BOTTLE UP THE MEMORIES ⛧ private, flashback, jiyu

The pale moonlight bathed down onto one of the fields of tall grass located within the forest's around Peace Village, the beams dancing the swaying reed-like plants as if choreographed. Shockingly enough? The movements were actually planned and very intentional, to someone not from here it would be easy to think a breeze had just blown through, but any native would know breeze's in this particular field were almost unheard of unless it was a windy period and that day had been exceedingly calm weathered, it was what made tonight such a good night to do this! The only circumstance that could make tonight a better night to practice? Would have been if some thick fog rolled in making what she did that much easier for her to see, but she wouldn't get that lucky she waited weeks for a foggy night to even start practicing for the first time, so she eventually had to come up with something more creative like this.

Mikka lifted one of her delicate hands, pale skin nearly reflecting the moonlight as she moved her palm upwards. Lately? Her being seen out in the sunlight was a rare happening, the young girl had started trying to fill her drunken father's shoe's in his forge to provide for the half-siblings her stepmother was carrying, even if she didn't like the idea much, so her skin had grown incredibly pale compared to the more peach shade it had once been. Whenever she was not in the forge? She was typically seen at Archery Class or with Lu-Lu and Astrid sometimes, actually most times, sleeping over with them to avoid going home to the drunkard and her stepmother. Her emotions fueled her slightly as she spread her finger's and pushed her hand forward, bringing the other straight up and shifting her body causing the wind to move to her whim around her making the grass dance, her white dress being fluttered alongside it. Once she started? The small girl didn't stop, dancing around the field with the breeze she'd started guiding its direction and movement.

"The fuck are you even doing?" she didn't have to ask who the voice was, but it did scare the girl paler than she had already become! Ambrose lost her focus and the wind reacted violently to their dance being broken, the girl screaming out at it cut deeply into her hands up to her mid arm, tearing into her dress and legs beneath that point. For a moment? She collapsed from the pain of the wind's punishment against her for cutting their time short, but she had more important concerns such as the fact she'd just been caught! "Mint!" she rushed over, picking up an old brown leather book that she had hidden near where he was standing before the educated young boy could find it and read its contents. Blood dripped from her body where the wind had sliced at her, splashing to the ground as she stood in front of him.

Mikka cast her head down and to the side slightly. "I'm going to guess your using that as profanity instead of the definition you taught me." her smile was still a little weak, but it had been for most of the times he'd seen it, Mikka didn't easily get over the fact her mother was gone, nor that her father had just married the woman's best friend. "Anyway's." should she tell him the truth? Every day it became harder to hide what she was doing due to the long period of time required to do this stuff. "It's, I'll let you read the inscription on the inside of the cover, but nothing else." she opened the cover, not quiet shoving it in his face, but holding it up so he could see the writing within it, clearly done by hand of someone older than the two of them.


Dear Jiyu,

When I gave up being a Mage before you were born, I never once considered a way to teach you magic, without using it once more myself. The thing I want most to be to you is an example of how you can be strong without magic, however, this does not mean you have no right to learn Magic. Thus I have written this book for you, within these pages are all the ways I trained when I myself was a mage. Please take your time, go slow and be careful, I know one day you’ll be an even better Mage than I was; And whatever you choose to do, open the folded envelope in the back only once you’ve become proficient with magic or decided to never partake in it.

Once he finished reading that? There was likely time for him to read some of the first page's content explaining that the rest of the book contained a powerful form of lost ancient wind magic that slowly twined the existence of the user entirely to the element, giving them the strength of the wind itself. After she deemed he had enough time? Mikka closed it back and held it to her chest protectively. From what he had gotten to see, it was clear the book was from her Mother and everyone knew about the fire that killed her, the fact the young child didn't think the fire was an accident. "I was only allowed to keep it because I promised I wouldn't use it for learning magic." apparently her father had something against magic. Little did she know it was her mother's family he had something against. Mikka glanced away from him against, tucking a strand of her black hair behind her ear, blue eye glancing towards him again. "I was practicing, please you have to keep it a secret, he'll take it from me if he finds out." and Mikka rarely said please.

It was not that the female did not see the twisted expression on his face, nor that she had not heard his giggle from her misery, the latter was impossible. Instead? The young child had some time ago chosen to turn off her natural sense of danger in exchange for how interesting and knowledgeable the only slightly older boy was. At first she couldn't lie and say her 'sixth sense' for the heart of a person that her father compared to an animal's sense of it, had not been triggered by him, but as more time passed the less the hair on the back of her neck rose and the more she brought herself to completely trust him as she learned more about how cruel the world could be daily. Honestly, it was a paradox she should be growing more wary of this other child who experienced glee when other's would be concerned when other's cried, but she couldn't muster that emotion before him anymore.

"Fucktard is a new one, definition." the small child in her white slightly bloodied dress looked up at him, her blue eye more innocent than his gaze, but perhaps this was because she wanted to be that way, after an experience like what she'd had. "Well besides Asty and Myself, but you don't get much of a choice there, considering she's your sister and I practically live with you guys." their house was where she found food numerous times, even though her stepmother had since moved in and attempted to try taking care of her. Mikka didn't want another newer mother, she wanted her old mother, even though she knew Akane was never coming back because she had been burned to death. "Well your not wrong. Though he throws the bottles too sometimes when she isn't around." which these days was still more often than not because the pregnant woman was often busy setting up the nursery or doing something else baby related around town. They barely missed her, they didn't even need her around, to begin with.

Her eyes widened slightly and the expression could not be read when Mint suggested murdering her father in cold blood. "Don't make a widow out of her and bastards of the baby." that just made it sound like she would have said for him to do it if her pregnant stepmother was not in the picture. Of course, everyone in the village knew their relationship was strained, some of the grown-ups were even starting to believe he may be a danger to her, as she looked too much like the wife he'd lost, the more she grew the more like Akane the child began to look. Ambrose had taken his beloved's loss hard, of course, he'd also fucked another woman shortly after.

Mint mentioned that he had grown hungry and now that she was not so focused on practicing magic the slowly clotting child realized she was too. "So Am I." her agreement was slightly meeker than normal, expression still not focused as she held her book to her chest. "We could go to the River or I could track something for you to kill." Mikka had shown to be a natural at thing's that required something of a predatory instinct, and when she could stay quiet she was actually an aid to someone hunting because she was good at tracking and naturally light footed.

She did ever so adore when he explained curse words to her, honestly, it let her understand when her father cursed more. Before her mother died? He had never used those words, but these days he may very well have a worse mouth than Lu-Lu, but the other child was a great help in helping her understand what was being screamed at her and her stepmother. Maybe if she could get him out of the bottle he would stop yelling these sorts of insults? Not likely though, even the prospect of new children, a new family, a second chance, had been enough to draw him out of the bottle. Nothing she could do would fix what was broken! Mikka wished that she could make everything better again, that she could bring her mother back from the dead, but nothing like that was possible and things would be even more fucked if she did that. Heck even if she died herself, it wouldn't fix what was wrong now, this was a hell on earth sometimes and she had to live in it.

Lu-Lu and Astrid had become her release, her paradise, her sanctuary, the way she got away from how fucked she was. In a way when she came around them? She wasn't as fucked as normal, she tended to get fed when she was near them. "Thanks" she smiled back at him, hugging her book tighter against her undeveloped chest, actually thankful for the little psychopath standing right beside her. "Maybe he won't be able to drink when my sibling is born then." or her father would do nothing and her stepmother would start getting upset due to not getting sleep because of the newborn, and she would be pushed towards Lu-Lu and Astrid's place more than she already normally was.

"Finding something is one of the few things I know I can do." she adjusted her legs positioning slightly, as if she was stretching them out, arching her back as she yawned slightly as if she was a dog getting ready to run or something. "Follow me~" unlike most trackers? She took off right away, not tasting the air, not looking at the ground for footsteps. Apparently, she had another way to find prey, or she was fronting in which case Lu-Lu may very well take the knife to her, little to her knowledge. The young girl knew he was insane, but she didn't think he was dangerous to her, the more time she spent with him the less she thought of him as a risk towards her. However, she never underestimated the fact he likely would be a murderer when they grew up and they would need a place to hide him from the cops.

The little girl had taken off towards the wood's, her steps making no noise due to the fact she walked only on her toes allowing her to run faster than most other human children as well. After a little while of running through the woods hopefully with Mint shortly behind her? Mikka came to a stop on a slight ridge in the ground, bending to her knee's making herself as invisible as she could. "it's your turn, it's right in front of us." her voice was a whisper, barely opening her mouth as the soft steps of a deer could be heard in the field shortly ahead of them. She found it, now he could murder it.

The only animal that didn't seem to have a natural dislike for Mint, was the young girl herself, but as far as anyone was concerned she was actually human not a half demon. Thus, one did not expect the female to have the same fear of him as natural full-fledged animals possessed. Yet, she had still ignored a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, a warning of danger from him when they first met. Honestly, since they met so soon after her Mother's death those first few days she had been looking for anything of a distraction, even if it was dangerous. Mikka could have cared less back than if he drove that knife into her heart or not. Of course, that had quickly passed, but her not caring had lasted long enough for the feeling to subside and the budding wind user to come to believe she had nothing to fear from him.

She watched him kill the doe, a few months ago it would have sent her running, she would have been frightened. However, she had begun growing up, changing ever since she lost her mother something dark had begun budding in the once innocent child. No one believed her that there had been another man in their house beside her father, that someone had burned the house down and somehow trapped her mother inside beforehand. Since no one could see the truth, one day she would have to take vengeance on her own. Taking revenge on someone who had committed murder logically involved committing a murder yourself, so she watched her friend slaughter the deer, how he went for the leg first to slow it down. Learning, Mikka was taking in what she could about how he did as he did, so one day she could use it to drive a knife into the man who killed her mother and ruined her life.

"Ooh. yeah, I'm coming, Mint." she had almost not realized when he spoke to her but afterward she was swift to cover up the fact, her quick steps making it seem like she may have been paying attention to him, instead of watching him murder than getting caught in the fray of her minds desire to do the same to someone else. "You should smile more." she giggled the moment, bending down and feeling along the deer, nodding to herself, moving over to give him the largest access to the animal as she dug into its hip with her mouth, sharp fang's glinting in the light briefly before they vanished and her mouth ripped a chunk of meat. "You killed it so you get the stomach and other good area's first." it was kind of like a dog's way of thinking, come to think of it the way she dug her nails into the hide and ripped off chunks she didn't seem to chew and swallowed them also seemed like a dog. Plus, she was eating raw meat.
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On Another Day........


Mikka didn't want to go home tonight, but she had a late Archery lesson and then ran right to practicing magic. Somehow? Her father had actually locked her out via the front door of the house, he likely thought she wasn't coming home tonight. Often times Mikka didn't return home for days at a time, on night's she could even sleep in a branch made den in the forest in favor of going home if Astrid's house was locked up tight! Only in bad weather and when Astrid's house was locked at the same time, would she even consider going back for anything besides a whim. Anyway's, it was raining lightly, she couldn't stay in her den tonight, there were still some leaks between the branches, she wasn't perfect at making them yet.

Since she had stayed in the den the night before? Jiyu went back to get some of her thicker harder to dry blankets from it, holding them to her chest and using her body to protect them from the rain which was supposed to get worse, making her way towards where Astrid and Lu-Lu lived in the village. By now they should be used to her just showing up when the weather got bad or such, and the light's were off it must have been around midnight. With her slender nail which was actually a claw she picked the lock on one of the windows, one glance managed her seeing Lu-lu sleeping so she gently lowered her blankets in first to further pad her already extremely light steps so that she would not wake him. Using this method? She got under his bed, crawling her way against the wall of one corner, to preserve her heat since she only had her soaked white dress and couldn't very well sleep naked. Once she was beneath the bed? She pulled her blankets under with her.

Within minutes? Mikka was curled up like a dog in her blankets, about three inches worth of blankets at least since she had been exceptionally cold tonight, then another quilt or two laying off to the side since she hadn't wanted them getting wet and was using them as pillows. Sadly, this might not go so well, after a while the assassin to be would clearly end up noting the extra breath and heartbeat in the room.

It would have been wise of the little canine to relock the window she had crawled through hours earlier, considering she had the skill to pick the lock to begin with, it stood to reason she could relock it behind her. However, she had been to exhausted to do anything that did not directly lead to her curled up under one of the beds. Mikka was exhausted considering she had also practiced her magic that day, preforming wind magic really seemed to take it out of her body, even if she remained mentally and emotionally stable her body itself seemed to be exceptionally drained from every spell she half assed cast. Hopefully as she gained skill that side effect would vanish, but today she had pushed herself too far so she didn't do the smart thing, she didn't relock the window behind her. Plus it was a small village who was gonna break in besides her.

The canine did not wake up at first when a knife punctured the thick mass of blankets she was wrapped in, far missing her body for the mass of puff that she was curled up within. Since she had gotten caught out in the rain for a while? She was actually very cold, of course the still soaked clothing and her long hair likely didn't help, kid likely actually needed a hot shower or to at least get out of the soaked clothing she was in. However, she had settled for the blankets that Lu-lu suddenly pulled her out of, feeling the thin strap of her white dress pressing into her shoulder painfully. That pain? Was actually what woke her up, not being pulled out from under the bed, or the sudden increased shivering of her body.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, he locked me out again. I would get in trouble if he knew I could pick locks and I couldn't knock for her to let me in. I would have stayed out, but its- raining pretty hard." the female let her body crumble to the floor when he dropped her, glancing up at the boy holding a switch blade threateningly towards him, yawning softly. Honestly she was not really awake, had not yet fully processed that he may have just almost murdered her. Anyway's, she stumbled to her feet, walking towards him and his threateningly held switch blade, walking close enough she could breath on him if it wasn't for the fact she was so short. "But hey, you just proved you know my name~" the young girl giggled, looking up towards the lanky male before moving one small hand to grip the wrist of the hand he had his switch blade in. "think you could pick a lock with this?" she attempted to move his arm so she could get a better look at his knife, wondering if she should start keeping one on herself instead of using her sharp nails to pick locks when she needed to.

As days went passed more and more, she was often called an upcoming trouble maker of the village, something about how a girl needed her mother for a role model at her age or she ended up as a lose whore or too much of a tom boy for any man. Honestly, nothing any of the villagers really meant anything to her anymore, no one believed her when she said that she knew someone had murdered her mother. The family that contained Lu-Lu, Asty and their Grandfather was one of the only places she felt safe anymore. Lacey really did try, but that woman was not her mother, and as it came closer to the birth of her half siblings Mikka felt more and more as if she was entirely not required, unneeded and unwanted within the house. Why could they not just believe her, why would she lie? All she wanted was for them to believe her, to help her come to grips with the fact her mother had been murdered, but no one believed it was anything but an accident.

"Well being able to carry a knife for self defense and lock picking would be preferable to accidentally breaking my nails doing it. I know how to fix knives and weapons, not nails." of course she still didn't realize that if her nails were sharp enough to pick a lock and not entirely shatter at first try, they also had the length and hardness to seriously hurt someone. She had claws not nails, but shh, she was human, clearly. When he brought up how soaked to the bone she actually was? The female actually slouched slightly, realizing her white dress was entirely transparent. "I'm sorry I didn't realize- I was so tired by the time I got over here, I didn't even think." the young girls face was entirely red, she didn't even know why, but she had been raised to know being naked in front of someone else was something to be embarrassed about. If Mikka could see the way Jiyu dressed when they grew up? The child would die right where she stood.

Mikka eagerly caught the clothing he threw at her, holding it a bit away from her body, the crimson across her cheeks burning brighter when she realized what his actual intentions were behind the harsh words and knife pointing. Maybe it was because she was too innocent, or because she had the instincts of an animal. "Yeah, I know." her voice was soft, she knew exactly where she was supposed to go, but she didn't know how to thank him for how nice he was being. Suddenly, she remembered the way her mother thanked her father when he would grab something like a towel for them when the duo came home drenched in water and mud. That could work with Mint right, it was never explained as an adult or just mommy and daddies things.

Mikka would move forward quickly, largely unheard due to her habit of walking entirely on her toes so softly. The budding wind user would touch her pale pink lips against the boys cheek back towards his ear since most of his face was shoved in a book. Mikka just had the nerve to kiss the little assassin on his cheek, her face burning as she stumbled back quickly with a nearly squeaked "Thank you." and rushed out of the room to the bathroom, locking the door behind her when she got into it. She spent a good half hour in the room, using hot water to warm her nearly frozen skin and make sure she got any germs from rain water off her, though she was more tempted to just lick herself clean, but mother always said that was not acceptable behavior.

It was maybe nearly an hour later when the door to Lu-Lu's room crept back open even if he had locked it form the inside cause clearly what the hell did locks mean to Mikka anyways. This time she didn't touch him, just sat at the very edge of his bed after waiting a few seconds for him to notice she was there. "Thanks again" it was so abnormal to see the creamy skinned girl in black, it made her look so pale almost sickly so, and his shirt was about three sizes too large for the young petite Mikka, the pants still in her hands, clearly they had not fit on her, but it was not much of an issue considering his long sleeved shirt came down far enough to cover the important parts and act as a night gown. "What are you reading?" he wasn't going to sleep anyways, she already knew he rarely slept to begin with considering all the nights she spent here.

While the young boy had sat in his room, holding his cheek and over thinking the meaning of what the naive budding mage meant as a simple gesture? Mikka had actually ended up taking more of a bath then any sort of shower, so luckily she had not run them out of hot water, as she had turned the water off only minutes after entering the room. Considering the fact she had fallen asleep in wet clothing, the female was chilled to the bone, so sitting in warm nearly scalding water for the length of time she had was very good for her to do, otherwise, she could have caught cold or something. Of course, she had her own reason for submerging herself in the steam of hot water that was entirely unrelated, in truth often these days when she did something like bathing, Mikka remembered how alone she was now.

Coming back to the room to see Lu-Lu still sprawled on the corner of his bed, was more of a relief to her then the boy may ever understand. While the losses he had incurred that she didn't really know much of were drastic? They had been raised differently, he didn't feel the absence of what he had lost. Mikka on the other hand, felt her heart shattering everytime she had to do something without her mother that she had once done with the woman, every single time she came home to find the door locked, or find that no one had waited up for her. Honestly, that could be part of the reason his tendency towards violence and vulgarity were ignored so easily by her despite the instincts of an animal running through her veins. Mikka needed someone to be there and unintentionally the boy placed himself there time and time again, just the fact he was still awake back when she walked in again, was like a warm breeze.

Looking at her, he saw someone thanking him too much, a weird little girl who was much like a lost puppy. However, when her mismatch eyes fell upon him, in spite of all her friend's flaws, she saw one of the only thing's that had managed to become stable within her life after the fire. In spite of himself, the little assassin was a comfort to the half canine. The expression wore across her face was calmed and content, happy to be there, she had seen how happy blood and slaughter made him with the deer at an earlier date, yet the way she looked at him hadn't changed. If anything? She had seemed a bit more comfortable with him since that night, most children would be disturbed by what they saw from him, but she just seemed to accept it.

Carefully she looked at the cover of the book as he presented it, the slight change in light within the room caused by their movement, caused her eyes to seem to glow like those of some wild animal would seem to have no trouble reading in the pitch black of the room. Of course, the male wasn't seeming to have trouble either, and he was reading the actual text.

"Why do you even care?"

His question was accompanied by her hair swaying sharply when she jolted and her eyes widened, pushing herself forward slightly from her position knelt at the edge of his bed. With the sudden shock of him admitting he had no clue why she cared in the first place? The young girl couldn't stop her own movement, her face impacting his sheets as she fell forward having been able to catch herself when she jolted. "Why do I care?!" pushing herself up slightly and rubbing her nose she crawled briefly until she was sitting with her hands between her feet right next to him, looking up at him with her head tilted to the side. He was only asking why she cared about the book, but the fact he had to ask was what had shocked her earlier. "Lucius?" her voice wasn't upset, it wasn't pitying, instead the girl spoke with a whisper of urgency as she reached her small hand out towards one of his. Mikka stopped short of touching him again, she touched a single finger to the book instead. "I care what you're reading because, I actually care about you, silly." she smiled in a way that seemed a little sad for some reason, moving her hand from the book to the bed beside him.

Mikka would retain a smile as she moved to cuddle up against him, the arm from the bed sliding slightly so she wouldn't be laying on it but the hand of it would instead rest near his head while her head would rest right beneath his shoulder if he didn't stop her. "I know what the other kids say about you." the other kids said a lot, after-all before the fire she had played very well with all the other children in the village. "I know they're all scared of you, and you don't treat me any different from them." when someone pointed a knife at a child even if it was another child, the experience was terrifying for the threatened party and got talked about. "but that's why I'm not scared of you, that's why I like being around you." She was never stupid. "You didn't change." she had once been running around with the other kids the 'cute puppy' of the large group of promising children. "You stayed the same." then one day they looked at her with those pitying eyes, stopped treating her the same as if they didn't know who she was anymore. Yet, him and Astrid whom she had barely looked at before, those two didn't change, they still looked at her the same, she wasn't a different person to them just because her mother had passed away. "You treated me like you always had, what happened hadn't made a difference to you." she didn't feel like he questioned if she was crying behind every smile she gave as if he was waiting for her to break or go insane. When she talked to him? He didn't call her a liar for believing her mother was murdered. "It was comforting." the siblings became somewhere she could run to where her world wasn't falling apart, if only for a brief moment in time. "Then before I had really realized it, there was so much more to you than just the blade of that knife." she smiled lightly, chuckling to herself briefly as her 'top' arm moved to let her hand try to grip his shirt lightly. "And call me a crazy bitch whose asking for trouble or an early grave all you want, but I like you more than I ever liked them and I really care about you." she made the sound of something that was like a happy laugh as her eyes closed and she yawned slightly.