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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 27, 2010 17:26:03 GMT -5
The first part of the tour consisted of a number of small islands with various shrines, colonies, battle sites, and modern historical sites. Outside of Notos' continued insistence that every statue with wings was "a me", and having at least once tried to smuggle an angel from a churchyard onto the ferry to take with him, it was essentially uneventful.
The last isle before Lesbos was a tiny little thing with a small informal rest area, a place to walk around, and a caretaker to clean up after the inevitable damage groups caused tromping around. It was supposedly a little famous for something about hordes of crabs and some other interesting wildlife; but mostly, they were there for the chance to let out some energy and do something that was more vacation-y than academic before sitting down to brunch.
Alex was not terribly fond of the idea of walking by a beach covered in crabs, but the rest seemed fun enough.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 27, 2010 18:32:33 GMT -5
Hitoshi pulled his headphones down around his neck and looked out over the island. It was a nice little place, and the cool breeze off of the ocean at least kept the temperature mostly bearable. He still wasn't fond of the humidity, but it was a bit better here than it was back at Thessaloniki, if nothing else.
Hitoshi switched his iPod off and pulled his hair from under his headphones. "Where to?" He smirked back at Alex.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 27, 2010 18:57:40 GMT -5
Alex smiled at Hitoshi. "Anywhere that isn't on water sounds good to me; I think I'll be sick of it by the end of the day. There's a path around back that seems to go through a bunch of olive trees; why don't we see if there's anything fun that way? I'm sure we can be back before we have to leave."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 27, 2010 20:04:56 GMT -5
Hitoshi nodded. "If nothing else, the scenery is nice, and I'm starting to feel a bit claustrophobic surrounded by so many people."
He shifted his backpack slightly and winced. Hitoshi had, quite stupidly, in the process of helping Alex with his sunscreen, forgotten to do anything for himself. And after several hours of being in the hot sun, a decent bit of which was spent in the water, Hitoshi had managed to sear his back and shoulders rather thoroughly, as well as part of his chest. He'd been slightly red the night before; now, the slightly movement of his arms in the wrong direction made him feel like there as a small animal gnawing on him from the inside. Fucking sun.
Hitoshi slipped his hand into Alex's and headed down the path.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 27, 2010 21:36:01 GMT -5
Alex frowned. "Do you want me to carry that? I'm sorry." He felt bad for (1) not making Hitoshi put sunscreen on, (2) not noticing his sunburn, (3) not being able to continue furiously making out with Hitoshi the moment they were alone again due to the sunburn, and (4) not having yet found a good way to ask if Hitoshi wanted help with applying aloe.
The scenery was pretty, though. Bright sun, golden fields, a horde of twisty little trees leading off between small hills in the near distance...
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 27, 2010 22:26:53 GMT -5
Hitoshi hesitated for a second, then handed his bag off to Alex. He wasn't sure how he felt about his boyfriend carrying his things for him, but given the circumstances, he couldn't complain much. Being burned to a crisp above the waist also meant that making out with Alex was going to cause him severe discomfort. Unless Alex decided to instead start touching places that wouldn't be terribly painful, which...would probably end in a different sort of discomfort, ending in Hitoshi taking a very cold shower.
Something suddenly shifted around them. It wasn't quite perceptible -- a strange scent, a flavor that stuck at the back of his throat, vaguely like olive oil and...something else. Hitoshi licked his lips.
"Alex, did you feel that?" he asked quietly, peering back at the other boy.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 27, 2010 23:32:35 GMT -5
Alex was looking through the trees. He glanced at Hitoshi. "I hear... singing? Or are those just high pipes?"
"Oh, no, that's... what is that?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 27, 2010 23:47:22 GMT -5
"Magic," Hitoshi murmured. "There's something here."
Something tickled against his arms, like walking through cobwebs. The air felt sticky, and for a moment, Hitoshi thought something might have been trying to keep him out -- and then, suddenly, he slipped through. It was the same feeling as entering Dunehelden: the feeling of sliding through the wards.
"It's warded, which means there's definitely something here." Hitoshi glanced back at Alex. "I wonder, though...is it warded to keep something out, or to keep something in?"
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 28, 2010 0:04:44 GMT -5
Alex looked around. "This sounds like a really bad idea, but maybe we should check it out."
He stepped forward to follow Hitoshi, then pushed his hair back behind his ears and listened to the world around him.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 28, 2010 0:31:33 GMT -5
Hitoshi breathed in deeply the scent of the world around him, the fragrant aroma of the world around them washing over him -- the scent of fresh mint and vanilla hitting him first, followed by the warm, soft fragrance of ginger and cinnamon, fresh pastries, and rising dough.
Whatever magic was here -- and whatever it was, Hitoshi couldn't place it -- he doubted anything that pleasant was something to worry about.
The scents seemed to be coming from deeper in the island -- scents that reminded him of his mother's cooking, of his childhood, and of home. His hand tightened in Alex, and he led them further through the island.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 28, 2010 0:36:57 GMT -5
Alex kept close to Hitoshi, the spark of worry that this might be some sort of... siren, or... something being drowned out by the sound of soft piping and the scent of baking bread. He pulled his hand out of the other boy's and wrapped it around his waist gently.
"Mm. Beautiful." For a moment, he wasn't sure whether he was talking about the scenery or his boyfriend.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 28, 2010 0:46:34 GMT -5
Hitoshi blinked at Alex, and suddenly felt just a little lightheaded. "Yeah," he murmured. "Yeah, it is."
Hitoshi leaned in and pulled Alex close, one hand one Alex's waist, and the other moving to the back of his neck. The skin along his arm and back was tight and burning from the movement, but it was much harder to care when he felt just how soft Alex's lips were against his own.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 28, 2010 0:51:26 GMT -5
Alex leaned in and carefully tugged Hitoshi a little closer, wondering just how much of him wasn't burnt.
"Mm. Is this strange," he murmured between kisses, "or just the- inevitable result of the past few days?"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 28, 2010 19:24:30 GMT -5
Hitoshi dipped down and placed a trail of kisses from Alex's ear down the side of his neck. He really should have been a bit more worried, really, between the strange wards and just how terribly inviting the place seemed, but he wasn't really in any sort of mindset to judge whether or not it was in any way unusual just how much he wanted to push Alex to the ground and start removing every obstacle in the way of bare skin, and at the moment, he wasn't terribly inclined to care.
Hitoshi slipped one hand under Alex's shirt and ran his fingers gently over the other boy's back. "I'm not sure I'm in any mindset to judge," he murmured.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 28, 2010 20:14:27 GMT -5
Alex squeezed Hitoshi close and dropped the backpacks to the ground. He brushed a finger over Hitoshi's lips, debating with himself what to do.
"There are so many things I want to do, but... this... no. We should check out what's going on here." He kissed the other boy softly. "And then if it's safe, we can, uhm. Decide whether you think we're alone enough to..."
He tried to convey that he was rapidly slipping away from any desire for propriety, and just ended up with his hands on Hitoshi's hips, kissing him again.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 28, 2010 21:24:46 GMT -5
Continuing to kiss Alex seemed like a remarkably good idea at the time, but... Alex did have a point. Strange, magical, wherever the fuck they were... They should probably try to figure out what was going on. And make sure they weren't trapped inside it -- though Hitoshi could think of many worse things than being trapped inside a magical paradise alone with Alex.
Hitoshi pulled back after a moment and sighed. Stupid fucking...maybe they could lock Professor Yogo out of the room later.
"Yeah," he murmured. "Later." Hitoshi licked his lips and looked away, his face slightly red. "If. Um. If you get tired of me doing things like that..."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 28, 2010 21:30:12 GMT -5
"Oh god no." Alex made an embarrassed face, crossing his arms over his chest. "I- I'm just worried about. Not stopping. On my part."
He looked away from Hitoshi's face and picked up what he'd dropped awkwardly. "Ah. Let's keep going, if we're going."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 28, 2010 22:16:42 GMT -5
Hitoshi tried not to smile too much and slipped his hand back into Alex's. "Let's just...keep an eye out for anything strange, I suppose."
Hitoshi headed deeper through the island, toward the soft scents of home.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 28, 2010 23:21:56 GMT -5
A little farther between the trees, things got a little wavery. Things were still clearly visible, but the air shifted, and the feeling of magic was almost solid.
There was something in the distance- a hill, with some kind of rock or structure on it. Alex made a strange noise and continued forward.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 29, 2010 22:44:05 GMT -5
Hitoshi's hand tightened in Alex's. It occurred to him, as they neared the structure, that he was fairly certain he had been here before, though he had never even been on the same continent until now.
The entire thing was carved from marble and looked very much like something he would expect to see painted on a Grecian vase. There were no walls, no doors. Only a large, circular structure consisting mostly of columns. And though it was difficult to tell from the outside, it looked to Hitoshi like the columns spiraled inward -- which meant that there was most likely something worth seeing at the center.
They made their way to the top of the hill with little difficulty. It was the only place that rose above the trees, and as far as they could see, there was nothing else. It really should have worried Hitoshi, at least a little, but given...
Hitoshi's hands brushed over the smooth marble of the first column. Intricate scenes curled around the columns, but the first one wasn't quite finished. The scenes only went a little less than a quarter of the way down the column, and looked almost like it had been stopped mid-scene. The last of the carvings were just barely within his reach, and he couldn't quite make out the details, but he could see enough to guess what was there.
Golden lines shimmered out from the last scene for a brief moment, then faded away, leaving new carvings in their place. There was a large building made of columns, and in front of it, two small shapes.
"It looks a lot different than the last time we were here, doesn't it?" Hitoshi murmured.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 29, 2010 23:32:08 GMT -5
Alex's eyebrow twitched, and he stepped away from Hitoshi. This was too much. Way, way too much...
He slowly collapsed to his knees, holding his head in his hands, and tried to breathe through the sensations of guilt and foreboding that had been threatening to return the moment he began to remember the truth.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 30, 2010 0:16:37 GMT -5
"Alex...?" Hitoshi's eyes widened slightly behind his glasses, and he dropped to the ground beside the other boy. He wrapped his arms tightly around Alex and pulled him against his chest.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 30, 2010 0:20:17 GMT -5
Alex pushed Hitoshi away and tried to rub away the tears starting to form in his eyes.
"This is my fault. Damnit..." He sniffed. "It's my fucking fault, and it's going to get worse now. I'm sorry. You should never have been involved."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jul 30, 2010 0:38:50 GMT -5
Hitoshi winced, and for a moment looked rather pained. "Damn it, you..."
Hitoshi pulled Alex's arm gently away from his face, looking him in the eyes. "Stop acting like I didn't have a choice in this," he said firmly. "You're not going to pile all the blame on yourself. I had just as much of a choice then as I do now." Hitoshi grabbed Alex by the arms and pulled him close. "Now, stop trying to push me away."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jul 30, 2010 0:58:41 GMT -5
Alex sighed and squeezed Hitoshi. "R-right." His fingers wound through Hitoshi's hair. "We've had that conversation before too, haven't we."
"It's... like looking into a hall of mirrors," he said softly into the other boy's shoulder, "except every mirror is another hall of mirrors, and nothing... is... linear or-"
His voice broke, and the spell over his senses shattered, reforming into an impromptu shield of glass shards. "I can see- hear, think- it's like my magic is reflected back in on itself over and over and over every time I try to think about it. Either this is reacting really strangely, or I'm doing something stupid without meaning to."
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