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lunaecalamitas2024-06-20 02:26 pm
promittere) wrote in lunaecalamitas2024-06-20 02:26 pm
promittere) wrote in lunaecalamitas2024-06-20 02:26 pm
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(and how deathly cold Mika had felt in that brief realization of chance - that Ginger could have fallen victim - that any number of the faces he had grown used to, could have)
—he handles the delegation of tasks with a clench-jawed stolidity, not a word out of him but to go, Ginger in step, to the frozen, half-corporeal boy.
With a turn of his heel he follows Ginger's example in taking on the wizard's robes. His mind is racing a mile a minute, thinking of every possible plan for success - and, in tandem, every exit strategy should all else fail— but only Ginger's gentle prayer for their safety, the hug and the kiss to his hair and the charm in his pocket, returns him to the unpleasant present. )
... I will. And you will, too.
( He's trusting Ginger has a protective charm of his own on him - this thing that rings of Robin's magic. Nevertheless, this statement is an understanding that they both - would have to be okay, that they would try, in the face of the uncertain future, so rapidly coming. )
... I'm not - very good with barriers. ( Better than before, though - before, he could not do them almost at all. He's been improving in other magic, slowly but surely. ) But I think I can do something to at least barricade this room, a little bit. Lend me some power?
( He puts out a hand. In truth, he ought be able to do this spell himself - it's something near and dear to his heart. But... he's nervous, with a foot half out the door. He needs to steady his heart, and knowing he's unsteady makes him that much more uneasy - because he knows they don't have the time for his unease. It's a self-worrying spiral. )
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It’s not that Ginger is suddenly a less anxious person. It’s that he has Mika. ]
I’m glad we’re here together, Mika. [ Murmured in low, tender tone. ] We can do anything together.
[ Without Mika, he’d be petrified, fear dogging his steps and anxiety spiking his blood like a drug. He’s scared now, but it’s so much more manageable when love is around.
And Ginger will do anything to keep them together. ]
Tell All One’s Heart.
[ Whatever barricades Mika constructs with Ginger’s red-hued magic to help, a mirrored barrier will form behind each one. Always a pair, never alone. ]
/2
Mika is not deathless now. The near-perfect cleave at his neck proves this to him every day, and still it aches come the mornings (mornings he does not deserve). And yet - death, even now, shrugs at him. Death, even now, runs its cool hands along these people he cares for, and it asks him - Are you watching? Do you see this? And Mika can see so well. He can see in shades and hear in vibrations he had not known before, as a human. And in every new sensation he sees signs of death.
He wishes they would understand. He wishes that in human tongue there existed the words to express why he is always so afraid.
He locks his hand into Ginger's, fingers intertwined. He presses their hands soft against Ginger's chest. He exhales (in habit; one that he indulges in more often, now), and he feels Ginger's pulse in his hand, and he shares it - lets it be his own. They're both afraid; he can feel it like a buzz within the coursing of their blood. But stronger is the thrum of their hearts, together. Their heart, as one.
Fate did not ask they be together. Fate wove in the fixed truths of failure into his tapestry, and invited death in. And if he leaves them to fate, maybe - Ginger would die, too. Everyone here, might.
So this is a choice. It is his choice to stand here with Ginger, and it is his choice to hope to live, and sow seeds that might grow. And he hopes that, if this is transgressive, that it will be forgiven.
In the air drifts the soft scent of roses; the kind they grow together in their garden, a little different than any other kind. )
... Donec moraire.
( 'til my dying breath.
Mika casts his spell.
Thousands of massive, thorned vines of roses wind across the outer walls of the manor, blooming in brilliant, ruby hues. They thread themselves around the outsides and insides of the room the flickering body of the sage kneels arrested in, along the inner and outer walls of the adjacent rooms, and along the inner and outer walls of the hallway leading to the room.
The window and doorway into the room are the barricade's Achilles heel: there is a sliver of an opening, like the thin slats of a blind, that allows others - ideally allied wizards - to see in and see the interior of the room - the sage and the wizards presently in it. To get in without the thorns clawing one to shreds would be an unpleasant task. They will recede reflexively for the magical signatures of allied wizards to get in and out; unfamiliar presences will need to contend with the horrible gap.
And so, from the shadow of death blooms a gentle prayer for life. )
... I think it should hold as long as I remain steady. Thanks.
( He hopes. He squeezes Ginger's hand, slowly relaxing - not by much, mind, given the unfolding situation outside; he's still tense.
And it is in this brief reprieve he notices something he'd been too anxious to recognize before. )
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( The only correct answer here is that its presence is masked, think fast, )
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… Wow…
[ That is something Ginger is still learning to understand - the severity of death, the absolute inevitability of it for those that are born to die. Death itself had not been inherently cruel, to Ginger - separation is what’s cruel, he’d thought. Severed relationships. Even his fear of death was passive - akin to knowing a cut will hurt and being wary of that moment, but never looking beyond that.
Ginger’s greatest fears had been rejection, heartbreak. Rum’s rejection would break his heart into so many pieces he’d forget how to breathe; he’d cry himself to death. Death wasn’t the fear there.
It was Mika who came into his life and brought along death. That line on Mika’s neck still taunts him - maybe that’s why he finds himself fixated on it when they’re alone. Would that he had Mika’s fangs to piece through skin and tear away the scar, and throw out death’s touch - its invitation and demand.
Losing Mika is a very real fear, his worst fear, but Ginger losing himself? Abstract, nearly abstruse. Death, he thinks, cannot touch him. Who would ever allow Death’s decaying steps to touch Heaven’s pristine clouds?
And so when Mika asks him, he blinks, surprised. ]
… No, it was always for you.
[ He doesn’t say he’d been busy working on different spells - the charms to mitigate fall damage (mostly, for Mika; during the Eastern mission, the rain, the attack, the fall), the spell to bind memory (for Day, so that Mika and Tatara could rest easier). He hadn’t thought to make himself anything. ]
I have the moon defense charm from Yamato. And… you.
[ All he needs, in his opinion. ]
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He exhales, trying to keep his heart steady. Solutions, solutions. If this is Ginger's blind spot, then Mika will be his eyes.
He shakes his head, like a metaphorical spray bottle. )
I would take any hit that comes your way. But I know you don't want that.
( And he knows that's not what Ginger meant. But in the same way Ginger measured the ambition of his protective charm for Mika, and understood Mika would sacrifice what Ginger had offered as protection - Mika wants to emphasize this, too, is the same case. If Ginger does not protect himself enough, Mika will make up for the difference.
He has already done so, fatally, once - for Yuu. And he would not hesitate to do it twice, for Ginger.
He slips his hand from Ginger's own and from his chest, and he fishes out Robin's charm from his pocket. He cups it between his hands, as if holding spring water. And though Robin's magic radiates the unnerving coolness of death - Mika still holds it fast, in the same way the flickering sage holds fast to those threads. )
... Donec moraire.
( Once again.
It is a request to Robin's magic; a gentle fissure that exerts itself between the thickly-woven threads of Robin's Northern magic, asking if he might split it apart, in this methodical, Eastern, way. And with his gentle pressure, his firmness, he is granted passage (thanks, Mauyn!!).
The charm splits in two - the mark of Grima cleaved clean into halves. The effect, therefore, is halved for the both of them - they would have less time until the charm burns to ash - but it remains effective. From the split ends blooms small vines; leaves; roses - very small, and rather thornless, but they wind around the halves like a locket, and the vines form a hook. They will stay firmly attached to their persons, wherever they're placed.
He offers one half to Ginger. )
It can't only be for me when we're only whole together.
( tbh the reason robin's magic let him in must be because the sentiment resonates in some mysterious way... )
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And as Mika had said, the truth is they’re only whole together. ]
Yes, Mika.
[ He tucks the charm away. Thank you, Robin. Sorry, Robin. ]
I do have a promise to keep to the love of my life, so don’t take a blow for me. Please, sweetheart. Help us both dodge instead?
[ Compromise, compromise. He’s already thinking that if anything happens, he’s getting Mika out of there and to a healer regardless of his own state. ]
How much magic did you use to do all of that? Do we need to…?
[ Replenish his magic with blood? ]
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... I don't know if now is a good time.
( To take from Ginger, when he might need it, should anything happen - and to rile up the both of them in the way bites kind of do. He'd make himself manage.
If anything, he seems far calmer - relieved - seeing Ginger acquiesce to the split charm. It's not ideal (Mika would rather Ginger have the full effect, himself), but they just have ... to make sure that it's enough, right? )
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Then maybe something like this? Something similar to what he’d done this morning. He takes Mika’s hand again. ]
Tell All One’s Heart.
[ Ginger’s magic asks first, prodding gently - ‘Ready for me?’ Slow as molasses, it pours into Mika in a thin stream. Not too much, he knows Mika would fret, but enough to act as a pick-me-up. ]
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He welcomes it, of course. There is a faint pulse of guilt at the self-condemning memory of the time he had been too angry to accept Ginger's magic, but he banishes it from his mind - or tries, anyway - lest his heart lock up, and his chest become too tightly gated to let the magic through.
He relaxes into it, like a filling bath. It stops short of overwhelming him, which - he would allow, if Ginger ever wanted to drench him in his magic. A little less himself; a little more the both of them. )
... Thank you. ( He looks - and feels - rejuvenated, for sure. He gently lays a hand to Ginger's cheek - concerned, of course. ) That wasn't too much from you?
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[ For accepting his magic. He leans into the touch, smiling softly. ]
It’s us.
[ His simple explanation, tone light. He would gladly share and carry the weight of them both. He’s said it before and he’ll say it forever. As it is, that much won’t tire him.
If he runs out of magic, he’ll then rely on his feelings - and his feelings for Mika will never dry out. He’ll be fine, dear heart. ]