revivalproject | [Event] The Messes We Get Into

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[Event] The Messes We Get Into

WHO: Tommy Shepherd, Alec Lightwood, Open
WHERE: Warren Gathering Area, Warren Maze Route
WHAT: Some Pre-Exploration Fretting, and some Maze Exploration
WHEN: November
WARNINGS: Dangerous traps in Maze thread

1. Touching Bases (Since Grass Is Unavailable) | Open

Octobers suck. Which of course went without saying. That had been true of this place since just short of the beginning of being the captive of aliens. They left Tommy's skin itching with nervousness.

He just wasn't used to it rolling over into the next month. He wasn't used to being forced to stay underground so long (okay maybe he was). He sure as hell wasn't ready for being down here and feeling so off and on sluggish (another lie, he was very used to it).

Okay, if he was honest, he was just mopey and annoyed and missing his brother and his boyfriend and his mentors and his list going on and on. Which was probably why, just about once every day, Tommy did his rounds. Literally running as fast as his unstable powers would allow so he could check in. Especially after his boyfriend disappeared on an adventure like an ass.

"Hey," he says, jogging up behind a familiar face probably not for the first time since they had come down here. He reaches out to pat a shoulder, not bothered if he got dodged either. "How you doing today? I'm thinking about making a stir fry from supplies. Rice or noodles your preference?"

2. Desperately Seeking Boyfriend and Failing In Style | Closed to Alec

The news comes on the network. There are doors open. Maybe. A chance to find someone important to him. Tommy doesn't even hesitate to make his plans. He doesn't check in with his brother, he doesn't let other people know that he's going. He just gathers what supplies he feels he needs and runs off full speed down the corridor. Bolts off at a jog, then a blurring blare of speed.

The problem is that he doesn't know the right way to got to find his missing friend, his missing boyfriend. Frustrated Tommy ends up sticking his head in a few different paths before running back to check the next. To look for any sign that the people he cared about had gone down one path or another. It's frustrating and his lingering fear and concern makes him indecisive.

Which leaves him freaking out when he hears something heavy and metal slamming back up the corridor. Cursing he races back up the path, past a figure standing there, and to the now closed bulkhead. Which he pounds on.

"Come on! What the fuck! Open up!"

Which of course it wans't going to do. And so Tommy just cursed again in frustration.

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"Did you read the Latin?" Alec points to the inscription in front of them. "'Enter none but the children of angels,'" he quotes.

Gesturing to the rock in the tunnel behind them, he shakes his head. "Look at what we came from, and what's in front of us. I know this architecture. Something about this is deliberate. And I think we should pay attention to that."

Edited (you saw nothing) 2025-03-01 00:15 (UTC)

"Yeah," Tommy says with a shrug. "That means I'm probably doomed for the whole 'soul being a purified portion of that of Mephistopheles's' then, wouldn't it?"

Congratulations Alec, that's got to be the most unique way ever to learn you're traveling with someone with demonic associations.

"Could be worse. I could be one of the Hellstrom. I'm not actually the devil's child after all. And yeah, paying attention. Seems like we're both expected to turn back."

Well, it's a bombshell all right. And it makes Alec's life a little more difficult because if there is demon blood in Tommy's veins, and this really is a Shadowhunter site, then he could get seriously hurt. That's the last thing they need in any of this.

Unfortunately, Alec can't tell much more about this place and the obstacle it presents from just the entry here; he's going to have to go a little further in. The one thing he does suspect is that it won't be nearly as straightforward as it looks.

"Not both of us," he murmurs, still contemplating the carvings. Taking a deep breath, Alec steps deliberately forward, fully into the place. "Let me take a look around. There has to be a path forward."

Yeah, of course it's a path forward. And Tommy isn't going to be left behind. He keeps walking too.

"Yeah, I'm not letting you go in there alone. We'll look around together."

"Tommy, no!" Movement out of the corner of his eye causes Alec to turn, then attempt to tackle Tommy to keep him from stepping over the threshold. Hopefully he's able to stop him, and hopefully before any latent Shadowhunter magic in this place hurts him.

Okay, that's not what Tommy expected. And maybe he isn't fast right now, but he's still agile as fuck. He easily steps aside from the tackle.

"Really? What the fuck man?"

The dodge of course has him crossing the threshold... Unharmed.

This is absolutely not at all what Alec's used to, except it kind of is. Jace ignores his orders too, when he feels like it. But at least Jace can be trusted; Alec knows him well, and knows he'll (probably) listen when it's important. He can't trust Tommy to nearly the same level. And it doesn't make it any less frustrating to have it happen here.

"Children of angels, Tommy." Alec really tries to keep the frustration out of his voice, but some of it probably leaks through anyways. "If this place really is what it looks like, and you really do have demon blood, then stepping into it should've killed you."

If he could've just waited until Alec knew it was safe!

Well, trust is something that is built up. And right now it doesn't really exist in the proper levels. But that's fine. He does pause to consider what Alec is saying.

"I mean, my brother is also sort of going to be a god? And we think the whole dying the first time thing while imbued with Mom's magic purified the soul fragments? We're complicated like that. I have been to hell once. Didn't like it. Didn't fit in. So maybe it will be fine?"

Clearly it's fine. And there would be no way to know it was safe without doing.

"Gods aren't angels though." And what Tommy's brother is — or is going to be — doesn't reflect what Tommy may be. But Alec's starting to doubt his surety about what this place is. It might look like the City of Bones, but maybe that's just coincidence?

Or maybe Alec's instincts are just wrong. He's always trusted his gut, but that was back home. Right now he's very far from home.

"Would it really have been that bad to just wait a minute?"

"I'm not much of a waiter," he points out with a smile. "And hey, I need to keep going to find the people I love."

"It won't help them any if you never make it there."

But Alec can't exactly force the guy into slowing down and staying safe. He can only try to react, which he hates. It feels too much out of control. Combined with the unpredictability of this place, it makes him uneasy.

"Then hurry up and lead on," Tommy counters. He doesn't want to waste time just sitting around.

"Just... don't touch anything. You got lucky ignoring that first warning. I don't want to press that luck."

Maybe it's just this place putting Alec on edge. But he doesn't like it, and he can't help expecting some kind of trick. That's exactly what Shadowhunters would do, especially if they want to keep something safe or secure. Like this neither of those two qualities are assured.

He'd argue luck wasn't real, but his mother's powers were about manipulating luck in a negative way soooooooo....

"Are we just standing here then? Like, seriously?"

"Because it's a little hard to keep one eye on you at the same time as looking around." And Tommy's firmly planted himself in Alec's do not trust column. Maybe he can really handle himself, and that's fine. But the disregard for warnings in an unfamiliar place doesn't sit well with Alec.

But the place does have him on edge and after a moment Alec steps away from Tommy's side, fingertips reaching for the nearest stone column. It's cold, which is exactly what he expects from it. But it's a familiar cold; for all that Alec's been to the City once, he knows he won't forget it. He doesn't like that it's here.

"Children of angels," he murmurs to himself. "So what are you trying to show me?"

"Lots of runes on stone walls, clearly," TOmmy grumbles as he stands there, hands buried in his pockets. See, not touching anything!

Alec just rolls his eyes. If they don't have to work together after this, he'll be very happy. It's far too close to working with Jace when Jace is in a Mood, except that Jace is actually trustworthy. Tommy's to much of a loose cannon.

And thinking about Jace makes Alec homesick in a way no one here will ever understand.

"Not just runes." Alec looks over his shoulder at Tommy, who's at least staying in one place. "Some of these are, and some are just rubbish squiggles." Which is really weird, in Alec's eyes. Why waste the time carving something meaningless into stone? It's not exactly the easiest material to shape.

"The night hides well her children," he quotes another section of Latin and frowns. "Tommy, you're not a vampire, are you?"

Edited 2025-04-21 19:53 (UTC)

Vampire? Tommy scoffs.

"Nope. Not even close. Technically the origin of my soul is a purified fragment of the soul of the demon Mephistopheles. And it's totally fully mine now. So I don't think it really counts."

"This is just weird then. Why would the first carving restrict entry to the Sh- the children of angels, and this one speak to the vampires?"

It's not like those two groups really like having anything to do with each other. Accords or not Alec knows that Shadowhunters barely tolerate — and are barely tolerated by — the Downworld. Working together with a vampire in a place that looks like the City of Bones? That's not natural at all.

"I don't know. Maybe because vamps are people too, even if they have fallen. They're still redeemable if god is real and all of that. Because I bet most of the time they didn't CHOOSE the path they were set on."

Or he's talking out of his ass.

"Yeah but there wouldn't be crossover between the two groups. You're one or the other. It doesn't make sense."

Maybe a Shadowhunter could be bitten and turned? But Alec doesn't think it's that straightforward.

"I'm going to see if there are any more carvings. There has to be something we're missing."

"What, you don't interact with vamps?"

How weird was that? Right? Tommy looks around the arch and shrugs.

"I don't suppose you can do some sort of shadow magic? Night hiding her children well could just mean, you know, make it dark?"

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[Event] The Messes We Get Into

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