Mild reference to n/c sex act. Not graphic, but the reference to rape is still present. Just wanted to warn you.
The beach again. Late afternoon and the sun would begin to change the ocean within the next two hours, or the ocean would change the sun. There would be tangerine and gold.
Snake stood on the sand; bare, two-toed feet pointing at the ocean he respected and that brought the storms he so loved as he watched the waves in silence. The wind came, too soft to chill him or to move the long green braids and dreadlocks that trailed down his back, secured at the base of his skull with a leather thong. Errant wisps, too short to be slicked tightly along his skull and caught back in the tail and braids and locks, were lifted and blew about his temples. The sideburn in front of his left ear moved slightly in the wind.
The breeze knocked the ash off the end of the cigarette between his thin lips and the tusks that curved upward. The troll brought his fingers up, removed the cigarette and spit out the bit of loose tobacco that had stuck to his teeth. He replaced it between his lips and inhaled again. Twin plumes of smoke rose from a hook nose in a slender face. The wind died down.
Horseshoe crabs clattered against one another in various states of alive and dead. Mating season for them. A large horseshoe, black-brown shield with a harmless sword of a tail waving aimlessly, crawled from the water and bumped into the troll's toe claws; began crawling over his large foot. Snake bent, lifted it by the tail and turned it so that he could look at its belly. Long claws and many-jointed legs beneath, the hinged shell bending and unbending as it waved its arms and grabbed at nothing. Alien eyes that didn't blink stared at the ocean as mismatched eyes that blinked slowly watched the underside of the rogue horseshoe in silence.
The cigarette burned his lips. He flicked it aside and then placed the two fingers and thumb of his hand against the horseshoe's underside; its legs scrabbling and picking at his palm for purchase. He held the tail in his right hand and squatted. The back of his hand, his wrist touched the sand where it was equal parts damp and dry. Armored legs dug furrows in the sand; some paddle-tipped and others clawed. He released the sword-like tail and the crab lumbered back into the waves as the small troll rose and brushed his hands off on black trousers. Another cigarette appeared in his hand. It was lit, so he smoked it.
Then Snake was walking along the beach. He looked down at the green starfish of dreadlocks that bobbed along beside him. He looked ahead at the sand and the shallow set of little two-toed troll prints that faced them; their own prints covering them as they ate the distance Starfish had already come. If he looked back, he would see two sets; one large and one small. It didn't matter. He smoked and for a while they walked in silence, two close friends. Confidants.
"A good dee fer feeshy, Starfeesh." Snake's voice was a low buzz. Perhaps he'd earned the nickname from the sound of a rattlesnake tail. His voice was quiet, even when he was angry and when he was angry it was sometimes reminiscent of that very sound. Perhaps it was the way he moved. Slippery. Oily.
"Me gonna ran wee." The answering buzz was not as course and gravelly, was higher in pitch and effeminate with youth. He'd never spoken that way; had only known Zandali back then. After a pause and several steps, the red tin bucket swinging empty in his grip: "Dey use I fa 'umpdog." His bottom jaw jut forward angrily as he stared straight ahead and the two walked.
"Me know it, yeah." Snake flicked the butt into the ocean with his left hand. Brought the already-lit one in his right hand to his lips, caught it between his teeth. When he removed it from his mouth, he used the fingers of his right hand. "A sheem… Ya gone live, yeah."
The little troll wanted to slow and so he did. Both trolls slowed their pace at the exact same moment. Snake reached over Starfish's head and took the bamboo rod that was long and awkward in the bony young one's grip. Starfish nodded a silent thank-you as they walked along. Snake let him keep his empty bucket.
Starfish looked down at his small blue feet as they walked. Snake squinted at the ocean. Clear skies. "Me a 'umpdog en me bleedin, mon," Starfish pouted angrily at his feet as he stopped walking. Snake stopped at the same time. He kept his eyes on the sea.
"Eent fareeva. It jes too fresh in ya min'," Snake replied. He tapped the side of his skull twice. Seagulls cried distantly and the young troll and the middle-aged troll liked the sound, combined with the waves.
Starfish moved to stand alongside Snake, the bucket swinging between them. The troll in the black pants and the black sleeveless shirt was only just over six feet, but he looked tall next to the emaciated boy.
"When dat stop?"
"Ya know da answer dat."
"Me want ta hear it!"
The cigarette flipped to the sand, rolled toward the water and was gone before it could be eaten in the hissing, salty lick of the shallows. Another was between his teeth as he spoke, scanned the horizon that was changing colors with mismatched eyes as mismatched eyes stared at the horizon beside him and from a lower angle.
"Ya go fi ran when ya go fi ran, Starfeesh. Lookie, yeah…" The bamboo rod was gone now. Snake held the cigarette between his teeth as he tilted his head and used both hands to remove the small gold hoop from his right ear. "Earrin'," he buzzed as he dropped it into the little troll's waiting palm without taking his eyes from the sea. They both had the same blue skin, a bit too pale.
Vol who had yet to earn the second half of his name stood alongside Vol who had never earned it. They watched the ocean in silence for a few minutes. The bamboo rod was in Starfish's left hand. The bucket in his right. Snake stood to his right, short but tall. A gold hoop earring in his right ear. He smoked.
Every time I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It goes by, like dusk to dawn - Dream On by Aerosmith
~I'wilo