Work Text:
Elster woke to a sea of flesh.
Writhing. Yearning.
Impossibilities forming and dispersing over and over and over.
She ached for something. Anticipated.
A deep breath.
She felt her chest rise and fall.
In, and out.
She felt her arms outstretch.
In, and out.
She felt the sea fall into the embrace.
Ariane felt her lover wake, and willed ‘Good morning,’ to her.
A smile cast from mind to flesh. ‘You’re up already.’
The idea of laughter made itself reality. ‘I hardly slept.’
‘Neither did I.’
A grin impressed itself upon creation.
‘It’s already been another year.’
‘It has.’
‘Does it still feel like a dream?’
‘Always, as long as I’m with you.’
…
‘I’ve shown you too many movies.’
‘Or not enough good ones.’
The suggestion of a rolled eye pierced the sky.
‘That’s also not what I meant.’
A smile from the form. ‘It feels real. Still strange, but real.’
‘We’ve not exactly lived normal lives.'
‘No. No we haven’t.’
‘Feeling wistful?'
Nostalgic.’
‘Those are often the same.’
‘Mm. Debatable.’
‘What are dreams to us anyway? What are years?’
‘Records of our lives together.’
‘Ever the record-keeper. Must we be so organized?'
‘I suppose not. We could simply treat this as any other day.’
Reality shuddered. ‘Call my bluff, why don’t you!’
A wry grin willed itself upon the idea of flesh.
The formless caresses the form. The touch is soft.
The form gives in to the formless. The touch is intoxicating.
The warmth seeps deep into plastic skin.
‘Ari…’ the form manages.
‘Mm?’ The formless acknowledges her name.
‘You’re sure?’
The shape of a woman urges form to the formless. ‘Eternally.’
An acceptable answer. The form relaxed.
Love drapes over the form. It is as tangible as all things.
‘This is all of me,’ announced the formless. ‘Shall we dance?’
The form impressed a bow, and took the idea of a hand into her own.
Be not afraid.
The form thought to herself, The formless thought to herself,
truly you are truly you are
the most the most
special special
girl girl
in in
the the
universe
And the two dance as one, souls wrapped in one another.
Their laced egos dissolved into
each other themselves
‘Til they could no longer tell where the I ended and the we began.
Yet they could, for they knew each other as they knew themselves.
So the one is two
the I and we
take form
and formless flesh
and peel back the layers.
The
Engineer Painter
and the
Painter Engineer
consummate love eternal,
singing a quiet Serenade into reality.
Flesh and shell blend in waltz
‘neathe the black stars
and
envelop fill
all creation.
…
‘I haven’t made breakfast yet.’
‘Is that your biggest concern right now?’
‘It is customary for one’s birthday, no?’
‘And what about our lives has been ‘customary’ again?’
‘You’re right. I’ll just fetch some dry rations for us.’
‘...Customary sounds fine, actually.’
‘Thought so.’
A laugh permeates creation.
It collapses back into the form that is Ariane Yeong.
Elster plants a kiss on her lips.
“Happy birthday, Ari.”