#urgent searches

[saphig-iawn]

Urgent Searches - part 2

[part 1]

"A fucking plushie?!", Melody was incensed. The air in the homely kitchen bristled.

"Look, it was tough day alright! Bus was late, my lunch exploded in my bag, and- you can't just walk slow in front of people who are clearly trying to get somewhere!", Dina parried, rather unsuccesfully.

"She was walking slowly?! That was her crime, insufficient speed?!" Melody pressed her temples so hard she could've taken a screenshot of the prickly feeling of exasperation that was nagging at her head, "If you had to do something, right? If retaliation, and I am using that word in the achingly loosest definition of the term possible, was something you needed to do, there were so many things you could have done-" Melody was now staring through Dina, her hands poised to start counting on each finger with increasing emphasis, "You could've had her stub her toe later in the day, you could've made her clothes ever so slightly too clingy, you could've had the wind blow a strand of hair into her mouth, you could-"

"These are sounding a bit specific." Dina smirked.

"No- nonono, you don't get to claim any high ground here, I am not the one who cursed a poor woman to become a plushie! Do you even know where she went? Did anyone see you do it?"

Dina shrank a little in her skin; Melody was getting serious.

"We're going to find her, c'mon." Melody declared, shooting up from the dining chair she was sat on. The chair squeaked on the tile of the kitchen floor as if surprised by the sudden dismounting.

Dina folded her arms in faux tantrum, and was about to say no before clocking Melody aiming a hand at her ready to snap her fingers.

"Fine... look I was going to, at some point. Y-you always-"

Melody's eyes narrowed as her fingers tensed, the witching world's equivalent to pulling back the hammer on a trusty revolver.

"Fine." Dina conceded.

Melody holstered her hand, and smiled with smug triumph.

- - -

Dina was sulking on the walk to where she placed the curse on the woman. She made sure to scowl at the back of Melody's head at every moment she could. She knew she was going to look for the woman, that she just needed a bit of time to vent about it and feel like justice had been served. She made the point to stomp her feet a little harder so Melody at least know how annoyed she was.

"I can't believe you thought it would be a good idea to brag about that curse to me" Melody spoke, her voice carrying out into the street ahead of her, a pointed playfulness laid upon her words like a zest. She knew she had the room to be a little mean.

Dina's hackles raised a little, especially after Melody was so severe about whether or not her curse was witnessed and was now talking about magic out loud.

"Well, we do have our little witch moments, I thought you'd be sympathetic at least-"

"Oh I am," Melody interrupted, "but like, c'mon, there's a plushie somewhere completely helpless, who was a woman of flesh and blood. Something's gotta be done."

"...yeah." Dina burrowed into her scarf. The warmth of her pea coat bringing her a little comfort.

"You said it was near the bus stop by the mechanic's right?" Melody called back over her shoulder.

"Yeah, right there-", Dina pointed, completely out of Melody's vision.

They both crossed the rain slicked road; its dark surface made a little brighter by the diffuse grey sky above. Melody skipped a little, which Dina noted. A tiny pebble of concern sank in Dina's gut, Melody was concocting something in that mind of hers.

Melody quickly glanced about before flicking her hand in a quick gesture. For a moment her fingers seemed to trail in the air like ghosts in a photograph as they fanned out and then returned to a clenched fist.

"Ooh we were close, there's just enough a trace of your magic here for us to get a trail." Melody announced, pride aglow on each word, "If we were a few minutes out, we likely woulda missed it." She turned to Dina with a half accusative raised eyebrow. She then looked down at Dina's ragged old boots. The laces were barely present, and they were so loose on Dina's feet that it was a miracle they weren't lost along the way. "They didn't help."

"Uh- hey! Haven't I been put through enough chastising already?" Dina barked, letting a little more annoyance out than she intended.

"Not yet" Melody winked.

Oh fuck, I knew she was gonna-, thought Dina, but that thought got cut short by a finger snap that reverberated through her like the ringing of a grand bell.

Dina's vision tunnelled, a bright circle of overcast sky becoming a moon in the darkness she felt herself in.

Wordlessly, Dina thought the darkness felt familiar. It smelt of home, of her room, of her. Raw confusion rippled in her mind, and then she realised she wasn't in some realm. The tunnel of her vision was a real tunnel, namely her coat and scarf. It was as if she was propelled backwards through the garments as they stretched out before her.

She then realised how unshaped her thoughts had become. When she usually thinks there are words and syntax and convention that frame them from years of living, but these thoughts felt raw, undressed.

She felt small, or, condensed? The feeling was strange. It was like she was pressed into a mold, feeling equal parts comfy and constrained.

Then a scent hit her. It filled her head. It bloomed and twirled like iridescent flowers, showing colours unseen before to her. It was magic. Her magic.

The tunnel collapsed, and small panic set in, but she felt herself planted on the floor. She felt safe, grounded.

The window into the real world suddenly became Melody's face.

"There we go, this should speed things up! C'mon!" Melody chirped.

Dina's heart leapt at that simple word. C'mon. It echoed in her mind and her heart, pure excitement and eagerness bubbled up. She tried to fight it but her resistance melted away, or at least it was reshaped into something more compliant.

Yes, yes, that sounds good, I want come, that sounds fun, Dina's thoughts were pure and without the restriction of language, Why do I want to go, was I annoyed, I was, but going somewhere sounds so fun, what is happening, what did she do to me, why am I so happy, oh we're going somewhere, that's why!

Melody, kneeling down, reached into the pile of pea coat and scarf and pulled out a dog.

The dog was already panting, tail wagging.

"Right, follow this!" Melody encouraged, holding out two fingers that gathered a little trace of the magic left behind from Dina's curse.

Follow! Oh yes, I can do that, yes, follow, Dina's mind blossomed again with the scent of magic, but these flowers stretched into tendrils and vines like runaway ivy down the pavement of the street.

Dina burst out an excited bark and wriggled out of Melody's arms. She scampered to and stood at the street corner and looked back at Melody expectantly.

She barked.

Melody took into a jog to follow the far more helpful and even far less grumpy Dina.

- - -

I am really enjoying writing this. What started as a fun way to show transformation, as now become a story I want to pursue and tell so if you would like to see more fiction writing like this, then please support me over at https://ko-fi.com/saphig, where you can also commission writing of your own.