The morning sun coursed in through the open shades of the Victorian Hotel. The dust motes in the suite danced in the god rays streaming through the glass as the fresh ocean breeze teased at the curtains. Abigail Thompson lay sleeping in the bed. The curve of her hip, and the line of her body distending the bedding outwards. Her chest shifted with every delicate breath drawn in and exhaled. The wedding band on her finger caught that morning light also. The shark turned her eyes back to the paper on the desk in front of her. Her glasses were slowly adjusted on the bridge of her snout. She wasn’t dressed yet. Alighted on the chair at the desk of the suite in the nude. As late as they’d been up, and if the previous morning held true, Abi would be asleep for hours yet.
A kiss on the cheek,
A brush of thought,
The memory lingers,
Refusing to be forgot.
A time in the sun,
A wash of the moon,
Time passes on,
Leaving feels too soon,
When all is said and done,
The last chair put up at close,
I can hold your memory in mine,
What wild times were those!
Briefly the shark wondered what Abi’s husband would think of those bite marks on the woman’s shoulder. They were scars that weren’t going to go anywhere. They were rather permanent. A faint smile touched her lips. The memory of the first meeting, When they’d both been in line at the coffee stand outside Stanley Park. The attraction had been almost magnetic. It hadn’t mattered to either of them really, that Abi was married. It almost seemed to be something regular between the rabbit and her husband, from the description of the situation, for them to have experiences outside their marriage.
The morning breeze through the window caused the shark to pause in her writing and to reminisce. The memory recalled moments ago touched upon and followed.
The August breeze had been rustling the leaves in the trees of the park. It had also caused the shark to notice the fragrance the rabbit had been wearing. Not something that normally Minerva would have taken notice of, but there was just something about the rabbit’s scent. It had been strangely attention grabbing. Enough so that she’d chanced to glance back to look at who was behind her in line. The rabbit that graced her eyes was not someone she ever would have in a million years have even considered asking out. Not in her previous life. The rabbit was dressed in clothing that didn’t loudly proclaim wealth, but rather quietly stated it.
By contrast the shark’s own attire felt almost pedestrian, even if she’d purchased it last night at the mall with the utter intent of being loud and anything but commonplace. It was entirely a mall goth ensemble. The black long sleeve top with the rent fishnet undershirt. The tartan skirt with the chains and belts purely for ornamentation. Knee boots with buckles running clean up the sides. Yes, it allowed her to scream her presence in the world. Somehow, that scream was pale next to the confidence declared by the rabbit’s attire- a profound and calm ‘I am here.’
Branding was absent on the rabbit’s clothing. There were no logos on any of the clothes. It was the way they effortlessly fit their owner. That almost movie quality of a wardrobe that has a perfect finish. The quality of the stitching and the seams. The drape and flow of the loose summer cotton both hinted and hid the curves of the woman’s body. The rabbit's eyes met her own briefly. When Minerva looked at the barista working the stand, she could feel the burn in her cheeks. As she placed her order, she felt the warm mammalian hand on the small of her back. “We’re together.” Came the soft and refined voice from directly behind her. If she hadn’t been blushing before that moment, she most certainly would have been after.
With their coffee purchased, the shark found herself caught in a whirlwind of bewilderment and perfume. Her left hand was holding her latte, and her right was captured in the rabbit’s left, fingers reflexively twining into the invitation offered. She could feel the gold band on the ring finger, the recessed stones set into it. The rabbit was married. A cold shock trembled down her spine at that notion. After they’d taken a few steps from the coffee stand the rabbit danced a few steps in front of her, turning to walk backwards. Almost impish mischief on her face. “Abigail Thompson. I caught you looking, however-!” she leaned right in and up on her paw tips, bringing her face dangerously close to the shark’s maw. “I was secretly looking too. You have a cute tush.”
Minerva was left without any recourse. She was open-mawed like a fish out of water, which was rather apt, since she actually was just that. Abigail exuded delight at the way she’d managed to stun the shark. “I bought you a coffee, told you my name, now is the part where you tell me your own name, mmm?” The rabbit was back on the shark’s arm in a heartbeat. Leading her deeper into the park along a winding walking trail through one of the forested green spaces of the city.
High-Tide finally managed to locate her tongue in her mouth and bend it back into service. “Julie Aubigny. My name’s Julie.” Somehow she’d managed to remember to use that alias. It was, after all, going to be her mundane identity for everyday life in Canada. Though playing Minerva off as a middle name might not be such a bad idea. Her thoughts weren’t allowed to drift very far for very long. Her walking partner had the intention of explaining all about herself, and quietly pulling little details from the shark.
Thala was laughing to herself as she watched the pair. Following behind them at a safe distance. This was very much what she had hoped for the traumatised Shark. A chance for living. Just to prove that life could still be lived. That she was still capable of a connection. At this moment it certainly seemed so. She was doing her best to stay hands off with the girl's mind. Other than the little quiet encouragement now and again.
Those little bits of encouragement did nudge the shark towards slightly more outgoing ideas. Ones that might otherwise have gone unconsidered.
The tip of the pen touched the paper again. The nib danced along the texture of the hotel’s stationery. The shark’s brow furrowing down. It was so frustrating, trying to convey the incommunicable words that haunted her thoughts. Was it possible to fall in love instantly? To feel emotions so furiously over the course of two days that it tears at your soul? Wasn’t that everything that launched so many stories from antiquity forward? The level of idiocy two people could feel for each other? How could she communicate the level of her need, and the need for leaving?
Even if she didn’t have to leave herself, Abi would have to do so. Her work would carry her off into the sky, sending her back to trotting across the globe. She had to find some way to get this out before she pulled on her clothes, grabbed her bags and slipped on out into the morning sun and pointed the beast eastwards. Her eyes slid, catching the curvature of the rabbit's rump as she shifted in the bed. Another memory struck, unbidden.
“You wouldn’t dare!” Her voice bore the cadence of a song with the way her laugh lilted under the words. Even as her feet were carrying her backwards towards the edge of the woods and off the trail. “You would never!” Her fingers curled tighter with Minerva’s.
The shark’s own laugh was boiling out of her chest. “You asked what I was thinking about yo! You never asked if it was polite conversation!” Those chunky goth boots careened her forward into the tree-line where a stumble brought her to catching and bracing herself against the rabbit. Arms around her middle. The haunted moment of searching each other's eyes broke straight into a hungry kiss. A passionate careless thing that spoke of desperation in both their souls. For one the loneliness of a marriage full of an empty bed. For the other a desperate attempt to bandage the seeping wound of her heart with a piece that is nigh close enough to fit.
“Yes…” Abi’s eyes were hooded as she looked past her own muzzle, up into Min’s RCG covered gaze. “But I didn’t expect you to say you were trying not to imagine fucking me in the woods!” There was a pause, the rabbit sucking on her lower lip, eyes alight with that same impishness from before. “I dare you.”
The shark’s gills fluttered fully under that shirt, billowing the fabric. Were they actually going to do this? Right here? Now? In the park. Where the hell was Thala’s advice in a moment where she felt she actually could need it! The HUD of her RCG’s had one singular line of unequivocating encouragement. ‘You have this.’ It took them both less than thirty seconds to be out of their panties, and in Abi’s case, loose gauzy capris.
The noise had to have carried. They weren’t precisely being silent. If anyone had happened upon them, what was occurring might have been misinterpreted. It hadn’t been gentle. Both shark and lapine were clawed, bitten, and utterly without their senses. Where one blond’s hair began and the others ended was a guess for the ages. How the tree managed to stay up with the brutal force deployed by their bodies against it was a question for the God of the forest.
They didn’t leave that secluded bower and copse until deep into the lunch hour.
Abi’s rump still bore scratches from that tree. The shark’s shoulders to the small of her back had the furrows dug by the rabbit’s nails. In two days the goal posts for a lifetime had been set in place. The raw passion, the bon vivance, an utter abandon of responsibility and disregard for the barriers of the heart were things that the shark was not sure would ever be able to be replicated.
The full body of the letter was read over again. Then once more, as if the shark were desperately trying to find some way out from the truth of it. Her feet were firmly on her path. Perhaps in some other time, some other life- Her own hand lifted to rest on the smaller shark skinned one that rested on her shoulder. A hand that Abi would never be able to see. It gave her some measure of strength. Her pen touched down to the final page of the letter, she’d opened it with a poem, filled it with her heart while memories came to life in her mind. She would at least sign it with the truth of her name.
You were right. Julie Aubigny was a clever name.
The life you want will never be yours unless you take it.
-Minerva Knox-Trudeau
The time from the moment of pulling her jeans back up over her hips, to the sound of the beast’s trunk sealing closed was a blur of automatic motions. It is said that the world has an incredible sense of humour, or lacking that, an intense sense of unfortunate timing. As the engine turned over, and the beast came to life, Separate Ways by Journey began to play over the radio.
“Yeah Thala, it was good, and I don’t regret it at all. I just… it’s like, I wish I could just bring her with yeh? I know it’s- it is what it is man, but-” she shook her head slowly, those blond locks dancing around her face. “There’s some Min out there that’s got a different life yo. I chose something else. I chose this yo. The smoking lady gave me the choice, and I chose.” The beast pulled away from the curb, and Thala began feeding the shark directions to the highway.
