Byss Bay | June 16th

Charles smacked the wooden cabinet doors into the muddy walls of the hole he had spent all morning digging; one hundred feet from the nearest sand dune and (to his best estimate) three feet in both depth and diameter, so he could still climb in and out of it as needed. The kitchen cabinet doors he had scavenged from inside one of the houses were the more hygienic option to reinforce the sides of his beach well. All that was left to do was line the bottom with flat stones and wait for it to naturally fill.

He knew just where to get clean rocks of the right size. The only problem was…

“You totally have a house to hide in. You have a whole selection of buildings.” Naoto pushed himself up above the water, motioning to the remains of the village, before sinking back down to gill-level. His tail kneaded the deeper water behind him. “I don’t have that luxury.”

“I only need four of those old paver stones,” Charles tried to reason. “I need fresh water to survive. A shelter won’t do me any good if I’m dead.”

The merboy’s mouth pulled slightly sideways into a skeptical pout. “I can give you two,” he finally said after some thought. “But the rest I’m using to plug the holes in my shelter so that yaguar thing can’t float there and stare at me all night.” He shuddered the length of his body and tail, his fins shaking.

Charles looked over to the old wavebreakers, sizing up the gaps between the broken boulders. “What if I helped you seal it up?”

“Seal it how,” Naoto, curious, slid closer.

“Wood,” Charles replied, jutting a thumb towards the old houses. “I’ve been scavenging what I need from the older buildings for my well and to reinforce the place I’m staying in. Even broken wood would fit easier into those cracks than rocks. You could even use a piece as a door.” With a smile, he extended his hand to Naoto. “Sound like a fair trade to you?”

Naoto’s big eyes stared up at him through hazel bangs stuck to his face, his dark pupils growing large and then pinning, before his gaze flicked to Charles’s hand. His hand reached up, hesitatingly taking Charles’s.

🐚✯🐚✯🐚✯🐚

Naoto fiddled with an empty clam shell, rolling it along the sandy bottom as he vehemently tried not to stare up at the guy using a rock to pound and wedge pieces of wood into cracks.

It had been a genuine emotion that Naoto had felt from Charles. A genuine offer to help him. And a warm, strong hand offering it. (Were all overlanders so hot, temperature wise?) Sure, Charles was lanky and a little goofy-looking, but… kind of in a cute way.

He huffed out of his gills. This isn’t the time or place for that.

What in the world was wrong with him? Getting a flitting little crush on some random overlander, while they were both stranded so far from their respective homes. Why couldn’t he be more worried about that?

Besides, he reminded himself in an attempt to come back to reality, I should be more careful. Relationships don’t like being easy if I’m involved.

Case in point, his most recent ex: Marsh, the syren that had been run out of Reshfen by the civil guard. The inky-haired syren been accused of being a circe syren - a belief held by certain Apsunian syren shoals that they should eat other sentient beings, nereidic and overlander alike. It was some noble’s rumor that got out of control - Marsh was a vegetarian. Marsh said he would come back for Naoto…. but he never did. He didn’t even send a letter.

Naoto slumped down onto the ground, dropping his chin into the crook of his elbow, defeated by his own thoughts.

“Hey, Naoto?”

He blinked, looking up towards the surface where he saw Charles, still perched on the same boulder, holding out the young otter.

“Do you think you can feed or hold this little guy?” Charles asked. HIs dark ocean eyes went between the otter and Naoto. “He keeps climbing on the boards, I don’t wanna accidentally hit him.”

It took a moment for the request to sink into Naoto’s brain. When it did, he swam upwards, holding out his arms to take the troublemaker. He rolled over onto his back so that the otter could sit on his chest while he floated, which it was happy to do once it was offered the empty clam shell as a toy.

“You know a lot about this survival stuff, Charlie,” Naoto remarked, waving the shell in front of the distracted otter.

“It’s Charles. And it gets drilled into us pretty early where I’m from.” Charles paused to wipe his brow on his forearm. “I live in an archipelago and there’s a lot of ocean out there. Chances of either getting shipwrecked or having to take shelter on a deserted island are pretty good during the storm season.”

Naoto’s brows drew low in thought. “What’s an archipelago?”

“A bunch of small islands in close proximity to one another,” Charles explained. He swung his legs over the boulder, carefully standing on the uneven surface.

“What’s an island?” Naoto did not look up, but still greatly enjoyed the spike of mild annoyance his empathic senses picked up from Charles.

“Very funny.”

“Some people think so.”

Charles stepped over the boarded-up space between the rocks. “What about you, what’s it like where you’re from? And, please, don’t say ‘the ocean is wet’ or something.”

“The ocean is wet, Charlie,” Naoto pridefully parroted back with glee. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m more of a city boy.”

“I’ve heard about the underwater cities,” Charles said. “Is the one you’re from big? Are they all made of marble?”

“I guess,” Naoto shrugged. “Some of the fancier structures are marble. But I can’t say if the others are, I’ve never been outside of the one I was raised in.”

Jumping down from the rocks, Charles landed with a splash. “Same,” he admitted, his shoulders sinking, “My mom’s been all over, but I haven’t ever left East Banks.”

Naoto released the otter, which quickly swam to shore ahead of him. Something about the way the other boy had said that prickled at his senses. “Is it just you and your mom?”

Charles snorted. “I’ve got a younger sister and a baby brother. Mom works a lot, so when I’m not studying, I’m taking care of them.” He shook his head. In the setting sun, traces of orange rays caught in the tufts of his hair, making them glow. “What about you?”

Naoto pulled himself closer to the shore. “Just have my dad,” he answered. “I’m in a healer’s apprenticeship under him. He gets sick a lot.” Now that he had said them, the words gave him pause. “I hope he’s okay, with me gone.”

Charles’s features softened. “Sooo,” he drew out the word in an attempt to break the tension, “You’re a mermaid medic. That’s cool. Also explains how you knew how to fix my leg.”

The response caught Naoto off-guard. “Not like it’s complicated.” He had intended it to be a playfully biting remark, but it instead came out flat. “You helped shore up my hiding spot, just as you promised. The stones are yours.” Naoto turned his head skywards. “The sun’s going down. We should get both our places secured before it’s gone, don’t you think.”