[B]The Monster’s A Mother (RBF, My Only Sunshine)

[Scaramouche Fandango]

[imgleft]https://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/imag ... ncert3.png[/imgleft]Fish knew that the eyes in the river that night weren’t all actually caimans. But neither were the non-caimans crocodiles. She felt two other kin presences on the river that night, and they floated in companionable silence for some time. Nighttime was a good time on the water. A dangerous time, sometimes, but she found that her senses were acutely awakened. Every ripple, each time the water lapped against her side, every little piece of detritus that swirled past her- she felt it, just like she felt the two kin just downstream. Two kin, and the float of four caimans that followed them. They moved as a pack, though one of them led. Not their usual leader, she thought- there was a purpose and determination in her movements that told Fish all she needed to know. They were here for her. Three generations in one— a mother, another mother, and the life that had just begun to stir within her.

From her spot upstream, Fish spoke.

“You’re not crocodiles, and you’re not caimans, though I understand your affinity for both. You’re not here for fish, either. You’re here for Fish, and that’s me.” She spoke softly, the other two in the water not saying anything. “You have to ask. I think that’s the rules. And no, not you. She has to do it.”

[Scaramouche Fandango]

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft]
“She’s right. You’ve spoken for me for a long time, mother. I can do this.”

One pair of eyes winked out as something lurched out of the deep part of the river, approaching Fish. Broad and white, with glowing eyes that hinted at some other ancestry, one of the biggest, bulkiest achas Fish had ever seen stepped towards her. A second acha, pointier and narrower than most, the fin on her back rising like the crest of a wave. She watched silently and pointedly as the other voice spoke.

Sunshine’s heart beat in her chest like the kicks of a frightened rabbit. She was nervous but not afraid. She knew what she wanted, for once in her life. “I’m expecting,” she said, hissing a little bit as the words fought their way through her teeth. “Children are on the way, and I want to be prepared for them. All my life I’ve been preparing for… something. Wanting something. I didn’t quite get what I wanted but I’m getting something worthwhile, I think.” Her rendezvous with the buck hadn’t really been what she’d dreamed of, but she wasn’t expecting it to be. She’d wanted a fling, but that didn’t preclude the romance she fantasized about. “He’s something of a monster. Like me. Sharp teeth, red eyes. A good match, physically. Our children- I have no fear for them physically. They’ll be strong and sharp. My other mother and I will teach them to be soft, too, when they need to be.”

[Scaramouche Fandango]

[imgleft]http://matope.pixel-blueberry.com/image ... uncert.png[/imgleft]The other acha let out a sharp huff, apparently not appreciating softness.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

“Then what do you need me for?” Fish joked. The acha wasn’t blustery, she merely spoke her own truth. These two were formidable. There were mares and stags who could turn into caimans, and she had no doubt that for sheer scaly strength, these two were as much reptile as any of them. “You’re a murder log ready to hatch murder twigs!”

[Scaramouche Fandango]

The glow dimmed, just a bit. “I want… It’s hard, Totoma, to voice it.”

[Scaramouche Fandango]

“Fish. Real Big Fish, but you can call me Fish. I think I know what you want, but tell me- or rather, show me. Catch me a fish. There’s more than one way to talk out here, and you can tell me everything you need to in the act of taking prey.”

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Sunshine smiled, as much as her maw would let her. She stood, chest-deep in the river, and planted her hooves. She waited as several small fish darted around her ankles. Which one to take? This or that, and how soon to strike? She could feel her mother’s eyes on her, and knew that it was Fair Hunter’s gift to her, being silent. Her mother was an expert hunter, who always knew what to do. With her pack of caimans, she could always direct her prey to the kill zone, and dispatch it swiftly. Hunting was a chore like any other. But for her, for Sunshine, it wasn’t so easy. Fishing and hunting didn’t come so naturally- though she was built for it, she wasn’t quite as… natural? Instinctive about it. She was far more cerebral, and things… things got away from her while she thought about them. It was like that in life as well. She wasn’t always able to grab things, to take them when she wanted them. She drifted sometimes, like a leaf in the current.

She’d shocked everyone when she’d openly flirted with the buck. Gently Smiling Jaws was nice enough, though maybe not her ideal, and she knew that their children would fit in with her family. That was important to her. She knew they’d be pointy and sharp, like she was and like her mother was, and that was deeply pleasing.

Something bumped her ankle in the wet, and she refocused. Which fish? That one? This one? Oh, which fish!?

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Confidence. That’s what the girl wanted. Confidence and decisiveness for her children, a trait she clearly lacked. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just a thing. Just a fact about who she was. Not every kin was good at snap decisions— take a look at her mother, for instance. She was clearly going against her every instinct to not snap up a fish for the both of them, but she was letting the girl do it because at the end of the day, this was her daughter’s decision.

Fish knew what to say, but she waited, silent, for the acha to choose.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Time stretched out, an eternity of anxiety. She didn’t want to let the mare down— didn’t want to risk the blessing for her clutch. Finally, when she could no longer stand it, she thrust her head forward, catching a smallish fish. It wasn’t worth bragging about, but she was running out of options. Fish in mouth, she looked to the Totoma for approval.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Fish nodded as she caught the dace. “I know what you need, child. What they need. What you want for them. It’s all the same. They’ll be able to make the decision where you cannot, and they’ll have the confidence to stick to that decision, be it right or wrong. They won’t be afraid to make choices, even if those choices don’t work out for them. They’ll have to learn discernment— they’ll learn that from you. But they’ll have the confidence you seek. It’ll bloom in them, and perhaps— perhaps you’ll learn it from them, just as your mother’s learned gentleness from you.”

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Definitely a snort this time, but the fin-backed acha denied nothing. The totoma wasn’t wrong about learning gentleness, although about half of that had been Gecko, rather than their daughter.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

Sunshine smiled, the fish still dripping in her jaws. It was disconcerting, but still very sweet and genuine.

[Scaramouche Fandango]

“You should eat that before it gets any deader. You’ll need all the protein you can get, going into these cold months while preparing to lay. Or lamb. If he was a totoma, I mean.”

[Scaramouche Fandango]

She swallowed. “He wasn’t. He was kimeti, like my other mother. And a monster, like me and my mother. We’re tough. I’ll be fine.”

[Scaramouche Fandango]

“That you will, child. You and them, you’ll all be fine. Now go, with my blessing.”