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Taking on a New Life

Part Eleven

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Kittenrose232

_ _

_ _

Christmas at the bar was a surprisingly jovial affair, although the siren could not see how so many of the traditions matched up with similar ones from Hearth's Warming Eve.

They are alternates of the same world, you know, Adagio said mentally to her, thinking so that the siren could hear her. At least, from what you told me. I wonder if I stepped into Equestria, if I would turn into your form and look like you really do?

_ _

The siren shook her head.

Who knows? But there's no need to go back to that place. Not when there is interest here.

_ _

For it was interest that commanded the siren, even though she had never seen Christmas decorations before, the clash of cultures and religions perplexing her. She'd never seen so much coming together all at once, so many traditions that did and didn't match up, some celebrating that did not even believe in the religion that it was all supposed to have come from.

And you say the tree is not Christian…but Pagan?

_ _

I think so. I'll look it up later so you can see.

_ _

Adagio, after all, didn't know everything about everything, even though she knew just where she needed to go to find out, whenever that was needed too. She balanced on a chair to put up a string of tinsel, a glittering red and gold springy decoration that folded flat when it was not in use next to her. It came out like a concertina to garb the walls and, even though she would not have said it out loud, it was one of her favourites.

For the time being, the bar was closed for decorating, though the week before Christmas was loud and proud, jovial and brash. There was no evading it as drinks were poured and the regulars drunk themselves silly, though Adagio had a better handle on who was doing it to escape and who was doing it to celebrate. That did not always correlate with who was alone and who was in company, sometimes the results of her observation surprising even her.

For Christmas Day itself, they would only open for a few hours, just to welcome and celebrate and, in a way, give those that had nowhere else to go somewhere where they could sit and have company for a time. Christmas music blasted (the cheery, poppy type, not the warbling, dreary traditional ones and bar songs that could have had the opposite effect) and even Olivia had a smile on her face, for Adagio did too. Her shadow and moulded protégé was coming along nicely, so close to her that others often joked about it, if they didn't mistake Olivia upfront for Adagio. With everything that Adagio was setting in place for later, she didn't mind that at all.

The bar, however, did not close completely after the last regular had been gently ushered out the door, the staff eager for the next part of the day, whether that was hanging out there with company or heading off to be with family. Those that had wanted to stay with family had been worked with, especially if they had children, of course, for not everyone needed to be there, but the mood at the bar was such that they had all become a kind of family themselves too.

“Woohoo!"

Party poppers sprung, sending streams of paper streamers across the bar, confetti pouring down, the small bangs exploding, though they were not typically things that were available to buy there. Someone had brought them back from a trip away and Adagio made the best use of them, setting them off one after the other in glittering clouds of confetti, rather fancy ones if you asked her. The siren was entranced, more so than she had been by the decorations, flittering back and forth, piloting their body so that she could try to “catch" it, some tendrils and specks landing on her hand.

This is…weird.

_ _

But you like it.

_ _

The siren responded with a glow of warmth, sensations sometimes speaking far more than words.

Presents were exchanged as they all sat around the big tables, which had been pushed together, Aria and Donnie joining them. With all the time that Aria had spent hanging around since she'd reconnected with Adagio, it was as if she was a member of the bar family anyway, though Donnie was always up singing with Adagio, so he was included.

“Oh!"

Adagio started. How could she have known? But she could not help but allow her lips to curve up into a smile as a red pendant was shyly passed to her from Olivia, Olivia's strong, confident persona slipping a little in the presence of her mentor. The relationship between them transcended human bonds, a little Equestrian magic, which could be later wielded, lingering. Maybe that was how she had known to buy Adagio a pendant that was a replica of what had been destroyed, something, in the ruby, able to contain magic, if only a little.

It would be enough, but for what yet, Adagio could not say.

She laughed and genuinely kissed Donnie on the cheek when he revealed the karaoke player to her, though it was a bit of a moot point when she sang up on stage so much. To have something to project her voice at home, however, would be very interesting, and the set of gloves she got him, for training, went down very well.

“And these too!"

She had not been able to help herself, on the siren's bidding, from splashing out a little more and spoiling him, though, for Adagio, there was no measure of control in that action. It was not something that either the siren or Aria would have understood, but she could show at least the siren part of the way, what it meant to give someone so much simply because one could.

Because it makes them feel good?

And, in a way, that is good for us too. We can give things for no reason, but you have to admit that it still feels good. It's a social thing here too, we want to do it.

_ _

It was something still that the siren would have to learn, all in time, turning over in Adagio's mind, fins fluttering softly. Sometimes, there was the impression of her blowing bubbles, as if she was trapped in a glass jar of her mind, despite being a being that would not be constrained to land, water or even the air. Magic, it seemed, allowed many things and maybe the pendant, once infused as the siren could teach her, would lead them on to more powerful things entirely.

“Ahhh," Adagio smiled knowingly, holding the ring that Aria passed her, wrapped shoddily, up to the light. “This will be very useful. You had the jeweller make it with the correct stone, didn't you?"

“Of course, boss!"

It was a strange gift to give, but the siren had taken care of that one, telling Adagio exactly what the two of them needed to get so that Aria and Adagio could speak to one another through them at any time.

They'll become infused with and link to your energy, so only you will be able to hear the other through them also. Sometimes we used communication gems for similar means, back in Equestria. But that was a very long time ago now.

_ _

There were no true presents that had to be passed between Adagio and Aria, however, but the gift-giving ceremony of Christmas was the perfect cover for the exchange to happen, a purple stone settling over her third, middle, finger while Aria's matching stone went on the same finger of her hand. Always there, always available: the sirens were in cahoots in the human world.

“Hey…"

Outside the bar, waiting on heading home with their breath frosting in the air, Donnie and Adagio stood close, hearts beating so loudly that the siren whispered a worry that Donnie would hear it. Adagio more thought it was cute that she had come so far that she would worry about that sort of thing.

“About what happened in the bar…"

Adagio grinned, disappearing a little further into the scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face, eyes alight with mischief.

“Oh, that…"

She was not going to go further that night, but a kiss, well… That was alright, as long as it was on her terms. As long as she wasn't surprised, their relationship changing, but all in a good way. Some things were simply meant to happen and, although Donnie's mouth opened and closed several times, not knowing what to say, he took her hand, all the same, fingers squeezing hers through the fluffy warmth of their gloves.

All in all, it was the best first Christmas that the siren and Adagio could have hoped to have together.

Everything escalated after the holiday, however – but not in a bad way. They'd finally settled on which condo they wanted and the one that was within an easy commute of work with a lake in the large park around the corner, which had been a strange draw, had won out in the end. It was not as if either of them had to be chained to it when it was both of their names on the deed, though Adagio gave a little shiver as they sat down at her table, going through the paperwork together. Where there was so much of it, that gave her plenty of time to see what a big life step she was taking, even if the siren did not understand that.

Why is it big?

_ _

It's a lot of money to take on a condo like this. We'll both share it, both names on it, equal partners. I suppose, for us, you could consider it like running a business.

_ _

Is being “with someone" a business then? Every estate agent has assumed us and Donnie are together anyway.

_ _

Adagio hid her chuckle, though was not quick enough as Donnie looked up, catching the twitch of her lips.

“Is something funny?" He sighed with a tired smile, pushing his hair back from his forehead. “I never knew there'd be so much paperwork with this… And we haven't even got to negotiating yet!"

“Don't worry," Adagio said, smirking as she flipped her hair back over her shoulder, a light bounce in its curl. “I think I've got that part covered."

Of course, if anyone could negotiate, it was her, and she might exchange that work for a little of the paperwork back to Donnie. Even with the life experience in the world that Adagio had, she didn't quite see where there had to be so much need for it, so many useless words, though it was a large purchase, she supposed. Maybe they just made it as difficult as possible to put people off? She wouldn't have been surprised to find out that was true.

There was so much to do, but there still seemed to be time in which to do it, Adagio breathing slowly, calming her heartbeat. Even with the siren in her, she could be subject and prey to stresses, neither of which she had any interest in allowing to rule her. But that only meant that she would have to have even more control over her body than she had ever had before, learning more about being human all over again, even though there was no way that things could ever be “just the same" for her ever again.

Not with me.

_ _

With us.

_ _

For she could not work alone with the siren in her, enjoying the proximity of Donnie, how, sometimes, his leg brushed hers under the table. It was those little moments, sometimes, that meant the most to her and, in experiencing them, she taught the siren.

Donnie glanced up, his gaze brushing hers. Her heart still leapt when his lips curved up in that breath-taking smile of his.

“So, what are you thinking of doing with your singing career? You said you had something planned?"

He probed gently, but that was something that Adagio still had in the works, peering at him less than innocently over a cup of some hot drink – apple and cinnamon? Whatever, it was good, sometimes that was all that things needed to be. And things that he would have to know he would know exactly when he had to know them, no sooner than that.

“There are some details to work out first…but there are opportunities."

Donnie chuckled, shaking his head and standing up, though the siren was quick to point out the fond look he gave her.

“Dagi, you are a funny one."

She only hoped that was a good thing in his eyes.

*

What do you think of this design?

_ _

Adagio paused in front of the tattooist's book, the draw to the artwork something that she could not deny the siren had pushed her towards. Back when she'd been in the service, it was not as if tattoos had been strange or taboo at all, but she'd never considered it after she'd become Adagio. They were beautiful, an intricacy to them that lured her in, that had her tracing her fingers wondrously down pages of patterns and designs.

The pull could not be resisted and she was interested too in getting some ink on her, to show who she was, even if it would be a rather discreet way of confirming that there were two minds, for her, in one body. But that was the way that worked for the two of them and she was not going to worry about that, not when the moment was right, not when things were simply and exactly right as they were.

“Are you looking at horses, miss?"

The tattooist, the owner of a small parlour that had come highly recommended, stepping out with a gruff smile. He could have been seen as rough to some, with stubble on his chin, though his green eyes were sharp and his black hair trimmed neatly, even if his jaw was a little blocky for her taste. Not like Donnie at all with his large body that could have blocked the exit if he had chosen to do so. But Adagio was not worried about that at all.

“Yes…in a sense."

That was vague, but she pressed on.

“A horse with a tail… Have you heard of a hippocampus before?"

It was the closest thing in that world that someone could understand as to the nature of the siren's shape, though it was that very tail that allowed the siren to fly through the air as well as move over land and through water. It was integral and the tattooist frowned, rubbing his stubble.

“Hm… I know what you mean, yes, but I'm afraid there are no pre-made designs along those lines. Could you give me a better idea of what you're looking for?"

The intricacy and spread of the design that the siren fed her forced her to stand up on a dais, her rightful place, with a full-length mirror in front of her.

I have to see it.

_ _

The siren was still something of a diva and Adagio rolled her eyes out of the tattooist's line of sight as she turned.

“I want the whole body on me… It will take time. The tail should start down here."

She pointed to her thigh, while the siren offered up suggestions. It was not as if anything had to be set in stone that day anyway.

Have waves too, like the ocean.

_ _

“The tail is to come up here, from the tip, surrounded by waves."

Like she's rising from the water.

_ _

“Like she's rising from the water."

The tattooist nodded.

“I see… I see what you're going for."

Adagio might not have, not yet, but he was an artist in his own right, though his canvas was not paper but the bodies of people who would be left with a permanent, significant mark of his artistry. He had more experience in that than either Adagio or the siren.

“Up here, across my back, the body of the siren – the hippocampus."

“Ah, like a siren of the sea?"

The tattooist seemed excited, nodding along as she talked, his smile spreading and spreading.

“The head…"

Should come up to the shoulder. We don't have to do this now, do we? You said this was permanent.

_ _

Yes, we'll draw it out at home, he'll do some concepts for us.

_ _

“The head should come up to the neck and shoulder. But can you draw this up for me too? I have plenty set aside for this, so that won't be a problem to me."

If he had had any concern about Adagio's thoughts on the job, that assuaged it at the very least, the tattooist stepping back and pursing his lips, surveying her. It was a look that could have set her on edge in any other scene, but he was meant to be looking at her, considering just how the pattern that she was designing, with him, would best lie along her frame.

“I see… And, yes, I can draw that up for you. It's…"

The siren tuned out the boring talk about numbers, for that was not something that interested her, even though money had become an important part of her day to day life there. She'd never considered things like that before, but it was important in the human world, in a world where her powers were weaker. With the pendant slowly, so very slowly, infusing with her magic, however, maybe all would come right with her and Adagio in time though. The ink too could be empowered and she passed the impression of that thought along to Adagio, even though the woman was in control, talking details.

Later… But that's interesting.

_ _

There was so much potential for it, even if Adagio might have been ever so slightly hesitant to get such a large tattoo – she had thought it was something smaller that the siren was pulling her towards – but the siren was insistent.

It'll look good and the channelling of power through it…

_ _

You do know this will hurt in a way, right? It's needles implanting the ink into our skin.

_ _

The siren nodded, or at least gave the impression and sense that that was what she was doing.

Yes, I know. I can take over the body so that you do not have to bear it, if needed.

_ _

Are you getting protective over me?

_ _

No!

_ _

She teased the siren, who practically went off in a huff at being “accused of such a thing", though it was all in the play and the nature of their relationship, how they related to each other. But to have a design linking the inside to the outside of them was appealing, even if Adagio had a little trepidation regarding lying there for so long while the design was being put into place. And the healing time might have her out from work at the bar, but she had money for that too, all within her reach especially with the shared condo coming to fruition with Donnie.

All in all, things were coming together for her as she poured over preliminary designs with the tattooist, who gave his name as Matthew, even if he did not look much like one. The siren did not understand that about someone looking, or not looking, like their name, but it was a turn of phrase with a meaning that Adagio could not truly impart to her without the siren having lived and understood it too.

Maybe in time, she would understand more of the nuances of human speech like that, but it would only come in time, if at all. Nothing could be done instantly, and that was something that both would have to understand.

They quibbled and squabbled like siblings over the tattoo designs that they had been sent home with – all very, very rough concepts of the sketches that the tattooist had worked on while in the shop. And they were all incredibly small details that they fussed over, even though they would, in the end, be insignificant to the grand design of it.

I want the tail to end at the hip.

It would be better if it came down to the thigh.

_ _

And more waves…

_ _

Sometimes, it was difficult for them to tell who was speaking at any one time, voices blending into one beast and being. They were one being and two separate ones, yet there was no telling just who was in control at any time, even to them. It was how they were, the nature of their relationship, bound together in an intricate dance of a relationship that was more than simply learning how to live with one another. Where they had to accept each other, they had to compromise, work together, for they had seen just how it could be if only one of them was in charge. And, fortunately for them, neither wanted to have a relationship like Aria did with the human she had left in the back of a mind otherwise deemed “in use".

It's a good choice to do this, it will allow us so many options. And Donnie will love it.

_ _

The siren's voice trailed off dreamily, as if she was imagining just how much Donnie would admire her, images flashing through their shared mind of adoration and praise. Adagio chuckled.

It's just like you to think like that. He will like it, I'm sure, but he'll be more concerned at first about all the work it'll take.

_ _

Adagio was sure about that, for Donnie had become more and more caring about her, making a joke out of it, saying that she was going to get annoyed with him – all kinds of things, of course, that would never come to pass. As attentive and forward as he could be at times with her, the man still trying to find out what balance it was that worked best with them, she liked it, lapping up the attention with a smile on her face. It was all that she'd wanted and, to be truthful, her heart beating faster whenever he was around was something that she leaned very much into. She only wondered when she was going to be ready to take the next step.

If she had been anyone else, not just a woman, she might have done so already. But the siren inside her did not yet know what dating was, even if she understood the concepts. Neither did she understand love or romance, but maybe a little of it could be shown in the joining of their souls, the siren's form painted luxuriously over her body.

Maybe. But things would come through with Donnie, Adagio was certain, in the due course of time.

With them, it would take all the time it took and that was all there was to it.

*

“So, Olivia, here is my proposition."

She brought her protégé to a quiet coffee shop, a chic place down a side street, though it didn't seem that many in the neighbourhood had picked up on its location yet, which suited Adagio. Oliva sat before her, on the other side of a round, little table, an untouched mug of coffee before her.

Olivia had changed so much that both Adagio and the siren were proud of her, close enough that they could be twins, but the curl and bounce of her hair had been much improved from its flowing straightness of prior. Her hips were narrower, but that was accentuated with a thick belt, layered eyeshadow so that her softer eyes were drawn on more like Adagio's too, little tricks enhancing the illusion. Even her skin tone overall was a little darker, not solely where her make-up lay, which was interesting to Adagio, perhaps more to for her than the siren.

A little magic goes a long way.

_ _

Adagio smiled inwardly.

I see. But not all the way.

_ _

Or else she will not be the same person.

_ _

Fidgeting a little, Olivia appeared torn between appeasing Adagio and settling, more comfortably, into her more confident persona. Sometimes, even someone like her had different ways of being for different people.

“What is it? Did I do something wrong?"

“No, no… Of course, not."

Adagio reassured her, but, with Olivia, there was always an ulterior motive.

“You've met Aria and we both have fantastic voices – but it's your voice that I'm here to talk about. We're going to take a music business forward, though not with me performing, or even Aria. We're more…management types."

Or the types that wanted to be in control of everything, for that was all that they knew. To be fair to both of them, they were good at it. Blinking, Olivia shook her head.

“Wow, that's great! But…I don't get what this all has to do with me."

Adagio leaned back, her elbow over the back of her chair as her fingers moved in a gesture, talking as much with her hands as she did verbally.

“That's where you come in, Olivia, dear. Your face and voice are just what we want for our music – and our brand! You'd be perfect! Of course, we still have time to talk and get things set up, nothing's done overnight, is it, these days? But you'll say yes to it, I know. Opportunities like this don't come around every day.

Opportunities from sirens?

Oh, shut up.

_ _

If Olivia had been the woman she had been before Adagio had begun moulding and shaping her, perhaps she would have said no, perhaps she would have taken time to think about it first. But she thought she had everything in her grasp, eyes shining, a grin pulling at her lips that was a version of Adagio's, though without the cockiness that Adagio sometimes enjoyed embodying. She was merely deferential to Adagio as her superior and mentor, of course, but the attitude that had been so very carefully cultivated, every tiny little mannerism that Adagio had been working on with her for what felt like months… It was all coming to sweet fruition.

“Oh, wow – that sounds like exactly the sort of thing I should be doing! I had no idea that you noticed my voice!"

She's still a little… The siren mused, taking in Olivia critically. Undeserving? Or she thinks that she does not deserve it.

_ _

Where that serves us, it does not serve our need for her.

_ _

That'll have to change then.

_ _

Absolutely.

_ _

“The thing is, Olivia, we can't get you up on stage at the bar, the acts are full – so your voice with us is just for our music and brand, the label we will create, do you understand that?"

Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, such a small motion that no one who was not particularly looking for it would have seen. Yet it was there, that subtle enforcing of her will and influence, even if, truly, Olivia had a choice in the matter too. With all that Adagio had fed her, however, that choice was only ever going to go one way.

“Yes!" She grinned, meeting Adagio's eyes as if all that she was doing was the natural progression of things, the most normal of things in the whole, wide world. “I'm so in! This is going to be great!"

Sipping her latte, Adagio smiled, stirring it, though no one else could quite capture that brand of smugness in the hint of her lips and sparkle of her eyes in getting what she wanted. All was coming together, all very nicely, her training in place to give her something to ground herself, her work at the bar more than secure and, of course, a new venture stretching ahead that would open up limitless possibilities. With Aria back by her side, there was nothing that could stop her.

Nothing that can stop us.

_ _

Together, yes, they had to remember that they were together, the woman before them a spitting image, though one with less volume to her hair, even managing, at that time, to mimic Adagio's make-up. She didn't wear it too heavily, for she already was a natural beauty, but Olivia had to apply a little more simply where it came to matching the shape of Adagio's face with clever contouring and shaping, all so it would not be obvious what she was doing. That was one skill from Olivia that Adagio had not anticipated from her in the art of make-up. And anything like that that presented itself could be made useful, one way or another.

It set her back a little from Olivia and others, in seeing the uses she had for people, but, slowly, very slowly, the siren was warming up to her, too, feeling something like affection for the woman that she was, in a gentler way of looking at it, training. Being a mentor had implications for the one imparting advice and guidance too and she was becoming more aware of that, anxious that she was giving Olivia the tools to succeed. Only, they didn't want her going off on her own either, so confident that she thought that she didn't need Adagio either – and therein lay the conflict between one life and another, the siren and the human.

Thankfully, there was a middle ground to be had for both parties.

“Oh, you guys must be twins!"

Although Adagio appreciated the waitress making conversation, it only played into her point of her and Olivia practically being sisters, even if Adagio was the one in the lead.

“No…" Adagio murmured, exerting a little of her will, her song in her voice, a lilt to it that no one else would pick up on. “But close enough. We don't need anything."

Blinking, the waitress took a step back, but carried on her way with a smile, not aware that anything was different. Yet, with Adagio, it most certainly was.

With Olivia on board and Adagio not needing to take the spotlight, especially if there were any spies from Equestria watching, the brand would be safe. They would know that it was not her and, if she didn't do anything too extreme, no one on that side of things would stop her. It was not as if, after all, she was trying to control a horde of people like the sirens had before.

Hey, that was one time!

_ _

Adagio chuckled inwardly, one part of her keeping up a conversation with Olivia and the other focusing on the siren, inside.

Really? Is that really the line you're going with here?

_ _

The siren was silent, though only for a moment.

Okay, many times…

_ _

But that wasn't what they were there for, not anymore, a new kind of life that offered different spoils to sow and reap stretching out before the siren. She was as curious as Adagio to see what twists and turns, relationships and connections, it could offer them, even if, for both, it was a new experience. Though experience, like so many times, could only be gleaned by going out there and experiencing it.

“Is she in?"

_ _

That was Aria, speaking to her through the ring, which glowed faintly, though not so strongly that the glow could not be played off, if questioned, as a trick of the light. Adagio brought it to her lips, almost brushing the gem.

“Absolutely."

_ _

With Olivia there, everything was going to change. And she couldn't wait to step forward into it.

Day by day.