#th:marcus

What ringtone my muse has set for yours: Just one of the pre-set ones, but it’s a bit of a quieter and gentler tone.

What contact photo my muse has set for yours: Ally likes being organized and having pictures for everyone, so she normally quickly snaps one when she gets someone’s number. The picture of Marcus is him looking down a little with a small smile, clearly a little uncomfortable with the picture and Allison almost felt kind of bad taking it.

What my muse thinks of the way yours texts: He uses proper grammar and spelling, which is a bit of a relief since it means things are always clear.

How quickly my muse responds to your texts: Quickly when she’s not busy, but it can take hours if she’s watching a movie or in the middle of a study session. Since the Opposite’s Brew, she’s been worrying a little more about the time it takes her to text back, and if it’s too soon or too late.

How often our muses text: Not too often. It’s mostly just to figure out when to meet up or ask for a book title (nerds) or something like that.

How often our muses call: Rarely. They find it easier to text each other, since they can do other things in between. I think if there’s ever a time when they’re apart for a while, though, they’d definitely call each other and on a pretty regular basis. 

Does my muse purposefully miss calls from yours: No, I don’t think she’d ever do it purposefully.

Aerico: One of out characters nursing the other back to good health.

As Allison squeezed the water out of the cloth, she stared down at the last few drops falling from the fabric. She was completely frozen for a moment as the events from earlier in the day flashed before her eyes like an instant replay. She’d arrived at Marcus’s apartment to give him a book, and found his door already partially open. It was quiet inside - but too quiet for it to not cause alarm. She couldn’t even hear the sound of someone moving around or pages being flipped or anything. When she entered, she’d found Marcus unconscious on the ground, his already scarred wings spread out and mutilated in a way she never thought she would witness. The sight of him in such a state nearly caused her throat to close up completely and her body was frozen.

Somehow she managed to get hold of Harvey and Professor Wu. Harvey was there before she hung up the phone, and somehow she’d come to be crouching over the fae’s body, her fingers desperately feeling for a pulse that was so faint she thought her own heart might stop from the suspense between each beat. Harvey could heal Marcus’s flesh wounds with a speed and accuracy that only a Whitelighter could, but the wings had been incredibly damaged, and there was really only so much that could be done. There seemed to be burn marks on them that Harvey’s abilities couldn’t quite heal fully, the kind that Allison had only ever seen on fae’s hands and arms due to accidental exposure to iron.

Professor Wu arrived with a bagful of helpful plants and herbs to help with the scarring, and to help alleviate the pain and damage done to his wings. The fae was lifted onto the couch on his stomach carefully, dutifully watched by the Whitelighter and the two kitsune as the hours seemed to tick by and they all waited for him to wake up. Some more damages were discovered each time Harvey checked him over, and Professor Wu showed Allison how to apply the plants properly to help prevent the iron burns from leaving scars that would be too permanent or too deep. Eventually, even Harvey had to leave, with strict instructions for Allison to call him once Marcus woke up. At the very least, his pulse was reaching levels that were normal, though he did seem to be spiking a fever and he had yet to be fully roused form his unconscious state for more than a few moments at a time.

Blinking, Allison suddenly dipped the cloth back into the water again and rung it out once more. Spinning on her heals, she approached the fae again and placed the compress gently on the back of his neck. As she did so, his hand slowly began to rise from where it was dangling off the couch to try to feel what had just been placed on him. Dropping to her knees quickly, the kitsune grabbed his hand to stop him from removing, her eyes carefully watching his face as his mouth and eyes twitched a little. Slowly, his eyelids opened, and he blinked a few times to adjust to the warm glow of the lamp Harvey moved nearer to the couch to examine the fae better.

“Allison…?” he muttered uncertainly, beginning to try to rise up before Allison could stop him. With a painful groan at the slightest arch of his back, he collapsed back onto the pillow.

“You’ve been out for hours,” Allison explained to him in a soft voice. “You had a lot of injuries, especially to your wings. Harvey healed them, and we got some plants to help with scarring and joint pain, but…” Her eyes trailed to along his back where the fresh scars were even more visible over the old ones in the lamplight. “It looked like iron was used.” She reached a hand out to feel along his forehead, which wasn’t as warm as before, and decided to pull the compress off his neck since she guessed he would probably do that on his own. “Who did this?”

She watched as the fae took a deep breath, but even the rise and fall of his body as he did so seemed to cause him to grimace in pain. She could see how much he didn’t want someone to see him like this, and let her head dip down to look at the rug for a few moments as he struggled to regulate his breathing in a way that wouldn’t cause him so much pain.

“I’m sorry…for the trouble…” Marcus got out between a few particularly shaky breaths. Allison’s head shot up as her eyes locked with his in almost a warning manner. He had absolutely nothing to apologize for, and her look said it so loudly she didn’t even need to open her mouth. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything,” she told him truthfully. The real people he needed to thank were Harvey and Professor Wu. All she did was make a couple phone calls. “I should do more.” She clenched the cloth in a fist in her hand. “If I came sooner…”

“Don’t…” the fae weakly insisted as he tried to shake his head, but the painful grimace spread on his face again.

Moodboard: Marcus & Allison