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The DreamSMP Ocean was always off limits to the people of L’Manburg Lake. It was an ocean across a road and down the hill, past the cliffs and tidepools and sand, all of that was almost uncrossable to the mermaids in the lake. They were all mainly fish, so breathing on land was impossible. Except for Fundy, who used to be a small fox hybrid until he was cursed as a young child.
He was Wilbur’s son, a salmon mermaid who’s traits he adopted. There were certain complications with it. Because of the rest of the lake, going above the water was forbidden. It was just too dangerous, both because of things that could attack and because of how mermaids couldn't usually breath on land. Fundy didn’t need air to breath, but it had been a while since he did so. He still had his fox ears, too, which he didn’t like since he didn’t really seem to fit in. Everyone else had more fish traits, but his top half was how it was before.
Fundy missed being free like he was before, and he really wanted to go to the ocean, but he wasn’t allowed. Wilbur told stories about a person there, a dolphin mermaid who led the seas with no trident, but instead an axe made of material no one had ever seen. Wilbur said his name was Dream, and said that he always had a mask on him to hide his face.
Everyone in the lake spoke bad about the guy, but Fundy was very interested in him. Why wouldn’t he be, dolphins were mammals, meaning that they breathed in air. It was someone Fundy could relate to, someone who could understand him. Fundy really wanted to meet him, but he couldn’t even lift his head out of the water without his dad being mad at him, so being able to go to the ocean was almost impossible.
Almost, though, meant that there was a chance to Fundy. So he started finding ways to dig towards the sea. There was a chance he could land in the Manberg Caverns, but as long as he kept as high as possible, he could at least get to the cliffs, then he could get around the tidepools there.
So he grabbed sticks from the land when his dad wasn’t looking, started getting materials, and began mining away in his small cave in the lake. He was able to hide it from Wilbur, doing it under his bed. Niki was the only one who knew about it, and she was only nervous about how deep the ocean was. Fundy pushed that worry aside though, he could take it.
Fundy would spend hours on the tunnel each day, trying to get it done as soon as possible. He wanted to meet that dolphin so bad, someone who could breath on air and could be as free as possible. Between his mining he would ask Wilbur more about him. Wilbur seemed annoyed with the guy, but Fundy found him cool. A dolphin who had seen the edge of the world and found items a water creature normally couldn’t. He even built a portal under the water. Fundy wanted to see him.
There were certain things in the way of it. Getting to the road was a problem since it was made of something different, so Fundy needed something stronger to get through it, or else he would have to dig under it. Not to mention going back through it was difficult since when he was doing it, it was only to get through. Turning around was hard as well. Fundy managed though, he was going to be free.
Eventually the water in his tunnels started flowing out of a hole he made, stopping it's former stationary form. Fundy yelped as he blocked the tunnel behind him, making him breath air for the first time in so long. Fundy got used to it soon, it actually felt nice, he missed this. Of course it felt weird not being in water, his gills were closed without it so a part of him was suffocating a bit. But he was fine, just needed some getting used to
After a few minutes, Fundy grabbed his pickaxe again and started making the hole wider so he could actually go through it. It was on the last part of the cliffs, right next to the water. It was actually closer than he expected it to be. It wasn’t good to be digging that low with the Manberg Caverns under him, he could have fallen in there if he wasn’t careful. But luck was on his side now.
Fundy moved to go on the sand, putting the pickaxe away as he started touching the sand and rock. He smiled looking around at the sky, everything looked so much more clearer on land. Fundy laughed as he looked at the area around. The urge to get up and walk was so damning, but sadly he couldn’t.
He felt his hair and fur dry slowly, it actually felt nice, it was less heavy when it wasn’t wet. Fundy combed his hands through his hair, his ears twitching to get the water out. He felt the soft wind on his face, pushing his hair around his face. He couldn’t stop laughing at how nice it felt. He couldn’t even have this at L’Manburg, it was surrounded by trees. But this felt so free, Fundy loved it.
“Hey salmon boy, you might wanna get in the water, your gills can’t stay up on land,” Fundy heard. He jumped as he looked at the water, his heart doing the same seeing the dolphin boy he heard so much about. And he was breathing, actually breathing on land. His chest was moving like he was, it was someone like him. That’s when Dream noticed Fundy was doing the same. He seemed very surprised by it, why wouldn’t he, no one ever sees a fish mermaid breathing on land, “You’re… How are you doing that?”
“I was always able to, I was born a fox hybrid,” Fundy said. Dream seemed to be excited at that fact, which was so odd with how much Fundy had been excited about him before, “You’re Dream, right? I’ve heard so much about you, I couldn’t believe that there was another water creature that could breath on land.”
“Haha, where did you even come from? You can’t be from L’Manburg Lake, everyone there hates me, and if that’s your tunnel then man you must have gone far,” Dream said. Fundy laughed a bit at it.
“Nope, I’m from L’Manburg Lake, I just found someone breathing on land really interesting,” Fundy said. Dream relaxed on his arms, resting his head on them as he looked up at Fundy. Fundy noticed his tail in the water, it was different than his, being horizontal and resting in parallel to the water. Fundy looked away from that though, “My dad hates you the most out of everybody, except for Tommy, but when he started talking about you, I just couldn’t get you out of my head.”
“You’re dad is Wilbur I’m guessing?” Dream asked. Fundy nodded nervously. Dream just laughed it off, moving so he was laying down on the land, stomach up as Fundy could see the scars on his chest more clearly. He stopped himself from focusing on it because he wasn’t even sure if Dream was looking away or not. If he did, he didn’t seem to care, “How fun. How are gonna hide this from him though, I can assume he doesn’t know about this little trip.”
“He doesn’t let anyone even go above the water, even me, I doubt he would look over here to see me if he did,” Fundy said. Dream laughed at it. He wasn’t at all surprised at a rule like that, it would be pretty dangerous in that forest to have mermaids being out of the water, birds aren’t usually friends with them, there’s only a few exceptions that Dream had seen. It sucked that Fundy couldn’t either, that must have been terrible. Dream wanted to give him that opportunity to be free though, he came all that way, he deserved it
“Well salmon boy, why don’t we go in the ocean?” Dream asked, sitting up. Fundy hummed as he noticed the markings on his back. He couldn’t understand any of it, but it looked really cool, maybe he could come back and ask about it later. Fundy went a bit red when he noticed Dream actually was looking back at him. Dream just tilted his head at him, a soft dolphin noise coming from behind the mask. Fundy’s face warmed up as he started playing with his hands nervously, “I’m sure you’ll love it here… uh.”
“My name is Fundy,” Fundy said. Dream seemed to like it. He grabbed one of Fundy’s hands as he started going back in the water. Fundy just let him pull him. He could deal with his dad later, he had other things to focus on.