Thread

With how much rain had fallen in the past week alone, Zane was honestly surprised that the entirety of Ashenport was still above water. The river had already threatened to burst its banks both outside and inside the town walls, but it had yet to actually breach the high walls put in place. Upstream had definitely flooded somewhere along one of the winding curves, the unkept rivers left to their own devices just to cause disaster elsewhere.

Despite the lack of flooded rivers downstream, water still pooled on the streets of Ashenport enough to cause a problem for most everyone in town. The cobbles were submerged under a few centimetres of water, the drainage into the river so poor that it would take days for it to be normal again and Zane could stop worrying about whether or not his feet were wet because of rain soaking his trousers or a hole in his boot. He supposed it was the former because it never seemed to matter which boots he wore, his feet would always end up wet.

It was a miracle that Madame Rosevin had allowed him time off, mostly because having him in the store would result in him traipsing water across the polished floor that he would have to spend time mopping up instead of actually working. Not that he minded that as much, mopping was surprisingly easy compared to sorting stock that constantly changed depending on Madame Rosevin’s mood. It also meant that he could avoid running around town to deliver any random assortment of goods to people who would never dare to step a single foot out of their house at the slightest drop of rain.

But the Clocktower was boring to sit around most days, especially with the heightened security over magic use. If he wanted to do anything truly fun, he would have to hide out in the basement, the lingering smell of old blood and rot so deep into the cracks of the stone that Zane was sure he would choke on the fumes. It never seemed to matter how much they scrubbed at the tiled floor or masonry up the walls, the water would always remain stained red.

His room was much the same, though instead of blood it was the remnants of whatever failed experiment lingered on the floorboards and rug, the stains a taunt to his failure. He could easily spend the day trying them over and over until he figured out where he had been going so wrong, but he lacked the ingredients required to do even one more trial. Apparently the biolumiescnet algae was the key ingredient to far too many things these days, and he had run out of the base last week. The full moon was still another three days away, but with the weather they were having, it was unlikely there would be enough moonlight to cause whatever reaction lingered in their biology in order for them to glow.

It was the main reason he was in the living room, sprawled out on the sofa without a care in the world for anything and everything. Over the course of the day he had already finished two of the books he was reading, wrote out everything in his experiments journal, made lunch for both himself and Merrin, and even found the time to annoy Merrin incessantly. Yet somehow here he was with nothing else to do.

What he really wanted to do was venture over to Tal’s for no other reason than to find company. It was highly likely that Tal would figure out something they could do to pass the time, even if that meant Zane would ultimately fall asleep at the cottage instead of his own bed, not that either of them would mind such a thing. But there was zero chance he would make it over there without ending up more wet than if he went swimming in the ocean, and that would mean he would spend more time warming up by the fire to avoid getting hypothermia than actually doing something fun. If he could just get away with figuring out how to use a teleport rune he would be able to avoid all of these issues.

‘You still alive?’ Merrin asked, and Zane tilted his head back so that he could see where Merrin was leaning against the door frame.

‘Yeah,’ Zane said and stretched himself out. ‘Please tell me you can relieve me of this boredom.’

‘I only came down for a snack and something to drink,’ Merrin said, crossing his arms. ‘I think I’m almost there but I think I’ll pass out before I can actually complete the spell.’

‘Must be nice to be doing untraceable magic,’ Zane said with a sigh.

‘It’s not untraceable,’ Merrin said. ‘They’re just too stupid to be able to trace it. There’s a difference. Besides, no one’s stopping you from joining in.’

‘I think my own body is stopping me, I’ll probably poison whatever results you’re looking for.’

Zane realised that he had never actually asked Merrin what spell he was working on, but there was a good chance that he would never say regardless of Zane’s asking. They were both entitled to their secrets, though, so he would refrain from asking until Merrin felt ready to say anything about it. Although Zane had a pretty solid guess as to what–or rather who–the spell was for.

‘Similar schools of magic,’ Merrin said and looked over to the door before looking back at Zane. ‘I think your boredom’s about to be cured.’

As he finished his sentence, a soft rap on the door pulled Merrin away from the doorframe. The door creaked against the stone floor, the hammering rain even louder as Merrin let in whoever it was that had been stupid enough to venture out in the downpour. The mystery was resolved soon enough, as Zane looked up to see Talathion Groves kicking off his boots.

For someone who had just walked forty minutes in a storm, he was surprisingly dry–in fact, he was suspiciously so.

‘Did you fucking use magic?’ Zane asked and sat up.

‘Hello to you, too, Bunny,’ Tal said and crossed the living room to where Zane was on the sofa.

‘If you get arrested, I cannot afford bail,’ Zane said but wrapped his arms around Tal anyway.

He was soft and warm, and Zane was more than happy to completely ignore the resentment that he was the only person unable to do magic right now.

‘I took the back road,’ Tal said and ran his fingers through Zane’s hair. ‘No one ever leaves town anyway, it’s not like they would’ve seen me.’

Zane hummed in agreement and looked up at Tal with a smile before pulling away to let him sit down. The soft clatter of pans in the kitchen meant that Merrin had already moved on to his original plan, and Zane was more than happy to sidle up against Tal adn put his head down.

‘Are you seriously going to fall asleep already?’ Tal asked without a hint of venom in his voice.

‘You’re warm,’ Zane said simply and relaxed on the sofa. ‘You can occupy yourself.’

‘You’re right, I can,’ Tal said and fumbled about with something.

Only once he stopped moving did Zane open his eyes to see Tal with the damned embroidery hoop in his hands. Zane honestly had no idea how he had the patience to do such a tedious thing, but then again Zane spent his days categorising ingredients with more enjoyment than necessary. Not that it mattered much, as Zane was more than happy to lie back against the sofa and let Tal do whatever the hells he wanted.