Last of the drabbles

[maderr]

The other post was too long to fit them all >.>;;

Last four. If I have forgotten someone, let me know. I tried to keep track, but I'm sure I missed one or two somewhere.




The Selkie No One Wanted fory skylark97

Unless she wants something else ^__^ I guessed

Llyr swam lazily, taking his time, enjoying the heat of the sun and the cold of the water. There was no need to hurry, summer days seemed to last forever, and the chores had long ago been finished.

He drew to a stop as he reached the pier, reaching out to hold loosely to it as he continued to tread water.

The sounds of splashing drew him, and he glanced over to see Kelp in the shallow waters, meticulously cleaning his skin.

Seeming to sense him, Kelp looked up and, catching Llyr's eyes, gave one of those shy smiles that had caught Llyr right from the start. He still was amazed that such a young and pretty boy wanted to spend his days with a grizzled, reclusive, lazy fisherman.

Amazed, but he wasn't going to complain. Smiling in return, he swam lazily over -- and snickered when Kelp flushed as the water became to shallow to hide the fact Llyr was completely naked. "How goes the cleaning?"

"Um--fine," Kelp said, still flushed as he looked away, eyes going to his skin.

Llyr looked at it curiously, but did not reach out to touch. He didn't know much about selkie -- only that minus Kelp, they were a group of vain, mean-spirited jerks -- but he did know their skins were vitally important. His general impression was that it would be bad to touch, though he had touched Kelp plenty of times in his seal form.

"So it is true, what they say, about stealing a selkie's skin?" he asked. Kelp's stupid sister had mentioned something like that, way back when he'd driven Kelp away.

"Yeah," Kelp said. "They're part of us, without it, we...wouldn't die...but...it's like living without a piece of your heart or something. No selkie, even those in my clan, would leave without regaining the stolen skin. Not that they're ever really stolen." He grimaced. "They let the humans take them, and coax the hiding place out of them later." He fell silent, then slowly looked up, smiling shyly again. "Did you want to see it?"

Llyr looked at him, startled. "Is that allowed?"

Kelp laughed, shrugging. "I trust you not to take it and hide it?"

"That would probably lose me the sex I'm already getting," Llyr agreed teasingly, laughing softly when Kelp flushed anew.

He accepted the skin pushed his way. It felt much the same as it did when Kelp wore it, but softer, more pliant. It almost seemed part of the water in which it was submerged. Looking up, he smiled. "Thank you."

Kelp shrugged, but he was clearly happy.

Llyr reached out and tugged him close, kissing him softly. "You know it's kind of funny, that I'm naked, and your skin is in the water, but you're dressed."

Kelp rolled his eyes, but did not protest when Llyr moved to remedy the situation.


More Precious Than Gold for jolena

"You called for me," Rumpelstiltskin said quietly to the woman by the fireplace.

She nodded, and reached up nervously to smoothre her hair. Then she stood, and squared her shoulders, and not even the smudges of ash upon her cheeks, the state of her old and much-patched clothes, could detract from the strength and determination that sparked in her eyes. "Yes, magician. Thank you. The old woman said, but I scarcely dared to believe."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded at her. "Whatever you ask of me, there is a price.'

"I know," she said.

"Then tell me your desires."

Her chin lifted, that determination making her eyes the bright blue of a hot flame. "The ball," she said. "I wish to attend the royal ball. All three days of it."

"Why?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"To see if I might find a way to escape this life," the woman replied. "I was a lady once, I will be a lady again."

He nodded, and thought a moment. Closing his eyes, he held out his hands and softly spoke the words of a spell.

A weight settled in his hands, and he opened his eyes.

"Oh," the woman breathed. "They're beautiful."

He nodded, and held out them out. "They are made of faerie glass, and contain various enchantments. So long as you wear them, you will appear as whatever you want. They are yours for three days, my lady, to gain your freedom whoever you so choose. Use them wisely."

She accepted the slippers and held them tight, expression fierce as she looked at them. "Thank you. What price would you have me pay?"

Casting out his thoughts, feeling and reading the threads of the world, Rumpelstiltskin weighed and considered, and finally chose. "In three months, you will be given a strange-looking flute. When it is in your possession, my lady, summon me once more and give that flute to me."

"Yes," the woman said, puzzled but accepting. "I vow it. Thank you, magician."

Rumpelstiltskin bowed. "The pleasure is mine. Enjoy your ball."

He vanished before she could speak further.


Raising Hel for mechante_fille

"He's your son," Delwyn said.

"Do not remind me," Amancio replied, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Did we not just go over these matters with him yesterday?"

Delwyn snorted. "And teh day before that, and the day before that, and the day..."

"Yes, I get the point," Amancio snapped. Stalking from the balcony, he stomped through the house to go have a discussion with his son -- a discussion that would, if he had anything to say about it, include a great many beatings.

Except as he got to the courtyard and saw Hel up close, all he could feel was worry and anger at whoever had left his son so bloodied and bruised ."Hel, what has happened now?"

Honestly, the boy was normally the sweetest thing ever, if inclined to the same recklessness and foolhardiness as his uncle. He had a heart of gold, so why was he always getting into fights?

"I just lost my temper," Hel muttered. "Sorry, dad."

Amancio braced his hands on his hips, and started to speak, but the looks exchanged by the guards -- who probably thought they were being more subtle than they were -- drew him up short. "What happened?" He snarled at them.

They all jumped, humans were always so easy to frighten. "He got into a fight with the sons of several respected citizens," said one guard, infuriated on behalf of the maligned sons, Amancio replied. "This is the fifteenth fight he's picked this month."

"I didn't pick it!" Hel bellowed, contritenes vanishing beneath a wave of fury. "Tell them to keep their fucking mouths shut about my father--" He abruptly stopped, and glared furiously at the ground.

Suddenly a lot of things made more sense.

"Get out," he said to the guards, "and you had best hope I do not decide to more closely investigate why my son is getting into all these fights, because he is my son and I will hurt those who hurt him, no matter what the law says about the matter."

The guards fled, no doubt back to spread word of the human-slaying demon shortly about to destroy the village.

"Hel," he said gently when they had gone. "Why are you getting into fights over me?"

"They keep saying ugly things about you, and how you wound up with me," Hel said to the ground. "Why does it fucking matter if I'm human and you're not?"

"It doesn't matter," Amancio said. "You should not let it matter, but I suppose that is a lesson you will only learn with time. Now come inside before Tula expires from worrying about you, and then you may tell me the truth about all these fights you've been in."

Then he and Delwyn would but a stop to all of it once and for all. His dragons had been whining about a lack of treats lately, anyway.


DwtD Dragons for broken_moons

"I'm not certain which of you is lazier," Dri said in amusement, eying his dragon and lover. Lin was sprawled out on the deck of his yacht, doing his best to blind them all with the power of sun on scales. Nearby, Oliver was reclining in a lounge chair, moving only to sip his beer from time to time. "If you're going to make me do all the work, you could at least show a little bit of gratitude."

Oliver snorted. "You got plenty of gratitude this morning. Before breakfast, after breakfast, and right before we left."

Lin yawned and lifted his head just enough to look at Dri, giving a series of short, sharp barks.

"I think," Oliver said with a laugh, "that you're blocking his sun."

"Dragon!" Dri said, glaring, because that was precisely the complaint being voiced, "you're going to go overboard in about five minutes."

Making a noise that sounded like a long-suffering sigh, Lin clinmbed to his feet and moved lazily over to Dri.

"Don't touch me," Dri said, backing up. "As long as you've been baking, lizard, you're liable to melt my skin right off."

Oliver winced. "Probably. We hooked him up right, he could probably run the whole house on the sun he's been soaking up."

Dri snickered at the idea. "Hear that, you lazy lizard? We're going to make you into a generator."

Lin growld his disapproval of this plan, and abruptly shifted, tackling Dri so suddenly they both went crashing to the deck.

"Dragon," Lin said firmly. "Not generator."

"If you say so," Dri replied. "Are you done being lazy now?"

Lin rumbled an agreement and nipped him lightly on the jaw, then a shoulder, then his chest, then back up to his ear. "Good Dri," he murmured.

"You just want me to let you go back to napping," Dri said, but reached up to grab firm hold of Lin's ass, making it clear he didn't mind being convinced. "Though, we could go fishing, too."

"Fish good," Lin replied, but absently, more interested now in Dri's bare, darkly tanned chest. He paused only to look up at Oliver. "Mint and silk play?"

Oliver grinned, but did not move, though his interest in the situation was obvious in his swim trunks. "No, no, I'm not ruining my streak of lazy. I'll just watch for a bit longer."

Dri rolled his eyes, and made note to throw Oliver overboard in a little while. Then he grabbed Lin and rolled them, pinning the dragon beneath him, leaning down to kiss him hard. "Come on, dragon, let's show him that laziness is a mortal sin and should not be indulged."

"Oh, yes," Oliver agreed. "Do show me which sins should be indulged."

Laughing, rolling his eyes again, Dri proceeded to do just that.

Though he suspected that, by the end, he would be the one voting for laziness the rest of the day.