Suddenly out of nowhere a Coda to OWaS! There have been many attempts but never anything to show for it-believe me, if I had finished half the world building one shots I have in my folder for this series-I might as well have written a novel. But this got finished! Mostly because I have a weakness for languages in stories. Also I never really addressed the fact that everyone can understand each other despite having lived on different planets most of their lives. So I created a few different languages.
My apologies to those who actually speak Greek and Latin-I sort of kind of took those languages as a base for Uranian and Neptunian language. You'll recognize the roots probably, but I've made it more phonetic and again I apologize for butchering up existing language to create two more.
This takes place right in that snug little hole Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 leaves. It could actually flow almost seamlessly into Chapter 7's beginning-but I'm gonna go ahead and say that this takes place about four days before Chapter 7 starts.
Haruka had learned from a young age how to speak Moon Common. She had learned at her mother's knee, along side her own Uranian language. A senshi, her mother had said, should be able to fluently speak the language she protects. She had always disliked Moon Common due to it's lack of history, but she appreciated the ability it had to unite to Solar System in language.
It didn't mean she always had to speak it though.
For instance, when sitting up too quickly while nursing bruised ribs. In such a case, Haruka figured that cursing in her native tongue would be better than swearing in Common. She was alone save for Michiru after all. In Michiru's studio she was free to speak as she wished. She hissed out a particularly nasty combination of swears before leaning back in her chair again, nursing her ribs.
"Haruka?"
"Yeah?"
"What was it you said just then?"
Haruka flushed, watching as her partner turned in her chair, pushing the music she had been writing to the side. She gulped, a string of lighter curses running through her head.
"Ah…it's just an expression on Uranus. For when um…for when you're in pain."
"Oh? And what's the Common translation?"
Haruka gulped, thinking hard. There really wasn't a proper translation for the phrase in Common. Not one that was safe for public anyways.
"It's not a polite saying, let me put it that way, okay?" Haruka grumbled, listening as Michiru laughed lightly at her. She watched as Michiru smirked, leaning forward.
"Oh? So it's similar to this then-" Michiru answered, her Common drifting off to something that sounded smooth to Haruka's ears-but was no doubt a curse. How can she make cursing seem so damn polite? Haruka mused, her ears burning.
"What's that mean?"
"There's no polite way to say it, Haruka," Michiru echoed, her eyes full to the brim with mirth. She stood, pulling her chair across the open room to sit across from Haruka, their knees touching ever so slightly.
"I see…" Haruka muttered. She waited a few moments before a breeze blew through the room, "Ah…ahnemos." She whispered, the Uranian word rolling off her tongue with ease.
"Oh?" Michiru leaned forward, "What's that word mean?"
"It's our word for wind," Haruka explained, "It's a common word heard-one of the first a child learns on our planet. Ahnemos."
"Ahnemos…" Michiru's pronunciation is a little flawed, too much air in the 'ah' but Haruka's heart races at the sound of her native tongue coming from Michiru. "Our word for wind is ventos. Another word is zefiere," She explains, "Ventos can also mean rumor-something that the wind brings."
Haruka listened to the words, hearing the sounds being drawn out and she gulped. "Ventos, huh?"
Michiru tilted her head, "A little heavy on the end there. It should sound a bit like saying toss sharply," she demonstrates the word again, and Haruka finds it hard to focus on the sounds when Michiru's lips are moving so distinctly. She snaps back to reality when she hears Common.
"What do you call the sea?"
Haruka thought about it. There was a word, but it was not one used in the literal sense of the sea. Uranus was almost devoid of surface water after all. "The word is old. Its modern version is thalammoh. It means sea of sand. But I was taught the word that it came from. It's thallasa." Haruka explained, "My mother often used the word when describing your mother. Ischire oths thallasa, she would say."
Michiru caught her lower lip in between her teeth, "What does that phrase mean?"
Haruka smiled, leaning forward, despite her ribs protests, "It means strong as the sea. " She watched as Michiru flushed, her eyes widening slightly.
"Since our planet's name comes from the amount of water on it, the ocean has a formal title-Prata Neptunia. But the more common useage-the one you hear on the docks-is mahre."
"Mahre…Thallasa," Haruka tried the two words out side by side-finding the cadence similar, despite the difference in language.
Michiru brought her hands to rest over Haruka's knees, smiling, "There is a word for our partnership as well. Compar. It means to compare when used as a verb-but if someone is your compar they are your valued comrade in arms. A perfect match. A partner to stand by," she squeezed Haruka's knees slightly, "It can also mean your beloved."
Haruka felt her heart thud in her chest, watching as Michiru blushed. Still-she never let her eyes waver from Haruka's face. Haruka returned her smile, her hands covering Michiru's with a gentle squeeze in return.
Haruka thought of the words her mother used when speaking of her father. There was the literal wording for husband-but she remembered her mother speaking of how there should be something more-a word she used that meant something deeper than just marriage-
"Syntrose." The word sprung from her mind, "It holds just as many meanings. Its simplified form-syntre means comrade in arms-but the full word-it means partner and companion. A mate. It's an old word from the beginning-where your mate had to be your equal in everything to succeed."
Michiru's hands turned in Haruka's grasp to intertwine their fingers. Her head was full of Uranian poetry-verses she had to memorize during her schooling-the only sort of higher Uranian literature she never liked translating into Common. Something she had never appreciated until now.
Seeing Michiru's face, curtained by flowing curls and soft curves; tracing the edges of her small, wry smile to her cheeks, tinted with flush-Really taking it all in brought the verses of poets she had once dismissed to her mind. Years of pouring over the scrolls of old suddenly came back to her. She could almost see the printed words.
The words flowed from her mouth-the sounds falling softly in the air. Michiru's brow furrowed, her head tilting to the side as Haruka completed the verse.
"Haruka what, what did you just say?"
Haruka grinned, leaning forward to capture Michiru's lips against her own. Michiru started, but after a brief moment she squeezed Haruka's fingers and pressed back. The contact was soft and gentle, nothing like the fierce kissing down on the beach. These were slow kisses, never breaking too far away. Minutes passed, and it wasn't until the clock crowed the hour that Haruka pulled away. She blinked her eyes open-not even remembering that she had closed them.
"You still haven't answered my question, Haruka," Michiru reminded on a slow exhale of a sigh.
"Oh it's nothing too important. Just some old verse my mother drilled into me. Tried to make me a little more refined," Haruka brushed the question off, grinning widely.
"Well, it certainly sounded romantic. Would you repeat it?" Michiru stood, going back to her desk, picking up her pencil, "The rhythm has me composing."
Haruka stood, wincing as her ribs protested yet again, "Sure, so long as you don't ask me to translate it to Common. It's old Uranian-it's not really translatable."
Michiru chuckled, tucking some hair behind her ear as she turned her head towards Haruka. Her smile shifted to a growingly familiar smirk, "Oh, I'll figure it out what it means someday, Haruka."
Haruka answered Michiru's smirk with one of her own. She sucked in a deep breath and conjured the image of the verses in her head. She waited for Michiru to turn back to her paper before beginning to speak once more. She lied, of course, the verse had been translated into Moon Common by many on her planet. She had translated it herself a dozen times throughout her youth. She watched as Michiru's hand spun notes across the page. Her mind thought in Common the words she spoke in Uranian.
Peer of the gods, the happiest man I seem
Sitting before thee, rapt at thy sight, hearing
Thy soft laughter and they voice most gentle,
Speaking so sweetly
Then in my bosom my heart wildly flutters,
And, when on thee I gaze never so little,
Bereft am I of all power of utterance,
My tongue is useless.
There rushes at once through my flesh tingling fire,
My eyes are deprived of all power of vision,
My ears hear nothing by sounds of winds roaring,
And all is blackness.
Down courses in streams the sweat of emotion,
A dread trembling o'erwhelms me, paler than I
Than dried grass in autumn, and in my madness
Dead I seem almost.
When Haruka stopped speaking, Michiru turned to her fully, and Haruka could see in her eyes that she'd lost her to the music. She sat back down, leaning back in the chair. She would wait for Michiru to come back to her. For now, she watched as Michiru murmured her own language under her breath as she refined the music on the page.
She hummed slightly, thinking back on her mother's words about how words had power. She thought about how she had scoffed at that when she was young, but now-as her heart pounded in her chest, the thrill of admitting something to Michiru that she could not understand-she finally understood what her mother had meant-and it was wonderful.
One of the great things about being an English major is getting to know all sorts of old poets-Sapphos for instance? What a wonderful woman. Such awesome poetry, truly. Check out some of her stuff and be amazed at the ancient Grecian lesbianic poetry.
On another note-since it's summer time, that means my writing commissions are open again! So if you have ever had a hankering for me to write any one thing in particular-now is your chance to make that happen! (Also I need money to go abroad next spring…) The info for that is on my profile. On another, sort of similar note, you should check out my ao3 account-I post short drabbles there that don't make it here. Check out my tumblr too if you so wish.
Thank you as always for reading! I'll try to finish OWaS this summer-I promise. It's a mission. But you are all lovely and darling and your support gives me strength and warm fuzzies.