[PRP] The Last True Mouthpiece (Melany & Temperance)

[shibrogane]

Melany closed her eyes, twined her fingers with Temperance's. There was a warm rush, like Temperance had dipped her hand into a bath, but also rather like the silky-smooth nap of expensive fabric, or the softness of a petal. It was the heady burn of muscles after a long day at the studio, the exultation as the audience applauded after a difficult solo.

This was the feel of Melany's magic as it was.

Temperance would also know the feel of Melany's magic as it had been. What fetch didn't remember the anesthetic nothingness from which they had been reborn, their humanity stripped and discarded like a pair of worn-out shoes? That magic was the click of heels on well-waxed hardwood, the terrifying tautness of dead, dried skin as a corset about your lungs. That magic was never being able to catch a full breath and always feeling like you were choking. Melany now was living and vital; Melany then had been withered inside, and hollow as an empty grave, the Fetch-Queen of a Court of monsters. No wonder she drew their fealty so.

"It's like this," said Melany, after what felt like a century. The warmth grew, changed, the coolness of sweat on bare shoulders as she left the stage, the concentration and grace of a fouette. A natural talent, honed through hard work, and Melany said, "Okay, now turn, and imagine what you want to wear!"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

It almost made her jerk her hand away, that first tingle of magic. But instead she gave Melany's hand a small squeeze. The different in magic was shocking - like the difference of not being able to breath from exertion versus constriction. Fundamentally, there were similarities. This Melany was a crowd-filled theater and the Lady was the roaring silence after they'd left. Exertion, constriction, soft silk and marble floors, two different types of admiration. It was all still her. It was all still here.

Something about this moment was comforting. "Alright," she said, and felt how the magic shifted. She was not especially graceful, but she laughed and let Melany turn her, thinking of something sheer and full of flowers. She closed her eyes.

"Did it... work?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Melany laughed, but delighted, not cruel. "You're beautiful, Temperance," she said, pressing her hands to her chest. "Here, look..."

She pressed her hands together and then pulled them apart, and between her fingers bloomed fantastical flowers in colors that defied description. Then she put the flower crown on Temperance's blonde head and grinned up at her. "Perfect," she said.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Temperance ducked her head as Melany conjured a flower crown from thin air and placed it on her head. She giggled a bit, feeling closer to alive in this skin than she'd felt before. "I think you need your eyes checked." She was a little flushed, the magic had felt so warm, like a living, breathing thing.

"I don't know that I really understand it," she confessed. "Making something from nothing - everything is built off of something, or some kind of exchange, isn't it supposed to be?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I don't see why it should have to be," said Melany. "I suppose Newton says otherwise, but Newton was pretty firmly nonmagical and I'm not sure he believed it really existed as a measurable force. People fly and that shouldn't be possible." She frowned. "We add new things to the universe all the time, Temperance. Why should it matter if it's a good act or some flowers?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"People fly through physics, though," she pointed out idly. "It makes me wonder though... does the magic have a, um, sort of finite reserve in the same way fresh water does. Like some kind of hydrologic cycle, only with magic. Something can't come from nothing and I guess the magic supplies the energy, but where does it get its energy?" She swished the folds of her dress about.

"Will the magic run out one day? If not, then what's replenishing it - what keeps the magic going?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Melany laughed. "Yeah, in machines. Not in the air, like Superman. Only magic does that." She shrugged at the further question. "I'm not majoring in magical theory or anything. But I still don't see why it can't be created out of whole cloth--it's magic."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I mean, magic's got to have some rules, right?" She hadn't expected to have this conversation. "Otherwise, what's stopping us from taking over the world? A set of rules, or stricture on it, I guess."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Why?" Melany didn't seem to realize she sounded like a teenager being told they couldn't go out after dark. "What's the point of something magical if there's arbitrary limits to it? What stops you from taking over the world is you have to think of consequences. What do things look like with a central government? How did you come to power? What happens to all the people you depose? What is your government called? Are there elections? How is your social welfare system structured?"

The Semblance of unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"What's the point of magic at all, then?" Temperance toed a rock into a crack in the pavement. "Taking over the world was just an expression. You should like you've thought about taking over the world." She laughed a bit, not exactly amused by the thought.

"The point is that without rules and stuff, who could even stop you from doing, well, whatever. You could be a queen, not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn. All shall love you and despair." Her smile turned uncomfortable; the lines were blurring.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Melany shrugged. "I'm good at thinking through consequences. I like to think it's because of math. The whole thing's like cosmic calculus." She smiled at Temperance. "But why do you need to be stopped? If you can think up enough higher-order consequences to make something go just as you want, why is that bad?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I don't know that it is bad, I guess. But there will always be dissenters to whatever you might want to do - it'd become a power struggle to see who can harness the most magic." She smiled, too. "Why - do you want to rule the world or is it too much of a pain?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Melany said, "I don't want to rule or conquer anything. I just want to dance and look after my friends and wear pretty clothes." She spun in place, the heavy black fabric of her dress fanning out around her. "I don't see why anyone should have to suffer. You know?"

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Well, you're doing a good job of it so far, I think. You dance and you definitely wear pretty clothing." Temp laughed a little, fanning her own dress out as she dipped into a silly, short curtsy. Then she straightened, her face becoming a little more serious.

She adjusted her flower crown, tucking a strand of hair behind one ear. "Sometimes pain is necessary, though."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Pain, yeah," said Melany. "Pain's fine and I don't mind it. It tells you when you're pushing too far too fast. I said suffering. There's no need for anyone on earth to suffer. Anyone who says there is is probably a sociopath."

The Spinel Lady had said that, once. Purification through suffering.

The Semblance of Unity