take a walk outside your mind

[soulcomet]

Who: Madoka and Dirk
Where: Somewhere near the coven's house
When: Day 28 (8/4), not too long after the meeting
Open/Closed: closed

[to say that her time on Aimintas has been rough would be an understatement. Madoka doesn't want to admit that for a while, she felt the same way she did the first 14 years of her life: weak, unsure of her own capabilities, and nearly frozen between her desire to help and what helping actually means for her.]

[but then, several people — people she hasn't even known for a month — were there. they pulled Madoka up, they pushed her forward. they showed her a kindness that she wasn't expecting ... but in retrospect, maybe she should have.]

[Madoka only hopes she wasn't relying on Dirk's kindness too much, when she asked him to speak in private after meeting to discuss the impending Uvi invasion. she's standing a ways away from the entrance to the coven's house, staring off at the city in the distance. waiting for him.]

Comments

[soulcomet]

[it'd be strange if she wasn't anxious right now, as she settles herself down on the bed. but she hopes she's masking it well enough when she lifts her head to look at him, the tiniest of smiles on her face.]

I'm ready, whenever you are. [she doesn't know what's she should expect, or if she's going to leave this rooftop an entirely different person than she is, like he had warned.]

[but, whatever does happen, she does know one thing.]

... I'm really happy that I met you, Dirk-san. I don't think there's anything you could destroy that will change that.

[splinten]

[It feels like she has reached in and gripped a piece of his heart. He is paralysed, in that moment; his lips parted just a fraction, his eyes widened behind his shades. He opens his mouth to answer, and stops. He doesn't know what to say.

So he doesn't. Dirk reaches into her soul with the doubled powers granted to him: Prince of Heart, destroyer, and he finds that corruption and knows it, understands it, feels it to his core. He feels the fractures and in that moment he understands what they are, and he knows her corrosion as his own.

He lets his power wind around it, lightning threads, and he destroys it.

But when Dirk looks at Madoka, he is terrified that she will regret the words she said before he began.]

[soulcomet]

[she had felt it: a burning and twinging sensation that rose from the pit of her stomach into her chest, where her soul might have been, if it weren't in Dirk's hands. unconsciously, she bunches a handful of the bed's comforter in her fist, bracing herself for it to get worse —]

[— and then, nearly as suddenly as it had started, it stops. Madoka blinks, and returns his gaze, inquisitive. had it worked?]

[splinten]

It's gone.

[But he sees the twisting of her hand and he immediately moves to her side. He pauses, though, because he has no idea what to do if an injury isn't physical. Do you put a hand on someone's forehead? Fuck, no, wait. That's for fevers. What do you do? FUCKDAMMIT]

Are you okay.

[It's flat and quick and there's an edge of terror under his steady monotone. Her soul feels fine but what if he's wrong?]

[soulcomet]

It's gone? I'm ... [she's fine. the corruption is gone, her magic — her soul — is restored. he did it.]

[Dirk has saved her life. Madoka doesn't know where to even begin formulating the words to thank him. it feels like her limbs are moving on their own when she sits up, slides off the bed and wraps him up in the biggest hug she's ever been able to muster.]

[and, the weight of the terror, of the burden she'd been carrying on her shoulders for the past week and a half, dissolves into tears — tiny little sobs into his shirt.]

[splinten]

[Movement towards him—attack—no—a hug??? Shock is already washing through him and then he feels her sobbing, hearing it slight, and it shakes him even deeper. His arms freeze, open, unsure, and then slowly move forward. He's hesitant as he brings one around her, even more so with the other. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how these work. But she's crying and holding him and he thinks it's okay.

He thinks she might be okay.]

[soulcomet]

[hopefully this isn't too awkward for him, because it isn't until she's run out of tears, worked through the relief, that she finally lets go, and she immediately lifts her hands to her eyes to scrub at her eyes.]

I don't ... I don't know how to thank you.

[he's given her hope again. suddenly, the path she's taking — one she would have taken regardless of whether her Soul Gem could be cleansed or not — seems longer. knowing what she is, Madoka figures that her story will probably end sooner rather than later, but ... at least now she can stay here, with her friends, helping her friends, a little bit longer.]

[splinten]

You, uh, don't have to.

[He wonders if he should offer her a cloth for her eyes? He has none. Crap.]

What I mean is, there's nothing to thank. You deserved this.

[soulcomet]

What do you mean? There's you to thank.

[but she shakes her head with a smile, reaching up to quickly swipe away one last tear that escaped.]

It wouldn't feel right if I just got up and left without saying anything ... So thank you. You've given me another shot at this — a chance to do the right thing, by you and by everybody else here.

I promise you I won't let you down. [he's a god, maybe, but she hopes Dirk knows that he can count on her for anything — and she'll be doing her absolute best to protect him.]

[splinten]

[It makes him want to hug her again. It feels like a weird thing, something she wouldn't want from a stranger, so he doesn't. (He is an idiot).]

You're the one who took the risk. Don't... worry about lettin' me down. I can't imagine it.

[Not from Madoka. Madoka will try so hard it will break his heart, but she won't let him down.]