spillthetealeaf

[Essek knew better than to text Mollymauk, and so he thought perhaps the voice option might be better. He took a deep breath, and-]

I have noticed that there is a carnival setting up.

[Why was it so difficult to ask him to go with him?]

I imagine that the draw to attend will be high for you. I - ah - hope you will be careful; you know how this place will be.

[ Molly is sprawled on the couch when he gets the message from Essek, only leaning up to look around because isn't Essek still in the suite? ]

Well, if you're that worried about me running away to join another circus you're welcome to come and keep an eye on me.

[Yes, Essek was in the suite, but he wasn't in the room with Mollymauk, and perhaps it was better to do this than a Sending. He might need that spell slot for later.

That was an invitation, wasn't it? Something wrapped in sarcasm, but a legitimate invitation. He smiled a little.]

I suppose someone should. I have been informed that you get into Situations when alone.

Then whoever informed you is a liar. I get into my best situations when I have an audience for my bullshit.

[ Is Caleb audience to this entire chat? Definitely. Does Molly care? Absolutely not. ]

If we're going you can't dress too fancy. They'll know you have standards and try to make you pay more.

[Poor Caleb, stuck in the middle, audience to it all. ]

A robe isn't fancy.

Uh-huh. So tell me how much gold that robe cost to make.

Does it matter when gold isn't a familiar currency here?

[Too much, Mollymauk. Too much. But he wouldn't admit it.]

Right. Right. And would you describe your clan, den, whatever, as financially comfortable?

[ Because that's how rich people describe their financials, Essek. ]

That has nothing to do with this.

[He was more than financially comfortable, but he wasn't about to admit it. Not willingly.]

[ You've said enough to implicate yourself anyways. ]

Well the point still stands, if you dress in your usual clothes you'll make yourself a target. We need to get you some normal clothes.

[ Says the man who has worn leather shorts and garter belts three times this week.]

Edited 2022-05-07 16:28 (UTC)

[....and Essek remembers each of those times.]

Then I will borrow some of Caleb's clothes.

[Which, if he's honest, will be rather large on him.]

[ They're comfortable! And Caleb almost walked into a door the first time he wore them. ]

Or, and hear me out here. You could let me dress you up. I'll even sweeten the pot and let you pick something for me to wear another time, no questions asked.

Edited 2022-05-09 02:08 (UTC)

You can dress me up in Caleb's clothes.

[That was a compromise, yes?]

You're going to go around in baggy clothes all day? I'm sure you'll look real dignified when you float around with your pant legs dangling down past your feet.

[There was a sigh, before he shook his head.]

Or I can cast Disguise Self and change whatever I'm wearing. That is probably the better option.

[Don't mind Caleb. He's just gotten bored listening to you too]

Don't be a spoil sport, Essek. I've seen you dressed down before.

I'm starting to think he doesn't trust my taste, Caleb!

[ With good reason but Molly wants to prove himself now. ]

I have seen what you wear, Mollymauk; I don't.

[And he looked at Caleb in the next room, before typing it in.]

And yes, when I dress myself, young man. Not when someone else has the honors.

[Uncalled for, really. Caleb doesn't even look up from his phone while he speaks into it.]

He's not saying he'll put you in something with quite his much flash. But I'm sure we can come to an agreement - that isn't just stealing my clothes.

This is about the shorts, isn't it?

[ He can't help if they're comfortable. And distracting. ]

Look, I just think it could be fun. And I already said you could do the same to me whenever you want, no questions asked.

[He was outvoted, wasn't he?

Sighing, he closed the communicator and called out across the suite.]

Fine.

[Caleb's quiet a second, looks toward Essek and gives him an infinite grateful look for a moment, before looking over at Molly]

Something pastel?

I was thinking light blue.

[ Or anything that wasn't black. Or grey. Or out of Caleb's closet. ]

[Caleb is exhausted, worn, agonized. He came back to himself in fits and starts, the drone of impossible noise so much more than he knew how to handle, and he can barely handle waking either. The suite is a travesty of destruction. He pulls his phone out at the same time he uses Sending, so it goes to both Molly and Essek at the same time.]

What happened? Where are you?

[Essek had abandoned his phone in his suite, left with Caleb and afraid to go back there. The Sending, however, was unavoidable and inevitable: why wouldn't Caleb reach out that way with every other spell that older version seemed to have?

He was quiet for a moment, the questions picking something soft in him. It was a trick. It had to be a trick.

But what if it wasn't?]

What happened in Hellburbia?

[So Essek would give him something only his Caleb could answer.]

[His head hurts, and the question comes through the Sending and not the phone call. For a moment, he worries they're not together--and then what? If something has happened...

A faint flush works over his cheeks. He looks away from the phone briefly as he casts Sending again, just in case they aren't together.]

You were a teacher, and I was your assistant. And Molly was a layabout. We were...tangled. After, we were in the Tower together.

[ Molly is half asleep, leaned against Essek as the call comes in and it takes him a minute to understand what's happening. And then he's sitting up straight and grabbing his phone to turn on the video so he can look at Caleb.

It looks like him. Younger and less scarred. But magic was always annoying and he took his cue from Essek to ask a question of his own. ]

Where did I get my tattoo when we went to Lucifer's Island the first time?

[There was a bandage on Molly's shoulder, just at the edge of the video, and Caleb does that thing he does where he tries to tilt the phone like he'll be able to see better. What happened? They aren't answering that question, and dread fills Caleb slowly.]

Next to your crotch. Are you with Essek? Molly, what happened?

[Phone. Mollymauk had his Phone. He stopped with the Sending and sat up, pressing in close to the tiefling so they could both be shown.

Caleb. He still remembered this Caleb. Good.

He didn't answer the question.]

Where are you?

[ Molly shifted over to make room for Essek, holding the phone out to fit both of them in the shot. Essek wasn't answering the question and Molly wasn't sure what he ought to say.

This was going to hurt him. Even if it was someone else. ]

We're safe, Caleb. Some stuff went down when you... What's the last thing you remember?

Ah...the telly-visions. There was--I thought I saw something. And then it was just...static.

[No, not static. The clamoring of so many things, voices and variations and everything else. Over time, it became static, and then nothing, and now his ears are ringing in the quiet as he tries to piece everything together.

He looks at his husbands, trying to keep the confusion and anguish off his face. Focus. Think. They're both rattled, and that's more important than him.]

I'm at the suite. It looks--there was a fight? Was it Lucien?

[Essek had time enough to rest, the energy for Teleport back under his skin. He shifted out of the frame of the camera, finding his feet.]

No.

[There was a pause, before he said-]

Stay there.

[He reached down to hang up Mollymauk's phone without permission, then grabbed him and started to cast Teleport. He would send a gift basket to Kavinsky later as a thank you. ]

Hey-

[ There was a brief protest as Essek ended the call and unilaterally decided they were going home without a word to anyone. Including Molly, apparently as he was yanked up and between one breath and the next they were gone from Kavinsky's home in Hellburbia and back in the suite with barely a chance to grab his swords from where they had been laying by the couch.

Once the magic had settled Molly pulled back from Essek and looked around the ruin of their home and, more importantly, their husband in the midst of it. The two of them were something of an odd sight, both clad in borrowed clothes. ]

Can you warn me next time you're going to do that?

[Borrowed clothes, the peak of a bandage, both of them harried and slightly hysterical. Caleb stands, looking pathetic and exhausted and like he's just barely holding himself up, wringing his hands together anxiously. Frumpkin winds around his ankles, mewling softly.

He steps towards them, careful of his familiar but also stumbling a little bit, giving a small gesture to the scattered remains of their bedroom door.]

...what...? That was fire. That was...explosive fire.

[Essek didn’t respond, not to Caleb, not to Mollymauk. He simply stared at his husband in front of him, purple fingers clutching a components pouch that was not his.

He searched those blue eyes, looked for white streaks at his temples and found none. He murmured a single word in Undercommon to dispel any spells there might be – illusionary or other – before he stared at him.

Still Caleb.

Still here.]

It…is you.

[ It was Caleb. Not an imposter with greying hair and nothing behind his eyes. The moment he laid eyes on him in person Molly's shoulders sagged in relief. He had fought him once and that had been more than enough, he didn't relish the idea of having to do it again.

Not with his shoulder still aching from the last time.

And since Essek didn't seem ready to start explaining, Molly took the reins for the moment. ]

Something... switched places with you while you were in the television. Someone who looked like you. He got up to some shit.

[There's...so much. So many questions, so much confusion, and they're both looking at him, for a moment, like he might crash the roof down on their heads. Essek looks so unbelievably, impossibly frightened, and all Caleb can think is the barest mention of Trent when they approached him in Eiselcross.

Time. It takes time.

Caleb comes all the way up, reaching one tattooed hand out to cover Essek's and the other coming up to cup Molly's cheek. Something switched places--but that look in their eyes says more than that.]

I'm so sorry...both of you. I--

He didn't look like you; he was you. Someone who took a different path.

[A different man, a different Caleb, but a Caleb. His Caleb from home. His future, the one he had kissed and love and shared a home with in Jrusar-

He squeezed Caleb's hand before letting it go, pushing the pouch into it instead.]

I think I would like to go for some air, please.

[And he started to head towards the door, footfalls from those bare feet soft against the carpet.]

[ Before Essek could get far, Molly grabbed his sleeve to get his attention. ]

Yell if you need me.

[ The same words he said last night before giving him the space to shower without an audience. A promise to come running if he needed help or anything like that. It was the best he could offer. Then he released him again and stayed back with Caleb as the drow slipped out to the balcony. ]

It wasn't good. And he blew up the bedroom door while Essek was teleporting us out.

[Caleb looks down at the component pouch pressed into his hands. Not Essek's -- and there's no reason Essek would have handed his over -- and not Caleb's. At least, not really. He had his, after all. And this felt similar, had all the little marks that made it his. But...

Someone who took a different path.

He watches Essek go to the balcony, doesn't stop him right now. There's a new fracture there, and Caleb can't do anything about this one except give Essek the space he needs.]

...we should, ah. Let both of you rest, then. We can talk about things later--when you're both ready.

[ Ready. Right.

Molly knew the shape of the damage he was carrying was different from Essek's. He hadn't had his mind messed with, memories changed without his consent. His damage was tied up in the idea of losing them, that the strange alternate version of Caleb was there forever.

And then the idea that Essek would be lost too. The thought was enough to make him sick to his stomach.

But they were all alive. That was a start, right? ]

Care to join me? I- [ There were no easy excuses or jokes, just a vaguely helpless look on his face. ] I'm not feeling up to being alone.

[Caleb looks toward the balcony not because he doesn't want to go with Molly, but because he always worries about the appearance of favoritism, and he's worried about Essek. He's quite certain, whatever happened, it set all of these fragile balances into disarray. All he can do is be patient, and apologize for the mess.]

Of course. I feel like I could sleep for a week.

To Whom It May Concern,

It has been years now since Hell has been redone and made even greater than ever before. And you, my prized guest, have made it twelve months in your journey towards redemption. I know that there have been bumps along the way and we haven't always seen eye to eye, but I do wish to show my gratitude. Together, we will all leave Hell one day.

I have handpicked gifts specifically for you to commemorate this anniversary. I do hope you enjoy them.

A basket of grooming supplies for hair, brushing, trimming

A bottle of luxurious skin glow cream

A voucher to get out of torture. It may be transferred to another party.

Again, I thank you for all of your help in making Hell what it is today.

Yours,
Lucifer

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Video and Sending

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