Gold Dust Woman

𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔱𝔶

"Oh, uhm," she cleared her throat. "So I go in there," she nodded in the direction of the stairs that led to Fiona's bedroom. "After she's taken her medication and she's hazy and unable to tell the difference between what's reality and what's just in her head." Madison uncrossed her arms to move her hands around her head; an attempt to explain what she meant before she returned them to their previous position.

"And it's, like, midnight, and the radio in her bedroom starts playing some music." The girl begins to bop back and forth, letting her excitement seep into her movements. "And she comes into the room from the bathroom, confused and groggy— because, like I already said, she took her medication and one of the side-effects is probably like hallucinations or something, I don't know." She paused to take a breath, not realizing that she had started to ramble.

"So she sees me, and she's confused, and I taunt her. We go back and forth for a while until, finally, ta-dah!" Madison shrugged, a confident smirk on her lips. Her smirk faltered as her eyes flicked between the three witches in front of her once more. Each seemed confused, or bored, or disinterested. Corey's brows furrowed as she focused on the actress, trying to understand the other girl's ramblings. Madison's shoulders slumped, her brows meeting in the center with a soft crescent crease as her lips continued to turn downward into a pout.

"You guys think it's stupid," her frown was evident in her voice, which in itself was a lower volume than it had been when she was explaining her plan. It was a rhetorical question, obvious to the blonde that the group in front of her all collectively felt the same way. Corey moved to speak but was interrupted by an overly confident voice.

"Yes," Nan quipped. She nodded, not noticing Madison's reaction to her retort. The blonde folded in on herself, her eyes focused on the pointed toe of her heels. Queenie scolded the youngest witch, her whispers inaudible to the blonde that stood on the other side of the coffee table.

"Maddie, why don't you run through what you'd say," Corey let a hand run down the side of her face as she spoke. Her voice caught the actress' attention, her head snapping up so that her sad eyes could focus on the redhead's face. "Run your lines." The redhead nodded to her once, a silent reinforcement that she believed in the other girl wholeheartedly. "Use me as a bounce board for your idea. I'm Fiona. I think you're dead, that Spalding has hidden your body just as he did with the Supreme before me, and I've suddenly noticed you dancing around in my bedroom. What do you do?" Madison pushed off the fireplace, collecting herself for a moment before she could start.

The transition into character, if anyone other than Corey could call pre-death Madison a character, was noticeable. The blonde's shoulders squared as she held her head up high. Her presence went from appearing meek and callow— folding into the shadows to hide herself, and how she felt, from the others— to commanding, instantly the center of attention. It was then that Nan and Queenie had realized that the Madison Montgomery they couldn't ever seem to get along with, the version of the girl that had pushed everyone else away, had never been the real Madison after all.

"Surprise, bitch." Madison let out a giggle, swaying back and forth as she pretended to toss around the hem of a dress. "I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me." She smiled, her head tilted to the side as she looked up at the redhead. Her eyes narrowed at the other girl, an attempt to anticipate the direction that the musician would take with her response.

"What are you?" Corey's voice shook as she raised a hand to her chest. She swallowed hard, watching as Madison stepped closer to her. "Who brought you back?" The blonde took another threatening step forward, letting her thoughts bounce between possible directions that the conversation could take. A ghost. Your conscious. The angel of Death. She closed the gap between them, savoring each threatening step forward.

"I'm the next Supreme." The words spilled out on their own. Her hesitation flashed over her features for a moment after she had realized the weight of what she had said. She'd already had a target on her back for saying less, however, so she pushed onward. "I brought myself back," Madison shrugged as she let one hand tug at a loose piece of her own hair, twisting it as she tried to come up with something more to say.

"We all know the playbook on this." She sighed, letting her hand fall to her side. She clasped her hands in front of her, just as she had seen Cordelia do in every argument she'd had with her mother. It was a pleading motion, though she utilized if it were one of confidence and courage. "You killed me, so we burn you at the stake. I'm gonna bring marshmallows and graham crackers to make s'mores." The blonde chuckled, again taking a step toward the redhead.

"Leave, Madison." Corey's jaw rolled, her voice commanding though it was hardly more than a whisper. Her eyes, however, told the blonde to continue. Madison gave the redhead a fake pout, the click of her tongue and a loud awee following her motions.

"Poor Fifi. As my powers grow, yours fade away." The blonde sighed, the playful spark in her eyes flickering for a fraction of a second before she steeled herself. "I'm in, you're out, and you can leave this world one of two ways. You can burn at the stake tomorrow, which would be messy and painful— although very entertaining— or, you can swallow these pills and got to sleep. Stop suffering, and stop our suffering. The choice is yours." Madison turned away from Corey and sauntered back to her previous spot next to the fireplace. Before the redhead could comment on the improvisation, the youngest witch piped up once more.

"How come you get to be the next Supreme?" Nan crossed her arms over her chest in frustration, breaking the guise of the scene that Corey and Madison had tried so hard to create between one another. The redhead sighed, her attention turning to the Clairvoyant that looked at them with an angry pout. "Why can't it be me?" Madison rolled her eyes, still in the headspace of who she had pretended to be around the others for so long.

"Because you have no style and your pits smell like fish sticks." The blonde shrugged as the others remained silent. The youngest witch persisted.

"Do you think I could be the next Supreme?" Nan turned to Queenie, her eyes wide. They were almost pleading, as if she could compel the other girl to say anything she wanted with the blink of an eye.

"Nan, have you been listening to anything that's been said today?" Queenie scoffed, shaking her head. "The whole point is that Cordelia thinks Corey is the next Supreme. That's literally why we're doing this in the first place." She unfolded her arms, sitting up straight. Her head turned, a confused look on her face as her eyes met Corey's.

"She's been listening, she just doesn't want to believe that it might not be her." Zoe interrupted the group's chatter, stepping forward as she held a wooden box in her hands. It was intricately carved and seemingly ancient. Corey's eyes zoned in on it, her focus becoming tunneled on the box itself and what it could contain.

"You guys suck balls." Nan muttered under her breath, turning away from the others to sulk in silence.

"You found it?" The redhead let out a sigh of relief. This was their Hail Mary, their saving grace. She no longer had to humor Madison's attempt at a second death. She knew that, if anything, all that the blonde's banter would do was anger the woman; cause her to lash out, or take off, or manipulate the evidence against her in her own favor.

"Yeah," Zoe nodded. She swallowed hard, trying to keep the image of the boxes' contents— the wet, gummy, eraser-like muscle— out of her head. "It took a locator spell, and a few hours of focusing, but I finally found it hidden in the walls." She shook the box. She regretted her decision when she heard the subtle sloshing back and forth as the slime followed it's maker within the engraved entrapment.

"Good," Corey nodded once. She folded her hands in front of her politely, her gaze leaving the box within the brunette's hands. She cleared her throat, her eyes scanning the group. The other witches looked between Corey and Zoe, trying to piece together the plan. The redhead returned her attention to her friend, her tongue darting out and wetting her lips. "Bring it to Cordelia. She'll know what to do with it when the time comes."