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]

[It was twelve years ago, wasn't it - is it twelve, now? more? who knows - that he stood in this circle for the first time. How earnest his wish had been, after they won that war, that he could just be a regular guy! Guess it was God's will that he could only enjoy it for a few years, and that he'd be searching for an "antidote" to the end of the world all the while. He can't bring himself to be bitter, but, you know.]

[God, per usual, has other plans. God, per usual, has decided to throw something at him at the last possible moment and say "deal with it as you will." Right now, as he is, he does not feel Clairvoyance pricking like a needle into his consciousness. He looks down and sees neither rings nor robes, only scrubs and non-slip shoes, pressed to his skin as though they belonged on him all along. The FATE summoning system (he knows that) has crammed some basics into his head: Alter Ego, Romani Archaman. By sacrificing yourself for humanity and giving God's gifts back to the heavens, you split from "Solomon" and became your own Heroic Spirit. He swears he heard its voice, such as it is, laugh for just a moment before it faded away.]

[In his own head like he is, he barely notices Ritsuka in front of him. If he did, he would surely think she's aged; absence would make him notice the lines across her still-young brow where he didn't notice them before. Right now, though, he is working across the millions of thoughts in his head, the how what why wheres all building in volume and combining to a flat uhhhhh.]

[The ritual the Grail-not-Grail urges him to say something. Alter Ego, Romani Archaman. Instead, he stands there, feet screwed into the floor, gaping like a dead fish.]

[fujimaru]

...

[ If she'd still had quartz in hand -- it happens, sometimes! sometimes there's an excess -- she would have dropped it. If she'd had anything in hand, she would have dropped it; there's some small part of her that's shocked that she doesn't just drop, herself, straight to the floor. It's a near thing, but when she starts to sway, her knees lock up. She stumbles over nothing at all, but remains standing.

Roman's not the only one gaping. From the other room she can hear people yelling -- the staff, Da Vinci, Mash -- but Ritsuka can barely hear them. Everything seems to have faded out into sheer white noise in her head.

She'd been expecting... well, no one specific in particular, but all things considered, a woman had been a safe bet. Some historical figure or other that would be abruptly revealed to have been female, probably busty, probably capable of killing her with a pinky finger.

Not this. Not him.

There are so many questions running through her mind. In the months since the Temple and all its revelations and endings, she'd thought of dozens, hundreds, thousands of things she'd wanted to say to him, to ask him, and maybe to scream if by some miracle she'd be given the chance.

But they all come crashing together in her throat, strangled up before they can make it out, and all she can say is: ]

Doc...tor...?

[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. ]