city of delusion | sienna

[rhys alexander greyback]

can i believe when i don't trust?

all your theories turn to dust

September 18, 2028
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

Rhys took his time tidying up around his flat. Amelia’s toys were strewn about, as always. It would have taken him minutes to do all this with a wave of his wand, but it gave him something to do. Plus, he wanted to ensure none of his daughter’s toys went missing, or the tantrum would prove unpredictable. Suffice to say, it didn’t hurt to clean the old-fashioned way. Merlin forbid an errant shirt or undergarment that was not his end up between a couch cushion or somewhere inconspicuous. The only items left untouched were the few books and notes strewn across the coffee table beside whiskey and his glass.

He had to admit that teaching during the spring wasn’t as painful as he would’ve thought. And the familiar faces were the added benefit. By the end, Rhys, Vector, and the others felt confident in this new bunch. They would do well in the field and perhaps survive far longer than many of the instructor’s long-gone friends. And it all felt serendipitous as well. With teaching complete, Rhys left for one job early in the summer before opting to spend some time at home. Amelia’s birthday was at the end of July, and, for once, he could ignore the urge to leave. And since Dahlia was spending more time in London as she healed from her run-in with the troll, Sage had opted for a larger party for Amelia’s second birthday.

Rhys and Sage’s friends and family attended, all very excitedly. And he’d even invited Juniper, who he’d found himself talking to more often these days. It was strange to see her next to Amelia. Once upon a time, Rhys had wondered if children were in the cards for the pair. But life had other plans. Sage hadn’t been shy about her opinions, the usual. And since Rhys didn’t talk about his past often, many of his friends hadn’t met her—not that he advertised that this girl was his ex-girlfriend.

Satisfied with the state of his flat, Rhys sat down and picked up his glass while pushing away some notes to the side. There was nothing new in these notes, yet he stuck to his routine of reviewing where he was going, what he was supposed to retrieve, and tackling obstacles in his path. What curses were the norm for the time? And all those things. But, he swore that every time he picked up one of these books, it made him weary. It was then his phone buzzed on the table. Lazily, Rhys picked it up and spotted a message from Sienna asking if he was home. He paused, wondering if she would believe him if he said ‘no’. Instead, he responded with a ‘why?’

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[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

18 September 2028

Considering the state of the men in her life, Sienna had gotten somewhat used to simply showing up at their doors and letting herself in. That might not be a sign of a usual friendship, but then again – there was nothing usual about her life. Rob, she reasoned to herself while watering the singing daisies, tended to withdraw into himself and stop answering texts. It was a surefire sign that something was happening, even if she wasn’t privy to it. And Rhys – well, he was just cagey. Shooting off non-answers and avoiding his emotions like he was allergic to them. She’d learned a long time ago to be insistent and simply show up as needed. Being considerate was for emotionally healthy people.

Her phone buzzed, and Si glanced at the simple ‘why’ she’d gotten back from Rhys. It was so typical that she didn’t bother to roll her eyes (it wasn’t worth the effort), but simply tossed her wand and phone into her purse and made her way to the door. There could be any number of things happening right now. Most likely – Rhys was fine, Amelia was fine, and there was nothing to worry about. But things did happen, and Rhys’s break-up had come as something of a shock. Maybe not a surprise, but certainly shocking enough that it could send waves into a carefully ordered life. And for a relationship that had lasted that long, it took longer than a few months to get to a space where you could be ‘alright.’ All in all, she’d feel better if she could see him with her own eyes and assess the situation for herself.

Having settled very happily into being a willing and able babysitter, Apparating into nothingness and reappearing in front of Rhys’s door had become a familiar routine. She studied the faded paint for a moment before knocking – because he was still a cursebreaker and that came with a level of paranoia about intruders. She wasn’t looking forward to being accidentally cursed. The minute the door opened, Si strode in without a pause and looked over the apartment – looking for something that seemed different. She couldn’t immediately identify anything, so she turned back to look at Rhys. “Are you alive? Is the baby alive? Why do you send such mysterious and vague texts?”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

can i believe when i don't trust?

all your theories turn to dust

September 18, 2028
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

Rhys responded to a few more messages before putting his phone back down. However, there was a knock at the door about ninety seconds later. Sighing heavily, Rhys strode to the door and answered. Of course, he expected nothing less. It wasn’t worth getting upset over the intrusion of his personal time. Eventually, Si would ensure they got to whatever point she was trying to make. Closing the door, he waited until Sienna stopped and finally turned to look at him. ”Yes, yes and you never answered my question.” Rhys reminded Sienna. Walking back down the short corridor, he turned into the living room and back to the couch with his drink and notes.

”Amelia is with Sage if you were looking for her.” Rhys never felt invisible in his life, but he also knew he was hardly a presence on their radar. The moment his daughter was born. However, he truly became invisible. It might have bothered some, but seeing his daughter surrounded by his friends and family always made him sentimental. Not that he’d ever admit it. Rhys was only grateful for Sienna’s timing as Juniper had left that morning. Part of cleaning his flat was also to tidy up any mess they might have made.

But, he was due to leave in a few days for his next job and for another few weeks or so. Rhys hadn’t shared that development in his life with anyone, at least not purposefully. Nell and Dahlia knew, but his sister wouldn’t share that with anyone. And Nell? Well, Rhys and Juni were well aware of a certain secret man in her life who happened to be Rhys’ longtime Cursebreaking partner, so he doubted she would say anything. And the last thing he felt like was a lecture from any of his friends. ”But since you’re here, what can I help you with?” The sarcasm was hard to miss, but he didn’t feel like leaving his own flat.

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[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

All in all, it seemed somewhat unfair for Rhys of all people to complain that she hadn't answered his question – so Sienna ignored his pointed remarks as she glanced around the apartment again. It was messy, but not in a particularly unusual way for Rhys. There were signs of a baby everywhere, even if Sienna felt a little pang of disappointment that she was apparently with her mom today. And there were signs that Rhys was working (if not overworking), but that was still preferable to what Si had been worried about finding. She’d known Rhys for years at this point, though, and he’d gotten a lot more subtle than simply leaving whisky bottles out for her to find.

That didn’t mean that everything was okay, though. Usually, the status quo was that everything was not okay, and it had become an automatic assumption for her to assume that something troublesome was lurking under the surface. Even if he hated to admit it to himself, much less to anyone else. In fact, Si was certain there were things he wasn’t telling her and his extended silence was a worrisome sign. Because problems that were acknowledged could, some way or another, be solved. Even if it took a long time, even if it became an extremely painful process. But what was she supposed to do with a vague suspicion and no concrete evidence? Rhys had never responded well to accusations or any kind of direct questions. She didn't even have news from Rob to fall back on. He'd been moody for the last few weeks in having apparently lost his drinking buddy's attention (maybe just because of something innocent? But knowing Rhys, probably not).

Having finished her inspection, Si turned back to Rhys. He’d sunk back into his couch with what looked like cursebreaking notes, so Sienna crossed the room to join him and perch on the edge of her seat. She shrugged a little at his question. It had never bothered Si to annoy Rhys a little, without pushing too hard on any of his red lines. It was important not to openly accuse him, but coddling him didn’t help either. Hence randomly showing up at his front door if he seemed on the verge of starting another spiral into the dark parts of his mind. “We haven’t spoken properly in ages,” Si pointed out, “And one word texts don’t count.” So he really had himself to blame. Rhys had arranged himself so he looked like he was on the verge of returning to his notes, and it gave Si a little satisfaction to keep the conversation going anyway. “When is Sage dropping Amelia off? We can all go for a stroll in Diagon later, get some fresh air.”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

can i believe when i don't trust?

all your theories turn to dust

September 18, 2028
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

Rhys couldn’t blame the full moon on his mood. He wasn’t sure what to blame, but he didn’t want to explain himself either. There was this feeling that resonated from his fingertips to his core. Like he couldn’t sit still but he didn’t know where to go either. Twitchy. That’s what some of the guys used to call him during his brief stint working at Merlin’s Museum after Saffron died. Twitchy because Rhys would startle so easily and because he was constantly on edge. It wasn’t something that was easy to disguise, no matter how hard he tried.

He looked at Sienna with a side-eye. Looking ahead and blinking a few times. Putting down his notebook, Rhys leaned back into the couch, she obviously was not going to leave. ”We’ve both been busy.” He remarked. Sienna with her work and the apothecary, and Rhys with his stint at Hogwarts in the spring and summer. Surely, she had things going on with Rob as well, not that they had ever discussed it. Rob had admitted much to Rhys the year before, but it wasn’t his place to bring it up before Si wanted to tell him. Plus, Rhys sleeping with his ex-girlfriend was not something he wanted to bring up either.

”You know I was here for most of the year?” The sarcasm underlined that statement as well. Somehow, he felt he saw certain people less with that kind of schedule. Logically, it didn’t make sense, but it wasn’t for him to figure out. He paused at the mention of Amelia, realizing he missed her and it was too quiet in his flat. ”Probably not till around dinner time.” It seemed to work out better this way, that way Amelia could get to sleep without too much disruption because of one or the other picking her up and all that. ”And then I have her until Friday morning.” Rhys normally would keep her until Friday night or Saturday morning, but he was due to travel, and portkey times were difficult to change once set.

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[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Rhys had always been rough around the edges, but they’d been friends for a long time and that meant she’d seen him in all kinds of moods. Yeah, there was always a certain level of grumpiness if you tried to get Rhys to do something he was vehemently against – like getting him to put on a Christmas sweater – but she’d seen him relaxed before, even happy (for a moment or two). He didn’t look calm or relaxed now, even when he was reclining on his couch and in between assignments. There was an edge to his tone and it gave a different meaning to some of his otherwise innocent-sounding sentences. It might’ve been easy enough to blame the mood on a lack of sleep (which was likely to happen when you lived with a baby), but it also seemed like more than that. Like whatever was causing him to be so on-edge was constantly with him, some uneasy impulse that was constantly itching at him from the back of his mind.

Still, Si accepted the observation with a nod that they’d both been busy. “We’ve been trying to sort out some of Aware Wolf’s side effects,” Si volunteered, “And see where else we might take it. I’ve wanted to try adding it to drinks for ages, but of course that seems to neutralize the potion’s effects. Not sure what causes it yet.” She could realistically talk about brewing potions for hours, but that wasn’t the purpose of the visit and Rhys would probably get bored with the technical talk. Rob at least enjoyed the debate. But she still wanted to get back the normalcy of holding a conversation with Rhys. After a while of being out of contact, the conversation had a slightly stilted feel to it.

“So?” Si shot back immediately as he pointed out that he’d been locally based for most of last year, “If you don’t answer texts, then it doesn’t really matter whether you’re in London or the Maldives, does it?” She probably could’ve been more proactive, though. That was a thought she pushed away a little guiltily. Her priorities had begun to shift a bit while she’d explored her new relationship with Rob and all the exciting implications of it. And of course, Sienna had always put priority on the development of Aware Wolf, especially once it’d gone public. She only really kept steady contact with Terry because they lived together, and maybe she had been neglecting her friends a bit…but it still didn’t contradict the fact that Rhys pulled into himself when something was happening and he only shared when forced to. “It must be nice to see Amelia more often, if you’ve been travelling less. I’m sure she loves having her dad around.”

rhys alexander greyback