[open]

[suddenlybees]

Who: Kano & OTA
What: magic practice, pettiness, finals
Where: Lumière, greenhouse, library
When: mid-month, before finals
Warnings: self-harm for prompt i., none expected for the rest
Notes: details of Kano's new Fey Contract can be found on his app

i. Lumière dormitory rooftop
[ Fey magic is a really... terrible, horrible, no good, very bad idea. But Kano is determined to make it work, this new Contract that he'd forged a couple of days ago, but it's just so different from his usual illusion magic that he'd worked ten whole years to get to the point where he is now, illusions seamless and effortless compared to him staring at his arm right now wondering what he's doing wrong?

Because his arm is bleeding, a bloody knife on his lap while he pokes at the wound with his other hand and it just comes back bloody, him wincing because it hurts and why isn't the magic working? There's nothing intuitive about this at all, and he has no idea how he's supposed to make it work, with the magic supposed to be healing and dulling pain but it's just doing the opposite for him, the pain making it hard to keep a smile on his face, and making him feel like crying a little.

With a sigh, he waves hand over the bleeding cut instead of touching it, and it disappears— simply masked underneath an illusion, but it's still there while he tries to figure out how to do this, preferably before he bleeds out.

It won't come to it, though. He has three years worth of band-aids stocked up, and he knew they would be useful someday. ]

ii. campus, on the way to the greenhouse or inside
[ But you know what always makes up for terrible days? Even more terrible ideas to get your mind off previous ones. This one isn't that bad, though, because it's something that'll have positive long-term consequences. Probably.

Anyways, it's Kano with long sleeves and pants and winter gloves and the hood of his jacket pulled over his head and eyes and also a bandanna over the rest of his face so he can have as little skin showing as possible. It isn't all because of botched healing practice, though, it's because he's lugging around a three gallon plastic jug in his arms— you know, one of those large plastic containers twice the size of your head that you can buy cheese balls in, but instead of cheese balls, it's bees.

It's a jar full of bees.

He had to ship them to a PO in town and then lug them all the way back to campus; this insect purchasing restriction is really an awful pain. ]

iii. library
[ But also, anyways, it's almost finals and while Kano did surprisingly okay on his midterms, he's got to do slightly more okay on his finals too, because exam scored are literally all that's carrying his grades without the homework to pad it.

So the library it is... Books, his arch nemesis... Him, sitting at one of the open study areas with a stack of brand new text books in front of him that barely look touched, a mug of something on the table that's a dark dark red to the point that it's almost black and also has four tea bags sitting inside it that's steeped so long the tea is no longer steaming, and also hands clamped over his ears like he's trying to block out ambient noise, or massage away a headache, or give himself a headache so he can go hang out in the infirmary for the next two weeks and not do finals.

Why does Daybreak have to be a school??? Schools suck. ]

Comments

[deuteranope]

[He literally bites down the scream by chewing at the inside of his cheek because he knows this asshole will do it. Mav can stop himself from yelling, but he lunges on automatic to slap the phone out of Kano's hand.]

[suddenlybees]

Hey!!

[ The phone clatters to the ground and slides across the floor and doesn't break because it's indestructible, and Kano lunges after it before Maverick realizes that the smarter thing to do would have been to confiscate the phone entirely. ]

[deuteranope]

[HE'S NOT THINKING RIGHT NOW but going to get it leaves Kano open to the new strategy of hugging him around the waist and lifting him off the ground, which is sort of hard but not impossible.]

I will destroy you if you even think about making a post like that.

[suddenlybees]

Ugh— no!

[ He's easy enough to pick up, even though he's also not thinking right now and goes to jab his elbows into Maverick's stomach to make him let go, except that's his bad elbow and he can feel his arm bleeding again and maybe he'll just make Ekkehardt stitch it up so it can stop. ]

[deuteranope]

[He's been hit in the stomach enough times that it doesn't super bother him...but Kano using that arm so carelessly does, so that's what gets Maverick to set him back down.]

Stop that! Fucking use your brain, or you're never gonna heal, dumbass. Even minimal activity will do!

[suddenlybees]

[ Maybe stop encouraging non-minimal activity...! Kano goes ahead and lies down in the middle of the room like a throw rug. ]

Alright, minimal activity.

[ He'll lie here and never leave unless Maverick drags him across the floor and throws him out. ]

[deuteranope]

[He meant minimal brain activity, as opposed to none at all, but honestly, this works, too. Maverick sighs and, after retrieving them, drops a pillow and his notebook if front of Kano. Just study...]

I want you to be aware that I'm showing great restraint by not sitting on you, and you should be grateful.

[suddenlybees]

[ Studying will require maximal brain activity, but he mumbles something and scrunches up the pillow to his chest so he can prop himself up on his elbows and flip idly through the notebook. This pillow is going to be super lumpy by the time Kano's done with it, so hopefully it isn't Maverick's. ]

Thanks for not breaking my spine, Mav, you're a real pal. ...Do you think if I break my spine I'll get extra time to make up exams?

[deuteranope]

[it is maverick's, but he'll accept that he invited the suffering himself.]

One, that wouldn't fucking break your spine, fucking thanks. I don't weigh that much. Two, probably, but you might lose function of your fucking legs, so you might as well go to the exam and guess.

[suddenlybees]

[ He wants to say he doesn't use his legs all that much, but he does spend more time than he'd like trotting around town. And if he runs into a monster or Pepita, he wouldn't be able to run. ]

Hm~ I guess that's that. But I'm not going to guess— why would I need to, when I have your notes?

[ He'll have a cheat sheet with him, obviously. ]

[deuteranope]

[...just gonna lean in and poke the paper so all the words start fading away. what now, bitch.]

[suddenlybees]

Oh, fuck off! Don't you need these notes too??

[ You're also hurting yourself, Mav, don't do this to him. ]

[deuteranope]

And when your 24 hours are up and I get them back, I can make them reappear again.

[Plus he's been studying them for a while now, as one is supposed to do with notes.]

[suddenlybees]

You're not getting them back, ever.

[ Not until you make the words come back! The 24-hour timer is on pause until he gets his words. ]

[deuteranope]

I can still change my mind and sit on you.

[suddenlybees]

And then neither of us can study and we'll both fail! Can't you just let me have this?

[deuteranope]

[Mav leans in and props his chin on the heel of his palm to accentuate his dumb grin.]

Ask nicely~ and actually study~

[suddenlybees]

Ugh! I'll ask nicely and actually study if you stop talking like that from now on!

[ It's terrible when Kano does it and even worse when he hears somebody else do it. It's infuriating, the worst, the sort of reason he wants to get out of other people but when it's turned on him, it's sucks!! ]

[deuteranope]

[That makes him laugh, and he sits back again on his palms.]

Don't like the taste of your own medicine, huh? Alright, let's hear it.

[suddenlybees]

[ He huffs, but does his best to ask nicely. ]

Please please pretty please with a cherry on top, make the words come back, please.

[ Nice = jam as many pleases as you can in there, people like pleases ]

[deuteranope]

[That's not the actually answer, but he'll give it to him.]

You tried, and that's what's important.

[So yes, with a tilt of his head that lands his gaze on the notebook again, the various colors seep back into existence.]

[suddenlybees]

[ Ahh, yes, his cheat sheet is back and now he won't fail.

...He can ask, right? They're at that point. ]

How's this work? They disappear and come back and you don't have to touch it at all? Is it as long as you can see the words, or does that not matter?

[deuteranope]

[...It's a weird feeling. He wants to throw up a wall because it's just a dumb party trick and he was useless and he didn't want people to know just how useless, but... Kano is asking about him. That's sort of a nice, warm feeling in his chest.]

Uh. Sorta depends. I used to have to touch what I was changing, so it just fucking sorta became a habit. I guess. [He doesn't change his sitting position, but one hand fidgets where it is, index nail scratching into the floor.] Shit I've done I don't have to look at, s'just easier, but if someone else wrote it, I gotta see. Might change as I practice more.

[suddenlybees]

Hm~ How useful! [ Being able to change something without having to see it is different from what Kano can do; for him, he has to be consciously aware of everything at all times, so it's not a magic he can just apply and walk away and have it stick. ]

Can you change it back at any time? Does it stick forever if you walk away?

[ He has to make sure of a couple of little things... for various no-good ideas. ]

[deuteranope]

["Useful"... It directly goes against his inner monologue, so he can't stop the brief grimace or the way his nail stabs at the floor like it can break the surface if he tries hard enough.]

You don't have to fucking pretend... I know it's kinda shit. [But anyway...] I haven't done much with changing it back. I know I got books from a couple years ago that are still how I changed 'em to be, so as far as I know it's forever.