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Going to the beach would not have been Yura’s first pick of possible vacation spots. In fact he would probably avoid most places with large bodies of water, pool or otherwise. It was not because he was put off by having to wear a swim suit, being the type of person who would take any kind of excuse to be half naked if he could. No, the problem was, he couldn’t swim.
Granted Lilya was aware of this, and brought them to a beach with constant reminders not to go in the water. Signs every eight meters placed to say: DANGER! Beware of Tides, Rip Currents, and Marine Life!
Yura had taken that last one to mean sharks, but the unfortunate reality was frequent jellyfish blooms. At least Anya had fun poking at the dead globby remains of those that washed up on the shore with a stick she found. When not poking them, it was either a walking stick, or a ‘make Yura shut up’ stick. It didn’t take long for Lilya to insist she drop it.
So what is there to do on a beach where one cannot swim, or enter the water for that matter? Two-ish things: walk the coastline, or set up an area to sit at— be it to watch the waves or build sand castles. Having little interest in getting sunburnt from just sitting around all day, he chose the former option.
The crags and cliff faces were interesting enough… oh who was he kidding, he was bored out of his mind. Yes the location was pretty, but what was there to really do? Tide pool?
Actually looking for crabs didn’t sound so bad. It didn’t take long to find some— two actually, which he initially assumed were making out crab style only to realize one was dead and the other hungry. Such is the beauty of nature.
Rather than a deterrent, this ended up forming Yura’s motivation to climb the crags and look for puddles with weird animals in them. He didn’t expect anything to beat random crab cannibalism, but he was able to find sea cucumbers and anemone (and of course, more dead jellies). Granted they were far less interesting than their crustacean neighbors.
He hadn’t quite realized how far he was from shore until looking back, taking notice of the distance. Standing on a single rock, quickly becoming an isolated mini-island from rushing water, all his wandering meant “land” was farther than he thought. To the other side of him, an almost endless expanse of water.
It was in his best interest to get to safety now, yet that view was tantalizing. He could almost hear his name being called by it— no that was his mom, who looked horrified as she waved his attention.
Satisfied with today, he took a soggy step to his left before finding footing on the drier crags to make his way back to her.
That is until he froze, at the sight of a nearby pool that left him speechless.
Floating near the top of the water, at first glance was a corpse at peace, at second was dreamer who’s chest rose and fell into the water as bubbles exited the slits in his neck. From head to torso, was a teen who looked no older than Yura, and beyond was the tail of a fish that dipped deep into a dark abyss.
“Yuri, get back here—“ Lilya continued to call from the beach, and though Yura heard her, he couldn’t bother to react.
Because what kind of luck would a loser like him have of finding a mermaid? Mer-man? Mermaid sounded better, even if it’s more feminine.
Water rushed at his feet, with enough force to knock him over entirely — Lilya had shrieked at the sight of it, mainly because he was no longer visible from where she stood — and ended up submerged in the same pool as the stranger. Awoken with a start, the strong tail flailed about before he had oriented himself in the water to look Yura in the eye. What a chilling stare from such a beautiful face, it made Yura ponder if turning into fish food was really that bad if something so stunning could eat him.
Not that he could focus on such a thing for long, what with his body trying and failing to tread enough water to keep buoyancy– perhaps it would have been more effective if he knew to take his shoes off. As far as he was aware, this was probably the end.
Those eyes… the more he stared, the less they looked like the eyes of a killer and more so tired. Frustrated. Just a tad bewildered. But most importantly, filled with pity. As if Yura was the most pathetic display this being had ever seen.
Of course that was the case…
When finally coming to, Yura’s vision snapped from a black void to the twilight sky above him, coughing furiously. Someone’s arm urged him to sit up, spitting out seawater and wheezing for air.
The second thing he was able to make out was his mother’s worried voice, asking if he was okay. Unable to answer, a stranger did so for him.
“He should be fine, but cold. I can get a blanket from storage.”
Turning his attention to the voice, Yura started coughing again when he saw that merman from before— but also not? A human, in the uniform of the coast guard, who looked completely drenched. This stranger stood up, lending out a hand to help Yura do the same.
Once pulled upright, his mother asked if he could walk, and he tried to say he was fine. Not that she believed that at all. Didn’t take much of an imagination to think he looked like a total mess. However he followed the stranger anyway.
“Hey,” the lifeguard ordered his attention, “you see that?”
Looking up, Yura lazily answered “The moon?”
“Don’t go out on the rocks past… I’d say about 4pm to stay safe? If you see that clearly.”
“Uh huh,” It’s not that Yura didn’t understand what the guy meant, he knew some of the basics of oceanography from his physics class, but that he wasn’t entirely paying attention to the conversation.
Because he was far more concerned about the fact he was almost certain he’d seen a merman, and was now talking with some kind of human twin?
At the storage facility for the coast guard’s door, a blanket was thrown at Yura’s face.
“I don’t care if you decide to keep that thing— just get going and don’t do anymore stupid shit”
While still holding onto so many questions, Lilya apologized profusely before going separate ways.
“Anya’s waiting in the car… you know, she was worried too”
“Uh huh”
“Do you really not have anything to say for yourself?” Lilya asked more aggressively than she normally would have, clearly still on edge from nearly losing her son.
“Would you believe me if I saw a mermaid?”
Her face first scrunched up thinking this was some kind of unfunny joke, before relaxing when she saw how serious he looked about that statement. “I guess I can believe that you thought you saw one, the brain does strange things in near death scenarios”
Though he wanted to, Yura knew there was no reason to argue with her over this. It did sound insane, and perhaps he was lucky she was giving him at least this much grace after turning the conversation away from himself and to mythical creatures.
“Maybe…” he wondered for a moment, before deciding not to finish that thought.