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Tiny drops of salty water sprayed through the air adding more to the misty environment, as barely noticeable waves crashed against the jagged rock pools.
A chilly splash of seawater crashed over his limp body. Not strong enough to send the little chunk of blubber rolling but enough to stir him from unconsciousness. The little leopard seal boy: Mob. coughed up the water clogging his airways and recoiled without thinking into a ball in an attempts to keep warm.
Another minute of foam lapping at his dirty back where his skin met his furred tail and he began to stir. Mob tried pushing himself up right on his shaky little hands, blinking the blur and sand out of his eyes. From what he could tell he was on sandy/rocky land just near the edge where the rocks met violent sets of waves. It was a struggled to remember how he actually got here…. all he could really feel at the moment was hunger and exhaustion. He watched the waves go down behind the rock pools then suddenly leap back up and collide with the rocks in a stunning display of foam, mist and seaweed but he was too daze to be startled by how big they were, he struggled to focus his hearing on the sound of the splashing.
As he perked his ears in attempt to regain his hearing he heard a gasp from somewhere behind him against the sound of waves. Mob slowly turned his head around. At first he couldn’t see it, but once he focused hard enough he could spot another clump of fur in between some of the jagged rocks further away from the water. The fluffy fur pattern was grey, white and spotted, identical to his lower half. He knew that tail, in an instant the waves where blocked from his mind.
Ritsu. His little brother Ritsu.
Mob immediately started dragging himself towards the other Leopard seal boy, at first he was moving on excitement and relief to see his little brother was still with him, but Ritsu didn’t look back at him. He began to move faster, moving on worry instead. He dragged his chubby body across the rock pool to his brother, ignoring the pain of pressing his skin into sharp rocks as he hastily advanced.
His brother was lying limp against the rocks, he looked just like Mob although slightly bigger and wilder black hair. Though his hair …. and half his face seemed to be tainted with thick, bright red water.... that wasn’t there before. Mob felt a twinge of panic in his stomach and straightened up, puffed his chest out making a barely audible whimper and stared down at the other mer-boy. Ritsu did not stir. He was breathing though, that was reassuring…. but his plump body shook and rattled against the cold. Maybe he’s asleep? maybe he’s… having a nightmare?? Surly that was it. Mob tried again, making a loud whine this time and nudged his sibling with his nose. Still no response. So he flopped himself over his little brother, smudging some of the red liquid on himself and tried rocking him awake with encouraged whining. Like he wanted to play. Ritsu’s face contorted in a pained expression and a cry escaped his mouth. Mob pushed back in shock, did he do something wrong?
He rubbed his head against Ritsu’s gently in an attempt to apologize but the pup didn’t even open his eyes. He watched in confused silence as more red trickled down the other’s face. The only time he’d seen red water before was watching their mother kill and eat a penguin. He couldn’t remember what she looked like, but he remembered the penguin, it made him hungry every time he thought about it. First it was black and white, then she tore it apart and it had spilled with red. It looked tasty.
But it didn’t look even a little bit nice on Ritsu, it looked disturbing. Mob and Ritsu weren’t penguins …. It didn’t make sense why Ritsu looked just as grim as that bird’s carcass. It looked horrifying as it started to dawn on Mob that Ritsu might be in pain. And not just because of hunger this time. He had no idea what to do. Did …. Did something attack him? Is that why the red dribbled from Ritsu’s forehead? Why he wasn’t waking up? …. Would Ritsu ever wake up?
Ahh 5 O’clock, the perfect time to take a brisk walk around the beach, people will be preparing their dinner by now so the beach should be relatively empty. The brochure said the sun would be setting over around this time, turning the water magnificent shades of orange and yellow to match the sky, Reigen had been itching to see the ocean since he’d moved to this town to start working. Too bad fate had other plans.
As he’d parked his car down at the beach he’d realized …. He couldn’t see the sun at all. Sure he’d seen nothing but clouds all day but he thought it would have cleared up by now or the sun would just shine right through it at least! But’s only gotten worse. Fog had engulfed a majority of the beach by now, in fact it looked like it was going to storm later. Although disappointed, the strawberry blonde wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. He just bought these new walking shoes for half price yesterday and there wasn’t anyone around to ruin a nice lone walk on the beach …. and no one would see him if he decided he wanted to take a bag of delicious mussel’s home, should he happen to find any. He always had wanted to try making baked mussels.
Reigen walked for a while and soon sauntered off the sandy shore of the beach and onto the stony coastline where mussels were sure to be lurking in the rock pools. He made his way over small clumps of stone, around larger rocks that looked too unstable, tip toed over rough surfaces that stuck out of puddles and pools, all the while trying not to slip on the algae. unfortunately, he only found some that had been left by hungry seagulls or were too small to be considered appetizing. But he took them anyway.
After a while exploring he gave up on any hopes of a free meal. Maybe he should have done some research on WHERE muscles actually grew next time…. He found a relatively stable and flat piece of rock to sit on and began watching the waves, ready to start his 2nd cigarette. This wasn’t so bad. Before he could light it though, his ears picked up a faint humming sound. He stopped with the unlit rollup in his mouth and glanced around.
….
………
…………… maybe it was just the win-
Another hum … no … more or a … far off wail, barely more audible then before drifted through the breeze. It was coming from somewhere behind him. Reigen stuck his lighter and cigarette back in his pocket and got up to turn around. He didn’t like the idea of people seeing him smoke, particularly kids. They always gave him disappointed or pitying looks. But he saw no children when he looked around. Maybe the fog was getting heavier. The 3rd wail lasted much longer, it sounded less child-like and more animalistic, that creeped him out a little. He turned his head in the direction he assumed the noise was really coming from and made the decision to follow. Who or whatever it was sounded distressed.
Reigen maneuvered around some rocks and puddles, making his way a bit closer to the edge then he wanted to. He climbed over a small boulder to find a flatter, open space in the rock pools. The wails got louder until He spotted a kid, pale peach skin standing out against the bluey-greys and murky brown rock pools. The form… turned into 2 little bodies of slippery peach skin with tuffs of black hair as he got closer … and … fat little tails instead of legs. …. fat little seal tails. The wailing stopped. The instant Reigen’s black eyes met a pair of horrified brown eyes belonging to one of the … children? … He stopped and stared in shock. No not children. Mer-people.
Reigen had heard stories about them throughout his life, but he didn’t think he’d ever see one. To be honest he thought they didn’t exist.
His first instinct was to get his phone, get a picture of these weird little creatures and send it to the nearest news agency or animal shelter. But he noticed that while one of them stared directly at him in shock or disbelief, the other hadn’t so much as moved a finger. The more unkempt of the two cubs … kids? …. pups? lay rather limp on the ground. Reigen stepped closer and the one with a scruffy blob of wet black hair reacted instantly, throwing itself over the limp one with a hoarse gasp. Hissing in surprise every time he took a step, until he was but a meter from the children.
He crouched down slowly. now up close Reigen could see some dark red patches on its lower seal tummy, scrapes and bruises on its human chest and webbed hands. A smudge of blood on its cheek, He could see the red puffy outlines of its eyes. This one had been crying, and by the exhausted look on its face and croakiness of its voice it must have been crying for a while now. He could see why. The other pup looked almost dead in its state with a nasty looking head injury. Blood -most of it dried by now- seeped from somewhere on its head down past its face. He intuitively went to touch it but the other one shrieked and he snatched his hand back.
“hey! Hey it’s alright! … it’s alright I’m not gonna hurt you” he assured as he watched the conscious one try to cover the other with its chubby little body in defense. It would have been cute had it not been such a bloody sight… he shook his head and stuck his hand in his pocket, these ‘kids’ needed medical attention. He tried focusing on the live one instead and attempted to stroke it. It made shaky yelps and squirmed under his touch for a bit, but it did not leave the other pup.
He looked up at the rumbling grey clouds, looking like they were ready to spew rain any second. Should he call a vet or a doctor? he wondered.
Mob was too tired to push the man away, at least it wasn’t touching Ritsu though. He been rocking himself against his siblings back for who knows how long now, trying to keep them both warm, to wake Ritsu up and to try and stop crying. when he’d sensed another presence in the area his first thought was to call out like he used to for their mother. she never came back, but this presence did, he could feel it getting closer and started shrieking, pleading for the creature to hurry.
Once it showed its face as it climbed over a rock Mob cried with relief, the creature looked just like him! Another mer-person! But he soon stopped making any sound. As the mer-person climbed over the rocks it got taller…. And taller…. Until it was standing. It looked like Mob from the waist up, but it was covered in some strange pelt and had …. Two inflexible tails? Or was it one tail split in two?? Mob’s instincts kicked in. He’d forgotten about predators. He threw his head down, tried to blend in with his surroundings but the creature had already spotted him, using its weird limbs to stalk closer.
It stopped right in front of them and sat down. Mob was petrified but when it had tried to touch Ritsu he growled, though at this point it sounded like a squeak. He knew it would hurt but he tried covering Ritsu with his own body again, in a last resort to protect his little brother. It worked, the creature was now focused on him instead. But it didn’t bite him, it stroked him.
Mob didn’t have the strength to fight back, it freaked him out and he tried to show his displeasure by growling. Maybe it didn’t understand him…. At least it didn’t seem aggressive. The creature did nothing but stroke his shivering back for a while. It scratched behind his ear then started ruffing his head in a slow circular motion. It got to the point that his head started to bob and he felt the need to close his eyes. Was it …. Was it trying to calm him? He wondered finally. A few stray tears dribbled down his cheeks at the thought. He’d been so tired, been so hungry, been so scared.
He was startled to life again when the creature … the man started making its own sounds. He lifted his head up to see it holding something close to its ear and mumbling in some strange language. It wasn’t looking at them anymore, but it kept stroking his back. After a while of mumbling he took his hand off Mob and put the strange thing in his pocket. He pulled something else out. A shell. he fiddled with it for a minute before managing to break It open. The Seal boy finally decided to slip off his little brother and watched in silence as he waved the open shell in Mobs face, before pushing it close to his little mouth. The smell was familiar and Mob’s stomach instantly rumbled. He licked at the soft meat inside and tried sucking on it, but evidently wasn’t really sure what to do next. So he looked back up at the man with an eager whine.
“can’t eat hard foods yet ay? You’re VERY young” Reigen slurred with a playful tone, something a lot of people do when talking to animals or babies. While trying to calm the hungry one he made a call to his new work place, told them he’d be coming in a day early and they’d be having some…. ‘Special guests’ in need of attention as soon as he got there, and hung up. The seal sniffed his hand in expectation as he rubbed its head one more time. “aaannndd pretty hungry too…. Better get you two out of here” he sighed. At least the conscious one wasn’t clinging to the other seal anymore. He left the opened mussel on the ground and slipped his gloved hand under the limp one. He flinched as it cringed under his touch in supposed pain and as expected the other one panicked as it watched him pick it up…. geez was this kid heavy. He needed both hands just to keep it up in a hopefully comfortable position.
It had finally started raining. He sat crouched over and cradled the boy like a child with some difficulty, much to the others disapproval. “Sorry buddy, it’s just code of medical practice. Help those who need it most first! Then help the rest” he tried to reassure the other pup, but it had instantly attached itself to Reigen’s bent leg in dread. “don’t worry, I’ll come back for you” he watched in wonder as it wrapped its chubby little human arms over his knee and started wailing again. This thing was clingy, they must be siblings or something. “Alright! Alright! hang on” he chuckled. He put the limp seal on the ground again, and lifted the conscious one up and over his shoulders. It instantly wrapped itself around his neck, part of its blubbery tail sinking into his hoodie like a pouch. Hopefully it didn’t fall back into his hoodie and choke him. He secured the other seal boy and walked slowly out of the rock pools and back to his car in the rain.
Reigen somehow managed to open the car door and plopped both boys in the passenger’s seat. He could feel little puffs of warm breath billow from its nose as he subconsciously rubbed some of the dried blood out of its eyes. The other routinely cuddled up to its sibling in the warmth of the car seat and watched him blearily. Reigen smiled “you get some sleep now; we’ve got a few big hours ahead of us” and shut the door.
Mob didn’t react as the man stroked his head once again, didn’t care as the car door slammed shut, didn’t flinch when the motor rumbled to life, on the contrary the vibration on the seat felt rather relaxing. It felt like nothing could reach them, not even the rain it seemed, as the man sat in the seat next to them and started the car. He had a feeling that this man, although he couldn’t understand him, was really trying to help them. Ritsu was safe. Mob rested his little brothers head against his chest and eventually nodded off to sleep.