[h2]Miina Malina[/h2]

It was, in regards, the single most impressive feat of control Miina had ever pulled off, even with Izayoi's initial direction. The sheer force involved was far beyond what she could muster herself through any natural means, and the number of different effects weaved in... splitting her concentration thrice, four times over, [i]more[/i], attention flitting from one strain of aether to another...

Had this worked perfectly, she'd have probably started chewing out Galahad for adding healing energy to the mix. Yes, it wasn't focused properly, but materia weren't totally neutral sources!

But it didn't. She could see it moment by moment as the spell was released, the way it coiled and twisted wildly, wanting to dissipate into a raging release of power that would consume them as surely as the comet. The only thing to do before the backlash got them all was to impose order on it, [i]ground[/i] it – well, the way most mages used proper catalysts constantly made more sense given the dangers of something powerful gone awry.

Because, of course, it didn't have anywhere to go but her and Izayoi. And which of them had twisted herself in so deep?

The agony was indescribable, her body alight from the inside. Controlling it, isolating it – hah, as if she had the thoughts to spare. [i]Everything[/i] hurt, even places that shouldn't have sensation! Reflexively, the Mystral had tried to heal, pulling on what little was left to soothe the pain–

Yeah, the fresh scream showed how well that worked, everything lighting up afresh. Even when most of her body stopped [i]burning,[/i] moments or minutes or even hours later, how she could know, the pain [i]inside[/i] her skull didn't, and it only got worse if she dared open her eyes, or [i]breathed[/i] too loud.

Fuck.

[hr]

As it had turned out, trying to help the healing process along with more magic only made it worse, so despite the lack of outward physical damage, the red mage was just as laid up as the rest of them until things... started to work normally. Mostly normally; Miina was pretty sure from how numb everything felt that she'd burned out a lot of sensation with that. She could only hope that came back, but it wasn't the [i]biggest[/i] problem, she would deal with any co-ordination difficulties it caused...

Nope, the real problem was her [i]right arm.[/i] She must have been channelling through it the most, or maybe it was just the notion of controlling things with your dominant hand that got it the worst... either way, that went beyond numb to simply nonresponsive. Even dressing was a pain, trying to work out how to shove it in properly, let alone fastenings.

Well... maybe she could fix it in time, she didn't know all that much about healing in the grand scheme of things. She still had one functioning arm, and that would do fine for magic – the pain was still overwhelming if she tried, but diminishing – but... eugh, learning to draw with the other was going to suck, taking notes... hn, climbing too...

Fuck, she might as well see how Elly was getting on first, that should be healing pretty well, and she could at least give their healer tips. Once it stopped being so [i]loud[/i]... hopefully whatever made her head hurt so much would go down like the rest of it, she couldn't deal with this every time she cast magic.