pineslog | ♬ I Said, I Know it's Only Rock 'n Roll but I Like it ♬

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♬ I Said, I Know it's Only Rock 'n Roll but I Like it ♬

Who: Alec Lightwood and OPEN
Where: The Vinyl Destination (The music store)
When: Weekend of April 29th
What: Grand opening of the store
Warnings: None at this time
[Open]

Grand Opening

It'd taken awhile for Alec to get used to the store. It was brightly colored compared to his usual tastes, cluttered, and filled with items that he only half-recognized. Part of that was because of his amnesia and the other... he had a feeling that pop culture really wasn't something he understood unless it was related to music.

But music... that was something that he quickly realized that he loved. It was something he knew as soon as he'd set a record onto the turntable and the needle touched the vinyl. Opera filled the shop as he straightened it up and got it ready for the public. The place wasn't like any space that he'd called his own, but Alec felt like he belonged here and in Pines.

Now, the shop was brightly lit with a cheerfully colored and glitter covered sign announcing OPEN in the window. He probably should have done something more flashy to commemorate the day, but Magnus was handling that side of things. He was the expert on that particular subject so he let his husband plan that side of the business. The opera was replaced by whatever song the jukebox in the corner selected. Alec hummed along with each song, in tune instead of the tone deaf attempts he had used to annoy his best friend, and sorted through records. Occasionally, he looked toward the door, watching people walk by the window, hoping someone would come in and prove that the shop hadn't been a bad idea.

Help Wanted

After he was sure that the store looks the way he wanted - artistically disorganized (according to his husband) but everything carefully placed so Alec could find things easily with an upbeat mix of music playing in the background - he set a sign in the window that said HELP WANTED. Alec wasn't sure that anyone would actually apply for a job, but looking for someone to keep an eye on the shop wouldn't hurt.

The Upstairs Party Room

Anyone wandering around the Vinyl Destination would notice the brightly colored fliers that were scattered throughout the shop.

Live DJ and Musicians on the Weekends

Beneath the large, fanciful type was a description of themed events based on certain genres and eras of music. There was also a call for musicians, singers, and anyone else who might be interested in entertaining at one of Magnus' events. At the bottom of the page there was a note to talk to either Alec Lightwood or Magnus Bane if anyone wanted to discuss the parties planned for the next few months. Eventually Magnus would probably show up to keep the shop proprietor company but if anyone was interested, Alec would be happy to discuss the parties that his husband had lined up for the shop.

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"I can't say I've been to Vienna." Her eyebrows furrowed as she watched Alec. Her gaze looked down at his grip and she wondered what exactly he was thinking about. Was he remembering something? She found that memories came in dizzying waves that often left their owners stunned.

"Just something new. The only other music I have is all classical but I can't tell you who the composers are. I just listen to it when I draw or read." She lifted her shoulders in a shrug.

Clary felt her expression relax. "You listen to Abba?"

That was one of those things that they weren't supposed to talk about. Glancing over at the sign that had mysteriously been taped onto the window and always found its way back to the same spot no matter how often Alec took it down to 'clean' the glass. Even without the warning, he wasn't sure Vienna was a subject that he wanted to think too much about. "The opera there is life changing."

His life had changed afterward, but Alec wasn't sure how.

Considering the styles, Alec began flipping through one of the wire crates, pulling what might seem like random LPs from the mix before moving to another. "If you want more like the Clash, you might like those." Looking over his shoulder, he gave her a tentative smile. "I listen to a little bit of everything. If you want instrumental, found some movie scores in the back this morning, but they're old."

Clary would keep that in mind but opera wasn't exactly the sort of music that she was looking for now.

She was quite, letting him flip through the music as well as his thoughts. Alec was a bit of a mystery to Clary and as much as she wanted to understand there was a blank in her memory that stopped her. It was frustrating though like most of her missing memories she tried not to focus on it.

"Oh? I think movie scores would be a nice change. Old is fine. It just means they're timeless right?"

"Usually they are. I've listened to a few of them and they're still beautiful." Strange since they were older than Alec had anticipated but maybe he'd gotten the stock from a collector who preferred older movies. Eventually, he'd try to get a few things that were more up to date.

Considering the sketches she'd shown him before, he rubbed the back of his neck as he turned toward her. "Have you drawn anything else like the pictures you showed us?"

"I'll take some of those then." She decided that she'd leave it up to Alec. She trusted him and if she hated it she could always come back and try again. It wasn't as if the store was going anywhere.

"I... have." She didn't have her sketchbook with her now but it was brimming with a lot of different images. Clary drew everything that came to mind though it rarely helped the blanks in her memories.

"Have you thought of anything since then?"

Putting aside the albums he'd pulled, he considered what to tell her. Most of them weren't things he wanted to discuss with anyone except Magnus or his family. Death and blood that wasn't red. A broken little boy...

Closing his eyes, he forced himself to move away from that particular memory. "Magnus was right about that the marks meant. For me at least. I don't know if they're the same for you."

Clary lifted her shoulders in a shrug. "I don't know. I got this thing delivered to me and it had a sword in it. I don't think it's mine and when my friend touched it... it burned him." She didn't know why she was telling Alec this, maybe because she wanted to tell someone who might understand and shed a little bit of light on the odd happening.

"I'm not sure why though. I've never used a sword in my life." She remembers hold one but not using it and that particular memory is to disjointed for her to see clearly.

Alec perked up at the mention of the sword. He'd seemed to have skill with them, surprising both Magnus and himself when he seemed to go through practice drills with ease. "I might be able to tell you more about the sword and why it burned someone. Weaponry seems to be one of those weird subjects I know a lot about. Magnus might know something about it too if it's magical."

Arching an eyebrow, he tipped his head to one side, silently asking 'are you sure?' "You must have had a reason for carrying it when you had the accident. You might not remember but your body might. Muscle memory, if that makes sense."

Clary looked up at Alec and considered her options. It probably wasn't good to have the sword just stashed under her bed like it was now. "Yeah." She finally said, a new lightness to her voice. Maybe she can figure out what it's for or from. She was still pretty sure that she didn't know how to use it but what was the harm in trying.

"I guess so but I don't know what that reasoning is." She wouldn't want to stab someone.

A sword that burns others when they hold it. The idea is intriguing, like something he'd read in the books he shared with Jace, but there were reasons why a blade might do something like that. He just needed to figure out why. Instinctively he knew that some things shouldn't be touched by Mundanes or Downworlders. "Not getting burned by it probably means you're like me genetically."

Which was a nice, 'we're being watched' way of saying they weren't exactly Mundanes. "You could have had it and were planning to give it to someone else or..." He held up one hand, showing Clary the mark like an eye on the back of his hand. "Maybe you didn't take the vow I did or you don't remember being trained in weapons and the sword really is yours."

Clary considered this. In their last conversation she'd been called an angel though she didn't feel very angel like. Watching the sword burn Jack made her reconsider that thought, as much as she didn't want to believe that there was something wrong with her, she knew that Alec was right.

But how could she be this person and have no memory of it? It didn't make sense and she couldn't ask the question out loud. It would make all of this feel real.

"I'll bring it by sometime. Maybe we can figure it out or you can teach me not to stab myself." It felt like a really awkward D&D game. "I know I don't have that mark." She pointed to the rune on the back of his hand. Her head tilted to the side, almost as if she could read it.

"You can bring it but the only thing I'm going to teach you is to keep a dangerous weapons in their scabbards until you know how to use them." Giving her a look that warned he wouldn't be swayed on that point, he did relax slightly. "I will teach you with a practice sword though. You shouldn't learn with an edged blade. That's how people get hurt."

But Alec knew that wasn't always true. He could almost feel the weight of a sword in his hand when the blade was almost as big as he'd been.

Rolling his eyes, he held back a sigh. "I didn't mean literally. We have similar Marks. Someone gave them both to us. Maybe you decided not to go through with the training."

"I'll keep it hidden under my bed for now." It was safe there and it wasn't going to burn anyone. "You sound like you've done this before." Clary's eyes scanned the covers of the records in front of her but she wasn't really looking at them. "What do we practice with?"

A stick? She could definitely find a stick.

Clary's lips frowned. "If I can do something then I want to know about it." She didn't want to have a part of herself that she knew nothing about. She already had a mark, whatever it meant.

"Uh - that might not be the best place to keep a magical weapon that has a tendency to burn things." Despite the assumption that the sword had been safe there for so far, Alec couldn't help imagining Clary's house bursting into flames because something set off whatever spell was cast on the blade.

"Training?" He assumed that was what she meant. What could he say without discussing the past.
"I have and I have practice weapons we can use. Magnus and I are still trying to figure out what styles we know so we haven't been using anything that could cause a serious wound."

He understood Clary's frustration since he wanted to know what his strange memories meant but he also knew that pushing wasn't going his memories return at the pace he wanted. "We can try to figure it out and I might be able to tell you what your Mark means. I started remembering what mine are."

Clary had no idea where else to put it. She couldn't very well let someone find it. She just imagined what her mother would say if she found that Clary had been hiding a sword under her bed. "It's hidden." Those two words sounded very lame and Clary quickly regretted saying them out loud.

"Yeah. That." She waved her hands a little bit to indicate what she had meant. "Practice weapons sound good. Are you and Magnus any good at this if you're still figuring it out too?" Clary had a feeling that she was awful at it. She didn't even need to test this feeling to know that it was probably right. She was just an art student, nothing special about her.

"Really? It's almost faded." She pointed to it and while it hadn't disappeared, it was only lightly traced against her skin.

Alec barely remembered that rolling his eyes would be rude. Where would she store a magical sword if she didn't have a warlock to ward someplace to keep it? Under the bed was probably the best option considering the limited choices she had.

Arching an eyebrow, he crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for her to realize what she said, then answered. "I'm one of the best archers among my kin." How did he know that? Somehow he knew and Alec intuitively knew it wasn't bragging. He was that good. "The reason why it's taking that long is because we're still trying to figure out how many different fighting styles and weapons we know how to use.

"If the rune's faded, it's one of the temporary ones. I've remembered the majority of them and most of the ones you showed us. It's like - " For a few seconds, he struggled with the strange haze that wrapped around his mind whenever he tried to think of his childhood. "It's something we practice all the time. We memorize each pattern."

Clary was very aware of how silly she sounded and was thankful that Alec chose not to comment. She'll figure out something better later but for now it's what she has and it's what she's stuck working with.

"Oh. Well, I know I can't do any of that." She questioned her ability to walk down the stairs at times, let alone fight. Clary wasn't particularly uncoordinated but everyone had trouble in their constant battle against gravity.

"Like the ones in my sketchbook? But what if I don't know what they mean?"

"You don't know that. You have amnesia." Alec hadn't known what weapons he was able to use until he tried and Magnus was still learning what spells he could perform. Both of them knew they had skills but not the extent of those abilities.

"If you looked at hieroglyphics long enough, could you draw them?" After seeing Clary's sketches, he knew that she could recreate the symbols. "Knowing what something looks like isn't tied to understanding meaning. You could have seen them on something and you're repeating the patterns. Or it really is something important to you like they are for me."

Clary's lips tugged into a frown. She wanted to believe Alec but she found it difficult. She always remembered being an art student. Even the Stele was another drawing to her, something that she could visualize in her mind. Fighting? No. She's never fought anything in her life.

A memory crept to the forefront of her thoughts. She was in her house except it wasn't her house here. Her mother wasn't home but that create was there. The one that she'd drawn in her sketchbook.

A shiver ran down Clary's spine and she pushed the image away. "Probably." She answered his question, trying her best not to look shaken. "I hadn't ever seen them before. At least not that I can remember." She exhaled slowly, forcing herself to calm down. "Sometimes I know what they mean but sometimes I don't. I wish there was like a book for all of this." Maybe it'd be titled; The things that you forgot.

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♬ I Said, I Know it's Only Rock 'n Roll but I Like it ♬

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