melodymania | Max Davis Voicemail

Thanks for calling. If you're reaching out to sell your soul, I'll already know and I'll be there soon. If you're calling to just talk, leave a message and I'll call you back when I can. Which will probably be soon. Talk to you then~

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[Before Max can answer, the door opens and that voice calls out. He smiles softly.]

In here, love. Come meet my friend.

[He looks to Freida.] My partner. I'll introduce you. And I think you're right. The risk gain is worth the risk.

[She did come over without notice, but she still didn't expect to get to meet Max' partner! She gets up to greet him, not quite able to hide her curiosity. He looks like such a regular young man... at least at a glance!]

Good day! I'm sorry for coming by unannounced - Max is so good; he made time to help me with a challenge I'm facing. My name is Frieda Reiss.

[She offers her hand!]

Ah, hullo. You don't need to apologize. Any friend of Max's is welcome at almost any time.

[Admittedly, he's just as curious. It's good that Max is making friends, after all. He knows as well as anyone how shifty his partner can appear. She's very pretty and her smile is nice.

He shakes her hand, his grip firm but friendly.]

It's nice to meet you, Frieda. I'm Esme. Esme Faulkner.

...do you need more time? If you have a problem to work out, I can make tea or something until you've finished.

Some tea sounds lovely, Esme. We're just talking about a project we could do together, that's all. We're just planning that right now.

[She declined Max' earlier offer of a drink, but with the added company, that no longer feels polite, so she gratefully smiles at Esme.]

I feel a bit bad for dragging him into it as well now..! But if it's no trouble..!

It's not any trouble. Just let me know once you're ready.

[He smiles back and heads into the kitchen, giving them a few moments of peace. She seems nice, and it's nice to have another person comfortable enough to come over and see Max.]

[As Esme heads into the kitchen, Max looks at Freida.]

So that's Esme, my partner.

Anyway. I'll need some of your blood if I'm going to try and map this out with my Contagion and see what we can figure out on this little hypothetical experiment of ours. You can probably keep the specimen as it gestates, unless you want me to.

[Esme seems used to helping Max with his projects... it leaves her wondering if he's really an ordinary human, but for now, she'll assume as much. As Max casually explains the next steps, her eyes widen.]

Specimen..? There's going to be a specimen?

[He can't just gloss over that!!]

[Max knows Esme will take some time before he comes back. A few minutes ~~tags~~.]

Well yes. I'm not about to rent out a lab when I don't have to. You give me blood and I plant it into some of my Contagion. And then we let it just gestate. See what becomes of it. With the Contagion programmed to review your blood and focus on mapping out the Titan powers, we see what comes out. Go from there.

[Somehow, she doesn't like where this is going...]

Will it be... alive? Sentient?

[That would bring with it two different concerns: That they might make a living thing suffer, or that it might turn into a danger, somehow. After all, Max told her that the Contagion is a risky thing to deal with.]

It shouldn't be, no. That wouldn't be helpful and I can't just spontaneously create life. So no worry there. It'd be more of a facsimile. A manifestation of your titan powers for me to look at and better understand.

[That sounds sensible... yet she can't help but worry, now. On the one hand, Max is helping her, and pulling out of the endeavour because of her vague misgivings would be really rude and ungrateful... but on the other hand, what if she has been misjudging him? What if he does have ulterior motives?

She thinks back on what he did to his various enemies - eating them, or condemning them to fates arguably worse than death. What if he makes her titan powers his own, somehow? Would it really be impossible for a deity? He already asked her to put her people - her titans - at his disposal, on a prior occasion...

This is so uncalled for, she chides herself. How hurt would not only Max, but also Evangeline and Esme feel if they knew how paranoid she's being right now? But if Max were to cheat her out of her powers somehow, her fellow Eldians would never forgive her for ignoring their warnings.

Realising that her hesitation must betray her apprehension, she feels acutely embarrassed.]

I'm sorry, I just... I don't know what I imaged it would be like.

[She takes a deep breath, trying to calm and steady herself. He won't do anything like that. Why would he?]

Let's proceed.

[Max can sense the apprehension coming off of Freida. Still, she opts to proceed.]

Alright. [He whistles. A small long dark note appears in the air before Freida. It spins with a long sharp needle hanging off of it.]

Here. Prick your finger with it and it'll take what I need. Nothing more. And then I'll prepare the chrysalis and we wait. You can keep it or I can. Either way.

["The chrysalis"... again, she pauses. He can't create life, she reminds herself. Whatever will come out of her blood mixing with the Contagion, it will just be a facsimile.]

Let's, ah... let's see how I feel about it, if that's alright.

[Despite the dreadful sense that she's making the wrong decision - just like when she confidently promised her father that she wouldn't give in to their ancestors' ghosts like her uncle and grandfather -, she pricks her finger.]

[A sharp prick of pain is felt as the needle draws Freida's blood up the long sharp implement. It curls around taking what it needs before it raises up and away from her. The wound closes as it does, as if it never happened. Then the note morphs into a small bowl holding said blood. It floats over to Max who takes it into the palm of his hand.

Next he brings it close and opens his mouth. It opens far wider than it should as that gooey white Contagion pours out of his mouth like cold syrup from a bottle. It slowly drops down until it makes contact with the blood and floating bowl. Slowly the ooze fills the bowl, mixing into a white and red marbled concoction before spilling over the bowl. It runs down the sides until finally Max's mouth snaps shut, sharp teeth cutting the string of Contagion still hanging from his mouth. He swallows loudly as the white Contagion forms a sphere of red and white with black at the very bottom.

It doesn't quite solidify but the top most layer seems to become waxy and lacey as if the top most layer is drying out to harden just enough to keep the sphere shape.]

And done. [He says with a smile. The little sphere seems to almost pulse every now and then.]

Here it is. Not sure how long it will take. Could be a few weeks, maybe a month. Then we'll see what we get out of it when it's finished. So. You wanna keep a hold of it? A slight warning, it might whisper or play a small tune as this process continues. Had that happen the last time I did something like this.

[The pricking, the bloodletting, and even the note's transformation into a bowl are strange enough to experience, but Frieda only gets really unsettled when Max starts spouting Contagion like a fountain statue. It's the distortion of his features, along with the sheer amount of white ooze, that semi-activates her flight impulse (which she, of course, suppresses).

At his eventual question, she considers both options. Luckily, the sphere doesn't give her any particular feelings, good or bad, beyond that overarching apprehension she feels... but now, reflecting on how Jade, who warned her about the fae much like her fellow Eldians, would inevitably find and inspect it even if she tried to hide it, the decision seems clear.]

If you could keep it with you, I'd appreciate it.

...

All that Contagion... did it comes from your stomach?

[Isn't that bad for him? Or does he have a pocket dimension inside of him, and that's where he called it from?]

[Max nods and tosses the little thing up. It sticks on the ceiling and just stays there. On the ceiling. Must be sticky.]

Can do. And not so much my stomach but more between the layers. I could show you but I will warn you, it gets pretty body horror-y. I think that's a word.

[She quickly shakes her head in decline of the offer. She wouldn't put it past him to turn himself inside out!]

Thanks you, that's alright!

[Her eyes are stuck on the sticky cocoon that keeps faintly pulsing ever so often. Is this really OK..? But what's done is done, and she can only hope that she won't regret it. In the best case, Max' research may just provide her with a backup solution in case the curse-breaking timeline back home gets averted by key players never returning.]

...

Will it keep looking like this?

[She can't help but expect some kind of metamorphosis.]

[Max looks up at the chrysalis for a moment. Then he shrugs.]

Last time I did this it grew than shrank. So this one might do the same. I doubt it would grow a whole Titan. ...I hope not anyway.

[On the one hand, it's reassuring that this isn't the first time he runs this experiment. On the other hand...]

What kind of specimen did you create the last time?

I assimilated a creature called a Bane. A spirit of corruption. Made it my own spirit of Contagion instead.

This is more mapping than assimilation so it shouldn't change size.

[Once more, she can only marvel at how casually he shares incredible stories like this with her.]

Is it now your familiar, so to speak?

[She wonders where it came from - from Max' dimension or elsewhere -, but she doesn't want to keep Esme waiting any longer, so with one last glance at the cocoon on the ceiling, she turns away from it, ready to follow Max' lead.]

[Speaking of Esme, he's been very politely not listening in on their business even though it's apparently not a big deal and focusing on the tea. Black teas are pretty universal he's found, so he did that. A little cream and sugar for Max, cream for himself...and a small bowl of each for Freida because he doesn't want to assume too much or little.

It was impossible to miss the quiet splat of something hitting a surface though and he can't help glancing around the room as he reenters with a tray. Seeing the cocoon on the ceiling, being very obviously Contagion-based, he pauses mid-step with his brows drawn in concern. Then he decisively walks around the space beneath it and sets the tray on the coffee table with the plain tea and bowls closest to Frieda. He hands Max his, takes the other and tucks himself against his partner's side and looks at her again.]

I...wasn't sure how much you did or didn't want for your tea. I hope you don't mind.

[Before Max can answer, Esme returns. He sees the look on his face and takes his tea. Then he wraps his arm around Esme and gently pets his hair to help soothe him.]

It is kind of my familiar in the world where I made it, yes.

[There is more to it but he can explain that another time. He doesn't want to scare Esme or make him worry anymore needlessly than he already is.]

Thank you, love. You made it just the way I like it.

[Noting Esme's apparent discomfort with the Contagion cocoon (and who could blame him, really - Max could stand to run such experiments in a designated space, but it seems like such a thought hasn't occurred to him!), Frieda smiles at him as she adds both milk and sugar to her tea.]

Thank you! We were just done - you'll have Max to yourself again shorty.

[She says it jokingly, but seeing how she did come by without warning to Esme and intruded on their domesticity, it does seem appropriate. Even so, she can't help her curisosity...]

I have to assume that you two first met here in Ellipsa?

[Esme certainly seems as unused to Max' abilities as she is!]