[It's been almost a week since anyone heard from June and Tristan has been quietly frantic. Doing anything to keep himself occupied. So maybe it's no surprise that he is doing housework. Cleaning up his own room, sorting everything he didn't normally sort through. Which is why, when organizing his small desk, the thing that clatters to the floor from between his ledger and diary and some loose papers--he mistakes it for a pen, glancing down to see where it'd fallen with slight exasperation. Freezing when he sees what it is.]
[He knows very well the pretty, decorative hair clasp that is on his floor. It belongs to the girl he was worrying about. He'd given it to her half a year ago, at a winter festival. A rare frivolity. She'd worn it constantly since. The little pink flowers were like spring, he'd told her, like her.]
[They are stained red on his floor, only some of the pink visible. He tosses the books aside, kneels to pick up the item, trembling. If he could but cast a single simple spell, the most basic cantrip, he could find the owner, her blood on it, but why was it in his room? His desk?]
[He doesn't want to think of it. But only one person would have, could have, put it there. But why? An explanation, surely there is one. His voice is unsteady as he calls for his brother, high pitched with emotion. Maybe this is a tasteless prank, that could be it. Horrid, but what else would it be, really? Right? Ariel's a childish brat, but he should know better.]
[He's knows exactly what's going on the moment he hears the tone of Tristan's voice. Honestly, he's surprised it took him this long to find it. It's a little lazy of him to accept a disappearance so easily, after being so sure the girl wouldn't leave him.
But the evidence has been uncovered now, and Ariel can't wait to see the result. He's made a clear statement. His will won't be ignored -- what he wants is the only thing that really matters in this house.
As such, he doesn't bother to get up and go into his brother's room. He just stays where he is, lounging in a chair in the main room with a plate of cookies and a book. Tristan can come to him.]
[The thing is. Tristan does come to him. He gets up off the floor, shaken, but it's. It can't be what it looks like because his brother isn't like that (why is he even entertaining the thought because his gut and instincts and things he's ignored scream that it's more than possible it's not true). He shakes it off and walks out, actually annoyed, this isn't a laughing matter, Ariel's a brat but he should know when things are serious.]
[He leans over Ariel's chair, takes the plate of cookies with his free hand and shoves it on the table, holding the clasp in front of Ariel's face.]
[He has no intention of hiding it. After all, he gave more than enough warning. But really, does Tristan think it's a bad joke? Does he really have that much faith in him? What a stupid, naive, fool.
Still, his smile remains genuine and pleasant. He's nothing but pleased at his disposal of that "problem" and and delighted at the prospect of showing his cute big brother the reality he's denied.]
I told you she'd be gone eventually, one way or another.
[ Someone is totally infringing on his kouhai's personal space and lounging in your kitchen, leaning back lazily on a chair and with a book on his face. ]
[Tristan was shopping. And Ariel is out doing god knows what. Tristan doesn't ask. Or Ariel should have been out. Seeing his brother's partner at their kitchen table makes his jaw clench, fear in his heart. He's seen the way Ariel looks sometimes, a little interested, and he wants this man to go away before a little becomes a lot.]
How did you get in?
[It's not a friendly greeting as he slams the door closed with a foot and sets his groceries on the counter.]
[It's been over a month since Ariel's arrest and for the time being Tris has been living with Jupiter. It's an odd arrangement, Tristan wakes up most nights confused about why he's alone, expecting to find his brother with him. Sometimes that's what he wants to find--that it's all been a dream and things are... Normal. Other times he's so relieved to realize he's in a strange bed in a strange house living with someone he's fairly sure will never hurt him makes him sink under his pillows and cry in quiet relief.]
[During the day he keeps busy as he can. And the evenings he helps with Jupiter's work, listening to his latest case or making him sort of decent food. Most weekends he drags Jupiter out to do something, listen to music, or watch a play, or visit a gallery, or see dancing. They're back from the opera tonight, Tristan taking off his scarf and coat and hanging them up as they come in the door.]
[Normally he'd be excitedly discussing the compositions, the music, the voices, but tonight he's been quiet since about halfway back from the opera house, when a passing stranger who looked like his brother caught his eye and stole the breath from his lungs for a moment. It wasn't Ariel, but he felt his chest tighten like it was, terrified things were about to end, and after--after he'd just let Jupiter talk. Hadn't really listened, lost in his own thoughts.]
[ Living together has been an interesting experience, to say the least. Jupiter found himself going out far more than what he was used to-- usually he only left home for work or to visit his own family, then came back and read a good book before drifting off to sleep. But he felt that didn't have much of a choice, when Tris didn't have anyone else and he was responsible for it. And it's not like he didn't have the space. ]
[ Besides... it's been interesting. The arts was never a world that felt open to Jupiter, and with Tris having much more freedom to be himself, all of a sudden Jupiter found himself immersed in it for Tris's sake. He didn't find himself protesting though-- if anything, he enjoyed how passionate Tris found it, and for himself... it gave his life colour and meaning that wasn't driven by pure politics one way or another, and that was somehow thrilling and calming, which left Jupiter perplexed recently. Especially since he had started to notice... beauty. Particularly in Tris, the way he walked, the way he talked, the way his eyes shone. Jupiter was not used to beauty, except as a concept for motivation or a description in a book. ]
[ He was puzzling over that idly as they had made their way home, but there wa no way he hadn't noticed Tris going quiet either. So he had made some small talk, to fill the silence, to see if he could encourage Tris's ardor for his usual interests... with little luck. And it was frustrating in a way that Jupiter never felt before, in a way that made his heart ache. Until he just can't stand it anymore, and has to ask directly! ]
[If anything Tris had noticed how attractive Jupiter was ages ago. But it wasn't something he tried to think about. Not when he'd been with Ariel, for obvious reasons, and not after, because Tris... Had his own hangups. Has them still. He's imposing enough on Jupiter as it is without making it complicated.]
[That's what he's told himself, that's what he's tried to convince himself is a good reason for not upsetting that status quo.]
[Maybe it is a good reason. But right now he feels hot and heavy with the lingering fear of earlier, a dread that hasn't left him. He can't brush it off and laugh, he's so afraid of this fragile happiness shattering at any moment, and if it's going to shatter, he might as well have a hand in breaking it. He needs the contact and the comfort of another person, but if it were just any person he needed, he could go out and find that companionship without rocking this boat.]
[But not just any person makes him feel safe, not just any person makes him want to tease them and not just any person makes him smile, encourages him to be himself, to explore the person he could be when he loves things and isn't scared. That's Jupiter, that's all Jupiter.]
[And what he wants is Jupiter. He turns from the coat rack, lifts his hands to brush long strands of hair from Jupiter's face, whatever's escaped his braid over the night.]
No... This is how I usually am isn't it? It's just with you that I'm different. I'm a better person with you.
[Except not right now apparently, when he's stepping right into Jupiter's space and pressing his lips to Jupiter's, warm and tasting of the coffee they had after the show.]
[So after Tris became queen he rewrote the world. It was years to reach that rank, years and torment and more than a few mental breaks. But he did it, and the world he's fashioned is a better one. When he was ten, the rebellion was quelled before it'd barely begun. A year later he'd taken the throne from his parents, exiling them to remote confinement. At twelve he'd adopted the eight year old son of the rebellion's leader into the royal family, citing the need to show good will and faith to the people. His social reforms already shocking the nobility and causing political upheaval, but he didn't stop. He never lost momentum.]
[As for Ariel, he rewrote his brother's mind. Knowing from the beginning it wasn't a matter of trauma but natural inclination, that was the only way. It was his only choice short of murder or lifetime confinement, and after all, he did love Ariel--shouldn't he be free, even if he was no longer himself? And yet despite that thought he kept his brother well guarded, carefully tended by spelled caretakers and out of any hint of the badness or unrest or ugliness of the world. They slept in the same bed at night, because Tris decided on it, because he couldn't let the child out of his sight, because even with his god-like powers it made him uneasy not to have a constant eye on Ariel.]
[And Jupiter... Was welcomed. As much as Tris could force it, Jupiter became a true prince. Whispers and snide comments couldn't be all squashed, rudeness was punished when Tris was present but often enough Tris was not present.]
[When Jupiter and Ariel got old enough though, Tris began to take them with him on his journey's of improving the empire, of lessening the divide between magic and non-magic with a mix of diplomacy and tyranny, as direct and unshakable a spokesman for change as possible, if not as swiftly decisive as outright war. And war did threaten at times--among the nobles Tris was not popular, frequent attempts at assassination and rebellion came and were crushed by him as he passed through his teen years, some weeks it seemed a daily thing. But he was strong, and he was mad, and he eventually earned the whispered nickname Immortal.]
[It was safer at times to take his important brothers with him, where he could protect them from such attempts, and where Jupiter could help him with his campaign of reform. Ariel, well, Ariel liked traveling and as long as he was carefully managed and kept from anything dubious it was fine wasn't it?]
[So on a mission to force the nobles of the northern mountains to comply with the new schooling and employment laws passed a year ago, a twenty year old Tris finds himself and his two brothers in a borrowed (commandeered) estate trapped in freezing snow as a blizzard rages outside. He should feel relieved that it might be a few days before he has to wheedle, manipulate, blackmail or outright bully the hardheaded old bigot of this region into listening to him, but he just feels impatient, staring out the window at the weather as if it's offended him personally.]
[ Jupiter has often felt conflicted over his position during these past few yars -- and his parents, whom he was allowed to visit every now and then, certainly had words to Say about it. He was lucky they weren't arrested for treason, in all honesty. And at times like these, when confronted with the harshness of the world Tris couldn't quite hide him from, he felt it more than ever. He didn't belong here.
Still... when all was said and done, he trusted Tris. Tris had treated him well, and they had grown fairly close, for all they should be enemies. They even worked together, so he knew for a fact Tris wanted to make the world better. Even if he didn't always agree with how Tris was doing it-- there was the streak of the dictator in Tris after all, and an innate part of Jupiter rebelled against it every time. But never, ever enough to truly leave Tris, to cause trouble.
So he watches Tris, for a long moment, trying to understand what he's thinking. There are times he can read Tris like the books he loves so much, and other times he was completely unreachable for Jupiter, like Magic. It was frustrating. But,sometimes, he'd get an answer when he asked. ]
[He snaps out of his reverie, looking away from the storm outside, wondering how long Jupiter's been watching him. It's a little disturbing how low his guard is--maybe he's caught a cold. But then he's always had a lower guard with Jupiter, he knows Jupiter, Jupiter wouldn't stab him in the back, no matter how they disagree at times.]
[SO A BIT LATER, another moment, when they're all alone, and Tristan is caught up in some paperwork or other busy ruling nonsense, Ariel seeks out Jupiter. They've had a good relationship, thus far. Jupiter's probably the most interesting person Tris has allowed in contact with Ariel, and likely one of the few to bother with the intelligence hidden beneath layers of sheltered, carefully groomed innocence and airheadedness. Just recently that's begun to really matter to Ariel -- he's just begun to feel a little stifled, frustrated by being dismissed as vapid and dim by everyone but his two closest siblings. As he's grown up, he's begun to notice the pretty, perfect cage he's kept in, though he's still ignorant of everything outside of it. And so he's been more and more drawn to Jupiter, who'll talk to him like someone capable -- who feels like a window to the great big world outside the pristine walls of Ariel's life. He can't help but be captivated by him, by someone so different from himself. Even as children, Ariel had thought his new brother was someone bright and shining -- and now that they're older that's even more apparent, and he keeps finding himself lost in simply watching him.
Now, with this new problem of dreams and Tristan's meddling with his mind, he wants even more to attach himself to the one person who he feels equal to. He hasn't told him about it, but... maybe he should. He trusts Tristan, trusts him to do what's best for him and not to break a promise not to do something he doesn't want him to, but there's an unsettled feeling in the back of his mind even so. Maybe talking to someone else will help.
Still, he's not sure, so he tries to put on his regular cheerful face when he comes up to latch onto Jupiter's arm. But he's not the expert faker he was in his last lifetime, so the tension is easy to pick out behind the smile.]
[For his part, Ariel was perfectly happy in this new life. He had no idea of his original self, and so he couldn't miss it. He couldn't be angry at Tris for taking away his "superiority", for betraying him, for any of the things he would have lashed out at once before. That was all gone, and in its place a kind boy whose smiles were genuine and who gave love as freely as the old Ariel gave violence. He was open and friendly, easily pleased, intelligent but a bit airheaded, and with a terrible appetite for sweet things -- everything his old self had pretended at, and everything Tristan had wished he really was.
And Tristan hadn't given him any room to develop beyond that. To him, the revolution was a short time of frightening tension among adults that he couldn't understand, and Tristan's takeover a bewildering and distressing shift that only clinging close to his brother had made less frightening. Kept away from anything remotely dangerous or corrupting and constantly reassured and guided by Tristan and those few people Tristan approved to teach and serve him, he grew up blissfully ignorant of the world and blindly, happily devoted to his big brother.
He didn't hear the whispers or rumors, so they didn't bother him. That it was strange for them to share a bed when they were reaching adulthood, that Ariel must be dim or damaged to be so cheerfully ignorant still at sixteen -- any number of other things that servants chatted about to each other when Tristan wasn't looking. They didn't reach Ariel, so he wasn't concerned.
At least, not until the nightmares started. When he began to wake up crying, telling Tristan he'd seen things -- horrible things, that he couldn't understand, couldn't possibly know about, everything had begun to fall out of place. Dreams of himself doing terrible things, to Tristan, to Jupiter, to people he's never met, of death and pain and blood and things he didn't even know were possible. They were awful, and then... they were gone. Because Tris erased them.
But eventually the gaps started to show, and he got suspicious of what, exactly, he was missing. So now Ariel's gone a week without mentioning his nightmares. Three nights, he saw visions of himself as a monster. And now he's approaching Tristan quietly as he broods, hugging one of his many pets (a fluffy calico cat at the moment) for moral support and chewing his lip.]
[His expression softens immediately when he sees his brother, a gentle smile and nothing more, careful and genuine and artificial all at once. An easy habit he's gotten used to--being just a certain way with Ariel. A specific image of a caring big brother--it isn't false but it's not even a fraction of the truth.]
[Tristan and Jupiter have been back from a week long diplomatic mission for a few days, and in that time Jupiter has spent as much time as possible spending as little time as possible with Tris and Ariel. So late the night of the fifth day, Tris has come into their shared chambers (technically Ariel's, Tris has his own rooms that he never sleeps in). Already loosening the ties and buttons of his formal wear to prepare to strip for bed.]
Ariel, you still up?
[He calls it softly, so he won't wake Ariel if he isn't.]
[ It's been a few months since then. And as puberty has its way with Jupiter, their banter has gotten worse, for lack of better word. What was playful teasing has shifted to flirting, which has now shifted to a continuous, unacknowledged and thrumming unresolved sexual tension between Jupiter and the brothers. He's taken to avoiding them both, embarrassed and confused and not wanting to go too far with it, so if he is looked for he is hard to find-- today, he is in a corner of the attic in one of the palaces, since he loves to explore them so much (hide and seek was his favourite childhood game.) He seems to have a cozy set up, with blankets and tea and books. ]
[It's been a problem. The last few months have reminded him what a hell the last few years were in terms of just. Really wanting to touch both Jupiter and Ariel. He's been good, he really has tried not to push things. This isn't court, this is a different dynamic, he's tried to keep it from going too far but the flirting and the sexual tension have really. Really gotten out of hand.]
[To the point he notices when Jupiter isn't at his side, that his little "brother" is avoiding him. It annoys and frustrates him and he knows some of that is legitimately missing Jupiter and some of it is lust and need. He should give Jupiter space and yet, he deeply doesn't want to. He has so little free time, but today he's spent it sending a search spell after Jupiter, tracking him down to his attic and draping over Jupiter's shoulders without warning.]
[So Ariel's gone mad and refuses to talk to Tristan and for the time Tristan has allowed it. He's busy, there's plots on his life (there always are) but with Ariel's madness there's more open aggression, not just on Tristan but on Ariel and Jupiter. When a political meeting calls him halfway across the realm he simply doesn't feel comfortable leaving his brothers in the palace, so despite Ariel's cold shoulder he'll find himself dragged along, stuck in a small in on the road with only Tristan and two guards as company while the rest of the guards and Jupiter ride ahead on Tristan's orders, scouting reports of magical abuses in disguise while Tristan waits.]
[It's a small inn, small enough Ariel hasn't much choice but to share a room with his brother, and Tristan is reading reports on the area to pass the time.]
[He's been avoiding Tristan as much as he possibly can, that's true. The only times he addresses him are when he absolutely needs to, or when he's "derailed" onto the train of thought that doesn't belong to him, and a nasty few words escape him before he can snap back into himself again. He switches a lot, and even when he doesn't say anything it's obvious -- he always goes eerily still for a moment, like even his heart and his breath has stopped for just a second, before he restarts as someone else. The pauses are sudden and brief but clear, and come with a change in body language, range of expression, and every other sign of personality. The usual Ariel is around the vast majority of the time, with the other one only grabbing seconds here and there, but the switches are so unpredictable it makes him incredibly difficult to deal with. Sometimes it's normal for hours. Sometimes he's back and forth several times in a minute. But always, always he's angry at Tristan, and resists having anything to do with him.
Being cooped up this close to him is immensely uncomfortable and frustrating. The room is tiny, with no space for a couch or anywhere for him to sleep that isn't sharing a bed with his brother. But he doesn't want to do that, so after a few minutes of agitated pacing near the window he starts pulling things off the bed and throwing them on the floor. There's no commentary. He's just making himself a place right there like he isn't a prince who hardly knows how to sleep in a less-than-luxury setting, let alone on a cold hard floor.]
[He. Stops reading to watch Ariel. It's been difficult to be around him, when so much of his life before this was centered around being afraid of who Ariel keeps slipping into. But more than fear of Ariel, he finds himself scared for him. He should have wiped away that personality, so how is it possible it's surfacing now? How is it that the new personality can't contain it? He wants the brother he has in this lifetime, not the one he effectively "killed" but he doesn't have the faintest idea how to keep Ariel remotely sane, especially when Ariel won't speak to or look at him.]
[He hasn't tried to force him to, but in a space this confined it's impossible to let Ariel avoid him.]
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[He knows very well the pretty, decorative hair clasp that is on his floor. It belongs to the girl he was worrying about. He'd given it to her half a year ago, at a winter festival. A rare frivolity. She'd worn it constantly since. The little pink flowers were like spring, he'd told her, like her.]
[They are stained red on his floor, only some of the pink visible. He tosses the books aside, kneels to pick up the item, trembling. If he could but cast a single simple spell, the most basic cantrip, he could find the owner, her blood on it, but why was it in his room? His desk?]
[He doesn't want to think of it. But only one person would have, could have, put it there. But why? An explanation, surely there is one. His voice is unsteady as he calls for his brother, high pitched with emotion. Maybe this is a tasteless prank, that could be it. Horrid, but what else would it be, really? Right? Ariel's a childish brat, but he should know better.]
Ariel! What is this?
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[He's knows exactly what's going on the moment he hears the tone of Tristan's voice. Honestly, he's surprised it took him this long to find it. It's a little lazy of him to accept a disappearance so easily, after being so sure the girl wouldn't leave him.
But the evidence has been uncovered now, and Ariel can't wait to see the result. He's made a clear statement. His will won't be ignored -- what he wants is the only thing that really matters in this house.
As such, he doesn't bother to get up and go into his brother's room. He just stays where he is, lounging in a chair in the main room with a plate of cookies and a book. Tristan can come to him.]
What is what?
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[He leans over Ariel's chair, takes the plate of cookies with his free hand and shoves it on the table, holding the clasp in front of Ariel's face.]
What is this? Did you do this? This isn't funny.
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Of course I did.
[He has no intention of hiding it. After all, he gave more than enough warning. But really, does Tristan think it's a bad joke? Does he really have that much faith in him? What a stupid, naive, fool.
Still, his smile remains genuine and pleasant. He's nothing but pleased at his disposal of that "problem" and and delighted at the prospect of showing his cute big brother the reality he's denied.]
I told you she'd be gone eventually, one way or another.
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How did you get in?
[It's not a friendly greeting as he slams the door closed with a foot and sets his groceries on the counter.]
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What a greeting.
You two need better locks.
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Isn't that kind of criminal for a police officer?
[He starts pulling items out of the bags, putting them away.]
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Comfortable, are we?
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You got a nice place.
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[During the day he keeps busy as he can. And the evenings he helps with Jupiter's work, listening to his latest case or making him sort of decent food. Most weekends he drags Jupiter out to do something, listen to music, or watch a play, or visit a gallery, or see dancing. They're back from the opera tonight, Tristan taking off his scarf and coat and hanging them up as they come in the door.]
[Normally he'd be excitedly discussing the compositions, the music, the voices, but tonight he's been quiet since about halfway back from the opera house, when a passing stranger who looked like his brother caught his eye and stole the breath from his lungs for a moment. It wasn't Ariel, but he felt his chest tighten like it was, terrified things were about to end, and after--after he'd just let Jupiter talk. Hadn't really listened, lost in his own thoughts.]
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[ Besides... it's been interesting. The arts was never a world that felt open to Jupiter, and with Tris having much more freedom to be himself, all of a sudden Jupiter found himself immersed in it for Tris's sake. He didn't find himself protesting though-- if anything, he enjoyed how passionate Tris found it, and for himself... it gave his life colour and meaning that wasn't driven by pure politics one way or another, and that was somehow thrilling and calming, which left Jupiter perplexed recently. Especially since he had started to notice... beauty. Particularly in Tris, the way he walked, the way he talked, the way his eyes shone. Jupiter was not used to beauty, except as a concept for motivation or a description in a book. ]
[ He was puzzling over that idly as they had made their way home, but there wa no way he hadn't noticed Tris going quiet either. So he had made some small talk, to fill the silence, to see if he could encourage Tris's ardor for his usual interests... with little luck. And it was frustrating in a way that Jupiter never felt before, in a way that made his heart ache. Until he just can't stand it anymore, and has to ask directly! ]
... what's wrong? You're not your usual self.
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[That's what he's told himself, that's what he's tried to convince himself is a good reason for not upsetting that status quo.]
[Maybe it is a good reason. But right now he feels hot and heavy with the lingering fear of earlier, a dread that hasn't left him. He can't brush it off and laugh, he's so afraid of this fragile happiness shattering at any moment, and if it's going to shatter, he might as well have a hand in breaking it. He needs the contact and the comfort of another person, but if it were just any person he needed, he could go out and find that companionship without rocking this boat.]
[But not just any person makes him feel safe, not just any person makes him want to tease them and not just any person makes him smile, encourages him to be himself, to explore the person he could be when he loves things and isn't scared. That's Jupiter, that's all Jupiter.]
[And what he wants is Jupiter. He turns from the coat rack, lifts his hands to brush long strands of hair from Jupiter's face, whatever's escaped his braid over the night.]
No... This is how I usually am isn't it? It's just with you that I'm different. I'm a better person with you.
[Except not right now apparently, when he's stepping right into Jupiter's space and pressing his lips to Jupiter's, warm and tasting of the coffee they had after the show.]
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AU YEAAAAH
[As for Ariel, he rewrote his brother's mind. Knowing from the beginning it wasn't a matter of trauma but natural inclination, that was the only way. It was his only choice short of murder or lifetime confinement, and after all, he did love Ariel--shouldn't he be free, even if he was no longer himself? And yet despite that thought he kept his brother well guarded, carefully tended by spelled caretakers and out of any hint of the badness or unrest or ugliness of the world. They slept in the same bed at night, because Tris decided on it, because he couldn't let the child out of his sight, because even with his god-like powers it made him uneasy not to have a constant eye on Ariel.]
[And Jupiter... Was welcomed. As much as Tris could force it, Jupiter became a true prince. Whispers and snide comments couldn't be all squashed, rudeness was punished when Tris was present but often enough Tris was not present.]
[When Jupiter and Ariel got old enough though, Tris began to take them with him on his journey's of improving the empire, of lessening the divide between magic and non-magic with a mix of diplomacy and tyranny, as direct and unshakable a spokesman for change as possible, if not as swiftly decisive as outright war. And war did threaten at times--among the nobles Tris was not popular, frequent attempts at assassination and rebellion came and were crushed by him as he passed through his teen years, some weeks it seemed a daily thing. But he was strong, and he was mad, and he eventually earned the whispered nickname Immortal.]
[It was safer at times to take his important brothers with him, where he could protect them from such attempts, and where Jupiter could help him with his campaign of reform. Ariel, well, Ariel liked traveling and as long as he was carefully managed and kept from anything dubious it was fine wasn't it?]
[So on a mission to force the nobles of the northern mountains to comply with the new schooling and employment laws passed a year ago, a twenty year old Tris finds himself and his two brothers in a borrowed (commandeered) estate trapped in freezing snow as a blizzard rages outside. He should feel relieved that it might be a few days before he has to wheedle, manipulate, blackmail or outright bully the hardheaded old bigot of this region into listening to him, but he just feels impatient, staring out the window at the weather as if it's offended him personally.]
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Still... when all was said and done, he trusted Tris. Tris had treated him well, and they had grown fairly close, for all they should be enemies. They even worked together, so he knew for a fact Tris wanted to make the world better. Even if he didn't always agree with how Tris was doing it-- there was the streak of the dictator in Tris after all, and an innate part of Jupiter rebelled against it every time. But never, ever enough to truly leave Tris, to cause trouble.
So he watches Tris, for a long moment, trying to understand what he's thinking. There are times he can read Tris like the books he loves so much, and other times he was completely unreachable for Jupiter, like Magic. It was frustrating. But,sometimes, he'd get an answer when he asked. ]
...Tris.
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Yes?
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hi i'm just going to butt in here to keep it all together
Now, with this new problem of dreams and Tristan's meddling with his mind, he wants even more to attach himself to the one person who he feels equal to. He hasn't told him about it, but... maybe he should. He trusts Tristan, trusts him to do what's best for him and not to break a promise not to do something he doesn't want him to, but there's an unsettled feeling in the back of his mind even so. Maybe talking to someone else will help.
Still, he's not sure, so he tries to put on his regular cheerful face when he comes up to latch onto Jupiter's arm. But he's not the expert faker he was in his last lifetime, so the tension is easy to pick out behind the smile.]
Jupiter! What are you doing?
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And Tristan hadn't given him any room to develop beyond that. To him, the revolution was a short time of frightening tension among adults that he couldn't understand, and Tristan's takeover a bewildering and distressing shift that only clinging close to his brother had made less frightening. Kept away from anything remotely dangerous or corrupting and constantly reassured and guided by Tristan and those few people Tristan approved to teach and serve him, he grew up blissfully ignorant of the world and blindly, happily devoted to his big brother.
He didn't hear the whispers or rumors, so they didn't bother him. That it was strange for them to share a bed when they were reaching adulthood, that Ariel must be dim or damaged to be so cheerfully ignorant still at sixteen -- any number of other things that servants chatted about to each other when Tristan wasn't looking. They didn't reach Ariel, so he wasn't concerned.
At least, not until the nightmares started. When he began to wake up crying, telling Tristan he'd seen things -- horrible things, that he couldn't understand, couldn't possibly know about, everything had begun to fall out of place. Dreams of himself doing terrible things, to Tristan, to Jupiter, to people he's never met, of death and pain and blood and things he didn't even know were possible. They were awful, and then... they were gone. Because Tris erased them.
But eventually the gaps started to show, and he got suspicious of what, exactly, he was missing. So now Ariel's gone a week without mentioning his nightmares. Three nights, he saw visions of himself as a monster. And now he's approaching Tristan quietly as he broods, hugging one of his many pets (a fluffy calico cat at the moment) for moral support and chewing his lip.]
Tristan...?
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Ariel. What is it? You look pensive.
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Another time sometime later
Ariel, you still up?
[He calls it softly, so he won't wake Ariel if he isn't.]
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Re: AU YEAAAAH
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[To the point he notices when Jupiter isn't at his side, that his little "brother" is avoiding him. It annoys and frustrates him and he knows some of that is legitimately missing Jupiter and some of it is lust and need. He should give Jupiter space and yet, he deeply doesn't want to. He has so little free time, but today he's spent it sending a search spell after Jupiter, tracking him down to his attic and draping over Jupiter's shoulders without warning.]
Here you are.
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[It's a small inn, small enough Ariel hasn't much choice but to share a room with his brother, and Tristan is reading reports on the area to pass the time.]
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Being cooped up this close to him is immensely uncomfortable and frustrating. The room is tiny, with no space for a couch or anywhere for him to sleep that isn't sharing a bed with his brother. But he doesn't want to do that, so after a few minutes of agitated pacing near the window he starts pulling things off the bed and throwing them on the floor. There's no commentary. He's just making himself a place right there like he isn't a prince who hardly knows how to sleep in a less-than-luxury setting, let alone on a cold hard floor.]
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[He hasn't tried to force him to, but in a space this confined it's impossible to let Ariel avoid him.]
What do you think you're doing?
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