don't wait for a miracle, be the miracle

[fujimaru]

[ Another day, another looming threat to humanity. It's probably not great that Ritsuka is starting to get used to it (as much as anyone can get used to the potential end of everything), but it probably stands as a testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.

Or something like that.

Either way, there's a new blip on SHEBA's sensors that analysis has deemed worthy of investigation. No ones is sure yet whether it's one of the remaining Demon Pillars or some other source of trouble, but as always, it falls on Ritsuka to investigate.

Her first stop, though, is the summoning room. Sometimes, when she's very lucky, they can pull someone in that can provide some clues as to what might lie ahead. And since the matter isn't an emergency (yet), she's curious to test her luck.

So here she is, quartz in hand, casting them into the circle and watching the reaction spark to life. When the three bands flare to life, she finds herself holding her breath.

Who will it be...? ]

Comments

[assnova]

[Roman hears it all - the yelling, the whirring of machines, he even smells that familiar clinical-cold "nothing" smell - but he barely registers it. He's more focused on going over the fact, now apparent to him, that this is neither the Temple nor Heaven nor nothingness. Fluffy, half-relevant thoughts pop up in his brain: do they still have a room for him, he wonders, or did they get rid of it? Less relevant thoughts come up, too: Mash is alive, thank God, but Mash is alive?!?]

[He was missed. People saw his absence, not "The King of Magic's absence" but his absence, and it causes something uncomfortable and sad and beautiful to bubble in his gut. If this is what he wished for by becoming human - even if he isn't human now, not anymore - he certainly got what he wished for.]

[Is this a time for humor?? He'll throw it at the wall and see if it sticks, in any case. How else is he supposed to respond?]

So, uh, I guess you didn't plan this. I still feel like I'm missing something...

[The first inch he moves, at all, is to give a jaunty wave to Ritsuka in front of him. It's a deeply awkward and uncoordinated motion, as though he's still not used to having his component molecules attached to one another.] Alter Ego, Romani Archaman. I get the feeling a lot's happened since I... Left?

[fujimaru]

Alter--

[ Alter Ego?! she wants to yell, but it cuts off before she can finish that. She's at least familiar with the idea by now, but it's such a bizarre thing to consider. In all honesty, she's never quite been able to reconcile that Roman -- gentle, mild-mannered, well-meaning clumsy Roman -- had also once been King Solomon.

Only now, maybe that's not so much of a thing anymore? Sort of? Maybe?!

Ritsuka takes another breath like she means to needle him about it. She's missed his awkward attempts at lightening the mood. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder; even if her grief isn't not nearly as bad as it had once been, there'd been a long stretch of time where she would have given anything to hear him make a stupid joke. It had been a wish she would have taken to the Holy Grail, if any of the ones collected would have accepted something like that.

So she tries, but instead what comes out next is a little choked whining noise. She can feel her eyes starting to sting and her vision blurs. This is so embarrassing, but even if she knows that, she can't make it stop. ]

Doctor... Doctor, is it really-- no, it's definitely you, right? No one else is as bad at reading the mood as you are.

[ She still doesn't know how or why, but she can at least believe it's really him. ]