I'm Sorry for the Person I Became...

[somescribbles]

"It's really all about it being familiar," Molly explained to Tsinku over cups of cooling green tea. She had invited the spirit into her apartment during the tea ceremony, and because Tsinku was a curious spirit, and amused easily by Molly, 'he' (he felt like a 'he' to her, and so far hadn't disagreed) had come. They 'sat' in the room Molly had designated at her workshop. She was wearing all white, freshly scrubbed and showered, hair still damp. Her hairdryer had gone out again, which made what she was about to attempt even more ironic. Molly sat in the lotus position, the Japanese tea set in front of her lit by the candles she'd set up at the five directional points over the room. Tsinku demonstrated his presence with the occasional crackle over clay, and generally played the part of the guest by sitting across from her. Molly couldn't help but feel that he was laughing at her for this whole thing, but it wasn't an unfriendly sort of laughter, so she didn't mind.

"I thought about using Legos first but - oh, you don't know what they are?" Her eyes cast up to the side, attempting to explain it. "They're these plastic squares that you join together, with little round holes in them to make them click. You use them to build things when you're a kid, and they hurt like blazes if you step on them with bare feet. I always thought that it felt just like getting electrified through your feet, and that's what made me think of it."

Tsinku scoffed, the tea in his cup splashing a bit in response.

"Yes, I know being electrocuted would hurt a lot more. But the point is that's what it made me feel like. But in the end, I decided against Legos. They're made of plastic, and even though that technically doesn't matter in the spell, I just don't think of plastic as a good conductor for electricity."

She gestured to the jacks with one hand. "These are made out of metal, and just as painful if you step on them."

The spirit rippled around them curiously, and Molly watched the metal turn white with the heat of his presence.

"Plus, they're easier to throw," she added honestly. "They're actually made to throw. Though... down, mostly. Not at."

Tsinku felt distinctly smug. He knew she'd considered her other filial bonds before coming to him, and quite agreed with her that he was the best choice. Nala, always welcome in Molly's apartment and softly curious drifted in. Tsinku strutted. There was really no other way to put it. Molly decided against rolling her eyes, and wasn't sure if she felt more nervous or more comfortable with the softer spirit's presence.

She took a sip of the now tepid green tea as the two spirits communed in flashes of electricity and whispers of warmth, too quickly for her to follow. It felt rude, anyway, even though they were the ones in her apartment. When the conversation finished, Nala remained, hovering over the leftmost candle of Molly's pentagram of light.

Tsinku flickered at her and Molly glanced up. He seemed curious, smug, and... impatient? She almost wanted to laugh, but instead she said, "Ready?"

When lightning flickered across her own mug in affirmative, Molly set them aside. She stood and drew the circle closed around them with a small expenditure of will. It shut off the spiritual and magical energies all around them, leaving only herself, Tsinku, the jacks, and a lone candle in the enclosed space. It was a little intimidating and Molly let out a controlled breath as Tsinku tested the walls of her circle.

"It's okay, Tsinku." She put no power, no will in his name, but it still arrested the spirit's attention. "After we do this once, I might not even need your help to do the rest, I might just be able to use our bond. This is just to keep anything else from interfering."

If lightning could 'rumble,' that is what Tsinku did, and Molly had the sense that the elemental was... if not worried about this and the results it would have on her, at least uncertain. That made her relax - she was uncertain as well. But she and Tsinku had gotten along even better than she and Eferin, and while it was dangerous and foolish to trust in spirits, and this could go very very badly very very quickly if he decided to turn against her. But she just... didn't think he would.

"It's better this way, since Nala's in the room. But I'll break it right now if you're not comfortable, and we can try again another night."

Tsinku laughed at her, the air becoming charged, static rippling along her cloths, stinging her damp hair.

"All right, all right! No need to get snooty about it. Me, mortal, you spirit, I get it."

Molly took a deep breath, gathering her will, "Ready?" She extended her right hand out, a channel for the spirit. "Just like when we bonded the first time."

To say that it 'tingled' when the spirit took 'hold' of her hand would be a gross understatement. 'Pins and needles' didn't cover it, but neither 'grabbed hold of a live wire.' The pain wasn't just physical, it was spiritual, magical and more than pain it was a joining of their two magical energies as Molly allowed Tsinku access to hers and Tsinku gave to her of himself. She gathered up as much of his power as she could, felt it twining with her own energy, and then held it in her right hand before shifting her focus to the jack on her left.

She'd spent an hour before Tsinku arrived, learning everything she could about this particular jack. The angle, the weight, the feel, the consistency, the glint of light - she was sure she could reproduce it perfectly in an illusion a thousand times, even weeks from today. And so she drew on that familiarity for her spell. Molly merged the power she felt coursing through her, the beating of her heart and the flow of her life, the constant 'tingling' of her hand into the form of the jack. She twisted lines and subtle notes of energy, preparing, altering, and spoke one word of command, "Kizua!"

The energy rushed out of her and into the jack. She felt it along the threads of magical energy she'd constructed like music, like a trip-trap sprung by vibration - except the vibration rushed and bubbled and coiled and Molly felt the quality of the jack she'd memorized change ever so subtly.

She dispelled the circle by crossing a foot over the barrier as she took a hard seat on the floor, freeing Tsinku and staring at the jack in her hand. It was faintly warm, but cooling rapidly. To all her external, physical senses it appeared to be completely ordinary. And even extending her magical ones, she was pleased to find that the spell work had been subtle - if it worked, no one was going to see anything different about this jack unless they were specifically looking for it.

"Well," she said to the two spirits in the room, slowly grinning. "I think it worked."

"Yeah," she agreed with Nala as the spirit came to hover by her in concern. "I'll check in the morning."

She was exhausted.