senri
in
bedlam_mix
(Blade of the Immortal - Waves Vied for Your Attention)
Genre: Gen
Warnings: T (a little language)
Characters: Rin, Manji
Notes: for 31_days, "Waves vied for your attention".
---
They get to the ocean, eventually. The signs of it have been coming for a long time when they finally crest the ultimate ridge and steely grey waters greet them with open arms. Gulls keening, slow and mournful; the wind moving inland, the tangy freshness that it carries. Grass sways in the breeze. The sky is almost bleached, pale and more distant than she's used to seeing it. The sea moves in slow heaves, like something giving birth. It's the first time Rin's ever seen it.
She stops and pretends to fix her sandal strap, so she has an excuse to just gawk for a second without Manji teasing her. But her fingers are clumsy and they quickly still where she fakes working at the thong. She looks out instead. Manji stops and looks back at her. "Hustle it up, kiddo. You'll have time to stare like a tourist later."
He makes her find a decent camping site with him - the night will be cold, but they'll at least be out of the wind, for the most part - and she helps him coax a smoky fire into light. It's hard to keep it steady here, as if it's afraid and wants to sprint away from so much water. It's a silly thought. If it jumps and gutters, it's because of the wind. Rin cups her hands close around the flames and blows gently and indulges herself in the thought anyway.
She should be cooking like a woman. Making supper for them both. But Manji waves her off with an irritable flop of his hand, anyway, and what's a girl to do if her man's going to be like that? So she sets off for the enticing shoreline. The tide is low, low. A long stretch of dark, wet sand is exposed, and she squishes over it, enjoying the sight of the footprints she leaves filling with salty water. That salt is everywhere. She tastes it when she licks her lips.
Closer to the water, it's rocks instead of sand. They're slimed with algae and crunchy with barnacles, and she leaves more than one patch of the little clinging creatures crushed and oozing like snot where she steps. It's a fragile little world, down here at the water's edge. She walks up until the waves almost wet her tabi, and then she stops, toes one sandal off carefully, balances on one foot while she peels off her wraps. Then changes feet, gasping a little at the slithery cold suddenly flush against her skin, and frees her other foot.
Stupid kid, Manji says, in the top left chamber of her heart. Can't see where you're walking, gonna cut your feet up to hell and back. Damn if I'm carrying you. But she ignores him, steps out into the frothy crests of the waves anyway, where they all meet up and jumble to confuse each other.
It's cold. She gasps and gasps. Her toes crinkle up, wanting to drop off and crawl away back to dry land. But Rin pushes herself outward, braves the cold and the wet, stretching her arms out wide. Her braids swing in the wind. The loose cloth of her robe snaps.
The current is sucking at her, at what little of her she's given over to the ocean. This way and that, wanting to take her in every direction at once, like the disparate waters. Rin bites her lip and pulls herself together. Gulls in the distance make vees, the shape of an angrily-furrowed brow. The sea turns and rolls like two people fighting under a blanket.
Her obi is slipping, coming undone. The hem of her robe is soaked, sticking to her legs, and damn, girl, what were you thinking, is what Manji is going to say. This little fire ain't worth shit and it's cold enough around here already.
But she finds her way. She feels her way, with the soles of her feet, calloused in spots but more tender than they seem. The world spreads out before her. Their little island sprawls behind. It's more tenuous, more unreal, than she's ever felt it.
Rin closes her eyes and lets her head roll back loosely. Stretches, opens up her fingers until tendons strain, feeling for the tenuous shape of an idea she can't quite name.
Warnings: T (a little language)
Characters: Rin, Manji
Notes: for 31_days, "Waves vied for your attention".
---
They get to the ocean, eventually. The signs of it have been coming for a long time when they finally crest the ultimate ridge and steely grey waters greet them with open arms. Gulls keening, slow and mournful; the wind moving inland, the tangy freshness that it carries. Grass sways in the breeze. The sky is almost bleached, pale and more distant than she's used to seeing it. The sea moves in slow heaves, like something giving birth. It's the first time Rin's ever seen it.
She stops and pretends to fix her sandal strap, so she has an excuse to just gawk for a second without Manji teasing her. But her fingers are clumsy and they quickly still where she fakes working at the thong. She looks out instead. Manji stops and looks back at her. "Hustle it up, kiddo. You'll have time to stare like a tourist later."
He makes her find a decent camping site with him - the night will be cold, but they'll at least be out of the wind, for the most part - and she helps him coax a smoky fire into light. It's hard to keep it steady here, as if it's afraid and wants to sprint away from so much water. It's a silly thought. If it jumps and gutters, it's because of the wind. Rin cups her hands close around the flames and blows gently and indulges herself in the thought anyway.
She should be cooking like a woman. Making supper for them both. But Manji waves her off with an irritable flop of his hand, anyway, and what's a girl to do if her man's going to be like that? So she sets off for the enticing shoreline. The tide is low, low. A long stretch of dark, wet sand is exposed, and she squishes over it, enjoying the sight of the footprints she leaves filling with salty water. That salt is everywhere. She tastes it when she licks her lips.
Closer to the water, it's rocks instead of sand. They're slimed with algae and crunchy with barnacles, and she leaves more than one patch of the little clinging creatures crushed and oozing like snot where she steps. It's a fragile little world, down here at the water's edge. She walks up until the waves almost wet her tabi, and then she stops, toes one sandal off carefully, balances on one foot while she peels off her wraps. Then changes feet, gasping a little at the slithery cold suddenly flush against her skin, and frees her other foot.
Stupid kid, Manji says, in the top left chamber of her heart. Can't see where you're walking, gonna cut your feet up to hell and back. Damn if I'm carrying you. But she ignores him, steps out into the frothy crests of the waves anyway, where they all meet up and jumble to confuse each other.
It's cold. She gasps and gasps. Her toes crinkle up, wanting to drop off and crawl away back to dry land. But Rin pushes herself outward, braves the cold and the wet, stretching her arms out wide. Her braids swing in the wind. The loose cloth of her robe snaps.
The current is sucking at her, at what little of her she's given over to the ocean. This way and that, wanting to take her in every direction at once, like the disparate waters. Rin bites her lip and pulls herself together. Gulls in the distance make vees, the shape of an angrily-furrowed brow. The sea turns and rolls like two people fighting under a blanket.
Her obi is slipping, coming undone. The hem of her robe is soaked, sticking to her legs, and damn, girl, what were you thinking, is what Manji is going to say. This little fire ain't worth shit and it's cold enough around here already.
But she finds her way. She feels her way, with the soles of her feet, calloused in spots but more tender than they seem. The world spreads out before her. Their little island sprawls behind. It's more tenuous, more unreal, than she's ever felt it.
Rin closes her eyes and lets her head roll back loosely. Stretches, opens up her fingers until tendons strain, feeling for the tenuous shape of an idea she can't quite name.