Tier 3+ Story 📜 "The Magician" (Act 12 + Intermission)

Content (for the whole story): original content, w/w, cryptid (?) pregnancy, nb(?)preg, sexual & kink awakening, demons, stuffing, nausia, gender ambiguity, birth, transphobia, dysphoria, depression & suicidal thoughts, parental conflicts, use of alcohol and other drugs

Quicklinks: Read all from the start | Act 1-3 | Act 4 | Act 5 | Act 6 | Act 7 | Act 8 | Act9 | Act 10 | Act 11 |

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T H E  ☆ M A G I C I A N

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Act 12

Rosemary

“Don’t tell me. You’ve been busy, I guess?” said Mary, soundingharsher than she intended to.

“I have been afraid.”

Silence.

No. What? Really? That couldn't be it, right?

“You’re pulling my leg.”

“In all honesty, I was anxious until the moment you hugged me earlier. I was half-expectinga slap in the face.”

“But - but why?” Mary asked, confused.

Melodie lowered her head, so that her eyes were hidden by the brim of her top hat.

“Because of how I behaved on the last day. I was deeply ashamed. And then you didn’t call, and I thought you might need your distance.”

Mary bit her lip. “I .. I thought the same. I mean, about you not calling. I thought I got you in trouble or something, and that you figured out that I wasn’t good for you, or something.”

“Really, now? I see,” Melodie answered and chuckled silently. “Lady luck played a twisted game with us. It’s how it goes, sometimes.”

“I also really didn’t mind that side of yours. Especially not the kiss.”

“I’m sorry?” Melodie looked confused.

“The, uh, the kiss? You kissed me, don’t you remember?”

“Did I? That’s… that’s very interesting.” Melodie grabbed her snake cane while talking. It looked a little rough. “My sincerest apologies. I … feel deep sorrow for forgetting. I wasn’t quite myself that day.”

“Don’t be. I’m not too surprised and not angry,” Mary said and meant it, “You were a little beside yourself.”

“I shouldn’t have agreed to that date, considering my condition. I apologize.” Melodie looked awful, as if she was pushing herself over the edge for it.

This time Mary reached out for her hand and held it.

“No, don’t, please. I… I don't know, I … As I said that night, in case you don’t remember: This seemed to be a part of you, and I want to see all sides of you, not only the polished, coordinated ones.”

Melodie smiled weakly. “It’s an awfully bad idea to be interested in a magician, then. We love keeping our secrets and showing only polished sides.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Mary comforted her, but quickly switched her tone. “Now. Next point. Who was that woman who yelled at you?”

“Your tea is getting cold.”

Mary squeezed Melodie’s hand. “You don’t need to stall everything, you know?!”

Melodie laughed. “Yes, alright, alright. That was my slightly overprotective agent, Morris.”

“Bente A. Morris!?” Mary exclaimed.

The magician raised an eyebrow. “Yes. How do you know her name?”

“I, uh -” Mary pulled back her hand and quickly grabbed the tea to take a sip. Damn, such a good tea, even without any sugar.

“I was on your landing page once.”

Yes. Sure. Once. Not about twenty times or something like that, looking for hidden clues and rereading every word like a first-grader right before their first spelling test. That would be obsessive.

“Though I thought he was a man. She, I mean. As for the person yelling at you, I thought they might’ve been your wife…”

Melodie laughed again. Oof, it was getting increasingly hard to stay mad at her.

“See how assumptions can deceive you? Magic.” As she spoke, Melodie once again made artful movements with her hands again, this time even more dramatic.

“Melodie! This is serious to me!” Mary scolded her, but as hard as she tried, the corner of her mouth was twitching, trying to force her into a smile.

Chuckling, Melodie took off her hat, as if she was discarding it like her act. In all fairness, her fooling around like this, making really dumb dad jokes, was kind of adorable.

“Of course, I understand. So this is why you didn’t call… You are right. This is serious. I’m sorry I made you feel that way, it should have been clear to me how it must have looked for you. Especially since you didn’t understand what we were talking about.”

She fell quiet, leaving the apology to resonate. Mary was waiting for ‘but’s and potential justifications, though nothing else followed.

“I’m…I’m glad to hear that,” Mary said, a little taken aback.

“Is there anything else that burdens you?”

Mary thought about it. There were hundreds of questions, but nothing else that lied on her chest like that potential wife and Melodie not calling. Besides, she was tired of being angry at Melodie, and that wicked woman made it really hard to be angry at her in the first place.

She shook her head.

“Well now! May I call you my little dove again, then?”

Mary smiled. “You may. You really like addressing people with these pet names, don’t you?”

“I do. But only you bear the title of ‘little dove’. And, as a matter of fact, Rozemarijntje.”

Mary felt her cheeks flushing again and quickly sipped some more tea to hide behind the cup.

“Ehm … can… can I take a look at your cane…?” she asked, swiftly changing the topic.

“Be my guest,” Melodie answered, though Mary thought she noticed a slight hesitation before her answer, “You don’t need to be careful with it, it’s pretty sturdy.” She then handed her the cane.

Surprisingly, the beautiful brassen cane felt warm to the touch, as if it had been lying in the sun for a good while. It warmed her hands and felt more lightweight than it looked. It was admirably detailed; its artisan had even taken the time to carve every individual scale.The eyes appeared to be red gemstones, maybe even rubies.

It looked like something you’d find in a treasure chamber of a hidden arcane temple, right next to a magic lamp and a flying carpet.

“So beautiful…” she said, while gently sweeping over all the details. Touching it made her feel all tingly again.

Melodie inspected her for a while and then said: “Do you like snakes?”

“They started to grow on me, recently,” she said, while still marveling at the piece.

In the corner of her eye she could see Melodie smiling warmly. “What are your favorite animals, then?”

“I like moths and nymphs. Leafhoppers and planthoppers, specifically. Some spiders, too.”

The magician didn’t answer.

When Mary looked up, Melodie’s face was a little derailed. She looked surprised.

“Oh, did this surprise you? Got a little caught off guard by assumptions?”

The surprised look on her face turned into a deferential one.

“Always those witty, disarming comebacks. I respect that. You’d be a great deceiver, if you’d carve out a career in that regard.”

“Luckily for you, I’ve decided to take this as a compliment.”

“So, what is it that you like about these animals?”

“I don’t fully know…” Mary answered truthfully. “They are just very pretty and intriguing to me. Moths are like beautiful little mandalas of the night. Spiders are extremely underappreciated and demonized. And nymphs… they are just very, very cute. Like real life …I don’t know, Pokemon. They exist in thousands of shapes, forms and colors, and so many of them are still undiscovered. You should look them up one day, it’s really fun.”

Melodie smiled brightly while listening to Mary’s words. “I shall do that. Thank you.”

“Graag Gedaan," Mary answered, and the beaming look on Melodie’s face completely made up for the countless hours Mary had poured into that damn green owl app on a daily basis.

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Intermission

Rosemary

“Before we eat, would it be okay if I take some pictures of this?” Mary asked.

“Of course. For your Instagram?” Melodie returned.

Mary stared at her with big eyes. For some reason, she didn’t even think about Melodie knowing about Instagram. All that low tech gear had made her convincingly seem like she was from another time.

“You … you know about my Instagram…?”

Melodie smiled. “I’ve seen it. Once.” It was subtle, but she pronounced ‘once’ in the same way as Mary did earlier when she talked about Melodies landing page. Was it on purpose? “Very beautiful photos. I like your eye for things, and the color palette you choose for all of your pictures. Very soft, makes you feel both at home and yearning. Are you a professional photographer?”

“Oh.” Mary couldn’t keep that noise coming out from her mouth, in reaction to that strong, raging feeling in her chest. Her emotions were increasingly boiling up since she met Melodie again, and almost too much to bury. “I mean … I am not. I’m just a girl with a smartphone…”

“But you should be! If you didn’t study any of it, it’s even more impressive. You do have a very natural talent, considering things like golden ratio, color contrasts, symmetry, negative space,” Melodie remarked, exposing surprising photography expertise (because of course she had to have those, too),  “Many of your pictures look like paintings, even.”

Mary didn't know whether she was coming or going. “It’s just filters -” she started.

“Fiddlesticks! You chose those filters. They are not the talent, you are. But please, take your pictures. I have to make a quick call.” With that, Melodie took her cane, stood up and walked over to her car.

Thankful for the breather, Mary tried to acclimate herself again. She felt as if she just ran a whole marathon. Melodie really thought her photography was good! She even was passionate about it! She must’ve taken a close look at Mary’s Instagram feed. Her mind was racing.

She grabbed her phone and got up, taking some closeups of the picture perfect straight-out-of-a-fairy-tale setup.

She would’ve loved to have Melodie in it, though. Maybe she’ll ask her later for a picture, together with Mary.

When she was about to put down her phone again, she thought about something. In the corner of her eye she could see that Melodie was returning, so she acted swiftly. With a few taps she opened up Google Maps and set the map to her current position. The app showed her a pin somewhere in the green, next to the river Seine, sure. Mary then zoomed out and gazed at the phone with wonder.

They were nowhere near Paris anymore.

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▶️ NEXT CHAPTER 

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Story written by RoseVirage
Proof Reader: Doombeez, Dutch Consultant: EN_NSFW, Emotional Support Reader: Serialfiller1

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