A (not so) usual Day [Solo]

[Melina Caedus]

It was a rather warm spring friday at Beacon Academy, beginning with the chirping of birds outside the window, waking the gentle and kindhearted Melina from her slumber. Looking to her right to her alarm clock, it hadn‘t even rung yet, she was awake early even. Least it was a more soft awakening to this day, instead of the beeping from an alarm, wether be it the clock or the emergency kind. Up she propped herself, the wirring of her leg mechanics making audible their assistance in moving her limbs to stand from her bed and walking to her window. Sunlight shined onto one half of her face as Melina moved one of the curtains to the side, soon followed by the other. The need for fresh air warrented the same for the window itsself. She almost forgets, wondering why they don‘t open at the same time before she remembers, ‘always one step at a time, Melina… one step at a time.‘

Time to get ready for the day. As Albedo manifests from her aura to get Melina‘s uniform out of the closet, Melina herself gets into the nearby bathroom, spaced just perfectly for her literal knight in shining armor to still be in range to ready everything while Melina makes herself ready. A passing look in the mirror is a grave reminder, her eating habit hasn‘t improved much. The red color of her hair tips is paler than a week ago. A sign of malnutrition, as she hasn‘t eaten much in the recent days. With a slight frown she undresses, taking longer than usual, to step into the shower.

As the water patters down on her body a slight discomforting feeling, like stinging pricks from a needle, crept up her right arm… or at least where her arm would be. It was like something was pulling on the mount at her shoulder. Melina raised her hands to the shower wall, letting the water come down on her back, down her neck and shoulders, as if she needed to feel it. However for her right… instead they fall through, the drops rattling onto the shower floor, heavy like the debris that took it in the first place. A singular tear mixes with the shower water before Melina clenches a fist and grabs the shampoo bottle. Maybe this won‘t be such a good day after all?

Once the noise of her shower and subsequent hairdryer died out, she steps out to be greeted by Albedo, who has used the time to neatly prepare everything she needed for the day. There was her uniform, her scroll, her prothetic arm and gauntlet, a lunchbox prepared the night before with a sandwich and an apple and, for her last class, her combat armor and weapon. With a sigh she dresses herself with no more hesitation, picks up her prosthetic and connects it to her shoulder mount, the arm wirring to life as she moves it for the first time of the day. At least having the robotic limb attached now dulled the faint stinging feeling from before, though it would take time for it to dissapear entirely.

Classes were, in a sense, alright. First up was Grimm Studies. Mainly theory today at which Melina was for once able to give active input. Though using her mask had still left her feeling uncomfortable afterwards. Next up, history, to be more exact, an exam. While not exactly interested in this topic, Melina still had spent considereable time learning on the subjects and went out of that classroom unnaturally confident. During the break, she spent her time in the gardens, eating an apple and enjoying the good wether. She met Al and Bartok and chatted with the two along the way.

Fast forward to the last class, combat class. Melina found herself in a fight that she wasn‘t comfortable with at all. She was as combat ready as she could have possibly been, but with how passive she was about fighting people she was no match for her opponent. She was fighting a tall girl that was absolutely fine with getting hurt, even outright stated so when they started. At first everything seemed fine, but they were fierce, and not holding back. Whenever Albedo came in to cover for Melina‘s guard being broken, she was promptly launched right into Melina with explosive force and consequently into the containment field of the arena. This scary tiger lady she faced was practically playing billiards with her. The loud explosions of energy that happened as a result startled the ex-medic enough for her to be unresponsive for multiple seconds afterward, prompting her opponent to ease up on her. Suffice to say, it wasn‘t long until the professor decided to cut the excercise short.
The professor did explain in the after-class talk with Melina and her opponent that the matchup was intentionally setup, and that the tigress had been instructed to pressure her as much as possible. Melina freezing up as a result of the semblance that was being used, was a very uninteded side-effect. The following peptalk from the, apparently kindhearted, tigress helped Melina to feel at least somewhat less miserable about herself.

The evening had arrived and Melina carried herself into her room, still in her armor, which she discards the moment she locks the door behind her and was swiftly put neatly back where it should be by Albedo. Feeling the need to distract herself she picks up her violin and began playing a little serenade of feelings.
The rest of the day was spent deeply intrigued by a book that she had gotten from the library days before, reading it next to the open window sitting ina chair with tea situatied nearby to drink. The chirping of birds was still as melodic as in the morning and the light breeze made sure that the setting sun wasn‘t too warm on her. Once the sun had fully gave way to the night, she decided to end the day here. Closing the window and curtains in one fell swoop and getting ready for bed, her prosthetic and gauntlet removed and laid aside, she drifts off into sleep.

The night, Melina was plagued with pain in her right arm, tossing and turning in her sleep as she tries desperately to escape the pain in her nightmare. What had started as a light itch and stinging feeling in the morning has now come back full force in an episode of excruciating phantom pain in her missing arm. It wasn‘t long until she couldn‘t bear it and jolted up from her bed, wide awake and her arm feeling as if it was being twisted and turned beyond what should be possible. Yet there was nothing when she looked at her empty shoulder mount, and yet it still hurt in the worst ways possible. Clutching her shoulder, she lied back down, wincing and crying herself back to sleep, becoming a ball lying in the middle of her bed.

When morning finally broke the dark of the night, Melina was still curled up in her bed, having not gotten the restful sleep she inteded to she groggily raised herbody, again greeted by the chirping of birds outside. Onto another day, again hopefully better than the last.