She viewed him as a friend, though at first he was just an annoyance. She saw he had learned so much and was willing to open his mind, and not just act like all the other human men she'd known before the Wish sent her here. Maybe, one day, they could become best friends, for in her view he was starting to feel more like having a lunkhead, if but a very kind one, of a brother, little by little. Maybe, one day, she'd say something about that.
@internutter/challenge-03063-h155-handcrafted-hearth -- Anon Guest
Melody was, despite her best efforts, starting to warm to that idiot Dan. It was the way he threw himself, whole-heartedly, into his efforts. It was also the way he listened. When she said to give her space, he did so.
Whether it was because he became a parent by accident, and thus didn't have the time... or because he chose to help with the new community, and had less time, she couldn't tell. Not immediately. She could not instantly divine his motives, and that was a problem for her.
Melody was entirely too used to men treating her like a clever machine. One they could put kindness into until sex came out. Dan... seemed to adore her, but he was keeping it restrained.
She had had many people adore her without ever knowing her. She showed more of her warts in this new settlement. There was, after all, no reason to remain polite and 'articulate' amongst her fellow Tieflings. She had the freedom to scratch her tail here, if she wanted to. She could let her natural magics 'leak' with her emotions and everyone around her would understand.
Word reached her that Dan had tried to ask discretely about it, and therefore got the primer on Tieflings, inherently magic folk, and the ways their power could 'leak' into the real world, depending on their emotional state.
Which lead, because this was Dan, to little love gifts at the doorway to the place she was staying. At the threshold of her home.
Damn it. This place was her home. Melody had no more desire to go a-roving and especially no great need to re-enter a world that despised her for existing. The children needed her and the new town needed her and...
Fuck. She was even starting to like Dan.
It was the heartfelt honesty. Sure, he was rough around the edges but... who wasn't? Especially here.
The kids could cuss a blue streak and the adults were little better. The sudden parents among them had a debate over which swears they should tone down in younger company. At what age should a sudden parental let a minor utter certain words, and so on.
Though they all agreed than nobody who wasn't a Tiefling should say 'Tief'.
What came as a shock was that all those who came with the Tieflings abided by this decision. That so many could love her kind was another startling reality. As was Dan's place in her heart.
She had used to joke that she didn't have a heart. A common jest among her kind.
Dan was at her door again, trying to be sneaky about placing a gift basket on her doorstep.
"You won't get anything out of this," she said automatically. "You know that."
"Yeah, I've been told," he said, putting the basket down and backing away. "I saw the smoke coming off your hair earlier today and figured you needed a few little somethings to make your day a smidge better. No expectations, no obligations." He gave her a lazy salute and trotted back to his workshop because one of his kids was making a noise.
The offerings in the basket were little things, curated for her affection for them. Some were hasty creations, some were things he must have set by for such an occasion.
She had thrown them all out or given them away before.
This time... she took them in.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / stefanodinenno]
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