AP TOTAL:
x7 for Suika
Suika undergoes a great test to her skill as an occultist.
Characters: Suika, Tuesday, Qing’e
Warnings: Very explicit mentions of a corpse and necromancy
Wordcount: 1,412
Vibe: thats necromancy baby!!
i like the vision of tuesday bringing in a corpse to suika like a cat with a dead bird
The day had been nothing but normal, thus far.
Suika was trying to balance finances a bit, in preparation for a hefty job she wanted to pay for. It was boring, but necessary.
It was another day, completely unextraordinary. Yuugi was doing whatever somewhere else, Suika couldnât care â while Tuesday had headed out to spend time in the Ruins that sat below the space station city for the day.
At least, until a familiar voice came from down the hall.
âSuiiiiiikaaaaa! I hope you got your weirdo occultist stuff readyyyyy!â
Oh, Tuesday was back. Suika hadnât expected them to return so early, so she was wondering what mustâve happened â and why they seemed so eager to request that she get her occult supplies ready.
Thankfully, Suika wouldnât be left to wonder much longer â since Tuesday quickly made their way down the hall and into the space Suika was working in⌠carrying a dead body over their shoulder. They set the body onto the roomâs couch, before gesturing at it.
âTa-da!â
âTuesday, what the FUCK?!â Suika exclaimed in response.
She was preparing to chew Tuesday out, but Tuesday seemed to predict sheâd do so, and preemptively tossed her a lanyard theyâd been holding.
The lanyard, from a rough visual examination of the ID picture, mustâve belonged to the corpse in the room.
Dr. Huo Qingâe
Chief examiner of technologies
Megalopolis
SECRET SERVICE MISSION 618
And Suikaâs expression promptly went from disgust to one of confusion and intrigue.
âWhat the hell was a Megalopolis doctor doing in the ruins, completely unprotected? Under⌠a secret service mission order?â
âSee!! Itâs weird, right? I thought, I dunno⌠you keep talking about the tonansomething in the ruins⌠maybe sheâd have answers?â
â…Sheâs dead, Tuesday.â
âThen whatâs with all the crazy occult stuff you got laying around?! I dunno, I thought youâd be into making zombies, or whatever!â
Suika just groaned.
âSomething like that is an incredibly intensive process of calling to earthen spirits and divine energy, whether or not I could even pull it off isâŚâ
âWell⌠if it helps, I figure the bodyâs been laying where it was for a while, to a point where whatever divine energy was soaked in prevented decay. Thatâs gotta help, right?â Tuesday said.
âPlus, I think itâd be a neat way to spit in the face of that âold hagâ you have a hate-on for, proving her wrong, or whatever.â
Suika didnât like other people telling her what to do.
But⌠Tuesday did make a compelling case.
âAlright.â Suika started, taking a sharp inhale and getting up from her chair.
âBut youâll need to cooperate. Try and find whatever you can about this âmission 618â, and unless youâre willing to let me get blood from you, grab some of Yuugiâs nihiline.â
âWonât Yuugi be mad about that?â Tuesday asked.
âI can deal with however she wants to take that out on me if I can get this right.â
Tuesday nodded, and got up to grab what Suika had requested.
Meanwhile, Suika went to examine the body. Tuesday was right â it was in very good condition, appearing no more than freshly deceased â despite it being more likely than not that itâd been at least a few days of sitting out in the open.
Suika grabbed a canvas floor covering from a shelf, along with some surgical gloves, and got to work.
The basic sigil to call the earthen spirits was the same for everything, and was something Suika could replicate without reference at this point.
When Tuesday returned with some of the nihiline sheâd requested, Suika made the cut on the palm of her own hand in order to get blood to mix in with it.
Nihiline, though more commonly used by Yuugi as a psychedelic drug, also had the unique property of containing very trace amounts of a divine conductor chemical due to how it was sourced. While Tuesdayâs blood probably would have been a better option due to it containing more, Suika was well aware of how uncomfortable Tuesday was with getting their blood drawn.
So, all Suika could do was hope that enough of Yuugiâs stash would be enough.
With the blood and nihiline mixed, Suika now had a basis to continue drawing the sigil with, as well as the charms to conduct the energy through the corpse in order to reanimate it.
While Suika was busy drawing the sigils on the charms, Tuesday was sitting idly by on their laptop, checking their backdoor of the Megalopolian governmentâs archives for anything relating to âsecret service mission 618â.
âHmmâŚâ Tuesday murmured.
âThere doesnât⌠seem to be much of anything about the mission. Like, at all.â
âSeriously, nothing?â Suika replied.
âWell, I mean, there IS an empty archive for it, under management of a âDr. Hollyhockâ⌠but the archives say itâs been left completely empty for sixteen years. Not a single recorded addition or edit.â
âThat is⌠strange.â Suika huffed, before getting up from her crouched position above the corpse, and grabbing some dust masks from the shelf where she kept her supplies. She put one on herself, and tossed one to Tuesday.
âPut this on, itâs go time â and nihiline fumes are always nasty.â
Tuesday nodded, and followed Suikaâs instructions.
At this point, the body had been moved to the center of the floor sigil, and was covered in multiple paper charms.
The âritualâ itself was actually fairly simple, the hard part was more setting up the energy conductors correctly and even obtaining the amount of energy required in the first place.
With a deep breath in, Suika held up one of the paper charms and a lighter â she set the lighter up to the charm, and as the spark conducted the energy within, she quickly slammed it into the ground â and with an odd glow, the charm absorbed into the floor.
Starting a chain reaction, the charms over the body began to glow brightly as well, and the body convulsed slightly⌠before the glow dimmed, and the body ceased movement.
âShitâŚ!â Suika hissed under her breath, putting her hands in her hair with a scowl.
âDid⌠you do it wrong?â Tuesday asked.
âNo, of course not, do I look like an amateur?!â Suika said in response.
âIt⌠it was close. But thereâs not enough energyâŚâ
Suika sighed, and there was a period of silence before Suika faced Tuesday again.
âBring me all of the nihiline in Yuugiâs stash.â
âAll of it?! Dude, sheâll kill you!â Tuesday replied, in disbelief.
âShe wonât. She canât.â
â…Alriiiiiight, if you say so.â Tuesday said with a nod, and promptly walked off to go through Yuugiâs stash again.
So, the process repeated â Suika had to remake all the charms sheâd initially prepared, as well as the ground sigil. It was getting difficult, knowing she couldnât afford to draw the unique sigils on the paper charms wrong, yet her hand was beginning to cramp up from it all.
Try two.
Lighter to the charm, slam it into the ground.
The charm absorbed again, and the chain reaction began once more. The body resumed its convulsing, though much more aggressive this time. Then, without any warningâŚ
A blood-curdling scream.
It was awful on its own, but it came alongside various parts of the body distorting physically in odd ways. The sight was too much for Tuesday in particular due to the complicated events of their past, and caused them to yelp and crunch up, hiding their face in one of the couchâs pillows.
Then, it ceased, and Dr. Huo Qingâeâs eyes fluttered open.
The final step. Suika placed another charm sheâd been holding by on her forehead â intended to grant her control over her newly-reanimated subject.
âGoodmorning, Doctor. Mind telling me what you were doing in the Ruins?â
A pause.
Qingâeâs voice was a groan for a few seconds, before suddenly, the control charm Suika placed⌠disintegrated.
âWhat kind of question is that?! Who are you?! Where am I?!â
…Suika hadnât considered the possibility of her subject managing to overcome her control through sheer force.
Still, Qingâe was locked into the position she was in on the floor until Suika unbound her.
âAlright.â Suika said with a bit of a groan.
âLetâs start with names, shall we? You are⌠Doctor Huo, correct?â
âI lost the rights to a title that official years ago.â Qingâe scoffed.
âAs far as Iâm concerned, you can call me whatever you want â but I believe Iâm owed a good explanation.â
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