Fool's Journey

She wanders around a corner, down the hallway that leads to the bathrooms and where one of the emergency exits lies... which is clearly where she's heading after she passes the turnoff to the bathroom, pausing to look down there contemplatively before moving on. Outside. Gotta go outside.

 

"MISCHA!" Fred grimaces, keeping pace, flinching as the alarm starts to sound off in an a obnoxious siren sound.

Hell.

Hell, hell, hell.

She's gone. She's out of it.

If only Goodeye were here, maybe he could give him some insight... but no. No. He just needs to keep an eye on her. Hopefully she isn't a mastigos, sometimes they end up tearing a rift into the world...

He kicks the door shut behind them and keeps on Mischa's heels.

 

She's running. Gotta go fast. She barely registers the alarm noise except that it's something bad and she has to hurry to get away from it. She hurries down the sidewalk, towards the back end of the mall. There's a small park over this way, and the bus station, and the water fountain with a clock in it.

 

Freddie grits his teeth, hesitates, then breathes.... letting vigor flow through him as he adds to his own speed so he can keep up. This is a delicate time.

Even if he hadn't been at fault for triggering it - and maybe he wasn't? - she's still a nice girl. If she triggers paradox somehow, the least he can do is try to alleviate it somewhat.

He crosses his fingers and prays she won't.

 

The tower rises from amidst tangled brush, thorns gleaming bright and water cascading down and around their cpiling, delicate curves. around them, the echoing thrum of time passing resounding through Mischa's being, the tip-top of the tower a coiled promise of fate, of the future, of destiny, and of the inexorable march of time....

 

Time. Water. Thorns. Time. Water. Thorns.
She pauses a moment to admire the tower. Yes. This place. This is where she must go. It's clear now. Climb the tower.

She runs towards the fountain, then wades into it, going for the back of the little clock tower.

 

The tower stretches to the sky, ephermal, presence leaking into the world for you and you alone, you know it. It's here for you, it's calling you.

You know what to do.

You feel the magic rushing through your body, filling you up, taste it on your tongue, smell it sweet on the air, hear it singing in your ears, it spins around you and buoys you up, your soul awakening in a blaze of light and ability.

The world is so much more than you ever realized, so wide, so beautiful, so full of pure potential, and you can take it in your hands and shape your own future, now!

 

Freddie runs after her, dropping her purse next to the fountain and plunging in after her, hair standing on end. The world seems to be in a different shade, brighter, he can almost see what she does...

"Mischa!"

 

Mischa shudders, shivers cascading through her body, gasping as the well of magic bursts through and into her. Tears in her eyes from it's beauty. This is for her!

She's semi oblivious to Freddie at first, busy looking around the back of the fountain-tower. She knows what to do.
Her name.
This tower is for her. She must claim it. Write her name.
She has no pen. Just her wand and her self.
She knows what she must do.

Mischa looks at the glowing wand in her hand; one end round and smooth, the other sharp. Yes. This will do.
She looks at her hands, then her arms, then takes the wand and stabs it into the palm of her hand, catching the meaty part of her thumb.

 

Oh. Oh. No-

Freddie grabs at her - maybe if no one notices-

The wound on Mischa's hand closes up as he grabs her, but the wand is still bloody.

 

"... Oh." Mischa says in a small, soft voice. She looks at her hand, disappointed, then slowly turns to regard Freddie. Her expression still seems dazed, but her eyes are wide open and pupils blown wide.
She grabs his hand with her bloodied one, tugging his arm out. If she can't write in her own skin, in her own arm, she'll just use this one. So handy that a surrogate had stepped in, just for her. It's all for her.

 

He lets his arm be pulled forwards, brow furrowed. "...Mischa? Can you hear me?"

 

You're almost there, just one last thing, carve your name and the universe will understand-

 

She hears him, but it doesn't register, and stabs the wand into his arm, dragging it down and across.
Her name. The universe must know her name.

 

His other hand grabs at her, fingers digging in.

Oh.

Oh no.

Shit, shit, shit-

 

She struggles against him, working hard to get the next slash in next to the first one.
Writing her name is hard. The canvas keeps moving and struggling. Of course it'd hard. The rewards are great.
She keeps carving into his arm, letters jagged and getting smaller as she struggles to fit her full name.
M I S C HA KELLY FOXGLOVE CARMIN

 

He feels her magic sinking in with each stroke, hooking in, holding tight. He can feel it twisting into his nimbus, forming a mark that makes his stomach lurch.

He isn't going to be able to get rid of that-

He tries to wrench loose, but the magic is already pouring through.

She's Awakening, and he's being dragged along for the ride.

 

She has to tear at his shirt to get at the rest of his fore arm, painstakingly carving her full name into his flesh. Once it's writ, she sighs with elation. It's done!
But not quite. The tower beckons. Her name belongs there. Transfer it. Stamp it in blood.
She trudges over to the clocktower fountain, dragging Freddie with her by his maimed arm, blood dripping into the water.

Her name belongs here.

She takes Freddie's arm, hauling him up to the back of the clock and forcing his arm against the cold, wet metal. She has to press hard and roll his arm to get the blood transferred.

Her name shows up mirrored.

"No..." Her eyes go wide. No. No this isn't right. It's wrong... it's mirrored! It's wrong! "Nooo!"

She'll just have to redo it...

She turns around, gazing at Freddie's arm, eyes wide and breath coming quick with frustration and panic. Must redo it. Properly.

 

She's done. Finished - the cold metal makes him flinch, the thorns dig into his skin as the water runs over, take his blood, suspend it - he can see it, he's stunned, shell-shocked by the sight of the tower of the Acanthus -

"...w...what? No. No, Mischa, Mischa, it took, I swear it took-" he starts to stumble back, but it's like his legs are moving through molasses, and he can...

His eyes snap to his arm.

He can... almost see the threads of her fate wrapping around his arm, hesitates, then lunges to grab her hands. "....work with me. Work with me, you don't need to do it again, we can fix it, we can work the spell, blood is life , I can help-"

 

Mischa jolts a bit when he grabs her hands, looking at then. "Blood..." She mumbles, "Blood magic... life energy..." Her gaze drifts up, studying his face. She knows this face.
"Freddie?"