When I let the water take me

[temperedwill]

[Keith ran a hand through his hair as he slipped his sandals off and stepped onto the sand. It's been awhile since he had really walked onto the beach. It wasn't that he didn't, but that it was usually only a quick trip to look out before returning. This time, he was walking near the shore and giving himself a breather. He pulled his hair out of the messy ponytail and put the hairtie onto his wrist before fetching himself a cigarette and his lighter.

Fall weather was already settling in, but he was shrugging his plain robe off his shoulders and enjoying the gentle breeze against his skin before lighting the cigarette.

He had been very busy.

Taken in by a couple who worked in kimono painting, he had grew up his entire life where he is. Honestly, he hadn't thought that he'd be doing what he did, but he found himself not particularly interested in many subjects and had dropped out of college very shortly. Instead, he had started learning how to make the gorgeous textiles his adopted parents did for a living and found enjoyment in there.

It wasn't that he didn't mind city life. He enjoyed it, and they lived close enough that he could go into the city by train. There was just something nice about living where he did. The quietness of it and the amount of freedom he had wandering. Keith had access to the ocean and the mountains and that also meant the forest too. It was nice.

Keith took a long drag before exhaling. It was rough. Being raised by them meant nothing when it came to apprenticing. They were strict and harsh and it was a lot of work, but apparently he had the skills and the passion. Enough that they were pleased with his work to be included in actually fulfilling orders. It's why he's taking a bit of a break now. They've been figuring out what colors they wanted to go with all day and he just needed a bit of some fresh air.

He also missed the ocean. The sailboat that they owned hadn't been used recently with the amount of work they had. Maybe after this order he'd have time to go out.

Comments

water's gonna take you alright

[meowterspace]

[he lost sight of him a few years ago, though honestly, when you live as long as lance has, it stops feeling like years and more like moments. some fresh-faced kid running off to college wouldn't mean much to most gods at all--they'd be dead before anybody knew it.

[but to lance, a fresh-faced teen himself as far as gods go, it had meant a lot more. he'd been warned not to get close to humans, to let them live their lives and watch over them from a distance; but he felt his element too strongly. water is emotional--calm enough to be a mirror in one moment and raging hard enough to wipe out entire civilizations the next. lance can't help the fact that he sensed something in the little orphan kid the couple that lived near the beach had taken in.

[he'd had attitude. he'd acted out. but lance had never once let him drown, and he'd never once let him get swallowed by the current and swept out to sea. even the raging storms would calm just enough when keith stood on the sand.

[he'd grown into something special. lance could feel it. but he'd left without a thought, and lance could feel that too. for a little while, it stung in a way he didn't really recognize, like he'd lost an old friend. and then it had moved on, and lance with it, and while the ocean never forgot that teenager, it certainly didn't halt the tides.

[which is good. because lance is out on this beach, in the waves as they crash against the shore, when keith walks out onto it.

[and lance, in his infinite wisdom, can do nothing but lay in the sand in all his merman-form glory (scales around his finned ears and all) and stare at him.

[he knows this feeling. he knows this young man. it's keith, his keith, his friend--and he's home. he's home, and he's gorgeous. lance doesn't remember him ever looking like this. the robe comes off his shoulders, and lance's eyes widen just a hair. those tatoos. that hair.

[he's stunning, and lance can't bring himself to even hide. he's just glad the water continuously rolls over him, offering him a little bit of concealment.]