Slighth rolled
through the shallows, avoiding everyone in her path. The cool waves washed them
all in frothy yellow, with green sand swirling up from below. The sun reflected
on colored limbs all around her, and she sighed, glancing down at her own pale
scales. Twisting past a dark-blue female and a dark purple male, she longed for
scales that refracted the light with more than her own undistinguished light
blues.
If only she had
the same glinting teal as that female over there, curling her long tubes in the
water as if she wasn’t aware of her effect on every male in sight. Slighth
brushed past a pair of young dark brown males, who ignored her, entranced as
they were by the myriad of other, darker scales all around.
Reaching the
water’s edge, Slighth stretched out her standing tubes and rose above the
waves. As she reached her fronds toward the warming sun, she pretended to be
invisible…
###
Author’s note:
Here’s an idea
that has fizzled. It came to me as I was walking on the beach, admiring the
beautiful tanned men and women, of all shapes and sizes. I was struck by those
sunbathing with such an air of relaxation…I have never been able to do this. My
skin is too fair, and I don’t have the patience or tolerance to sit in the
heat, when I know I will never have skin that beautiful color. We don’t even
have to get into all the health issues, because this is at heart a
perception-of-self issue.
So I started
thinking about how to turn that little self dialogue into a different kind of
scene, and rather than a fantasy setting, I came up with an otherworldly, alien
setting. Which sounded fun. Trouble is, I have a setting and an initial character,
but no actual story…
Sometimes these
things all come together, and sometimes, they don’t.
So give it a try,
and let me know what you come up with!
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Time
writing
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20 minutes
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|
|
|
|
July
word count
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10,692
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