open post: further up and further in

[magicianking]

Eliot hasn't been depressed, per se, because it's sort of impossible to be depressed in Fillory. There's too much to do, these days: rebuilding Castle Whitespire, helping Josh and Poppy with the baby, and generally trying to run a post-apocalyptic-but-now-pretty-much-fine magical kingdom. Being High King of Fillory is, not to be totally cliche, Eliot's calling, and he's found a peace that he never had before. But it still sucks absolute balls that both Quentin and Janet are gone.

When Janet had first disappeared, Eliot had devoted all of his kingly resources to trying to find her. None of their world-jumping buttons had been missing, so he'd promised a knighthood and a castle to anyone in Fillory who found the missing Queen Janet.

"She won't love being treated like a damsel in distress like this," Poppy had told him.

"Well, if you have a better idea," he'd snapped, and that had been that, until a letter had arrived in the gazing pool. It had been frustratingly contextless, but obviously from Janet.

"Where is she?" Josh asked at the next meeting of the monarchs.

"I don't know. She's trapped, but she seems more annoyed than in danger."

"So she's in another universe? Since she had to use your telegram thing?" Poppy asked.

"Seems likely."

All of them had lapsed into silence.

"Should we call off the Queen hunt? Some of them are getting a little Don Quixote out there," said Poppy.

"No," Eliot had decided. "Just in case." Damsel in distress, Janet was not; but hell if he would ever be the one to give up on finding her.

--

Eliot's on his way to check on the progress of Castle Whitespire, wandering up the path from the comfortable townhouse he's been staying in, when the ground changes abruptly beneath his feet. He stumbles, and when he looks up--Dorothy, he is not in magical Kansas any more. Not in Oz any more? Whatever. The energy of wherever he is is totally different. He doesn't think it's Earth, either, despite the fact that he's in front of a huge Earth-style mansion.

"What the fuck," he mutters, and opens the door.

Comments

[temnota]

"Being a living amplifier is not my only talent," Aleksander said, giving Eliot a slow, promising smile. He lifted his hands and turned his palms outwards. From the corners of the wall, the shadows flowed to him, sinuous as snakes. He lifted a finger and the shadows rose up around the two of them, blotting out everything but the space they inhabited. "I am the Shadow Summoner."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Well, yeah, duh. It's the dearth of Fillorian cocaine."

[magicianking]

"Whoa," Eliot breathes. He's never seen magic exactly like this, and Aleksander is totally making it look epic. "You're, like, a superhero." Now, why has he gone and said that? He sounds like a Comic-Con nerd. This guy is making all the sense leave his brain. "I mean, um, impressive."

[magicianking]

Eliot snorts, then tries just opening the grandfather clock and peering inside. Disappointingly, there's only the pendulum, hanging like a disappointing uvula. He can't feel any magic, but... "Want to try, just, like, getting in? Then if that doesn't work we try setting up a portal in there."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Okay," Janet says, "but if this is a Punk'd situation for you to make fun of me for stuffing myself into a clock, your ass is grass." Weirdly, though, she actually trusts Eliot, so she does her level best to stuff herself into a grandfather clock like a good sport. Nothing much happens, except that now a queen of Fillory is wedged into a clock.

[temnota]

Aleksander had never heard the word 'superhero' before but he thought he understand the meaning based on the context. He smiled wryly and made a small gesture, banishing his shadows back to their corners. "I am glad you think so. Not many in Ravka do. Much of that is my fault but they were afraid even before then."

[magicianking]

"Hmm, okay, well." Eliot tries not to let his heart sink, but it's sinking. Part of him had really thought this would work right away. "I'll try some portal shit."

[magicianking]

"I know you don't believe in this divine right of kings shit, and neither do I, but I think if I were one of my subjects, I'd maybe believe in it a little, with all the magic."

[magicianking]

"That's whimsical. I can get behind that."

[futaille]

"I don't doubt that that's easy enough to make use of."

[magicianking]

"I know what it's like to become what people think you'll become," Eliot says. "I don't know if you have homophobia at home, but all the bullies knew I was gay before I did."

[papadopoulos]

"Yeah! Whimsical's a good word for it, I guess. Haven't seen him since I was in Indianapolis, though."

[temnota]

Aleksander nodded grimly. He had not known what homophobia was until Apollo had explained it and the concept was still upsetting to him. There were more important things to be concerned then who one loved but people were people, after all. "There is a little, more with the nobles then anyone else. Their concern is, of course, around having children to keep the wealth and property in the family and away from the 'common rabble' but in their view, there are worse things to be. Grisha, for example."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"Please do," Janet says, as loftily as a queen can say anything while she's inside a clock. She clambers out, smoothing down her blouse to distract herself from her own disappointment. "Make me jealous of how good you are."

[magicianking]

"What about you? How do you get people to do what you want?"

[magicianking]

"So you're, like, a modern god," Eliot muses. "What do you think of New York? I lived there for a while."

[magicianking]

"That old patriarchal chestnut," Eliot says, nodding wisely. "So you and I are doubly fucked in your world, then, huh? Queer and magical?"

[magicianking]

Eliot tries some portal shit. He's glad he carries various spellcasting components on his belt nowadays, even if it makes him feel like someone's dorky Dungeons & Dragons character or some kind of stupid fantasy Batman. The words and gestures come to him as easily as ever, after being drilled into him by Mayakovsky.

When he's finished, a portal wobbles queasily into being behind and around the clock, but nothing's on the other side. It's blank and white, like a Word document. Eliot touches it, experimentally. Nothing happens.

"Well, don't be mad," he says.

[futaille]

"Me? Normally I just ask nicely."

[papadopoulos]

"In my world, it's where Mount Olympus is based. We -- migrate with beliefs, sort of, to the center of 'western society'," he explains, with heavy air quotes. "--All discussion of my father aside, or, uh...you know, exes and other terrible father figures, it's a pretty nice place. I'm partial to it, but if I were home I'd probably try and spend a little more time outside of the city."

[temnota]

"Indeed. The villains of the piece, one might say." Aleksander gave Eliot a crooked grin and held out his hand. "But I own them both - my power and my desire. Let me be their villain, then. I am not ashamed of who I am."

[sorrowandsorrow]

"What the fuck," Janet mutters, eyeing the fake portal. She wonders what would happen if she tossed something through it. Would it come back? Or just get swallowed up by the void? "I'm not mad at you. Have you ever seen something like this before?"