realpolitik | Ishida Mitsunari | Saika Magoichi

Stay still!

[ Magoichi snaps the words before barking orders to her men, moving the rifle line forward. The men pass them in slow, ordered steps, dropping to form a shield of bodies and firearms between their boss and the enemy line. ]

[a-ah--

He...doesn't listen, of course. He tries to stand, in fact, managing a few steps before putting that extra weight on his leg just makes him crumble.

He breathes in sharply as he falls, fully this time to lie flat.

frigging ow.]

[ It is only because he is already injured that Magoichi does not smack him for being such an idiot.

She reholsters her guns and drops to the ground beside him, reaching out to take a hold of his shoulders to make sure he stays down as she investigates his wounds.

I said, stay still.

[It's difficult to see the exact nature of his wounds, blood-covered as he is, but it certainly doesn't look good at all. He grimaces, looking up at her.]

Un...acceptable.

[Though what it is that is so unacceptable he does not or cannot say, for then he is focused on staying coherent and conscious.]

Shut up while you are at it, Mitsunari.

[ Then her hands are moving to strip him of his layers of armor, seeking a better view of his wound. ]

[He is rather displeased by the entire situation by now, but nonetheless he falls silent, though whether it be her words or the fact that he's in rather a lot of pain, it is difficult to say.

And the armor falls away to reveal a bloody chest and shoulder, the liquid still flowing freely from the wound--which appears to rest where his shoulder meets his chest.

Mitsunari's breaths are shallow now, eyes narrowing with the effort of staying conscious with the pain and the blood loss.

...:V he's quiet, are you happy?]

[ She would be happier if he was loud and whole.

A curse escapes her as she bundles up her half-skirt, pressing it against the wound to stem the blood flow. ]

[He merely flinches at the added pain, grimacing and scowling up at her.]

Where is...Gyobu? The army...requires direction.

[Priorities or something.]

Trust him to be doing so already. What did I tell you about speaking?

[ Her tone is even harsher to cover her worry. This is not good. She must work quickly. Magoichi turns her head to bark at those around her, sending for supplies. ]

[It's about to get much worse, Magoichi. Because then he goes to push himself up.]

Do not...waste your time. I must have Ieyasu's head before I-- [A cough and he flinches, curling around his injury] Before I rest...!

Mitsunari!

[ She grabs his good shoulder with her free hand, trying to force him back down. ]

You damned idiot! You need to rest now, or the only one who will lose his head will be you!

[With the state he's in now, he really can't resist much more--she pushes him down and he goes limp, the fight going out of him though his expression is twisted into a pained scowl.]

Then...so be it...! I...I cannot fail now.

[He's...so very, very close.]

There will be another day, Mitsunari. Do not deprive yourself of that.

[ Let her take care of you. ]

[A short breath.]

Then I must...beg forgiveness from my lord...

For my failures.

[But with blood loss on top of everything else, not even that can sustain him, and he goes limp, eyes sliding shut.]

[ When Mitsunari wakes again, he will be in his tent, tucked into his futon. Hours, if not days, have passed.

For Magoichi, they have been very long hours. She is a killer, not a healer. Yet it was she who absolutely refused to let the man die, if she had to drag him back from hell to do it.

She would not cry over another man's death, whatever she had to do to prevent it.

If her heart was not strong enough, he would simply have to live.

Now, in the quiet, she is slumped over, dead asleep, on a half-folded blanket, having finally given into exhaustion whether she meant to or not. ]

[He wakes slowly, blearily, head still not all there due to the blood loss.

It would figure that when he finally pries open his eyes, she is fast asleep.

He blinks, and again, brow furrowing as he looks around and tries to piece what exactly happened. He'd--he had needed to defeat Ieyasu, but the last thing he remembers is falling, falling, falling.

Unacceptable.

Another glance at Magoichi and Mitsunari goes to push himself up--but the moment he puts pressure on the arm attached to his still very injured shoulder, he crumples.

Right on top of Magoichi yep. And a muttered curse escapes him, half-pained.]

[ He gets a startled curse in return, half incomprhensible due to her own sleepiness, as she is woken from much needed sleep by her patient falling on her. ]

-- what the hell are you doing, Mitsunari?!

[Grumble grumble wince.]

...I am getting up.

Like hell you are!

[ Magoichi sits up enough to grab a hold of him by his good shoulder, shoving him back down to the mattress. ]

[Oh god that did not go as planned.

He lies there for a moment, blinking the fuzziness from his vision, or trying to.]

Magoichi, what do you think you are doing?

Keeping you from harming yourself more, you idiotic man!

[He breathes in. And out again.

And focuses on what's important.]

And what of Ieyasu?

The battle came to a standstill.

There will be another day.

[At that, much of the fight drains out of him, and he just stares up at the ceiling, seemingly thinking.

...

He hates it, but in the end, he was incapable of doing what his lord had needed him to do--]

[ At least he is quiet.

Magoichi forces herself to her feet and then moves to pour a cup of water from a nearby canister. She sets it on a tray beside Mitsunari's head with a firm thunk.

Yes, that is for you. ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject