Chapter Text
"Hmmmhmm...Hmmm, hmm, hmmm..."
Two gentle knocks came from outside of the large clamshell in the middle of the bedroom.
"Oh, Boo-Bear! Wake up!"
"Uuugh...No..." "Breakfast is ready! Please?"
The shell opened, and Boober rubbed his eyes, looking up at his sister. "There's my darling!" "...I'm so tired." "I know you are, dear. Now get up, come eat!"
Mokey swam out of the room, and Boober sluggishly followed, sitting down at the breakfast table. Mokey had prepared bowls of fruit, including Latok, Boober's favorite.
"Eat up, dear! We've got errands to run today!" "We? Can't I stay home? I hate going into the kingdom, everyone is scared of me..." "Scared of you? Boober, that's nonsense!" "Mokey, you've seen the way they look at me. It's better if I stay in here." "Oh, my poor baby...But please? I want to spend the day with you. And if anybody talks bad about you...Well, I'll take care of them! Nobody bullies my Boo-Bear!" "Mokey, I'm not a baby." "You're my baby! Now finish up, and let's get moving!"
Boober sighed, quickly finishing his breakfast and swimming away to grab his scarf, a gift from their mother before she passed.
"Look at you! Cute as always, hm?" "Mokey, geez...C-Can we just get a move on? I want to get this over with..." "Oh, darling...I promise we'll have a fun day out!" "Doubt it..."
The siblings opened the door and swam out towards the kingdom square, where all the citizens did their shopping. As they swam around, Boober clung to Mokey's side, taking notice of every dirty look another person gave him. He undid his scarf and wrapped in around his head, trying to hide his esca, but he couldn't hide his spikes or fangs.
People still stared at him, though. He didn't look like other merggles. He didn't have the pretty, shimmery scales, or the elegant figure, or the dreamy eyes. He had a fleshy tail and eyes that glowed as bright as the esca on his head. And he was quite chubby, which often caught peoples attention. People often laughed at him, claiming he didn't even look like a merggle. He was often called terrible names, and the royal guards often threatened him with violence and jail time, often when he was doing nothing at all.
Mokey wasn't treated much better, but at least she looked the part. But as a siren, people were scared of her, often accusing her of being a cannibal or a murderer. She didn't exactly like the comments, but she had learned to tune them out.
The rest of the kingdom didn't like them, but there wasn't much the siblings could do, considering there was nowhere else to go. No other kingdoms for miles, and an ocean filled with dangerous creatures. As long as they behaved, and paid their taxes, they were permitted to stay. Yes, even merggles have taxes. The world is fucked.
After they entered a entered a grocery store, Boober sighed, his anxiety calming once he could no longer feel dozens of eyes looking him up and down. He stayed quiet, trying to catch his breath until Mokey's voice snapped him out of it.
"Boober, would you like some salmon flakes?" "S-Sure...A-And get some nori, I-I want to make sushi." "I will!" "Thanks...Y-You know, I-I-I was looking through some old recipe scrolls, a-a-and I found this nice recipe for-!"
"Hey! Freak!"
"Ah!"
Boober yelped as an elbow slammed into his back. "O-Ow..." "Excuse me!" Mokey quickly turn around, but the perpetrator was already gone.
"Oh dear...Are you ok?" "I-I'm fine...t-that just really hurt..." "I'm sure it did. I promise we'll be out of here soon, ok?" "Ok...I-I told you I should have stayed home, though..." "I'm sorry, dear. But really, all I wanted was to spend time with you." "I-I know...I love you." "I love you too! Come on, let's keep going."
The siblings kept going, stopping in a clothing store. Boober dolefully gazed at the tail covers, but Mokey quickly dragged him away.
"You could't possibly cover up your tail, my dear!" "...Maybe people would stop treating me like a freak, if I did." "But then you wouldn't be you anymore. And you're perfect just the way you are." "Maybe to you..." "Everyone who doesn't think that isn't worth your time. Ok? Now let's keep looking." "...ok."
As they kept looking, Mokey spotted something that caught her eyes. "Oh, Boo-Bear! Isn't this cute?" She held a cute top made of koi scales to Boober's chest. "U-Uh...su-sure?" "And it's your size!" "I doubt that. Nothing here is ever my size." "No, really! This is your size! And you'd look so pretty!" "You think so?" "Of course! Here, try it on!"
Boober slipped the top on, and looked into the nearby mirror.
"I..." "What do you think?" "I-I like it, but..." "But?" "A-Aren't Koi scales expensive? How much is this?" "Doesn't matter. Do you want it?" "I-I...Yes." "Then I'll get it for you! Put it in the basket, let me know if you see anything else you like!"
The siblings spent the entire day out shopping, before returning home in the later afternoon.
But as Boober went to unpack the grocries, he noticed his sister longfully gazing out the window to the house.
"Mokey?" "Hm? Oh, Sorry." "What are you doing?" "Just...thinking. I had such a fun day today, but...Do you ever feel like we're living in a cycle? Where every day in the same?" "Yes. I love it." "I know you do, but...I want something more." "More? Mokey, we live in the most prosperous kingdom in the entire ocean, what more could you possibly want?"
As Mokey opened her mouth to speak. large, rectangular shadow passed above. A vessel for the Silly Creatures that lived above. Strange beings, said to have four arms and no tail, sharp teeth and a taste for flesh. Parents told stories to their fry of the dangers of being seen, and that it would result in them being harpooned and cooked for dinner. If any merggles were seen near the surface, they would be punished. Fined, aressested...or even exiled. Only a fool would even think about such a thing.
Mokey gazed up at it, a sparkle of longing in her eyes.
"I want to see the surface."
"The surface!?" Boober yelled, horrified. "What could possibly be on the surface!? T-The Silly Creatures want to kill, and hunt and eat us!" "Oh, those are just fairytales! I'm just so curious about them...Won't you come with me and see? We'll sneak out, nobody will see us! Don't you want to see what they're like? I've heard they're very intelligent and brave creatures...Maybe even smarter than us."
~~~~~~~~~
"Is a whale a fish?" "What?" "Are whales fish?" "No, whales are not fish. Whales are mammals." "Wait, they are?" "Yes." "I thought they laid eggs." "Red, when the hell have you ever heard of whale eggs?" "I don't know, Gobo! Where have you ever heard of Gryphon's existing in real life!" "Oi, you promised you wouldn't bring that up anymore!"
Red smacked her friend in the face and turned back to face the ocean, where Gobo's brother, Wembley was busy climbing out of the water with his board.
"Hey! Hey, guys! D-Did you guys see the wave I hit!? I-It was awesome! B-but it was also really scary! But I went flying!" "Sorry, bud, I didn't see. Turns out, Red thinks whales lay eggs." "Wait, whales don't lay eggs?"
There was silence for a moment.
"Anyway," Gobo stood up and grabbed his board, hoping to change the subject. "It's my turn. See ya!"
He ran towards the water, and Wembley sat down on the beach blanket. "Did you see any of my wave, Red?" "I saw a bit. You looked cool as hell out there." "R-Really? You think I-I'm cool?" "Yeah, you're cool, give yourself some credit!"
Wembley smiled, and tucked some hair behind his ear. "T-Thanks...I-I guess I've just been worried about people thinking I'm lame..." "Nah. I mean, if you're lame, I'm lame. And I know for a fact I'm not lame." "No way! Y-You're the coolest person I've ever met! N-Next to Gobo, of course!" "Yeah, yeah...So, how did your finals go? I never asked. "...Fine. Scared to look at my grades, but I think I did...Ok." "You probably did great! I know I failed at least one." "That's not good!" "Only if you care. I know I don't."
Red laid back on the blanket, staring up at the morning sun. "But I'm happy to be free for the summer...until I have to go back to work. That'll suck." "Well, let's appriciate the freedom we have for now! Maybe we can finally go visit that mermaid exhibit at the mueseum!" "You wanna go see that? I think it's just supposed to be a stupid themed thing for kids." "No! G-Gobo said it was really cool!" "He works there, he needs to sell tickets." "W-Well, I still want to go! Mermaids are cool!" "I guess...I dunno, I've never been into fantasty shit like that."
~~~
"Wow...Look at them..."
Mokey dreamily gazed at the Silly Creatures on the beach, her eyes landing on the woman with puffy red pigtails and a bright red swim top. Other merggle women could never compare to beauty like that. No amount of gold, or pearls or shimmering scales could compare to the silly creature just a few fins away from her.
"Mmh, look at her...Boo-Bear?" She looked down at her brother, who was cowering behind the rock. "Boo-Bear, you're not even looking!"
"I-I'm scared." "There's nothing to be scared of! They're not even looking!" "I-I can't..." "They hardly look different from us! And some of them are beautiful...Come up here!"
With trembling hands, Boober pulled himself up on the rock, and looked towards the silly creatures. Almost instantly, his eyes landed on the blonde silly creature sitting next to the redhead. He was just gorgeous.
"A-Ah!" His esca began to glow bright like a flame, and his cheeks filled with colour upon seeing him. "G-Goodness, you were right...They're beautiful."
Mokey hummed in response, her tail softly flicking water around. The Silly Creature woman streched, and Mokey just swooned, giggling like a madwoman. Boober just silently stared at the blonde, eyes fixed on his torso.
But as they kept watching, the Silly creatures soon took notice that somebody was watching them.
"Who the hell is that?"
As soon as the woman spoke, they siblings both squeaked and dove back into the water, swimming as far as they could get before having to stop and breathe. "O-Oh cod..." Boober clutched his chest. "That was terrible! They almost saw us! What if they come after us!? What if they chop us up and cook us!? ...ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!?
Mokey was in fact, not listening. "Wasn't she beautiful? Ooh, that hair...that face!" "T-Those eyes..." "YES! Weren't they gorgeous!?" "Yes...I can't believe I'm admitting that. But that blonde..." "W-When was the last time you felt this way!?" "Never." "Exactly! Oh, but we can't tell anybody about this! You know how everyone in the kindgom feels about the silly creatures..." "I do know. B-But what do we do now? They almost saw us, we can't be reckless about this." "Can't be reckless about what?"
Boober blushed and began to wring his hands together. "W-W-Well...we're going back up there, aren't we?"
~~~~~
"Who the hell is that?" "Who's what?" Wembley looked over towards the rock, but there was nothing there. "I thought I saw a chick starin' at us." Red mumbled, flicking sand off of the blanket as Gobo approched, picking seaweed out of his hair.
"Hey. Did you see me out there?" "You bet I did! You looked so cool!" "You looked like an idiot."
Gobo kicked sand at Red, and she snarled at him.
"Whatever...Hey, let's get outta here, eh? I gotta get some work done at home, and I wanna start gettin' dinner ready." "Aww...But I wanna stay! Gobo, can I please stay? I-I'll be home before dinner, I promise!" "You're sure?" "Please? I w-wanna look for shells and beach glass!" "Well, alright...But keep that promise, ok? I don't want my baby brother getting hurt. Ok?" "Ok!"
Wembley waved as Red and Gobo walked away with the beach stuff, and he ran towards to shore to begin looking for treasures.
Behind the same rock as before, Boober was staring, face flushed the same colour as his hair. The silly creature skipped along the shore, filling the chest pocket of his shirt with seashells. Mokey leaned against the rock, huffy that the woman she had been admiring had gone. But she stayed behind, to keep her brother safe. "What's he doing, Boo-Bear?" "J-Just picking up shells...He likes shells, like me." "Aw, how cute!"
"Hm?"
"Shh!"
The silly creature had overheard them, and was beginning to walk towards the rock. Boober held a finger to his lips, as the siblings slowly slipped into the water to avoid making splashes.
"Hello?" Wembley peeked over the side of the rock, looking into the perfectly clear water, and spotting a person with bright red hair under the surface.
He hummed, and placed one of the larger shells he had picked up on the top of the rock, and walked away to go do something else. Boober slowly rose back up to the surface, and grabbed the tiny scallop. Mokey held her brother's shoulders and gasped. "He left you a gift! Do you think that it's somehting silly creatures do?" "...I-I dunno...But...G-Give me a second."
Boober tucked the shell into his scarf, and dove towards the ocean floor, picking up a large conch shell, swimming back up to the surface. "H-How do I get his attention?" "Attention?" "I want to g-g-give something back...What do I do?" "...Throw a rock!" "You think so?" "Yes!"
Humming and picking up a small pebble, Boober threw the rock as hard as he could at the silly creature, narrowly missing his head.
"W-What the hell!?"
Wembley quickly turned around, and noticed the large conch sitting on top of the rock, where the smaller shell had been. Slowly and cacuiously, he walked over and picked it up. Nothing living inside, it was in perfect condition. He peeked over the side of the rock again, but there was nobody there.
It was strange, but who was crazy enough to say no to a perfect conch? With a big smile on his face, Wembley turned around and began to walk home.
Back under the water, Boober was paralyzed with fear, as his sister swirled around him. "Oh, my little starfish! I'm so proud of you!" "I-I-I...I'm...oh goodness, what have I done!? He got so close! I-I saw his face!" "Aaaand~?" "H-He's so handsome..." "Hehe! I'm so jealous! I wish that redhead could have stayed...She was rather lovely." "M-Maybe you'll see her tomorrow...?" "Tomorrow! Yes, what a wonderful idea! But let's go home, ok? We shouldn't be up here much longer...can't risk being spotted." "O-Of course...let's go."
The siblings swam home, still giggling to each other about how excited they were about these new, fluttery feelings.
~~~
"Hey Wemb! Did you find anything good?"
Silently, Wembley placed the massive conch on the kitchen table.
"Holy shit." Red poked at it. "Where'd you get that thing?"
"...I think I'm being haunted by the ocean?"