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Lux has been working in the house all morning alone--Jack's got some union meeting, and Mearc stepped out to check on any messages left at the Scrivener's office. But now, there's the sound of the front door being disarmed and then opened, and some frecklemonster steps in, holding one of those four-cup drink holders (even though it only has two on it) with smoothies.
Because this is the reward for sustained effort.
Lux had left most of the fix-it projects to Jack--or at least just helped. But today Lux has been tackling retiling the master bathroom. Simple enough, right? There's some music playing from upstairs, but the front door being disarmed makes enough noise for Lux to peek their head around the corner to peer down the stairs. They are of course covered in smudges of grout, because even when not painting, Lux can't help but make a mess of themself. "Welcome home, Kitten!"
"Hey, hummingbird. I brought you some nectar to suck down." Beat. "That came out dirtier than intended. Are you at a stopping point, or should I throw this in the fridge for you?"
"I mean... I'm good with both interpretations of that statement." They grin. "You can bring it up! I'm almost done."
He pauses to take off his shoes and set down his messenger bag, then brings the smoothies up to the bathroom, singing along to whatever music Lux is playing. He's in cargo shorts mode instead of cargo pants, due to the summer weather, and with the T-shirt, it's definitely not the most dignified, grown-up look Lux has seen him wearing.
Lux smirks, accepting the smoothie when its offered over--but leaning in to steal a kiss first. Then slurps down a mouthful. "How are you?"
"Mmmmh. I am, I guess. Sigrun left me a present at my cottage; apparently she had a good hunt recently out in the Hedge." He laughs. "Also, Jack and I have made friends with a vampire who we need to introduce you to. He wants an art gallery in his theater, and I mentioned we have some ties to an artist or two. Just...don't tell him what happened to the Cordray bitch."
Lux blinks, looking surprised at the mention of a new vampire friend. "Oh. Huh. That's good, then? If he's interested in street artists, I can definitely hook him up. Though I probably know an artist for whatever style he wants, but obviously I have a bias. Uh, noted. Won't mention Cordray."
"He's apparently a member of the same...social group, whatever the vampires call it...as her, the Invictus, and if he found out that someone killed her, he would be obligated to take action on that information." The fact that Mearc's smiling as he says this says something. "I'm also going to shunt Nevermore in his direction. He seems trustworthy enough."
Lux eyes him a moment, brows raising. "O...kay. You seem into him, so guess it's not too risky, then." They slurp down more, then start down the hallway towards the bathroom. "I'll chat with him, sometime. What gift did Sigrun leave?"
"The fangs, venom sacs, and venom ducts of some sort of Hedge spider. It's like Christmas!" He laughs as he follows them toward the bathroom, and then reaches into his pocket to pull out the drawing Sigrun left with the parts: a dead spider on its back and missing its head while a cartoonish chubby little viking girl drags it away with a proud upturned chin and jutted out lower lip.
Their head tilts back towards him. "What are you even gonna do with those?" Lux pauses to blink at the drawing, then snorts in amusement. "That's amazing."
Lux steps into the bathroom--which indeed has most of the tiling done, shimmery glass hexagons in various shades of blues, with the occasional iridescent rainbow shimmery tile here and there.
"I'm debating if I want to make a hedgespun hairclip from the fangs. I haven't figured out what to do with the venom yet, though." He laughs aloud, looking around the bathroom. "Yeah, this looks awesome. Anything I can help with here, or is it just mostly 'keep you company and look pretty' at this point?"
"Hmm, keep me company and look pretty sounds good. It shouldn't take me long--just got a bit more to finish laying, then gotta wait for the mortar to dry before I can grout it." They sip more smoothie, then rest it on the sink before kneeling down to continue their work--slathering down a layer of mortar, smoothing it out, then placing the tiles carefully along in a row--only a small corner of the floor remains uncovered.
"A hedgespun hairclip, huh? What would it do?"
"Look pretty? And also maybe dangerous. I mean, I could also try to make daggers out of them; that might be nice and sharp as well." He chuckles, and finds a spot out of to perch himself, perhaps on the edge of the tub. "How've you been lately?"
"Of course you'd be pretty, but... dangerous could be cool, too." They look up to look him over thoughtfully. "You could make them look pretty or intimidating. Or something you could wear in your hair but secretly use as a shiv if you needed a weapon. Then again, you carry your knives now too..." Their head tilts. "Lots of options."
A beat pause. "I've been... okay."
"...yeah? You wanna talk about that some?" He sips at his own smoothie (orange pineapple with chia seeds) while watching them.
"Been some... developments with Aaron," Lux admits, looking down to focus on laying down tile. Despite the seemingly random position of colors, they do seem to be laying the different shades of blue down thoughtfully. "Mostly good ones," they add. "But a lot of hard talks."
"Mm. I met his other partner at Maddy's and immediately stuck my foot in my mouth with them both." Mearc shakes his head slightly. "But they seem like an okay person, and I made it to Aaron's Shabbat service on Friday."
"I haven't met his partner yet." Their brow lifts, glancing back at him. "How did you put your foot into your mouth?"
"You know, it's probably best if I don't repeat the comment I made." He grimaces, holding both of his hands up in a sheepish gesture.
Lux frowns at him for a moment, but then nods slowly. "Ah. Well--mistakes happen. I'm sure they know you didn't mean anything malicious, whatever you said."
"Yeah. I think you'll like Ziv, when you two do meet, though. Spring Courtier, well-spoken. Jewish, apparently. Speaking of, Jack wants to come with me to synagogue at some point, so that's a thing."
"Yeah. Heard all that. Spring? Huh," they mutter as they place another tile--then pauses to look back up quickly. "Huh? Seriously?"(edited)
A slow nod. "I wouldn't joke about that. Probably for a smaller service like Havdalah instead of, say, High Holidays or a big Shabbat. But yeah."
"Interesting. I assume you're happy about that, though?"
"Definitely. I...want to get to services more often. Would you come, too?"
Lux smiles at him. "I'd planned on going with you, yeah. Just let me know when you are, and I'll make the time. Are you planning on going to Kol Tzedek?"
"Definitely." He nods. "If we start going often enough, we might want to consider a synagogue membership. And I know they do intro to Judaism classes..."
A pause, then a crooked smile. "Not that you need to take them, but if you want a basis in the philosophy behind everything."
Lux considers a moment. "I think classes would be a good idea, actually. I've... actually been thinking about learning Hebrew."
"So we can have yet another language to use around people when we don't want to be understood?" This is partly teasing. Partly. "I'm also learning some basic Russian from Fox's friend Vasha. He insisted on paying for his documents somehow, but I had meant them as a present--more to Fox than him, originally. So I picked a 'cost' that wouldn't be a burden on him."
They snort softly in amusement. "No--not really. I just want to be able to... understand, better." Their shoulders lift. "Oh yeah? Russian is cool, though. Oh, apparently Vasha and Fox are getting married. Or something of the like. She showed me ring pictures the other day."
"Huh. Good on them." He nods thoughtfully. "I wonder if mage weddings are anything different from mundane ones. Oaths and all that."
Lux pauses to squint, then shakes their head. "I don't think so? At least she didn't mention anything." Lux pauses a second or two, then continues on. "Is it going to be comfortable with me going to Kol Tzedek with Aaron being around too?"
Mearc pauses before speaking, trying to gather his words carefully.
"I...after everything we've been through, I feel a lot more confident, secure in us than I used to be, Lux. I know that whoever you're with, whatever you do, wherever you roam, this is going to be our home, this place we've built together. You and me and Jack. Not to say that any other loves are less, because that's not how emotions work, but that this is meaningful. Shit, if after everything you still wanted to get together with Teagan, I think I'd be fine with that, now. Like...I feel secure, with you. And that's what I needed. So, no, it's not going to be weird to have you and Aaron in the same building, I don't think. Even if you're making goo-goo eyes over him the whole time."
Lux sets down the spready tool, turning to watch him as they listen. They smile softly, reaching out to take his hand to squeeze. "I'm glad you feel secure with me. I'll admit, my love for Aaron has grown quite a bit this past week--but it doesn't change how I feel about you. You and Jack are my home. My family. Aaron is... he's a lot, too, and has wiggled himself into a very important place in my heart. But there's more than enough room for you all. I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Kitten."
Mearc lightly tugs Lux closer for a slow, gentle kiss, before breaking off to rest his forehead against theirs. "There's a couple lines in a poem from one of my favorite science fiction authors that's in my head right now. 'Assuming Ascension, Assumption, assent/all of our nonsense is finally non-sent./With honorable mention to whatever we meant,/you are my content and I am content.'"
Lux returns the kiss, slipping in and wrapping their arms around him--still kneeled on the floor in front of him. They smile wider, eyes closing as they rest their head against his. "Mm... That is beautiful. And perfect."
"You're beautiful and perfect." Mearc laughs, holding on carefully.
"Nu uh. You are," Lux replies in an exaggeratedly cutesy voice, smirking. Not that it makes the words any less sincere. Their head tips after, pressing their lips against his.
Mearc's new sharp teeth very, very gently nip at Lux's lower lip as they kiss.
Lux makes an appreciative sound at the nip, their hands lowering to rub at Mearc's lower back--likely about to lead to more tempting places, but Lux pauses and seems to force themself to take a step back. They pull back from the kiss, looking up at him thoughtfully for a moment. Looking town, thoughtful.
"There's something I want to talk to you about. It's--sort of related to Aaron, and I... honestly don't know if it's something I should be sharing about him, but--I feel like I need to talk to someone about it. And I think you're the person who would... understand. The most."
Mearc nods, putting his hand under Lux's chin and lifting his head gently, to make eye contact for just a moment. "Talk to me?"
Lux bites their lip a moment before continuing, voice soft. "He showed me something. The... source of his magic, I guess. Which is... God? I--don't really understand it, completely. When he became a Mage, he told me he saw angels--literal angels, like the scary firey type, not the pretty cherub bullshit. And that it was a really divine experience. And it's not that I didn't believe him or anything--I did, but it was different to... see it. He just... radiated this light and power that was..." Lux doesn't seem to have the words. "It was overwhelming."(edited)
"I see. Right, now I've actually got a really weird relationship with the concept of the divine, but...I think there's probably a lot of himself and his worldview that probably shapes how his power manifests, how he processes what he's been through and then projects it out into the world. But I admit I'm saying that because I cannot just roll over and say 'oh, okay, I guess that means God is real and is good'. Not and be comfortable with the world as it exists and my life within it."
The last part catches Lux off guard, considering Mearc quietly for a moment. "Why not?"
"Because if there was a good God who was onmipotent, why would the True Fae be allowed to exist and take people?" It's Mearc's turn to glance down now, at his hands, quietly.
"Ah." Lux pauses. "I guess I just--assumed, what with you wanting to go to synagogue more..." They lean against his legs, hands cupping over Mearc's. "That's part of what I've been thinking about too. Not all, but... it's a big part. I don't really have an answer for it."
Mearc laughs, shaking his head. "I'm not going to synagogue for God. I'm going to synagogue for me. And for my community, my people. And for the comfort of the ritual setting. And for the Jewish modes of marking time. And because 'a day of rest' is a concept that should not be foreign to me. But God can go fuck himself, if he exists and allows this much suffering in the world."
"Oh... That makes sense, yeah." Lux nods faintly, then leans in again to hug him around the waist, kissing softly at his chest soothingly.
"I don't know if that helps with what you saw around Aaron, though, and I'm sorry for that."
Lux shrugs, then smiles up at him. "It's alright, babe. No need to apologize."
"Yeah, I'm gonna anyway, though." He chuckles. "See, there is a concept in Judaism that God doesn't just step in because humanity is meant to be partners in creation, that it's given to us to repair the world, heal the world, build the world--translations on the word 'l'takein' are sketchy. But like. Humanity can't deal with the True Fae. You know?"
"Right--yeah. I get that. There's a difference between trials and like... just... hopelessness, I guess." Lux frowns in thought.
"But despite all that, I feel like Judaism is a vibrant culture that I'm glad to be a part of, and that I want to engage with more. Because the hat-mocking, oil-squeezing angel-wrestling assholes out ancestors were, they were pretty cool. This viewpoint, for what it's worth, is consistent with 'Humanistic Judaism', because there's enough people out there who believe in the culture and de-emphasize God to make a whole movement of basically atheist Jews."
"Oh... Huh..." Lux's head tilts, brows creasing as they ponder that over. "I... guess that makes sense, yeah."
"I can't wait to share Purim with you next year. I think that'll be your favorite holiday." He grins.
Lux pauses a moment. "I don't think Aaron has told me about that one. Or--if he has, I don't remember. How is it celebrated?"
"Costumes, carnivals--cookies shaped like a villain's hat, because I was entirely serious when I called us hat-mocking. Most synagogues do a little play based on the story of Queen Esther, called a Purim Spiel, but the story may end up, say, set on a space ship or in the 1960s or in the Wild West. That's half the fun. And while the story is told, you make noise every time the villain, Haman, comes up by name. What a lot of modern synagogues do is have people bring boxes of macaroni or rice to shake or those round containers of oatmeal or coffee to drum on, and donate the food to a local food bank afterward."
Lux blink-blinks as they listen, brows climbing with interest. "...Yeah. That sounds fucking awesome. I definitely want to go to that." They lean in to steal another kiss like the thirsty bitch they are, then slip away to finishing up with the last of the tiles.
"It's in the springtime. The first time I met Aaron, it had just barely passed. Hard to believe it's been, like. What, four months since then? What even is time."
"Time is a fuck." Lux shakes their head, then pauses thoughtfully. "Yeah. It's only been like... four months, since we first kissed. Feels like it's been longer." They smile lopsidedly as they work.
"We've put in a lot of kisses, in that time." This has the tone of a tease.
"We have. Still got a lot more to go, though..." Their smile turns into a smirk. "In fact, I don't think we've met our kiss quota for the day. Give me a minute, and I'll fix that," Lux says as they set the last tile in the row.
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