A Weapon’s Serenade

Nemesis was humming a tune while playing with Tiny when Melody arrived.

“Ah, hello. Are Kuria and Anne not joining you today?”

“Kuria is with Umbria, training, and Anne has her date with Ara.” Melody approached Nemesis’ projection and greeted her with a hug.

“I see.”

“You were humming when we came in, anything specific?”

“A piece of music I found on the internet. The title implies it is song about apples of diminished quality or middling malfeasance, but the lyrics speak of the singer’s experience with horrible thoughts and emotions. The accompanying motion picture adds even more confusion, showing a multitude of characters doing small actions that fluently transition from one to another. I found this entire experience joyfully perplexing and the song reasonably catchy.”

“I think I know that one, it’s the Japanese song with the black and white video that everyone is putting on literally everything that can show two colours.”

“Yes, that one.”

“So, you’ve been digging around the internet for music?”

Nemesis nodded and got back to playing with Tiny, letting Melody join in too. “This 'internet' has been a vast source of entertainment the past weeks. I took to listening to music and studying human art, Focalor is mostly enjoying motion pictures of animals and a form of performance art of playing a character while playing a game for an audience, called v-tubing. I have no idea why it is called that. And Baal is reading something called fan fiction and arguing with a variety of humans about explicitly irrelevant things for amusement.”

“Oh dear… I am kind of surprised by Focalor watching v-tubers, but Baal just makes sense. Does he know what fan fiction is?”

“No.”

“I think that is almost for the better. What about Umbria?”

“She knows what fan fiction is.”

“I mean what does she do on the internet?”

Nemesis grinned. “She knows what fan fiction is.”

“Oh. Oh no. Did she…?”

“Write her own? She is working on it. She is also providing Baal with whatever she finds for her own amusement.”

“I assume Baal also argues with random people about those fanfics?”

“Obviously.”

“Perfect. What’s Umbria’s fanfic about?”

“A short while ago, one of the librarians, Adelina Constantinescu, published a fictionalized version of the head librarian’s experiences right before she joined the library. Umbria is writing what she called a ‘highschool ay yoo’ about that. I do not know what that is.”

Melody raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to know?”

“It might be best to find that out when Baal reads it not knowing who wrote it.”

“I need to be there when he does, that’s going to be so funny.”

“I assume so too. May I ask why you chose to come here while your companions are busy?”

“I can eat dinner alone anywhere, why not here? You are nice company and the view is good.”

Nemesis smiled. “Fair enough.”

“Where are the others though?”

“Baal is in Celestis, trying to find someone who can help male sirens reproduce on their own. Focalor is talking to captain Harriman about their supply issues.”

“Supply issues?”

“Usually, a supply ship arrives every seven days. This time it is at least four days late and I have not been able to find any approaching ships.”

“That’s worrying. Do we know why?”

“No, but Focalor is trying to find that out and see if we can help or at the very least prevent people like captain Pierce from abusing the situation.”

Melody sighed. “That’s good at least. If you need me out of the way, just tell me. I don’t want to cause any troubles and you do important work here.”

“I doubt that you would be in the way. I wonder if I can eat with this projection… it is pseudo-physical and the emitters are able to emulate a lot of bodily functions.”

“Are you asking if you can join me for dinner?”

“In a way, yes.”

“Alright, let’s eat.”

Ara was resting her head on Anne’s chest. “Thank you…”

“Always, this was wonderful.”

“You are wonderful. I understand Melody and Kuria now, desiring you as they do.”

“Do you desire me too?”

“I would certainly agree to another joyful night like this.”

“I will take that as a yes.”

Ara chuckled. “You may.”

“Are you comfortable down there?”

“Very. Your heartbeat is beautiful.”

“Oh?” Anne raised an eyebrow.

“Every heart is different, every heartbeat unique… and knowing that yours will cease without your death makes the memory of it even sweeter.”

“I assume you too remember everything, just like the demons do.”

“It comes with eternity, forgetting can be nasty when you exist for so long. I will always remember your heartbeat and I will cherish it.”

“I don’t know why, but the thought of my heart never beating again once I turn is strange. Facing eternity, any thought of a true never feels so foreign.”

“Rightfully so.”

Anne nodded and let Ara listen to her heart in silence for a while longer. The first rays of light were piercing through the curtains but that did not matter. Anne usually liked to get up earlier when she slept alone to surprise her girlfriends with breakfast, but today Ara would set the pace. And that pace demanded more cuddling in bed.

Kuria let herself drop onto the armchair while Umbria flowed into a comfortable position on the other, both looking out at the guardian outside the observation dome.

“You make this look so effortless.”

Umbria shook her head. “Just too much training. When you start doing it for fun a lot, it becomes a habit.”

“How long did it take you to… forego the bucket.” Kuria was talking about Umbria’s ideas of Shadows being fluids taking the shape of the bucket when shaping themselves like people.

“Twenty… thirty… thousand years, give or take. It is hard, you are right. Just keep at it, even little things help.”

“I want to say this sounds a bit discouraging but somehow it isn’t. I don’t know how to explain it but there is something about the depths of just the magic we are talented in being so vast that feels… I don’t know… wonderful? Reassuring? I honestly don’t know how to describe that feeling.”

Umbria smiled. “I am not the most masterful Shadow out there. There is so much I don’t know, so many things I can do that I haven’t even touched. Imagine all the other magic we can learn from other kinds of demons. The basic conjuring built on top of the visualization magic of our spiders, just try to imagine how deep those depths are.”

“I barely can.”

“Exactly. There is so much each of us can do, no matter what we are, that anyone who hasn’t peered into those depths can’t even fully imagine. Nightmares can conceptualize how the mind of another feels in de-abstracted ways, exploring gardens or mazes or fractals that form out of the mind of another. I am sure you were taught about the interpretation of art, right?”

“Of course, yes.”

“I was told that the magic of a Nightmare is not as active as ours, it is interpretative. A mind before you as a piece of art and everything, I do mean truly everything, has meaning. Every tiny speck of dust, every blade of grass, everything. To really pick apart a mind is to spend aeons interpreting an ever-changing, ever-expanding piece of art. I sometimes wonder what that is like.”

“Especially exploring the mind of someone you love, that must be wonderful.”

“It must be amazing. We get to experience the closest thing possible, we get to experience our beloved’s bodies like our own.”

“Yea… I have done that a few times.” Kuria sighed. “Have you?”

“I have.”

“You have an egg mate too then?”

“Focalor.”

“Really?”

“Yes. We rarely got the chance to actually work together and now here we are. Watching her do her thing is just so good. I love her so much. Her problem-solving mode is the most attractive thing I have ever seen. Competency in generally is really sexy and watching competent people solve a problem is a big turn on. And when that is someone you already find really hot…” Umbria bit her lip.

“Oh yes, competency is really hot.”

“Is there something that Anne does that gets you the same way?”

“There is, yea. It’s the crazy passive eye for detail she has. She notices everything and that is, for the lack of a better word, magical. The moment she points out something so miniscule and unimportant but really neat is just the best. Or when she notices a tiny detail I paid attention to when I get ready to go out with her. It’s also scary in a sexy way. She knows so much about people and the places we frequent. Too much almost.”

“Makes me wonder what kind of demon she will become.”

“I have no idea, maybe something like Jorogumo? One of those visualization spider demons?”

“Maybe, but those are more about projecting what they imagine, if I understand their magic correctly. Vigilance and observation are more angelic things. Maybe her magic won’t follow her talent but be something complementary, like a Nightmare or a Reaper.”

“The day both Anne and Melody become demons will certainly be every interesting.” Kuria chuckled.

“I have no doubt about that.”

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