Since I started this story, I have been looking up a lot of pictures of sea dwellers...mermaidses are teh pretties...
Also, I want to thank you guys for all the lovely reviews. And so many of them! Over 100 already!The rate of reviews to readers are much better in this story than my other one. Perhaps DGM fans are just more grateful, since the majority of DGM fanfiction is unfortunately kinda crappy.
Anyhoo. Back to Allen's POV. This chapter sort of serves as a transition, to get everyone on a level playing field, information wise. Sort of establishing the new thing between Allen and Lavi, I guess.
Allen yawned as he stretched (as much as he could in the small space, anyway), still a little groggy after just waking up.
He'd slept surprisingly well last night, and for once, he felt well rested.
He thought back to the previous day and frowned slightly.
Normally, he dreamed of home all night, thought about the open ocean with every spare thought he had, ached in a way he hadn't dreamed possible for crystalline waters. The land dwellers thought that the ocean was a dead thing, a simple container for fish, but the merfolk knew better. The ocean was a living, breathing entity, the body of Neptune, real and wonderful and alive. Magic and water went hand in hand, and the sea positively thrummed with energy. Allen hadn't realized it when he'd stayed in the ocean all the time, but there was always a slight buzz, a pleasant hum of magic in his ears underwater. Up here, it was very quiet. Even the water that had recently been put in his tank was lifeless, cut from it's mother's womb too soon. The merman had almost wept at the thought of things being this way for the rest of his life.
Last night was a bit different though. Yes, he'd longed for his home nearly every waking moment, but a small light had sliced into the darkness of his mind, giving him something else to contemplate.
Lavi. What did he truly want?
The human hadn't responded at all when Allen had tried to communicate with him initially, being about as friendly as a rock. And all of a sudden, he wanted to be friends? Allen desperately hoped it was true, hoped he could somehow charm the human into setting him free, but he doubted it. Over the course of his life, he'd learned not to trust every opportunity that life dished out right away. And the sudden change in demeanor alerted Allen to the fact that there was another motive behind the redhead's actions, probably to get information out of his captive.
Of course, thinking about the human led Allen to think about the touch they'd shared. When their hands had met, it'd felt as though he was breaking the surface of the ocean to greet the sunshine. It had been so pleasant, so warm, that Allen hadn't minded the prolonged contact. From the look on his face, Allen guessed that Lavi had felt the magical surge too. The white haired youth wondered what made that time different from when Lavi had held him down during the exploding tank incident.
Well, the only way to see was to play along. Allen would submit himself to acting like a naive idiot and be the human's new pretend friend in order to better his chances of getting out of here. If the humans thought that he was simply going to lie down and die without a fight, then they had another thing coming.
He waited around for a while until Lavi made his expected appearance.
The young man walked right over to the tank and had some difficulty getting it open because he was carrying something. Finally, he got the lid unfastened and Allen helped him push it off from the inside.
The merman sat up and stretched his arms high above his head while arching his back, grateful for the chance to work the kinks out of his muscles.
He went through the process of using his magic to help him understand and speak the human's language, the ritual having become somewhat second nature now.
He cocked his head and smiled.
'Well. Let the games begin.'
"Good morning, Allen!" Lavi greeted him exuberantly, with a wide grin, but it seemed like there was a slight shadow lurking in his one visible eye.
'You are a good actor, Lavi. But I'm better.'
"Morning." Allen put on a small smile, knowing that it would seem somewhat hesitant, but still happy, and most importantly, believable.
"I got something for you." Lavi lifted up whatever it was that he was carrying and set it on the edge of the tank. He lifted the piece of cloth that rested atop it to reveal a basket filled to the brim with seaweed.
"I thought I would bring you your food a little early, so you won't have to deal with Kanda today. I brought enough for you to munch on all day if you want. I hope you don't mind me staying with you a bit longer than usual?"
"Of course not. Thanks." Allen reached for the basket, aiming to put his fingers where Lavi's were, so they would 'accidentally' touch. But, Lavi quickly and subtly pulled his hand back in the guise of pushing the basket toward the merman.
'Oh ho. So, you do not want to see if we can repeat what happened yesterday? Interesting. I guess humans really are unused to magic.'
Allen shrugged it off and grabbed his food. He contemplated it for a moment, then set the basket on the strip of water in front of him, pleased to find that it floated.
Lavi smiled again. "Here, let me drag over a chair." He did so and sat down. "So, how did you sleep?"
Allen responded without looking up as he began to inspect the seaweed, trying to pick out which strips would be the tastiest. "Oh, very well."
"Good."
The merman picked out a piece and began to nibble on it, waiting for the redhead to speak again.
"So..." Lavi trailed off awkwardly, obviously unsure of what a merman would want to talk about.
Allen mentally rolled his eyes. Why bother speaking if you don't have anything to talk about. Honestly, this would all be so much easier if the human would just ask whatever he really wanted to know, so Allen could fin-slap him silly.
"Tell me about yourself." The merman offered, hoping to alleviate the strange social tension that the human seemed to be affected by.
"Huh? Uh...not much to say really."
"Oh, come on. Surely there must be something about you that differentiates you from everyone else."
"Well, umm...I like to read?" the response sounded more like a question than anything else.
"Reed? What would you be doing with reeds?"
"No, no, not the plant. Read. Like...written words."
Allen just blinked.
"Here," Lavi reached into a fold in his clothes and produced something to show the merman.
Allen looked at the piece of paper with all the strange symbols on it and understood. He knew that he could probably use magic to decipher it, but he didn't care enough to.
"Oh, I see. Glyph Sighting. Okay. Is that common among your people?"
"Among the aristocracy and scholars, it is. Lots of commoners can't read though." Lavi said as he tucked the paper back into his pocket.
"Huh. And here I was always told that Glyph Sighting was a complex and sacred art...oh well." Allen just shrugged and went back to eating.
"So, what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Tell me something that you enjoy doing."
"Hmm...I like turtles."
The human got a funny look on his face. "Turtles?"
"Yes. They make for very interesting conversationalists, assuming you can speak slowly enough and not fall asleep."
"Wait. You talk to turtles?" Lavi asked incredulously.
"Uh huh." Allen nodded.
"How?"
"The same way I talk to all the other sea creatures. The same way I am able to speak with you."
"And that is...?"
"Magic, of course." Allen stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "How else would one go about it?"
"I...I don't know."
The two spoke like this for several hours, asking each other questions and receiving answers that somehow didn't quite reveal what the asker had been hunting for. They verbally danced around each other, motives and truths held just out of reach without a single lie being uttered. They flung harmless, inconsequential tidbits of information at each other, leading the other off the original intended path.
Allen had to admit, trying to crack the human while maintaining his charade of innocence was difficult and kind of fun. He'd learned a lot of general facts about human society, marveling at how organized these barbarians really were.
Eventually, Lavi took out his time piece (Allen remembered that he'd called it a pocket watch) and announced that it was time for him to go eat dinner.
"See you tomorrow, Allen. Sweet dreams."
"You too, Lavi." Allen responded quietly.
The man smiled and got up to leave.
Allen watched him go with a strange longing in his heart. He didn't trust this human at all, but his company was a lovely distraction from the lonesome home sickness that the merman was suffering from.
Deep in his heart, he sincerely hoped that he wouldn't have to kill Lavi.
To My Reviewers:
Aritsu Yojichi- Why thank you. Be sure to contact me whenever you are free. And thanks for such high praise!
nightingale mistress- I think that Lavi's reaction after being with Kanda was funny too. Silly humans. *giggle*
vinecaper- I am so happy that you think I am doing a good job.
BehindTheSky- I love your reviews!
scrletfyre- Hot, steamy love triangles are always fun, huh?
Starisia the Shadow Demon- I am so happy you like it! I really do try to keep things original, because boring stories suck.
Forgottenpassword- Fry from Futurama as Lavi. Epic. (Did I get the super awesome points?)
LiquidConfidence- I'm pretty bad about updating regularly, but I will do my best! Thanks for your kind words.
KingRabbit- Or did he? Hehe. Kanda does have the hots for Allen and he wants to make fish babies with red hair and eye patches. He just doesn't know it yet.
fan-fan31- Yes, why the hell not? That is what I said to myself when I started this fic. ^_^
TotalAmuto- Allen is smexy...all the better to lure in hot guys with, my dear.
sweetkakes35- I am soooo happy that you are enjoying this!
xxxwallflowerxxx- ^_^ Thanks for your review!
XxGothicXxXLolitaxX- You know, I've never gotten a review that talks about magic, shrimp, and pokemon all at once. So, I had a blast reading this one. LOL.
Jasper-Jazz- Yay! I am glad you like it!
Kuu- Hehe, thanks. Mermiads+DGM=Awesome
Kayday- Wow, thanks for your reviews! I really do try to keep the story interesting, so I hope you enjoy it from now on as well!