2020-12-30 - Minagi, Minagi, Burning Bright
| Title: Minagi, Minagi, Burning Bright | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Girls practice all kinds of braveries in front of their bathroom mirrors. Mikoto has looked into eyes like hers before. Perhaps - with effort - she can also become brave. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Ohtori Academy - Dormitories | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2020-12-30 - 2015-10-21 | |
(With thanks to Mai for her cameo.)
Mikoto Minagi stands in front of the bathroom mirror which she and Mai Tokiha share, all damp from the day's bath. Her braids are heavy as they brush past her white cat-faced pyjamas. She's turned the light off already, but she felt the need to pause, tonight; there's plenty of light from the hall, in any case.
She looks herself in the eye. These days, that's something she tries to avoid. Her gaze is too gold and too bright and just a little bit wrong; it used to fascinate her, but now she dislikes the reminder that she's different from her friends. ... after all, she's not the only one, with eyes which burn bright gold.
But, that's why...
She swallows; she steels her shoulders. She is quiet, when she speaks. "I don't feel good about that," she tells herself, as she looks into her gold eyes, the defining feature of the Minagi clan. It's the same thing she tried to tell him, once, only for the words to catch in her throat like a chicken-bone. This isn't the first time she's tried again, now she's here in the safety of a home much warmer. Like her sparring practice with Fate, it's all about learning something new... and unlearning something old.
Her bravery doesn't last. Her shoulders curl in - she glances away, for a moment. But she returns her attention to the mirror, and she tries again. "I think there's a... another way." A small correction, something she can say. She has gotten bolder as she practices to herself, but her recovery is not a singular moment; it is a series of decisions, made over and over again. She knows now it takes time, and effort, and she won't be good at it right away, like craters in Shibuya's streets.
And there is stumbling. As the hall light behind her catches her eyes with a bright golden glint, she flinches, chin ducking down as her lips pull back in a grimace. She can feel her obsidian heart pounding protest, loud and angry.
But she has to try. She'll never be able to save him if she doesn't try. She is no expert in defiance - neither does she give up. She has always been bold in Tokyo, and surely she also can be bold under her own gaze.
"Nn--!"
Mikoto tries to speak so forcefully and at once her bravery crumbles; her throat tightens and she turns sharply away from the mirror, curling in, grasping her arms about herself. Her eyes squeeze very, very shut.
She's not scared of saying it to herself, not really. She's scared of...
Then Mai calls out to remind her that dinner is almost ready, the scent of delicious hanbagu drifting in from the kitchen. With that, Mikoto all a sudden doesn't care about answering that philosophical conundrum, because dinner is almost ready.
She uncoils, she leaves, and surely her gaze cannot burn into her soul now.
One day she'll be able to stand up to herself, in the mirror.
One day, when she meets her Lord Brother's eyes again...
