"Theseus," Tommy blinked his eyes open, looking around him wearily before focusing and finding his uncle just outside his seaweed bed, looking a little amused. "Come on, Tubbo's just outside the cave, said you two were doing something new today." Tommy stared at him in confusion before it hit him. Right, they were going to see that siren today.
"Oh, yeah, is the-" Tommy cut himself off as Techno pointed towards his bag, which was now sitting in the little cubby that Techno had made when Tommy kept losing his bag. Techno must have moved it and put some food in there when Tommy was asleep.
"Tubbo said you two had to hurry a little. No clue why." Techno shrugged, and Tommy nodded.
"Yeah, Tubbo wanted to make a-" Tommy yawned as he pushed himself up from his bed. "Make a new friend today." Techno made a small smile, nudging for Tommy to hurry before turning and leaving Tommy's den. Which left Tommy swimming to his bag, finding there was more than enough food in there for both himself and Tubbo, and probably their future friend, and that the shell was resting nicely inside. At least that was there still.
"Tommy!" He could hear Tubbo complaining, and Tommy trilled slightly before moving to follow where Techno had disappeared to. It was moments later when Tommy was chirping in a small greeting, eyes landing on Tubbo who was swimming in circles, a habit no doubt picked up from Tommy. "There you are! Finally!" Tubbo whined, stopping his circles. There was a moment that it looked like Tubbo had lost his balance, clearly unused to sudden stops for circles like Tommy was.
"I was sleeping, Big man," Tommy responded. "By Uncle Techno!" Tommy turned, waving into the cave even if Techno couldn't see him.
"Be safe!" Techno called back, his voice echoing. Yeah, Techno couldn't see them. Tommy turned, finding that Tubbo had taken off without him, and with a pout, moved to chase after his friend.
"You have to wait for me!" Tommy whined, twisting his tail to move a little faster and actually catch up to his friend. Tubbo only laughed, glancing over his shoulder before going faster. They both knew they had to travel quite the distance from the den before they could deviate towards the save system that held the lonely siren.
Tommy still wasn't sure if they should be doing this, but Tubbo's mind was set.
"Hello!" Tubbo called out, and Tommy looked up sharply, finding that the siren was peeking his head out from the cave system. Tommy watched as the siren backed up quickly. "No! Wait!" Tubbo swam forward, and Tommy hissed lightly at his friend. There was a half hearted attempt at pulling his friend back, but Tommy didn't otherwise move. The siren also stopped though, which Tommy didn't know what to think about.
"Wha-" The siren stopped.
"My name's Tubbo! And this is Tommy! We wanted to be friends!" Tubbo had his shell in his hands, which was now extended out towards the siren, offering the shell. Tommy watched the siren carefully, though knew that he would have to go up and also offer his own. He sighed as the siren looked at him curiously, pushing himself up from where he had been peacefully lying down.
He pulled out the shell and heard the siren chirp excitedly. Tommy swam forward a little, hesitantly extending his shell out too. The siren stared at them for a moment before moving towards them. There was… a sense of fear in his eyes, but there was also a sharp hope there.
Yeah, Tubbo was right. Again.
Tommy swallowed down the urge to scowl at his best friend, instead offering a hesitant smile towards the siren as he stopped just out of reach of the shells. Tubbo was beaming, no doubt just happy that he'd pulled the siren out at all. Which was step one of his plan of befriending him.
"You want to be my friends?" There was a quiet hope in his voice, and Tommy felt himself melt a little. There was something familiar about the other's way of speaking.
"Yeah!" Tubbo nodded quickly, moving a little closer and offering the shell a little more. Tommy only moved on hand to swat at his friend and pull him back a little. The siren only laughed lightly, accepting both shells and holding them as if they were the most precious things to him.
"I'm Ranboo!" The siren, Ranboo, smiled brightly, and Tommy realized that Ranboo's eyes were bright purple. Tommy smiled more genuinely as Tubbo trilled happily, spinning circles before stopping again, once again dizzy.
"No clue how you spin circles Tommy, that makes me so dizzy!" Tubbo groaned, and Ranboo laughed before also doing the circles thing, but he did it around Tommy and Tubbo.
"Circles are a siren thing, silly. Mers get dizzy doing it no matter what." Ranboo told him, Tommy trilled in confusion, tilting his head as Ranboo stopped in front of them again.
"I don't get dizzy." Tommy furrowed his eyebrows, speaking to himself more than anything. He shook it off as Ranboo exclaimed that he would be right back. The two mers waited as Ranboo raced back into the cave system, which Tommy figured was to put the shells away.
Tommy almost wished he hadn't, because now Tubbo was just vibrant with excitement. Literally. Tubbo's scales were glowing and there was a look that Tommy had only seen when Tubbo had befriended him. Unbridled joy that nothing could dampen or bring down. Tommy would know, their pod had tried after Tubbo befriended Tommy.
"Okay, I'm bac-you're glowing." Ranboo looked dumbfounded momentarily.
"Yeah, he does that." Tommy shrugged, probably the first thing he'd really said to the other. Ranboo looked confused before shaking his head and brightening. "But come on, we were going to go play if you wanted to join us." There was that hopeful look in Ranboo's eyes again.
"Really? I-I can join?"
"Yes! Bossman! Come on!" Tubbo was fast for a mer, faster than the rest of their pod at the very least, and it showed when he suddenly appeared at Ranboo's side and grabbed his wrist to pull him along.
Ranboo looked a little overwhelmed, but there was a bright smile on his face as the three of them moved to find the lower currents. It was the perfect hangout spot, no one would overheat, there were no dangers nearby, and no one would think twice about a couple adolescents there.
"Bossman?" Ranboo asked quietly.
"Tubbo calls almost everyone bossman." Tommy answered, bobbing his head in long with Tubbo's trills and chirps.
"Tommy calls everyone big man!" Tubbo called back, releasing Ranboo's wrist to be even faster. Tommy trilled, nudging Ranboo slightly before taking off after Tubbo. It was going to take some time for him to get used to his dup becoming a trio, but he was sure that he would manage.
Besides, Tubbo would cry if Tommy didn't at least try.
