sageprincess | AEF INBOX

[He spends the intervening time . . . fussing. Which shouldn't really be surprising. It's fairly standard Giorno fare for when he's unoccupied by other things. He doesn't do well with sitting still. At the same time, he tries for Zelda's sake to keep calm, since she is trying to sleep.]

[It's not as though he's upset, either. He doesn't know why he's so nervous. There's nothing wrong. This is good, and he's — happy? Probably. Who knows.]

[By the time Zelda contacts him again, he's got his own cup of tea. Chamomile, for chilling the fuck out.]

someone came through the mirrors from my home. i wanted you to know.

well — no, i want to introduce you. at some point. if you want to be introduced.

[Oh. That explains that mess of feelings, now, doesn't it.

A pang of something like jealousy resonates treacherously through the link, like a sour sounding bell that is quickly silenced. This is a good thing. ... Well, it isn't good that someone Giorno knows is now also trapped here to be toyed with by the whims of this strange world, but, theoretically, it means Giorno will feel a little safer. That's good. She should be happy for him.

She settles for just slamming down on feeling anything instead.]

Of course. Any ally of yours is an ally of mine. At least, I presume this person is your ally, if you are wishing to introduce us. Am I correct in that assumption?

[She might have gone to squelch it right away, but unfortunately the connection is instantaneous. He can't help but flinch hurt and confusion back, particularly in the face of the artificial gladness that filters through a moment later.]

[What is she jealous of? He doesn't understand, and it shows. Tentatively, delicately, he nurses his own feelings of fondness towards her — doesn't push them her way, but holds them in his mind as he speaks of Fugo.]

[He doesn't understand.]

yes, he is.

but he's my friend, too. and so are you. aren't you?

[...]

Of course I am.

[She hates this. Why can't she be allowed to keep all the things she hates about herself hidden away? She hates and she aches, a little ball of internalized frustration whirling endlessly around itself because--]

Forgive me. I am a little homesick myself, I suppose. I do not mean to rain on what must be the happiest morning either of us have had in a while.

[She's just a little awful and would like to see something familiar as well, despite telling herself she knows better. It's fine, she'll be fine. She breathes, and tries to smooth that annoying knot of feeling out.]

When would you like to do this? Has he been told about me?

[. . . yeah. Sorrow. Loneliness, too, despite circumstances. There was someone in the dream who didn't come out through the mirrors, and he's trying not to let it catch in his throat. Guilt for making Zelda feel bad, frankly.]

[Everything is so complicated.]

i don't blame you for it. [For anything she's feeling. Anything she ever feels. But he doesn't know how to articulate all of that. there's nothing to forgive.

he has. i told him right away, after we talked about what [A beat.] i am. since you're my [A longer beat. The terminology really doesn't flow yet, at all.] my bonded

but if it'll just be upsetting to you, you don't have to meet him.

[It's just . . . he doesn't know. Something. But not everything is about him. Especially not when he can't even quite articulate why this is so important to him.]

[Because they are both important to him. But the words won't go.]

[She... has doubts about there being nothing to forgive - how can that possibly be true, when she's inspired all these awful things in him in a time when he should be happier than ever? - but she forces herself not to press the issue further. It certainly wouldn't make things any better at this time, she can tell that much.]

No, I will be fine, I promise. [And she does believe that; whatever happens, she'll endure it. That's how she survives.] But perhaps it would be best to allow him a day to sit with all the information he has been given in the new world he has suddenly found himself in. The process is exhausting, I imagine, even with a familiar face to ease it along.

[And it would allow her some time to get her own feelings under control, which is both more and less important in all this.]

On that note, if I may ask: has he been informed of what this world has deemed him to be?

[there is no eloquent way to ask if he's going to turn into a terrible goblin or something but by god she tries]

of course. that makes sense. i think that would be easiest for everyone.

[Himself included, although he won't stop being anxious just because a day's passed.]

[On the other hand, a burble of amusement shudders down the Bond at Zelda's tact — one that wouldn't be there if someone he cared about showed up and was shown to be a monster.]

he's a witch. fortunately. i appreciate you asking, though. i think we would be having a very different conversation otherwise.

[Like: how can he burn this world down or something. He doesn't know. Much more than a discussion about a meet and greet.]

[His amusement is... relaxing, in an odd way. It gets her to release some of the tension she's been holding, to unclench her teeth. She's still not okay by any means, and she still feels awful about how her own feelings effect him, but... she feels like she can breathe again and maybe it won't tear everything apart.]

I suppose we would. But that is quite fortuitous, indeed.

[For several reasons. He won't need to look far for someone he can trust if and when the magic becomes too much for him to handle alone. A part of her wants to comment as such, but she refrains. Better not to presume what kind of relationship they have until she has a little more information about it.]

Well, if he is the studious sort, and finds no problem with me, I would be willing to assist him with mastering the basics after he has settled in. Especially now as the Pharaoh is branching further into schools I am less familiar with.

[like making space cats and shit, what's up with that]

[That's . . . interesting. He can feel the way her tension releases, although he can't for the life of him say what's caused it. Something on her end, maybe. He's not sure how he could have influenced her enough to change her mood so severely.]

[It's a good thing, though. It makes him smile.]

would you really? i think he'd appreciate that. i can't imagine he'd have any issues with you, he just doesn't like loud people. and he likes to learn.

[Ozymandias, on the other hand . . .]

is that what we're calling him now? his tastes do run towards the ostentatious. it suits him, though. i can't imagine fugo will bother with things even near that flashy.

Is that so unusual? It is the title he introduced himself to me with, so I presumed that would be how he would prefer to be addressed. I am not familiar with the term outside of my interactions with him.

[She wants to be a Good Princess even if she only has a fraction of an idea of what she's doing, goddesses help her.

In any case, magic and ridiculous pharaohs are much safer topics than things like feelings and loneliness, and so the tension does not return as the conversation shifts.]

I feel as though your opinion regarding your friend's potential perception of me may be somewhat biased, but that is good to know regardless. At times while I am at the Coven I cannot help but feel rather surrounded by those who prefer the more dramatic forms of magic over the practical ones, like healing and protection.

[she's not bitter you're bitter]

oh, no, that's how he introduced himself to me too. i just try not to take him too seriously for his own sake.

[Giorno . . . does not want to be a Good Princess.]

i don't think that it is. he likes people who are clever and focused, who don't waste their time on frivolity, who have good hearts. that's you, isn't it? i would think so.

[Poor Zelda. She's at the mercy of his compliments now.]

that's very strange, though. especially given the current circumstances, i'd think a focus on healing would be paramount. i like to make a statement as much as anyone, but i like to be not dead more.

Oh. I see. He must hide your efforts very well.

[She's pretty sure that ship has sailed but... godspeed, Giorno. Even if you're starting to make her feel all uncertain and embarrassed.]

I suppose one could describe me as such. I am just not under the illusion that all people would view me the same way.

[Because she hates herself.]

Perhaps I simply attract that sort of personality, and there is a wealth of healers I am simply unaware of. Either way it is growing quite tiresome, and I am very thankful that I am not alone in thinking that staying alive should be a greater priority as a general rule. [Venting about mild irritations to a trusted ally actually feels... good, kind of? Weird.]

[It most definitely has sailed. But then, part of it’s pettiness, too, and the other part is . . . what? Good-natured ribbing? Friends tease each other, he’s come to learn. Maybe that’s it.]

anyone with taste would.

[He isn’t willing to compromise on this point. She can feel his confidence in the matter through the Bond, not argumentative but content in the irrefutability of his statement.]

[There’s a moment when she’ll feel a sense of hesitation, though, before—]

i would learn healing spells if i could. i used to be able to heal, back at home. i miss being able to.

[—an unexpected sense of relief.]

[And yet her uncertainty remains in the face of his confidence, stemming from somewhere deep and buried within her. Like an infection that's been left to fester unseen for too long, where a surface level treatment is no longer effective in drawing the sickness out.

She doesn't argue, though. She allows it to just be, and focuses on this tiny glimpse he gives into his life before Aefenglom instead. Neither of them speaks often about their pasts, and so she understands the hesitation, and is happily surprised by the relief that follows.]

That is incredible, and, I imagine, infinitely frustrating. In Hyrule, we are reliant on potions and the like to speed along the body's natural healing process. Actual healing magic is something only fairies are capable of.

[...]

And the fairies of Hyrule are quite different beings from those called "fae" here.

it's incredibly frustrating.

[And more than that. As aware as he is of the remaining flicker of uncertainty in her, he can't help but project genuine fear across the Bond: what happens if someone is injured and he can't save them? What is he supposed to do? Of all the things this place has done to him, that's the most unforgivable.]

[This isn't the most powerless he's ever felt, but it's close.]

i feel as though i've lost the most important part of me.

[A brief and blistering moment of honesty, one which is more revealing than he intends. After all, if the most important part of him is protecting people, healing them, saving them from the natural processes of injury and death . . .]

[Well, it doesn't matter.]

less vindictive and cruel, i hope. although the fae are funny sometimes.

They are rather timid creatures, actually. Most will go their entire lives without seeing one.

[But there's a twisting, mournful kind of concern that resonates through her; she feels his pain, his fear, and she wants to fix it. It's an instinctual desire, one automatic as wanting to eat when you're hungry, or sleep when you're tired. She wants to mend this hole that's been left in him.

She just... doesn't know how.]

... It would not be the same, I realize. But there are potions, scrolls, possibly even some enchanted objects that do not require a witch to wield them. I could work on procuring some for you that could potentially replicate such an effect on a minor scale. If you would be comfortable carrying something like that on you.

[...]

It is desperately unfair that whatever force brought us here took these parts of us as a price we did not agree to pay. I might be able to attain a facsimile of what I once had, but it is only that.

[She's still holding back, not willing to go into details regarding the sources of her power before she fell through the mirror, but... this frustration, this hollowness-- she understands it quite well.]

AEF INBOX

highly fucking unlikely

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