Newton Singh (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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adventureic2024-06-09 12:10 am
infurmary) wrote in adventureic2024-06-09 12:10 am
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WHO: Leo and Newton
WHEN: Sometime in 1880/Present 2024
WHERE: Leo’s office, Adventure Society
WHAT: Two best friends discuss the future over tea in two different centuries
WARNINGS: None
Leo hummed to himself absently as he ground his pestle into the mortar. He needed as fine a powder as he could muster, and a lot of it. It was tiresome, repetitive work, but Leo always found it soothing. The rhythm of it, the predictability. It was not like going out on some mission to strange unknown lands or confronting a dangerous creature.
It was not like committing espionage.
When Baudelaire approached them about joining the Adventure Society in order to investigate it, Leo did not believe he was the right person for this task. But the Society needed an apothecary, and Leo would leave behind a very capable apprentice who could handle the Fellowship's needs while he was away. And the Fellowship had saved him, freed him from an accidental trap and given him a home in this new time and place; he owed them everything. And Newton was going, and Silvia and Turquoise, and perhaps it would be an exciting little adventure for them to share.
But the longer they were there, the worse Leo felt about the whole endeavor. It was not one single thing, but a general feeling of unease. He was not sure he should stay here, but he did not know how to tell the others. Especially Newton.
He turned the mortar over and tapped its contents onto his scale. Not quite enough. He plucked another few dried leaves and started grinding again when he heard a knock. "Come in," he called.
With his typical enthusiasm and a wide smile, Newton slipped into the room.
“Hard at work, are we?” There was a teacup and saucer in his hand, freshly steeped if the tendrils of steam wafting into the air were anything to go by. “I hope you’ll join me for a cuppa, you’re making the lot of us look like layabouts in comparison. Healer Monroe goes positively purple every time your name is mentioned. May I?” it was all delivered in rapid fire, frenetic as the hellhound so often was. He waited to be given permission to sit on a nearby stool, unfailing polite and respectful of Leo’s space.
"Of course," Leo said, though he did not stop his work. His pace was always slower and more deliberate than his friend's. He had a task, and he would finish it. "Please make yourself at home. Though I am afraid I cannot abandon this just yet. I am trying something new with this batch and I do not want to make a mistake." Their friend Mika, a photographer and kitsune, had come to him in confidence that her transformations lately had been more painful than usual, and Leo was determined to find the right mixture to ease her discomfort, and that meant experimenting. "Healer Monroe will just have to accept things."
“Healer Monroe is the very spirit of understanding and compassion, you’re so correct my friend,” Newton was rarely if ever ironic or sarcastic (he found it one of the more difficult human things he was still trying to master), and so while his tone was wry he was far too amused and delighted to make the comment for it to hit.
He sat though, sliding Leo’s teacup closer to the many. “We will cheers to your dedication.” And then, more quietly, though the smile stayed fixed and bright as though nothing was amiss, “are your charms in effect?”
Leo's shoulders slumped. More espionage. Or, perhaps not. Perhaps Newton simply wanted to opine about Silvia without risking being overheard. "Of course," Leo said again. This place was his sanctuary, but it was also a place others came to ask for potions-related help on sensitive matters; he never touched the anti-eavesdropping charms. To do so would be more suspicious, he reasoned. "And thank you for the tea."
“Of course, how anyone can get through their day without one is beyond me,” Newton responded, a human characteristic and fixation on drinking tea at the socially acceptable time that he’d long adopted. Whether Newton actually enjoyed tea was a fair question.
“I’ve been having the damndest time trying to schedule a meeting with Cadmus,” he sipped at the tea. “Yana is very protective of his calendar, which I suppose speaks to how capable a personal secretary she is.”
Leo tapped a bit more of the ground leaf onto his scales; perfect. He put aside his mortar for a moment to give Newton his full attention. "What are you meeting him about? Or, rather, what are you telling him you're meeting him about?"
“Improvements for the animals here, he’s alotted no space for the outdoors. It’s just not healthy for some of the species, especially those in recovery,” he explained, brow furrowed. “I’ve spoken to Turquoise about it and he thought he could create a larger dimension for such a purpose, so I’m ostensibly making the proposal to Mr.Scantlebury in the hopes that he sees sense. I’m unsurprised a vampire would not understand or be considerate to the needs of animals, but does he expect them to be committed to their rooms at all times? Trapped inside?”
He took another hurried sip. “But of course I will really be trying to encourage him into a conversation about his prior expeditions.”
"Perhaps we should take him out and get him drunk," Leo suggested, immediately regretting the choice of the word 'we' in the sentence. But if he was in it, he was in it. "I could slip a bit of tongue loosener into his ale." Leo refused to call his concoction a truth potion, though he knew a few charlatans who did just that. It was not a guarantee of the truth, and it ought not be taken as such. It simply made its partaker less inhibited about speaking freely.
Newton brightened considerably at the proposal, nearly choking down the tea in his enthusiasm. “What a brilliant idea,” he slapped Leo on the back of the shoulder, squeezing it tightly. “There’s nothing the man enjoys more than an audience and free alcohol. Befriending him is surely the swiftest way to unraveling his web of deceit. Perhaps Silvia would join us?”
Leo's eyes twinkled as he turned a teasing gaze toward his friend. "Perhaps she will. You know, if I ever needed to get information out of you, I'd enlist Silvia's help."
Newton’s ears reddened even as he straightened to affect nonchalance. “I’m not sure why that would matter.”
"Maybe I should slip the tongue loosener into your ale," Leo suggested, though his smile fell with a new thought. "Not while we're with Mr. Scantlebury, of course."
Good God Newton could only imagine the stream of consciousness that would filter out of him, unchecked.
Preturbed, Newton set his tea cup down. “Do you think he might have any idea of our true intentions?” His eyes narrowed in thought and he pushed the tea away from himself.
Leo shifted his stance. "I am not sure," he replied honestly, though doubt still nagged at him somewhere deep in his gut. "I find him exceptionally difficult to read. But on the other hand, sometimes he is so rash and erratic that I think he must not, or else he would have acted upon it."
Leo made a good point, Newton had personally witnessed Scantlebury devolve into a hysterical tirade when his prized snuffbox went missing. Apparently it was the same enamel and gold snuff box he and a paramour used a century ago and now they wouldn't match!. He’d even asked Yana to retrieve his sword.
“Well, all the more reason to get him properly blotted.” Newton smiled at his friend, optimistic to a fault. “I’m glad you're here with me, what strengthens bonds like these better than duplicity and horrors?”
"I am glad to be with you," Leo said, quietly leaving 'here' out of his reply. "But I hope we find what we are looking for soon. I don't think this is the place for us."
Newton’s expression flickered, brow creasing though his smile remained. “Yes,” he cleared his throat, reaching over to squeeze Leo’s arm. “I hope so too.”
***
The porcelain clattered as Newton set it down clumsily in front of Leo, some of the tea slipping over the edge.
“Ah damn,” Newton huffed, wince as apologetic as his tone. “Even all these months out of stasis, I still find my coordination isn’t like it used to be.”
"You should try being reborn in flames," Leo teased. "It works wonders for your joints." He put his own cup down, grateful to have it back. They'd been able to find more than he expected of their own things down in the archives, and even some things that felt familiar even if Leo could not remember actually possessing them. Thinking back still felt like searching through a deep fog to him; sometimes he wandered for hours, and sometimes he suddenly stumbled upon something so immeasurably huge and important he couldn't believe it was ever hidden away. It was difficult.
He stirred a spoon in his teacup idly. "Do you enjoy it here, now?"
Newton settled back into his chair, his own cup and saucer cradled close to his chest. It was tepid, not at all to his taste, and brewed from one of these new bagged teas that seemed to be in line with the modern need for expediting everything. Not that Newton didn’t enjoy that, there was brilliance in every new process and tool made to make things more convenient, but there was also joy to be found in doing things more slowly.
It was comforting. Brewing tea was one of the first things Newton had devoted himself to in his quest to become as human as possible once he’d slipped his leash. He took great joy in it, and so even if this bagged tea wasn’t quite up to standard, it was nice to return to this: he and Leo taking a cuppa together, like they hadn’t missed a few thousand amidst that lost century.
Newton blew a fiery breath over the cup, watching it bubble to the boiling he preferred.
“I’m enjoying it, yes,” Newton finally answered. “Obviously there’s quite a lot to become accustomed to, but everyone is kind and patient. Truly, I don’t understand how anyone in this age is able to maintain their focus on any one thing,” he admitted, eyebrows high and expressive. “There seems to be sound and….video coming from a hundred different things at any given time.”
"Hm," Leo agreed. "And everything smells different." There was an artifice to it all. It wasn't the same as the sweeping industrial smells that fouled the air in their prior existence, a constant reminder of progress and destruction. Today, air was "freshened" and everything one smelled was created in a laboratory somewhere to mimic but never quite master something real. It was pleasant, perhaps, but false. "And I cannot settle in with the fact that you can simply wonder about something and find the answer in a little box in your pocket. The greatest libraries in the world could not match the depth of information available to anyone, anywhere."
This is where Newton differed. “Oh but it's marvellous isn't it!” He jammed his hand into his pocket where his own new telephonic computation box rested, a rectangle with no case and an already cracked screen from how easily it was fumbled out of his grip.
And sure enough, it nearly flipped out of his hand in his enthusiasm, instead slamming into the table when Newton overcorrected.
“Worlds accessible in a tiny rectangle of lights,” he gestured. “Not that,” he paled, “not that it's any replacement to a bound book in one’s hand or the beauty of a library. Hells,” he implored Leo. “Silvia mustn't know.”
"Newton," Leo said, putting down his teacup with purpose. "We are in a whole new world. And we have gone through something terrible together that no one else will understand, not really. This place we find ourselves moves so quickly, it might leave us behind again before we know it."
He looked his friend dead in the eye. "It is time to stop pining and start doing. Talk to Silvia."
The phone made a loud bang where it flipped out of Newton’s hand. “I have no idea your meaning Leo,” his chuckle strained as he dismissed the comment.
“And even if I did, she went to that fast dating event,” he slid down in his seat, long fingers toying with the phone again. “She seemed to have wonderful conversations.”
"So then perhaps she is seeking romance," Leo suggested. "Or just good conversations. If she had not gone, you would be convincing yourself it was because she was not interested in any of it."
That was true. Newton digested this, the sick longing that dominated his usual ruminations of Silvia had only intensified in the last month after their rescue, when they'd only had each other. It was surging as he sat there now, but mixed with a sudden foreboding.
“You are leaving, aren’t you? Is this why you are encouraging me to finally speak?”
Leo shifted in his seat, straightened. These things were separate to Leo, he thought, but maybe they weren't. "I think you should finally speak because I want you to be happy," he said simply. "But …" He sighed. "It would be a lie to say I have not been thinking about it. The more I remember … I am uneasy, here. I cannot make myself feel safe."
Newton could understand that. Newton did understand that.
But still, the thought of Leo leaving without him, of the three of them no longer together sent such a violent wave of unease through him, he nearly cracked his tea cup when he reached for it in comfort.
But of course he’d support Leo, no questions asked. The Phoenix needn’t ever utter a single explanation, it would just be done. And Newton knew he was partially to blame for Leo’s presence here and the hundred years he’d lost.
He wanted Leo happy and safe above all things.
Still, his eyes were large and mournful as he stared back at his best friend. “Are we not safe together?”
The tone broke Leo's heart. Newton and Silvia were the only thing, the only thing that could make him stay in this place. But shouldn't that be enough? What else did he have? A world he did not understand and had no place in. Leo had loved and lost over and over and over again in every life he led, but this felt different.
Still.
"We weren't safe together before."
Oh. Newton hadn’t seen it that way. To him, safety was what he had with Leo and Silvia. For a hellhound broken free of servitude but always at risk of being dragged back in the same biolent way he had done to others, every minute of his existence away from the flames of Hell and in their company was safety.
But perhaps he was being naive.
“No,” he cleared his throat, curling over his tea. “I suppose you are correct. This new world certainly poses new dangers we could not have even dreamt up. But,” and his eyes were bright and imploring, “ then we can navigate these new dangers together. And if that means leaving this place,” he searched for the right words, clearly afraid that Leo’s decision might mean his friend would walk away from Newton’s life as well. “Then let us all make our way in this new world together.”
Leo studied his friend. "Are you sure?" he asked. "It was only a thought -- I have not decided on anything." But the truth was, if they all chose to leave together, then there was no decision at all. Nothing but Newton and Silvia and Turquoise would keep him here, a here he had never really belonged to, anyway.
Newton nodded, emboldened by Leo’s reaction. “Let us decide together,” he set the cup and saucer aside, leaning towards his friend to squeeze his arm. “It matters little where I am as long as it is with the both of you. We can talk to Silvia, determine where her beautiful brain has imagined her next steps, but I'm certain she will agree - this newness will take time for all of us to become accustomed. Let us go where you both are happiest, where we can determine what that looks like for ourselves.”
WHEN: Sometime in 1880/Present 2024
WHERE: Leo’s office, Adventure Society
WHAT: Two best friends discuss the future over tea in two different centuries
WARNINGS: None
Leo hummed to himself absently as he ground his pestle into the mortar. He needed as fine a powder as he could muster, and a lot of it. It was tiresome, repetitive work, but Leo always found it soothing. The rhythm of it, the predictability. It was not like going out on some mission to strange unknown lands or confronting a dangerous creature.
It was not like committing espionage.
When Baudelaire approached them about joining the Adventure Society in order to investigate it, Leo did not believe he was the right person for this task. But the Society needed an apothecary, and Leo would leave behind a very capable apprentice who could handle the Fellowship's needs while he was away. And the Fellowship had saved him, freed him from an accidental trap and given him a home in this new time and place; he owed them everything. And Newton was going, and Silvia and Turquoise, and perhaps it would be an exciting little adventure for them to share.
But the longer they were there, the worse Leo felt about the whole endeavor. It was not one single thing, but a general feeling of unease. He was not sure he should stay here, but he did not know how to tell the others. Especially Newton.
He turned the mortar over and tapped its contents onto his scale. Not quite enough. He plucked another few dried leaves and started grinding again when he heard a knock. "Come in," he called.
With his typical enthusiasm and a wide smile, Newton slipped into the room.
“Hard at work, are we?” There was a teacup and saucer in his hand, freshly steeped if the tendrils of steam wafting into the air were anything to go by. “I hope you’ll join me for a cuppa, you’re making the lot of us look like layabouts in comparison. Healer Monroe goes positively purple every time your name is mentioned. May I?” it was all delivered in rapid fire, frenetic as the hellhound so often was. He waited to be given permission to sit on a nearby stool, unfailing polite and respectful of Leo’s space.
"Of course," Leo said, though he did not stop his work. His pace was always slower and more deliberate than his friend's. He had a task, and he would finish it. "Please make yourself at home. Though I am afraid I cannot abandon this just yet. I am trying something new with this batch and I do not want to make a mistake." Their friend Mika, a photographer and kitsune, had come to him in confidence that her transformations lately had been more painful than usual, and Leo was determined to find the right mixture to ease her discomfort, and that meant experimenting. "Healer Monroe will just have to accept things."
“Healer Monroe is the very spirit of understanding and compassion, you’re so correct my friend,” Newton was rarely if ever ironic or sarcastic (he found it one of the more difficult human things he was still trying to master), and so while his tone was wry he was far too amused and delighted to make the comment for it to hit.
He sat though, sliding Leo’s teacup closer to the many. “We will cheers to your dedication.” And then, more quietly, though the smile stayed fixed and bright as though nothing was amiss, “are your charms in effect?”
Leo's shoulders slumped. More espionage. Or, perhaps not. Perhaps Newton simply wanted to opine about Silvia without risking being overheard. "Of course," Leo said again. This place was his sanctuary, but it was also a place others came to ask for potions-related help on sensitive matters; he never touched the anti-eavesdropping charms. To do so would be more suspicious, he reasoned. "And thank you for the tea."
“Of course, how anyone can get through their day without one is beyond me,” Newton responded, a human characteristic and fixation on drinking tea at the socially acceptable time that he’d long adopted. Whether Newton actually enjoyed tea was a fair question.
“I’ve been having the damndest time trying to schedule a meeting with Cadmus,” he sipped at the tea. “Yana is very protective of his calendar, which I suppose speaks to how capable a personal secretary she is.”
Leo tapped a bit more of the ground leaf onto his scales; perfect. He put aside his mortar for a moment to give Newton his full attention. "What are you meeting him about? Or, rather, what are you telling him you're meeting him about?"
“Improvements for the animals here, he’s alotted no space for the outdoors. It’s just not healthy for some of the species, especially those in recovery,” he explained, brow furrowed. “I’ve spoken to Turquoise about it and he thought he could create a larger dimension for such a purpose, so I’m ostensibly making the proposal to Mr.Scantlebury in the hopes that he sees sense. I’m unsurprised a vampire would not understand or be considerate to the needs of animals, but does he expect them to be committed to their rooms at all times? Trapped inside?”
He took another hurried sip. “But of course I will really be trying to encourage him into a conversation about his prior expeditions.”
"Perhaps we should take him out and get him drunk," Leo suggested, immediately regretting the choice of the word 'we' in the sentence. But if he was in it, he was in it. "I could slip a bit of tongue loosener into his ale." Leo refused to call his concoction a truth potion, though he knew a few charlatans who did just that. It was not a guarantee of the truth, and it ought not be taken as such. It simply made its partaker less inhibited about speaking freely.
Newton brightened considerably at the proposal, nearly choking down the tea in his enthusiasm. “What a brilliant idea,” he slapped Leo on the back of the shoulder, squeezing it tightly. “There’s nothing the man enjoys more than an audience and free alcohol. Befriending him is surely the swiftest way to unraveling his web of deceit. Perhaps Silvia would join us?”
Leo's eyes twinkled as he turned a teasing gaze toward his friend. "Perhaps she will. You know, if I ever needed to get information out of you, I'd enlist Silvia's help."
Newton’s ears reddened even as he straightened to affect nonchalance. “I’m not sure why that would matter.”
"Maybe I should slip the tongue loosener into your ale," Leo suggested, though his smile fell with a new thought. "Not while we're with Mr. Scantlebury, of course."
Good God Newton could only imagine the stream of consciousness that would filter out of him, unchecked.
Preturbed, Newton set his tea cup down. “Do you think he might have any idea of our true intentions?” His eyes narrowed in thought and he pushed the tea away from himself.
Leo shifted his stance. "I am not sure," he replied honestly, though doubt still nagged at him somewhere deep in his gut. "I find him exceptionally difficult to read. But on the other hand, sometimes he is so rash and erratic that I think he must not, or else he would have acted upon it."
Leo made a good point, Newton had personally witnessed Scantlebury devolve into a hysterical tirade when his prized snuffbox went missing. Apparently it was the same enamel and gold snuff box he and a paramour used a century ago and now they wouldn't match!. He’d even asked Yana to retrieve his sword.
“Well, all the more reason to get him properly blotted.” Newton smiled at his friend, optimistic to a fault. “I’m glad you're here with me, what strengthens bonds like these better than duplicity and horrors?”
"I am glad to be with you," Leo said, quietly leaving 'here' out of his reply. "But I hope we find what we are looking for soon. I don't think this is the place for us."
Newton’s expression flickered, brow creasing though his smile remained. “Yes,” he cleared his throat, reaching over to squeeze Leo’s arm. “I hope so too.”
The porcelain clattered as Newton set it down clumsily in front of Leo, some of the tea slipping over the edge.
“Ah damn,” Newton huffed, wince as apologetic as his tone. “Even all these months out of stasis, I still find my coordination isn’t like it used to be.”
"You should try being reborn in flames," Leo teased. "It works wonders for your joints." He put his own cup down, grateful to have it back. They'd been able to find more than he expected of their own things down in the archives, and even some things that felt familiar even if Leo could not remember actually possessing them. Thinking back still felt like searching through a deep fog to him; sometimes he wandered for hours, and sometimes he suddenly stumbled upon something so immeasurably huge and important he couldn't believe it was ever hidden away. It was difficult.
He stirred a spoon in his teacup idly. "Do you enjoy it here, now?"
Newton settled back into his chair, his own cup and saucer cradled close to his chest. It was tepid, not at all to his taste, and brewed from one of these new bagged teas that seemed to be in line with the modern need for expediting everything. Not that Newton didn’t enjoy that, there was brilliance in every new process and tool made to make things more convenient, but there was also joy to be found in doing things more slowly.
It was comforting. Brewing tea was one of the first things Newton had devoted himself to in his quest to become as human as possible once he’d slipped his leash. He took great joy in it, and so even if this bagged tea wasn’t quite up to standard, it was nice to return to this: he and Leo taking a cuppa together, like they hadn’t missed a few thousand amidst that lost century.
Newton blew a fiery breath over the cup, watching it bubble to the boiling he preferred.
“I’m enjoying it, yes,” Newton finally answered. “Obviously there’s quite a lot to become accustomed to, but everyone is kind and patient. Truly, I don’t understand how anyone in this age is able to maintain their focus on any one thing,” he admitted, eyebrows high and expressive. “There seems to be sound and….video coming from a hundred different things at any given time.”
"Hm," Leo agreed. "And everything smells different." There was an artifice to it all. It wasn't the same as the sweeping industrial smells that fouled the air in their prior existence, a constant reminder of progress and destruction. Today, air was "freshened" and everything one smelled was created in a laboratory somewhere to mimic but never quite master something real. It was pleasant, perhaps, but false. "And I cannot settle in with the fact that you can simply wonder about something and find the answer in a little box in your pocket. The greatest libraries in the world could not match the depth of information available to anyone, anywhere."
This is where Newton differed. “Oh but it's marvellous isn't it!” He jammed his hand into his pocket where his own new telephonic computation box rested, a rectangle with no case and an already cracked screen from how easily it was fumbled out of his grip.
And sure enough, it nearly flipped out of his hand in his enthusiasm, instead slamming into the table when Newton overcorrected.
“Worlds accessible in a tiny rectangle of lights,” he gestured. “Not that,” he paled, “not that it's any replacement to a bound book in one’s hand or the beauty of a library. Hells,” he implored Leo. “Silvia mustn't know.”
"Newton," Leo said, putting down his teacup with purpose. "We are in a whole new world. And we have gone through something terrible together that no one else will understand, not really. This place we find ourselves moves so quickly, it might leave us behind again before we know it."
He looked his friend dead in the eye. "It is time to stop pining and start doing. Talk to Silvia."
The phone made a loud bang where it flipped out of Newton’s hand. “I have no idea your meaning Leo,” his chuckle strained as he dismissed the comment.
“And even if I did, she went to that fast dating event,” he slid down in his seat, long fingers toying with the phone again. “She seemed to have wonderful conversations.”
"So then perhaps she is seeking romance," Leo suggested. "Or just good conversations. If she had not gone, you would be convincing yourself it was because she was not interested in any of it."
That was true. Newton digested this, the sick longing that dominated his usual ruminations of Silvia had only intensified in the last month after their rescue, when they'd only had each other. It was surging as he sat there now, but mixed with a sudden foreboding.
“You are leaving, aren’t you? Is this why you are encouraging me to finally speak?”
Leo shifted in his seat, straightened. These things were separate to Leo, he thought, but maybe they weren't. "I think you should finally speak because I want you to be happy," he said simply. "But …" He sighed. "It would be a lie to say I have not been thinking about it. The more I remember … I am uneasy, here. I cannot make myself feel safe."
Newton could understand that. Newton did understand that.
But still, the thought of Leo leaving without him, of the three of them no longer together sent such a violent wave of unease through him, he nearly cracked his tea cup when he reached for it in comfort.
But of course he’d support Leo, no questions asked. The Phoenix needn’t ever utter a single explanation, it would just be done. And Newton knew he was partially to blame for Leo’s presence here and the hundred years he’d lost.
He wanted Leo happy and safe above all things.
Still, his eyes were large and mournful as he stared back at his best friend. “Are we not safe together?”
The tone broke Leo's heart. Newton and Silvia were the only thing, the only thing that could make him stay in this place. But shouldn't that be enough? What else did he have? A world he did not understand and had no place in. Leo had loved and lost over and over and over again in every life he led, but this felt different.
Still.
"We weren't safe together before."
Oh. Newton hadn’t seen it that way. To him, safety was what he had with Leo and Silvia. For a hellhound broken free of servitude but always at risk of being dragged back in the same biolent way he had done to others, every minute of his existence away from the flames of Hell and in their company was safety.
But perhaps he was being naive.
“No,” he cleared his throat, curling over his tea. “I suppose you are correct. This new world certainly poses new dangers we could not have even dreamt up. But,” and his eyes were bright and imploring, “ then we can navigate these new dangers together. And if that means leaving this place,” he searched for the right words, clearly afraid that Leo’s decision might mean his friend would walk away from Newton’s life as well. “Then let us all make our way in this new world together.”
Leo studied his friend. "Are you sure?" he asked. "It was only a thought -- I have not decided on anything." But the truth was, if they all chose to leave together, then there was no decision at all. Nothing but Newton and Silvia and Turquoise would keep him here, a here he had never really belonged to, anyway.
Newton nodded, emboldened by Leo’s reaction. “Let us decide together,” he set the cup and saucer aside, leaning towards his friend to squeeze his arm. “It matters little where I am as long as it is with the both of you. We can talk to Silvia, determine where her beautiful brain has imagined her next steps, but I'm certain she will agree - this newness will take time for all of us to become accustomed. Let us go where you both are happiest, where we can determine what that looks like for ourselves.”