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The ceiling of the ocean was noisy, waves crashing into each other and cold pelting the surface. The din was unfamiliar and intriguing.
He'd always been told to stay deep when storms battered the overland - most mer simply slept through them and ventured out once the waters were less choppy to see what new things had sunk below the waves. The time after a storm was perfect for hunting and scavenging.
Jesse wanted to see it though.
Never mind his pod of ragtag thieves and outcasts who slept snuggled safely together deep in their gorge. Curiosity had always gotten Jesse in trouble, so what was a little more?
The closer to the surface he got, the rougher the current became, unpredictable and violent. He may have been skinny and underfed, but his red and gold tail was strong, flukes lashing and guiding him through the worst of it. Determined he kept on, golden eyes pinned on the flashes of light from above.
Finally, he broke through the surface, only to be swamped by a crashing wave that came down atop him. Jesse blew air out his gills and tried again, steadily getting the hang of riding the wild bucking of the waves until he could peek up into the sky.
It was dark, with heavy, roiling things that spewed freshwater down onto the surface of the ocean. Things that rumbled ominously and sailed through the sky like weird jellyfish without tentacles. A flash of light blinded him, and in the after-image burned into his retinas, Jesse saw a tail, long and serpentine flick before disappearing into the fluffy sky jellyfish.
Were there Mer that lived in the sky?
He’d never heard of such a thing, but most Mer kept to the depths, and with good reason. There were leggers on land who’d hunt them to extinction if they could.
Jesse waited as the sky rumbled, peering into the darkness, the falling water obscuring his sight, even with his third lid covering the lens. When the flash of light came again, he was ready, squinting against the initial brightness and peering into the fading light as it lit up the darkness. There, just out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of the tail again, shining silver-blue in the light. Instead of flukes, it had weird fins that looked lighter and fluffier, almost like certain types of seaweed.
Unable to restrain his excitement Jesse barked out a sound that was both query and greeting, the sound feeling muffled under the oppressive sky, not carrying like he was accustomed. The storm calmed, ever so slightly, the winds dying down. Jesse called again, curiosity twisting his tail in knots.
There was a tingle in the air, the kind that made his papillae stand on end and then closer than before the light cracked through the darkness, striking the surface of the ocean with a deafening boom. Finned hands slapped up to cover his earholes, Jesse jabbering testily about the noisy world above the ocean. He didn’t see the sky-mer again, and gradually the rain eased back, fluffy jellyfish dispersing slowly.
Well that wasn’t what he’d been expecting, but Jesse sank beneath the waves once more, curiosity satisfied for the briefest moment. He debated swimming back to his pod, as they’d be waking soon when a flash of silver cut through the dark of the ocean. Jesse swum towards it cautiously, trilling questioningly. He wasn’t about to pick a fight with something bigger than him, but...it’d be nice to meet someone else brave enough to go up and watch the storms too.
As he approached, the seawater took on the taste of something similar to the way the air tasted right before the bright lights stabbed through the sky. It was foreign, indescribable, ...intriguing.
A wary trill greeted him, the dialect foreign, but the intent clear enough.
“Danger?”
Jesse clucked his tongue against his teeth, purring soothingly. “No danger. Did you watch the sky-lights too?”
A grumble of something Jesse didn’t quite catch, the other Mer staying just out of sight. A school of fish cut between them, blocking his view. Jesse swatted the school away, looking around for his mysterious acquaintance.
“I thought I heard...a friend.”
Jesse veered towards the voice, following the strange scent that made his nostrils burn a bit. “I can be a friend,” Jesse hummed.
The sound of a chitter of exasperation drew a smile to Jesse’s lips.
“Not you. Another...never mind. I must go.”
Anxiety flared in Jesse’s chest, a soft whine of protest rippling from his throat. “But we haven’t met yet.” He didn’t mean to sound quite so pathetic, but this was the first real conversation he’d had in ages that wasn’t one of the older Mer in his pod bitching him out for one transgression or another, or beating up on him for being the youngest.
The silence stretched out long enough that Jesse would’ve thought the other Mer had gone, if that spikey, smokey sort of scent hadn’t lingered. He waited with far more patience than he would have credited himself with, before a bit of movement in the darkness betrayed the other. Jesse’s darkvision adjusted as the pale shape moved closer, undulating in a manner more akin to an eel than another Mer. When the other drew close enough to be seen, Jesse found himself rendered speechless.
If that weren’t the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on, he’d go feed himself to a leviathan. It was no kind of Mer he’d ever seen before. Male, with a long, silver and blue tail that undulated back and forth. Silver-speckled scales dotted onto his torso in a diamond pattern, flaring into a bright flash of indigo at the jaw, iridescent and indescribably beautiful. The Mer’s face though...Strong jaw, sharp teeth, devastatingly handsome….
And for a brief moment he thought the Mer wore a crown of coral, two large spikes jutting forth and curling back before splintering into several points, but then he realized that it wasn’t quite coral, and it was growing directly from his brow.
The other Mer was looking at him just as curiously, yellow gaze lingering on the webbing between his fingers, and the fins that fluttered in the current from along his forearms. Jesse’s fins flared slightly, showing the deep crimson glow at the base of the supporting spines, and his tail flukes spread wide, flicking back and forth in what he hoped was a seductive manner.
“You are too bright” The mer grumbled, but Jesse saw the way the indigo scales on his neck flared out slightly, catching the dim light. Jesse sidled closer, as close as he could before the other Mer went stiff and wary, and backed off slightly.
“You’re beautiful,” Jesse crooned, awestruck. The other Mer frowned at him, but Jesse saw how his scales rippled and his tail flicked in a rather pleased sort of manner.
That tail...it was so long and strange, and decorated with a long, thin line of bright yellow...was that seaweed? It was so light and fluffy looking that Jesse wanted to stroke his fingers through it to see if it were as soft as it appeared.
“Swim with me?” Jesse implored, offering out a hand. The other Mer hesitated, looked like he wanted to accept and then withdrew, shaking his head. “I must go. I am expected”
Jesse whined again.
“Can I see you again?”
It was a last ditch chance to meet this beautiful male again, to know him...maybe to court him if he were permitted. Jesse felt a tug in his belly that he’d never felt before.
The other mer let out a hum, scratching at one of the indigo scales at his neck with a long, curved talon. “Next time there is a storm...I will find you.”
Jesse perked up, watching as the other Mer scratched a moment longer and then plucked the loose scale from his flesh, releasing it to float in the water. It glimmered in the dark of the water, and Jesse couldn’t help but reach out and catch it, cupping it in the palm of his hand where it couldn’t float away.
By the time he looked back up, the Mer was gone. The indigo scale in his hand seemed like a promise though. “Next storm,” Jesse crooned into the water before turning to navigate his way back to the gorge where his pod nested.