ORIGINS: In the original series the scales only got to be the props, but we thought that they deserved a little bit of limelight too. And even though snake scales are our favorites, it doesn’t hurt to share. Hence the inclusion of other senses of that word.
I don’t know what to tell you, nothing in this life is fair, so, you should have never expected my snake to play by the rules. Both of them wanted to buy my heart, but weighing gold against gold would have been too easy. I wanted to be wooed, I wanted someone that would go to the end of this world for me. And that is just what the half-snake did. She promised to scale the highest mountain and bring me a piece of its peak. Something covered in snow, that had been closer to the stars than I would ever be, and would hold on to those memories even after the snow melted away. But the snake stayed by my side. His scales became a trail of crumbs, leading me ever deeper into the darkness. I fell deeper than I had ever fallen before, and I finally understood my place in the world. My heart melted, and I felt warm, at home. And that is something that the cold memory of an out-of-reach star would never have made me feel.
The snake has won, but the mermaid doesn’t seem to have taken her loss to heart. Maybe her wish of becoming human is something she can easily live without. Maybe it was just a passing whim, and the next time the tide turns she will make a different wish. Maybe she will wish to become a bird and retain her songs. But I never wanted to be human. Mine wasn’t a whim. I wanted to have a good heart. Not this easily poisoned thing. Never this ugly thing that already has an excuse to not even try.
The dragon has a detailed map; it shows where his treasure is buried, but my snake doesn’t want to disturb the balance. The treasure is free. It’s right there, free for the taking. Someone else would accept that gift, but my snake is happy with who I am. With the truths I hold dear and the lies I have been told. My snake knows what knowledge can do. It knows that I can’t shed my skin and outrun the things that have already become a part of me. And it would rather stunt my growth than let me grow into the ugly thing that would wear my name after the child is gone.
I don’t know anything about music. I feel like a fish out of water, it’s a world where I don’t belong. I prefer the scales of my snake. Don’t they remind you of a pair of lungs? I feel like I can breathe when my snake is around. Like I belong. Here. Among all the other fallen stars, all the other wishes that never came true. Among all the other children who wasted their potential and now light up the sky that is the skin of this snake.