[PRP] Spinelany Tap (Horace & Melany)

[shibrogane]

"No, it's okay," said Melany hurriedly, "I just wish I'd thought before opening the door. I liked Temperance." In a smaller voice, she added, "I thought we were friends." She was clearly reconsidering that opinion now.

But she looked up and smiled at Horace, even if his eyes were on the road and not looking at her. "Yeah, but... I don't know. I guess... a lot of people would've... A lot of people answered my email, and they were all like, why do you want to die, don't kill yourself. But none of them offered a solution. It was like they wanted to pretend to help, or to prove I was a bot..."

She said, "My ex is on the listserv, you know. He's the one who sent me the invite. I don't understand why he did that if..." Melany lapsed into silence, wrapping her arms around herself in a tight hug.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He sighed. "Maybe the magic is screwing with her, too - there's no way of knowing for sure right now." Horace didn't really give a rat's a** about Temperance, but seeing Melany sad was not a good feeling. "I.. I don't think I could have ever seen an email like that and not done anything at all. Maybe others wanted more information, I tend to just run into things." He smiled, a bit wryly. But it had seemed as though time was definitely of the essence in Melany's case.

"I've been there before - not exactly the same, but uh, like calls to like or something." He shrugged. The whole ex thing had him shooting her a sideways glance. "Have you asked him why he invited you?" Horace was going to take a wild guess that he had dumped her, judging from her reaction.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Melany nodded, but this news didn't seem to comfort her all that much. If magic was messing with Temperance in the first place, what if they weren't even friends at all? "I texted him to ask, but he didn't answer," she said. She was obviously bummed about it. "I just... kind of signed up. I don't know. I wanted to be in the loop with the magic thing, but... the woman was already following me, and I was scared she'd know who I was if I used my name."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I think you chose smartly. It was a little weird to see a string of numbers and stuff, but it was really clever." He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, then turned into the parking lot for Urgent Care. "It's important to keep ahead of magic or whatever. It's all kind of confusing - half of you guys are aliens, anyway." He shrugged.

"Maybe your ex... isn't ready to talk, but wanted you to have access to things you needed anyway." Maybe she'd done something to him, when she was blacked out. "He doesn't hate you, though."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I'm not," said Melany. "I don't remember living anywhere but here." She sighed. "I know he doesn't, but... I dunno. He was in a car accident while I was out of state, and... I came back early but when he woke up, he was different... I guess he's different now, too. He doesn't want to see me at all, keeps talking about me being a noble and not wanting to see me..."

She got out of the car once they'd parked. "You don't have to stay with me," she said, "I've got change for the pay phone and can get a lift when they're done. It's late... You must be tired."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Nuh-uh," he said and popped out of the car as well. "I am your chauffeur for the evening, and I'll barnacle to you." AKA Horace was absolutely not going to abandon Melany at the Urgent Care and have her just hope she could get a taxi. Ridiculous.

He followed her into the center, ready to steady her if she fell, touch aversion be damned. "That... that makes me wonder. What if he's one of the ones who are aliens - the guys who said they swapped over from a different world? Wouldn't that make his odd manner make more sense - when did he start acting odd towards you?" The whole 'my lady' thing made sense if she was actually a noble.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Um... right after he woke up, in mid-December," said Melany, nervously tugging her borrowed shirt into some kind of order as they stopped by the check-in desk and did check-in things. Because of the hour, the place was fairly empty; she fell silent on the matter of her boyfriend until they were called back and the doctor on duty was off to get sutures. "I... would that mean that Ezra is dead?"

She wasn't crying. She'd been visibly mortified when their doctor turned out to be a Rather Attractive older guy in front of whom she was meant to be bloody and topless, but like, she was a ballerina, as she'd told the doctor. She was fine. "It would have to, wouldn't it," she said, nervously twining a lock of her dark hair around her fingers. "Then my Ezra is gone forever. He's been replaced by some stranger with the same face?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

The doctor was kind of cute: small favors, etc. Melany, however... well, it was no wonder he was worried about her. "That might be... I don't know. He seems to be friendly-ish with all the other people I know are from that other, uh, bit." Horace frowned. "Okay, here's what I think - what if when you black out, that's like the other world's you - that's the you that this Ezra remembers. And it's not you, not really, but then there's you. And this you, the you that you are is why he was kind of nice, like inviting you to the listserv?"

He placed a hand briefly on her shoulder - no shock, thank goodness. "I'm sorry, but remember, this is all conjecture, I could be wrong." He didn't think he was, though, not about Ezra. "It means your Ezra could be replaced... I don't know if that means dead or what, though."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I don't think I get it," she said, with a shaky smile. "I think I'll just--try not to think about it too much--I get all fuzzy when I do."

The doctor came and did up the stitches. There was a ten minute lecture about consent and how knifeplay was like, a bad ******** idea with people you didn't trust implicitly, and a prescription for antibiotics and some painkillers. Melany kept looking over at Horace like what is he talking about?? Help??? Then he left again, presumably to get a tetanus booster, which Melany thought was unnecessary by the face she made at the thought. "Hey Horace? Can I ask a stupid question?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, I prefer you non-fuzzed." And then it was his turn to be utterly mortified. Knife play. Oh ********, he knew they'd think he did it, but at least they weren't calling the cops on him. He buried his face in his hands for a moment, unable to handle the looks he was getting from Melany. His face was on fire. Maybe the floor would open up and swallow him whole. But then who would drive Melany back?

"Yeah," he said, voice muffled by his hand. He raised his head to look at her. "No question is too stupid for me. What is it?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"What the hell was he talking about?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Oh my god," he said, with feeling. "Can I tell you when you're older?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I'm twenty," said Melany, affronted. "You're not that much older than me. Are you?"

She lapsed into silence for a minute. "I decided I don't really wanna know. Once we're done here, can we go back to yours? I'll get you a new shirt when I can, if that's okay..."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I'm twenty four and its a sex thing," he said after a moment. Horace wrinkled his nose at her. "Too late. And yeah - if you're hungry, we can grab food on the way back. I think A & B Burger is still open."

"Don't worry about the shirt. It's kind of ugly, ain't it?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Horace could probably see the gears turning behind Melany's big innocent eyes. Sex knives? What the hell? (It wasn't judgement, just confusion. She was so confused.) "I'm kinda nauseous," she said, once booster shots were done and they were on their way out the door. "It's nothing I can't handle."

She frowned at his jocular shirt comment. "It doesn't mean it was okay for me to get me all over it," she said. "Maybe you really liked this shirt! I don't know!"

The Semblance of Unity