[PRP] Super Sentai Brosé Rangers (Horace & Melany)

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace lumbered out onto the back porch (which could hardly be called that, even though he'd dragged two chairs out there in an attempt to make his home look lived in). There was a bottle of rose in one hand and two mugs in his other. Any other glasses were just too fancy for porch drinking. One mug had colorful flowers that, if anyone looked closely, were actually dicks. It tickled him pink.

"Hey, Mels, mind if I join you?" He was here for a purpose, but it was damn awkward to bring up. "Brought wine."

shlbrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"If it's not rose I'm not interested," said Melany, her voice muffled. She had, apparently, given up on sitting in a chair like a person, and had her face half-buried in the seat of one of the chairs. "Red wine is gross." She was wearing a shirt that said you had me at merlot, but Horace wasn't allowed to comment about that. "What's up?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Of course it's rose. I'm not a heathen." He cracked a grin at her. In reality, Horace's favorite wines would always been the super sweet ones. Bonus points for bubbles. This one had peaches and strawberry notes in it or something - he liked it.

He flopped into the chair near hers, careful not to tip the damn bottle over himself. Horace poured them both mugs and set them on the tiny table he kept out here. "Ugh," he said. "Well, you know that meeting's coming up, right?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Yeah," sighed Melany, taking the mug of wine and sipping it. "The one everyone on the listserv was going mad about." Of course she kept up on the listserv; it was her best source of self-flagellation. "Are you going?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Yeah, I... think I need to. Like the whole 'if you don't vote, you don't get to complain' saying sort of thing? I dunno." He took a sip. Crisp and fresh, it was best in the summer, but the summer was nearly here. Then autumn would roll around, and the end of the world as he knew it.

"You're not going, are you?" Worry pinched his brows together.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Melany shook her head. "I don't think it's very smart for me to go, do you?... And maybe... I don't think I know enough to really... make any kind of call..."

She contemplated her wine. "Would you... I don't know." She shrugged uncomfortably.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Hmm... I'm not sure it's safe," he said, after a bit, sounding sort of deflated. "It's not about you not knowing enough I think.. Well, I think you're going to be discussed, frankly. And it's shitty that you can't safely be there during." Horace took a drink of his rose, staring into the light colored wine.

"It's not fair that you don't have a say, but I feel like you'd... black out or something, around all that." He huffed out a nasal sigh.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Melany looked away, wrapping both hands around her mug like she expected it would warm her. "Probably," she said, muted. When discussing anything else, she was bright and vibrant, bubbly like the fizzy wines she favored. Then the topic turned to her other self, to the other world, and she went flat as still water. "Maybe you could... I know it's a lot to ask, but could you just..." She was awkwardly silent for a long minute, and then said, "Would you tell them I don't want to be like this? And I don't mean it?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"No, that's... that's why I came to talk to you." He hated seeing her like this. "I wanted to make sure I knew what you wanted." Horace set his mug down with a clunk and dragged his foot up onto one knee.

It was kind of awkward to speak, but he kept going. "Of course, the best outcome I think would be for you to be free - of her, of the mark on your back. But-" Horace sighed. "If we... if we can't do that, what do you want?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I want to be free," Melany agreed, "but if there's no way to do that, then... then I want to be dead. I don't want to make anyone hurt anymore. And if the emails on the listserv are right, once I'm dead I get renewed at the start of the cycle-thing, don't I? So I wouldn't be gone forever. It'd just be... like a weird nap?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"It... it... I heard it doesn't work like that for nobles. That nobles don't repeat and that's what a part of you is. It persists, unchanging, un-resetting. I think, if you died, it'd be permanent." Horace's jaw clenched. "But we're gonna find a way, me and Shiloh."

He looked over at her, then up at the sky. "Can you promise me something, though, Melany? Can you... just persist a little longer, like, don't give up, please. If the.. if the time rolls around, then..."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Melany nodded. Then it seemed to occur to her that Horace wasn't looking at her, and she said, "Yeah... okay. I'll try."

She looked over at him and smiled. "Whichever way it goes, I'm glad I met you."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

After she spoke, he did look back at her, catching the edge of her smile. Horace opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "If it does come to that, don't... be alone. I mean you don't have to b-be." A beat. "I mean - I'm not saying take an honor guard with you." He cracked a pained smile. The thought of her remaining alone after her own forced isolation was just... painfully sad.

"...I'm glad I met you, too. Looking at it from an outsider's view, it kinda sounds like a movie, doesn't it? Doesn't feel like one, though." He huffed out a little laugh. "Where's my special effects crew?" wished it was a movie, one of those that had a happy ending.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Would you come with me if it did?" Melany leaned away from her spot half-curled around the seat of the chair. "Anyway, I don't think you need a special effects crew, you're pretty enough as it is. Maybe a costume designer, though." She tugged at the hem of her t-shirt.

She said, "I mean... it's always that way in the end, isn't it? Like Harry Potter walking into the forest alone."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace waited a moment, wondering if Melany was asking what he thought she was. "I'd stay with you." But she'd be going down a road he'd been down before and could not follow. His fingers rubbed over the ring-shaped scar. There were too many promises he'd made and, even if everything reset, Horace had to keep trying.

"Harry Potter came back out of that forest, back to his friends. You're never as alone as you feel really, even if you're isolated a bit, sorry." Horace sighed. "And you don't have to be alone."

"Also, whatever, my fashion sense is perfect." He wrinkled his nose at her, his glasses going crooked with the movement.

shibrogane