fallingbackup | The time of our great undoing

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[fabulae_victoriana]

The time of our great undoing

When Kevin woke up alone for the first time in months, he knew almost immediately that Glen was gone. If he were still human, he'd have looked everywhere for the man until he'd at least tracked down one of his Chains, and gotten confirmation from them that he was no longer in the world with them. But as it was, he could smell that the very spot he was laying on was the spot where Glen's trail had gone cold. The duke had vanished from the bed they shared as the knight slept.

That was well over a week ago now and in his head, Kevin's been lost ever since. He's done the best he can to take over Glen's duties around the house, and the Jabberwock, for whatever reason, has let him do it. But no matter how he tells himself that he's only minding things until Glen returns, and that he will, the atmosphere in the house rankles against him. Young Gilbert doesn't accept him -- not like this. The little Lacie pities him for the depth of his sadness; Lottie scoffs at him for thinking he can even attempt to fill Glen's shoes, even if he knows perfectly well he's only providing a poor substitute. With every day that passes, he feels more and more withdrawn, and so, when he can, Kevin escapes. He can be found wandering the city, now and again, letting the noise of it drown out his own thoughts. Or he can be found patrolling the fences around the farmlands as usual, perhaps in the hopes that the familiar solitude of it will help keep him in his right mind. But the truth is that Kevin hasn't felt this out of place and unsettled in at least a year, since he'd come to live in Glen's house in the first place. He'd thought he was home at last, that he'd found a new family and even a little peace. Now, it seems that all of that peace was in Glen all along, and Kevin has no idea when or if the duke will return.

But the most upsetting part of it all is what he does know. If Glen has really gone home, he's no doubt living through the Tragedy. Right now, somewhere, Kevin's Oswald is staring at the man who's broken his heart, there are swords raised between them, and the duke is maybe just realizing that he's going to die on that blade because Jack Vessalius never did love him enough.

And Kevin can't do anything about it.

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The boarding house, when they reach it, is a perfectly reasonable looking bed and breakfast sort of a thing with a white picket fence surrounding it. The snow in the yard shows signs of having been played in, and no one passing by gives the place a second glance. It's smaller than the mansion was, and cozier, but as Gilbert will soon discover, it's bigger on the inside.

Kevin doesn't hesitate to walk right up to the door and barge inside, politely tapping the snow from his shoes before he steps inside. He lifts his head in the hallway, this time sniffing openly.

Gilbert follows, tapping his shoes off as well and shaking out his jacket before stepping inside. He turns towards Kevin to ask a question, but he's caught off guard by...whatever the man is doing. This is going to take some getting used to.

"What is it?"

"I haven't tracked down where Gilbertine's room is yet," the knight explains. "The funny-talking Break often sits in the common areas, though. I bet I could find him for you."

That Break passed by recently, in fact, on his way from the closest sitting room to somewhere else.

"N-no, I can go find them myself-!"

He knows that Kevin is used to doing this, but asking him to sniff out his friends feels like asking for too much. His hand reaches back up to grasp his shoulder.

By this time, Kevin is far more accustomed to the little Gilbert, and the boy's tendency to flap his hands at the idea of receiving help when he himself is capable even if it would make things easier for him. After a lot of dubious head tilting and private contemplation, Kevin has concluded that he just doesn't want to impose on people too much. An admirable quality, to be sure, and one which Kevin now ignores at his leisure.

This being the case, he says, "It'll only take a minute," and starts off down the hallway.

It would only take a minute to check through the rooms on the lower floors as well, but as Kevin has already started walking, it would be rude to rude to leave now. Bother.

So Gilbert keeps his hand grasping his empty sleeve and walks behind him, quickly looking into each room as they pass, if the doors are open. If they really are going to be stuck here a while, he should spend this evening after Gilbertine and the twins fall asleep memorizing where all of the different rooms are.

And hoping that they don't randomly change location as so many of the rooms in the mansion had.

Sure enough, Kevin picks up on his elder counterpart's scent somewhere around the staircase, and trails him to one of the quieter sitting rooms toward the back of the house. Being tucked out of the way, the room isn't used as often as the others, and Kevin himself had sat in it often when he and Glen still lived here. It doesn't really surprise him that another version of himself would know about it, and make use of it.

Quite suddenly, though, not far from it, Kevin stops in his tracks, looking surprised. His sensitive ears have picked up on something still a little too quiet for Gilbert to hear.

"...he sings?" the knight asks softly.

That's all the confirmation that Gilbert needs that this is the same man that he remembers. He smiles, a little fondly, and nods.

"Mmh. Songs from his world."

"...I've never --"

The knight glances between his friend and the door, suddenly looking self-conscious. He feels it. He'd started to say he's never really sang anything in his whole life. It's just never occurred to him to try. Not even hearing Lacie sing as she wanders the house; not even keeping Glen company, sitting in the window of the music room while the duke plays the piano. He's hearing his own voice in a brand new way now, and he isn't sure what to make of it.

Creeping silently forward, he pushes the door of the sitting room open just a little, enough that the older man's singing spills out into the hallway.

"The fire is dying now, my lamp is growing dim; the shades of night are lifting.
The morning light steals across my windowpane, where webs of snow are drifting.
If I could only have you near, to breathe a sigh or two,
I would be happy just to hold the hands I love on this winter's night with you --
And to be once again with you."

Kevin winces a little, suddenly getting the feeling that maybe Break understands him a little more than he'd like, too. Backing away, he jerks his head toward the door for Gilbert's benefit, keeping his eyes lowered.

"He has your daughter with him," he whispers.

He understands what Kevin is about to say, and so he gets the sudden hesitance to talk about it. So much about Break is already so different than Kevin, but add to that coming from another world and living a completely different life on top of it. It had been a terrible strain on Gilbert, living through so many other people's memories until he'd finally found his own, and discovered which of his alternate's pasts was actually his own.

But he still steps forward upon hearing Break's voice, ready to greet him, until he hears what else Kevin has to say. He freezes in place and pales. His children...how will Caroline be able to understand what's happened to him? Will she even remember him? Will she treat him like a stranger now?

He stares at the open door and lets Break's voice fill the silence on its own.

Kevin watches him hesitate, confused. Though he's known about them for some time, he's never acknowledged Gilbert's children in their father's presence before today; in fact, he didn't even find out about them through Gilbert himself. Even though he'd smelled the twins on him every time they'd crossed paths in the other world and Gilbert hadn't reacted badly to his mentioning them before, could it be he doesn't want to see them for some reason? Maybe Gilbert will be unhappy to find out that Kevin has met them now, too?

"Come in or go away, but stop creeping~" Break sings pleasantly from inside the room, causing Kevin to give the door a guilty look. Probably he's keeping his tone nice for the girl's benefit, but Kevin knows a thinly-veiled threat when he hears one.

Edited 2014-02-18 00:27 (UTC)

If he could find his voice he'd explain the situation, but it looks like they're both caught. He winces and steps forward, mouthing a very quiet, "thank you," to Kevin as he walks past. As soon as he's settled, he'll have to find the man again, thank him properly and inquire on a patrol schedule that they might be able to work out.

For now, though, he's got more people to greet.

Break, meanwhile, waits patiently inside, half his attention on the door and the other half on Caroline. She's been grumbly lately, fussing in the night often, and that's why Break has her now -- he's giving her mother and twin a chance to nap a little, and catch up on their rest. Like most everyone else who cares for Xerxes Break, Caroline is as indignant about his general existence as always, but it would irritate her even more if the familiar presence she's come to expect was not there. To that end, she's willing to cling to him, so long as he sings pretty and lets her chew on his hair. She rests with her head on his shoulder at the moment, the end of his ponytail in her mouth.

Then Gilbert walks in, Break stops the little swaying dance he was doing to soothe her, and Caroline comes alive, shrieking for her father. Whether she's happy about him or not is debatable, but she certainly wants him, sitting up in Break's arms with her own outstretched to Gil, leaning so far that Break is obliged to lean back to keep them both from overbalancing.

Break sighs in relief, eye closing, blocking out everything but the sounds of the child in his arms expressing her opinions. Good. Very good.

Gilbert watches Break's reaction from the doorway, eyes darting between him and Caroline. He looks tired, shaken, he's mussed and damp and decidedly out of his element. But seeing his child reach for him, he finally finds the courage to step forward and reach out his one hand for her. He doesn't offer to take her from Break's arms, he only lets her grasp his finger and jerk it back and forth in fussy frustration.

"Sorry, Break. I was late again."

"I'll say you were. And I see you didn't even have the decency to stop at Starbuck's on the way."

This homeworld joke of his that Gilbert won't even understand is about all the energy Break has for pretending he doesn't really care. With another sigh, Break closes the distance between them, allowing Caroline to latch her little hands on to Gil's shoulders with a gurgling coo. Shifting her easily to one arm, Break reaches out to lift Gilbert's empty sleeve, feeling it thoughtfully.

"But you've been busy in the meantime, haven't you."

Maybe Starbucks is a Thing in this world. He makes a note to ask someone later where he can find it. It does sound familiar, now that he thinks about it...

(Frappuccinos with impenetrable perforated plastic.)

It's still tough to tell if Caroline is pleased or angry with her father and she slams her tiny hands into his shoulder muttering "da da da da da da!" but Gilbert is taking it as the scolding that he deserves for taking so long to get back here.

"...A lot of things happened. I remember everything now."

"Do you? You've a bit more direction then now, I hope."

He would dearly love to know, of course, just what happened to Gilbert's arm. Unlike his younger counterpart -- who was too preoccupied to wonder long, and too considerate anyway to pry into Gilbert's affairs if he wasn't going to offer the explanation on his own -- Break likes to know exactly what sort of trouble his young people are getting into. But just now, it must be said, his concern is fighting a losing battle with relief.

A lot of things happened. But Gilbert is standing here in front of him now, and really, that's probably enough.

"You could say that."

It might be a strange sight to see a man smile after saying such a thing, but he does. The loss of the limb was clearly an important part of learning that direction, and it's obvious that he doesn't find it a burden at all. Except, of course, in this case where he feels unable to take his own child into his grasp for fear of losing his balance. He gestures towards the couch with his head.

"Let's sit down. Where's Gilbertine?"

"Napping wiv Edgar. Little Miss here is sprouting anovver toof, we fink. She's been up a lot at night."

Break lets Gilbert sit first, so he can put Caroline in his lap for him. The girl is making a wide variety of burbling noises now, clearly ranting in her little baby way. But once she has her father in her clutches as desired, she immediately leans against his shoulder and stuffs the end of his cravat in her mouth.

This seems to pacify her for the moment. Papa's cravat is far superior to Uncle Rake's ponytail. B(

"Good place to be stuck if we're gonna be stuck anywhere, though," Break adds. Relieved of his tiny rage-filled burden, he flops down next to Gilbert, going so far as to lean against his other shoulder. Kevin isn't the only cuddly Break-shaped creature around and this one is without his husband and lover from the last world, with only his tiny not-grandkids for snuggles. "The boarding house is safe. I've not really found anyfing here to worry about properly."

He's quick to wrap his arm all the way around his little girl and let her fuss all she likes. The cravat probably isn't the cleanest thing in the world right now...not after the trip beneath Lutwidge and the journey to Sablier that took place right afterwards. But she's a Baskerville too; her body can deal with a little dirt for the sake of calming her gums.

Gilbert glances down at Break as he leans against his other shoulder, the one that has finally stopped aching. He can't imagine that it's very comfortable to lean on, but Break doesn't seem to be complaining.

"No one from the city has ever broken in? Caused any trouble?"

"There were clockwork zombie monsters last month. Swarmed the city, but they couldn't come past the fence," Break says quietly, to provide an example with his explanation. "So long as you can get to the boarding house, you'll be safe, I fink. And, there's a Shelly here wiv an Eques. I'd make friends, if I were you."

A pause.

"She's got a proper Break what lives wiv her, one from a world like yours. So, I imagine he'll be looking out for you."

Zombie monsters. Well. That sounds promising.

Gilbert is frowning by the time Break is done speaking, but hearing that there's a Break who knows Shelly snaps him back into reality.

"Break is here?"

They haven't spoken much, not since everything had happened. In between Break, Miss Sheryl and Sharon arriving back from Pandora and almost immediately leaving again for Sablier, there hadn't been much time for a heart to heart discussion. Maybe now they'd finally have the chance.

"Mm. I don't know much about him. He and Shelly are literally attached at the hip, so I've let them be."

Let's play "Will Gilbert Finally Get the Innuendo" again. If he's figured out all that much since he's been home, maybe he'll finally catch this, too.

Gilbert has learned a good deal since being home, but this is another one of those things that goes right over his head, flies out the window and lands on Mars.

"I was just with him..."

He sighs, and Caroline tugs away at his cravat.

"At Sablier."

"...I'm not sure if this one can see or not," Break admits, hearing the unspoken question even if he doesn't know the significance of where they were in the old world at any given time. "Even I can't tell wivout getting close."

He's harder to fool now than he was when the first Break pulled it on him, but still.

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