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Archie was blissfully unaware of how the two of them were ignoring Léan. In fact, he didn't seem to be thinking about his brother. Until he returned, that is, nearly forty-five minutes later.
Archie didn't seem him at first. But he did see the blood that was floating to the surface. Immediately, he followed the trail back to shore, asking Damon politely to stay where he was. Léan popped his head up from under the water. There was a gash in his arm--not too large, but a gash nonetheless. He handed Archie the net, filled with small fish, and said nothing more. He kept his other arm and his body underwater, hiding something. He sighed, staring at his small, for him anyway, wound. Then, he slapped his tail against the water a few times to try and gain Glory's attention. He hadn't actually meant to find the fish he was hiding underwater...he had run into it, and it had gotten aggressive with him. He had a few bumps and bruises--the gash was the worst injury on him. |
Glory heard the splashing and immediately opened her bedroom window. She still had half an hour before she had to leave for work, and she hadn't expected Léan to be back so soon. As soon as she looked out the window, though, she saw the blood in the water. It didn't look like too much, so she grabbed a roll of bandages on her way outside.
"What have you done to yourself this time?" she asked, teasing. |
Léan sighed, a grin on his face. "I irritated a fish I shouldn't have. I didn't mean to. I wasn't paying attention, and I slammed into it while swimming. It got aggressive. So, I killed it. It would probably be best for you to get foil, or plastic wrap...and a large kitchen knife..."
He ducked underwater and, with all of his strength, pushed the aforementioned fish onto the sandy beach. It was a gigantic black marlin. Its pointed snout, much like that of a large swordfish, was probably what had caused Léan's gash. Léan popped back up, eyeing it. "...because I don't think you'll be getting that inside otherwise." |
Glory blinked at the huge fish.
"How did you manage to drag that thing all the way back here?" she asked, slightly in disbelief. "That has to be as big as you are." |
Léan laid himself out next to the marlin, for comparison. "It's bigger," he corrected, amused.
"I held onto its tail with one hand and dragged it along the surface until I came to land. It semi-floated. Once I got near land, I gave my arm a rest and let it fall to the ground..." He paused, staring at his uninjured arm. "I'm stronger than I look...as long as I kept it near the surface, it wasn't too much of a bother to drag." |
"Well, leave it for a moment and let me see where it got you," Glory said. "At least, I'm assuming that this one is the one that got you."
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Léan stretched out his arm. It wasn't a long gash, but it had cut quite deep, nearly to the bone. "This is the one that got me. If there had been more than one, I don't know if I would have swam away with just this single gash and a few light bruises."
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Glory winced when she saw the gash. It looked like it hurt. Gently, she used a bit of bandage to clean it before binding it up, making sure not to tie it too tightly.
"Try not to make anything else mad, alright?" she teased. "I need to get out and buy more gauze and bandages." |
Léan chuckled, poking at the bandage lightly. "I'll try. I should pay attention more when I'm swimming. This was precisely how I got tangled in the net, during the summer...I tend to space out at times."
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"The net wasn't your fault, though," Glory pointed out. "Fishing line isn't invisible string for nothing. But I don't know how you can miss something bigger than you are."
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"True..." Léan mused, stretching a bit. He glanced at the marlin. "...I think you had better cut it up and store it before it starts to go bad. That would not be good."
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"Right," Glory agreed. She looked at the marlin, trying to figure out the best way to get it inside. It was a massive fish... She might end up having to drag it inside and just have Nana help her turn it into fillets. "Out of curiosity, why didn't you keep this one for yourself?"
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"Arcturus and I capture live fish most of the time," Léan replied. "We don't often kill them unless we plan to eat them right away. They go bad quite quickly. So, we capture live fish. Small ones, usually, and keep them in nets. They can go a few days without food. That gives us a few days to spare, so we don't have to eat them all right away."
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"Ah," Glory replied, "that makes sense." Finally, she decided to head inside and grab a kitchen knife, knowing it would be a lot easier to carry pieces of fish inside rather than dragging the whole fish. Coming back out to where the marlin was lying on the sand, she carefully started to carve it up.
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Léan watched her, with interest, as she carved it up. "That should make a meal or two for you...it's a giant fish." He felt proud of himself. Black marlins were one of the largest types of marlin, and they were very aggressive when agitated. Taking one down and coming away with just one injury was quite a feat.
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"This is probably a lot more than one or two meals," Glory replied as she carefully carved the flesh from the bones of the marlin. Pinbones were not pleasant things to try to swallow. Finally, she managed to free one side of the fish. "I'll be right back."
Quickly, she took it inside and cut it into smaller pieces, wrapping them and putting them into the freezer as she went. Then she went back out to keep cutting up the marlin. |
Léan watched her leave and then return, contently. He was hoping this wasn't a burden for her. "Are you going to approach Viktor about his cheating on Selena tonight, by the way?" he asked, suddenly. "Or will you leave that to her?"
He paused. "...If I know her well enough, I doubt she will confront him on her own." |
"It's not my business," Glory replied, shrugging. Reaching into her pocket with the hand not holding the knife, she pulled out her cell phone and winced. She wasn't going to make it in time for work. With one hand, she sent a text message to Viktor, telling him that something came up and she wouldn't be able to make it in. She would apologize in the morning, and explain that she had talked to Selena. Once that was done, she went back to carving up the fish.
"And now my evening is free, so I might go and change once I'm done with this." |
Léan frowned when he realized that he'd made her late. "I made you late..." he sighed, looking a little guilty. "I'm sorry."
However, he perked up almost at once when he realized this meant she would have time to spend with him. Archie and Damon had paid him no attention almost the entire day, so he'd been quite lonely. His tail swished back and forth excitedly. "If...if you'd like, you can. You don't have to, but..." he paused, then decided to leave that last bit out. |
"Don't worry about it," Glory reassured. "I'll just tell him that something came up, and I skipped work like he skipped school." Carefully, she cut up the rest of the fish. "And I think that's it. Let me go cram this into the freezer, and I'll be back. Sunset won't be for another hour or so, after all." Standing up, she went to put away the knife and the fish, and then went to change into her bathing suit. No sense in wasting sunlight, after all. And she already smelled like fish, so jumping into the ocean wouldn't hurt.
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Léan nodded when she reassured him and watched her retreat back into the house. He waited for her, tail swishing back and forth.
He looked happier than he'd looked, or felt for that matter, all day. The loneliness had lifted, finally, now that he had someone to spend time with. He'd never been impeded by loneliness before the beginning of this summer... |
Heading back out to the beach, Glory jumped straight into the water, not giving herself a chance to chicken out of the cold water.
"Oh god that's cold," she said as she broke the surface. "Definitely not summer anymore." |
Léan frowned, then swam over to her, curiously. "This is cold?" he asked, puzzled. He'd barely registered the change in water temperature. He only really noticed cold water when he was up farther north...near the Arctic Ocean, or in the Bering Sea, for example. He had only been up in that area once in his lifetime. "I don't feel much of a temperature difference...then again, I'm more used to the water."
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"Give it ten minutes, I'll go numb, that's all," Glory replied. Reaching back, she pulled the tie from her hair and then tipped her head back to get her hair wet. "Much better..."
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Léan nodded slowly, hoping the cold water wouldn't get her sick. That would make him feel terrible. He rested his head against the nearest rock, curious as to what they would do now. "What would you like to do? Swim? Play a game? Talk? I don't mind doing anything...whatever you want, we can do..."
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