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[never_very_good]

[OFF NETWORK / ACTION FOR EDEN]

[It's still dark when he wakes up, and the only thing he knows for sure is that something's wrong.

He feels-- it's hard to pin down, to define as anything other than wrong on a fundamental level. Sick. Cold, though the weather isn't (though as he thinks it the air in the room trembles a few degrees lower.) Not hungry, but almost; tearing apart inside, like--

like starving, like bad blood, comes the unbidden thought, and he's running for the bathroom-- though if he's right, if there's something to see, there won't be any way of seeing it. When he catches sight of himself in the mirror, rubbing at the edges of his (perfectly normal) ears, the rush of palpable relief is followed by a heavier stab of nausea which has him doubled over retching uselessly. He shuts his eyes. The room darkens; the sparse light turns palpably blue, the tiles curling into sharp, flaking edges around him as the too-heavy air loses a little more heat.

He gasps for breath, in the grasp of errant, borrowed magic, clutching weakly for some purchase on the situation.]

[TEXT; mid-day]

Never know what to expect, these weekends.

Spending this one in, I think.

[TEXT; Private to Amory Felix]

This is you, yeah? Tell me what the fuck to do.

[ooc; powerswapped with fatespoken, and trying not to accidentally destroy reality ;3]

Comments

[never_very_good]

[Unclenching his jaw is a monumental task. Where? Not the wrists, he thinks, the gut reaction to the scent of blood. It's never bothered him, much, except that it's Eden's, now. The thought lashes unpleasantly in the back of his mind. He tries to clear it before something awful happens in answer. Fucking magic.]

Shoulder?

[eiremagic]

[There is a thrum in the air, not altogether unpleasant, and the blood drips from her eyes.]

I love you, yeah?

[never_very_good]

Feel better if you stopped bleeding.

[eiremagic]

Magic has a price.

I'll pay it for you.

[The world around them solidifies a little, and a sharp pain inscribes on Frankie's shoulder. It won't stop all the magic, but it'll funnel most of it]

[never_very_good]

[If nothing else it provides him with a clear focus, something sharper than the overall screaming wrongness of waking up this way. The atmosphere around them lightens a little as he grits his teeth against it, colors leeching back toward their right hues.]

[eiremagic]

[Her eyes go back to normal, but her ears stay pointier]

Cara.

[never_very_good]

[It worries him-- for entirely unreasonable reasons, he knows, but the memory of sickness (of subsiders, of himself,) is hard to shake. Fleetingly he wonders if magic can undo magic, if he could undo the effects showing on her; he pushes the thought away immediately, because he doesn't want to risk making things worse.]

Eden...

[Breathing hard, but better, he manages to uncurl one fist and grope for her hand to hold.]

[eiremagic]

This isn't your burden.

[She holds his hand like it can tether them both to reality.]

[never_very_good]

Not yours, either.

[eiremagic]

Magic's always me burden.

[Her free hand goes to his shoulder]

It'll be there for the rest of your life. I'm sorry.

[never_very_good]

Can handle that. [Not like he doesn't have a few already, and he doubts it will bother her to see it.]

You gonna be all right?

[eiremagic]

[She nods]

[never_very_good]

[He swallows hard, nodding, with eyes pressed shut again. Just breathe. Frankie's dimly aware that he's been mucking up the world around him, and that the clearer his head is the less likely he is to wreck it.]

Should let him know.

[eiremagic]

Call him, yeah?

[She stumbles back]

Need to sit.

[never_very_good]

You sit. Just... Gimme a minute, here.

[eiremagic]

[She stumbles back to the bedroom and sits on the edge of the bed]