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fandomweekly2023-12-01 12:28 pm
shivver) wrote in fandomweekly2023-12-01 12:28 pm
Entry tags:
[#201] What It's Worth (Original)
Theme Prompt: #201 - Pyrrhic Victory
Title: What It's Worth
Fandom: Original Work
Rating/Warnings: None
Bonus: No
Word Count: 638
Summary: Kit and Alex talk after the event.
Notes: This is (or at least will be) a scene in an original novel, and needs one bit of explanation for understanding. The keror is a race from another realm, vaguely demon-looking and can shapeshift into human form. The character Alex is a keror. Keror don't have gender and use the pronoun "it". Alex, having lived among humans for a while, has adopted the pronoun "he".
----
Kit peered around the doorjamb at the keror slumbering on the floor and the jagged rows of fresh stitches down his back, caked with drying orange blood. Dr Paretta had eschewed bandages, relying on Alex’s magical healing to prevent infection, but had decided to sew up the openings to encourage the flesh and skin to knit. He’d also shaved away the fur in a large circumference, leaving two long patches of brown among the gold.
The end of each row of stitches nearest his head ran over a lump where the surgeon had cut off what had been left of the wings’ humeri and shaved them down to the shoulder as much as he could. Kit swallowed hard against the image of the shattered bones protruding from his back, twitching painfully as they hiked back to the portal home. That suffering, at least, was now only a memory.
An eye opened and fixed on her, then Alex jumped to his feet, spun to her, and touched his nose to the floor, with surprising alacrity given his injuries and obvious pain. “Lady,” he breathed, speaking truncated English as well as he could with his keror mouth.
“Alex, relax.” She stepped into the room and sat cross-legged in front of him. “I’m not your lady.”
“You are Chief. You came to get me. You welcomed me into your pride. You are my lady.”
She smiled and reached out to stroke the ridge above his ear. “We’ll discuss that later. Please lie back down. You need to heal.” Alex settled back onto the floor, laying his head across his forelegs.
“I’m sorry about this.” She glanced again at his back. “I didn’t know this would happen. I thought… I thought that I’d just come to your pride, tell you that I’d made a mistake and you were welcome to join me, and you’d come home. I didn’t know that they’d…” The memories of Ahzhor clamping its jaws around Alex’s neck to hold him to the ground while the rest of his pride snapped his wings off with their teeth and of the shattered remnants with torn sails littering the rocky slope filled her mind, and she couldn’t continue.
“Not usual. I was embarrassment. Runt, stupid, weak, ugly. Never did anything. Chief was right to punish.”
“No, it wasn’t. No one has the right to maim another person for any reason. Besides.” She shook her head, frowning. “You’re not stupid or weak at all. I get that they don’t like your different body type and fur colour. Humans don’t deal well with that either. But you’re not weak. Sure, you’re not built like a tank like them, but you compensate. You’re quicker and more agile, and you’re actually rather clever, so you use your speed to your advantage.”
“You don’t know. Ask Chief. Or Ahzhor. They’ll tell you. Weak. Ignorant. Useless.”
“I don’t need to ask them anything. I say you’re strong and clever, and very useful, and I’m always right.” She laid a hand on his shoulder. “But I am sorry. You’ve had to pay too much for this. I thought you’d come back and it’d be like it was, but… I didn’t even realize that you’d be sacrificing your whole life for this: your pride, your friends. You’re not even in your own world anymore. And then this.”
Alex gazed up at her. “Perfect.”
“How can this be perfect?” she cried, stopping herself from adding, They tore your wings off!
“Useful here, not there. Never wanted me. You want me. It’s good.”
“But -”
“No.” He sat up and placed a taloned hand lightly on her leg. “You didn’t hear. Chief disowned me, said I wasn’t keror anymore. So I be human. Human has no wings. It’s good. Want to be here. Worth it.”
Kit smiled. “Good. I want you to be here, too.”
Title: What It's Worth
Fandom: Original Work
Rating/Warnings: None
Bonus: No
Word Count: 638
Summary: Kit and Alex talk after the event.
Notes: This is (or at least will be) a scene in an original novel, and needs one bit of explanation for understanding. The keror is a race from another realm, vaguely demon-looking and can shapeshift into human form. The character Alex is a keror. Keror don't have gender and use the pronoun "it". Alex, having lived among humans for a while, has adopted the pronoun "he".
----
Kit peered around the doorjamb at the keror slumbering on the floor and the jagged rows of fresh stitches down his back, caked with drying orange blood. Dr Paretta had eschewed bandages, relying on Alex’s magical healing to prevent infection, but had decided to sew up the openings to encourage the flesh and skin to knit. He’d also shaved away the fur in a large circumference, leaving two long patches of brown among the gold.
The end of each row of stitches nearest his head ran over a lump where the surgeon had cut off what had been left of the wings’ humeri and shaved them down to the shoulder as much as he could. Kit swallowed hard against the image of the shattered bones protruding from his back, twitching painfully as they hiked back to the portal home. That suffering, at least, was now only a memory.
An eye opened and fixed on her, then Alex jumped to his feet, spun to her, and touched his nose to the floor, with surprising alacrity given his injuries and obvious pain. “Lady,” he breathed, speaking truncated English as well as he could with his keror mouth.
“Alex, relax.” She stepped into the room and sat cross-legged in front of him. “I’m not your lady.”
“You are Chief. You came to get me. You welcomed me into your pride. You are my lady.”
She smiled and reached out to stroke the ridge above his ear. “We’ll discuss that later. Please lie back down. You need to heal.” Alex settled back onto the floor, laying his head across his forelegs.
“I’m sorry about this.” She glanced again at his back. “I didn’t know this would happen. I thought… I thought that I’d just come to your pride, tell you that I’d made a mistake and you were welcome to join me, and you’d come home. I didn’t know that they’d…” The memories of Ahzhor clamping its jaws around Alex’s neck to hold him to the ground while the rest of his pride snapped his wings off with their teeth and of the shattered remnants with torn sails littering the rocky slope filled her mind, and she couldn’t continue.
“Not usual. I was embarrassment. Runt, stupid, weak, ugly. Never did anything. Chief was right to punish.”
“No, it wasn’t. No one has the right to maim another person for any reason. Besides.” She shook her head, frowning. “You’re not stupid or weak at all. I get that they don’t like your different body type and fur colour. Humans don’t deal well with that either. But you’re not weak. Sure, you’re not built like a tank like them, but you compensate. You’re quicker and more agile, and you’re actually rather clever, so you use your speed to your advantage.”
“You don’t know. Ask Chief. Or Ahzhor. They’ll tell you. Weak. Ignorant. Useless.”
“I don’t need to ask them anything. I say you’re strong and clever, and very useful, and I’m always right.” She laid a hand on his shoulder. “But I am sorry. You’ve had to pay too much for this. I thought you’d come back and it’d be like it was, but… I didn’t even realize that you’d be sacrificing your whole life for this: your pride, your friends. You’re not even in your own world anymore. And then this.”
Alex gazed up at her. “Perfect.”
“How can this be perfect?” she cried, stopping herself from adding, They tore your wings off!
“Useful here, not there. Never wanted me. You want me. It’s good.”
“But -”
“No.” He sat up and placed a taloned hand lightly on her leg. “You didn’t hear. Chief disowned me, said I wasn’t keror anymore. So I be human. Human has no wings. It’s good. Want to be here. Worth it.”
Kit smiled. “Good. I want you to be here, too.”
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