He Came from the Ocean (Coffee-Tastic and Yukio Takamiya)

[Coffee-Tastic]

 

 

Name: Nett

Age: In his 30s because of slow aging, but looks around 20

Length as a merman: 8 feet

Height as a human: 5 feet 10 inches

Hair: Black and short, always cut short to prevent his hair from going into his face while swiming

Eyes: 'sea foam blue'/ pale, light blue

Appearance: His tail is the same color as his eyes, though depending on the light/lack of, it can be dark blue or even white. His body has some scratches, all healed from time, though the scars are a darker color than his light skin. Nett often lacks the ability to make actual facial expressions from being on his own for such a long time,the only indicator of his pleasure and displeasure being with his eyebrows or if he stays still or not.

Likes: Sunbathing, turtles, sleeping, dolphins

Dislikes: Fishermen, boats, being in cold water, seagulls, his dull life

Short Bio: Nett has been alone since birth, a normal thing to happen between his species. Living in solitude is something he has always been used to, but that doesn't mean he cant complain about being in total silence so much. The merman has lived around this coast all of his life, the waters being perfect for his tastes and there was always a plentiful amount of fish he could eat. Lately, the fish have been in short numbers and he could only thank the humans for their arrogance in taking them all for themselves. He waited for a while, living on what fish he could find, oysters and petty seaweed, for the fish to come back, but they never did. Leaving him to this situation.

 

---

 

This was the first day that Nett had been feeling like he was dancing with death herself. Months without proper sustenance has made the merman weak and slow, two things that meant you were going to die soon in terms of survival. Nett didn't regret making the choice to stay here at this coast, it was very pretty and up until now, it was the perfect place for a sneaky one like him to live. It wasn't a smart idea to live in the waters nearby a human city at all. Too many people meant more of a chance to be seen by then, which spelled trouble... For other merpeople possibly. Nett's colors made it easy to always stay hidden, even if he got close by the humans.

 

Not like he's been anywhere near those greedy monkeys after his starving began. He didn't hate fishermen all too much until their nets got larger and they stole up so much of is damn fish. Nett swam slow with his film-glossed eyes falling as if he were going to fall asleep. As if he knew where he was even going. All he thought was that he was going to die, so after going on aimlessly for a while, Nett let his eyes close and ghe water around him control his body instead of himself. Well. I had a boring life... So it's fine. Easily accepting death, he died. Or he thought that this is what it was. Nett only fainted. Though limp in the water, he looked pretty dead.

 

Luckily for him, he was caught in a small current, taking him away from the large city's beach and towards another place. The shore he washed up on hours later was covered in white, untouched sand and the small waves there kept his tail wet while having the top half of his body on the flat sand, his face half sunken down into it. It wasn't the most graceful way to have his head, but it wasn't like the ocean could lift him up and turn him to lay on his cheek or anything.

[Yukio Takamiya]

 

Name: Mar

 

Age:15

 

Description:Jet black hair, Red eyes, Pale skin

 

Height:5'3

 

Appearance:Lean muscular from working at sea. Heavily calloused hands from rough handling of the net.

 

Likes: The ocean, Sea breeze and smell of salty air, Seashells, Swimming, Books, Adventure, Caves

 

Dislikes: Seaweed, Heat, Working(but he still works to keep himself alive), Insects

 

Bio: Mar had been living alone almost his whole life. He had no memories of his past before he was seven years of age. The start of his memories was opening his eyes to see an old man smiling at him. He was told that he had been washed ashore by the ocean without any form of identity with him. The old man gave him the name 'Mar' and passed on a year later. Mar continued to inhabit the cabin that the old man owned which was about the only house on the tiny island.

 

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Mar was feeling especially bored that afternoon. He had a rather successful catch that morning, securing three fishes at one go with his small net, enough to last him the whole day. But currently, he regretted the successful catch seeing as he had practically nothing to do now. Staying on the island was almost not an option any more, Mar had to move to the city by the next month. Construction works for the extraction of crude oil was almost finished and the government wanted him off the land, he was after all living there without permission. He had enough money from selling fishes to rent a small apartment in the city, after that, he had to look for a job. School was no longer an option for him, it was too late besides, he didn't have the time and money for studying.

 

Mar sighed and left the cabin, there was no sea breeze at night but the land breeze was equally nice. Mar took a deep breath of the cool salty air and smiled softly. Despite the problems he was facing now, the wind always calmed his mind and allowed him to think properly. He walked along the shore line, kicking at the water and watching it splash over his feet. Just as it was getting rather fun, Mar kicked onto something solid. His red eyes moved from his feet to the object that he had kicked. Mar's crimson orbs widened when he saw the obstacle in the way of his path. It wasn't an object, it was a person, faced down and topless. How on earth was he breathing with his head half buried in all that sand and water? It was even worse when the guy was topless, hypothermia should have killed him by now. Mar squatted down and poked at the body tentatively, it was cold. Yep, definitely dead. But Mar couldn't leave the body there to rot, the smell would definitely reach his cabin.

 

Mar grabbed the lifeless body by the armpits and hauled it out of the sand which had half covered it over the hours. When the body had been fully pulled out, Mar dropped it again in shock and it landed on the ground with a thud. There was a freaking tail, not legs...it was a tail. Mar rubbed his eyes, the tail was still there. He slapped himself hard....it was still there. Rubbing his reddened cheek, Mar decided that the merman was real and hauled it into a fireman's carry. He brought the merman back to the cabin and laid it on his bed. He reminded himself to change the sheets after the merman had awoken. At least Mar thought it should wake up, water couldn't kill it could it, and the merman's body temperature should naturally be cold from living in the ocean.

 

Mar pulled the sheets over the merman and sat by the bed staring the guy. The merman had pale skin just like him and his tail was a beautiful ocean blue. Up till now, Mar never knew that mer people existed, they existed in fairy tales yes but seeing them in reality was a first. But Mar couldn't think of a reason why the merman would be unconscious since water couldn't hurt it. Starvation? There were really big ships recently doing heavy fishing. Mar suddenly smirked mischievously, there was only one way to find out. Taking his already cold dinner, Mar waved the fish under the merman's nose...

[Coffee-Tastic]

Out cold, Nett could only see black, but in that darkness, he could hear lots of things. The clicking of passing dolphins was his favorite thing to listen to and he hadn't heard them singing in a long time for the same reason that had him starving. It was probably natural that he was hearing them now when he was dying. If that was the case, it was a pleasure to have been served a treat while passing through death. He didn't believe in reincarnation, he'd love to be a dolphin the next time around, one with a big family that lived in a nice place like this coast used to be. He didn't expect that death smelt like fish though. Next, instead of hearing more dolphins, Nett heard an animalistic growl from his stomach.

 

The merman's eyes opened slowly like a baby from a nap... As soon as he focused on the scent of fish, his eyes widened more. As soon as his eyes looked up from the fish at the one staring at him with a smirk, he forgot he was hungry and backed as far away as he could from the human. God. His tail was so heavy above the water, he could barely get his tail to move at all, it didn't help that he was so weak either. "A human." he muttered coldly in his specie's language. Nett could have sworn he might go to a good place when he died, but it seemed he was going to be living in a fabricated reality of being with a human in his place of hell.

 

Not even Nett could believe that for more than a few seconds. He wasn't dead and he was moving, breathing, living... He touched his face in his shock, the small 'thanks Gods' was his fin giving a single flap, lifting up the sheet he was under. But he was still with a human. When Nett was done touching his face, he stared at the human there. Oh. Now that he thought about it, it was a fledgling human. It wasn't a man yet, so maybe there still was a chance for him to live.

 

The first thing he needed to live was not the will of a human boy, it was food. Nett looked at the fish on the plate again, not caring if it was tainted with human hands or poison, and pointed at it. Then pointed at himself with a slight furrow in his eyebrow as if he was demanding it to be brought closer to him even though he was the one that backed away. "Give." The idea of being taken out of the sea was distressing. He can't dry out and die or anything, but this was deep on land. In a human's lair by himself in a bad state.

[Yukio Takamiya]

The merman's eyes opened and ocean blue orbs moved to stare at him. Suddenly, they widened and the merman shot up like a bullet and backed away, pressing his bare back against the wall. But he couldn't move much as Mar could see, the tail seemed a little to heavy and was keeping the guy in place. The merman's mouth opened and an unknown language came out of it.

 

"Huh? I don't understand. Speak in human language please, I can't speak fish." Mar said lamely. The merman lifted his hand to touch his own face, eyes still wide with disbelieve. Was seeing a human that foreign to him? Merpeople hid so well from humans that one would expect them to know about land beings. The sheets shifted and Mar heard the flap of a fin. Odd.

 

The merman's eyes swiveled to look at the fish that Mar had replaced on the plate. He pointed at it with force, almost accusingly then pointed at himself. Again, he spoke that unknown language, but this time, Mar knew what he wanted.

 

"You want it? But its mine!" Mar said childishly and held the plate to his chest, turning his body away in a gesture of 'no!' Don't get him wrong, Mar wasn't hungry and had intended to give the fish to the guy in the first place. But he wanted to rile up the older man and see his reaction. He enjoyed teasing adults and even the old man who had raised him for a year almost couldn't stand him. "Sigh...fine. Here you go." Mar gave in and handed the plate over before leaving the cabin.

 

The merman had occupied his bed, so Mar was left with the hammock outside and mosquitoes for company. 'Gross', he thought and shuddered, but at least he had the land breeze. Mar walked towards the net suspended between two trees and skillfully flopped into its depths. Mat smiled as the hammock swung his body gently and the wind tickled his ears, almost lulling him to sleep. And sleep he did.

[Coffee-Tastic]

Nett frowned at the behavior of this human. Maybe all humans were selfish... He stared at the person until he left. Where the boy would go, he had no idea, but he knew he couldn't stay in here for too long. Nett had a feeling the human was not as interested in him as he thought he would, which was good. That didn't mean he'd come back with sharp tools and hooks. If he wasn't dead now, he wasn't going to get himself killed here. The merman took the fish and ate it, though just this wasn't enough to regain all of his strength in the slightest. Before, on a good day he'd eat at least a dozen conventional fish to satisfy himself. In the water, he was constantly swimming and he needed all of the energy he could to be healthy and fast.

 

But then he he was on a human bed, barely able to move himself. Nett always felt a pressure on him when he was out of the water, something he wasn't aware of to be gravity, and inside here, it felt heavier. Stress was the added factor of the weight, because this wasn't the most relaxing place to be out of the entire world. Nett licked his fingers of the leftover taste on his skin before pulling off the sheet over him. The human hasn't come back, so he thought this was a good time to try his best to escape.

 

Nett looked at the edge of the bed and made a face of uncertainty as he slowly climbed down arms first then struggled forward, his tail falling down with a thump after him, "Ow..." He sighed a little, taking a deep breath to calm himself, getting his straight face again with a dash of concentration. Nett dragged himself, a difficult task, across the floor away from the bed, looking for the way out. The human left in a certain way, but looking around, the entire place was closed off. How did it leave...

 

He had to think hard and move efficiently because he couldn't waste all of his strength going everywhere and into every corner. With more thought and the faint smell of air, he got to the front door. Nett tried to open it up from the side, but he couldn't get it to budge. After a long pause, he managed to reach up and touch the doorknob, pressing it like a button with no prevail. He was so glad that the human hadn't come back, but he was afraid to come to the conclusion he couldn't find the way out at all. Disappointed in himself, he went back to the bed. It was actually comfy and it wasn't dirty like the floor either, however, all of this dragging around, Nett only got half of his body back onto the bed, his tail laying over the floor.

 

The worst thing that might happen was waking up with a saw being driven into his tail to cut it off. Or maybe now he could die in his sleep... Closing his eyes to sleep again, Nett was hoping to wake up in the ocean from a bad dream.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Mar woke up that morning and went out to sea as usual with his net. Taking the wooden boat that the old man had left him, Mar rowed it out about fifty metres away from the shore and set his net in position.

 

--------------------------------------------

 

Mar slammed open the door of the cabin happily and exclaimed," nice morning isn't it? Oi fish! Look what I- eh? What are you doing?" The merman was half lying on the bed with its tail slumped heavily on the floor. Mar sighed in defeat,"if you wanted to leave the house, you could have just hollered your lungs out and I would have come running to rescue you." He joked. "Sheesh, I don't bite, don't have to be so cautious. I'm not so bored of fish that I would come craving for new meat. Anyways, I was about to tell you that I caught a shitload of your kind."

 

Mar grabbed the merman by his arms and dragged him out the door. "Look,"Mar pointed at his net that was currently contained with almost forty fishes." There was this huuugge shoal of fishes," Mar said with emphasis while opening his arms . "But my net could only catch a portion of them. Here here, eat your fill. I bet the fish last night wasn't enough was it?" Mar beamed at the merman and began to set up a portable stove that he had gotten from the city.

[Coffee-Tastic]

Though waking up at the loud entry, his face remained sunken and as if his face was stuck on that flat expression of his, even when he was dragged outside, blinking a few times as if processing what was happening. He was surprisingly okay with being pulled away after waking up and without permission. Of course a human would feel entitled to do whatever he wanted with a merman he picked up, but it was also the fact Natt just didn't care. Sighing when he was put down, "So that wasn't a dream..." Nett underestimated the amount of fish he'd see before him and a small glint of excitement reflected on his eyes.

 

Speaking, he nearly forgot that the human complained that he couldn't understand before. He couldn't expect the boy to understand him, so Nett cleared his throat quietly with his eyes not moving away from the fish, "No. It was not," he spoke slowly since Human wasn't his first language, so he didn't want to jumble his words, otherwise, his speech was very understandable, even if bland in voice, "By the way. I'm not a fish... So this isn't my kind..." Nett reached in the net to grab one of the fish, the thing still moving around in his hands, "Just wanted to clear that up because my name isn't Fish either. It would be like referring to your kind as a monkeys. Which I do inside of my head sometimes." With the disposal of so many fish to him, he felt his energy come back already, picking up the upper half of his body to move his face away from sight. His fin flapped up and down more from his happiness eating fish in his hand, enjoying every taste of the skin, guts and the thin slippery slime coating from it's scales.

 

This human quickly proved to him that he wasn't an actual threat. He just was young, very weird and not what he expected. The monkey probably had no idea how much of a big deal his existence was, nor may he understand how much his own existence didn't matter to Nett. Like if a dog was able to recognize he was a dog... it wouldn't care would it? Not at all.

[Yukio Takamiya]

The merman was eating the fish raw, Mar realised. Wouldn't he get an upset stomach? Mar supposed he wouldn't if he had been eating his food raw his whole life." Say, if your name isn't Fish, then what should I called you? I'm Mar by the way." He smiled at the merman and asked while cooking his own fish. The merman was rather amusing, referring to humans as monkeys. In a way, he was right to call humans monkeys but the more scientific name would be Homo Sapiens minus the natural ability to climb trees with just one hand.

 

"Won't you get raw fish breath if you eat your food raw? Besides, its very unhygienic. The cooked fish yesterday wasn't bad was it?" Mar felt his insides squirm as he watch the merman bite through the fish and slurping up its guts. What was worse is that the merman wore a pleased expression enjoying the taste of raw fish with blood smeared across his face. He looked pretty intimidating. Mar didn't feel very hungry all of a sudden despite skipping dinner the previous night. He turned off the stove fire and placed the half-cooked fish on a plate before pushing it towards the merman. He left to clean up and do his laundry.

 

Just as Mar was about to go to the fresh water lake to wash his clothes, he suddenly remembered." If you're done over there. I'm sure you have enough energy to swim back home right?" Mar shouted over to the merman and assumed that the blue eyed lad knew what he meant. He left the area with the basket of clothes balanced on his waist, whistling merrily.

[Coffee-Tastic]

(I'm all better and back now! Thanks for your message before

 

Nett's eyes squinted very slightly at Mar's direction before he had left to go to his business. Was that a joke? He couldn't swim home while being on land. It was true that he would be getting more energy back, but that didn't mean dragging himself to be able to move was easy... he'd certainly try, but he didn't know where the water that lead to the ocean even was anymore. Looking up, all he saw were the large pant with lots of seaweed on them, which were actually leaves, but he didn't know better since the only things on land he knew were by the beach. But even in this new environment, he was threatened by anything even though anyone else would.

 

Finishing the fish, he came to the plate and took the cooked fish as well. It tasted a lot better somehow. It was warm and not as slimy... But the one from last night was even better, but he didn't know what 'Mar' had done with it to make it so good. Obviously it had something to do with the fire. The human was gone, so he could try using the fire himself, but elected against it because he wasn't an expert on fire and it would be a bad idea. Resorting back to his normal way of eating, he was soon stuffed and his hunger was completely gone. There was still a lot of fish left in the net and the merman shook his head, mumbling, "Humans are such cheaters... They cannot even hunt fair."

 

Yawning, he looked at his surroundings again to see where he should go, with no luck. The land wasn't even entirely flat, so he couldn't see too far. Nett wiped his mouth and decided for himself to followed Mar's path. If he were really going to let him go back, he would have pointed to the right direction at least... on his way, he wasn't very fast. At all. And his tail got scraped over a rock and he lost one of his scales. "I hate land." He panted slightly with weakness. Its not like he was stopping from hunger now, it was just too much effort, and his hard work only got him twenty five feet away from the cabin that was still in sight.

 

He gave up and laid there again, and once again, he looked dead the way he was laying.

[Yukio Takamiya]

(Sorry for the late reply...I was a bit busy. And no problem, glad that you're better now.^^)

 

Mar squeezed the water out of the last piece of laundry and dumped it back into the basket. Taking the basket, he walked back to the cabin with a slight skip in his steps. As he walked, something on the path that hadn't been there before entered his vision. Mar sighed again in defeat, he seemed to be doing that a lot nowadays. There he was again, lying on the ground like a dead body, at least Mar hoped that the merman wasn't dead. There's a probability that the merman had suddenly dried up. Hmm...would he have withered skin? Mar shuddered at the thought and ran forward to take a look.

 

He prodded the merman in the side...seems to be alive. Shrugging, Mar left the merman there and walked towards the cabin. He had to put his clothes away first before getting the merman if he didn't want them getting dirty again. Placing the basket on the stool, he walked back towards the figure sprawled on the ground. "Did you miss me so much that you had to come looking for me?" Mar joked. "I thought I told you to go home...oh wait haha. I forgot that you didn't know the way back to the shore." Laughing at his own mistake, Mar hauled the merman onto his back and walked towards the ocean.

 

"There you go, have a safe trip home....err you didn't tell me your name. Nevermind, anyways try not to miss me too much alright?" Mar placed the merman into the waters and joked again. Although the merman didn't speak much, Mar found his reactions amusing. He was fun to watch and Mar didn't feel lonely for once. Of course the merman wouldn't choose to stay, his behaviour showed that he didn't like land beings. Still it felt nice having a person to talk to and look after. "Bye,"Mar smiled at the merman and started the walk back home.

[Coffee-Tastic]

(No problem yourself! I'm super patient and you don't want to worry an ounce about taking busy time off~)

 

This human a lot more dense than he thought... he just forgot to tell him where the ocean was and how far away it was? Mar was a thousand miles off from what he'd be expecting if he ever found himself on land with a human. Wait... He was put back in the water. This was his water. Being in water again snapped him out of his white noise filled head, Nett looking around left and right fast and then seeing Mar's back as he was leaving. Yes, he was actually leaving him there...

 

"Wait!" He called out to him in the spur of the moment, then corrected himself by saying it again his language, "Mar, wait!" He was more desperate to try to understand what was going on more than wanting to go back under the water and... and what. He never did anything. "Come back for a moment, Mar." Nett pulled out past the water's edge and back onto land with his hand reaching out. "Do not leave yet. I would like to..." what was the right way to say it again? "I would like to speak. And understand why Ive been put back into the water..."

 

He had been very dull when he spoke, but his mind and his curiosity dropped that to raise his voice and want Mar to come back. Nett felt like he was missing so much to what just happened. Not only from why the human let him go, but with a tiny bit of the things he's seen on land. It was as if none of this interest arose in him until he was brought back 'home'. This merman was okay with starving to death, that's how miserable he had been in the ocean all by himself. This was the most interesting thing to have happened to him, he couldn't just let it be.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Mar was still thinking of how lonely it would be. The old man had been his only companion for that one year before passing on. He spent those remaining years raising himself in solitude. No kids his age to play with, no books to read, just fishing and more boring fishing. As he thought of this, he heard his name being called. The merman was calling for him and he turned back, brows furrowed in confusion. The merman seemed to have difficulty choosing his words, this alone made Mar chuckle. "Duh, you're already speaking. You meant you wanted to talk to me. Why, missed me already?" He teased as he walked back to the merman.

 

"Didn't you want to go back?" Mar asked, not understanding what was going on in the latter's mind. "You made it perfectly clear with your actions that you find humans dangerous. If I let you go, it means that I'm not right?" He asked, face giving the merman a full blown smile although he didn't really feel like smiling. One could say that the smile was forced but Mar had always been a good actor. Even the old man could never tell what he truely thought and felt. Living alone was lonely, he admitted. But he couldn't deprive the merman of his freedom just because he wanted someone to talk to.

 

"Its okay, you can go home without worries. No one's going to catch you and hook you up by the tail, no one else except me lives here." He tried to assure the merman who seemed to be a little panicky. "Hurry before you dry up or something," Mar said and turned away. He tried to still his features that had seem to contort into sadness. He had the feeling that he was going to cry soon, after all he was still a boy longing for so long to have company. Despite only meeting the merman the previous night and not talking much, Mar seemed to have been attached to the older man. Whether it was because of his solitude or because the merman was interesting, Teru sure as hell wanted him to stay. But he wouldn't be selfish...that was one of the important things the old man taught him. Never be selfish and always think for others.

[Coffee-Tastic]

"Would you think of me as...um," he thought again "... weird if I were to say I don't want to be left in this ocean by myself...?" Nett spoke again, not moving back towards the water, but not moving any closer. He was already sounding desperate wasn't he? Nett never has been to this place before, it was a great thing to hear that nobody lived here. That fact made it easier for him to be okay with wanting to be around a strange human creature. Mar showed he wasn't a danger, he mentioned that himself, because he put him back in the water and was about to go back to his home. "Its boring here. And it gets too quiet. And it's difficult to catch fish on my own recently... Which is why I thought I was deceased at first."

 

He got lazy again and laid himself on the ground again, though his eyes were wide open and his cheek was on the sand, "I do not mind dying. But I'd rather not after having an interesting time on the surface with an internesting human." He sighed at his error in words and sighed, "Interesting human I mean." With the human, he could have food, someone to stare at, someone to chat with, someone that wasn't a threat to him. Now Nett might be the one being selfish, but he wanted to be Mar's top interest so he could be treated nicely.

 

Nett wouldn't cry if he was denied and left alone again, but he certainly would feel some depression to have let something nice and interesting in his life for once slip out of his hands. The rare times when he'd meet a passing traveler of his own kind, he'd secretly be very happy inside until they were gone. Nett wouldn't ask them to stay longer, he never asked them when they might come back... he always just went back to doing his own thing by himself. But now, after fainting and meeting Mar, he didn't think he could accept letting him go without saying his desires.

[Yukio Takamiya]

"Yes,"Mar replied without hesitation turning back to the merman. "I mean, you haven't even told me your name. We're not familiar with each other of course its weird." Although he was saying this, Mar couldn't help feeling elated on the inside. "But I wouldn't mind...you staying here I mean." He had somebody to talk to now. But once he moved to the city, the merman would have to go. "Are you sure its not because I caught food for yoi to eat?" Mar teased again.

 

"That tail of yours is going to break my back one of these days," Mar panted as he once again hauled the merman back to the cabin on his back with the tail dragging on the ground. "Its too heavy and I didn't have breakfast." He plopped the merman on the stool and stretched his back,"aww the cramps." After stretching to his hearts content, Mar looked back at the forever expressionless merman. "You really don't talk much do you? Well I guess perhaps you might talk more once we get that language of yours fixed. No offence, but its terrible." Turning away, Mar tried to stifled his giggles, his shoulders jerking every now and then. It wasn't that the latter's speech was not understandable, but the mistakes were absurd. Not that Mar coukd blame the guy seeing as he had lived in the ocean his whole life. But Mar was hoping even if just the tiniest bit that the merman would one day give him a proper expression. Towards insult, jokes or just a normal conversation, Mar wanted the merman to react to him.

[Coffee-Tastic]

Being carried, he closed his eyes happily even if his lips remained straight and unshowing. Nett was positive that if he asked the passing by merfolk to stay with him, he'd jut be ignored and be alone. They had places to go and things to do, why would any of them choose to stay with him? His boring self would want to hang around him either. But he was happy now. "I'm aware. I'd offer some vocabulary of my own language, but its too different from yours. You'd do a horrible job and I don't want to hear a human try." It might be impossible to do that now that he thought about it. His voice box was different from a normal human being, putting it simply. "But yes, I myself can only get gooder at your language. Better at your language..."

 

The end of his tail moved around on the floor, making Nett have to hold on to the bottom of the seat for balance, "Let's get familiar now though. I named myself Nett. Net was the first human word I was able to say. The last time I molted was a year ago and soon it will happen again. That will be gross, so I apologize in advance. I have lived for... Thirty something years." He paused, his tail stopping as well. But he continued after his pause and it started to wiggle again, "My favorite thing to eat is octopus. I like the hot, sunny season, Fall I believe it was called. And also, I liked the fish you gave me. So thank you for that."

 

"I think that was good enough." he blinked, shutting up completely. The way he looked, it didn't seem as if he had been talking at all, his lips sealed shut as if he never spoke. Looking around the house again and at the door. From observation, it seemd as though he failed to open it yesterday from the lack of turning the handle and pushing the door open. Figures...

[Yukio Takamiya]

Nett huh? A weird name but Mar didn't say anything. He too had never heard of fishes molting but was not about to compare one to the merman before him after being corrected in the morning. "Ehh..if you like octopuses, I'm afraid I'm unable to get them for you. As you know, they like the dark dark bottom of the sea, a meagre human like me isn't able to swim that far without necessary gear." He said at the same time imagining what the bottom of the sea looked like. "But I like octopuses too, cooked not raw. They taste pretty nice, the flesh hardens under the fire. I'll let you try some when I get the chance, try not to drool too much." He added and laughed.

 

"Ah! I almost forgot,"Mar got up and went out of the door. He came back in with the net of remaining fishes and emptied it into the large freezer. "Any longer and it would have become stale. Looks like I won't have to go fishing tomorrow."

 

Suddenly, a voice called from the outside,"hey kid! Mail for you!" Mar sighed and exited the cabin. He had no relatives or friends to send letters to,of course it could only be another reminder from the government to move out by the end of the month. Mar took the letter from the man and went back into the cabin, dumping it into the bin without reading.

 

"Make yourself at home, I have to hang up the laundry,"Mar said to Nett and left the cabin once again.

[Coffee-Tastic]

"I'll do my best." He responded, but it was five seconds after he left. He saw where he put the fish at and contemplated going to the freezer and eating the fish since he didn't know what else to do, but upon remembering about the bed, he decided that he'd make himself a home there. Nett lowered himself down from the stool, accidentally pushing it to the floor when it wobbled back into place. Staring at the fallen stool for far more than he should have, Nett felt sorry for it for falling over. It was sad how objects on land were so lifeless that when they fell over, they didn't move as if it died. In the water, things fall gracefully if they're heavy enough and sometimes things floated above the water as if trying to keep from drowning... So sad.

 

Having nothing to do all day when he was in the ocean besides think, Nett's understanding and views of things has grown a little odd.

 

The merman was a lot more stronger after eating so much and was able to move and carry himself better across the floor. When he was at the bed, the climbed up and, this time, had the energy to lift his tail into bed as well. The bed to him was soft, and this was how he imagined bird nests to feel like except that this wasn't on a cliff, some birds had them there, and it wasn't made of sticks and sea algae. Nett utilized the blanket too and covered his bare top half of his body up, the warmth he got was numbing. In the good way... And now he had made himself at home. Comfy and cozy. Snug as a fish in a rug.

 

To think that instead of having to just constantly swim around... find food, stay away from humans and boats, don't bother the sharks... He was in a real human's house as a friendly guest. He didn't feel so useless to be alive anymore. Sighing in a relaxed manner, he quietly hummed to himself under the blanket, excited to not have to live in the silence of solitude anymore. He could speak and not have his words fall on no ears. That was a great feeling for him.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Setting up the clothes line wasn't an easy task at all but Mar had grown used to it. He made use of the trees to habg his clothes, climbong up the first tree to tie the string then doing the same to the other. After hanging up he clothes, Mar sat on he ground and wiped away his sweat. Lying down, he shielded his eyes from the sun but stared at the sky all the same. It was at quiet times that Mar couldn't help but have thoughts about where he came from. Were there people looking for him or had he been abandoned? It wasn't that he particularly cared but it was normal to think about such things. But the biggest mystery was how he lost memories.

 

"I didn't really expect you to take me literally when I said to make yourself at home, now I see that you have made yourself a home on my bed." This was the first thing Mar said when he saw Nett lying comfortably in his bed. Would he have to sleep with the mosquitoes again that night? "Hey, I have an idea, why don't I get you a large tank of water and you return me my bed. Great idea, don't you think?" Mar asked with a grin on his face half hoping that Nett would agree but not expecting so.

 

"You have no idea how cold it is outside at night. In fact, I might catch a cold and there would be no one to catch your fish for you. Wouldn't that be just horrible," Mar said with feigned helplessness just to exaggerate, sneaking a peek at Nett to look at his reaction. "Ah nevermind, its fine, i'll be moving to the city soon anyways, I'll just sleep outside for the remaining two weeks." He went towards the desk and picked up an envelope, inside contained his consent for the cabin to be demolished. "I'm heading out for a while, if you get hungry again, you know where the fish is."

[Coffee-Tastic]

If the large tank of water was big enough, he actually wouldn't mind being kept in there... Or would he? The bed was so comfy... It was a good thing that Mar must be joking. Nett found himself staring at the boy there, wondering if Mar was expecting him to do something about his problems... Wait. What was that? Nett sat up a bit and took a deep, calm breath to ready his speech for another round, "You will be going to the city in two weeks? What about this place? Isn't it your home? I think that it is nice. This bed is nice."

 

The merman looked at the blankets covering him and glanced back at Mar, "We can share this if it will change your mind. I can move to the side and you can take here," he patted the mattress, "You can't go. I'll be... alone again if you're gone... And so will you, correct?" Nett, not in on the fact it wasn't his fault, nor the fact Mar has the government on his case, thought that this wasn't an issue. If they could both share the bed... he wouldn't go. "And you could have asked. I could have moved over yesterday as well." Nett didn't mind sharing, even if it was better when it was just him in bed. Mar could probably give him great body heat.

 

Under the sheet, the merman scratched the scales on his tail from getting a sudden itch. In his head, he reminded himself he might molt sooner than he thought... Of course! His scale got scratched off so easily by a rock when he was on the ground, that wouldn't have happened if his tail was growing and getting ready peel off in due time. Sometimes after a molt, the color of his tail would slightly change depending on how deep in the water he had been in more frequently, something caused by his quick adaptation. If he stayed in the deeper water, it would turn a darker shade of blue in order to blend into the darkness of the water. If he stayed closer towards the surface, it would be a lighter, colorless blue, which was the color of it now. Nett didn't know how pale his scales could possibly get or what would happen now that he was on the land. Would it be white? What color was the air? How could his tail blend in like that? He'd see soon. Nett just hoped that the scales falling off him wouldn't bother Mar too much. It was impolite to leave shed scales in places for other's to see.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Mar looked back at Nett and smiled sadly,"for your information, the bed got wet when I lent it to you." That's right, when Mar brought Nett in from the sea, he hadn't dried the merman before laying him on the bed. "It isn't good for humans to sleep on a wet bed you know. It gets cold and the coldness sips into our skin. Soon we would suffer from something called rheumatism. If you don't know what's that, its something very awful I tell you. Our muscles gets a feeling between tiredness and pain, not the best feeling." Mar moved over and sat on the side of the bed,"besides, me leaving has nothing to do with the bed. Its not your fault, so you don't have to worry." He said while staring at his feet. "This was decided even before meeting you, I don't have a choice in this matter."

 

Mar walked back to the desk and grabbed the letter before turning back to look at Nett. "Of course it'll be lonely, but I'll be prosecuted if I don't leave. It means that even if I don't leave, people will still come to take me away even if they have to drag me kicking and screaming." Mar walked towards the door,"don"'t get me mistaken, I love this place but the land doesn't belong to me. I have to leave if they want me to." Mar opened the door and exited the cabin. He went to his boat and pushed it out to sea before getting in. He pulled the plug and the engine attached to one side spluttered to life pushing the boat in the direction of the city.

[Coffee-Tastic]

"Bye..." When Mar was gone, Nett sunk himself into the bed and the blanket. "How... unfortunate..." His home was the ocean. Nobody could ever physically make the ocean theirs so the merman couldn't imagine how it must be to be Mar. If it were possible he'd take the boy in the water with him so they could still be together, but that was called drowning him. Nett couldn't possibly know how land ownership worked, in his head, he was imagining how some crabs bully smaller ones into moving out of a territory, so he thought that maybe that was happening here.

 

The merman went onto his back, sighing and scratching at his scales once more, wondering what were to happen if they tried to get him into the city with Mar. Yes, it was a horrible idea and no, he wasn't hoping they'd try this. But if they got him a big tank like Mar said, he could live with him again in his new home in the city. He couldn't keep having fish if he was there he bet. He couldn't leave the house unless he wanted to be seen by every human passing by. Nett sighed again and rolled onto his side, scratching harder as he grew more saddened and disappointed with the idea of having to go back into the ocean again to be alone. He didn't like the idea of being destined for solitude like this.

 

Having nothing else better to do, Nett closed his eyes hoping to sleep... one of his favorite things to do... Except he couldn't. The merman was feeling very uncomfortable in his own flesh, clawing at his own tail to get rid of the itching caused from the skin and scales getting replaced with new ones underneath. A layer of his fish scales came off in a strip, a gross film sticking to his fingers. Nett found it nasty himself, even though it was a natural part of growing. It was just different now that he was on land. Way harder to get it off of him... Eventually, he got off plenty of scales, but now his tail was missing those very scales. The places were those scales were stayed fleshy and white. It wouldn't be so graceful to look at, but he was comfortable enough to close his eyes and for them to stay closed.

[Yukio Takamiya]

The city wasn't the most convenient of places, for one, it was too big and noisy which Mar could never get used to. The air was stale and stuffy as usual and a thin layer of oil coated the area of water his little boat now floated on. The city was a nasty place every time Mar visited it and he didn't want to imagine what it would be like to live here. Mar boarded a bus to the nearest post office and posted the letter before walking to the housing area where he would be staying two weeks from now. "Ah..Mar, came to take a look at the apartment?" An elderly lady came out from the neighbouring apartment, she was also the landlady.

 

"Yes...I'll be moving in two weeks from now, just wanted to inform you." Mar smiled at the lady and replied.

 

"Sigh...you know if you are having troubles with your family, you could just have a talk with them instead of moving out. A boy as young as yourself, how long will you be able to survive on your own?" The landlady shook her head and said. Mar gave her another small smile before entering the house. Some people just loved to assume that they were right. And he had survived on his own perfectly well for the past few years, he didn't need anyone to show him sympathy. After shutting the door, Mar clenched his fist tightly and gritted his teeth, this was why he didn't want to leave the island. People just loved to judge.

 

The apartment was a small ten by ten feet room with an eight by seven feet bedroom plus a toilet. But it was more than enough for his small size, in fact the cabin was actually smaller by a fraction. But the building was pretty old, cracks lined the walls and small patches of mold covered the corners between the ceiling and wall. He just needed to have a small closet fixed up, a small low table and a foldable matress to sleep on. The pantry was already there for his use with a proper stove, cooking wouldn't be a problem.

 

Mar left the house after a few minutes and went back to the dock where his little boat was left. It was already dark when he reached the island and walked to the cabin which was dark. Guess Nett didn't know how to on the lights. Opening the door, Mar felt for the switch and flicked it on. Nett was lying on the bed asleep, but Mar's attention was on the bed. Did the guy actually molt there? Scales and dead skin littered the sheets and looked honestly disgusting.

 

"Hey Nett, I'm just going to move you back to the stool and get this cleaned up okay?" He pulled Nett of the bed with a heave and placed him on the stool. Looking back at the bed, Mar sighed, the sheets couldn't be used anymore. Taking it off the bed, Mar took it outside and dumped it on the ground making a mental reminder to burn it in the morning. "Uh if you need to wash up , you can just tell me. I could take you back to the sea." He said to Nett feeling a little awkward.

[Coffee-Tastic]

"No, it's fine," he said, his eyes still closed from his sleepiness, "I don't want to go back. If I do, then that will be less time I have with you, Mar." He was so comfortable on the bed, he was perfectly asleep and now that he was moved in a different spot, he felt the need to scratch himself like a reactivated mosquito bite. He ran his hand down his tail and ran it back up with his nails relieving himself, more dead skin and scales peeling off, the texture like snake skin covered in thin layer of colorless goo. Looking at the leftovers in his hand, he realized that maybe he shouldn't be doing this so casually. "I'm grossing you out I bet. I apologize... It might be better if I did this in the water after all."

 

Nett looked down at a lone scale on his waist, peeling it off easily and looking at it closely. His eyes were opened lazily at this point, but seeing what had come to his tail made them widen up considerably. It was normal that everything was coming off, but under the scales he peeled off, he wasn't seeing any new ones under them. Awkwardly, the merman put the scale back on his body, the thin slime gluing it back into place almost. Yeah, it was really gross. On top of that, Nett was thinking doing this above water was the reason why he couldn't see any scales yet. "Yes... But also, I'm getting hungry. Can we bring the fish?"

 

There was a chance again that Mar might leave him behind at the shore... Nett thought that if he were to do that, he'd stay there for as long as two weeks went by, because that's when he was supposed to be officially gone by. Hopefully he wasn't planning on that after grossing him out with his molting.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Mar once again heaved Nett onto his back and grimaced when the slimy tail touched his leg. He wasn't actually that affected by it, it was just a tad more slimy than ordinary fishes. Besides it could be washed off, so he was fine with it. Dragging the merman back to the ocean was another back breaking feat, just why was his tail so heavy? He was lucky that he had been doing heavy labour almost his whole life, had he not, he wouldn't have been even able to lift Nett at all.

 

He placed Nett in the water and splashed the salty water at his legs to wash off the slime and scales that had rubbed off on his legs. After doing so, Mar walked back to the cabin to retrieve the fishes. Deciding that he wasn't about to watch Nett slurp up fish guts again, he also took the portable stove and pan.

 

"The fishes are frozen, so that it still stays fresh." Mar said when he got back. "You're gonna have to wait a little longer for it to defrost." He placed the fishes in the water letting the ice melt faster which was proving to be very effective because of the salt. Soon he had the fish in the pan and sizzling above the stove. One by one, he had them ready for Nett on a plate while Nett molted in the water. The last few fishes he ate while waiting for Nett to come out, half wondering how he managed to survive the whole day without food.

[Coffee-Tastic]

In the water, it was far easier to shed off the dead skin and scales, everything washing away and disappearing somewhere out there in the water never to be seen again rather than being in the blankets and Mar's bed. The water also helped the itching to lessen. He ate the fish Mar made for him, the cooked fish making him satisfied and full and tired. Soon, he felt cold in the water, his scales compeltely all gone now, leaving a fleshy white layer left of his tail. It was sad to see his tail looking so bare, so he kept it under the water for the sake of his eyes and his heart, that didnt like seeing his scales gone. He secretly had a lot of pride for his colors because he heard that no two tails were the exact same color. Even if he never came into contact with others, it was comforting to know he was a one and only.

 

"Mar?" he went out a little farther in, but kept his torso above water, keeping himself up with his hands in the sand, "Do you really have to leave? I do not want you to leave. Its been nice having someone around. Even if I dont talk much. I like you. I really do." Nett looked to the side, "I'll miss being carried around too." He didnt explain it, but when he was being carried around, he felt like he was cared for. Kind of like a baby. He liked having the fish, laying in bed and hearing Mar's voice. Hearing it meant he wasnt by himself.