bloodandflowers | (no subject)

Kell sags against the thick stone wall of the Basin. Overhead, the ruby waters of the Isle slip endlessly by, and around him, the unnatural dark Kell had summoned begins to shiver.

"As Anasae," Kell says into the darkness. Dispel. The smoke twists into nothing as if it was never there, and Kell draws a deep breath.

"Did you kill them all?" Rhy would ask if he were here, and Kell would nod and step back to reveal the ruined remains of his training dummies. But Rhy has yet to find him today, and Kell takes another breath, closing his eyes for a moment to listen for his brother's heartbeat. Beneath the brand on his chest, the magic that binds them rises and flares, and beneath Kell's heartbeat he feels another, its thump steady and even. It means Rhy is calm, at least for now. He would feel excitement in his breast if Rhy were coming to drag him off again, back into the bowels of Red London to chase another adventure.

Kell grimaces. As if provoking Red London's criminal element could be called adventure. His ribs still ache with the hits Rhy had taken only the day before, his head foggy with Rhy's hangover. Where Kell would fight the memories that haunt them both with magic and blood, Rhy would do it with his princely fists and copious wine, and the bond that binds their lives together means that Rhy's pain is Kell's. Reaching up, Kell tugs on his own hair hard enough to sting, smirking faintly when he feels Rhy's heart skip in response.

"Sorry," he whispers into the dark, even if he isn't, and begins to clean his hands of blood. He's used a lot of magic today, and Kell's head swims as he tucks his silver blade back against his wrist. He needs food. He needs...

Kell closes his eyes.

Something more than this palace that feels so much like a prison.

You could still run. The thought echoes between his ears with a voice that sounds like Lila's, and Kell shakes his head to dispel it. Lila escaped, and Kell stayed. For Rhy, he'll stay forever.

Mostly clean now, save for the sheen of sweat on his skin, Kell raises his right hand, the cut across his palm still wet from training, and presses it to an X drawn in blood on the wall. "As tascen," he says, transfer, but when the door opens up and Kell steps through it to the other side, it's not the lavish chambers of the prince he walks into.

It's onto the wooden gangway of a port, and before him looms a gray and wintry sea. Kell turns a circle, but the palace has disappeared, without blood or command to see it gone. Kell’s heart stutters and begins to pound.

This is no London, Red, Grey or White.

This is a different world entirely.

Threaded | Flat

Strange as it might be, Sirius finds some comfort in this weather, the dreary clouds and drearier haze of drizzle so much like that of the city he'll never see again. Even if he were to return somehow, knowing what he does of what's to become of him, there's very little chance he'd see London again for years and years, his view relegated to a four bare walls and a Dementor's gaping maw.

So he'll enjoy this while he can, and take in something wholly unlike home while he's at it.

Sirius hasn't seen a beach in years, not since he, Lily, and James went on holiday in Brighton. That was just before the war really started, before all thoughts of day trips became little more than far off dreams. It'd been a nicer, much warmer experience, but this has some level of charm to it as well. Somewhere.

Wind whips at his hair and he hunches into his coat, considers casting a warming spell more than once, but mentally talks himself out of it each time. It feels a bit like cheating, if he's honest. He's here to experience the elements in all their glory, it's no good to arrange things to his comfort.

He's just stepping onto a wooden walkway when a figure apparates right before him in a rather smart, black coat that, for the moment, is entirely dry.

"Ah," Sirius says, stopping short in surprise. He notes the expression of pure confusion on the man's face and lets out a breath of a laugh, "Not where you were planning to arrive, then. Go on, give it another go."