Lunark swims circles around the rocks near shore, her tail flicking with the nervousness that she's trying to burn off. No matter how she tries to contain it, the twitches happen and she has to keep herself from crashing into the sharp edges that jut out. It's not an experience she wants again, not after the scar it's left on her from when she was but a pup.
There's no way she can leave though. Sure, the depressing grey of the water underneath the looming cliff face isn't somewhere she likes but she's been waiting for at least a glimpse of something that will make this all worth it. Unluckily for her, there's a chance that the certain something will never happen.
It's a possibility Lunark ignores.
Why think something is impossible if it could come to fruition? The warnings of the other merfolk are just as stupid as they tend to be, and she doesn't care if even the witches think she's being hotheaded. It's all their fault for doing things in such backhanded ways in the first place. If it weren't for how they conducted deals and stole and made lives hell, she wouldn't be staking out here. Sure, sometimes even she wonders if it's easier to stay or if it's easier to go back and only visit occasionally but she doesn't really know the answer to that.
It hasn't even been that long. Only two years or so. That's not even enough time for a pup with the same sort of fins as her to be able to grow larger than the cats that she sometimes sees lurking about on shore. Everytime she does she's reminded of why she's here and her will strengthens. They're a good sign, and today has her feeling confident. With the festival of cats to be held tonight, her waiting will most definitely pay off.
And when she sees the bright red that's so familiar as dusk masks the night sky, she smugly thinks 'I knew it.' When she sees the wheelchairs that some of the people of the land use, she thinks 'Oh, that's not how things were supposed to go.' And when she sees Urokai's face light up in a smile she doesn't think anything. She's too overwhelmed by mutual joy because with that sort of expression how could he possibly be sad? That was the only thing she had been dreading and it's a fear that she doesn't have to face now.
"Lunark! I'd heard the fishermen say you were here but-" his smile is embarrassed as he manages to wheel himself to where the waves lap against his feet- "do you think you could come a bit closer?"
She sighs. He really hasn't changed in the least. Despite all her time here, she never considered the possibility that he'd be unable to join her in the water so she drags herself up to where he is instead. It's not painful in the least, but somehow, she can't say the same about being up close with Urokai because something the distance hadn't shown her is the way his face is strained.
"Does something hurt?"
It's the obvious question to ask because maybe the thing that put him in the wheelchair is the reason for it. He looks at her surprised though, before laughing.
"You're still smart, but not smart enough. Did you forget the deal I made with the witch already?" he asks, brushing his hair from his face to show the eyepatch he wears better too.
"…You exchanged your eye, didn't you?"
"Oh. I guess I lied to you."
"Urokai? What do you mean?" she asks even as she stares at the scars that peek out from behind the eyepatch.
She remembers when she first saw them-
"Holy shit. Urokai! Come here already!"
When her best friend doesn't do as she says she drags him to her sea bed and forces him to rest there before going to get her medical kit. It's something their parents put together for them when they were children and it's always been useful. The blood diffusing through to where she can smell it from such a distance is distracting though, and it takes her a few moments to grab it.
Back to him, she grimaces at the gaping socket where his eyeball used to be and the way all the water around it is stained red. Even worse is the raw red of his flesh that's revealed in the jagged lines on his skin. They're bit like the cracks she often sees in not-yet broken but about-to-be broken things and it reminds her that he's like porcelain. Urokai has always been a fragile sort unlike his siblings and she worries about how this came to be.
"Was that human bullying you again?" she asks
She stuffs some medicinal plants into that empty socket as she does, and Urokai whimpers instead of answering. It makes her sigh but she just continues to reach in and press the soft moss-like things in carefully so that he stops bleeding and so that he heals properly. It is strange to have her fingers inside of his skull, especially with how much squelching there is when she's pressing against his insides, but she's dug through his flesh plenty of times before and he's done the same for her. There is thick blood that coats her fingers though, and that's a bit strange. Still, not important and she presses some of the not-moss against the cracks in his skin as she wraps a bandage around to keep it all in.
Leaning back a little, Lunark sighs, regretting that she didn't take the chance to find out what his bones feel like. A shame. Examining a serpent like him is rare.
"Now," she says, hands still covered in his blood, "was he bullying you again?"
"No," he says.
She doesn't believe him, not after what she's seen the human do to her friend. Once she had found that person attractive. Not anymore. her disbelief isn't hidden so Urokai makes that pout that he always insists isn't a pout.
"I'm serious here! It was a different person! And it isn't that bad since-"
"I have no idea how that's better."
"Because they didn't rip my eye out! Another human stopped them and I might have gone to a witch for a deal and she kinda took my eye in exchange."
"…How is that any better?" is what comes out and then- "And a witch? Seriously? Why?"
"I might have been meeting up with that human for a year now?"
That makes her blink, and then she laughs- "So you're in love."
After that he'd disappeared because he'd exchanged his tail for legs. Well. Not disappeared immediately. He had still come to the beach to see his family and to see her and left to chase his love inland a few months after. That had been the disappearance.
Urokai smiles, looking a bit troubled and she pulls herself up so her head is in his lap. He plays with her hair when she does that, reminding her of… everything. They've always been the closest of everyone, she's not even this close with the other pups her age like Kentas or those similar to her morph like Grui.
"So. like, my eye was gouged out by that bully-"
"Why did you lie about that?"
"Because you'd have killed him if I didn't!"
He's upset and she wants to protest but he's right. She would have killed him. Perhaps that isn't something she should admit to but it's the truth. Staying silent, she waits for him to continue with her head still in his lap. It takes a while because he's upset and braiding her hair to calm down.
"Before he could take my other eye, the man I went to the witch for saved me. The actual deal was that if I didn't manage to win his heart in a year my legs would feel like they're being torn by glass for the rest of my life."
"That sucks." It's the only thing she has to say in reply and he laughs. "What about when you switch back? Does it hurt then?"
"No, a tail isn't the same as legs."
"Then?" Lunark asks, annoyed, and pulls him down to drag him into the water, "Shift!"
"Fine," he says, before taking that form with his scales upon scales upon priceless scales.
They swim in circles for a bit as they go to deeper waters, and then they end up playing like they used to. Urokai looks at everything with a bright eye and smiles and laughs and she smiles too. It's nice to have him back.
As light peeks through the water in the morning, he returns to shore. She watches as he shifts back and winces with every step he takes. "Like walking on glass," he says to her laughing but she doesn't really find it funny. Why he's trying to return confuses her. After all-
"Didn't you fail? Why are you going back?"
At her question he blushes and takes something out from a pouch on his wheelchair. He wears it on his left hand and shows it to her. A ring? It's a pretty one too, all silver and designed in a way that it looks like his scales.
"You're married? Did you miss the mark by a few days or something?"
"No, more like by an entire person."
"Oh," she says because that's pretty cute. Even if she wishes she could do something about his pain that he'll always feel in this human form.
"My husband never told me he had a twin in the entire year I knew him. And guess who saved me."
"Oh," she says, understanding the circumstances much better, "That really sucks."
"Right? And do you think you could call my family over? I'm going to bring them both tomorrow night."
"Of course. They all miss you, and Arakei's been complaining about how she's going to have to make a deal so she can follow after you."
"She really shouldn't."
"That's what I said. Oh, do you want me to get Frankenstein too?"
Urokai just stares at her for a bit without blinking- "He's still alive?"
Lunark snorts- "Unfortunately-" and means it because he's a witch (well, warlock because men aren't witches).
"Yeah. Sure. He is my brother after all. Or cousin. One of the two."
It's obvious that he doesn't really care and she can't blame him. He's the one person in Urokai's family that she doesn't care for either, even if she had thought he was cute when she was younger. Witches and warlocks just aren't worth it.
She waves him off before cutting away through the water. It's a bit warm for her tastes but most things are a bit warm to her. When she's a bit of a distance away she looks back. There's a man with her Urokai. All she spies is short black hair and gleaming red eyes but it ends with her laughing.
He really hasn't changed the slightest bit in two years, has he? But then, she has stayed the same too. Lunark can't help to continue laughing though.
That idiot of hers still can't tell apart a human from a demon.