Work Text:
Hours ticked by late into the night, the landscape of the Titan shifted as shadows grew, shrank, then became all there was over the land. But this was all happening unwitnessed by the engineer as he tinkered away in his workshop. Though he sometimes considered it a laboratory as abomination goo stained his coat, the byproduct of some hectic experimentations, and smoke would sometimes fill the room.
His hands were sure and worked with focus, the most he ever had honestly. The man knew he was- spacey for lack of a better word- towards seemingly everything but the subject of his magical expertise. His nature was often the target of disapproval and sometimes ridicule by teachers, classmates, maybe a winged creature or two, everyone except-
The door to his lab opened, the time far too late for any of his children to be awake. Familiar footsteps echoed on the floor, and while he processed the woman behind him he didn’t turn, instead swirling a vial over a flame.
She walked over, her posture clear in his mind’s eye- he always marveled at how she held herself- so poised and put together, something he could never do. Her fingers adjusted his goggles for him, clearing up his vision which had been half blocked by the rim. How long had it been like that? Alador couldn’t recall.
“Thank you, dear,” He felt her gently touch his shoulder, a little squeeze as he brought his attention back to his work. Most people couldn’t even get a hello out of him when he was absorbed in his abominations.
Walking away from her husband while he finished up, Odalia lifted her leg and pulled off one of her heels. A sigh left her lips as she set her foot on the ground, making sure not to step on anything possibly hazardous. Despite how eager he was when he was working, Alador always kept his lab rather neat.
Or actually- just the half she often lounged in while he was tinkering, usually after her own long day. The other half of it had more spills on the ground, loose parts, and the like. Tossing her shoes aside, she settled down on a chair and crossed her legs, placing her clasped hands on her knee.
As she spoke, her eyes followed him while he worked- taking him in with admiration. “You would not believe the meeting I just got back from,” She started, well aware that her words were just fluff in the air to the man, as noticeable as thin smoke or vapor.
Though- she guessed in an experimental setting those things were more important. One may think since her entire livelihood was about making others pay attention to what she had to say, that this would be infuriating.
However, she quite enjoyed it. The ability to just talk, to bounce her ideas out into the world without having to overanalyze and edit them, helped her think.
He’d nod along and occasionally grunt in response but they both knew the exchange was individualized. It was- nice- to not fear judgment. If anything, coming into the workroom, his workroom, was like taking her heels off at the end of a long day, like letting out a breath that was beginning to ache in her chest.
Eventually, as all things did, his task was done for the night. The man cleaned up his workspace and pulled off his gloves, setting them aside for another day. He walked over to her like a moth towards the light- it was so automated. And yet also not. Every night since they were kids they did this dance. She’d wait for him to finish whatever he was doing and when he was ready to step out of his engineering one-track mind, she was there. Every night and it never got old even as they did.
The woman reached out for him, and then the world was a little less purple-tinted. Oh- his face pulled into surprise and his eyes darted up for a second, nearly forgot his goggles were still on. Going back to his wife’s face, her lips were tugged into a small smile as she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped at some of the fresher stains on his coat. She straightened his collar so that it fell comfortably.
“Sorry,” The man replied sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. When they first started dating he found the question always gracing his mind. ‘Why me?’ Because she was so confident, so sharp and so smart and so- not him. But here she was, with her hands rested where his shoulders curved into his neck. But here she was, standing on her toes to get closer to his height. But here she was, with him.
“Don’t be,” Her voice was soft, “I like the engineer look.”
He reached up and took one of her hands, squeezing a bit. “I like the businesswoman look too- I mean-” Alador stumbled for a second, clearing his throat. He felt his face flush, “You look nice today. Every day.”
Reaching out, the man hesitated with his fingers shaped like the curve of her cheek. He hadn’t washed his hands yet. There was nothing on them though his work gloves weren’t the neatest things in the world. He often thought she was.
But his wife simply leaned into his touch, letting her eyes close and her grin push further into his palm. He had calluses on his hands, the product of years of work and dedication. She couldn’t imagine being in his shoes. Odalia- she was good at what she did, very very good, but creating something new was outside her skillset. Maybe that’s what drew her to him.
She wanted to unpack that world inside his head, the one filled with wonder and visions that manifested into their own through his inventions. She wanted others to see what she did, for him to have the status he deserved.
“Thank you,” Pretending to pull away, the woman fell right back into step as Alador’s other hand met her waist and kept her close. Standing on her toes, the pain from the day now dissipated, she leaned in.
A crash, not too loud but she was always rather observant, made her pause and her husband’s lips miss, pressing into the side of her face. He pulled away, confused as she raised a hand and glanced up at the ceiling. “The kids,” She explained, pausing for a moment and waiting expectantly in the silence. Nothing.
With a huff, she drew a small circle in the air with her finger, three images forming in front of her. The twins asleep in their beds and Amity- her youngest daughter, struggling to keep her palisman in line. The cat, which she would never admit to growing fond of recently, skirted just out of the girl’s grasp each time. A knocked-over book on the ground was probably the source of the noise. “Use your magic- use-”
Her shoulders were tensing, creating a knot in her neck that she could never get rid of. How could her daughter be struggling to tame something that was supposed to follow her already? How could she ever fulfill her dreams of being in the Emperor’s coven? Amity wanted that since she was small!
And it was her mother’s job to get her there. She didn’t teach her right, didn’t put her in the right classes, or give her the right friends. And when her daughter failed the day of Coven tryouts, that fault would fall onto her shoulders as well and that knot on her neck would get tighter and tighter.
Gentle hands rested where it was, his thumb working circles around the tense area and silently reminding her to relax. She sighed, letting her hand fall and the vision disappear. Pinching the bridge of her nose, Odalia rubbed at the space between her eyes. “She has so much potential and she’s wasting it.”
She eventually muttered, leaning back into her husband’s touch. There was a long pause, most would think the conversation was over but she knew he was simply thinking of the right thing to say. He was meticulous, calculated- he kept his cool better than she ever could.
“Things like that can be taught,” The man started, “Talent can’t.”
“She doesn’t want to be taught- teenagers. Does she think her place in the Emperor’s Coven will just fall into her lap? Does she- I thought we taught her that nothing is ever handed to you. Look at us-” Everything she ever had, she fought for tooth and nail. That was the only way to secure it, the only way was to make sure you were so strong no one else would dare try to hurt you.
“I-” Alador paused, memories of the Bonesborough brawl resurfacing. She was really something, the magical skill was a reflection of his own but her fight- her passion- was her mother's. If a bit different in direction. “Nevermind.”
“Tell me,” For a second her tone was sharp, demanding almost like how she would talk to investors. It was so hard to go from that to herself again- she felt like herself again with him. “Sorry. Tell me.” Odalia’s word’s softened with her eyes, she turned to face her husband. “I know that look, you’re thinking about something.”
Something he was having trouble articulating. It was cute, the way his forehead crinkled just the slightest bit and how the corners of his lips tugged to the side.
“It’s hard to say- to figure out how to say.” He eventually confessed, sighing and rubbing a hand over his face. “How to say it right.”
“Just say it then, don’t worry about right. I’ll understand.”
“I know you will,” Alador sighed and took his goggles off. He stared at the accessory, at his own reflection in the lens- tinted purple. “Remember how she changed her hair?”
She crossed her arms as expected and pursed her lips a bit, glancing to the side. “Yes,” The one syllable was flat and dry, “I know she hates me now- but if that’s what it takes to get her to do what’s best for her then-”
He raised a hand and she stopped talking quickly, the only person who could make her do that.
“It’s abomination colored.” A hint of pride laced into his voice. Watching as his wife’s face morphed from confusion, the memory, then realization, Odalia stared at him in shock.
“I- I didn’t realize.”
“Is this how you feel all the time? Telling me all the things I’ve missed?” The man teased, to which he received a playful shove on the shoulder. He grinned, his eyes shutting for a moment as he held up his hands in mock surrender. “I was surprised too when she told me.”
“She told you?” Now the shock was mingling with hurt- though not that much. Odalia Blight was a woman much familiar with the trade-off, the continuous ebb and flow, gain and loss of business and life. She gave up her relationship with Amity a long time ago to give her the resources to succeed, whether that was the right choice- unclear. Doubt was also something she ran from, she couldn’t afford to let it catch up- to even let it nip at her heels. It had no place in her life.
“At the Bonesborough Brawl. She entered because she wanted to compete- like I did.”
“I always loved watching you fight in those,” A wistful sigh to her voice as she remembered their youth, “I never knew she was interested. I thought she wanted something…”
“Higher profile?”
A frantic reply, “I didn’t mean-”
“I agree. I thought she’d want something better too.” Alador contested with a shrug. He could never bring himself to compete in anything more than a neighborhood low-stakes competition. The pressures of something like a try-out or evaluation would make him sick. He spent many an afternoon hunched over somewhere, Odalia rubbing his back while he lost his lunch and his time slot.
“It’s just that- she’s everything we’re not. She has everything we didn’t!” The woman continued, knowing that she was repeating her previous views but it was easier to process things out loud. He understood.
Her interests always skirted outside of combat, rooted in planning and strategy. But to get anywhere, specifically into the Emperor’s Coven, fighting was the only way in. Literally.
They thrived after finding each other, both knowing that while they would have been okay separate they wouldn’t have been able to achieve what they did alone. But their daughter, their Mittens, wouldn’t need anyone else, wouldn’t need to waste her time carving out status for her name. And that made her future all the brighter.
“She wanted me to tell you.”
“Why didn’t she just talk to me herself?” Her words bordered on outraged but the man just nodded, knowing it was more confusion than anger. So he waited, gave her some time. A pause, she pressed her lips together and nodded. “Nevermind, I heard it when I said it.”
“She also said-” Alador cleared his throat and briefly scanned the room to make sure he could catch her if she fainted or something, He didn’t think she would but anything was possible these days. “That she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be in a Coven anymore.”
A pause, and then a shriek that made him glad they cast a spell on his lab to keep the noise in.
“What?!” The woman slipped on her heels before she started to pace, both her hands on the side of her head. The first and only time she forgot her shoes she ended up needing to call the Healing Coven.
“I mean- I could begin to understand changing tracks or adding something since Hexside’s doing that new curriculum! But- but becoming a criminal?” Her heels clicked against the floor as she walked, faster and faster like another instrument to accompany the thumping of her racing heart, “Oh, this is all my fault! I pushed her too hard and now she’s spun around on us like a- like a- I don’t even know!” Burying her face into her hands, she wasn’t crying but sometimes Odalia felt as if her entire body was tensing and she had to do something to push out the sensation.
Alador gently touched her elbows, holding her forearms until she eventually lifted her face. There was something new in her blue gaze, something he hadn’t seen much of since their teenage years. Fear.
He opened his mouth, hesitated for just a second, and continued. “It’s not your fault-”
“I’m her mother! I’m- I’m supposed to make sure everything goes smoothly! And now she’s throwing her life away?!” His hands grounded her, kept her from spiraling off into her thoughts. Maybe she joined the Oracle track to try and make sense of her future- the future- to feel some sort of control over the uncontrollable because then she was safe. She was safe and she could prepare for when she wouldn't be. “I’m supposed to have the answers- the plan-”
The man glanced down, pulling his thinking face again before starting. “Odalia,” He started with her, something so familiar. He often didn’t know the correct thing to say, but when he said her name it felt right. He knew that. “I’ve been thinking- you and I, we raise the kids the way we run the company.”
She was about to argue but hesitated, her arms losing tension as he ran her hands to her shoulders and held her there. Staring at the ground, head bowed in almost shame, she grabbed her elbow and eventually nodded. “I never thought of it like that.”
“Me neither,” Alador sighed, “Until you were talking just now and I saw how you act when we have a shipment go missing.” His eyes softened as he spoke, voice lifting in a teasing manner. “Though a touch less threatening,” His lips pulled into a little smile at the same time, comforting. He didn’t smile much, expressions were also something that didn’t often translate from his mind. But around her they seemed to come easier, naturally, everything did.
“Was it really that bad?” She muttered, face tinted pink and her tone sheepish.
“You know I don’t think of it that way.”
She touched his hand before leaning in, wrapping her arms around his waist despite the abomination goo on his coat and the faint smell of metal and smoke- because he was safety to her. Holding her back tightly, he rested his chin on her head and his mind seemed to come into clarity when he felt her weight against him.
“What am I going to do?” She spoke into his chest, “How can I fix this?”
“We,” He replied in the same tone he’d use to edit her pitches. Sometimes the correct terms would escape her notes and he’d correct her from where he sat in her office, watching her rehearse. “I know I’ve been away from the kids for a long time, I’m not proud of it, but I talked to Amity, she’s willing to give it a shot.”
The same sure cadence he took on while talking about his work rarely came out for anything else, but he was sure about this. At least he wanted to be. “We’re going to fix things together. If you’ll have me.”
They’ve both done things they weren’t proud of, he knew this without her having to say a word. Looking up at him, her face melted into an expression of pure gratitude. Odalia shook her head and chuckled softly, her shoulders relaxing. She trained herself not to believe most of what others said, to always have some undercurrent of doubt. That kept her from more than one bad business decision. But Alador, their relationship, wasn’t a business. She trusted him unequivocally.
“If I’ll have you?” She replied in lighthearted disbelief and brought her hand to the back of his neck, pulling his face closer to her own. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”