burning through this cigarette

[descendency]

WHO: Mingyu & Lee Chang
WHEN: April 19/20 thereabouts
WHERE: The House of Dew
WHAT: Mingyu is... up to something.
WARNINGS: Gay. Blood magic. Will update warnings as necessary.

In the days following the heist, Mingyu grew more and more reclusive. He took clients as usual, as always, but could seldom be seen without them. He took company by appointment only, was shut away in his quarters the rest of the time, barely taking meals, door somehow sealed from the inside barring all access. Food occasionally found its way to him anyway, somehow, inexplicably, and there were of course the guests who liked to take meals with their bought company so he managed.

Still, sleep eluded him more and more, his focus entirely on his work. He packed his workspace into his lacquered wood chest during his entertaining and unrolled it again once the last guest of the night had left. He prevailed upon one of his regulars to bring him odds and ends he needed for his spellwork without informing the man that's what it was for, performed a few extra services for the man's trouble.

He wove out the enchantments, checked and re-checked his array, the quality of his components. One ruby, a lock of hair, a silk handkerchief embroidered with an eye, bone ash, tail feathers, blood, and flame. It filled an entire notebook, the layering of the spells. He worked better with something physical to flip through, where he could see the layers tangibly laid out atop each other with each interaction clearly denoted. He tore out pages and pasted them back in, refining his work until he could no longer physically keep his eyes open. Then he slept, to put fresh eyes upon it in the morning.

There was no one here who could check his work, no one who could point out errors or fallacies. He didn't have the luxury of time or additional components. He had to get it right.

He leaned harder on the blood, using it anywhere he wasn't sure the components he had chosen would fit right, or were of the requisite purity. He thought to himself how angry Fox would be, how appalled.

But Fox wasn't here. He wouldn't have to rely on his own inadequate methods if Fox was here. Everything would be different if Fox was here.

Fox wasn't here.

This was all he had, and he had to make it work.

The day he finished the enchantment was somehow underwhelming, in light of all that preparation.

He followed his notes, cut his chest open over the scar that was already there so it didn't disrupt any of his tattoos or create any new marks upon his skin. He intended to heal it, but one could never be sure of scarring without the right components and once again he was without the luxury. It was fine. He just had to get it done.

It went off well within his error margins, and the end result was a gleaming silver sword with an overbright ruby glittering from the center of the crossguard. Just above it, carved into the blade, was an eye.

Mingyu was exhausted, felt light-headed from exertion. It occurred to him he couldn't remember the last time or thing he ate, so, somewhat dazed, he stumbled out of his room. He'd just get some food quickly. Wouldn't take him long.

That was the last thing he remembered thinking before he opened his eyes again, on his knees slumped against the wall.

Comments

[jeoha]

Lee Chang had become somewhat of a known fixture around the house of dew- always respectful of the ladies who made their careers within its walls. More than once he had helped ‘escort’ patrons out of the establishment when they had forgotten how to behave themselves. But mostly the girls knew him for slipping into the same room nearly every night. They tittered about it behind their hands, but the last few nights he had not found Mingyu’s door open to him. He tried not to think deeply about it, refocusing instead of learning what he could of the deathless here and helping train Ylsa to better fight them. They often trained in the courtyard, both of them disrobed down to the waist, sheened with sweat despite the stinging snow swirling around them. Though he’d offered the other women lessons in the sword, they mostly just came to watch the show. (Ylsa didn’t mind, it had netted her a kiss or two.)

Thus the courtesans knew where to find him, when Mingyu collapsed, and their breathless explanation was only half out their lips before Lee Chang was sheathing his sword, handing it to Ylsa, and quickly heading back inside.

He hadn’t remembered to dress himself properly again, so he crouched by the man still dressed to spar, and reached out to gently shake his shoulder.

“Mingyu. Mingyu. Are you alright?”

He watched the man’s eyes flutter open as he crouch there, ringed by three courtesans who each looked somewhere between concern and curiosity.

[descendency]

"No, thank you—" Mingyu had been trying to dismiss the helpful soul offering to take him back to his room when Lee Chang arrived, pushing offered hands aside because he couldn't have them seeing what he'd left laying out on the floor.

Lee Chang's voice cut through the chatter, through the noise, and Mingyu blinked in surprise before lifting his head in its direction. The sounds were too bright. The small crowd stepped back to let Lee Chang through, and Mingyu tried to focus his gaze on the other man's direction.

"...you're naked," he observed, sounding dazed.

[jeoha]

"I was training," he replied, though he sounded almost a little relieved at Mingyu's words. At least the man had some humour in there, so he could not be too hurt.

"What happened?" He asked as he carefully supported Mingyu's shoulders, trying to help him sit up properly. "Did someone hurt you?" There was an edge to his voice in that question that made it clear he was not going to be pleased with anyone who had.

[descendency]

"No," Mingyu replied, more frustrated than he meant to sound. Exhaustion had this effect on him, made it harder to keep things straight in his head, harder to hold himself back, to maintain his vice grip on control. This was why he tried to have his exhaustion alone. He'd pushed too far this time.

For what?

He blinked up at Lee Chang's handsome, worried face. A good man. Kind, noble, bitterly realistic but still bound and determined to see a better world.

A man like him shouldn't exist. Didn't feel possible.

A king of a man, even without a throne.

Mingyu reached up shakily to cup Lee Chang's cheek.

"...I'm fine. Overdid it, a little. I just need... something to eat. Water. Rest."

[jeoha]

Lee Chang looked a little confused, and still deeply concerned, his concept of what 'overdid it' meant to Mingyu going to places he did not want to think about. But Mingyu's immediate health won out over anything so he went down on one knee, reached out, and pulled Mingyu up into his arms.

"Then we will see to it." He turned to the courtesans, who has started giggling a little when he had lifted Mingyu, and said in an even tone: "Annya -" Apparently he had learned some of their names by now. "Bring me a meal. Something light, but with meat. Bread. Soup. Set it outside the door. Otherwise - please, ladies, give him space."

They seemed reluctant to obey the command at first, but after a moment of his Kingly Stare they dispersed to do what they were bade, and Lee Chang turned, carrying him bridal-style to the threshold of the man's door.

[descendency]

"Thank you," Mingyu murmured to the ladies as they were being ordered around by Lee Chang, discontent to be reliant on help this way but unable to pry himself from the prince's armms. (Unable, or perhaps unwilling.) So he did the only thing he could instead, what felt natural, arms winding around Lee Chang's neck, burying his face into the man's chest. He was silent as he was carried back into his room, bracing himself for Lee Chang to take in the mess of it.

Inside, it looked almost as though the space had been ransacked again except it was limited to the room's center. There was some sort of blanket or rug with a complicated array drawn over it, scattered, spent spell components littering both it and the floor.

At the center rested the sword from the bank heist with its magical enhancements, gleaming in the light.

"It's for you," Mingyu mumbled, voice weak. "Tired of seeing you so helpless."

[jeoha]

For a man worried about Lee Chang's helplessness, Mingyu was light in his arms, more what he would expect of a delicate maiden than anything else. But then, much of Mingyu reminded him of that.

The door opened for him - Mingyu in his arms securing his passage - but the scene he walked into was far from what he expected. He hadn't been expecting much, in all honesty. Maybe the place more debauched, than usual, since Mingyu had barred him entry. But this... This looked like a shaman had been locked in here for a week.

"Mingyu--" He carried him over to the bed, gently setting him down, frowning as he glanced back at the sword. "I have a sword," He reminded the man gently. "What happened in here?"

[descendency]

"Yes, you have a sword just useful enough to get you killed," Mingyu agreed, scowling at the thought. Then he took in a slow breath, bringing a hand up to try to stop his head from spinning now that he was in bed again, still half gripping Lee Chang like nothing so much as a petulant child.

"...I enchanted it. I won't have you going out there, putting yourself at risk, without the means of defending yourself properly."

Reluctantly, Mingyu detached himself from Lee Chang to lean back into his pillows with a wince, the fresh wound in his chest sore in spite of having done what healing he could on it and bandaging it.

"Bring it here."

[jeoha]

He frowned, not completely understanding, glancing back at the sword, but looking back at Mingyu just in time to see him wince.

"You're hurt." It was a statement, not a question, though he couldn't see the bandaged wound, he could still read the pain on the man's face. And that seemed a lot more important than a sword, at the moment.

His lips thinned as he carefully started to check Mingyu over for wounds. "You said you 'overdid' it. I thought you meant exhaustion. Where are you hurt?"

And who did it, he managed not to ask, though the question flared hot in his breaast.

[descendency]

"I'm not hurt," Mingyu sighed, then paused to revise his statement. "—Anymore. It's just sore. Enchantments take a lot out of you, and—"

There really wasn't much of a point getting into the specifics with Lee Chang, who knew nothing of his world's magic or how it worked, but he finished the explanation nonetheless.

"...I had to take shortcuts. I don't have all the right components here, but— Anyway, I managed."

Catching both of Lee Chang's hands in his own to stop their fussing, Mingyu gave them a firm squeeze.

"Bring it here," he asked again, voice quiet, trying to be reassuring. "I'm fine, just tired."

[jeoha]

Lee Chang narrowed his eyes a little at the revision, his lips pressing together. But he did not voice his concern. Instead, he let Mingyu catch his hands, then squeezed them back - firmly - before turning back toward the sword.

"You need to take care of yourself," He admonished as he stepped over to it. Picked it up. It was a very different feel to his own - weightier and wider-bladed. And the hilt felt almost a little warm to the touch.

He picked it up and turned back to walk over to Mingyu.

"Regardless of how 'helpless' you believe me to be, causing yourself injury is not helping me."

[descendency]

"It's already healed. That barely constitutes injury," Mingyu protested, shifting to sit up more so he could properly introduce Lee Chang to the sword. He pointed to the eye first.

"This sword is connected to me, as its enchanter. It will let me know if you're in trouble, so try to stay safe if you don't want me running after you in a panic," he introduced, then moved right along because the tracking spell wasn't the part he wanted Lee Chang to focus on. "Here's the part that matters. This ruby will heat the blade when activated, and the more you feed it the hotter the blade will get, eventually bursting into flames. I figured that would be most useful in our current situation."

And also the most feasible for him to pull off with the spell components he had on hand.

"In order to activate it, however, you have to feed it blood," he went on to explain, looking Lee Chang seriously in the eye as he reached out to grab Lee Chang's hand, gripping it hard. "Is that a problem for you?"

[jeoha]

Mingyu managed to cut off both any questions he had about the eye, but also any thoughts about it, as he explained the fire enchantment set upon the blade. It sounded impossible, but then…

So much of everything he had seen recently should have been impossible.

“No,” he replied to the question. If he’d had any qualms about spilling his blood before, the plague had erased them. In fact, he was already raising the sword, running the sharp edge of the blade quickly over the side of his palm, blood immediately welling and coating the steel edge of the sword he held.