[voice] un: lionheart

[silentnarration]

I'm looking for someone who's familiar with magic involving mind control. I know someone who needs help. He's free from her control now but something must have been left behind. He still gets sick and disoriented in the morning.

Let me know if you can help. He may not think there's a cure but I do.

[Sorry Seifer. He knows this is going to piss him off but this is important. Never mind that he's put it off for a little too long himself.]

Comments

[morethanatrickster]

I can certainly try. [Though he wasn't making any promises.] I'll need more information than that, though. Are you attempting to recall a memory from your childhood? Were you very small or more middling? To what may it pertain?

[silentnarration]

[Squall frowns as he considers it.]

.. Memories from my time in Garden would be nice. That's the mercenary school I go to. I was... probably five or six years old. I was learning how to use a gunblade. And there's a friend I'd like to remember, even though we weren't close back then.

[morethanatrickster]

[Finding displaced memories would be difficult. By design, they wouldn't be where they belonged, and he wasn't telepathic. He couldn't look directly, but instead send tendrils of a spell looking for specified memories where they should be. It may have been enough to spark a memory, though, if the mind knew where to find them.

He nodded, took a breath, committed the information provided to a thought he wrapped in magical energy, and reached out, pressing a palm to Squall's forehead.]

Brace yourself. This shouldn't hurt unless the memories are particularly painful.

[If nothing else, Loki's curiosity about this 'Garden' would be satisfied as the spell surged from his palm into Squall's mind, seeking the memories of the boy's past, of training as a child, to be replayed for both involved.]

[OOC: It's up to you whether that works or not. Loki's magic wouldn't be able to seek out memories that were moved, but only those that were locked away. So he might only remember things he's already remembered, but as though they'd just happened.]

[silentnarration]

[He stares back at Loki evenly at the placement of his hand and inhales slowly. He's still tense anyway but he's willing to see what he gets.

Which is apparently a memory he didn't technically lose so much as forget entirely (not that he can tell). His eyes widen to a flash of teeth. A lot of very sharp teeth on a very large t-rex-like creature. And the view is from someone who's far too small. Maybe seven years old, shaking hands holding up a sword seemingly attached to a gun. He's terrified but trying to stay firm despite being sprawled on the ground of a jungle-like area with a man-made path.

Squall yelps when the t-rexaur roars, tears gathering in his eyes. He's not going to cry. He's not going to cry. He's strong. He's not going to cry.

Suddenly, there's a loud yell and another figure jumping in from the side, slashing at the monster with his own variant of a gunblade. A youth with blond hair and a larger build even for an 8-year-old. There's a flash of an explosion with the strike and the youth dances on his feet when he lands.]

"What do you think you're doing, crybaby?"

[Squall wipes at his eyes and stands, pouting while attempting to look stoic.]

I'm training!

"To be t-rexaur food."

[The youth mocks. He seems comfortable in the monster's presence, enjoying the challenge. A small scuffle commences with Squall joining in to the best of his ability but it's more than evident they're no match. And thankfully the situation is resolved by two older teenagers in uniform striking the dinosaur down. And even that took a grueling fight.]

"Go home, Seifer. You're not even a level 5 trainee yet."

"Fuck off!"

[The teenage boy seems used to Seifer's presence and Seifer uncaring about his opinion. While the teenage girl tries to check on Squall and make sure he's okay.]

"Come on, let's get you out of the training center."

[The young Squall is sniffling a little, tears leaking from the corner of his eyes as he stubbornly wipes them away. He scrunches up his face, staring at Seifer's easy confidence and shakes his head.]

No! If Seifer can do it, I can too.

[silentnarration]

[Squall gasps and staggers back from Loki then. Some tears hovering at the edge of his own eyes before he claps the palm of his hand against his forehead. Eyes squeezed shut. Ugh.]

What the hell...? It feels like it just happened.

[morethanatrickster]

Did I not mention that? My apologies.

[He's seen stranger things in stranger realities and is nonplussed by the Tyrannosaur. He does, however, find it interesting in Squall's world, children are allowed to face such creatures alone. Such a barbaric society. If it existed in Loki's universe, he wouldn't be surprised to find Asgard had declared the place under their protection.

He folds his hands before him as he watches Squall recover.]

Is the demonstration sufficient or would you care to try again?

[silentnarration]

[A post-war society with plenty of orphans apparently means convenient child soldiers.

He wipes at his eyes and tries to glare at Loki for that. But he can't really hold it against him. He was the one who insisted on performing this test after all.]

That's good enough.

[A few more seconds and he raises his head again, cautious and curious.]

Did you see what I saw?

[morethanatrickster]

[He nodded and opted for honestly.]

I saw you, as a child, doing battle with a monstrous lizard. Why in Heaven's name did they pit children against such things?

[He's beginning to think he might know something about what's wrong with you, Squall.]