21. Deckside
General Summary
An hour or so later, the party reconvened in the cabin. Both Ta'lok and Cypher's recon missions had gone well. Looking for work might be a legitimate "in," Ta'lok shared, apparently Amir was currently recruiting, hiring on as many hands as were willing to swell his forces. He also got some useful details about the army's composition.
Most of Amir's forces were garrisoned nearby, but not actually on-site of his palace. He only kept a small force of a couple dozen soldiers there as personal security. Still too many for their group to take on in a pitched battle, but a small enough number to make infiltration a more viable strategy.
Cypher, on the other hand, had a frown pressing lines into his brow. He got numbers, he said. Amir's forces numbered somewhere between a hundred or a hundred-fifty, depending on who you asked. The only thing everyone he talked to agreed on was that their assembly was startlingly rapid.
The reason the person he talked to even knew who Amir is, was because there were all kinds of rumours trying to figure out where he got this overnight following of devotees from. Usually a force that loyal and sizeable is built up over years. This one went from 0 to almost current strength over the course of a single week some years ago, and they are fiercely loyal. No one knows why, the guy was a nobody before his army started giving him pull.
His tone as he relates this is incongruously bitter, annoyance present in every syllable. As the group splits up, getting ready for bed or, in the warlock's case, heading outside with his grimoire under his arm, Mirage ducks out the cabin door after him.
"What's up?" she asks, falling into step with him as they cross the windswept desk. He pauses, looking a question at her.
"You look pissed."
He looks down, annoyed, most likely at himself. "It's nothing, small world that's all. Nothing to do with the mission."
She looks at him for a second, then shrugs, "Kay. Well. Tell me anyway?"
She wonders if he will ever not look a little surprised when someone expresses concern for him. But his guardedness is fading.
"It really is nothing," he says, "Like I said, it's just a small world. Put me in a bad mood but I'll be okay. I know this never works on you but genuinely, you don't have to worry on this one."
She laughs despite herself. At least he's learning.
He turns his head to look at her as they walk, "How about you, though?"
"I'm okay. I don't want to go back, but I want to fuck Amir over more, so. Taking it one step at a time." She smiles ruefully.
"Hey if it helps I don't like the idea of putting you in proximity any better. I really do think it's best if we just raid the place while he's out. You can draw dicks on his self-portraits. You know he's got to have a whole roomful of them."
Her face lights up at this, she looks genuinely pleased, like she didn't think of it before.
"If it wouldn't put everyone in danger, I would love to blow that place sky high. Tornado-style."
"If the wind there is anything like it is here, that'd be a sight to behold"
"Yeah. I'll find other ways to ruin his life and get us the information we need in the process. Did you and Ta'lok figure out the particulars?"
"I think the boss still wants to see if we can get more information in Taifun before we settle on anything specific, but I'm trying to get him to come around on treating this like a B&E. I honestly can't tell if he's actually starting to agree or if he's just glad I'm not insisting on feeding him his own guts anymore."
He pauses, reviewing their rumour-finding debrief in his mind. "That army out of nowhere... I'm not the only one who clocked a deal on that shit, right?"
"We still don't have confirmation but if he's working with the goddamn FEY - then a deal would make a whole lot of sense."
He nods, glad for the confirmation
"I just wonder what the terms of the deal were, you know?"
He rolls his eyes "if its a deal with those cockroaches who the hell knows. 'I give you an army, you give me your sense of smell for the week'? 'Dogsit my yeth hound's litter of horrible little puppies'?"
She laughs, shaking her head.
"The only consistent thing about those insectoid freaks is their inconsistency," he grumbles, "That they can even form contracts hurts my head."
"Yeah, I have to admit, most of this stuff goes over my head. I'm a sneak in, take stuff, and sneak out kind of bitch."
A short laugh, more of a breath through the nose. "Hear, hear."
"But hey" she looks at him and puts a hand on his arm, "thank you. Sincerely. This would be - impossible without you, without all of you."
He jumps slightly, a momentary tension. Then he manages a half-smile. "Yeah, of course. I mean..." hesitating like he's looking for words, "what are friends for, right?"
"Right." She looks at him a half second longer, trying to gauge his expression. She can't shake the memory of his face in the library, his smiles before everything in the bar went to hell. 'Friends...' she wonders, 'how does that feel to say?'
His answering smile carries a strain, a restraint, but no resentment. He shifts the topic before she can scry further.
"Hey speaking of having backup," he says, dropping her gaze to look ahead, "And, in a way, to sneaking in and taking stuff, I wonder if I could ask a weird favour."
"Keep talking," Mirage says as they resume walking, "You are speaking my language."
"Probably not as much so as you think"
He's looking down and to the side, thinking. "It's one of those things I can't say much, but I've been working on the stuff I got from the Library the other night. And I have like, almost what I need to put together in to something actually practicable. Gods, Mirage when I tell you I didn't think those fuckers could be more annoying, try figuring out how to get in their vermin-ass heads."
"From what I'm hearing, it doesn't sound like a very fun place to be. Their heads, I mean."
"And I have a way to fill in the blank, but um," he clears his throat, uncomfortable. "It's... not generally an experience that leaves me particularly.... cogent."
Mirage had felt a building confusion to that point, but then her brow furrows. She doesn't need any prompting to recall times he'd come from meditation or silent study in a bit of a state; walking like the world was fogged over, or trembling so badly he couldn't lift a glass of water without spilling it, or scrambling backward from friendly hands and faces, pale as a sheet, or, in a hyperventhilated panic that echoed in her mind, insisting that his hands were not his hands, unhearing Cri's bewildered attempts to calm him.
"...you need somebody to watch your back?"
He nods.
Mirage bites her lip, thinking.
"Just... if you could hang out? Be there when I come out of it? It's fine if you say no by the way I just thought..."
"Okay, first of all, stop."
A rueful smile "Well I keep getting yelled at when I do stuff by myself, so."
"Of course. Of course I'll hang out. But I...I have to ask. Is there a cost, Cypher?"
He avoids her eye, smile gone. "Depends."
"Depends on what."
"On if I get caught." He glances aside at her, "Gonna do my best not to, obviously."
"Obviously. Is it absolutely necessary that you risk it at all? I don't want you to be defenseless in there, but I also...I don't like you doing this just because of the hot water I landed myself in, is all. couldn't you just - shoot them? With something?"
She looks like she knows that's not her best idea, she tries to laugh it off can't get past a grimace.
"That'd be nice, wouldn't it?" he asks with sarcastic pleasantness, "Distant. Fucking clinical. Sounds like a goddamn dream."
"Okay. Okay, I'll stay. Just don't get caught, alright?"
"I'll do my best."
Their walk has taken them to the aft end of the ship, behind the rear cabin. Cypher finds a spot against the cabin wall, settles himself in a seated position, and gives a stressful exhale as Mirage sinks down next to him.
"Hey Mirage?" He looks at her sidelong.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
He doesn't wait for a reply. He shuts his eyes and tries to even out his breathing. Mirage stays quiet, watching, trying to keep her brow relaxed and failing.
For a while, he's just seated, like he's meditating. He looks peaceful, focused. She tries not to think about all the times that impression got shattered into a million screaming pieces in the blink of an eye.
It was already dark when they left the cabin, the last of sunset fading from the western sky. One by one, as she waits, watches, feels the uselessness of the dagger at her side, the stars come out.
He opens his eyes, starts to exhale, but cuts off the breath halfway through, eyes wide, pressing himself back against the wall like he's trying to pass through the boards. His pulse is jumping so much its visible, his brown skin ashen, blood drained as much from his face as from his white knuckles.
"Hey. Hey man, you okay?" She is immediately on high alert.
He flicks a millisecond glance at her before whipping his wide-eyed stare back at the apparent middle distance ahead of him.
She follows his gaze, but sees only the rear sail, full and steady. Beyond it, only the sky.
When she looks back at him, he's looking back at her, sort of. His gaze is moving back and forth between her face and the empty air. Panic is being replaced slowly by consternation, confusion.
"Y-yeah, yeah." he says, pulling himself unsteadily to his feet. She follows the motion, keeping her eyes on him as his continue to dart to various random points around them.
"What do you need?" she asks, forcing her voice soft.
"I don't know. I don't-" he's feeling around at the back of his neck like he's trying to get something off it before he catches himself and very consciously lowers his hand to his side.
Closes his eyes, exhales. Opens them, looks ahead. Swallows. She can see the wheels turning.
She holds out her hands, unsure if touch would be grounding or startling.
"I'm good. I'm fine. Got away clean. I think."
He doesn't seem to have even seen her reaching out, staring studiously forward, face like he's still concentrating.
She drops her hands, flexing her fingers.
After a moment, he manages to pull his gaze over to her. His smile is shaky and small, but genuine. "Not so bad, all things considered. Thanks."
"Okay. Okay. Yeah, sure." She's not sure she believes him. The statement holds the same cadence as a million 'I'm fine's.
"Did you...get what you needed?"
Thoughtful frown. "I think so. We'll see. It doesn't make much sense here. Never does. But give me some time, I'll figure it out. S'kind of my thing." He shrugs.
"I'll take your word for it." She looks sideways at him, wearing an expression of friendly teasing. "You're such a weird dude."
His laugh is only a little bitter. "Yeah. Well. Gotta play the hand you're dealt. You find a way to kill the dealer though, let me know."
"Oh I will." She stares ahead and sounds a little venomous.
A long moment of silence as the humour drops from his face, then,
"Mirage. I told you you could ask me anything. You remember that?" his voice has gone dead serious.
She nods. "I remember."
"I also asked you not to go digging."
She puts her hands up "I haven't been digging!" she protests, choosing her verb tense carefully.
"Then it's not a problem if you promise you won't."
She tries to hide a smirk. "I...swear not to promise to go digging."
He gives her a baleful look. "Mirage, I speak four languages and you think you can trick me with a double negative?"
"la la la la I'm not listsening," she laughs, plugging her ears.
"Mirage, I'm serious," he says, keeping pace with her as she starts walking again, speaking over her continued white noise, waiting her out with a stony frown.
"Ugh god you're no fun." She huffs, unplugging her ears.
"Because it's not funny."
"Of course it isn't." She whirls around and squares up, facing him. "Cypher. How about this. Let's make a deal."
He's listening, but he doesn't look like he thinks the odds of reaching an agreement where she still get to dig even a little are very high at all.
"I won't go digging without your permission, and you won't hurt Amir."
He steps back a pace, flabbergasted.
"Where's this coming from?"
She opens and closes her mouth a few times, like she's about to speak, but thinks better of it. Then, without explaining herself, she points a finger at him and says, "As your friend, I am allowed to want to kill the things that hurt you."
Fucking fight me on this, I will die on this hill., she thinks.
Cypher returns her stare. She hasn't seen his walls up this high in a while. He's looking at her from behind parapets of old, old stone. Calculating.
"I haven't gone digging," she continues, "And I get that you have a very, very good reason for not wanting me to. But I am going to fucking kill the goddamn dealer."
A long pause. When he speaks again, it's so quiet she has to focus on it.
"The difference here, he murmurs, "is that your metaphorical dealer can bleed his own blood. Look, I appreciate it, I really do, but I don't need a strike force, I need a construction crew."
"Okay, I accept that you're brilliant, and whatever this thing is can't be stabbed with a knife - wait what? Construction crew?" She frowns, confused, then it clicks.
"Oh. The Door."
He pales. "Forget it."
"No, we're in it now."
"I'll leave Amir alone."
"I don't give a shit about Amir."
"Me either! We agree. What a relief. So we're done here then." His voice has a strained, almost manic pitch as he starts to turn away.
"Cypher. Mika. Please."
He stops, half-turned, his face an absolute whirlwind. Then he faces her, open, waiting.
"Look. I'm sorry. I push, and I really shouldn't." She looks up and around like she's searching for the right words.
"Did I ever tell you that I used to steal my mom's ship when I was a kid?"
He looks like he was going to say something else, but he puts it aside.
"No, you didn't"
"Several times. I was a wily shit, even when I was young."
A small, tentative smile.
"I think my parents eventually realized that they could discipline me every time I did, they could up their security, take all sorts of measures to keep me out. But I'd keep trying. Finally, they just sat me down and taught me how to fly SAFELY, once I was old enough."
A surprised twitch of the eyebrows - he was expecting something different there.
"I mean I crashed like, once or twice first," she admits, "I got the lecture of SEVERAL lifetimes. But my point is that they understood I wasn't going to let it go."
Understanding lands, fading the start of a smile.
Mirage shrugs, as if to say, 'I don't know dude. Teach me how to fly or I'm gonna keep stealing the ship.'
He shakes his head, frowning fit to form lines. "I can't accept that. I won't. If you get too far into this, an airship crash is going to seem like a picnic. You can heal from a crash. M-" he cuts himself off.
"Marwa, please. I don't know if theres anything I can say to convince you, nothing scares me more. Please. I'll tell you anything you want to know. I swear. I'll leave Amir and anyone else you like alone. I'll turn them inside out instead if you want. Anything. I could live with that but I could not live with this getting in your head, too."
"Okay. Okay, okay. I hear you." Mirage cuts him off as he's clearly prepared to keep going until she does. She was really thinking she'd made a good argument, but the fear in his words is obvious - the idea that she might figure this out and he can't stop her is terrifying him. When he said 'anything,' she got the sense that includes if she said he should throw himself over the side of the airship right now, it would be preferable to complacence.
"You have to promise." Cypher breaks the silence in a hoarse whisper
"Okay. Straight up, I want to turn whatever this thing is into a vacuum of space. I don't care what it is, or how it came to be but I hate it, and if it's even a little bit corporeal I want to erase it from existence. I swear to you that I won't go digging, but I can't do nothing. You have to let me help. Either help fight this thing, or help YOU fight it. Shore up your reserves somehow, research resources. I don't care, I'll spend a week in a library."
He nods. But when she says she can't abide doing nothing, he frowns, face tilted, a little bewildered. "You're not doing nothing. You never have been."
she looks befuddled.
"Back there," he nods toward where they were sitting with before, "that wasn't nothing."
'Wasn't it?'
"I don't - that feeling you had when you went to the library in the middle of the night? I feel that now."
He winces. "It was a damn fool thing to do."
"Sure was! I didn't claim to be the smart one. I told you then I would have done the same thing in your shoes, and here I am."
He manages a laugh, "Well unfortunately for you I'm awake."
He looks like he's thinking, gears turning.
She waits.
He looks up, past her face. The stars are out, and sailing above the clouds, they cover the sky in a glittering tapestry, big and bright as marbles, closer than they look from Primus.
"As long as we're sharing stupid ideas," he says, addressing her and the constellations as one, "and because I don't pretend to know how I got to be on this side of it, but I really do know what it's like when someone's in deep and you can't help, I'll tell you I'm not completely without theories. I haven't just been sitting here waiting for the end, you know."
"Do any of them involve me stabbing anything. Because I'm ready."
He looks back down to face her with a warm smile, "I know. But I was thinking more along the lines of... okay I didn't say it was a good idea, okay?"
she nods, gestures for him to keep talking.
"Like it's debatable if this is even a real thing. How would anyone know if it was? There's this whole idea of universal retention-" he's getting distracted
"Get to the stabby part."
He laughs, "There isn't one, sorry."
She makes a fake-disgruntled face.
"But if I can't make a plan, maybe, I could make a Wish."
There's a pause as the statement sinks in, then Mirage speaks.
"So...a Wish. You need a Wish."
"If it's a thing, there's not supposed to be much it can't do. Or undo." He looks doubtful. "Anyway. Just a theory."
"Done." Mirage sticks her hand out for Cypher to shake.
He laughs, "what?"
"I won't dig, but I will help you figure out what you need to get your Wish granted."
He looks at her, incredulous, smiling, then he grips her hand in a single shake.
"Done."
When he lets her hand go, there's a softness in his smile that mirrors what she saw in the Library's music room. Unthinking, Mirage returns it.
The silence goes on a moment longer than is normal after a conversation ends. Pulling his gaze aside, Cypher notes. "It's getting late." An intake of breath, "Not to curfew you, but I think we're hitting Taifun pretty early tomorrow."
"UGH fine. Fine. I still think that people who do things in the morning are the worst."
"You wound me"
She grins as they start heading back to their quarters. "It's alright, we got a plan to address that now. Just need to put it in motion."
Thoughtful, "You think?"
"Yes I do. I damn well do."
He pauses outside the door, drumming a finger on his still-untouched grimoire.
"Well if you're putting your mind to it..." he smiles.
"Good night, Cypher."
"Night."
Report Date
15 Mar 2025
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