abraxaslogs | Got love for the people that have warned you

At some point early during the period of renovations, Jesper may or may not notice a thump or two from somewhere in the direction of the roof, depending how much time he spends on the ground floor and how sharp his hearing is. Nothing too noisy — just indicators that someone is up there and for once, doesn't care to be stealthy enough to hide it.

A short while later Altaïr appears wherever Jesper is working, a hand-drawn drawing/map/diagram in hand. Freshly made.

"As promised." He offers it over with a nod and a small smile. "I found one or two places in danger of leaking soon."

Jesper has extremely sharp hearing, a gift bestowed upon him by the Singularity, that is sometimes a curse, but he's been using it during the renovations so he can hear someone call for him or if someone needs help. So he does hear the thumping but figures it's someone helping.

He is currently fixing up all the chairs right outside the inn, as they're meant to go into the new outdoor patio space, and he's giving them an extra material seal for outdoor weather. At first glance it would look like he's just running his fingers along all parts of the chair, but a closer glance would make all of it shimmer like liquid.

It stops shimmering when Altaïr shows up since he's distracted and he stands, wiping his hands off, wood and metal permanently dirtying them up at the moment. "Perfect, Altaïr. Is it like serious it needs to be redone entirely, or patchwork? I mean, we probably should just replace, but you have a better sense than me."

He catches a brief glance of something shimmering, but nothing more. It doesn't strike him as important — probably magic, most strange things here are magic — but he'll remember it.

"A full replacement would give it a better lifespan, but patchwork would be sufficient," he says with a nod. "The choice may depend on what price can be negotiated with local workmen, and how much the innkeeper can afford to pay. Unless you intend to do all the work yourself."

"We're mostly doing the work ourselves, or paying for it ourselves. It's a gift to Mags."

She would definitely never do this herself or even attempt it herself, so it had to be on them. Jesper considers for a moment because a roof really is something a professional should look at. They may all be decent at painting and patchwork, and he could probably do a good job on the roof by himself, but he feels like that might not have staying power.

"I've got some contacts in Cadens, they'll probably give us a decent price. Better to have it replaced." He's fairly certain they can cover everything else and the group has been working on it pretty consistently. They have some funds to cover something like that. "I'm not going through the work of updating everything only to have a roof cave in. Annoying."

It's a fair point. Practical-minded, both in terms of finances and in assessing Mags' likely actions. Generous of spirit too, though that's not really what catches his attention most about all this.

"More and more I see you and other Summoned investing in the community here," he says. "It feels permanent."

He doesn't say it as though he thinks it's something bad; he doesn't. Truthfully, he's not sure how he feels about it.

"It could be permanent, we don't know. Some people have been here for over two years and decided to settle in, some people want to stay here. There are reasons to accept it." Jesper's one of the lucky people who doesn't have anything terrible to go back to, so if he stays or he goes, he's not worried about his fate. He's sure that people will miss him here and he'd be sorry to leave their lives, but they don't have to wonder about him in an afterlife or anything.

That's not true for everyone.

"We've started businesses, bought houses, put down roots. I don't see why not. If we're stuck here, at least we have things to stick around for, if we go home, then it happens and what's left behind is someone else's problem." Jesper finishes smoothing out the wood, it shimmering liquid underneath his fingers.

"You've got something big to go back to?"

There are no good reasons, not for Altaïr. Not when he's left such important things behind. He can understand that he has no control over his presence here — he can acknowledge it — but he'll never be able to accept it.

"Yes. The people of my homeland face a time of great change, and I should be there to take part in it."

Be with them — lead them, probably. He doesn't know if he deserves the role but he knows he can give his brothers nothing less than himself.

"But it doesn't mean I care nothing for this land." His mouth curves into a thin, rueful smile. "In a sense, I feel divided between two worlds, though I'm firmly in just one."

"Technically you are, although I don't entirely understand how it all works. You were plucked out of time, but the world goes on without you, with a version of you still there. That's why people can go back and then come here with new memories of their time there." The details of it are beyond his mental ability to get it, although Jesper is very smart underneath his perceived shallowness. It's too much of a headache, but he thinks that's generally right about what's going on.

"I was one of the people it happened to, although mine was that my head just got stuffed full of new memories. It was a happy year that was crammed in there, but I did live on in that timeline with no interruption." Again, Jesper knows how lucky he is, having had memories of a good life instead of a painful one. A year with Wylan, something his merchling has not had, but they're working on a new year.

"There's nothing wrong with caring about where you are and where you're going, if anything, it's probably for the best rather than obsessing over the past." No going back there. "This place isn't so bad. My world is kind of a trashfire in comparison."

"Mmm. So I've been told."

Does he believe it? Yes and no. He doesn't believe that any of those who have gone back and returned once more were lying or mistaken about their experiences. But what Jesper describes is almost too simple in its way, and Altaïr does not trust anything about this to be simple. He listens carefully, though, interest more than piqued by another story from one who'd apparently crossed worlds more than once.

"I'm glad you had something good to look back on," he says, and means it — and that's as much a sign as any that the past year has changed him, because this would not have been the case a year ago. "Despite that, what is so bad about the place you came from?"

"I'm definitely one of the lucky ones. I think most people end up with more reasons to stay." Jesper hasn't asked around since that seems a bit private. Not everyone is as open to sharing as he is, and he respects that, in a general way. He may press more on the people he knows, but that's after establishing a connection.

As for his home, well. Jesper considers how to explain it, tapping his fingers thoughtfully against the wood. "It's in a war, a real one, not the implications of one here. And one side of it wants every person like me to die. They would torture and burn us until we stop existing. There is no middle ground." They do keep a few pet Grisha to do some of their killing for them, but that's the ones that are addicted to drugs and will die eventually regardless.

"The other side of it wants to use my kind in their army, so it's not a good world for us. I've had to hide it my whole life to try to avoid either fate, whereas here everyone's magic, it's not a big deal." So Jesper can be altering chairs and wood and tables with his abilities out in the public eye with no fear. It too him awhile to trust that, but he does now.

Got love for the people that have warned you

inn renovations time

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