Chapter Text
Stan wakes up, slowly opening his eyes and yawns, and rubs the sleep away from his eyes, he looks around and everything looks…..clear? And he’s in a room?… When did he?
…oh..right..
Stan down looks at his scaled and clawed hand and sighs “gonna need to get used to that” he grumbles his voice still deep from sleep.
He looks up and sees the windows closed, but he can see a little light slipping out and when he checks his ears, they are still covered by the earmuffs. Which is honestly pretty impressive.
He sits up and stretches his arms and tries to crack his back, but something just doesn’t feel right stretching this way. So mindlessly, he gets on his hands and feet. Then he pushes back with hands and raises his back end up and feeling his…(ugh) tail curls towards him in a way that he hates to admit feels really satisfying. He clenches his hands grabbing onto the fabric and releasing it. Then looking back at his feet, that he is on his toes (that are longer, now that he’s looking at them) and looking down at where his hands are. He realized he kinda tore the sheets a little while stretched.
Stan sits back on the bed on his butt feeling a lot better than he did before. Suddenly, he realized what he had just done.
He stretched on his hands and feet…
Like a Cat…
Without even thinking..
Uuuugggghhhh….
Stan groaned into his hands. If this was permanent, then it was gonna take a while for him to get used to doing shit without realizing it. But no use in complaining about it now; at least Ford didn’t see him do that. The last thing he needs is that nerd to find out is that he has any more similarities to cats.
Stan gets up and then almost forgets to put on his sunglasses. As soon as he opens the door, he’s hit with the smell of…cinnamon. Making his mouth water.
Holy shit… that smells soooo good, what the hell is Fidds making?
Stan quickly walks down the stairs and into the kitchen to see Fidds and Ford. Ford was sitting at the table with a coffee and writing in his book, while Fidds was busy making whatever had that delicious aroma. Fidds was the first to notice him enter:
“Hey! Good morning there, Stanley!” Fidds says
Ford looks up and with a tired smile says “Hello Stanley, I hope you slept well”
Stan shrugs “yeah, definitely slept better than I have in ages” then goes to sit across from his brother.
“Soooo… Fidds,whatcha ya cooking? Smells amazing” Stan says leaning his chair back and looking at the pan, his mouth watering.
Fidds chuckle “oh nothing to crazy, just some eggs and cinnamon toast”
Stan could feel his eyes getting bigger. He can’t remember the last time he had cinnamon....well anything.
He turned to look at Ford with serious expression “Stanford, seriously, how in the hell did you land a guy this amazing”
Fidds laughs and Ford rolls his eyes, but a fond smile comes across his face “I wouldn’t say I ‘landed’ him, but if you're asking why he chose to stay with me then....well I’m not quite sure, but I’m definitely grateful he did”
Stan nods “Damn right! You should be!, hey Fidds” Fidds turns around “he ever does anything stupid just call me and I’ll smack some sense into him”
Fidds laughs “oh you don’t have to worry about that, I’m quite good at making him see sense”
“I can’t argue with that” Ford says a bit sheepishly
Stan chuckles “Soooooo….how did you too meet anyway?”
Ford and Fidds both looked at each other as if they were waiting for the other to talk first.
Fords coughs seemly choosing to be the one that tells the story “We were roommates back in college. I found him to be a brilliant mind, I dare say even more brilliant than my own” Ford looks to Fidds and Fidds just rolls his eyes fondly.
“We became quick friends after meeting and staying that way throughout college. Once we graduated, we parted ways for a bit until I called him back here to help assist me with a....... project” Ford says wincing a bit at the last part.
Project? Huh...“Oh, are you guys still working on that? I’m no-” Stan was interrupted by both Fidds and Ford say “No.”
Stan taken a back a bit at the quick response just says “Oh.” then continues “Can I ask why?”
Fidds looks at Ford with a kinda look he imagines his ma would give his pa when pa needed to say something but wouldn’t.
Ford sighed “I...We can discuss that later Stanley. For right now I’ll say the project ended up being a mistake and we shut it down." Stan just shrugs and gets up to get a glass of water. Then he hears Ford whispers into his coffee “my biggest mistake”
Stan really wanted to press and know what had happened but figured it best not to press so early in the morning. Plus, even if Ford wanted him around, for some reason besides the whole ‘creature thing’ he is now, it’s best not push, just in case. Stan knew that everyone could change their mind, and trust was a hard thing to come by, and Stan knew he had to earn Ford’s if he wanted the whole story.
“Alright! Breakfast is served!” Fidds says putting down.
Stan had to control himself to not just grab the food and shove it in his mouth; he may look like an animal, but he is going to at least try not to act like one. Stan starts by eating his toast, which he can eat with his hands. He takes a small bite and savors the flavor, it’s so good he doesn’t even care that he can feel and hear his tail thumping on the floor as he eats each bite or the small chuckles from Ford, but after a while of literal food heaven the sound of Ford clearing his throat makes Stan look up from his plate.
“Stanley, I’ve looked at some of the data you provided yesterday and well…in short, I can’t seem to find a matching species. I found some that are a similar but nothing exact.”
Stan swallowed his food “sooooo… am I like the first one of…whatever I am?”
Ford sighed “no, I don’t think so, humans can only be turned into something that already exists, usually by a witch or another higher-level entity. I suppose you could be a hybrid but from your blood work there wasn’t any human blood in your system. I think it’s best to get a second opinion on this”
“And who would that be?” Stan asks
Ford smiles “There is a mermaid that lives in the lake nearby. Her name is Tina. She is very knowledgeable on all anomalous aquatic life so she should be able to help us out”
Stan blinks “Wait a minute, You are friends….. with a mermaid?”
“Yes. Did I not just say that?”
“And she just…lives here. Like that’s just normal here” Stan asks a bit stunned
Ford chuckles and smiles “Stanley everything that be considered strange outside this town is normal here.”
“Huh…guess that makes sense....you really found the perfect place for ya huh?” Stan says with a small smile, taking a bite of eggs.
Ford nods “indeed….I suppose I did” taking a sip of his coffee.
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After they finish breakfast. Ford asked Stan to follow him to his room and once there. Ford hands him a hoodie “this should help hide your face and ears but…hummm” Ford now wearing a thinking expression, rubbing his chin.
“What?” Stan asks while putting on the hoodie, which he thought would make him feel hot but…he didn’t really feel hot at all. Even though Fidds says it was quote “hotter than the devil’s bonfire”
“Well, I’m not quite sure how to hide your…um…tail” Ford says looking at the thing curiously.
Stan looks down at it and his feet that definitely weren’t gonna be fitting in ANY shoes and sighs “look is there gonna be anyone around where this mermaid is?”
Ford looks at Stan “no, she’s not a fan of most people so she stays near the end of the lake”
“Then why do I need to hide it anyway? Plus, if people are so used to weird shit here, I doubt I’d cause that much of panic” Stan says, thought he would admit that he probably wouldn’t go into town looking like he did or...really anywhere that had a lot of people...
Ford blinks “I….I suppose you have point. I just thought maybe, that might be more….um comfortable?” Ford says a bit of a wince at the end “but now that I hear it out loud. That sounds bit rude, doesn’t it?”
Stan smiles “Na, I get where ya coming from, but I am keeping the hoodie”
Ford chuckles “Fair, though you might want some swim trunks instead of sweatpants. Since we’ll be at the lake, it might be a good idea to see how you interact with water”
Stan thoughts are immediately filled with getting in the water and….
why did that make him really…....excited?
He hadn’t realized how much he wanted to swim until Ford mentioned it.
Huh….weird….
Ford’s snickering breaks him out of his head and looks at Ford who chuckles into his hand trying to hide his laughter and is looking down at his…
“Oh, God damn it! Will this thing ever stop!” Stan says, trying to stop his wagging tail by grabbing and glaring at it.
Ford chuckles “come on, you can borrow my swim trunks for now. Perhaps Fidds can pick you up some new ones when he heads into town today.” Ford heads to his room and Stan fallows.
“Why is Fidds going into town?” Stan asks while still holding his tail as he follows Ford.
“Well, now that you’ll be here for a while, it’s best we get more groceries. Plus, you don’t really have any clothes, so it would probably be best to have some that fit, especially with your new body.” Ford says as he looks through his dresser.
Stan just stares at him; Ford was really planning on him staying here. They’re buying him clothes...and food....but it doesn’t make any sense. Stan wants to say that Ford shouldn’t be spending money on him, that he’s fine with just one or two borrowed shirts and pants. He wants to tell Ford that he’s done more than enough. He wants to ask how he can pay him back for...well...everything..
But instead of that, the hopeful, stupid, and kinda selfish part of him takes over and he just says “Oh....um…Thanks.” Without looking at Ford. So, Ford doesn't have to see the conflict on his face even with the sunglasses on and hood over his head.
Stan hears Ford say “Of course, it’s no problem at all” with serenity
Once Stan puts on Ford’s swim trunks and Ford grabs his backpack. And right before they leave Fidds calls them “Hey, before yall leave I just finished these up!”
Fidds puts his hand and on his palm lay two tiny looking things that Stan has never seen before. They look like metal tubes but really small and rubber bit at the end.
Stan looks at Fidds “what are those?”
Fidds smiled “just some hearing aids I wiped up yesterday and I finished’em this morning! They should be more comfortable and waterproof then the earmuffs”
“F that’s amazing! I didn’t think you’d get it done this fast” Ford says in amazement
“Well, here I thought I told ya ta never underestimate a Mcgucket” Fidds says with pride
Ford with fondness in eyes “indeed, you never cease to amazing me F”
“Aw shucks” Fidds waves him off
Stan rolls his eyes and resists the urge to gag “so how to do I put them on?” he says with a flat tone
Ford and Fidds stop looking at each other and finally look at him, and Fidds hands them to Ford.
“They work just like ear plugs, but ya should be able to hear clear as day still with them in” Fidds says
Ford gets close to him “um….would mind if I?”
Stan nods his head and moves hair out of the way, and he is prepared for the onslaught of noise he’s about to feel. As soon as Ford takes the earmuff off, Stan winces in pain, but it soon stops. This is repeated with his other ear, and Stan finally releases the tension in his shoulders.
“Well Stan, can you hear alright? Anything feel uncomfortable?” Ford says backing away
Stan blinks “Yeah I can hear ya, and I can’t feel any pain or anything”
Ford smiles at Stan then to his partner “Excellent! Great work F!” Patting Fidds on the back and looking at him with pride
Fidds just smiles, his cheeks a bit pink. “Really wasn’t too hard” rubbing the back of neck
Stan rolls his eyes again “if you two start flirting again, I’m gonna puke”
Both of them turn to Stan with slightly red faces.
“We are not flirting!” They both say at the same time
Stan just shrugs “Whatever, can we get going now”
Fidds huffs and shakes his head then hands them 3 packed lunches the 3rd being for the mermaid. Ford puts them into his bag. With that, they start their journey into the woods.
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Stan whistles “wow…this place is..huge. I thought Columbia rainforest was big” he says looking around at all the trees and strange wildlife he keeps seeing out of the corner of his eyes. Did he just see an owl that had an udder?
“You’ve been to Columbia?” Ford asks
Stan shrugs “been almost everywhere at this point. But I’ll tell ya this places wildlife is definitely more ‘interesting’ than the ones back in Columbia” he swears he just saw that rock move on its own.
Ford chuckles “Yes. Even though I’ve lived here for nearly 6 years, I feel I’ve only scratched the surface of its strangeness” Ford says with that same fondness and determination that he had when they were kids.
“Heh, I mean with a place this big, it’s probably it’s gonna take ya whole life huh?” Stan says
“Your probably right, even with help, but….I think I’m okay with that. Taking my time with things I mean. Researching this forest and other oddities is all I ever wanted to do and while there have been some….hardships... along the way. I think I’m getting back into enjoying this type of work again” Ford says with hopeful smile
“Wait. When did ya stop liking this stuff?” Stan says confused
Ford stops and sighs “As I said there have been.....challenges…I….I will tell you about it at some point, I swear. It’s just not something I like to talk about”
Stan sighed but nodded, and Ford gave him a grateful smile. Stan knew there were things he wasn’t ready to talk to Ford about so….he could wait.
There’s was a stretch of silence until
“So...how about you?” Ford says in a of bit of nervous tone
“What about me?” Stan responds
“What have you been up too? You said that you’ve been around the world and….well it has been a while…..since I’ve seen you. And you didn’t seem too keen on talking when I found you” Ford says a bit awkward rubbing the back of his neck
“Oh um..... yeah, sorry again...about that, when you guys found me, I mean, I honestly thought I was dreaming ” Stan says awkwardly rubbing the back of neck
“And as for what I’ve been doing….well ya know me, never really liked staying in one place ya know?” Stan’s says with a bit of an awkward chuckle
“Well…do you have any..stories from your travels?” He asks with a hopeful tone
Stan blinks a bit surprised by Ford asking, but he walks a bit faster to get closer to him and wraps his arm around his brother's neck, careful to ball up his hand as to not scratch his brother. “Ford. I got stories that will make even your stubborn ass laugh” he says with a smile
Ford rolls his eyes but smiles “Well then, you have my attention”
Stan grins “let me tell ya about the time I got married, divorced and basically banned from Vegas in one night......So, there I was winning big, when this babe with a gold tooth comes up to me-”
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Stan and Ford reach the lake with Ford laughing and hanging on to Stan for support.
“My goodness! Stan! How do you even get that situation!?” Ford says catching his breath
“That’s just the Pines Luck; it works in mysterious ways” Stan says with a smile, chuckling along with his brother.
“Stanford! Is that you!” He hears a someone scream out
Both him and Ford look out to see a women leaning against a rock on the shore. She is waving at them, and he looks at Ford, who waves back.
“Tina! Yes, it’s me!” He yells back
And Ford walks towards her, and Stan follows him, but Stan, for some reason, tries to hide behind his brother while they walk. Though he doesn't really know why, he has never been the shy one of the two, so why now, when he is meeting a LITERAL mermaid, does he want to hide behind his brother and make himself as small as possible.
Ford seemed to sense this as he stopped and turned around to face Stan looking a bit worried “Stanley? Are you alright? You seem a bit...umm”
Stan doesn’t let Ford finish that sentence and just quickly walks in-front of him to prove he’s not some...some shy little kid. Like come on! he’s the twin with personality and charm, he’s about to talk to a mermaid for Moses's sake! He can-
“Oh, and who might you be?”
Stan slaps a hand over his mouth to hide the small yelp of surprise that escaped him. He didn’t release he was that close to reaching where she was leaning up against it a rock with her lower haft in the water was Tina, she had dark green eyes and long dark blue hair and was wearing a black bikini top. Stan could actually see her tail in the water. It shimmered in the sun and seemed to be red, pink or maybe orange...some kind of warm colors.
“Ah hello Tina, it’s good to see you.” Ford now next to him, crouches down to be at Tina level, and so Stan decides to do the same. But he sits next to Ford so that Ford could be next to his friend, not because Stan was weirdly nervous about meeting Tina. Nope, he was totally fine.
“It’s good to see you as well, now who is this cutie you brought here?” She says with teasing smirk leaning over to get a better look at Stan.
Stan brain short circuited for a second because…CUTE!?
Okay, Stan may be many things, but CUTE is not one of them. But before he can deny such allegations, Ford clears his throat “This is my twin brother Stanley; he has a bit of a...problem. We think you might be able to help”
Tina looks at Ford up and down with a bit of apprehension “What kind of problem would that be? He didn’t lose his voice, did he?”
“Oh no, nothing like that, he well...it might be easier to show you” he nudges Stan on the elbow and Stan rolls his eyes but starts to take off his hoodie. Once it’s off, he hears Tina give a small gasp, but he ignored that because he’s hit with the realization of how nice the sun feels on his...skin? ..scales?...whatever the sun felt nice. It's weird how relaxed he feels under it...huh...I bet Ford would know why. He still got the t-shirt on, probably feels even better without that. So, he takes off the shirt too, then sits back down in a criss cross position and gives a content sigh. Everything just feels nice and calm...until something grabs his hand.
He opens his eyes which he didn’t even know he had closed and sees Tina now in front of him on her belly, holding one of his hands in both of hers.
“I’ll be damned…” She whispers just staring at his hand, turning it in different directions and looking at it with awe.
“Stanley?” Stan turns to see Ford looking at him
Stan looks back down at her “um… sorry about that. Got a bit distracted, the umm...the sun just felt nice” he says using his other rub the back of neck.
Ford nodded “Ah, that makes sense, your most likely cold blooded now so you have to regulate your body temperature with your environment”
Stan just nodded slowly like he understood, and then Tina asked, “Could I see your tail?”
Stan blinked “Oh um....sure, I guess?” Stan moves his tail to lay on his lap; it’s actually pretty easy to move when he actually wants it to. Unlike when it gets a mind of its own.
She runs her hands across the weird wavy thing on it which makes a shiver go up his spine “Could ya not touch those?”
She looks at him with a teasing smirk “Sensitive, are we?”
“What the- I'm not!-” Stan is interrupted by Ford saying “Tina, please don’t tease my brother. We just need to know what he is and how he may have gotten like this”
Tina blinks and looks at him surprised “Wait, YOU don’t know what he is” pointing at Ford
“No, I don’t, I found similar matches but nothing exact” Ford says looking annoyed
Tina laughs “Oh don’t get all stuck up about it, I guess I shouldn’t blame you for not knowing I’ve only met one other person like your brother, so it makes sense you wouldn’t know.” She says, as she is still looking at his tail mainly at the three big wavy things at the end.
“And what might that be?” Ford asks
Tina looks at him and says:
“He’s a Siren”
Both Ford and Stan blink at the same time; they look at each other then back to Tina, basically stunned. He had to have heard that wrong, right? Weren’t sirens those fish women who killed and lured sailors to their doom with songs. I mean sure he did....one of those things recently and yeah, he looked like a fish guy, but Stan can’t SING his voice is so scratchy he should be on anti-smoker ad! Now this girl is trying to tell him not only can he sing but sing so good it causes people to see their greatest desire?!
Oh yeah, and the biggest problem with this was..
HE’S A GUY!
Tina chuckles “Are you two going to say anything or you going to keep looking like two fish out of water?.....well...I guess one of you is…..eh you get what I mean”
The silence is broken by Ford “B-But, I thought sirens are a species of all females, how could Stan be one?......unless...” Ford looks to him up and down and Stan glares at him.
“I’m still a guy.” Stan says, he’s still a bit taken aback by the news, but not enough to make his brother think he’s a girl.
Tina chuckles “Oh, he's a man alright, only male sirens have this kind of tail, female sirens while they have feet too their tails look a lot like ours.” Tina splashes her tail in the water “Usually, they use it to mimic us”
“So, wait if there are male sirens, how come I’ve never heard of them?” Ford asks
“To simply put it, they're very rare. Sirens are naturally an all-female species; hell, that’s why the only way for them to breed is to mate with humans. So male sirens aren’t well….naturally occurring.” She says now, looking at the two of them.
“Then how did Stan get turned into one?” Ford asks
She looks at Stan “did you piss off any Sea Witches recently?”
Ford looks at Stan with an unimpressed look “Really, Stan?”
Stan looks at his brother offended “I DIDN’T PISS OFF A SEA WITCH!”
Ford crosses his arms “and how do you know that?”
“Well, a Sea Witch would be by the sea, wouldn’t it?” Stan says looking to Tina
“Yep!” Tina says
“There ya go! I haven’t been near a coast in a couple years! Hell, the last time I was even near an ocean was…was…” Stan stopped talking as a pain in his head overtook him. “Shit” he held his head with one of hand gripping his hair tightly. Everything was closing in around him as he started to remember something his brain clearly didn’t want him to remember….
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It was raining hard. So, hard that it would be dangerous to drive on a normal road let alone at night on the side of a cilff.
But he had to keep driving
Keep moving.
Keep moving
He could see the headlights behind him getting closer
......or at least it looked like they were.
Keep driving
Keep moving
Keep going
Stop looking back
Keep looking forward
The only good this rain was doing was making it so the car behind him won’t start shooting at him, it was hard enough to drive let alone shoot out a window.
He couldn’t stop himself from looking at the review mirror again and....the lights behind him were…dimming..
.…fading into darkness...
And then.....they were gone…
Nothing but darkness and rain in his mirrors
Holy shit…
He did it..
He’s free!
He just needs to keep driving
Make it to the next town
Get a new name
He could start fresh
He just needed too..
Then finally, looking forward, he saw a metal fence reflecting the light from his head lights.
There was no time to break; his car slammed into it with such force his car went flying off cliff.
Everything was so fast yet so slow as his car hit the water, he barely even felt the impact, but he knew....
That this was it...
As the water consumed him...
Filling his lungs...
Its cold embrace wrapped around him..
As if it was carrying him..
He thought he would feel at peace when his time came..
After all no one cared about him.
His brother hated him
His family never needed him
He had no friends
No lover
No one....
But all he could feel in these last seconds was...
A wanting…
No, a desire to live.
But why?
He never felt that way, even when had been close to death before.
Yet he felt it..
So strong that...
He heard something respond to it.
Child born of the land
I understand
I hear your plea
I promise you will be free
In this new life
As all your kind was meant to be
No longer one of land
But of the Sea...
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Stan opened his eyes, gasping for air. He couldn’t breathe. He could still feel the salty water in his mouth. He kept trying to control his breathing, but it was fast and rapid; he didn’t even know he had passed out. He couldn’t hear anything but his own attempts at breathing and the beating of his heart. It was like when he woke up yesterday except, he couldn’t convince himself that this was a dream because he remembers....
The rain
Rico’s goons
The metal fence
The crashing of the waves
And the voice..
He really…d-
“LEE!”
Stan snapped and looked to where he heard the voice to find...Ford...right, Ford called him ‘Lee’ when they were younger. It's been so long since he heard Ford call him that. Yet here he was looking at him with relief but very much still concerned.
“Stanley, can you hear me?” Ford ask stern yet gentle tone
Stan nods his head slowly and shaky still finding it hard to breathe, his chest going up and down more than it probably should. Not that Stan could really tell; it was really hard to focus on anything. He just couldn't seem to think straight for some reason. Everything felt too tight and loud yet not feeling or hearing anything at all. Wait, but he could hear Ford a second ago. Did he leave? Shit what happen? Did he do something to make him mad or did he-
“LEE!”
Stan looked again to where the voice was and....Oh thank God, Ford was still here and he-
“Lee. I need you to focus on me. Don’t think about anything else just keep your eyes on me okay” Ford said in that same stern tone
This time Stan felt he could actually do this and slowly nodded his head and kept his eyes on his brother even though it was hard. He just focuses on his brother's face. Really taking in his brother's face for the first time since they saw each other all those years ago. His hair was still curly and poofy. His jaw stronger just like Stan’s had gotten and had a small bit of a five O clock shadow across it. When he looked into his brother eyes, he noticed something….why did one of Fords eyes look different? It was still the same color and shape but something about it seemed….off. He’d have to ask-
“Lee? You still with me?” Ford says breaking him out of thoughts
Stan nods again
“Good, you're doing great Lee, now this might be hard, but I want you to watch me breathe and copy me, okay” Ford says
Stan winces, it’s already hard to just focus on Ford, trying to copy him would be difficult but....he can try, Ford asking him to do something so he should do it. So, he tries, he watches Ford hold is breath in and…and...shit, he didn’t hold in long enough......FUCK! You stupid idiot! It’s breathing! how hard can it be! you do it all the time you stu-
“Lee! Lee, hey, hey, you're doing fine! Just keep trying, it’s okay. Just focus on me okay” Ford say with care
Stan nods and tries again and slowly he starts to get his breathing back in order and as he does, he starts to hear the other sounds around him. The birds, wind, the leaves, the.....the waves, a shiver going down his spine. He brings his shaky hands to wrap around his knees and head rest on his knees as well. His tail curled around one side of him, resting on his feet. He can feel himself shivering even with the nice warm sun beating down on him, then he feels something wrapped around him. He looks up to see Ford drape his trench coat around him and he wraps his arm around Stan shoulder pulling him close to his side.
Normally, Stan would hate this kind of closeness, especially since he hated tight spaces, but this wasn’t a tight cold space he couldn’t get out of. It was his brother, his twin holding him tight, and he was....really warm. Not the hot kinda warm but a comforting kind it just ....felt nice. Kinda like how the sun felt but closer. He scooted closer to his brother, and Ford then moved his arm to wrap around the back of Stan’s waist and Stan rested his head on Ford shoulder, and he took a deep breath in and out. Just staring at the open lake, listening to the sounds around him.
Now that he was focusing on the sounds he realized, being so close to Ford, he could actually hear his heartbeat really well. He could probably even count the beat per minutes...so to distract himself a bit, he did and.... well to say Ford’s heart was racing seemed like an understatement.
Stan cleared his throat and said his voice a bit sore and rough sounding “H-Hey...Ford?”
Ford looked at him “Yes?”
Stan looked at the ground then at him “You...umm…you, okay?”
Ford looked at him and blinked then turned away and huffed a laugh and used his free hand to drag it across his face. “Lee, you just had a panic attack and…and you’re asking if… I’m, okay?”
Stan just looked at ground but nodded and said, “well….yeah….your heart seems like it’s beating really fast so...I just..ya know...wanna ta make sure..”
“You can hear my heart?” his voice lace with surprise
Stan nodded “Yeah....counted the beats and...seemed like a lot so, just wanted to make sure” then looking up at Ford who was looking at Stan a bit stunned. Ford then sighed and then to Stan surprise Ford pressed his forehead against Stan’s, holding the back of Stan head and looked him in eyes.
“You scared me, that’s all.…you knucklehead” he said with a tired fondness
Stan blinked, it strange, he feels like they’ve done this before, recently, but he can't remember. The last time they did this, they were still in high school.
Stan just looks down “sorry..”
Ford sighs taking his head away and as Stan lifts his head up, Ford grabs his head and starts to ruffly his hair a little and just says “No reason to apologize. I’m glad you're okay.”
Stan just nods, mind going a bit numb as Ford continues to scratch his head and right into his scalp. He knows he shouldn’t enjoy it so much, but he’s so tired and it just feels really good right now. He doesn't really stop himself from getting closer to Ford and wrapping his arms around Ford’s waist.
He hums “your….really...warm…” Stan says it as a question and a statement.
He feels and hears Ford chuckle “Compared to you, I’m sure I am”
Stan doesn’t really get it but just holds Ford close and rubs his face into Ford’s shoulder.
Then Stan actually feels himself starting to purr, it’s a weird feeling. Especially now that he’s actually conscious while doing it, he feels his whole body vibrate and the soft rumbling sound coming from somewhere deep inside him but this time he doesn’t really care to stop; he is really too tired to care. Even when he hears his brother chuckle at him, Stan could care less. It's really the only way he can think of to let Ford know not to stop scratching because...shit, his head being scratched felt really good for some reason, his mind just melted into something simple. It was like he was on drugs, but it didn’t feel like he’d crash horribly at some point, but he might end up getting addicted to this…..hopefully not.
God, he hopes not.
He was not about to ask Ford to scratch his head.
But…..who was he to stop Ford when he did...….
Ford sighed in relief “Huh, I think I’m starting to understand why people like cats. The rhythm is….quite confronting” Ford says
Stan opens his eyes a bit to glare at his brother as to say ‘I’m not a cat, I'm just tried and this feels great after the shit I just went through, don’t expect me to do this willing” to which is brother just rolls his eyes and continues to scratch his head as Stan just melts more into the touch.
“Oh my god...I didn’t know the males purred too!”
Oh, that mermaid is still here, whatever.
“Oh so, female sirens purr as well?” he hears his brother say
“Oh yeah, it’s actual a secret weakness, you just scratch them on the head ooor...” Stan hears water moving and something coming closer across the sand and he opens his eyes slowly to see what the mermaid is doing then he feels a hand on his shoulder blade start scratching his scales hard and..
Holy Moses..
His entire body limp
He even let's go of Ford and lets his arms go limp,now laying in Fords lap.
“...ohhhhh..s-shiiiiit...” Stan shakily says leaning into the touch as his brother continues to scratch his head and Tina scratches his back; it just makes his purring louder and tail starts thumping.
“Wow, that seems to be more effective, but don’t you have to be quite rough in that area because of the scales?’ Ford asks
“Oh yeah, you gotta be really rough. Mermaid skin is tough so it’s easier. But I wouldn’t recommend you scratch him with your hands. Maybe get something metal or spiky, like chainmail. Siren scales are tougher than shark skin, so you gotta use a lotta force.”
“I see, I’ll try to remember that then” Ford says most likely smirking
Stan is kind of curious what that means but then the hand on his back goes away, he looks at Tina and
Whines at her.
That’s what finally breaks him out of the numbness, cause Stanley Pines does not whine, and he shakes his head out of Ford grip. Sending Ford a small growl as he wraps Ford’s trench coat around him, and he tries to focus on making that stupid purring sound stop.
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“Stanley?”
Stan looks over at Ford who looking at him with concern.
“Are you…ok- I mean, do you know….what happened?” Ford asks
Stan sighs “I’m fine… was….was nothing.., sorry if I worried ya.”
“Stanley! That wasn’t nothing! You were talking just fine then you….just..” Ford sighed and looked at him “What…exactly happened? It seemed like you may have remembered something” Ford was looking at him with just concern and worry but also hidden behind that was… caring and wanting to understand
He puts a hand on Stan shoulder “pls Stan, it might help us understand why this happened to you, if there a way to maybe reverse-“
“There isn’t a way”
Ford stops and Stan sighs “this is what I am now Ford, no changing it”
“But…how do you know?”
“Just do, I have a feeling that if I did go back to be human I…….” Stan stops and gulps and ducking his head under he whispers “I don’t think I’d be here long”
“What do mean….not here for long?” Ford says sounding so confused
“Stanford”
Stan peaked up to see Tina looking at them with sympathy and she scooted next to Stan and put a hand on his other shoulder, and she sighed looking over at Ford “There’s two ways for a male Siren to be made. Ether they are cursed by a sea witch as a punishment. Or….” She turns away looking at the Lake she says
“The ocean itself gives them…. another chance at life…..As one of her own”
There’s a small yet heavy silence that settles across them, until Ford breaks it.
“….another chance?” Ford asks
Stan watches as she thinks about how to word what she’s thinking “Ford you remember how I told you about how the ocean is technically alive right?”
Ford nods
“Well, I’m gonna tell you a bit more about her. I didn’t go into detail last time because we aren’t supposed to tell humans but well… your gonna need to hear this for both of you to understand what happened” Tina says looking at both of them and then turning back to the lake.
“The ocean loves life. All life comes from her, but it always hurt her that so many of her children had to leave her to live on land in the beginning. Later as timed passes she had children that stayed with her forever: the fish, mammals, merfolk and other. Though she still longed for those that were supposed to stay but left her for the land.”
Tina sighed “You see the land is alive in a way as well but it’s not as……emotional. While it’s not going go out of its way to kill anything it won’t do anything to save a life ether. So, the ocean made a deal with the land. If someone born of the land….well...needed a second chance. That she could take in that child as one of her own.”
Tina looks at Stan and squeezes his shoulder “You were given a chance Stan..I….I hope you see it as a good thing”
Stan looks at her then back down “I…I do.…just it’s…..hard to think…I really..” Stan feels another squeeze on his shoulder and looks back up at her
Tina looks at him with kindness “hey, it’s a lot to come to terms with but….you got your brother with you” she then smirks “and me of course, we’re basically cousins now”
Stan smiles a bit at that and looks over to Ford who was looking at the ground, gripping his pant leg, and shaking bit. Stan could hear his heart beating fast, and it made him nervous about how quiet his brother was.
“Ford?”
No response
“Stanford?”
Still no response
“S-Sixer?”
That made Ford freeze and take a deep breath in and out then looked at Stan and he looked well…devastated and if Stan didn’t know any better, he looked like he was gonna..
“You died”
Ford said it so clearly, like he was answering a question in class, yet it still made Stan suck in a breath and wince.
“Yeah….I….I did”
Then suddenly Ford collided with him. Fords arm wrapped around him completely and tightly.
Stan was frozen in place; he hasn’t been hugged in so long and the fact that it’s his brother makes him even shocked. Ford is just holding him tight and finally Stan moves his arms and makes sure to make his hands into fist so he wouldn’t scratch Ford back. And he lets his head rest on Ford shoulders just listening to Ford breathing
They stay like that for a while until Stan hears Ford breath hitch and then…oh…oh no… he knows that sound....
“I-I’m…so so sorry” Ford says into Stan shoulder that Stan is now noticing is getting wet.
Shit….Ford was crying.
“Ford, you…you got nothing t-to be sorry for bud” he says trying his hardest to hide the shakiness in his voice patting his brother on the back.
Ford takes a big shaky breath and in and out and a small sob escaping as he yells into Stan shoulder, holding him tighter “YOU DIED LEE! YOU DIED! AND I DIDN’T KNOW! And…and….I …I” he sobs hard into Stan shoulder. “It’s my fault”
Stan eyes finally start to water as well. Ford crying always made him cry, it was annoying, but he couldn’t really be mad at his brother this time.
“Hey….it’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have been driving at night in the rain. Just…couldn’t think of any other way to get away…” he says hopefully sounding comforting
“You wouldn’t need to be driving there if I had just called you sooner! Instead of holding on to some stupid grudge THAT didn’t even matter! I made it to this place! My life was barely inconvenience! But you….. you…..” Ford chokes on a sob “you….lost yours…I-Im so sorry, Lee”
Stan sighs “Sixer. I….I coulda called, but I didn’t. And……I-I’m sorry about your project” Stan sniffles and takes a shaky breath “it really was an accident and I-I never wanted to hurt your chances of getting into that school and I just hit the table and…I-I didn’t want ya ta leave without me and…..Fuck…Sixer….I-I’m so sorry”
Ford takes a shaky breath “it’s…I-I believe you. I-I should have believed you Lee. Can…could you forgive me?......I-I understand if you-“
Stan laughs, small and rough “ Sixer, I never blame ya in the first place, corse I forgive ya”
Ford sobs and his breath hitching as says roughly “Lee….I-I missed you…so much”
Stan breath hitches and he chokes a sob and holds Ford close “I-I miss you to…ya nerd”
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They hugged for a while until they finally let go and look away from the other to awkwardly wipe their eyes and faces. Stan then looks back over at Ford who….
WAS TAKING HIS EYE OUT!?!?
“FORD! What the Fuck!?”
Ford looked at him with one eye closed and then at the eyeball he was holding and then sighed and dragged a hand across his face.
“Ah, right, I forgot to tell you about this”
Stan just looked at him and the eye he was holding. Back and forth.
“Stanford, how the fuck-“
Ford puts his hand up “Stanley. This is…another thing that I will have to tell you later but..I’m fine, really.” Ford face becomes one of pride “I can actually see quite well. F made this eye so that I can see with it and I just need to take it out when…. there’s an access of liquid..” he says his voice a bit rough and not looking at Stan
Stan narrowed his eyes and he looked at Ford then at eye. And he sighed “okay, we are having a LONG conversation soon, alright?”
Ford breaths in relief and small smile on his lips “Yes, of course”
Stan gets closer to Ford, watching in fascination as he cleaned it and then Ford looks at him “um, are you sure you want to see me put back in? F says it’s a bit graphic so I feel you might not want to-“
“Stanford, I literally killed three guys, two days ago. I think I can take watching you put your eye back in” Stan said deadpanned
Ford looked at him and gave a “ah right” and Stan watched him put his fake eye back in. Ford blinked a couple a times and then looked back at Stan.
“See, perfectly fine”
Stan was impressed “ya know I thought I noticed something off but, it’s a damn good replica”
Ford nods “indeed, F is quick good with prosthetic” touching his face right below his eye.
“Well, if you too are done” both brothers turned to where Tina was “Stan, would you wanna try getting in water?….I understand if ya need a little time thou, a lot of people that have been in your situation need a little time before fully embracing the ocean gift.”
Stan blinked “wait, other people?”
Tina rolled her eyes “you think you’re the only one the ocean saved? Tons of people have been given a second chance over the years. Just most of the time they are ether mermaids or men. Some even get turned into silkies. But definitely been a while since a met or heard of someone who got turned into a siren, let alone a male one”
Stan blinks “huh, guess that makes sense?” Then looks down at his hand and then back up Tina “is there a reason behind what she changes ya into?”
Tina sighs “honestly a lot of my people have tried to figure that out. But trying to understand why the ocean does what it does can be….difficult. But from some of the books I’ve read most of the time people turned into sirens are very charismatic, which you definitely seem to be”. She says with smirk
Stan grins “hah! Well, I can’t deny the Stanely Pines charm”
Ford raises his hand “I can deny it”
Stan turns and glares at Ford “that’s cause it's not for you”
Ford smile smug “I think a few of our high school classmates would also deny your so-called charm”
Stan hits Ford with his elbow “asshole” but Ford just chuckles.
“There’s also one aspect I think you should know about your situation, and it might explain why ya can’t turn back to looking normal” Tina says
Both boys turn their attention back to Tina.
“Wait, I could turn back to normal?” Stan says
Tina sighs and says “You see when someone is turned, they are given a Landform and their ocean form. Since they are both from now on, but! If they want to fully embrace the ocean and no longer need their landform they can, but there is a requirement that must be met”
“Requirement?” Ford asks
Tina nods “a clear rejection of anything human or land related. This could be staying in your Ocean form for a year, maybe cutting off all ties with human loved one or in a sirens case usually….”
Tina looked away and awkwardly said “….human consumption…”
Both Ford and Stan wince. Then Stan realizes “wait, so you're saying if I hadn’t....done that, I could like, swap between looking like a fish man and how I used to look?”
Tina gives a so-so gestures “kinda, you’d turn into your ocean form whenever you touched water”
“So before I could only turn into this if I touch water?” Stan asks again from confirmation
Tina nods
“Well….that is strange” Ford says
Tina tilts her head “what do mean?”
“Well, Stan had transformed without touching water” Ford said point to Stan who was nodding along
Tina looks surprised “whoa, that’s weird but…..wait what were the circumstances?”
Both boys winced again and Ford rubbed the back of his neck “well we may have been kidnapped and….I may have been threatened…..violently”
Stan was very much looking away from both of them.
Tina rolled her eyes “Well no wonder, he transformed! You’re his brother, his twin! Threatening or even hurting a sirens family is death sentence!”
Stan and Ford blinked in surprise.
“I didn’t know sirens were pack creatures?” Ford ask, “do they really take there family so seriously?”
Tina nodded “oh yeah, big time. Their packs are their everything. You mean you haven’t seen him getting a bit clingy since he changed?” Pointing to Stan
Ford looked at Stan and Stan looked anywhere but Ford.
“Ummm….suppose when you had first transformed…..” Ford whispers to himself
Stan groans, God, what the hell did he do when he was out of it the other day. Stan doesn’t even want to know. Mainly in fear of embarrassment.
Tina continues “But yeah, you just went feral cause, someone tried to kill Ford, not that can really blame you for going all killer on them. A feral siren will do some crazy shit. I’ve seen one bite through solid metal chain without breaking a tooth”
Ford eyes went wide and so did Stan. Stan opens his mouth and taps his teeth. Wish he had these earlier, probably would have saved him a lot of trouble in that damn trunk.
“So, enough chit chat! Are you getting in the water or not?” Tins asks her tail fully in the water and just her upper body showing.
Stan blinked and then a familiar thumping sound started behind. He looked behind him to see his stupid tail thumping up and down on the sand.
Tina giggles “guess that’s a yes”
Stan rolled his eyes and stood up. And walked until his feet were in the water. It wasn’t cold or hot just…the feeling of water against his feet.
He looked behind him and saw Ford who gave him an encouraging look and the look to see Tina waving to him. So, Stan took his sunglasses off and laid them on the sand. He quickly closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, held it, ran and finally dived into the water.
He keeps his breath held and his eyes closed. Realizing how quiet it is under the water. Which makes it all the more surprising when he hears:
“You can open your eyes, you know”
Stan does, and there, crystal clear in front of him is Tina, giving him a smirk.
“You also don’t need to hold ya breath” she says, pointing down at him.
Stan looks down and opens his mouth instinctually because right below his rips are three curved lines, that open up with little frill thing lining them. Stan realizes quickly as he watches them move a bit that...their gills.
He has gills.
He so mesmerized buy them he doesn’t even realize he breathing water until Tina comes up to him.
“I’d say you’re doing pretty good with whole breathing thing, usually takes a lot more convincing” Tina says
Stan looks over at her confused then realizes…. he’s not holding his breath anymore. He actually takes a breath in and out. It felt the same as the air but a little thicker. Huh, he’d probably get used to it. But it doesn’t change the fact that he can breathe underwater!
This is so….
COOL!
“Holy shit” he says with a smile
“Pretty awesome huh?” Tina says with smug grin
Stan rolls his eyes and looks around. Everything is kinda just a dark green, not really any fish or anything. Kinda boring looking really, sucks Tina has to stay here.
He looks over to her “do you really live here?”
Tina shakes her head “na, I just come around here sometimes to get peace and quiet, my family can be a bit loud. Plus, the ocean itself is pretty loud. There’s a reason siren stay in deep water or caves”
“Guess that makes sense." Stan says
Tina nudges him “Come on, I’ll show ya some of the cool stuff I know. Plus, you might be able to help me out. I can’t really see too well in the deeper parts, but you definitely can”
Stan looks unimpressed “you wanna use me as a living flashing, don’t ya?”
Tina shrug “eh a bit, but if we find anything I promise to split it, deal!” Reaching out hand
Stan smiles “deal!” Shaking the hand
Tina swims down and while it’s a little hard at first, Stan gets the hang of it quickly. Realizing the reason, he felt so comfortable on all fours is because he has to use all four limbs to move around the water….well five limbs if you count the tail, which definitely made him move a lot faster.
The deeper they got; Stan realized his eyes started to hurt and finally had to close his eyes and tell Tina to stop.
“Damn…did I get something in them or..” Stan said rubbing his eyes
“Na, I think their just changing so you can see better. Close your eyes for minute and don’t mess with them”
So, Stan did just that and then slowly opened them and everything that was just black before now had shape or outline to it and was tinted a bit yellow.
“Huh, that’s interesting, usually sirens eyes are bright green.” Tina said
Stan blinked, “what do you mean? Did my eyes change?”
Tina nods “oh yeah, the middle parts yellow and glowing and the white parts black now”
Stan blinks, huh…that definitely weird but kinda hard to imagine. Maybe there’s a way he can see it when he’s above water so he can get a better look.
“That’s not the only thing glowing thou” Tina says, who is now behind him looking at his back.
Stan looked over his shoulder and saw the familiar sight that he saw last night. Little glowing circles in a straight line along the outside of his arm. The same thing on his legs and his tail. Along with the…wavy..fin? things glowing as well. The three big wavy fins at the end of his tail had little bulb things at the end. Kind of reminded him of an angler fish.
Stan sighed “is there any way to control this or maybe make it go away?”
“Nope! Also, you probably wouldn’t want that. The glow not only helps ya see but attracts food as well” Tina says
Stan blinks “attracts…food? Ya mean like fish?”
Tina nods “yep. Sirens are more ambush predators. Lure their prey in and then strike.” Tina then gestures for him to follow her.
“Huh, guess that makes sense with the whole lure sailors to their doom and stuff..” which now that Stan was thinking about it…
Could he do that? He really can’t imagine him self singing, especially to a point where he would sound good enough to lure someone into the water. Sure, he could charm some people but….sing? Really? With his ruff voice? How would he even…
“Here it is! Finally, I knew it was down here I just couldn’t see it!” Tina says excited
Stan looks at the large, pointed rocks and down the never-ending darkness below, which made him wonder how deep this damn lake was, anyway he looks to rocks and sees a chest tucked away in the middle.
A real treasure chest.
A REAL honest to God treasure chest.
He finally did it.
Even though it wasn’t with his brother he…he still found one, with help of course, but whatever that doesn’t stop the fact that sitting right in front of him is fucking treasure chest!!
“Holy Moses…” Stan slides a hand across it feeling the strange wooden that as though it really shouldn’t be intact.
“Sooooo would you mind grabbing it? I can’t, even with the water making things weightless it’s a bit heavy for me” Tina says
Stan rolls his eyes “Yeah, yeah” he grabs the chest that feel like nothing to him and looks down at it, he knows he’s grinning like an idiot, but he just can’t believe he is holding real treasure right now.
“Come on we better head back up, I don’t know if there is anything supposed to be guarding it, but I’d rather not find out”, Tina says and starts to swim towards the surface.
Stan nods and follows her. It doesn’t take long till there back on the surface. Stan pops his head out of the water and finds that while everything is a little saturated it doesn’t really hurt to look at everything anymore. He looks up and notices it looks like it is late afternoon so guess he doesn’t really need his sunglasses right now. Maybe he just needed them for mornings.
“Stanley!”
Stan looks to see Ford sitting on a large towel or blanket on the the sand. And he has….sandwich in his hand? Oh! Right! Fidds had made their lunches!
Stan turns to Tina “hey can you eat sandwiches?”
Tina rolls her eyes “of course I can”
“Well then Ford boyfriend made ya one. He’s pretty good cook”
Tina blinked and then gaped “Ford. Has a boyfriend?….how?”
Stan huffs a laugh “Trust me I’ve been trying to figure that out too”
Tina and him then swam to the shore. Stan ran over to Ford.
“Ford! Check it out! It’s a real treasure chest!” Stan said, holding the chest out for his brother to look, he’s to excited to care that he can feel his tail wagging.
Stanford swallowed the food and his looks at it with awe “Whoa, this looks quite old..I wonder what could be inside?”
Stan grinned “don’t know but also check it!” Stan moved the chest to one hold it on one side and then pointed to his other side showing his gills that were still visible “I actually got gills! I’m like fucking aqua-man!… But better.” he says with smug grin
Ford stares at them “Fascinating…I guess they only show when complete submerged in water, then slowly close back up…I might ask you for some mucus samples later, if that’s alright?”
Stan shrugs “sure but right now, it’s sandwich time!”
Ford rolled his eyes fondly and handed him the sandwich. Stan held the chest with one arm and took the sandwich. Ford had the blanket right next to rock where they’d met Tina, so Tina just stayed by the rock while Stan places the chest down between Ford and him and grabs Tina sandwich and tossed it to her.
She opens it up and took a bite making a satisfying hum “dang, Ford tell your boyfriend he makes a good damn sandwich”
Ford cheeks are a bit red as he says “I…I will make sure he knows that you enjoyed it” and he glares a Stan for sec; Stan chooses to ignore in favor of eating his food. Which is delicious.
They all eat their sandwiches and relative silence and once they’re all done Stan claps his hands “Alright! Let’s get this sucker opened up!”
There is a small keyhole on the center of it, not even rusted at all but! There wasn’t a lock Stan Pines couldn’t pick!
Stan thinks “Hey, Tina ya got any hair pins? Or like thin metal pieces?”
Tina shakes her head and Stan sighs, well that goes that plan…but how else was he supposed to-
“Why don’t you just use your claws?”
Stan looks over at Tina and blinks, then looks down at his claws, they do seem like they are thin enough at the ends….huh guess it wouldn’t hurt.
Stan grabs the chest and angles up a bit so he can get a better look and puts one his claws in and starts listening for familiar sounds and after fidgeting around a bit he finally starts to hear those familiar clicks.
After a few minutes, he was done! And he hears that final click.
“Hah! Nothing can stop Stan Pines now! I got a permit lock pic set on me! Hahahaha!” Stan laughs setting the chest back down.
He slowly opened the chest and …..
It’s….another chest? Only a little smaller than the one he was holding.
“Really……ugh..”Stan groans and slides it out and luckily this one didn’t seem to have a lock just a hatch.
As Ford and Tina get close next to him, he slowly opens the chest and finds….
Well, there is a bit of treasure but the first thing everyone notices is the rock in the center. It’s about the size of a softball and it kinda looks like…a face?
“Why does that face look like a rock?” Tina says
Ford looks at her “not a face, it’s clearly a rock that just looks like a face”
Tina blinks “I thought that what I said”
“No, you asked why the face looks like a rock. When it is a rock that looks like a face” Ford lecture
Tina nods and Stan feel like he’s gonna have a headache
“Will you too stop talking about the rock face, we got treasure!” Stan says as he grabs the coins and lets them sprinkle out his hands. Their real gold too, thought they feel a bit light he’s been around enough gold to know when something real or fake.
“Oh! And there’s a map!” Ford says as he grabs it. And Tina grabs the rock and smiles at it.
“I’m going to keep him; I’ll call him…. Henry!” Tina says with a smile and turns back to Stan
“Remember you get haft; I get the rest” she says narrowing her eyes at both of them and they both nodded their heads.
Stan split the treasure up, and put his haft in the back Ford brought but when Ford tried to pick it back up:
“Okay! It, how the hell were you able to pick up the chest with one hand!” Ford says as he tries to grab the bag off the floor “Oh, come on, it can’t be that heavy” Stan grabs the bag with one hand and puts it over his shoulder
“See, easy” Stan says
Ford looks at him with wide eyes “Stan, there a about maybe a 500 gold coins so that’s 35 pounds plus all the other equipment which probably makes that 60 pounds of weight you just…casual put on your back”
Stan blinks, huh, it really didn’t even weigh anything, it feels like he was holding a bag with maybe 3 books in it.
“Oh yeah, sirens are stronger than then the average human, definitely the males. So be a bit careful with that strength for a while” Tina says
Stan nodded and then remembered something he wanted to ask earlier.
“Hey, Tina?”
Tina hums in response
“I wanted to ask but how does the whole….ya know….singing thing work exactly?” He says hoping his voice doesn’t show his embarrassment
Tina looked down and seem to think “ Well….its a bit harder to explain as not much is really know about the males' songs. You see when female siren sings the person will see who every they most desire or love, a siren doesn’t really have much control over it who or what the person sees. But for the males it’s…..different”
Tina sighs “From what I’ve read, when a male siren sings, they have more control and can make you see whatever they want. But unlike the females the males don’t change appearance instead change the surrounding and the area they are in, if that makes sense”
Stan thinks “huh….it kinda makes sense?”
“Here, think of this way, basically if you sing. You can make them see or feel anything. The way it’s been described is…well…the ultimate drug trip.” Tina says
Stan blinks “so wait… you're saying if I sing, I can just make everyone see some weird trippy shit”
Tina nods “or pass out if there not the intended target”
“Oh! You must have done it when you first transformed. I thought I remembered hearing some kind of song before passing out.” Ford says
“Huh…..guess so, I kinda remember it but…not really” Stan says scratching his head
“Eh you’ll probably only remember the ones your more lucid for” Tina says
“Well, then, we should probably head back, F should be back from the store by now. So, thank you again for your help Tina, we will come back again soon”
Tina smiled “great! And it was no problem at all! I’m happy to help a new member of the ocean's family!’
Stan blinks then smile “heh, yeah, thanks”
Stan and Ford then head back to the cabin. Waving goodbye to Tina as they left
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Stan and Ford arrived cabin they see Fidds getting out of the truck with some bags.
“Greetings, F! Here I can help you that” Ford says as he runs up to help his partner
“Well thank ya kindly Ford, but where’s your bag?” F says as he hands Ford some groceries
“Oh, Stanley has it, he also able to find some treasure with Tina that was in the lake” Ford says as he walks with Fidds to the door.
Stan walks behind them and just sets the bag of treasure and gear next to the door.
“Is there anything else in car? I can get it” Stan asks
“Ah, na, this is about it, didn’t need to get too much. But here! everything in these bags is for ya.” Fidds says as he hands Stan two plastic bags.
Stan blinks as he looks at the bags, walks toward the couch, sits down and looks through the bags. Insides Stan finds three shirts, pants and boxers. A tooth brush, a hairbrush and….a back beanie? Huh. Well not like he was gonna complain about that, or any of these things. They were new, he can’t remember the last time he had new clothes. They feel soft…and they smell…nice.
Stan rubs the fabric of the clothes and feels a lump in his throat that he is refusing to let it through. He was not about to cry over getting clothes. Even if it’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for him in 10 years. He is not going to cry, nope!
“Well, how do ya like ‘em?”
Stan lifts his head to see Fidds looking at him.
“Oh there….their…uhh.. great,…thank you, really..” Stan says holding the clothes close to him.
Fidds smiles “well good, why don’t ya take a shower and put them on, I was just telling Ford about doing a bonfire tonight, ya know cooking hotdogs and such”
Stan smiles “yeah…that, that’s sounds great.” Stan gets up and heads up stairs.
He hops in the shower and uses the new shampoo Fidds got for him. It smells nice and he feels like he could stay in the shower forever, but he’s got hot dogs to roast! So, he hops out of the shower and puts on the new short sleeve shirt and shorts and heads downstairs. It looks like the sun is setting and Fidds and Ford are getting the fire set up.
Stan end notices the box of VHS next to the pile of the wood. “Huh, what is this doing out here”
Fidds turns to him “oh I’d been meaning to get rid of those so I figured it would be the best way” he says with smile
Stan shrugs, not like it’s any of his business plus Ford said they have a long talk soon anyway.
Stan sits by and watches the sun go down and luckily Ford had brought some lanterns out and was setting up the fire pit finally placing the box in the center.
“Now to light it!” Fidds says as he grabs what look like some kinda small gun and blast of fire shoots out of it setting the pit to blazing flames.
Stan stares with wide eyes “that’s the coolest shit I’ve ever seen”
Fidds blows the smoke off the gun “thank ya Stanley glad to know you and Ford can appreciate my taste in weaponry”
“While I am more partial to your robot then your guns” Ford says
Fidds just shrugs “Welp I’m gonna get them dogs be back in sec”
Stan watches as Fidds runs back to cabin and then something cold is taped on his face. He looks to see Ford with a bottle of what looks like actual beer, like not shitty gas station beer but the kinda shit you by at an alcohol store.
Stan started at it wildly and slowly takes it and turns it over in his hands. Treating it as if it was gold “I honestly don’t know what’s better, the fire gun or this bottle….i think might be choosing the bottle”
Ford laughs “Really? It’s just beer Stanley.”
“This is not just beer! Stanford, this is actually good beer. Not shit you put in a paper bag that gives ya a headache in the morning” Stan mumbles but he quickly smiles looking at the bottle again the reflection of the flame making it shine in way.
“Huh….ya know, I honestly never thought I’d get to share a drink with you” Stan says
Ford looks at him and just hums and then says “well….I’m glad we can share one”
Stan looks at his brother “Yeah….me too”
Stan looks at the bottle and….its not a screw off…and he doesn’t have a bottle opener….or does he?
Stan grins and opens his mouth wide and closes till he feels his sharp teeth come out. The he gets the cap on one of his teeth and pulls down and easily pops the caps off.
“Hah! got a permit bottle opener on me huh?” Stan says looking at his brother who looks at him impressed then his expression changed to a bit embarrassed and sighs and hold out his own bottle.
“I…forgot to grab my opener” Ford says
Stan chuckles and does the same thing with ease.
Stan raises his bottle “to adventure?” He says a bit nervous but Ford smiles “to adventure and new beginnings” as he raises his own bottle, to knock against Stan.
Stan smiles and takes a nice long sip of his ice-cold beer and swallows it.
“Ahhhhh. This shit is so good, god I needed this. I can’t remember the last time I had booze that felt this good” Stan said
“Perhaps it’s the company, that makes it taste better. I’ve had this brand before and while it is okay, I must admit right now it tastes a lot better than it did before” Ford says
“Heh, when did you become a tree huh?” Stan says
Ford looks at him confused and Stan sighed “cause you’re a sap, ya nerd”
Ford rolled his eyes and elbows Stan playful, and Stan does it back careful not to do it too hard.
Fidds comes back with dogs and buns and also….a banjo?
“Where ya get the banjo from?” Stab asks
Fidds chuckles “oh just brought it with me from me and Fords room. I’ve known how to play ever since I was kid”
Stan whistles “Man, ya can cook, play an instrument and make death robots and guns…..Welp, I conceded, Stanford, you win”
Ford looks at him confused “what…exactly did I win?”
“You are dating someone better then literally all my ex’s combined Poindexter. I only got one ex I kinda ended on good terms with and no it’s marlin and also, no I don’t wanna talk about’em” Stan says taking a sip of his beer
Ford huff and Fidds laughs “that’s mighty kind of ya Stanley” Fidds says as he hands him and Ford a dog on a stick and starts mindless strumming his banjo.
Stan just sinks back into the long he is leaning against, and sighs with content. He hasn’t felt this relaxed outside for a while. Its strange but…the scene around him, the fire flicking, the smell of smoke, the beer and Fidds music, surrounded by people….it kinda reminds of…. well…those clam nights on streets.
Those early days still getting used to being on his own, the nights when he’d find an ally way that led to a group of guys like him all huddled together around a dumpster fire trying to keep warm. Not caring about who each person was, just focusing on keeping each other alive. Sometimes he ran across the same groups. There was this one he saw a few times. They were nice, too nice for him to actually join their weird, kinda hippie, group but… he would join in whenever he saw them.
The leader of the group always had a guitar on him, always sang his own songs. Most of them were really….well… preachy….but…there was one though that always stuck with Stan..…he doesn’t know why it stuck but he found himself humming it sometimes…
How’d it go again?
Oh yeah, it was-
Stan finds the words flow from his mouth easily…and he can even hear that slow guitar and steady rhythm…
Jesus....Come talk to me...
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Ford couldn’t tell what had happened, one minute he was sitting next to Stan and F, watching the fire and sharing a drink with his twin for the first time. Enjoying the clam of the forest when instead of a banjo he could hear an acoustic guitar playing distantly and he found himself lending into the sound. A sense of….longing?....surrounding him making him close his eyes and exhale.
Then he heard it.
Jesus....Come talk to me...
Ford opens his eyes to see no longer a forest, but what looked like the end of a dirty alley way. There was a trashcan on fire in where middle their bond fire had been, and random people who looked a bit disheveled sitting around the fire with him. The one directly across from him is playing music on the guitar.
I am but a blind mess.....I am wild and free
Ford turns to his side to see his brother is the source of the song. No longer looking like a fishman but just as he did two days ago, a bit better shape but still looking disheveled. His clothes ratty and a paper bag in one hand that held what Ford assumes is a bottle as continues...
I know that I need us......more than I need me..
Stan a sip of his bottle.
One more whiskey, I am wild and free...
The sounds surround Ford as he watches his brother, he notices his eye are yellow and black and he wears a smile as he sings:
Oh, but I'm a beat-down, washed-up son of a bitch
I got one more cigarette and all my money is spent
A cigarette appearing in Stan’s other hand.
But I'ma....be damned if I let it keep me down..
Taking a drag of his cigarette and repeats the verses:
Oh yeah
I'm a beat-down, washed-up son of a bitch
I got one more cigarette and all my money is spent
But I'ma be damned if I let it keep me down....
Ford hears more music than the guitar, and something about it makes him feel surrounded by a sense of belonging...like everyone here in this circle shared the same feelings. The sense ....determination?....yet also...a longing for something...better..
Oh, my mother Mary......come walk with me
I am on four drugs, I am wild and free
I know that I failed less......the less I knew me...
Wander through the darkness, and come walk with me
Ford noticed Stan looked at him with smile that carried so many different emotions for such a quick glance as Stan took another sip of his drink and sang the chorus:
Oh yeah
I'm a beat-down, washed-up son of a bitch
I got one more cigarette and all my money is spent
But I'ma be damned if I let it keep me down! Yeah yeah
Stans voices was not like his own but...it felt like him, it felt like Stan, it carried that rough yet kind tones to it even as he sings like he rallying a crowd:
You know that it's not over
It's okay to let yourself hurt
Swimming in the murky water
Won't you come on out? Yeah..yeah
You know that it's not over!
It's okay to let yourself hurt
Swimming in the murky water
Won't you come on out? Yeah, yeah..
Ford hears everyone join Stan in singing as they all clap to beat and upbeat music making this dark alley way feel bright and colorful:
We sing a beat-down, washed-up beggar's song
And we sing it even louder when the money is gone
Because we'll be damned if we let it keep us down, yeah, yeah
Ford finds himself start to sing along with him:
Oh, I'm a beat-down, washed-up son of a bitch!
I got one more cigarette and all my money is spent
But I'ma be damned if I let it keep me down, yeah, yeah, yeah
Suddely Stan wraps his arm around Stan neck and bring him close as the music swells getting louder and filling the ally with that feeling....
Hope.
You know that it's not over!
It's okay to let yourself hurt
Swimming in the murky water
Won't you come on out? Yeah..yeah
You know that it's not over!
It's okay to let yourself hurt
Swimming in the murky water
Won't you come on out? Yeah, yeah..
Music swells back down to where it once was before. Nothing but the guitar as Stan lets him go and goes back to where to once was:
We sing a beat-down, washed-up beggar's song
And we sing it even louder when the money is gone!
Because we'll be damned!... if we let it keep us down, yeah, yeah
Ford finds his eyes getting heavy as guitar slows down and can only hears Stan voice:
Oh, I'm a beat-down, washed-up son of a bitch
I got one more cigarette and all my money is spent
But I'ma be damned if I let it keep me down...
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Ford opens his eyes again and he back to the familiar forest scene, he looks to see Stan leaning on him, eyes closed and Fidds on the other side of him, eyes closed as and banjo laying gently against him. Ford sighs and grabs his new journal and starts a new page writing without trying to wake the others up.
The effects of the Male Sirens song: