white_flowers | IC: Midsummer Rising

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midsummer rising

IC: Midsummer Rising

Midsummer.

Longest day, brightest day, day of celebration for those of the Light and also of the Wild.

It will be a day of great power-- and had once marked the ending of the rising Dark in the world she had once called her own.

But here at the end of all the worlds, she intends to change things. The longest and brightest day it may be, but there is another side to it as well; for at the moment that the sun passes zenith, the time of Light also passes.

So begins the long slow fall into the Dark.

This time, the White Rider means to turn her carefully-gathered power to advantage at that precise moment, bringing the cycle to an entirely different ending -- for everyone.

She is smiling cruelly when she steps out of the forest and starts toward the bar, half-lost in her thoughts and her plans.

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When you see power about to collide with power, and you hear somebody yell for you to hit the deck, you'd better fucking hit the deck.

So Mercer threw himself at the ground and yanked his cap down over his eyes as the explosion hit.

And now he straightens, cautiously, pushing his hat back, blinking away the edges of afterimages. He still can't feel much in his left shoulder except a singleminded stabbing ow, but the sky seems to be clear -- and the weight of the Dark is gone.

Triumphant, he lets out a hoarse whoop like a sports match spectator and punches the air with his good arm.

Puck is sprawled on the ground, himself again-- dazed and bruised from the buffeting the Dark gave him, but no worse than that.

There's laughter rippling from him now, bright and silvery and only slightly edged with too many nerves too long pent up.

He doesn't need to be told what's happened here.

Nita, crouched again, blows out a long breath and says a word in the Speech. The shield dissolves into a brief, cool breeze.

She stands up, brushing herself off, and her eyes are old as she looks around.

Brother?

Nita catches Puck's eye.

... Well, more than just his eye.

There's something about her that he can't quite pin down-- power, shining bright, and there's more of it than he's seen before, more than there should be ...

He stares.

Slow, steady:

"Nita Callahan."

Then he gives up the steady in favor of incredulous.

"... Exactly what have you done with yourself?"

A blink, and Nita looks over at him.

"Huh?"

The transition is slight -- a shift in stance, a different light in the eyes -- and only noticeable if you're looking closely.

"--Oh. Um, I'll make introductions. But are you okay?"

Oh, Puck is looking closely.

Very, very closely.

He shrugs, brushing a bit of dirt from his shoulder.

"Never better."

A a wry quirk of his lips.

"Unless I am mistaken quite, the Rider fares worst of us all."

She glances towards the group forming around the white shape.

"I get that sense."

Brushing her hands against her jeans, she adds, "And, well, this is the Whisperer. We're sharing."

"Well met," says the Whisperer, smiling.

Sharing?

This is what Puck is about to say, in an appropriately cynical tone-- because, well, that's never safe.

But then she speaks, and he finds there isn't anything to do but listen.

It's like running into several old acquaintances all at once-- the feel of each of them is there; he isn't sure whether to say Athena, or Apollo, or Saraswathi.

Very slowly, and very slightly, he smiles.

"Well."

Soft.

"I should have recognized you better with a few more arms."

She laughs. "I'm sure you'll have a chance again, one day."

A grin.

"I look forward to it."

He glances in Blodwen's direction.

"You've arrived at a rather opportune time."

Following his glance -- "We'll see. This isn't something we were expecting."

"Not exactly, anyway," adds Nita.

His eyes narrow very slightly-- keen and curious.

"Not exactly?"

A dry look. "You weren't expecting something to happen with her?"

He snorts.

"I was expecting her to kill me, perhaps. Or Raven. I am most gratified that he's managed to survive her."

"Same here."

She blows out a breath. "I think maybe we're done out here."

Another glance to Blodwen, this one lingering.

He's tempted.

He's very tempted.

So is Nita.

"Leave her alone tonight, hobgoblin," the Whisperer says, softly.

Puck turns back to her-- to them.

And finds he almost resents the name when it's used this way, resents the power behind it. What does this one know, coming so late to things?

Very slowly, and very deliberately, he shrugs.

And smiles.

"Tonight."

Casually, almost carelessly, he examines his fingernails for dirt. Then he glances up, eyes blue and guileless.

"And perhaps, Nita Callahan, you might tell me a tale or two of your recent doings. I do hate being left in the dark."

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nita_callahan - 2006-06-20 06:59 (UTC) - Expand

Mercer can't understand at first why he's feeling that uncomfortable, jangling incongruence of too many distances crammed into too small a space again. It wasn't there a second ago, it shouldn't be there, not if --

And then he looks at Nita.

And he gapes, soundlessly, in a wordless oh.

He gets the impression that if he squinted hard enough, concentrated just that much harder, he'd see grey eyes there. Mercer pulls himself to his feet.

Well, Nita usually has grey eyes. But the fact remains that whoever -- Whoever -- is looking out right now has worn them before.

It takes her a moment to notice Mercer's scrutiny, and then she grins.

"You're looking well, Hermes. Well met."

"Well met indeed." Very soft. It doesn't surprise him, and he doesn't bother with corrections.

He digs his fingers into his shoulder, for stability as much as to massage the pain away.

"You aren't -- "

But she is, somehow, and yet not.

An embarrassed grin follows. "Okay, sis, if it's really you you're gonna have to forgive me 'cause there's the part where I almost got the shit kicked out of me by a big malevolent tornado of evil, but -- how is it I know you?"

She laughs. "Don't worry. I've been changing faces."

One hand waves towards the Champion. "Glaukopis we shared, and I was Iatros and Loxias sometimes."

Her brother's power is blazing fiercely, unmistakable, and it takes less than a second for him to cross over for the family reunion.

"Sister," he says aloud, joy ringing in his voice, "Well met. And--" he searches her eyes for Nita, not the Whisperer-- "how are you handling things?"

He hasn't forgotten that Nita asked after him, once; he doesn't get concern often from mortals.

A blink, and Nita smiles at him. "I'm okay. Good to see you again." She glances around the lakeside. "Really good. Thanks."

The Whisperer grins. "Very well met. I won't keep you -- but thank you."

He grins at both of them.

"It's good seeing both of you," he tells them. "I can't stick around like this, anyway - but you two know where to find me."

The light around him flares up briefly and then fades, even as he's speaking, and the Champion vanishes with it.

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