three days to love - day one 2/3twiceunluckyMay 23 2013, 07:29:53 UTC
At first Eric had assumed, well, what anyone would assume under the circumstances, but once he'd dragged Max off of the poor girl and fallen all over himself apologizing to the unlucky couple, he'd noticed that there weren't any clothes laying around, or even any footprints or...anything. Plus they were clearly having trouble walking, and neither of them could talk, although they seemed to be urgently trying to tell him something...
So the two of them spent their first morning of humanity being scrubbed-down by Carlotta, beside herself fussing over the poor little ducks, and Eric promising to keep them housed and fed until they could figure out what had happened and send them safely home. ("Boy's got some sense," was Sebastian's reaction, but Ariel was certain she'd be able to make Eric understand who she was soon enough, and then she'd be human permanently and Flounder would be safe and, of course, they'd have their voices back and could explain everything. By dinner, probably.)
She was given a dress to wear, made of strange heavy fabrics that weighed down her shoulders and arms and made her neck itchy, but oh, it flared out so beautifully when she twirled around! Look, she tried to say to Flounder, as he tugged at his jacket in bewilderment, look at me, look at us, look at how different and exciting this all is!
Flounder gave her a crooked smile, like they were back underwater and sneaking into another shark-infested shipwreck, like this was just another adventure and it was his job to make sure she didn't get too swept up in it and that they both came out okay. It was the same smile he'd given her when he'd made his own offer to the sea witch.
Despite herself, Ariel's happiness was dampened, just a little, by that thought-this wasn't just about her, after all. It would've been one thing, if she'd been the only one to strike a deal, but she had Flounder to think about too.
She had to make Eric realize who she was. She had to, if Flounder was ever going to be a fish again. Otherwise Ursula would take them both, and...
No. She couldn't think about that. She wouldn't. She and Eric would spend some time together and it would just be obvious to him that she was the girl who'd saved him, and if it wasn't, then...she'd figure something out, and everything would be fine. She'd be human, and she'd have her true love, and Flounder could go back to being a fish and not having to deal with all these non-fishy appendages and they'd both be happy. (They'd mostly figured out the legs by now, although they both still had a tendency to forget that they couldn't walk vertically-being human was so hard!-but Flounder was still a little perplexed by his thumbs.) Everything would be right. She'd make sure of that.
Her enthusiasm returned over dinner, because the food was so-so strange and dry and totally unlike anything she'd seen before, and it was almost an entire adventure on its own, even if Eric kept apologizing. Apparently they were supposed to be having crab (humans let crabs eat dinner with them? how nice!), but there'd been some sort of incident in the kitchens, and gosh, he was so cute when he looked at her with that big silly grin. Strange how easy it was to forget what was at stake when she looked at him, to forget everything else-everything except Flounder sitting next to her, silently supporting her, the way he always had. His presence gave her courage; overall, even if Eric still hadn't gotten it, she felt that dinner had gone well. They'd been so impressed that she knew how to use her dinglehopper correctly that it had left them speechless.
"Girl," Sebastian told her that night, as she luxuriated in the soft folds of her nightgown, "you have no idea what I've been though today."
Ariel just spun around, not really listening, dancing on her toes and feeling proud when she only fell over twice. She wished Flounder could be here with her, so that she could...well, not tell him all about how happy she was, but he'd be able to read it in her eyes, so they could at least share it together. But they'd given him a different room, of course, so they couldn't...
So the two of them spent their first morning of humanity being scrubbed-down by Carlotta, beside herself fussing over the poor little ducks, and Eric promising to keep them housed and fed until they could figure out what had happened and send them safely home. ("Boy's got some sense," was Sebastian's reaction, but Ariel was certain she'd be able to make Eric understand who she was soon enough, and then she'd be human permanently and Flounder would be safe and, of course, they'd have their voices back and could explain everything. By dinner, probably.)
She was given a dress to wear, made of strange heavy fabrics that weighed down her shoulders and arms and made her neck itchy, but oh, it flared out so beautifully when she twirled around! Look, she tried to say to Flounder, as he tugged at his jacket in bewilderment, look at me, look at us, look at how different and exciting this all is!
Flounder gave her a crooked smile, like they were back underwater and sneaking into another shark-infested shipwreck, like this was just another adventure and it was his job to make sure she didn't get too swept up in it and that they both came out okay. It was the same smile he'd given her when he'd made his own offer to the sea witch.
Despite herself, Ariel's happiness was dampened, just a little, by that thought-this wasn't just about her, after all. It would've been one thing, if she'd been the only one to strike a deal, but she had Flounder to think about too.
She had to make Eric realize who she was. She had to, if Flounder was ever going to be a fish again. Otherwise Ursula would take them both, and...
No. She couldn't think about that. She wouldn't. She and Eric would spend some time together and it would just be obvious to him that she was the girl who'd saved him, and if it wasn't, then...she'd figure something out, and everything would be fine. She'd be human, and she'd have her true love, and Flounder could go back to being a fish and not having to deal with all these non-fishy appendages and they'd both be happy. (They'd mostly figured out the legs by now, although they both still had a tendency to forget that they couldn't walk vertically-being human was so hard!-but Flounder was still a little perplexed by his thumbs.) Everything would be right. She'd make sure of that.
Her enthusiasm returned over dinner, because the food was so-so strange and dry and totally unlike anything she'd seen before, and it was almost an entire adventure on its own, even if Eric kept apologizing. Apparently they were supposed to be having crab (humans let crabs eat dinner with them? how nice!), but there'd been some sort of incident in the kitchens, and gosh, he was so cute when he looked at her with that big silly grin. Strange how easy it was to forget what was at stake when she looked at him, to forget everything else-everything except Flounder sitting next to her, silently supporting her, the way he always had. His presence gave her courage; overall, even if Eric still hadn't gotten it, she felt that dinner had gone well. They'd been so impressed that she knew how to use her dinglehopper correctly that it had left them speechless.
"Girl," Sebastian told her that night, as she luxuriated in the soft folds of her nightgown, "you have no idea what I've been though today."
Ariel just spun around, not really listening, dancing on her toes and feeling proud when she only fell over twice. She wished Flounder could be here with her, so that she could...well, not tell him all about how happy she was, but he'd be able to read it in her eyes, so they could at least share it together. But they'd given him a different room, of course, so they couldn't...
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