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He drifted with the current, basking in the pleasant late morning sun. Seagulls shrieked somewhere in the distance --perhaps they had found a large shoal of fish-- and clouds drifted about in the clear blue sky.
This was the type of weather he liked the best. A stormy sea was violent and chaotic, and he frequently found himself close to suffocation. Rainy weather, even if the sea was calm, tended to disorient and overstimulate him. Thus, sunny skies and calm sea combined served him best.
Right now, he was simply digesting his latest meal while warming up, preparing for a deep dive later in the day. Sufficiently sized dinner was easier to find at the bottom. They tended to hide down there during the day, thinking they'd be safe from predators.
All of a sudden, he heard a boom, and soon felt something burning hot graze his tail. Who… Who the fuck would shoot into the sea? A harpoon would've worked better, but he wouldn't complain. At least a bullet didn't trap him.
Quickly, he dove under the waves. There was no point in engaging with a fish-shooting maniac. He'd only end up as bait, that was for certain.
He swam faster, only catching a single shot in his tailfin. Fortunately, he'd been blessed with decent regenerative abilities, so while this wasn't an incapacitating injury, it did hurt like a-
Something blocked his path. His hand could fit through a hole with ease --as could his head-- but not the rest of him. When he attempted to untangle himself and turn back to flee in another direction, he found himself unable to. Something constricted around the base of his tail, rendering him trapped in this… It was a net. He'd been caught in a net like some common, brainless fish, too busy fleeing to look ahead of himself.
He… He couldn't go ahead, he couldn't go right, he couldn't go left, up or down. He was stuck. Stuck, like a fish waiting on a platter to be eaten. Was he going to drown down here? He couldn't go up for air in this state.
…He was going to die. Stars, he was going to die here, helpless like a damsel, paralysed like a victim of the box jellyfish. He could barely move, barely wriggle.
This rope, surely he could gnaw a sizable enough hole for him to get through. It didn't seem too thick or like it was woven too tight.
After a moment, it became clear that gnawing wouldn't work. The rope of the net held strong, appearing basically undamaged from his assault, despite him having teeth that could at least dent metal. He was going to die here.
Suddenly, the net tightened around him, and began dragging him up. Up, where he'd get all dry and his skin would crack and it'd hurt like a bitch and-
Gravity made the net leave indentations in his skin. No matter how he lay there, the knots painfully dug into him, and for a moment he wondered if getting shot in the heart would hurt less.
The sound of a click pulled his attention to the surrounding scenery. He'd been reeled up with a winch of sorts, and was left hanging there like a piece of meat, in the burning sun. To his right --a little further away-- was green, verdant grass, and right by him was a pier. In the distance he saw a small cabin, and a dozen trees brimming with bright red apples.
He flinched as something poked his lower back, something cold and solid. Metallic, maybe? Despite his better judgement, he hissed at this unknown predator, baring his teeth in an attempt to show that he was to be feared.
His captor was… a metallic little creature, one-eyed and donning the getup of a fisherman, with a large gun held in its third hand. He was outgunned, so he reckoned he ought to do what it wanted of him. Unless obliging meant death, in which case he'd do his best to flee.
When the creature touched his dorsal fin (the long fin on his back, for those uneducated on the subject), he hissed again, and attempted to bite at its fingers. Unfortunately, he wasn't successful.
Perhaps conversation would help. It'd been a long while since he'd last spoken to anyone, and though he doubted this thing could comprehend words, his only option right now was to talk.
“What… What do you want from me..?”
He hated how his voice wavered, and even more how the metal creature tilted its head upon hearing him talk. It was like an animal in that way.
The creature didn't respond. Instead, it fetched a wheelbarrow that had been nearby, and maneuvered things so that he was right above it. Ah, it was taking him somewhere. His skin was beginning to feel dry.
It cut the rope holding the net up, and he fell into the wheelbarrow with a loud --and rather wet-- thunk. Pain radiated from the areas where he'd hit the edges of said wheelbarrow.
“Careful..!” He yelped, shooting a glare at his captor. “This is no way to treat a-”
The words died on his tongue as his eyes landed on the gun now threateningly close to his face. A small, nervous laugh escaped him.
“...Nevermind. Treat me however you want.”
● ● ●
His mechanical captor wheeled him outside a cabin which he assumed to be its residence. The building was small and unassuming, with grass growing on the roof and overgrown rose bushes under the windowsills. The white paint on the window frames was cracked and peeling.
After removing the net he'd been captured with, the creature marched over to a hose rolled up by the cabin, pointed it at him, and turned it on. He barely stifled a shriek as a jet of freezing cold water hit him in the side, muttering curses under his breath. The audacity of this little shit, the sheer audacity!
“When I get my hands on you, I swear-”
Next, the jet of water hit him in the face. Though protected by thick armour plates, the cold still seeped through, and he even got some of the water in his mouth. Something reminiscent of a whimper escaped him.
That was when it stopped, and instead turned the jet into a gentle stream to… dampen him with. How considerate of it.
He shot it a glare, but remained silent. Its ‘kindness’ would be acknowledged.
After putting the hose away, it gestured something with two hands. It was reminiscent of a peculiar type of human language, sign language, but unfortunately he couldn't understand what it was trying to say.
“I’m… sorry, I don't understand.”
He hated to admit that there was something he did not know, but it was necessary for him to make some sense of this mess.
His captor headed into the cabin, and soon emerged with a… notebook and pen. Ah, it assumed he could read. He could, of course, but wasn't assuming just rude? Utterly mannerless this thing was.
*“Your name?”
His name? It'd been a long while since anyone had asked for his name, or since he'd even thought of it. A name wasn't too important when he spent most of his days alone.
“What's it to you?” He hissed, unwilling to give this beast any leverage over him. Though, it wouldn't necessarily hurt to give it his name… It was about principle.
The metallic heathen pulled out its weapon again, and aimed it square at his face. Oh, for fuck’s sake…
“Fine, fine..! I’m Gabriel,” he relented. “Happy now?”
It nodded, and put its weapon away. Jeez, it really loved threatening his very life, huh? He supposed there wasn't much of anything to do for himself, anyhow, as he was currently stranded on land. Aquatic creatures fared poorly out of water.
*“Do you eat?”
“Why would you ask me that? You're not going to keep me as a mere pet.” Gabriel used the water left in the wheelbarrow to again dampen the areas of him exposed to the sun. “You hear me? I will not be made some pretty thing for you to stare at and boast about!”
He'd… already endured that once. It was a long time ago, but he still recalled it like yesterday. Though he'd been treated relatively well, even pampered, they'd taken away his autonomy to such an extent that he hadn't even been allowed to speak unless permitted.
The machine stared at him, not saying (or writing) a word. Was it stunned, maybe? Shocked at his audacity?
“You're not going to do that. I… I’ll make your life hell if you do, I swear.”
The longer it didn't respond, the larger the sprout of panic in his chest grew, suffocating. It took up all the space in his chest cavity.
“...You wouldn't do that, right?” He swallowed the lump in his throat as his voice grew quieter. “Right..?”
Was he… shaking? Why was he shaking? Hadn't he been so brave just a moment ago, ready to beat that thing into scrap if it tried to imprison him?
His captor tilted its head, seemingly in confusion. Had he completely overreacted, again? They'd told him he tended to do that, by saying things like ‘you’re overreacting’ and ‘stop being such a baby’.
He found himself recoiling when it approached him, preparing for some sort of punishment. He was acting like a moron. He was making a fool of himself, making the machine seem like a bad person. Thing.
*“Lake?”
Gabriel wanted to go home. To humans and human-adjacents, they had a building which they called home, but he called the whole ocean his home. It was his home.
But, a lake was better than nothing. He'd be able to swim around comfortably, and maybe even catch fish which he'd never had before. This would be fine.
“Uhm… Sure.”
● ● ●
The water was much sweeter than he was used to, but he quickly adapted. Thank goodness for him being made to withstand environments with either too much or too little salt.
He found himself much more exhausted swimming around, which he supposed was due to the lower buoyancy. It was also a little harder for him to soak in the sun on the surface --even if he didn't need to, since the water temperature was higher than that of the ocean-- but he made it work.
His captor was sitting at the end of a pier, eagerly observing his every move. Had he been captured just for this? To be studied in a more closed-off environment, like a fish in a tank? What did it hope to learn?
He swam towards it. Though he wasn't too fond of it for thrusting him into an unfamiliar environment, he was glad it hadn't decided to fillet him.
“Hey.” He pulled himself up to the pier --if only for a moment, in order to rest-- and let himself fall down next to the machine with a wet thwap. “Have you learned anything interesting?”
It looked him up and down, twice, before its gaze settled on his face. Piercing, studying, judging gaze. Even its ‘eyelids’ were visible, making it look like the thing was squinting.
*“You’re pretty.”
That… was the last thing he'd expected it to say. Sure, it felt nice to be told that he looked good by its standards, but he was also suspicious. That was something they'd also said.
“Really, now? I didn't know a machine could flirt.”
*“It's a factual statement.”
Factual, sure. It made him feel like a nice handbag or pretty statue, but he still liked it. He was pretty, statistically speaking, more appealing than 80 percent of his kin. It was only natural for a machine to notice this fact.
In order to ‘bake’ perfectly on both sides, Gabriel flipped himself to lay on his stomach. If this metal creature was to kill him now… He'd be fine with it, actually.
Before long, he felt a cold finger trail down his back, over bumps and ridges and plateaus. There were reminders of his past life there. He was glad they were mostly in a location where he wouldn't have to see them.
“...Don’t ask about them.”
Though he'd grown to accept the scars being there, he still much preferred not thinking of them. He remembered it very well.
*“Do they hurt?”
It was… showing concern, towards a random creature it'd met a few hours before? He worried such an attitude would get it taken advantage of, just like-
“Not usually, no. They do sometimes ache when it's cold.”
Hearing that, the machine dug out a blanket from a nearby basket, and… draped it over him. He could feel his heart catch in his chest, even if the creature's action was pointless. It meant well.
“Don't worry, I’m not cold right now. The sun's doing a good enough job warming me up,” Gabriel managed to mutter after a moment. How come he was close to tears at one nice gesture?
*“But you don't wear clothes.”
“Clothes are something needed by you land dwellers for protection from the elements. Though the water's usually comfortably warm, I can just bask in the sun if I get too cold,” he explained. It was like this thing hadn't just captured him a while ago, seeing as he was beginning to treat it like a… a friend. “That, or I can find a hydrothermal vent. Some pretty delicious fish hang out around those.”
*“You eat fish?”
He certainly enjoyed squid and octopi, but those didn't count as fish. Eelpouts were kind of mediocre, tonguefish a little better, and blind shrimp… Oh, he loved shrimp. They still didn't count as fish.
“Sometimes. Shrimp is better, though.” He rolled over again. “I’m not too fond of the crunching bones, you know?”
…His skin was beginning to dry again. Aw, hell. He'd never enjoyed being above water this much before, so it was such a shame he only had a limited time to spend… not in water at any given time. Such a shame.
“Well… The water calls. I’ll be back in a bit, alright?”
● ● ●
He saw it sink like a stone in the distance. Weren't machines usually vulnerable to water? Then how come it was now there in the lake, sinking rapidly?
Concerned, he swam towards it, his speed increasing every second that the machine wasn't moving. Had it malfunctioned? He'd just gotten a friend, why was it now-
Gabriel caught it in his arms. Its ‘eye’ was dark, completely out, sending panic coursing through his entire system. Why was it dead? Why was it dead..? Something gripped his heart tight.
He quickly got the poor thing up onto the pier, but refused to let go even as it now was out of danger. Why was it dead? He'd just gotten to know it, he was beginning to think he had a real friend, he… Why were his hands shaking? This was basically a stranger to him.
“H-hey…”
He didn't care how his voice wavered. He wanted it to look at him, to talk to him. He wanted a friend. He needed a friend. He desperately craved a friend.
Suddenly, its ‘eye’ lit up a bright yellow again, and it shot up from his arms. Why was its expression..? Its lower eyelid was up, as if happy, yet… Had it not just nearly died?
After a moment of him just staring at it, mouth opening and closing as he searched for words that wouldn't come, the machine pulled out its notebook. He couldn't even feel happy now that it was ‘back’.
*“Got you!”
…It was a joke. One big joke, a ‘prank’. A mere joke which he had fallen for, like an idiot. A moron. His chest ached as he struggled to, well, come to terms with this turn of events. He'd thought it had died.
“Oh…”
His throat felt tighter than it had in a long while. With every inhale, his chest hurt more and more, like his whole body was trying to collapse in on itself. The world blurred in front of his very eyes.
And… he crumpled on the pier like a wet tissue. A sob tore itself free, no matter how he tried to hold it back, and was soon followed by another. So long for sane and normal Gabriel. Here he was sobbing over some stupid joke, like he'd seriously thought that machine could die. Idiotic.
A hand hesitantly patted his shoulder, like it wasn't sure if it should be doing this right now, if it was doing this right. He was cold, and… scared? Was he scared? Alone? Cold and alone and scared, just like back then? No, no. Ridiculous.
He was fine, he was fine. He was just coming down from the adrenaline rush. That sometimes presented itself as an uncontrollable rush of emotions, he was fine. He was fine, just having a moment. Having one of his typical ‘moments’. He'd begun having those towards the end of his captivity, when it'd started feeling like all the walls were closing in on him. When the water had gone stale.
Gabriel wrapped his arms around the nearest thing, which in this case was the machine's torso. He took in the metallic scent, focusing on it as if it could tether him to reality, as if it could turn him normal again.
They were there for what felt like an eternity, even though it couldn't have been more than a few minutes. He had a feeling he was already growing too attached to this strange machine.
“...You scared me,” he managed to say after a moment, his voice a mere whisper. “I really thought you were hurt.”
He liked having a friend. Perhaps the time he'd spent alone had made him crave companionship even more, as he'd never felt quite like this before. He wanted it to be safe, he wanted it to be happy.
*“Sorry. Didn't know.”
*“I will think twice next time.”
There was now only a faint ache in his chest, one that sought further reassurance. One that sought to be told there was no need for him to feel this way anymore.
“How about you decide to just not do that again? I don't think future me would like it either.”
*“Fine…”