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rainbowfic2023-02-08 09:51 pm
shadowsong26) wrote in rainbowfic2023-02-08 09:51 pm
Spring Green #12
Name: shadowsong26
Story: Almost Entirely Human
'Verse: Untitled Intrigues Story
Colors: Spring Green #12. there's no time for doubt right now (with paint-by-numbers from bookblather: "I can't afford second thoughts.")
Supplies and Materials: graffiti (New Beginnings challenge), paint-by-numbers, eraser (Sea Folk AU), pastels (Year of the OTP prompt list; February prompt "mermaid AU"), yarn
Word Count: 503
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Larien, Metanrye
Warnings: References to sex; inter-species relationship
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always.
For the most part, Larien and his brother look almost entirely human, especially from a distance. One has to pay very close attention to note that their eyes are an unusual color; or that the shape of their hands is slightly off--webbed fingers make their palms seem just a little bit longer than seems natural, even in the specially-made gloves they wear. And everything else that might give them away is usually covered by their clothes, or is even more subtle. Like their translucent inner eyelids, or the texture of their skin and hair--not quite scales, not quite tentacles, but not quite human, either.
Of course, it's hardly a secret that the late Queen was one of the Sea Folk, and that her sons are therefore only half-human, but it’s also not something one talks about. At least not openly.
Metanrye, though, has long since learned all of these signs and more. She knows the feel of webbed fingers against her skin; the faintly briny taste of her Larien’s kisses; the slightly roughened texture of his thighs. None of this is what drew her to him, exactly--except in that it's part of him and he drew her from the start--and it only felt strange the first few times they were together, but she is intimately aware of the ways it sets him apart from other men.
They still don't discuss it often--no more than they might discuss the color of her eyes, or the texture of her skin--but there are moments when it comes up, when the two of them are alone.
“Do you ever wonder,” she asks him one night, not long after their wedding, “what it would be like to be like other men?”
“Sometimes,” he admits. “Less now than I used to. Do you wish I was?”
“No,” she says. “Unless it would make you happier.”
He presses a brief kiss on top of her head; like the surf at low tide, brushing gently against the sand and then ebbing away. “I am who I am. I wouldn’t want to change it now, and have to learn a new way of being.” One of his hands drifts down to her abdomen and rests there for a moment. “It will be…easier for this one, I think.”
“I’m not sure yet,” she reminds him.
“I know,” he says, and she can hear the smile in his voice. “Still.”
She nods. “I do hope it has your eyes, though.”
“Oh?”
“It must be convenient, to sleep with your eyes open,” she says. If a little unnerving, the first time she'd seen him do it. “Not to mention keeping the wind out, or dust on the road…”
He laughs. “I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Yes,” she says, then turns in his arms to kiss him properly, drinking in that briny taste she loves; and they say nothing else at all for quite some time.
Not in words, at least. Of course, some things are much better said without.
Story: Almost Entirely Human
'Verse: Untitled Intrigues Story
Colors: Spring Green #12. there's no time for doubt right now (with paint-by-numbers from bookblather: "I can't afford second thoughts.")
Supplies and Materials: graffiti (New Beginnings challenge), paint-by-numbers, eraser (Sea Folk AU), pastels (Year of the OTP prompt list; February prompt "mermaid AU"), yarn
Word Count: 503
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Larien, Metanrye
Warnings: References to sex; inter-species relationship
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always.
For the most part, Larien and his brother look almost entirely human, especially from a distance. One has to pay very close attention to note that their eyes are an unusual color; or that the shape of their hands is slightly off--webbed fingers make their palms seem just a little bit longer than seems natural, even in the specially-made gloves they wear. And everything else that might give them away is usually covered by their clothes, or is even more subtle. Like their translucent inner eyelids, or the texture of their skin and hair--not quite scales, not quite tentacles, but not quite human, either.
Of course, it's hardly a secret that the late Queen was one of the Sea Folk, and that her sons are therefore only half-human, but it’s also not something one talks about. At least not openly.
Metanrye, though, has long since learned all of these signs and more. She knows the feel of webbed fingers against her skin; the faintly briny taste of her Larien’s kisses; the slightly roughened texture of his thighs. None of this is what drew her to him, exactly--except in that it's part of him and he drew her from the start--and it only felt strange the first few times they were together, but she is intimately aware of the ways it sets him apart from other men.
They still don't discuss it often--no more than they might discuss the color of her eyes, or the texture of her skin--but there are moments when it comes up, when the two of them are alone.
“Do you ever wonder,” she asks him one night, not long after their wedding, “what it would be like to be like other men?”
“Sometimes,” he admits. “Less now than I used to. Do you wish I was?”
“No,” she says. “Unless it would make you happier.”
He presses a brief kiss on top of her head; like the surf at low tide, brushing gently against the sand and then ebbing away. “I am who I am. I wouldn’t want to change it now, and have to learn a new way of being.” One of his hands drifts down to her abdomen and rests there for a moment. “It will be…easier for this one, I think.”
“I’m not sure yet,” she reminds him.
“I know,” he says, and she can hear the smile in his voice. “Still.”
She nods. “I do hope it has your eyes, though.”
“Oh?”
“It must be convenient, to sleep with your eyes open,” she says. If a little unnerving, the first time she'd seen him do it. “Not to mention keeping the wind out, or dust on the road…”
He laughs. “I suppose we’ll find out soon enough.”
“Yes,” she says, then turns in his arms to kiss him properly, drinking in that briny taste she loves; and they say nothing else at all for quite some time.
Not in words, at least. Of course, some things are much better said without.
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Yeah, it was fun to think through what those little differences might be!
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If we knew the unknown, the unknown wouldn't be unknown - Al, Quantum Leap (1989)
“It is nearly impossibly to be sad when eating a blueberry muffin. I'm pretty sure that's a scientific fact.” ― T. Kingfisher, A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking
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