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It’s not that Finana disliked Selen 一 not really. But it would be a lie to say she was not mildly irritated by her.
As a long life denizen of the depths of the ocean, Finana was an appreciator of beauty. Nature itself, in all its organized chaos, had evolved to create wonderful things to be enjoyed and celebrated. As a mermaid, Finana had spent countless hours erring in the waters, carried by the whims of the currents, absorbing the colorful ballet that was the flora and fauna of the aquatic world.
Here, a rainbow fish catches the reflection of the rays of run, glowing red and blue and yellow and green like a drop of water holding white light only to refract it and expose the hidden colors within it. There, a bioluminescent algae sways back and forth casting a dim light amongst the darkness, a beacon of life in the black of oceanic depths. The sounds all around her, a distorted symphony coming together announcing the birth of turtle, the crack crustacean’s shell as it fights for its life, the symbiose of a plankton and a whale drifting through endless blue.
How can one not develop an eye and a love for everything beautiful in this environment?
It was true of life above the water as well.
Having met Elira and Pomu, Finana had also come to discover and care for the sky, the cradle of flying critters singing through the clouds, and Pomu showed her the wonders of the forest, the heart and veins of the Earth running through the ground to reach the tallest heights, everything 一 no matter how little or big 一 of incommensurable importance.
Therefore, as she settled into the deep lake within Pomu’s forest, surrounded by mountain crests crowned by the clouds where Elira lived, she had made sure to make her home was as beautiful as the tools nature gave her. A half submerged house, overgrown by aquatic flora, encompassed in the canopy of a hanging tree, at the foot of the highest mountain of the area, only a few yards from Pomu’s house tree, is what she now called home.
As such, when Finana came back from her trip to the ocean to visit her family, and her eyes landed upon the sheer atrocity that was Selen Tatsuki’s cave, her fish heart almost failed her on the spot.
To be fair, Elira had warned her that her sister would come and visit. Now to Finana’s recollection, it did not entail that Selen would actually settle there, less alone ruin the wonderful aesthetic Finana had worked on so hard on her side of the forest
At first, she kept it to herself 一 maybe it was just a work in progress, she had hoped. But now that ten days had passed, and Selen’s shithole had not improved, or rather the opposite, it was starting to grow under Finana’s gills.
As she laid in bed, drilling a hole in the ceiling with her eyes, she was pondering her course of action when a shout startled her.
“Ah shit! Nooo!” followed by an explosive laugh and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
Because of course, as a lunar dragon, Selen had to be the most active during the night.
Screw it, I’m done.
Finana got out of bed in fury, throwing the sheet on the floor, not even bothering to put on shoes. As if to announce her arrival, she slammed the door of her house, or rather tried to as the soft grass under it slowed its momentum and the wooden panel clicked back into place with a soft, soothing metallic sound of the lock closing. The windchime at the corner of the doorframe rang softly into the night.
It made Finana rage even more.
As she arrived at the entrance of Selen’s shantytown of a house, Finana froze in place, flabbergasted by the mess sprawled out on the floor 一 the mess being the lunar dragon in question.
The entrance itself was an abomination on its own right 一 a jumble of wool stapled to the rock of the mountain itself, panels of wood crudely nailed into an ersatz of a door, wild vines and weeds, some of them being nettles, Finana was sure of it 一 overrun the opening of the mountain making Finana wonder how Selen could even enter her room without hurting herself. She was pretty sure she could hear a water leak inside, the droplet of water echoing loudly into the cave that basically served as a soundboard; as much as Finana loved water, these constant chaotic sounds would drive her crazy.
The owner of the aforementioned abomination was laying on the ground, sort of. One of her feet was stuck into a pile of garbage she had been using as a ladder. A plank of wood was half nailed above the cave dangled from one side, crudely carved into reading “Selen’s house.”
From the ground, Selen looked up at her, upside down, throwing her a wide grin.
“Hey Finana! I hope I didn’t wake you up!”
As the mermaid looked at her, Selen’s position contrasted the casual tone in her words was so comical that Finana had to bite back a smile. No, she was mad, she had to remember that. For good measure, she crossed her arms.
“As a matter of fact, you did.”
Immediately, Selen’s face fell 一 it made Finana feel guilty. Maybe she was being too harsh on her.
“Oh I’m sorry, I should have warned you. I’ll make you cupcakes as an apology.”
Something tugged at Finana’s heart. Besides, Selen did make a good cupcake. Torn between her anger and her sweet tooth, she hesitated.
“Speaking of, tomorrow I’m gonna be digging around a little, so you might want to sleep at Elira’s or Pomu’s.”
“Digging what?”
“A hole.”
“But why?”
“Just cause. I think I’m gonna try to make a mini swamp, wouldn't that be cool?”
“No way! You are NOT making a swamp twenty feet away from my house!”
Finana stomped her feet on the ground with frustration, resisting the urge to grip her hair. Instead, she took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down, passing a hand on her face.
“Nice shirt by the way.” Selen called out with a mockerish grin, not having moved from her position on the ground .
Confused, Finana looked down only to remember she was wearing her pajamas, that included a bright pink t-shirt imprinted with the word “SLUT” on it. A strangled wail of embarrassment crossed her throat as she buried her face in her hands, wishing more than anything to be at the bottom of the ocean at this very moment.
As Finana stood there, consumed by the fire of shame on her face, Selen took her time to free her foot, stumbling up to her feet and gathering a bunch of… stuff in her arms.
“I’ll be careful about the noises from now on!” she promised over her shoulder, flashing Finana a cheeky wink.
“Yeah, you better一 Hold on, is that my flower pot you have there?”
As Selen disappeared behind her rickety door, she beamed. “Ocean law, baby!”
The morning after, Finana woke up to a plate of cupcakes at her doorstep; while they were decorated to be the ugliest depictions of fishes she had ever seen in her life 一 and most likely purposely intended to look like that 一 she couldn’t deny that they were delicious.
Then she noticed the plate came from Pomu’s house.
Finana let out a sigh so deep she almost felt her soul exit her body.
She readjusted the cardboard box in her arm, balancing the weight of it against her sore muscles.
Of course I’ll bring this box of clothes to Selen, Elira. It’s no problem, I live right next door, it’s a walk in the meadow . Next time she should literally put her fins in her mouth.
She had not counted on the box being filled up with so many clothes, she had to take several breaks along the road to catch her breath.
She passed through the alleyway leading to Selen’s cave, forcing herself to ignore the assault on her aesthetic sensibilities scattered all around the place and kicked the door open unceremoniously with the heel of her foot.
It was the first time she had actually entered Selen’s house and it was both exactly what she had expected and somehow even worse than she would have imagined.
The cave was large, dug into the mountain in jagged edges, sharp corners and no particular layout she could discern. Kitchen appliances laid on crudely carved pieces of rock while actual wooden chests hang from the ceiling, secured by five different kinds of ropes 一 some of them from Pomu’s tree house she recognized. A furnace was embedded in one wall, directly next to a bookshelf containing a single book 一 Elira’s favourite that she had ‘lost’ a few days prior. And there was a hole 一 an actual, honest to god hole opening to the outside, letting in the fresh air of the night and a dim ray of moonshine, right above a cluster of art supplies laying directly upon the ground.
Finana sighed again 一 it echoed around the place before being drowned out by the sound of rushing water coming from… somewhere Finana didn’t even want to look for.
“Finana!” The words, pronounced in that particular way proper to Selen, startled her and she dropped the box at her feet.
She turned to meet the characteristic smug grin of the lunar dragon waving at her. Her dragon, Ember, jumped from her shoulder to circle around Finana before dropping to the ground, pawing at her leg gently.
“He wants to play.” Selen explained even though Finana didn’t ask.
She had half the heart to ignore the dragon, but his pleading eyes tugged at her heart so she bent down to pet his head instead.
“Elira asked me to bring you this.” Finana said, gesturing to the box on the ground spilling out its content on the floor.
“Oh sweet! I was starting to run out of clothes.” Selen clapped her hands excitedly, picked up the bow, threw it at the feet of her bed and just left it there . “Thanks Finana!”
Unable to resist, Finana let her eyes roam around the room before noting. “Your place is a mess.”
“It’s just a room for me to sleep and eat, don’t need anything fancier.” Selen retorted proudly.
Muffling a yawn, Finana got up and rolled her eyes. Unfortunately, they landed on a barrel, dangerously dangling from a side on the wall, furthering her despair. “Of course you’d say that…”
Selen answered with a snicker.
Finana eventually got up on her feet, granting one last pet to Ember and froze in place when she faced Selen. She looked at her up and down as Selen looked at her innocently, hand in her pocket.
“That’s my shirt.” Finana eventually said, keeping her tone calm and even.
“Hmm, is it though?”
“Yes it is.”
“Then why am I wearing it?”
Finana looked blankly at the wall behind her, imploring all known and unknown divinities in the universe to have mercy on her.
“It’s ocean law! I’ve had it for four days now and you didn’t even notice.” Selen proudly announced, a laugh dancing in her voice.
That made Finana finally crack. “What the hell does ‘ocean law’ even mean?” she cried more than asked.
Selen calmly shrugged, her smirk never leaving her face. “It means that if you want it, you take it. And if no one notices it’s gone, it’s yours.”
“That’s called stealing.”
“Hmm, I don’t think so. It’s ocean law.”
“It’s一 Argh, forget it!”
Throwing her arms up in defeat, Finana groaned and moved to leave the room, unable to maintain Selen’s mischievous face staring at her in amusement.
Finana turned around on her heels and began to storm out of the cave. Eyes furiously scanning the room, she stopped to grab the first thing in her surroundings 一 a trophy cup adorned with a dragon wearing a racing shirt and Selen’s name engraved on a plaque at the bottom of it.
As she walked out, putting the cup under her arm, Selen managed to call out between two laughs. “Finana, what are you doing with that?”
“It’s mine now. Ocean law!”
Finana was a water person; that went without saying. Nothing would please her more than the calm force of a current pushing her, surrounding her weightless body by the light pressure of the ocean’s depths.
But sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire.
To be fair, Selen did start it, by stealing everything her dragon eyes landed on. Therefore, when Finana ripped out pieces of fabric hanging loosely around the side of the mountain that held the junkyard Selen called a house, she did not feel guilty one bit. Not even when she broke into the cave 一 well, the door didn’t actually close and was constantly ajar and as such, Finana would argue it wasn’t actually breaking in 一 and arranged the mismatched fabric onto Selen’s bookshelf to make a pretty display for her trophies.
That way, not only Finana wouldn’t have to watch this horror everytime she passed by Selen’s hellhole, but the dragon would have at least one aesthetic thing in there that would maybe inspire her.
Ocean law, Finana thought proudly as she admired her work.
As she headed out, she noticed a toy gun laying around and thought it would make a perfect door wedge for her home. She snacthed it without a second thought.
Things may have escalated a little bit, Finana would admit that.
Finana’s surprise home redecoration did nothing to deter Selen in her deeds, far from it. In fact, she actually doubled down.
The next day, Finana woke up to an entire window from her ground floor missing. Selen had hung it on one wall of her cave, facing absolutely nothing but the black stone.
The day after, Finana brought fifty flowers that she scattered around the cave, making sure to pick the one whose smell would hang around the longest. For good measure, she took the one painting Selen had above her bed 一 a bear in war gear on a flaming mountain 一 to place it in the living room above her fireplace.
After that, Finana found Ember walking around her vegetable garden wearing her crown, but the dragon looked so cute she couldn’t even be mad at that.
Little by little, her house filled itself with junk she got from Selen’s cave, while the dragon’s house became a strange mozaic of chaos bleeding out of well thought out decorations Finana worked on while Selen was away 一 entering the cave was like stepping into another dimension after inhaling psychedelic flowers fumes.
When Elira visited, a thousand questions were held in the simple, desperate “Why?” she let out.
Selen merely replied “Ocean law.”
Fire rose in Finana’s veins, making her ear-fins tremble. In the distance, leading to Selen’s poor excuse of a home, towering over the dirt road now littered with various pieces of metal, plastic, wool and fabric stretched into what maybe was supposed to be a fence, a large tree was glistening in dripping bright pink paint under the moonlight.
Finana saw red. She stormed towards the dragon’s lair, stepping over two piece of linen thread stretched between one stake of wood and a pile of glued on cans, to enter Selen’s “garden”, populated by a single dying cactus.
“Selen!”’ she called out to the figure crouch down below the tree.
Selen froze on the spot, then pivoted slowly to face Finana, one hand holding a large brush covered in pink paint. She smiled, eyes wide and face stiff. The paint slowly dripped down her fingers then wrist before splashing down against the grass. Ember rushed to sniff the liquid, tail wagged widely.
“Finana!” Selen offered her a wide, beaming grin. “Can I say, you look mighty cute on this fine summer night! Have you done something to your hair by any chance?”
Ignoring the sweet talk and innocent look on Selen’s face, Finana stepped further to reach her, putting her hands on her hips. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Selen’s grin did not falter. “I just think the tree looks good in pink. Ocean law” she added as if it was a valid justification.
All coherent thoughts left Finana’s brain at the incongruous, absurd answer. The gall of this dragon! To unceremoniously butcher Nature’s work for absolutely no reason!
On impulse, Finana grabbed a brush in the paint bucket and splattered it against Selen’s face, leaving a large trail of pink on her cheek. Selen remained frozen in place, staring at Finana with incredulous wide eyes, mouth agape.
Finana shrugged, mirroring Selen's ingenuous look. “What? I just think your face looks good in pink.”
Selen’s shocked expression turned into a delighted one before a glint of mischief flashed in her eyes, reflected in her smirk. Finana barely registered the way Selen's body tense before she pounced on her in the blink of an eye.
A wet, paint covered brush landed on the side of her neck, causing her to shriek loudly. Selen’s momentum sent them both to the ground. Vainly, she struggled against Sleen’s strong frame, immovable as a mountain. The dragon straddled her, pinning her down with a victorious smile. Unwilling to give up, Finana used the weapon at her disposal and smeared the brush in her hand on Selen’s face again, covering half of her bangs in thick pink.
Selen recoiled with a laugh, trying to grab Finana’s wrist who wiggled it even harder to try and escape, resulting in a thousand droplets of paint to land everywhere in a rain of pink.
Before she realized, Finana was wrestling Selen, attempting to either reverse their position with all of her weight, or painting her face more 一 at this point she wasn’t even sure herself because she was laughing too hard, and her heart was racing too fast for her to think properly.
At one point, Selen called for a break, holding her side as she rolled off Finana, landing on her back with heaving breaths. Finana’s own chest hurt after this much laughter; she struggled to catch her breath.
The clearing of a throat above them startled Finana, causing her to let out a cry of surprise.
She looked up to meet Elira’s confused face, looking down at the both of them, then at the pink apocalypse they had caused. She stood there for a moment, eyeing the disaster, holding a lone plastic bag in her hand.
“I came to bring you tea...What the hell happened here?”
Selen beamed her usual cocky grin. “We’re redecorating!”
“Ocean law!” Finana added without a beat, sending Selen into another fit of laughter.
Later that night, as Finana was scraping crusts of dried paint off her skin, she noticed her heart had not stopped racing.
“It looks like a penis.”
“What? It does not!”
Selen took a step back from the ‘sculpture’ as she called it, hands and shirt covered in mud, weeds sticking out of her loosely tied hair.
Finana stretched against the trunk of the pink tree she was leaning on and popped a graped in her mouth nonchalantly.
She had come to learn that witnessing Selen struggle with her… ‘art’ was much more entertaining that fighting against it. She scratched the patch of fur behind Ember’s head, making the dragon purr on her lap. His head perked up, eyeing the fruit Finana was holding with interest.
Putting her hand on her hips, smearing even more dirt on her shirt, Selen tilted her head to the side, humming pensively.
“Actually you're right, It kinda does…”
Finana let out a huff in victory, holding her chin up with pride.
“Well, it’s gonna be the prettiest mud penis in this turf!”
Finana groaned, defeated.
“Do you want to give me a hand or are you just gonna sit there and watch me work?”
“I will not engage in domestic terrorism.”
“Your dragon is napping on my laundry.” Finana noted with a clipped tone.
As if to answer her, Ember rolled on his back, wagging his tail against Finana’s basket of freshly cleaned clothes.
“He had a big race yesterday, give him a break.”
“But I just washed it.”
“Well一”
“I swear to the gods if you say ‘it’s ocean law’ again…”
Selen’s reply came in the form of a jerky laugh.
It was quiet. Suspiciously so. Finana didn’t like it.
She was lying in bed, yet unable to relax a single muscle in her body, her brain and ears in full alert at the littlest sounds they could discern. However, nothing outside of the regular forest noises were reaching her. And that was suspicious.
The trophy bearing the “Selen #1” plaque she had placed above her bookshelf stared at her as if it was taunting her.
If Selen had finally stopped her big work involving all kinds of drills, tools, maces, shovels, pickaxe and axes, she was usually no less a flurry of noises and activity during the night. As days went, Finana had become accustomed to falling asleep to the laugh of Selen playing with Ember for hours into the night.
Therefore, the complete, utter silence coming from the cave dweller was… concerning.
Overcome by an uneasy sense of restlessness, Finana got up in a flash, rushing out of her house wearing only her pajamas and a frown on her face.
When she reached Selen’s house, the frontyard was frozen in a bubble of stillness that felt unnatural. It didn’t feel right to not see Selen adding another ugly addition to the patchwork of randomness that was her side of the mountain, nor Ember either sleeping curled up under a ray moon or running around chasing various butterflies and squirrels under the gentle admonishment of his owner.
It was only when she looked up that the sight of Ember flying around in lazy circles in the sky caught her eye. Just below, Selen was sitting on an outcrop dug into the rock, feet dangling in the air, looking in the distance.
On the side, Finana noticed an addition to the mountain of chaos: another wooden sign, surrounded by poorly drawn arrows, none of the same size or color, reading “Balcony”. Following the direction, Finana was led to a stair of sorts, made up of various material Selen had probably stolen from Pomu and Elira. She climbed with difficulty, struggling to maintain her balance on the shifting material under her feet.
A couple of minutes later, she reached the top with heaving lungs, cursing the dragon under her breath. Selen truly would never for the life of her build something with any sense of practicality, not aesthetic would she… Finana hugged herself, rubbing her hands on her arm to create the tiniest bit of warmth she could get as she cursed herself for not bringing a jacket or a shawl.
If Selen noticed her arrival, she did not react. Taking the time to calm her lungs, Finana observed her profile, carved out of the night sky by the moon illuminating her from above, reflecting against purple locks to create the picture perfect of serenity. It was a wild contrast of how Finana was used to seeing her, though not an unpleasant one.
With careful mouvements, Finana took a seat next to her, weary as to not disrupt her. Selen acknowledged her by silently shifting to the side to make room next to her.
A quiet moment passed 一 Fianana revelled in the comfiness of the situation. She leaned against the mountain, stealing the occasional glance to the girl beside her, yet she felt no urge to break the silence.
Eventually, Selen spoke out, her voice uncharastically low and soft.
“Fancy meeting you here.” Her teasing intonations were still there, laced into the whisper. It made Finana smile with reassurance.
“Couldn’t sleep without you making a ruckus in the background.” the mermaid answered. The raw honesty of the statement surprised herself as the words came out of her mouth.
That dragged a chuckle out of Selen 一 the feeling of unrest within Finana subsided.
“Sorry, I’ll make sure to prepare a batch of TNT for tomorrow.”
“Amazing. Elira recently taught me how to shoot a bow so I could use you for target practice.” Finana answered without missing a beat through a wide grin on her face.
Selen barked out a loud laugh that rang in the quiet night. Above them, Ember dove down to land next to Finana, resting his chin on her leg. Mindlessly, the mermaid began scratching the top of his balding head. The clouds cleared, casting a beam of moonlight on the forest. Finana’s heart beat a little faster.
Her head felt a little dizzy. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was the height, or maybe she just couldn’t hold back the question spilling out of her lips.
“So why exactly aren’t you working on creating the ugliest piece of furniture known to every living being at the moment?”
The corner of Selen’s lips twitched in amusement as she shot a glance at Finana. “It’s just… one of those nights you know?”
Finana didn’t know. She tilted her head, looking at Selen quizzically.
“It’s like一” Selen sighed, looking for her words. “When everything feels a bit too heavy and you can’t help but think about your life, and all the pressure, and you ask yourself what exactly you are doing with yourself.”
Finana blinked. Then frowned.
“You never had that?”
Selen turned around completely to face her, staring at her with intensity. Her eyes reminded Finana of the color of dawn laid upon the still surface of the ocean when the sky was clear and the world seemed suspended in time.
“No, not really. I’m usually just vibing, you know.” she eventually answered with a dismissive shrug.
Selen giggled more than laughed at her side, and that was a sound Finana could get used to as well. “As easy as that, huh?”
“Yeah, Go ahead, try it now!” Fiana angled herself to face Selen and placed her hands on the dragon’s shoulders.
“Close your eyes.” Selen complied, not without an amused smile on her lips.
“Think about what’s troubling you.” Selen’s eyebrow twitched frowning, face falling ever so slightly.
Finana felt the muscle under her fingers tense.
“And now, just don’t think about it.” Selen opened her eyes again, a doubtful expression on her features and an unsure smile. “And there, it’s done!”
Finana beamed, clapping Selen’s shoulder, exuding an aura of pride. A beat passed before Selen just exploded in a burst of laughter, shaking her whole body.
“Just don’t think about it! Why did I never think about that?” she sighed after her hilarity had calmed down, wiping a tear at the corner of her eyes.
“Works for me, and I’m happy, see?” Finana smiled at her, genuine and honest.
Selen marked a pause, looking at her strangely before conceding. “You know what? You have a point. I do feel better now.” she admitted, softer than Finana had ever heard her speak 一 except when she cuddled with Ember.
Silence comfortably wrapped around them again 一 this time with Selen being much more relaxed. Ember snored on Finana’s lap, drooling over her leg. Finana’s heart kept racing in her ribcage.
A gust of fresh wind ruffled the leaves of the tree below, sending shivers through Finana’s body. In a swift movement Selen removed her sweater, dropping the fabric around the mermaid’s shoulders. When Finana’s heart skipped a beat, she did not have the strength to pretend the warmth invading her came from clothing around her. Tightening the sweater around her, she shot Selen a bashful look. The latter merely smiled softly.
“Reverse ocean law.” Selen stated casually as an explanation.
“Gods you’re annoying with that.” Finana lamented with no bite to her tone, shoving Selen’s side with her shoulder. .
“Hey! I’ve seen your house, I know you adopted my philosophy.” Selen fired back with a smirk, pushing back against Finana's body.
“It’s not一 I’m just trying to fight back against you! I don’t condone it.”
“But by doing so, you’re doing exactly the same as me. So I win!” Selen countered.
Finana gasped, offended, yet at loss for a clever comeback. “I一 No一 It’s… Everything is not a competition!”
“Yes it is, and I’m winning!”
Words died on Finana’s throat as she failed to respond. Yet it was not irritation that was setting her cells in fire, not anymore. She couldn’t keep a straight face in front of Selen’s smug expression. Conflicted emotions rushed in her brain 一 she wanted to wipe that smirk off Selen’s face, she wanted to find a retort that would finally make Selen speechless, she wanted her heart to finally calm down in her chest so she could think properly without blood pumping in her head.
But most of all, she wanted something else, so she acted on it.
Bringing a hand behind Selen’s neck, she pulled her into a kiss, crashing their lips together in a hungry kiss.
Selen’s lips were softer than she expected. If the girl herself was brash and rough round the edges, kissing her made Finana feel like she was back on the ocean again, floating on her back as she gazed upon the moon, letting water carry her against gravity.
Even more amazing, Selen kissed her back, tilting her head as she cupped Finana’s cheek, fingers threading in her hair. Finana sighed with content against Selen’s mouth. Her heart finally settled in her chest.
They pulled apart, faces still merely inches apart, slightly out of breath.
Selen’s face really did look good in pink, Finana thought proudly.
The dragon let out a nervous laugh, a question dancing in her mismatched eyes.
Finana responded with a smug smirk.
“Ocean law baby”.