Corvus
Chapter 2 of 💜The Horror of Our Love🩵
Ship: Lee Almasy x Mahito(pre-relationship)
Words: 1,482
Summary: When Mahito runs into Lee again at a park a couple of days after they first met, bird introduces him to one of their curse friends.
Warnings: Very brief mention of Mahito feeling joy using his technique on people
Dividers by Saradika-graphics
June 10th, 2018
Mahito was wandering around the city as usual, presently following an interestingly shaped cloud as the breeze blew it along. He hummed a random song that he had happened to hear recently as he walked along. The souls of the humans he passed all looked tense, burdened by any number of things that humans usually worried about. He found it humorous how they inhibited themselves so much. Why not just follow your soul's desires freely without worrying about things such as "morals"? The more he came to understand humans, the more certain he was of his vision for the world.
After a while, Mahito's attention was drawn away from the sky when he sensed the unusual cursed energy that belonged to Lee. A glimmer of excitement flashed through his eyes as he slowed his pace and looked around. He had been planning on finding some test subjects to practice Idle Transfiguration on today, but the prospect of examining Lee's unusual soul some more was too tempting to resist. He soon spotted bird in a nearby park and started walking in that direction, practically bouncing with each step.
Lee was walking about the park leisurely with two bluish gray fluffy animals on leashes that Mahito couldn't readily identify. Whatever they were, they seemed to only have two legs so they were neither dogs nor cats. He noticed that the glow of Lee's soul was dim which caused him to frown for a moment before he composed himself and called out to them in a singsong tone.
"Lee-eeeee~!"
Bird soul's response was immediate, the glow burning brighter as they turned around to face him, and he grinned in satisfaction at this reaction. Bird eyes widened as soon as they saw him, excitement shining in their depths, as bird gave him a small smile.
"Mahito!" They waited until he had come to a stop in front of them before continuing. "You weren't kidding about us running into each other a lot, huh...?" There was a slight edge of playfulness in their tone that made his grin widen.
"No, I wasn't, little human." He continued to grin as he crouched down to examine the two fluffy creatures with curiosity. They were scratching around in the grass, and he heard them clucking softly in contentment. "Oh... are these chickens?"
"Yes, they are. Specifically, silkie chickens." Lee crouched down as well and ran their fingers through the fluffy feathers of one of the chickens. "This guy is named Cirucci and the other is Charlotte," she told him. "Silkie chicken feathers don't have the barbs that normally hold the individual strands together, which results in their feathers being more like fur. They're very soft."
Mahito glanced at Lee as bird was explaining this to him and saw their soul glowing even brighter. They seemed to be in their element right now, bird soul free from any burdens it might usually have. He returned his gaze to the two chickens and reached out a hand, his fingers grazing one's feathers and feeling how soft they were for himself. The two of them talked about the chickens for a little while longer before they both stood up and Lee gently took hold of his wrist. Mahito looked down at their hand, feeling bird feathery soul brushing against his again. When he glanced back at their face, there was a happy glimmer in their eyes.
"There's someone that I want you to meet." That's all they said before gently pulling him along with them, further into the park.
The chickens kept pace with them, trotting along and clucking. They passed the swings and other playground equipment, following a path for a short while before Lee turned and they rounded some bushes. That's when bird let go of Mahito's wrist and he frowned, almost wanting to reach out and take hold of their hand, but he stopped himself. Instead he stood there, watching as Lee approached a large overgrown bush.
"Come on out," Lee called gently.
Mahito felt it then, another cursed spirit was very close by. As he continued watching, he saw it emerge from the large bush in front of Lee. The curse was somewhat bird-like in appearance, the features of it's head similar to a crow and feathers covering it's body. Unlike a bird, however, it didn't have wings and it's limbs were like a human's. Lee smiled widely up at the curse before hugging it and Mahito blinked in surprise at this blatant display of affection towards a cursed spirit.
"I call him Corvus. I visit him every time I come here."
After the introduction, Lee told Mahito about how they had met Corvus as the three of them moved to lay in the grass along with the two chickens, watching the clouds together. Although Corvus wasn't capable of speech, it would respond to what was said with clicks and screeches. Mahito decided to take advantage of this moment to try and learn more about Lee.
"Lee, how did you learn how to control your cursed energy if you're not a sorcerer?" he questioned while still watching the clouds.
"Because I received the basic training at a jujutsu school," Lee replied. "Up until they wanted me to exorcize a curse. I refused to do that. So, I dropped out."
Mahito turned his gaze away from the clouds and focused his attention fully on Lee as he rolled onto his side and propped his head in one palm. "So... do you have a cursed technique?"
"Yeah," Lee responded as bird looked at him and held up one arm. There was a bone-shaped bracelet on their wrist. "I can summon a shikigami." They looked thoughtful. "What about you, Mahito? What's your cursed technique?"
Mahito's eyes narrowed and a wicked grin spread across his face at their question. It left bird breathless for a moment, their cheeks flushing slightly. That smile of his was mesmerizing, and bird was keenly aware of their heart pounding in their chest.
"I can reshape souls." He laughed then as he sat up, his gaze remaining on Lee the entire time. "I'm still figuring out to what degree I can alter them though. But it's been so much fun to experiment."
"Still figuring it out...?" Lee murmured as they sat up as well. Bird head tilted to the side as they looked at him curiously. "You... haven't been fully manifested for long, have you?"
"I haven't," Mahito confirmed.
Mahito went on to tell bird more about his technique, speaking giddily about the agony he saw in people's eyes as he twisted their souls into new shapes. He told them about how he perceived the shapes of souls, and about how human souls metabolized emotions. Lee listened to all this with interest, their hazel eyes locked on him even as they stroked the feathers of one of the chickens that had come to lay in their lap.
"So... you can see my soul?" bird questioned softly.
"Yes, Lee. I can see it right now, every little detail. Yours is unlike any soul I've seen before. It's like a feather, and it glows when you're around me... I wonder why that is?"
"It... it only glows when I'm around you?" Lee's face was growing warm now.
"That's right. It started glowing during our first encounter. And earlier... that glow was very dim, until I called out your name. Then it started burning brighter. What does it mean, Lee?"
"I... I don't know." Lee averted their eyes as they felt bird heart fluttering. They were too shy and nervous to admit the pull bird felt towards him.
There was an awkward silence that descended upon them for a few moments, Mahito watching Lee's soul closely with narrowed eyes. He could feel it almost reaching out towards his own, it's glow seeming to beckon to him the way a flame did with a moth. He wondered if bird was aware of this, if bird was aware of their own soul at all. Not many were able to perceive souls the way Mahito could. He surmised, however, that among humans the ability to perceive souls was more likely to occur in introverts.
"Um... Mahito, you like to wach movies, right?" Lee broke the silence with the question and Mahito looked at them with interest as he nodded a confirmation. "Perhaps... Well, there's a movie coming out soon that I was planning to go see. Maybe... you'd like to go with me?" Bird awkwardness in asking him this amused him greatly.
"Sounds fun, Lee!" he responded with enthusiasm and a wide, almost unnerving grin.
With their plans made, they talked about a few more random subjects until Lee had to return home. Mahito chose to hang out in the park for a while longer with Corvus before he decided he should probably meet up with his own cursed spirit friends.
