It looked like his worry for the merman was enough to snap his gaze away from Shadow. "Yeah," he said with a nod before he'd swam a bit only to stop and turn to look back at Shadow, "I'll bring him back." The teen assured the other with a smile and went off to dive under the water.

It was hard to keep his eyes open under the ocean but he tried to do so anyway. He'd also made sure he went back up to the surface to grab some air into his lungs before he dove in again. When it was too deep for him, he continued to swim in the surface while his eyes gazed about for the familiar sea beauty.

Léan had gone out rather far. There was a very small coral reef about half a mile out--it was hazy because it was far down. He was floating above it and catching small fish as he went to nibble on them. He was obviously having a good time, because he didn't even notice Gian above him.

He also didn't notice that he wasn't the only predator in the reef. Behind him, lurking around and surprised that there was something else in his territory, was a fair-sized shark. He seemed puzzled as to what exactly Léan was, and that was perhaps the only reason that he hadn't moved forward to mouth him--and unintentionally hurt him in the process--to figure out what he was.

Gian decided to dive into the sea and upon seeing a familiar tuft of hair and fins for ears, he smiled and came up to him. He would've had swam closer if he weren't eye-to-eye now with a fair-sized shark. Shit, was the first thought he'd thought before he'd swallowed tightly and continued to float there in the ocean. How was he supposed to... grab Léan and have him swim away with him?

Sharks were a lot faster than he was and the knife he was carrying wouldn't definitely be enough to hold him back. Without thinking as much, he pulled out the said knife, his movements slowed by the water and swam close to Léan enough to grab his wrist and swim off back to the shore with him in tow.

At first, Léan spun around to attack--he'd of course mistaken Gian for another merman wanting to fight over territory. When he flipped around, though, he also came face-to-face with the shark.

The irritation and aggression immediately vanished, and they were replaced by a horrified sort of fear...Léan was terrified of sharks. The moment he saw it, he wrapped his arms around Gian in a tight squeeze, shivering, and shot off towards shore like a bullet. The shark was no match for his full speed--not at all. He still had shells clutched in his hands, and he was being careful not to break any of them...but he wanted to get back to shore.

With his speed, they were back to the shallows in no time. Léan let him go, looking terrified, and immediately shot over to Shadow. He clung to him quite tightly, not looking like he was going to let go anytime soon. Shadow sighed, patting his head gently, before going back to relaxing. He didn't mind, now, if the merman wanted to cling.

Gian had somehow dropped his knife along the way and had hurt himself from the impact, maybe, of the water to his blade. He was surprised, of course, by the merman's sudden closeness. The fear must've wiped off everything as he found himself by the shallows now. He was still trying to catch his bearings while Léan clung to Shadow. Shivering slightly out of fear, the teen hugged his knees close to himself as he shut his eyes tight. He had to thank Léan. If it weren't for the other being a merman...

"Shit," he cursed out loud enough for himself to hear as he rested his forehead on his knees and tightened his hug around his legs to himself.

Hebs had noticed the merman darting towards the shallows and he blinked a little as he swam back to Gian's side. "You okay?" he asked as he saw the gash on his arm, a clean cut at that. Moving quickly to get his shirt, he put that tightly around Gian's arm to stop the bleeding and worriedly looked at him. Léan and Gian must've seen something unwanted in the ocean. He did notice Gian had drifted off rather far.

"Sh-Shark..." It was all Gian could bring himself to say as the fear continued to embrace him.

Shadow ran a hand along Léan's back, in a comforting manner. "I will take him out in a bit to retrieve your knife," he informed Gian, strangely omniscient again. "Just let him calm him down first. That wound is clean...if you rest in the water in the shallows here, while it's not bleeding, it should scab over nicely in the next few days."

It took Shadow just a few minutes to cool his fishy leech, of sorts, down. When he did calm him down, he quietly guided the merman back out to sea to fetch the knife that Gian had dropped. Léan's sense of smell was heightened in the water, so he could follow the blood trail back to the knife and fetch it. Shadow would ward off the shark...if it was even still there.

Alfie took his time coming into shore, looking concerned as well. "Seawater's good for cuts. A shark wouldn't dare to come this far into the shallows. We'll beat it with something if one does, though, haha..." He sat beside Gian and patted him on the back.

"Is it? But I thought salt always was painful for the wounds," Hebs cut in as he looked at Alfie and made a face, "Unless you're wanting to make him scream out in pain and not in the good way." Of course, he was joking and it made Gian, at least, chuckle lightly. He smiled at them and let out a deep breath. That was definitely not his best part.

"Sorry," he managed to say towards Shadow's way as he brushed his fingers through his wet hair to push them back. Massaging the bridge of his nose, he wiped his hand over his face and smiled again at the pat on his cheek by Hebs. "You're human." It was all Hebs had said as he nodded, "Hell, even I wouldn't be able to swim as fast as these guys since I'm part human too. At least, you prevented that shark from chomping on our merman."

"Salt water actually helps the healing process. The concentration of salt's so low, see, that it doesn't actually sting. Nullifies pain, actually, believe it or not..." Alfie stretched his tail out all the way in the shallows, allowing it to float on the surface of the water. "From what our Ringleader's told me, Léan doesn't like sharks. I don't exactly remember what he said about it...maybe something about being forced to fight one by one of his past owners or something."

Alfie shuddered. "I wouldn't want to fight a shark. No wonder the poor guy's terrified of 'em."

Hebs blinked at that and he pulled at Gian's arm to dip him into the ocean. As he'd expected, Gian had let out a short, "Ow!" at the feeling of the saltwater getting into his wound through the soaked cloth. After a few minutes, it had, indeed, nullified the pain. Gian was surprised himself. Hebs was too that he kept poking at the wound on Gian.

"So that was why he zoomed out on it like that," he started, looking rather sullen at the thought and pursed his lips, "No one should be facing off a shark. They're fishes, too, and they've got territories they're protecting."

"Spoken like a true animal-ist. Where'd you learn that anyway? The talks of that old man who passed by the place every day?" Gian splashed water at Hebs and he watched as the snake teen tumbled back and spit out some of the salt water that got into his mouth and rubbed at his eyes. "The hell, Gian!" Gian finally laughed and he looked at Alfie with a playful glint in his eyes. A silent invitation of teaming up against Hebs this time.

Alfie grinned and reached out to pat Gian on the shoulder. "Told you. I told you both it'd feel better. It'll even help the wound to close up..." He sighed heavily. "Man, I wish Léan would open up a little more about his past. It'd make it easier for all of us to know what not to do around him, you know?"

While he spoke, he flashed Gian an equally playful look. If he was up to it, then he didn't mind teaming up. He just didn't want to aggravate Gian's wound into bleeding again.

By this point, Shadow and Léan were returning. Léan looked shaken and, for once, like he did not want to be in any kind of water at all. Shadow leaned forward when they reached the trio still at shore. He had Gian's knife in his hand. "Here you are. You might want to dry it off and leave it out in the sun--there will be no chance of rusting or weathering away that way," he murmured, knowledgeably. "I'm going to take Léan back in to rest for a while."

He was also plotting. Léan had quietly confided in him during that trip that the encounter with the shark had spooked him and that he wanted out of the water for now. He also didn't want to go in his tank for right now--any kind of water was off-limits for him in his current state. He had, after all, been forced to fight that shark in a small tank...

Gian pitied Léan. He was a wreck. Nodding at the two as he uttered a short, "Thanks," to the both of them, he flashed Léan a small smile. "Thank you, too, a lot for saving my life back there. I definitely owe you one."

Hebs took the knife from Gian and he smiled at the four. "And I better start up with dinner. Alfie, could you look after him?" He can't exactly have Gian working in his condition and he got up to his feet to head back to their room.


[[ Uwa. Short. x_X Sorry. ]]

((It's fine!))

"...You are welcome." Léan just wanted to curl up and rest with someone. He would prefer it was Shadow himself whom he rested with, seeing as he didn't want to be alone out of his tank. But Shadow, of course, was plotting. He gave the lame excuse to Léan that he wanted to help with dinner--he himself was an excellent cook. When asked who was his second choice, he idly, but uncertainly, gave Kratos' name.

Shadow, carrying Léan bridal-style, made his way back to the room that Kratos had chosen. He rapped loudly on the door. "Open up. Something has happened."

"Sure thing." Alfie sat a little closer to Gian and rested his head on his shoulder--a sign of kind affection. Alfie liked him already--he'd accepted him. He enjoyed having him as a friend. "Your wound all right?"

[[ Sly ringleader. :rofl: ]]


The rap to his door made him frown as he groggily woke up from his slumber. Wasn't that Shadow's voice? Getting out of bed, the male headed for the door, opened it and continued to frown. "What happened?" he asked, seeing a rather shaken Léan. That, of course, wasn't unusual but it was rare considering Shadow tend to look after the merman. Yawning widely, almost rudely, the male ran his fingers through his hair but they fell back anyway.

Gian blinked a little at the weight on his shoulder. Luckily for Alfie, his wound was numb. Resting his cheek on the top of the naga's head, though, he gave a little sigh. "I've been in worst situations," he told him with a reassuring smile, "This is nothing."

((Quite sly. :3))

"He drifted out a bit too far. Saw a shark. You know he's terrified of sharks." Shadow paused, and then flashed him an apologetic smile. "Do you mind watching him for a bit? He doesn't want to go back in his tank, and I have to help Hebs with supper--Gian was injured trying to get him away from the shark and cannot help Hebs with cooking."

Really, Hebs could probably do it alone. But Shadow was rather intent on seeing how this would go.

Alfie chuckled, closing his eyes. "Good. We don't want to lose you just yet, eh?" he replied, his grin still on his face. "I don't feel like movin' just yet."

Kratos let out a short, "Ah," as the pieces of the puzzle fit in and formed. He shook his head and stepped closer to take him from Shadow. "Make sure dinner's delicious. I'll rip out your eyes if they aren't." As always, empty threats but Kratos said them anyway and looked down at the pretty little thing in his arms for a second or two.

He shut the door with his foot and managed to bring him to bed with him. Once he was sure he was settled in, he laid back down the bed with an exhausted sigh and pulled the merman close, letting him rest that head of his on his arm. "Don't let your tail flicker back and forth. I will cut that off." He mumbled this and then resumed sleep.

Gian laughed lightly at that. "Getting attached to me now, are you, Alfie?" he asked teasingly before he'd brushed off the strands from the mutated naga's face. He really is handsome but the epitome of beauty and good looks would definitely be Shadow's. "Hey. Tell me about your family. The one before this one, before you were put under Shadow's care."

"Sure you will." Shadow didn't take empty threats seriously. He'd had his fair share of them from Léan when he'd first brought him home, so he'd learned, without having to invade someone's mind, what was a true threat and what wasn't. "Be nice to him." He turned and headed out towards the kitchen, poking his head in. "May I help? You're a hand short without Gian."

Léan seemed nervous in Kratos' arms and even more nervous when he set him down so they could rest together. As such, he could not stop the very end of his tail, where the silky fins were, from flicking back and forth. The movement was small, however, and did not move the blankets or sheets around. It didn't even make noise. He was uncomfortable being so close to the human, but he was out of water now...so, he was starting to calm down.

Naturally, he did not sleep. He only rested, bringing himself to relax as much as he possibly could.

"My folks, huh." Alfie paused for a moment. "Don't know who my father is or was. I didn't have any siblings. I had my mother, and she wasn't too healthy. She took care of me, though, till she died. Entrusted me to Shadow before she did die. Thankfully, I had a peaceful childhood. Lonely, yeah. But peaceful. I wasn't allowed outside. She home-schooled me."

Hebs looked up from cutting the vegetables and he almost cut his fingers thanks to the handsome-looking fellow. "As much as I'd like to say no, preparing food for four hungry beasts will make me say yes." He sighed and mentally slapped himself to get back to work. "You know I'm still not used to your good looks so get your sunglasses back on, Shadow." Expertly, the hand holding the knife cut down on the vegetables like they were nothing, slid them into the pan and then resumed cutting another vegetable.

Kratos looked peaceful when he was asleep, almost like a child. His long lashes were fluttered shut and his lips were parted a little. He breathed through his nose and his mouth, oddly, and his hand occasionally fisted and loosened to relax. It seemed like a habit he'd caught on that he wasn't aware of.

"That's boring," he said thoughtfully and smiled in amusement, "But your mother... she sounds great." His hand went up to play a little with Alfie's hair, a habit he got whenever he'd make Hebs fall asleep when he couldn't. "So, you purposely missed answering my teasing question, did you?"

Shadow flipped the sunglasses back onto his face. He'd scooped them up while leaving the beach and had them hanging from the pocket of his swim trunks. He was far too lazy to get dressed--at least he was mostly dry, now. "Very well. What do you want me to do?" he asked, his voice a low and curious hum. He was a talented cook, so he could help out with whatever Hebs needed his help on.

Léan sneaked a peek at him and regretted it--his tail began to move a little faster. He beat it down with sheer will and then settled down again, making a disgruntled, soft sort of noise.

As time passed, his breathing also began to slow. Without meaning to, the merman drifted off into a light, uneasy sleep. He hated sleeping out of water, but the incident with the shark had thoroughly exhausted him. He was not used to moving that quickly--he did, after all, live in captivity.

"Sure it is. But she was great..." Alfie yawned softly. He gave a soft little purr when Gian began to pet his hair. "Yep, I did. I'm attached to everyone, 'cept Cranky and sometimes Fishy. I try to get along with everyone, see."

Hebs was glad Shadow did that and he pointed to the pan. "Do your magic," he told him with a grin. He, of course, knew about Shadow's skill in the kitchen. Hell, he'd even commended him for a job well done when they'd first had his taste of his platter. "I'll just randomly put in things. Make it taste good." As if that wasn't enough, he pointed the knife at Shadow.

"I trust you so don't make me break that trust, pretty boy."

The disgruntled, soft noise stirred Kratos up a bit and he frowned a tad before he'd found himself slowly opening his eyes. That seemed to be a wrong move because he could swear his heart had jumped to his throat. The merman really was beautiful. He quickly shut his eyes again and willed himself to sleep again. Sadly, he was greatly bothered by his current companion.

The soft little purr from Alfie made Gian blink and he chuckled in amusement. "You're a really nice guy," he said as he tilted his head a bit to look at him, "Think you could rub my back for me tonight? I want a bath before dinner and I'm never good at reaching for my back."

"Hmph..." Shadow examined what Hebs had already done and worked from there, putting his own spin on it. He worked fluidly throughout the kitchen, but made sure to slow down so Hebs could examine what he was doing. He didn't want that knife brandished at him again, even though he'd found it amusing.

Léan stayed asleep. His tailfins even twitched in his sleep, proving that they really did do that on their own out of water and even in water. His sleep was light but he didn't stir when Kratos did. He also looked peaceful when he slept. It was uncommon for most of the family to be able to get this close to the merman, especially out of water.

Alfie grinned widely. "Sure. You want to go inside?"

Hebs watched with amusement as Shadow cooked and he had to say, the man really knows his way around the kitchen. Add that up with his good looks and his being a ringleader, he's ready to have a family. Well, technically, they are his family. "I think that's about it," he said as he threw the things he'd cut and looked around. There were no more ingredients on the table. "How is it there?"

Damn. It smelled good. Even Hebs himself was feeling himself salivating from it.

"Yeah," he said as he gave Alfie's snake leg a little pat. He waited for Alfie to sit up straight first before he got up to his feet. Unconsciously, he rubbed at the cloth around his arm and moved to take it out. He held Hebs' shirt in his hand as he went on ahead inside and picked up the clothes left by the sand.

By the time he was inside, he had stripped bare to get into the bathroom and make sure to fill the tub with hot water so that when he stepped in, he wouldn't be shivering because of the cold.

"It's done. It needs to set for a few more minutes and then everything will be ready to serve. I'll go fetch the lovebirds...the outside pair has already come in," Shadow teased, pleasantly. He made his way down the hallway after Alfie and Gian had passed and knocked on Kratos' door. "Supper-time. You can bring your lovely merman with you, if you'd like."

Léan jolted awake when Shadow knocked on the door, looking startled. He had not been sleeping deeply.

Alfie followed Gian in, snatching some of the clothing from him to carry. He slithered along quite easily, noting that Shadow was not far behind them. He didn't mind seeing Gian strip down in front of him. In fact, he watched idly as the other boy filled the tub up with hot water. "Watch that you don't scald yourself," he warned.

Hebs nodded at that. "I'll prepare the dishes."

Apparently, Gian had missed out on the scalding part. He had to get rid of some of the water to fill in cold this time to settle the temperature. "Thanks," he told the other with a smile as he got into the water and let out a rather delicious sigh. The water felt good but it gave his wound a little sting. Noting that he had to quickly wash himself, he dipped his head into the tub and started to wash his hair to get rid of the sea water.

Kratos let out a groan when Léan had jolted awake. It greatly bothered him. "I will," he called back as he'd looked down at the merman for a second and brushed some hair off from the other's face. Yet again, realizing it all too late, he retrieved his hand back and slowly took his arm back before he'd gotten out of bed to stretch out his limbs. "We should get you back to your tank." He frowned when he'd realized that the merman had been out of his tank too long. "Are you feeling better now?" He still felt groggy from having been woken up.

Alfie settled himself by the side of Gian's bath, intending on doing nothing but relaxing until suppertime. It was rather close to supper. They unfortunately could not stand to dawdle, lest their food get cold. "How about we save that back massage for later? Wash up and we'll eat, then we can head back to one of our rooms, hm?"

Léan's tail flicked back and forth as he yawned softly, flashing those sharp teeth of his. "Mm. I'm not shaken anymore, if that's what you mean." His tone was oddly soft. It lacked that edge it usually had to it. He'd been too sleepy this time around to notice that Kratos had brushed more hair out of his face, so he was much calmer and able to speak in complete sentences. "I don't feel like going back to my tank, yet..."

Gian managed to finish quickly just when Alfie had suggested that. "Sounds good," he said as he blinked at his stomach growling because of hunger. Well, that was unexpected. "A very good idea," he added as he got out of the tub and took a towel to rub himself dry. He was careful around the wound and he went back to his bedroom to change into dry and clean clothes.

The male waited up for Alfie before he followed suit.

Kratos hummed a little and kneeled on the bed with one knee to scoop the merman up into his arms. "Then you'll eat out with us," he said as he got out of bed and managed to open the door by bending down a bit and walking out of the room to follow after Gian.