Author’s Note: Luna decided to clam up on me after her last two pieces. Honestly, I expected more from her, but she doesn’t seem willing to share any more, so that’s all for now. We’ll see if she changes her mind again. At least someone was willing to share today, despite everything.
“I’m having my father’s baby.”
His head jerked up, and he frowned, not sure he had heard what he thought he’d heard. “Um, Luna, I don’t know that I… Um… Please tell me you are joking with me?”
Her lips curved just a little, and she folded her arms over her chest. “You want to tell me where you’ve been for the last few minutes? I came back with the book, I tried to show you names, he even picked one, chattering away in that hive-speak of his the entire time, but through all that, you never said a word. You didn’t look up or at me or at him. I suppose that doesn’t matter if your eyes aren’t real, but whatever you have that passes for ears doesn’t seem to be working, either.”
He let out a breath. “I am not sure that I can explain what I am, and I do not want to hurt you further by letting you think that I am something that I am not. I told you that I am a monster, a child of the vortex. I am not… human.”
She nodded, sitting down next to him, too close as always. “I knew that before. I might not have realized how different you were, but I am not… completely stupid. I had a few wrong ideas, sure, but who doesn’t make a few mistakes along the way? You’ve had your share, haven’t you?”
He could not deny that. He had done some terrible things. The hunger had been out of control too many times. “Yes.”
“I think the part that bothers me most is not knowing how to make it so that you can feel. You should be able to have that. You don’t know what touch is like, so I suppose you can’t miss it, but there is something to be said for it. We all need it and crave it, us humans. We’ll do stupid things just so we don’t feel alone, and having someone to touch is a big part of that.”
He looked at her hand and then at his and sighed. “I can never be that person that you have not to feel alone, Luna. I cannot be your friend. The hive one is right. The vortex… It only destroys. They all fear us, and they are not wrong to do so.”
“Yes, they are,” she said. “You are so much more than you think you are. I… I can’t tell you just how much you’ve helped me. I don’t have words for how I felt or how low I sunk, but you came in and asked questions and gave me something to look forward to…”
“You don’t… I wish I could show you the truth, but to show you that, I’d have to destroy something, something like your shop or your books or your paintings, but more than that, so much more so that you know just what I’m capable of.”
“You don’t think I’m capable of terrible things?”
He studied her. To him, Luna was everything that was wonderful about humans. She was fascinating, from the way her moods shifted to the way she styled her hair. Her art, her opinions, all of that made her unique and interesting, and he was curious about so much of her. “You seem… better than that, something above the terrible things that I have known.”
She lowered her head. “Don’t you start putting me on a pedestal, too. I’m not that good. I’m really not. If you only knew…”
“I don’t think it can be as bad as you think,” he told her, and she closed her eyes. “You are good and kind and share more than most would. You would try and befriend the vortex when all the vortex does is destroy.”
“We think you are very kind, friend Luna. We like the name you have given us.”
Luna tried to smile for the other one, but she did not quite manage it. “I am glad you like your name, Alvin.”
“Alvin?”
“It means wise or noble friend, and since friend is his favorite word, I figured it fit.”
He looked to the blue one, seeing him bounce with joy as he flew about. “We are Alvin. We are Alvin. We have a name. We like our name.”
“He has done that ever since I suggested the name,” she said, shaking her head. “I swear, if he doesn’t stop, I’m going to strangle him.”
“You wouldn’t.”
She sighed, letting out a breath and leaning against him. “I am tempted.”
He stared at where she had put her head, right on what passed for his shoulder. “Luna…”
Oooh. Love this, and I’m glad to be back in his POV. I will say, he’s not half as pessimistic. Fatalistic maybe, but curious and unperturbed by his fatalism.
Luna surprised me by being as dark as she is. I knew she wasn’t all smiles and flowers, but she definitely poured the dark out when she got a chance to share.
He’s of the vortex, so he knows destruction and death, but he’s used to keeping it all at bay, like his hunger, with his endless curiosity. Luna doesn’t have that, and her mother’s death really screwed her up.