Proximity

by paperhearts

Edible

She found Smolder in the school quad. Her girlfriend was sprawled out on the grass beside the flower beds, her body almost glowing in the midday sunlight. Nearby, the fruits of her labour danced like lavender starfields, flourishing from weeks of Smolder's stubbornness and Professor Applejack's tutelage.

Ocellus shuffled across the quad on legs that threatened to betray her with every step. The wind carried warm kisses to her carapace, and she turned her body this way and that as she approached, encouraging her damp wings to open and drink their fill. A smile tugged at her lips; Smolder had told her once that she looked like a drunk moth when she courted the sun, dancing to a terrible song that only she could hear. Ocellus had taken the joke badly at the time, but these days she felt encouraged by the memory to track down such melodies, if only for the purpose of distraction. The sounds of the other students in the quad were too much like spears to her still-vulnerable heart. Even now, even in a place like the School of Friendship, it was hard to not interpret any sound as danger to a growing changeling.

Resisting the urge to touch horns with her girlfriend, Ocellus satisfied herself with studying her instead. She had come to learn and understand the different sleeping patterns of dragons; Smolder's inner lids were closed, her eyes milky and full of swirling half-dreams, but Ocellus knew that her girlfriend was still somehow alert to her surroundings. Lowering the neatly wrapped basket to the grass beside her, Ocellus seated herself on the other side of it and flexed her jaw. To her relief, she didn't have to wait for long.

"It's creepy when you do that, you know?"

"What, bring you lunch?" Ocellus giggled. Even though she shared a room with Smolder, she had barely been aware of her presence for the past week. Her rasping voice was like a balm to frayed nerves and the sting of loneliness.

"No, stare at—wait, lunch?" Smolder's eyes blinked open, and Ocellus hummed at the sight of the sun settling across them. Her girlfriend twitched, clearly trying to fight back the urge to look straight at the offering. Instead, after a moment, Smolder sat up and smiled a smile that slayed the lingering regrets Ocellus had about leaving the dorm early.

"Should you really be out, 'Cel?"

Ocellus bobbed her head. "Sunlight is good for me, after all." It was true enough, particularly now that the nutrients from her old inner layer had been mostly digested and she could now turn her attention elsewhere. A few eruptions of colour here and there, a few dizzy spells and moments when it felt as though her limbs were going to drop off one by one, but the worst part of molting was almost over.

Smolder folded her legs beneath her. She noticed the mud caking her claws and, with a frown, wiped it off on the grass. "You know we had our lessons outside this morning, right? The sun was good then, too, you skiving bug."

Ocellus blew a raspberry, but the vibrations of her tongue found sharp echoes inside of her skull. She shook her head, and was almost immediately drowned in the warmth of paprika and sulphur as Smolder's expression softened. Ocellus tried to focus instead on the pollen-heavy air pressing down on the quad; rich and delicious as it was, Smolder's love and concern wasn't the food her body needed right now.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, it's mostly just the itchy, um, stretchy stage now." Ocellus lifted a foreleg. The pale blue of her chitin looked even more so under the ministrations of the sun, and there were still parts of her body where her carapace didn't feel as though it had grown out enough yet. "I'll be fine. I'm going to go back to the dorm to rest soon, but I wanted to at least have lunch with you. You know I miss you when I molt."

"You miss classes when you molt," Smolder laughed. "I'm just an awesome bonus."

"That too." Ocellus gently nudged the basket closer to her girlfriend. "I hope you like it. I made it myself."

"You did, huh?" Smolder's words didn't convey much, but the thick, rich flavours that nibbled at Ocellus filled in the blanks and then some. "Let's eat then! Turns out gardening gives me an appetite."

"Smolder, sleeping gives you an appetite."

"That too." Smolder's harsh laugh filled the quad, and for a moment Ocellus was convinced that the sound of it would warm her new carapace faster than the sun ever could.

Her girlfriend untied the ribbon and opened the basket. Her expression froze.

Then her scales lost some of their lustre.

"Uh, 'kay. This is... What, some kind of bug food?"

Ocellus beamed at her. "That's right. Well, sort of." She inched her body closer, trying to keep her expression neutral. "That's my heart."

Flames exploded from Smolder's nose. "W—What!? Come again?"

"It's my heart," Ocellus repeated. "I want you to have it. I want you to eat it."

Smolder held her gaze for a moment. Then she burst out laughing. "Oh that's gross, 'Cel, even for me. Did you vomit this up or something? How are you not even dead, anyway?"

Ocellus giggled. "Okay, so specifically it's the molted shell of my heart chamber—my heart needs to grow too, you know. Especially because someone keeps giving me seconds and thirds every mealtime. And snacktime."

"Huh, that's..." Smolder lifted up the hard, twisted mass of chitin. Strands of mucus and other viscous fluids oozed and dripped into the basket. She wrinkled her snout. "Nah, I was right the first time. This is gross."

Ocellus mock glared at her. "You mean you aren't going to eat my lovingly prepared lunch? I eat your love all the time, Smolder; I want to be able to give you the chance to do the same!"

"Yeah, that's..." Smolder swallowed down the rest of her words as she studied the shell. After a moment, her expression became almost thoughtful. "You know, I suppose you're right, kinda. Alright, I'm game for this, 'Cel."

Ocellus blinked. "What?"

She tasted burnt paprika, and before she could move, Smolder had grabbed the shell of her heart cavity and shoved it into her mouth.

"Oh... Ack!" Smolder winced as she crunched down, and something green dribbled out of her mouth. "What is that? How can it—How can it be sharp and soft?"

"What are you doing?" Ocellus shrieked, her hooves flying to her mouth. She was dimly aware of the other students in the quad looking their way. "Smolder, I was joking!"

"It's so... gooey," Smolder hissed, ignoring her. Her scales had become as muted as Ocellus' chitin. "Ugh, is that hair or something?" Her body twitched, her throat spasming. "N—No way... I think I'm gonna—"

"Smolder, stop! I needed that!" Ocellus cried. "It was a joke. I brought you gems, you idiot. S—Stop stealing my nutrients!"

"Uh... Uh," Smolder froze, mid-chew. "Who jokes about something like that?" she gasped around the shell. "Bleh... Hang on."

She grabbed the basket and spat. And retched. Then she spat some more.

"Ugh," she hissed, before lifting her face to the sun and belching out great plumes of flame. "That's better. By Cinderfoot's hoard, 'Cel, you taste disgusting."

"D—Don't be so rude!" Ocellus snapped, pulling the basket back towards her. Heat pricked at her cheeks. "I taste wonderful! You just don't get it because you... Because you eat shiny rocks!"

Smolder raised her eyebrows at that. "Shiny rocks?"

"What? I've just molted!" Ocellus chittered. "My brain is busy doing more important things than having to remember grammar!"

"Syntax," Smolder corrected her behind the safety of a cough.

"Smolder!"

"Okay, okay! Here." Smolder reached into the basket and tossed her the half-eaten, twice-regurgitated heart chamber. Then she dug out the bag of gemstones and crunched on one desperately. "I mean, I think I swallowed... something, but it still looks... Fine?"

Ocellus was outraged. "I'm not eating this now, Smolder—it's been in your mouth!"

Smolder just stared at her.

Author's Note:

True love is eating your girlfriend's discarded body stuff, obviously.

I had way too much fun writing this one.

Comments

[Melody Song]

The last part of this had me laughing. I can picture that, so vividly. What would make it funnier is if this was a Young Six short where Gallus dared Smolder to eat it, that's why she didn't wait to see if Ocellus was joking. It's still plenty funny though.

[RainbowDoubleDash]

Yay I love the idea of changelings practicing autocannibalism! Mostly because I want to give each of the Young-6 some natural, normal part of their biology that grosses out the others. Hardest ones to figure out are Smolder (not too much gross about dragons) and Yona and Sandbar (or rather ways to make the two distinct - at the moment I’ve settled on the other four finding mammals to be gross).

Although on that note I do want at some point to have Ocellus actually mean to share her carapace with Smolder and actually the rest of the Young-6. Not all of it, just like a part. Like maybe her head. Definitely her head, actually, Smolder’s idea, just to freak them out.

Sandbar: “...”
Yona: “...”
Silverstream: “...can we cook it?”
Gallus: “Or put some seasoning on it?”
Silverstream: “Ooh, maybe grind it up and then use it as a sort of flour to make bread or something!”
Gallus: “That’s not a bad idea.”
Sandbar: “...”
Yona: “...”

Also I have it in my head that changeling carapace actually tastes like lemongrass. Same taste as ants. And that dragons actually don’t mind the taste and mostly just need to get over the psychology of the situation; Spike enjoyed the Baked Bads, after all.

I may be channeling my Star Trek fanboyism with these six, particularly the novels, which were always wonderful at making aliens seem alien.

[paperhearts]

10184180
Hello, and thanks for taking the time to read and comment. I don't think (I might be mistaken) I've seen a comment from you before, so welcome to the story and I hope you've been enjoying it. I'm super chuffed that it pictured the scene so well for you, and that you found it funny. I'm sure there are lots of scenarios that could have increased/sustained the humour for sure; I made a promise to myself at the start of this though that although other characters might be referenced in this story, there would be no direct interactions. Focus is purely on best bug and best dragon.

10184245
I know. I found it funny too!

10184288
For sure, right? If fact, I'm pretty sure the germ of this idea came during the first run of chapters last year, and a comment you made on the subject got stuck in my head. I agree entirely, though; there is no benefit to introducing and throwing together so many characters from different species if you aren't going to revel in their, at times, extreme differences. Obviously, this being me, such revelling is definitely done at the cute end of the spectrum.

Sandbar: “...”
Yona: “...”
Silverstream: “...can we cook it?”
Gallus: “Or put some seasoning on it?”
Silverstream: “Ooh, maybe grind it up and then use it as a sort of flour to make bread or something!”
Gallus: “That’s not a bad idea.”
Sandbar: “...”
Yona: “...”

I'd read the heck out of that, for sure.

Also I have it in my head that changeling carapace actually tastes like lemongrass. Same taste as ants.

Yeah, that's red ant flavour, if I remember correctly? Lemony, at the very least. I had the chitin down as being nutty myself.

[axxuy]

[paperhearts]

10185198
Yay! That's the response I'm looking for, haha.

[ReadDEMOh-17]

Wow, that's gross.
Didn't expect to see anything like that in this story.
Then again, I shouldn't really be surprised, should I?
Changelings are still insectoids an got plenty of gross for everyone that... Well, that isn't a changeling.
In a way, this was still an awkward-cute culture crash. Hope no lasting damage done.

[Raine_Lionheart]

Gross and hilarious.