soul_logs | [Closed] Once more, with feeling

Lily might have enjoyed the woods if she didn't feel his sulky mood through their connection and if she wasn't a bit miffed herself. Their previous trip to Vadstena had ended with Lezard getting kicked into a river and her finding out what it felt like to be a soggy book. Her healing spell patched up his injuries but they were forced to return to Death City and report a complete failure, their first after months and dozens of successes. And she was still a bit mad at herself for not sensing that ghost horse in time and allowing him to get hurt.

As the nearly indecipherable writing spread over his pages, she thought to herself that she was glad that she was no longer a book. Being a Weapon wasn't pleasant and the relief she felt when things had changed back to normal was so great that she'd thrown her arms around him despite not usually being a hugger. Now that they were back in their proper roles, surely they would have a better chance against the ghostly creature.

"Bait it?" she repeated skeptically. "I don't think that critter wants carrots." Not that she'd even thought to bring any. And like all the demons they fought here, it was after souls. The rumors around town said the ghost horse disappeared into the river with any who climbed onto his back.

"...You're not suggesting I try to ride it, are you? I might be from Texas but I'm no cowgirl."

"To ride the creature is to ride into death. I will be asking no such thing," he replied, though he rubbed his chin. The diet of these creatures was the souls of man, so they had to look particularly appetizing.

"But among creatures of such greed, a choice soul is an undeniable call. I do believe we're overdue to test the extent of our resonance... and it appears to me that the static has cleaned up considerably." He waved a hand through the darkness of soul space. She was pretty stubborn, but they seemed to be quite a bit stronger lately, especially now that the glitch was mended.

"...Have you grown fond of me, Lily Ivory?" He asked with the utmost innocence.

Well, that was a relief! Rodeo rider wasn't exactly on the list of jobs she wanted to try out!

"Maybe it's those extra demon souls you absorbed?" She hadn't consumed the four souls they had acquired while she had been the Weapon and after they changed back, they had been added to his collection instead. But she also sensed it, felt as if their link was smoother and more powerful now. Their souls likely did smell like a couple of delicious carrots or apples to the demon horse.

"Fond of you? What makes you think that?" Despite her protest, he might have felt a touch of embarrassment though their connection and noticed a slight pink tinge to her cheeks. The flowers at the park and the birthday dinner at Dorsia had softened her disposition towards him some more. But this growing attachment was a bit worrying with his recent admission of attraction. "Maybe a little..." she mumbled and then changed the subject.

"But we should find this horse before worrying about that. Can you sense anything?"

That was an odd spark passing through just a moment ago, and as a man who suffered no embarrassment - he was practically incapable in his shamelessness - he found himself looking around him, wondering what this foreign little feeling was. In that he never caught wind of the remark, but instead was brought to attention on the task at hand.

Lezard paused, tested the air, and let his own pages flip. The clean pages began to etch now, painting the forest in ink form and marking their location.

"The demon knows we're here, but still bears the skittish mannerisms of an equine. We must get ourselves out of sight, but proceed with baiting."

He had to think of-- hmm.

A small, molten ball of energy sprung from the pages of the book, one of many Lily had taken and formed to her will. It swirled in a clean red and gold like the flame, but bore little more than simple warmth. "We'd always used them, but never in its original form of pure soul energy. Our own special form of carrots..."

Maybe it was his mention of carrots but as she took the ball of soul energy into her hand and examined it, the glowing red and gold elongated and took on a thin conical shape like said vegetable.

"Huh. I wasn't aware you could do that without turning it into flames. But do you really think this is going to work?"

Still, she placed it on the ground and then ducked behind a large tree some distance away to wait. Staying alert for any sounds of the equine's approach, she peered around the trunk at the bait.

Perhaps, it would be a good time to try talking silently. She focused on the words in her mind and their connection. "Do you hear me? Let me know if you can sense what direction that critter is coming from..."

"I hear you. Our target is still within range of my senses, but it may be a moment before it catches on to the prospect of food and deems it safe to approach. ...To think, we've a fearful creature on our hands, after it had defeated us prior. I don't think I'll ever understand horses."

He shrugged helplessly, but kept a bead on. The presence was moving and growing, but they had a moment before it was well within range. It took concentration to hold that fragment of his soul, keep it active, make it enticing.

But he was a much stronger Weapon now than when he began, nearly halfway through his required soul count. Surely the beast can't deny the call.

"I can't say I understand it either. Even if Texas conjures images of cowboys and the like, I never was around horses much growing up. Mostly because folks thought it necessary to keep their animals away from me too."

They were in the woods so it'd be best if they could handle this quickly and keep their attacks confined to a small area instead of chasing the beast through the trees. No need to start a forest fire.

"I guess we could use a Fire Storm once it takes the bait..."

It was a while longer before there was the sound of twigs snapping under hooves. And then the horse came into view, nostrils twitching as it sniffed for the soul it could tell was in the area. Slowly, it approached the 'carrot,' looking as if it would bolt at the first sign of danger.

The horse drew closer, ears high and eyes wide and cautious. With the way its muscles twitched, it looked ready to flee at the soonest opportunity. If it did, then they likely blew their chances at the mission again.

Lezard nodded and funneled the energy through their linked souls, passing it into the witch for her use.

"It will have to be set and activated quickly- the runes bear a light that may frighten the beast as well. We've one chance at this, before we risk letting it slip from our grasp. I will ignite the soul charge and make the creature rear and back off; it cannot turn on a dime with its balance of weight. It will walk right into the trap, set precisely one yard behind its current position. ...Are you ready?"

"All right. I understand." Lily nodded, feeling the warmth of the energy as it built up, ready to be manipulated and cast against their skittish foe.

The creature finally came to the bait, lowering its head towards the forest floor. She concentrated on the spot Lezard indicated, causing the fiery runes to swiftly appear, ready to unleash a pillar of flame on the horse as soon as it spooked and backed into the trap.

Lezard's focus tightened and he watched. The great white horse lowered his slender head, beautiful in every right and enticing one to climb atop its back and be given quite a ride, but also a nasty kick of things went awry.

His hold on the soul sphere released, and with a sharp BANG it burst as he lost the energy. The horse uttered a sharp neigh, backing off quickly, front end aloft and hooves kicking at the air. But those back hooves took one step, two, three...

Right onto the runes. "Now, Lily!"

At his signal, she visualized fire rapidly shooting up from the glowing runes. From hind hooves to snout, the entire creature was quickly surrounded by flames, turning from a beautiful sight to a hellish one.

But despite the distressed neighs, the panic in its eyes, and scorched flesh, it wasn't ready to give up so easily and tried to flee the fiery circle.

"Dag nab it! It's trying to get away! We need more fire!"

"Then you shall have more fire!" The runes were still active. This allowed him to channel through her, calling the flame to continue to crackle and pop, overwhelming the horse's delicate senses.

"The lances! Make use of their solid form to keep the beast from retreating!"

Murmuring a chant now, Lily willed the Fire Lances to plant themselves in the ground, one after the other in rapid succession, ringing the circle like bars of a cage. She wouldn't let that critter get away, not after last time!

But then something strange happened... The flames crackling around the animal rose in the air, swirling and coming together, blending into a larger ball of red and gold.

"What's going on?" The fire didn't usually act this way. Was it another spell?

What was going on, indeed? Lezard's brows furrowed as he bore witness, but in a moment's observance, he decided he would give something a try. Bracing himself within soul space, he cast the runic circle beneath himself, thus casting it beneath Lily.

"Could it be...?" It had been so long, and he knew of Fire Lance and Fire Storm. It was only the logical next step for his magic to take.

"The time of exorcism is at hand..." The power within him welled and with it his heart raced. Yes, yes...! It was what he was thinking! Oh, Great Magic, how he missed you!

Above the horse welled pure soul energy, a sphere of contained destruction growing and glowing above them, radiating heat. His book form flipped to a new page, new text scrawling over as it described Great Magic, its uses and disadvantages, and the history of the very first spell crafted: Calamity Blast.

"Venomous servants, unleash thy dark flames!" It was sheer command of elemental power and magic, subjugation rather than attunement. Magic in Midgard was so savage, so untouchable, but he'd found his way of learning and growing among it as he made it a part of himself. So when the red and gold fireballs hurtled down, relentlessly 'embracing' their dear kishin egg equine, with it came the scent of burning fur. With it as well, however, came the steady lessening of the oppressive aura that had filled the forest.

...Because Lezard was pressing right back, as if reaching out and crushing it with their combined influence, sorcerer and witch.

Lily felt it as another circle of runes glowed to life at her feet, an immense power flowing through their connection, greater than any they had achieved before and with a wildness that would rival a herd of stampeding horses.

Her own heartbeat also quickened as he intoned and the spellbook's pages flipped, revealing a new page. Calamity Blast? From a quick glance, it sounded meaner than a skilletful of rattlesnakes and frightened her a bit. Would she be able to control it? But she pushed that doubt aside and focused on their bond, melding her energy with his as the fiery spheres formed. She would trust in Lezard to help her guide this unfamiliar spell and keep it from getting out of hand.

The scent of burnt horsehair reached her nostrils as the fireballs fell upon the creature, exploding as they hit. Caged in by the Fire Lances, the doomed horse could do little more than rear up and cry in pain as the flames ate at its flesh. Another hit and it turned into a cloud of black smoke with a reddish glow at its center, the atmosphere in the woods lightening as the creature's malevolent influence disappeared within the bonfire.

The witch tried to catch her breath, feeling a bit drained as she typically did after working a powerful spell back home. "...Wasn't that a bit much for one horse?" She looked down at Lezard, wondering if he was as tired as she was. "And what was that about venomous servants?" It made her think of snakes, how she had been able to conjure them when she had been a Weapon, the story she'd finally told him about why she had to leave Jarod. Did he share some kind of connection to the creatures, too?

"The oldest magicks... they required a command over the progenitor spirit that created it. While I need no command over the old spirit now, the incantation remains," he explained, swaying a little on his feet as he transformed and appeared again as human beside Lily.

Straightening his jacket, he moved onward to collect the red light as the fiery maelstrom died down.

"...And with that, the demon and the two of us are now even. Perhaps I gave the beast too much!" He laughed.

"More than even, I reckon. That seemed like overkill," she remarked as the runes faded and he moved towards the dying flames to retrieve the soul.

"So, this spell was created by an ancient spirit? I didn't exactly get a chance to read much of the page, having to focus on the spell." And there was another question...

"Did something change? We'd never been able to do that before, not the last time we fought like this." Was it something to do with how they had been switched for a week? Or was it just that he'd absorbed the souls of the Baba Yaga sisters and the Utz-Colel that they'd collected while she was a book?

"Better to give it all and see the job done than risk restraint and see to our demise... it was what had the horse elude us last time." He reached out, drawing the soul into himself. While some ingested the soul like a meal, others simply absorbed; the former was far too garish for his tastes. When he turned, she posed a peculiar question...

"I, too, felt something of a change. The flecks of static over our resonance have cleaned up considerably post-switch; it has been a far simpler matter to resonate with you as of late. Of course... that does pose the question of our bond, and the link born from it." He stroked his chin.

"That, and you've seen things through my eyes as a Weapon; your understanding of our roles as partners has aided us in better understanding one another. Of course, that is just a theory..." He stepped back to her side and the smile was playful.

"Another theory, nearly a year old, is the subject of kissing as a way to boost resonance." He looked ahead and folded his arms neatly behind his back as he watched the forest around them.

"Perhaps we'll boost it again sometime, Miss Ivory."

"I guess you're right..." It would have been problematic if the ghostly horse had escaped again. Or worse, trampled them while it was aflame.

"And I suppose I understand better now after walking the proverbial mile in your shoes." She agreed, thinking back to the experience and frowning a tad. "How do you stand being a Weapon normally anyway? Don't you find it humiliating, to be an inanimate object to be carried around and used?" Not to mention the whole clothes disappearing while transformed thing. She finally believed him about that point with how much time she had spent in that embarrassing state during the switch!

Her eyes moved to where the horse's soul had been absorbed. "And I doubt consuming demon souls could be fun. Doesn't it feel disturbing to have those things inside you?" Even being a Weapon temporarily, that was one thing she still hadn't experienced, declining to absorb the souls they'd collected then.

"...And I don't think it could have anything to do with kissing!" But as she peeked up at his face, there was a pink to her cheeks that wasn't just the orangey rays of the setting sun. After all that had happened recently, it was tempting. The idea of someone who accepted her, was attracted to her, an ally she could count on in this strange world. And it felt like ages since she'd broken up with Max and had that ill-fated date with Aidan. She almost wanted to rise up on tiptoe and test that idea out...

"The necessity of demon souls is something I treat with distaste, and I have my moments where I feel them," he noted, patting his chest. It fluttered sometimes as he stacked the power neatly away inside, nothing like subjugating magic as he always had.

But the curious shrug, a cant of his head followed the final note. The tap of a finger kept his glasses on even ground upon the bridge of his nose. Perhaps it had nothing to do with kissing...

"No? Yet I distinctly recall something warm within the connection, a different type of flame, yet something that cannot be accurately described." The purple of his eyes were alight in a sort of mischief turned her way

"Um, are you sure you weren't imagining it?" Dag nab it! Did he really feel something like that through their connection? Was she actually falling for that sorcerer despite the reservations she had? Her cheeks might have turned a shade pinker when he looked at her like that. The gathering dusk would help hide it at least.

"Besides, if it really had to do with kissing, wouldn't folks have figured that out far earlier than a year ago? With how long this war's been going on... If it was that simple, I doubt we'd ever have been brought here!" A strange pang came with the realization and her voice softened. "...That we'd ever have met."

"Is there not a phrase... hindsight is always 20/20? Perhaps they hadn't thought of it until now, too busy locked in combat as they were! Ha!"

But he paused, regarding her. Truly, if it was something discovered sooner, then there would be no need for them. But something curious was happening here as she brought up an interesting point. They would never have met, that much was true.

"Perhaps not." He stepped closer, tucking his gloves into his coat pocket. With the tip of a finger, he tipped her chin.

"...But I think more along the lines of present day and what can be done now, rather than the 'what ifs'. Right now, for instance, you look a tad restless. For what reason might that be, I wonder...?"

The breath caught in her throat and there was a spark of something as he tipped her face up to look at him. She could be impulsive at times but surely trying to kiss him wasn't a good idea!

"...Um, I was just thinking it's good that we're friends."

There was truth in that statement. Even if she'd found him irritating in the early days of their acquaintance, she'd grown to tolerate him and be used to his frequent appearances at her apartment door and the shop.

But was that really all? The claim sounded a tad flustered and although Lily didn't turn her head, her eyes shifted away from his and towards the side, afraid she would get carried away if she kept looking into those purple eyes.

She diverted her eyes and the smile was back, so easy to form. It was here that he lingered for just a moment more, before he stepped back and brushed a small section of brown hair from his eyes, a move made so casually.

"The very best," he replied, his voice shaken with a little laughter. But he gestured away, then, and tipped his upper body only slightly.

"...Shall we return home? It should nearly be dark in Nevada, and with it comes the troublesome desert temperature drop."

It was a bit of a relief when Lezard stepped back and she took opportunity of the moment to compose herself.

She even managed to joke a bit as they started walking. "Already? I reckoned this place might remind you of home." They were in Sweden so it was Scandinavia again. "Or do you prefer caves like the one those trolls lived in?" The little smile showed she was teasing, rather a difference from the sarcastic remarks she used to direct at him.

He laughed. "Really, what would remind me of home is if the forest was full of howling spirits and giant spiders!"

Looking out, he shook his head in mock dismay of the peaceful, warm forest. "Unless a Valkyrie took the time to cleanse the woods of evil, I daresay what we walk through now is nothing short of a mockery. Far too quiet for my tastes. Every inch of Midgard is alive with the supernatural. You could not step a single toe outside your front door without feeling some form of vibration."

Still in jest, she quirked an eyebrow at him. "Howling spirits and giant spiders? That ghost horse wasn't lively enough for you?"

"But it is awfully quiet here," she observed as they continued out of the forest. With the stars starting to come out, it'd be pretty nice if the moon wasn't grinning above. "I wonder if there are any woodsfolk in this world. Or if the demons have scared them all into hiding." Even with all the trips into the woods to track down demons, they'd not come across any. "No fairies or brownies or elves."

"This world, for all of its madness and demons, is rather quiet as far as the supernatural is concerned. The silence in its entirely is quite disturbing, though I suppose for those without a sort of sway of magic would find it rather peaceful. Do you not feel it...?"

He gestured outward. "The lack of spark in the air, the feeling of strangeness within which we are born, grow most comfortable in? 'Tis enough that we are both without our respective magic, as if a part of us has been rudely torn out of us."

She sobered, no longer in a joking mood. "I guess you're right. Other than clothes, I can't feel the vibrations of anything anymore. Not people's auras or the traces of energy they leave behind in other objects and buildings. Not even the demons we hunt most of the time. It was strange to feel my senses so muted when I first got here but I suppose I've gotten used to it with the months that have passed."

"Although I reckon the alternative would be disturbing as well with all the demons on the loose here. To sense the souls of the children drowned by La Llorona, be able to tell where violent deaths had occurred..." In a world with as many demon problems as this one, she'd likely be feeling too much.

"But you can't sense anything at all like this, can you?" She frowned, reaching out to take his hand and look at it. "Like when I was turned into a Weapon." Perhaps, that was why he hung around her so much. There had been numerous times that week when she caught herself grabbing for his hand as reassurance against the unsettling lack of vibrations.

He turned his head when she seized his hand, so used to it by now that it was - as he called it - a force of habit to clasp when he felt the contact. Perhaps he felt the same in a sense, missing the subtle vibrations in the air when you were born with magic, lived with it all your life.

"There is nothing," he replied simply, the irritation evident in the connection. Usually he withheld such emotions, let himself remain on the upper hand, but he felt there was no point in exerting the energy in anything else.

"Regardless... we've this resonance. While not the most suitable replacement, one cannot scoff at what we've got."

The irritation was easily felt through their link, somewhat usual from him. Was he being more honest about his feelings?

"That's true. I suppose we should practice more when we can." She gave his hand a squeeze as they exited the woods and started on the path back to town. "But for now, let's go back."

"...Of course." It was certainly that time, was it not?

With victory under their belt, they had no further need to be here; their mistake stricken from the records. They had a mirror to return to, a report to make, and perhaps a well-earned cup of tea.

That, and he had some more thinking to do, but when was he not doing that?

[Closed] Once more, with feeling

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