Moonbeam: A Timeline series companion

fic requests (2)

"Walk on a Beach" for Indigo and Fathom

It feels almost like home here. I had forgotten what it felt like; the sun on my back, warm sand sinking beneath my talons.

And in the midst of all this mess, I can find it in myself to be grateful for that.

"We can build a proper house from the driftwood," Indigo says thoughtfully. "If we're gonna live out our days here, we want it to be nice, don't we?"

"Yeah," I say, nodding. "I'll, um--I'll ask Darkstalker or Clearsight or someone to give us some tools, so we don't have to totally go it alone."

She nods. "That sounds like a plan."

I sigh, sitting down at the shore, letting the warm water lap against my talons. The sun is rising in the sky, staining the water a pretty shade of light blue. I can hear a symphony of tropical birds cawing in the distance.

A smile tugs at Indigo's mouth. "You know, if I had to pick a dragon to get stick in the middle of nowhere with, I'm glad it got to be you."

I laugh. "Yeah. Me too."

"First Date" for Listener and Thoughtful

Dear lord they are such a mess. They're just, like, two people who were moderately attracted to each other at best and sort of in love with the idea of each other who decided to get married out of high school and then inflict this nightmare dynamic on their children. Their kids are probably SO messed up from all this. These two have ZERO chemistry. After ten minutes of writing them I can understand why Clearsight was driven absolutely NUTS by this relationship, if I had to deal with this I think I'd snap at some point too. Anyway here's the best I could do.

Thoughtful orders soup. Not just any soup, but split pea soup. What a boring order. What does that say about him? I try to be subtle about it, but tune into his thoughts. (I know I shouldn't, but it's hard not to be curious.) But it's just this weird churn of low-level anxiety--not regular, Clearsight-level anxiety. That's good. I couldn't handle two of them.

"So," I say, my heart racing in my chest. "I can't believe we're finally hanging out! I feel like we've been dancing circles around each other for ages." I lean over, resting my chin on my talon.

"Oh. Um. Yeah. I guess we have?" He smiles, and my heart melts  a little.

This one is real. This one is good. He's the one! We're gonna get married, and everything is gonna be perfect!

"You do, um--you're in music class, right?"

He nods. "I play the cello."

"Oooo. Pretty. You'll have to show me sometime." Am I coming off too interested? Some of the other guys I've dated though I came on too strong.

He's my soulmate. Probably. I resist the urge to check his thoughts again--that's probably gonna be an awkward detail to edit out when i tell this story to our future dragonets someday.

"Oh. Sure. I'm really not that good," he admits, laughing. "My mom--one of my moms--she wanted me to take it, so I did. That's all."

Ooo. I wonder what his parents are like. I resist the urge to ask; maybe that could come off kind of creepy.

"Well, my parents always wanted me to be into reading and scrolls and stuff. My dad's a teacher, so I totally get where you're coming from. Ugh, parents, right?" I laugh nervously. I figure I'll tell him the whole bit about my parents not being together anymore, like, maybe never. Who wants a girlfriend with emotional baggage, right?