Yarkovsky Effect

Canape 3: Yarkovsky Effect

This is how it goes: he’s happy. An oblivious moon circling her treacherous sphere, caught in the gravity of fiery red hair, flashing whiskey eyes, and pale satin skin, content to float along, tethered to her in ignorant bliss.

Until his revolutions bring him within range of the other heedless moons traversing her circumference. Then, he is a satellite, traveling through space, searching out a friendlier planet. Friend. That’s me. The invisible planet. The Ceres to her Jupiter. A dwarf planet inferior to she who has sixty-three moons. But a more hospitable clime, with my attention undivided. He idles in my benevolent ether, morose and beholden, vowing indignantly ‘never again.’ And for a time, I am happy. I am very nearly a real planet, with dark silky hair, ocean-deep eyes, and a button nose.

Then he wobbles out of alignment, once again entranced by her stronger pull, her conventional beauty. And I am alone. Not so much a planet as an asteroid, subject to her ever-changing whims. Bitter and discarded. The forgotten one.

It’s a vicious cycle, predictable in its regularity, maddening and endless in its repetition. And I am pathetically eager to be a planet again—to know the comfort of an orbiting moon.

His orbit.

This is how it is: I have observed certain phenomenon, gathered facts, analyzed my findings. And I've come to a conclusion. The trick is to sever the weight of her influence, to make a clean cut through the trappings of his affection.

It was a simple scheme to lure her here. I am the friend, the Ceres to her Jupiter. Her radiant charms make her recklessly blind and complacent. Of course, the social civilities must be observed. A chat with tea and cakes, followed by a Petrificus Totalus.

Now: I hold the delicate scalpel above her pale freckled skin and wonder just how deep his fascination goes.

A/N: “The Yarkovsky effect causes asteroids to change their orbits as a result of the way they absorb the sun's heat on one side and radiate it back later as they rotate around. This causes a slight imbalance that slowly, over time, alters the object's path. But the key thing is this: the effect acts much more strongly on the smallest objects, and only weakly on the larger ones.” – MIT press release

I owe a big hug and a kiss to Ilkee, who really helped me whip this piece into shape. You are the best, sweetie.

Written for the pphp_ldws community

Prompt: Beauty is only skin deep.