Fishy Business

## Content Information

It took probably too long for Burgundy to finally get dressed. They really took their time enjoying the fresh cool air of that day along the beach but while nude from the waist up. Their chest is something that Twitly would very quickly censor and suspend Burgundy for. The process of changing out of the wetsuit and back into their clothing was a long ten minutes.

After those ten minutes Burgundy gently taps a knuckle against the window of their beat up Toyota Camry. Their gaze is averted from the slightly tinted side windows of the gray vehicle out of respect and privacy for Arsling who asked to change attire in there.

“Are you ready to go?” Burg asked loud enough for it to be audible through the closed car door.

The window rolled down, behind it blushing slightly is Arsling, almost completely dressed other than her suit jacket, she smiled and said "yeah I'm ready to go" a slight stutter in her throat, she seemed to feel slightly awkward, afterall she did flirt with Burgundy just under half an hour ago and she is in love, or is it just a crush? Arsling isn't sure

"So...sorry if I've made things awkward, I just erm yeah I think you're hot" Arsling says going red again at the admission clearly not used to dealing with these feelings

Burgundy opened the car door and slid into the driver’s seat. Their expression was a mix of confusion and concern.

“I er … thanks. I’m flattered …,” they began slowly as they started the car. “I have a couple questions about that and today in general if that’s okay? But first, is fast food cool with you, my treat?”

"Oh sure! Thanks! Eh yeah I'll answer questions" Arsling smile kinda dims at the thought of answering questions, if they're personal that's going to get incredibly awkward considering Arsling's generally shitty life, hopefully it doesn't go further than that for her

"I like the fast food in Nightfalls" Arsling remarks awkwardly trying to kill the silence

The car was driven from the Beach parking lot and off onto the road. Once the car was coasting along a straight path Burgundy spoke up.

“First question … did you start to think I’m hot before or after supporting the composting initiative?”

"Afterwards, I wasn't really thinking about you when I signed up, just wanted to have to support  a good thing, no planet B and all that" Arsling says before thinking aloud to herself "I'll be honest hadn't really noticed how hot you were until today"

Burg’s shoulders dropped a bit as a little sigh of relief escaped their lips. But they tensed right back up as they asked, “I couldn’t tell … what’d you think of the Lezly thing … her being an undine? And Selene seemingly being used to it? Is the supernatural normal for you?”

An inverse to Burgundy's relief Arsling tenses up slightly at that question "it's...well it's too normal, I'm human by the way...but I'm also cursed, thanks to my ancestor killing a Fae King, now I have to spend everyday knowing that, well..." Arsling stops obviously finding it hard to get the words out and also the fear of rejection clear to see

"Monsters are attracted to me, not sexually mind you but they naturally want to wrap me up and make me one of them, demons want my soul corrupted and Fae want to make me a magical beast, all because of something someone 450 years ago did" Arsling pauses again before sighing, like she's trying to make peace with what she's about to say that she thinks this could just kill any friendship Burgundy and Arsling has

"It's why I'm like I am, I'm just so tense so scared that the next person I talk to is going to try to rip my throat out, it's why I've never had a kiss never fallen in love with someone, why I act like such a horrible bitch sometimes, I just need something" Arsling's eyes tear up as she leans her head against her hand "I'm sorry"

Burgundy pulled the car over into the next possible parking lot. It happened to belong to a closed down warehouse with enough privacy in the empty lot for Arseling to cry as loud as she wanted.

Burgundy opened up the glove compartment and rummaged through it until they found a travel pack of tissues. They gingerly offered the tissues to Arsling with a shakey hand and said, “Here … If you were turned into something or if one of your family members, what would happen?”

"Family has been turned...curse only goes if I get changed, my mum was turned into a daerng due, that didn't stop the next 4 years of Fae fucking with me, trying to make me their princess" Arsling takes the tissues leaning against the dashboard to keep herself upright, when mentioning her mother Arsling in particular struggles to speak, she speaks like she's said words like this before but never with the emotion behind it it does now

Burgundy bit their lip as they watched Arsling. With something so sensitive they would never begin to pry like this but the opposite could very well be their life. At the moment Burgundy doesn’t know if they could have a similar fate as the fae king and so they asked, “If your mom was turned … and she didn’t turn you to save you … and it looks like turning into a non human isn’t something you’re considering … Would you harm monsters?”

Arsling lies back in the seat a somewhat thousand yard riddled with sadness and guilt "I've killed monsters, I've killed too many Fae to keep track, about 2 packs of Werewolves and a few.." Arsling gulps trying to keep down another wave of tears "vampires...I regret a lot of them, sometimes I get the feeling that curse or not they would've hunted me but sometimes? Sometimes they're as big a victim as me, like alcoholics that can't resist the last bottle of beer that'll kill them" Arsling drops her head in shame "I can't let myself be changed, I'd be spitting on my mum's grave, sometimes I do think about just letting something take me, when it just gets so dark and I can't see an escape, but the fear and guilt stops me"

Burgundy swallowed hard as they digested this information. Their worst nightmare of this situation came to fruition. They leaned back in their seat and stared up at the ceiling of the car in silence. It’s a few minutes before they speak up. Their voice is hoarse as they manage to utter, “What stopped you from hurting Lezly?”

"Because she's innocent, because she's not coming after me or trying to turn me" Arsling runs a hand threw her hair "I'm not a monster hunter I'm a girl hunted by monsters, I've never seeked monsters, I've tried many times to get them to leave me alone" Arsling sighs "my ancestor, Fergal was an idiot, he was selfish cowardly and egomaniacal, he would've hurt Lezly because he fancied himself a hero, that's why he made a deal with the Fae King and why he killed the Fae King, I'm not him, I'm just the 8th victim of his idiocy" Arsling looks at Burgundy fear in her own throat as she gives a pleading look and says "please don't be scared of me"

Burg looked away momentarily to bring their window down halfway. They kept their gaze away from Arsling as they listened. The furthered information was soothing to hear in contrast to the rest of distressing information. Now knowing that they're not in immediate danger, Burg meets Arsling’s gaze. They gently took Arsling’s hand and slowly spoke.

“I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of your situation. I was transformed by the water fae who saved my life. I am not human.” Burgundy’s tone is very careful but their voice is hoarse.

Arsling smirks, her wet eyes looking at Burgundy's hand "and here's what I think of that" Arsling hesitates briefly before kissing Burgandys hand "if you wanted to convert me and either couldn't or didn't want to resist that urge you already would've tried to change me" Arsling looks Burgundy in the eyes "as long as you don't ask any water Fae to change me we're more than good"

The smirk inspired a smile from Burgundy and they squeezed Arsling’s hand. “I wouldn’t do anything to endanger your humanity without your consent.” Burg scooted closer in their seat to lean closer to their new friend. With their free hand, they wiped some of the remaining tears from Arseling’s cheek.

Arsling lets her as she leans in and asks "c-can I kiss you?" She asks very nervously, turning red as a rose as she squeezes Burgundy's hand back waiting for a response

The question made Burg immediately nervous yet also smile. They carefully nodded and said quietly in almost a whisper, “Yes, yeah you can kiss me.”

Arsling grinned ear to ear before going in for a kiss it's...well it's passionate as it is kinda crap, she's clearly never done this before but nonetheless it's a sweet intimate gesture

During the kiss one of Burgundy’s hands slipped down to settle on Arsling’s waist. The kiss is returned for a minute that feels like forever. Once Burgundy gently pulled their lips away their cheeks grew a little rose while a dorky smile surfaced.

“Do you still want to get something to eat?” Burgundy sheepishly asked with a mild chuckle after everything that just happened.

“Sure, i’d love to!” Arsling leans back into her seat “it’s a date...right?” Arsling grins a little more confident about this, her first kiss with Burgundy giving her a massive boost in the ego “oh also if you don’t mind me asking what are you specifically, if you get what i mean”

Burgundy’s hands slipped off of Arsling and settled into their lap. Their hands curled up into tense fists as they take a quick breath to string out the following, “I’m Black, Asexual, Aromantic, Bi-alterous, Polyaffectionate, and a duality between the human form you see but also a living reef. Kind of like uhh … the crew of The Flying Dutchman in pirates of the Caribbean - how they’re like amalgamations of different living sea creatures yet breathe as one … sorta like that.”

They take another breath and look down at their lap. “Now, if that is a date, *yes*? But I don’t experience romantic or sexual attraction, which gets harder to explain because I also enjoy physical affection.”

Arsling takes a few seconds and thinks about what they said about attraction before smiling “ok i think i can work with that, can i work with that?” Arsling seemingly thinks thinks the last question out loud before refocusing on Burgundy

In that moment Burgundy chose to take this as just enough acceptance. “Okay, let’s get something to eat!” They start the car and drive it out of the parking lot.

“Yeah!” Arsling smiles and gets comfortable in her seat looking both happily and longingly towards Burgundy