where no one goes (adem)

[Teo Yadav]

where no one goes 

[attr="class","box1t"]Teo was bored. Now, usually, when he was bored, he would go and make a nuisance of himself—build some little trap, cause some innocent misfortune. Today, however, he was setting out to do something with much greater consequences, on a quicker impulse than any mortal would've listened to. But he was fae, and he followed his ever-changing whims, a seed on the yellow summer wind. He was sharply aware of the uneven click that followed his every other footstep on the flagstones, but still probably not as aware as everyone else. Fae were all beautiful, but they were only beautiful when they were whole. Most who were disfigured or missing something would've been swapped out for some mortal child, the mortal kept as a servant or a prize of their mischief. Teo had been too old for that, really, when the fire struck, so here he was with his enchanted gearwork limb, a marvelous thing but an eyesore to some.  He spotted the taller, broader shape of his brother and trotted up to him, slightly unsteady in his step—the metal responded like muscle, but the pain hadn't gotten that message.  "Adem," he said. Well. He hadn't really thought much past this point.    Adem Agni Yadav [newclass=.box1t]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #929F88;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 205 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox + SeaJem

[Adem Agni Yadav]

    Adem was on his way to burn things. He was on his way to practice his favorite hobby, and hopefully not get caught doing it. He’d imagine that if someone caused the accident that hurt their younger brother, the person would do their absolute best to avoid doing the same thing ever again. Maybe it was because he was fae, uncaring as can be. Or maybe he was just a stupid, thoughtless, emotionless zombie who should never be trusted around his family ever again. The young faerie sighed, trying to push the thoughts from his head, his fingers tight on the strap of his messenger bag.

    He made his way down the hallway, trying to get where he needed to be undetected. Until he heard the mismatched thump-click of footsteps on the stone floor, that is. Footsteps that belonged to one real foot and one mechanical one. Adem stumbled slightly, his swift step breaking just long enough for him to notice. He always reacted. Always. In some way, shape, or form, the guilt his heart felt when he was with his brother caused his body to glitch. And no one else ever noticed either. It was like the universe wanted to remind him of what he had done. Like he needed a reminder.

    Adem plastered a happy smile on his face, turning to greet his little brother. He knew by now that anything he felt inside wouldn’t show, so at least he didn’t worry about that. Just smile and answer whatever question he has, and then be on your way. Adem reminded himself. Avoidance was the key. “Teo! What a surprise!” he exclaimed, both in joy and surprise, reaching out to ruffle the boy’s hair. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

TAGS: Teo Yadav

★fai

We're so sad, we paint the town blue.

[Teo Yadav]

Where No One Goes

[attr="class","box1t"]Adem had asked him a question—a good one. Excellent, really. Teo would've liked to know the answer himself. Well, y'see, even though I act like I can't stand you—and I sort of can't—I sort of maybe look up to you and figure that you must have some idea of how to do this whole 'school' thing. Since, y'know, you're good at everything. Yeah, that would go over well. Actually, maybe it would go over too well and Adem would get all emotional. Yikes.  So, that brought him back to the problem of what to say. The school part was probably safe, right? "Well," said Teo slowly, shifting his weight onto his good side, "I was hoping you could, uh...show me around the school, a little bit? I keep getting turned around, trying to go places." This wasn't entirely true, since Teo liked nothing more than exploring and could've easily mapped out Iris by himself. Still, that was what he got for wandering up to talk to Adem without a plan.  He smushed his hair back into some approximation of the right shape. "Adeeeem. Don't do that, it'll get all tangled." He wasn't whining, exactly, but it sounded disturbingly like he was.  Adem Agni Yadav [newclass=.box1t]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #929F88;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 207 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox + SeaJem

[Adem Agni Yadav]

    Adem peered at his brother. It was quite obvious that that was not, in fact, what Teo had called him for, and Adem wouldn’t have been surprised if Teo had simply called on him for no purpose. Had Teo simply wanted to be with him? A wave of guilt washed over him, and he had to do his very best to keep that stupid fake smile on his face. His best plan of action in this situation would just be to play along and do whatever Teo wanted. It seemed unlikely that his wanderer of a brother needed a guide around the school, and the thought of his brother simply wanting to be with him flashed through his mind again. Adem shoved it away quickly. He was good at that. And a tour could surely be done quickly. Couldn’t it?

    “Sure.” It was half ‘sure you’re getting lost’ and half affirmation that he would help his brother, but Adem would leave Teo to interpret that however he chose to. He chuckled at Teo’s whining but understood the struggle of managing their thick, dark curls. “Sorry.” He looked around the hallway, thinking. It would make most sense to start around the first years’ area. “Um. Okay. Well, you can follow me. I’ll show you around the part of school that you’ll need to be most familiar with this year.” He turned on his heel, leading Teo away from Adem’s original destination. The further that boy was from it, the better. The only sound was the two brothers’ footsteps echoing off of the stone walls. Why not attempt some small talk? Adem cleared his throat awkwardly. “How has school been for you so far? Do you need any help with your homework, or is it easy? Have you made any friends?” Why was he rambling like this? Sure he was nervous around Teo, but it wasn’t like he didn’t know how to hide it. He had hidden worse.

TAGS: Teo Yadav

★fai

We're so sad, we paint the town blue.

[Teo Yadav]

where no one goes

[attr="class","box1t"] Teo didn't miss the skepticism in Adem's voice, but boy was he going to act like he had. He was going to act it so well that he would wonder if he belonged on the stage. Well. Maybe not that well. Teo was more likely to be painfully, offbeat-ly honest than anything. Honest and distracted, apparently. He wasn't really surprised that Adem seemed to be seeing through his lame excuses; point one, they were, well, lame, and point two, Adem wasn't stupid. He wasn't the top-student-golden-boy for nothing. Ugh. "Nah, no, it's—you're good. It's whatever." Teo's knobby shoulders gave a restless jump that wasn't quite a shrug. There were several things he had neglected to account for in this scenario; one that stuck out rather glaringly was his own awkwardness. He did badly enough when he had a reason to be interacting with somebody, never mind making up a reason on the fly. He checked behind him to make sure that Raja was following, and sure enough, the cat was right at his heels (heel? Did the mechanical one count?) as usual. He clicked his fingers, cueing the cat to trot a few steps and walk at his side.  "What, you're not going to show me all the forbidden corridors and secret corners behind tapestries for romantic encounters?" Teo said as they walked, trying lopsidedly to keep up, hands fidgety and aimless at his sides. Did he actually just say romantic encounters? He absolutely did. He could feel Raja judging him.   "Oh, it's uh—it's great. Mr. Popular, that's me. I have to fight them off, you know how it is. No problem thanks to my famous coordination." The offbeat sarcasm was a Teo signature, so at least there was no way Adem could be surprised. He accompanied this statement with a loose approximation of a sword thrust into someone's gut. "Hyah." Shut up, Teo told himself, several sentences too late. He pointed at the first thing that caught his eye, which turned out to be a random archway, heavy with ivy. "What's, uh—what's that?" This was how family bonding was supposed to go, right?Totally. Definitely. Adem Agni Yadav [newclass=.box1t]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #929F88;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 358 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox + SeaJem

[Adem Agni Yadav]

    Adem watched his brother jump around, shrugging his shoulders and fidgeting with his hands. It seemed that any jitters that ran in the boys' genes had passed solely onto Teo. It was still quite early to tell whether or not it would develop in the twins, but they were quite wild already. Maybe it would only be Adem who’d have the calm body and the turbulent mind. Maybe the rest of them would be blessed with a peaceful mind and a calm soul, even if it was at the expense of a body that would never stop moving. But then again, maybe it was just Teo’s body, maybe it was a response to what had been done to it. Maybe the body was always moving, searching for its missing limb. His eyes drifted down to the mechanical leg his brother always wore now. He wondered how much grief he’d actually put the boy through, how much of his cheerful attitude was just an act.

    “It’s obviously not whatever,” he replied in the perfect I-know-everything-because-I’m-your-big-brother tone of voice. “If it was whatever, then you wouldn’t have come to seek me out about it.” Adem smiled reassuringly, his face showing the complete opposite emotion of whatever he was feeling inside. “I don’t mind helping you, it’s what I’m here for.” He was such a farce. His whole life was such a farce. He’d grown up the golden boy, everyone’s favorite, but only because he was barely hanging onto the title by a thread. He’d cheated on his final exams last year, he’d lied about his involvement in saving his brother, and he had no idea what was going on with Suki. But even through it all, he smiled, he did what the people expected of him. It was so tiring, this facade that he had to put up day after day. Why couldn’t the world just leave him alone? Why wasn’t he allowed to simply wallow in his misery?

    He supposed that this whole situation was supposed to be his punishment. It made sense, that the one thing he’d be so relieved not to hide was the one thing that he had to, without fail, hide. Adem gave a dry chuckle at Teo’s theatrics. It was those small moments, that he felt he could maybe one day be rid of his past and simply live in the present. Maybe they could be two brothers, bonding over something trivial. “If that's what you're really interested in, then sure. Just don't let Mother find out about your romantic encounters." He waggled his eyebrows as he said it. "She'd have a fit." If she'd have a fit about Teos 'romantic encounters, how would she react to what I did to him? He'd rather not dwell on the thought. Besides, anything he had learned about the secrets of Iris was simply from following Suki around. He resisted the urge to shiver with disgust. That had led to some mortifying moments, on Adem’s part. Just another thought he'd rather not dwell on. He noticed the cat that was following them. Damn, he hated that cat. That stupid cat was the source of all his troubles. He gave it a glare out of the corner of his eye and tried to ignore that it was even there. "I'm sensing some sarcasm. Are they being mean to you? Is it your leg?" It better not be the leg that was giving him trouble with his classmates. Adem hoped it wasn't that. He didn't want another thing to have to hate himself about.

    He didn't even notice the archway until Teo pointed it out. There was something oddly familiar about it and the little niche that it hid. He felt a vague sense of déjà vu. Adem brushed it off though. It was his school, of course he’d feel as if he’d been there before. “I’m not quite sure,” he responded. His brow furrowed, trying to think of where he’d seen that arch before. He knew he’d had something to do with it at some point, but he just couldn’t remember when. He turned to his brother and shrugged. “Let’s find out.” This could either be the best idea he’d had in a while or the worst.

TAGS: Teo Yadav

★fai

We're so sad, we paint the town blue.

[Teo Yadav]

where no one goes

[attr="class","box1t"]Teo had fully been expecting Adem to see right through him, but it was still a little disappointing that he had. Why couldn't Adem have decided to be just a little bit stupid, just this once? If only to keep Teo from having to come up with a complete lie, or worse, be honest. Yech. That, in this case, would be uncomfortable for both of them. "Thought I'd cheat at exploring a little," he said, shrugging again. "Might as well know my way around before the other first-years. I've gotta have something going for me, right?" He threw out this last comment with a crooked grin, but it landed awkwardly—typical. Somehow, it kind of irritated him when Adem put on the whole I'm-caring-and-wise-and-taking-care-of-you thing, even though that was essentially what Teo had come here for. Maybe it was just frustrating that Adem couldn't at least be a jerk on top of being perfect at everything else. "Sorry if I'm—if you've got better things to be doing. You probably do. You know, I can probably just—uh—I was thinking recently of teaching Raja how to backflip, and this actually seems like the perfect time..." He only made it about two steps back before Raja placed himself behind Teo and he almost tripped over the cat.  After a frankly embarrassing amount of pinwheeling his arms, Teo managed to right himself and glared at Raja. "No backflips. Noted. Thank you for nothing, you useless cat." He knew that, technically, cats couldn't smirk, but Raja sure was doing his best.  Teo was vaguely horrified that a) Adem was talking about romantic encounters in any context, and b) Adem was teasing-encouraging him to have them. "Please just stop saying romantic encounters," he practically begged, covering his face with his hands so that he could at least pretend the wiggling eyebrows were a figment of his imagination. "I will abstain for the rest of my life if I have to think about you making that face every time I—Eugh." It wasn't like he had much chance of that, anyway. Teo was not, despite his totally convincing claims, popular with the ladies or much of anyone else. "Nonono," he said, waving his hands around, "It's not like that. It's more...uh, most people don't really talk to me to start with? I think it's all this," he said, trying to spring back into a joke. He gestured to himself and his physique, which was reminiscent of a particularly spirited dandelion. "Very intimidating, as you can see. Can't really blame 'em." He could just feel Raja giving him an unimpressed look. He swung his prosthesis back and forth, wobbling slightly. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure that any cool points I have are coming from this thing. I like to tell people I ran into an Undersea dragon, stuff like that." Plus, I saved this cat from a burning building really just made him sound like he was trying too hard, and the fae liked nothing less than someone who had to make an effort. Glad for a change of subject, Teo grinned and followed Adem towards the archway. Now, this was his territory. Talking, not so much, but exploring? Absolutely.  Adem Agni Yadav [newclass=.box1t]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #929F88;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 534 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox + SeaJem

[Adem Agni Yadav]

    He glanced sideways at his brother. Why did he think he had nothing going for him? Teo was such a good person to be around. It was a shame that people didn’t want to be around him because of his leg. That thought made Adem’s heart squeeze a little bit. It was all his fault, after all. “You have plenty going for you.” he tried to reassure his brother. “You’re smart and incredibly creative. Why wouldn’t people want to be around you?” The fact that he could only list two attributes about his brother’s character made Adem even sadder. In that moment he felt estranged from his brother, and not in the way he usually did.

    It was true that Adem had distanced himself from his family ever since the fire. He didn’t deserve anything positive that they offered him, and they didn’t deserve all of the negative that he’d given them. It was much too complicated to be around them and pretend that he was okay, that he didn’t despise himself for what he did to them. It’s not like they even knew what he’d done to them. He was distracted from his thoughts when Teo appeared to have tripped over his cat. Adem, thankfully, caught the tail end of what he’d been saying and was able to respond. “You know, I was just about to mention how that might not be a good idea.” he glanced at the cat, trying to ignore all the memories it brought back.

    He laughed. “What face?” Wiggling his eyebrows again he added, “This one?” Never let it be said that Adem didn’t know how to tease. Deep down, it didn’t feel right, but it added a lighter tone to the situation. He poked Teo. “Romantic encounters, romantic encounters, romantic encounters.” he teased. “It’s kind of a mouthful, so don’t worry. I won’t say it anymore.” He settled down once his brother reassured him that he was alright. “That’s good to hear.” Not the fact that his brother was struggling to make friends, just the fact that no one was being mean about it. “If anyone bothers you, let me know.” he paused, in a way that he hadn’t intended to be ominous, but turned out that way anyhow. “I can take care of them.”

    Adem’s attention turned back to the archway, studying it as Teo went on about his leg. “You, running into an Undersea dragon?” He must have been feeling bold to be teasing his little brother this much. He never felt like he was allowed to engage in the banter, but maybe it was just what he needed to cover everything up better. Besides, it made Adem feel a little bit better about everything. “It’s not that you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself. But I’m sure the Undersea fae would get to you first. You know, they don’t take kindly to outsiders.” He paused. “Specifically the male kind,” he added as he looked around. The archway was no differently built than the outside corridor, same stone walls and cobblestone floor. There were sconces on the wall holding torches, to add some light, but it was noticeably darker in the niche than it was outside in the corridor. It didn’t look too deep, Adem noticed.

    He went in further, wondering why he felt like he’d been in this spot before. There was nothing that stood out about it, really. He glanced back at Teo, to see if he was following. He got the distinct sense that they needed to leave. There was something about this place that unnerved him. He looked back at Teo trying to keep his voice normal. “I think it’s just a niche, nothing special about it.” He turned back to look around one last time when something caught his eye. A scorch mark, about the same size as a wagon wheel, gaped up at him. His mouth dropped open. Now he remembered.

TAGS: Teo Yadav

★fai

We're so sad, we paint the town blue.

[Teo Yadav]

where no one goes

[attr="class","box1t"]Teo did not know how to take compliments. Very much not his area. "Thaaanks," he said, laughing awkwardly. Especially compliments from Adem, he amended, because of all the extra complicated-ness. "I should have you walk around with me and tell people how great I am. That'll definitely make me seem cool." Apparently, he could not get out a sentence without peppering in some sarcasm. Though Teo didn't seem broody or guarded, he could deflect like nobody's business.  "Well," Teo said, righting himself, "Thanks for warning me ahead of time. Both of you are reaaaaally looking out for me here." He sighed and reluctantly scratched Raja's ears. One thing the cat had going for him that Adem did not was a very cute pleading face. He added in a wry mutter, "You gotta wonder how I ended up like this with such devoted bodyguards." Raja sniffed his prosthesis obediently. Teo was just about convinced that the cat knew what he was saying.  Teo slapped his hands over his eyes and squirmed away from the poking and the eyebrow-wiggling and the eugh. "Stop, stoooooppp," he groaned. "I want to be able to eat later, please—" Despite himself, he broke out laughing, though still with a slight cringe. "Talk about bodyguards." What was the golden boy going to do, beat up anyone who looked at Teo the wrong way? His brother, the secret delinquent. It was almost funny to imagine.  Given the fact that he had just escaped the whole romantic encounters thing, Teo opted not to mention that he was starting to think that he liked when girls were a little bit scary. He didn't want to imagine what Adem would say to that. Instead, he just said, "Yeahhhh, probably."  Teo took a few uneven steps towards the arch before noticing Adem's expression. "Well, you don't know that it's not—what?" That face had to mean something. Adem Agni Yadav [newclass=.box1t]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1t::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #929F88;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 325 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox + SeaJem