The courtyard of Oakhaven looked like a museum of failures.
Taylor stood in front of a large block of wet concrete. She held a chisel in one hand and a hammer in the other. She was trying to sculpt a "Nymph of Hygiene" to appease Viscount Valerius.
*CLUNK.*
A chunk of concrete fell off. The statue now looked less like a Nymph and more like a potato with depression.
"It... it has character," Taylor lied, wiping sweat from her forehead.
[System Message: Character? It looks like a thumb that got caught in a door. Michelangelo is vomiting in the afterlife. Stop. You are embarrassing the concept of stone.]
"Shut up!" Taylor hissed. "It's abstract! It represents the fluidity of sanitation!"
**[System Message: It represents your inability to draw a circle. Dexterity: -5. Art: -100. If you show this to Valerius, he will turn you into a cactus out of sheer pity.]**
"My Lady," Luna whispered, staring at the lump. "Is it... a goblin? A very smooth goblin?"
"It's me!" Taylor cried. "It's supposed to be me holding a bar of soap!"
***
[The Bright Idea]
"If you cannot carve," **Ria** said, appearing with a bowl of white paste (which tasted like flour and glue), "why not copy?"
"Copy?"
"A life-cast!" Ria exclaimed, her visible eye twinkling. "We cover My Angel in quick-drying plaster! We wait ten minutes! We cut it off! We pour the concrete inside! Boom! Perfect statue!"
Taylor paused.
"That's... actually brilliant," she admitted. "Mold-making. High fidelity. Industrial reproduction."
"And," Violet added from the shadows, "you have to be naked."
"What? No!" Taylor crossed her arms. "I'll wear a thin sheet! A toga! Something!"
***
[The Casting Couch (Literally)]
Half an hour later, Taylor was standing on a table in the lab. She was wrapped in a very thin, wet sheet that clung to her like a second skin.
"Don't move," Ria ordered. "The plaster heats up as it sets. It will be warm."
Ria slapped a handful of white goo onto Taylor's shoulder.
*SPLAT.*
"Ooh," Ria shivered. "The texture... firm."
"Just cover the toga!" Taylor yelped.
It was chaos.
Luna was crying, "I am encasing the Lady in a tomb! She will be preserved forever like a bug in amber!"
Violet was applying the plaster with terrifying precision to Taylor's legs, smoothing it over her calves and thighs.
"Stay still," Violet whispered, her hands sliding up the inside of Taylor's knee. "If you twitch, the mold will break. And I want a perfect copy."
"Stop... tickling... me!" Taylor grit her teeth.
The plaster began to harden. It grew heavy. It grew tight. Taylor couldn't move her arms. She couldn't move her legs. She was a living statue, trapped in a white shell.
"I can't... breathe..." Taylor wheezed. "The corset... plus the plaster... compression..."
[System Message: Achievement Unlocked: 'Mummy Dearest'. You have successfully encased yourself in rock. Congratulations, you are now a fossil. Darwin would be proud.]
"Help," Taylor squeaked.
***
[The Inspection]
"WELL, WELL, WELL."
The door to the lab swung open.
**Viscount Valerius** glided in. He was wearing a suit made of crushed velvet and holding a rose.
"I heard rumors of a 'Masterpiece'," Valerius sneered. "I came to laugh."
He stopped.
He saw Taylor standing on the table, encased in white plaster. The mold captured every curve perfectly—the cinch of her waist, the swell of her hips, the terrified expression on her face (which was the only part left uncovered).
Valerius dropped his rose.
He walked around the table. He inspected the mold.
"Symmetry," Valerius whispered. "Golden Ratio. The pose... the tension... it is..."
He touched the plaster shoulder.
"SUB-LIME!" Valerius screamed, throwing his head back. "It captures the agony of existence! The suffocating weight of duty! The desire to scream but being unable to!"
He looked at Taylor's trapped eyes.
"You understand Art!" Valerius wept. "You have become the art! Literally! You trapped yourself in a rock to prove a point!"
"Mmph!" Taylor tried to say *'Get me out of here!'*
"Don't speak!" Valerius hushed her. "Let the silence resonate! I give you... 8 out of 10 points! Keep this up, and I might only turn you into a fern instead of a cactus!"
He swirled his cape and glided out.
"Prepare the concrete pour! I want fifty of these in the garden by Tuesday!"
***
[The Escape]
"He likes it!" Luna cheered. "We are saved!"
"MMPH!" Taylor screamed, her eyes bulging.
"Oh, right," Ria realized. "The Angel is trapped."
"I'll get the hammer," Ren offered from the doorway. He raised a massive sledgehammer.
"NO!" Taylor's muffled scream was frantic.
"I'll do it," Violet said.
She produced a small, sharp chisel. She walked up to Taylor.
"I have to cut it off," Violet whispered. "Very carefully. One slip, and I cut the skin."
She placed the chisel against the plaster on Taylor's chest, right over her heart.
"Trust me," Violet murmured.
She tapped the chisel. *Crack.* The plaster split perfectly.
As the shell fell away, Taylor collapsed into Violet's arms, gasping for air, sweaty, covered in white dust, and shaking.
"I hate art," Taylor wheezed. "I hate sculpture. I hate this villain."
[System Message: You survived being a rock. Impressive. But Valerius wants 50 statues by Tuesday. Better get back in the bucket, cement-girl.]
"I'm building a mold," Taylor swore. "A silicone mold. No more life-casting. Never again."
Violet held up a piece of the plaster cast—the piece that had covered Taylor's chest.
"Can I keep this?" Violet asked.
"NO!"
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