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[cache_coeur]

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”Allô, mon amie! Je ne suis pas disponible pour le moment, mais laissez-moi un message et je vous rapellerai dès que possible! À bientôt!”

CODING

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[maellum]

[Maelle laughs, the sound pained. She can feel her face threatening to turn the same shade as her hair.]

Sure, Sciel. Sure.

[Anyway!!!]

You look like a professional. Like you really know what you're doing back there.

[cache_coeur]

I mean it!

[She just continues to smile, picking up the scissors again.]

It's not hard to do a trim, you just work in sections. And it's easier on someone else! I bet you could.

[maellum]

Are you volunteering as my first experiment?

[At least she's good with a blade.]

[cache_coeur]

If you want to try, I’ll let you!

[It’s just hair.]

[maellum]

I'll only do a tiny trim. So you can hide it in your bun if it's uneven.

[Which is sort of her own plan if Sciel manages to mess up her hair. She pops another piece of candy into her mouth, shifting to sit cross-legged on the chair without paying mind to the scissors. The sugar may be making her want to squirm.]

[cache_coeur]

[Sciel is glad she has good reflexes, and the lock of hair pinched between her fingers; she's halfway through a cut when it stops being a straight line and turns into a scaling diagonal. Oops. She laughs.]

If you're going to sit like that, you have to at least keep your back straight, otherwise one side will be longer than the other!

But yes, you'll get your turn next.

[maellum]

[If Maelle wasn't so dedicated to her swordsmanship she would be hunched over like a shrimp.]

Oof. Okay, okay. Back straight.

[Up she goes, with a groan. Like she's not young and spry.]

[cache_coeur]

[Sciel laughs at the sounds.]

Either you’re in desperate need of stretching or you’re about to turn sixty years old.

[maellum]

What if that's been my deep dark secret all along? I'm actually twice your age.

[Rather than the other way around.]

[cache_coeur]

Then I'd love to know what creams you use to keep your skin looking so fresh!

[maellum]

You have to bribe me with a lot more candy than this one bag for that.

[She offers Sciel another piece because they're running low. Sad.]

[cache_coeur]

Really? How much candy are we talking about?

[She waves off the candy –– you keep it, you enjoy it –– and resumes cutting.]

[maellum]

[Well...]

Have you seen the jars of the sour strips? The strawberry ones.

[cache_coeur]

I believe so. One jar? Two?

[maellum]

Three. Just to be safe. You never know what my mood will be.

[She shoves more candy into her mouth, trying to hide her amusement.]

[cache_coeur]

Mm, true, I seem to remember some few and far between but very fierce temper tantrums...

[maellum]

Yeah, right? And we wouldn't want to disturb Lune or Gustave with all that...

[The eventual belly ache might serve the same purpose.]

[cache_coeur]

That is true! [Gravely serious:] And we both know both of them are very frightened of you when you get into a mood.

[maellum]

[She almost nods in agreement before remembering Sciel is cutting her hair.]

Not you, though. You're fearless.

[cache_coeur]

[She nods, smiling.]

I'm invincible, obviously, given the smaller, shriller children I've wrangled.

[maellum]

Do you miss it? Wrangling kids.

[Maelle can be worse if need be!]

[cache_coeur]

I do.

[Genuinely, maybe in a way that hurts a little to think about. It was always the most consistent way to still be close to Pierre, and certainly the closest she'd ever get to having her own kids. Her eyes are on the scissors and the hair pinned between her fingers, and her smile is a little rueful.]

Good thing I get to spend so much time with you now, hmm?

[maellum]

[Maelle watches Sciel's expression through the mirror. They all left their lives behind, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst when the Continent could kill them well before they reached the Paintress.]

Sounds like I need to cause trouble to keep you on your toes.

[cache_coeur]

[Her gaze flicks up to find Maelle's, smile broadening.]

I'd be disappointed if you didn't! These are peak troublemaking years, you know. You should be climbing out of windows and staying out late with scoundrels your own age.

[maellum]

[She laughs because none of that sounds like her. And Gustave would be upset.]

Our apartment is a little too high for me to climb out the windows and I don't know any scoundrels my age. I can... stay up late?