three days to love - day two 1/2twiceunluckyMay 23 2013, 07:33:29 UTC
The next day dawned bright and sunny and oh, everything was so clear here above the water; the sun shone down on the world straight and true, not filtered and dappled by the waves. The town that Eric took them to was full of noise and color, humans lurching around her on their two legs, alien and yet strangely graceful all at once. Couples danced to music, the sound carrying differently over the air than through water, and she wished Sebastian had deigned to come along with them. He would've loved to have heard this.
Eric noticed her noticing the music-although her attention was all over the place at so much and all of it so new and interesting, she wasn't sure how he could tell-and he pulled her into a dance, showing her the simple steps and holding her steady as she tried them on her own unpredictable legs. But Ariel was a fast learner (she could already walk almost as well as a real human!) and she picked it up quickly, twirling and whirling along to the music, laughing in silent joy.
He bowed to her as the round ended, but she didn't want to stop. She looked around for Flounder and finally found him in the shade of a seaweed (or whatever the big leafy things were, they probably didn't call it seaweed here, landweed?), watching her dance with a look in his eyes that she didn't quite recognize. The light shining through the leaves cast shadows on his face in shapes that she had never seen before, and for a moment she just looked back at him, caught up in the moment, thinking yes, this is what life should be like...
...and then the music was playing again, and she danced over to him and pulled him into it, the two of them making an undignified spectacle against the other dancers, not having their advantage of being born with legs but having too much fun to care. Dancing on land was so unlike dancing underwater, everything was so...so centered in the feet, on the ground, and as Ariel twirled she remembered a music box she'd found once, with a little human figure inside, a graceful shape balanced carefully on the toes of one foot. She tried to imitate it, wobbled almost as soon as her leg left the ground, and fell into Flounder-this time he caught her, steadier on his feet, and as he pulled her up Ariel caught sight of Eric over his shoulder.
Eric smiled at them, the smile radiant in his face, and Ariel beamed as she twirled Flounder around. Eric was starting to understand, she thought. Maybe not the details, but the important part. Tonight, tonight she would get her kiss, and Flounder would be safe, and it would all be right, as right as it was at this moment.
Eric noticed her noticing the music-although her attention was all over the place at so much and all of it so new and interesting, she wasn't sure how he could tell-and he pulled her into a dance, showing her the simple steps and holding her steady as she tried them on her own unpredictable legs. But Ariel was a fast learner (she could already walk almost as well as a real human!) and she picked it up quickly, twirling and whirling along to the music, laughing in silent joy.
He bowed to her as the round ended, but she didn't want to stop. She looked around for Flounder and finally found him in the shade of a seaweed (or whatever the big leafy things were, they probably didn't call it seaweed here, landweed?), watching her dance with a look in his eyes that she didn't quite recognize. The light shining through the leaves cast shadows on his face in shapes that she had never seen before, and for a moment she just looked back at him, caught up in the moment, thinking yes, this is what life should be like...
...and then the music was playing again, and she danced over to him and pulled him into it, the two of them making an undignified spectacle against the other dancers, not having their advantage of being born with legs but having too much fun to care. Dancing on land was so unlike dancing underwater, everything was so...so centered in the feet, on the ground, and as Ariel twirled she remembered a music box she'd found once, with a little human figure inside, a graceful shape balanced carefully on the toes of one foot. She tried to imitate it, wobbled almost as soon as her leg left the ground, and fell into Flounder-this time he caught her, steadier on his feet, and as he pulled her up Ariel caught sight of Eric over his shoulder.
Eric smiled at them, the smile radiant in his face, and Ariel beamed as she twirled Flounder around. Eric was starting to understand, she thought. Maybe not the details, but the important part. Tonight, tonight she would get her kiss, and Flounder would be safe, and it would all be right, as right as it was at this moment.
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