Who ⬤ Emily and open! What ⬤ Monthly catchall - clinic work, music club, etc. When ⬤ Over May. Where ⬤ Across the city. Content Warnings ⬤ TBA if needed.
[it takes her a moment before her breathing steadies some and she raises her head, feeling the strange pressure in that place to have left. the sounds are familiar, the world isn't scented with blood, the skies are still clear. it's okay. it has to be okay. one of her hands reaches to hold Musashi's, to center herself. steady on.]
...that place is cursed. Badly.
[she should explain, but how? how to succinctly say that she was afraid of a god that isn't even here?]
Yeah... I've been seeing more and more reports of incidents like this.
[ But that wasn't what Emily wanted to hear, right? Not that things were getting worse, but... ]
No matter what happens, I have faith in my sword to protect you, though. Even a curse, I'd find a way to cut through it.
[ Maybe that seemed silly and romanticized, like something a storybook hero would say, but it was impossible for Musashi to make it sound like anything other than completely earnest. It came fully from her heart, punctuated by a clench of her hand. ]
[maybe it does sound silly, and Emily knows it's a little optimistic - but it's something to grasp onto in the middle of feeling uncertain. it's assurance, and she would like to believe it, as surely as Musashi believes in herself.]
But what if it went after you?
[herself, that's easier to understand and bear. it's everyone falling apart around her that can't be borne. it's them, lost to the chaos, it's -
she's squeezing back, tightly, and she has to remember herself.]
[ Musashi brushed her thumb along the knuckles of the hand she held, leaning in to press a kiss to Emily's temple, humming as she did so. This was just a bit more intimate than they had been before, but it felt natural for Musashi to offer that physical comfort, that assurance of softness, of care and appreciation. ]
I've faced... a lot, in my time hopping between worlds. Things that seemed impossible to beat. But I find my way...
[ But Emily had also seen Musashi get shot in the shoulder and become, almost literally, half the swordsman she was. It was hard to talk around that sort of thing. ]
... And if I get hurt, I know I can trust you to have my back.
[ But that truth of it, having seen how Emily worked, the force of Emily's competence when she tended to that wound, didn't escape Musashi either. ]
Part of what gives someone strength is knowing you don't have to do it alone.
[you have so much faith in me, she wants to say. but that kiss is still warm at her temple, quieting some of the familiar doubts that well up in her mind. Musashi sounds so sure of herself that it would be simple to just fall into that, to believe her - to let her be strength, the same way Emily had been so ready to be the same. slowly, she nods, because she can't argue against the value of having others with you.
on her own, she was a coward, ready to flee at the sign of trouble. but with someone else there, she could do a lot more. had done a lot more, because they were looking, and she couldn't falter then. they needed something from her, and she provided.]
Of course. Should you need me, I'll be there for you.
[the words are murmured, and she's calming down some, with Musashi still there for her to ground herself with.]
I'm just me... But I'm glad that just being me is enough to earn that kind of praise, all the same.
[ Musashi did let herself blush, lifting the hand she held to her lips for yet another kiss, gentle in the touch, warming over with her breath. She was willing to just stay there and dote on Emily for as long as she needed. ]
Really, you're the one that got my heart beating first. That first song...
Me? When you stepped in with your skills first? I don't know what you thought of it at the time, but I still get chills to think on it.
[it had been an enormous help. and more than that, she had observed what had happened - even if it was beyond her to truly understand the swordsmanship, there was something else that she really could understand out of it. and talking like this, it helps calm her down more and more.]
...I should explain, though, in case this happens again. Why I got so afraid back there.
[ Musashi shifted, wrapping herself even more around Emily and just cradling the woman against her, enveloping her in such a way to both figuratively and literally shield her from what was out there, what haunted her... at least what she could. ]
[it helps a lot, actually, and Musashi will feel how she breathes in deep, how a little more of the tension that had struck her body has left. still on guard, but not struck with terror. it's the best that can happen for now.]
...Where I came from, before this city, it was quite common for strange happenings to take place. So widespread they were inescapable, because everything there was unstable, and very akin to curses. Past and present mixing, where you were liable to change right under your feet, being driven out of your own mind into senseless violence, blood raining from the sky...all we wished to do was survive. Even as the world was falling apart around us.
I suppose for a moment, I thought that it had come here. That this place was also at risk, and that was just the first sign.
[ So like what Izo had mentioned... A dying world, collapsing in on itself, dragging anyone within it into its death wails...
It sounded like, and felt like, what she'd been told of Lost Belts. She was reminded of that frozen world she found Ritsuka within, the Permafrost Empire...
Musashi gently shook her head. ]
This place... it seems really stable. The ground beneath my feet feels firm. The person I'm holding in my arms feels real... I have faith in my senses to know that none of this will go away when I wake up tomorrow...
[ Musashi couldn't pretend she'd never been afraid, of course. Those trials set up to her by the Caster of Limbo still hung in her mind, embedded in the dark of her vision, and would probably never truly go away. That terror never left someone... which just made it that much more important to her to be there for Emily in that moment, to be strong for her... ]
You've got a lot of people here that care a whole lot about you, Emily. That much isn't going to change. Even if I'm not right here, physically with you, I know you'll remember my voice, and my words, if you ever need it...
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no subject
...that place is cursed. Badly.
[she should explain, but how? how to succinctly say that she was afraid of a god that isn't even here?]
no subject
[ But that wasn't what Emily wanted to hear, right? Not that things were getting worse, but... ]
No matter what happens, I have faith in my sword to protect you, though. Even a curse, I'd find a way to cut through it.
[ Maybe that seemed silly and romanticized, like something a storybook hero would say, but it was impossible for Musashi to make it sound like anything other than completely earnest. It came fully from her heart, punctuated by a clench of her hand. ]
no subject
But what if it went after you?
[herself, that's easier to understand and bear. it's everyone falling apart around her that can't be borne. it's them, lost to the chaos, it's -
she's squeezing back, tightly, and she has to remember herself.]
no subject
I've faced... a lot, in my time hopping between worlds. Things that seemed impossible to beat. But I find my way...
[ But Emily had also seen Musashi get shot in the shoulder and become, almost literally, half the swordsman she was. It was hard to talk around that sort of thing. ]
... And if I get hurt, I know I can trust you to have my back.
[ But that truth of it, having seen how Emily worked, the force of Emily's competence when she tended to that wound, didn't escape Musashi either. ]
Part of what gives someone strength is knowing you don't have to do it alone.
no subject
on her own, she was a coward, ready to flee at the sign of trouble. but with someone else there, she could do a lot more. had done a lot more, because they were looking, and she couldn't falter then. they needed something from her, and she provided.]
Of course. Should you need me, I'll be there for you.
[the words are murmured, and she's calming down some, with Musashi still there for her to ground herself with.]
...You're rather incredible, you know?
no subject
[ Musashi did let herself blush, lifting the hand she held to her lips for yet another kiss, gentle in the touch, warming over with her breath. She was willing to just stay there and dote on Emily for as long as she needed. ]
Really, you're the one that got my heart beating first. That first song...
no subject
[it had been an enormous help. and more than that, she had observed what had happened - even if it was beyond her to truly understand the swordsmanship, there was something else that she really could understand out of it. and talking like this, it helps calm her down more and more.]
...I should explain, though, in case this happens again. Why I got so afraid back there.
no subject
[ Musashi shifted, wrapping herself even more around Emily and just cradling the woman against her, enveloping her in such a way to both figuratively and literally shield her from what was out there, what haunted her... at least what she could. ]
But if it helps, I'm listening...
no subject
...Where I came from, before this city, it was quite common for strange happenings to take place. So widespread they were inescapable, because everything there was unstable, and very akin to curses. Past and present mixing, where you were liable to change right under your feet, being driven out of your own mind into senseless violence, blood raining from the sky...all we wished to do was survive. Even as the world was falling apart around us.
I suppose for a moment, I thought that it had come here. That this place was also at risk, and that was just the first sign.
no subject
It sounded like, and felt like, what she'd been told of Lost Belts. She was reminded of that frozen world she found Ritsuka within, the Permafrost Empire...
Musashi gently shook her head. ]
This place... it seems really stable. The ground beneath my feet feels firm. The person I'm holding in my arms feels real... I have faith in my senses to know that none of this will go away when I wake up tomorrow...
no subject
[fear doesn't listen to reason, or logic. fear just tells her to run, spikes itself up and resonates between two souls.
just keep breathing.]
I'm just...glad you're here for me. Thank you, Musashi...
[to hold her, and remind her that the earth is steady.]
no subject
You've got a lot of people here that care a whole lot about you, Emily. That much isn't going to change. Even if I'm not right here, physically with you, I know you'll remember my voice, and my words, if you ever need it...
Let that be your sword, if you ever need it.