❛❛ tale as old as time , song as old as rhyme ❜❜

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kalon #1600 form | please dont post !!
name : nephele | pronouns : they/them
final word count : 4,998 words ( total )

back to adopt page | back to my post

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there's a softness in her eyes, as she flitters from flower to flower, cupping each one in her paws, with the delicateness that a potter would handle their pottery. each touch brings new life to the flowers, their colors more vibrant, and their petals more elegant. you wonder, as you watch, that if she were to cup the cheek's of any one person (you dont mean you specifically, just someone in general, is all), would a similar affect occur? would your- would this someone's cheeks turn as pink as a starfish?

you wonder this, as you lean on a boulder jutting from the sea like a mangled tooth, near the little island that you often come to when you need to escape your thoughts for awhile. you noticed, only a month ago, perhaps two, or maybe three, that she had started to come here. who she was, you knew very well; anyone who was anyone knew of the eldest daughter of nature herself. her beauty was unrivaled, not just her physical beauty, but her inner beauty... the love, the kindness, the compassion that she had, for all living things, and even those who were not, made her well known amongst even your very tiny, isolated pod of sea nymphs.

you also know that for a common sea nymph to fall in love with a princess, a goddess, one of mother nature's most beloved daughters... well, it was a crime, wasnt it? so too was it a childish thought to ever entertain, much less encourage, at that. why would someone so incredible ever love a commoner, much less a no name nymph who smelled of the salty seas and reeked of a metallic tinge from handling so many precious treasures and fineries all day.

she wouldnt, is what you tell yourself every day, but every day, you come to the surface, to this island, and you hide behind this boulder, to gaze upon the person who at times you feel must be a siren in disguise, for how deeply she has captured your heart, and without even singing a song, much less knowing you even exist.

today though, is the day that changes, unbeknownst to you.

she's just doing her routine, checking up on the plants and the animals, and offering her help where it's needed, maybe sneaking a little extra bit of magic here and there, and she usually would go home after this, but instead, she does the strangest thing...

she starts to sing to the plants, and the strangest thing is... you know this song. your mother would sing it often a time to you, when the sea was cold and you would weep of a loneliness in your heart that no treasure or luxury could fix.

and out of habit, you start to sing along. quiet, at first, but by the second verse you cant help it, it's almost second nature to you, and you're singing the song loud enough for the gulls to hear you from the treetops on the island.

you sing, and sing, and as you finish, out of breath, you realize what you have done, and hurriedly glance at the island, hoping you will be wrong, and that-

she stands near the shore, a pleasant smile on her face, and she's clapping. she's smiling at you, you realize, and you are mortified. she heard you, she saw you singing your heart out in the biggest embarrassment of the century, and now, she knows you exist, she knows your voice, and- and-

you have to leave, you have to- your breathing is erratic as you turn and prepare to dive into the depths and never show your face here again, but she stops you cold in your tracks, with a single word;

"wait!" she says breathlessly, and you dont know why, until you ever so slowly turn around, shoulders and paws shaking, and see her floating on a giant blossom, keeping her above the water's surface.

"dont go... please...?" she says, almost pleadingly, and you stare at her shell-shocked, internally panicking about what you should do. if you say no, will she get mad at you and find out who you are and send guards to retrieve you and throw you in a dungeon forever and-

"hey, are you alright...?" she says this in such a gentle, soft tone that makes your heart skip a beat. she lowers the flower slowly as she gets closer to you, like she's afraid you'll bolt if she approaches you too fast, and honestly... you've been considering it.

"im amalthea, by the way... but i think you probably already knew that, judging by how many times you've been watching me." she laughs (she laughs at that, and oh no, oh nonono, she knows, you realize), as she sits criss cross apple sauce on the flower, and your face feels like it's on fire, you're sure your cheeks have just turned more pink than the flower she's sitting on.

"i-" you hesitate, and glance up at her shyly, "i... im okay, thank you... i just- i was startled, and embarrassed..." you stammer, and look down at the water, your cheeks somehow burning even more.

she just giggles again, and you feel yourself clam up even further. she must notice, because she hurriedly says, "hey, its okay! its alright, really... i've been dying to know who my secret admirer has been, and finally i get yo meet you! that's exciting, to me... you need not be embarrassed." she reassures, and your shoulders droop, but you still feel... uneasy, and embarrassed... ashamed, even.

"why dont you join me at the island? i could use the company..." amalthea says, "and with a voice like that, why i would love only to hear it more..." she smiles at you, smiles at you, and your cheeks flush, but you cant help but feel like you're being tricked, that this is a cruel joke, and somehow you will get the metaphorical pie thrown in your face if you do this, but... the ounce of hope in your heart, that desperately wants to take the chance, wants it to be true...

"a-are you sure...?" you ask, but tentatively... reach out to accept her paw. she reaches you the rest of the way, and she gently helps you up onto a flower of your own, your tail left to dip into the water below.

"i am always sure of everything, nephele." she says with a soft smile, and guides you to the island's shore with a gentle paw.

you realize, as you approach the shoreline, that you never told her your name, and your cheeks flush at this realization. she must be a psychic, because she turns around at that exact momemts, and winks at you playfully. your heart bursts right there, you think, as you're left gasping after her in confusion.

[trans]

there's a softness in her eyes, as she sits behind you in a canopy of vines and flowers; roses, tulips, violets, daisies; any flower that one could imagine... they tickle your back and neck as she hums to you, in a voice smoother than the smoothest river rocks. so loving and gentle she is, as she braids your hair. wherever she touches, blossoms sprout from her fingertips, and she carefully weaves them into your hair with skillful paws.

even still, there's a somber tone to it all, one you find harder and harder to ignore.

a thousand what-if's and could-be's run through your head, as the oil that taints the water gets in the ends of your hair, paints your scales and fur a sickly black, but she wipes it away with a gentle, tender paw.

"how?" you ask, so quiet it could so easily not have been heard, but you feel her paws pause, fingers still intertwined with your hair. she doesnt say anything, but you can almost imagine her tilting her head, asking you in that light, airy tone of hers, what ever do you mean, my flower?

"how do you..." you pause, to think on what you're even trying to say here... you take a deep breath, before starting all over;

"doesnt it hurt? doesnt it kill you to try so hard, but no matter what you do... no matter how hard you try, it- it doesnt even mean anything-" your voice cracks, just as she shushes you, and she looks at you with those soft, gentle eyes again, and carefully cups your cheeks in her paws... she gently wipes away the tears that bubble in the corners of your eyes (you didnt even realize), and smiles at you in that way that makes you melt every time, lean into her paws and feel her run her thumb over your cheeks with a delicateness you always feel you dont deserve, lest of all her adoration at all, but at the same time, you crave her affections, find yourself drowning in the love she has for you, and the love you have for her.

"the hardest lesson i have learned..." she pauses, to look off into the distance, and although she tries to hide it, you can see the pain in her eyes as she speaks, "is that you dont. sometimes, things never stop hurting... i feel the pain of nature, of the world, in my heart. it is a constant but dull pain that aches more at every tragedy..." she looks at you again, and tucks some of your stray hairs behind your ear, "but i have learned that if i dwell on every tragedy, every ache, it would kill me. so i look toward the future, and remind myself of all the good things that happen too, and hold onto hope that maybe... just maybe, perhaps in our life time even, some day things will be different... some day things will be better." she says softly, and then resumes braiding your hair.

"but-" you bite your lip and grimace as the waves of oil wash over you again. she just sighs sadly, and carefully waves it all away again... she gently lifts you into her flower canopy, and hugs you close to her chest, leaving only the end of your tail to dip into the water below.

"sometimes you just need to let yourself cry, to vent out what you've been thinking, to let yourself feel..." she says, elegant and careful as ever with her words, "and you also need to learn to accept that sometimes there is no immediate solution, no magical fix that can solve our problems in the snap of our fingers... we have to learn to live, to love, even in the face of adversity, and to face tomorrow not as an extension of the bad day we had yesterday, but another chance at a good day. we must learn to appreciate even the smallest fortunes we have in life, lest we let misery make us forget that life is not always suffering and tragedy."

you sit up and stare at the sea below, the gentle waves rolling over your tail, unsure what to say, unsure how you even feel. what you arent unsure of, is you can feel her wrap her arms around your shoulders from behind, and you can hear her whisper, "and while this wont fix what's happened, or what will happen... i can at least comfort you, whenever you need me to be here, i promise..." she kisses the top of your head shyly, as if she's scared, but there's no waver in her voice, no hesitance when she hugs you, and you realize...

it is enough. she's right, miracles wont solve the problems in the world, but sometimes... you just need to know someone's there, someone sees your pain and is here to listen and feel your pain with you, to take some of the pain off your shoulders and bare the weight of the world with you.

it is with these thoughts you watch the sunset together, as a peaceful quiet settles over you both, and you drift off to the sound of her quiet humming.

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there's a softness in her eyes, you can tell, even as she holds her paws over your eyes and you're as blind as three mice. her laughs are contagious, you are quick to discover, and you laugh along with her as she leads you somewhere unknown.

"cant i at least get a hint as to where im being taken?" you sigh dramatically, but she just giggles more, and keeps leading you along. you cant even feel the ground to tell where you're going, she has you seated on a floating flower and periodically splashes water on it to keep you from drying out.

"whats the fun in a surprise, if you know the surprise before i can show it to you, silly?" she says with another laugh, and you roll your eyes at this and cross your arms with a huff. (but secretly, you love it, because you love her laugh, and hearing it never gets old to you.)

it's only a few more minutes, but it feels so much longer, when you feel yourself finally stop, and finally she says, "okay... you can open your eyes now!"

you open your eyes slowly, and...

you gasp, and it must be very audibly, because she immediately claps her paws together (it's a nervous habit of hers, you have learned) and looks at you with wide, pleading eyes as she says, "do you like it...?"

it's a small cove, and it's... perfect. you dont think you've ever seen anything like it before... the shore is a beautiful light pink sand, and flowers adorned with geodes and crystals hang delicately from the ceiling and on the walls... there's a giant clam shell overturned on the beach, and two smaller boulders that look like they were very painstakingly dragged over to the clam shell. an array of foods and an elegant candle of gold and pink sits in the very center, and you cant help but be silent, only because of how in awe you are.

"its..." you pause, and she waits with baited breath, nervously wringing her hair, until you say, "beautiful... no, more than beautiful, its... a wird that doesnt exist- i mean, its amazing! i just... dont have words..."

she smiles so lovingly at you, and holds your paw as the flower floats down gently, and guides you to the clam shell. she helps you sit down, and then sits down herself, and very delicately reaches across the shell to hold your paws in hers... "i know it hasnt been long, but... nephele, you make me so happy... and i wanted you to know that, know that i appreciate and love you more than i could ever hope to express... but i try, and i hope you know how much you truly mean to me..." she pauses, to rub her thumb over your knuckles, and you cant help but blush...

"i know this is a lot, just to say that i love you," she goes on, "but you are the only person i feel i can really be myself... you dont care about my status, my heritage, my role in the world, any of it... you support me, but you didnt fall in love with me because of it, you make me feel like a real person, you make me feel special not because of my status but because im me... and i could never thank you enough for that, for loving me, for treating me so kindly... and i hope this conveys this to you." she smiles, and...

you start to tear up. she hurriedly pats at your paws, and seems to panic, thinking she hurt your feelings. "are you okay? oh gosh, im so sorry nephele, i didnt mean to just dump that all on you, i just-"

it is you who shushes her this time, with a gentle touch... you reach up to ever so delicately cup her cheeks in between your paws... you stare at her with all the love and adoration and more that you have for her, have always had for her, and you very quietly... press your lips to hers.

it isnt anything like you thought it would be. its just barely a kiss, the most feather light kiss in existence probably, but... she smiles, and you smile too, and you rub your thumb over her cheek as you say,

"i cant find the proper words nor do i think i have them, to be so eloquent and graceful as you, but... always know that i feel the same about you, amalthea... and i love you more than i could ever hope to tell you, but i hope... i hope that that could show you even an inkling of how much you mean to me."

she tears up too, just the slightest bit, and you just keep cupping her cheek as the two of you be ridiculously overly romantic, staring into each other's eyes like the protagonists of a romance movie.

unbeknownst to you both... you will only get to say you love each other one more time.

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there's a softness in her eyes, even with tears clouding them, as she comes to the island one day, but she does not follow her usual routine at all. she weeps, and as you cant bare to see it, cant bare to see her so upset and distraught.

you slowly start to approach, but you never were very good at sneaking, as she often told you, and she looks up to see you just short of the shore. her eyes flash through a dozen different emotions as she looks at you, but they settle on a resigned sadness that makes you feel uneasy. it leaves a sour taste in your mouth, and a bad feeling in your gut that twists up your stomach like a pretzel, because you've seen her sad before, but you've never seen her so hopelessly, completely miserable before.

"what's wrong, my pearl..." you say softly, and reach out to hold her, but she simply moves away from you, and... it stings so much more than you thought it would.

"please... i need to- i just-" she looks up from the sand to stare at you, and the pain in your eyes makes you grimace at how desolate she sounds.

you reach out to her again, but this time, you only hold your arms open for her, and... she practically clings to you, as she sobs into your chest and holds you as tight as you hold her.

"they want me to- they know- they know and-" she wheezes out, but you rub circles into her back and shush her quietly.

"my love, please take a deep breath... in and out... you can tell me what troubles you once you can breathe, okay? im right here... i've got you..." you reassure, and she looks like she wants to protest, but she complies, and the look she has even when she calms down, you feel the tension slowly ease out of her... it kills you, to see her so distressed.

"they know now, that we are a thing, and they think that my duties will be disrupted because of this... but it hasnt been, i have the records to show i've been keeping up just fine, but they just-" she grips you tighter, and you cant help but wince, but she eases up after a beat.

"they told me that if i dont stop seeing you, they'll make sure i learn my lesson... i dont know what they plan to do, but i dont want to risk something happening to you because im so selfish-" you slowly back away, to cup her cheeks in your paws...

"amalthea, you have never been selfish... wanting your own life, wanting happiness, wanting love... that will never be a crime. if they cant see that... then they dont want what's best for you, they want to control you, and that isnt right of anyone to do, no matter how powerful and important they think they are." you say gently...

"i will always love you, and all this means? we just have to be more careful, maybe see each other a little less... but i will never stop loving you, never disappear from your life unless you want me to." you reassure, and she smiles a sad smile at you, after a moment of silence.

"you... you're right. that is what we will do..." she breathes in, then out, and looks at you with a little bit of that sparkle back in her eyes, "we will just be more careful, but... i could not bare to lose you forever either, my flower..." she hugs you tight, and you hug her back, and you can only hope that you are right.

things never do go the way you want them to though, no matter how hard you wish and hope, you both will soon realize.

[trans]

there's a softness in her eyes, even as you are thrown onto the ornate marble without care, and she cries out for this to stop. her cries fall upon deaf ears though, as you are gripped by your bangs and forced onto your elbows, to face your executioners. already you feel dehydrated, but all your attempts to ask for water have gotten you crude scoldings and sneers.

she tries her hardest to get to you, clawing and demanding that the guards who hold her back release her immediately, but there is no kindness to be spared even for the eldest daughter of mother nature, and she is quickly cowed into silence with a fierce glare from her mother.

"nephele, common sea nymph, you are hereby a traitor to the order, and as all threats to the natural order of things..." there is a pause, and you can just barely see more tears well in amalthea's eyes. it's unbearable to see, but you cant look away.

"you are to be eliminated." there's another pause, but it's interrupted by amalthea attempting to break free and reach you again, clawing up the arms of the guards in vain.

one moment, you hear her, and the next, you hear nothing but ringing, and it is because you realize you are severely dehydrated now, or it feels that way, and now you're on the ground, and-

you hear her muffled screams and shrieks as something hits you, and you roll over onto your back in pain, wheezing and clawing at the ground. you feel like you're going to die, and maybe, you think, you will, after that conviction. maybe that was the point...

until, you realize, breathing slowly starts to get easier... but your brain is getting fuzzier, you can barely keep your eyes open, but you keep them open long enough to see the inky black that slicks over your scales, that dyes your fur, the taste of oil that bubbles in your throat and dribbles from the corners of your mouth. you writhe on the marble you've been lied on, and like a dying fish spending it's last moments in an unknown place, completely surrounded by those who want it dead, you stare blearily at the ceiling, wondering how you could've done better, where exactly was the point at which you went wrong.

you reach out weakly to her, as your vision starts to go dark around the edges, hoping to at least see that soft look in her eyes one last time before you cant ever again... and then, everything goes black.

[trans]

there's a softness in her eyes, even as she watches the sea bubble and sizzle, and a thick, black liquid begins to stain the surroundings, and the ground begins to tremble and shake as if from fear.

you let out an unholy screech, and with slow movements, you clamber from below like a sea monster lurching forward from the depths, spews of ink and tar black as night seeping into the water around you.

in a way, a way that is very cruel and twisted and unkind, you suppose that you are a monster, as you watch oil and debris encroach upon the beach, waves of filth and disease, and this scares her into taking to the sky. her flowers, so beautiful and lively, wilt instantly at just the sight of you, your grotesque form, the cold and unfamiliar look in your eyes as you claw forward through the waves, then the sand, with newfound vigor. you tear through it viciously like it's nothing to you, and it isnt... not anymore.

she looks like a deer in headlights as you wreck havoc upon the very thing she works so hard to maintain, and you can hear her heart shatter as you tear through brush and trees alike, slicing through bark and stem and soil, spilling onto the island the same poison that you breathe, and turning everything in your sight into an oozing mess of muck and tar and grime. she does not cry out or ask you to stop, she hasnt in a very long time, but there are tears in her eyes, because she knows nothing she says will get through to you, nothing she does will be able to stop you. it never does, not when you are like this.

the softness soon fades as the illusion of who you used to be melts away, and she raises her staff at you, a pitiful thing of carved wood and flowers, and takes aim. her paws shake though, you can see them even from here, and you know there is no force in the world that can make her be brave enough to actually hurt you, when she is faced with you, the thing that is the exact opposite to her existence, but you used to be the sea to her sky, the moon to her sun. she represents life, from the smallest ant to the biggest star, and love, no matter what form it may take, and follows in her mother's footsteps without a single misstep... except one.

you. you have been her greatest mistake, made her the biggest embarrassment compared to the legacy of her mother that she had to live up to, made her the greatest disgrace in her entire family, and as you seize the flowery train that trails off her like the most elegant symbol of life and her love for the world and everything in it shameless display of weakness and 'good guy pride' and familial obligation you've ever seen, you tell her exactly that, with the flowers, her flowers, disintegrating in your paws in an instant and leaving only ash in their wake;

you always were too kind, too soft, and they always told you it would come back to bite you one day.

the hurt in her eyes is not enough to make even the hole that now lives where your heart should be ache, but it makes you hesitant for a single second, just one, and it's enough. she kicks at you and sends you scrambling back to the shoreline, and in a surprising amount of bravery she has never had before, she blasts you clean through the chest before you can retaliate. you cough, but all that comes out is a thick, oily sludge, and as you scramble back to the sea from where you came, oil trailing off you and around you like a cape of poison, you spare but a single glance back at her.

she is furious, she is angry, she is the raw fury that most people forget nature is capable of. there is pain in her eyes, but so too there is an anger in them that not even the god of war and dissent could claim to create, because this anger is not a temporary outburst, or an explosion of emotion after a moment of silence. no... this has been years in the making, an eruption so intense that it cant even handle the power of itself to properly erupt, it simply overflows, and right now, she is overflowing with emotions and feelings that have been contained and bottled up inside her for so long with release.

she doesnt even look at you, as you disappear back into the depths, unable to bare to look at her any longer. her angry, aching cries echo in your ears long after you leave, and it is one of those times you're glad you have no heart, because if you could feel, knowing that every time you complete the cycle once more, you kill her a little more, it would crush you.

you know though, she will get over it with time, and she will regrow and replant what has been lost because of you. and then, when the time comes once more, when the cycle must yet again be fulfilled, you will knock it all down again in a single, merciless strike. and somewhere deep down... you think if the other you- no... the old you, could see you now, see what destruction you cause, see what you have become; they would be mortified. but that doesnt matter, because the old you doesnt exist anymore, hasnt in a long time, and... well, if you cant beat them, join them, they always say anyways. and you suppose, in a cruel and twisted turn of fate, you did... you became the very thing you hated, once upon a time.

this is the fate of you, and of her... your otherworldly song and dance, that you will play out for as long as seen fit by those above you both. this is the curse you both bare, an unending punishment, even as she trembles under the weight of it, like atlas did holding up the world.

perhaps, in a brief moment where you feel more like yourself than you have in a long, long time... you never should have went to the island that day.

[trans]

....''''my contribution :
it's not as much as i'd like to be doing, but since where i live currently doesnt really do recycling, i've been refilling water bottles to put them back in the fridge and keep out of the trash, and i never use any one time use dishes or utensils, like paper plates and plastic utensils. plastic is one of the biggest pollutors of the oceans, and i know im just one person, but i want to at least try and keep some plastic from going into the oceans. i also try to clean up any litter i find in the neighborhood or around my house when i can, and try not to contribute to food waste as much as i am able.

[trans]

title lyrics : beauty and the beast / disney
ocean gif : puella magi madoka magica

everything else, like post titles (save for the first one) and writing are mine ♡

author's note : the time is very old on this thread, because i ended up making this thread for a different adopt a long time ago, but i never ended up actually making an entry for the original adopt that this was for. the entire thread was blank save for the first post, which i edited to fit kalon 1600. i dont think this is really a concern, but for clarity's sake, i wanted to explain the dates.