Chapter Text
The afternoon in the Republic was calm and delightful. Even with his experience with being an inhabitant of the Lower City largely overlooked by most of the richer population, Espresso had to admit that the clear blue sky and the sea breeze so common in the nation was enough to lighten his mood.
Of course, another factor at play was the place he was currently in; a rather nice sea-side cafe, which served one of the best tasting coffee recipes he’d seen in a while. Normally he’d rather be working on any new advances on coffee magic, but after hearing many positive things about this place, he’ll be damned if he didn’t at least check it out.
And sure enough, it had earned such praises.
He was sitting on a table beside the railings, holding a small white cup in his hands. As he took a sip of the hot liquid within, he glanced at his surroundings. At this time of the day the establishment was quite full, no thanks to its location being practically between the higher and lower city areas, allowing both populations to assess it with ease. The sounds of conversation buzzed around him; surprisingly, there was little hostility between the people, and whatever talks everyone was having appeared full of excitement and life. The mage paid them no mind, focusing instead of enjoying his coffee.
It was then that he heard a splash. Narrowed eyes turned to the expanse of blue to his side. At first he saw nothing, and was willing to dismiss the sound at first. That was when his gaze caught something moving beneath the waves; a large, blue shape, getting closer and closer.
He was not the only one who noticed. Someone gasped, another shrieked out of …. excitement? And before Espresso could process what was happening, he was practically pushed out of his spot when a bunch of people ran towards the railing.
“Hey!” he complained, barely managing to save his drink from spilling. No one listened. All attention appeared to be on whatever was trailing in the water.
Another splash was heard, and while the crowd of mumbling people made it difficult to see anything past them, Espresso was able to catch a glimpse of droplets of sea water flying into the air.
The same crowd gasped, and for a second time the man had to balance his precious coffee in his hands when they all ran at the small port bridge connected to the establishment, holding various sorts of cameras in their hands.
What on earth is going on?! , Espresso thought with annoyance, watching as more and more people joined the shrieking group. Most of them appeared to be part of the richer individuals; and it wasn’t just their more extravagant attire that gave it away. When the mage stole a glance at the rest of the clients, almost everyone he assumed to be from his home area had remained in their seats, only watching the ordeal with either similarly annoyed or somewhat concerned looks.
Whatever was gaining everyone else’s attention, was not of their interest. So why should he be interested? Certainly this was no matter what concerned him.
Alas, the curiosity that came with being a mage was too big to be ignored. Espresso stole at glance at both groups before finishing his coffee with one long swallow, setting the cup on the safer ground of a table and reluctantly, going to see what all the fuss was about.
Not surprisingly it was quite a task to maneuver around all those sunburnt bodies, but eventually he managed to get in the front row, almost near the end of the bridge, where many were crying with joy and snapping photos at the water.
Or so he thought.
Because when he finally managed to sweep away one or two eager souls trying to push themselves at the front, his eyes followed those of the others…
And he felt his heart stop.
There, swimming in the water, was a man. A surprisingly large man, waving at the people before him. All except Espresso jumped in delight - a few even fainted at the motion- and the individual took it as a sign to pose dramatically, letting everyone take numerous pictures of his well defined and muscular body.
All of this might seem normal at first glance. Of course, finding a person randomly on a place too deep for most to comfortably swim at was glaringly strange , but it was not the first time the mage had seen such boastful displays in person. Utterly annoying as they were, it wasn’t like this sort of thing didn’t occur on a regular basis amongst republic folk.
That was not what worried him.
For at a first, passing glance this guy might have come off as a normal individual, a human . But Espresso knew better- certainly all of his fellows knew better.
If the rather glaring lack of prominent chest muscles, the unnatural blue coloration and scales that trailed his skin, the fins that emerged close to his elbows, the strange “stripes” of his neck and how off those seemingly “flat” teeth appeared didn’t give it away, then the large tail that comprised his lower half certainly did.
Of course, those inhuman features did not lower whatever high opinion everyone around him had on this… merman. They were all too enamored, too eager to see him that there was not a single thought telling them that maybe, just maybe , they shouldn’t be getting close to the water, much less him.
Espresso however sneered, and turned back. He should have listened to his thoughts; this truly was not worth his time.
Espresso walked away from the excited crowd, and subsequently yelped when he was met with that same merman they were all gawking about just seconds ago. Were these creatures that fast?!
The blue-tinted tips of webbed fingers grasped the bridge, long nails- or rather, sharp claws- dug punctures into the wood. Long blond hair surrounded an equally pretty face, its features contorted into what he could only describe as smugness. From either side of his head flickered long fins where ears should have belonged and, barely visible due to how high the ground was from the waves below, an equally blue tail slapped the waves playfully.
Then, before the mage had time to recover from this startlement, the mer spoke.
“And who you might be, good sir?” was his question , said in a voice that could make any love struck person faint.
And while that wasn’t the case for him, it did almost make the man faint. Less because of the tone, and more about what this singular sentence revealed.
Because that wasn’t just a singular word, stolen from the last words of some unsuspecting victim as they cried for help. It wasn’t something mimicked from what any of these high class folk said, spat out without any knowledge about its sense or context.
This was a question . A full sentence . This thing knew exactly what he was saying.
And somehow, that was worse than anything he could’ve ever imagined.
So baffled Espresso was that he couldn’t even respond to such an inquiry. Not that the creature seemed to mind; in fact, he came up with his own answer not a moment after.
“Oh! Perhaps someone who came to see my gloriousness with his own, very eyes?” he chimed in. Half lidded eyes met his own, lips curling into a confident smirk. And when those lips parted while he spoke, they gave the mage a brief, but very clear, glimpse of the needle sharp fangs hidden underneath.
For some reason, that was what got him out of his stupor.
Oh hell no. Espresso thought viciously. He knew exactly what that monster was trying to do. This is what those of Choco Mudtown warned about, warnings that many of fancier living would scoff at until they were the ones dragged into the bellies of these two-faced beasts. Maybe it wouldn’t dare to do it in front of its so-called fans and shatter that illusion of safety, but it wasn’t like there was anyone who could stop him if he did.
Either way, he wasn’t risking it.
Giving the creature a glare, he started to step back. Almost immediately, that smug look fell.
“Wait, why are you-” the merman pressed his clawed hands firm into the wood, as if planning to lift himself out of the water-
That was when Espresso ran. Away from this establishment, away from all those people who didn’t know better, and most of all away from that… thing that dared to think he was foolish enough to be swayed by such false charms.
He sprinted, not daring to look back. Leaving the merman to watch his departure with genuine confusion written all over his face.