[PRP]Into the woods [Shun/Pax]

[shibrogane]

Pax nodded. "I'm not dying," he said, "I'm just unwell."

He curled down into his nest, seemingly content to wait.

Blade Kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

"Very well. Hopefully I can get you some 'medicine' or so to speak. Please wait here."

With a nod, he went to seek out an exit back into regular Ashdown, and pulled out his phone. He spoke into it to fire off a text to America.

Shibrogane

Please hold for the next available operator

lizbot

To America:
Come to other ash down forest something is wrong with pax

 

[lizbot]

Bent over a book, America had been at the window of her camper, making off notes and doodles on post-it notes, trying her best to turn facts into stories and people and things that felt like they were worth remembering. At best, a work in progress. The text was a welcome break, until she read it.

Pax was a familiar name, one tied to the Other Place and magic and Heliodora. She's quick to get going, grabbing her bag and calling for Mr. Bitterberry as she was leaving the camper. The woods are nearby, close enough to run rather than drive. There's ways in the wood, between the two worlds, clearer now than ever before.

So it does take some time for America to arrive, but she does arrive, red cheeked and panting, a bluejay calling out above, calling out the location of Shun and the pale, frail figure he attended to. The area was...familiar, utterly familiar, like Halloween was just last night.

"Wh..." inhale, "What's happened?"

blade kuroda

Text to: Shunanigans
omw

shibrogane

 

[Blade Kuroda]

After Shun had sent off the text, he used the necklace to instantly pop back over to the other side.

There, he waited with Pax for America to arrive.

"This is Pax," he started, motioning to the sickly figure, "He was the handmaiden to Heliodora before. Did not always look like this... but with Heliodora gone, he has lost his magic. I believe his health has to do with that as well."

The detective drew in a deep breath.

"I thought, given your position, you may be able to assist him in some way. I tried to infuse him with magic but... so much is missing."

Shibrogane

Lizbot

 

[shibrogane]

Pax laid listlessly in his little nest, dark eyes closed. As a deer-monster-creature, his eyes had been pale green; as a human, they were a dark brown, almost black. He drowsed, seemingly ignorant of Shun's presence.

When America arrived, he opened his eyes for a moment, then closed them again. The effort seemed to exhaust him.

"Lady," he said, exhaling it on a sigh.

Blade Kuroda

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

America was already drawing out her power as she approached Pax, as soon as Shun had mentioned infusing his own. It was the first time she'd done this since the sigil, and she doesn't know if there's any difference between her own power and Shun's. What she understood of becoming a principal concerned responsibility more than anything. Heliodora had told her right off, they were responsible now, for the shaping of things in this world. So she focuses in with that this time, with responsibility for this life they've disordered, with Pax, instead of a glyph or sigil and hopes it works with people.

"Hey there, hun." Reaching out, America gently touched his forehead, like a mother testing a child's temperature. "I'll give you what I can if you want it, but if I can do more or better, tell me n' I'll try."

blade kuroda

shibrogane

 

[Blade Kuroda]

In thee meantime, Shun stood by, watching. He was trying to think of some other possibilities. He wondered if it was possible for America to take Pax in as Heliodora had before.

Shibrogane

Lizbot

 

[shibrogane]

Pax barely stirred at the touch. He didn't feel clammy, as such; his skin felt like paper, thin and easily torn. From this angle he looked oddly like Adoelle (if Adoelle were some form of Asian) but less, smaller, even more fragile than the noble girl in her white dresses. (Pax's fisherman sweater--a staple of his human form--was several sizes too big. Just putting that out there. He's clothed. (in a skirt!))

There was, again, that feeling of gaping emptiness. America, with her closer tie to the new sigil, was able to see it in a better light: as a chain or a wire, not just broken but torn, pieces floating in the quasimagical ether. Her magic poured into that hole, but found nothing to catch on. There was no sense that the hole could possibly be filled. It simply devoured: an oubliette.

lizbot

Blade Kuroda

 

[lizbot]

"It's in pieces," she commented distractedly. Not letting go, America tried to focus on those pieces. Again and always, she thought of the dock and the tides of magic. Pieces of a person..of a...bond or binding? They weren't fish, but she tried to summon them through the magic anyway, willing them to move to a single point.

blade kuroda

shibrogane

 

[Blade Kuroda]

"Pieces?" Shun repeated. He wasn't completely certain what she was referring to. He can only guess that it had to do with Pax's state of being. Perhaps it was his magic that had been shattered? Or something else.

He furrowed his brow, looking over Pax.

"Let me know if you think I can assist somehow."

Shibrogane

lizbot

 

[shibrogane]

The ends of the broken bond drifted kind of aimlessly until America exerted her will towards them. They pulled towards her, slowly, as if washing in on the tide. Once they were within America's reach, they disappeared from her mind's eye--

--and reappeared in the real world, dropping to the ground as fragments of iron chain.

Blade Kuroda

lizbot

 

[lizbot]

America jerked, startled, and then echoed, breathless, "Pieces. Maybe ones we can put back together."

Leaning closer to Pax, she asked quietly, "Are you okay? Did that make it worse?"

shibrogane

blade kuroda

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Shun looked down as chunks of iron chain just... appeared out of nowhere seemingly.

"...Did that just come from him?"

He crouched down to examine the fragments, tilting his head. While America looked to Pax, he began to sort of loosely put them close to one another as if putting together a puzzle.

"We should be able to make this whole again. It being physical right now should make it easier. This chain must have represented his tie to Heliodora."

Lizbot

Shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Pax had no input to give. He seemed to have fallen asleep.

The chain was missing several large chunks, and was broken on both ends.

lizbot

Blade Kuroda

 

[lizbot]

"Well that's no good. When I saw her, Heliodora said she was at peace. If we bind them back, well, someone might get tugged one way or the other, right?" Looking down at the small, listless figure of Pax, it seemed likely which way that'd go.

Turning to take another look at the incomplete chain, she sighed. "What d'you think we can patch it up with, Shun? I got ink in my bag and blood in my person." A pause, a glance down at the weight over her shoulder. "Got a lotta hair too, if we get all hoodoo about it."

With her free hand, she reached toward one of the broken ends.

shibrogane

blade kuroda