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 Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:49 pm
“I can’t, should I get closer?” he asked; he adjusted the earring slightly, and then pressed his ear to Ephesus’ chest so he could listen for his heartbeat.
“Oh, that is loud. Are you okay, Effie? You don’t have to be nervous.”
‘Wow, his outfit is really cute. And soft. If we were laying down, I could definitely take a nap on him. I should spend the night tonight.’
He stood up straight and smiled, touching the earring again. It felt special, even if he couldn’t really place why. He liked it, though! And it was really cute on Effie, too. And, he really liked matching.
Especially since their Wonders were so close; it made him wonder what they had to do with each other in the past. And, maybe the future, too.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 9:05 pm
At first Ephesus had to blink at Amarynthos, not sure what he was talking about, but then he moved closer so he could put his ear to his chest--!!
But then he heard something, and gasped with his hand over his mouth. His face felt like it was burning, and his heart was definitely going to bust out of his chest now.
‘I can hear your thoughts!’
It was the only way to make sure! He had to just think it and -- was this the magic?
‘You can nap on me if you want. And I can ask if you could spend the night,’ he thought, wondering just how much Amarynthos could hear. Maybe he was just making things up in his head, or it was a lucky guess, but… they had magical earrings so, it wasn’t impossible, right?
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 9:45 pm
This time, the faintest bit of color manifested on Amarynthos’ cheeks. “Oh.”
His thoughts came to a screeching halt and something like panic and delight began to build. He could only keep his mind empty for so long before a stream of random thoughts started to tumble out–
‘That’s so cool! No, this is dangerous. Why do these earrings do that? This is the earrings, right? No, this is neat. Don’t think about breakfast this morning. Don’t.’ He did, and a bowl of milk half spilled into his lap, and cereal everywhere, and Oliver laughing so hard he brought himself to tears and had to sit down, and Asher just standing there, sipping at his coffee and looking up at the ceiling while he tried not to laugh, too.
‘No! I’m not thinking about that. Think about–your freckles are cute! I can see your leg! Legs! I do want to spend the night! And take a nap on you! It’s so weird that you can hear my thoughts, I can’t stop thinking about–everything! Am I making you dizzy? This is so weird!'
And yet, despite it all, he couldn’t help but laugh.
It might have been weird, but it was neat.
He wasn't sure if he’d ever get used to magic. Or, why anyone thought they should be trusted with mind reading earrings.
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 10:01 pm
“Oh, Elly,” Ephesus said softly and sympathetically as he reached out to wrap his arms around Amarynthos’ shoulders and hug him tightly. He knew that Elliot would have just laughed off the spilt milk, especially since his dads found it amusing, but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing -- at least at first! And he couldn’t tell if Amarynthos was even comfortable with him seeing that since he was trying to not think about breakfast!
‘He’s so warm and his hair is so soft.’ The thoughts came out without Ephesus even being able to stop them.
“You think my freckles are cute?” he asked, his face still red because, well, he could hear Amarynthos’ thoughts and Mary could hear his.
And yet, he wasn’t rushing to take his off.
But he did lift his hand to touch his, and looked up from resting against Amarynthos’ shoulder so he could glance up at the Code once more.
“Thank you.” He wasn’t sure if it was the Code that made the earrings appear there, or if they’d just been sitting there this whole time, but he was appreciative.
“Mary, hold out your hurt arm again, please?” he requested, a feeling suddenly coming over him. He wasn’t sure what it was, but… maybe…
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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2022 10:15 pm
The Code flashed warmly, in a surprisingly friendly manner considering it had no face.
It took another few seconds for Amarynthos to actually process what was being said and done. It wasn’t that it was hard to comprehend, it was just a mental shift to try and organize what he was saying and thinking and doing.
Instinctively, he laughed, because all of this was just so silly--and, maybe he was thinking about breakfast again, and if he couldn’t laugh at himself, life was going to be harder than it needed to be.
“Of course I think your freckles are cute, that’s just a fact,” he pointed out, and presented his arm again. “What are you thinking? It’s okay,” he promised.
‘It really doesn’t hurt that much! Kind of itchy. But I’m not worried. So um–oh, you can hear this. So don’t worry!’ His eyes darted up to Effie’s briefly, just to make sure he’d heard the thought.
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2022 6:05 am
Ephesus lifted his eyes to meet Amarynthos’ with a smile, and tried not to blush at how sweet his face was and how charming he was and how perfect he was -- and tried not to think about it!! It was very difficult, so he quickly focused on Amarynthos’ arm instead.
“I think I was given some magic that will help,” he explained as he placed one hand under Amarynthos’ arm, and held his flowering honey dipper up. It felt like something was pooling inside him -- an energy… magic.
The magic channeled from him to the rod, enveloping Amarynthos’ arm with what looked like could be moonlight.
‘I know it doesn’t hurt that much, but I don’t want you to be hurt at all,’ Ephesus thought to himself. And then couldn’t help but think, ‘He has such pretty eyes-- oh… you have such pretty eyes.’
Knowing Amarynthos could hear everything he was thinking was a little stressful, but… Ephesus also couldn’t stop himself from smiling, even with his face turning a darker shade of red.
Once he pulled the magic away, he gently removed the bandage from Amarynthos’ wound to find--
“It’s gone!” he gasped and then stared at the rod, before looking up at the Code again with tears in his eyes -- ah, he wasn’t trying to get emotional, but if he could heal people, then he could do so much more to help. “Thank you,” he said to the Code, trying not to sniffle, so he just wrapped his arms around Amarynthos again to hug him. Quote: Channeled with the power of hope, Ephesus uses his magic to heal minor burns and wounds. The longer he channels his magic, the faster the wound is healed. Moderate and greater burns and wounds can be aided, but not healed completely. The person experiencing the magic will experience the distinct taste and smell of honey. Those who are usually averse to the smell and/or taste of honey won’t find it unpleasant. It has a calming effect, and fills the target with hope that everything will be okay. Can be channeled up to 45 seconds.
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2022 7:07 am
There were very few things as pretty as the moonlight collecting, being directed, by Effie. It was a strange thing, and even though he could power up into some magical superhero, it still didn’t seem real. Right in front of him, and he still had a hard time seeing that it wasn’t an optical illusion.
Until Effie peeled back the bandages.
At first, it just looked like a pretty, magical little sparkle show.
But Ephesus had magic. Real magic.
The scratch was completely gone. It didn’t hurt, didn’t even itch.
He didn’t seem shaken or unnerved or even the slightest bit uncomfortable to hear Ephesus‘ thoughts. They were cute–fun, even. And he said things like that all the time, they’d just tumble out and Amarynthos couldn’t do anything but smile because it was just cute.
If he’d paid attention, he might have felt his heart skip a beat, but all he could think about was how excited he was.
“Effie, it’s all gone?” He turned his arm over to examine it properly, but the scratch had faded entirely. “All gone. There’s no way they’ll make you stay home now. I mean, first aid is one thing, but that was amazing.”
He could see the Code pulsing gently, and he felt a sort of peace wash over him as he held Ephesus close. “Thank you, Effie. How did you know how to do that? Do you smell honey, too?”
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2022 7:21 am
Effie shook his head as he held onto Amarynthos. “I don’t know. I just sort of… felt it. I was hoping for something I could do to help, and something inside me suggested I tried focusing on that hope and, yeah. Oh, but yes, I do smell honey. Is that weird?”
He hoped it wasn’t weird! He had a feeling the smell came from his magic, since he had a honey dipper and all. Or what used to be a honey dipper. Now he wasn’t sure what to call it.
“I bet you have magic too. If you don’t feel what to do with it, then it might not be time for you to use it?” He wasn’t sure, but it was as though something inside him told him what to do.
The Code looked pleased at least. As much as a glowing ball could have emotions.
He pulled back enough so he could press a kiss against Amarynthos’ cheek, chickening out on kissing him on the lips again. He didn’t want to push his luck, but he really, really liked kissing him.
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2022 7:34 am
“Oh,” Amarynthos hummed, and then nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. Maybe I don’t have healing magic like you do. And it wouldn’t make sense for me to have to use my magic if it might hurt something out here. I don’t know. I’ll ask Michael when we go home, about how it was when he first got his magic. I’m a little jealous!” he laughed, though, so there wasn’t any room in his heart for actual hard feelings.
He was happy that Effie had learned how to use his magic so easily–proud of him! And, his magic had helped Amarynthos; he flexed his arm again, and couldn’t help but run his fingers over the skin just to make sure that it had healed properly.
It felt absolutely normal, absolutely painless.
“That’s so neat, Effie. Thank you. And, thank you, Code! We’ll make really good use of this!” He hugged Ephesus again, and still beamed. “Let’s go home and get cleaned up. Maybe you can use your magic to heal your Wonder, too? I’ll try not to get hurt next time so we can try it out.”
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2022 7:45 am
Ephesus smiled enthusiastically and nodded in agreement. He lifted a hand to wave to the Code. “We’ll be back soon,” he promised. They had a lot of work to do, but now they had some extra power to do it.
And they had some extra magic as well -- earrings where they could hear and see each other’s thoughts. It was exciting and nerve wracking, because what if he thought of something totally embarrassing? No, he knew that Elliot wouldn’t judge him for it. It wasn’t as though he could help it.
He just hoped he didn’t think about anything that would worry Elliot. Thankfully he was always in a good mood when they were together, so those thoughts should definitely be scarce.
For now, they just had to keep working on cleaning up their Wonders, and hope that this was enough to convince Michael and Devyn to bring them with them on their trip to Alastor.
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