Chapter Text
So they were, lovers friends
in the lavender fields garden,
each wounded and raw bloody and battered.
They had fought heart and mind tooth and claw,
but they came out broken better in the end.
Magpie stepped out of Aj’s space to give her some time to process her words. They did a mental check of their own injuries in the meantime. For all fights and scraps, she didn’t come away too bad.
Her quickened ability to heal should help with most of the injuries, although they can’t say the same about her black eye. It was a particularly nasty injury, she hoped the worst of it would heal before any questions were asked.
They took a glance at Aj to check on how she was doing. The answer? Not particularly well. She seemed to be slightly dissociated from the present moment. In a way, it looked like she was reliving memories from the past.
Aj’s face was worse off than theirs was, that’s for sure. Her left eye was a black and bloody mess. There were various bruises littering her face, with a streak of blood coming across her lip. Her fists were slightly bruised, most of the injuries she inflicted were scratches rather than hits.
Magpie felt more than a few pings of remorse, they never intended to rough up Aj to this degree. They always hated getting mad, she was never sure how much she could control her anger.
Yet? This was cathartic. This was needed, not just for her, but for them both. With any hope, Magpie hoped that Aj actually got something pounded into her stubborn head. Even if it had to be literally pounded into her.
If you had asked Magpie what they would think about becoming a human punching bag, frankly they wouldn’t be put off. It was in her nature to try and help as many people as possible. Sure they’d be a little scrapped up, but anything to help a friend. That isn’t too far fetched, is it?
Magpie rubbed the side of her jaw and tried to stretch it out. It hurt, among many other things, to say the least. They hadn’t been in the business of underestimating Aj’s strength, but it was still a little surprising seeing how much bite the other woman had in her.
Well it wasn’t so much bite, as much as it was pain. Aj carried within her, the entire weight of the world, at least her world. They hadn’t known much about Aj other than her magic and her affinity for, casual…things.
What she had known however, was that Aj was carrying more than what she wanted people to think. It was obvious in the way she spoke, the uncaring posture, and lax gait. It was painfully familiar in a way that Magpie wanted to simultaneously uncover, and keep buried.
Magpie saw herself in Aj, it was parts of them reflecting back. Maybe there was a part of her that liked Aj for that exact reason. If she could help someone like her, maybe they themselves could be helped.
It wasn’t entirely their fault anyways, they couldn’t help but become curious about the decay mage. It could’ve been her magic, or her reluctance to show anyone who she actually was.
Well, there was one person who was the exception.
Magpie was beginning another tirade of internal guilt and conflict, when Aj seemed to snap back to reality.
Aj looked back at Magpie with eyes that held darkened days past, nightmare eyes.
The taller woman shot her a look that said, “Are you alright?”
The shorter spitfire rolled her eyes with all the grace of a concussed deer, “Don’t worry about me.”
Magpie hit her with an eye roll of their own and walked in Aj’s direction. They walked with stiff shoulders, as if the power of her hits injured herself as well.
Aj bridged the gap with a smirk and a slight limp. Magpie’s kick to the back of her knee really did a number. Maybe the days of her getting on her knees for, various activities, were over… (never going to happen.)
Aj wiped the little trickle of blood from her nose and let out a small chuckle. She knew they weren’t done talking about this, but at least they were done fighting.
“You’re pretty good with your hands Magpie, you should show me what else they could do some time.” Aj finished this with a wiggle of her eyebrows, daring Magpie to meet her with the same energy.
Magpie flicked the shorter woman’s forehead before closing her in a hug. They rested her head atop of the latter’s head. “Yeah, it’s called a hug. You really are the academy bicycle.”
Aj rubbed her forehead and rested it on the taller one’s chest, now equipped with her signature smirk. “Wooow Magpie, I think I’d rather you call me a slur at that point.”
Flick landed on the table off the side of the two and let out a particularly loud chirp toward the pair.
“FLICK. YOU CAN’T SAY THAT.