Sweet and Sour

“Tonelico! Are you okay?!”

The fairy sits up without so much of a groan, bringing a hand to her nose. She’s smiling, as usual, but Mash could swear she seems annoyed. Something in the crease of her eyebrows, perhaps. “I’m fine, I’m fine. It was just a bad fall.”

True. Mash knows firsthand how durable Tonelico is. Tripping over a root shouldn’t be able to do much to her. Mash leans down, extending a hand to help Tonelico up. They still have to gather firewood for… tonight…

“Ah.” Tonelico blinks, bringing her hands below her chin by reflex. “This is unfortunate.”

She’s bleeding.

It’s nothing big; just a nosebleed. Droplets of red running down her upper lips to end in her palms. The kind of benign injury regular humans get every day.

Mash stares.

She’s never seen Tonelico bleed before, she realizes.  Tonelico is not a frontal fighter; her default attack spell is Throw A Ton Of Knives At Once. Mash has seen her get backslash from her own magecraft, has seen her get burnt, has seen her get cursed, but she’s never seen her get cut. 

“Let me see.” Gently, Mash cups Tonelico’s face to take a closer look. The crimson flashes against her pale skin, drawing her gaze in. The color is so vibrant, like the full moon cutting the sky in half. It’s a fascinating sight.

Tonelico sniffs. “See? It’s already healing. I’m fine.” Her smile softens at the edges. “It’s just some blood. It’s just some mana.”

It’s just some life. It’s just some soul.

Servants need mana to survive. Mash is only partially a servant however, and in an environment rich in od to boot, so it’s not a necessity for her. Still this means: Mash can taste mana. The few times they’d been desperate enough to have Mash suck blood off Senpai’s fingers to fight, she’d smelled more than just blood, tasted more than just copper. 

Would Tonelico’s mana taste any different? She never had anyone else to compare this to. She never had anyone else she considers herself this close to. The thought won’t leave her head now. Would it?

“Mash…?”

Mash leans in, and, softly, drags her tongue under Tonelico’s nose.

It’s a bit bitter, obviously. Blood is blood, no matter the circumstances. But there’s something underneath, a sour sweetness like sugar sprinkled in lemon cake.

She can’t taste it well, though- there’s simply not enough of a sample to truly identify it. Mash pulls back, just a little. There’s blood on Tonelico’s lips as well. She leans down again and licks Tonelico clean of all this red.

It’s different indeed, a much more potent flavor than Senpai’s blood- from having better magic circuits, most likely. It’s hard to describe properly, but- this is not a taste Mash dislikes. 

She pulls back, intending to share that newfound knowledge with Tonelico; the fairy is a genius when it comes to magecraft, surely she will find that worthy of interest.

That’s when she notices Tonelico’s face.

The fairy is staring at her with wide eyes. She’s not smiling; her face isn’t doing anything at all, in fact. Pure shock seems to have struck her dumb, unable to restrain any of her surprise.

Suddenly, it occurs to Mash that what she just did was absolutely deranged.

“I’m sorry!” She squeaks out, pulling her hands away from Tonelico’s face so fast her skin might have been burned. “I didn’t-”

She doesn’t get to finish this sentence. Tonelico reaches up first, cupping her cheeks, and brings her down to kiss her full on the mouth.

There are lips. And tongue. Mash has never felt anything like this before. She likes it. She likes it very much, warm and wet and sour-sweet once again. She kisses back enthusiastically, pressing against Tonelico until the fairy has her back against a tree. Tonelico responds by wrapping her arms around Mash’s neck. Mash can feel the fairy’s blood being smeared against her skin everytime Tonelico touches her.

“... Ah,” Mash pants out eventually. She’s breathless. Her body feels hot. She’s feeling- a lot of things she is really not used to right now. Most importantly though, she’s nipped Tonelico’s lips, and her back probably hurts from being pushed so hard against bark, so Mash should calm down. “Sorry, I didn’t- didn’t mean to hurt you-”

Tonelico’s hold tightens, forcing Mash closer to her.

“Then mean it this time,” she says, and kisses her again.