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Post by PeroxidePirate on May 10, 2010 1:51:06 GMT 10
Title: Balance Rating: PG Prompt: #3 Same but different Category: 250 words Word count: 213 words Summary: Polyam is unbalanced. Isn't she?
It's easy enough for Polyam to avoid mirrors. She still prefers not to see her face.
It's harder to ignore the rest of her body. The leg is the worst, although the metal replacement is very good. But one half of Polyam – the stretch of skin, the shape of her breast, the movement of muscle and tendon and bone – is different. Every part has become unbalanced. Holding out both hands, she can see the damage done to her left side. Her arm remains weaker and her hand hangs, fingers useable but permanently bent. Her right side, head to toe, is stronger than ever.
Ten years, and it still seems strange.
It seems strange until she and Daja stand face to face, and Daja lifts her own arms. Her right hand, like Polyam's, is strong, unscarred. Normal. Daja's left hand, coated in the same warm brass that allows Polyam to walk, has grown stiffer as time passes. She keeps it tucked in her pocket when she can, to avoid explaining any number of things.
They stand face to face, and Daja presses her left hand to Polyam's, palm to palm: stiff metal to stiffer, scarred flesh. She laces their fingers together, in the space between their bodies, and neither hand seems strange.
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Post by greenie on May 10, 2010 5:09:40 GMT 10
Awww, this is really sweet. I'm not too familar with the Emelan books and so I only have a really vague idea of who Polyam is, but I think it's a sign of your awesome writing that I really like this drabble anyway.
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Post by PeroxidePirate on May 10, 2010 6:31:37 GMT 10
*blushes* Thank you. This is Kit's influence, partly, as she's the one who made me think about Daja/Polyam in the first place.
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Post by max on May 10, 2010 8:22:25 GMT 10
Oh. I love this. So much.
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Post by PeroxidePirate on May 10, 2010 10:00:55 GMT 10
Thank you, Max.
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Post by clairshadows on May 22, 2010 23:27:51 GMT 10
Oh my love for this is unbound. Yay!
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Post by PeroxidePirate on May 23, 2010 0:48:23 GMT 10
Thank you so much!
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Rowena
Training Master
back to school... >.<
Posts: 2,661
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Post by Rowena on May 24, 2010 0:57:32 GMT 10
It's been a while since I read the Emelan books, so I think I forgot exactly who Polyam is, but I loved this drabble anyways! Great writing!
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Kit
Squire
Duchess of Emelan
Posts: 1,151
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Post by Kit on May 30, 2010 12:49:23 GMT 10
Oh, thank you for linking me to this. The <i>balance</i> (and body consciousness) of it--title, length, structure, flow--is just incredible. I love the idea of the two of them examining each other, and I've always wondered how Daja's living metal hand stands up to age. (rust + arthritis? Hell!)
And, of course, the writing is beautiful.
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Post by PeroxidePirate on May 30, 2010 12:58:16 GMT 10
Rowena, thank you so much! (eep, I totally thought I replied sooner.)
And thank you, Kit. (I worry that it's a little, I don't know, arrogant to link my own stuff, but since you mentioned this pairing...)
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