selkiesaoirse | (no subject)

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The beach is the perfect place to go as a teenager. There are lots of cute boys playing frisbee and volleyball, and the sun and sand are perfect. She's got one of Regan's bathing suits on, because naturally she wouldn't fit into any of hers, and her hair is in a braid down her back. She'd invited Luke, to get him out and about and hopefully break the weird funk that learning he's supposed to be much younger had put him in.

The pull of the sea is dull, today, probably since she's so close to it. There are seals on the rocks off to the far end of the beach, watching her, and she's certain she'll end up over there before long. For now, she's at the surf, a straight shot from their towels and the bag of beach things she'd brought along. Cu is with them, trying to entice play, and she laughs when a wave splashes up against his thick fur, making him shake hard.

Wet sand and saltwater sprays everywhere.

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It's not being a teenager that's weird, it's getting used to the idea that he shouldn't be one. The longer he does it, though, the more it kind of feels normal, the fact that this is temporary, and okay - he doesn't think like a little kid - but maybe he should be enjoying it rather than sulking that everyone thinks he should be a baby.

Saoirse's invitation is a good excuse, and he borrows a pair of swim shorts from Jamie -- he'd gotten some new clothes, but board shorts weren't exactly among the essentials. Once they're down there, he's glad he came, watching everyone playing on the sand. (If Darrow's going to play with his age he kind of wishes he was like, 16 and hot and not still short and weird, but he does think a little bit that a couple of the boys looking at Saoirse might be confused or jealous that he's there.)

He tugs off his shirt and leaves it on the towel, jogging down to where Saoirse is, just in time to get sprayed by Cu shaking off.

"Cu. Dude. Give a guy a break," he says, grinning wide and leaning in to faux-wrestle the dog.

Cu barks happily, bouncing through the waves. Saoirse giggles, and with a playful shriek jumps back so she won't get caught in the crossfire of their wrestling. Cu doesn't have much opportunity to wrestle with his people, since they're usually so small, so he clearly takes time to enjoy this — but he's still careful.

Saoirse splashes water at the two of them, heart leaping with joy. Distantly, she's aware of the seals, and when she turns, distracted to look at them, Cu knocks into her and sends her sprawling into the surf.

"Hey--!" Luke starts when she splashes him, turning toward her, but she's already looking away and he doesn't have time to step in the way as Cu barrels into her.

Luke starts to laugh, but frowns a little, wading in after her. Even for as strong a swimmer as Saoirse, having a bunch of salt water in your face when you're not expecting it can be frightening. "You okay?"

He looks up to see what she was looking at and sees the seals, looking back at them. They're beautiful; he's never seen seals quite so close before.

Edited 2019-09-04 04:31 (UTC)

She's laughing when she surfaces, and grasps Luke's arm to help herself stand up again. Cu barks happily and bounces around them, and the seals bark an answer before disappearing into the water.

"I'm alright," she assures. "Cu knows to be gentle." At his name, the big dog looks up brightly, and she scruffs his soaked fur with a fond grin.

He tugs her up, smiling, a little relieved and a little embarrassed for having fretted.

"I've never seen those seals so close to the beach," he says out loud, nodding toward where she was looking. "They're -- amazing."

"Oh, yeah," she answers, looking towards where they were. "They're my friends; they come visit me whenever I come to the beach." She doesn't think about how that sounds, or what Luke will think it means. She's here to have fun, and she's never been prone to lying, and the seals really do come visit her.

"Really?" He knows she loves the water, but he's trying to remember in a confusing blend of teen and small memories if Saoirse has mentioned seal friends. It seems possible. Saoirse is one of those people who seems a little capable of anything, at times.

"If we swam out would they come closer?"

There's a moment when she hesitates to answer. Her fingers reach up to grab the small pendant that Magnus made of her coat, and she rolls it back and forth a bit before she shrugs. "They might," she hedges.

She finds herself in an unusual position: she's never been shy about sharing her selkie magic with anyone, but Luke... what if he thinks she's weird? What if he thinks she's gross, somehow?

Everything really is simpler when you're a kid, she thinks.

Luke tilts his head at her, at that little nervous gesture. He's used to being the weird nervous one, with his counting and stones and putting things in lines, but Saoirse has never been like that. Or maybe she is, but not in a way he's noticed. She's ...freer.

"Saoirs," he says. "Why are you being all weird? It's just me."

And okay, maybe some of the memories they have together aren't...real, which is still hard to wrap his head around, but it's still him.

He nods over at the ocean. "Having animals be your friends is like -- a superpower. Or out of a fairy tale. It's cool."

That earns a blush in itself, and Saoirse huffs a laugh. "Out of a fairy tale?" she echoes. She looks over at him, and there's only another moment of hesitation before she finally says, "Well... alright. They will, if I'm there. They really are my friends. Ehm. Listen, I'm going to do something, alright? Don't... don't freak out."

She hesitates only another heartbeat, then backs into the water and allows the next wave to swallow her.

The flash of light is bright enough to flare over the surface of the water. Then she pops back out, and... she's a seal. Her white fur glints in the sunlight, highlighting the impossible black-brown of her eyes. The seals reappear as well, closer than before and bobbing in the gentle waves.

"Yeah, you know, there are always birds or deer that are friends with the princesses," he explains, flushing a little because when he says it, it sounds dumb. Then she says she's going to do something, hesitant and shy, and he tilts his head, wondering what it is and why he would freak out.

"All right," he says, watching her as she backs into the water and lets herself submerge. Then there's a flash of light and he does jump, a little, and where Saoirse had disappeared, a seal -- not quite like the others, white and furry with grey spots and dark shiny eyes that seem like they go on forever -- pops up and looks straight at him.

For a moment he can't reconcile what's happened, and then it slowly sinks in. "Saoirse?" he asks, noticing the seals. Freaked out isn't the word, because it's not like she's suddenly a -- werewolf, or is telling him she's always been a ghost, or something -- but it's something like amazed.

Holy shit.

He's not afraid. He looks... awed. She would blush if she could. When he says her name, she lets out a little seal bark, and the seals further to sea answer her happily. Cu dances all around the surf, excited for his person, because every time Saoirse is happy, he's happy, too.

She swims further out a little, tail brushing the sea floor, and nods her head for Luke to join her. If he's not scared, she can show him her friends, and they can sit out on the rocks together.

She barks at him playfully in answer and then the other seals are barkign too -- as if he'd have any doubt it really was Saoirse, the way that Cu's splashing and wagging his tail.

Whoa. This is crazy. He's already wading closer to see, but she gestures him out with her head and -- even if he wanted to, which he doesn't, he can't exactly turn down his best friend who is also a seal.

Luke wades in about waist-deep and kicks off, swimming after her towards the other seals. Good thing he gets to remember how to swim, too, he thinks a little ruefully, but the reminder that at some point this has to end is overshadowed by all of what's going on.

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