Life's A' Knockin'

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning of a cold wintry day. It was snowing outside and despite nearing midday it was quite dreary and so the windows of many houses on Saint Street revealed that electric lighting was in full use. In the Smithton residence one of the rooms however revealed a more unusual pattern of light, almost but not quite like candles due to the way it shifted around. The source was a pair of glimmering ethereal wings growing out of the back of a young man seated on his bed in his otherwise dark room. His name was Gabe and he was deep in thought, oblivious to the world around him as he wordlessly chanted mantras and incantations. A set of reddish-orange beads floated in the air in front of him as the tips of his wings fidgeted erratically.

Whatever meditations the teenager was doing were interrupted abruptly, swiftly and mercilessly. It did not take much, of course - just a single, loud and well-placed slam of something heavy right against the rooftop. The weight did not feel overwhelming, but solid enough to guess it was not an insignificant object. On the other hand, the steps and creaking soon after betrayed it was not an inanimate thing - but a living being.

Slowly, the creaking lead from vaguely in the middle of the mansion, towards the window - Gabe’s window.

At first Gabe barely registered the sound of a thump on the roof, but as the sounds continued he was drawn out of his trance until he felt a presence approach his window and potential entry point to his room. He carefully laid aside the beads he was working on as his wings flared in brightness, the fidgety motions only increasing in intensity. He carefully got up, trying not to make a move as he looked around for a convenient hiding spot.

The creaking stopped, for most part. The weight shifted, leaving only snow to fall outside the glass. It fell irregularly, a section a little more sprase than the others. Before anything could be done, a large mound fell and hanged over the edge of the roof, dangling in front of Gabe’s view.

Of course, it wasn’t a mound of snow - it was Dominik, covered in white as he was nonetheless. Jittering. Yet, he kept a beam on his face nonetheless. He did not say anything, but gleamed, pleadingly.

As something big and white and mysterious appeared at his window Gabe drew back until he realised that the snow creature was in fact Dominik, his smiling face dispelling most of the tension in the room. His wings calmed down a bit before sort of drooping as he walked towards the window and pulled it open.
“Dominik,” he began, “What on Earth are you doing on the roof? In the snow?”
He gave him a slightly confused look before looking up and down the street to see if they were being observed.
“I thought you were a GREY agent or something!”

Without answering, Dom piled into the room, clutching a white thing between his arms. Rolling once, with just a small scratch and an “oof” in-between as he horns scraped the floor, he tumbled himself to a sitting position. The teenager wiggled around, and looked at Gabe. Then, he pulled his hands forward. The object he cradled was a shopping back, clearly somewhat full.

“No, the opposite actually. G.R.E.Y.’s doing these lockdowns again and I decided not to wait until the streets are open again. I bought you chocolate.”

He takes the offered bag and looks inside it noting that it is indeed chocolate before realising that the two of them are standing in the dark with the window open in the middle of Winter. His eyes glow a soft green as numerous candles suddenly light and the window closes and latches itself. The electric light seems to be in a bad way and the walls show signs of scorching.
“Thanks Dom. I haven’t gotten you a Christmas present yet so I can’t reciprocate,” he offers a hand to help pull Dom to his feet before continuing, “I kept putting it off and, well, can’t exactly go to the shops like this.”

Dominik stood up, and nodded. Only after a moment had his eyes adjusted to see in the semi-lit condition. Before courtesy, he scanned the room, mouth agape… if only a little. Realization came quickly, apparently, as he gasped a tiny gasp and nodded to Gabe. Furiously. About half a dozen times.

“Yeah, I see that. Is it one of those times? You know, like you and Rhiannon tend to do from time to time?” he asked, right away. After a moment, he added in an afterthought. “Is that why you haven’t been answering my calls? I think I phoned you a dozen times over these two days.”

He sighed as he pointed Dom over to a convenient armchair while he himself went back to sitting on his bed and fiddling with beads again. It’s clear that he’s uncomfortable as his wings fidget about and twitch.
“It’s part of the reason. I… Kind of blew my phone up and I haven’t been able to go and get a new one,” he sighed again, “But you’re right. My powers and I are going through a rough patch.”
Gabe gave Dominik a surprisingly intense look as though he were looking through him and not at him and his eyes lingers on Dom’s hair.
“How about you? I see I’m not the only one whose physical changes since then are sticking around.”

“Yeaaah, ha-hah…” Dom laughed, forcing out a very awkward gag from himself. “Gramps is saying he’ll work on them but now I’m not so sure because Lancelle said they look kinda cute so…” he began, and caught himself before the train of thought left the station.

“So you blew up your phone, totalled the lights and… the candles are part of the thing or is that just how your family does ambience?”

“They do make you look very distinguished,” he waved a hand and the beads he was working on levitated into the air and took up a circular formation.
“Well. They’re not just for ambiance, we just haven’t gotten an electrician in to repair the light in here. Plus, sometimes they help. Firegazing is a very relaxing form of meditation.”

“And that’s what you’ve been up to? Meditating?” Dominik asked, rather straight-forward.

“Well, not just meditation. I’ve been playing music, making things, reading. Just keeping my mind off recent events.”
The beads floating before him were joined by a star shaped pendant which they began to revolve around slowly.

“So, relaxing levitation…?” Dom asked curiously, but it appeared his question was hollow. He immediately picked up his one pace, and continued to question his friend. “I guess that’s okay. Have you been keeping up with things like… eating? Sleeping? Uh… exercising, a little bit here and there? What about going outside?”

He paused, and shook his head. “Maybe not that much on the last bit. At least during mid-day. You can get in trouble easily now just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

...and he grinned. “That’s why I take the rooftops now more often than not!”

It was then that Gabe realised he might be showing off a bit with the magic unintentionally so he allowed the beads and pendant to slowly fall to his bed.
“Is everything alright Dom? You seem very concerned.” As he spoke it was clear he was trying to deflect but the sorcerer was a lousy liar and his wings gave it away as they drooped a bit behind him.

“Your phone’s busted, your light’s fried, you’re practicing magic tricks all day, I don’t think you’ve gone out judging by the smell in here, your powers are wonky, you’ve got wings and I’ve pulled enough people with similar situations out of a slump I’m realizing, to my own surprise, I’m slowly starting to get better at picking these things up.”

Again, Dom looked around the semi-scorched room. “Not that it’s difficult.”

“So, without beating around the bush. Spill the beans.”

Gabe wasn’t sure what he was more affronted by, the fact that Dom called sorcery magic tricks or accused him of not leaving his room. He was about to protest when he realised that there really was no point trying to deflect further. His wings sagged behind him even more, going still and dimming. He picked up the star shaped pendant.
“Do you know what this is Dom?” he didn’t wait for an answer before continuing, “This is a thank you present to Elle for saving me when she didn’t have to. I almost killed a lot of people. I got angry and the power within me flared out of control. I’ve been losing control a lot more lately and this was just so much worse. Ever since that day when Tiger attacked with his army of malign spirits I’ve been feeling myself slipping away.”

“Right…” Dominik began, before turning to silence. He rose from where ever he was previous sat, and began to tap his foot against the floor ever so slightly. He huffed. His hands extended, pulled forward and wrapped themselves one over the other over his chest. It was abundantly clear he was trying to find an answer.

“To begin with, I believe Freedo also has a near-body-count to his name, so that’s a start. Secondly, as much as I know this is… uh… a bad thing to happen and I shouldn’t attempt to make it sound too ‘normal’, well, neither your nor I are quite ‘normal’. So in essence, the weird and dangerous is our normal, if you get what I’m saying” he started, rising his hand to his chin. His fingers rubbed against the edge as he continued to speak, ponderously.

“We’ve all had moments where we were… uh… lost, for better or worse. Or in a coma, so to speak, but that’s on my end. It’s, uh, important to have control and all of that. Since we kind of need a dozen times more control and restraint than your average guy on the street after all. But thing is, just rigorous exercise or meditating for hours on end, well, that’s not all there is to control. Because we’re still people, we live among people and we… well, we should live among people too.”

“Staying cooped up in a room making beads flow must be doing wonders for your focus, but I think it’s just making you more stressed out. If you feel yourself slipping, you need to anchor yourself, and you can’t anchor yourself on just… wanting to anchor yourself alone. You need others to anchor you. Like I was when I found all my friends from the refuge. And like we should be, for you, because we’re a Team, right?”

Gabe listened to Dom speak, turning the pendant he was working over in his hand as he avoided looking at his friend. His wings flicked back and forth as Dom reached the end of his speech before they calmed down and simply hung down from his back like strips of vibrant cloth. He knew he was right, but there was a definite note of apprehension in his voice.
“You’re a good friend Dom and you’re probably right, but I’m not ready. I mean, you’re right about Freedo, but he’s only dangerous to a few people. I’m dangerous to everyone. You’ve felt my power and the others are a lot more fragile than you,” he paused for a moment as he put the pendant back down, immediately regretting he no longer had something to occupy his hands, “I know it looks like I’m just hiding, but I know what I’m doing. Maybe I do need help, but at least while I’m here no one’s getting hurt, just some replaceable pieces of furniture and four sturdy walls.”
It was true, it hadn’t been apparent until attention was drawn to it, but the room was pretty sparsely furnished and devoid of ornaments and knick knacks.

“...and slowly gnawing feeling of loneliness and paranoia, right?” Dom said, rolling his eyes and furrowing his brow, just a little. His hands still remained over his chest, folded, as he stared at Gabe with an incredulous look.

He sighed. “Listen,” Dominik dropped his hands and shook them, one from the other, in protest. “You don’t have to go out to the street right away and pretend nothing’s wrong, because I’m not saying things are peachy and rainbow and all that stuff, right?” he paused, looking at Gabe with a pleading sight.

“All I’m saying is that staying cooped up is doing about as much harm as going out there and blasting things left and right,” he continued, before once again giving himself a moment, his mind thinking.

“You should give Elle that gift.”

He was about to respond to Dominik’s concerned statements but then he was caught off guard by what seemed to be a sudden change in topic.
“Wait, what? Now?” he asked with confusion, “But, it’s not even finished yet. I still need to apply to apply the final set of charms and then thread the beads, not to mention get a box for it all…”
The apparent sudden change in topic from something heavy to something seemingly prosaic almost seemed to have shaken him somewhat. It wasn’t like Dom to give up on things like this after all.

“Then how about I help you with what I can,” the teenager suggested crossing his arms again - this time, a smile crept up on his lips.

“...and then we can go to the team base and you can give it to her, right? Maybe RhiRhi’s there too… and if not, we can just call and ask if we could drop by, no?”

It finally dawned on him just what Dom was thinking and he sighed, hating how right and reasonable he was being. His wings remained still and limp as he resolved himself to a situation that was rapidly becoming unavoidable.
“Fine… I’ll be done a bit faster with a bit of help,” he gave Dom a curious look, “Say, have you ever done anything like this?”

“Magical incantations and hexes? Only over a board and I don’t want to ever do that again,” Dom said flatly. He then beamed. “Threading beads? Many times.”

Gabe nodded as he once more levitated the pendant and beads into the air. His wings stirred alongside his magic.
“I was going to wait a bit before doing this,” he began as his eyes started to glow a soft green, “But given you’re so set on seeing me finish my magic tricks I guess I’ll give you a bit of a show.”
He began to speak in a curious tongue, reminiscent of Latin and something vaguely Germanic as the star shaped pendant began to glow with a warm, red light. The chanting reached a crescendo as the young sorcerer’s wings flared in brightness and turned green, a beam of light now connecting each bead to its neighbours. The beads gently hovered over towards Dom and started to dance in the air around him.
“There’s a red silk cord on the desk. Make sure you put a knot between each bead, I just need to do a few more things with this pendant.”

“How much of this is for practical purposes, and how much is for a light show…?” Dominik asked, but chuckled right after. He shook his head as he grabbed the thread and sat himself against the desk. His hand plucked a beat. His other hand began to roll the thread.

“Don’t need to answer that one, just kidding,” he smiled once more, and diligently sat down to his work. Not soon after three or so baubles, he began to tap his foot and whistle a relatively cheery tune.

###### ===========

The work went relatively quickly, though it was still at least an hour before Gabe completed his incantations and pronounced himself done. The glow from before was gone and the pendant was seemingly just an orange-red jewel. Working alongside his friend seemed to have cheered him up somewhat and his wings seemed to be dancing along to Dom’s song.

“Done, I think,” the youth said while holding out the strand of beads in front of himself. He gently adjusted his wrist, moving the line back and forth as his eyes scrutinizingly observed his own handiwork. His tongue pushed against his cheek from inwards, as he apparently was still locked in detailed thought.

But, after a moment, he nodded seemingly to himself. Dominik lowered his hand. He looked at Gabe. “So, before Christmas, where would you like to go? Actually, do you even celebrate?”

Gabe got up and took the offered beads from Dominik’s hand, giving them the once over before nodding and affixing the pendant to the strand of beads. He said one final short incantation as the beads and pendant glowed in sync before fading to their base colour.
“Christmas?” he blinked, “Yep. We do Christmas. I was planning on getting something for the team. Nothing special or the like, but I just never got around to it.”

“Same, sort of,” Dom continued. He just sat, and watched Gabe do his work. It appeared he was content on merely speaking, topics basic and mundane. “I have some paychecks left for presents, but I’m afraid… it’ll really only be symbolic. Gift cards and the like. Jake’s birthday kind of left me with an empty pocket.”

He lets out a gentle laugh. “If it weren’t for Jake, actually, you could say I’d feel right in my old home, so to speak.”

“Well, I’m done here,” he said, absentmindedly staring at his creation, “Just needs a box.”
His ears and wings perked up a bit at the mention of Jake’s birthday.
“Jake’s birthday? Was it recently? What did you get him?”
As he speaks he starts rummaging through his desk drawers in the hopes of finding a suitable box to put Elle’s present in.

Dom beamed at the question. “A new basketball and a pair of… well, basketball sneakers. He really likes the sport, so I figured it’d be a good gift. When your birthday, by the way?”

Gabe looked up and closed the drawer with a slightly annoyed expression on his face due to his failed search.
“It’s pretty soon actually,” he said, standing up and crossing his arms, “Second of January to be precise. But you don’t have to get me anything or do anything for it. I mean, I think I missed your birthday entirely.”

The other teen shrugged. His eyes were closed. He seemed entirely nonplussed by the admittance. “A lot of people did. Not that anyone asked, and besides… it feels weird to get presents for no other reason than ‘you were born on this day’. I mean, okay… it’s not, I’m not an alien or a spirit being from beyond. I get the concept.”

“It’s just a bit weird to receive such things after how I’ve lived for so long,” Dom sighed. “But we’re slowly getting back on our feet, so to speak. It’s a bit funny to think I have a job and earn money now… like an adult, heh. Really makes you realize how important it is to budget.”

Gabe raised an eyebrow as Dom briefly referred to himself as we, but he didn’t draw attention to it.
“Well, I can’t really talk about budgets and what not given I still live with my parents surrounded by the trappings and finery of our lineage, not to mention the car my mentor gave me,” he smiled briefly before continuing, “Honestly Dom, I cannot imagine half the things you’ve gone through. Living on the streets must have been an ordeal in of itself, let alone sharing your body and mind with a primordial spirit, and yet you still manage to smile. I admire that about you, a lot.”

Again, Dom could only give an ambivalent response. “When you hit rock bottom, there’s no way to go but up, right? Definitely beats staying down in my opinion. And hey, look, things have a tendency to turn around sooner or later.”

He swiveled around, and reached towards the sacks. Dominik’s hands snuck within. He searched. In but a moment, he pulled out a small wrapped candy. With a gleeful wink, no hard feelings, he unrolled it and took a bite out of the chocolate orb. “Wouldn’t been able to have these if I just laid down and turned the other cheek. Wouldn’t without people such as… well, everyone I’ve met.”

“Including you.”

Gabe smiled as he too reached into a bag and grabbed a chocolate, though he didn’t eat it straight away.
“I really have been an idiot, haven’t I?” he took a bite of the chocolate before continuing, “Thanks for showing up today, even if you got snow all over my floor. It’s so easy to want to shut one’s self away from the world, but I feel so much better now.”

“Perfect,” Dom stood up, walking over to the middle of the room - roughly next to the window. “So, we clean up, and get some time out at the Base, maybe? How does that sound? You know, pretending to be normal… teens, for once?”

“Don’t worry about the snow,” he tapped the floor with his foot and a pattern of runes was momentarily revealed, “See? The floor’ll be fine if I leave it until later, just don’t tell my mother.”

“Deal,” Dom chuckled back, though the slight amazement in his eye was barely concealable. He turns to Gabe with glee. “So, want to help me bring all of the additional shopping to the Team Base? I don’t think the streets from here to there are closed if we swing around 9th, and it’ll make for a nice walk.”

“Walk? We could take my car,” he said, looking a little uncertain, “I mean, it’s not easy to hide my wings.”
As Gabe mentioned them he gave them a bit of a flutter to emphasise his point.

“True, but that’s not quite the point I was going for,” Dom gave a nod for emphasis. “Still, if that would be more comfortable for you, that’s alright.”

He sighed as he picked up a vest and pulled it on over his head before replying.
“Well, you know, you can blend in despite the horns,” Gabe grabbed a thick jacket before continuing and put it on while speaking, “These things stick out like a sore thumb. I’d rather not have to fight my way across town.”
With the addition of a heavy woolen scarf and boots he was ready to go out into the cold.

“Someday, then,” Dom shrugged once more, lightly and semi-casually. He approached one of the bags, still largely untouched, and yanked it up into his hand. Turning to Gabe, he smiled again. “So, see you in front of the car? I’ll take the leap out, don’t worry. I don’t want to bother your family with explanations why I picked the window in the first place.”

By the time he was finished, he stood himself already in front of said window.

Gabe nodded, grabbing his car keys and the gift for Elle.
“Have a safe landing Dom, I’ll just be a minute,” he said, lingering a bit as though thinking about something before leaving the room.

If anyone had asked him who the most important member of the team was, Gabe would have had to have said it was Dominik. He always knew what to say or do to make someone feel better, a feat that for all his cosmic power Gabe couldn’t hope to achieve. He almost didn’t care that Dom kept crushing him in all the video games they played that afternoon (dragon reflexes are cheating), it just felt good to have a friend to drag him back down to the real world and treat him like an actual person. It was always difficult to tell what the future held, but for today things were definitely looking up.