#patchwork melody

“Okay! Then… let me just pull out the map for the Lost Thicket… can you step off the map please?”

I comply, and Melody begins moving around sheets of paper. As soon as I agreed to play this game, she went to work spending days drawing up maps. Apparently, she had been imagining this entire world for years and was overjoyed to have somebody to actually explore it. I don’t understand it much, but if it makes Melody happy…

A new map is placed down, this one with a few drawings of bats and thorns drawn on it.

“Okay, you start right there… what do you do first?”

“Look around,” I sign. It just makes sense when you enter a room.

“All right! Roll perception! That’s… um… press that button on my phone and add 3 to the result,” Melody instructs. I press the button, and the screen shows a 17.

“Nice! Fake 20! You look around and notice a swarm of bats resting in the branches above you. Any sudden moves will wake them up. Otherwise, there are paths to the north and east.”

I nod, and decide to play along. I move towards the east exit with an exaggerated sneak.

“Heehee, normally, you’d have to roll dex, but that was really cute so you I’ll let it slide,” Melody says, before placing down a chess pawn in front of me.

“Before you stands an angry Black Widow. It’s, uh, big. Like, human-sized. And clearly not happy that you wandered into its home. What do you do?”

I glance over at my character sheet, which Melody helpfully propped up so I could see it from the map. I have a few different types of magical arrows… but I don’t want to seriously harm a spider…

“Sleep arrow,” I sign.

“Okay, you want to put it to sleep? You can totally do that. Roll the dice! Or, uh, go tap my phone again.”

I do as told, and this time, the screen shows a 4. I hear the sound of some die rolling behind the barrier Melody has set up, and her face twists into a disappointed expression.

“Oof… you missed the shot, and the spider gets closer. What do you do?” She asks, before sliding the chess piece right next to where Fletch Elmdawn is standing.

“Sleep arrow!” I sign again. Before Melody even instructs me, I go and press the phone again, this time rolling a 6. Melody rolls a dice again behind her barrier, and her expression doesn’t look promising.

“Uh… it dodged the arrow…”

It dodged the arrow?! It’s right next to me! I shake my head in disagreement and pantomime stabbing the chess piece to prove my point.

“Sorry dude, that’s kinda how the game works,” she says sheepishly.

I cross my arms and stare up at her, knowing Melody can never resist that maneuver.

“No, no, don’t get all cute and pouty on me!”

I twitch my ears, and lower them in mock sadness.

“No fair! You can’t change the die roll by being cute!”

I sit down cross-legged and frown.

“Fiiiiine,” she relents. “You hit the spider, but you need to hit it one more time for there to be enough sleeping toxin in its system. Is that better?”

I stand up and cheerfully nod.

“Your cuteness will only get you so far, Fletch Elmdawn,” Melody teases. “The spider goes to bite at you. Roll to dodge its bite!”

I run over to the phone and press down on it, hoping for a high number. I don’t entirely know the rules of this game, but I know high numbers are better.

“Woah! Nat 20!” Melody cheers as she looks at the phone. “The spider is too dizzy from the sleep toxin to aim properly. Now’s your chance to counter!”

I pantomime drawing my bow, and Melody nods. “Won’t even make you roll for it because of your last roll. The spider falls over, unconscious but still very much alive. The way forward is open!”

–

After a few more encounters that were similar to the spider, we finally reached the end of the Lost Thicket, where the dreaded Spider Queen await… at least, according to Melody.

“Do you want to do the fight now, or wait until next time? I know it’s been a few hours of you walking back and forth to the dice app… I’ll have to workshop something better for next time.”

I sign “Let’s stop for now,” and Melody nods in agreement. “Okay, that’s totally fine! Didya have fun? Even a little bit?”

Honestly… it was better than an afternoon doing nothing. I nod at her, and seeing how she smiles in response, I know that was the right call.

“Yay! I’m glad. It’s not all fighting, there’s like, talking to people as well, we’ll get more of that after you escape from the Lost Thicket… unless you doooon’t,” Melody says, stressing the “don’t” in a mock spooky-sounding voice.

I roll my eyes, and pose dramatically with my invisible bow and arrow, prompting a chuckle from Melody.

—

“Are you sure? Positive?” she asks in a whisper, holding me close to her face. To say she was nervous was an understatement. Although, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous too. I know Melody would never hurt me, but like the rest of her, her mouth is… big. Big enough that if she wanted to, she could…

But she wouldn’t.

I nod. I’m sure.

She moves the hand holding me a little bit closer, but doesn’t make the first move. I know she’s giving me a final chance to change my mind, that’s one of the things I love about her. However, it does mean I’ll have to take the initiative here.

“Are you–” she goes to ask again, but she stops when she feels me plant a kiss as I press my face against her bottom lip. I pull back and look up at her eyes. She’s looking down at me, her eyes sparkling.

Before I can even process it, it’s her turn, and I find my face pressed against a pair of lips as big as I am. She’s gentle, and clearly nervous, and she doesn’t move much, but the effect is still very much a kiss. After a quick moment, she pulls me back, and moves her hand up past her nose so she can look me in the eyes.

Patch avoided Melody as instructed… until the human’s soft snores began to echo through the apartment. They rappelled down the rope they kept tied to the counter, and slowly made the trek across the apartment to the sleeping human. Once they were able to climb up the couch, they were right near Melody’s face as she slept, a strained expression stuck on her face.

Patch had no idea if this would work. Human sickness wasn’t related to life force, they didn’t think. But maybe… it would do something?

They pressed their hands against the human’s forehead as that familiar heat began to radiate out of their hands, matched by the hot temperature of Melody’s fever. As Patch closed their eyes, their throat began to involuntarily vibrate. They braced themself as the gnarled, creaking sound radiated from their burning vocal chords. They couldn’t transfer all of their energy, the last thing they needed was for the both of them to be sick… but maybe a little bit could speed up Melody’s recovery.

—

Melody opened one eye as she heard the familiar noise Patch sometimes made, the noise that she nicknamed his purr. She didn’t know why he sometimes made the sound, as it certainly didn’t sound like it felt good.

“Whatcha doin, buddy?” she asked as she saw Patch suddenly step away from her face with a nervous look.

“Heh, it’s okay, I already know what you were doing,” she said, which caused the sprite to immediately look panicked. He shook his head no, but Melody continued.

“You were trying to purr to make me feel better. Like a cat does,” Melody said with a smile. “I appreciate it, but I don’t think that works on humans.”

Purring… like a cat… yeah… Patch thought to themself. Cats don’t have magic. That’s the perfect alibi. Just roll with it.

They sheepishly nodded, and Melody moved one hand to scoop up the sprite before cuddling them against her warm cheek.

–

Melody walked back in the kitchen to a very panicked sprite.

“Woah, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“He saw me! He saw me!” the sprite repeatedly signed, distress on their tiny face.

“Woah woah, calm down… he… saw… are you sure? Positive?” she asked. The sprite nodded with a worried expression.

“Okay… fuck… I’ll, uh, talk to him tomorrow, I promise. Just relax, you’re safe, Clay really didn’t seem like he saw anything. And even if he did, I wouldn’t let him hurt you.” Melody said, trying to calm her panicked tiny partner.

“Other sprites could be in danger!” they signed.

“Others… in danger…” Melody repeated as she parsed their signs. “Trust me, Clay isn’t the type of person to go running to social media to say he saw a glimpse of something unusual. It would be way worse if I texted him about it, I’ll talk to him tomorrow, okay?”

This seemed to calm down the sprite enough to get them to stop panicking, but they spent the rest of the night worried sick.

–

“So… Clay. Uh, hi,” Melody awkwardly asked as they both grabbed carts of books to put away.

“What do you need now, Melody?” Clay asked.

“Nothing! Nothing! I just, wanted to ask, y’know… when you were over, did you, uh, see anything weird?” Melody cautiously questioned.

“Melody, your apartment is filled with weird witchy shit. Why?” Clay responded as he rolled his eyes.

“No, not that. You know, something… weird?” She asked again, stressing the last word.

Clay looked around. There was nobody else in the aisle the two of them were standing in. He looked at Melody, his voice taking on a conspiratorial whisper.

“Tell them to be more careful.”

Melody’s eyes widened.

“You know? About them?”

“It’s… a long story,” Clay said, “but yes. I know about them. Your friend has nothing to worry about from me. But maybe get a box to put in front of that outlet or something.”

Melody just nodded. After a moment of silence, she continued asking questions.

“So… how much do you know about them? Have you met one? Like properly? Do you know what they are?”

Clay sighed. “There’s… one that comes by my apartment every now and then. We’re on good terms. She’s told me the basics, but I try to mind my own business.”

Melody nodded again before trying to ask more questions.

“So-” she began before Clay cut her off with a glare.

“Look, I know you have twenty thousand questions, but I have a job to be doing. I told you I mind my own business, and your friend is safe. Now, do you mind?”

For a moment, Melody thought about gently playing with his silver hair, but decided against it. For all of the trouble he had sleeping, she dared not disturb him. However, that also meant she was unable to get up until he woke. Melody mentally chuckled at the thought of being trapped in place by somebody so small. Like a sleeping cat, she mused.

Mel checked their phone, and saw that it was still fairly early in the day, only a little after noon. That probably explained why their partner was so sleepy. Despite adapting to a more diurnal schedule to spend more time with Mel, he was a… what was the word? They couldn’t recall. But he had explained to them that sprites were most active at dawn and dusk. Mel supposed it made sense, for creatures who presumably evolved to avoid humans.

Their musings on sprite biology were cut short as their tiny partner stirred. Melody worried they had woke him, but he simply rolled over onto his back. When he rolled over, his shirt rose up, revealing the scars across his stomach. Melody’s brow furrowed in a soft anger at the person who could have possibly harmed somebody like him, but she quickly let it go. They had seen his scars before, of course. Marks all over his body from his time with that... thing that dared to call themself a human. The scars wouldn’t go away, at least not for a long time, but Melody was determined to replace the memories and the pain, at least as much as they could.

Gently, very gently and slowly, she moved her hand, laying her index finger against one of his hands. Despite how long Melody had known about sprites, she could never get over just how small every part of them was compared to her. It was terrifying, in many ways. No wonder, between that and his past, her partner was so afraid of humans when they had first met… Although her own actions certainly hadn’t helped.

Before long, Melody saw his head move, and bright purple eyes made contact with hers. Melody moved her hand out of the way, partially out of instinct. Early on in their time knowing each other, such a thing might have sent him into a panic, though by now the sprite was more than comfortable being near Melody’s hands.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” she whispered. He gave a silent yawn before raising a hand in greeting.

“I’ve kinda been trapped here while you slept, so I’m gonna sit up now, okay?” Mel said. Her partner buried his face in her shirt, jokingly complaining about the idea, but after a moment he sat up and nodded. Melody brought her hand near, and he climbed on, before the human adjusted so that she was sitting up on the couch.

“Couch or table?” they asked, not knowing where he wanted to go. Both of them had ropes attached, so he could get to the floor and around the small apartment easily, but they knew it was a bit of effort to climb up an entire furniture piece.

He pointed to the couch, and Mel gently lowered her hand to the couch. He stepped off… and immediately curled up on the couch cushion, closing his eyes again.

“OK, go back to sleep if you want,” Melody chuckled. “I have errands to run anyways.”

“How about we watch some TV for a bit?” You say, though you know it’s for your sake more than his. He nods as he buries himself into the cotton of your shirt. Despite how often you lay like this, you always feel anxious about it. He’s so small, so soft. The fear and anxiety rises in your own heart, but you catch yourself. Deep breaths, we can’t both panic.

Sights, feelings, sounds.

The TV, playing the theme song of your favorite cartoon. The window, an opening to the rainy outdoors. Raindrops hitting the glass. And of course, your little partner, laying down in the center of your chest, pointed ear pressed against your shirt.

The feeling of his tiny body on you, the warmth radiating from such a small being. The couch, old but reliable. And his ever-present heartbeat pressed against yours.

Bump bump bump bump bump

It’s fast, but as you relax, you can feel him relax too. It slows, still much faster than your own, but slower. Good.

—

Ba-dum… … … Ba-dum…

You lay there, on the vast surface of your partner’s chest, taking in every one of their heartbeats. The speed is slow, rhythmic.

Ba-dum… … … Ba-dum…

Your heart still screams, fast in terror and anxiety. You feel a pounding in your chest, panic in your heart and memories in your mind.

Bump bump bump bump bump

No. Listen to hers. Slow, steady, gentle. You’re safe. She’s laying there, looking at you, adoration on her face.

Ba-dum… … … Ba-dum…

They joke about it sometimes. “Dude, we’re partners, you don’t need an excuse if you want to lay there,” they say. You playfully slap at their pajama shirt. “Shut up”, you’d say, if you had the words. But the two of you don’t always need words to communicate.

Ba-dum… … … Ba-dum…

The overwhelming bass of their heart, beating so slowly compared to your own, so deliberately. It’s calming, the slow beats, like a metronome for your breathing. In, out. In, and out. You are safe. You are okay. She is here.

Ba-dum… … … Ba-dum…

Remember what she says. Sights, feelings, sounds. This is easy.

Your human partner, taking up most of your surroundings. The window, rain beating gently against the glass. The TV, playing some cartoon she loves. A collection of plants and books watching from the shelves.

Ba-dum… … … Ba-dum…

The soft cotton of their shirt, the coarser fabric of yours. The heat of their body, a soft warmth. The gentle swaying of their chest as they breathe, causing you to rise and fall gently. The sensation is like floating, a gentle rocking motion.

Ba-dum… … … Ba-dum…

And the sounds. The sounds of the rain outside, the soft sounds of the quiet TV, and of course, that ever present heartbeat.

Ba-dum… … … Ba-dum…