(Untitled)

[will_you_see]

Nearly a week had passed since Alcuin had added Daniel Jackson's name to the drawing he'd pinned up on the wall in his house. He'd named it in his head the Tree of Loss, and tried to think of it now as a sort of memorial. But it was the worst sort of irony that it wasn't very long ago at all that Alcuin had confessed his fear that Daniel, as one

Comments

[lastof_five]

Helen had come into the kitchen for her own tea and she didn't want to distract the boy bent over his books; studying could take different forms for different people and if he needed silence, she wanted to give it to him. The circuit, though, was interesting and she made a comment to that effect.

"I have a friend who spent the better part of his life fiddling with circuits. Are you an engineering student, then?"

[will_you_see]

By the time the unfamiliar woman joined him, Alcuin had managed to translate only two words - desire and bed - which made him smile. He wondered if Nikola had expected him to attempt to translate it at all.

He looked up when she spoke, and his eyes drifted to where he'd left the diagram. "Something like that, I suppose," he said with a little smile, and pushed the paper across the table to her in case she wanted to have a look. It had Nikola's note scrawled at the bottom, but there was nothing inappropriate about that one.

[lastof_five]

Helen peered at the note and frowned a bit; it was Nikola's handwriting. She looked back at the boy and realized this was the one he'd requested as an apprentice and she'd given him a hard time over. Hmm.

"Seems you've met Nikola, then. I'm Helen, Dr. Helen Magnus?"

[will_you_see]

Alcuin looked surprised, immediately recognizing her name. "Oh!" He smiled at her. "Yes. Dr. Magnus, it is a pleasure to meet you." He offered her his hand politely. "My name is Alcuin no Delaunay. Has he spoken of me?"

[patriotqueen]

For all his loudness, when it came to Alcuin, Guy was surprisingly quiet. It couldn’t be called shyness, of awkwardness, but there was something about the insanely pretty young man that lead Guy to be more serious, earnest. There was an unvoiced understanding emanating from him that was comforting and silencing. Strange, definitely, but it had particularly helped after Cole’s disappearance. And now Daniel was gone too.

“Some summer, isn’t it?” He commented, with a smile only slightly wry, as commenting the weather and not the vanishing of some of the people he held most dear.

[will_you_see]

When Alcuin looked up and saw Guy there, his books were forgotten for the moment. He pulled himself to his feet, crossed the short distance to him, and wrapped his arms around Guy's neck, pulling himself close but not saying a word.

He may have wanted distraction, yes, but he knew that Guy would be hurting, too, and there was something to be said for shared comfort.

[patriotqueen]

It was different now. Shared comfort; one to another and another to one. Daniel was gone and his disappearing act had hurt them both.

Guy put his arms around Alcuin's waist and held him as close as the other held him. He thought he had overcome the initial misery Daniel's vanishing had caused, but apparently it still bloody hurt - silent witness of which the tears he was now biting back.

He kissed the other man’s cheek. “At least he’s gone back to a place where he was... happy. More or less.”

[will_you_see]

Alcuin nodded, not moving away from him. "With Vala," he said, and it sounded sad but not bitter.

[thedevamper]

Dropping his lab coat onto the table, Nikola rolled up his sleeves as he walked purposefully through the kitchen looking for something. Bending down to rummage through some of the cupboards Nikola muttered in frustration to himself as he looked at his notes in one hand and picked up a cup in the other. What he wanted was a glass of wine or several, what his body needed however was two entirely different things. And Nikola was unaccustomed to giving in to his body's demands.

"Ridiculous thing making me stop my work when I'm on the cusp of a breakthrough," Nikola muttered pouring himself a cup of tea and placing it down on the table. Sitting down beside Alcuin, Nikola rolled his tight shoulders as he continued reading the research. "What are you reading?"

Nikola didn't look up from the work, intent on working through his body's imposed need for food and drink.

[will_you_see]

Alcuin was almost startled to see him, if only because Nikola had blown in so suddenly. At the question, he closed the book to look at the cover, and then made an attempt at pronouncing The Complete Works of Shakespeare in Serbo-Croatian.

Looking a bit sheepish, he added, "You will have to help me with the pronunciation, I'm afraid." There were precious few ways to learn that particular part of a language from books.

[thedevamper]

Nikola scribbled a hasty note on the promising lab results, leaning on one elbow as he worked he was reaching for his cup of tea when Alcuin startled him with Shakespeare. Nikola knocked the cup, grabbing it before it fell completely over and swore as he moved his papers out of the way. Wiping the minor spill up, Nikola looked at Alcuin intrigued.

"Softer, you're not speaking German. You don't need the words to stand to attention," Nikola replied, covering Alcuin's hand with his own before he subtly tugged the book away from him. Nikola began to flick through it absentmindedly as he sipped at what was remaining of his tea. Nikola's stomach growled but he ignored it for now. It had to learn that he was the master of his own body and not it. "What made you want to read this thing?"

[will_you_see]

Alcuin looked surprised by the question. "I wanted to translate the inscription in your book," he said, nodding to it. "I know the works of Shakespeare well. I thought that reading it would help me learn the language, at least a little."

[dancin_maxxie]

The books receive a dubious glance as Maxxie walks into the kitchen, an eyebrow arched high. He has, as anyone his age should have, a healthy dislike of all things scholarly and academic. It makes him suspicious and worried any time he sees the people he qualifies as friends with their respective noses in a book. That Alcuin's got two is just terrifying, in a way.

"Dare I ask?" he says as he sits down opposite the other blond. The question's rhetorical though. He doesn't ask, he just tilts the (unbeknownst to him) Shakespeare text a little bit towards him, so they both could read it. Well, look at it roughly right side up, anyway. "Okay... I have no idea what that is. Help."

[will_you_see]

A little smile pulled at his lips when he saw Maxxie. "I am trying to learn another language," he admitted. "This is Shakespeare translated into Serbo-Croatian... I am familiar enough with the original text that I can recognize what the words should be."

But then he closed the book and smiled more fondly at Maxxie. "But you're more interesting. How are you?"

[dancin_maxxie]

Maxxie listens with due interest, but languages have never been his thing. He likes the sound of them, some of them, but he couldn't be bothered to learn things. So ultimately he's happy that Alcuin's willing to shift some of his attention away from the books and onto Maxxie.

He grins wryly as he nudges the book back in place. "That's not saying much, but I'll take it," he says. "I'm alright. Can't figure out what I want to do with myself today. How are you, other than probably bored?"

[will_you_see]

"I didn't say I was bored," Alcuin said with a laugh. "I was, however looking for a distraction from some melancholy and I think that good company would be even better than good books."

[scoobys_heart]

"Hey Alcuin, whatcha working on?" Xander asked as he came into the kitchen, obviously fresh from the shower. He'd been working with the building crew all morning so a shower had definitely been needed.

If he had been affected by the night with Alcuin and Helen, he wasn't showing it. There had been a lot of emotion that night, and not just in the bedroom. Between Alcuin's nightmare and Helen's early morning confessions, Xander hadn't quite known what to expect, but he found that nothing had really changed. Alcuin was still a dear friend...who he'd slept with and never would again. And that a okay with him!

Xander smiled at him before he turned to open the fridge and get out a container of juice. "Getting a jump on your classes?"

[will_you_see]

Alcuin too had wondered if things would be strange between them after all that had happened, but he was glad that it did not seem to be the case. His own feelings about that night he simply pushed to the side.

"Something like that," he admitted, looking up from his books. "I've been taken on by a scientist as something of an... apprentice. I'm not entirely certain what that entails yet, but I am eager to learn from him." He held up the book, the author noted as Nikola Tesla.

[scoobys_heart]

Xander glanced at the book but he didn't recognize the same so Alcuin just got a blank look in return. But he shrugged as he poured some juice and returned it before coming to join him at the table. "That's great Alcuin! But I'd be careful. When I needed extra help in school from Guy, I had to do some unsavory things." He grinned to show he was joking, even if it had been true. And it hadn't been unsavory either, not that he would do it now.

Except the usual lap dances at the club of course.

[will_you_see]

Alcuin smiled at that. "I can think of worse people whose mercy one could be at."