There is a lot about me you don't know -Tales of Arcadia ENG

6- Always

Jim stared at him, very confused. "But at Arcadia they said you were? At least for the college student thing, if I remember correctly?"

Hisirdoux returned the glance, barely shrugging his shoulders. "They were rumors. You go one too many times looking for a ghost that haunts the bathrooms and the Chemistry classroom with another student and suddenly everyone thinks you're a local and starts talking, spreading fake news."

"Ghost?" Asked Toby, widening his eyes. "Whaaaat..."

"You really aren't a model?" Asked Steve instead, not even having stopped listening to the speech from there, showing visible shock. "How is that possible?"

Douxie closed the book, perhaps realizing that no one would let him read anyway. "Yes, a Ghost. She kept making vials and flasks explode and possessed students whenever her ex-boyfriend received interest from his classmates. It was a mess to try to convince her to move on." He asserted, moving strands of hair around, absentmindedly fiddling with them. "And again, no, I'm not a model. A couple of photographers and painters have tried to convince me over the years, but I never agreed."

"Why not?" Asked Claire, intrigued, stealing Jim's question, which had been on the tip of his tongue.

He was silent for a few moments, wrinkling his nose, his lips tight.

"Immortality. Eternal nineteen-year-old," he then said, suddenly serious, in an almost detached voice, as Archie went to move from his side to his arms, bringing the raven-haired boy to caress him, already appearing more relaxed just because of his presence.

"Wouldn't it be bad to find oneself on a calendar, a magazine, a flier or a painting from the nineteenth or early twentieth century... only to be found accidentally by someone who saw it, by internet or not, in the present, identical to how I was before? It is like leaving a trail. A trail to connect the dots of," a pause. "Of course, I could have simply said that the person photographed or painted was a relative, but... As extremely similar as they are, a parent and a child are never that much alike. And if someone who is very, very bad, who knows that most Wizards age more slowly or that they have the misfortune not to... If that someone did the math and came up with the correct numbers..." he did not complete the sentence, continuing to stroke Archie in silence.

And then he sighed before speaking again. "...It may sound silly and paranoid, but even a detail like that can cause huge trouble. I will gladly live without it."

'Oh .' Jim could not help but try to imagine the situation. It seemed distant and difficult to him, but he understood the need to hide, remembering how he had tried to avoid sharing too much about being the Trollhunter, even with his mom. Partly because no one would have believed him, partly because expressing it was more complicated than it seemed, and partly to avoid making new enemies.

"Like ending up in Area 49-B?" Asked Steve out of the blue. Douxie simply nodded.

"But you're a musician? Isn't that a problem, too, then?... If they were filming you..." Toby brought his hands to his knees and rubbed the fur between his fingers with slight nervousness, tilting his head.

"The Ashes Dispersal Pattern Group wears masks during their songs," Claire suddenly said, looking at her friend with the expression of someone who was calculating several things at once and then passing her gaze to Douxie, who nodded again.

"And they don't ask questions? The other members of your band, I mean. Except for the other witch." asked Jim.

"No. All four of us are strongly magic related... and we like our privacy," he shrugged. "The public doesn't mind so much, too. It heightens the suspense a bit."