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"How the fuck you managed to get a set of keys is beyond me." Nathan said with a derisive grunt, his head shaking back and forth as if to summon a look of disbelief.
The two were frequent visitors of the aquarium rehabilitation centre for local northern pacific sea life, but tonight was different. The facility's doors were closed, the lack of bustle and crowds afforded everything a peaceful calm to be held. The hum of motors for the system filtering fish tanks, the gentle ebb and flow of water burbling. It was as if the edgy king of Blackwell finally found a place where his anxiety did not exist.
Mark opened the door to a room where animals were kept in quarantine, some too sick to be shown to the public and quietly they walked in together.
"Listen, don't ask questions you don't really want to know the answer to, Nate." The man showed off his straight teeth in a sly grin that parted his beard. The blonde worked one eyebrow up his forehead and just looked thoroughly done with Jefferson.
"Right, whatever hipster." Retorted the student. "You're fucking shiesty, you know that?"
The Photographer was caught in the middle of a laugh when he replied. "I guess that's one word for it." He walked over to an enclosure with a small swimming pool made for children inside and peered in. "Take a look, Nathan. See it's doing fine. They will probably rehabilitate it and let it go to be a wild seal when it is old enough to fend for itself." He turned to look and the blonde was already behind him, slipping an arm around Mark's and holding it.
They had come across the injured seal pup nearly starving, along the beach and immediately brought it to the rehab centre, from there they weren't allowed any updates on it's health. Nathan had a soft spot for ocean life, and Mark could tell just how much that meant to him to know that they had made a big difference in the life of something so small and miniscule in the grand scheme of things. It brought a sense of peace to the troubled young man. He was genuinely worried about the outcome, and while Jefferson himself felt nothing for the creature, there was a benefit of nurturing that empathy in Nathan. It made him predictable, and easy to control.
After a brief moment, Prescott spoke. "Yeah... Looks like he's gonna be alright."
The two stood in silence for a while, watching the peacefully sleeping seal pup.
"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. It's something Jacques Yves Cousteau said, and it's one that stuck with me because it made me think of you." His glance sideways at the boy holding his arm tightly, Nathan was blushing and he tried to pass it off, burying it under a look of annoyance.
"You're gonna need to cut out the cringe, old man."