"Isn't this great?" Keith smiles into the wind, gazing onto the open ocean. "The salty air. The wind in your face."
"Food on deck," the little blonde girl cheerfully quips, stealing a piece of chocolate truffle from the laid out buffet and plopping it into her mouth.
"Veronica, honey," a blonde woman shakes her head. "You know what happens when you eat too much chocolate."
"Happy. Happy. Happiness," Veronica beams, freely trotting around the boat.
"A fine strong wind and a following sea. King Triton must be in a friendly-type mood," Sacks says, navigating through the ocean.
"King Triton?" Veronica stares quizzing at the man.
Keith shakes his head, huffing out a laugh. Lianne smiles good-naturedly.
"Why, ruler of the merfolk, lassie. Though every good sailor knew about him."
"Merfolk," Lamb snorts with clear disbelief. "Veronica, pay no attention to this nautical nonsense."
Ignoring Lamb's protests, Veronica excitedly continues to quiz Sacks about the prospects of Merfolk.
The brunette merboy swirls and swishes past the coral leaves, up towards the surface of the ocean with his two friends following behind him.
"Logan!" The blond haired merboy yells for his best friend. He swims pass a flock of mermaids and is instantly drawn to them.
Logan laughs when he glances back and calls, "See ya, Dick."
The smaller merboy attempts to keep up with him, passing by the smaller fish and manoeuvring to avoid them as he asks, "Logan, where are you going?"
"To see the sky, of course, Cas," he swerves pass the seaweed, heading straight ahead with unbridled determination.
Cassidy's eyes widens, flapping his tail wildly to keep up his pace. "But we're not allowed to go up there!"
"Cas, don't be such a guppy," he laughingly brushes away his friend's concern, twirling and dodging bubbles from somewhere between the sea rocks.
"Logan!" The merboy objects but continues to swim up with him.
"Will you relax? Nothing is going to happen," Logan assures with a carefree smile as he swirls toward the surface. He's been up many a times before to see the sky, the land, anything and everything that belonged in the world up above.
Swishing past the duo, Dick calls out, "Merman, you're slow."
Logan laughs, twirling his way to the top. The trio splash to the surface, easily floating on the water and Logan props himself onto the big rocky surface in the middle of the ocean.
The air fanning his face, the sun's warm touch, and the clear blue sky; Logan loves it all.
There's a big brown boat a few miles away from him but he knows this one, it's one that he observes every time he spots it afloat.
Because the one thing he loves most is the girl on the boat. The girl that wields a sword as though it were a mighty trident. The girl that's laughter echoes through his mind at night. The girl with the dancing blonde hair and eyes as blue as his sea.
"She's beautiful," he breathes out in awe the moment she comes into his view.
"I don't know what's so great about her," Dick comments, wary about getting near to the boat as Logan gravitates closer toward it. "Her thingamabobs aren't even thingamabobs."
"Shut up," he grunts. "She's got thingamabobs."
Dick arches a brow, his eyes land on his brother and prompts, "Cas, you think she's got thingamabobs?"
"The momma human's got thingamabobs," Cassidy chuckles, throwing his palm against his brother's in a high five.
Dick laughs and remarks, "Maybe it's just her."
Logan ignores his friends and softly sighs, "She's perfect."
"Logan," Cassidy calls for his attention, anxiously eyeing the boat. "We should go, they're getting close."
"In a bit," he says; he doesn't admit that he wants to get closer but they know.
"You're never gonna get anywhere with her, merman," Dick places his hand on Logan's shoulder. "She's human, your father will never allow it."
He pushes away the truth of his friend's words, tells them to go back in without him and that he wants a few more minutes to enjoy the feel of the yellow sun.
He doesn't mean to swim closer - except he kind of does - he drifts forward, allowing the current to take him to her.
He's seen her, heard her but the possibility of meeting her always seemed so far out of reach to him and now she seemed so close - so touchable.
He blinks in wonderment as he stares at her; she's twirling around in her bright blue and white flower patterned dress with her head thrown back and laughter spilling out of her mouth. Her laugh feels like the purest form of light he knows and he adores it more than anything he's ever heard before.
He's closer to the boat than he's ever been and takes a quick dive towards it. When he reaches, he propels himself up and tightly grasps at the wooden bars, holding himself up to see a glimpse of the world that she's a part of.
His heart thumps wildly in his chest, there's music and people walking about but he sees her and he's simply taken away.
The thing is, he doesn't understand how he can be so charmed by a person he's yet to speak to.
He glances around, fascinated by this new world before him. Humans and their whatchamacallits, he doesn't understand his pull towards wanting to know more about it all and well, her.
They have this unfiltered happiness that he remembers having himself in a distant blurred memory once upon a time when his mother was alive. All he has now is a father that doesn't let them dare break from the traditional silent, reserved and routined family time he'd cultivated for them.
His focus breaks the moment he hears a sharp woof from the furry mini beast running towards him. Reflexively, he releases his hold on the bars and splashes back into the water.
The mini beast is brown with bright happy eyes and a tail wagging wildly in the air that reminds Logan of his seahorse back home.
Softening at the sight of the happy, carefree creature, he lets out a light chuckle, moves forward and effortlessly propels himself back up. He takes the risk, placing his hand on the four legged animal's head and pets him in short gentle strokes. Not a second later, he feels the wet slobber on his hand and it makes him chuckle even more so.
He scratches the little guy's ear and enjoys the way the land animal relaxes against his palm. He smiles; the experience is comforting, exciting and he feels the urge to snuggle with this mini beast.
"Backup!" He hears her voice and stills. He knows he's supposed to let go and take cover but he can't. His mouth goes slack and his eyes grow wide; anticipation builds from deep within his gut and his ability to breathe is stuck somewhere between his lungs and his throat.
She comes into view; beautiful and sweet, lovingly calling for Backup, who immediately retreats to her side. The world seems to still the moment his brown eyes meet her blue ones.
She edges closer and his hands tighten on the bars; he knows he should let go, drift away into the deep and not look back but he can't. His eyes stay on her as she leans in closer to look at him; his heart thumps against his chest and his mouth is dry. He doesn't know what to do or say - all he can do is stare at the way her hair flutters behind her and the way her eyes shine in the prettiest shade of blue he's ever seen.
"Hi," she whispers, soft and cautious. "What's your name?" She looks him over curiously and he knows that she knows he's not like her and yet she continues to smile warmly at him.
"Logan," he lets out, unable to tear his eyes away from hers. His hands feel clammy, his throat is dry and she's settled herself in front of him with her legs tucked behind her knees.
He doesn't remember the last time he introduced himself to someone. Everyone has always known his name; Prince Logan. Son of King Aaron. The heir to the throne of Neptune. If they didn't, the royal guard would always announce it for him. He finds that it's nice to say his name to someone who doesn't know it; it's nice to be just Logan.
"I'm Veronica," she tilts her head, one hand petting her dog and he's sure the other is on his heart.
He's never had trouble in the conversation department before; he's always known what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. It feels like everything he's known has disintegrated into nothingness before her.
He swallows, eyes flicker to the happy little chipper beside them. "And this little beast is Backup?"
"Beast?" She laughs and there's this sensation deep within him; warm and encouraging him to get closer.
"Backup's not a beast," she says, light chuckles breaking out between her words. "He's a little puppy," she coos, scratching the puppy behind his ear, he leans against her palms happily and Logan feels a goofy grin tug at his cheeks.
"Do you have any pets?" She prompts a response from him.
He bobs his head. "My sister is fond of finding stray animals and making them our own," he muses. "But there's one that was given to me by my father, Stormy, he's a lot like Backup here."
"You have sea puppies?" She gasps, wheels spinning behind her bright blue eyes and the images of happy little water puppies filling her mind.
He grins; mentally capturing her smile and filing them under favourite things. "We call him a seahorse."
Her eyes widen dramatically and she squeaks, "You have a seahorse? That is so cool!"
Logan chuckles with giddiness swirling within him in ways he hasn't felt before.
Somewhere between him telling her about his recent game of spongeball with Stormy and her telling him about Backup's love for the game fetch, she'd looked at him funnily like she'd just realized something strange.
He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing so his breath hitches as his nerves flare inside him.
"Many people don't believe you exist," she admits, her eyes embedding the image of him into her brain like she's not sure if he's real or a figment of her imagination.
He blows out a breath, this is something he has knowledge of, it's something he can answer. Under the sea tales consisted of how evil humans were but he has never wanted to believe it - he remembers how happy his mother was up in the land above. Still, the tales struck fear within the hearts of the underwater residents of Neptune. They'd hidden away from humans and recoiled at the idea of the land up above.
She stares at him, pure and honest and he doesn't know how anyone could possibly recoil at something so beautiful. He swallows and confesses, "The Mers' like it that way. They don't like people."
"Oh," she sighs; right hand covering her left and head falling with disappointment.
"I like you though," he hurries in assurance, brown eyes smouldering into hers, wanting her to believe him.
"Really?" her breath hitches, hopefulness spilling out with her single word.
"Yeah," he whispers, eyes focusing on her and she beams brighter than the sun. His lips stretch into a smile so wide he thinks his skin might tear apart. He's not sure how long he's floating around talking to her but he's definitely certain it's the best time he's ever had in a long time.
The moon shines bright when Logan comes back to sea, swishing and swooning. He's grinning his way home, thoughts of Veronica fresh on his mind. He doesn't think he's ever going to stop thinking about her; he doesn't want to stop thinking about her.
Dick groans after hearing about Logan's time on the surface and tells him, "Dude, the human world, it's a mess."
"A beautiful mess," he corrects with a dopey grin on his lips.
"C'mon, Cas, tell him," Dick urges, desperate to get his best friend to see what a bad idea he's gotten stuck in his head.
"I can't believe I'm saying it," Cassidy sighs, tail swishing back and forth. "But Dick's right. Life under the sea is better than anything that they've got up there."
Logan shakes his head. "That's because you don't know about chocolate," he sighs longingly, the sweet taste of the brown treat still in his mouth. "Or snickerdoodles," he adds, the memory of her bright face as she proudly presented him with the treat that she made herself. "Or lasagna," he recalls, he wasn't able to try that one but Veronica claimed it as her favourite and her bright eyes as she described it was tempting enough.
"What are you blubbering about?" Dick's brows furrow, lost between the words of his best friend.
"Veronica's favourite food," Logan sighs; missing the petite blonde girl and her chipper little puppy.
Dick shakes his head, swimming circles around Logan. "Veronica, Veronica, Veronica, she's gonna get you in trouble, dude."
Logan's lips slip into a dreamy smile. "She's worth it."
Veronica hums happily, her hand trends across Backup's head and the dog lazily rests against her lap.
"Sweetheart," her mother glides across the boat to her.
"Yes, momma?" Her eyes flutter up and she blinks with a soft smile on her face.
"Why are you sitting here all by yourself? Are you not having fun?"
She shakes her head. "It's the best day ever," she promises. "I've never had this much fun before."
Lianne smiles warmly, pleased with the answer. "Until your birthday of course," she teases lightly.
"Can we please come out here again?" She pleas, her baby blues begging her mother to agree.
Lianne tilts her head. "Are you sure? Your father had booked an evening at the palace and the ponies were yours for the day."
It's always been Veronica's wish to ride the ponies, she'd asked for it so much that it'd become an inner joke with her family.
"I'm sure," she vehemently nods her head. "The ocean is where I want to be."
"As you wish, sweetheart," she easily smiles and takes her little girl's hand to lead her back to the crowd.
Veronica glances back to the still, dark water and smiles with the memory of the evening fresh and warm in her mind. I can't wait to see him again.