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A woman sat on a barrel, not quite all the way out of the way. It would have been fair to say that she was most of the way naked, but it was also sunny and there was a cool breeze and sometimes you need a break. The man who wandered by was exactly as close to being naked as the woman was, which is to say that both of them wore thin, light britches and a sash to carry tools in and nothing else.
Adjust your expectations about how much anyone cared about this.
The man paused, there wasn’t so much need to hurry with the calm weather. ‘You think the captain seems happier these days?’
The woman sighed, like she had been done the greatest inconvenience by this interruption to her sunbathing. ‘Yeah, for sure.’
‘She’s not getting laid though,’ the man said. ‘What’s she got to be happy about?’
‘You don’t know she’s not getting laid,’ the woman said. ‘But that’s not all you need in life.’
The man nodded, dubious. ‘It’s her sister, though, right? She’s not getting laid.’
The woman shrugged. ‘Sea don’t judge.’
‘If you all judge me because Pete said I’m bad at sex like years ago, I feel like we can judge the captain for potentially fucking her sister.’
The woman shook her head. ‘Nope.’
The man shrugged. The woman went back to taking a break, the man went back to doing something ship related.
Did I mention that this was taking place on a ship? It is, if I didn’t mention that.
The captain in question, a woman with a blue shirt and bright red hair, was at the wheel, staring vacantly into space. Her sister, who wore a blue dress and had white hair, was in bed almost directly beneath her feet.
Anna, the captain, was staring vacantly into space for a pair of reasons. First, she was worried that her sister had overdone it, clearing that storm; second, she wanted to go join her sister in bed.
Now, contrary to some speculation, Anna was not getting laid and neither was her sister. Anna, in fact, had yet to fully admit to herself that she waned to get laid at all. But if she were to be honest with herself, Elsa, her sister, was gorgeous and they were both of them definitely interested in women.
But, despite the sea’s apparent lack of judgement, Anna was feeling intensely guilty. And, since she had yet to admit the cause of her guilt to herself, she couldn’t deal with it by, for example, having sex with her sister Elsa.
Elsa, for her part, was asleep in the cabin and not currently having any moral quandaries about whether or not to suggest sex to her sister. Had Elsa been awake and questioned on the issue, she would have shrugged. ‘Sounds good, but I’m pretty sure she’s not into women.’
The problem, for Elsa, was that the last she had seen of Anna before the start of Anna’s life on the sea was her happily marrying some dude she’d just met. Hence, Anna must be straight, and so Elsa didn’t feel the need to bring the issue up.
But, again, Elsa was asleep, so she wasn’t thinking about it. She was dreaming of her old house in the glaciers of Eldfaal, where she’d played with penguins and befriended a polar bear.
***
Here, we join a different conversation at a different time, on the same ship. Two, mostly naked people, sitting on a railing, not quite out of the way. One crewmate says to the other: ‘captain seem happier to you?’
The other shook their head. ‘Nah, she seems worked up.’
‘Maybe she needs to get laid,’ said the first.
‘Crass. Not everything’s about sex, you filthy allosexual.’
‘Some things are,’ said the filthy allosexual in question.
‘She was definitely happier at first,’ said the asexual of the two. ‘But the last couple weeks she’s worked up.’
‘I still think it’s good,’ said the allo. ‘She clearly likes having her sister around.’
‘Agreed. Might be the weather, though. Getting her worked up, I mean. Elsa keeps killing the storms and passing out.’
‘Can’t be good for her,’ said the allo. ‘Getting knocked out so much.’
‘You know anything about magic?’
‘I do not.’
Nearby, the mage in question was once again in bed. She’d been asleep only about four hours, this time. But Elsa was tired. She didn’t mind the practice, but it was wearing on her.
Sitting in a chair across the room was a worried Anna. She had a meal prepared on the table and a kettle on the fire waiting to become tea. Anna’s foot tapped idly on the planks of the floor and her gaze was fixed on her sister’s back. She felt so useless, not being able to do magic.
Elsa rolled over and rubbed her eyes.
Anna opened her mouth to speak, but Elsa beat her to it.
‘Are you alright?’ Elsa asked.
‘Am I alright?’ Anna sputtered. ‘Are you alright? I didn’t just pass out from quelling a storm.’
Elsa felt at her head. ‘You caught me this time, though,’ she said. ‘So it’s fine. But you’re just sitting there, glowering.’
Anna rubbed at her face and poured water into the teapot before she said anything. ‘It’s just… I feel so useless,’ she said. ‘You expend all this energy stopping these storms and all I can do is… is sit here and worry.’
With a mild groan, Elsa sat up on the bed. ‘You shouldn’t worry about being useless, Captain Sister,’ she said, voice a little hoarse and a weak smile on her face. ‘You run the whole ship. You bring me food and tea. Just because you can’t…’ Elsa wiggled her fingers ‘doesn’t mean you’re useless. I can’t captain a ship, for example.’
‘But you can do magic, Elsa,’ Anna said. ‘That’s so… amazing.’ Anna felt blood rushing to her cheeks. She felt almost like a child again, watching in awe as Elsa performed these amazing feats.
With another mild groan, Elsa stood. She wobbled slightly but before Anna could just up to help… could jump up for an excuse to touch her sister… Elsa steadied herself. She took a couple of steps toward the food Anna had laid out on the table.
Anna had put another seat just out of immediate touching range, so as not to tempt herself. Instead, Elsa plopped down in her lap and put her arms around Anna’s neck. ‘You need to chill out, Captain Sister,’ Elsa said. Then she did the thing least likely to make Anna chill out and kissed Anna on the cheek.
Anna’s whole body flushed, and she stiffened as Elsa, cool and soft, reached across her to pick some food from the table. Elsa’s body pressed against Anna’s and it was almost a physical strain for Anna to keep from touching her sister.
Elsa took a bite of [insert ship food here]. ‘You do so much for me, Anna,’ Elsa said, leaning her head on Anna’s shoulder. ‘You do so much for everyone on the ship. I hope you know that.’
‘I...’ Anna didn’t know what to say, so captured by her desire was she that she couldn’t make her mouth form words.
‘You know I love you, right, Anna?’ Elsa said, breath cool against Anna’s flushed skin.
Anna nodded shakily. ‘I um...’ Anna had to lick her lips, had to clear her throat. ‘I love you too, Elsa.’
Elsa sighed, and took another bite, raining crumbs on Anna’s jacket. ‘Do you ever wonder what we might have been, Anna?’ she said. ‘If you hadn’t run of with whoever the fuck. If you were interested in women.’
Anna stopped dead. ‘What?’
‘Just… sorry,’ Elsa sat up and gave a sheepish grin. ‘I guess I’m still a bit out of it, but just… if you were interested in women, we could… you know… and it would… I just think it would be nice. It might help you relax, too.’
Anna stared for a number of seconds.
‘I’m sorry,’ Elsa said, going to stand. ‘I didn’t mean to make it weird. I know you’re not…’
Anna snaked an arm around Elsa’s waist before she could get up. ‘I am,’ she said. ‘I am interested in women. I’m…’ even after what Elsa had said it was still had to get the words out. ‘I am interested in you, even. I… I thought…’
Elsa grinned, kissed Anna on the cheek again and shoved the rest of the food into her mouth. ‘Astounding news,’ she said. ‘We begin at once.’
Elsa wiped her mouth on her sleeve and before Anna could think on the matter any further, Elsa was kissing her.
And, to Anna’s surprise, it really did help her relax.