CORRUPTING HEARTS

[shorcanado]

[ DID YOU WANT TO GET MURDERED BY AN ORCA? EATEN BY AN ORCA? DID YOU WANT TO KISS AN ORCA???? BE ASSIMILATED INTO A FISH HIVEMIND BY AN ORCA? ALL OF THE ABOVE??? BOY HAVE YOU COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE ]

[ At some point, somehow, you fell into a body of water. Whatever this body of water was, whether it was a puddle or a vast wide ocean, it was deep enough to drown in.

And even Strong Swimmers(tm) do drown. Because there's a song rising from the depths, one that calls so strongly that their body refuses to let you do anything but let the tides take you.

Once enough time has passed that an average person would have passed out, anyone still conscious would feel themselves being grabbed by something in the inky blackness, something that...is maybe hands? Or maybe tentacles, or maybe some sort of membrane...

They're carried back to shore, where out of the darkness comes a a woman and a giant fucking sea monster to stare. ]

Oh, we managed to save you just in time! The sea...it's very dangerous, you know.

Comments

[sharknundo]

[ completely dried out, dizzy and weak—she breathes in and out, hands fumbling against the rocks to look for her weapon ]

—this scent—you—?

[shorcanado]

Laurenti-na! You survived. Isn't that wonderful...?

[ she crouches down and reaches to grab her hands. and like restrain them, but in a very gentle handhold-y way. sssh sssh no more fighting. ]

[sharknundo]

Don't—touch me—you filth—

[ trying to swipe at her, weakly ]

[shorcanado]

[ she keeps her hands grabbed but does loosen her grip a little, looking like

genuinely hurt? ]

Laurenti-na? I am only happy to see you. Everyone else died. I sang, but could not find them in the deep. All of our kin, fighting and dying because we couldn't understand each other. But you survived. And so did we.

We do not have to fight anymore. Laurenti-na. We do not have to struggle.

[stopdash]

[ there is a good long while she spends just coughing, hands clutching at her chest and throat, anxious to clear the water from her lungs -

sensations aside, it's shocking that something like that could happen at all. what time isn't spent trying to control her breathing is occupied by that thought, such that she doesn't quite process the voice and presence nearby, having saved her though it might have done.

and so she startles when her brain finally begins to catch up, a widening of the eyes and tightness in the body and all; even as she tries to avert her gaze (coolly, or so she'd hope at least, skadi can see a glimpse of the gills at her throat past the layers of vestments, flaring indignant and panicked. ]

Obviously. What kind of idiot would just -

[ no, first of all - ]

. . . Thanks. I don't know what ...

[ "happened," is presumably the ending there, though she trails off without picking it back up. ]

I must have gotten distracted.

[shorcanado]

[ !!! fish!!! friend!!!!! ]

Oh, yes. It happens, often. You heard the sea calling, didn't you?

[stopdash]

I... guess so.

[ muttered a bit, but followed up by, ]

I was - it wasn't like I couldn't do it! I mean, I'm ... it's not like I didn't know - but when I heard that voice, I just ...

[ wanted to let the sea take her, to return from where she's been too long, lone and wistful on dry land for five generations - overcome by that collective longing such that she ached, could do nothing but sink it weighed so heavily?

sodden, even - overcome by the water itself?

or, got distracted.

she has no idea how to articulate the extent of things. "distracted" is as best as she could describe it, and she's already said that, so added instead, awkwardly, is ]

. . . Forgot how to swim.

[ and then, ]

And then you and that guy saved me, right? Sorry about that.

[shorcanado]

[ Skadi just like

sits next to and starts petting her. silently, for a moment, before humming to herself - the bioluminescence of the creature behind her seemingly pulses in response. ]

We know. We felt it once, too. The sea always calls for its children. Even when they have been gone for far too long. There is no shame. You did not forget. You remembered.

[stopdash]

[ reaches her hand to the top of her own head, to take skadi's by the wrist - not roughly, and not making an effort to remove it, more to just stop the patting for a moment, ducking her head ]

Hey -

[ what she says is, undeniably, the case. walnut knows enough to know better than to refute it; it's nothing she's been taught but she can feel in her bones that it's the truth. even so, her gills flare and her brow furrows, cheeks flushing dark. ]

I'm not - a little kid, or anything ...

[ a pause, ]

- Anyway, if it's like that, and you knew it too, then why didn't you leave me in there?

[zigra]

[ she's still healing. not as fast as she'd like to be.

honestly the most mortifying part of this is that the scales have spread past her hiding them. hoarsely: ]

Kill me.

[shorcanado]

No. Gla-dia, why would you want that? Survive. It is important to survive.

[zigra]

[ she has to pause to cough a few times in here she's fine she's good she's fine ]

Have you—forgotten, all our lessons, Skadi? Has that song addled you completely?

I don't—survive for... survival's sake.

[shorcanado]

Then, die. You will not. Because you do not want to.

It is important to survive.

[zigra]

...I suppose...

[ she drifts off—lying still on the shore for a long moment. ]

...why do you still sing?

[shorcanado]

What do you mean?

[zigra]

[ where the fuck is her weapon. why aren't her arms fully regenerated yet. why is this the worst day yet. ]

Is it for... joy, or sorrow, or—something else. You should know... why I'd hope you'd have an answer.

Did I ever... tell you why I like dancing so much, Skadi?

[shorcanado]

No. You did not. We did not know each other well.

[zigra]

[ she like

rolls her eyes. because she is, you know, still a bitch ]

Because it's fun.

[shorcanado]

Oh.

[ wtf fucked up how you can be a god of an ocean-spanning hivemind and still feel dumb due to one bitch

can we stop learning human emotions now ]

We sing because...it is calming. When we sing, there is no more struggle. And because, it is something to understand better.

[zigra]

[ she's here to provide a service. the service is being horrible ]

You were always... challenged in having fun.

To be human—is to struggle. Struggle is... what passion is borne of. To fight the push and pull of the waves. To find delight in it.

[shorcanado]

Why? It does not make sense. What is important is to evolve. To become greater. To reach the stars, and beyond. Struggle is not necessary. Struggle must be overcome.

[zigra]

Which is to say—

...you tire of fighting, sister.

[shorcanado]

No. We do not tire. We do. Until there is no more to be done.

[zigra]

Feh. Rather, I chose my words poorly...

...it was Skadi who tired of fighting. Perhaps she ought not to have been one of our sisterhood at all, with her temperament...

...but even I was fooled for a moment. That there might... be anything left.

[shorcanado]

But...?

There is. We - I am Skadi. I am Ishar-mla. These are not different things.

[zigra]

You're a piece of sea floor garbage, you mean.

[shorcanado]

No, I am Skadi. You are attempting to be hurtful.

[ahahadotwav]

[she coughs and coughs, sprawled pathetically on the shore, her dress a drenched mess and her hair tangled around her head

then, eventually, in a weak voice,]

...Why did you save me?

[shorcanado]

You would have died if we did not. But it is important to live.

[ahahadotwav]

...Why?

[shorcanado]

Because you are alive. Because if you are hurt, you will try to not be hurt. Because if it was not important to survive, you would not have lived long enough to wonder why.

[ahahadotwav]

I... don't want to survive anymore. I can't.

[shorcanado]

You can.

[ahahadotwav]

...

Please just leave me alone.

[shorcanado]

We will not.

[ahahadotwav]

So you'll just... force me to live?

[shorcanado]

No. It is cruel to force. We have learned that. Things forget why they survive, and grow, and evolve. This is normal. Yes. So we remind them. We sing, and they remember why it is important to survive. Then, they do not struggle anymore.

[ahahadotwav]

[sighs]

Then go ahead and sing, or whatever it is you want to do.

[shorcanado]

You are upset.

[ahahadotwav]

...Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be!?

[shorcanado]

We do not know.

[ahahadotwav]

[okay cool she's just going to walk back into the ocean actually]

[shorcanado]

Oh. We remember. What it was like.

From the chaos♪
scared and afraid♪
I will wander♪
I will remain♪
strong, but it sets with the sun♪
Hopeless, I'm chasing the dawn♪
And I wander, wander on♪
And I wander, wander on♪

[ahahadotwav]

[



pausing to listen]