Chapter Text
Riz curled against a rock and watched the humans as they walked along the beach. His tail splashed quietly in the water as he listened to the crash of the waves. Everything seemed to be peaceful. Riz was still wary. He doesn’t trust humans. Not after all of the disappearances of some of his friends. He forced himself to be on constant watch. He refused to let anyone else be taken. His mother had told him to relax and that it wasn’t his job. What did she know? Riz felt personally responsible for all of this. Even if he didn’t have legs and couldn’t search for them himself, he’ll just watch and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Minutes turned to hours as the day went on by. His mother had given up on trying to convince him to dip back into the ocean and only stopped to bring him food. He didn’t eat much of his food. He just threw it off and pretended that he ate it when his mother questioned him. He continued to watch. Never faltering and never moving from his perch. His hair dried and became puffy from humidity. His skin was uncomfortably dry and his eyes hurt from the light. Still, he didn’t move.
For him, it was seeing the same people and the same things every day. He learned some of their names from listening to their conversations. It was fun watching them go about their lives and made him almost sad. He partially wished he could join them. However, he always killed that thought before it could manifest into anything else. He had a job to do. He couldn’t let himself get attached lest he forget about his main goal of finding his friends’ kidnapper.
There were two girls that always seemed to hang out together on the beach very rarely going into the ocean. He eventually learned that one of them was part merperson and could go into the water at will and turn into, what appeared to be, part shark. Her name was Fig. Her last name had never been spoken but he remembered hearing about figs in general. Weren’t they a human fruit? Riz had made several notes on her and the rest of the many other people he saw frequently. It was all for the sake of his detective work. Not because he was attached. That’s crazy talk.
The other girl was named Adaine Abernant. She was very similar to Riz. She was very nervous and anxious nearly all the time. She usually sat on the shore and watched from afar while Fig played in the ocean. Every so often, she would look over to where Riz would be perched as if she knew he was watching. She freaked Riz out if he was being completely honest. He had the sinking feeling that even when he did dive out of sight that she still knew he was watching. She spoke in very hushed tones and always made sure no one was there when Fig would go adventuring in the water.
Gorgug Thistlespring, as Riz learned to call him, is absolutely terrifying to look at. With the body of a viperfish but being nearly twice the size of a normal human, Riz tended to try and stay a good 100 feet away from him whenever possible. He was escorted around by this pleasant looking human couple that carried him in their giant van. At first, he thought they were fishermen and had kidnapped Gorgug. When he kept coming back, however, with Digby and Wilma in toe, he slowly realized that these humans had been taking care of him. The Thistlespring’s had seen Riz on many occasions and would frequently try and talk to him. Riz would choke on air then dip into the ocean and would simply wait for them to leave.
There was another girl by the name of Kristen that stopped by at least once a week. She always seemed extremely worried and upset about something. He never spoke to her but they both acknowledged each other when they saw each other. Riz would make sure no one bothered Kristen as she did whatever it is she wanted and in turn Kristen would give Riz small little trinkets or items she had. He had acquired quite the collection and studied these objects in hopes that he’ll come closer to learning about human culture and learn how to suss out who was kidnapping his friends. Even though Kristen really wanted a picture of Riz, Riz had destroyed her phone the last time she tried and hasn’t attempted it again.
The notorious fisherman Bill Seacaster had a son. He had never made the connection until he had shouted his name to which Riz connected the dots. Fabian Aramais Seacaster was really good looking. Extremely fit and a fairly decent height given human standards. Most fisherman would tell tales and believed heavily in Riz’s kind. Fabian, however, denounced this. He swears on his life he knows nothing about mermaids and believes they don’t exist. It intrigues Riz to a degree as he hangs around Bill’s ship when they fish, so he can make sure no merperson finds themself caught by them, and he could’ve sworn he has made eye contact with Fabian at least once. All this aside, Riz is fairly put off by Fabian. There's already too many fishermen in his ocean. He doesn’t want anymore.
Riz remains by the shore until the sun has fully set and he can barely keep his burning eyes open. He then retreats to the comfort of the ocean and remains the rest of the night awake checking over clues and information, never taking time to sleep. Then the next morning, he does it all again. A while back Kristen had introduced “coffee beans” in to Riz’s life. He grows them and eats them almost constantly in order to stay awake. He only ever truly sleeps when his body finally gives out and forces him to sleep for at least 2 hours. Then, he gets back up and continues working. He’s worn his body out and he can tell his mother is worried. She just doesn’t understand that he can’t stop. He needs to make sure no one else is hurt. He is going to save Penny. He just has to. It doesn’t matter that his throat is so dry he can barely speak anymore. It’s just how it’s going to have to be until Penny, and the rest of the missing girls, are back in the ocean where they safely belong.