Chapter Text
“Oh, hey, you got the rainbow lights. That’s great!”
Ashton huffs, kind of agreeing.
Milo’s insistence that Ashton not actually fight anyone or anything until they have this rage magic figured out had seemed reasonable… until they had three out the four sets as figured out as Ashton figured they could be under controlled conditions within the first two weeks. Now nearing the end of week three still with nothing to show for the rainbow lights, Ashton is just about ready to disregard the rules Milo has set for him. Sometimes you just have to fuck around and find out.
“Come on, chin up,” Milo encourages, notebook flipped open to one of the few sections that isn’t a complete mess of their chicken scratch handwriting.
Ashton gives them what he knows is more a baring of teeth than a grin. He also gives the human a sturdy flick to the shoulder, colorful lights dancing on the wall from the rainbow sparks in overdrive happening in his head.
“This has got to be either an abjuration or enchantment effect,” Milo mutters, running a finger down a list in their notebook and another down a list of spells in a book open on their workbench.
Considering Milo has said this the last half-a-dozen fucking times Ashton’s gotten this magic, he thinks he can be forgiven for scoffing at them.
“Look, I know this isn’t your thing–” Milo starts lecturing as they spin their chair around to face him, only for the chair’s back to knock the thick tome they’d been referencing off the bench.
“Fuck!”
Milo scrambles for the book, and, in a feat of great dexterity and strength, they catch the tome in a single hand. They make it look easy, which is fucking weird, because while Milo is a skilled tinkerer and thus good with their hands, they don’t have the best surprise reflexes. Ashton can’t count the number of times he’s tossed a little something at Milo only for the human to flinch and fumble it.
“...Whoa.”
Their eyes meet, silently asking if the other saw it too. The rainbow sparks just like the ones in Ashton’s head that had danced around Milo’s hand as they made that amazing grab.
“...Hey Ashton?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you say this magic feels… lucky?”
Ashton hums in consideration.
Lucky… That’s close, but not quite right.
Getting lucky, in Ashton’s experience, is when the universe decides to throw you a bone. A moment of unexpected and unprompted good. But magic makes things happen, so lucky can’t be right.
“Not lucky…” Ashton says consideringly.
A quick turn and Ashton is driving his fist into the thick wooden post set up specifically for him to hit so he can maintain a battle rage without hurting anyone. The wood splinters from the impact, Ashton’s fist going straight through the whole thing. He pulls back and flexes his fingers.
That was probably the first real punch Ashton has thrown at the post, the first time they’ve actually put their strength behind the blow. And it had felt clear in that moment. This magic that sparked through them gave an extra zing to the focus of their battle rage, almost like they could see how the different blows would land, and that sparking magic pushed them towards what would hit the hardest. And if they had to guess, that extra zip also made for better reflexes, would let them sense the safest way to react. That’s why Milo managed to not fumble their big ass book, because Ashton had shared a little spark of this magic with them.
“No, not lucky,” Ashton says with a slow nod. “It’s… I dunno, a little extra instinct? Like, you just know that this is the way to hit to make it hurt.”
Milo gives him a bit of a blank stare. There’s a disconnect here between barbarian and tinkerer, thought patterns shaped by violence and those shaped by creation.
“Well, maybe not instinct. I dunno. It’s– There’s sort of a flash? Of little things you could do different. And the magic sort of, I dunno, draws you towards the things that work better? …Fuck, I’m bad at explaining,” Ashton sighs as Milo’s expression fails to really change.
“...I think I get it?” Milo haltingly replies. Because the flash thing, that sounds kind of right, feels kind of right. It’s strange and they’ve never experienced magic quite like it. …But magic that pushes people to do a little better like that sounds familiar…
Milo perks up and places the tome back on their workbench, flipping through the pages. “Oh! Hmm. …Yeah, yeah. That sounds about right…”
“Milo?”
“So there’s two different spells that kind of do what you’re talking about: Guidance and Bless. Guidance is divination magic, it gives the recipient a little glimpse of how to do whatever they use its power on better. Bless is a divine enchantment, ‘a guiding hand from the gods to strike true and guard you in battle’ as the book puts it,” Milo explains. “So it kind of seems like whatever you are doing is a bit of a mix between the two. The end result sounds more like Bless, since it’s focused around use in battle, but the effect through which it does so is more like the divination of Guidance.”
“...If you say so,” Ashton says with a shrug. What he does isn’t a spell, but if Milo wants to frame it like one, Ashton’s not going to stop them.
Milo just gives them an aggravated sigh. “Yes, I say so, you fucking ingrate.”
Ashton grins. “Sooo… does this mean I can take real jobs again?”
“No,” Milo intones, finger pointing at the barbarian. “No fighting, no raging. There are still tests for this rainbow shit, especially now that we know what to test for. And you still need to try for control over which magic you use.”
“Really?” Ashton whines.
“Yes really,” Milo says exasperated, rubbing the bridge of their nose. They’re still not convinced Ashton’s actually recovered enough to be in a real fight without fucking up something that could heal better, but fuck if they’re not reaching a breaking point where Ashton will just disregard them anyways. And if they have half a mind to let Ashton off the leash they’ve imposed on him just so they don’t have to deal with his bitching, the genasi need never know.
“Fucking fine, killjoy,” Ashton huffs, slumping dramatically.
“You’ll thank me later, dumbass,” Milo grumbles back.
Ashton smiles as the human returns to their notetaking. As much as he complains about the restraints Milo has placed on him (for his own good), he is glad to finally know what the last form of his magic does.
Now Ashton can really start considering how to put these possibilities to use.