotus flower. It was delicate and strong, yet it took a lot to actually see it in its truest forms. Outside influence on his mind was like pulling the wings off a butterfly. It was crude, harsh, and the damage was often permanent. Inside the depths of that flower was a tiny light, one he'd literally shown to no one. Even his own ghosts were intrigued. Maria had curled up on one of the rugs nearby and was hugging her bunny, Agatha hanged from the rafters, enjoying it all like sunlight upon her face and Hatman...well...he was looming silently behind Drystan like a cat that caught a mouse.
Drystan spoke words that had not been spoken in long passed ages, calling upon the powers of the cosmos and the creators and keepers of Time itself. He was gently prodding the Old Ones, those that might give him the strength and the power to complete his spellwork and mastery. He was not at the level Dinah was, as she actively practiced and used her knowledge almost daily, and Drystan had it all boxed up inside, only to be opened on rare occasions. He could sense the feeling of a warm energy coming from Hector but he kept his eyes closed to it, even as it glowed faintly between them. He did not see, feel, or acknowledge the feast of ghosts all interested in the reaper being a part of a Hermetic ritual.
He did however open his lips wider and spoke clearly for Hector to hear. “Eat the caps, chew them thoroughly, and swallow. Gently pull a petal of datura and crush it between your fingers before letting it settle on your tongue. You will experience some hallucinatory reactions.” His words were soft and kind, guiding him through the parts Drystan could not do himself. He needed to be able to reach through time, and take the mirror of this moment and capture it, leaving the actual moment in time to live on as it had.
Hector felt his spine tingle and for the briefest of moments he recalled...things. Things from another life, another Time. Dabblers doing things that only people like the Windgraces did. He recalled being part of a ritual. It wasn't like this at all, but it was rushed and required many, many, Witches. He remembered. He remembered taking someone back to a time before they had been bitten and swapping limbs so that the person may no longer be infected by the curse of the Werewolf bite. It was a purposeful thing to save a Witch from his own stupidity. This wasn't nearly as volatile and there was purpose behind it...something beautiful. He breathed out and did as he was told. He tossed a few caps into his mouth, chewed, chewed and chewed and then swallowed before carefully pulling a single petal and swirling his fingertips to crush it and let what was left dissolve upon his tongue. He exhaled a swirl of green smoke. All 'masks' falling away and leaving only a Reaping Necromancer in its wake. Superimposed over Hector's face was a green sugar skull, his every breath was a soft green, black veins started at the corners of his eyes and worked their way down his body, peeking out wherever there was flesh.
Drystan spoke again slowly under his breath, finally calling upon his patron God, the Heart and Soul of all the Old Ones. The one that would speak to humanity, who did not revel in death and destruction, but instead took pleasure in creating madness and chaos, and from chaos springs life, which unfurls into raw energy, energy that could be used to manipulate time. “Nyarlathotep, my Master, the Faceless God, Stalker Among the Stars… Allow me to see your Yellow Mask, your robes of sunlight to wrap around me, …blackened skin from the sands of a far off place. Lend me your mastery, as I seal this moment in a fragment of your unending blood.” The other items started to spin and swirl around each other, the bottle opening and now the bright blue swirling sparkle liquid oozed out and covered the small crystal as it spun, faster and faster. It was infusing itself to the crystal, the vision and emotion and feeling of this very moment between the two of them. By opening up to each other, it allowed Drystan to manipulate the mirror of time and take it and imbue it upon the crystal. His skin began to swirl with the dark patterns in his unglamoured state, like something was alive and blotting his skin from the inside, rather than coming from outside of himself. He lifted his hands and the crystal, moved to spin right between them, faster and faster it spun, till sparks of light shot from it, it was vibrating, humming with the wavelength of the moment, taking in the mirrored vision of all that it could encompass. It was taking a small part of Drystan, and a small part of Hector the reaper, and swirling it around to seal the crystal. Drystans mouth was dry as a desert and he could feel the reaper's heartbeat fluttering and flaring and the hum of his blood pumping through his body. It only added to the creation of this amulet.
Finally, the crystal stopped spinning and held its space there, the silver chain floating into place and fusing itself to the crystal, creating metallic shards to splinter out below the glowing crystal. Drystan would open his eyes then, and see his love, his core, and he took a deep breath, the smell of lotus blossom was strong, and he flared his nostrils as he spoke the last words with more command in his voice, Looking around as he spoke at the newly formed necklace and to the emotion and fervor it takes to make such a thing, ancient spells being whispered, and allegiances to Mad Gods gave him power that flowed from him. An emotion like none other. He did not contain it, he just let it flow and bleed through the entire greenhouse.
Slowly, the necklace would come to rest in Hector’s hands. “May the Living Shroud protect this memory. That at any time you may hold it, and recall with clarity all things in love and light between us here. It may be reversed, you to my left, i to your right, but it is the perfect match to recall such things.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose. “The Great Father of the Million Favored ones smiles with his twisted face upon this action.” Drystan could feel it in his bones - in his core, in every part of his being that his God of a Thousand Forms stood with him, that the creeping shadow was a solid presence alongside him.
Hector had seen so much in his life. Considered long to some and short by others. Add in today when he met a brain in a jar that could move and speak and that was just another drop in the bucket of things he had seen. Speaking of 'seeing' he's seeing a lot of shit right now. Probably the only way he could have been opened up further was to perhaps have used the dust on his eyelids that Dinah had given him. He was open, malleable, perfect love and perfect trust. A lump of fleshy meat surrounded in soft silken feathers. Every breath he took was magic and mixing drugs opened door after door after door. He saw beyond even his own concept of beyond. For a bit he was even certain he completely left his body and stood watching the entire goings on from above the two of them. He only came back because he wanted desperately to perceive Drystan with his five senses again. It started with a smell. He breathed Drystan in, and then his eardrums began to tickle with the sensations of his speaking. Hector shivered as he could taste the man upon his tongue where they had been kissing earlier. Bit by bit, he returned to his own body, calm, collected, more centered than he could ever recall being in his entire life. His hands cupped and he watched the pendant lower into his hands. He was breathing heavily like he had been flying around, or something else exerting energy. He felt so heavy, but that pendant in his hands was everything. He closed his eyes and leaned forward, feeling his head lightly connect with the center of Drystan's chest. He sat there, enjoying the warmth, feeling the very rotation of the Earth beneath them. He tried to speak, but he couldn't. He couldn't form words and he wasn't sure if his tongue had gone numb or perhaps he'd gone so far and became energy for such a long moment that he'd actually forgotten what it was truly like to be inside his body. He drew in a sharp breath and leaned back, turning his smiling face to look up at the other. There were whispers, praises, adoration but it poured from Hector and not precisely out of his mouth. He blinked a few times, leaning back slightly because...he thought he saw something. He thought he saw yellow, like a rising sun up from behind Drystan, but it became too blinding so he shut his eyes and pressed his face to the other's chest again. A warm hand would lightly squeeze at Drystan's shoulder, but it wasn't Hector's. It was more like someone standing over him, behind him, a light acknowledgment of a job well done and then it was gone. Hector's wings gave a flap and he groaned. "Fuuuuuck....wow..." Good shit.
Drystan finally swallowed against the desperate dryness in his mouth, and he swore he could feel grains of sand working their way down his throat. He reached up and held Hector’s head against his chest, and curled himself over him, breathing hard, and felt that hand on his shoulder, the impression of ‘good job’ being left on his mind. He turned his head to look but there was not a thing there. He sighed. One of Hector’s buddies, surely. It was hard to get used to having them so present that he could be groped by ghosts at any moment. But they had actually been fairly good. He could handle that, for Hector’s sake, he had to. When he lifted his head and flapped his wings, he could see how draining the experience had been, and that he was high as a fucking kite as well. But it was a good thing. He was living in that moment, and so long as he wore the necklace, he would have Drystans love and presence with him always.
Hector was pretty out of it, but just on instinct his entire everything started to retreat. He folded up neatly, petals of spirit collapsing in on themselves until he was all bound up tightly again within himself. Hector had never felt lighter. He'd hoped things like confession or helping others would pull the weight off his shoulders but it never did. This, this moment, however. Putting his absolute trust in Drystan for even just a few moments did the trick. Hector was always so guarded. It wasn't just because he'd been hurt a lot, but because there were very real monsters around. Sure lost souls were his friends, but that was like a zoo keeper saying that the lions were his friends. Could he really trust to leave the gate open, even for a second? Well, he had his answer. He had met someone with such a presence, he could leave the gate open...if but for a moment. Surely he wouldn't let himself become...complacent though. Dun dun dun... Swallowing hard he leaned up, biting into his own bottom lip, tugging one of his piercings sideways and pooling blood against his lips. He immediately kissed Drystan, as if sensing how 'thirsty' he was and wanting the other to drink from him. Also, Hector was high as fuck and still having some mild hallucinations, so it was probably a good time that could end with them cuddling there and passing the fuck out.