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English
Series:
Part 2 of swans sing to argent stars , Part 7 of MorimensWrite 2026
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Morimens Write 2026
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Published:
2026-06-08
Words:
332
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
2
Kudos:
5
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29

spiral down

Summary:

Nautila forgets, often. Vortice gives her time to gather herself.

For morimenswrite 2026 day 7, spiral

Notes:

i have lots of thoughts about nautila as someone with abysmal memory who forgets things often. i also am Very Tired of people just assuming how i want to be told stuff or how my memory should be dealt with. projecting a little bit of that onto vortice as you do.

anyways i am determined to make vortila a canonical ao3 tag. takes you hand. let's write vortice/nautila together

(note: this goes in my argent stars series bc it Does take place pre-sylvester appearing at mythag, but this IS important to vortice and nautila's dynamic and thus is important to that au. as much as anything can be important to any au. yknow how it is)

Work Text:

Vortice watches the water spiral down the drain. Nautila watches the water spiral. Sitting on the shower floor, wet tile beneath her skin, Vortice holds Nautila closely. Gently. (She doesn't want to break Nautila. Doesn't want to hurt her. Only wants to keep Nautila safe.)

 

The water is hot. The shower is running. Nautila sits, arms wrapped around her knees, silent and still, skin pressed against Vortice's own skin. Vortice doesn't try to stir her — only holds her close, holds her gentle. The hot water washes away memories of cold ocean water, of maelstroms, of salt in the lungs and drowning drowning drowning—

 

Nautila does this, sometimes. Forgets so much that she goes still like a statue, like she's dead.

 

Vortice just holds her, in those times. Like the most precious of seashells, fragile and easily broken. Gentle, gentle, close and safe.

 

(Vortice snaps at anyone who gets too close when Nautila is like this. Go away, don't bother, Vortice is keeping Nautila safe and no one else knows to take care of her best. Vortice died for Nautila. Vortice knows Nautila. Vortice and Nautila's lives and deaths spiral around each other — even if they mean well they still hurt Nautila when they act like reminding her of stuff is better. Vortice knows that Nautila needs her time. Nobody else gets it though. So Vortice snaps at them, threatens to bite. Even muzzled, orcas are still orcas and Vortice can still hurt them if they're trying to hurt Nautila.)

 

Nautila shifts, slightly. Doesn't move other than that though. Vortice starts humming. Maybe a song will be nice for Nautila to listen to, while she's forgetting. Nautila sang pretty songs to Vortice — Vortice can't sing good, but she can hum good.

 

Vortice lets the water run. Lets Nautila take her time to remember again. (They'll just sit here for a while. Just a while. So, for now—)

 

Nautila watches the water spiral down the drain. Vortice watches the water spiral down the drain.