Chapter Two
Oh man he shouldn't be doing this. This wasn't right. Yet the paper clip he'd bent still continued to wiggle in the lock, and Tavros cursed himself for his curiosity. The lock clicked, and Tavros froze. He hadn't expected that to work.
Pulling the paper clip out, Tavros stared at the door. He'd gone this far…slowly his hand closed around the knob and he cautiously turned it, opening the door just a crack.
Nobody was inside, and all he could hear was the occasional splash of something playing along the water line of the pool. Must be a seal, since Karkat was ranting about a ball. Tavros loved seals, and walruses and sea lions and other flipper things; but seals were definitely one of his favorites. Hoping for a seal, Tavros slipped his body inside and noticed that the room was surprisingly bare. Moving forwards, Tavros peered into the massive pool. It was about the size of those performing pools that orcas and whales and seals played in, but there were no bleachers here. One side of the pool even had the ramp that let the people performing with the animals easily get into the pool, or let the animals get easily out. Like seals.
But the thing had finally surfaced, flipping its tail along the water line and gripping a large, red rubber ball. And it definitely wasn't a seal.
A smooth tail looked muscular and powerful as it cut through the water, scales gleaming in the lights hanging from the rafters above. The tail tapered off in the bottom and split into two leaf-shaped flowing ends that curved and flowed with the water. The top of the tail connected with the smooth torso of a man-like creature, ending where the belly button would be if the creature had one. Its skin was a light grayish purple color, and up its sides it had faded white stripes. When it turned over to dive again, Tavros saw the stripes continued along its back, almost like tracing its rib cage and meeting up in the middle to form a single white line, marking the spine. Its arms had a similar design, darker purple on the top and lighter on the underside, with crescent moon white stripes cuffing the arm all the way down to the hand. Fingers were connected with thin webbing, and its nails were yellow and very sharp looking. The creature tossed the ball in the air and brought its tail up, letting water shower down like thousands of diamonds as it slapped the ball across the pool, and then dove after it.
It even had hair, though it was wet, Tavros could tell it was black and probably (when dry) rather unruly.
The creature resurfaced, ball clenched between its hands, and looked up to throw it back to other end of the pool. Then it spotted Tavros.
It was hard to tell who looked more shocked, and the two stared at each other with round eyes.
Its face…it had pure yellow eyes with a small black pupil in the center, and the skin was a softer lavender/gray like its underside and underarms. There were small white line tips that came about an inch down from his hairline, almost looking like war paint. Its lips were parted in surprise, showing a set of shockingly sharp teeth, almost like a shark. But what was noticeable were three scars slashed parallel across the creature's face, from just above its left eye down to the bottom of the right side of its chin.
It, Tavros noticed with a jolt, was a he.
For a minute nobody moved, and all that could be heard was the gentle slapping of water against the edge of the pool.
Its—his—body was thin and lean looking, but definitely well defined and strong from swimming constantly. He didn't have nipples either, leaving his chest and belly looking strangely smooth.
He was moving, and Tavros felt himself stiffen in fear as he/it/the creature cautiously approached, keeping to the far side of the pool. It looked scared, Tavros realized, and he instantly felt a pang of regret for upsetting him.
"Um, I'm Tavros." He said, wondering if it—he—could talk. When he said nothing, Tavros continued, his voice automatically becoming soft and soothing, like when he helped frightened animals at the clinic, "It's okay, I won't hurt you." Tavros showed his hands and slowly moved to the edge of the pool, sinking to his knees and then sitting cross legged at the edge. The water smelled like salt, so it—he—was an ocean animal.
The creature had stopped moving and was directly across from Tavros, quite a distance away, almost the length of a pool.
"I work here, I'm a vet and I also help out with the animals." Tavros said, avoiding eye contact and addressing the water. "I work with the sharks and sting rays and what not. Sometimes I clean the tanks, but that's usually left to other people." Tavros talked quietly for a while, telling the creature about himself and how he'd gone to school and the things he'd done while studying seals. He noticed the creature looked decidedly less alarmed, and by the time Tavros had wrapped up his life studying seals, the creature had moved almost half the way closer.
Encouraged, Tavros let his fingers dangle in the water, making little ripples. The creature was almost completely submerged, just his eyes peeking up from the waterline. "I have to go now actually, the Lemon sharks need feeding. But I liked talking to you." He smiled, still careful not to look directly at him. "Would it be alright if I came back?"
The creature continued to stare at him, and Tavros slowly got to his feet, "I'll see you tomorrow."
He walked back to the door slowly, not turning around once—though it was extremely tempting. Closing the door behind him, Tavros felt his strength leave his legs and he leaned against the wall, gasping. What was that thing? He? It? Whatever it was, it was…fascinating. Tavros had seen the intelligence in those yellow eyes, and the look of shock on his face when Tavros had entered had been almost…human. And he'd listened. He'd listened to Tavros speaking, watched him, moved closer. It understood; Tavros was certain. But what was he?
Karkat knew, Tavros realized with a jolt. Karkat knew all about it—him. Him. He was a him. Not an it. Did he have a name?
Shaking his head Tavros grabbed his things and left to go feed the Lemon sharks.
"Hello, it's me again. Tavros." Tavros sat in the same spot and looked out over the seemingly empty pool. "You're hiding, aren't you?" He waited, and then smiled, "Okay, but I bet I can find you. Let's see…" He scrutinized the water, his eyes seeking out simple disturbances in the flow. He could see darker shadows along the pool floor, no doubt rocks and coral and things for the creature to play in. So he would most likely hide there. And close enough to hear, so on this side of the pool. "I bet you're on the half of the pool closest to me." Tavros called out, his voice echoing over the water.
Nothing happened.
Tavros scanned the pool, his eyes raking over the dark shapes in the water for any sign of the creature. But to his surprise, he couldn't find him. After another five minutes of searching, Tavros leaned back and laughed, "Alright you win."
A dark shape detached itself from a large bed of coral and swung shockingly fast up to the surface, breaking the water line smoothly and revealing the alien face of the creature.
"Hello." Tavros said, smiling. "You hide as well as an Angel shark. I'm sure you know about them, since you're from the ocean and all." He looked around the pool, "Unless you were born here…?" The creature gave him no clue, just watched him with interest, his chin resting on the waterline as his powerful tail slowly swept back and forth, keeping him afloat.
"Well, and Angel shark is this flat, large fish with needle like teeth that buries itself in the sand and waits for fish or mollusks to approach. And when they do, it springs upwards and gulps them down." Tavros said, "It's a really good hider though, even I can't find it most of the time." He noticed then that the creature's attention had fixated on something near him, and Tavros looked down to see his ball was floating a few feet in front of him. Looking up, Tavros met the creatures gaze. Biting his lower lip, Tavros lay flat on his stomach and stretched out, his finger tips grazing the ball. With a bit of effort he managed to bring it to him. Sitting up and holding the ball, Tavros saw the creature was still staring intently at him. Well…here goes nothing.
Tavros raised the ball over his head, hesitated, and then tossed it towards the creature. He swore quietly the second it left his fingers; he'd thrown it too high.
The creature watched the ball sail closer and sunk down in the water, his eyes narrowed. Then he suddenly lunged upwards, his tail propelling him out of the water and his arms reaching up, catching the ball. His body curved into a U, the ball cradled in the middle, and he hit the water with a massive splash.
"Holy shit…" Tavros blinked as he stared at the massive ripples. He'd just jumped a good two feet out of the water…
The creature emerged, shaking his wet hair from his face and held up the ball. Then he smiled, and Tavros couldn't help but laugh.
The creature tossed the ball up and used his tail to bat it over to Tavros again, and the two of them played like this for hours until Tavros was soaking wet and couldn't throw another ball to save his life.
He lay on the wet cement, a foot or two from the edge of the pool, giggling as he pushed his soaking wet Mohawk from his face, "Man, I don't think I've ever had this much fun with a ball before." He heard a gentle slosh of water and looked over, only to suck in his breath in surprise.
The creature was right at the edge of the pool, arms crossed over the side and chin resting on them, watching Tavros with interest. His shoulders were hunched and glistening with water, his hair falling in his face, and his teeth looking sharper up close.
"You're definitely a group type of fish," Tavros said quietly, "I don't really know what you are, but that much is clear. So why are you all alone?"
The creature gave him a sad look, his tail flicking behind him.
"Do you have a name? I know Karkat comes in here, has he named you?"
At the mention of Karkat the creature perked up and beamed at Tavros, "You know Karkat?"
Tavros' eyes shot open and his jaw hit the floor, "Yu-you, you can talk!"