The 9th Hour... (Phase 1: Sept-Oct Event)

[central_librarymods]

The cold presence is seeping in through the dark shadows. The darkness is reaching further, brushing the minds of the patrons and opening doors to dimensions that should not be open. Something wants in. But in the Central Library, there are ways to get through without crossing entirely… through your dreams. Among other things.

Pick one of the options below and make a post for other patrons to join you in the events. You may make up your own, but keep it matching the event at hand as the different phases of the event will progressively get worse.

1. Your dreams are getting dangerous, violent even. When you wake up, there are bruises and injuries that shouldn’t be there. What is going on? Why are your dreams becoming a reality little by little? And why is it getting so hard to wake up?


2. Things are shifting in the Library. The shadows are moving and the temperatures are starting to drop. There are cold spots that sometimes get colder and sometimes it feels like if you turn around, you’ll find someone right behind you.


3. The monsters are looking a bit more frantic and daring to come closer to the center of the Library where they normally will not tread. It seems you aren’t the only ones scared of the dark recesses any longer.


4. The Market is now a lovely little faire of the early Renaissance with all sorts of fresh grain, fruits and vegetables! It is a brilliant sight, but it seems the ominous plague masks they don still gives a foreboding feeling of the miasma that killed over two-thirds of the world’s population… Perhaps you shouldn’t wander very far.


5. New areas are now opened up. A blacksmith and workshop for the tinkers has been created. You might want to look or contribute... You might also want to stop in the new bath area. The large pool has a Grecian feel and all of the walls are made of crystalline glass where the stars are always shining with a different universe in constant succession.


6. Wild Card: Make up your own scenario. Just remember that all of the things above are happening. Things are getting foreboding and growing stronger by the day. Sleep will be a luxury you might not have… You may not see what’s coming, not yet. But you know it’s coming.

Comments

[dulcet_cellist]

"I told you...I like listening to you talk."

Sebastian had never liked blushing so easily. It made him feel vulnerable because it wasn't something he could control or hide. But he thought Alec looked handsome.

He wondered what it was about Magnus he was thinking to make him blush that way. Jack had made him blush so often he sometimes thought he'd never stop blushing.

Alec loved Magnus the way he loved Jack.

"You said there was poison and he saved you." He asked, finding it easier to look this time. And to touch. Fingertips lightly tracing outside the edge of one mark, careful and only for a moment. "Does it still hurt?"

[alec_lightwood]

"Listening to me talk is different than listening to me talk about Magnus."

Jace would have started making gagging noises by now and Izzy would be giving him amused looks. If he wasn't so happy with Magnus, it would worry Alec that he could go on and on about someone until it almost sounded like he was babbling. That was a little embarrassing considering how he'd told his siblings that he didn't understand how people could chatter endlessly on a topic. It turned out he could if the topic was a certain cat-eyed warlock.

They'd never let him live it down if they heard him now.

Even if Alec normally lacked tact, he shouldn't tell Sebastian what it was like. He didn't need to know how terrible the wound had been or how terrified he'd been of dying alone. "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have survived."

He managed to fight back a shiver when Sebastian touched him, his thoughts fading out for a second so he momentarily forgot what they'd been talking about. Wait. No. He was a Shadowhunter. He wasn't that easily distracted... unless there was a cat-eyed warlock around. "Uh - No?" That wasn't supposed to be a question. "It's mostly healed now. It was worse in the dream."

[dulcet_cellist]

If he were capable he would touch Alec again just to be sure of what he thought he caught in that moment. He would happily tease Jack about it if he could. He would happily tease Alec about it, too.

If he could.

"Healing on the outside isn't the same as healing on the inside."

He wasn't sure he'd ever heal. He had been healing. Had thought finally he was free to love Jack and be with him for the rest of his life. No more hiding. No more secrets. No more fear.

And then a few months later, after nearly four years, Jack was gone. Everything was gone. All that was left was a hole and he found himself wondering if having something and losing it was better or worse than never having it at all.

Because now there was this person who he found attractive and nice and warm. Someone who made him feel things again. Made him want things again.

Sebastian wasn't sure when it had happened, but when he blinked a few times to clear his vision his hand was pressed flat against Alec's chest.

Things he couldn't have and shouldn't want.

"I want to hear more about you and Magnus so don't worry about how much you talk about him."

[alec_lightwood]

It took a few seconds for Alec to catch up with what Sebastian said and what he'd meant. Not the claw marks but the underlying pain that they'd caused.

"Healing on the inside is going to take time. My family... What they did will take a long time to heal." If it ever did. He'd already forgiven Jace and he'd mostly forgiven his mother but Robert? His father had hurt Alec too often and too deeply over the years to allow him to easily forgive.

It surprised him that Sebastian had realized there was more to the wound than just cuts and poison. Magnus knew since he'd spent the night at his bedside but even Izzy, the only person in his family who had tried to stay with him, didn't realize how much that night had hurt him emotionally.

Memories faded as Sebastian touched one of the few places on his body that wasn't covered with marks. Knowing how Sebastian felt about Jack and how shy he seemed, Alec hadn't expected him to be that forward.

"Are you sure? My brother threatened to sell me to the goblins if I talked about him this much. And most people would be offended if I talked about Magnus while we were flirting." Which was something that Alec probably shouldn't say but it was something that probably needed to be dealt with.

[dulcet_cellist]

"I'm not offended." Sebastian pressed his hand more firmly against Alec's chest. He didn't want to stop touching him, but he knew he probably should."I know, without a doubt, how deeply you love Magnus."

He really should stop.

"Flirting is just...I know it's not serious."

A breath and he still couldn't move his hand. Alec was warm and real and right there. If he took his hand away... "I don't know how to heal."

[alec_lightwood]

Despite knowing the basics about dating and relationships, Alec really didn't know how to interpret the way Sebastian kept his hand on his chest. With anyone else, he'd figure it was a come on but he knew Sebastian was still trying to figure things out. "And I know how much you love Jack." Which was why he was being more careful that he had been with Magnus.

"I never figured out casual flirting. If I flirt with someone, I mean it." Maybe casual was what Sebastian needed. If it was, Alec could try but he knew that for him, feelings would be involved.

"Sometimes healing happens without us realizing it. We just wake up and realize it doesn't hurt as much." Alec hoped eventually it would happen for them both. It already had with his mother's actions but others would take longer... if they ever healed. "I had to accept myself, what I am, before I could really start to heal."

[dulcet_cellist]

Sebastian stared at where his hand was still pressed against Alec's chest. He ached. He missed Jack so very much right then. But he also really liked Alec. A lot.

"I don't think I know what I am anymore."

He really didn't. He thought he did. He thought he'd known all along. He thought he'd Been defiantly fighting against everything everyone ever said about him. And then he'd met Jack and his world had changed.

Standing here with Alec he felt like his world was changing again. It scared him. But not changing scared him more. He didn't want to be alone again. And he didn't want to be the person others had told him he was. He wanted to be the person Jack had fallen in love with. He wanted to be the person Alec thought was worth knowing.

He was worth knowing right? He was worth being noticed by someone as beautiful and open as Alec?

Sebastian took a quick breath in and felt his heart beat faster as he forced himself to look into Alec's eyes again.

"I never figured out casual flirting either. I don't do anything I don't mean. I'm a mess. And I am scared, Alec. Because I really like you. And I'm scared because you are warm and real and if I take my hand away...you won't be real anymore."

[alec_lightwood]

Alec understood not knowing who or what you were anymore. He'd felt that way when he'd been fighting against old traditions and the need to please his parents. Even after outing himself, he'd still struggled, trying to please everyone. It hadn't been until Magnus had almost died and they'd agreed to work on their relationship that Alec had finally let go of the past. "You're more than you think and you'll figure it out in time. I didn't know until a few weeks ago."

It felt like longer but stopping a couple apocalypses changed a person's perceptions of time.

"But I do know that you're more than you think you are. You're too hard on yourself." Alec had been too until he'd decided to focus on the present instead of what the future might bring.

Which might be why he was more open to the idea of having feelings for two people instead of the traditional 'one person only' situation. Sebastian was strong and alluring in a way that Alec hadn't expected when they'd first met. His heart was more accepting than anyone Alec had ever met, never looking at Alec or Magnus like they were something to be feared or hated.

He knew that Magnus liked Sebastian even if they hadn't officially met. If caring for both didn't hurt either, then why fight whatever was going on between them? He had the feeling that they'd be good for each other even if he wasn't sure he'd ever find the words to describe that theory.

"You might be a mess, but that's okay if you don't let it get the better of you. It's okay to be scared too. No one is every completely fearless." Unless a rune was involved but that wasn't important now. "I really like you too but I'm hoping that there's more to you liking me than me being real." It was okay if that was all it was. He understood the idea of rebound relationships but Alec would be more cautious of what happened between them.

"You don't have to move but I will still be here, be real, when you decide to take your hand away."

[dulcet_cellist]

"There is." It was important that Alec understood. Hazel eyes pleading and scared of saying the wrong thing. He'd never been very good expressing his feelings with words. Until Jack he'd spent most of his life keeping his thoughts and feelings mostly to himself. "I don't...touch people..."

How did he make what he was feeling make sense without Alec knowing why it was so hard?

"I don't touch people I don't like and it's not simply that I like you the way someone likes wheat bread more than white. You're direct and honest and sincere. And I'm really...stupid with...explaining things."

He really didn't want to cry again, but this was important and frustrating. It took a moment before something came to mind in all the jumbled thoughts and rising panic in his chest. He could mess this up completely and lose someone again if he didn't say or do something.

So he took his hand away from Alec's chest and carefully took Alec's hand in his own, pulling it to his own chest and holding it there over his heart. He spoke slowly, shakily.

"You said..you wouldn't survive if you lost Magnus. Imagine...that feeling is me. The one and only wonderful thing to happen to me my entire life is gone. So I died inside and it hurts and I miss him. Imagine that feeling and then one day, unexpectedly, I find myself talking to someone who makes me want to say things I couldn't say to anyone else. Someone who makes me want to smile and to laugh and to tease. Not because you make me want to be alive again. It's because you smile, too, Alec. You laugh and tease and...I...I just...I'm...I have the worst social skills ever so if at any point you want to tell me to shut up."

His heart was pounding so hard he was sure Alec could hear it over his babbling.

[alec_lightwood]

"You like me, like me." The words were spoken with a hint smile. He'd said something similar months ago and been accused of sounding like he was twelve. But it was an effective description and one that he hoped would ease Sebastian's fears. "And you aren't stupid with explaining things. This is... complicated."

There was so many feelings involved that it was impossible for any of this to be simple. Magnus, Jack... Not that this made either one of them love someone less. It was different and something he wouldn't have considered if he hadn't seen and spoke to Tessa. Read Magnus' stories about Alec's ancestor. He would have considered this as proof he didn't love Magnus enough but now he knew that those thoughts were untrue.

He saw the panic reflected in Sebastian's and he gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't ever be afraid of me, okay?" Alec knew that Sebastian wasn't really afraid of him but he couldn't say that Sebastian could say anything to him or promise not to react to something. He was too honest to make promise like that. "I'm not going to walk away because of something you saw now."

His expression turned to surprise when Sebastian rested his hand against his heart. As his friend spoke, Alec easily imagined that loss. He had almost lost Magnus. He had offered his life for Magnus' and given him what Alec had thought would be their last kiss. His heart had shattered and he knew that even if he'd still been physically alive after losing Magnus, he would have been dead inside. He'd come so close to losing the person he loved most...

That loss was reflected in his eyes, the hurt still not completely healed. "I know I never would have expected to feel that again. I'm glad that you feel that way about me. That you can say anything to me and I make you want to smile and tease. You deserve that and I know that he would want you to feel that again. If he truly loved you..." That was something that had taken Alec time to understand. "It would be selfish not to want someone you love to feel that. Not when it does't lessen the feelings you have for someone else."

Another reason why this wasn't weird to Alec. "You're social skills are fine and you don't need to shut up. This isn't exactly what people think of as normal. You make me smile and laugh. You're one of the few people I've met that I don't feel like I have to hide myself from." No matter how comfortable Alec might be with himself, he still had roles to play. Parabatai, brother, son, Shadowhunter. With Magnus and now Sebastian, he could let those expectations fall away. "I don't know what's going on between us but I know it isn't wrong. And it's not going to make me leave."

[dulcet_cellist]

Alec's words, his sincerity and direct honesty, touched Sebastian so deeply he placed both hands over Alec's and let the tears fall again. Not that he had any control over them. He never had. Unless he was closing himself off completely and he didn't want to do that. Not with Alec.

He nodded his understanding and acceptance, despite the nervous fear still lingering within. Everyone had left him. Slowly or in one sudden devastating blow, eventually they had left him. He had thought he never wanted to be close to anyone ever again.

But then he'd met Alec.

"I like you, like you." He repeated, smiling through warm tears that weren't full of heartbreak for the first time in a very long time. "I don't know...what this is either...I just know...no matter how scared I am, I don't want it to stop. I want to know you, Alec Lightwood."