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 Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 3:58 pm
As Autumn and Pax ground the herbs together, her hands began to warm. Pax's touch on hers remained pleasantly cool, kept her hands moving past when she might have stopped, found the heat to be too much-- and then it was done, and Pax had her hands pressed in between both of its. Despite any surety Autumn may have had about being burned, her palms were just as smooth as ever when Pax turned her palms up. "It will hurt. The first few times. Not because you are wrong. The Enemy's influence is strong. Your will. It fights for you." Pax nodded at the paste. "It can be used. On the eyelids. Or on. The wall-opening. Dyed clothing. For protection."
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:07 pm
It did hurt. It BURNED. If not for the calming touch of Pax's hands against hers, Autumn would've given up in pain. She wasn't strong, not yet. And it just felt like her hands were going to melt off. She choked back an unpleasant noise- Autumn was going to be strong. In the real way. For Pax, for all of them. And finally- FINALLY- the pain subsided.
"Holy ********," she wheezed, opening her eyes to look up to Pax. Her arms were trembling in response to the residual effort. But... she'd done it right, it seemed. Swallowing the unsaid comments of pain and fear, she looked back down to the paste.
"What all does it protect against...?" She questioned, wondering just what the fresh hell she'd even made. Would magic always be this painful...?
"I'm so confused, Pax," She admitted, finally. Not that she wasn't pleased to be doing magic- the undying Hermione Granger in her heart was over the moon with her aparent success.
"The enemy... hates magic. And now we have magic. What am I supposed to do? What happens if we fail?"
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 11:34 pm
Pax blinked all six of its eyes at her, and then reached out to pull Autumn closer, over Rosalinde's flowers and Rosalinde herself. "It protects against. The Enemy. Bad fortune." Ignoring its crown of frozen vegetables, it put his forehead against the top of Autumn's head. "I am sorry. I should have warned. You better." It paused for a moment to look at Autumn's hands again. "If you fail. You will carry on. You have done it before." Pax looked Autumn in the eyes, expression solemn. "You are stronger. Than you know."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:07 am
The touch of Pax's forehead against her own was cool, and Autumn closed her eyes. She sniffed a bit, and despite the pain, found herself smiling.
"Don't apologize. It's just- a lot to take in. And I'm kind of a baby about pain," she laughed quietly, already feeling some of the dull ache subside. If anything, it was just... a phantom. A horrific, burning pain that wasn't really there.
She'd get past it.
"...I've done it before?" Autumn returned the solemn gaze, a frown touching her lips.
"...Have you met another me before, Pax? What happened to her?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:26 am
Pax's eyes, all six of them, flew open quite wide at that. "I. We. I... I..." Flustered, it pulled back and looked away, arms crossed tight over its chest now. "I have never met. Another you." It looked at her, wide-eyed, its mouth pulled low into a frown. Against its oversized cardigan, its hands moved restlessly, petting the fine-spun wool as if for reassurance.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:28 am
"I'm sorry!" Autumn squeaked again, suddenly feeling like a huge a*****e. But then, there were answers she needed. That little question nagging at the back of her mind.
"But then, what did you mean, I've done it before?" Autumn offered out a hand, setting it over one of Pax's.
"You won't upset me. I'm... I'm kind of starting to guess this happened before. Or something really, really similar."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:06 am
"You are here," Pax whimpered, "You... you fought to. Be here and make. Changes. A life. Your own. I didn't mean. To see. Our Heliodora. Said it was wrong. To see."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:09 am
She ran a soothing thumb over Pax's hand, making soft 'shh' sounds to try to soothe her friend.
"I don't wanna upset you, Pax. I just want to know... what's happening, so I can protect everyone. Nobody's mad at you. Heliodora isn't mad at you. You're helping me help her," Autumn offered, heart breaking.
But... what had Pax seen, that was causing this reaction?
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:17 am
"No! I explained!" Pax shook its head, which set peas flying off its antlers and caused it to clutch at the bases again. "I saw. It was. In. Your. Mind--" Pax squeezed its eyes shut tight and dug its nails into its scalp. It spoke in even shorter chunks than before, as if it couldn't get enough air. "You passed. Through me. I saw. You're going to fail. They said. They. Lied. Why. Can't. I--"
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:20 am
"Pax! Pax, baby, breathe!" Oh s**t oh s**t, Pax was panicking, and oh holy s**t Autumn was panicking. The hand wasn't enough. Uncertain of what else to do, Autumn raised her hands to try to hold Pax's own and dig them out of their scalp- oh christ they were SERIOUSLY upset.
"It's okay! Take a deep breath, we can figure this out! Let me know how to help you!"
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:24 am
Pax was unreasonably strong for something so soft in appearance, and it took considerable effort for Autumn to pry her hands free. "I. Didn't. Mean. To," it wailed miserably. "I wasn't. Supposed. To say! It's wrong! It's wrong! It'll be. Angry. With me."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:27 am
"Pax. Baby." Still holding their hands, Autumn squeezed reassuringly, trying to get contact with any of the six eyes.
"Do you need to stay here? Is someone hurting you?" Her concern was taking over, and hell no, NOBODY was gonna hurt Pax. Not if she had anything wrong.
"WHAT'S angry at you? Please. Please, Pax. Let me help you."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:40 am
Pax quivered, its main pair of eyes looking down at the flowers Rosalinde had produced. The second pair was watching Autumn, and the third was... well, frankly nauseating to watch as they darted around separately, as if seeking out predators. "I must. Go back. Our Heliodora. She's not safe. The ashes." It looked up at Autumn, eyes falling into perfect symmetry for the first time since they'd stepped into the 'real' world. "It walks. The Enemy walks. It was meant to sleep. Forever."
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:48 am
Dinner, apparently, was not a thing that was going to happen. Autumn stood up as much as she could, trying to help Pax to their feet/hooves.
"Ashes? Like Ashdown?" She swallowed. The enemy was related to this town, then? Moving here had been the problem all along. But it had been her destiny? She'd been doomed to die, from the moment she (didn't) decided to move here.
"So... the enemy is awake. And it wants us. And we fail. We've failed before." All just assumptions on what Pax had said, but... more and more questions were forming in her mind. More and more things she needed answers to.
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Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:59 am
Pax leaned its chin against Autumn's hair. "It doesn't want. You," said Pax. "It wants. Everyone. To be safe. But not. Free."
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