Chapter Text
Being in Chlomaki’s company entailed long stretches without any sort of watery submersion whatsoever. The feline witch was less than impressed with swimming, though she didn’t mind looking at the sea from the beach or some other source of firm sand, unyielding rock, or what have you. Lobco had come to expect this. She’d been in her company long enough to understand most of Chlomaki’s capricious behavior.
It was…strange.
The witch had her pick of familiars. They seemed to come and go from what Lobco had observed—an endless march of things she could only imagine to be from distant worlds, far from the blue grandeur of her home sea. (Some of those realms didn’t even have a sea at all…how did they survive?!) Yet every time without fail, when it came to actually traveling somewhere, Chlomaki either chose her to accompany her or no one at all.
The night sky was vast. The Witch World had a constant, dreary, sunset-glow to it that never faded regardless of the time. Scraggly black trees not unlike hands clawed toward the sky, and Lobco swore a few branches were attempting to ensnare her from her perch on Chlomaki’s hat as they walked.
The air was still, the lingering rays of the sun were warm, and Lobco missed the pressure of the ocean all around her. Oh well.
“Hey,” Chlomaki said lightly, ears flicking. “Isn’t there some sort of celebration going on in the Sea Kingdom soon?”
“Huh? Let me think…” Waggling her pincers to and fro, Lobco scurried around the witch’s hat. “There’s a festival for the new year coming up, I think?”
“A festival, huh? What’s it like?”
Lobco bounced a bit in fright as she felt something skid along her carapace—oh, it was just a low-hanging branch. No big deal…
”Games and entertainment are hosted in the square of Deepsea Town. There’s some interesting prizes, and it tends to be a big hit every year.”
Chlomaki picked at her teeth with a nail. “Man. All of this fuss and no food?”
“There’s food, Lady Chlomaki. Served from the booths usually, and afterwards Princess Uomi opens Sea God Palace up for the annual feast.”
“Uh huh. And what do they serve? Anything like that one I went to last time?”
Lobco was perplexed by the line of questioning. Was the witch that hungry or something? “…Probably,” she said slowly. “But since the festival’s themed around a different sea animal depending on the year, the food changes a bit too.”
“Hmm,” Chlomaki replied in an utterly noncommittal fashion. She flicked something away and continued along her evening stroll. This had been taken with little reasoning as well, at least so far as the aquatic familiar was aware. “What’s the theme this year?”
“It should be the Year of the Stingray…But, ah, why do you ask, Lady Chlomaki?”
Lobco bit back a dismayed squeak as her master reached up and tweaked one of her feelers in a way that it most certainly shouldn’t bend. She struggled and flailed her pincers, legs scrambling as the witch refused to let go.
“Because I’m curious, shark-bait! You could’ve guessed something like that, right?”
“Y-Y-Yes, Lady Chlomaki! Please let go!”
The witch ignored her, ambling further along. “I still don’t know how you can all stand living in that giant aquarium—I think the pressure of it would drive me crazy! But anyway, did you attend that sorta thing with your folks all the time?”
“U-Usually…Sometimes I went with friends…if they even remembered to get me,” Lobco added in a low grumble.
“Tough breaks!” The witch replied cheerfully.
“Well, yes, but L-Lady Chlomaki…! My eyes are starting to water…”
“First taste of salt water you’ve had in weeks—you’d think you’d be grateful, yeah?”
But Chlomaki relented in the end, allowing Lobco to reclaim her aching feeler. She smoothed her pinchers along it awkwardly, letting out a great sigh; her master’s tail was waving along behind them like seaweed in a strong current.
“So we’ll go the day before,” Chlomaki announced, and Lobco blinked.
“E-Eh? You want to attend the festival?”
“Not really. But I guess the food after it is worth it.”
Lobco crept toward the edge of the great black hat, peering over the rim. The witch showed a careless, lazy smile once she noticed her peeping, dark eyes shining.
A bit of excitement trilled through her. It was always nice to see her parents, and Wadanohara, too. “Lady Chlomaki—“
Just then, something snatched her up and held her there, squirming like…well, like a lobster in a net.
Those damn trees…! A gnarled hand had shot out and captured her good, making any sort of movement impossible; the experience was not unlike being a stuffed animal in a crane game, or a pacified lobster being removed from a tank. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t break its vice-like grip. Transforming to her humanoid self was always an option, but—
“We can go if I remember,” Chlomaki continued in a drawl, as if nothing was happening. She observed her plight with folded arms and a Cheshire grin, all teeth. “Wadanohara will probably send us an invitation or something anyway, but here’s hoping I don’t need to RSVP or anything...”
“L-Lady Chlomaki—!”
“Hmmm,” she hummed with exaggerated emphasis. One eye closed in a sly wink. “I wonder if they’ll be serving lobster…Getting food for that feast must be pretty difficult. There’s a whole bunch of fish in that sea, you know?”
The hand’s grip was intensifying. Lobco struggled some more, flailing wildly, and Chlomaki at last took pity on her. Stomping a boot down on an exposed root, the witch forced the tree to relinquish its hold—the reaction mirrored that of someone having their toes treaded upon, and Lobco fell from the sky in a scarlet blur.
Chlomaki caught her, squeezing her tightly in one hand.
“Lobster’s only good if it’s fresh.”
Before Lobco could reply, the witch placed a kiss upon the tip of her head that was neither fast nor slow. Her feelers quivered straight up in shock, yet Chlomaki ignored that as well, placing her back upon her hat with little fanfare.
Their walk continued.
“L-Lady Chlomaki,” Lobco began once she finally located her voice. It’d been wedged somewhere between her heart and her mouth. “Why did you—“
“I didn’t,” said Chlomaki.
“But—“
“I didn’t,” she repeated in the same blithe tone, head tilted a bit—Lobco had to clutch at the buckle on her hat.
“I…ugh…never mind,” she mumbled, hauling herself back to her usual spot. Her master was utterly impossible most of the time—why did she even bother? Just…why would you do something like that anyway?
“It’s ‘cause I like you.”
“I—huh?!”
Chlomaki smiled, eyes forward. “You okay up there? Sounds like you’re pretty shaken up; that tree might’ve taken a real number on you. Maybe I’ll have a look once we get home. Could whip up a batch of something and see what sticks…”
Lobco trembled, thinking of past “examinations” and dunks into supposed healing tonics. Not on her life. “…N-No thanks…”
“Suit yourself. I figured shrimps or lobsters or whatever would leap at any chance to submerge themselves in something—pretty sad to see fish all dried up!”
Chlomaki began to whistle, and Lobco would’ve smiled, if she could.