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There’s something in the sea.
Well, duh, Gem, obviously there’s things in the sea. You’re sailing out to catch fish, for goodness’ sake.
To be more specific, there’s been sightings of a strange, fish-like, but not exactly fish…thing by the sea of the coastal town that Gem’s been staying at for the past few months. False told her so, when she found Gem loading fishing supplies onto her newly acquired boat. The concern layered over her tone when she spoke of her own journey out to the seas with Iskall and Stress only made her all the more convincing— all the more sure that there actually is a creature lurking by the harbour, one that is far too large to be any common fish found by local fishermen.
False had managed to catch a glimpse of it, recounting how the flash of a red tail snaked by and shook the dinghy they’d been on. Gem almost joked how it might’ve just been a particularly big salmon, but the way False furrowed her brows and fiddled with her hands as she continued her warning made Gem swallow those words back down.
“Be careful, alright?” False frowned, leaning over a crate to get a better view of Gem.
Gem smiled, more eager to finally take her boat out to the waters than to fully heed the advice given. Still, as she boards and braces herself for the adventure ahead, Gem replies, “I will! Of course I will.”
Really, it’s too kind of the residents in the town to be so accepting and caring for Gem, who moved in on a whim, with only the need to escape from mountains of coursework and start anew on her mind. When she first arrived, she’d been greeted with warm smiles, and soon enough, they’d teach her how to fish, how to tend a garden by the beach, how to rev the motor on a sailboat and feel the wind blow against her skin. It didn’t take long for her to buy her own boat, instead of constantly hitching a ride on Impulse’s.
So, maybe she should’ve listened to False and chose to sail out on a different day. Maybe it would’ve been smarter to wait out the storm that’s about to arrive in the coming week, until the ocean nearby isn’t infested with a mysterious creature that not even the other townsfolk could recognise.
Yeah, foresight would’ve been great before the thing in the sea decided to rock her boat, sending Gem scrambling for a railing as she yelped.
As soon as Gem’s heart settled back in her chest instead of leaping out of her throat, she steadied herself on the side of the deck. Coincidentally, it also gave her the perfect vantage point to find whatever had bumped into her ship.
Still shaking, Gem exhales, then forgets how to draw air back into her lungs when she discovers that the thing has almost the upper body of a human, but a shimmering crimson tail for its lower body. Almost the upper body of a human, because a normal person doesn’t have webbed hands, the fingers ending pointy and claw-like, as well as fluttering fins and seemingly gills on their neck. Their skin probably isn't partially lined with more scales, either, glistening as sunlight bounces off its surface.
Gem relearns how to inhale when the creature tilts its head, dipping a part of its slightly tangled brown hair into the waves. It scrunches its nose, bringing up a finger to poke the tires tied to the side of Gem’s ship.
A mermaid. Gem just ran into a mermaid and they’re looking at a tire with a shine in their eyes akin to that of a toddler with a new toy.
The trance that’s overtaken Gem whole is only broken when the mermaid jabs a finger into the rubber tire. After all, as breathtaking the sight is, Gem just got the boat, and she isn’t looking forward to already needing to replace a tire.
Mustering up the strength to stand straight, Gem tries her best to get the mermaid’s attention before it manages to poke a hole into the rubber. Miraculously, she does dredge up the ability to speak back up from the whirlwind plaguing her brain.
She just doesn’t remember the fact that she’s going to talk to a creature that she isn’t even sure wouldn’t harm her before calling out.
“Uh— Hey! Can you—” Gem stumbles through her words, still trying to make sense of the view before her.
A pair of sapphire blue eyes stare at Gem in an instant.
“…not?” The last of Gem’s sentence leaves her mouth as a soft murmur, compared to the yell that came before it.
At least one thing is going right for Gem, and nobody is there to witness the blush creeping up to her cheeks as she maintains her stare-down with the mermaid.
The mermaid makes a startled noise, retracting their arm from digging further into the tire, though they stay in the same position, returning the same awestruck gaze that Gem’s sure she’s wearing on her own face.
“Um…hi?” Gem waves, though the thought that she’s talking to an actual, living, breathing and ridiculously pretty mermaid causes her to hesitate to the point where the motion is way too awkward than she’d like it to be.
The mermaid squints at the gesture, then swims closer to the side of the railing that Gem’s grabbing onto. Reflexively, Gem takes a step back, though she’s still in range to be graced by a full view of the mermaid looking up at her.
They hum a light and inquisitive tune, though they offer no real verbal response.
Peeking past the railing to meet their eyes again, Gem tries to confirm a theory slowly piecing itself together in her mind. “You don’t speak English, do you?”
The mermaid blinks, then flashes Gem a grin filled with wicked-sharp teeth.
The shift in their expression makes Gem’s heart skip a beat, though she tries to ignore it by trying to think of another way to tell the mermaid in front of her that she’s spent a good chunk of her money on the boat and would prefer if she didn’t have to take it for repairs so soon.
Gem figures that she probably wouldn’t be able to convey all that through playing a wild game of charades with a creature of the sea and pointing vaguely at objects, so her attention wanders from that pair of brilliant blue eyes to the items on her ship.
“Hang on, I think I’ve got something for you.” Gem tells the mermaid, but it’s more a mutter to herself as it only earns a confused coo from the intended recipient. Somehow, a part of the message got across to the mermaid, and they were content to remain in place while Gem searches for the object on her mind.
Skidding over to rummage through her backpack, Gem finds a gilded pocket watch, with scratches scattered around its body, as well as a noticeable crack on the surface of the clock face. Still, even if it wasn’t worn from years of use, Gem doubts it could shine as bright as the mermaid’s scales under the sun.
After retrieving the broken watch, Gem returns to the side of the deck, where the mermaid is tracing their fingers along the exterior of the ship’s hull.
“Hey there! Uh…mermaid lady?” Gem called out, gaining the creature’s attention as they crane their neck to look up. “Will you leave my ship alone if I give you something else to play with?”
The mermaid raises an eyebrow, which Gem takes as a sign of them willing to hear her out. Having gained the approval, Gem dangles the pocket watch out of her ship, hopefully close enough for her visitor to inspect.
What Gem assumes to be a contemplative hum comes from the mermaid, who then stretches the corners of their lips into a slightly unsettling smile. They extend a hand outwards, making a grabbing motion for the watch.
“So it’s a deal?” Gem asks, and tries to lower the watch even more so that it’s within grasp of the mermaid’s claws.
The moment the watch is placed upon the mermaid’s palms, they make a sound which Gem interprets as an excited “ooo!”, carefully turning it around in their hand and blinking into the reflection of themselves shown on the surface. It’s just a regular old broken pocket watch, but seeing how it’s amusing the mermaid somehow makes it even more valuable in Gem’s mind. The giggling that it elicits from the creature only makes Gem's heart flutter more.
Having been entertained by the shiny watch, the mermaid sends Gem another one of their grins, then makes some sort of grumbling noise that Gem can’t decipher before diving back into the water, splashing a bit of water on the way which thankfully weren’t enough to fully drench Gem.
“I— hey!” Gem yells, though she can’t help but sigh fondly and try to shake the water from her hair.
Now that they’re gone, and Gem’s alone again, it fully hits her that she just saw a real mermaid. She just saw a real mermaid and— oh goodness gracious.
Gem rushes to lean over the railing again, staring into the spot in the sea where the mermaid had just been a few seconds ago. Who would even believe her if she told them about this? Who in their right mind would believe her about a freaking mermaid?!
How is she supposed to go about her day now? When all that’s on her mind is that mermaid and their adorable little noises and pretty scales and— oh my gosh Gem snap out of it—
Then her heart catches in her throat once more when she sees a mass of brown and red swim back up.
The mermaid pokes their head out of the waves, bright smile and all, and makes the same grabbing motion that they did when Gem lowered the watch to them.
Gem gawks, “I don’t have another one! That was the deal!”
The mermaid pauses, their lips shifting to a small frown as they eye Gem with furrowed brows. They swim upwards further, revealing more of their upper body, along with something brown in their hand, something that’s not the pocket watch Gem gave them.
Raising their hands to present the object, it’s made clear that they’re brought up a clam. The mermaid takes in Gem’s lack of response, then pries open the shell to present the pearl inside.
“Wait, wait—” Gem sputters, stopping them from raising the shell up more. “You’re…giving it…to me?”
The mermaid titters, nudging the pearl upwards for Gem.
Admittedly, it’s definitely harder to reach for the gift when the roles are reversed, and Gem tries her hardest to not topple off the side of her ship when she bends down to take the shell off of their hands. They got there in the end, though!
Gem cups the opened clam in her palms, taking a second to admire the shining pearl inside. Meanwhile, the mermaid below her hums a satisfied tune.
“Thanks, uh…” Gem starts, though she trails off when she remembers that she doesn’t know how to address the creature other than calling it…a weird mermaid lady, really.
Gem’s gaze switches between the mermaid and the gift in her hands, which gets an idea floating in her head.
“Pearl? How’s that for a name, huh?”
The mermaid perks their head up, then responds with a cheery laugh.
Since her first solo journey out to the seas, Gem’s made it a routine to take the same general route. It’s easy to call it a way of easing herself into the whole life of being a sailor, after all.
Really, though, it’s how she finds Pearl each time she sails out.
Every time, Gem tries to bring something new from town to show Pearl, be it a paperweight that she’s rarely found actual use for or a coin that’s far too crooked to be kept, and Pearl does the same for Gem, with random bits lying around the seafloor. Naturally, Pearl takes a liking to shiny things, but she’s also shown fascination with the potted plants that Gem placed on her ship for decoration. It’s a strange habit that they keep up with on top of Pearl keeping Gem company while she fishes, but it’s only befitting that a friendship as strange as theirs gets its own weird tradition, right?
The point is, somehow, Gem becomes fast friends with Pearl. How could they not, when even their names go so well together? (It wasn’t something Gem had taken into consideration when she first bestowed the name upon the ocean creature, but thinking about it now, it just feels right .)
Pearl’s also keen to help Gem out with fishing, diving deeper into the sea randomly to bring back fish squirming in her claws.
One time, when Gem was showing Pearl a leaf from a mangrove tree that she’d happen to come across, and Pearl once again made grabby hands towards the item, Gem jokingly told Pearl that she’ll give it to her if Pearl gets her a bucketful of tropical fish.
Safe to say, one bucket of fish later, Gem should’ve never underestimated Pearl’s ability to catch fish, as well as how far she’s gotten in understanding Gem.
Still, Gem laughed until her ribs hurt when Pearl gleefully swam circles in front of her boat, one mangrove leaf in her claws and more fish than Gem expected for the day beside her.
(Somewhere amidst all the giggles that followed, Gem was struck with the realisation that she might be a little bit in love with the weird ocean creature that pouts when Gem refuses to let her keep a potted cactus, and comes back with salmon, still flopping and trapped between her teeth, when Gem asks for one.)
(…just a little.)
“I’m going for a quick trip, be back before sundown!”
“Okay! Have fu— uh, what are you gonna do out at sea with a rose?” Impulse stares at where Gem is currently untying the rope keeping her ship at bay, his focus flickering from the rose she’s placed on the deck and Gem herself.
Gem is quick to look away once the knot is undone, so that Impulse can’t catch the light pink blush dusting her cheeks at the moment. She coughs into her palm, electing to not look back when she waves Impulse off and sets sail.
“Absolutely nothing, see ya!”
Impulse’s reply, which comes as a train of perplexed sputtering once he’s processed Gem’s refusal to give him a proper answer, is nothing but a faint sound that’s lost to the squawk of gulls above and roll of waves below.
Thank goodness for that, because Gem isn’t sure how she’d explain it, either. Heck, she’s not even sure why she decided to commit to this barely thought out plan in the first place! There’s plenty of other flowers or shiny trinkets she could’ve brought with her today, but of course she just had to bring a rose, as if her ever growing crush couldn’t be more obvious.
Well, obvious to herself, because last time she checked, creatures from the sea probably aren’t that well-versed in flower language.
That should mean that Gem’s got nothing to worry about, really, and her heart shouldn’t be racing at the mere thought of giving it to Pearl. At the very least, Gem would appreciate it if her body had gotten the memo.
She picks at the bundle of ropes by the edge of the ship, holding an anchor at one end. After months of this same old song and dance, Gem’s gotten pretty good at making a rough estimate on when she’s entered the region of water where Pearl would usually show up. Giving one last look to make sure the sail’s been lowered, she lifts up the anchor and casts it into the sea.
Right on cue, the ripples from the impact are broken by even more movement on the ocean surface, as Pearl swims up to greet Gem.
Pearl dips her head out, her hair cascading from behind her to spread and flow with the waves. Upon spotting Gem on the deck, she beams, “Gem!”
“Pearlie!” Gem responds to the call, an airy laugh drifting out from her throat. It’s been a while since Gem’s taught Pearl a bit of English so they wouldn’t be left completely clueless on how to communicate with each other, but she’s gotta admit, she still has to take a moment to process how Pearl calls for her.
Resting an arm on her ship’s railing, Gem peers down. “I’ve got something new for you.”
At that, Pearl beams, immediately reaching out expectantly towards Gem.
“Alright, alright, no need to get so excited.” Gem chuckles, then reveals the rose she’s been holding in her gloved hand.
Gem adjusts her grip on the rose stem so that Pearl would be able to grab onto it from below. “Be careful with the thorns, the prickly stuff at the side.”
Pearl squints at the reminder, but her confusion remains when she wraps her hand around the stem, taking it from Gem’s palm.
“I thought it’d match you, since you’re both, um…red?” Gem explains while Pearl is giving the rose a once-over, though it’s probably not needed and Pearl would barely understand the reason anyway. (She also chooses to not bring up the other reason why she picked a rose, but that’s something for only her to know.)
Pearl brings the rose closer to herself, nearly burying her face into the rose to sniff it. Pleased by the aroma of the flower, Pearl coos into its petals.
And then Pearl tries to bite into the rose.
“Oh my god— Pearl! PEARL!” Gem almost throws herself overboard in her frantic attempt to stop Pearl, with the metal railing on her boat acting as her saving grace from a dive into the ocean.
Pearl pauses mid-chomp, her mouth remaining wide open to display her fangs while she tilts her head at Gem.
“Not. Food. No eating.” Gem huffs out, breathless and barely able to cobble together an actual sentence while she’s still reeling from what she just saw.
The message does get across to Pearl, who shuts her mouth to frown, though Gem only responds to the resultant whine by rolling her eyes.
Eventually, once Gem catches her breath, she can’t suppress her giggling at the sight of Pearl sulking about not being able to eat the rose, which earns even more indignant noises from Pearl.
When Gem’s cheeks ache from laughing at Pearl’s shenanigans, she notices that Pearl has swam closer to the ship, and is reaching for Gem again, most likely to get her attention.
“What? I’m not falling for this again. Do you know how long I spent trying to dry my clothes last time?” Gem steps back from the railing, recalling how Pearl lured her to the very edge of the ship to flick water up to her.
“ Geeem .” Pearl calls again, drawing out her name while staring up at her, acting all innocent and clueless of what Gem’s referring to.
Of course, it works more effectively than Gem would like, and as though a hook’s been caught onto Gem’s rib, she feels a tug on her heart to approach anyway.
Oh, she’s going to regret this.
Gem leans out of the ship to find Pearl grabbing onto one of the rubber tires, trying to stabilise herself while finding a way to climb upwards.
“Pearl?”
Pearl grunts, then tilts her head up to greet Gem with a lopsided grin.
“What are you—”
At that moment, Pearl heaves herself up using the tire, closing the distance between them until Pearl presses a kiss on Gem’s face.
It’s unbelievably awkward, it’s more a head bump than anything, and now a side of her head’s doused in water, but it makes Gem’s face flush all the same. Despite the cool breeze blanketing the sea, warmth overtakes Gem. The saltiness of sea water lingers, but it makes Gem melt the same way salt does to ice.
Pearl dips back into the ocean afterwards, and before she completely sinks back into the water, she mumbles out a thanks while the red on her own face grows to rival the crimson of her scales.
For the minutes following the kiss, Gem can only remain stock-still by the edge of her boat. Her gaze stays fixated on the waves, the deep blue unable to be recognised as anything other than the pair of eyes that’s ensnared her heart.
Turns out, the strange creature in the sea might also be a little bit in love with her.