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Stumbling on Two Feet
A morning breeze carried with it the salty scent of the ocean along with it. There was a tang to the air that made skin break out in a cold shiver. Seagulls squawked, and nearly dove down towards the limp figure lying upon the beach like a broken doll. It, he, twitched. The small movement had the birds screaming and flapping away with a few lost feathers.
He shifted, and groaned as small bits of dirt found their way into crevices he knew he wasn't supposed to have. What an odd dream, what a nightmare! White to grey hair shifted, fell in long waterfalls, as the young seeming man lifted himself to his elbows. With a frown, Starr shifted his feet, and wriggled his toes. Startled amethyst eyes widened. Feet! Not a tail, but those gangly appendages that humans so adored. Starr dug his long fingers into the sand and groaned as tender, new, skin met rocks and dirt. Why had it happened again? This sudden loss of all he had known rankled, for he was certain the loss had been not his own. |
Andy was off for the day---he'd made sure of it. He'd specifically scheduled his week so that he had Friday off and he could waste his day. Of course he had thought he would waste his day away with Cory, the middle school teacher that had won his heart six months ago. That had been before his ancient, nine year old phone had buzzed with a message from the man and his day had fallen to pieces, so to speak. It wasn't the end of the world, just a cancellation of their plans. He'd called Cory to get an idea as to why, and hadn't had much in response. "Y'know how it is, meetings, overtime, tons of tests to grade, shitload of homework to tackle... And I've got a few parents coming by after school today to talk about their kids' grades, hell, it's pretty busy today." Andy scoffed to himself, kicking his bare feet on the sand and sighing. He'd decided to come to the beach instead, wearing a loose buttondown and khaki cargo shorts, and now all he wore were the shorts, the shirt slung over his shoulder and weighted down a little by the brick of a phone in his pocket. It was old, yes, but had survived far more than any updated smartphone of the new age did. It was even waterproof. Looking up from his semi-melancholy walk, Andy stared down the beach and squinted a little. Someone was there, moving a little in the late morning sunlight. It was a bit too early to sunbathe, and he widened his eyes a little. Was the guy wearing nothing? It definitely wasn't a nudist beach. He was asking for trouble, but curious nonetheless. He didn't speed up his walk---even as his heart started thumping hard. He was still a pretty far way away, and yelling just didn't seem like a good idea. |
It had to be a horrible dream. Of course those weren't his .... feet. Again, Starr wriggled them. Then he pulled himself to his back and stared at the odd thing between his legs. It was different then a merman's ... It was odd, and ugly, and alien. He wrinkled his nose and flopped back with a musical groan. Closing his eyes tight, he tried to imagine it all away. The curse that had befallen him couldn't be real. The sunlight slanting down from the sky couldn't be either. Neither was the sky, bright as the rings of a blue ringed octopus.
He wanted the sight of coral, of clownfish and the denizens of the deep. Instead it was what seemed like a colorless world that greeted him. Oh if only he could have his tail back, a beautiful silvered thing it had been, scales like pearls had been all his own. Of course they hadn't been very practical, flashing all the time. It had led to plenty of trouble, but not anymore. |
He doubted the form had seen him yet. Even heard him. He was walking slowly. Andy's heart was rattling in his ribs so loudly he was sure the form could hear. But apparently not. Maybe the waves were too loud. He didn't look good---in fact, he looked tired, worn down, confused. Of course he looked good---some odd, possibly dyed or even natural tone to his hair made him look exotic, his skin smooth, limbs oddly elegant in a fluid way. What if he'd wrecked somewhere out on the ocean? And he was swept out to sea to wash up on the beach here? A tragic circumstance, of course, but that had always been something Andy had dreamed about---finding a strange, gorgeous man washed up on the beach, confused and emotionally damaged and needing a guiding hand. Of course that was why it was a fantasy. He was probably fine, and had thought he'd get away with wearing no clothes to even out a tan. But that didn't explain why there were no clothes scattered around somewhere. Oh shit... Oooh my God... What if he'd actually washed up? And that was why he had no clothes? Was some form of fantasy coming to be reality? Andy couldn't stop himself from surveying the form sprawled on the sand. Odd, elegant, beautiful in so many ways---every way? Andy's stomach lurched and he swallowed hard. He was involved with someone, damn it. And he didn't know about this guy. He could be crazy. Andy forced himself to stop. "Ehm... H-hey... Hey, hi..." He drifted to the side slightly, sliding his shirt off his shoulder to hang from one hand and wave with the other. "Hey, I'm... I'm Andy... Are you okay...?" He kept his voice light, without accusation. At least his broken-up plans accounted for something, anyway. |
Some odd, coarse, babblings scattered Starr's thoughts to the winds. It was a voice, but like none he had ever heard before. Luckily, the merman did understand the language, and somewhat caught the gist of it... He hoped. Though this only brought home the fact that he'd truly been cursed, and that it was no nightmare.
He lifted his amethyst eyes, ran them over the human with curiosity. He had only ever seen them from afar, but now they would be his companions. The only people, if they could be called that, with whom Starr could spend any time. No merfolk would dare speak with the exiled one. "I ... believe so?" said Starr with his sweet voice. It was smooth, entirely musical and enchanting. Even with the loss of his tail, at least he retained that much of what he had once been. |
Sweet Jesus, that voice... Andy blinked hard and shook his head, feeling a dangerous tingling spread through his body. Breathing in quickly, he dropped to his knees a bit nearer to the stranger and tried not to stare at him. The guy's eyes were piercing, but that color was what got him most of all. They couldn't be real. Contacts, surely. Then how did they stay in? He shook his head a bit. "Uh, right... Right, okay... Are you sure, though?" He didn't know what else to say. "You... wash up? Y'know, I can take you to a hospital or something... Get you checked out? Make sure nothing's broken?" He had to fight to keep his eyes from traveling south. Typical gay man train of thought... He sat back on his legs, fishing his phone out of his pocket. "I could get an ambulance over here pretty fast... or take you myself? Can you walk...?" That was important---getting him to the hospital to check him out, get him some clothes. But he did look similar to Andy in size, maybe not fluidity. He definitely had some oversized sweats the guy could use until he got actual clothing, at least. |
Stuttering again. Starr laughed. "Washed up, yes.. I suppose you could say that." More like thrown up by the sea itself, but he was too loyal still to his old race to even think of mentioning the truth to this stranger. He didn't even know if he could trust the obviously besotted human. It was that, or the man was less then intelligent. Another glance assured Starr that it had to be the former. "I have no idea how to walk. I never have before." He had no idea what an ambulance was, or a hospital.
Were they places of healing? It would make sense that short-lived humans would have such places. They were obsessed with long life after all, or were in all the tales. Starr stared at his feet and wriggled his toes. He made a face. So odd ... To see those little bits of flesh at the ends of his two tails, near the end of his new kind of flippers. How did this even work? It all seemed so unbalanced a system. |
Andy blinked a bit. He never used his feet before...? Was he paralyzed? No, he'd moved them, Andy had seen. He puffed out a breath, running his hand through his hair and making it stand on end. In the morning sun it looked almost black, but was actually a very dark chocolate brown streaked with sun-lightened golden, nothing particularly unique. "Uh, right. Right, so you'll have to... have some help I take it." He was snapping out of his immediate and ridiculous adoration---he was a taken man, after all, and this random person was just that, a random person. One of many, many temptations that he'd continue to see but not wish for. Oh, God am I a mess... He stood, tucking his phone away and stuffing his shirt in his waistband. "Okay, so... You gotta try at least, y'know? C'mon, here, give me your hands and I'll pull you up. If you can't get a hold, I'll keep you up and you can walk with me, eh? I'm parked not far away, just over there." He nodded to the green truck parked a few dozen yards away, not too far a walk, but he was sure he could lift the guy if he couldn't make it all the way. He was well toned, after all, from lifting and handing dozens of bags of soil, rock, mulch, and manure, boxes of flowers and paving stones, and hefting them much further than that. |
That made sense, or most of what the man said did. Obligingly, the merman lifted his hands and felt himself be lifted up from the ground with an ease he found surprising. So it appeared all those muscles were quite real ones. He'd heard that humans had gone soft, but apparently not this one. Legs trembling, Starr fell to the ground with a thump. Right, there were muscles in them like his tail. All he needed to do was figure out how to use them. Biting his lower lip, he used the human's hands as leverage and forced himself to stand again.
He grinned triumphantly at the small victory. "Ah, at least I can ... But now I wonder .." Frowning, Starr wondered how people walked. How did they know which foot to use? How did they support their weight on one leg alone? His breathing quickened as he tried desperately to figure it out. He couldn't even find the courage to lift a foot, and quivered like a leaf instead, clinging to the hands he'd been offered instinctively. |
Andy steeled himself against the soft ground they were on---it was hard to get good, solid grips when his feet were moving through the sand, after all. He couldn't help but smile a little when the guy managed to get to his feet, then fell, and recovered rather quickly. But still, it was hard for him not to wonder how he got out here, naked, if he couldn't use his legs before, or never had. He nodded when the guy managed to stand and stay standing, shaking all the while. "Hey, great, great!" Andy nodded, trading one of the guy's hands to hold both in one of his and gather his shirt. "Okay, so it'll be awkward to walk up around other people completely bare, so I think you'll want to have this on..." He maneuvered the man's hands to his shoulders, pulling his shirt out of his waistband and tying it around the man's waist, then buttoning it twice to cover him somewhat decently, rather unfortunately in Andy's unvoiced opinion. "Okay, so you know how to walk, right? Lift your foot, use your knee..." He indicated his knee. "Bend, raise, then go forward. Put it down, and do the same with your other leg. Don't go getting ahead of yourself." He grasped the man's hands again. "Don't overthink it, just try." He stepped back a bit, giving the stranger a bit of space to come toward him. It felt like walking his nephew for the first time on his own, the little guy wobbly and uncertain. |
It was so easy to let someone else decide what to do. Frankly, Starr was getting the feeling that the whole wide human world was just full of things he could mess up. He let out a pained sound when he was covered. "It itches ..." It was restricting. Starr shifted his shoulders a bit, and looked down at his now covered hips. One good thing about the cloth was that it hid the odd thing from view. That didn't stop all the awkwardness of walking, or trying to.
He took a deep breath. One foot rose from the sand, hesitated for a few moments in the air, before falling against the ground once more. Starr wobbled a bit before trying with the other leg. Toes caught up against an unseen rock, and tumbling forward went the merman. He ended up crashing into the human, and knocking the breath from his own lungs. That started a coughing fit. Starr kept wishing it was water all around, not dry air. |
Andy grimaced a little. "Sorry..." Was he not used to clothes at all? Was a nudist colony around in the city? If so he wanted to find it immediately. But he focused on the man in front of him, pulling himself back enough to give him room to move. Indeed this was just like helping a one-year-old to walk, and he was just as clumsy as a toddler too. Andy gasped when he came forward, making sure to steady himself when the man fell against him. "God... Okay, take it easy, eh?" He pushed back a bit, pulling himself away despite the pleasant scent of salt and fresh sea foam clinging to the man that made him want to keep breathing deeply against his neck. "Okay, look, keep yourself focused. Lift your foot so you aren't dragging it at all. Then go over the land and put it down. Here, look up, don't keep staring at your legs." He nodded so the man looked up to him. "Good, good. Okay, how about you talk? Tell me your name. Keep walking, but talk to me too. If you can't do it, I'll get you there one way or another." |
"How do I know where I'm going if I'm not staring?" The next step nearly made him topple over again. Somehow or other, Starr caught himself. He lifted his eyes and locked his gaze onto the taller man's with grim determination. There were so many new rules to learn, a whole culture to decipher. The only person who was remotely helpful stood right on front of him. All that needed to be done was to try. He didn't want to know if all the horror stories he'd heard about humans were true.
"My name is Starr. I ..." He stumbled a bit again and dug his long nails into the stranger's wrists. Tiny white jewels flashed for a brief moment, before the sun passed them over. "I grew up very far from here. In a different world, you could say ." He clamped his lips shut as he took a few more steps, before crumpling again. He just didn't have the muscles to keep pushing himself yet. |
"You don't have to watch where you're going immediately, you have to watch where you'll be." Andy said carefully, feeling as if he were teaching a newly sprouted alien how to manage its brand new appendages. The guy---Starr?---seemed like an alien to him right now. "Okay, Starr... Odd name..." He didn't mean to say it aloud, but the words were almost drug out of him by Starr's nails digging into him. He gasped at the suddenness, and barely managed to grab him before he completely flattened out on the ground again. "Well, that was a good try..." He crouched down beside the man, brushing long white-gray hair from his face. "Pretty good for now, but how about I carry you the rest of the way?" He barely waited for an answer---Andy scooped Starr into his arms, and turned, looking around carefully. There were others on the beach, but they were pretty far off. He turned to his car, bringing the man along with him and bracing him on the solid ground. "I think it'll be easier for you to walk off the sand." He said, opening the passenger side door. "Think you can pull yourself in, or you need help?" He was thrumming with renewed energy, Andy. His crestfallen, melancholy morning had picked up greatly with this odd new discovery right out of his dreams. And the sweet looking man wasn't anything to scoff at, either. |
Odd. The air was dry. It clung to his throat like sunbathed scales. How could humans stand it? A soft touch brought him from his reverie. Starr let out an involuntary squeak when he was so suddenly grabbed from the ground. It was almost like being held aloft by water. Cradled comfortably in a state of rest, of peace... It was the first time since he'd awoken that Starr felt like himself.
Then all too soon, that feeling of buoyancy was stolen away by solid ground. He hated standing up. His new limbs were ablaze with the strength it took to simple be there. It did help that the ground was solid. It didn't shift so. "I think I can do that much." He proved it by reaching out with his hands. Once they were firmly upon the seat, the merman heaved himself up with a grunt of displeasure. So annoying, those legs of his! Starr had no idea where to put them, so he just let them dangle. Starr was even relieved to feel that the cloth covering his groin had fallen to the ground. It lay crumpled upon the ground, a useless thing. |
Andy smiled a bit and nodded, making sure Starr was inside and out of the way of the door before he shut it, having a hard time not staring while he grabbed the fallen shirt, and went around the long way---around the back. He had to get a grip. This guy was odd, of course, but so stunning Andy had a hard time forming coherent thoughts with him stumbling against him. But he shook his head, pausing outside his door. There was Cory. He had to remember the actual, solid relationship he was in and pretty happy with, if he didn't think too hard about so many cancelled and rearranged plans, quick interludes that usually ended with a quick and somewhat insincere goodbye. He shook his head hard, getting into the passenger seat and starting the vehicle, glancing sideways as if to gauge Starr's reaction to the engine. "Do you come from a place where they don't wear clothes?" He asked, referring to the shirt he settled over Starr's lap. "At least hold it there, we kind of wear clothes around here... And... y'know, do they have cars where you're from? It's not every day I come to find a naked guy sprawled out on the beach..." But he wouldn't mind if that were a regular happening, Andy added silently. He pulled away after buckling himself and Starr to the seat. "And where do you want to head...? Are you feeling okay, head hurt, any bones broken? Need to go to the hospital, or what?" And what, indeed. Where did he plan on taking Starr? The guy was lost, obviously, and didn't seem to know much about where he was or even how to take care of the basics of walking. |
"Clothing is optional," said Starr simply. He settled his hands upon his lap to hold the cloth in place. Humans were rather keen on rules. That much was apparent. Who would want to wear such strange things as clothing otherwise, in such a balmy place? "There are cars near where I live, but ... they seem like alien things to me. Otherworldly." Now what would be a reaction, a thought, more difficult to explain away in due time. Starr clamped his lips shut, to stop himself from letting anything else he thought might be odd slip.
Perhaps a distraction was in order. The human did appear to get distracted quite easily , simple because Starr was there. He shifted so that his long locks fell across his shoulder, and let a dazzling smile shape his lips. "I feel well enough. There's no need to take me to the ... hospital." An odd word. It had old roots though. |
Andy's breath caught in a minute amount. Holy hell... Where did someone even get a smile like that? Andy kept his gaze stoically out the window. "Well, okay..." He muttered, somewhat reluctantly. He had several places in mind to take Starr, but without clothing he could only go to Andy's house. Even if he didn't seem to like clothing, there was no way this guy would survive jail after being arrested for indecent exposure. However far from indecent Andy thought it might be. "Well, okay. S'long as you're feeling okay. We'll head to my place and see if I have any actual clothes you can wear... I mean, it's not exactly a clothing optional city... Don't get me wrong, if it were you wouldn't hear any complaints from me, but people can be such prudes." And that was why he didn't wear many clothes around his own house. If someone made a point to look through his window to see him wandering around stripped down to skin, it was their problem. "Then maybe I should talk to a friend of mine..." He had to say something, couldn't keep it to himself. He didn't know enough about Starr to spit any secrets, but he had to at least talk about it somehow. And not to someone who would go telling everyone else. He turned onto a residential street. "Nearly there." He promised. |
Did that mean that this was one human who didn't quite follow the rules set by the others? Starr pondered that a few moments. He glanced out the window as he thought. Giant things seemed to sprout from the ground at distances too equal from each other to be natural. Green trees, grass and clouds. He knew what those were, but the long stretch of black, crisscrossing this way and that, was entirely new to the merman in exile.
"What will you tell your friend?" The merman let tanned fingers scrunch up the white cloth upon his lap to reveal even more of his legs. "Nothing about how odd I am, how I don't know anything about .. anything." Musical lilt to his voice, Starr impressed part of his magic into the words. He hoped the power of suggestion would work. He hadn't been very practiced at such things to begin with, and his transformation could only have made his abilities falter even more. |
Andy had his gaze straightforward intently, so much so that he thought he might be able to break the windshield with the pressure of his eyes alone. It was rude to stare, after all, no matter how unconsciously Starr seemed to be hiking up the shirt covering him. Andy breathed out and thanked whatever entities existed that he lived far enough away from others and beyond the trees that he could wander around unclothed outside somewhat safely. He could at least hear vehicles approaching should he be lying out under the sun during the day. He turned and twisted the vehicle toward his home, and glanced at Starr as he spoke. An odd way of speaking. He blinked, shaking the odd feeling away from his ears---a tickling sensation. "Er, well hell, I don't know what I'll be telling him." He admitted. "I mean, nothing you don't want me to, I'm not much of a gossip like that." He pulled toward his house, a two-story thing painted light blue and trimmed with white, sitting on a small, private beach that was protected by high hills and trees. "Here we go, home." Andy smiled brightly, getting out of his car and going around to open Starr's. "It's pretty private out here, far enough away from town so you don't get much noise or light, especially at night." |
When the horseless carriage twisted about, Starr whimpered. It was going to slip out of control! At the speed it moved, that would be disastrous. The merman pushed the cloth covering him away and clamped his hands around anything he could. That just happened to be the door. As the other man opened the door, the merman tumbled out. With another muffled cry, he did his best to fall onto Andy, and not the ground. He didn't relish that. It wasn't near as soft as the ocean floor could be.
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Andy laughed, grasping Starr tightly so he could find his footing before he fell flat on the driveway. "Hey, take it easy, you're safe." He pulled his shirt out of the truck and tucked it into his waistband again. "C'mon, you got to start walking on your own. Just a few feet, here..." He closed the truck door and pulled Starr into the grass. It was cooler, and much softer, and something Andy took pride in keeping pillow-soft and a solid, emerald green. "The grass won't hurt if you fall." He pulled himself away from the man and grasped his hands. "Walk a bit, keep your feet up but not too high, just enough to skim over the grass. Bend your toes with your feet, let them carry you through the motion." He felt odd, bringing a naked stranger to his house and then teaching him how to walk. He had so many questions but doubted he would get---or even believe---any of the answers. But he didn't doubt Starr needed sleep for a while. Waking up in a strange new place was sure to sap away one's energy. |
It was so different from water. The grass, little blades soft and bending, tickled his feet. The sensation was nothing like Starr had ever felt before. Instinct took over. He made a face, and lifted his feet quick as a cat, one after the other. "I don't like it!" Again and again, he did the same thing and danced around. All the while, his fingers were clamped tight around Andy's hands. They were a warmth that made him feel safe in a world unknown to him. A steadying presence, was what the other man was.
He knew clinging to such ideas was silly, and dangerous. Starr knew nothing about Andy save his name, where he lived, that he was kind and willing to help a complete stranger. But then again, there could be hundred of reasons for all of those actions. And many of them were horrifying ones. Sometimes predators lured their prey in with light. This could be one of those times. |
He tried not to smile, but his lips twitched up and he couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped. He shook his head, pulling Starr forward and onto a flat, decorative stone. "Take it easy, Starr, grass is fine. It doesn't hurt you, you'll get used to it..." He paused, studying the man and knitting his brow. "You've never stood on grass...?" He could only imagine that to be a fact if he were a nomad in the desert somewhere---after all, there were nomadic people that had never seen grass before, he was sure. Just not on this continent. He shook his head instead of pressing for information. "Whatever, look, don't think about where you're stepping, okay? Get down on the grass and feel it... It's not painful, it just tickles a bit." He smiled, stepping back but keeping close enough to catch Starr if he fell. He wiggled his toes, smiling at the tickling sensation. "It's not bad." He offered a hand in case Starr needed it. |
Starr let out a miffed sound. "It's obvious I haven't!" And he didn't know if he wanted to make the experiment again. The grass was so green. It was clear green, the kind of green that never showed under the waves, beneath the ocean's surface. He missed it. The merman sniffled lightly at the thought of his exile as reality began to catch up with him.
He did need a distraction from that though ... Starr stepped forward with a sigh, and clamped his lips shut to stop himself from letting out a sound as the plant life tickled his feet again. Toes wriggled against the ground, like he would have done upon the sand if he'd had the chance. It was ... soft. The blades bent so easily. They didn't prickle. Even so, the merman lifted his hand and wrapped it tight around the other man's palm. He was afraid of being left all alone in the big strange world. |
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