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"We're going to defeat Belos. With, or without a deal here." It's not a guarantee, it's not something he already knows; it's just conviction. He has to believe they can do it.

"And you're my friend. I wanna help you, too."

She ducks her head, her hair falling forward to half-conceal her face.

“I- if I hadn’t fallen off the barge, the deal I wanted would have prevented the whole- all of it. Trillions of people.

“Hunter, if you have the chance to protect lives, that’s what I want you to use your deal for.”

"Okay." He squeezes her hand and tugs her in gently, so he can rest his head against hers briefly in a gentle headbutt. "Then, let's save trillions of people. It's not like I can't get another deal."

Taylor sniffs, breath coming a little shaky, and it’s a moment before her head lifts in a little nod.

“Okay,” she echoes, voice not quote under control. “You’re sure?” Because he can’t be sure of another deal; she learned that the hard way.

He knows; that there's every chance he won't end up staying for another deal, that he may not even be able to stay for Taylor's. But he has to try. And he has no issue whatsoever with making sure Taylor has something to graduate for.

"I'm sure."

She swallows, tilting her head against his again.

”You can change your mind, I won’t hold you to it, but… thank you, Hunter. It…” She extracts her hand from his to spread it on her chest, over her heart. “It just feels so much more possible, already.”

"You already graduated once," he reminds her, letting his hand rest in his own lap but keeping his head pressed to hers. "I'm sure you can do it again."

Flapjack chirps in agreement, hopping forward and tilting his own head up so he can rest his little birdy chin on Taylor's arm too.

She nods just a little, making both their heads move.

"... seen my file, yet?"

"...not yet. It didn't feel right." He straightens up again, letting his arm drift to hold Taylor around her waist as he look thoughtfully up at the sky overhead, filled with thick, puffy clouds. "I don't actually know if Adrian read mine at all."

“I never knew how far Rags got in my first one. It’s still in my room.” She gestures up with her chin, towards Deck One.

“This one’s going to be worse,” she says, trying to keep her tone light. “I… I am a murderer.” She sighs, tilting her head back. “I came back here still a warden, but I’m not sure I should have.”

Hunter looks back at her, and there's something tired in his brown eyes.

"I don't know how many people I got branded. Or maybe even killed for being wild witches. But maybe we can use that, you know? We know how far we're willing to go, and where the line is. Where we wanted to stop before. We can help other people stop before they cross it."

She’s still a while, thinking about that. About which lines she crossed, and which ones she didn’t until she’d forgotten what lines were, and which lines she’d deliberately not acknowledged at all.

“You could use your deal to get rid of the brands.”

"It's just an enchantment. It's... a powerful one, admittedly," he can't deny that. "But. There's always a way to break a curse. There has to be. It's not something I have to use a Deal for, especially when the eclipse has passed."

A curse. She looks down at his wrist.

“Is that something your dad’d know?”

He looks down as well, twisting his wrist up slightly.

"I don't know. I never asked."

He was so proud of it once. The youngest Scout to earn it, the youngest Golden Guard. He brushes his fingers lightly across it, and bites down on the irrational urge to claw it off.

"Maybe. There might be something in the Demon Realm, though. Some old wild magic legends about it or something."

“It’s probably a little much for laser tattoo removal.” It’s a try at a joke, but she feels it fall flat.

"I guess it's not really a tattoo, so." He frowns slightly, and looks at Taylor. "What's a laser?"

"Really concentrated light, that you can use to burn or cut in very specific ways. I think to take off tattoos, they burn very shallow layers of skin until the tattoo gets destroyed." She shifts her legs a little, glancing down at her calf, but doesn't say anything about the tattoo she had on Earth.

"I think they use glass or crystal lenses to concentrate the light."

"Oh. So like a beam of raw magic." They weren't common, that lack of control was dangerous and usually reserved for either very young or very incompetent witches. "It's weird that you guys just- make them for fun."

She looks sideways at him, with a smile. "We make toys for our pets out of them. I know we have a laser pointer in the kennel, if you want to see one."

Hunter's ears flick as his eyes widen a little in alarm.

"Wouldn't that be dangerous for the animals there?"

She anticipates the question, and is already shaking her head. "This one's weak. Too weak to burn, unless you aim it into your eyes. But it makes a sharp dot of bright light. Cats love chasing it around."

"Huh." He gives a gentle acoff as he stands, before he offers her a hand to stand as well. "It feels like every time humans make a weapon, you learn how to make toys out of them instead."

"Sometimes it's the other way around," she counters mildly, accepting the help up with just a bit of wobble. Once she's up though, she's plenty steady. "The difference is usually just a matter of scale anyway."

"I suppose." He can't really talk, as he leads the way inside. "Like, abominations are pretty stupid. But if you get a bunch of upgraded ones together, suddenly it's pretty intense."

Taylor's file is sitting on the side table, looking thick and intimidating, and Hunter's ears twitch down a fraction when he sees it. And he'll pause to look back at her.

"You're sure you're okay with me reading it?"

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skitter - 2023-05-01 08:15 (UTC) - Expand