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Glory slept soundly that night, tired from all of her exposure to the sun, and from all of the activity of the day. Although she was pretty much passed out, she didn't use any of her blankets. Her skin was far too sensitive from the sun.
She slept in late the next morning, and moved stiffly when she finally did wake. Her sunburned skin was tight and painful, and it ached when she rubbed on more aloe lotion. She didn't bother trying to change out of her light tank top. She knew it would just hurt. After a light breakfast, she slipped on a jacket and tried to ignore how it chafed her shoulders as she went outside to the beach. |
Damon was the only one of the three mermen that was visible from the shore. He was swimming around in circles in the shallows, playing with a big clump of seaweed that had floated up to the shallows and chirping contently.
Archie and Léan appeared to be nowhere in sight--not in the water, or on the rocks. It seemed like the two of them had wandered off somewhere together, possibly to have a chat. |
Glory grinned when she saw him and went to sit down on the flat rock, dangling her feet in the water. She didn't take off her jacket, although it was getting warm, since she didn't want to damage her skin any more. As she sat on the rock, she looked around and tried to see Léan and Archie, but she didn't see them. Mentally shrugging, she watched Damon play.
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Damon tangled the seaweed around his torso, smiling at it. He looked up, then, and noticed her. He tilted his head and swam over, still half-playing with the seaweed.
"Hello," he greeted, voice still soft as before. "Archie...brother...went there." He pointed out to sea. Still in relatively shallow water, close to the shore, there were there were a few bubbles coming up from under the surface. "Talk. Brother sad." |
"Okay," Glory said, looking where he pointed. She could see the bubbles, but she didn't bother getting up. She wasn't dressed to swim, and she didn't really want to move and aggrivate her sunburn.
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"Be back soon," he assured her, also glancing out there. "Archie brother cry last night..."
Damon flipped around underwater, playing with the seaweed, not a care in the world. As Archie had said, it seemed that Damon was a very innocent youth with not a lot of knowledge about the world or its dangers, for he chittered and chirped happily and loudly, not seeming to mind the fact that another human--possibly hostile--could find him. |
"I hope he feels better," Glory murmured as Damon went back to playing with the seaweed. Something in her heart twisted when Damon said that Léan had been upset, and it surprised her. She hadn't expected to feel so bad that Léan was upset, but she did. Sighing, she settled in to wait for them to get back.
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After about seven minutes, two shapes swam back towards shore. One--faster--came directly for the shore, while the other ducked down and headed into the rocks.
The one heading towards shore popped up, shaking his head. There was a big smile on his face, and there weren't any cuts...obviously Archie. |
Glory watched as Léan disappeared under the rocks.
"Somehow, that shouldn't surprise me," she muttered. Rolling her eyes, instead of shrugging, she left him to his brooding. She didn't feel like moving her arms and shoulders just to stick her head into the water to look for him. "Morning, Archie," she said to the other blonde. |
"Good morning." Archie looked content, but tired. "I guess. I've been up almost all night. He had a spazz." He pointed at the rocks, rolling his eyes playfully. "About our mother. About why he felt comfortable around a human. About not wanting to get hurt by one again. And he calls me a spazz. He spazzes more than I do sometimes."
Damon swam over happily and latched himself to Archie's waist, nuzzling him. It earned a weary, quiet sigh from Archie. "If you want me to go drag him out, I can. He'll just grumble at me." |
"Nah, leave him be," Glory replied. "Let him come out on his own. It's not like none of you can get my attention if I'm inside." She shifted her jacket slightly, trying to get it to stop pressing on her sunburn. "If he wants time to himself, that's his deal."
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"I don't think he wants time to himself. I think he wants to want time by himself," Archie explained, eyeing the rocks. "I think he wants to be out here. Quite desperately. But he can't bring himself to do it."
Damon tilted his head at him. "Brother sad?" Archie nuzzled him contently. "No, no...not anymore. Maybe just confused. But not sad..." |
"I would try to bug him into coming out, but I'm not planning on swimming today," Glory said. "I got pretty crispy yesterday, so it kind of hurts to move my arms." She gestured to her jacket. "This is so I don't burn any more. So if he wants to come out, he'd better do it himself."
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"Well..." Archie paused, thinking, and then grinned. "You know what? I'm in the mood to give him some kind of trouble today. Payback for keeping me up all night. Let's see if I can't get him out here."
Gently prying Damon off of him, Archie gleefully raced over to the rocks, dipping under and around them. There was silence for a while. Then, loud, annoyed hissing and gleeful chirping came from inside the rocks, as well as a lot of splashing and slapping against the rocks. After a moment of this, Archie returned, looking disheveled, but happy, with a grumbling, cranky-looking Léan in tow. |
Glory did her best not to giggle when she saw how grumpy Léan looked.
"For the record," she said, "I told him to leave you be. He did that on his own." |
Léan dove underwater, stuck his tail out, and smacked Archie upside the head with it, knocking him backwards into the water. He resurfaced, looking amused, now.
"I know. And he deserved that." Archie resurfaced a second later, folding his arms across his chest poutily. |
"I'm not getting in the middle of that," Glory said. As an afterthought, she added, giggling, "He did call you a spazz, though." Absently, she moved her feet in the water a bit, glad that her legs hadn't burned much, if at all. Her shoulders and arms ached enough as it was.
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Léan smacked Archie again--underwater this time.
"I'm a spazz?" he offered airily. "I'm not afraid of clown fish. Or bright coral. Or kelp. Or big crabs. Or humans." He paused. "Though, I don't like them." ---------- ((I have to go eat. I'll be back.)) |
"Clown fish?" Glory asked, an eyebrow raised. "Really? But aren't they harmless?" Glory sighed and shook her head slightly. "I'm starting to think you're all just weird."
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"I...I..." Archie sputtered, looking embarrassed. "They...they scare me! A group of them attacked me once...it was terrifying..."
Léan flicked his tail back and forth triumphantly. "You...are ten times the spazz I am, dear brother," he informed him smugly. |
"Again, aren't clownfish harmless?" Glory reiterated. "I mean, I don't like spiders, but at least spiders bite." Slowly, she took off her jacket, the warmth of the day winning over the desire to keep her skin overed. She knew her shoulders and arms were red, and didn't particularly want to look at them.
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Archie huffed, cheeks pink. "I...they're just...pure evil!" he protested. "They attacked me...and I saw the darkness in their eyes..."
Léan stared at him for a moment, almost like he was thinking of saying something. Then, he shook his head and turned to eye her. "That looks painful," he noted, unnecessarily. "You should cover up with something cold and wet." |
"I don't think clownfish can go dark," Glory said, giggling. Gently, she touched her sunburn. It wasn't blistering, so it wasn't too bad, but it was still really sensitive, and would definitely peel later.
"I put something on it earlier," she said to Léan. "I'll put it on again in a little while." |
"But...they looked like they wanted to eat me or something..." Archie whimpered, slumping a little bit. Damon swam over to hug him again, nuzzling his shoulder.
"Archie sad," he sang softly. "I make Archie happy?" Archie smiled and hugged him, cheery again. Léan nodded glumly, folding his arms around himself. He still looked like he was depressed over something, but he didn't seem as bad as he had last night. |
Carefully, Glory scooted as close to him as she could without falling off of the rock.
"What's wrong?" she asked softly. "You're doing the imploding thing again." |
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