The Mountain King

[Deleted]

“This is such a bad idea.”

The grip on the boy’s hand tightened. Sébastien Reid frowned, stumbling after the taller woman reluctantly. Nina had woken him up an hour earlier demanding they go on some sort of adventure and threatened to give him another seizure if he didn’t comply. Sébastien, who was not too fond of the seizures, agreed. He wrote his mother a note that he was going off to practice his violin somewhere new. It was a lie, but Sébastien took his violin so that it wouldn’t be a complete lie. Regardless of the validity of the note, his mother was going to be pissed when she woke up and he was gone.

“Why is it?” Nina asked, turning suddenly. Sébastien rammed into her. Her freakishly light eyes peered down at him inquisitively, and Sébastien squirmed under the Ifrit’s sharp glare.

Sébastien cleared his throat. “Because we’re traipsing across London at four in the morning?” he said drily. “Should I recite to you the crime rate?”

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

That was a bold-faced lie. He opened his mouth to call her out on it, but the hand around his own turned icy, and he knew not to speak when Nina grew cold. She meant that she wouldn’t let anyone else torment him. Sébastien wondered, silently, when she had started to grow more comfortable with manipulating him for her own gain. She glanced at him, the look in her eyes softening. Sébastien looked away, annoyed that she read his thoughts so easily.

“All right, but will you tell me what we’re doing out here?”

“I want to hear you play.”

Sébastien stared at her. “I’m a professional violinist,” he said, not looking particularly convinced. “Nina, you hear me play all the time. You are my violin.”

Nina nodded, but pointed up to the sky. “But you’ve never played to me under the stars.”

“Well, technically, just because you can’t see them, doesn--- Ouch!” he yelped, flinching as Nina smacked the back of his head roughly. He stumbled forwards, clutching the case slung around his shoulder. At least it wasn’t a seizure. “Fine. Fine, fine, I’ll play for you. If you tell me why we’re here.”

She looked down uncomfortably. “I already told you…”

Sébastien crossed his arms. “You’re a bloody awful liar, Nina.”

Nina frowned. “I don’t know, Sebby. I just feel like we need to be here. I don’t know why, but it’s…” she flustered, clearly not able to express herself properly. Sébastien pulled his violin from his case. “And I just think you should play.”

“How does that work, then? Are you djinning up some information through like…. another dimension?” Sébastien asked. “Is this some sort of clandestine meeting?”

Nina shrugged again. Sébastien knew how powerful she was – she could create universes, and that was terrifying. She could make and take life with a flick of her wrist, and she was still only a fledgling. Sébastien had never met any full grown Ifrits, but the thought of them made his stomach twist nervously. “I just…” Nina sighed and split apart, lazily entering her Lamp.

Sébastien felt the familiar weight and energy wrap around him. He placed the violin under his chin, nuzzling it affectionately. He didn’t know why he was here, and he didn’t know why Nina seemed so confused. All he knew that she wanted him to play the violin. So, he picked up the bow and glanced around at their surroundings. It was a dog park with a path running through it for joggers.

He sighed and drew his bow over the strings, playing Nina’s favorite song for her. Although, he thought, a little perturbed, it sounded much better with other musicians.

[ @gavri ]

[Deleted]

Gavri was sitting on one of the tables in the park, looking up at the stars. It still didn't seem fair that his older brother could go off on all these different adventures, when he had to stay home. So it had became a bit of a habit for him, when he started sneaking out of his home to have an adventure of his own.

This was the third time he actually managed to sneak out, without his mother or father noticing. Or at least it seemed that way. He was fairly certain that he was probably going to get caught sooner or later. He figure he'd deal with that, when and if that ever happened. Besides he wasn't going that far from the TARDIS, so really, he wasn't going to run into much trouble.

Suddenly, he heard a rather loud yelp coming from somewhere behind him. Fearing that his mother had brought Shiva along to come and find him. So, what did he do? He hid under the picnic table, he had currently been sitting on.

A moment later, a boy and a girl maybe a bit older than himself, if he was going just by height alone. The boy was carrying some kind of case, only Gavri didn't know what was in it. Sad thing was there was this sort of curse in his family, which made them very curious. Luckily, he didn't have to wait long, the boy pulled something out from the case.

The two seemed to be talking, though of what, he really couldn't tell. Then! Then, the girl did this sort of vanishing act. Gavri had to give a sort of double look as he tried to figure out what was going on. How does someone disappear into thin air, was that even... Well obviously, it was possible. Perhaps he should ask Susan... or David and Twitch. They might now.

Just as Gavri decided it was safe to climb out from under the table, he heard some sort of soft humming sound. Well not exactly humming, but something similar. It was sweet, something like a lullabye that his mother might sing to him.

When the song was over, Gavri brought his hands together in a polite sort of applause. After all, he didn't want to be rude. "Bravo."

[Deleted]

Sébastien felt Nina stir a few times during the ‘performance’, but he didn’t think anything of it. She probably just sensed squirrels running around. She had the attention span of a small furry creature, and he knew not to get too concerned every time her ears perked or something caught her attention. She had once spent a week outside of his mum’s house as an ant to stand on a piece of grass as it grew. He didn’t like to think that there was anything he could do to keep her attention.

Except, of course, when he played. It was the only time he felt close with the increasingly agitated Ifrit. She told him that the bond between a Djinn and its master was strong, and Sébastien figured that the bond between a musician and his instrument was strong. Given that logic, his and Nina’s bond was twice as strong as any other. Now, if only he could get her to stop taking over his mind and body then they would be set.

The bow ran across the strings gingerly for the last few notes before he ended and tapped the bow against his head. He opened his mouth to ask if Nina was satisfied when he heard clapping behind him. He turned around curiously and saw a pale boy behind him. Had he been there before? Sébastien saw the dirt on the boy’s knees and the palms of his hands and smirked. He might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he could do basic arithmetic.

“Bravo.”

The boy had been hiding from him. Whatever on Earth for? Sébastien smiled widely at the teenager and bowed lowly, picking up the case by his feet and setting it on the table. “Thank you, thank you,” Sébastien said. “You’re too kind.” He put the violin back in its case and sat on the picnic table, placing his feet on the bench part of it. He strummed the strings with his hands idly. “So… there any reason you were hiding from me?” he asked, carefully trying to assess how long the boy had been there and if he’d seen Nina or not.

Relax, she told him. He’s safe.

“I’m Sébastien, by the way,” he said, holding out his hand for the boy to shake. “Sébastien James Reid. And you are?”

[Deleted]

The musician gave a bow, as Gavri concluded his applause. "Thank you, thank you," he began, "You're too kind." Gavri gave a soft smile as he watched the boy put his instrument into the case. "So..." The boy started as he sat on the table, he could hear the sound of the strings being plucked. "There any reason you were hiding from me?"

Ah.. Right, he had been hiding. Gavri wasn't sure how to quite answer that, though... Honesty was the best policy, right? "I.. Well.. I thought you were my mother.." He explained, with a sheepish sort of grin. "I'm not really suppose to be out at this time.." Oh man, if his mama, and papa knew where he was at this time of night... He'd be in for it.

"I'm Sébastien, by the way," Sébastien introduced himself, holding his hand out for Gavri to shake. "Sébastien James Reid. And you are?" Gavri shook his hand a bit uncertain at first, then gave an introduction of his own. "Gavri." He started, "Gavri Lucian Keâts." There was something he had to ask though.. "So... How long have you been playing for?" But he supposed it could wait.

After Sébastien answered, Gavri couldn't help himself. "What happened to that girl that was with you?" He asked, innocently, he was only curious, that was all.

[Deleted]

“You... thought I was your mum?” Sébastien asked, raising an eyebrow. He looked affronted, and rightly so. The lanky violinist crossed his arms and pouted. “I don’t look like a woman, do I?” he asked, his tone clearly suggesting the correct answer was ‘no’. He looked down at himself, now suddenly self-conscious. He certainly didn’t have breasts, and he wasn’t dressed in women’s clothing. He looked back at the boy. “I’m not supposed to be out either, but I was practicing.... er, clearly,” he said.

The boy shook his hand. “Gavri Lucien. That’s kind of a weird name,” Sébastien said thoughtfully, no malice in his tone. “I like it. Are you French?” he asked curiously. “Lucien, that means ‘light’, right? It’s sort of the same in Italian.” Oh, God, he was rambling. Sébastien chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s a cool name.”

“Almost eleven years,” Sébastien said. Good – that meant Gavri hadn’t recognized his name. It was mostly old people who knew of him, anyway. He opened his mouth to comment about how he still wasn’t that good and he had a lot of improving to do, when Gavri interrupted him, asking about Nina. Sébastien’s face turned a bright red and he looked away, trying to look confused.

“What girl?” he asked guiltily. “There was no girl. You must be crazy. Do you have a fever? Schizophrenia? Are you off your meds? Your rocker?”

[Deleted]

Gavri looked down, feeling slightly foolish for admitting that. "I.. I didn't mean it like that." He explained rather hastily, "When I said I thought you were my mother, I really just assumed that it was my mother that was walking up the path..." Gavri shook his head at Sébastien's next question. "No.. You look like a boy... I'm sorry." Luckily, Sébastien didn't seem to dwell on the subject too much.. Which made him feel a little better, if only just a little.

"I suppose.." Truth was, he never really thought about his name sounding strange to other people. Then again... He hardly met other people. "Ouais, on my papa's side." Gavri gave a slight smile, "Are you Italian then?" He asked, "Or do you know the language?"

Now wasn't this curious. There had been a girl, right? Gavri was almost certain that he heard a lady's voice, and he was fairly certain that he had saw her as well. Could he be schizophrenic? He laid his palm on his forehead, was he running a fever?!

Gavri couldn't help the slight panicked look on his face as he tried to answer the boy's questions. "I.. I don't know. I've never been on meds... At least as far as I know." He look down into his shoes awkwardly. "I'm sorry.. I.. I thought there was a girl with you.. Was I imagining her?"

[Deleted]

Gavri’s apologies made him feel a little sympathetic for the kid – he’d obviously not meant to offend Sébastien. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Sébastien pointed out when Gavri looked a little uncomfortable about his comment about his name. “I like it, it’s just... different.” He put his hands in his pockets, deciding that he really wasn’t fit to judge the oddness of French names as his mother had given him the French spelling of “Sebastian”.

“No, I’m not Italian,” he answered. “My father was from Belarus, and my mom is from Ireland. She used to live in Italy and Portugal, and now she works as a translator. She translates books and stuff,” Sébastien said, shrugging a little. “She taught me those languages.” He was using the word ‘works’ very loosely, as after a certain point in Sébastien’s own career, she didn’t have much time to translate anymore.

He watched as the boy tried to puzzle out the mystery of Nina, and he just kept a blasé smile on his face. His eyebrows furrowed slightly when Gavri felt his own forehead. “Um...” he laughed a little, shaking his head and taking a step forward. “Hey, calm down, I was only messing with you. Maybe it was just a trick of the light,” Sébastien said easily. He’d been lying about Nina for five years, it was second nature to him.

Sébastien put two of his fingers under Gavri’s chin and forced him to look back up. “Seriously, it’s all right. Don’t act like I’m going to kill you.” He wrapped an arm around Gavri’s shoulders, grinning widely. “Anyway, I like you, Gav. Can I call you Gav?”