LordFrostdraken

  TOC Short Story: Exhibition of Grace

  The music seemed to pulse in time with the beating of Vare’s heart. She passed a webbed hand over the fin-like structure on the back of her scaly head. Her own scales smooth like gss under the sensitive pads of her fingers. She wore no clothing, but felt no shame.

  She raised her muscur arms above her head and stretched, a voice coming from behind her causing her to pause mid-movement.

  “I love watching you preen.”

  She turned her upper body towards the source and saw in the doorway of her small dressing room a wide and powerful figure. Their scaled body looked much like hers, but rger and more dense. His gurgling accent made her smile, and she responded quickly, “Oh I know you do. You tell me before every performance Queln.”

  Queln stepped to her side, his wide barrel chest at level with her head as he leaned towards her and cupped her chin with a hand. “Only because it is so true I have to say it again and again.”

  She smiled at him, her blue lips pulling back to reveal pointy sharks teeth. He smiled back and lowered his finned head to hers, the two sharing a slow and passionate kiss for a few lingering seconds that took her breath away as it always did.

  After a moment they broke apart and Vare pushed him back with both cwed hands. She giggled girlishly and said, “Hey, c’mon. We need to get ready for our performance.”

  Queln smiled and gave a small gurgling chuckle right back, his eyes pying over her body mischievously as she stood up and turned towards him. She folded her arms over her smooth chest, her kind had internalised mammary gnds so there was no reason to cover herself as other species might. But she did so regardless.

  She frowned in mock indignation and chided him. “Hey, mister! If you are done ogling me then I would like some help applying my paint.” Queln smiled again and gave her a slight bow.

  “As my dy wishes.”

  She snorted, her slit-like nostrils fring slightly as he moved to the corner and grabbed a small metallic container from the cabinet to the side of the room. She watched as he carried it to her and then knelt in front of her nude form.

  He opened the canister, a dull yellow glow emanating from it as it was touched by the oxygen in the air. It was full of a natural bioluminescent pigment found only in the native corals of her species homeworld of Abyss. Difficult to source and mightily expensive, it nevertheless was the only kind she would deign to use for their performances. No synthetic substitute would do, no inferior alternative offered as full coverage or vibrancy for as long as the real thing did.

  She shivered slightly as his cool fingers applied the paint to her body, the gel-like substance binding to her scales and glowing dully. It would brighten quite spectacurly when submerged in water, and for a good few hours as well.

  She wiggled slightly as Queln dabbed the paint in a particurly sensitive area of her anatomy and she scolded him, “Hey, watch the wandering fingers big boy. We have to be on stage in a few minutes, no time for that.”

  He chuckled, “Apologies my love. But I never tire of you.”

  She had to smile, she knew he loved her more than the stars loved the sky. And she too loved him just as fiercely in return. She once more marveled at her luck in snaring such a specimen as him, he was tall and his dark blue scales shone in the light like the moons of her ancestral nd. He was majestic and beautiful, graceful and kind. In short, he was everything she had ever wanted in this life, and wholly devoted to her in a way that felt almost criminal.

  Had she asked him, he would have done anything for her. And she would have done anything for him.

  He crouched now, his rge webbed hands applying the paint to her lower abdomen. Fingers tracing the contours of her muscles and his eyes obviously enamoured with the sublime lines of her body. His passion floated so close to the surface, but he held himself in check. Much easier for him at this time of the year as he was not yet in musth. But still she could almost feel his desire for her like an electric tang in the air.

  She pced a hand atop his head as he looked up at her. Smiling, she nodded to him, “That will do. Finish up on my head and I will do yours.”

  He nodded and stood to his full height, he was slightly taller than her. His shoulders were broad and his muscles clearly defined even under the thick scales that covered most of his exposed skin. She gave a small sigh as he applied the st of the paint on his hands to her fin and then reached for a cloth to wipe the undried excess from his hands.

  She turned and looked into the mirror at the corner of the room as she surveyed the man’s handiwork. She was still nude, but now her body was covered in thin lines of the glowing pigment that both served to cover her obvious nakedness and simultaneously accentuate her natural form. She loved the way the lines rippled and moved like currents in the ocean as she moved and flexed. Preened, as Queln would have put it.

  Satisfied with his work, she closed the first tin and rummaged through the closet for another. “Orange, blue.. green?” She asked, turning to him.

  He nodded, “Yes. I think green is appropriate tonight.”

  Vare grabbed it and closed the door to the closet behind her. Crossing the small space to kneel at his feet. As she opened the lid, the faint glow met her pitch bck eyes and she dipped long fingers into the glowing substance. It was cool, a little slimy and thick like pudding. She started by applying some to his ankles, then moved to his knees and thighs. She admired the feeling of his muscles like cords of iron under his scales. She giggled as he squirmed, her hands painting his groin and waist in a yer of the pigment as if he were wearing a covering made of light.

  “Oi! Careful right back at you down there!” Queln barked and she chuckled deviously.

  “Oh, I am sorry. I will make it up to you after the performance, okay?” She said, her husky voice and thinly veiled promises soothing any compunction the man may have had to his rough treatment at her hands.

  She smiled as she continued working. Her fingers tracing thin lines and small swirling patterns of ancestral significance across his belly, chest, arms and back. Finally as she got to his head she reached back and painted his fin slowly and deliberately, drawing him subtly closer to herself as she did so. Before he realised what she was doing she pressed him into another impassioned kiss, her tongue darting across his lips as her sharp teeth nipped at his chin.

  He chuckled, scaled brow lowering as he gave her a pointed look. “It seems like I’m not the only one who can’t wait for the night to end.”

  She swayed her painted hips and gave him a little twirl. “I will say nothing, for I am bound by the rites of our ancestors to never lie to you.” She wiped her hands free of the remaining pigment as he turned to look over her handiwork in the mirror.

  She heard him grumble appreciatively, the pulchritudinous saveth turning first this way and then that in order to better get a full grasp of his new figure. He nodded, turning to face her. “I am a walking altar of devotion to the moons of Abyss. You have outdone yourself my love.”

  She smiled. “And you as well. Are you ready to go?”

  He nodded, stepping closer. “Yes, another night of performing to faceless masses that see us as little more than painted drek.” he grumbled.

  She knew that he was not nearly as passionate as she for the art of aquadancing, not on the surface. But she also knew that he would follow her anywhere. She reached up and pced her hands on his scaled cheeks. The man’s slightly gaunt, angur features screwed up slightly as she asked him once more, “Would you follow me to the ends of the sky?”

  He paused and then sighed. “You know I would.”

  She continued, “If you asked it of me, I would quit this pce forevermore and follow you anywhere too, my one true light.”

  She watched as his brows drooped slightly, his shoulders slumping a little as he responded softly. “You know that I would never ask that of you.”

  She drew his head closer. Pcing her forehead against his tenderly, all she could see were his eyes. Those dark pits surrounded by the finger strokes of luminescent paint she had applied earlier. “But I would. I would follow you to riches or ruin, to the darkest pits of Abyss and the highest spires of Sabith. To the irradiated craters of Earth and the bzing deserts of Scorch. I would follow you anywhere, Queln.” He nodded, his eyes a little brighter than before as she professed her love to him once more. It was all true of course, she would be sad should he ever ask her to stop, but her love for him was stronger than that.

  He pced both hands in the small of her back, one cw tracing the contours of her spine as he sighed. “Yes, I know you would. And I too would follow you into the very darkness of the endless void. Should we never be seen again they would never forget my love for you.”

  She smiled and kissed him again, gently this time. She gave a comely sigh and then chuckled, the sound burbling through her closed gills as she checked the wall mounted clock. It was almost time.

  Not for the first time she considered walking away from this life, it paid well. And yes, the money was nice. But she didn’t dance for the money, nor for the rush that performing in front of strangers may provide. The door to their room buzzed and a small feathered head poked in, the golden eyes of the small swanith female fshing in the light as her bck expression feathers rose into a slightly annoyed depression.

  “Oh good, you are ready. Hurry up, you are on in two minutes.” And with that the door closed and left them once more in silence.

  Queln straightened his back and released her. “Well, time to get to it. Are you ready?”

  She smirked, he could be so bullheaded at times.

  She didn’t dance for her boss or the club where she worked. No, she gnced at Queln as he stood there in all his sparkling glory. She danced because it made her feel a deep sense of oneness with the universe, with herself. And with Queln. She smiled as she looked at him again, her moon, her stars in the night sky.

  He saw her gaze and puffed out his chest. “Want a better look?” He asked her, flexing his muscles.

  She giggled again, spping his shoulder pyfully, careful to avoid the newly dried pigments there. “You tease, come on. Let's go.”

  Queln nodded his head as he grinned widely and opened the door for her. As she stepped out into the hall she felt just a moment of apprehension as she always did when she was alone, and then Queln was there beside her. His muscur frame and chiseled features working to calm her nerves. She always felt safe with him around, safe and loved.

  “Okay, another round. You look stunning, I might add.” She would have blushed if she were able. He was such a goober, always picking the worst possible time to make her feel giddy.

  She nodded though, ready for the night. They walked side by side, twin symbols of beauty and grace. Eyes and faces turned to gaze upon them as they passed, as they always did. She made sure to add a little extra sway to her hips for her admirers, grabbing onto Queln’s arm with her own as if he were the only thing holding her up. He gnced at her and she just gave him another sharp-toothed smile as they prepared for their grand performance.

  In this manner they proceeded through the curtains and into the view of neon fshing lights. She shivered a little, not from the temperature of the room nor the cmouring masses arrayed before them. Not the music or the rapid beating of her own heart. No, she shivered as she tried to picture a life without Queln and saw the darkness her life had been before he had come to save her. She released his arm.

  He was moving now, towards that rge tank set to the side stage. It was full of water, and she watched as he stepped into it, the lines of flowing ink upon his scales fring brighter as they were exposed to the cool, salty water. He turned halfway and then beckoned to her, arm outstretched.

  Her breath caught in her throat, it was their way. He would take the point, she acting timid and afraid. But it was all a part of the show, and the yells and encouraged shouts of the crowd told her just how much it worked. She gnced into the lights, then back to her one true love.

  Suddenly she bounded to him, unching herself into his arms as they were plunged beneath the surface of the water. She opened her mouth to gasp, and icy water passed through her mouth and over her gills. The sight that greeted her was one of splendor.

  Queln floated before her in the shallow water, his every perfect line shining with a green fire from the luminescent pigment. Her own body must have shone just as bright, but she only had eyes for him. As they spiraled and swam around each other the sounds of the crowd faded away. The pulse of the music muted by her own swallowing breaths. She reached out and he took her in his arms, strong and gentle. Together they swam and danced like there were no others in the world around them, for truly in that moment. They might as well have not been.

  They had each other, together and forever. It was all she had ever wanted, and here and now, under the water amid the splendor of their own illuminated bodies. She felt a sort of closeness to him that she never seemed to feel anywhere else except in his impassioned arms te at night. A sort of connection that she knew he valued just as much as she, despite his spoken misgivings.

  They continued their routine, never stopping, always moving. A captivating exhibition of grace and skill that must have stupefied those who beheld them amidst their performance. But she cared little, she had him, and he had her. Two bodies joined in dance, the patterns of it casting shimmering reflections upon the walls of the tank.

  They were in a sense, better together than they could ever have been apart. Two pearls in one single shell, two bodies but one single mind.

  End of Short Story