Despite what my savior, Berwald, had said, I woke to find myself shivering, the water in the small white basin having chilled while I slept. I frowned, biting my lip in an attempt to quiet my chattering teeth. I wondered what to do, knowing I couldn't remain in water this cold. Should I call for Berwald? He told me that I should if I needed anything, but surely he was sleeping himself. I didn't want to disturb him any more than I already had that day.
But I knew better than to think I could make it through the night in this water. Already my body was getting sluggish, my movements requiring much more effort than they should. I frowned, glancing towards the box that he had fiddled with earlier on, the one that was supposed to be keeping the water warm. Perhaps I could figure out how to make it work again? But I would have to get over there first.
With a plan now formed in my mind, I began the process of heaving myself out of the basin. In the ocean, this would have been a very simple, easy task. However, as I mentioned before, weight works differently on land, and I was much heavier than I anticipated. I fell down into the water with a splash, not even managing to sit up. I scowled, trying again, this time more prepared. I managed to get my upper half over the lip of the basin, but then I had to rest. How pathetic! I couldn't even lift myself!
Determined to make it this time, I pushed on the edge, heaving my lower half out. Finally, after a small hitch, I got enough of my mass on the outside that the rest of me slid out, and I flopped to the floor. Perhaps it wasn't the most graceful thing I'd ever done, but I had obtained my goal, and that was enough for me. I allowed myself a pause, to catch my breath, then began dragging myself towards the wall that the box was fixed to. The floor was positively awful! It had grooves between the stones, and it scratched at my tail as I slid across. But I persevered, I was so close!
Finally, I was upon the wall, staring up at the box. But, to my distress, it was much higher up than it had appeared from the basin. I reached as far as I could, but my arm was simply not long enough. I tried stretching my torso out as well, but that hardly helped. My only option was to try to stand, like the land creatures did, on my tail. It sounded painful, but I am a stubborn soul. I had made it this far, there was simply no giving up for me.
Needless to say, a few seconds later found me nursing my elbow on the floor where I had fallen. I didn't make it very far at all. Despite that, I had made a lot of noise when I hit the ground. I frowned, preparing myself for a second attempt, but I never got that far. I heard a click and light flooded in through the doorway. My head immediately snapped in that direction, a long conditioned fear rising up in my belly. Was it a hunter? A predator? But, no, it was Berwald. Apparently the noise I had been making did wake him up. He was breathing a bit heavier than usual, so I guessed that he had rushed, maybe thinking I was injured.
He looked first at the basin, worry evident on his face when he didn't find me there. But it didn't take him long to locate me where I sat on the floor. He seemed surprised, and I flushed a bit, suddenly quite embarrassed with my failure. He came to my side, bending down to be on level with me. I flinched as his glaring face was put in front of mine, but I forced myself to remember that he wasn't angry at me, that he was just a frightening looking man.
"Tino? Wha' are ya doin'?" He asked. I pouted, looking up towards the shiny little box that had thwarted my plans.
"Th-The water got cold." I explained. He turned to glance at the basin, then he got up and looked at the box. He again maneuvered his fingers along the box, this time for much longer, and eventually he sighed with frustration.
"I's broken." He informed me. He continued to stare at the wall for a bit longer, then sighed again, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck. "Do ya nee' to be in water?" He asked, looking at me once more. I shook my head. Mer could survive out of water. In fact, if I remembered correctly, a certain very powerful Magic-Mer had grafted a new trait into our race, one that made it possible for us to imitate the human race should we need to. If we were away from water long enough, our tails would dissolve into human appendages. It was a safety measure for us; we had a better chance of survival if we could adapt to the land, especially when the humans trapped us.
Berwald nodded, retrieving something from a small shelf in the corner of the room. It was a fabric of some sort, but I had no idea what its purpose was. But I could hardly complain when Berwald wrapped it around my shoulders, hefting me off of the ground and taking me to something made of the same material as the basin. It was perfectly shaped for sitting upon, I quickly learned, as he sat me upon it. He used the soft fabric, which I had since fallen in love with, to dry the water from my body. Once I was what he considered decently dry, he discarded the cloth and picked me up yet again, this time carrying me to another room in his home. I glanced at the rest of the rooms he had, trying to take in as much as I could with the scant lighting, and found that his home was actually rather large. But he did not give me much time to gander. He took me to a room equipped with a large box covered in a fabric, and, after closing the door with one of his lower appendages, he placed me upon the box. As it would turn out, the fabric box was very comfortable, much more so than the white basin, and I relaxed as my body sunk into the softness of it. I had to admit, fabric on land was much better than that underwater. It was soft, fluffy even, and it didn't cling to the skin.
Berwald joined me on the fabric box, struggling a bit to pull a layer of the fabric out from underneath me. Once he had succeeded in that, he draped it over us both, and I sighed as it coddled my skin. It was truly lovely. I'd have to ask Berwald about this fabric box, how the humans came up with it, what it was called... But that could wait until I woke, for I was quickly falling back to sleep.
-.-.-+-.-.-
I woke up, already very pleased with the state I was in. I was comfortable, still laying between the fabric box and the layer of fabric that Berwald pulled on top. And I was so warm! I wondered groggily if the fabric box kept itself warm, perhaps it had a little box like the one in the bathroom? But no, that wasn't where the heat was coming from, I quickly realised. It was coming from Berwald.
One of his arms was draped loosely around my form, the other underneath my neck, supporting my head. My nose was brushing against his collar and my arms were curled against his torso. I cursed silently, knowing this had been my doing. Chalk it up to being ectothermic, but I have always had the tendency to seek heat in my sleep, be it from warmer waters or the body heat of another. It would seem that Berwald was on the receiving end of it the night before.
I was in the process of fretting silently, not wanting to wake my host, when he woke on his own. I didn't even have a chance to contemplate what I should do upon his waking, for I feared that he might get angry. I had, after all, invaded his personal space without his permission. However, he didn't seem very bothered by my presence. In fact, he offered me a small smile, using his fingers to smooth back the bangs that had fallen into my face during the night. He offered me a morning greeting, then extracted himself from the fabric box. He traveled over to a door inside of the room, opening it and removing a few articles of shaped fabric like he had been wearing around his body the day before. I decided that this was probably the land creature version of clothing. It seemed to me that they wore it every day, as a way of covering their skin, perhaps protecting it from the elements that they were more often exposed to than Mer.
He switched out the clothing that he had been wearing to sleep for the ones that he had removed from the small room, then turned my way and opened his arms as if for an embrace. I assumed that he meant to carry me again, and sure enough, when I wrapped my arms around his neck, he hoisted me up with a grunt. He made a noise of surprise as my lower half slid out from underneath the layer of fabric that had been draped across me, and I joined him in that surprise as I saw that my fins had been exchanged for a pair of appendages like a land creature. My surprise wore off much quicker than his, as I remembered the old folktale of the magical Mer that had grafted the ability to change into our species.
I took a moment to explain this to Berwald, and he asked me about something called the Little Mermaid, and when I looked at him blankly he explained that it was something called a movie. When I showed no reaction to that he seemed to realize his mistake, and promised to explain it to me later. He then asked me if I knew how to use my new appendages, which he called 'legs.' I told him no, that I'd never been put in a situation in which I would have needed to use them. He nodded, opting to simply carry me for the time being.
However, if the flush on his face was an indicator, something about my new appendages made him feel a bit embarrassed. I brought this up, and he explained that humans always wear clothing over the lower halves of their bodies. He said that this region of the body was considered taboo. I had to ask him what the word 'humans' meant, (and learned that that was their word for land creature.) He placed me back on the bed, and returned to the small room where he had obtained his clothing, pulling out another set and holding it up to me. He shook his head, returning the clothing to the small room, taking out another set and holding it up to me as well. The second set was a bit smaller, and after what seemed to be a short mental debate, he handed it to me. Next, he went to a box made out of wood, pulled on a handle, and a smaller box slid out of place. From this box he removed another article of clothing, handing it to me as well.
I took them from him, holding them in my hands. He looked at me expectantly, and I looked back at him just as expectantly. It took him a moment to realize that I had absolutely no idea what to do, and he took the clothing from my hands, laying the pile on the bed next to me. He took one piece at a time, showing me how to put it on, as well as telling me the name of each article. By the time we had finished, I was wearing a boxers, a jeans, and a shirt. Once I was what he considered decent, he picked me up again.
He took me into a room towards the front of the house, sitting me upon something similar to the fabric box, though it was shaped very differently. Instead of a flat box, this one was bent in half, providing a place to rest your back. He moved over to a box that had a shiny black finish to it. He pressed a few buttons on this box, and the face of this box that was closest to me lit up, displaying a portrait that moved accompanied by sounds. I gasped, never having seen a marvel like this before. He picked up a box that was small enough to hold in one hand, covered in innumerable buttons. He pushed a few of them and the picture on the box changed. Whereas before the picture had looked like a real person, it now displayed something that a Mer child might have drawn in the sand. Still, I was enraptured by the moving pictures, and when the character began to sing I was filled with delight. Once he was sure that I was comfortable, he moved into another room that was connected to the one that I was in. I was too distracted by the moving pictures to really pay attention to what he was doing, but he was making a lot of noise.
A few minutes later I couldn't help but sniff hungrily at the air, for a lovely scent was wafting in from the room that Berwald was occupying. Suddenly less interested in the moving pictures, I tried to make my way over to the room. Of course, unaccustomed to my new appendages, I didn't have much luck. I fell almost immediately, crumbling into an undignified pile on the floor. I huffed indignantly, reaching my hand up and grabbing at the fabric box that I had just left, using it as leverage to lift myself up off the ground. Once I was vertical I tried again to make my way towards the room, but nearly fell again. I growled with frustration, suddenly impressed with the land creatures' ability to get around with these appendages. I tried to think of Berwald, picture him as traveled with them, how he traveled. As I recalled, it was one 'leg' and then the other. I gave this a try, and though I was unsteady at first, I eventually got the hang of it and was able to make my way to the room where Berwald was, albeit far from gracefully.
He seemed very surprised to see me, and help me sit down in a wooden contraption. I asked him what it was called, and he explained that it was a 'chair.' He then continued to explain all of the other boxes that I had been using. The fabric box from the night before was a 'bed,' the fabric box from earlier that day was a 'couch,' the moving picture box was called a 'television,' and the smaller box all the buttons was called a 'remote.' I wondered briefly why all of these human contraptions were box shaped, but didn't bother with asking. He then explained that each room had a name. The room where I had initially been sleeping was called the bathroom. The second room I slept in, with him, was the bedroom. The room with the couch and the television was the living room, and the room we were currently in was called the kitchen.
Apparently, each of these rooms was meant to serve a separate purpose; the bathroom was for bathing, the bedroom was for sleeping, the living room (which he said could also be called the sitting room) was meant for relaxing, and the kitchen was for cooking and eating. When I expressed wonder at this, he asked if that was not how it was done under the sea. I admitted that I didn't know, as I had always lived in the cave, and it was most likely different from the lifestyle of any other Mer. He asked me how life in the cave had worked, and I did my best to explain my living arrangements to him.
I recounted how we had something similar to a bedroom, but it was shared amongst several Mer. We had no beds, instead shared nests of supposedly inedible seagrass, but those didn't last long once our feeding ground had withered away. Turns out it was edible. After that, we had to rely upon the comfort of others during sleep. I told him of my sleeping partner, a Violet-Eyes a bit younger than I, very similar in appearance. I explained that I practically raised this Mer myself, as I had been the only one with enough patience to deal with such a young child. Perhaps if I had been a bit older at the time I would have simply abandoned him, but I was still too close to my childhood to harden my heart like that. I had taught this Mer the rules of our small society, sharing with him what little food I was able to get as well as my sleeping area, which until then had been solely mine.
I quickly learned that this Violet-Eyes had just recently been separated from his family, an older brother and a mother. For a long time he insisted that once he had gained enough strength, he would return to his family. But, as with all Violet-Eyes, he eventually gave up, resigning himself to our hidden lifestyle and accepting that his family was most likely dead. As harsh as it might seem, that was what was best for him. No matter how strong a Violet-Eyes might get, the entire Mer population was on high alert, always looking for us, hoping to reap the monetary award provided for any tips leading to the capture of a Violet-Eyes. Eventually, he would've been caught and killed.
Once he had settled into his new life, he became an asset for me, though we had different feeding shifts we always shared what little we found. We tried to keep one another entertained as best we could, making up quiet games that we could play in the sand, so as not to disturb the other Violet-Eyes. Once we had reached an age where childhood was far behind us, we instead entertained one another with conversation. Our relationship went on like this for a long time, and then one day he just stopped talking. No matter what I did, he never spoke another word to me. That's not to say that he began avoiding me; we still shared a sleeping area, and he still listened to me when I talked. He just wouldn't speak anymore. I never learned why.
As for the bathroom, I explained that being underwater meant that such things were rarely necessary. I had heard that normal Mer, those without violet eyes, would sometimes find a waterfall and let strong current flow over their bodies as a way of removing any excess vegetation that might have clung to them. But Violet-Eyes rarely traveled more than a few feet away from the mouth of the cave, leaving us relatively clean for the most part. On occasion we, along with a partner, would take turns grooming the hair of one another, though this was more for social interaction and comfort than it was for hygiene.
Berwald explained that the bathroom was also where land creatures… Relieved themselves. We had a small opening at the back of the cave that was used for this.
We did have something similar to the living room. When we weren't sleeping or eating, most of the Violet-Eyes convened to the largest part of the cave, using the space to converse with one another, trade items, or simply bask in the presence of other living creatures. Mer, after all, are horribly sociable creatures, and Violet-Eyes are no exception. It makes it incredibly hard for us to live in this solitary lifestyle. It truly goes against every fiber of our being. Hence why the Violet-Eyes tend to collect together, even in hiding. It's much riskier than if we were to hide on our own, but we'd waste away from loneliness if we did that.
And then the kitchen. It took me quite a few minutes to explain our eating system. There was no cooking for us, everything was eaten raw and immediately. There was no time for us to add spices for flavor, there was rarely enough time to eat at all. I explained that we had to take turns, had to have feeding rotations in order to feed all of the Mer in the cave.
The entire time that I was telling him about my life, he seemed to be growing increasingly sad. And I suppose, to anyone who wasn't used to it, my life probably was pretty sad. Who am I kidding? Even I consider it sad. But I was alive, and that was more than I could have hoped for elsewhere.
By the time I was finished, Berwald had finished with his cooking, and he transferred the food onto what he called a plate, placing it in front of me and telling me to dig in. I asked him what this phrase meant, and he told me 'to eat.' I couldn't argue with that and did as I was told. He sat next to me in another chair, and "dug in"as well. But I wasn't really paying him any mind; I was way too busy with the amazing food that he had prepared for me. I couldn't remember anything having tasted this good in my life, and I scarfed it down, scared that someone might take it from me. Berwald threw me a glance, but didn't question it, allowing me to finish the food as I pleased. He even gave me more when I had finished, letting me gobble that up as well.
I asked for more, but he chided me at that point, telling me that if I really ate as little as I made it seem that I might hurt myself by eating too much. I grumbled quietly to myself, but didn't argue against him, letting him take my plate. I waited in the chair, not sure what I was meant to do after eating, and also just liking the presence of Berwald near me. Despite the scowl to his face, he was turning out to be a lovely companion. He only said what was necessary, but I got the feeling that he would be an excellent listener, something I personally needed in a friend. A few of the Violet-Eyes knew that I could be quite the chatterbox when I had the opportunity.
Once Berwald was done cleaning the plates (which is what I assumed he was doing) he helped me out of the chair, wrapping his arm underneath mine to steady me as he helped me travel back into the living room. I finally got around to asking him what this form of travel was called, and learned that it was walking. He said to give him a few minutes, and then we would go outside to practice my walking. For the time being, he instructed me to continue watching the television. I nodded and allowed him to exit the room, hearing him close the door to what I guessed was the bathroom.
On the television, I watched the tale of a young, bald land creature and his friends who were on a mission to save the world from other land creatures that could somehow shoot fire out of their appendages. The bald one's female friend was able to move water to her will. The bald one, on the other hand, was capable of controlling any element he so chose, despite being the most incapable character in the group. When Berwald returned, I questioned him about this controlling of the elements, and he explained with a small smile that this was simply a children's story, brought to life using animation. When I asked him about animation, he told me that it was a technique in which humans draw several pictures, put them together, and then made them move. The result was what they called cartoons. I didn't understand most of the words that he said, but I nodded, not wanting to bother him with explaining it again.
Berwald pushed a button on the remote, resulting in the moving pictures fading to black. I frowned at the loss of the new form of entertainment, but allowed him to lift me from the couch and onto my legs. I was thankful that he didn't let go of me, as I would have fallen without his support. He waited for me to get used to having the weight on my new appendages, then began forward slowly, making sure that I could keep up with him easily. He let me outside of his home, bringing me to a path that we followed into a small forest. While I was learning to walk, he tried to fill the silence, however awkwardly, with idle conversation.
He stopped in the middle of his sentences, which were currently about his life, to explain what things around us were. The path that we were currently walking on was made out of concrete, and was called a sidewalk. He explained that these sidewalks were built nearly everywhere that humans lived to show them where it was safe to walk. He said that next to sidewalks there was often something similar, called a street or road, and that they were used to drive on. He then had to explain to me about contraptions they called cars. They were made out of a substance called metal, and were used for humans to get around faster. He said that when we returned to his house he would show me his.
I realized how very little I truly knew about the world. We Mer really thought ourselves to be incredibly superior beings, but we were so cut off from everything by living in the ocean. Then again, the land creatures knew nearly nothing about the sea. It seemed unfair that no creature could occupy both. Well, no horribly intelligent creature, that is. What a waste it was for there to be so much unknown to both our species. But it wasn't like I could explain that to the other Mer; if I so much as looked at the ocean again I'd likely be killed. A few pearls welled up at the thought of never returning to the ocean again. But I decided that it was better to be alive on the land than dead in the ocean.
A/N: Okei guys, sorry for the delay. I promise I didn't intend to make you wait this long, but, as those of you who follow me on devi/facebook/tumblr may know, my laptop kind of died, very suddenly, and I have yet to get her repaired. I think I just need a new battery (I hope anyway.) I'm getting her checked tomorrow. But the only computer I have access to right now is the decrepit old family PC. I've been making due, but all of my most recent chapters are only saved on my laptop (her name is Baby.) I only backup every few months. But, I realised earlier that I had chapter two of Violet-Eyes saved, so I decided to go ahead an put it up.
I just want you all to be aware that, due to my lack of access to chapter four, the update gap from chapter 3 to chapter four will likely be pretty immense. I haven't been able to work on ANYTHING since Baby bit the dust. I'll try to get everything up and running as fast as possible, but bear with me, please.
Okei, in my life right now: I'm currently on a cosplay rampage. I've recently decided to start making my own costumes. So I've been teaching myself to sew and read patterns, but it's been an uphill battle for me so far. But I can only improve with time. The first costume I'm working on is Natsuo and You ji from LOVELESS. I'm doing Natsuo, and a friend of mine is doing Youji. I picked these two because their outfits are pretty simple. The hardest part is going to be the sailor collar. Wish me luck, I'm pattern and fabric shopping tomorrow!
I'm also styling my fist wig, to go with my Organization XIII coat. Roxas' hair is unreal. But it looks much better than it did when I bought it prestyled. I've still got a lot more work to do on it, but I'll persevere.
I've been working like a mad woman to save up money for my drive to Canada. My friend and I are attending a Supernatural con in Toronto, and I'm going to cosplay Meg 1.0. Anyone else going? I get to take a picture with Misha Collins! I can't even express the level of fangirling that is happening for me right now.
I'll let you guys go for now, I need to get some sleep before I work tomorrow. (At ten in the morning. Yuck.) I bid you all a wonderful whatever time it is, and I'd like to thank you all for your reviews so far. I'd love if you'd leave me another one!
As always, feel free to check out my facebook page and/or my ask pages. Find links in my profile!