A Curse Upon Thee 13B

Both sets of eyes remained on the crane in the near-silence of the half-empty diner, the perfectly-made piece of origami pristine atop the formica. Finn blinked slow as he stared at it, looking down at his fingers for a second with a frown as deep as any he’d ever worn still on his face. Now how the fuck…

He hadn’t even realized he’d been doing it by the time he started, his hands moving as fast as his mouth and mind as he talked to Ruby about his bullshit. That’s just fucking weird.

Finn allowed himself another sigh as he sank back into the booth, eyes drifting back to the napkin crane in front of him. Birthed from muscle memory, the art was an echo from a life that felt both completely alien and intimately his as any else.

A ghost made of paper.

“That’s…” Ruby’s lips worked silently as he stared up to meet her, their eyes locking on to one another. “That’s really beautiful, Finn. See, this is the kind of stuff I want you to tell me about you.”

“It’s nothin…”

“Nothing?” Ruby scoffed out loud, her hand slapping the table. “All I know how to make is paper airplanes. And they nosedive. Like, immediately. Never even make it to the trash can.”

“It’s just a.. dumb thing I know how to do, I guess.” He turned away, well aware that his cheeks were almost as red as his hair. Ruby knew how to compliment and insult him in a way that hit for some reason. It could have been the fact that they’d been doin’ stuff the last few days, but honestly, even from the beginning, she could poke him like no one else. “Just one of my many, many useless talents.” He winked at her, the move only half-forced as he tried to slide that old armor back on. “Pickpocketing’s one of them, too.”

“Really?” Ruby raised an eyebrow, that same old teasing glint back where it belonged. You? A thief? I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you.”

“Yeah, really.” He’d heard Dr Whale grumbling once or twice about his expensive fountain pen going missing over the last couple months. It was sitting in his pocket right now. Finders keepers, doc. “That, and I can hotwire any car I feel like in under two minutes.” Wait. Can I? 

The thought was as certain and as rootless as the memory of Kyoto. Damn, what was I up to before?

“Car thief, pickpocket, sex fiend, and a napkin artist?” Ruby listed each one on her fingers, before biting down on her thumb as she looked him in the eyes. “You must have been some sort of Renaissance man before, huh? Or maybe just a rebel without a cause?”

“Rebel… rebel  without a cause?” Finn raised an eyebrow, a chuckle in his throat fighting for freedom. “Really, Ruby?”

“What?” Her eyes rolled his way as her thumb came free. “You prefer delinquent with a sensitive side, Cherry Boy?”

The young lawman hummed, reaching for another potato wedge. “I prefer ‘multifaceted man of action’ myself.” He clicked his tongue.

“You just became a man last week.”

“Shut up.” Now it was his turn to roll his eyes as Ruby giggled. Any chance to call me a virgin, I swear to god… “Anyway, delinquent makes me sound like I graffiti overpasses for fun.”

“…why do I feel like you did?”

“No, I…” Blue eyes narrowed for a second as he tried to think back. “…I feel like I did too. Damn it. Probably only the ugly ones, though.”

Ruby made a face, one eyebrow going up. “Why the ugly ones?”

“Because I have standards, obviously. C’mon, Bee, keep up.” He grinned her way, the expression feeling a little tight as he had more memories slide back into his brain in this one conversation than he had in months. The questions might have been probing, gentle, and playful, but it still kinda felt like her fingers were poking at a bruise.

Sure, Finn wanted to know too.

Why he knew how to fold paper and steal wallets, how he knew Japanese grammar and how to make a shikigami… but it was all less than bits and pieces.

“Seriously, though…” 

He blinked up again as Ruby spoke, her voice dropping and softening just a bit.

“How’d you even learn that?” Her eyes trailed down to the napkin crane still sitting there between them. “Like, the origami thing. It’s real specific.”

Finn shrugged, eyes on the crane too. “Honestly, I dunno. Probably learned it while I was in Japan. Or I could have dated a ninja. Or maybe I just watched way too much anime and it stuck or something.”

“Anime.” Her stare was as blank as he’d ever seen it.

“Hey, don’t knock it.” Finn snorted out loud. “You learn a lot from it. Culture, language, how to scream your moves before you make ‘em.” He cupped both hands and threw them out in the classic fireball motion. “Hadoken, and all that, y’know?”

“Y-you’re s-so…” Ruby’s words devolved into laughter, the sound warm and genuine enough it put a real smile back on his face. “Ridiculous.”

“I’m charming.” He winked again. “There’s a difference, trust.”

“A real thin one.”

“I’ll take it.”

Ruby shook her head and reached out, one red nail tracing the edge of a paper wing. “It really is amazing, Finn. You got a lot of… I dunno…”

“Moxie?” He offered the word up, actually curious.

She shot him a look, eyes rolling again. “Depth. I was looking for depth, Cherry Boy, even if you really try hard to hide it under all that…” She gestured his way, hand twirling in his general direction. “That.”

“I do try.”

“I know.” She looked him in the eye again, voice and eyes suddenly soft in the way that made him want to squirm. “Y’know, Henry thinks you’re a hero from his book.”

Here we go with this bullshit again. Finn rolled his eyes so hard he saw the ceiling, a scoff leaving his lips. “Look, you and I both know the kid’s got one hell of an imagination, but he’s dead wrong on this one.” He shook his head. “I’m no… no prince or knight or nothin’. I’m just a guy who woke up in a hospital with a headache and a bad attitude. I’m closer to a Power Ranger than a fairy tale character, Bee.”

“Yeah, sure, but we both know you’re nothin’ normal.” She raised an eyebrow. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

“Like, Finn, what you did… I saw the lock on the back door.”

His eyes might as well have been wide as the plate of potato wedges next to the crane. Shit…

“You broke it open…” Ruby stared right at him, the look in her eyes serious enough to strip away his defenses. “Like, I saw fingerprints in the metal. I mean, when Emma said she hit you with her car, I thought it was like a bump but then I remembered the bump on the front when she brought it to the mechanic that first day.”

Double shit…

“That’s not normal, Finn.”

He sat straighter in the booth, the wall going back up brick by brick. “Emma’s car is a Bug, sure, but I’m built… Ford tough, y’know.”

“No,” she insisted, leaning closer as she refused to let him try and joke out of it. “It’s definitely more than that. Like the way you look at people, even. At Regina, at Gold?” She shook her head slow. “I swear you’re seeing something the rest of us don’t. Like you’re seeing a whole different color or something.”

Finn opened his mouth, already on autopilot as he was about to deflect with another joke or a bit of sarcasm; something to avoid being real, but… but this was Ruby. 

It was Ruby and he’d already told Emma, anyway. Besides… 

If I can’t trust her, then…

Finn looked down at the paper crane, a fragile, useless thing made of memories that weren’t entirely his as an idea sparked up in his mind. Maybe it was too much coffee or just the boredom of sitting in one place for hours, but it was definitely an idea. Let’s show her.

“Watch.” His voice was barely audible over the sound of the kitchen being cleaned and the few people at the far end of the diner, unable to see him or Ruby at the back corner; at least, not from their angle.

Finn placed his index finger on the crane’s back, eyes closed as he shut out the noise of the diner, the smell of coffee, and the confused look in Ruby’s eyes. He reached for that hum that never left him, the buzzing of the Cursed Energy coiled tight in his gut. Finn didn’t try to flood it or dump it, just pulling it up as a guide, threading a tiny, almost invisible string of it from his core and down his arm all the way into his fingertip.

With a simple thought, he gave it a single, simple purpose: Kami, tsuru to nare..

Ruby gasped and Finn opened his eyes to see paper jerking hesitantly in front of him.

Once.

Twice.

By the third time, the crane was standing on the table, its delicate paper legs holding it steady. It turned its head, tiny folded paper beak seeming to look right at her. Then, with a delicate rustle, it unfolded its wings and, with a single shuddering flap, it took to the air.

Looking for all the world like a simple piece of origam, it circled their booth once, its paper wings completely still, before gliding to a perfect stop on Ruby’s outstretched hand.

She stared at it as it landed, eyes wider than he’d ever seen them. Her other hand reached out, a single finger trembling as she reached out to touch its wing.

It was just paper. And it was alive.

“Holy shit.” Both words left her in a single shaky breath. “Henry’s book… magic…” She looked up at him, face pale and eyes still wide. “It’s real. All of it. It’s all fucking real.”

No, no, no. Both Finn’s eyebrows went up. “Nah, I wouldn’t say all of i-”

The bell on the door chimed, shattering the fragile moment as one eager ten-year old burst into the diner, oversized book clutched to his chest like a shield. Eyes wide with some new urgent discovery, Henry Mills skidded to a halt at their booth, gaze falling on the fluttering paper crane perched on Ruby’s hand. “Wha-”

The kid’s jaw dropped as the crane suddenly crumpled, the once-animated shikigami collapsing back into a simple, folded napkin.

Finn’s eyes widened. Fuck.

Henry’s expression shifted almost immediately, going right from shock to one of pure, unadulterated triumph.

“I knew it!” A single trembling finger pointed Finn’s way as Ruby turned around. “You’re not just a hero, you’re from the fae courts! You’re a fairy!”

A what? Finn’s mouth fell open. A what?

Henry didn’t wait for a response, the mayor’s kid spinning on his heel. The doorbell rang again as he ran back out of the diner, most likely to add a new, wildly inaccurate chapter to his personal mythology.

Finn just stared at the empty doorway, one hand running through his hair as Ruby did her very best to hide giggles. Her very best wasn’t all that good though, a headache spiking through his skull with a vengeance.

He threw his hands up in the air.

“A fairy?”

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

Open Up – 100 NP

Share the reality of Jujutsu with someone.

FAIL: Aspect (800 CP) [League of Legends] {Modus}:
“Your power is, in the most literal way, heavenly. Blessed by one of the aspects of Targon, you possess fantastic magical powers, themed around celestial objects. Whether your powers are themed around belts of asteroids, constellations, or something like the sun or the moon are up to you.

All aspects of your physical person are enhanced, giving you incredible strength, speed and agility. In addition, you have a wealth of knowledge, from all the previous lifetimes of your Aspect—giving you access to ancient, forgotten lore from ages long past.”

Nexus Points: 300