Night 48: Staff-Only Food Counter

[mizuhomaiden]

[from here]Moving quickly seemed to have been a wise move as Sheena and Yukari made it back inside the building without the ninja's presence provoking any of the birds. The ninja scanned the room before turning back to shut the door securely behind them. She knew the door to the kitchen had a lock on it, so she wasn't in any real hurry

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[mind_the_sukima]

Oh? It seemed there was a glimmer of recognition in the ninja's eyes. Though more interesting were her words.

For a moment, Yukari was quiet. She had, of course, been expecting this at some point, if not now exactly. She just... hadn't put a lot of thought into it. A pact with Sheena, was it? The youkai was flattered, since she knew how closely Sheena regarded those spirits with which she had formed pacts with before, and even compared her to them. But what exactly did it entail? Would it work in this place? She could only imagine how it might effect Sheena, especially as she was now, if they tried to form a pact and it failed. And there were, of course, her own feelings on being contracted to a summoner, something that had never happened before in her centuries of existence.

"Oh, feeling better? You must be confident, to ask something like that," she said with a teasing smirk, even if she didn't feel like joking. She knew that wasn't the case, but hopefully it might encourage her a little. Now that the ninja was acting less like a rag doll, maybe she was starting to recover a little.

That and Yukari was stalling for time as she considered how best to answer.

[mizuhomaiden]

Sheena blinked her eyes again, this time shaking her head a little as if trying to clear away mental cobwebs.

"I feel... not right," she said, leaning her head back against the wall. She raised a hand up and rubbed her forehead. "I... shouldn't have said anything. Forget about it. I don't have the right to ask..."

[mind_the_sukima]

Ah, there was the ninja she knew. A little flustered and confused, but there she was. That shadow thing was really going to have to pay. Playing with Sheena's emotions, touching her legs, leaving her dazed and confused - those were clearly only things Yukari was allowed to do.

"Now, now," she said with a giggle, nuzzling the girl's cheek affectionately. "If you never ask, you'll never get to hear me say yes."

Which, incidentally, Yukari decided she would, if the girl could be bothered to say it again. Perhaps it wouldn't last forever, but what did? In this time, in this place, for this moment before everything could change, perhaps she could share this bond with her.

[mizuhomaiden]

Sheena still wasn't all there, but her cheeks colored a bit at the nuzzle. And then she stopped breathing. Her eyes widened a fraction before she blinked them, trying to fight through the sludge of whatever the hell had happened to her. Did Yukari just--? Was she imagining it?

The ninja's, no, the summoner's hand shook as she brought it to the youkai's cheek, using the contact as a means to focus and to allow her to meet those violet eyes. "I am Sheena. I seek a pact with Yukari. I ask that thou establish a pact with me."

The words were so familiar, coming easily from her lips. Despite them, Sheena was not prepared to attempt the pact and so the mana did not surge about them as it normally did with those words. Sheena wasn't recovered enough to invoke her summoning magic just yet. She was still fighting the emptiness inside, trying to find the kernel of will deep within. Without it, she had no chance of holding the pact and controlling the power of it.

[mind_the_sukima]

Yukari smiled fondly at the touch, listening to those words. Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately, as Yukari had no idea what was supposed to happen and thus was unaware of Sheena's current inability - the formality of those words threw her off a little, and the youkai's mind raced to recall all that Sheena had said about forming her pacts rather than simply answering "yes" to the ninja's request.

"All right, I'll listen," she said, smiling encouragingly. "Wasn't there something about a vow as well now? A promise, to entice my aid or some such?"

Not that the youkai needed much enticing at this point.

[mizuhomaiden]

"No, no... that wasn't right. It didn't start," Sheena said, clearly not talking about the youkai's response. "No mana."

The summoner shifted, leaning forward to bury her face in Yukari's chest. "I need a little longer or I won't be able to... What the hell was that thing?"

[mind_the_sukima]

For a moment, Yukari was worried she might have said something wrong - though really, would that be her fault? She only knew second-hand how these were supposed to go - but it became clear enough what was the problem. Mana was the same thing that powered Sheena's cards, so it wasn't an effect of the institute. It seemed that shadow had not just drained Sheena emotionally, but magically as well.

"Not sure," replied the youkai, wrapping her arms around the ninja. It was good to have her back. "It seemed to be some kind of creature of shadow that feeds on energy, both emotional and magical it would seem. I didn't see it come from anything, and you checked the room before, so I assume that the darkness we saw was its true form."

[mizuhomaiden]

"Ugh. Normally, I would have been able to sense it, if it was darkness. But here..."

Sheena closed her eyes and took solace in the warmth of the youkai and the comfort of her arms. Her breathing steadied and she sought to find what she needed within for the pact.

"In a few... What questions do you have before I invoke the mana?"

[mind_the_sukima]

Well, normally, Yukari could probably have banished it from the kitchen, or perhaps erased its existence entirely. The border between being and unbeing were slim for a creature as ephemeral as that.

"Well... I understand sort of what the pact is, but what exactly will happen once it's been made? How is it used, really?" the youkai asked with a look of academic interest. If it meant that she'd have to follow Sheena's every command, she might want to consider rethinking this. she liked being on one end of the shikigami-master relationship, not the other. "And... is there anything special I need to say or do when we make it?"

Just barely, she might have looked a little nervous when she asked that, though she tried to hide it with her nonchalant smile. She'd never admit it, but she really had no idea how any of this worked and was scared of messing it up somehow.

[mizuhomaiden]

Yukari was lucky in that Sheena had her eyes closed and didn't open them until after the youkai had covered the nervousness up with a smile.

"Well... once the pact is made, we'll be connected. Linked to each other by mana, no matter the distance. We'll be able to sense each other in a way. I usually have a kind of commune with my summons, though I'm not sure if that will happen with you. I'm... not sure it will even work with you. I've put a lot of thought and analysis into it, so I think it will, but I'm not sure."

Sheena sighed and leaned her head against the youkai's shoulder. "The important thing about a pact is the vow. It is the center of the magic. It is something you have to accept for the pact to take affect. And as long as I do not violate my vow, you will be tied to me and the magic will not allow you to ignore my call. But, if the vow is ever broken, something you will know immediately, you will be free to ignore my call or null the pact completely at your discretion. In my worlds, a spirit can only be bound to one summoner at a time." Which was probably one of the reasons summoners were so rare.

"After the pact, when I need your help, I will use a summoning ritual, similar to what you saw when I summoned Luna, to call you. For that brief moment, you will be compelled to help me, regardless of where you are and what you're doing. But only for that moment. And they'll be rare moments. I do not rely on my summons, but ask them to compliment me or call them when I need an edge or something finished immediately. It's are also very draining on my mana."

As for the actual pact ritual...

"And I know I sort of explained the steps to you before, but I'll do it again. As for anything specific you might need to know, I possess the Right of the Pact and am called a Pact Maker by the spirits. The magic may or may not aid you in knowing this stuff. I don't really know. I also don't know if this is required or not, but every time I have made a pact, the spirit tests my worthiness as a pact maker by testing my skill in combat. I figure this is for them to feel confident in my ability to hold my own without calling for help all the time. I admit, constantly being summoned would get really irritating."

She sighed. "I'm going to guess that if that test is required, the magic will let you know one way or another. Then, once you're satisfied with that, you ask or tell me, your choice, to make my vow. If you accept it, the magic will solidify the pact. And then there's the Proof of Pact."

A pause. "Oh, when I die, all pacts of mine disappear."

[mind_the_sukima]

Yukari listened with what was as close to rapt attention as she got, which meant that while she looked to merely just be listening, she was taking in every word and thinking it and its implications over.

The pact in and of itself sounded familiar enough - Yukari's link to her shikigami was not dissimilar and she too - when not trapped here - could summon them at will to do her bidding. How much they were actually compelled to obey her seemed less absolute, as Ran had often done thing contrary to Yukari's will, though always with her best interest in mind (even if she was wrong). On the other hand, Yukari relied on her shikigami a lot more, it seemed. There was no question though if Yukari was strong enough to be worthy of their help though.

Whether Sheena was strong enough to deserve Yukari's help was also not in question - considering how many times she'd saved the youkai, it was already a done deal in that department. Hopefully the magic wouldn't need her to reconfirm this; when Sheena said they tested her skill in combat, she could only imagine she meant by engaging her in combat, something Yukari was not keen to repeat.

The vow was still an interesting thing - a spoken affirmation or condition. There was an unspoken agreement between Yukari and her shikigami - they were not bound by force - but she wondered if Sheena's vow would be something like that or something more conditional. It wasn't unheard of for certain kinds of magic to have self-imposed conditions to strengthen their power. She was curious as to what she would vow.

And that was a rather grim note to end her lecture on.

"Well," said Yukari, hugging the girl tightly and laying her head on top of Sheena's, "then I hope I end up stuck with this pact for a very long time."

[mizuhomaiden]

Wrapped up as she was by the youkai, Yukari did not see Sheena's face flush, but she could probably feel it given it spread down the summoner's neck and across her shoulders. A part of her kicked her, reminding her that she needed to lock the whole involved-with-Yukari emotions away until after the pact was made, if only because of the youkai's uncanny ability to make Sheena's willpower disappear. She needed that more than anything else when it came to a pact. Without it, she couldn't control the mana, much less control the power of the youkai herself.

"Umm... yeah." She swallowed and squeezed Yukari back once before disengaging herself.

"Okay, I think I can do this now." She looked around, offering her hand to help Yukari u. "I guess here works as well as any other, despite it feeling kind of weird. This isn't the standard venue."

[mind_the_sukima]

Yukari was a little reluctant to let go of the warm ninja she was hugging, but the pact ceremony probably couldn't be done in this position, or even if it could, Sheena probably wanted to afford what little formalities they still could in this place. Taking the girl's hand, the youkai also stood.

"Well, I doubt there's anything like a temple around here anyway," she replied, giving Sheena's hand a squeeze before letting go of it. "Well, at least not one you'd want to use for this." The church with the fountain of blood would be far worse than this. "Besides, a room like this, whose only function is to be between places, kind of suits me."

Letting her hands fall to her sides, Yukari moved to stand an arms length away from the summoner, clearing her mind and relaxing her body. She let all nervousness and thoughts about what might happen slip from her body like water through a drain, or memories through the gaps of the world.

"I'm ready to start when you are, Sheena."

[mizuhomaiden]

When put that way, Sheena felt better about their location. She was so used to the spirits having temples, not so much dedicated to them as the element they were, that she hadn't really thought what a Temple of Borders would be like. And she kind of didn't want to. Maybe after the pact (if it worked) she would have a better understanding of gaps and borders.

With a nod at Yukari's word, Sheena closed her eyes and cycled her breathing. She needed to squash her nervousness. She needed to find her center, deep in her mana well. She needed to focus. She needed to be a summoner. That will, that power, that magic.

Sheena's eyes snapped open, a look in them the youkai had never seen before, not even when the summoner was brainwashed. There was power there, something not to be taken likely and, with the words that came from the Sheena's lips, mana surged in the room, originating from the summoner.

"I am Sheena. I seek a pact with Yukari. Whilst thou establish a pact with me?"

The mana swirled about, engulfing them both in the purest of magics. Even this place could not deny the significance of being the only summoner born in four thousand years. Never once did Sheena take her eyes off of the youkai's.

[mind_the_sukima]

Yukari waited while the girl gathered herself. At the edges of perception, she could feel hints of her previous nervousness stirring. It was odd being the one acted upon, rather than the one who had enacted the situation. A lack of control, of knowledge that was somewhat unsettling. She quashed those feelings down with her trust in the ninjas words that she would, when it happened, know what to do. Still, there was some doubt.

That doubt disappeared entirely when Sheena's eyes reopened. The utter confidence and seriousness in that look was compelling, something that rarely affected the youkai but did so now. There was something else there too, not just will, but mana, power, magic. Even if it was unfamiliar to Yukari, she knew the feel of magic and could feel it reaching out, seeking her. It was Sheena's power, trying to establish a connection with her own. However, it could surely only connect with something as vague and distant as the youkai of borders' essence if she let it.

"I am Yukari. I will hear out the Pact Maker," the youkai intoned, slipping into the same level of formality quite naturally. It seemed like the right thing to do, given the situation and Sheena's seriousness. "I know already of thy strength, so I ask only this: by what vow would thou bind us?"

Yukari's own being reached out towards the ninja's magic, closing the space between them. But not quite yet. There was still a little bit more that was needed to bridge that gap between human and youka, between summoner and summoned.

[mizuhomaiden]

The youkai's own magic was so close, so very close, and yet still far away. This was a familiar feeling, a familiar sense of yearning to have that power fill her near bottomless mana well. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the summoner was relieved to know she'd been right and that this pact could happen.

Could if Yukari accepted her vow. And now was that time.

There were many vows Sheena could have made. Some she could have chosen with the youkai's nature in mind, but in the end, such a vow did not feel right. There was only one type of vow the summoner was able to make and either Yukari would accept it for what it was, accept the summoner for who she was, or Sheena was going to have to let the magic slip and the pact go unformed. It was always this part, always the vow, that made Sheena nervous as the minds of the spirits were never something she could truly understand. What she did understand was that she would be resolute in her vow and the spirit, the youkai, would see that. Sense it.

"Right now, there are people suffering, trapped away from their homes, away fro, their families and all they hold dear. I vow to search for a way to send them back where they belong, no matter how long it takes."

Sheena's mana surged again with the statement of her vow and she held the youkai's eyes. Her own were unwavering in her dedication. This was it. Would Yukari accept this vow in exchange for her power?