ECHO ECHO

@jules-algar

now i know that twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle and what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouched towards bethlehem to be born? jules / 33 / changeling

32 posts

there isn't really anything to say about that, right or wrong. it's a reasonable way to feel about it, he thinks. doesn't matter that he does. even if it seemed out there or insane, so what? realm-hopping at his age had caused him a lot of problems. he could imagine what could have happened to a child... especially here, of all places. "he was great," he says, voice quiet. aware, now... that it's not an easy topic of conversation for either of them. he doesn't want to make comparisons. it's just... impossible. "he looked just like you. or... i guess you look just like him." and yes, he had been physically in good condition—as far as danny ever knew—and people generally found him agreeable. saying that feels... unfair. to both of them. they're different people, aren't they? "i'm sorry i brought this all back for you," he blurts, fidgeting awkwardly. this is horrible. absolutely horrible. he should never try and have hope again.

Well, it's not exactly the font of information he'd been hoping for, but what can you do. Jules was asking Danny to dredge up memories of a dead friend, after all: 'he was great' is probably the most he should expect. Paying for their coffees and leading them over to a bench where Jules flops down into a sprawling seat (he's never been good at standing for long periods of time), he says:

"You're very apologetic, you know." Just in case Danny was not aware of this part of his personality. "Shouldn't I be the sorry one, the one bringing things back for you? You lost... everything. Not that it's a competition but I'd say that trumps my mommy/daddy issues."

#danny.#'he should never try and have hope again' SDFGH danny baby

eddie. he loves to hear jules whine like that, so desperate and needy that he'll do absolutely anything for him. like wait for the meal that he had wanted to get in the first place—now ed's gone and taken the best of it for himself. not all of it, of course. he's greedy, but not to the point where he'll be hibernating all winter. he doesn't want his hungry little caterpillar to shrivel up and die, either. poking at dead things always gets boring; reaction is the spice of life. "i know you will," he agrees, bobbing his head in a nod. "you've always been so good at being patient. i know you can handle it." he can almost hear donny's dark voice chuckling in the back of his skull. what's the opposite of a conscience? the evil, twisted, fucked up version of jiminy cricket? some thirteen year old somewhere had to know. "maybe i can let you have an appetizer, since you're being good about it." he lets the decision hang, doesn't outright give jules permission to do anything at all. hems and haws and lets his cock twitch against his stomach, already hard again. "touch first," he relents at last;" once i cum, you can lick it up."

#ed.#nsfl.#asdfghjk the way we forgot to put this under a read more

wrong with me. the statement turns danny's lips down in displeasure—naturally, he's of the opinion that nobody should be raised in that kind of environment. knowing that there's something different, something unwanted, with you. as it so happens, he understands the feeling better than most. ironic, then, that he had originally forged a great friendship with this other jules and then—by fate's hand, perhaps—he found himself in the presence of the other. he thinks, guiltily, that he would have preferred to find his friend alive... rather than replaced. it's a thought he tries hard to ignore. "it's the only thing that makes sense," he agrees, nodding. and it is, particularly as far as the jules he had known goes. what are the odds of the same person being born in completely different worlds, one human and one fae, with the same body and the same name? impossible, he'd assume, if not close to that. and fae are tricky like that. that's how they're here at all. "i'm sorry that you... had to find out that way," he says, carefully. isn't sure how much he should or shouldn't say about home... now that it's gone.

"Honestly, I think I prefer it this way." What was the alternative? Jules' fae parents turning up like, hey, sweetheart, sorry we abandoned you to another realm for over thirty years, but how about rebuilding some bridges? Eurgh. Jules thinks the fuck not. "So what was I like, human me? Wait, don't tell me -- total dreamboat, absolutely no physical infirmities, loved by all?" He doesn't want to know, but he's got to. Sorry to Danny, who is going to be forced to reminisce about a dead friend, but Jules finds it hard not to be callous on the subject of his human counterpart. Technically changeling Jules is the one that stole his life, but it feels like it's the other way around. Human Jules gets four parents that want him. Changeling Jules gets none.

"i know," he answers gleefully, drinking in every bit of the whimper he's offered. "i know. you wouldn't know, would you?" of course not. jules can only use one head at a time. as long as he's got the smaller one engaged, he may as well have turned his brain to jelly. that's exactly how ed wants it—everything, everything, everything is always about control. he watches him squirm with an eager grin, admiring the way his body twists and jerks like an injured snake. he thinks back to his compliment—bloated anaconda—what do you call one sick and starving? not desiccated. not quite. "of course you would. you need every bit of protein you can get," he agrees, deciding—generously as always—to do his part to contribute to his nutritional intake. it would be a duty and an honor. something like that. "you know i'm not trying to punish you. i'm trying to motivate you. you're like a baby bird i'm trying to push out of the nest. it hurts, but you've got to keep flying, dumbo." giving his dick one last squeeze, ed pulls his hand away. "but the alpha male still eats first. you going to make me tie you up, or are you going to sit and drool until i'm done like a good boy?"

It thrills and delights Jules just how gleeful this makes Ed. While he knows on some level that fucking your friends rarely ends well, Jules is far too needy, far too desperate to be wanted, to let a little thing like common sense stand in his way.

He yelps at the squeeze, trailing off in a whimper as Ed takes his hand away entirely. "Eddie," Jules whines, arms folded over his face. He really is trying to be good! And so naturally, when it comes to Ed metaphorically pushing him out of the nest, he says, "Thank you-- thank you-- I'll be good, I promise. I'll be so patient. Fuck-- can I touch you? Can I blow you?" The agreement had of course been that Ed gets to edge Jules until their food arrives but he desperately wants to reciprocate somehow; not to tease Ed but just because being a pillow princess has never been Jules' way.

complicated. the word makes danny want to pull at his horns. nothing has ever been easy. this war had been homegrown long before he had ever taken his first breath—he had never known anything else. being shoved into a new world, one not peaceful but at peace, is completely at odds with everything he's experienced. complicated. it's too much to ask that anything be simple. that he not be tormented by the looming spectre of death anymore. of course, he can't have anything. but that's not on jules. he tries to tuck his grief, overflowing as it is, back into its box. nodding, he tucks his hands into his coat pockets. "so how do you... did someone else tell you about it?" he asks, before quickly adding; "if i can ask. you don't have to answer. i just haven't met anyone else here who really... knows anything about all that." home, that is. does jules even realize that it's gone? would that matter?

"I don't know much," Jules admits as they get in line for coffee. "But the humans who got me, they always knew something was wrong with me. They always thought I was a changeling and they let me know it. I always thought it was bullshit, but after-- you know." Jules makes a soft exploding noise with his mouth, tactful as ever as he remarks upon Aethyria's apocalypse. "I've met a few of you since then. And it just makes sense, it's the only thing that makes sense."

He's not going to expand on that with a stranger: the perpetual, aching homesickness that haunted him, and that lurched when he first learned of Aethyria. It doesn't feel like home to him; but neither does Cromerth Woods. Nowhere has ever felt like home, and he thinks that's just part of being a changeling.

Jules doesn't even know why he's said this much to Danny. The romantic in him thinks maybe it's some fatal connection, that the other Jules, the human Jules had forged a bond with Danny and this changeling Jules inherited it as he inherited the rest of this life. The pessimist in him thinks that, more likely, it is just nice to talk openly about it for once, and with someone who looks so open and earnest.

"what if i don't want to tell you, buttercup?" ed leans in to press his nose up against jules' hair, breathing in his desperate lust. "what if i want you to figure it out?" each time he tries to grind up into his hand, he softens his grip and prevents him from getting any good friction. ah, ah, ah... not until food gets here. the only pleasure he'll get between now and then is up to ed. nobody else. he's always enjoyed being the one in control. "what would you do then?" fail, probably. mostly because ed's wants change at the drop of a hat—and more than just control, he loves punishment. mean. he grins, squeezing down on the bulge in jules' pants. he wants him to yelp. or something. "you know what? good point. i won't even pretend i'll stop when you start crying." or any time after that, barring a serious request. one that he's always hoping won't come, but is always pushing the limits of... "if you cum before food gets here... then you don't get to cum for the rest of the night," he promises, finally offering jules a more gentle—more dangerous—touch. "and i'll cum all over your scraps, too." might still.

"I don't know. I don't know." Jules whimpers, writhing. He really doesn't know: for all his bravado, it takes very little for him to fall apart. And Ed never gives just a little, he always gives a lot, and demands a lot in return. It becomes incredibly easy for Jules to simply switch his brain off.

When Ed squeezes him after what feels like an eternity of teasing, Jules does yelp, and with a sharp inhale wraps his hands around the bars of the bed's headboard, so tight his knuckles turn white. His breath shudders. For a moment he thinks not getting to cum for the rest of the night could be a relief; and then he thinks, not getting to cum doesn't equate to not being touched and teased and toyed with. "I'd still eat them," he groans; Jules has never yet encounterted something that would put him off his food. And honestly the taboo of what Ed suggests is tantalising. And, managing a joke if even in strangled voice: "S'extra protein. I'd thank you. Gotta-- gotta try harder than that to punish me."

It's a seedy party, but Jules doesn't care. He's been increasingly reckless over the last few months, so although he's aware it's probably a bad idea for him to be getting drunk at a party surrounded by strangers, he doesn't really care. And it's not all strangers anyway, since Ihsan is here, though Jules isn't exactly sticking close to him.

After a few drinks lead to a dizzy spell, Jules wanders off from the woman he'd been talking to to go sit outside on the balcony, shivering in the January cold as the doors swing shut behind him and muffle the music. His head is still spinning, but it doesn't stop him from lighting up a ciagrette, exhaling a tired stream of smoke into the night air. He glances behind when the music pulses again, suggesting the door has been opened; and indeed, it's Ihsan. Jules looks blearily behind him, feigning shock. "Think you forgot someone, Ihsan. Not got a groupie in tow," Jules slurs. @sureihsan

Jules isn't necessarily opposed to chatting with medical professionals -- actually most of them find he doesn't shut up. He gets bored with endless tests and transfusions, and he makes that their problem. But Ophelia is one of those rare people that genuinely intimidates Jules: her cool, confident milfiness is absolutely out of this world, and he's pretty sure she knows he thinks that from the way his pulse always spikes when she checks his blood pressure. The world needs more ugly medical professionals, for the sake of Jules' ego.

So ideally he'd like to not be in an elevator with her on his way into the hospital, but by the time he realises it's just her in there, it's too late to back out without making it weird. So in he goes with a nod of acknowledgement, and the elevator begins to ascend-- and then grinds to a halt with a shudder that can only mean it's out of order. "Huh. Would really suck if one of us was claustrophobic, huh?" he says glibly, pressing the emergency button with a sort of franticness that suggests he may in fact be slightly claustrophobic. @sureophelia

the pieces start to fall into place, even as he desperately, desperately wishes that none of them fit. they do. perfectly. him. human jules. danny doesn't know what to say—flounders for a moment while he grapples with his grief. it doesn't make sense, he wants to say, but doesn't. he learned a long time ago that nothing in the world ( any world ) really makes any sense. "...i did, yeah." he tries not to scold himself for daring to hope, but it all feels like a big kick to the face. of course he wouldn't have made it. of course this would be... something else. someone else. "so you're... you're not... from there?"

"I-- it's complicated." Jules sighs. He doesn't like talking about it, and it's still pretty new and confusing to him too. His first bitter reaction upon learning about Aethyrea was rage: rage that his human parents were right about him. The actual story isn't all that complicated, but the emotions of it are. And the same, he suspects, is true for Danny. If he'd known human-Jules, been friends with him, then this is basically confirmation that he must have died.

It's not something Jules really wants to dig in to, and he regards Danny for a moment, wondering if he can just fuck off with a 'sorry, I'll never be her!' kind of comment. But god damnit if Danny's big, gentle faun eyes aren't hard to turn down. So, inclining his head to a snack cart nearby, Jules continues: "Let's grab a coffee. I am from Aethyrea, technically, and the Jules you knew was from here. I'm a changeling. My faerie parents took your Jules when he was a baby and left me in his place. Did-- ugh. Yeah." For a second he'd thought he wanted to ask if Danny had known them, his faerie parents, his birth parents. But as quick as the thought comes, it sours. They didn't want him, and they left him with humans that didn't want him either. Jules doesn't want a damn thing to do with them.

"no, but i'll tie your hands behind your back so you've got to dive in face first," he promises, letting his thumb stroke at jules' tip. lightly, in contrast to his iron grip. "want me to put it in the cat dish for you? or maybe you'd just prefer i dumped it on the floor." he speaks almost like jules isn't in the room at all—rather, that he's speaking to himself. he is. it doesn't really matter what his preferences are so long as ed is holding the reigns and his little bedmate doesn't stop him. he continues to stroke, more insistently now. "don't worry about it. i'll just tear it off and let it grow back bigger. bet you'd like that, too." he finds himself wondering, not for the first time, how far he can go. how crazy, how extreme, how... different. food first, then play. he's just teasing now. "you're the one we need to worry about. i think i'll go until you cry. how's that sound?" it's a lie—he'll keep going long after that, if he's able to. "but not until food gets here. i'm edging you until then. better hurry, unless you want to spend the night with blue balls."

A shudder of pleasure runs through Jules, his hips pushing up against Ed's hand. He feels embarrassed; tantalisingly so. "Whatever you want, Eddie. Just tell me." he says through a shaky breath. He'd eat off a cat dish if Ed told him to; he'd eat off the floor. It sounds so obscene, so utterly taboo, and often that's what it takes to really get Jules off. He wants to push his own limits, and while it seems strange to think of someone as a friend in the same moment they're saying they'd like you to eat off the floor, it's that bond of trust that Jules has with him that makes him comfortable enough to roll with whatever Ed says.

For a moment Jules nearly gives up on ordering food, back arching and head pressing back into the pillow with a muffled moan, eyes squeezed shut. He loves overstimulation, but he gets very easily lost in it. His eyes shoot open with a reproachful look to Ed, though, as Ed says he'll just edge him till the food comes. "Mean. Fine. I'm--" struggling for words, but with shaky fingers he manages to get the order sent off, and the second his phone beeps in confirmation Jules drops it carelessly behind him. "Don't stop just 'cause I cry. I'm a fucking pansy, right? Cry at anything. Don't stop til I beg you to." Turning his head on the pillow now to face Ed, Jules looks at him with dark, breathless excitement. "What if I can't handle it? What if I cum again before the food gets here?" Jules might struggle to get properly hard again so soon after sex, but that's never stopped him having an orgasm. If anything, he finds it intensifies them, like they draw from some deeper, more primal part of him.

#ed.#nsfl #SAD TO REPORT that in the meantime i have learned #that aneurin doesnt play a viagra patient #he plays a homophobic doctor DSLKJFH life is cruel to me

"oh, it's not—" danny reddens, reaching to scratch at the nape of his neck. puppy crushes had ruled part of his life, sure. jules had been one of them. but... he had never done anything about it. this is all so strange. why would he have forgotten everything like this? "it's not like that. i just... i think i mistook you for someone else, is all." it hurts to say, but it's easier than trying to explain anything. kinder, maybe... if this really is the same person he thought he'd lost. who would want to remember losing everything? "you look... just like one of my old friends. it's a little uncanny."

"...You knew him, didn't you?" Jules concludes after a pause. It's the only possible reason Danny is acting this weird about it. Usually an 'uncanny' resemblance begins to disperse after getting a proper look at the person, but apparently not this time.

It's not something Jules has considered. Since he discovered the truth of himself, he's not allowed himself to consider the human whose life he stole. He doesn't want to think of that human as someone with friends, a personality, independence, in that Aethyrea place. "Human Jules. In Aethyrea. You knew him."

"that's what i like about you, julie. you're not afraid to get risky with it." reckless sexual behavior is about the only sexual behavior that ed engages in anymore. it's always a pleasure to have someone else involved in it, too... rather than just relying on himself. or donny. but thinking about him makes his guts hurt—literally. he'd rather make jules' guts hurt instead. not just from whatever horrid afront to cooking they end up getting delivered, either. his grip between jules' legs tightens considerably, watching with sharp eyes and a snaggletoothed grin as he just... reacts. he's always been so sensitive. he likes that about him, too. who can blame him for liking to watch? "i'll do more than talk if you can keep from dropping your phone. i still want that takeout, you fucking pansy." his bark is much more easygoing, much more playful, than his bite. or in this case, his fingers. "don't worry. you can cockwarm me while i eat. then you can have the rest. sounds good, doesn't it?"

It's kind of embarrassing how easily he folds, and the things that make him fold. If he had any self respect then someone calling him a fucking pansy would upset him -- but Ed, with an unforgiving grip between Jules' legs, calls him a fucking pansy and he's just about moaning. Jules slips one hand down, over Ed's, urging him on.

"Aw, will you feed me your leftovers?" He huffs, and he might even have managed to sound teasing if it weren't for the hitch of his breath. He's trying really, really hard to focus on his phone, throwing whatever food into the basket. For once he's more focused on something other than his next meal. "Sounds good. But are you sure you can get it up again so soon? I'd hate to embarrass you by wearing you out,"

If anyone is going to get worn out, they both know it's Jules. He knows, too, there is a nonzero chance he could fall asleep while cockwarming Ed, and he even finds himself hoping that does happen, just because he knows Ed would be so mercilessly mean about it.

#ed.#nsfl #unsurprisingly i dont have gifs for this #but when gifs come out of aneurins new viagra show...#then its all over for u bitches

" giving you my address was a mistake , i see. " not a greeting by any means , but it's the closest jules will get. it's a far better one than having the door slammed in his face. " inspiration doesn't leave , merely dims and surely this is your case. figure out something that relights it and stop the dramatics. " against better judgement , he's side stepping and allowing jules into his space. " why not try with a different method ? it may be a needed boost. "

"Stop the dramatics?" Jules repeats, dramatically. He enters as Omi steps aside to allow him in, flashing a brief toothy grin to show that really he appreciates it. Jules just does everything with panache, in a way that is sort of antithetical to Omi's perpetual languour. He'd like to say they balance each other out, but they don't. Jules likes him anyway, though. "Terrible advice. Awful. I don't know why I bother. Wait-- did you say a different method? Like you'll let me play with your potter's wheel?"

faithtrustfaeriedust

Alara is on her way to her office when she hears his question. With a smile, she turns her head to look at him, nodding. "Yes, they do. That wasn't always the case, though. My parents didn't know what I was when I was born. Their negligence led to me being a very sick kid. It took me quite some time to grow my wings fully, and find the strength to fly." But goodness, her first flight was glorious. Her wings vibrate against her back, then they're fluttering and she's hovering just above the ground in front of the stranger. "They look delicate, but they can handle a lot of strong winds and bad weather," she says, with a melodic laugh.

Took a while to grow them fully... huh. That gets Jules' attention. He's never inspected his back that closely, his shoulder blades. Does he have latent wings back there, waiting to unfurl? "And how did you learn? How did you grow?" he asks, leaning forward with an open expression; it's a rare moment of honest, earnest curiosity from Jules. He really, really wants to hear about her experiences, and see if there's anything he can learn from her.

He's also interested in neglectful parents, because is that just fae nature? Jules knows a thing or two about shitty fae parents. Well, he knows one thing. His had abandoned him. But still, interesting -- and something he'll ask maybe not in the same breath as first meeting this faerie because that's a bit personal.

"You're being optimistic, I'm afraid. Therapy isn't a quick fix, Jules. It takes a lot of time, and effort. It can a very emotional journey, depending on your past traumas." Kamelya doesn't want to put him off coming to see her in the future, but it's very important to her to be honest with her patients. A lot of them have been deceived in the past, and she doesn't want to be another person who does that to them. "It's worth the effort, though, if you're willing to trust me."

"I mean-- yeah. Sure." Jules huffs. It's in his nature to be difficult and disagreeable but he had decided to come here. Not Kami's fault he's a moody little shit, so he is going to try not to take it out on her. Kind of seems like a big ask to trust a stranger, even a qualified one, but it'll come with time. So Jules hopes, anyway. "So like... mommy and/or daddy issues. Thoughts?"

confusion and despair contort his face in equal measure in the split second it takes danny to control himself. afterwards, his expression is unwaveringly apologetic. "i'm sorry, you're right. you just look—" literally, exactly like them. "really similar is all." something had to have happened to him. something to make him... forget. that could happen, right? "i'm—sorry—i'm danny, by the way."

Oh, they're doing introductions now... goodie. Just what you always want with someone who looks momentarily like you've just broken their heart. "...Jules. Look, if we slept together and I said I'd call you or something, I'm sorry. My follow through is abysmal."

Is that the right answer? He really doesn't know. He's almost certain he's never met Danny before, but it's also possible Jules had been black out drunk and somehow just forgotten the horned, goat legged cutie.

"you know i'm like a hydra, right? you lop one head off, two more grow back. sure you could handle that much meat, julie?" he probably could... but whether he should or not is a different matter entirely. he takes pretty much whatever ed throws at him, after all. including the misfortune of his company. "same goes for fingers too, you know," he jokes ( ...partly ) letting his free hand wander over to start teasing under his shirt. he never said he wouldn't be a nuisance. "i was going more for shape and color. if it was size i wanted... you know, bloated anaconda is pretty good, actually..." tongue sliding between his teeth, ed's hand retreats from under jule's shirt and slips down between his legs, instead. "what are we gonna call yours? quikmart hot dog?"

"You know I can handle whatever you throw at me," Jules grins. It's not strictly true: he is greedy and often asks for more than he can handle, but he'll always give it his best effort. Unfortunately, he's always talked a bigger game than he can actually play: case in point, he can more or less hold it together while Ed's hand explores under his shirt, but the moment it goes between his legs, he crumbles. Almost dropping his phone, Jules writhes; he is desperately sensitive from the day's activities.

With a sharp inhale, lips parting, he releases Ed's fingers from between his teeth as his arm drapes over his face to unsuccessfully smother a small giggle. "You can call it whatever you want. Love it when you talk derogatory to me." Self respect? Never heard of her.

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