Chapter Text
The first thing Dirk’s tired mind processed was the sound of birds. Not regular bird sounds, either. What a wonder this world was. Maybe he could befriend these strange seagulls as well. Or maybe they were parrots? He could be a pirate. Wear glasses over an eyepatch. Or an eyepatch over his glasses.
The thought of this made him laugh weakly, which triggered a bout of coughing. He managed to open his eyes and saw a blurred figure walking closer, kneeling down and helping him sit up, smacking him none too gently on the back.
By the time he was done hacking up the rest of the saltwater, Dirk turned to the figure beside him.
This troll’s mouth was set in a disapproving grimace, his eyes no longer glowing yet still as vibrant as ever. The moment it was clear that Dirk was done coughing, the seadweller let go of him and went into an accusing, somewhat worried-sounding lecture.
“I’ve met many stupid, ignorant air-breathing’ beings in my life but you really take the cake on this one. Do you have some kind of death wish? No? Then maybe you need it fuckin’ spelled out for you. Landdwellers. Don’t. Go. Into. The Ocean. You. Witless. Idiot. Especially not my ocean. I coulda ripped your lungs out there and then an’ right now I have half a mind to, making’ me sit and wait for you to wake up that long.”
Dirk listened to the troll chatter for a few minutes, still somewhat dazed himself. Accusing as it was, he did have a nice voice. It reminded him a bit of Jake. The last part did make him wonder, though, how long he had been unconscious. An hour? Two? When it became apparent that the other wouldn’t stop for breath between inquirings and insults, he sighed and cut in, disappointed in how weak his own voice sounded.
“Dude, just, slow down for a sec. How long was I out,” he rasped, “and why did you stay here with me?”
The seadweller lowered his fins at that somewhat, as if he hadn’t himself wondered that already. Then he sniffed and folded his arms.
“You’ve been here for hours. All day. An’ you should be thanking me, not questioning’ my motives, you ungrateful pink alien,” he answered stiffly. Dirk groaned and let himself fall back against the pale sand once more.
The sun had wandered slowly across the sky since the human had taken the dive into the ocean. He scoffed at its position. Hours? All day? He couldn’t have been unconscious for more than an hour. Yet the sun was still bright enough to bother him and he sighed, looking back up at the pouting troll. Said troll had brushed the sand from himself and turned to walk away.
“Alright, then, O Saviour of mine. How far are we from the cliffs? I left my stuff up there. It would be nice to have it back before this sun renders me blind as a mole.” Dirk quietly congratulated himself on remembering such a phrase. Not that he entirely understood it. Jane had once pointed out that the various dark spots across his skin were called moles, yet that didn’t bring him any closer to discovering its meaning. Or had it been blind as a bowl? This was a subject he had often wondered, voicing his musings to lil Cal and various seagulls.
The seadweller, on his part, took little notice of this brilliantly executed phrase. Turning to look at him again with those bright violet eyes with contempt, he sighed dramatically and nodded to his left.
“That there’s the only one I know of. Damn stupid place to put such cliffs, as if dragging you out wasn’t a pain in my ass already. I cannot guarantee if your shit’s still there or not -sounds like your problem.” And with that, the troll huffed and began walking towards the very cliffs he had just insulted. Dirk sat back up, shielding his eyes. The white of the sand and the sparkly of the waves, however aesthetically pleasing as it may be, definitely didn’t help his eyes.
“Hey, fish dude. If you’re going back up, can you get mine as well? I kind of need my glasses,” he asked, giving the sea troll his best pleading look through a squint. For a moment the other looked as if he would deny him immediately; after a second thought, however, he shrugged.
“Whatever. You owe me.” Was his response, and with that he continued his way off of the rocky beach.
Relieved, Dirk lay back down and rolled over on his stomach. Less sunlight that way. It was meant to be a few moments of repose, but things never quite work out that way, now do they?
Predictably, it was mere moments before he was fast asleep.