westwhere | sa-hareth | arrival (mingle log)

And that was the more believable half of his history. Though once he'd gotten some distance, it did seem like a strange daydream. He'd never lost touch with reality, but he'd come close once or twice to wondering if he'd made it all up as a coping mechanism. Fortunately his sanity was unnaturally resilient, largely because he was so singularly focused on getting back.

Maybe he did think he'd just go with it, but the skepticism shouldn't be surprising. Though if he's looking for a demonstration, he's going to have to wait. Five still hasn't recovered enough to perform a single jump. Which... is odd, but not unheard of with how much he went through that last day in 1963. He's been pushing it.

"Spacial manipulation. Teleporting." Like that's no big reveal either, or anything needing explanation. There's a hesitance to say more, but instead he finishes the glass and eyes the bottle before lifting his gaze back to him. Go ahead and call his bluff. "You're the one who asked. It's up to you if you believe me."

"What manner of teleporting? Where I'm from, it's not that uncommon of a school of magic to pursue. Generally you need circles drawn at both ends and adequate magic components to power the jump," Mingyu ventures, feeling out the edges of Five's story to see how much substance it holds. More and more, though, he finds himself tempted to just take the easy route.

He weighs the pros and cons of it. If Five is telling the truth, it would be a hell of a thing to substantiate. And if he isn't, well. At least that took from the child's credibility. A few already know of his abilities, or at least that he has some if not the extent of them. It just might be worth the trouble.

He's still considering, thinking of the tattoo on his own wrist when he notices the one on Five's.

"—what is that?" he asks, pointing.

Magic. That word seems equally noteworthy and offensive. Like one he would use sarcastically when he didn't feel like wasting his breath going into detail. The Commission briefcases are magic too, to some people, so it's possible there are others with means to do something similar. Just not like him.

"It's a natural ability. I calculate the exact variables and step through a spacial rift dependent on the mass I happen to be displacing." Simply put, it takes a great deal more than magic to do correctly. It's also extremely rudimentary when compared to the intricacies of moving through time.

He has more questions about 'a school of magic' that might offer some insight. Before he does though, he looks to what drew his attention.

"What do you think?" He turns over his wrist, more so he can look at it than show it off. It's funny how the ink looks so much darker now than it did before a miscalculation wiped years away from his skin. He shrugs. "The Umbrella Academy. Dad's idea. It was supposed to unify us, or maybe just make it easier to identify anyone who thought about leaving. I wouldn't put it past him."

It occurs to him that might have been oversharing, particularly when he'd already denied having 'daddy issues', so he takes the opportunity to set the glass down. He's really starting to feel it now. Still getting used to the concept of pacing himself.

Excuse you, Five, in Mingyu's world magic also takes exacting calculations and intimate understanding of all the working parts involved. They just call it magic the way anything that runs on code and electricity 'technology'. No wand-waving here, thanks.

Mingyu listens to the explanation behind the tattoo, slipping one glove off to reveal a tattoo of a blue lotus in approximately the same place on his right wrist.

Is Five so far into his drink that his vision is swimming, or are the petals of the flower beginning to sway?

"I had this one done to help me gather information when Fox disappeared," Mingyu informs softly, reaching slowly for the boy's hand. If allowed, once his hand grasps Five's own, the flower will unfurl the rest of the way to reveal a piercing green eye.

'Show me your damage.'

Had Five known where this would lead, he would have followed his first instinct right out that door. Second guessing himself is exactly what gets him in trouble, and he's been doing too much of that for too many days. The equations get more complicated and his insomnia just makes him more prone to error. It's a never-ending cycle with no rest in sight. Having a drink is the first break he's allowed himself since... he can't remember. Even if it has made him unusually talkative about things that he usually would have brushed off.

At first he only peers at Gabriel when he removes his glove, looking at his wrist tattoo with mild interest, then focusing sharply when it seems to shift. He's so distracted, and partially sluggish from the alcohol, that he's able to take his hand before he can think to pull away.

His damage. Waking memories shift before him. That day. Young, once, he runs defiantly down the sidewalk past the Academy with his father's disapproving voice just an echo behind him. Gripping the air in front of him, he confidently pulls himself forward in time, passing through the warm colors of summer to the cool of winter, before his last jump greets him with a wall of ash and fire. Panic rises in him the same as back then when he realizes he's unable to return the way he came. He stumbles through the rubble to find his older siblings, gathered dead, recognizable to him only because of their umbrella tattoo.

Like watching a movie that skips too much to follow a coherent plot, memories mingle together at a rapid-fire pace. A ruined world shifts to a clean office, and a sharply dressed woman smiling daggers at him. Looking up at the moon split open and raining fire. Standing in the street as he listens to the distinct whistle of a nuclear bomb. That fucking boardroom littered in bodies that he tore in half just days ago.

His vision clears to a shadowy figure of the solitary man in front of him, still gripping his hand. He lashes out before his mind makes any sense of what happened, swinging a fist at the same time he rips himself free from his grasp. Words should follow, but he's only staring while his heart drums in his ears. Waiting for some kind of confirmation before he's forced to murder him where he stands.

Mingyu has done this enough he's used to fielding most responses to his powers. Violence isn't even a particularly uncommon one.

However—

What he isn't used to is using his ability on children. He is even less used to finding out the children aren't children at all, they're time-lost assassins hiding in a child's body, hounded, haunted, crushed by the weight of the looming end of the world. He's still stunned when they come out of it, pulse crashing crescendo in his ears.

It takes Five's fist catching his jaw to snap him out of it. Too late, he dodges, tries to keep Five from damaging the goods and winds up with a sharp strike to the trachea instead.

He doubles over coughing, a grimace on his face but no further displeasure registering.

"...and here I thought I had problems," he finally manages when he is able to speak again, voice a little hoarse from coughing.

He's shaking. He only realizes after he blindly struck the man. The rush of adrenaline refuses to let his pulse settle, and he can't tell if it's from anger or the shock of reliving his own memories in such vivid detail. He's still not completely sure if he was drugged, but judging by the other's reaction he wasn't just having some sort of psychotic episode. That bastard saw it too.

Which... shit. He knows all about him now, and there's no Allison around to help cover for his mistake. Five weighs the repercussions of that fact while watching him try to recover from the blow. See what curiosity gets you?

"Fuck you." He spits at his comment and levels him with a challenging glare as he takes a step out of reach. Even mildly impaired, and even with his own powers tapped out, he's moderately sure he can take his arm off with a broken bottle if he's determined enough. Not exactly low profile though, so he takes a breath and tries to suppress the urge.

"Taking advantage of a kid. I've got to hand it to you, that's a bold move." Getting his bearings now, he flashes a sharp smile. "Any other burning questions or is it my turn?"

This time, Mingyu scoffs at Five referring to himself as a child, grim humor written across his face in return. He withdraws as well, aware of the risk Five poses to his person in addition to being apparently deeply unstable. Out of everything, Mingyu hates unpredictable people the most, the kind of danger they pose nigh on impossible to account for.

It gives him a headache.

"Not to victim blame," he drawls dryly, finding a nice place across the room with his back to a wall to recline against, "but that's really just what you get for continuing to hang out with a man who takes no issue with pouring straight liquor for a child, gramps."

He makes a broad gesture with his hand then.

"By all means, I meant what I said. Ask away."

The mocking in his tone doesn't phase him; his smile only tightens at the more appropriate nickname. However casual he tries to seem, Five can tell there's been a shift, and it's a more comfortable place to start from. His appearance was never really a cover, so much as something that he could take advantage of. Knowing what he's capable of is just a different type of one. If he's not afraid of him yet, he should be.

"You'll tell me everything, hm?" If they're going to be fair and equal, that's what he's owed. Every last piece of information about him for what he just saw. He might as well cooperate while he has the grace to give him the opportunity.

"Get talking. Who are you, really? When were you born?" Just for the hell of covering his bases. He settles a comfortable distance away, pointedly blocking the path to the door. "Then tell me about your power. How it works and what else you can do. Make sure to elaborate."

"I'm Gabriel Bai, legally Bai Mingyu. Born May 20th, 1993. I doubt you actually care about my biography, but I come from what might be termed 'good stock'," he informed, voice still bone-dry. "Like you. Unlike you, I was born into it. Where I'm from, at least half the population has abilities similar to, if not as impressive, as mine. And anyone can gain them, in theory. It's mostly a matter of study. In practice, it falls primarily to the privileged."

As a gesture of goodwill, to indicate to Five that he truly did mean it when he promised to be forthcoming, he draws a paper talisman from his sleeve, one of his pre-drawn fire charms, and lights it. It makes an impressive plume of fire, then dissipates.

"I know all manner of charms, primarily in papercraft. I can transfigure items I'm familiar with the properties of with an adequate amount of silk cord, and I can enchant items if I have the correct spell components."

His smile sharpens a fraction and he looks Five over slowly.

"I can even teleport, though as I mentioned it's a far more involved process for me than it apparently is for you."

The questions he asks are easy ones, but it doesn't escape him how readily he replies. He takes in what he says with his arms crossed, determining for himself what's useful and what isn't. The birthdate was a long shot. As much as it is to wrap his head around, it's almost a relief to hear that he isn't one of them. He doesn't need to find out he's related to anyone else he's fantasized about murdering. Recently.

The fire charm looks like more of a parlor trick. Spells and charms. He can't say he isn't curious to learn about them. Still, he has some natural ability. Assuming they all have that in common, that's one theory to look into.

His eye twitches when he tries to brag about teleporting. It doesn't manage to intimidate him, but it's noted along with everything else. So he has a well rounded set of skills that also include his services at a brothel. He wonders how often he does that trick with the tattoo on his customers, but the thought is disturbing even to him so he doesn't ask.

"And Fox... he's the same as you, I'm guessing? A partner?" Only reason he'd think he could be here somewhere. "How'd he disappear?"

Please, Five. It's not a brag. You asked him to elaborate on powers and he delivered. He's getting a sense for the crater of a chip on the shoulder of the boy trapped in the psyche of an old man trapped in the body of a boy, though.

"Boyfriend," Mingyu clarifies, shaking his head. "He... He makes me look like a joke. You, too. And your siblings. Fox is a legend. Literally— There are legends about him. He kept a very low profile back in Toronto, more myth than man. Smart, capable, and driven. He was breaking down the status quo, taking magic the big families had under lock and key and bringing it to the masses. Reverse-engineering anything he could get his hands on. It made him enemies."

This part makes Mingyu's smile thin to a razor's edge.

"Someone took him. To force him to work on some kind of stupid, civilian-murdering, world-devastating destruction spell. A war machine. I was in the middle of unraveling who when I got picked up by this mess."

Reverse engineering magic for the masses. Sure. He can hear the bias, but only raises an eyebrow. That's an interesting take on status quo. True, Five's family has their share of secrets, just not the kind that would benefit anyone if they got out.

After seeing what he saw, it shouldn't be hard to guess which part of that revelation gets the most attention from Five. Spend a few decades in the apocalypse and phrases like 'world-devastating destruction' take your right back there. It earns him a significant silence while he mulls it over. If it were even a possibility that Fox was supposed to succeed. Gabriel, or Mingyu, could have theoretically been targeted for trying to change the timeline by looking for him. It just doesn't make sense why they'd take him here instead of just sending Corrections after him.

Of course that involves an entire labyrinth of other assumptions, but he has to consider it along with anything else. If he finds more of them have the potential end of the world in common, it'll be worth delving into.

"I think that explains your significance." He says it with a shrug. If not for the earlier incident, he might even explain what he means, but he doesn't. "So what's your plan now? You must have one, as quickly as you settled in."

"Survive, primarily. There's too much we don't know. It's impossible to even begin to identify the potential threats, and our position as... undocumented victims of human trafficking, if we're being completely frank, is highly vulnerable," Mingyu points out, lips thinning at the thought. "So I mean to establish myself and gather as much information as I can so I can make an informed next step. Ultimately, whatever magic brought me here can, in theory, bring anyone and anything else here as well. It should be clear what about that is attractive to me, but first I need to make sure here isn't a worse bag of cats than I left behind."

He shrugs.

"I'm guessing you have much bigger picture considerations than that," he muses, rubbing his temples lightly as he recalls a few of Five's desperate thoughts, his despair, the walls closing in— "Makes my head spin. I don't envy you at all."

Five can admit that it seems like the best course of action for someone in his position, to gather information and keep a low profile, since that's not dissimilar to what he's been doing. It's just that Five's information gathering is more specific in nature, and with larger implications. 'Establishing' himself even sounds sensible, but it still gets a roaming glance around the room they're in. Knowing what he does now, there's a reason he's had so much success.

He chafes at his final comment. Regardless of the conversational tone, it would be a mistake to think that he's already moved past what he did to him. The fact hasn't left him that he's not entirely sure how deep it went, if he felt what he felt or read his thoughts while he cycled through his memories.

"You don't know the half of it." He can't really comprehend what becomes of a person who only has his eye on the big picture, and Five isn't about to fill in any blanks. When it sounds dangerously close to pity he's quick to correct him.

"Don't pretend to understand. You barely scratched the surface of the things I've done." He won't be put at a further disadvantage because of a stupid mistake. It goes without saying, but he still wants to get it on the record, dead serious when he looks him in the eye: "If you tell anyone what you saw, I'll kill you."

"You can certainly try," Mingyu replies airily, not out of a lack of respect for Five's admittedly formidable arsenal of abilities, but. Sorry, old man. Mingyu's not done yet, and honestly putting him down might be the more merciful thing.

Mingyu has not found, over the course of his life, that he is overly acquainted with mercy.

"What I'd rather do is propose a partnership, given we both know what we know," he goes on. "I'll back up your little story, aid in your search. We can put our information together, unless I'm mistaken of our common goal..?"

The main benefit of his trick with the lotus is that it gives the memory from the target's point of view, so Mingyu didn't simply see what they saw. He felt them too, all of Five's hurt, his anxiety, his fear. All of his love. All of his grim determination.

Mingyu is familiar with every last one of those things in his, well. Admittedly far less interesting life. But he knows them nonetheless.

"A place safe and stable enough for us to be reunited with the people we love. And this time, hold onto them."

That's not usually a proposal he hears after threatening someone's life. It seems to confirm for him that he wasn't a passive viewer when he used his ability on him. Spell. Whatever it was, he can't get past that unsettled feeling it gives him when he hears that note of sympathy.

He is, however, used to making deals with people he isn't overly fond of. And despite how revolted he is by what Mingyu did, he plainly cares about his boyfriend, and he's far from the worst he's encountered. It's never been a secret that Five's family is the only thing that matters to him, ranked even above preventing the apocalypse, and it's probably easier than it should be to sway him by evoking them.

"A partnership." He lets that sit with him for a moment, despite knowing what he'll do. Mingyu's obvious skill at gathering information surpasses his, and he rarely has the patience to fool someone with his appearance long enough to get very far with them. The only reason they're still talking is because he seems to be immune to Five's overall pleasant demeanor. Which begs the question of how much he's counting to benefit from the arrangement.

"I should tell you now that I don't take well to people who betray me." Just pretend he hasn't done that to the Commission a few times over. His only loyalty is to his siblings, but he can't deny that it would be easier to find them if he wasn't doing it alone. Maybe it speaks too much to his state of mind that he doesn't press him further on what that agreement would entail. He isn't exactly crawling in prospects.

"Fine. You have a deal."

sa-hareth | arrival (mingle log)

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