tampered | Look at this photograph

Look at this photograph

When; Wednesday, April 24
Rating; PG - Warnings for blood
Characters; Jem Carstairs & Clary Fary
Summary; Jem finds one of Clary's photographs and she learns a secret in return
Log;

The coloured picture that plaster itself against his window is enough to make Jem rise from his bed. He recognises the two people in the picture - Jace and Clary. He moves to put it into his pocket to return to them later, that is until he sees the angel they are crouching beside. Jem's intake of breath ends in a cough.

The photo was something that wants to discuss with her. While he had an idea of how to call out to someone with the device, he wasn't exactly skilled at making sure he reached the right person. 'It is better to do it in person,' he thinks.

It is half an hour before Jem manages to stir himself and go out the door. His skin in paler than it had been and he's added extra layers despite the spring temperatures. He leans heavily on his cane on the way but quickly straightens as he knocks on her door.

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He can probably hear her coming to the door of the apartment. Mostly because she's not quiet and she's laughing as she opens it.

"You can't have forgotten your key ag -- Jem."

It's a surprise to see him but a pleasant one, and her smile widens even as her eyes search his face. He doesn't look well, leaning heavier and pale and she wonders if it's a war wound or something that means he has to have a cane, "Are you okay?"

Leave it to her to blurt it out - blushing. "Sorry, come in, come in."

"Hello. How are you Clary?"

Jem is used to smoothing the details of his illness over and smiles. "It is nothing," he murmurs as he steps through the door.

"The appearance of the photographs is more interesting than me."

"I'm good."

The apartment is tidy mostly because Clary and Mae can't live in mess. The only thing out are her sketchbooks where she'd been drawing. Today she's in jeans and a hoodie and her hair is pinned up.

"Pictures? What pictures? Can I get you anything?"

Jem takes a seat without being invited and leans his tired body into the cushions. These modern seats were surprisingly comfy. He's wearing a shirt with a jumper over it and tugs at the leaves once he is settled.

"Could I trouble you for a water?" he requests as he lays the picture down beside one of her sketchbooks. He casts an admiring eye over what he can see."

"Sure."

Clary practically bounces to the kitchen to get it for him, simply because he seems unwell and she wants to help out. When she comes back she's carrying a glass with ducks on it - one she bought to tease Jace with - smiling as she passes it to him, taking a seat.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Jem turns the glass, examining the ducks. There is a laugh bubbling up in him at a memory. "I am alright. Will would not be alright if he was here, he has a fear of ducks."

"Really?"

Her eyes are alight with her own amusement. "Jace too. He doesn't trust them at all."

"Does he think they are cannibals?" Jem has to ask. "Or does he some other mysterious reason for disliking them?"

"He never said, he just thinks they're shifty."

A grin, "They're like really weird kindred spirits."

"They are." Jem wonders how far it goes. "Does Jace have a great appetite for reading too?"

"He really does. Though I think he hides it, reading isn't cool."

Jem tilts his head on one side. "Times have changed a great deal. Will was at liberty to mock those who were not well read."

"Jace pretty much mocks everyone for whatever reason he can come up with."

Pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. "I thought it was a Shadowhunter thing but you're not cruel at all."

"Will does the same thing," Jem says and adds more gently, "It isn't cruelty Clary. They would have no capacity for love if they did it out of spite. They do it to protect themselves and the people around them."

"Huh. Maybe you're my kindred spirit."

Because she's thought the same thing about Jace before. Shaking it off, she smiles again, "You said something about a picture?"

Jem smiles at the idea, Clary had a sweet nature.

He leans forward and offers the picture to her. "Here. I must admit I am curious to hear the story behind it."

Her hands still against the picture, the colour draining out of her face. The angel blurs out mostly everything but her fingers trace the blur of Jace's body on the sand. She sees herself and she thinks of how scared she had been, how desperate.

"Ithuriel."

A pause, a hum, "I ... don't really know how to explain it."

Jem touches a hand to her shoulder. "I am sorry," he says softly, "I didn't mean to cause you distress."

Like every Shadowhunter, he knew the legend. Jem knew Will would have tried to act on it and grant Jem his health if there had been a chance to find the mirror.

"It is not easy to believe this is real."

She offers him a tiny smile.

"Unfortunately it is. All of them are. Valentine was trying to find them and use them for his nefarious scheming."

"There is always someone who will try to corrupt what is good and beatiful." He remembers this quote from a book, Will had read to him, during a time he couldn't rise from his bed.

For a moment his heart hammers. What if he asked Clary how to find them and he found a way to carry the knowledge home? He could use one wish, to put an end to Mortmain and save his family.

The thought died with a cough that splatters blood onto his hand. It was a pointless wish.

"Oh."

That is panic in Clary's voice, worry as she reaches to the coffee table and grabs the box of tissues. "Here. Oh god, are you okay?"

Jem is incapable of answering her for a moment as his thin hands grasp the tissue and he continues to cough. The coughs have been getting worse since their trip on the ship and his supply of the Yin Fen has run out.

"It will pass," he murmurs, unaware of how much time passes before he finds his voice again.

"What's wrong? Do you need me to fetch you a doctor or something?"

She hovers beside him, worry etched into her face, a hand on his shoulder.

"A doctor can't help." A shiver runs through Jem's body, he's so cold. He has to survive; he cannot take the risk he will show up dead at home. "I ...need something to take the edge off it."

He has no idea that he will sound like a drug additct. "Are there any opium dens here?"

"I ...," She frowns. Of course drugs were kind of more accessible back in his dead and she knows people who take them even now. But an opium den?

"I don't know, maybe in the Underground? They have all sorts down there but there are monsters --."

He's a Shadowhunter, "We could check down there."

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