Istredd sighs and gets to his feet, noticing the sharp look and mostly ignoring it because he doesn't care about stepping on toes. Whatever is going on, he will eventually get to the bottom of it, one way or another. For better or for worse they really are in each other's pockets and he has no intention of getting out of it.
"Lucifer. Listen to me."
He puts his hands together in an almost prayer gesture but he is not praying so much as really hoping he can get his friend to shut up for a few seconds. They are in a high-pressure situation but he seems as calm as ever. This is close to how he handled Wanda in an emotional state too.
"We are not going to let anything happen to the boy. If we can't help him, I will ask Yennefer and Stephen for help."
They have the power to do so and Istredd sounds very confident in his ability to get at least one or both to be willing. Yennefer is far more difficult to get, it's unlikely she'll stick out her neck, but he knows angles for that. Stephen is far more empathic. Either way, he is focused on calming his friend down.
"The Summoned will not sit there idly while they put one of our children into a dungeon. If the worst happens, we'll handle it."
Edited (OUR not YOUR jeez dee) 2022-12-01 22:44 (UTC)
Getting Lucifer to shut up is something that would usually take prayer of a high order. He puts his hands on his hips and very much looks like he wants to do anything other than shut up and listen, but the restraint is there, if barely.
At least one of them is calm, though he thinks he's only really seen Istredd out-of-sorts once. The growing number of people who have seen Lucifer out-of-sorts, more than once, is rising at an alarming, uncomfortable rate.
Yay Abraxas.
The boy is hopefully going to do the selfish thing and help himself before he gets thrown into the dungeons and then Lucifer is going to be the one who's screwed. He should have worded things a little differently so that he didn't also get himself shot in the foot in the process, but it isn't as though Wilhelm would use a kinder option.
Wanda can't split open reality to another of his cells when she's all the way in Solvunn.
"He'll be fine," Lucifer says, but he doesn't sound at all like he's successfully convincing himself.
He remembers Yennefer in her alchemy lab. He thinks of them as similar people. He thinks of how he would be, unchanged, significantly injured because of a defensive spell gone wrong. Doesn't matter that Wilhelm didn't mess it up on purpose. He would have previously let the kid rot for his it.
He'd like to think Yennefer wouldn't, but he's not so confident in that. Stephen was supposedly the kid's teacher; how does that failure reflect on him? Would he allow it to?
It's cute that Istredd thinks they'd come to the kid's aid but Lucifer is only beginning to have sparks of trust in others. Asking him to, what, bank on faith in others? To do the right thing? What a joke.
Lucifer is easier to read than he probably thinks. Istredd doesn't need to be a telepath or read minds to see through him. They may not know one another perfectly, but they do know one another a little. And like many quiet people, Istredd is very observant while keeping to himself. He understands it is a hard sell, but that is mostly because the Summoned are a small group, and they have been thrown in the dungeon before. Their influence no matter what the size is still that of outsiders.
"We'll figure it out. There is nothing we can do until we know if he is taken in or not. I sent him a message and will try to reassure him."
Istredd wonders if it would be best if he at least attempts to play the game at some point so he can have some sway. But it simply is not his best skill. Yennefer and Stephen are good at it, he can see that easily. So is Rhy. They have key people who are trying and succeeding. He has to focus his attention on where he believes it matters, the big picture. So most of this concern is on Lucifer's behalf.
"It would be helpful to know what he did outside of be upset in public, as that seems hardly a big enough deal for true difficulty." Lucifer did give him a look but Istredd does not actually care for looks in search of logical truth.
He finally wanders fully into the room and thumps down on his bed, rubbing a hand over his face. The spelled logs have significantly improved his life, a comfort even now.
Is he really about to do this?
"I can't tell you that," he says, more to his hand than Istredd. He can't trust the warding that far. His hand slides away and he leans back and meets, and holds, Istredd's gaze. "But."
This might be a very bad idea. Whatever minds Istredd is used to actually dipping into, they still aren't the minds of an archangel.
But, he slightly reaches up and taps a hand to the side of his head in indication, continuing to maintain that eye contact. Lucifer knows exactly what he's offering.
Istredd's eyes widen at the implication as this is a clear line they made between them and he has not crossed in the slightest. A sign of wary trust or at least understanding no matter what there are ears here. No one would be able to listen in on his telepathy, it is the most warded skill that he has. His mind is the toughest part about him.
He inclines his head in understanding and sits on his bed. Eye contact actually helps since it requires him moving past Lucifer's defenses and doing that through the eyes makes it very smooth. It's one of the very first magical lessons he had.
Depending on how Lucifer's mind conversations or telepathy has gone before, he'll find this is just as gentle as he would expect from the quiet mage. Gentle but strong at the same time, wielding it well, although he knows little of what he'd find, but Istredd is as steady as he seems.
It's through the static of Lucifer's basic protections that Istredd hears: "It's not so simple as that."
Because this is more of a show versus tell scenario and for Lucifer to do that he has to pull Istredd in; those memories are far too fortified for anything else.
It'll prove just how tough Istredd's mind is.
Considering the last person to root around in his head was Apocalypse Michael, this is way better at least on Lucifer's side.
Istredd though... The problem is there's too much there, even with Lucifer allowing this to happen. Drawing down his own mental defenses further than he would like, but the information Istredd needs is so ungodly layered that they have to crack through the membrane of his mind.
This is not something Lucifer would ever do under normal circumstances.
But Istredd's right, and those words? Cannot be spoken aloud, cannot be written down, and the Horizon is still too risky.
His usual obfuscating white noise rises up like thousands of insect wings buzzing before that layer draws away to impossibly molten heat, the white-hot fires of Hell crumpling to the ever-expanding, ever-twisting unholy nebula. Neurons firing off, sparking radiance, so much contained power and yet everything is just a little dim, like some of the lights had burned out.
He's so far from what he should be in power.
From there, after getting deep into the alien mind, the rest is easy. A memory swept out of a cosmos and brought forth in offering. Murky at first except for Thorne's gardens, the other figure blurred, but rapidly coming into focus as his irate mood grows with a fire Lucifer feels a kinship towards.
And then the memory becomes crystal clear. It plays through the scene, death threat and all, and breaks away after Kell says 'He lit it on fire, that's what happened to it' and then it too burns away from hellfire, quickly replaced with a clipped second one.
Istredd will be able to recognize Wanda easily standing before Lucifer. There's no more than a hum of exhausted thoughts directed towards her. But the man sitting in the background that Istredd would not recognize... he has dozens of unrealized, incomplete thoughts circling him.
'He did something. A mistake, but it's Thorne. Age doesn't matter to them. A Summoned is a Summoned. They'll destroy him.'
And that memory falls away, not on fire like the first, but simply fading, accompanied by the slow roll of distant thunder.
It's very clear that Lucifer has no belief that being seventeen and making a mistake will offer Wilhelm any protection, and that's emphasized by the last, also brief, memory.
This is a strange one, as it's Lucifer talking to Istredd himself, the simple sentence that's been fished out encapsulating all of Lucifer's... concerns: 'Thorne was looking for any excuse real or fabricated.'
They don't need much to hang a Summoned out.
All they need is a scapegoat, and a narrative to spin. Lucifer's favorite kind of story.
That memory remains as simply an echo between them as Lucifer pulls back into himself, the layers all packing in nicely. If Istredd doesn't take this unusual opportunity to "weigh in" Lucifer will pull around the final layer, that faint droning nothingness, and take to rubbing at his temple, quiet.
Istredd is very strong and controlled in his mind but this is certainly different from anything he's had to do before. Usually going through minds or communication is a smoother experience for him, but he has never experienced a mind like Lucifer's, and it is startling at first. He already knew his roommate was not human, and that should have been a concern from the start as he's never directly gone into inhuman minds, but in this case, he steels himself for it.
His mental shields are what spares him the real danger that could happen because they've been in place and fortified so consistently that it would take a lot to chip them away entirely. His personal wards are protection although he does experience the white noise, the confusing heat and visions, but he is wrapped up and parses through. Slower than he would a human mind, though, but still managing.
In fact, once he gets to the memories, that is far easier. The other parts are confusing and curious, but memory sharing is familiar to him. Even under this amount of pressure, as he continues pushing power into his shields. He'll likely have a headache after this, to say the least, but he manages to balance.
The memory with Kell at least gives him the clearest answer, he picks up on the suggestion that Wilhelm set fire to the card instead of using it. So he accidentally led to Yennefer's shield not being as strong as it should be. It was unintentional, but the consequences still happened, and that leaves him with the understanding it won't matter. The queen's lover died after that situation, which led to the start of the war. Lucifer isn't concerned about the heralds, it's about what could be revealed after further questioning.
Istredd doesn't take advantage of the moment to go deeper or hold them there, he can feel Lucifer pulling back, but what he does do before he retreats is use his own telempathy to push something back at him. Not a memory, not thoughts, but feelings. Understanding. A shared concern for Wilhelm now that he saw. And something he gave Wanda before: support. A warm unconditional and undefinable sensation of care that is similar to the hand on Lucifer's back from the wall that day.
And then he pulls back and he's back to his own mind. Istredd does wince after a moment and rubs his temples, mostly as his mind rights itself and adapts to what was surely an alien and bizarre experience. He's shared memories and feelings easily his whole life, but it is different this way. Blue eyes fix on his friend, pensive.
"I think it may be a wise idea for more of the Thorne Summoned to meet not in a public ballroom, but in a warded space that exists." He means Kylo Ren's room, which still stands even without the man here. The only space he knows of that is protected.
"At least as far as public spaces go it could be worse," he says. Enough bodies, enough moving around. Keep things low, keep things quiet, under the guise of a fun little shindig. "But it may be wise. Even if it was further down the road, after they've settled in." Lord, he's actually going to say--"Team Meeting. They can't fault us for that, right?" Can't be mad at their right to assembly.
... problem is, Thorne very much could.
He hums, shaking his head, already partially dismissing that. For all intents and purposes he's loyal to Thorne, only out of necessity, and only until they no longer serve a purpose to him. "A meeting to make sure everyone is on the up-and-up." Doesn't have to be what it is, just what they say in case any officials ask; and they don't need any officials present because everyone would be much more likely to "fix their mistakes" if it was Summoned Only.
He just wishes he knew if there were any other "untrustworthy" Summoned other than, well, himself. He doesn't care if someone is going to sell them out to Free Cities or Solvunn; he just needs them to be safe from Thorne.
"I am not thinking when the new people all arrive, no. There is no way of knowing at first if they are potentially loyalists. But those of us who are trustworthy to talk in one space."
Istredd is daunted by the public meetings of course, and he knows they are very carefully watched and spied upon, which is simply expected. They have the study that Kylo Ren created, and it would be possible for a group of them to meet there as one. Not only in their quiet side talks. There is too much fear and threat hanging over this place.
"The Horizon is an option, obviously, but I am not thinking of a situation where other factions should come. Respectfully, there are topics very Thorne-centric, given our circumstances, that only we would understand."
They are the ones more or less being held under close capture. He knows in the other locations they can move around freely, easily go to other cities, and even if they are watched, it isn't the aggressive way it happens here. It also wouldn't be wise to concern the other factions while they still have yet to talk about it.
"I feel as if unity would be very useful among the Summoned here. The boy should not be your sole concern, he should be all of our concern. But we are disconnected more than from what I've heard of the others."
Which makes no sense as they are all living literally next door to each other, not spread around. But they cannot meet safely. That is a major part of it. Istredd sighs and rubs his hands over his face, that migraine definitely starting. Lucifer's mind was strong. He feels heavy.
He picks and pulls a thread out of the blanket beneath him and wraps it around his fingers as he fidgets with it, unaware he's even doing so as he thinks. The Horizon is certainly a problem. As much as he doesn't want to risk Thorne officials getting suspicious, he'd rather that than other factions eavesdropping about their shit.
"I don't think the other factions really understand the trouble we have here." Wanda didn't. He could see it on her face when he explained his concerns about Wilhelm. For as much as Lucifer acts he's quickly come to terms with needing whatever he has in Thorne to be stable. One wrong move from a Thorne Summoned could be catastrophic for the rest of them.
Even Lucifer can't afford that.
"There's still many of the Summoned here I haven't," bothered to, "interacted with." He'd like to think he has what he needs. But then... while Lucifer isn't exactly loyal to Thorne himself, there's a time and a place for disloyalty. And if he hasn't interacted with all their Summoned then he doesn't know where any of them stand.
That's dangerous.
"Unity would serve to do us well. Trust is a problem though." And Lucifer knows he's just at fault for that. "It'd be nice to think that even if we all had different goals that we wouldn't get each other killed." Look, he hasn't tried to kill Jack outside of a nightmare space! And he's very, very much wanted to!
"No, they can't understand. They've been captured, we're trapped." It is an important distinction in his opinion. Yes every one of them has been taken from their worlds, but from what he hears from the others, they can have jobs of their own, homes of their own even. In Free Cities they can make actual businesses. They can live peacefully in the farmlands. They aren't caught in a castle with an increasingly unhinged and distrustful royalty.
He rubs at his temples, there is a lingering ache from Lucifer's mind. It reminds him of times he's pushed himself too much that way, so it's interesting to feel like he pushed to a breaking point with a single mind. Fascinating, really. He would ask more about it, but the whole reason they had to do it that way was to avoid eavesdropping.
"Gods, I really don't want to have to start becoming social, Lucifer. Logically it is a good idea, we should move to align goals and to find a page we can all survive from, but I am not built for this."
Istredd rarely is this blunt or honest about his shortcomings although that's because he rarely has anyone to talk to about it. He has been in his own company too long, with no one really to answer to, and he finds himself in a situation where he should've paid more attention in his court classes. Yuck.
"You're charming and charismatic, could you tone down the attitude?" One of them can maybe be functional!
'No, they can't understand. They've been captured, we're trapped.'
That will stick with him.
"No."
It's a whine. Hundred-percent a whine. He drops his hands from their fidgeting and for a moment looks like the most petulant child, not a billions-year-old entity.
His "attitude" is what keeps him sane.
"I socialize strictly out of necessity to get what I want from people." He's told Istredd that people are easy. That they're a game. He'd stopped himself from saying more on that branch, but he doesn't feel like he has to anymore if pushed, even at risk of being overheard. Thorne knows some of what he is now; they shouldn't be surprised by his methods. "I don't do small talk."
Istredd rolls his eyes at the whine. It is fine to say no, it is a big ask for Istredd to try and force his friend into being the social one because it's uncomfortable for him to do it. So that's perfectly reasonable. It's the petulance that makes him wonder if he shouldn't have said charming at all.
There is a pause after that and he stares at Lucifer for a few long seconds, the wheels in his head turning. "What is it precisely that you want out of me?" Istredd is not asking if this started because he does want something. He assumes that he is not the exception. Lucifer wanted something so he tolerated the quiet nerd living in his space. That's fine.
If his Father and brothers couldn't get him to not act like a child, Istredd is going to have no choice.
Really, if Istredd should ever have the unfortunate luck of meeting his Father one day, he would see the uncanny similarities between the two. Like Eternal Creator, like Satanic Son.
But then Istredd asks the question that Lucifer did in fact walk himself into and he, still in that childish sort of behavior, thumps his back down onto his bed and stares up at the ceiling with a bit of a groan. In the way that Lucifer's attitude is a constant pendulum though, the behavior is dropped in an instant, like it was physically sucked out of the room. Lucifer is holding one arm up perfectly straight, tracing a symbol in the air that Istredd wouldn't recognize and is simply another nonsense sigil connected to Lucifer.
"Honestly, you were simply a placeholder," he starts, his voice devoid of much of anything. "The simplest of uses. Far less 'diabolical' than Wilhelm." He continues drawing air symbols until Istredd might recognize Abraxas' Devil arcana, and maybe might make the connection to the rest. "I had to move rooms constantly in order to avoid something absurd like having a roommate. It was exhaustive. You held up decent, worthwhile conversation, and I doubted you'd stab me in my sleep. Win-win."
He drops his hand and drags himself back up to a sitting position, slow, like the walking dead him and Kyle had fought off. Unnatural. There's a soft, almost firelight glow to his eyes and he tilts his head and looks to Istredd, and despite the two enchanted logs providing them heat, for a moment there is nothing but cold. Ice particulars creeping up the window. He leans in, voice a brittle whisper, "What if I told you I was using you to get to Yennefer?"
Lucifer, always trying to find a way to shatter a good thing. Some useless, archaic piece of him innately telling him that the devil isn't deserving of nice things.
Istredd is calm, still sitting up and watching him, blue eyes narrowed. He has no doubt there were reasons to start, and he is not inclined to be offended. Lucifer has acknowledged that there is a shift in their relationship since then, so it doesn't necessarily matter what his first opinions were. Although perhaps it was, because he makes a face at him.
"I'm slightly annoyed it wasn't the obvious. I'm a mage and can make wards, I can be useful and add a layer of protection. Placeholder. Disappointing." Not that he thinks the initial want to have a roommate he can tolerate was a bad one. But he's always been underestimated, and maybe back home there were reasons for that, but here he has turned out to be more useful. His power and control of it very strong.
It's strange how Lucifer is acting then, so cold and closed off, and Istredd isn't particularly sure why this revelation is supposed to matter more. "I would say first that you don't understand our relationship, because I am extremely low on her list of priorities or concerns." That is a mixture of his bitterness and low self-esteem talking. He doesn't think she would care whether he lives or dies. But he didn't indicate their exes state at first.
"And I would say second that I hope you don't mean get as in trying to kill her or ... woo her. Because that would be far more offensive." If Lucifer wanted Yennefer dead, that did make him an enemy, and Istredd does not like that idea at all. He would be far warier about this. Yennefer may not give a fuck about him, but he does about her. And then there would be the sting and slight jealousy of being used to get with her.
"I only knew your expertise a few months ago, idiot," he snaps. Sure, it's because Lucifer never bothered to ask because he hardly saw the importance. But despite the tone there is an attempt to make Istredd feel better about that because look. Look. Mages alone didn't matter to him, okay?
The man is still an idiot, he thinks. He revealed his connection to Yennefer almost immediately and while innocuous the continued information about their world and structure provides a value in itself. Nothing more than barbs to be used as weapons, but all you need is a single one to land just the right way for it to make an impact. Yennefer, while keeping herself closed up, has a leak that she may or may not realize to be Istredd.
"Do you know how many people share worlds?" he says, having not yet cracked, because this is important. "It isn't about relationships. She's a guarded personality and you're a thread about her life that she can't control." He doesn't know if that's enough to make Istredd understand. It's all Lucifer is willing to outright say.
He will not voice the true value of Yennefer to him. That's too weighty, almost as much as Wilhelm for different reasons. Yennefer is the closest to the queen of any Summoned, and a constant insult to High Mage Ambrose as someone that had deemed many of the original Summoned as "mistakes" to be locked up. That position Lucifer lauded as the most important cog in Thorne.
Now though...
It isn't until Istredd suggests that it was about wooing Yennefer that Lucifer breaks, a loud, almost disturbed scoff jolting his frozen posture and the glow to his eyes cutting out. The room temperature is immediately swallowed up by the heat, but the frost takes some time to recede.
"Woo her? God, no. I am not interested in this hooking up thing humans do." Ugh. Ugh! The mere suggestion. He knows they're exes and good on them for whatever but nope. No thanks. "I'll tell you some other time." A Nocwich trip, maybe. Away from here and untrustworthy walls. "It doesn't matter now."
For the moment, anyway. That could change down the road, just as much as anything. And maybe that's why part of him does want Istredd to know, eventually. But the in-the-moment is what matters.
He smooths a tired hand over his face. "I'm worried about her, Istredd." Which had better never get back to her. "She's too much like me." All that survival no matter the cost, all that bundled emotion, all the razor-edged wrath like Lucifer in this room, all the breaking points that they hope aren't there if they just ignore them hard enough.
Istredd almost replies that they're not the only people here from their world, but luckily, he has actually done some soul-searching lately and tries his best to think before he speaks. They do plan on doing a spell on him soon as an extra layer of protection for Ciri, but there he is, almost making that connection. Without knowing if it's one already known. He opens his mouth and then closes it, which may indicate to Lucifer that he almost said something and thought better of it. See. Attempts have been made.
He looks relieved at the reassurance no wooing was happening. Istredd has a bias since he's been in love with Yennefer most of his life, so he assumes everyone wants her. He suspects she has lovers and/or admirers here, and that is only reasonable, he wouldn't say a word about it or against it. It's her life. But he is very glad it doesn't include his roommate. He does have limits. He notes that Lucifer indicates he's not interested in people like that in general, a fact to remember.
Istredd knows at least one or two major things about Yennefer that would make her very vulnerable, and he would never say a word about it. That he doesn't need a spell to shut his mouth for. His devotion and love for her is absolute, and the situation with her magic is something he is hoping to help fix. He won't stop trying to fix it.
"Gods, if that's true, it is just my luck to be wrapped up in both of you." If they are that much alike, and they are the two most important people to him, what does that say about his taste in the people he's drawn to? He is so different from them in every possible way. "She will be fine. Both of you will be fine. If I have faith in anything, it's that if the worst happens and the Singularity is destroying everything, somehow the two of you will survive."
He would say like cockroaches if he knew what they were. But it isn't an insult or anything. Yennefer's ability to survive is something he's glad for, it is why he had such a hard time accepting she was dead before, and then he turned out to be right and she was still alive.
"You don't have to get so defensive. I'm not mad that you had reasons for tolerating me. Don't we all."
Good. He can learn. Lucifer may have actually throttled him if he had slipped anything, just to teach him a further lesson, posted guard outside be damned.
He glances away from Istredd to the window, the last of the frost melting away.
He almost tells Istredd that being so close to the two of them will no doubt get him burned one day. He doesn't. Istredd likely already knows, if he's been around Yennefer for as long as he has. Add Lucifer to the mix, well. There's a wildfire.
But he does bristle at being called defensive, like it makes him even more defensive. He sniffs, shaking it off. "Truly, it's a wonder you tolerate me." Is his self-loathing showing? Ha, ha, ha, hilarious.
Istredd suspects that he'll get burned someday, yes, but it's not as if he really has a choice in these things. He's permanently attached to Yennefer and he isn't going to stop being friends with Lucifer because things might get complicated. It is pointless to worry about. Things will happen as they happen.
"I don't tolerate you, I like you. Even if you did just give me a bad headache and told me you saw me as a placeholder."
He is going to just be annoying as fuck by countering Lucifer's defensiveness with honesty and teasing him about his cold explanation of why they started interacting. Istredd is fairly certain this headache is going to last him until tomorrow but that is fine. He'd love to go back into his head, to be honest, but he is definitely not going to saky as much.
"At least I didn't try to turn you into a spy!" He folds his arms with a huff. You know, the whole reason they are currently in their room like this. Which--no, that's not the reason, the reason is Lucifer got whammied and his control stolen from him and then tried to be a good guy regardless about it.
It has nothing to do with his original actions!
(Give it time and maybe he'll come to terms with the truth.)
"Be happy you only got a headache." Is he glossing over the 'I like you' comment? Yes. Yes, he is. "I assumed you might turn out to be braindead." He says it like it's a joke but there is the barest visibility to actual concern there, but they didn't have much choice.
Istredd actually laughs. "Me? A spy? How very glamorous." The very idea is genuinely hilarious. Istredd with his inability to keep his mouth shut. Very little subtlety. Disliking people and crowds. There would be ways in which he'd be a good one, but he simply doesn't have what it takes.
"Someone less qualified than I am very well could have." He is still being careful not to indicate what it was that they did in case someone is listening in. Although he very much doubts they are. He would feel the brush of spells if that was the case, but it's better to be safe. "It was fascinating though. Beautiful, in a way."
"You'd make it work." But even as he says it he makes a face because no... Istredd's inability to keep his mouth shut is completely a problem. "Eh. I'm sure you'll lead your glamorous library life instead."
It's been a long time since anyone referred to any part of him a beautiful. The angels, despite everything he'd done to them, still saw something there. Maybe spitefully. But he's been sunk so far from his own kind that everyone else only sees the monster. The demons, Sam, Rowena.
It was his true form and multiple faces that followed him in mockery, and because of the proximity to that event he doesn't just flippantly say 'of course it is.' Instead, Istredd gets the extremely eloquent, "Uh. Thanks."
"Honestly I hope if I make it a few more centuries I just fake my death and retire to a library somewhere and stay out everything." He's not a century yet so he is still young by mage standards, but he has an old and grumpy soul who is often tired of everything. As it is, he can't just disappear without people going looking, they want all mages accounted for. But once he's older, he could probably swing it.
Istredd pauses when he realizes what he said and that it might be, well, bizarre. He flusters a little, having not (as usual) thought before he spoke. "Sorry, I know that must seem like a strange compliment."
"No it's--fine." He waves Istredd off. For him honestly it's not bizarre. It didn't used to be, anyway. "Thank you in... general, really." For more than tolerating him, for Wilhelm, for whatever partnership they've found themselves in that Lucifer is still learning how to handle.
Istredd is getting anxious when he thinks he maybe misspoke, so he relaxes at Lucifer's wave off. He generally believes he would tell him the truth, so it was probably him getting into his head too much. As per usual. He isn't that good at having friends either, even if he's found it very rewarding so far.
"You're welcome in general, really." He smiles faintly along with a slightly teasing tone. "I ... like having someone count on me. It's new."
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"Lucifer. Listen to me."
He puts his hands together in an almost prayer gesture but he is not praying so much as really hoping he can get his friend to shut up for a few seconds. They are in a high-pressure situation but he seems as calm as ever. This is close to how he handled Wanda in an emotional state too.
"We are not going to let anything happen to the boy. If we can't help him, I will ask Yennefer and Stephen for help."
They have the power to do so and Istredd sounds very confident in his ability to get at least one or both to be willing. Yennefer is far more difficult to get, it's unlikely she'll stick out her neck, but he knows angles for that. Stephen is far more empathic. Either way, he is focused on calming his friend down.
"The Summoned will not sit there idly while they put one of our children into a dungeon. If the worst happens, we'll handle it."
no subject
At least one of them is calm, though he thinks he's only really seen Istredd out-of-sorts once. The growing number of people who have seen Lucifer out-of-sorts, more than once, is rising at an alarming, uncomfortable rate.
Yay Abraxas.
The boy is hopefully going to do the selfish thing and help himself before he gets thrown into the dungeons and then Lucifer is going to be the one who's screwed. He should have worded things a little differently so that he didn't also get himself shot in the foot in the process, but it isn't as though Wilhelm would use a kinder option.
Wanda can't split open reality to another of his cells when she's all the way in Solvunn.
"He'll be fine," Lucifer says, but he doesn't sound at all like he's successfully convincing himself.
He remembers Yennefer in her alchemy lab. He thinks of them as similar people. He thinks of how he would be, unchanged, significantly injured because of a defensive spell gone wrong. Doesn't matter that Wilhelm didn't mess it up on purpose. He would have previously let the kid rot for his it.
He'd like to think Yennefer wouldn't, but he's not so confident in that. Stephen was supposedly the kid's teacher; how does that failure reflect on him? Would he allow it to?
It's cute that Istredd thinks they'd come to the kid's aid but Lucifer is only beginning to have sparks of trust in others. Asking him to, what, bank on faith in others? To do the right thing? What a joke.
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"We'll figure it out. There is nothing we can do until we know if he is taken in or not. I sent him a message and will try to reassure him."
Istredd wonders if it would be best if he at least attempts to play the game at some point so he can have some sway. But it simply is not his best skill. Yennefer and Stephen are good at it, he can see that easily. So is Rhy. They have key people who are trying and succeeding. He has to focus his attention on where he believes it matters, the big picture. So most of this concern is on Lucifer's behalf.
"It would be helpful to know what he did outside of be upset in public, as that seems hardly a big enough deal for true difficulty." Lucifer did give him a look but Istredd does not actually care for looks in search of logical truth.
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Is he really about to do this?
"I can't tell you that," he says, more to his hand than Istredd. He can't trust the warding that far. His hand slides away and he leans back and meets, and holds, Istredd's gaze. "But."
This might be a very bad idea. Whatever minds Istredd is used to actually dipping into, they still aren't the minds of an archangel.
But, he slightly reaches up and taps a hand to the side of his head in indication, continuing to maintain that eye contact. Lucifer knows exactly what he's offering.
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He inclines his head in understanding and sits on his bed. Eye contact actually helps since it requires him moving past Lucifer's defenses and doing that through the eyes makes it very smooth. It's one of the very first magical lessons he had.
Depending on how Lucifer's mind conversations or telepathy has gone before, he'll find this is just as gentle as he would expect from the quiet mage. Gentle but strong at the same time, wielding it well, although he knows little of what he'd find, but Istredd is as steady as he seems.
What happened with Wilhelm?
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Because this is more of a show versus tell scenario and for Lucifer to do that he has to pull Istredd in; those memories are far too fortified for anything else.
It'll prove just how tough Istredd's mind is.
Considering the last person to root around in his head was Apocalypse Michael, this is way better at least on Lucifer's side.
Istredd though... The problem is there's too much there, even with Lucifer allowing this to happen. Drawing down his own mental defenses further than he would like, but the information Istredd needs is so ungodly layered that they have to crack through the membrane of his mind.
This is not something Lucifer would ever do under normal circumstances.
But Istredd's right, and those words? Cannot be spoken aloud, cannot be written down, and the Horizon is still too risky.
His usual obfuscating white noise rises up like thousands of insect wings buzzing before that layer draws away to impossibly molten heat, the white-hot fires of Hell crumpling to the ever-expanding, ever-twisting unholy nebula. Neurons firing off, sparking radiance, so much contained power and yet everything is just a little dim, like some of the lights had burned out.
He's so far from what he should be in power.
From there, after getting deep into the alien mind, the rest is easy. A memory swept out of a cosmos and brought forth in offering. Murky at first except for Thorne's gardens, the other figure blurred, but rapidly coming into focus as his irate mood grows with a fire Lucifer feels a kinship towards.
And then the memory becomes crystal clear. It plays through the scene, death threat and all, and breaks away after Kell says 'He lit it on fire, that's what happened to it' and then it too burns away from hellfire, quickly replaced with a clipped second one.
Istredd will be able to recognize Wanda easily standing before Lucifer. There's no more than a hum of exhausted thoughts directed towards her. But the man sitting in the background that Istredd would not recognize... he has dozens of unrealized, incomplete thoughts circling him.
'He did something. A mistake, but it's Thorne. Age doesn't matter to them. A Summoned is a Summoned. They'll destroy him.'
And that memory falls away, not on fire like the first, but simply fading, accompanied by the slow roll of distant thunder.
It's very clear that Lucifer has no belief that being seventeen and making a mistake will offer Wilhelm any protection, and that's emphasized by the last, also brief, memory.
This is a strange one, as it's Lucifer talking to Istredd himself, the simple sentence that's been fished out encapsulating all of Lucifer's... concerns: 'Thorne was looking for any excuse real or fabricated.'
They don't need much to hang a Summoned out.
All they need is a scapegoat, and a narrative to spin. Lucifer's favorite kind of story.
That memory remains as simply an echo between them as Lucifer pulls back into himself, the layers all packing in nicely. If Istredd doesn't take this unusual opportunity to "weigh in" Lucifer will pull around the final layer, that faint droning nothingness, and take to rubbing at his temple, quiet.
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His mental shields are what spares him the real danger that could happen because they've been in place and fortified so consistently that it would take a lot to chip them away entirely. His personal wards are protection although he does experience the white noise, the confusing heat and visions, but he is wrapped up and parses through. Slower than he would a human mind, though, but still managing.
In fact, once he gets to the memories, that is far easier. The other parts are confusing and curious, but memory sharing is familiar to him. Even under this amount of pressure, as he continues pushing power into his shields. He'll likely have a headache after this, to say the least, but he manages to balance.
The memory with Kell at least gives him the clearest answer, he picks up on the suggestion that Wilhelm set fire to the card instead of using it. So he accidentally led to Yennefer's shield not being as strong as it should be. It was unintentional, but the consequences still happened, and that leaves him with the understanding it won't matter. The queen's lover died after that situation, which led to the start of the war. Lucifer isn't concerned about the heralds, it's about what could be revealed after further questioning.
Istredd doesn't take advantage of the moment to go deeper or hold them there, he can feel Lucifer pulling back, but what he does do before he retreats is use his own telempathy to push something back at him. Not a memory, not thoughts, but feelings. Understanding. A shared concern for Wilhelm now that he saw. And something he gave Wanda before: support. A warm unconditional and undefinable sensation of care that is similar to the hand on Lucifer's back from the wall that day.
And then he pulls back and he's back to his own mind. Istredd does wince after a moment and rubs his temples, mostly as his mind rights itself and adapts to what was surely an alien and bizarre experience. He's shared memories and feelings easily his whole life, but it is different this way. Blue eyes fix on his friend, pensive.
"I think it may be a wise idea for more of the Thorne Summoned to meet not in a public ballroom, but in a warded space that exists." He means Kylo Ren's room, which still stands even without the man here. The only space he knows of that is protected.
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"At least as far as public spaces go it could be worse," he says. Enough bodies, enough moving around. Keep things low, keep things quiet, under the guise of a fun little shindig. "But it may be wise. Even if it was further down the road, after they've settled in." Lord, he's actually going to say--"Team Meeting. They can't fault us for that, right?" Can't be mad at their right to assembly.
... problem is, Thorne very much could.
He hums, shaking his head, already partially dismissing that. For all intents and purposes he's loyal to Thorne, only out of necessity, and only until they no longer serve a purpose to him. "A meeting to make sure everyone is on the up-and-up." Doesn't have to be what it is, just what they say in case any officials ask; and they don't need any officials present because everyone would be much more likely to "fix their mistakes" if it was Summoned Only.
He just wishes he knew if there were any other "untrustworthy" Summoned other than, well, himself. He doesn't care if someone is going to sell them out to Free Cities or Solvunn; he just needs them to be safe from Thorne.
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Istredd is daunted by the public meetings of course, and he knows they are very carefully watched and spied upon, which is simply expected. They have the study that Kylo Ren created, and it would be possible for a group of them to meet there as one. Not only in their quiet side talks. There is too much fear and threat hanging over this place.
"The Horizon is an option, obviously, but I am not thinking of a situation where other factions should come. Respectfully, there are topics very Thorne-centric, given our circumstances, that only we would understand."
They are the ones more or less being held under close capture. He knows in the other locations they can move around freely, easily go to other cities, and even if they are watched, it isn't the aggressive way it happens here. It also wouldn't be wise to concern the other factions while they still have yet to talk about it.
"I feel as if unity would be very useful among the Summoned here. The boy should not be your sole concern, he should be all of our concern. But we are disconnected more than from what I've heard of the others."
Which makes no sense as they are all living literally next door to each other, not spread around. But they cannot meet safely. That is a major part of it. Istredd sighs and rubs his hands over his face, that migraine definitely starting. Lucifer's mind was strong. He feels heavy.
"Not that I know how to fix it."
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He picks and pulls a thread out of the blanket beneath him and wraps it around his fingers as he fidgets with it, unaware he's even doing so as he thinks. The Horizon is certainly a problem. As much as he doesn't want to risk Thorne officials getting suspicious, he'd rather that than other factions eavesdropping about their shit.
"I don't think the other factions really understand the trouble we have here." Wanda didn't. He could see it on her face when he explained his concerns about Wilhelm. For as much as Lucifer acts he's quickly come to terms with needing whatever he has in Thorne to be stable. One wrong move from a Thorne Summoned could be catastrophic for the rest of them.
Even Lucifer can't afford that.
"There's still many of the Summoned here I haven't," bothered to, "interacted with." He'd like to think he has what he needs. But then... while Lucifer isn't exactly loyal to Thorne himself, there's a time and a place for disloyalty. And if he hasn't interacted with all their Summoned then he doesn't know where any of them stand.
That's dangerous.
"Unity would serve to do us well. Trust is a problem though." And Lucifer knows he's just at fault for that. "It'd be nice to think that even if we all had different goals that we wouldn't get each other killed." Look, he hasn't tried to kill Jack outside of a nightmare space! And he's very, very much wanted to!
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He rubs at his temples, there is a lingering ache from Lucifer's mind. It reminds him of times he's pushed himself too much that way, so it's interesting to feel like he pushed to a breaking point with a single mind. Fascinating, really. He would ask more about it, but the whole reason they had to do it that way was to avoid eavesdropping.
"Gods, I really don't want to have to start becoming social, Lucifer. Logically it is a good idea, we should move to align goals and to find a page we can all survive from, but I am not built for this."
Istredd rarely is this blunt or honest about his shortcomings although that's because he rarely has anyone to talk to about it. He has been in his own company too long, with no one really to answer to, and he finds himself in a situation where he should've paid more attention in his court classes. Yuck.
"You're charming and charismatic, could you tone down the attitude?" One of them can maybe be functional!
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That will stick with him.
"No."
It's a whine. Hundred-percent a whine. He drops his hands from their fidgeting and for a moment looks like the most petulant child, not a billions-year-old entity.
His "attitude" is what keeps him sane.
"I socialize strictly out of necessity to get what I want from people." He's told Istredd that people are easy. That they're a game. He'd stopped himself from saying more on that branch, but he doesn't feel like he has to anymore if pushed, even at risk of being overheard. Thorne knows some of what he is now; they shouldn't be surprised by his methods. "I don't do small talk."
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Istredd rolls his eyes at the whine. It is fine to say no, it is a big ask for Istredd to try and force his friend into being the social one because it's uncomfortable for him to do it. So that's perfectly reasonable. It's the petulance that makes him wonder if he shouldn't have said charming at all.
There is a pause after that and he stares at Lucifer for a few long seconds, the wheels in his head turning. "What is it precisely that you want out of me?" Istredd is not asking if this started because he does want something. He assumes that he is not the exception. Lucifer wanted something so he tolerated the quiet nerd living in his space. That's fine.
why are you like this lucifer
Really, if Istredd should ever have the unfortunate luck of meeting his Father one day, he would see the uncanny similarities between the two. Like Eternal Creator, like Satanic Son.
But then Istredd asks the question that Lucifer did in fact walk himself into and he, still in that childish sort of behavior, thumps his back down onto his bed and stares up at the ceiling with a bit of a groan. In the way that Lucifer's attitude is a constant pendulum though, the behavior is dropped in an instant, like it was physically sucked out of the room. Lucifer is holding one arm up perfectly straight, tracing a symbol in the air that Istredd wouldn't recognize and is simply another nonsense sigil connected to Lucifer.
"Honestly, you were simply a placeholder," he starts, his voice devoid of much of anything. "The simplest of uses. Far less 'diabolical' than Wilhelm." He continues drawing air symbols until Istredd might recognize Abraxas' Devil arcana, and maybe might make the connection to the rest. "I had to move rooms constantly in order to avoid something absurd like having a roommate. It was exhaustive. You held up decent, worthwhile conversation, and I doubted you'd stab me in my sleep. Win-win."
He drops his hand and drags himself back up to a sitting position, slow, like the walking dead him and Kyle had fought off. Unnatural. There's a soft, almost firelight glow to his eyes and he tilts his head and looks to Istredd, and despite the two enchanted logs providing them heat, for a moment there is nothing but cold. Ice particulars creeping up the window. He leans in, voice a brittle whisper, "What if I told you I was using you to get to Yennefer?"
Lucifer, always trying to find a way to shatter a good thing. Some useless, archaic piece of him innately telling him that the devil isn't deserving of nice things.
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"I'm slightly annoyed it wasn't the obvious. I'm a mage and can make wards, I can be useful and add a layer of protection. Placeholder. Disappointing." Not that he thinks the initial want to have a roommate he can tolerate was a bad one. But he's always been underestimated, and maybe back home there were reasons for that, but here he has turned out to be more useful. His power and control of it very strong.
It's strange how Lucifer is acting then, so cold and closed off, and Istredd isn't particularly sure why this revelation is supposed to matter more. "I would say first that you don't understand our relationship, because I am extremely low on her list of priorities or concerns." That is a mixture of his bitterness and low self-esteem talking. He doesn't think she would care whether he lives or dies. But he didn't indicate their exes state at first.
"And I would say second that I hope you don't mean get as in trying to kill her or ... woo her. Because that would be far more offensive." If Lucifer wanted Yennefer dead, that did make him an enemy, and Istredd does not like that idea at all. He would be far warier about this. Yennefer may not give a fuck about him, but he does about her. And then there would be the sting and slight jealousy of being used to get with her.
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Of course.
"I only knew your expertise a few months ago, idiot," he snaps. Sure, it's because Lucifer never bothered to ask because he hardly saw the importance. But despite the tone there is an attempt to make Istredd feel better about that because look. Look. Mages alone didn't matter to him, okay?
The man is still an idiot, he thinks. He revealed his connection to Yennefer almost immediately and while innocuous the continued information about their world and structure provides a value in itself. Nothing more than barbs to be used as weapons, but all you need is a single one to land just the right way for it to make an impact. Yennefer, while keeping herself closed up, has a leak that she may or may not realize to be Istredd.
"Do you know how many people share worlds?" he says, having not yet cracked, because this is important. "It isn't about relationships. She's a guarded personality and you're a thread about her life that she can't control." He doesn't know if that's enough to make Istredd understand. It's all Lucifer is willing to outright say.
He will not voice the true value of Yennefer to him. That's too weighty, almost as much as Wilhelm for different reasons. Yennefer is the closest to the queen of any Summoned, and a constant insult to High Mage Ambrose as someone that had deemed many of the original Summoned as "mistakes" to be locked up. That position Lucifer lauded as the most important cog in Thorne.
Now though...
It isn't until Istredd suggests that it was about wooing Yennefer that Lucifer breaks, a loud, almost disturbed scoff jolting his frozen posture and the glow to his eyes cutting out. The room temperature is immediately swallowed up by the heat, but the frost takes some time to recede.
"Woo her? God, no. I am not interested in this hooking up thing humans do." Ugh. Ugh! The mere suggestion. He knows they're exes and good on them for whatever but nope. No thanks. "I'll tell you some other time." A Nocwich trip, maybe. Away from here and untrustworthy walls. "It doesn't matter now."
For the moment, anyway. That could change down the road, just as much as anything. And maybe that's why part of him does want Istredd to know, eventually. But the in-the-moment is what matters.
He smooths a tired hand over his face. "I'm worried about her, Istredd." Which had better never get back to her. "She's too much like me." All that survival no matter the cost, all that bundled emotion, all the razor-edged wrath like Lucifer in this room, all the breaking points that they hope aren't there if they just ignore them hard enough.
All the possibility for self-destruction.
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He looks relieved at the reassurance no wooing was happening. Istredd has a bias since he's been in love with Yennefer most of his life, so he assumes everyone wants her. He suspects she has lovers and/or admirers here, and that is only reasonable, he wouldn't say a word about it or against it. It's her life. But he is very glad it doesn't include his roommate. He does have limits. He notes that Lucifer indicates he's not interested in people like that in general, a fact to remember.
Istredd knows at least one or two major things about Yennefer that would make her very vulnerable, and he would never say a word about it. That he doesn't need a spell to shut his mouth for. His devotion and love for her is absolute, and the situation with her magic is something he is hoping to help fix. He won't stop trying to fix it.
"Gods, if that's true, it is just my luck to be wrapped up in both of you." If they are that much alike, and they are the two most important people to him, what does that say about his taste in the people he's drawn to? He is so different from them in every possible way. "She will be fine. Both of you will be fine. If I have faith in anything, it's that if the worst happens and the Singularity is destroying everything, somehow the two of you will survive."
He would say like cockroaches if he knew what they were. But it isn't an insult or anything. Yennefer's ability to survive is something he's glad for, it is why he had such a hard time accepting she was dead before, and then he turned out to be right and she was still alive.
"You don't have to get so defensive. I'm not mad that you had reasons for tolerating me. Don't we all."
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He glances away from Istredd to the window, the last of the frost melting away.
He almost tells Istredd that being so close to the two of them will no doubt get him burned one day. He doesn't. Istredd likely already knows, if he's been around Yennefer for as long as he has. Add Lucifer to the mix, well. There's a wildfire.
But he does bristle at being called defensive, like it makes him even more defensive. He sniffs, shaking it off. "Truly, it's a wonder you tolerate me." Is his self-loathing showing? Ha, ha, ha, hilarious.
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"I don't tolerate you, I like you. Even if you did just give me a bad headache and told me you saw me as a placeholder."
He is going to just be annoying as fuck by countering Lucifer's defensiveness with honesty and teasing him about his cold explanation of why they started interacting. Istredd is fairly certain this headache is going to last him until tomorrow but that is fine. He'd love to go back into his head, to be honest, but he is definitely not going to saky as much.
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It has nothing to do with his original actions!
(Give it time and maybe he'll come to terms with the truth.)
"Be happy you only got a headache." Is he glossing over the 'I like you' comment? Yes. Yes, he is. "I assumed you might turn out to be braindead." He says it like it's a joke but there is the barest visibility to actual concern there, but they didn't have much choice.
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"Someone less qualified than I am very well could have." He is still being careful not to indicate what it was that they did in case someone is listening in. Although he very much doubts they are. He would feel the brush of spells if that was the case, but it's better to be safe. "It was fascinating though. Beautiful, in a way."
Apparently you have a beautiful mind, Lucifer.
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It's been a long time since anyone referred to any part of him a beautiful. The angels, despite everything he'd done to them, still saw something there. Maybe spitefully. But he's been sunk so far from his own kind that everyone else only sees the monster. The demons, Sam, Rowena.
It was his true form and multiple faces that followed him in mockery, and because of the proximity to that event he doesn't just flippantly say 'of course it is.' Instead, Istredd gets the extremely eloquent, "Uh. Thanks."
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Istredd pauses when he realizes what he said and that it might be, well, bizarre. He flusters a little, having not (as usual) thought before he spoke. "Sorry, I know that must seem like a strange compliment."
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Could be nice.
"No it's--fine." He waves Istredd off. For him honestly it's not bizarre. It didn't used to be, anyway. "Thank you in... general, really." For more than tolerating him, for Wilhelm, for whatever partnership they've found themselves in that Lucifer is still learning how to handle.
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"You're welcome in general, really." He smiles faintly along with a slightly teasing tone. "I ... like having someone count on me. It's new."
wrap here or the next?
here!