The preserve, Friday night
Jun. 15th, 2013 02:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tigerundercoverRaven had had fun down by the beach -- had been enjoying her time here in Fandom quite a lot, really. She felt safer here than she had anywhere but Charles' home in New York. She'd even managed to reveal her secret to one of her teachers without an angry mob forming.
None of that meant she could relax, though.
Her chosen shape in the school was well rehearsed. She'd been maintaining it since she started school back in Westchester, and had all but perfected her technique. But it was still a facade, and though her muscles had been toned to keep it up without her always having to consciously think about it, those muscles still needed a chance to relax, now and then. Back home, she'd been able to do that any time she was in the house, or even on most of the grounds. Even in the dorms, she'd occasionally just wrap herself up in a pile of blankets on her bed to make sure Theo didn't catch her being blue. But the close quarters of the bouncy castle, with not one, but three other people to be on the lookout for, she hadn't even managed to relax fully in sleep.
Which was why, instead of heading back to the campgrounds after being at the beach, she'd instead detoured into the woods, following the trails for a ways before stepping out into the forest proper. She walked until she was sure no one would happen by, then walked further still, then finally, finally, let her facade drop.
It was like an immediate full body massage. Like the first moment after stepping into a shower at the perfect temperature. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes as she felt the breeze ease over every natural curve of her body, her scales cooling in the night air. The relief seemed to set her senses on fire, and she breathed in, smelling the trees and the dirt as if for the first time.
How amazing would it be to be in a world where she could be like this all the time? Not tied down by human fears and human morals, but herself, as wild and naked and blue as she was really meant to be.
Even Charles' grand speeches about humans living side by side with mutants never included this. He tried not to let it show, but she'd seen how he'd flinch, just a little, whenever he spotted her in her natural state after a long day of blonde hair and fluffy dresses.
And if Charles couldn't accept her how she really was, what hope was there for the rest of the world?
[ooc: Establishy. Probably too late to even have to worry, but NFB please.
None of that meant she could relax, though.
Her chosen shape in the school was well rehearsed. She'd been maintaining it since she started school back in Westchester, and had all but perfected her technique. But it was still a facade, and though her muscles had been toned to keep it up without her always having to consciously think about it, those muscles still needed a chance to relax, now and then. Back home, she'd been able to do that any time she was in the house, or even on most of the grounds. Even in the dorms, she'd occasionally just wrap herself up in a pile of blankets on her bed to make sure Theo didn't catch her being blue. But the close quarters of the bouncy castle, with not one, but three other people to be on the lookout for, she hadn't even managed to relax fully in sleep.
Which was why, instead of heading back to the campgrounds after being at the beach, she'd instead detoured into the woods, following the trails for a ways before stepping out into the forest proper. She walked until she was sure no one would happen by, then walked further still, then finally, finally, let her facade drop.
It was like an immediate full body massage. Like the first moment after stepping into a shower at the perfect temperature. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes as she felt the breeze ease over every natural curve of her body, her scales cooling in the night air. The relief seemed to set her senses on fire, and she breathed in, smelling the trees and the dirt as if for the first time.
How amazing would it be to be in a world where she could be like this all the time? Not tied down by human fears and human morals, but herself, as wild and naked and blue as she was really meant to be.
Even Charles' grand speeches about humans living side by side with mutants never included this. He tried not to let it show, but she'd seen how he'd flinch, just a little, whenever he spotted her in her natural state after a long day of blonde hair and fluffy dresses.
And if Charles couldn't accept her how she really was, what hope was there for the rest of the world?
[ooc: Establishy. Probably too late to even have to worry, but NFB please.
