Somebody Stop The Music

[Alex Lin 9]

Alex hadn't expected that random, boring Wednesday to turn into a rollecoaster of emotions and denial, and yet, there she stood - just outside of Cole's apartment, taking a deep breath, calming herself.

Calming herself? Nevermind that. There's no way she'd let him go get himself killed!

The woman hastily knocked on the door with her bent knuckles. "Hey! You in there?" She called out with a concerned tone. She had to talk him out of it. She had to. There was no way she'd place herself in the position of potentially losing yet another person so important to her. Jamie himself already frequently pushed that little button trigger of hers; she didn't need more uncertainty in that realm of her life.

Said twin brother had already tried to reason with her that whole afternoon. It was a conversation that they already had many times in the past concerning the Seeker (never to his success), but he appealed to common sense - screaming at Cole to stop doing whatever it is he wanted wasn't going to get him to do whatever she wanted. She needed to talk, and if the time came, she needed to understand she couldn't dictate what went on in his life. She couldn't dictate what he wanted to do and how he went about it.

That was something she understood, but that didn't make her feel any less uneasy.

And so, later at night, she made her way over. She wasn't angry anymore; just very worried, borderline panicky. Surely she'd make him understand her position, right...?

[Cole Lin 6]

Cole found himself standing in the small kitchen that had been part of his temporary living space offered up by the university. The paper that suggested that he should transfer his focus of study towards something more active under the understanding that his unique capabilities could be used for the benefit of the Wizarding world. It had been a path in life that he had never considered, finding no urge to be the sort to protect and serve, not in the way that required that his life be placed on the line.  It had been comingled with the unease of leaving things with Alex back on QuillBook. But it had been a situation and decision that held a wealth of opportunity and acclaim, something that he’d always worked towards.

It hadn’t been that he didn’t consider those in his life and their responses or that it had been lesser in the capacity to make their proper impact on his decisions. He could say it had been due to their importance and the things that he knew that existed that held him at a teetering edge of choosing to take up the kind of dangerous path. If it had been for their own safety in the greater scheme and picture? Didn’t he have that right to them to protect them from that kind of thing if he held the power?

Then the knock on the door which drew his attention from the life changing paper. Who could that have been at that time? It didn’t take long for that answer to come with the voice. “Alexa. . .?” His voice had been low as the realization hit. She’d arrived to give him a piece of her mind that Jamie didn’t get for interceding for him, wasn’t she? With his eyes now being closed, a gentle huff of his breath to gather up his thoughts and a few careful steps he’d find himself at the door.

He grasped the handle and twisted the knob to open it up gently, a weak smile danced on his lips. Even now he had been happy to see her but also had been more than prepared for the verbal chastising to hit at the speed of light. “You look lovely as always, Alex.” It had been the first thing that came to mind for him and not as an attempt to try and pacify her before she could get started. Stepping to the side he widened the door further to allow her to have a walk inside of the home.

“Come on in, do you want anything to drink or snack on? I haven’t really went shopping just yet, but I still have a few things around to take in.” Being a bad host to a guest wouldn’t have done no matter the scenario. It hadn’t been the way that he’d been raised by his parents and their generosity.

[Alex Lin 9]

There wasn't a hint of outrage, fury, frustration, or any other emotion that would usually draw from Alex's more fiery personality on her face when Cole greeted her; rather, she looked tired. The exhaustion of venting all that crippling anxiety on Jamie was certainly showing itself. Not only that, but she exuded an aura of restlessness instead - as if the very life had been sucked out of her after the rant she subjected her fraternal twin brother to. Silence followed as he spoke, her gaze following him as he held the door open for her.

She had to practically force herself through her panic to step inside, momentarily forgetting she was actually supposed to do that. Her body demanded her to do something else, something completely on instinct - to express what she didn't have the words to say at that point. Her form compromised with her brain, allowing her to take just a step inside - just enough to be by his side - before turning to him and moving to hold him, the grasp being quite slack but full of feeling, her forehead pressing to and covering the side of his neck..

She didn't want him to put himself at risk. She didn't want him to get in trouble and leave her; she didn't think she could live through the event of losing him to a work accident. However, she didn't have it in her to ask him not to do it anymore. Ultimately, it was his life. All she could do was ensure he was aware what it meant to her. What he meant to her.