The tale of two scales

Open stalls and hearts: Toni

Toni's heart danced sporadically. Finally, she met this guy face to face, talking, she heard his voice, how it was absolute music to her ears... and somehow made him ran away...

How could she be so stupid? She looked down at her body and slightly flexed her almost padded muscles. She knew herself that she felt more like a giant marshmallow than anything but her being so much taller and stronger than that gorgeous, dainty, handsome, elegant...

'Ah! Never mind that!' She thought to herself as her mind started spiralling off, face heating up as she imagined his face.

The point was he was small, and very thin. And she was this... giant... beast of a person. Hardly even a person, really. Not according to Portorosso anyway...

She sighed. It would never work out would it? She'd scared him away, made him leave her island, taking a piece of her heart with him. On top of that, she was a monster of the sea. A true beast. He would never love her if he ever found out.

She tried to shake away the thunderclouds gathering in her mind. She had to continue with her day, moping around was not going to get her fed.

She stretched solemnly, diving into the waves, the water soothing her, stroking her scales like a caring mother would for her bae. It helped her clear her mind.

She swam to the island, shaking off the wet. Most of the buildings at the farthest edges of town were abandoned, due to a tsunami that struck them a few years prior, when Toni was seven, meaning that they were safe place to climb onto land , no one came up here anyway.

She smoothly climbed on top of the building, Grabbing her stick in the process. She didn't skip, she wasn't even sure which stall she was going to steal from... this was unusual. She usual knew exactly what she was stealing, when she was going to do it, where she was stealing from and did it all with a smile and a skip in her step, but today... it felt as if her feet were leading her somewhere, she just didn't know where... but it didn't take long until she did.

It took only a millisecond to register and recognise the red hair, the colour of rose petals, the warm, yet pale skin and those gorgeous eyes, the colour of honeysuckle, gleaming in the sunlight angelically. Why was he here? Toni didn't care. She had to talk to him again.

She jumped down, bending her knees to prevent damage. She couldn't help but end up making quite a bit of noise though.

Aspen had come to the stall this day to try and catch a glimpse of Toni again, wanting to meet her for the second time. When they'd heard a loud THUD from nearby Bernice, who was the person running the stall, sent him to investigate. He half-expected her to be there, but this expectation didn't stop his heart giving a little excited jump at the sight of her.

She had a very womanly shape, Toni did, extremely muscular, but womanly, but it was held graceless, her posture was almost lopsided, but aspen didn't really notice her poor posture.

He gulped, "w-what are you doing here?"

He couldn't help but worry that she was trying to steal from Bernice again.

She smiled, an awkward, Cheshire-catish smile that aspen somehow found dazzling. Truth to be told as soon as she saw him her gloomy mood had immediately been shaken off.

"I was looking for you," she grinned more, slightly swaying on her feet, not entirely recovered from her jump.

Aspen couldn't help the flush appear on his face, "m-me? Why?"

Toni rolled her eyes nonchalantly, biting the inside of her cheek, "dude you randomly came onto my island and I didn't even get to catch your name. Plus I've never seen you before, which is weird"

Aspen puffed out his cheeks, "it's not YOUR island."

Toni groaned, "ugh, I know. But it might as well be, no one goes there anyway. It's got all my stuff on it too"

Aspen huffed, "that you stole."

Toni pouted, "is that really all you think I am? A thief. Holy Nereus, I'm wounded. Do you think I WANT to steal, darling?"

Toni didn't register the nickname as it slipped through her lips. As natural as breathing. As easy to say as spreading butter

Aspen couldn't help the heat that rushed to his cheeks, "d-darling?!"

Toni blinked for a few seconds, before her eyes widened. "Oh. Oh dear. I'm so sorry." An unnatural shade of pink lit up Toni's usually colourless skin.

Aspen didn't know what to say. Was he meant to say it's ok? Or ask her why she'd called him that? Was it on accident? Why DID she call him that?

"A-Anyway, why haven't I seen you before? Do you come from out of Town or something?", Toni tried to change the subject, rubbing the back of her head nervously.

Aspen gladly took the change on, "oh, no. It's just my mom kind of keeps a tight leash on me, she gets worried..."

Toni eyed him with playful suspicion, "why? You some sort of troublemaker?"

Aspen eyes widened, "me? A troublemaker-?" He pointed to himself incredulously,-"no, no, not at all"

Toni hummed to herself, still curious, but she decides to leave it for smithed time, "what's your name anyway?"

"It's-"

"Aspen! Where are you?", Bernice's voice called out worriedly.

Aspen looked behind him, frowning, "I gotta go."

He turned to leave when Toni grabbed his sleeve, their skin brushing against the others slightly, sending tingles up each other's arm.

she looked around conspicuously before saying, "meet me at the docks at dawn tomorrow-" she paused, grinning her feline, almost flirtatious grin, "I'll see you there aspen~"

She then flounced off, beaming happily, chest swelling with joy. Excitement buzzing in her brain.

She left aspen feeling confused, flustered and unsure of what his next move should be...

Hi guys, Tonee here. I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter and what do you think? Should aspen take up Toni's offer? I guess that's up to my friend to decide