It's like the little mer-- [Áine/Tony]

[Meduzia]

It was just like the little mermaid, only not at all.

First, this was not some sort of fairytale - Antonia has made that clear so many times now that Tony would not doubt it, not again. Secondly, less important, really, was that no, this was not age he-doesn't-even-know and this was not a kingdom. Even if it was, this kingdom belonged to Antonia. Tony always saw her as of more Ursula person, rather than Triton.

And how was this even possible? It was not-- a person could not, they genetically couldn't be... this. Mermaids did not exist and that's all. But this happened to many times now. He has seen this-- creature, so many times that it was impossible for this to be a dream and for him to wake up. Impossible.

Tony was fascinated. Sure, Antonia has adopted him but was not really in any relation to him, but... sometimes, he would jokingly tell himself it was here genes that made them so curious about this person, because he couldn't explain his curiosity in any different way.

That still did not explain what he was doing now (snooping around, but hey). The lab was closed and the lights were down, save for those monitors that worked all the time for no apparent reason. He went inside quickly, having his mother's key anyway, because she would often forget it, absentmindedly in her research, and he always had one with himself. Peeking just around the corner, unsure of what to expect, he looked at the creature. Just few minutes, he told himself. Just to see how.

[chocofer]

Áine was bored. He couldn't sleep.

That place was hell. All those humans and those bright lights and he was caged and those beeping sounds that didn't go away even when all the humans had left... It was torture to someone so used to the vast and dark and quiet of the deeper waters.

The boy didn't know how many perl moons he'd been there already, but it seemed like he'd been there since ever. During all this time, lots of diferent humans had visited him - all of them didn't return. The one he remembered the most was that brown-skinned woman (he marveled at the beautiful colour of her skin - it wasn't like anything he's ever seen) that tried to teach him their language. He didn't respond to her at all on the various times she came over, and she left without knowing he was learning.

Aw coughed. Again.

He was dying, and he knew that. The humans knew that. No one knew what was wrong with him though.

The annoying sound of the big metal thing the humans used to close rooms being opened warned the boy to someone's presence. He sighed and curled on the corner.

[Meduzia]

From where he was, Tony could not clearly see the creature. He didn't really like calling him that - creature - but he didn't seem to have any other option. Mermaid? That sounded sort of degrading to his own ears. He was sure his mother mentioned Latin name, but that was just way too boring and hideous for Tony to remember. He did not like being called homo sapiens either, because that species included 6 billions of others. The whole point was, he could not see it (it, oh god, he did not even know--).


So he stepped a bit closer, pushing the door closed after him and approaching the tank. The lights were out, like they always were when everybody left (the monitors reflected on the glass and it was annoying), but it was strange to see that. He was so used to spending time here during the day that being here at night was really, really strange, and somewhat eery and he tried not to think of horror movies and the fact that this creature might actually be dangerous.

He supposed it was too late for the fear now. He approached the glass, creature in the corner, and tapped against it, softly. Sound traveled faster through water, he's been said. He didn't want to disturb it. Just see.

"Hello?" - redhead would like to say he called out, but honestly, this was more of a whisper in the general direction, a whisper to nobody, but hope dies last. And he felt really guilty then. What if he had woken it? It didn't get much sleep anyway. He wanted to leave, he knew he should've. Especially because he'd be in trouble too. But he waited up anyway. Some things, they say, are stronger than us.

[chocofer]

Ah. It wasn't a scientist. It was Red.

Well, Aw called him Red, because what else would he call him? Not that he was supposed to call him at all. Not that they ever talked at all. But he was one of the only ones that didn't look at him like one would look at sharks.

The boy tapped on the cristal and Aw's ear fins flared up.

Was he talking? Yes he was. Hello. As if expecting him to answer.

Not that Red would listen anyway. Aw could hear him because the top of the small-sea was open (with bars, though. Life shucks.), but the merman doubted the human boy would hear him. So he decided not to talk, instead lifting his hand and waving at him before curling up again.

He was bored, ok. And lonely.

[Meduzia]

Well what Tony did not expect was movement. Smiling like an idiot, Tony pulled a chair close to the tank and looked at the other. He did not feel exactly well doing so-- it made him feel like he was Antonia, because she would sit there for house, just looking and he never got the big deal. But she was the scientist and those lived on the observations, he supposed.

Oh, no, Tony looked at the creature for entirely different reason. He was fascinated also, but in a completely different way.

"I know this is going to sound so stupid-- but do you have any name you go by?" - he was not even sure if it could talk, let alone do something else. Well-- obviously it could breathe and live and generally exist, but that was beside the point. He wasn't sure if it was-- was-- pensive. If it could think logically, like humans did, and not animals and he hated how he was sounding like Antonia.

Perhaps he was made to be her son, after all. They both like having things that were not meant to be theirs.

He leaned a bit towards the tank, smiling only slightly. He wondered what the mermaid looked like in water. In real water, in real sea, not in this poor thing that they filtered when they felt like it. No wonder Antonia complained how something was wrong with it.

[chocofer]

Ok, even if the merman did learn some things from the brown-skinned woman, that was way too much for him to understand. Áine knows things like Hello, Sit up and Stay put, but big sentences like that? No way.

He understood some things, though, like Name. Was the boy giving him his name? Or asking for his? He should have paid more attention.

He sighed. No way Red was going to hear him if he stayed curled up like that in the corner.

Áine uncurled and swam to the top of his tank, where the bars connected the glass with the ceiling, and grabbed the bars so his head was out ofthe water. It wasn't that tall - he would be a head taller than Red in thiss possition, if Red wasn't sitting down.

He pointed to himself and wispered his name, that out of the water sounded much like Awnhé. He frowned.

[Meduzia]

It was hard, understanding this, and Tony could not really say the same at first try. He fumbled around with name until, at last, he hung his head down in defeat. Still, he liked looking at this creature, and he raised his head, positively scarlet, and mumbled a small 'Sorry'. It was not much of an apology, but it was the best redhead could offer.

"I'm Tony." - he mumbled then, pointing at himself almost unconsciously. He didn't want to offend the other create, not really, but maybe it happened. He was not familiar with, let's say, culture. Did this being have culture at all? He wasn't sure. There was nothing he was sure of anymore. That's living with Antonia, he supposed. If somebody told him that creatures like this exsited--

And yet there he was. And he -- oh my god, was it even a he was beautiful and amazing and mesmerizing in every sense and Tony was talking to it. He needed new friends, seriously. Not in this way, though, but oh well. It was stronger than him and that self-preserving voice that stopped him from befriending people anyway. He could not hear his inner self telling him 'Stay away' this time and for him, that was good enough.

Still, he was a bit afraid.

"So.. Um-- H-How are you?" - damn, he did not mean to stutter. What's there, there's. Nothing to be done about it. It was a stupid question, too.

[chocofer]

"Imto'y?", the merman repeated, tilting his head. He couldn't really pronounce it, and he knew he'd probably forget it, but he tried saying it a few times. "Imtou'y. Imtouny?"

This wasn't really going to work, Aw thought as he lowered down a little to keep the gills on his neck inside the water. They couldn't communicate at all. Even as Red asked something else, he could not understand and ended up sighing and then coughing his life out for being unused to having air in his throat.

In the end, he gave up on speaking and decided to mime or something. He lowered himself down until he was curled next to the glass, right in front of the other boy, and watched him.

In the ocean, in his people, he had never seen skin the colour brown, or red the colour red. This world above water was not meant for him, but then, he had never felt truly at home back in the colony, and this strange creature on the other side of the glass seemed interested in him enough to sneak in after all others had gone.

Maybe, he dared hope, maybe with Red he wouldn't be so alone.