[PRP] Options (Temperance & Ashton)

[Daekie]

"You have a broken collarbone," Ashton sniffed faux-daintily, "you deserve all the little comforts you can get, and I would never keep a lady from her coffee." There was a certain light in her eyes when Temperance had questions about her taxidermy work, though. "We get a lot of hunters' kills, actually -- but I'm not fond of those, they're usually a little battered. I like owls and rats -- rodents in general, birds in general. They're so delicate."

So delicate you could wrap your hand around their skinny necks and squeeze and break, Ashton thought, and smiled. It was a good thought.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"And you have a head injury," she reminded teasingly. The subject of taxidermy has her thinking for a moment.

"I think it's kind of nice - you're making these animals immortal, in a way. I wish humans were so easy." Another sip of her coffee. "It must be hard working with delicate fur, so easy to ruin by accident." Just then, Ashton drink appeared on the bar.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"A healing head injury that's a few months old," Ashton stated, still teasing -- but there was a little subtext to her tone, a steely undercurrent so light it could have been just Temperance's ears picking up on someone else's conversation. It said I'm right, and you know less of it than I do, so drop it.

But that might have all been nonsense.

"Humans could be just as easy," she mused, "there's so much more medical study on humans -- it's just petty morality in the way, you know? When something's dead it lacks opinions, I've heard people say, but I'm not really sure where I stand on it. You?" When her drink came, she picked it up and extended it to Temperance. "And to return the favor, of course."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance made a noncommittal noise. Medical professionals made both the worst patients and had some of the oddest temperaments. She decided not to point out that her injury was also old(ish) and healing.

"Have you ever seen Body Works? The preservation they do is fascinating. She smiled and took the drink. After trying a small sip, he passed it back as she bodily shiver. It was just too cold for cold drinks. "Quite peppermint-y. Wouldn't the skin have to be prepared differently than say... a possum?"

She began to move towards the door; the barista was giving them clear GTFO looks.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"I love what they do at Body Works," Ashton smiled politely, but she'd gone a little quieter when the barista started to get visibly uncomfortable -- and she began to slip towards the door subtly enough it still looked like Temperance was starting it, having the idea first.

"Human skin is stretchier, yes...it's also a lot more unstable. To get the semblance of life, there's so many more ways to tell someone isn't a living human being...it's also debatably illegal, but you know, things change."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Once they were outside, she breathed a little more easily. "You know, I think Body Works is coming to one of the museums here soon. We should go." She smiled and looked around the park. It seemed to have emptied out in the time they were in the coffee shop.

"Can't you tan the skin to remove the stretch? That's a thing, right?" She took a sip of her coffee. "I'm not sure it applies in this situation, but what is illegal isn't always wrong."

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"Tell me when you're free, and I'll figure out when we can go." Ashton took a long sip of her drink, savoring the burn of the mint of her tongue. "You could, I suppose, but tanning usually makes leather -- and that's even more clearly different from skin. But if you want to cover your dead father in leather made from his own skin," she smiled, a little toothy, "I suppose that's one way to commemorate him."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I wish I could say I'm free anytime for you, but I have to check my schedule. I'll text you." Her schedule was hectic at best and eighteen hour long days at worst.

She smiled, though. "Well, my father is very much alive, so I'm afraid I have no practice there. Maybe you could show me the ropes of taxidermy sometimes. Is the shop near here? I don't remember."

daekie

 

[Daekie]

Ashton shifted her drink between one wrist and her hip, fumbled around in a pocket for a few seconds, and handed Temperance a business card -- it had Mount Me's address and owner (not Ashton, someone else's name, distinctly Germanic) between two immaculate fingers.

"It's better to take classes to learn, but it is something that takes up a lot of time -- I only do it because the work fascinates me, not because it's especially rewarding." She dropped one brow lower. "But, you know, grades, sleep, social life -- sleep's the least important one."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Oh," she said, taking the card awkwardly due to her sling. "I've been here. He's a bit of an odd character, isn't he?" Ashton's nails were perfect and Temperance wondered how she ever kept them that way.

She hmmed for a moment in thought. "I barely have time for any hobbies. Unfortunately, if I get less than five hours sleep, I'm utterly useless. Perhaps you could give me a quick walk though? Not teach me, of course, but let me watch sometime?"

daekie

 

[Daekie]

A lot of very organized self-care rituals, was the answer to the question Temperance wasn't about to ask, and knowing how to cut corners in a way that didn't affect your appearance. A fair amount of Ashton's disposable income was spent on that sort of thing -- gloss and concealer and conditioner -- ways to look like she'd stepped off the cover of a young adult novel without trying too hard. It was all layers, because appearance was everything. People listened more if she was pretty, after all.

"That's one way to put it," she laughed, her own little private joke. "He hasn't been around as of late. But I'd be glad to let you watch --although I do have to warn you, some of the smells are hard to get used to."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance had tried the 'pretty' route and finally accepted it was never for her. It had been a dark shadow over those teenage years, she remembered. Maybe she should try again; surely she'd be better at it now.

"Smells don't bother me. I wouldn't have gotten very far if I had a weak nose or stomach."

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"How could I ever doubt you," Ashton said, and it was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic or if she'd just misworded the previous sentence. "I suppose the smells are the same, but I was introduced to them so far apart I wouldn't know."

She was the sort of pretty where it was deliberately, expressly understated -- Ashton would have been a pretty boy in any world, but she'd built on that with razor-nails and experimentation until it was as much a part of her presence as her body was. Magic wouldn't turn her life upside down if she had anything to say about it, but little charms and oddities like that she'd accepted (with examining).

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance resisted the urge to roll her eyes, telling herself she only imagined the bite in Ashton's words. "Oh, have you been doing taxidermy for a long time?" She gestured down one path. It was deserted and lined by thick trees, much more stereotypically romantic than the main paths.

daekie

 

[Daekie]

"For a few years casually -- letting the bones be cleaned by ants, that sort of thing, we do get a lot of little dead animals here - but I learned how to do it properly from Alois Scholz, actually. He was looking for a secretary - I fit the bill, and eventually he passed off responsibility onto me, because he's an immensely irresponsible man." Ashton's lip curled in disdain when Alois' name came up in specifics -- not that she held any real ill will towards him, because she'd really designed the whole thing the way she wanted, but it seemed so terrible if she phrased it that way.

The Semblance of Unity