There were some things that couldn't be blasted away like a rock bear's breath attack, like side effects from being an eel monster for who-knows-how-long.
Juniper hated those little side effects, most days, she didn't notice, most days, she was able to go about her day without a single thought about Sycorax and all the monsters that came with it.
But sometimes... When she looked in the mirror, it was like that chip never got removed, and those memories would come back to her.
Memories of being reduced to nothing more than a mindless beast, her conscious constrained like a headband that was too small for your head.
Even if it wasn't much, a slight yellow in her eyes, her nails feeling more like claws, bits of blue flecked around her cheeks and limbs, it itched under her skin, feelings of disgust would swirl in her chest at that hideous reminder that she wasn't truly human anymore-
Sure, she had her free will back, no more voice in her head that controlled her body, but that didn't make her feel better. Covering all the mirrors in her and her mama's apartment with a cloth helped though. Besides, she didn't need the mirror to help her brush her hair or her teeth.
Her mouth itched, the sensation of sharp fangs poking her cheek made her twitch. Why did she have to think about her teeth? That just made the uncomfortable feeling even worse, you don't think about sunburns under your skin when you get them, otherwise it reminds you of the unpleasant pain it brought you.
Heh, Juniper would've preferred a sunburn over the feeling in her teeth, sunburns went away eventually.
This… This didn't.
"You're spacing out again." She blinked, Megan was staring at her with amber-brown eyes.
Oh, right. She was hanging with her girlfriend at the park, and then her mind wandered, as usual. Could you do something right for once? Juniper mentally kicked herself. "My bad, you were talking about math class, right?"
"Yeah, Mrs. Rosemary is a nice teacher, but why does she have to give us so much homework?" Megan complained.
Classic Megan, the reporter was many things, but a math expert? She was not. "The only good thing is that it's due every few days, so I don't have to worry about getting it done asap."
Juniper frowned. "Wouldn't you want to get it done so you don't have to think about it anymore?"
Not that she had math classes anymore, too busy working at the community center. Teaching dance classes were hard enough on their own without worrying about school in the mix.
"I have other class assignments to work on, marine biology is really taxing, and creative writing has so many projects." Megan rambled. "No offense to math, but it's on the back burner for a reason."
That made sense, she guessed. "Well, if you need help with those 'back burner' assignments, I could lend some whenever I'm not teaching at the community center."
"Yes please." Megan had stars in her eyes. "I'd be in your debt , o' great powerful one."
Juniper giggled, her girlfriend was so silly sometimes. Something funny tickled her throat, and she made a face. "You okay?"
"I think there's something in my-" The tickle got stronger and Juniper felt it climb up her throat. "Mmmmmm." It wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable and she didn't like it.
At some point, Megan had placed her hand on her shoulder, but the incoming yawn made it leave. "That explains it." Juniper frowned. She hated when she got yawns, they always made her tired.
"Um…" Megan was giving her a deer-in-headlights look. Juniper frowned, what could've caused that reaction?
Did someone on a skateboard crash into someone and fell into a bush, terrorizing a family of squirrels? That couldn't be it, or she would've heard that when she yawned-
She froze. Juniper had opened her mouth when she yawned, exposing her teeth.
Her sharp, clearly not-human teeth that served as another reminder of Diane's bioengineering crimes against humanity. "I never wanted you to see that." Those feelings of disgust were back in her chest now, and today had gone so well…
"Those are some chompers you got there." Was Megan's only comment.
"Yeah, sure are." But at least the reporter didn't look at her like she was a freak, there was only concern in her eyes. "It's funny, electric eels don't have teeth, they swallow their prey whole like Kirby does."
"But I guess she decided to put several species of eel DNA in a blender and called it a day." And now Juniper and her mama were paying the consequences of her experiment. "Mama looked into it, and did you know that moray eel have a-"
"Second set of teeth." Megan was starting to look a little pale. "From marine biology."
The dancer nodded. "Hey Meg, have you ever had wisdom teeth?"
"No, my dad did, he said it wasn't fun." She reached her hand out, Juniper didn't protest as Megan's grip on her hand tightened. "Please, please tell me you weren't conscious enough to feel a second pair of teeth growing in your mouth."
"Depends on your definition of consciousness." The look of horror was back, Juniper morbidly thought of the dentist at the hospital when she casually described the entire process, but he looked a little more green then Megan did. "You know I'm not human anymore, why is this a shocker?"
"No, no June, no." She shook her head. "Just because you have side effects doesn't mean you're inhuman, you'll always be my precious bunny."
"That's funny, I could've sworn I got turned into something fishier." The joke was in poor taste, and the feelings in her chest tightened, making her choke a little. "Remind me never to joke about that again."
"Yeah, please don't." Megan's grip tightened. "Does it still hurt, the extra teeth?"
She curled her lip, debating if she should lie, Megan already looked mortified enough today.
But… Would that be worth it?
Lying was something she was used to, it worked on herself for so long, Megan only cared, it'd be in bad taste to hide the truth.
"Honestly, it's really painful when I don't take my doctor prescribed medicine." Might as well be blunt, if she was going to be brutally honest with the reporter.
"But… It's slowly getting a little better, going to the dentist isn't fun, but the constant toothaches aren't fun either." She felt another yawn escape her lips, this time Megan wasn't eyeballing the set of fangs. "At least I can tell people that these pearly whites cost a fortune!"
And now her girlfriend's eyes looked like she was going to pop out of her skull. Juniper should just never make another joke for the rest of her life, lest she drag Megan into an early grave. "Just kidding, the health insurance covers it."
The reporter sighed with relief. "I was gonna throw hands with the city council if they forced you and Barb to pay for teeth surgery."
Juniper felt like she would, Megan would dramatically slam the door in the middle of a council meeting ala Emperor's New Groove and take no prisoners. "Does your dad know about your plans of fighting the government?"
"Ha-ha, bold of you to assume he doesn't already." Megan snarked. "Honestly, if he doesn't square up whatever problem he has with Big Hero 6, I'm gonna riot."
She was right, Juniper had mixed feelings about the superheroes, but even she knew they weren't people to make your enemies. If only the police force had the brain capacity to understand that…
Wait, did they? They never stopped her and Mama's shows back when they were performing as High Voltage, no wonder there had to be six superheroes in the city if they were that incompetent. "Maybe you should tell him to stop hogging the SFPD's single brain cell." She couldn't help the tease. "Poor thing's overworked enough."
"I'm pretty sure Dad lost it considering he must've had no brain cells functioning when he thought declaring the superheroes as public enemy number one was a good idea." Megan couldn't help but hop on the bandwagon. She loved her dad, but he was starting to get a little too obsessed with stopping Big Hero 6 for her sake.
It was something she told Juniper about, her fear that her dad was going to go past the point of no return and the incoming damage would be so great that not even the strongest brand of duct tape could patch it over. "Some people have good reasons to not be fans of Big Hero 6, sure there's the property damage from fights, but there's insurance policies and it's better than the damage Baron Von Steamer could cause when he's left to his own devices."
What honestly got to Megan was that her dad didn't even try to compromise or find a better solution, but instead went to the extremes, and the constant agonizing stress that came with it. "Sorry…" She looked up to her girlfriend, how silly was she being, complaining about her problems when Juniper struggled to talk about her own. "You probably don't want to hear that right now."
Juniper protested, bad enough she struggled with bottling her emotions like a soda pop factory, it wouldn't help anyone if Megan did the same too. "No, honestly it was nice having the distraction."
Her teeth were throbbing with irritation, she wished the feeling would go away. "Helps take my mind off of the really bad thoughts." The thoughts that she hated voicing aloud to anyone that wasn't her mama, the thoughts she wished she could shove in a box and put in a corner of her mind.
But life didn't work like that, so Juniper just focused on what was in front of her, her darling girlfriend.
At some point during their conversation, they had laid down on the grass, leaning against one of the oaks planted around the main path. She figured that Megan must've slowly lead her to this spot when her brain kept thinking about her stupid teeth.
She appreciated that. The lack of eyes, either from human or Mayoi, who now resided in the park after being freed from servitude, made it easier for her to speak.
But now the dancer was tired, from either yawning so much or from voicing some of her thoughts, she didn't know. "M' really appreciate it." Juniper mumbled, choosing to lean against Megan's shoulder, which was much softer and warmer than the bark of the oak.
"You're welcome." The reporter smiled, moving closer to her face and bridging the distance with a brief kiss.
Juniper hummed, leaning into the kiss, Megan's kisses were always sweet and tasting of sunshine. She didn't know what sunshine specifically tasted like, but she just knew that her girlfriend's kisses would taste like it.
"Is that the only reason you led us here?" She teased, raising an eyebrow. "Wanted to steal me away, huh?"
Megan always blushed like a tomato whenever she flirted. "W-W-Well I guess if you want that right now?"
Translation: it was unintentional but she didn't mind anyways. "Or we could just relax in the shade, whatever works for you."
"Hmmm." She placed a hand to her chin, contemplating for a moment. There was a small itch in her veins that was tempting her, but she had no complaints for just taking in the moment instead.
Lucky for her, Megan always reminded her to allow herself to take a break. "Kind of tired, wouldn't mind just lying here for a bit." She exhaled, letting her muscles relax in her girlfriend's warm embrace. "Besides, you made the best pillow."
Megan tsked. "Yes, yes, you keep telling me that."
"What, it's true. You're very soft."
A pleasant laugh came from her throat. "I'll be sure to put that on my resume." Megan's eyes glimmered with amusement, but she said nothing more, nothing less.
Both of them were done talking for now, Juniper felt like another weight was lifted off of her chest. Megan had a habit of doing that, whenever she worried about telling the reporter anything, and when it came out when least expected…
Megan took it in stride and reassured her that she'd still be there, no matter what issues that plagued her mind.
It was a nice feeling… Knowing that Megan still loved her, still kept her close and doted on her with affection even when exposed to the non-human bits that clung to the dancer like dust.
The dull ache in her teeth was still there, but it didn't bother Juniper, not anymore. She merely ignored that feeling, there were better things to focus on at that moment.
A gentle wind blew past them. San Fransokyo was mostly cold in temperature, but for once, she felt safe and warm at the park, under an oak tree with her loving girlfriend.
Couldn't get better than this.
Literally wrote another one-shot based on a drawing of these two, apparently all I need to do to come up with one-shots is drawing them more often.
There's probably still gonna be some side effects from getting mutated, like an extra set of chompers. I did some googling after showing the drawing I did with a friend, went "O_O" and decided to write a fic about it bc gosh darnit Juniper needs a hug after everything COM put her through
This was also good practice with prose and a different format to see if it makes my writing more readable, hope you guys enjoy n.n