magician's apprentice | been a hell of a ride but I'm thinking it's time to grow

[onebehind]

Dylan knew, coming out of the hospital if not going in, that getting sober wasn't going to be easy. He knew he'd have bad days and good days and days in between, and every therapist he's seen since then, every meeting he's been to has only reaffirmed that. They'd also armed him with a bag of tricks to deal with everything and everything in between, but -- well, today is one of the bad ones and nothing is helping. He's been pacing the house like a madman for the better part of the day, trying to find something to hold his attention long enough that he can stop thinking about running down to the nearest liquor store. He needs to get out of his skin. He's just shy of calling his sponsor. He needs to get out of the house.

He needs to get out of the house.

Stopping midway through moving a pile of books from one side of the living room to the other, he latches onto that idea and turns it over in his head. He needs to get out of the house.

He's moving again a second later, though this time, it's with a purpose, a clarity he hasn't felt like he's had in hours, days, weeks. He goes to Jack's room, tapping lightly on the door, and then after a beat and once he's been invited in, sticks his head in. Flashing him a smile that's equal parts reassuring and strained (he's fine, they're fine, this is nothing bad, he's just a little jittery, don't mind him), he tells him, "Hey. Pack your shit."

He has an idea. It'll be good for both of them.

Comments

[the_death_card]

Jack just snickers at Dylan's response, expression turning curious again as Dylan leads the way farther into the warehouse. He takes quick stock of the bathroom and then leans around Dylan to peer into the other room when he stops.

"Yeah, that's not a crappy cot," he points out like Dylan hasn't already noticed that.

[onebehind]

"It was the last time I was here," he promises, making a face at him. A moment of pause follows, and then at length, he ventures, "I guess me and my old man have spent enough time here for shit to kind of react to us."

It's not the first time he's seen a place change based on whoever happened to be in it. It's just the first time it's happened to him, in a place that belonged to him.

[the_death_card]

Jack moves around him into the room, setting his bag down once he's farther into the room and turning to look back at Dylan. "What do you mean?"

Before Dylan can respond to that, though, his eyes go a little wide. "Wait, you mean like your hoodie or whatever?"

[onebehind]

"A little less deliberate?" he answers, making a so-so gesture. "The hoodie, I passed along to someone who took the time and energy to into purposefully making it do what it does. This is ... me and dad have done enough unrelated real magic here that it's kind of seeped into the building."

Less deliberate, like he said, and much longer in the making, since it wasn't a focused effort.

[the_death_card]

Jack takes in the room again, still slightly awestruck. "That's fucking awesome," he says again. He pauses, then, though it's clear he's still thinking. "Like the carousel, though. Why everything's..." He waves a hand vaguely. "Warmer? There."

He doesn't how to put it into words, but they've basically already had that conversation - how the carousel has always felt Safe when very few places in the city did.

[onebehind]

Dylan nods at once. He gets what Jack's talking about, and more to the point, he's absolutely right. "Like the carousel, yeah. I feel like this probably took longer to get to that point, since it was only me and Dad, and not, like, half the Eye, but."

[the_death_card]

"Yeah," he returns - and then grins again. "This is all so fucking cool."

He knows he's said that before and he should maybe be a little embarrassed to just blurt it out like that, but he means it, and he's meant it every time he's said it.

[onebehind]

"So you've said," he teases, lightly. If anything, though, Dylan is pleased that Jack is into all of this, and that much bleeds through the connection -- as does a vague sense of relief. There was maybe some worry there that Jack wouldn't be interested in any of this, being a teenager and too cool for anything, but he's glad that he is.

"Kinda glad we don't have to worry about where everyone's sleeping and how much my back's gonna hate me in the morning, though," he finishes, a little more seriously.

[the_death_card]

If it wasn't honestly cool and if it wasn't everything Jack had ever dreamed of back during his time in the system, he might be less enthused. As it is, he's really just not that jaded.

He laughs at Dylan's comment. "Yeah. I mean, I can sleep on the floor or whatever, but it sucks."

He would have been fine in a sleeping bag or whatever, but this is definitely better.

[onebehind]

Dylan hums, and then finally steps into the room, narrow as it is, more fully. He drops his bag on the edge of the bed, to be dealt with later -- probably about the time he and Jack start getting ready for bed -- and then steps back out into the hallway, gesturing for Jack to do the same.

When that's all said and done, he notes, "Guess I probably should've brought something for us to eat." He was kind of in a state when they left, though. Getting out of town was about as far into the future as he'd managed to think.

[the_death_card]

Jack steps past him into the bedroom, dropping his bag next to Dylan's before he steps back out of the room - and huffs out a laugh. "Uh, yeah. I guess the pizza guys don't really come out this far?"

[onebehind]

"Not so much." A beat. "Though, we could go get something and bring it back."

Or they could just go out, period. The sky's the limit, all things considered. The ceremony of the car was just for getting here, not what they did once they arrived. Either way, though, stay or go, it's Jack's decision.

[the_death_card]

"Oh, okay," Jack returns, tilting his head a little in thought. "Uh... I dunno, though? Whatever?"

Which is very helpful, he knows, but he also doesn't know what he wants to eat at the moment.

[onebehind]

Dylan snorts.

"Helpful." A beat and then a little more gently, he offers, "Well, think about it while we look around."

He's pretty sure Jack's not done exploring yet, after all.

[the_death_card]

Jack pops his shoulders in a "what did you expect?" shrug at that and then nods.

He is absolutely not done exploring, though he figures a lot of it's going to have to wait until the next day when the sun's not all but set.

"There other buildings and stuff?"

[onebehind]

He glances over his shoulder, as if he'll be able to survey the grounds through the walls. When he turns back to Jack, it's with a shrug. "There are some maintenance sheds, a couple of half-finished gift shops -- I think they started with a cafeteria style restaurant, too, before the money ran out."

They're all in varying states of construction, of disrepair, though. The warehouse is the real piece de resistance here; he really hasn't been out to look around the grounds in years.

[the_death_card]

Jack just grins. "Cool."

For a kid who's spent most of the last few years of his life running around on the streets of New York with the occasional bit of snooping around in abandoned buildings (it's not B&E if there's no breaking involved), having somewhere like this to poke around in is a dream come true. "I'll have to check them out tomorrow."

He pauses a beat and then, backtracking, says abruptly, "Chinese?"

[onebehind]

Dylan takes a moment, looking thoughtful -- it's not that he's opposed to Chinese, it's that he's doing math in his head, trying to figure out the time it would be in Macau and what the restaurants might be serving then. The question as to whether or not they might be open never crosses his mind. It's a casino town. It's a town, like New York or Vegas, that never sleeps.

Either way, he glances at his watch briefly, before, "You want Chinese-Chinese or American-Chinese?"

This all may be a moot point if Jack is craving something a little less authentic.

[the_death_card]

Jack probably doesn't actually need to answer that outloud, considering both the interest that immediately pings down their connection and the excitement in his eyes. His face all but lights up at the question, and he rocks up on his toes a little. "Actual Chinese," he agrees immediately, because yeah, that's better than something out of a strip mall any day.

[onebehind]

Dylan smiles, something secret and soft and sad all at once creeping onto his face. He jerks his head towards the door, the look lingering. "I might know a place."

It'll be the first time he's been to Macau in -- well, it's been awhile. It seems right in the moment, though, that this be the moment that he returns.

[the_death_card]

Jack's excitement doesn't fade in the wake of Dylan's answering smile, and he moves to follow him back toward the warehouse's door.

"Kinda guessing you know a place, like... everywhere."

Considering he had Known a Place in Japan, too.

[onebehind]

Dylan makes a so-so gesture, then reaches for the door as they approach it. "Kinda? Dad and I spent a lot of time out East, so I know some good places in, like, Japan and China and shit. Not sure I'd be able to come up with something decent if we were headed to, say, Germany, though."

He's not sure he's ever been to Germany.

Either way, when he pulls open the door, there's an alley waiting for them rather than the graveyard around the warehouse.

[the_death_card]

Jack opens his mouth to comment on that - and then Dylan opens the door, and he steps through. The difference in sounds and smells is immediate - Jack knows New York, had started to get to know Vegas, and this is nothing like either of them.

He glances back at Dylan. "So where are we? Other than China, I mean."

He doesn't know that much about China - definitely not enough to know where they are within the country.

[onebehind]

"Macau," he answers, something almost embarrassed tinging the edges of the smile he offers him. Maybe it's because like everything else he's introduced Jack to, he's half-afraid he'll find what he's showing him boring or stupid, somehow. "They call it the Vegas of the East.

"There's a lot of entertainment and gambling venues and old magic here." Among other things.

[the_death_card]

Jack doesn't notice that edge, if just because he's too busy looking around. "Nice," he says, grinning. "I've probably heard of it, but, like... nothing's really coming to mind, either?"

He has no preconceived notions about Macau itself - not like he did actual Vegas or Tokyo or whatever other major cities they've been to at this point.