Note: A bonus for everyone, all rated PG with one soft R. These are all prompts related to biochemistry. Because I am a nerd.
1. Regulation (Protein)
Rating: PG
Summary: Protein regulation: The signalling by an increase or decrease in specific proteins that causes the increase or decrease of a specific process.
Neither of them were quite sure when the fire was gone.
Perhaps they simply woke up in bed one night and felt no more than a sincere affection for the other, as a raging fire is immediately snuffed out with a sudden loss of oxygen. Perhaps it was simply a loving affair that waned so slightly that one could not tell a difference from day to day, but was imminently obvious over time, like the waning of the moon.
Theirs had been a passionate love, to be sure, and perhaps it had been so passionate that their bodies and minds simply could take no more and cried out, "Enough!"
Jon felt a creeping guilt for having sullied Kel's honor, having besmirched her reputation with a royal love affair. Kel simply mourned the loss of something wonderful, and hated herself for being so fickle, yet again.
As it was, theirs was a remarkably amicable separation, though no less painful than the bitterest of divorces, as both mourned their lack of constancy and wished for what they could not give to the other.
2. Regulation (Allosteric)
Rating: PG
Summary: Allosteric Regulation: Regulation of an enzyme by the addition or withdrawal of a substance (protein, enzyme, amino acid, atom) in an area other than the active site, causing the active site to physically alter, thus changing what can and cannot fit into the active site.
Kel admired Queen Thayet. She truly was a marvelous person, kind, thoughtful, realistic though royal. She had hired Lalasa, pushed for woman's rights, especially commoner women, and Kel could think nothing bad of the beautiful queen.
It was possible that Kel envied her somewhat, for being in a position to change lives for the better, for being Peerless in every possible way.
Thus it was that Kel sought out Thayet when she felt the prickling sensation on her skin and the warmth in her belly whenever she felt the king's gaze on her. Kel wasn't sure if her body warned her or signaled for something different, something that would make her life very difficult. She truly did not need to shoulder an unrequited love on top of her myriad of burdens.
So Kel and Thayet became good friends, being both strong women with a desire to assist those less fortunate, and Kel avoided thinking about her friend's husband in any way other than as the monarch.
3. Futile Cycle
Rating: R
Summary: Futile Cycle: A cyclic process in which a molecule of ATP is broken down into ADP and a phosphate group, ie. a high energy molecule is broken down into middle and low energy molecules, for the purpose of converting one substance into another. Rating for implied mind-games, angst, creepy!Jon.
Kel had heard the rumors about the king.
They were murmured under breaths, hidden within other words, but the truth was there for people who desired to know.
After Kel felt the king's eyes falling upon her with a strange heat in his eyes one too many times, Kel searched for and found that terrible truth.
King Jonathan, it was whispered, had a penchant for taking vivacious young women and leaving them older, dispirited, lax. Not that he did anything illegal, the teller of the tale always amended hastily. Rather, he was found of introducing the fluttery ladies to something more real - more sinister, they wanted to say but feared to - than their silly court games, and not all delicate court flowers could withstand such revelations.
More than one daughter had been withdrawn under mysterious conditions.
Sickened, Kel took the next available post as far away from Corus as possible, far away from those searching blue eyes with a hint of madness.
4. Hydrolysis
Rating: PG
Summary: Hydrolysis: The chemical reaction that splits apart a molecule using water.
She was drowning, Kel was dimly aware, drowning in deep blue eyes reminiscent of the coast off the Yamani Isles, so clearly blue that one could see all the way down to the very bottom.
She drew a labored breath, but her heart beat so fiercely that it was only a half-breath, and she counted herself lucky that she could breathe at all in the ocean of roiling emotions in his eyes that reflected her own.
Part of her mind retained its sanity. It questioned at first, then spoke up with greater and greater alarm, until finally it beat helplessly against the larger, enthralled portion of her mind. This sane part brought up duty, honor, the Code of Chivalry, that this action could only lead to breaking every vow she had ever made.
The drowning part of her mind paid no heed. It could not spare even a moment of distraction away from Jon's eyes, eyes that offered salvation even as they left her floating adrift.
5. Lactic Acid
Rating: PG
Summary: Lactic Acid: The end result of anaerobic oxidation (glycolysis), the process by which it is created is used to regenerate 2 NAD+ per one molecule of pyruvate, and is one of the factors causing acidosis in muscles after exercise.
Jon groaned in pleasure as Kel's strong hands kneaded his shoulders, tense after a long day hunched over dry reports. "Never wonder why I married you, Kel," he sighed. "It was for your hands."
"Liar," she replied, amused. "You married me for my impeccable fashion sense."
He spun around in his chair and pulled her into his lap. "And why did you marry me? For my amazing good looks, or my silver tongue?" he whispered into her lips as they greeted after a day's separation.
Kel eventually pulled back slightly, just far enough away to remark drolly, "Neither, dear. It was your stunning humility."
6. Glycogen Synthase
Rating: PG
Summary: Glycogen Synthase: An enzyme in the pathway that produces glycogen (stored energy), glycogen synthase creates the alpha 1-4 bonds from one glucose-1-phosphate to the next.
"Excellent work, Keladry," the king says absently as he glances through her thorough report. "As usual, very excellent indeed." He glances up at her with jewel-like eyes that catch the light and toss it back into her own, along with the light reflecting off his pearl-white teeth as he smiles at her.
Kel inclines her head and bows, taking the moment to breathe and regain her composure, as she always does when Jon - as she refers to him in her mind, guiltily and jealously - catches her eyes with his.
As Kel turns to leave, Jon has already moved on to the next bit of paper, the next issue that only the king may solve, but he throws out a few idle words that seem to her to be diamonds discovered in refuse.
"I can always count on you, Lady Knight. Keep up the good work."
She nods and bows again as she mentally clasps the words to her chest and embeds them in her mind, two tiny moments carefully hoarded along with the others.