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.... Oops?

What are we oopsing?

Why are we oopsing?

[With Vahl, could be any number of things. Alec is probably familiar with that.]

I couldn't swear to it, but I may be having a bad week.

[Yes, this is very true. He's learning this.]

Why? What happened now?

There was I, contentedly perusing a rather charming old book shop, when I happened upon a young woman with something on her mind.

That something was you.

Thinking... thinking... thinking... thinking...

"Me? Are you sure? I've not been been hanging around any women lately. Young or old."

To his credit, Vahl is trying to break it gently.

"I...may have stalked her around the shop a little. It transpired that she was looking for you, a you that's somewhat older, though not as advanced in years as your counterpart." Vahl pauses, watching Alec's reactions.

"From the images and thoughts, I realised she's your daughter. Sari."

His jaw drops and then shuts.... and then drops again before picking it up again, in shock.

He's not really quite sure exactly what to say to that one.

"But... she's like... thirteen..."

"She was older than that. Twenties, perhaps. My own surprise at the situation made me slack in my delving."

Vahl slides and affectionate arm around Alec's shoulders. "Are you all right?"

"Not mine then..." he said softly, leaning against Vahl. "And I'm fine... I think. I just... it's unexpected, you know? She's probably looking for older me."

"Well, I imagine he'll know about it, if not now, in a short while."

He rubs Alec's back, between his shoulder blades. "It's going to be awkward, I'd best stay well out of her way until she knows how things stand."

Tilting his head, Alec gets a slightly distant look in his eyes before snapping back to the here and now.

"Yeahup. He knows now and is ... I don't know... conflicted?"

It's hard to tell with his older self a lot of times because he doesn't have a really good bead on what he thinks, since he tends to keep that sort of thing blocked. His older self, of course, knows everything that happens with him but not the other way.

Time travel, it's crazy.

"It is. She'll want to see Phoenix, of course," he said. "Hopefully who ever she gets to first will be able to explain it."

The back rubbing is nice and he lolls his head against Vahl's shoulder.

Conflicted. Welcome to the club, Vahl is thinking to himself, not that it's the same thing at all.

It is. Batshit at the best of times.

"He'll be delighted." That's one good thing at least. "Once the initial strangeness has worn off."

It's that of a father whose child has grown up and left and now is coming home unexpectedly and you're happy to see them but your life is now going to be completely up-ended because you've got another person to deal with sort of conflict.

And for them it's never the best of times.

"It shouldn't so weird at least for Phoenix... I mean she's closer to his point in the timeline it sounds like."

Ahh, that kind of conflict.

"I think so, yes. You were both very much on her mind, so I was able to retrieve some good clear images."

Another aspect that comes into play, unbeknown to these two, Teri has gone straight to Phoenix to keep her promise. So he'll probably already know, by the time this conversation has taken place.

Yes. Alec does tend to be a bit of a loner and a drifter at the same time he takes his parental duties seriously. Things get even more complicated since the two Alecs can't be in the same place at the same time it would make it hard for him to interact with his daughter here and now without taking his younger self away from his pack.

Bad... hah... timing.

"Well we're the only family she has, really since... how much do you know about Sari?"

This is true! That'll be fun.

Which would be sad for the pack, as they're really beginning to gel.

The narrative groans.

"Phoenix talked about her." Vahl sighs, recalling those first tentative steps, when he and Phoenix began to learn about each other al over again.

"Back in La'Zralae. She was part of his life, so I heard of family incidents, little in-jokes. That sort of thing. I'd lost my abilities back then, so I wasn't able to reach into his mind for a couple of decades."

Exactly. They're really getting into each other.

The narrative doesn't apologize.

"So, you don't know her history?" Because that's just sticky and icky. He's heading towards a full body flop.

"Only that it was confusing."

Phoenix had stuck mainly to family anecdotes, and the occasional 'that time we took Sari to X, or Y'.

Vahl can't help a smile. "Are you gunning for hug, perchance?"

"I completely eradicated her mother from the multiverse... there was a good reason at the time. She inherited some of my reality warping abilities so she didn't get erased." he said.

It's kinda awkward but he felt he should get it out of the way.

"Hugs are always welcomed."

"Ah, that I did hear about." Should Alec want to share at any point, Vahl will be all ears, but he's trying not to ask too many questions too much of the time.

So Alec will be hugged, and possibly pulled onto a lap. "I imagine you had your reasons."

He completely went with the getting pulled into the very comfortable lap.

"A lot of things changed then... it was really the big rewrite of my life." Hah. "It made me who I am now. Streamlined a lot of things."

Alec's voice is somewhat distant as he talks. It's not something he's thought about in a very long while. At times he'll feel guilty about it, but other times - most of the time - he's glad it happened.

There will be more back stroking as Vahl listens.

"But Sari remained?" He opens his mind a little, grazing at the boundaries of Alec's, inviting.

"Unexpectedly remained or returned. I'm not really sure. She was born... hatched... when I was first really getting a handle on who and what I was, really accepting it."

His fingers started twisting idly, flaming jumping upon them. At the grazing of his mind, there's an odd moment of dissonance and utter emptiness, blink and you miss it, moment before he opens up with a bubble of frustration.

Edited (wrong icon) 2016-02-09 15:15 (UTC)

Vahl catches the moment, and reaches in to psychically caress and reassure.

"Have I opened up an old wound?"

"A little bit. I mean it's one that's always staring me in the face whenever Sari's around though."

Mentally he's being as antsy as a pacing cat, his thoughts flickering, hiding things. Things that don't exist any more.

He loves his daughter dearly but at the same time she reminds him of how reality used to be when things were... when people were different.