There's a Mirror On the Wall

Marisol decided to climb the hammock to the hook and tightrope walk on the rope that holds up my canopy. At bedtime. I only just finished getting the hammock back up with some assistance, because I needed to entirely redo things to be at least hopeful that Marisol will not attempt that again (anytime soon, anyway).

I know I've got food, but it's getting low and what I have is being less appealing than I like. I'll manage, and I'll get dad to do a grocery run Friday or Saturday so that I can spend quality time on Saturday downstairs doing a large batch of cooking - meat/veggies/fruit, whole grain mixes, various sauces, three different sized jars, and then I can mix and match for meals.

I watched through several episodes of Magnificent Seven yesterday, and I'm probably going to watch more today. Going to attempt to get some more of the Highlander DVDs ripped as well, so I can marathon some of that. Specifically, so I can marathon Methos episodes. And probably some S2 episodes which have Joe in them. Because Reasons.

And while I didn't get words actually written yesterday, I went poking through my WIPs and abandons for one of my Mag7/Highlander crossovers (with bonus X-Men), and am seriously contemplating just posting the one bit without bothering with edits. Just. It's not a complete story, the end's dangling. So I should probably watch the episode with Matthew McCormick in it of Highlander, because he's one of the important characters in the early bits of that crossover (of which the story in question is), and... well, I'm not the one who wrote him in it originally.

(There's also a bit in that which crosses with Burn Notice, but I think I'm going to leave that as an AU of the AU, because I'm even less interested in rewatching Burn Notice than I am in attempting to write Matthew McCormick.)

Here, have a snippet of that story, since I dug it out. :)

--

Apparently the afterlife starts with an awful headache and a strange sense of having his ears plugged with wax, though at least there's no other pain to be noticed. Vin pries his eyes open after a moment, looking up at blue sky, green leaves, and a patient-looking Matthew. Perhaps he's wrong about the being dead part of things, though he remembers the gut-shot, and the bullet that left him starting to drown in his own blood. There must have been another shot after, to put him out of his misery before he died that agonizing death.

"Thanks," he murmurs after a moment, once he's sure he can breathe enough to speak. He's not sure what Matthew did, though he wonders if he can't help someone who's dying with whatever it is that heals him. Or if it's something else that's why Vin isn't dead, and why he still has that odd feeling that's starting to fade from the strange headache and difficulty hearing into something more like his head is stuffed full of cotton.

"You're welcome, though I'm not sure what you're thanking me for," Matthew answers.  Unhooking his canteen, he passes it to Vin.  "Here; drink up.  You've lost a lot of blood, and your body needs liquids to replace it."  He'd been hoping that both Vin and Ezra would survive until the war ended, mostly because the middle of a war is no place to try training a student.

"Savin' me, or not leavin' me behind for dead." Vin takes the canteen, taking a long sip of the water, though he doesn't try to drink too much down. Wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he shrugs. "Whichever fits."

Since he can't tell which one's the better fit to be thanking Matthew for, not until he figures out what's happened since he was shot. It's nice not to be dead, but he's still not sure quite why, or how.

"I didn't save you," Matthew tells him.  "You died."  He's always hated explaining Immortality to new Immortals, and he really isn't looking forward to Vin's reaction.  Vin is a practical man -- and Immortality is anything but.

Whatever it was, then, wasn't something Matthew did. And it certainly hadn't been anything like whatever healed Matthew before this, because he's been injured before, and not healed any faster than anyone else might. "Ok."

He takes another sip of water, hoping that maybe enough water would make the headache fade entirely. If nothing else, it's worth trying.

Matthew's seen new Immortals fall into hysterics, or try to deny what they are, or even rejoice in it.  He's never seen anyone take the thought of dying and returning to life nearly as calmly as Vin.