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I wrote this story based off the prompt “Set your story at a party, festival, or local celebration”. I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The party was in full swing. Kids were running around the boardwalk, ice cream cones in hand, dripping over to create sticky fingers. Everywhere you looked were classic carnival games, stocked with balloons and plushies of all shapes and sizes. The sun was shining, bright, and the water was a glistening shade of aquamarine. By all means, it was a perfect day. Ana really did feel content as she strolled through the streets of the idyllic town, clutching a plush of a bunny close to her chest, the other hand holding a camera. The streets were empty, everyone attending the summer festival. Albatross, the city which she had grown up in, faced a major spike in tourism every summer, visitors loving the sunshine-y energy of the town. Ana didn\u2019t mind. Sure, sometimes the tourists were annoying, but it meant more people to photograph, more experiences to capture.
She crouched down at the cove she\u2019d discovered a few yards away from the beach, setting the plush bunny down at the edge of the water cautiously. A few minutes passed, then a seal flopped up onto the shore, nudging the bunny curiously, to which Ana offered an enthusiastic nod. She turned away, and when she\u2019d turned back around, the seal had turned into a human- a human Ana had come to know and care for. Naida\u2019s smile was small, \u201cHey. Cute plush. You won it?\u201d
Ana nodded, \u201cMm. Summer festival. Did the hammer bell game-thingy. You like it?\u201d
Naida nodded. She was a selkie, her seal skin now wrapped protectively around her body. Ana studied her, then grinned, slipping a hand inside her bag to grab a big tub of cotton candy.
\u201cHere. You mentioned you wanted to try more sweets last time. I love cotton candy. It just\u2026melts in your mouth.\u201d
Naida furrowed her brow but obediently pulled a small chunk of the pink sweet away from the tub, touching it to the tip of her tongue carefully. Ana\u2019s camera was there to capture the moment her expression lit up, delighted at the rush of sugar. Naida glanced at Ana, eyes sparkling. \u201cIt\u2019s\u2026wow.\u201d
Ana grinned, dimples flashing, \u201cGood, right? You can get some year-round, but I think it\u2019s the best during summer. It\u2019s like\u2026infused with joy. Or something.\u201d
A distant shout rang out, in the direction of the cove. Ana glanced out, \u201cShoot. I should go. Take care. I\u2019ll\u2026I\u2019ll let you know when I can meet again, ok? Take the plush. Think of it as\u2026a replacement me.\u201d Her smile was easy, not betraying the upset roiling underneath. Naida nodded, slipping the seal-skin back on, diving into the waters below. Ana resurfaced, cotton candy back in the bag, a sunny smile on her face, just a girl who was exploring.
But later, around the bonfire, Ana couldn\u2019t help but smile as she admired the photo she\u2019d taken- of Naida, her eyes bright, her cheeks flushed, the cotton candy melting into sugar. She\u2019d see the selkie again soon. It wasn\u2019t goodbye, it never was.
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I wrote this story based off the prompt “Set your story at a party, festival, or local celebration”. I hope you enjoy it! The party was in full swing. Kids were running around the boardwalk, ice cream cones in hand, dripping over to create sticky fingers. Everywhere you looked were classic carnival games, stocked with … Continue reading “Selkies and Summer”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[713,42,38,172,311,154,1,384,93],"tags":[11,260,420,235,90],"class_list":["post-2729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-characters","category-events","category-hobbies","category-imaginative","category-reading-hobbies","category-reading","category-uncategorized","category-writing-hobbies","category-writing","tag-mint-girl","tag-mint-girl-writes","tag-mythology","tag-short-story","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2729"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2737,"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2729\/revisions\/2737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourowncorner.com\/themintgirl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}