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[personal profile] finch
Notes: Now here's something a little... okay, maybe a lot experimental? It was loosely inspired by this card draw: A saturation in the form of a card reading using a divination deck that exists in-universe. (It also exists here, in that I got a bunch of cards printed off and am teaching myself meanings for them. If you're into that kind of thing, let me know, I'm happy to try reading for other people with it.) Each section starts with the the name and meaning of the position, then the name of the card drawn, the prompt associated with it, the reader's statement of interpretation to Robin, and then a brief scene illustrating what's being discussed. Probably overcomplicated. I'm posting anyway!

What can the cards tell you, boy? )
finch: (Lost: Jian)
[personal profile] finch

“Robin, can you come here a moment? I need to ask you something.”

“Sure,” I replied, setting down the soldering iron and walking out into the living room. “What do you nee-Jesus Christ, are those leather pants?”

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Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.

finch: (responsible adult)
[personal profile] finch

I was about to run down to the electronics store for parts, but my new skateboard wasn’t where I’d left it by the door. I’d only had the thing for a week or two, in the hope of getting back in the habit of riding before the summer got hot.

A quick look around the apartment and I found it on the kitchen table, where Jian was apparently studying it.

I watched him poke at the wheels for a minute before interrupting. “Are you done with that?”

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Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.

finch: (Lost: Jian)
[personal profile] finch
It had been a long day of dealing with Dr. Sharpe, and then with Melanie on the way out. I decided to walk home in an effort to clear my head, but the only thing that sank in was how miserable walking home by myself was.

How long did I have before Melanie went ballistic and said something? Or before Dr. Sharpe figured out why Melanie was interested in me? How long could I pretend to be a functional adult? Because I sure wasn’t feeling like one.

When I finally got to my apartment, I kicked off my shoes and flopped onto the pull-out bed. I stared at the wall for fifteen or twenty minutes, hoping I could fall asleep and forget it.

finch: (Lost: Robin drawn)
[personal profile] finch

For once in my life, it was Jian who found me. It was his touch that was almost desperate, his fingers reaching out for my skin. In this case, well, they mostly found gauze bandage, but I recognized it when I saw it.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you come here?” I meant, to me. But I gestured uselessly at the hospital room anyway, as if I thought the scenery might be what had drawn him. It wasn’t bad as hospital rooms went; I’d certainly been in worse. But the view from a bed where you’re practically tied down by IVs and other tubes is never a scenic one.

“If you would prefer me to leave, Blaser, that can be arranged.”

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Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.

finch: (Lost: Jian drawn)
[personal profile] finch

I wouldn’t have asked him. Never. I didn’t even think it was possible. I assumed, instead, that he would ask me to join him.

If he’d asked me right away I would have said yes without hesitation. As I studied with him, I started to waver. Buddhism was not easy for me to grasp, but even I could understand that immortality was right out unless you were enlightened and hanging around to help other people, and I was not the bodhisattva type.

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Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.

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21/8/12 00:18
finch: (Lost: Robin & Jian)
[personal profile] finch

I sneezed, dropping my screwdriver again and sending the tiny screws rolling across the tabletop. I sighed.

“百岁,” Jian said from the other side of the apartment.

“Sorry,” I answered automatically as I tried to gather up the screws. I just wanted to get the plate back on the robot before I managed to drop it or sneeze inside it or something and do even more damage.

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Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.

finch: (Lost: Jian)
[personal profile] finch

I didn’t tell him what I’d been up to. If Jian had noticed the phone calls and the disappearing act for an hour or two every few days, he didn’t say anything. I hoped my boyfriend didn’t suspect something sinister.

“I want to show you something,” I finally told Jian over the phone. I knew Jian was between classes and wouldn’t have time to argue. “I’ll meet you on campus at noon, after your classes, alright?” Jian agreed, and I could hear the curiosity in his voice.

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Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.

finch: (Lost: Robin & Jian)
[personal profile] finch

“Immortality, boy. Think about it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why does everyone keep offering me that?”

“Because you took it, once.” I knew my own voice; I didn’t need to turn to know Norton was there.

“No, I’m pretty sure I’d remember that.”

“You wouldn’t. But I would.”

“God, I hate you and your all-knowing cryptic answers. Are you sure you’re not my externalized self-loathing?”

“Yes.” I waited for the sarcastic comment, but instead Norton turned to Taatich Ihk’al Chenek. “And you are even more of an idiot than I remember if you haven’t figured out what to offer him.”

Chenek stared at him. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“I took immortality because I had something to prove. Someone to impress. But he has something altogether different.”

“I know you like ruining my life,” I interrupted, “but could you please not encourage the evil overlord-wannabe?”

“He has someone to protect.”

“Stop helping,” I hissed.

“Who, Jian?” Chenek sniffed. “He thinks he’s going to protect the dragon?”

Norton walked past me, toward the shriveled god. “Oh, hadn’t you heard? Jian’s taken care of that pesky immortality issue.” As he paused before his next snide comment, I stepped up beside him and punched him in the side of his head.

“Stop ignoring me, jackass,” I told him. “Ignoring yourself never ends well. You taught me that.”

Norton glared at me, but Chenek was laughing now, a choking noise. “No, he didn’t. He did, didn’t he? And for you? The idiot.”

“Hey,” I complained.

“Nothing personal,” Chenek insisted. “But he has a lot of enemies who would be fighting each other just to get near him.”

“Yeah, well, anyone who wants to hurt him is going to have a hell of a fight.”

“From you? Maybe you should consider my offer, boy, it’d give you a leg up.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want immortality, and I don’t want power. As far as old enemies are concerned, we’ll worry about them as they come.”

“Maybe you’ll see me again when they come,” Chenek said, and I think he was trying to smile.

“Yeah, I hope not,” I told him, and turned to leave.

Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.

finch: (Lost: Robin & Jian)
[personal profile] finch
This entry is part 12 of 12 in the series StoryADay '12

It was weeks before I realized something was weird. Jian has always been bigger than me. If you asked me when I was fourteen, I would have told you he was ten feet tall and even bigger in dragon form. When he entered even the largest room in his lair, I felt his presence. He filled rooms.

And then one day as he berated me for messing up something with one of my projects, I looked at the ground and noticed he was levitating.

I looked back up at him.

“Jian?”

I’d interrupted him, of course. He paused, probably out of irritation.

“Why are you floating?”

“I do as I please, Blaser, and it’s none of your-”

“Am I taller than you?”

“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer.”

“I am! Jesus Christ, Jian, when did I get taller than you?”

“Late puberty, presumably.”

“Ha ha… wait, you mean you’ve been floating ever since I got back here?”

Jian just smirked. “You really could stand to be somewhat more observant.”

That night in bed, for the first time, I wound up laying on the mattress with him sprawled across my chest, his face buried in my neck. Somehow my calling attention to it had made it okay.

I didn’t ask. I didn’t want to jinx it.

It wasn’t as if the height difference really mattered; I still looked up to him in every way but the literal. He could kick my ass or snap my neck if he wanted to, but he still didn’t want to.

Nonetheless, as we laid there, as his breath softened into sleep and he curled up against my chest, I was suddenly keenly aware of the inches I’d gotten taller, the sudden broadness of my shoulders, the fact that I had a man’s body now and not a boy’s.

And Jian… Jian would always be eighteen, even though he’d been on the planet a hundred years and change.

For the first time, I thought I knew what it meant to feel old.

Mirrored from Jack-a-dreams.