Homes are Something You Make (A gruulfriends fanfic), Chapter 1
How do Chandra & Nissa navigate their competing needs and desires while being fully invested in each other? Where do they go after jumping thru the omenpath?
Notes: This fanfic idea has been rattling around my brain since I read “She Who Breaks the World” a year ago. Hopefully my weird writing style enhances the story and not detract from it. This is mostly canon-compliant, tho I’ve taken some liberties where I see fit (Nissa’s hair didn’t immediately grow back, etc). ADHD Chandra (just like me fr fr), Autistic Nissa. CW for some light disabled self-loathing from Nissa.
—
It had been nearly two months since Chandra & Nissa (Chandra AND Nissa!!!!) had left Zhalfir (Mirrodin? Zhalfirrodin?) and arrived on this new plane where the mysterious storm elemental came from. At least, they thought it was nearly a month, but the days were so long here, stretching out like a Second District summer day cranked up to eleven. Except the nights seemed just as long. Chandra didn’t mind (she was always restless), but it seemed to be taking a toll on Nissa. About once a week, she would tell Chandra “I need to stay here to meditate and rest”. Maybe it was because she was still healing from phyresis, maybe it was because losing her spark drained some of her life, or maybe it was just because she didn't have Chandra's boundless energy. The first two times, despite Nissa's assurances, Chandra had felt guilty about leaving her partner (companion? girlfriend?) alone, but on the third time she actually felt Nissa's presence in the air, mana, and landscape itself. When she got back to where they were staying, Nissa told her “I think I finally connected to this plane’s worldsoul; I saw you wandering”.
And so they fell into a rhythm, exploring the plane together most days, and on the days Nissa needed rest, she joined Chandra by traveling along the leylines. Spontaneous enough for Chandra's craving for the unexpected, but routine enough for Nissa to feel safe. They had learned much on their travels, and every night they got to enjoy each other's company.
—
“So how did you two meet?” Marlan slid an ale to Nissa, sitting at the Inn's bar. Nissa smiled as she watched her girlfriend (companion? partner?) trying to learn some sort of bar game on the fly. "I guess you could say it was work? She was a planeswalker…a sort of traveling mage…and came to defend my home while it was under attack from otherworldly monsters called Eldrazi. As part of defeating them, we had to cast a spell together and I felt a connection deeper than I felt with any other person.” Marlan’s face still wore a look Nissa couldn't parse, “okay that's pretty cute, but how would anyone call that ‘work’?” Nissa blushed, embarrassed, “Sorry, I forgot to elaborate. After we defeated the Eldrazi, she invited me to join her and some of her friends to travel with her and defend the multiverse from threats like them. So what we did on my home plane feels like my first day on the job.” “You said you were a planeswalker, did you ever meet Urza?” Marlan asked, “I’ve heard stories about him, they say he was a planeswalker and visited us many years ago” Nissa started to shake here head when a shout came from across the pub room, “URZA’S THE WORST!” Chandra had stood up and started to walk to the bar, “I never met him, but I was friends with some of his students. Teferi always said Urza was the worst guy you would still work with if you had to. Jhoira and Karn had similar mixed feelings. Sorry for interrupting, I just wanted an excuse to kiss my beautiful girlfriend”. Chandra ran her fingers down the polished copper of Nissa’s implants before intertwining their fingers and kissing her forehead several times. “Well if you ever need a room to stay on your travels, Marlan’s Inn & Tavern is always open,” Marlan declares as she pours Chandra a cider, “especially to friends of Olenn. Xe and I go way back.” As Chandra heads back to the bar game with Olenn, Nissa can’t help but stare at her girlfriend (yeah, that sounds right). “Wait, were you an explorer too?” “At times, I considered myself one. But I didn’t have the energy to constantly travel, nor did I feel the urge to. So I found a town I liked, set up an inn, and have been taking care of weary travelers ever since.”
“Here,” Nissa said, as she felt Marlan’s connection to the town.
“Olenn and I met on one of my last expeditions. We became friends almost immediately, talking about everything and nothing. Our lives, our hopes, ourselves. If xyr spirit wasn’t so restless, I think xe would’ve considered this to be xyr hometown.” “Was xe born here?” Nissa asked, tho she immediately regretted asking something so personal about a stranger. Marlan chuckled, “Nissa, homes are not something you’re born into, they’re something you make.”
—
They’re something you make. Marlan’s words rattled around Nissa’s brain the rest of the night. As she wandered over to Chandra to tell her she was overstimulated. As the two of them, a little more tipsy than they intended, staggered up the stairs to their room, holding hands the whole time. As Chandra helped her disentangle her day clothes and phyrexian cages, still perplexed that the fire mage stared at her like she wasn’t irreparably scarred and deformed. As they settled into bed together, Chandra taking time to make sure they both felt comfortable, all while kissing the back of her fuzzy head (the hair seeming to come back more slowly after phyresis).
They’re something you make. The two of them had certainly made something. Was it a home? Nissa wasn’t sure. It felt more like a compromise than a true home. Was it a family? Absolutely. Nissa had guarded that feeling for so long. After the betrayal on Amonkhet, after their misunderstanding on Ravnica, after Phyrexia tried twisting that feeling towards the Orthodoxy. But now, the feeling had overflowed any walls Nissa had erected in her heart and mind. It was so much, she was pretty sure Chandra could feel it as their hearts beat together.
They’re something you make. It was the last thought Nissa had before falling asleep. Well, the second-to-last. Her last thought was just an image of Chandra’s goofy grin.
—
The first rays of sunshine crept into their sleepy little room. Nissa felt the nauseating light on her face (too much, too much!) and wriggled around so she could face her beloved flame. The effort alone told her that it was going to be a rest day. The sunlight danced on Chandra’s face as if it were a stage for a Rakdos drama, and it was so beautiful. Nissa managed to tuck one of the pyromancer’s wavy red locks behind her ear, exposing her soft cheek for a small kiss. A muffled “I love you” emerged from her half-open mouth, which subsequently curled into a smile. The long days had tanned her skin, making her look much more like Pia than when Nissa had first met her on Zendikar all those years ago. Chandra wasn’t exactly awake (she was always the last to fall asleep and the last to wake up), but she was conscious enough to feel Nissa’s love pouring out of her soul.
For a while, they both lingered in the space between awake and asleep. Nissa staring at Chandra’s beauty, Chandra fidgeting with Nissa’s soft skin. Then they both caught a whiff of something familiar: attar mixed with aether static. A soft knock came on the wooden door, “Sorry if I’m waking you up.” Feeling Nissa’s subconscious “It’s a rest day”, Chandra groaned a bit as she clumsily climbed over her girlfriend (yeah, girlfriend) and staggered to the door. A mouthless, firewood-grey face with pale blue eyes greeted her as she opened the door. “I heard there were planeswalkers staying here,“ they said, somewhat surprised by the lack of surprise from the two women. Well, until they saw the filigreed shoulder pads stashed in the corner, and felt the red-haired woman embrace them with a whispered “svagtam.”