yinyangwizard (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yinyangwizard) wrote2016-02-21 11:01 am
yinyangwizard) wrote2016-02-21 11:01 am
Entry tags:
A Delicate Operation
Seimei leads the way into the cavern, which is lit with little oil lamps and festooned with shimenawa rope hung from little hooks drilled into the walls. After Ragnar comes through - looking more comfortable than Seimei expected in his ceremonial white robe - Seimei ropes off the entrance behind him as well.
"To keep bad influences out," he explains. "Like when you sat under the waterfall earlier."
He's pretty sure that Ragnar gets the gist of what he's saying, even if the translation spell he's hammered out isn't as good as the one in Milliways. Even if it isn't, he explained everything to Ragnar (and Gyda) before they left the bar.
At the far end of the cavern is a pool fed by a natural hot spring. Between Seimei and the pool are two of Seimei's assistants, dressed in their own white robes - a Japanese macaque and a (rather anthropomorphized) tanuki. They kowtow in unison as Seimei and Ragnar enter.
The pool behind them glows faintly with an enchantment of Seimei's own devising. In the pool is Gyda's new body, floating on her back with her face just above the level of the water. She's dressed in white robes, like Ragnar and Seimei, and her hair floats in a corona around her head. It's longer than Gyda's hair in her Milliways body. There are other differences as well: her skin is paler, and any scars from childhood mishaps are gone. Still, the body is very similar to what she's used to.
Gyda herself is in a small jade jar that Seimei carries before him. He gives it to the tanuki, who holds it at the ready by the side of the pool. The macaque fetches a stool and a wand covered in paper streamers. Seimei directs Ragnar to sit on the stool and hold the wand. The macaque brings him tattoo needles and a pair of latex gloves (Seimei believes just as much in biological sanitation as he does in ritual sanitation).
"If you've changed your mind about where to put the geas tattoo, now would be the time to speak up," Seimei says. There's a bit of levity in his tone, but he isn't kidding. They're already committed to this, and the location of the tattoo to anchor the geas is really the only thing that they can change.
"To keep bad influences out," he explains. "Like when you sat under the waterfall earlier."
He's pretty sure that Ragnar gets the gist of what he's saying, even if the translation spell he's hammered out isn't as good as the one in Milliways. Even if it isn't, he explained everything to Ragnar (and Gyda) before they left the bar.
At the far end of the cavern is a pool fed by a natural hot spring. Between Seimei and the pool are two of Seimei's assistants, dressed in their own white robes - a Japanese macaque and a (rather anthropomorphized) tanuki. They kowtow in unison as Seimei and Ragnar enter.
The pool behind them glows faintly with an enchantment of Seimei's own devising. In the pool is Gyda's new body, floating on her back with her face just above the level of the water. She's dressed in white robes, like Ragnar and Seimei, and her hair floats in a corona around her head. It's longer than Gyda's hair in her Milliways body. There are other differences as well: her skin is paler, and any scars from childhood mishaps are gone. Still, the body is very similar to what she's used to.
Gyda herself is in a small jade jar that Seimei carries before him. He gives it to the tanuki, who holds it at the ready by the side of the pool. The macaque fetches a stool and a wand covered in paper streamers. Seimei directs Ragnar to sit on the stool and hold the wand. The macaque brings him tattoo needles and a pair of latex gloves (Seimei believes just as much in biological sanitation as he does in ritual sanitation).
"If you've changed your mind about where to put the geas tattoo, now would be the time to speak up," Seimei says. There's a bit of levity in his tone, but he isn't kidding. They're already committed to this, and the location of the tattoo to anchor the geas is really the only thing that they can change.
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They both needed to know, and both were the only ones really aware of what she was trying to do. "They're the only people who really know about..this."
Everyone else, she'd just say she'd fallen ill. That could be enough to explain how weak and pale she was, without drawing much attention.
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Never mind that the burn from the tattoo is only slowly settling. He can ignore that.
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Which is true, and it's a response he has down pat.
"Fortunately, Gyda-kun, the story you suggested is quite plausible. I am not sure about your people, but mine have a tradition of performing exorcisms and other rites for those suffering from serious illness."
Not so much these days, but in the time Seimei came from...most definitely.
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"Let's go." Her stomach growled. "And get something to eat as well." Or drink: if her muscles were this sore, she didn't want to think of how her stomach would be.
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"Let's."
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He stays behind to address his two assistants. "You did well today," he says, favoring them with a slight bow. He also gives them each a slip of calligraphied paper plucked from within his sleeves. Then he follows after Ragnar and Gyda.
Yes. Everyone did well today.
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She wondered if this was how babies felt when learning to walk.
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Then, he steps over the threshold and looks for Athelstan.