A deal's a deal

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei enters the bar in the wee hours of the morning, when there are very few people downstairs. He pens a note and leaves it with the Bar for delivery to Jim Moriarty.

It simply says: All is ready. Meet me in the library.

And then Seimei heads there. Needless to say he will have plenty of books to keep himself occupied until Jim arrives.

Comments

[just_cant_lose]

Well, here it is. Jim won't pretend he hasn't been dreading this, but he also know he's not going to back away.

So he just screws the note up, sets light to it, and walks up to the library.

'Morning.'

He hasn't dressed up, just wearing jeans and a plain shirt. He looks calm, though his eyes are restless as they take Seimei in.

'You pick your times. If I hadn't persuaded my boyfriend to leave yesterday, I'd have some explaining to do.'

But if he hadn't persuaded Sherlock to leave he wouldn't have got the note until the morning anyway, so whatever. It's not like he was asleep.

[yinyangwizard]

"I do indeed pick my times," Seimei says, putting aside the book he was reading. He stands up and bows. "Do you need me to reiterate what will happen next, or do you recall from our previous conversation?"

It has been a few weeks, after all. Then again, someone like Moriarty probably has a very good memory for things that interest him.

[just_cant_lose]

Jim has a good memory for everything. It's a nightmare.

'Oh, this is when you put me in a jar,' he says casually, as if it's not a big deal.

'Can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.'

[yinyangwizard]

"But you are still committed to going through with this." It's sort of a question, and sort of not.

[just_cant_lose]

'Yes.'

He signed the contract. He wouldn't have done that if he weren't already sure.

'Do you want me to go down and destroy the drones now, or will you trust me to do it when we get back?'

He still wants to make sure he gets back, but Seimei gets all touchy when he points that out, so he doesn't.

[yinyangwizard]

"You will not be in any condition to destroy them when you get back," Seimei says. "At least not for a while. So if you are amenable to doing it before we begin the ritual in earnest..."

[just_cant_lose]

He shrugs lightly.

'All right.'

And turns on his heel, assuming that Seimei will either follow, or not.

'How long will the whole thing take?'

[yinyangwizard]

"From putting you in the jar to bringing you back here? No more than half an hour, in all likelihood."

The prep takes a long time - growing the body, purifying the space where the transfer will occur, and suchlike - but the transfer itself doesn't take long.

[just_cant_lose]

Well, that's good. Jim just nods, and wanders out, down to the bar. The drones are still up, of course. He requests the control box and his laptop from Bar, hooks one up to the other, and opens a special file.

Three minutes later, there are a number of small bangs up in the rafters, and debris showers down at certain points of the room. Jim's humming to himself as he closes the computer down, and vaults lightly up onto the counter. He picks up the control box and drops it without preamble, watching it crunch down onto the floor. It doesn't smash, but the sudden flashing of every light on the console will be enough to show that it's not going to be working any time soon.

That taken care of - and still humming - Jim drops down, returns his laptop to Bar's keeping, and saunters back up to the library.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei has sentinel shikigami up in the rafters specifically to keep track of Moriarty's drones. Thus he can rest assured that Jim has fulfilled his end of the bargain. Jim will find him with a stoppered jade jar in his hands - one that is etched with characters in Chinese and Sanskrit that seem to change and crawl across the jar's surface.

"You have done your part, Moriarty-san. Now I shall do mine." He unstoppers the jar and holds the opening out to Moriarty. "Exhale into the jar, if you please. When you next open your eyes, you will be in your new body."

[just_cant_lose]

This is it, then.

Jim eyes the thing as cold dread sweeps up through him. Part of it is hating putting himself in someone else's hands like this. Most of it is that he hates having made this choice at all.

But he has. There was no other choice. So he steps forward, takes a breath and exhales into the jar.

[yinyangwizard]

Time passes for Seimei, but not for Jim. Time spent going downstairs and through his door. Time spent changing into the proper attire. Time purifying the space where Jim's body rests, so that when he goes into it, nothing unexpected goes in with him. A few moments of inhaling his soul from the jar, and breathing it into the new body.

For Jim, though, there is no time between breathing into the jar and waking up in a pool of warm goo, struggling to breathe, with Seimei standing over him attired in the robes of a Shinto priest.

[just_cant_lose]

And it feels...oh God, he can't breathe, it feels awful, why does it feel so awful?

(There is something very apt, he feels - vaguely, through all the not-breathing and utter weakness - about starting life this way. Maybe it can only get better from here, or maybe it's just a taste of things to come.)

And there's goo. What's the - oh, right, the body, it probably- -

Logic melts in the face of a coughing fit, and an attempt to fill lungs that continue to object to it.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei makes sure to hold Moriarty's head above the surface of the goo, but otherwise lets things take their course. Moriarty will soon be breathing normally on his own.

The pool of goo he's in is a depression in the floor of a reddish-grey cave. Stalactites hang overhead, and the larger ones seem to glow faintly from within, illuminating the chamber. The floor of the cave, with the exception of the goo pool, is smooth but uneven, washed by water. Hung around the little chamber, and across the only entrance, are strands of shimenawa rope.

[just_cant_lose]

Jim registers all this without even realising it, putting names to the things he recognises and cataloging the bits he doesn't. It's the most reassuring thing that could happen; his mind does it with no prompting, absorbing everything the way it always does, and letting him know that he still has his mental prowess, even before he's with it enough to worry about such a thing at all.

It doesn't take too long to start breathing properly, though the coughing takes a bit longer. He lets Seimei hold his head up...until he's scrambling suddenly, trying to kneel up with his chest out of the goo so he can check the tattoo on his ribs is okay. And it is, so that's good. And...that much effort makes him feel even worse, and he has to grip the edge of the pool with shaking hands.

This is rubbish. He doesn't say it, but he's thinking it. He hasn't felt this bad in years.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei puts a steadying hand on Moriarty. "I will help you sit on the edge of the pool," he says. "Take it slowly."

[just_cant_lose]

Jim is taking the time to stare at his arm, checking whether it looks as weak and useless as it feels. Because there's a big difference in muscles that look normal and just hold no power, or wasted ones that look like they belong on a famine victim. He is going to have to explain his physical appearance to Sherlock, after all.

He holds a hand up to Seimei, a silent wait. He doesn't relish showing weakness, or being helped. So he takes a moment to breath deeply a few times, focuses really hard, and...forces himself upright with no help, and makes it to the edge.

But that's all he's got for now. His legs won't hold him any longer, and the movement makes him feel sick.

'Being born was easier.'

Well, at least his voice works, even if it's hoarse. And his accent is the same. Weird, that. He'll have to figure out how it works, just - not yet.

[yinyangwizard]

"Well, when one is born, one has nothing to compare it to," Seimei says evenly. He takes a big fluffy towel and puts it over Moriarty's shoulders. "You have developed quite a lot to compare it to between then and now."

[just_cant_lose]

Jim does not bother responding to this. He's busy checking the inside of his head. Memories, Sherlock, his business, future plans; files, codes, names, secrets, numbers and numbers and numbers...he's well aware that if there are gaps, if there's anything he's forgotten, there's no way of knowing. But he has to be sure there are no illogical black holes, no nagging sensation of missing something, nothing that's going to bother him as time goes on. He checks his mental speed, runs equations, flips formulas, recites the math of random points of his thesis...yep, all there, all exactly where it should be.

He relaxes a little - not that he can really hold himself upright, or even steady - and starts wiping goo off his hair and face.

'I hope you've got a shower around here,' he mutters, though not rudely. He's not sure how he'd manage to stand up in one, to be honest.

[yinyangwizard]

"I have not quite gotten around to installing modern plumbing here," Seimei says dryly. He passes his open hands over Moriarty's head and abdomen - not quite touching him - to scan him for abnormalities. Fortunately, everything seems to be working properly.

"Once you have gotten yourself completely out of the pool, I can remove the residue with a bit of magic." He takes another towel - there's a pile of them in a box near the pool - and spreads it out on the cave floor behind Moriarty, He'll help him get the rest of the way out of the pool, if he can't do it on his own.

[just_cant_lose]

He doesn't want help. Certainly isn't going to ask for it. He just turns his head - which feels too heavy, like his neck might not be able to hold it - and looks at the towel, then marshals himself long enough to drag himself back on to it.

'Did you bring my clothes?'

He's not bothered about being naked in the slightest, but if he's going to have to walk back through the bar, he needs either clothes, or magic to stop Security coming down on him. Or the towel would do. Whatever. It's not the most pressing issue just now; he folds down to lie on his back, breathing through the effort of moving.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei lifts the remaining towels in the box and pulls out a set of neatly folded clothes from beneath them. There's a pair of shoes behind the box. They're the ones Moriarty was wearing when Seimei put him in the jar - he left them behind, like a cicada shedding its shell.

"Take a little time to collect yourself before you get dressed," Seimei advises, performing a complicated gesture with his hands. The remaining slime evaporates off Moriarty's skin in a puff of moisture, which quickly dissipates (the sensation might leave him with gooseflesh, as it tends to do in some cases).

[just_cant_lose]

'Neat trick,' he mutters, closes his eyes, and just...lies there for a bit.

It's like that feeling when you haven't eaten for a day or two, and then had to do a lot of very intense physical exercise. Like the ultimate blood sugar crash, making you so weak and shaky you feel sick, and can't find the energy to lift your arm. And worse, he suspects, because a square meal and some sleep isn't going to make it go away. He's going to have to exercise. Bleurgh. Tedious.

Well, whatever. A few weeks of work won't kill him. He sighs eventually, and forces himself to drag the clothes over and start pulling them on. it takes far more focus than such a simple thing should but again, whatever. This is what it is.

'I suppose a stiff whiskey is out of the question.'

He's on his feet. Just about. Not looking very steady.

[yinyangwizard]

"Not out of the question, but inadvisable. At least until you eat something."

And Seimei needs to get him back to Milliways and sit him down in a nice supportive chair first.

[just_cant_lose]

'I've got stuff at the bar.'

He's plucking at the front of his shirt, frowning at the hang of it. Perfect reproduction or not, this body feels like a puff of wind would blow it away. He feels thinner. Even if he's the same dimensions as before, there's no weight to the muscles. It feels bizarre from the inside, though that's probably not helped by the way his legs are trembling. Hands. Abs. Everything, really.

'Let's go.'

Because he would rather not fall down in front of anyone. He can do that on his own.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei nods and stands up. First he goes over to the cave entrance and removes the shimenawa rope strung across it.

The moment the circle of shimenawa rope is broken, the magical energies previously contained within flow out and mix with the flowing magical energies of the rest of the world. By the same token, the magical energies outside the cave can now pour in and pass through. He sees and feels it all. Moriarty may perceive a subtle change in air pressure.

Seimei goes back over to him and offers him a hand up - although he will not be at all surprised if Moriarty has too much pride to accept his help.

[just_cant_lose]

Nope, no help. He managed to stand on his own, he's going to manage walking. It's not even about pride, so much as seeing this as a challenge. And he's never going to start a whole new life by not stepping up to it, let alone failing.

He doesn't like the change in air pressure, though. Changes of any sort are gross when you're hyper-aware of how bad you feel. But he swallows down the flare of anger at the sensation - and thank God the anger's still there, still at hand; he needs that - and makes himself walk.

It's not good. At all. But he tells himself it's not far - and his rooms aren't much further - so he will force himself to make it.

[yinyangwizard]

Semei follows him, not too close behind, but close enough that he can catch Moriarty if he collapses.

The entrance to the cavern (or exit from it, depending upon one's point of view) leads to a short tunnel through the rock, which ends in a torii gate. Normally the gate leads to the outdoors, but for the time being it leads to Milliways, which can be seen - albeit through considerable blur and distortion - in the opening of the gate.

Before they pass through, Seimei casts an inattention spell so that no one in the bar will notice the two of them together - let alone form suspicions as to what is going on.

[just_cant_lose]

Jesus Christ. He'd assumed - wishful thinking - the exit would go straight to the bar. But there's a tunnel, he doesn't even care if it's short.

He internal utters a few choice curses, but grits his teeth and keeps going. He's in a cold sweat by the time they make Milliways, and has to grasp the edge of the door before stepping through. Thank God there's an elevator by the stairs, or he wouldn't make it.

'Hope this is going to be worth it.'

He does have one question, and now's as good a time as any to ask it. He needs to gather himself for another effort.

'Is that black crystal you gave me already linked? So I know when the debt's settled.'

[yinyangwizard]

"I was just about to address that." Seimei pulls the jet-black crystal, hung from a sort of hemp necklace, from his sleeve and offers it to Moriarty. "I have already linked it to you."

[just_cant_lose]

Jim snorts quietly, because of course he has.

He takes it with a shaking hand, and gives it one glance before shoving it into his pocket.

'I hope you don't object if I change the necklace.'

Hemp is so not him. Not that he's going to wear it anyway, but that's not the point.

[yinyangwizard]

"Well, you are the one who has to wear it." So no, Seimei doesn't mind. "Will you require any assistance, or can you make your own way back to your room?"

[just_cant_lose]

'I dont need help.'

Look, he's standing up! All on his own! if he can do that, he can - almost certainly - walk a couple of hundred more yards without falling over more than once. He's good.

'I feel like convention dictates I thank you at this point.'

But he's not going to. He's still not thankful. He's still not glad he's done this.

'Luckily, I think conventions are stupid. But you did a good job.'

[yinyangwizard]

"I am humbled by your effusive praise," Seimei says dryly.

(He didn't expect Moriarty to thank him and is not particularly bothered by it.)

[just_cant_lose]

'I would have thought a master craftsman like you would be more pleased by that.'

Didn't he get all huffy when he thought his integrity was being questioned? Whatever; Jim is in no state to argue. He just nods, and tries to convince his legs to take him where he needs to go.

[yinyangwizard]

Seimei bows and goes off on his own way. This went better than he thought - although perhaps he will have cause to regret it later. Time will tell.