Abstract Theorems and Actuations

[chaseandoldlace]

Who: Chase and Uther
What: Books!
When: Mid October
Where: Starts at Bookshop Cassanova
Rating: W.T.F
Status: Once more, to the breach!

Comments

[chaseandoldlace]

Subtly and nuance were far from Chase's strong points, but they didn't need to be for the implications of Uther's words to strike as deeply as they did. The longer he spoke the larger and hollower a void seemed to open in the center of Chase's being, putting his mind on the edge of that yawning abyss from which the horrors of his past and the terrors of the present writhed in some sick mating ritual that balked at the natural flow of time and reason itself.

For a brief moment he squeezed Uther's hand painfully tightly as though afraid he might lose his balance on solid ground.

"So lemme get this straight, Robert and Tina Minoru, my best friend's psycho evil wizard parents might have had something to do with your brother's murder? Along with this Vortigern guy? Okay, okay, at least they haven't unleashed like, some sort of undead voodoo on anyone at home, that's good, right, yeah that's good. Wait, how is that good? If the Minorus are running around going all Dark Souls on ancient Britain they won't have to do anything in the present because the present just won't....happen. But it did happen. I should know, I was there, kinda part of my whole tragic, heroic backstory, So does that mean they only wanted to make sure Constans was killed or are they still there? And if they are, then how can we be here--"

Off to the side of the table, Old Lace gave a low, plaintive trill and shook her head as if trying to keep away gnats.

"Oh, sorry girl, yeah, it's giving me a headache too..." He took a breath. "Does it say anything else? Going back in time mess with one guy just seems pretty low-key for The Pride." Though, Chase supposed, they weren't The Pride anymore. Maybe for the Minorus, dead or not, they were just going back to doing... whatever it was they did before The Gibborim had drawn their cosmic lottery numbers.

[pendraeg]

"Brothers," Uther said tonelessly when Chase was done, emphasising the plural. "Both of them."

He breathed in a shaky breath, feeling suddenly restive. "Destroy the Pendragon clan, prevent or destroy the restoration of Camelot, and you prevent the birth of that...legendary...High King of the Britons. You alter the mythology of an entire people. The Saxons may come, and the Danes, and the Normans after them, regardless of who brings them to the land. But the memory of Arthur makes Britons of them all, and unites them through crises of: succession, civil war, tyranny, even the threat of total annihilation."

Uther glanced toward the doorway through which the twins had gone. It was Arthur, who felt like a son only as an exception to improbable rule. Arthur, who was distant and unapproachable at the same time that he was achingly familiar. Yet there was a pride in Uther, with his half-understood awareness of this legacy, knowing not so much what his heir would do as what he would come to mean.

[chaseandoldlace]

Some of what Chase understood of the butterfly effect applied here, which made the ground his feet touched through heavy blocks of stone and tile only vaguely more solid.

"Well, Arthur hasn't vanished into thin air so I think we're still okay. Whatever voodoo kicked you guys here is probably really pissing Mr. and Mrs. M off about now." There was that at least-- as long as Arthur was here and alive, it was likely the Minorus hadn't succeeded. "And as long as you're still here and with uh...all parts accounted for and functioning, we still got a fighting chance." Humor. Humor was important. It was what had kept him sane during the anxious, terrifying weeks of running from The Pride, the police, and anyone else that came looking to haul them home. And anxiety that had settled comfortably in him again now that he pointedly ignored.

"Whatever happens Uther, I'm not gonna let them destroy your future and your past. And hey, I've already killed one member of The Pride twice already. This is pretty much becoming a habit."

[pendraeg]

There were eyes in that doorway, Uther could feel it. Two sets of them, about knee height. "Come here," he said into the dark, before getting to his feet.

He nodded at Chase, a bow of the head that was an acknowledgment of Chase's assurance. They were, somehow, intertwined in this, and Uther could only be thankful for the fidelity of the person together with whom he had been thrown. They held gazes for a moment, and then Uther strode across the hall to sweep the youngest Pendragons up into his arms.

"Father," Eilonwy said after kissing him (wetly) on the chin. "May we come back now? Arthur says we should have a bath."

"Is it safe?" Gwydion added.

"There are dangers; there will always be dangers," Uther answered a moment later. "But I will protect you. As will Chase, and Old Lace, and Arthur, and Merlin. And you will learn to keep yourselves safe as well, in time."

[chaseandoldlace]

He'd gotten used to sensing eyes peeking around doors and corners from Molly and Klara. Though Molly was the bolder, there were times she hung back still to make sure Chase or the others were talking about her before she swept in, all snark and indignation.

The night after they'd faced the mad Kree Super Soldier he'd spoken in hushed whispers with Nico and Victor: never again. They would never come that close again to losing so many of their own. He had known Molly was there, leaning against his closed bedroom door (there were always another set of fingerprints pressed into the metal) which was why she made the case that they couldn't afford to leave her behind. The next morning, Molly had hugged him just a little tighter than usual (one bruised rib he was pretty sure wasn't a delayed injury from the fight).

Uther deserved no less. He and the twins were family now, and whether they ever said a word to one another or not, so were Arthur and Merlin.
If the dark shadows of the Pride thought they could reach through time, past death itself to ruin one more life-- there would be someone to stop them. It was the least Chase owed the collection of strange, amazing people who had taken him in.

"A bath, huh?" Chase made a distasteful expression that Old Lace mirrored, coaxed a giggle out of Gwydion. "You didn't get that dirty out there did--"

Gwydion held up two dirt-caked hands proudly. The ground was still soft enough to dig in apparently.

"you. Okay! Bath it is! I'll go nab some fresh towels." They always needed more-- royalty the children might have been, but bathtime was one of the few times that could be wholly abandoned.

And how.