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“We should all go to the beach!”
Green announced to Yellow and Second, sliding his phone over to the two. Earlier that day, Green had suddenly invited them to a cafe to talk about something “extremely important.”
Second glanced down at the phone, displayed on it was a brightly colored poster with the title being “Music For All To Enjoy!” Along with the name Mermaid's Tale right below the title.
“A local band is performing at Sapphire Bay, I thought it would be a good way for all of us to hang out.” Green explains, then adds while jabbing a finger at them. “Plus you both need to get outside more.”
“It sounds fun, I wouldn't mind going.” Yellow comments, ignoring Green's remark. Second gives a quiet nod, agreeing with Yellow. Though… Green wasn't exactly wrong (unfortunately). Yellow has been working a lot more as of late and Second hasn't had the energy to drag himself out of bed other than for work and other essentials you need for basic living. Maybe this would be good for him.
Yellow pauses, then pushes her glasses up as she stares more intently at the digital poster, Second was going to ask why, when she finally spoke. “Green, this says the event is tomorrow.”
“What?” Green’s eyes widened, snatching his phone back. He stared at the poster for a concerning amount of time then slowly put the phone back down. “I thought it was next week…” Green mumbled, defeated.
“I'm sure we can still go, it's not like we're planning to go far. After all, we all live by the beach.” Second reassured Green, patting his shoulder. “ I'm sure it won't be that big of a challenge.”
Yellow nods, “It won't be too difficult, like Sec said, we all live by the beach— though…” Her eyes darted behind them. “We should… order something— the lady at the counter has been giving us a nasty look.” Yellow whispers the last part, her eyes glancing towards the counter and lone behold, a woman is giving them a not so subtle ‘Are you going to buy something?’ glare.
Green was the first to get up from his seat. “I'll pay,” He smiled, putting his phone back into his pocket. “What do you guys want?”
“Latte.” Second replied.
“Do they have boba here?” Yellow asks, attempting to see the menu. Not even Second can see the menu from where they're sitting, there is no way Yellow can.
Green stifles a laugh at the sight. “Stop straining your neck, it might get stuck like that.”
“Oh quiet.” Yellow laughs, playfully smacking his shoulder.
“Ow!” Green pouts. “How rude of you, and just when I was going to ask you to order with me since you can't seem to decide.” He crosses his arms. Yellow rolls her eyes, before she gets up from her seat and begins to walk towards the counter. Green soon walks up beside her, leaving Second to his thoughts.
Second stares out the window, from where he was sitting he had a view of the sidewalk, only a tree on the left was blocking his view. The streets were more crowded than usual which didn't surprise him after all, it was summertime and they live right by a beach… though they've been getting more visitors than usual (seeing how he can't even see across the street with how many people are walking by).
According to Yellow, the increase in tourists were here for their beach, Sapphire Bay. Apparently people have been saying mystical creatures like mermaids and sirens have been spotted which– in Seconds opinion– is an extremely foolish reason to come to this city, but people will believe anything nowadays.
His thoughts quickly came to stop as a familiar hand swiftly slid an off-white coffee cup in front of him. “One latte just for you. careful it's hot!” Green grins, Second shouldn't be surprised Green's so good at this confident sounding voice, he is a bartender.
“Sorry we took so long, Green couldn't decide if he wanted an espresso or a cappuccino.” Yellow deadpans, sitting down with her bubble tea. “That lady looked as if she were going to blow a fuse with how indecisive you are, Green.” Green can only laugh sheepishly.
“What'd you end up getting?” Second questions Green, picking up his latte and taking a sip.
“Mocha.”
Second pauses, opens his mouth— then closes it. He should have guessed Green wouldn't have picked either option. Second cleared his throat. “Anyways… we should attempt to plan for tomorrow.” The other two look to Second and silently agree.
Yellow grabs her journal (along with a few pens) and tears a piece of paper from it. “It should be fairly easy since we're just going to the beach.” She hands out the pens whilst explaining.
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"Easy" my ass, Second thought furiously an hour and a half later they finally have a plan that wasn't about to fall apart. Green suggested they go to a restaurant to eat around 7pm (The event starts at 8pm) since they all won't be able to eat a proper meal at the beach. They'll also be taking Yellow's car since Green’s getting his car repaired which wouldn't be done until the day of, at 8:30pm and Second's brother– Chosen– is borrowing his car for the weekend. Unfortunately, Yellow's boss had called halfway through, and that took a good 15 minutes out of their time.
The paper was filled– back and front– with notes, doodles, and scribbled out lines that used to represent words. “I'll come to get you both around a quarter to seven-”
“Just say 7:45.” Green interrupted, sluggishly placing a hand on his cheek.
“Fine, I'll come grab you two around 7:45.” Yellow corrected herself.
“Sounds like a plan” Second stretched, his back cracking in the process. He stands up and pushes in his chair. “I’m just about ready to leave, if I sit in that chair any longer I might as well become a part of it.”
The comment earns a laugh from Green “Agreed, my back is killing me.” Green stands up and Yellow soon follows.
“I'll drive you all back home.” Yellow insisted, Second wouldn't turn down a free ride.
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“Bye Sec! See you tomorrow!” Yellow shouts as Second walks towards his apartment.
“See ya Sec!” Green shouts after her, waving to him from the passenger seat, Second turns around and waves to the both of them before turning back around. The sound of tires getting further away tells him they already began to drive away.
Second climbed up the stairs, he would have taken the elevator but at the moment it's out of order. It broke down the other day since a group of teenagers wanted to figure out what happened when you pressed all the buttons. The 2nd elevator is on the other side of the building and getting there takes as much time as climbing up 5 flights of stairs.
Eventually Second gets to his apartment (520), fumbles with his key card for a moment then opens the door. He almost immediately shuts the door behind, flops onto the couch, and unintentionally turns on the TV which Second doesn't bother to turn off. The TV is playing some sort of animal documentary, Chosen would probably like watching this. He's into animals– marine animals to be exact.
He watches the documentary, not exactly keeping track of time (it's weird how jellyfish don't have brains). In a string of ads, the TV began to play a recognizable advertisement– specifically an advertisement for a company named SeaCo (which was an extremely low effort name if you ask Second). It's one of the biggest companies here in this city. Then he saw Chosen make an appearance on the screen.
“Right…” He mumbled his realization aloud, both Chosen and Yellow work at SeaCo. Yellow works as a marine data engineer but apparently Chosen can't share his role publicly but he did study marine life during university so there's that.
“SeaCo, their future is in our hands!” The television plays, signaling the end of the SeaCo ad and the continuation of the documentary playing before. Their slogan always gave Second the creeps for some reason, this might just be him overthinking it but he finds it… weird. Like when you don't like a show but have no reason to dislike it.
Or maybe he should go to bed and stop thinking about SeaCo.
Second sighs and drags himself off the couch, a lot more time has passed than he had realized. Lazily, he turned off the TV and began his journey towards his room. Once there he promptly passes out as soon as his head hits the pillow.
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By the time Second wakes up it's early in the afternoon and he would have slept in more if he hadn't remembered he has somewhere to be later today. Reluctantly he forces himself off his bed and into the bedroom to brush his teeth and attempt to tame his bed head. After 20 minutes he comes out of the bathroom with something acceptable and it'll probably get better as the day goes on, the next task was clothes.
Without much hesitation, Second puts on his signature outfit (at least that's what Green says) which is an orange and white letterman's jacket with a black shirt to go under, grey pants, and orange shoes. He proceeds to make himself some food and finds a spot on the couch and sits, finding a random video on YouTube to watch.
Hours seem to pass much quicker if you sit on your couch for long enough since a few hours later he gets a text from Yellow which reads a simple “I'm here Sec.” Which prompts him to get up, place the long empty plate into the sink (he'll deal with that when he gets back home), and unlock his door. He then texted back,
“coming.”
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7:56 p.m.
“We gotta go back there sometime!” Beamed Green, turning down the music currently playing. They had just gotten back from dinner..? Second wasn't too sure, he ate when he felt like it when Chosen or his friends weren't visiting.
“Agreed.” Yellow nodded then adjusted her glasses. “By the way, we should be at the beach in…” She checked her GPS, tapping her phone a few times before directing her focus back to the road and finishing her sentence. “...3 minutes.”
Surprisingly they manage to find a parking space without looping around the parking lot more than 3 times and they all successfully get out of the car and begin one of the most tedious tasks, finding a spot to sit. Thankfully for them, not a lot of people showed up so finding a good spot isn't too difficult. A few minutes later the show begins.
The band– Mermaid's Tale– is on a large stage, behind them the most prominent decoration was two large shimmering mermaid tails behind the band. Personally, Second quite enjoyed their music, definitely a form of alternative rock but Second wasn't complaining much— other than how loud it was. Seriously how have they been able to play this loud without getting a single noise complaint.
After the 30 minute mark the band takes its first break. “You guys wanna go get food from one of the food trucks?” Green asks, fiddling with something in his pocket– most likely his wallet.
“I might take a walk.” Second mumbled, rubbing his neck.
“All good dude.” Green flashed him a grin. “We'll text you a few minutes before the show starts again!” He adds, getting up from his position.
“See you in a bit Sec.” Yellow spoke as she got up before getting up and jogging towards Green, slowly down to match his walking pace as they both headed off in the direction of the bustling trucks.
Second stands up, stretching his limps. He was hoping Yellow and Green would buy him something, he'd forgotten to ask before they left. Second starts to walk towards the quieter part of the beach. Loud noises gave him a bit of a headache, his friends know that so that's probably why they didn't ask when he'd asked to leave for a bit.
There was a certain cliff Second was looking for. He'd found it by accident back in high school when trying to find a quiet area to sit and disconnect from the world. The reason why no one else has found it is because it's surrounded by jagged rocks and when the tides high, water crashes into the rocks.
But… Second managed to find a secret entrance, (which he's extremely proud of finding) where you can drop down from and into a large cave underneath. But there is another— more prominent— entrance but you have to go through chin high waters plus the rough waters slam you into the rock walls (though the reason no one has found this yet is, most likely, because a small walks away is another cave which is actually a tourist attraction).
Second climbs onto the slick rocks, ensuring he doesn't slip—
“Ow—!”
Seconds whole body tenses up, someone's here? He thought to himself. Of course he knew someone was going to find this at some point but that doesn't stop him from being in shock. Though the person did sound like they were in pain, it wouldn't hurt to check on them. Thankfully there is still some sunlight out so he decided to go for it, what’s the worst that could happen? Second peeks into the cave to see someone with bright red hair and the second thing he spots is a fish tail.
What the fuck is that.
Without much hesitation, Second ducked his back down. Is he hallucinating? Is he still asleep (it sure did feel like he was)? He pinched himself, definitely not asleep. Second takes another peek at the red head, he doesn't know what he expects, maybe hoping that he isn't staring at a half fish half humanoid.
Upon closer inspection Seconds fears are proven correct, look— Second doesn't have the best vision, (blame late night cramping back in high school) but he can distantly see the fine line between human and fish on this guy. Along with… a bright white circular device on the humanoids tail, which seemed to be causing the most pain.
Wait… was Second really considering helping this creature!?
Well it would be similar to how Chosen would help different types of marine animals– but this is different! This thing might eat him! But… he does have a weapon but what good will it do!? However, despite his inner conflicts he found himself beginning to slip into the hidden opening provided by the cliff and slid down into the sea cave. The creature was a good few feet away from him and the shadows helped a bit with coverage.
In spite of the confusing situation, the cave was stunning, especially at this time of day. The cave had one large entrance which opened up to the gleaming ocean, small holes in the ceiling let miniscule amounts of light in.
Second fiddles with the small switchblade in his pocket, when he was younger some lady tried to rob him so Chosen made him start carrying one around.
Old habits die hard, he supposes.
He begins to step forward even though his mind is screaming at him to leave the way he came.
“Hey, are you alright..?” Second asked awkwardly, stopping only 4-5 steps away from the humanoid. It turns to Second, deep dark red eyes met his own— he couldn't help but stare. Well… that is until it grabs a fist full of rocks and sand began to hurl it at Second.
“Are you here to take me!? Nevermind you probably are— don't touch me! I'll… er… I don't know yet but you don't wanna find out!” It shouted as Second attempt to shield himself from the incoming rocks thrown his way.
“Take you? What the—” Second begins before more rocks are thrown his way. “Stop throwing rocks at me!”
“How do I know you're not going to kill me! You two legs are extremely unpredictable!” It shot back furiously.
“I want to help you!” Second managed to blurt out, which made the humanoid freeze (thankfully).
“Well…” The creature paused, thinking carefully about its next words. “Why should I trust you?” It questioned, its eyes seemingly boring into Second's soul.
Second was going to say something then paused, the creature didn't really have any reason to trust him. “I… uhm…” Second mumbled, his eyes darting between the fish humanoid and the cave wall. “I don't want to leave you here, that'll be a bit rude of me.” That's what he picked to say!? Second thought, if this thing could eat him now would be a great time.
The creature stared, Second could see the confusion on its face. It blinked twice before… laughing. Second feels his face heat up. “I've never met a land walker like you before!” It giggled between words. “But seriously, how are you going to help me?”
Second took out his switchblade from his pocket, Second rarely uses it— occasionally he'll use it for the off chance he orders a package to cut the tape. “I’ll cut off the…” He glanced at the creature's tail attempting to make out what the item was. “Tag.” He finished.
It looked tense from the sudden reveal of Seconds blade but reluctantly moved his tail in the direction of Second, giving him a silent ‘Go ahead.’
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This was not how Second imagined spending his night, trying to cut an oddly strong piece of plastic off of a fish humanoid scales. At first the silence between the two was awkward, though soon the creature began to ramble about random topics which Second didn't mind– he wasn't much of a talker himself so it gave him a bit of comfort.
Second had also learned its name was Red and Second should probably stop referring to him as an it (Second was threatened by Red when he referred to him as such). Apparently Red is a merfolk, which… explains a lot. But that begs the question, if Merfolk are real what else is out there..? Second doesn't bother asking Red since it wasn't a pressing matter.
Once again, Second nicked himself— this was starting to get old, his fingers were already starting to bleed on the shimmering red scales below. Second thought getting this tag out would be easier to get off but cursors it's really stuck. It's similar to a security tag but thicker, more circular, and has an obnoxiously bright red ‘190’ on it paired with a bright red blinker on the left side. “How did you even get something like this?” Second asks, wincing as he nicked himself with the blade for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Well I was hungry! I wanted a snack so I went closer to the surface and this… thing that looked like a fish went up and stuck that crap on me!” He crossed his arms, his eyebrows furrowing.
Second paused, what Red had said was oddly familiar. So familiar that Second might actually know what Red’s talking about, he'd remembered something like that being mentioned by Yellow, according to her a robot looking like common ocean prey was being produced by SeaCo to help them identify and track injured or endangered animals easier.
He supposes he can see why it might mistake Red for a large otter… though, it was supposed to recognize injured animals and from what Second could see, Red wasn't injured and merfolk were more of a fairy tale creature than something recognized as endangered.
Red most likely caught onto Seconds silence so he took it upon himself to flick a pebble at him. “Are you still there?” Red teased, poking Seconds cheek (causing him to flinch involuntarily).
“Just thinking, this thing is really on there though” Second mumbled, mostly to himself then added. “I can't exactly see what I'm doing and I don't want to accidentally scratch your tail”
“Hmmm…” For the first time since they've been talking, Red looked like he was genuinely deep in thought. “Hold on…” Red then placed his tail right onto Seconds lap (which caused him to tense up more than he would have liked to admit). “There ya go! Hope that's better!” Red turned to him with a dopey smile on his face.
Second felt his face heating up against his better judgement.
Second knew fairy tales about how merfolk could enchant sailors with their looks alone— surely it wasn't true… right? Second attempted to shield his face, giving Red a quiet nod.
Thankfully Red's conspiracy was right— he could see where the tag connected to his scales. After another long 5 minutes Second finally managed to remove the tag which prompted a yelp from Red.
The red flashing light turned off as soon as it was disconnected from Red's scales, Second tried to find anything else out of place on the tag but then that's when he spotted it. On the underside of the tag had familiar logo— ‘SeaCo’ was engraved below it. Second shoved it in his pocket, along with his switch blade, and made a mental note to ask Yellow about it.
“Since that thing is off me now…” Red slid his tail off of Second's lap and took Second's hands into his and squeezed them. “I've always wanted to learn about the human world!” He exclaimed, his whole face lighting up.
There's no way anyone in their right mind would say no to that face.
“What do you want to know?” Second inquiries, Red lets go of both his hands and furrows his brows– most likely trying to come up with a sufficient first question.
“Why don't humans use magic anymore?”
Second pauses, magic? Like witches and wizards kind of magic? “Humans used magic?” Second blurted out without putting much thought behind it.
“Yeah! Humans used to be really good in all types of magic! Well… according to history books Purp’s have read…” Red mumbled the last part, Second decides not to question who this ‘Purp’ person is. “Merfolk are naturally good at water magic while humans were the ‘jack of all trades’ kind of species when it came to magic.” Red spoke matter of factly– as if he was quoting someone.
Then it clicked in Seconds mind. “You can use magic?”
“I'm not very good at it...” Red mumbled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Oh—” Second froze for a moment before realizing he never answered Red's question. “To answer your question I suppose magic is something that's usually in fairy tales like Cinderella or The Little Mermaid.”
“You have a fairy tale named after Merfolk..?” Red questioned. “That's a little weird.”
“How is that weird?”
“We don't have a fairy tale after humans! We have things like A Seahorses Journey or Rainbow Scales!”
Second opened then closed his mouth. “Nevermind— what's your next question?”
“Hmmm…” Red looked intently at Second then began to smirk as he asked, “Do you have a nickname?” Red leaned closer, a smile playing on his lips.
Seconds eyes widened but didn't pull away. “I thought you wanted to know about humans?”
“Well… I wanna know about you too!” Red bubbled, poking Seconds cheek.
Second gave Red a laugh while pushing his hand away. “Since you're dying to know, most people call me Sec, I've had a few people call me S.C or Orange though.” He listed.
“I'll call you Sec then!” Red chirped, flashing him a smile. Second felt his cheeks warm up again.
“How are you so pretty?” Second blurted out without realizing, Red paused— his eyes widening. “I mean your scales! They're uhm… very pretty.” Second attempted to salvage the situation with little success.
“Er…” Red's hands were frozen mid air, his gaze no longer meeting Second's.
“Sorry I didn't mean—”
“Don't say sorry!” Red interrupted. “I-I mean... thank you for the compliment.” Red finally met his gaze, his hair framing his face perfectly along with a subtle blush Second doesn't notice at first glance.
“Anyways!” Red quickly switched the topic way too fast. “What's that?” Red pointed at Second's phone, which had fallen out of his pocket.
Second paused for a moment, trying to register what Red had said. “My phone?” He answered, holding it out to Red.
Red gasped. “Yes that thing! What even is it? I always see two legs walking around with them.” Red took the phone, tapping the screen watching in awe as it lights up.
Second has to stifle a laugh at the sight. “I guess to out it simply, it's how people communicate with each other.” Second explained, no point in going into too much detail.
Red stares at the object for a concerning amount of time before asking, “Who's Yellow?” Second was about how he knew his friend's name before he glanced at his phone.
6 calls missed from Yellow.
The first text message he has is from Green which is from 30 minutes ago and reads, where did u go?????? ur not dead right??
“Fuck…” Second groans. He'd completely forgotten the fact he was here with Yellow and Green (in his defense he loses track of time quite quickly).
“You should probably go— I should too.” Red commented, then added under his breath. “Purple's gonna boil me alive if I don't come back by high moon…”
Second sighed before glancing to Red then towards the ocean. “Do you need help— getting back into the water I mean.”
“No I… yeah I need help.” Red grumbled, Second chuckled, he looked pretty when— nope. Second should just, I don't know, stop thinking at this particular moment in time.
Second then lifted Red up with ease (he was lighter than Second was expected) then placed Red into the gleaming ocean, the hems of his trousers getting soaked in the process.
“I suppose I'll see you soon Sec!”
“Soon?” Second stared, slightly taken aback.
“Of course! I’d like to see you again soon.” Red giggled, Red then abruptly stopped then shouted. “Hold on! Wait here for a little bit, I'll be right back!” Before Second had a chance to protest, Red dove into the water, leaving Second alone to the sounds of the ocean for a brief moment.
Red soon emerged again with something in his hand. It looked to be a bracelet made from string and seaweed with a small sea shell interwoven between the two materials.
Red then put the bracelet close to his lips and whispered something incoherent. Second stared at Red's face, everything about Red was simply enchanting. So enchanting to where Second didn't even realize until moments later the shell began to glow, shimmering a soft white light.
“There… you go!” Red cheered as he proceeded to slide the bracelet onto Seconds wrist.
Second looked down at the bracelet, the shell almost pulsing with a low glow. “What is it..?” He questioned, twisting his wrist.
“Just a little bit of magic, kinda like a…” Red thought, putting a finger on his chin. “A good luck charm!” He finally announced.
“Thank you, Red.” Second gave a faint smile as held the bracelet close to his face.
“It's nothing really.” Red rubbed his neck. “Just a simple charm spell.”
“That doesn't mean I can't admire it.”
Red opened then closed his mouth before averting his gaze. “I-I uh... should get going!” He changed the subject once again.
Second agreed, nodding. “I should be leaving.”
“Well…” Red started, beginning to swim backwards away from Second. “I'll see you soon!” He waved enthusiastically.
Second waved back to the red head silently, watching him disappear under the waves.
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“Where have you been!?”
Yellow scolded him, her arms were crossed while Green was holding Second by the shoulders, most likely torn between hugging or shaking him.
Apparently what Second thought was 20 minutes was actually more than 40 minutes (He left for a walk around 8:30). The event had ended by the time he'd gotten back, most people had already cleared out of the area.
“I just…” Second glanced towards his new bracelet upon his wrist. “Lost track of time?” He smiled sheepishly, Yellow rubbed her temples, and Green narrowed his eyes— clearly not buying his story.
“Sure you did." Yellow grumbled, "Let's just start packing up.” Yellow sighed as she began to roll up their blanket.
Green gave Seconds shoulder a tight squeeze before letting go and turning back around. “Alright Yel’s!” Green saluted her which she rolled her eyes at. Second grabbed Yellow's tote bag which was laid forgotten on the sand. “Oh Sec,” Second glanced behind him. “We bought you a snack, I think Yellow has it in her bag.”
Not wanting to rummage through Yellow's bag, Second gave them a small smile. “Thank you both.” Now he felt bad for leaving for so long, honestly he couldn't ask for better friends.
“No problem!”
“You're welcome Sec.”
On the walk back to the car Second pulls out the tag he cut from Red's scales. “Hey Yellow, can you take a look at this?” Second held out the tag to her. She pushes her glasses up and takes the item. “Apparently it's a product from SeaCo, I was wondering if you knew anything about it.”
“Where did you get this?” Yellow questioned, holding it up to her face.
“Found it in the sand on my walk.” He lied nonchalantly, well— it wasn't a complete lie since he did happen to find someone with it on his extended walk.
Yellow stared at the object, nearly running into a pole— Green pulling her back on track right before she collided with it. “It looks similar to the trackers we use… but this has a much larger needle…” She mumbled, loud enough for the other two to hear.
“Weird, maybe this is the prototype?” Green suggests whilst flipping a coin he did not have before. (Green probably found it somewhere on the road).
Second was in deep thought. Why would they allow a prototype— disguised as a natural prey source nonetheless— still roam the waters. He would have guessed they would at least have taken it back to use as scrap metal. Red wasn't injured from what Second could see, so even if Red was mistaken for an animal why would it go after him? What broke through Seconds thought was the sound of a car unlocking.
“Sec, do you mind if I keep this for a bit?” Yellow asked, putting away her car keys and holding up the tag for Second to see.
“Go ahead, I don't mind.” He waved, opening the backside door to sit down. Green usually takes the passenger since he enjoys messing with the music— he does have good taste. Once they've all sat down (and buckled their seatbelts) Yellow began their drive back to their respective houses. Green continued to mess with the music until it landed on a random station then he turned down the music to a murmur.
“We should hang out again soon.” Green turned to the both of them. “Maybe somewhere where Sec can't run away from us.”
“I didn't run away.” Second retorted, but Green was already moving the conversation along.
“Maybe next weekend?” Green questioned.
“Can't, I promised I'd come in next weekend to run some tests maybe…” Yellow stopped herself before sighing. “Nevermind, I'm basically swamped for the rest of the month.”
“A group call feels like the second best thing.” Green proposed, waving his phone. Yellow and Second both verbally agreed.
“I'll try to find time sometime next week but no promises.” Yellow commented, turning on her blinker. “We're almost at your apartment complex Second.” She informed, though Second was already sitting up getting ready, giving Yellow's tote bag to Green in the passenger seat.
He dug his hands into his pockets ensuring he had all of his things as she began to pull into the parking lot. Once the car started to come to a stop Second opened the door (alas a bit too soon causing him to stumble on his way out) and stepped out closing the door behind him.
“Good night Sec!” Green waved to him. Second smiled and waved back, making his way around the car towards the apartment.
“Hey!” Second turned on his heels to see Yellow with her hand raised upwards. “Catch!” Second managed to catch whatever Yellow threw at him, looking down at it— the object was wrapped in aluminum foil. “A snack we bought for you earlier!” Yellow communicated, waving as she said her goodbyes and started to drive off.
Second watched the grey car drive away before whirling around towards his apartment stairwell, unwrapping the shiny object to find… a chocolate croissant. If he was remembering correctly, Yellow liked these didn't she? Guess she wanted him to try one.
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Second was laying on his bed (somehow he hasn't fallen asleep yet) scrolling on his phone absently. It's been a little more than an hour since Yellow dropped him off. Somehow he's gone down a rabbit hole of ‘Mermaids at Sapphire Bay’. Apparently there has been multiple spottings of ‘Mermaid's’ which some had badly photoshopped brightly colored fins in the water while others had extremely blurry pictures of what looked to a fish tails with something always conveniently covering what should be the human half.
Influencers grabbed onto this topic like leeches and fed off these pictures saying how the Mermaids ‘blessed’ the waters just by swimming in them, explaining how they could clear your skin, make you more attractive and even help you find true love (which Second thought was a bit of a stretch).
Then Second came across a video with the caption, “Real mermaid treasure found!!!” which had a series of pictures which had crowns, pieces of cloth, and shells. Though the last photo caught his attention, it was a picture of a badly damaged necklace and a matching bracelet to go with it. Both were made of seaweed and string and had seashells hanging from them— though the seashells were completely pitch black in color, unlike the bracelet Red had given to him which faintly glowed in the darkness of his room.
Second put his phone down and took off his bracelet to hold up to his face. From what he could see, the bracelet wasn't even damaged! Second tried to remember what Red had murmured, instead he remembered how concentrated Red had looked and the way his shoulders relaxed and—
In short, he couldn't remember what Red had whispered before the shell began to glow.
Second sighed and put the bracelet back on, holding his wrist close to his chest. Sleep finally claiming him as he begins to drift off.
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Red's stomach laid flat on the floor of the coral reef, trying to ensure his tail wasn't stirring up any sand on the seafloor.
Maybe 20 minutes ago he'd met someone wonderful— a human to be exact. Red had been told all his life that humans were these evil creatures that were only after power and couldn't stop themselves to realize the path of destruction they've left behind and under no circumstances should Merfolk ever interact with humans but this was a special case! He tried to reason with himself, (plus he was pretty handsome… but that doesn't matter!) Second had helped him and that's all that matters to him.
But now that moment of euphoria was over— now he was trying to avoid traps Blue had definitely set by now for passing fish they could eat (and a certain red tailed merfolk). Even if he got past the traps and back to their cave he'd have to try to sneak into his room which would be near to impossible with Purple watchful eyes. He'd rather get caught by Purple then get embarrassed by tangling himself up in Blue's magic traps.
Eventually Red got to the entrance of the cave, got off from the ground, and began to quickly swim towards his room. For a moment he thought Purple had forgotten about him but alas that's not the case since behind him he hears a sharp ‘Ahem!’.
Red turns around to see Purple, his arms crossed as his purple tail swayed in the water. Compared to the rest of them, Purple had the most scars on his tail (most of them from his childhood), his scales had blotchy patterns of light purple which outlined the scars.
“What happened to ‘getting a quick snack?’” He questioned, titling his head.
“I got… distracted.” Red replied, not meeting Purple's gaze while bending his tail behind him to where the small patch of injured scales weren't visible. He knew he should tell the truth but his mind wouldn't let him.
Purple sighed. “I won't push Red.” He knows Purple wants to say more, he can see how worried Purple looks. Red can only nod. “Check up on Blue, tell her you're back.” Purple commented, turning towards the kitchen then he handed Red a seaweed wrap— this was definitely a part of the dinner they had earlier.
“Thanks!” Red gives Purple a quick hug before swimming off towards Blues room. Red floated around the corner and peered into Blues room. Expectedly, Blue is crushing up ingredients for what seems to be another experimental potion (she's been creating 'experiments' a lot more of as late).
“Blue?” Red asked, using a hand to move the the swaying seaweed to the side as he glided into the room. A large opening by the end of her bed showed the coral reef outside, shells and rocks strung together by string acted as a makeshift curtain. Sea grass lined the floors along with pieces of drift wood mounted to the cave wall that acted as shelves (which had trinkets from the land and sea) and her desk, which is an extreme mess at the moment. Plus she had these weird looking red plants she found whilst exploring that she keeps in the darker corner of her room that she insists on letting it grow.
“Red! You didn't die!” She swam over to him before shoving the clumpy mixture she had into Red's mouth. “What does that taste like to you? Oh it won't kill you, don't worry, I already tried it.”
“You should have led with that.” Red covered his mouth as he chewed. The concoction didn't exactly taste like anything, though it did have hints of sweetness.
“Sooo..?” Blue leaned forward. “What'd it taste like?”
“Tastes a little sweet, mostly like nothing though.” Red explained, swallowing the concoction. He hopes he doesn't regret doing that later.
“Huh. That's weird” Blue lifted up the mixture (which was now stored in a glass bottle). “I thought it tasted like coral…” Blue then cleared her throat, placing the glass bottle down back onto her desk.
“What… does even coral taste like— c-can we even eat coral?”
“Salty and we can eat coral. Just not a lot of it.” Blue spoke matter of factly. “Anyways where’d you go?” She asked, her head titling.
“Got lost by accident.”
“You didn't get seen by any humans right, Red?”
“Nooo… of course not, why'd you ask?” Red looked out the window, glancing back at Blue every now and then.
“You got seen!?” Blue exclaimed, floating upwards slightly.
“When did I say that!?” Red shouted back, how did she come to the conclusion he was spotted!? She wasn't wrong but… it's complicated! Yeah he was seen by Sec but that was completely different! Second was nice and helped him! He was also very nice to talk to and look at plus… Blue has been staring at him for a bit. She must have said something and he didn't hear it.
“Are you blushing?”
“Blushing?” Red touched his face, he's blushing? He supposes he saw a few bubbles rising from him but there was no way he was blushing? What would he even be blushing about?!
“If you didn't get seen… then…” She gasps as her expression turns smug. “Are you seeing another merfolk?” Blue snickered. “That makes sense since you've been sneaking out a lot more lately, don't worry, I won't tell Purp's.” Blue slung an arm over his shoulder.
“I’m not seeing any merfolk—”
“It's alright if you don't want to admit it, Red.” Blue smiled, patting his shoulder as she let go of him. Red sighed and began to swim out of the room, glancing behind him to catch Blue giving him a thumbs up.
He swam into his room, not bothering to move the seaweed out of the way. His room was similar to Blues, minus the ingredients in every nook and cranky. Instead of a bed Red uses a hammock and coral grows from his ceiling. There was a medium sized opening over Red's desk along with kelp that acts as a curtain. He lazily drifts over to his hammock and curls up, his pet jellyfish coming to float beside him.
Red began to eat his seaweed wrap slowly, he hadn't realized how tired he was until now. He looked towards where the tag was— seeing a small patch of scales which were a lighter red than the ones around it (at least it wasn't that noticeable).
His thoughts slowly drifted towards Second, for being the first human Red has ever interacted with he was pleasantly strange. Red was glad Sec didn't want to skin him alive (well he would think everyone hopes the first time they meet someone new they wouldn't want to kill them... right?). Maybe next time he could show Second his pet, Red then turned to his pet jellyfish— patting its bell sluggishly. Or maybe he could give him one of his scales? Red plans on shaking a few off himself tomorrow, especially around his arms they were starting to feel uncomfortable. Different ideas race through his mind as he flips onto his back, staring at the ceiling as his jellyfish curls up next to him.
“I hope I'll see you soon, Second.”