We did a brief modern AU where Arik and Ren were roommates and Lue was their annoying friend. We didn't get too far in it but I can only imagine this all being very awkward in the future.
Top:
Arik regrets agreeing to watch a movie with these two losers, who insist they aren't involved romantically but won't stop clinging to each other whenever something scary happens.
Bottom:
Lue: "Does he talk about me? What does he say?"
Ren: "He doesn't really talk..."
Lue: "Has he mentioned me? Has he noticed me? What does he think? Does he think about me?"
Ren: "I'm not a mind-reader, Lue."
Lue: *~woe is me~*
Ren: *eyerolls into the sun*
So I casually took This Ren Drabble and This Myst Drabble and ~continued them~ as though they both happened at around the same time-ish.
I casually godmodded the fuck out of Ren here, and also failed at making this as remotely interesting as it could've been. BUT WTF EVER, IT WAS FUN TO WRITE OK? SOB. Also left it open for Neno to write back if wanted. *cough*
Basically Myst has his power, and Ren is a crazy elemental. GO.
He had to show them.
They were the first who let him in, they were the first he let Know him. Especially her.. So even if they were off elsewhere, even if there was no future as things had stood, he wished them to be the first to see him now. To give them what he could if they accepted. That was the solid stream of thought that guided Xsaiav’lairnn through the swirling currents of riddled, woven knowledge in his mind.
Because everything seemed different now.
He was not part of this world any longer, or he had lost a lot of it. There were none other like him here on these planes, at least to his knowledge. It was both humbling and intriguing that he might finally walk this place as himself. He saw possibilities everywhere, different outcomes, different fates, different scenarios that swirled around him like a translucent, moving cave he walked through when he looked to any one thing. The bounds of what Was could no longer contain him. What he could give, or what he could take, was beyond all they knew, beyond all he knew, as none are exempt and all are subject.
All this spun about his mind as he began to make his way back from Sigil to search for Ren and Lafiat. Of course, he couldn’t help the odd experiment here and there beforehand. He could still cast from wizardry, but it felt so obsolete. Logically, he knew it would have some uses and benefits, to have something solid and unabashed by the same circumstances his power was constrained by… but right now, it felt almost childish in comparison to what he’d re-gained. Nevertheless though, he cloaked himself in its invisibility before becoming a bit more giddy with his experimenting. Teleporting short distances still worked, though dimension door could do the same as well. He just barely tried to defy gravity, and seeing that in order, snickered and left the rest of the testing for later. He quickly stepped around stone and gravel on the Sigil ground to make his way through portals and caves to the more familiar city of Visimontium; a faint, inky haze came trailing from his fingertips now and then when he dragged them against the currents of these planes.
His reaction to the carnage strewn across the city when he stepped from the portal tower was, perhaps, not necessarily appropriate for the situation. A small tilt of his head, a snirk, and a lilt to his Elven whisper. Well, just what has become of here..~? It took him a moment to register that he came expecting Ren in this place, and that perhaps his brother might have ended up less fortunate in the events that occurred here. A twitch of his brow, and a purse of his lips are all that marked his disapproval. The golems were missing. Mage bodies lay strewn across the streets. There was no sound. He stepped closer and knelt by the corpse of a mage to find it had been nearly sucked dry. Vampires perhaps…? Only curiosity held across Xsaiav’lairnn’s face; it was nearly like he wasn’t here, and was instead merely an observer, a passerby to a world that couldn’t see him. He took to study over concern, hidden as he was, and was about to reach out and touch the body when something broke the dead silence. Footsteps.
Xsaiav’lairnn rose, moving his mouth in silent incantation, with a small crackle of energy being the only thing that sounded around him before it retreated, waiting for the time of its need. A small, hint of a grin remained on his face as he carefully and quietly made his way towards the sound, keeping close to the wall of the portal tower, when around the corner-
“…Brother..?” At hearing Xsaiav’lairnn, Renswerth stopped in his tracks, his eyes wide, almost as though he’d been stricken. His feet shuffled some on the stone, staring at the elf and betraying a few confused twitches of his face, before giving a hesitant half smile that was more like a grimace. There was a slight pause before he spoke. “ . . …Brother.”
The odd cadence didn’t go unnoticed by the moon elf, who in return tilted his head a little, with the same faint grin (despite all the corpses about), but his eyes didn’t leave the man before him. In fact they stared into him, and then about him, studying with scrutiny. He seemed tense or anxious, almost jittery, somewhat disjointed? But there was something else there. . . And was that a faint blue glow to him? His eyes were different… or did he just see differently now? He looked like he’d been tussled, but also seemed unharmed. . … And there was something else from him. But that blue. . . As words formed in his mind, Xsaiav’lairnn could not help but grin further, despite what might normally be alarming.
“…Something has happened~” Not quite a question, not quite a statement.
Rens hesitantly opened his mouth, which then slowly changed to an odd sort of smile, before speaking. “. . …Yes, I- …it did.” He took a step forward then, towards Xsaiav’lairnn, who tilted his head the other way, still smiling when being approached. “I know it would likely be of proper precedence to ask what has occurred here, but first. . ..” The moon elf makes a vague gesture to Rens as the man takes a second step forward. “Is.. that what I believe it to be..~? Are you as I think you are..~?”
Ren, who was eyeing the elf almost like a steak on a platter (or perhaps a pie in his case), paused at that. He didn’t answer, again, for a notable moment, just stared, before giving a dismissive “You’re still vague as ever, Myst.”
“Hah!” This just made Xsaiav’lairnn smile more, and it was he who took several steps forward this time. Ren froze, unable to move while the elf came closer to him without hesitation, then went to throw his arms around the man. But before he could, Ren could take it no more.
It was almost impulsive then, the grab at Xsaiav’lairnn’s throat, and the tighter hold on his wrist. It wasn’t a choke, but it definitely took the elf by surprise, and elicited dark, crackley sparks to emit from his body for an instant. Ren’s eyes widened, his mouth opened as though he might speak, like there was some hidden anguish beneath the surface, but the sparks only seemed to grant him silence. Like dangling fresh meat before a starving predator. And so, he had to eat.
Xsaiav’lairnn, though caught off guard, did not resist. In the brief moment he had, he merely looked down at Ren with wide, curious eyes, coming to several conclusions. And then he felt it. Xsaiav’lairnn grew tense as a surge of power ran through him, coming from all parts of his body, to center at his held wrist and throat. At first, he panicked; his binds were meant to keep his power from swelling, and in his panic, the power burst outward instead, swirling out of him in gales of black, inky smoke and crackling energy. It expanded though for only a moment, before retracting again as though being sucked inward back to the same two spots. Ren was smiling an odd smile. It was hard to tell if there was some fear, some horror behind it, or if that was anticipation. Xsaiav’lairnn only stared back with some degree of shock.
The swelling of power only kept growing though. It was like filling a balloon with water, and that point was fast approaching where it could hold no further; the bindings in his arm and neck seared with the raw energy being gathered there. Xsaiav’lairnn had no choice but to release it, first grabbing at Ren’s arm to free his throat, but upon finding that only redirected more power to it, he gave Ren a somewhat hurt, apologetic look instead. The last thing he had wanted was to send a shockwave of power through his brother, which is exactly what might end up happening. A few quick attempts to redirect its currents were futile though, and it was building up too fast. So closing his eyes, he finally let it go. The elf’s body relaxed into its holds, and he let the power go where it will; which he expected to just explode outward in some unnamed destruction.
But he was wrong. Instead, it went straight into Ren. Who didn’t actually explode. And the ‘current’ kept going. Xsaiav’lairnn opened his eyes, taking a few slow breaths to keep himself calm, and stared forward at Rens then. The power kept flowing through him, his body tingling with pins and needles at this strange new redirection, and his binds pulsing to readjust to the change. But it was a continuous stream; the supply of power did not seem to deplete any, or let up, once Xsaiav’lairnn let it move freely. His body shivered a little, not used to so much of the power moving through him at a steady rate, but aside from the odd sensation, he did not crumple. His gaze down at Ren though was much more neutral, a heavy stare, but a calm one. The elf finally spoke then, but while he was curious of the answer he would receive, the question was moreso for the man that held his throat to examine for himself.
