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15:XX - MANA CLASS RESIDENCE OH YEAG OH YEAHHH BABYEEE
Something had happened. It wasn't something you could put in words, or… hell, something he could put into words. He being Elementalist, of course!... but, yeah.
He probably shouldn't still be in bed. He should be out and, you know… doing things! Anything would work! As long as he could keep his mind off of… all this.
Thing is that he couldn't, really. I mean, come on, let's consider the options.
Getting up and going downstairs now would be like. The best bet. Just act like nothing happened, I guess? If that's possible?? SAVE FOR the fact that he's… uhhh… not sure if he can just lie his way out of this. I mean he could. He's usually really good actually- but this? Reeeaally???? Yeah FAT chance he's keeping that up haha.
And, again, it's three in the afternoon. Who sleeps for that long? Well. A good amount of people, really. But Elementalist was not ‘a good amount of people’. He kinda prides himself on being an early bird.
The OTHER option was to keep himself in here and only come out when the other two were asleep. But… you know what just refer to the last sentence of the previous paragraph bruh. 😭. Like I'm not saying they'd be worried. But they'd be Concerned. Big difference, bucko!
At least he wasn't a stranger to the concept of being sneaky. He could very easily just. Move around the house without so much as a creak. So maybe that was the better choice.
All in all, though? He hadn't moved a muscle. Or lifted a finger. And all the other idioms for doing jack shit.
Uhm.
Well… he knew how he felt. No doubt about it. Not even one! And that was the thing, see?
Yeah, obviously he knew how he felt about the whole ordeal. But what about him? What about Wizard? There was no way for him to really know. And he was sure as hell not going to go and ask. Crazy. Downright insane.
Although. Aaaaaallthough. This meant something else. Because of the fact that there'd been, like. No hesitation on his part. What did that make him? Gay?? I mean, he'd always had a sneaking feeling that he might be–
Ah, but that's so rude to say! Except for the fact that he was. Just that he wouldn't say so. And that day- er, night?- all but confirmed it! So there was also no doubt about THAT.
He had the pieces, yeah, but… they didn't all fit together. Which is why he'd been sitting up in his bed, trying to see if he could find a way to complete the puzzle. It was all for naught, really. No progress had truly been made, and each hour he spent in here was just more things he'd have to explain, with less opportunities to back out of this hypothetical conversation.
…
At best, he'd give himself another hour to calibrate.
Better spend it on something productive.
So uhh he moved over to the side with the ladder, climbing down and sitting down on the stool in front of the usually closed laptop. He didn't plan on using it today, either. But maybe having the screen on would make it look as if he had something to do…? He did have better things to do than to stare at a bunch of different sites and go nowhere with them. You know like… actually no I don't. He didn't know either.
It was just a one-off thing. That's all.
…
“What am I even doing anymore… I've just got myself caught up on nothing! This isn't something I should be caught up on, is it?”
Silence.
“Ah, who am I kidding. I'm talking to a brick wall. Literally! There's not a thing to discuss with a brick wall.” He turned around, now leaning against said wall. “I mean, maybe there is, and I just don't know it yet! It'd be great if walls could talk. They probably know a lot.”
Even more silence. Before he let out a weary sigh. Seriously, what was he doing?
“And now look at me, talking about talking to walls! I've gone off the deep end. Someone's ought to send me to a hospital.”
… the silence was deafening. With only yourself to talk to, even then you'll run out of topics. He was headed to the door, when a very well timed knock came from it.
“... Who's there.”
“Uhm… I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you, Elementalist, it's really not what I want to do.” The door opened, and then… half-closed quietly behind Bloodmage. “I-I just wanted to check if you were awake.”
“Yeah, yeah, you've got your answer now, haven't you?”
“... Well, yes, but...” He was definitely taking a while to find the words. “Sorry, it's been a bit… you don't stay upstairs for this long, and… I thought that something was wrong.”
Elementalist feigned offense at that. “Me?! Something wrong? That's not me at all! I'm completely fine! Do I look any different to you?”
Bloodmage was just. Staring down at him.
“Er… not really?”
“Exactly! There's absolutely nothing to be afraid of.”
“I'm not afraid! I didn't say I was afraid!!”
“And there's no need to get defensive!” He chuckled a little, then folded his arms, squinting at him. “Ya know, since you're here…”
Bloodmage stepped back, holding up a hand. “A-are you trying to bribe me into something?!”
“Wh- NO! No, I'm not ‘trying to bribe you into something’- Astra, Bloodmage, can you take me seriously?” He cleared his throat. “I was just thinking that maybe if you come down with me, I'd-”
“Oh, by the way, Wizard isn't home right now… sorry to cut you off.”
“He's what.”
“He isn't home. He left, uhm, three-ish hours ago?... I'm not sure where he went, he didn't tell me. Just that he was taking care of things.”
“Aahh, I see! I don't need you, then!”
“Whuh-?”
“Great chat we were having, but I'll cut it short here, alright, bud? See ya!”
“But you're not even leaving…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Elementalist had already dashed downstairs.
This place was the same as usual. Even if it felt completely unfamiliar to him. That does tend to happen, ya know? When something undeniably new happens somewhere that you often go, and then the entire area's new to you. I can't explain it well, but that was basically what was going on.
What was there to do here…? It'd been a bit since he'd eaten, actually. Might as well go do that, then? But he felt frozen to the spot. For so long that Bloodmage had appeared behind him.
“I… I don't want to sound mean, Elementalist… But you've been acting kind of weird, recently…”
He was obviously a little stunned. “Pfft- acting weird? I'm not acting weird. I'm acting normal. I doubt you'd know what being normal is.”
“Th-that's exactly what I mean…!” Bloodmage sort of whisper-yellled. “You're acting ruder than you usually are! And I didn't even know that was possible!”
“No, I'm not! What are you even talking about?!” Elementalist fully turned around. “You wouldn't know ‘rude’ if it punched you in the face!”
“I'm sorry! I was just pointing it out! I didn't want to offend you…!”
“And just look where that's landed you! Great job there.” He waved a hand as if dismissing the current topic. “Anyways. Back to what I was going to do.”
Bloodmage stared after him as he walked over to the fridge, then sighed and walked over to the beanbags, essentially collapsing atop one.
Elementalist also came over, after a bit, with a plate of (currently) uncooked meat. And then, hovered his hand over it.
“... What are you doing?”
“What do you think I'm doing?”
“I don’t know.” He lifted his head. “That's why I'm asking you.”
“Er… cooking?”
“But don't you need a stove if you want it to be cooked well…?”
“Oh,” Elementalist looked over at him, pausing. “I don’t intend on having it ‘cooked well’. That's… The entire point.” He finished whatever he was doing, and then, with it being like. Barely cooked, just ate it. No questions asked.
Bloodmage stared at him. With an expression that crossed between shock and mild disgust.
“I… You…”
“What?”
“Sorry… Nevermind…” Another bout of silence. “Do you have any idea on when Wizard’s going to come back? It's been, uhm… a really long time.”
“Why are you asking me? I'm not his mother.”
“I just… I thought you might know because you two interact with each other more than me…”
“I was asleep when he left.”
“R-right, but… I, uh…”
“You want an actual answer though, I assume? See, I bet he's trying to stay away from me for as long as possible. What ‘things’ does he have to take care of?”
“... Why would he have to stay away from you…?”
Ah. Right. He didn't really know, did he?.. He shouldn't have mentioned that.
“Uhm. It's obvious why!” Dancing around the answer would probably be the safest option… “I… I mean, if I were him, I'd want to be as far away from myself!”
… Seriously, the amount of awkward silences so far is much more than there should be. Bloodmage didn't say anything, just nodded and turned to the TV. It was definitely a way to distract from the situation, and honestly Elementalist found himself actually watching a bit every now and then.
“You know, I think that him being out for, what, nearly four hours by now, is a little overkill.”
“I somewhat agree… But I don't think I'll question it.”
“Well, if someone's got to do it, thank goodness I'm here!” He stood up and leant against the wall beside the door. “There's two options here, either we wait even longer, or, hear me out, we go and find him ourselves.”
“Wait, a-are you sure?!” Bloodmage also stood up, but didn't move away from the carpet. “What if he's doing something private? I wouldn't want to intrude on that!”
“See, Bloodmage, this is why you're no fun to be around. You're much too passive to do anything even a little risky! And then you turn around and start stabbing yourself like there's no tomorrow.” Elementalist adjusted his shirt, and walked to the other side of the door. “Let's look at the pros! If we DO go and search for him, then we'll be less bored! A two person conversation isn't any good. Especially when,” He walked over and shoved a finger on Bloodmage’s chest “you're one of them.”
“Another pro is that now I get some more entertainment from seeing you two argue!” He was now headed back to the door. “Aaaand, for the cons… Well, there's none! So come on! Let's go-”
He was cut off by the sound of the key in the lock. So he must already be back.
“-... Or not! He must be back already! Now, let's give him a very warm welcome back home!”
“He's only been gone for a bit, I don't think that's necessary-”
“And you know that I can hear you two from outside, right?” Wizard stepped inside, closing the door behind him. “I don’t need you to make me a surprise party or something.”
“I knew that.”
“... Did you know that…?”
“Of course I did!” He folded his arms, the usual stupid grin plastered on his face.
“No, Bloodmage, he didn't know that.”
“And what makes you say that, huh?”
“What wouldn't make me say that? You were the one talking about giving me a warm welcome?”
“Now, now, let's not point fingers! For all you know, it could've been him saying that!”
“W-why are you dragging me into this?! What did I do?!” Bloodmage raised his hands defensively, stepping away. As if he wasn't already far enough.
“Wh- no, I can recognise your voice, you know? The really stupidly annoying one!”
“... so Bloodmage.”
“It wasn't me!!”
“Not the point I'm making.”
“Well, be more specific! Not my fault that you basically refer to us with the exact same descriptors.”
“And it's not my fault that both of you fit those ‘exact same descriptors’.” He shook his head, and walked to the table. “... seriously, why do I even bother…”
After a bit of him just. Looking between the two of them, Bloodmage walked a bit closer to the table.
“Uhm… so, uh, Wizard, sorry if this is too personal, but why were you gone for so long?”
“I told you in the morning, didn't I?”
“Well- uhm, yeah, but, that was really vague, and I didn't really know what you meant.”
“Was it that hard to understand?.. I just needed time away. There's really no point in being so concerned.”
“I knew it! I knew that was why you left!” Even from the other side of the house he could still hear their conversation.
“I- Elementalist, when did we mention you?”
“Oh, so I'm not allowed to put my two pence in? I see how it is.”
“Noo… but I just think it's a bit rude to cut him off like that…”
“I didn't cut him off. He’s already finished his sentence. And there you go again, accusing me of whatever made up rudeness your deluded head is conjuring up.”
“Just ignore him, he's not adding anything to the conversation…” Wizard rested his chin on the table, arms wrapped around his head.
“Oh! Might I add, Bloodmage, that you're being dangerously hypocritical? Saying that I cut him off, when you did the same thing to me earlier!”
“I apologized, though! You haven't!”
“What is there to apologise for?! You're just… you know what, nevermind.” He huffed, and walked past the two of them, back upstairs.
A door… er, closing? could be heard. It wasn't quite loud enough to be a slam, but it was also not quiet at all.
“... What's up with him?”
“I-... I don't know, he's been like that since he woke up. I don't understand why he's so mad at us… I didn't even do anything…!!”
“Yeah, uh, neither have I.” He sat upright in the chair, now resting his head in one hand. “At least, I don't… think I have? Do you have any clue?”
Bloodmage was silent for a while, but he never said anything. Rather, he looked away with a deeper frown than usual.
“That doesn't tell me anything.”
“I didn't want to say anything. I thought you knew.”
“Knew… what?”
“Ahh, uhm… why don't you go and talk to him?” Bloodmage was sweating a little. “He probably won't appreciate seeing me again, for a while…”
“Huh? Why should I go up there? What do you think I'm going to do, convince him to come downstairs so you two can argue more?”
“I thought you might be able to calm him down.”
The two of them blankly stared at each other.
“... not good?”
“Seriously. Bloodmage. Why do you keep trying to get us to be close.”
“Well- I just assumed, b-because- Uhm, you don't have to do it if you don't want to! But, you know, you two seem to be on better terms than usual…?”
“What gave you that idea?”
Bloodmage’s frown deepened even further. “I, er… I saw something… but I didn't want to bring it up, because neither of you two had…”
It was literally only that one sentence that reminded Wizard. He got up, and held onto his shoulders firmly.
“Okay. Listen. Whatever you thought you saw, you didn't. Alright? Just- just erase it from your memory. It's not that hard to do, I think-”
“Uhh… o-okay… I probably shouldn't have said anything, I… I'm sorry…!”
“... it's whatever, I'll go speak to him. But seriously, don't even think of bringing this up to anyone else.”
“I won't! I wasn't going to! I don't even have anyone to talk about this to!”
“No…? What about Pie Baker?”
“Oh. Uhm. Don't get mad at me for this, but… I kinda sorta already told her-”
“... Bloodmage, I swear to Astra.”
“I was shocked a-and you know when you're shocked you really want to tell someone what shocked you and she's the one I trust the most s-so I wanted to tell her and I'm really sorry for not asking you beforehand but you two looked really comfortable and I didn't want to disturb you and stuff-” He cut himself off with a pitiful sob. “I didn't mean to make either of you upset…!”
“I don't know how I haven't just given up on you two.” He let go, walking towards the stairs. “I'll probably be back down in, like, at least seven minutes.”
“... Okay. Uh… have fun…?”
OBVIOUSLY, Elementalist was in his room. Where the hell else would he be brah. I mean hopefully dead Sorry that's mean. But yeah. He'd gone back to just laying down on the bed, face down this time. Sitting (or in this case, laying) on his hands. Twiddling his thumbs. Lowkey… I'm running out of ways to say that he's not doing anything. The last thing he needed was another random encounter with either of them. But we can't always get what we want, now, can we?
Another knock on the door. He didn't even try to question it this time.
“Just come in. I'm not stopping you.”
The door opened, again, but this time the visitor actually bothered to close the door fully!
“Uh. I'm here to talk to you. Because Bloodmage told me to and I really don't want him on my case about it.”
“You, listening to him?” He sat up, one leg dangling off the bed. “I find that hard to believe.” … I suppose his words were as snarky as ever, but the tone comes off a lot more… heh. Icy. Like some kind of freezing spellOkay I'll stop.
“Yeah, no, just drop it.” Wizard walked a little closer to the bed, stopping at a decent enough distance so that he wouldn't have to be craning his head up all the time. “To be honest, I don't really know how he expects me to make you any calmer.”
“Huh, that's what he told you?” Elementalist remained silent for a while, contemplating. “Interesting choice on his end.”
“I'm the only other person around.”
“I can still say it's interesting! He could've just, I dunno, not sent you up here?”
“… I mean, I did come here willingly, kinda.”
“Aawww, just for me?” He chuckled.
Wizard only stared up at him, pretty obviously not appreciating the ‘joke’ of his.
“No, really though. What do you mean you came here willingly?”
“I mean that I came upstairs because I wanted to…?”
“I didn't mean that literally- you know that! Why did you… cause, like, you didn't have to. What makes you want to?”
“... Uh.” He looked away for a moment. “Do I have to answer?”
“You could just make something up.” He shuffled further off the bed. “If you do, I could probably make a logical guess based on how far-fetched it is.”
“Because that helps, thanks.”
Elementalist groaned, and moved back a little, so as to allow him to lay on his stomach. “Look, if you're just here to stand around like a child left behind by their mother in a supermarket, you can use whatever's remaining in that tiny brain of yours to find the door and leave.”
“Geez, Bloodmage was right…” He muttered, then turned back to him. “Is there any reason why you're acting so… so, uh. Annoyed? At basically everything?”
“I don't need a reason. All you really need to know is that you two haven't helped, or are helping, at all.” He stared at the back of his hand, basically trying to look everywhere but him.
“You haven't let us help. At all.”
“Tell that to Bloodmage, because he certainly hasn't tried.”
“You're relying on him to help?”
“Not what I said. Honestly, I thought I was the one who's meant to be twisting your words!” Elementalist lowered his hand, actually deciding to look at him now. “I suppose, in the end, we're not so different after all!”
“Please never say that again, you sound like a generic cartoon villain… is this going to be a recurring thing of yours?”
“Know what? I feel like this isn't going anywhere. Just answer my first question, will ya?”
“Maybe if you answer mine.”
“No. I asked first!”
“I feel like mine is more important, though.”
“UGH. Okay.” He rolled over, onto his back. “You’re the reason why I’m so upset. You can guess why, can’t you?” When Wizard didn’t respond, he sniffed, and continued. “I’ve been thinking, you know? About a lot of things.”
“You think?”
“… At this point, I’m going to ignore you every time you try to speak up when it’s not your turn. But yeah, I’ve been thinking! You know, I know that it’s been a hot second since, well, all of that… but… a-and now it seems as if you’re trying to be around me as little as possible!” He pressed a hand to his chest. “How do you think that makes me feel?!”
“I don’t know how your brain works, but I wouldn’t want to be around someone like you afterwards. I don’t think it’s that hard to understand?”
“Huh…? That doesn’t even make sense in this case. It’s not like you said anything that bad.”
“I-...” He paused, taking a breath in. Was this even the right idea?? “Okay, uhm. Nnnnoo. I’m pretty sure I did.”
“Eh. No. I think I’d know if you had. I assumed you were avoiding me because of the whole, er, kissing thing.” Elementalist put a hand on his chin, now. “Was that not what we were talking about?”
“Oh. That’s what you meant. Right.”
“Don’t just drop it there! Enlighten me!”
“I- I mean, that's… basically all I can say. Nothing much else happened. I didn't say anything about anyone.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
“Really? Look, I'd love to believe you, but I do think I remember someth-”
“What-?! Uh- noooo… no you don't, what do you mean you ‘remember’ something?”
Elementalist stared at him.
They were both just staring at each other.
“You're not really doing anything by denying it, you know!” He was smiling, but it was quite strained. “Just- cmon. If I told ya that I also remembered you sobbing like it was the end of the world, how would you react?”
“Well…” Wizard began, but didn't continue.
“Well?”
“... do you remember why…?”
“No. Should I?”
“You shouldn't. It was stupid. You know, you get sad about a lot of stupid things when you're not sober.”
“You get upset at a lot of stupid things when you are.” He (finally.) climbed down onto the floor, and dragged the stool beneath the bed a little closer. And sat down. “So I won't put it past you. Still, though, not sure why you'd bring it up if ya didn't want me to know!”
“I was just… checking.” Wizard let out a breath he was, well, very aware that he was holding, and rubbed the back of his head. “Do you plan on coming back down?”
“Maybe? I might as well. But not right now.”
“And… why not?”
“‘cause. I'm talking to you. I don't feel like subjecting myself to hearing Bloodmage and his constant ‘woe is me’ attitude. You're much more fun to talk to, so I don’t need anyone else!”
“Okay, don't say that. Now it just sounds like you're in love with me or something.”
“I-” Elementalist cleared his throat, looking a little less confident than he had just been. “... interesting that that's the first thing your mind went to.”
“Except it does??”
“Yeaahh… don't think about that too hard. Hey, on the topic, and hypothetically speaking. If you had the choice-”
“What? No. That's weird. You're weird.”
“Geez, it was a joke! Don't you know what a joke is, Wizard?” Save for the fact it was a genuine question. But surely he wasn't going to notice the immediate backtracking, right? “And you don't even know if I was going to ask that!”
“You just said ‘on the topic’, I have plenty of reason to think you were.” Wizard shrugged. “What were you going to ask, in that case?”
“Uhm… I was gonna ask…” There wasn't really any way to remedy this, was there. “... Actually, I, er… Forgot! What with you interrupting me before I could ask.”
“How did you forget that fast??”
“Not the point.”
“Yes it-” He paused, and ran a hand down his face. “Never mind.”
Elementalist spun around on the stool, twice, now facing away, and looked behind him to face Wizard.
“I just wanna know, though. What makes it so weird to you? It's not like you have anyone to save yourself for.”
“It's weird because… it just is, alright?”
“So you wouldn't consider it?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
“I'm not saying it again.”
“I mean… if I had the choice, I would.”
This didn't exactly hold well with Wizard. Who, at this statement, had been (presumably) stunned into silence.
“That's not to say that I'm actually thinking about it, of course! As I said before, it's just a hypothetical. So, again, don't think about that too hard.” He turned his head away. “You know that I'm not being serious, right?”
“... You still said it.”
“Still! No big deal. I'm so glad that we could put all of this behind us!”
“Is it ‘all behind us’, if you brought it up in the first place?”
“It doesn't matter! All this is something we should move on from, together. And I'd say I'm the number one advocate for group effort.” Elementalist put a hand behind his head, and turned around, fully. “You can take it as you please! But at the end of the day, I'm just having a bit of a lark.”
“You know, each time you say something along the lines of this whole hypothetical question of yours being a joke, the less convinced I get.” He stepped closer, arms folded. “Not that I was all that convinced in the first place, but you've basically indirectly confirmed that you're dead serious.”
“Y-you don't know that!”
There wasn't any response, but there wasn't any needed. It's what I can only describe as an attempt to intimidate Elementalist into saying something.
“What I mean to say is, uh… if I were being serious, what gives it away?”
“Basically everything, at this point.” Now in front of the other, Wizard leaned down so that they were completely face to face.
“Ah. So the whole denial cycles up for me, isn't it? Well.” He laughed nervously, and then continued. “Look, I… You know, you are basically part of the few people that I regularly talk to. I don't plan on changing that. But! After that little fiasco from only, what, the other day, it feels like that change might be getting closer.” With no response save for an uncertain nod from him, he cleared his throat, taking on the usual tone. “So what I thought was that if I didn't tell you, or just pass it off as unserious, you wouldn't consider it! Of course, except for the fact that you've realised that… So now I'm worried that this might have changed things. Uh… Does this change things?”
The amount of uncomfortable silences today was unbearable, but this one in particular really hit. Not so much the silence, rather the context of it.
His smile had faded by now… but like, he retained the tone. You know. Business things! “You don't have to answer that, by the way.”
“... Geez. I was kinda expecting you to just keep denying it or something.”
Even with Elementalist's previous confirmation, he was still looking up at Wizard expectantly.
“Uhm… Well, I don't really know how I'm meant to take this. Like, is this a confession or something??”
“NO! No- nono, it isn't. I swear. It is nothing like that.”
“Right. Whatever you say.”
It was silent again. But you couldn't really blame either of them, could you? A knock came from the door.
“Are you two alright up here? It's been a while, I-I just wanted to see if nothing bad happened.” Bloodmage slowly opened the door as he said this, standing awkwardly in the doorframe.
“Ah, Bloodmage! Great to see you, yep, everything is going swimmingly. We've just been having a great chat about… er…” Elementalist hesitated, not really having anything to back him. Instead he just… ‘subtly’ signalled to Wizard to say something.
“Huh? Oh. Uh. We were talking about… Spells. And tomes. You know. That sort of stuff.”
‘That is such a STUPID cover-up!’ Elementalist mouthed. At this point it was not really subtle at all.
‘I don't know what you wanted me to say?? I'm not the one who's able to make things up on the spot!’
‘Still!! Anything but that!’
“You… were talking about spells for that long?”
“And tomes.”
“Uhm. Yeah. And tomes, a-as you said. But, erm… like, multiple minutes… of talking about that?”
“No, listen, it's a very extensive subject! There's a lot of things to talk about regarding spells and tomes, see?”
“That's-... uh, okay then…” He stepped inside of the room, but like. Still not closing the door. “Are you going to come downstairs? Soon? It's alright if you don't want to, I'm only asking.”
“I-”
“I think that Wizard would love to go back downstairs. Isn't that right?”
“What? We weren't-”
“Ahem. Isn't that right??”
“... Yeah. Yeah, okay, fine. I'll be there.”
“Okay. That's… nice to know.” Bloodmage looked behind him for a second, then walked back out of the room. After a brief wait, Wizard followed him out. Not without glaring back at Elementalist, of course… But. Yeah.
In the end, the crisis… Wasn't exactly “averted”.
But he supposed that for now it was.