antique-erotic:

Man posed on rocks, nude, playing pipes (Pan) – a bit of an unwieldy title, it must be said! An unusual image for two reasons – firstly, as cannot have escaped your notice, it has the distinctive colouration of the Cyanotype printing process, most usually seen in architectural blueprints. Secondly, what makes it more of a rarity, is that the picture was taken by a female photographer – Frances ‘Fannie’ Benjamin Johnston – between 1885 and 1890, when very few ladies were working in this field.

Elias’s hands shook as he tried to remember the notes. 

There were six of them, in succession, that were said to bring your heart’s desire to you if done correctly and entirely in the nude by a large body of water. 

Gabriel had laughed at him when he bought the flute from the woman in the shop, rolled his eyes and said it was quite the waste of money. 

He was determined to prove him wrong. 

Elias began to play and the notes sounded flat, tears in his eyes as he continued to the end.

He’d done it all wrong. 

The flute fell to the rocks below him as he stood, legs shaking as his heart felt so heavy Elias thought perhaps he’d drown. 

He dove into the water with tears in his eyes, feeling foolish, and began to swim until his arms ached. 

When he looked up and saw that land was so very far away he panicked. 

How would he get to shore? 

Elias saw nothing and no one in the distance, terrified as he started to cry. 

Which was when something grabbed his ankle under the waves. 

He screamed, desperate to get away, but the monster beneath him grabbed harder trying to pull him down. 

“HELP!” he cried, swimming erratically. 

When he was pulled hard and under the waves he shouted, catching water in his lungs. The monster who grabbed bit at his neck and he was turned with such strength there was no question. 

He was going to die. 

His surprise at the sight of his attacker was genuine, the fair smiling face and beautiful blue eyes unlike any monster he’d ever seen. 

The creature kissed him and he sighed into the touch, feeling as if he was forever changed. 

Which, when he looked at his legs and saw they were fast becoming scaled, was quite true. 

The creature, a mermaid Elias was sure, touched his cheek and smiled again. 

“Who are you?,” Elias asked, and his voice echoed all around him. 

“Yours,” the creature said, “Welcome home.”