Meld looked at the glorious piece of soapstone work in front of her, lying across her desk. It was large, 4 feet from end to end and about 3 inches in diameter. One end was blunt, the end meant to attach to the base of her tailbone, the real beauty was in the other end. On the far end of the carving were 4 vicious looking blades, each slightly outstretched and positioned something like the petals of a flower. In the center of the blades was a shiny round rock, which would become an eye once the final project was complete. This masterpiece of work was to be her new tail.

For months Meld had painstakingly been working on her tail, first designing on paper, ensuring that every detail was perfect and then eventually carving it in soapstone, a relatively weak material that had the advantage of being rather easy to work with. This was her most ambitious project to date, by far. Her arm, done about 4 months ago, had been ambitious in itself; the replacement of an entire limb was nothing to scoff about, but here she was creating an entirely new limb from nothing. When she had first begun this project she hadn't even been positive that it was possible, though her experience with Haywire, vile and horrible as it was, had shown her otherwise. At least, she was pretty sure that it had since it was impossible to tell what had been an extension of her own power and what was the drug's doing entirely. Or perhaps it was all an extension of her own power, it was just a matter of whether or not she could extend it that much at present time. But she didn't' much like to think about her time with Haywire, it still gave her nightmares.

Then there was the difficulty of figuring out how, exactly, a tail even worked, in a practical sense. She had seen mutants with tails before, of course, Abyss and Mars being primary among them, but one could only learn so much through simple observation. Her time spent in Werecat's body, however, had given her the most unique experience she could have ever hoped to ask for, a first hand look at what having a tail was actually like. That had been a frightening time in and of itself, though more in the sense of absolute confusion and uncertainty at the situation than the absolute loss of control that Haywire had presented and, in the end, she had returned to her body anyway. It was not a situation that she particularly wanted to repeat, but she took what she could from it and her soon to be tail was primary among the things she took from it.

And here Meld now found herself, at the culmination of yet another flesh meld. It was one more step upon the road of perfection, one more step in making herself a true paragon of battle. She needed to be her best if she was to do all she could to help the mutant cause and this was one more step along the path. She was willing to sacrifice anything for her cause and her tail required very little sacrifice from her, at least very little meaningful sacrifice. So what if it made her look all the more unnatural and mutated? She was proud of being a mutant and, at this point, what was one more visible mutation anyway alongside those she wall ready possessed? It was nothing.

Going to her closet Meld got out a handful of cash and what few gems from the jewelry store robbery a couple of months ago that she had not turned into cash. It was, unfortunately, a little smaller than she had been hoping for but it would do. After all, Mika had learned from their last encounter, that Meld was not a person to mess with or to make angry. At least, she hoped he had learned. On second thought, perhaps she didn't. Hearing him scream might be fun indeed, and she might not have the opportunity to indulge in such enjoyment for some time once she was living in the Mansion. Or so she hoped to be living anyway.

Only once before had Meld visited Mika and that during the forging of her arm, but she remembered the visit well and assumed that he did as well. It had involved one part torture, or really more threat than torture since he really had no tolerance for pain at all, and one part bribery. In the end she had shown him that it was beneficial for him in 2 ways to adhere to her demands: First, it meant he wouldn't' get hurt and second it meant that he would have a fistful of cash that he wouldn't otherwise have had. Meld was nothing if not practical and while she might not be the most diplomatic people person ever, she did know the basics of how greedy shady like Mika operated. He was entirely selfish, wanting nothing more than money and to ensure that his own physical well being was taken care of. Thus, he was an easy target.

Meld left Sanctuary with her prototype tail in hand. Unfortunately it was too large to have any place to store it so she just carried it in her arms. However, being just before midnight there were few people on the streets and even if there had been more, few wanted anything to do with Meld. She carried herself with an air of confidence and coldness that most humans found profoundly intimidating and those few that were not intimidated by her air of violence were intimidated by her rather public reputation. All in all it worked rather well for her.

The walk to Mika's Forge took little time and upon arrival Meld banged on the front door, causing a loud metallic echo as metal fist met metal door. She waited impatiently for his arrival and, just as she was about to force her way into his dwelling, he answered, looking disheveled from sleep. He took a startled step back upon seeing her. "M-Meld?" Evidentally he had remembered her and she smiled, dark and confident.

"Mika." Meld gave a sardonic half-bow in his direction, clearly seeing the sweat begin to form on his brow. "Relax, I'm not here to hurt you or your hooker girlfriend." She sneered as he tensed. Clearly he wanted to defend his girl's name and yet he was too terrified of Meld to utter a word. She dug into her pocket and got out the small handful of gems within, handing them over. "Payment for the time to use your forge. I'll be back tomorrow night with my supplies and will need it for 3 nights. I'll pay you the remainder upon completion."

Mika looked disdainfully at the pile of gems then back up at Meld. "I don't take gems as payment. I want money and I want it all now. Then you can use my building."

Meld sneered back at him. He had almost created the illusion of confidence, only the quiver at the end of his speech belaying his lack of it. "Those are my terms, you know what happens if you refuse." She held out her hand for the keys to the forge itself, attached to the house and, reluctantly, Mika handed them over. "If anything happens to my tail while I'm away you won't live to see the next sunrise." She entered the forge and set it in a safe place then started back towards Sanctuary. In 3 days she would have her tail. Just 3 short days.

Meld awoke the next night with a sense of profound anticipation. Tonight she would begin work on her tail, her most grand and ambitious project yet and in just three days she would have her tail in all its glory. It was but one more step on the path to physical perfection and one more thing that made her superior to the humans around her. She was a mutant and proud of that fact. No amount of human propaganda or human hatred was going to change that fact. Her tail was the first thing that made her truly inhuman, truly superior in every possible way to them. Metal arms and feet were well and good, but here she was creating an entirely new limb and she couldn't help but feel an immense sense of pride at that fact.

The walk to Mika's forge felt like it took a lot longer than it actually took. There were few people on the streets to slow her down, a good thing since she wasn't in the sort of mood to deal with ignorant humans gently. Eventually she did arrive, however, and opened to door to the forge. She took a deep breath, taking in the heat and the smell of melted metal in the air. It was an interesting thing to consider that she truly did love the smells of the forge, associating them with her flesh melds and with her gains of power and utility. Without the forge she would be so much less than she was now. Without the forge she would be barely more than human.

Walking to the back of the forge, Meld was pleased to see that the mold for her tail was safe and sound, untouched. It seemed that Mika had some intelligence after all and that pleased her greatly. She was also pleased to see that her shipment of titanium had also arrived, safe and sound. Thus everything that was required for her to begin her grandest project was present and ready for her to begin.

Meld began humming to herself as she began heating the metal needed for her tail. She couldn't help being in a good mood, couldn't' help feeling actual hope for the future. It was always like this at the culmination of one of her creations, though it never lasted. It was never enough, never close enough to the perfection she so intensely desired. When it was finished she would maintain her high for a while; a day, a week, maybe a month if she was lucky. But after that the craving for a new meld would come upon her and she would begin disdaining her personal weaknesses, her human flesh, once again. It was inevitable and she knew it, even knew on some level that it probably wasn't healthy. But for now she existed in her bubble of contentment and accomplishment and wasn't about to dwell on the hardships of the future.

The concentration Meld exerted in the forming of her creation was matched only when she was in the heat of battle and her life as the lives of those she cared about were on the line. It had to be perfect, no imperfection, no matter how slight, would be tolerated. And thus concentration was essential. Still, she maintained her contented humming as she worked, heating and hammering the metal, slowly shaping the hunk of titanium into her bladed masterpiece of a tail. In a way it was amazing to think of how the formless material slowly took on a vague tail-like shape and then that vague shape slowly took on all the necessary details.

The three days of work on her tail were much the same as one another. In the first day the material took on the general form of what was required. On the second day the form was refined and details began to emerge. On the third it was perfect, every little flaw carefully removed and every imperfection strengthened. Finally the small ruby was added at the end, that which would soon become her eye. Before leaving, newly crafted tail in arms, Meld left the money promised, the last of her money. She knew that very soon she would have to find some way to make more of it, preferably a lot of it so she wouldn't need to worry about how she would fund her next flesh meld. Whenever the time to begin that arose. She also destroyed the prototype of her tail, not wanting to leave an unfinished project lying around for anyone to see. There was only one thing left to do and that was to actually meld with the tail, but that wouldn't happen until tomorrow. She was exhausted from her 3 nights of work and needed rest. Come tomorrow, though, and she would be one step closer. One step closer to absolute physical perfection.