first entrance 2.0
She steps out onto the sun-drenched Caribbean shore, delicately formed feet leaving equally delicate prints in the sand to mark her passage. Her skin is smooth and glowing, her limbs long and well shaped, and in bygone days, she might have worn only a garland of flowers to cover herself, or perhaps a strip of gauze
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(Just think of it as having all your feathers plucked out.)
. . . well, that's a lie. She notices it a little.
"Gosh, that's a pretty color!" she says admiringly. Duck likes shiny things!
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"Thanks!" she says.
"I like your outfit too."
The duck pants are adorable! Too few girls these days know how to accessorize age-appropriately.
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Duck's face lights up in an enormous beaming grin.
"Thank you!"
No one's ever told Duck they liked her clothes before! For . . . obvious reasons . . .
"I'm Duck!" she says, and bobs her head in something between an enthusiastic nod and a polite bow. "It's nice to meet you!"
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"I'm Aphrodite," she says, generously, and gives a gracious nod in return.
Duck can know her identity! Why not, right?
"It's wonderful here by the water, isn't it?" The word 'wonderful' is drawn out and savored.
'Dite really does love it.
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Duck has a vague sense that the name sounds slightly maybe a little familiar, but . . . there's probably just a music student named Aphrodite or something. Anyway she doesn't think about it long!
"Yeah, it really is!" She leans over and looks down into the lake, balanced perilously on the edge. "Though, it's kind of scary with the monsters that live there, but . . . the lake's still really nice! And if you stay close to the edge when you're swimming I think it's okay!"
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"Monsters?" she repeats.
"What monsters?"
She thinks she remembers Nessie used to hang out here ...
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Duck flails her arms about and wiggles her fingers in a way that vaguely resembles tentacles, if you squint.
"Or maybe even two! And there's also the rabbits with teeth that live out in the woods but they don't come into the water, but they're scary for outside anyway."
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"I don't remember any rabbits ..."
She laughs.
"Gosh, it's been a long time. I don't think I've been back here since way before you were born."
This Duck girl is kind of cute. Children are so diverting when you don't have to raise them!
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Weeks, months, maybe years - time in Kinkan Town doesn't run quite like it does other places. BUT ANYWAY.
"I bet you must have missed this place though, so it's a good thing you can come back!"
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Aphrodite's smile brightens.
"Well, welcome aboard, Miss Duck! I guess you're having fun, huh?"
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"A practice room?"
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"For ballet!"
(Yes, almost everything that Duck says ends in an exclamation point.)
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Poor baby Duck!
Still, she's very young, and all hope is not lost. "You must like to dance a lot."
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"But I'm working really hard to learn and get better! Mr. Cat hasn't threatened to drop me down to probation in almost a week!"
IT'S EXCITING.
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(Is everybody named after an animal where this girl's from?)
"Well-- you've got a long time to get better," Aphrodite says kindly. "To ... grow as a dancer. And even if, um, you do get dropped down ... I'm sure you can't stay there forever."
Knock wood, because she knows for a fact people that rhythmically challenged do exist.
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