small warning: rusty writing? this is recent and its been some time since i last wrote a thing before this, so just in case. posted on tumblr (sept 2014)

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The dark sky loomed over the vast waters as the fixed stars twinkled, the illuminating moon slightly hidden by a few light clouds. The great blue sea was silent. Peaceful. At least on the surface.

Below the calming waves lay a kingdom, dimly lit by the sparkles from the Moon above. The streets were dark, although there were a few seemingly nocturnal sea creatures lurking around. Even so, in a certain house by the streets on the left, soft chattering could be heard from one of the lit windows.

"B-But… is this really a good idea?"

A certain dolphin sat at the edge of her bed, donned in a set of dark blue sleeping clothes as she timidly swung her legs back and forth over the edge. She was softly clutching a pillow over her chest, gently burying her chin on the white cushion as she looked up at the seagull (also wearing a similar set of clothes except hers was white) beaming in front of her. The said bird merely scoffed in response to her question.

"Oh, come on, Dolph! We're not kids anymore— we can do whatever we want!" Memoca brought her hand over by her neck, before casually flipping her long hair to the side. She looked down at Dolphi— she was relishing the moment that she was seemingly taller than the said dolphin, even though she was clearly standing and the other was obviously seated down. "It's not like it's that bad or anything! Just for one night, pleeease?"

Dolphi was clearly unsure of this, and it was evident by how she was tightly hugging the pillow in her arms. Looking down at the side as her bare feet fidgeted close, Memoca waited for her reply excitedly, fully expecting her to agree with her plans. Dolphi always went with Memoca's shenanigans despite her own thoughts and opinions, since the seagull would always manage to convince her to do so. Moreover, Dolphi was always easily convinced as well, so it wasn't surprising when she finally sighed, before giving a small nod in which Memoca responded by throwing her hands— wings— up in the air. 'Yes!'

"…Okay," Dolphi muttered out, pulling her feet up on the bed and folding her knees in front of her. She was still holding on to the pillow— this was making her a little nervous, and despite Memoca saying it wasn't really a big deal, she's never done this before, and it almost felt like they were going to do something illegal. But seeing the seagull grinning and being all excited slowly made her doubts fade away, and she felt a small smile form on her face.

Memoca, on the other hand, was already gathering the blanket and pillows from her own bed and into her arms, before turning to Dolphi with a sparkle in her eyes. She then practically threw herself on to her bed, missing the dolphin by a few inches on the right. Even then, the sudden action startled her, and she had let out a yelp before toppling to her side, hugging her pillow more tightly than before. "Uah!"

The seagull could only laugh at her reaction, and Dolphi responded with a pout, before Memoca finally fixed herself up and sat cross-legged beside her. She was still grinning, as if she was really invested into this little plan she thought of, and Dolphi couldn't help but return with a smile. For a moment though, they just sat there, and Dolphi, tilting her head a little bit to the side as she looked at Memoca, wondered. "Um," She finally loosened her grip on her pillow. "H-How are we going to do this though?"

Memoca blinked at her, as if the dolphin had asked a really stupid question, and she shrunk back into a ball, embarrassed. The seagull just playfully slapped her shoulder though, letting out a small laugh. "Don't worry, it's easy! At the very least, we have to stay up as late as we can— and don't fall asleep, you hear? What's the point of everything if we just sleep?!" She huffed, resting her curled up feathers on her hips as Dolphi rubbed the shoulder where she was hit. "We can do lots of fun stuff to pass the time!"

Nodding a bit as she turned to face Memoca properly, Dolphi tried to blink the sleep in her eyes away. "Oh… Okay,"

Quickly noticing though, Memoca flared up and proceeded to hold Dolphi's face in her hands— feathers— squishing her cheeks and undoubtedly startling the dolphin. "Heyyy, what did I jus' say?! You gotta stay strong, Dolph!"

Still bewildered from the sudden contact, Dolphi could only stare up at Memoca with surprised eyes, before making a quick series of nods out of panic. Seemingly satisfied with her response, Memoca let go of her face, and Dolphi retreated back as she held her own cheeks, pouting once again.

The lights were still on though, and they— well, at least, Memoca— didn't really want either Wadanohara or Samekichi or Fukami— especially Fukami— to find out they weren't planning on sleeping tonight. So, hopping off the bed, Memoca made her way to the switch on the wall and then turned the lights off. Even though Dolphi had eyed her all the while, and fully knew she was going to turn the lights off, it still startled her— the sudden absence of light— and she shifted on her seat. "M-Memoca?"

They were both blinking their eyes, trying to adjust their vision to the darkness, with Memoca slowly feeling her way back to Dolphi's bed. She accidentally hit her foot on one of the bed's legs though, and she cursed under her breath out of impulse, with Dolphi just remained seated over the sheets and feeling relieved that the seagull was right there. Limping her way beside the dolphin, Memoca had a scowl on her face as she sat on the bed again. "Damn bed,"

Supposedly, cursing would make Dolphi uncomfortable, but she had already spent so much time with the seagull that she was already used to her saying certain vulgar words. Since that was so, she could only giggle as she watched Memoca pull her feet up on the bed and cradle her hurt toes. Dolphi leaned closer, keeping the pillow in her arms. "You okay?"

Memoca didn't reply for a while, since she was still busy trying to soothe the pain— mind you, even though it seemed trivial, stubbed toes are way more painful than it looked— before settling into giving a small nod and turning to Dolphi with a pained smile as she flexed her toes. "Haha, yeah, I'm 'kay," She said before casually blaming the furniture they were sitting on in a whisper. Dolphi heard and she could only continue to smile in amusement.

In an attempt to make the bird feel better, Dolphi pulled on the blanket Memoca had brought to her bed, and then draped it over the both of them. Memoca was clearly surprised, not expecting this, especially when Dolphi scooted closer with her pillow. Since they were under the blanket, it got a lot darker, but neither of them seemed to mind it as the close proximity between them pre-occupied their thoughts more.

"Dolph?" Memoca was honestly slightly confused, but it only took her a moment to realize that she was just trying to make her feel better. She felt a grin creep up to her face, and she couldn't help but lean back on the dolphin, pulling on the sheets to keep them there. She let out a snicker. "Thanks,"

Dolphi just responded with a nod, gently burying the lower half of her face into the pillow again. It was silent for a moment or two before Dolphi spoke. "Do you… want to talk?"

Memoca turned towards her confused at first, before her eyes sparkled at the offer. She always loved talking! Especially with Dolphi— she wasn't the most talkative person in the planet, but she was a great listener, and Memoca liked talking to her even though it was mostly one-sided. Brushing off a bit of her messy hair off her face as she held up the blanket over them, she beamed. "Yeah! I'd love to!"

Leaning closer so that the blankets weren't in the way, Memoca grabbed a pillow and placed it over her crossed legs as Dolphi continued to sit there, eyes looking up at Memoca expectantly as she waited for her to share any sort of story she had with her. By the look on the seagull's face, it was already obvious she had a lot of things she could share with her. "Okay, okay, did I ever tell you before about this one time I went out by myself for a while and I….."

The sea was relatively dark during the night, compared to back then, years ago when the Cast Pearl still existed. Not only did it protect the sea with its barrier, it also served as a source of light during the night, when the moonlight from above the surface couldn't exactly reach deep down to their kingdom. And now that it was gone, the seemingly darkness amplified the tranquility of the waters.

It was quiet. The moon was directly above the sea, signalling the middle of the night, and from a room that was once filled with the soft chatting of two certain familiars, hushed breathing could hardly be heard from inside the close space. White sheets covered their entire beings as they continued on with their unplanned slumber, huddled up together in the mess of pillows and blankets.

Soon, the moon would be replaced by the sun, and the quiet night would be filled with wandering sea creatures, sunlight penetrating through the waves and shedding light into the kingdom. They would wake up. Until then.