My Klance Bible💜

Shorecoming(Smut)

Keith spent the first day of the annual Shorecoming the same way he did every year: in a horrible mire of terror and boredom. His heart rate skyrocketed every time a human so much as wandered near where he'd camped out on the beach, only to fall back into the same tedium once they'd passed out of sight. He cursed colorfully and clenched his fists tighter around his pelt that he kept carefully folded in his arms. Periodically, he would unfold it and smooth it on the sand before becoming paranoid that someone would see it and know him for the selkie that he was so he'd hurriedly fold it up again. He hated this tradition.

He sighed in frustration. He couldn't even complain to Shiro about it because Shiro had offered, multiple times in fact, to let Keith stay with his shoal instead so he wouldn't have to go through the torment every year. Shiro assured him that most shoals were more forward thinking and didn't refer to their members as The Children of Arianrhod anymore or force their unmated selkies to undergo the ritual of Shorecoming. Stubbornly, Keith refused every year, saying that it wasn't such a big deal. So what if the Elder of Keith's shoal was totally conservative and old-fashioned? It wasn't like anything was going to happen during the three days he had to go ashore out of his seal skin anyway.

By the second day, Keith was a ball of anxiety and restless boredom. He dared not go any farther ashore, as some of his comrades had been known to prefer, for fear of some human noticing some strange habit or speech pattern of his. Technically, part of Shorecoming was to mingle with humans, teaching them about the ways and customs of selkies to keep the peace between the races, but even Elder Kolivan was not so antiquated as to believe there was much hope for that. Especially not with how humans continued to fish in greater amounts and in more areas, violating every treaty their ancestors ever made with the selkies. Fishing nets were why Shiro had gotten hurt before. Granted, that situation had ended with extremely apologetic fishermen and an effort by the fisherman to manufacture a prosthetic arm for Shiro. Even so, Keith knew that Shiro remained very hesitant to meet up with the fisherman every so often for maintenance and always brought either Keith or Allura with him. Just in case. Keith grimaced at how selfish humans were. Just another reason to avoid them at all costs.

Not to mention the fact that, even in belonging to a shoal, selkies spent the majority of their time only with their immediate family. Having none, Keith spent that time alone. It wasn't to say that he did bad at socializing; he just didn't like it. So, to fulfill his obligation to the Shorecoming tradition, Keith did go ashore for the required days, but no one ever said he had to force himself to actually interact with humans or venture any further than the sand of the beach. Sitting alone, huddled protectively around his pelt, for days on end, however, was not the most exciting of activities. Even watching the various humans who did frequent the beach lost its entertainment value. As his interest started to wane, Keith caught some odd movement out of the corner of his keen eyes.

Two humans had taken up residence in a spot near enough to his to cause some vague alarm. He clutched the pelt to his chest for a moment, before relaxing again. It was clear that the humans had no interest in the lone boy 10 feet away from them. They were taken up with other activities. The big male laid down some blankets and opened up a large shade circle, placing a big plastic basket nearby and keeping a close eye on it. Keith had investigated one of the plastic buckets in the past and found it to be full of ice. Presumably, humans kept things in there that they wanted to be cold, like food. The smaller human, whose gender Keith could not discern, busily played with some funny creatures. Quadrupedal and furry, one was a brownish red and the other a dark brown, almost black color. Their coats were glossy and shined brightly in the sun. Keith leaned closer, his interest piqued.

The quadrupeds wiggled happily as the small human threw something into the waves, the lighter animal leaping wildly into the air, failing to catch the thrown object. The object in question was a bright purple, flat, and circular so it spun for a decent distance. The darker animal raced out into the ocean, retrieving the purple disc, and returned the disc to the human, prancing around excitedly. Keith was entranced. What were those animals? Why had he never seen them before? They were obviously not native to that particular beach or any area Keith had explored before. They didn't look like amphibians or marine life that he'd ever seen, but they were unafraid of the water and the darker one had partially swum effortlessly to fetch the disc. Noting the details, Keith continued to watch in fascination as the human played with the creatures. He felt a sudden longing to pet the fur on display; could it be even softer than his own?