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runicloreA Pleasant Hand
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: November 29 - doing it for science: geeks in their natural habitat.
Series: Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
Character/Pairing: Mystina, Lezard
Rating: K
Words: 464
Notes: these are getting steadily sloppier as November goes on. Or maybe it's just me.
Anyway, may as well post now, since it's done. I might even remember to put it up on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
31_days when the 29th comes around.
.............................................
"Mysty, you're missing the point. We don't have to draw--"
"I can't memorize a rune circle when it's in your chicken-scratch handwriting, Lezard. Shut up."
They had the laboratory to themselves, Arngrim and the child-valkyrie having left some time ago to find food - good luck, she always ate out - and possibly quiet. They sat at the counter next to the tank she'd used to store his homunculus, Lezard on a stool by the glass chamber, leaning against the surface, and Mystina hunched over a piece of paper with a quill and ink, his drawing at her elbow. Goosebumps prickled her skin, the air cold and dry, still. The runes were recognizable even in his hand, but they were messy and smeared, the evidence of his carelessness blackening his fingertips and the side of his hand. Did he learn how to write from a monkey? Gods' sake.
The theory of soul transfusion wasn't difficult, and the circle wasn't much worse than the seals she used to create the spirit-walking device in the far corner, but she wanted to be sure her understanding of the spell was complete. It would only take one mistake to destroy both of them. In other circumstances she could have lived with the idea she'd mess up and take Lezard down with her, but Lenneth's soul was not something Mystina wanted to trifle with.
The gods weren't indestructible. She had the evidence in her own two hands - it wasn't just heresy anymore.
Why did it have to come from Lezard? Why, why, why?
Mystina wrote the last few words, closed the circle, and straightened, arching to crack her back while she studied her drawing and compared it to his, back and forth, back and forth. It looked the same, though hers was easier on the eyes.
"You always did have a pleasant hand."
She looked up. His face was turned slightly away, lit blue and green by the liquid in the tank and cut with sharp shadows cast by his hair, and his gaze slanted sideways to examine her paper. Mystina wiped the nib of her quill and laid it on his notes to cap the bottle of ink. "Yours has degenerated."
He shrugged, glanced at the machine in her corner, the door rimed shut with ice. His breath misted. "It gets the job done." He lifted his eyebrows, showing teeth in a smile that only moved his mouth, never reached his eyes. "No one bothered to copy my homework."
"Too bad. You could've taken a few other people down with you." Mystina stood up, and her stool scraped back. "Well? Let's get this done. Lady Valkyrie has been waiting long enough."
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: November 29 - doing it for science: geeks in their natural habitat.
Series: Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
Character/Pairing: Mystina, Lezard
Rating: K
Words: 464
Notes: these are getting steadily sloppier as November goes on. Or maybe it's just me.
Anyway, may as well post now, since it's done. I might even remember to put it up on
31_days when the 29th comes around. .............................................
"Mysty, you're missing the point. We don't have to draw--"
"I can't memorize a rune circle when it's in your chicken-scratch handwriting, Lezard. Shut up."
They had the laboratory to themselves, Arngrim and the child-valkyrie having left some time ago to find food - good luck, she always ate out - and possibly quiet. They sat at the counter next to the tank she'd used to store his homunculus, Lezard on a stool by the glass chamber, leaning against the surface, and Mystina hunched over a piece of paper with a quill and ink, his drawing at her elbow. Goosebumps prickled her skin, the air cold and dry, still. The runes were recognizable even in his hand, but they were messy and smeared, the evidence of his carelessness blackening his fingertips and the side of his hand. Did he learn how to write from a monkey? Gods' sake.
The theory of soul transfusion wasn't difficult, and the circle wasn't much worse than the seals she used to create the spirit-walking device in the far corner, but she wanted to be sure her understanding of the spell was complete. It would only take one mistake to destroy both of them. In other circumstances she could have lived with the idea she'd mess up and take Lezard down with her, but Lenneth's soul was not something Mystina wanted to trifle with.
The gods weren't indestructible. She had the evidence in her own two hands - it wasn't just heresy anymore.
Why did it have to come from Lezard? Why, why, why?
Mystina wrote the last few words, closed the circle, and straightened, arching to crack her back while she studied her drawing and compared it to his, back and forth, back and forth. It looked the same, though hers was easier on the eyes.
"You always did have a pleasant hand."
She looked up. His face was turned slightly away, lit blue and green by the liquid in the tank and cut with sharp shadows cast by his hair, and his gaze slanted sideways to examine her paper. Mystina wiped the nib of her quill and laid it on his notes to cap the bottle of ink. "Yours has degenerated."
He shrugged, glanced at the machine in her corner, the door rimed shut with ice. His breath misted. "It gets the job done." He lifted his eyebrows, showing teeth in a smile that only moved his mouth, never reached his eyes. "No one bothered to copy my homework."
"Too bad. You could've taken a few other people down with you." Mystina stood up, and her stool scraped back. "Well? Let's get this done. Lady Valkyrie has been waiting long enough."