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

[magicianking]

Eliot gives a low whistle of appreciation. "Janet did some excellent work," he observes. It suits this guy, too. Obviously, he literally is from Arthurian myth, but it definitely adds to his fey-type vibe. "Maybe I should get her to tattoo me."

[onthewillowsthere]

"It hurt," just so Eliot has all the information. "But she is very skilled."

[magicianking]

"Nothing worth doing is totally painless, right?" Eliot muses.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Is that true?"

[magicianking]

"In my experience, yeah. Even having a nice afternoon lying around drinking comes with a hangover, right?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"I don't have very much experience." He's only been drunk once. He did, admittedly, feel terrible the next day, and Claudius tended to him indulgently, bringing him water and crackers with salt, assuring him it would pass, smoothing his hair back from his brow.

[magicianking]

"Right. I sort of remember that. God made you be straight-edge and chaste, et cetera, right? But you haven't stuck with that here, I assume. Given the husband."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I am not now chaste," he agrees. "I sinned in error and God forsought me. Now I seek to offend Him through my purposeful sins and my apostasy."

[magicianking]

"Oh, fuck yeah, dude. Love to hear it."

[onthewillowsthere]

For a moment, there's a flicker of a smile on Galahad's face. "Thank you," he says.

[magicianking]

"Fillory has no gods anymore, and good riddance. I don't know if Janet's told you about Ember and Umber, but they were real assholes. Big-ass British rams."

[onthewillowsthere]

"She told me." Graphically, during one of their ice cream tastings.

[magicianking]

"No wonder you two get along."

[onthewillowsthere]

"She misses you."

[magicianking]

"I know. I miss her too. I'm going to try my best to get her back home."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad doesn't, in his heart, want Janet to return home, but what he wants is immaterial. It's better for her to be where she wants to be. He nods.

[magicianking]

"I'll also try to come back in the meantime."

[onthewillowsthere]

"She would like that."

[magicianking]

"You're welcome to come to Fillory, too. It'd be cool to have an Arthurian guy come hang out."

[onthewillowsthere]

A flash of a smile. "If it becomes possible, I would like to."

[magicianking]

"Sweet. Hopefully our castle guest rooms will be all set up by then. Janet tell you about the world ending?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"No. What happened?"

[magicianking]

"We found out Fillory was ending, which sucked major balls, let me tell you. I'd barely been king for a few years, and they were telling me my world was canceled like a low-ratings TV show? Bullshit. So we went on a quest to fix it. It did kind of end, after all, but it's been reborn. It's much better now. No more gods, but yes more kings."

[onthewillowsthere]

"You still have purpose."

[magicianking]

"My purpose has almost never had to do with gods. Unless it briefly involved beating one up."