tampered | Log; ONGOING

Log; ONGOING

When; March 5th
Rating; G // General?
Characters; Ted

hermeticus & Tyr McDohl

of_toran
Summary; It's a wonderful life in the neighborhood? ... I don't know. Two old buddies & their potentially sappy reunion at the busty lady's rune store. They'll be some talk, maybe some angst, perhaps even manly hugs! ...and I dislike making summeries.
Log;

Apprehensive. There was no other way to describe the feeling in Ted's chest, which definitely showed as he developed a new habit of polishing Jeane's runes. Box after box and whether it was and elemental or a just a normal status orb, Ted ran a cloth over it's surface with profound dexterity that to a bystander it would seem that he had been doing this for years instead of the few hours of undisturbed practice. He half heartily wondered if Jeane would reward him for his ‘hard work’. After all, he didn’t have to do it… he just wanted to and it kept his hands busy.

They've talked, so there was no real need for this anxious. This apprehensive feeling. ... Though there was just so much he wanted to say, still. About him transferring the Souleater to him, about dying on him, and about so much more, there was so much to talk about that he half joked and half wondered if his voice box would be able to last the entire time. Besides, Ted was fairly certain that Tyr had bundles to tell him as well, if not for those reasons but for the fact that they were from different times.

Ah, well… it was high time he stopped shining Jeane’s balls especially while his eyes were fixated on the door. For from behind the counter it looked like he was doing something quite, distasteful and would bring the most unpleasant looks on future customers’ faces.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tyr had considered, earlier, doing just what Jeane had suggested and thinking or calling for Viki to teleport him to her store, but he'd decided against it after some deliberation. It wasn't so much a dislike of Viki, but he'd been around her once or twice when she'd accidentally teleported herself- or several other people- to a location that wasn't exactly correct and somehow found himself a bit more confident simply walking there.

It hadn't been hard to find, in any case. Once he'd managed to get his bearings (and ask a few people), he soon found himself heading in vaguely the right direction, and standing outside what he hoped was Jeane's shop about fifteen minutes later.

Strange, he thought, how normal he was feeling. This whole place was strange, ever since he'd arrived and managed to contact several people- the entire concept that he, as well as the others, had been taken from different times and places was just as hard for him to believe in as it had been for him to believe in his Rune. But then, it didn't feel like a dream at all...

And Ted was here.

Somehow, that made everything- Tyr wasn't sure how to think about it. Better? Worse? He'd thought, always thought of the past, ever since he'd gone into it thanks to the Star Dragon Sword. He'd always assumed that he'd never be able to see or even talk to Ted again, after he'd died, but it seemed that he had just been proven wrong.

Closing his eyes, he tried to think about what he was going to say. Nothing seemed to come to mind, and after a few seconds in silence, Tyr gave up, opened the door and stepped in.

"Ted?" he said, his eyes falling on the figure behind the counter. "It's- it's really you."

The door gave a quite chime as it opened and shut, Ted by then had moved down the assembly line and was now rearranging the runes into their various slots and cabinets. Sometimes he wondered if Jeane even needed anyone to polish her orbs and neatly organize them by element, status and general use. Eyeing the stacks of boxes that he had yet gone through, Ted was pretty certain that it was safe to assume that she wasn't planning on unpacking and sorting out the runes all on her own. Perhaps she'd figured out that Ted was going to do it for her, or some other sad sap that ended up entranced in her charms.

Momentarily lost in his thought, Ted was pulled from it as he heard his name and a familiar voice. A voice that he knew better than anything else and a voice that he didn’t mind hearing if the speaker had been a hardcore talker. "Tyr!" Ted exclaimed shooting up off of the ground and dropping a fire rune onto the wooden floor. He would have leaped over the counter top and taken his closest and most dear friend into arms if it was not for the all of the obstacles in the line of fire. So instead he ran up to the very edge of the counter hands gripping the table's edge as he leaned over, his face lit up like the LCD lights during the festival.

"A-and of course it's me!" Ted's hands were shaking as his fingers attempted to make impressions in the rosewood. "Who else would it be? Cleo? Pahn?" Elated, simply and truly elated. Though at the same time, there was some fear. Afraid of the answers that would come from the only person he absolutely trusted about something he did. Freeing his hands from the table and placing them on his sides, Ted gave Tyr his trademarked puckish smile.

Tyr crossed over to the counter, his eyes flicking from Ted's face- and it was him, really him, in person- to his hands, and he wished he hadn't noticed how they gripped the counter so, or how they were shaking, just as his voice was. But he couldn't speak for his friend, he himself was no picture of calm either. "It's- I don't know," he answered, a grin spreading across his face. "I'm just happy to see you."

Happy, yes, among other things. As he looked at Ted now, Tyr couldn't help but remember how he'd last seen his friend alive. Ted had been controlled- not himself- under the effects of Windy's Conquerer Rune; forced by her to act against his own will. But the Ted he saw now was definitely the one he'd known as a child. This was the Ted who was his best friend.

Reaching over almost tentatively, almost as if he was afraid of Ted turning out to be a ghost, Tyr placed his right hand over Ted's.

And then he realized- the rune that was somehow on Ted's hand. Looking up sharply, eyes wide, Tyr stood open mouthed for a few seconds. "Soul Eater?" he said, finally, a touch of disbelief in his voice. "It's not the first time, but..."

Two smiles and not a steady heart in sight. At least the atmosphere wasn't uncomfortable; it was quite pleasant, a bit stiffer than usual, but what did he expect from such a meeting? Ted didn't expect to even get a chance to see him ever again, especially himself after being captured by the wretched hellcat that he hated so much. And it remained that way until Tyr approached him. "I'm happy to see you, too."

Tyr's hand over his own, Ted almost forgot what it felt like to be touched by him, or touched period. There was a slight flinch, though the flinching stopped the shaking. Sure Jeane had given him one of her infamous boob squishes a few days ago, but the contact was different. Each touch had now been sorted out in his mind as he so often classified things into different ways. So many years of various forms of contact. Some physical some emotional. Certain touches felt good in one way and not the other, while others made him feel dirty.

This was none of them. This was a special one in itself. "Yeah... I guess it wanted to return to its 'master' before I got transported from that place." Ted answered looking down at the overlaying hands. Almost wanting to pull out his from underneath, peel the bandages free and give it a good look. He knew it was there. He could feel it. Though something that his friend uttered next puzzled him.

"Not the first time...?"

Tyr half shook his head, unable to fully comprehend just what was going on. "Not- not the first time two Soul Eaters have existed in the same time and place," he answered, his voice soft. And then he remembered. How old had Ted been? He'd only looked about ten, when he'd met him as a child, and it had been three hundred years before Ted had seen him again...

Had Ted known? Tyr wasn't- couldn't be sure. "It's happened before, but I never expected it to happen again." His hand was still laid over Ted's, and he drew it back slowly, almost as if he was wont to let go- and he was, truly.

Forcing himself to smile as if he meant it, Tyr took a step back from the counter. "Come out from behind that," he said, gesturing to the counter. "I haven't seen you in years, and this counter is in the way." Just how many years wasn't something he wanted to think about; that Ted was before him now, alive and well, was more than he could ever have asked for.

Ted was unable to understand what his friend was talking about. "...they did?" Since when had there been an event where two Soul Eaters existing at the same time and place? Tyr wasn't the lying sort, so this had to be true, yet he'd never heard about this before and if anyone would know a thing or two about the Soul Eater it was him. After all, that was his village’s sole purpose. The brunet thought long and hard for a few moments, eyebrows furrows deepening and forming close knits, his free hand touching the bottom of his chin. Something deep inside him assured him that there was no doubt that Tyr could be lying and there he knew this answer. However, he bring forth anything useful.

"...I don't ever remembering a time when--" his sentence cut off when his confidant uncovered the bandaged hand. Eyes watched Tyr closely as he took a few steps back and instructed him to come out from behind the counter. That smile, he knew, was forced. Though Ted made it a mini mission of his to make it natural again

Letting out a soft chuckle, his body relaxed and a hand now rested comfortably on his hip Ted spoke causally, "There's no need to tell me twice, though I hope you know that as soon as the barrier's gone, I might have a time letting go." It was his only words of warning, for since the moment Tyr McDohl stepped foot into the store, Ted wanted nothing more than to embrace him in his arms or perhaps a good headlock just for a good measure.

As if he needed to be told- he'd missed Ted, he really had, and almost as soon as Ted came out from behind the counter, the rune bearer practically threw himself at his friend. To be able to do this again was something that he'd never thought he'd ever have a chance to do after what had happened. He'd regretted so many things, and he was determined that he wouldn't do that again. Not now, not with Ted here.

"It's been too long," he said, his arms wrapped around Ted's shoulders and his eyes closed as he remembered what it had been like to feel this way. "You..."

And this felt- it felt good, to be able to hold someone like that again. It wasn't so much that Tyr hadn't had any other friends, but Ted- he'd been the one person that- because of him- so much had happened. Things that he'd never been able to talk about, but now... Anything could happen in this place, or so it seemed. "I've really missed you."

Arms wrapped around his self, Ted had his arms raised in the air when he saw the confidant come flying towards him. A hug. How strange it felt to have someone pressed so close to him though it wasn't bad. While enjoying every minute of it, Ted lowered his arms. With one he cupped the back of Tyr's head bandanna and all, while the other arm was strung across his back as to almost cradling him. Ted took and carved this moment into his mind. He'd never forget it even when he had to return back to his time and his life stripped away from him. The memory will still be there with him.

"I've really missed you," he told him, and it was something about those words that broke something inside of him. He'd heard it before, though perhaps the combination with the hug made the burning and swelling sensation in the back of his eyes harder and harder to contain. "I know..." Arms adjusting their grip. "I know, and I'm sorry." He was here now; they both were.

The swelling and burning were starting to become overpowering, yet, he still held on wanting to bury his face and hide what was to happen next. "I'm sorry. ... I'm so sorry..." he chanted softly until it became hard to talk and hands tightening their hold onto the other body. A small part of Ted wanted to laugh, joke, and tease his friend; not cling onto him as he apologized for the heavy burden he forced upon him while on the verge of crumbling into pieces but it suddenly became so hard. So very hard.

All Tyr wanted to do was to tell Ted to stop saying sorry- It wasn't his fault, it hadn't been and it never would be. There wasn't any question of 'what if', things happened simply because they did, and regardless of how many times he might have regretted his actions, Tyr knew that should he be put again in the same position now as he had been, that day, he'd have made the same choices.

How much of a choice had either of them had, though? Ted had been a bearer of a True Rune when he'd been ten. Tyr himself had only been a few years older, and as a result of that so much had occurred. He'd wished on occasion that it had never happened, but...

It was really too late for regrets, wasn't it? He wondered for a moment, if when he'd last met Ted and his friend had commanded his rune to take his life, if Ted had remembered who he was now. Perhaps he had, at that...

I think it's farewell for sure, this time.

For Ted, it had been. But for Tyr- "Don't apologize," he said, closing his eyes. "Please. I don't want you to have to do that." Slowly, and reluctantly, he pulled himself out from the hug, blinking away tears that he'd had in his eyes. "There's... a lot I should apologize for, as well. And a lot I want to tell you."

Though instructed not to apologize anymore, that's all Ted wanted to do. Apologize. He wanted to apologize for giving him the Soul Eater, for going away without a farewell, for dying, for keeping it a secret, for dragging him into his mess, for so many things that it was ridiculous. It was in good fortune to his friend that Ted's throat had tightened and long felt as if there was something stuck inside. If there was anyone that didn't deserve the burden that he left upon him, it was Tyr. Even though he was the only person that Ted ever trusted, to be responsible for all that came later on in his life was almost unbearable. He knew he'd always be a tender spot for his confidant for as long as he wandered.

As Tyr pulled away, greedy fingers didn't want to let go. 'Not yet,' they softly urged, 'Just for a little while longer...' But the hug had undone, leaving Ted to hang loosely on one of his bandanna's tails with an even looser smile. Ted’s hands held onto the green one in particular; he always liked the green one better than the purple.

"A lot for you to apologize for?" Ted forced out through the lump in his throat. His voice sounded choked until he spoke again. "You've got to be kidding... there's nothing you have to apologize for." He wiped away the tears that had begun to form, and reinforced his weakening smile. "There's a lot I want to tell you too... But you go first. After all, you haven't seen me years."

One of Tyr's hands still remained resting on Ted's shoulder- he couldn't bring himself to completely let go of his friend, not just yet. "I wouldn't kid about that," he said, smiling weakly, "it's not- it isn't something I'd joke about." Ted shouldn't have to apologize, and Tyr himself had been sorry about so many things; by right the one who should really be in that position the both of them were putting themselves in was Soul Eater, but somehow Tyr doubted the rune was ever sorry about anything it did or caused.

As he considered for a moment what he was going to say, the rune bearer closed his eyes. "I really don't know where to start," he admitted, quietly. "After you- you were taken, I somehow ended up as the leader of the Liberation Army, but I think you know that. A lot happened..." And perhaps, just perhaps, he should start at the very beginning.

"Ted- you came from the Village of the Hidden Rune, right?" He'd always wondered about his friend's history, long before the Star Dragon Sword had answered some of the questions by sending him into the past. But had that just been an illusion? "Was- it was Windy who destroyed it, right? Her, Neclord and Yuber." He half hoped he was wrong, that the boy he'd met all those years ago- a few decades for him, a few centuries for Ted, if he was right- hadn't been the same one who stood before him now. That the tragedy he'd been through had just been a dream, that it hadn't really happened.

"I figured you wouldn't... but I don't know what you'd apologize for." Ted conceded. "You were never really the joking type; that was my department after all, right?" A small laugh. Though honestly Ted didn't know what Tyr had to apologize for. Everything that happened was because of him due to his actions, so why he apologized puzzled him. Perhaps he felt bad for accepting the rune, Soul Eater, however it was the rune to blame. It wouldn't be very happy with that had Ted vocalized his thoughts, especially since the rune was really nor good nor evil. It was just behaving as it was meant to.

The next words out of Tyr's mouth came as a sharp pang in his chest. Eyes widening and almost immediately, Ted withdrew his hands and took a few steps back. Hands curled over his heart and clutching onto his tunic's fabric, he broke the eye contact. His reaction almost surprised himself. It had been years, centuries since the invasion on his home and in the past when he thought even joked about it, he had never retreated so inward before. Perhaps it was because no one else knew of that tragedy aside from himself and those that caused it.

Continuing to take his steps back, Ted didn't answer Tyr. He couldn't. Even though he wanted to say something, he couldn't. He'd have to relive that day on a far more personal level than he had in the past three hundred years. Yet that name boiled deep inside him. Windy. There wasn't a name he learned to loathe so thoroughly. "Windy..." his voice was heavy and as if he was being challenged then soften as he continued."...Grandpa." Anxious eyes peered back up at Tyr, almost asking for forgiveness for the sudden retraction. "... Tyr. How did you-- I...never-- ..." Someone must have told him. Soul Eater? Ted doubted that the rune would talk to Tyr so soon but who knew. "Yes. She did..." Correction. "They did. They killed everyone in order to get this rune." Ted gathered himself again. Standing up straight, face forward, and his rune free arm hung loosely at his side while the other still clung to his chest. One would almost be troubled how quickly he recovered and gathered himself after such a traumatic experience being brought back to light.

Tyr felt guilty- terribly so- for bringing the topic up. He'd never known that it would affect Ted like that. And Ted had been right about him being the one who joked more than Tyr really did; to see his friend changing like that and to see how Tyr's words had affected him hurt more than he'd ever thought it would feel. "I'm sorry," he whispered, reaching forwards to place one arm around Ted's shoulders. "I'm sorry for bringing this up, but you have to know..."

"There was a time when I was travelling with several others- you'd know some of them. Cleo, Pahn, Master Kai." He paused, mid-narrative, suddenly feeling as if he should stop right there- pretend it never happened, pretend that he'd never said anything. But that wouldn't be fair, to either of them, nor would it be right. Ted deserved to know. "We were... hunting down a vampire, Neclord- the same one who was at your village. Apparently there was only one weapon which would work against him- the Star Dragon Sword."

Forcing himself to continue, Tyr recounted what had happened next. Pretend- this was just a report, this was just him, recounting events, remembering the past. "We went into this cave to get the sword- I suppose I should have known something, considering that it had been named 'The Cave of the Past'..." trailing off, he tried to remember just what had happened. "...The sword refused to let us take it, and opened up some kind of portal which we all went into. I wasn't- wasn't sure where we were, but we landed in this village."

"And- there was this boy, we met. Who asked us if we had come to take away the treasure." Stopping there, Tyr looked up at Ted for some sign that he'd been wrong. That he'd got the events mixed up and that it had just been some sort of a dream- that it hadn't really happened.

Somehow he knew that wouldn't be the reply he'd receive.

Through a facade of emotionless and seriousness, Ted flinched at the touch. Something inside of him wanted to run away from it, and yet, take it with him and never let it go. He wanted to run. Run away. Far, far away from this after all, that was his specialty. Running away from his problems and isolating himself. No one would hurt him and he wouldn't have to hurt anyone else. Ted believed that for such a long time, and still did to some extent today. He also wanted Tyr to shut up for once; to stop talking about it. To stop reminding him of it. The carnage, the death, it was an ironic wonder that he'd be the rune's bearer for as long as he did. But he bit down on his bottom lip and listened to it, filled with both anger and sorrow.

Mid way through the story he started to fill sick. "So what of the boy?" a disgusted and bitter laugh, "Tell me what he looked like. Did he have a face similar to mine? Perhaps he wore a blue tunic as well? Come on now, I haven't quite felt this sick in a while." Ted didn't mean to sound as repulsive as he did nor did he mean to throw his bitterness in his face, but it was just so hard.His body was so tense that it almost trembled again. Rage built inside of him and the overwhelming feelings of sorrow stacked along side of it. This fury and sorrow that no one knew and were to never know even after his death.

"Besides I've already said that it was that damn harlot and her fellow assassins that came and slaughtered my village! What else do you want!?" Ted shouted his mood quickly turning for the worse. "Some treasure that was... A treasure of that brings death and curses anyone that's stupid enough to carry it." The part about that only fools accept it had been only half true; one not only had to qualify for some form of stupidity but have bravery within them as well.

Between tears and outright fury, Ted hoped for nothing aside that Tyr would not go on, yet there was a gut feeling that the hope was fool worthy.

He'd felt it- felt Ted flinch at his touch, but Tyr refused to let go. Any other time and if it had been about any other thing and he'd have dropped the topic, laughed and changed the subject, but this was something neither of them could change. "Ted," he said, almost whispered, in the sudden quiet that followed after his friend's outburst. "Ted, don't you get it?"

"I- we- followed the boy to see his Grandfather," he continued, almost dispite himself, trying to force himself to continue despite the burning feeling he was getting in the back of his throat. "I think we would have talked more, if not for Windy and Neclord interrupting. His Grandfather used the rune to transport us away, and then passed the rune to the boy, so that he could use himself as a decoy."

And what had happened next? "It was only through sheer luck that we, along with the boy, managed to escape the carnage. Later, we found a portal that would take us back to where we'd come from, and-" he stopped, his voice breaking suddenly as he recalled what the boy- what Ted had said.

Please take me with you.

And all he'd managed to say was that they had to leave the boy behind, all he'd ever said to his friend then was really nothing, nothing at all. "-it was Cleo who told him to be strong, to tell no one about his rune. I wasn't able to speak, then-" unlike now, when all he wanted to do was to stop and pretend he'd not said anything, "-but I-"

How was he supposed to put it? That he'd felt guilty, all that time, for never changing the past? That all he'd wanted to do was to reveal everything, even though he couldn't? That he was, above all, sorry? "-I couldn't say anything," Tyr finally admitted, dropping his hands to his side. "I couldn't. I'm so sorry, Ted..."

"Sorry..." The words felt strange in his mouth. Tyr hadn't shut up instead he continued and went into detail, reminding him of the travelers that had mysteriously appeared and identified them as people he came to know later on. People that he loved and valued higher and far above anyone else he met in his years of traveling. A part of him wanted to give a borderline sardonic retort but the other part knew better. So instead he withdrew himself from Tyr's grasp shaking his head every few steps. To go to so much trouble to simply apologize for something he never held against Tyr was just... ridicules. Too ridicules. It was like shoving a knife into someone's arm and giving it a few twists and turns before ripping it out. His eyes shut, "You never had to apologize. Not for that. Not for anything. I never held anything against you. You were always my place where I found comfort. I could always forgive you..."

His voice trailed off and Ted continued to retreat both physically and mentally. It hurt. The pain was unbearable. Isolation. He half heartily wanted to isolate himself again. So much progress could be lost in a single moment; however Ted wanted for Tyr to say something other than 'sorry', other than reopening painful wounds that were better left festering as is. "I could always forgive you... always, always. Nothing you could do would be wrong. Not for long at least…" It was a plea. A plea for Tyr to stop him from retreating and ignoring all of the healing that had happened in only a few short years.

Less than one hundred and fifty years ago, Ted had been unapproachable and cold; now he was friendly, warm and even mischievous. Tyr was his confidant, his friend; he didn't like to want to run away from that. He truthfully didn't. Though the steps backward kept coming and coming. Not backwards into the counter, but just away. Ted crossed the room, towards the stairs leading to the dorm rooms on the upper levels.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Log; ONGOING

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject