[closed]

[dontpokethat]

Who: Ginko and assorted people
Where: Various locations around Portland
When: Late Week 3 and early Week 4
What: After trying to kidnap a child, getting kidnapped himself, and having his face set on fire, Ginko has a lot of catching up to do.
Warnings: talk of aforementioned face-burning probably, others tba as necessary

[Prompts below!]

Comments

FOR TANYUU - week 4 (after the attack on the circle)

[dontpokethat]

So it’s kind of seeming like this past month has been… less than great for pretty much everybody. Ginko is used to things being less than great, and just riding it out (maybe almost dying a couple times? He’s not sure at this point) but this is a long time of stuff being, let’s face it, pretty shitty.

Staying with Psi has helped some, but at this point there’s someone else he feels like he’s got to go see - for a few reasons.

He knocks on the door of Tanyuu’s apartment.

[fourthscribe]

Tanyuu has been...better. Between loosing contact with Ginko again and the disaster that was the attack on the Circle's stronghold, she's been feeling more helpless than ever. Much as she tries, she just can't ever make any difference in this world, and it's...wearying.

Ostensibly she had been reading a book, with Haruki playing on the floor with a jingly ball he particularly likes, but she'd been just staring out the window for quite a while when Ginko knocks. The sound snaps her out of the dazed thoughts (strange half-memories of ethereal creatures and a cavern full of ancient scrolls) and after a moment she closes her book and wheels her way over to the door.

Seeing who is there catches her entirely off-guard, and she stares at Ginko for a full ten seconds before leaning forward to sock him right in the gut.

"You jerk!"

[dontpokethat]

Ginko spends most of those ten seconds trying to figure out what the hell to say. Eventually, he manages, very slowly, to say "Hey--"

And then Tanyuu punches him in the stomach. Which, since he certainly isn't expecting that, is pretty effective and knocking the wind out of him.

He doubles over and wraps his arms over his stomach, and, after a moment, manages a few words between wheezes. "Okay, that's-- that's fair. Sorry."

[fourthscribe]

Tanyuu's boiling rage disperses just as quickly as it came, and with a small sniffle she rolls forward to wrap her arms around Ginko's shoulders in as close to a hug as their awkward positions can accommodate.

"You idiot. I thought...I was afraid I'd lost you."

[dontpokethat]

As soon as he's caught his breath a little more, Ginko squats so they're lined up better and puts his arms around Tanyuu in turn.

"I'm sorry," he repeats. "I'm... it's been handled. I'm alright now, I promise."

Meaning he knows now that he wasn't before. He considers being in his right mind with some lingering pain to be a big improvement on being controlled by a plant in his eye.

"I'm so sorry."

[fourthscribe]

"Idiot." It's murmured weakly against his shoulder, and try though she might a few hot tears still leak out down her cheeks. For a few moments more she holds on, but she knows this is less than ideal for Ginko's back and reluctantly unwinds her arms.

Tanyuu rolls back to allow Ginko to step inside, wiping her eyes as she does. "Come in. Will you help me onto the couch?"

[dontpokethat]

"Yeah, 'course."

He follows her inside and pulls the door shut behind him. Once they reach the couch, he stoops by Tanyuu's chair to help her up and onto the couch in a practice movement. "--There. You comfortable?"

[fourthscribe]

All of the movement is habit, familiar if not necessarily easy. It stings of something else, though, a sense that it should be a soft patch of grass she is lowered onto, or that she coils around to lounge of her own accord, the sweet scented breeze drifting past...

It's not right. Nothing has been right.

She shifts herself slightly, but nods with a weary smile. "As much as ever. Now what...what happened to you?"

[dontpokethat]

Ginko sits down next to her, slouching over a little as always, and presses his lips together as he thinks over how to go about explaining this.

"After she captured me, apparently the Rose Queen implanted some kind of... seed in my eye. She... wanted me to capture another changeling and bring him to her. I guess the magic made me... think I was helping him. I could hardly focus on anything else."

[fourthscribe]

Tanyuu's brow furrows as she listens to Ginko, reaching over to put one of her hands over his. What he describes makes sense for how he was acting, why he fell out of contact for so long. Doesn't make it hurt any less, but she doesn't blame Ginko for it.

"Did...did her plan work?" It's hard to tell, sometimes, how badly things actually go with how much Ginko tends to blame himself.

[dontpokethat]

For a moment, that touch seems weirdly foreign - like he hasn't come in contact with another person in some time. But, one way or another, it's still Tanyuu. He turns his hand over to curl his fingers around hers.

"...Almost," he admits. "I... I don't know if it would have actually gone as she wanted, but. Fortunately we won't find out. Foster stopped me, and... then he took out the rose she'd planted."

[fourthscribe]

Tanyuu threads her fingers into his, letting out a soft breath and resting her head on his shoulder. It's familiar, but...strange, as well. Something in the back of her mind tells her to hold this moment close before she's all alone again, but Ginko isn't going anywhere. Not now, at least.

"...I don't really want to know how he got it out, do I?" She's never seen the effects of such a spell before herself, let alone one cast by such a powerful fae, but...it was in his eye. The removal can't have been pleasant for anyone involved.

[dontpokethat]

"Uh... probably not." He makes a face. Describing to his little sister how a magic plant was burned out of his eye socket was not on his to-do list for the day, thanks.

"But what's important is that it's been handled. Went to the doctor, too, to get it checked out."

[fourthscribe]

"Good, I was going to smack you again if you hadn't!"

It's only partly a joke, and Tanyuu lapses into uncomfortable silence after. Haruki tosses the ball across the floor and hops along after it, chirping loudly as he does.

"...Ginko, I...can I tell you something?"

[dontpokethat]

Ginko watches Haruki for a few seconds, not really doing anything to break the silence himself. Then he looks up, blinking at Tanyuu.

"Yeah, of course." It seems like it should go without saying that Tanyuu can talk to him about anything.

[fourthscribe]

She remains silent still for a few long seconds, trying to work out exactly how to explain things.

"I've had...I don't know if they could be visions, or if they're just weird dreams or...what. But I've had these feelings of having...lived another life." She licks her lips, not meeting Ginko's eyes. "Some parts of it feel normal for that kind of thing, but then there are other things...I keep expecting to see little spirit-things around when you visit, or to look in the mirror and not see something human looking back at me."

Like a changeling. She won't say it, won't ever say it out loud, but the thought of flowers and weeds in her hair, purple skin and extra eyes...it's either that or aliens, and the latter doesn't make any sense at all!

[dontpokethat]

It all sounds... familiar. Alarmingly so, right down to the mention of 'little spirit-things'. And expecting something inhuman in the mirror.

He speaks a few moments later, quiet and uncertain. "...I've... had the same thing happen. I don't... know what it is."

[fourthscribe]

"You have?"

She looks up, brows creasing with concern, and her hand tightens over Ginko's.

"There must be something causing this. But I can't...I can't think of what." And that anxiety, on top of everything else, honestly isn't doing her any favors. "I know there was...there's something about mountains. They were important, but I can't figure out why."

[dontpokethat]

"Mountains..." He sits back and shoves his free hand through his hair, squeezing his eye shut. "Definitely sounds familiar, anyway, but-- yeah. I'm not sure why. Mountains, a river, a carnival... it all just sounds like nonsense."

But, if he's not the only one, it's got to mean something.

[fourthscribe]

She hums a soft affirmative, her gaze going slightly distant. "I remember something like a library, but...incredibly old. And there was a room where writing crawled all over the walls." It really does sound ridiculous, doesn't it? Like some fever dream that should have been forgotten. But it can't be, not with how real it felt.