[PRP] A Facsimile of Before (Melany & Hart)

[The Semblance of Unity]

She knew, from other sources, that Lady Melany had survived the removal of her arm, had survived the dissolution of the original Charter. (This meant, however, that the Spinel Lady was lost to her forever, and Hart felt that like an odd ache.) The Lady had been someone to view from afar, to admire and never touch, but Lady Melany was like... a different version of that. A more approachable, shorter version.

Hart had entered regular Ashdown approximately one (1) time, in an attempt to find Melany. It had been excruciating, so she'd jetted back in a cold sweat. And a cold sweat on what was, essentially, a dead body, meant the pain was serious. She wondered if that meant it was actually condensation... She shook her head, telling herself it was perfectly normal to skulk around the office labeled 'Melany Duhbslaine'. Totally normal.

Completely normal to just sit on a nearby bench and begin leafing through a book.  

[shibrogane]

Melany poked her head out not a few minutes later.

"Uh, hi," she said, eyeballing Hart doubtfully. "You're the fake-Temperance fetch. The one that kept triggering me. D'you need something?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yes, I was Lady Temperance's fetch." There was no reason to deny it. "I knew your other counterpart, though I guess you only remember me dressed as Temperance and with the whole-" She wrinkled her nose, what little she had. "-veilworm thing." She closed her book with a snap and set it aside before standing.

"I was wondering if you had a few moments to talk, Lady Melany."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"You can just call me Melany, you know," said Melany. "I think since the change everything's just Noble Whoever, now, anyway."

She let Hart into her office. It was... not much of one. There was a drafting table like desk, some bookshelves, a barre in a dark wood that matched the floor. That entire wall was made of mirrors. Melany sat at the stool before the drafting table and gestured to the bean bags on the floor with her only arm. "What is it?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hart lowered herself slowly into one of the beanbags, arms outstretched as though she were afraid to fall. It was entirely possible that she'd never sat in a beanbag before. Once in the strange chair, she sighed, tucking her legs up next to her.

"La-... Melany," she began, and it sounded wrong. Hart was caught in the middle of a mental keysmash for a moment. "I tried to come over to Ashdown to see you, but I... could not. It's not very pleasant. How have you been since the renewal?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"My arm was amputated and destroyed and now I'm a Judge of a new Court and I'm scared of being responsible for all these lives, but otherwise I'm okay. How are you?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I was a fetch bound to the court and now I'm still a fetch, but I have so many more options and each and every one of them scares me to death. Except I'm already dead. So not as big a change as yours but still... could use some normalcy." She looked up at Melany. This Melany was so, so small, like she made to be protected except Hart knew she could take care of herself.

"I don't mean to complain, of course-" She moved her hands in a dismissive motion, frowning when she caught sight of how wrong they looked. Her arms were prompt tucked behind her. "I was worried about you. Your arm... I saw it." She fell silent for a second. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Can you give me my arm back?" Melany snapped it out, even white teeth biting each syllable, and then she shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I'm just really--so stupid tired of needing help, so, no, I'm okay, thank you for offering."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"No," she said. "But I can see if I know anyone who could work on it." Not that Hart did, but she'd ******** try. The fetch also didn't seem particularly put out by Melany's sharp tone.

"Plus you've got a lot of your own fetches - I doubt most will leave you." Melany's help - even if she was tired of needing it. "Maybe, if you have time, L-... Noble Melany, you could help me?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I don't want to need help," said Melany, but she seemed to get less upset when Hart asked for help. There was still an edge of gray suspicion in her eyes, but she said, "Sure, if I can. What do you need?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Every noble does, I think, moreso a judge." She hadn't meant that regarding Melany's arm, but rather her duties, but Hart could see why Melany had taken it the way she had.

Hart fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "Before, The Lady who was you and not said I could ask a boon and I wasn't sure if I could still request something." Her pale eyes her fixed on her ugly, corpselike hands.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Considering the boon she offered was for triggering me and awakening a monster who wanted to hurt my friends I'm not particularly inclined to say yes without knowing what it is you want," said Melany coolly. In that moment, she looked more like the Spinel Lady than she ever had before.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hart liked that look on Melany; it made her feel kind of... wistful. Although she didn't particularly like the ire behind it, she could appreciate the sort of quelling feel the look gave off. "Of course, I didn't expect you to unequivocally agree, my-.. Noble Melany."

She folded her hands very carefully in her lap. "I had heard you-" Or rather, the Spinel Lady. "-could return a fetch to.. to..." she looked down at her hands. "To how they used to look, before. And I, I wanted that."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Oh," said Melany, the Spinel look falling off her face to be replaced by an awful expression of pity. "Of course I can do that. Um, it might hurt a little. I've never done it before."

She got out of her chair and held out a hand. "C'mere." Once Hart had come there--Melany didn't laugh at the fetch's attempts to leave the bean bag chair--Melany laid her cool hand against the fetch's desiccated cheek. Melany closed her cold gray eyes and took a deep breath in through her cupid's-bow lips.

It felt anesthetic. Melany's magic didn't always feel that way; this was like the touch of the Spinel Lady, rather than the swirling dust-mote anticipation of stepping onto the stage. This was cool, and left a strangely bitter aftertaste at the back of Hart's tongue, and it didn't hurt.

"Do you feel it? You need to use your magic now to learn your shape again. Hold it in your mind, and when I let go, it should hold."

Melany waited four heartbeats, and then she lowered her hand.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Hart looked up, then struggled out of the bean bag (she was going to advise Temperance against bean bags forever). She almost flinched when Melany reached out to her, but controlled herself. Her hand felt cool, impersonal almost. Hart closed her eyes.

It was cold and light, like the snapping of an icicle, but with the hop of a beer. She concentrated on how the magic felt through her body, how things changed, how... Hart tried to send her own magic chasing after Melany's, honey after ice. Then Melany withdrew her hand and the numb feeling fled, but it didn't seem as though it took anything with it.

She didn't open her eyes. "Did it... did it work?" Hart felt different; she felt better; but she was afraid to look.

shibrogane