Liliana's Office, Thursday

[deathsmajesty]

The third week of classes and Liliana was only just now having her first office hours. Still, she was certain that if anyone truly needed to reach out to her for some reason or another, they could have. It was not a particularly large island, after all.

Still, the door was open (unless she had a particular visitor, ahem), and she was present, even if she was more concerned with touching up her manicure than anything academics-related. That could change when someone bothered to stop by and not before.

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[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Hey, it was someone bothering to stop by!

And he brought coffee!

Look, it had been his standby for a while, because most people seemed to appreciate it, and it was a good excuse for being somewhere.

He peeked in uncertainly, both because he still wasn't sure about having this conversation and because he wanted to make sure he wouldn't be interrupting anything, just in case the door hadn't been closed in time.

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana wasn't going to argue with a gift, and coffee was a delightful one. "Jon, darling, welcome," she said. "What brings you here today?"

This was the second time they'd gone over the basic mana colors, so she doubted he was confused about the material.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

He was not confused! Perhaps a bit uncomfortable, since they'd gone over blue today, but when was he not?

He offered her the coffee and a game but uncertain smile. "I, um. Well. You'd said I could...could drop by. So. I am."

[deathsmajesty]

She happily accepted the coffee and took a sip. "Oh!" she said. "You remembered that I like cinnamon syrup in my coffee. Thank you, darling. Sit, sit. Yes, I did say you could drop by."

They were public office hours, after all.

"Did you have a reason why you're stopping by? Besides delivering me coffee, which is always appreciated. And would you like some tea in return?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon sat. "Um. Yes, tea would be...it would be lovely, thank you."

He fidgeted, massaging his burned hand. "I-it's about what you said. The, um. The first week."

[deathsmajesty]

There was a moment when Liliana considered making him say it, but instead, she took out her tea things and set the electric kettle on to boil. "Why I see you as having black mana, you mean?" she asked.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon nodded. "Yes. That." He tried to think of how to start.
o
"I...I don't actually remember how much I've told you. About...about me, I mean."

[deathsmajesty]

"You've told me more about the Entity and how it works than about you," Liliana said.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Oh." Jon huffed a rueful laugh. "I, um. Well. I suppose because apart from the Entities, I'm fairly dull, really. I grew up, I went to school and university, I got a job. Then my boss used me to end the world."

[deathsmajesty]

"That last one sounds important," Liliana noted. "You've also mentioned that you make incredibly rash and terrible decisions when people you care about are in danger."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"That last one was because of the Entities," Jon said. "And most of the bad decisions were, too, I suppose."

He grimaced. "Not that...I mean, i-it's me that...that does that. But nobody was in danger much until everything started happening."

He took a deep breath. "I was a researcher. I-I was happy being a researcher." Well, as happy as he ever got. "But I got promoted to Head Archivist. Because I...I thought it was just a job. Th-that I was being recognized for my work. But it was a setup to turn me into a...a key to start the apocalypse."

[deathsmajesty]

"Why you?" Liliana asked, "and why an apocalypse?"

She never really understood wanting to destroy one's own plane. That was where your stuff was!

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Join the club! Jonah was an idiot and an asshole!

"For immortality and power," Jon quoted bitterly. "Because he wanted to be the 'king of a ruined world'. And I was available a-and I had bad luck, apparently. I had one mark already, and he took that as a blessing."

[deathsmajesty]

"I have immortality, power, and I ruined a world, but again it wasn't my world," Liliana muttered.

Don't even worry about it, John, probably nothing.

"A mark?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Was it people you hated?" Jon asked.

[deathsmajesty]

That was not not worrying about it, Jon. Just saying.

"No," she said. "I didn't even know them."

Tavelia, she meant. The Silver City...yeah, that was a full-on destruction of people she'd hated. But! Also just a city! Not a plane!

"You were marked?" she asked, because we didn't need to talk about Liliana right now.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

There was not a single thing Jon was incapable of worrying about.

But fine, he could let it go. For now.

"Marks are when you...um. When one of the Fears has...has affected you deeply. Laid claim to you. I, um. The...the Web. It marked me. W-when I was eight."

[deathsmajesty]

Or you know, forever. That was fine.

"Which one is the Web again? That's the...manipulation one, right? Not the circus or the lotion?" she asked. "What happened when you were eight?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Such an optimist, Lili.

"Manipulation and spiders," Jon answered, only wincing briefly at the mention of the lotioning. "There, um. There was a book. I-it caught me. But, but a bully stole it, and it killed him instead, a-and I just watched."

Which, it turned out, would be the story of his life.

[deathsmajesty]

She was scarier than you, Jon.

"How did the book catch you?" she asked, intrigued.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Because lord knows, Jon wasn't known for pestering people scarier than him.

"It...they make you want to read them. A-and then you can't stop." Hence his hesitation around magical books.

[deathsmajesty]

Not at all surprising he kept getting swatted down.

"Does something happen when you reach the end...?" Liliana asked. Sorry, Jon. She didn't need some magical power to make her want to read something and not stop.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Rude! If true.

Right, Jon could do this. Talking in the abstract was fine.

"It depends upon the book. What Entity it's part of. There's...you might disappear. Or dig into the ground until you bury yourself. Or stop understanding anything. Or..." He grimaced. "Or a, um. A spider larger than a person could eat you."

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana nodded. "They do that," she said, because giant spiders infested every plane. Even here on Earth, surely. She just hadn't been in a heavily forested enough location to see them. "Usually though they don't require a book to do so. Does the book...summon the giant spider to you then?"

Again that made sense to her.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"They...they aren't real, on Earth. Unless they're supernatural. A-and the book, it...it made me...made its victim walk to a door and knock on it, knowing what was...was going to come out."