Work Text:
“Okay, listen, I’m just saying, that technically -”
“Oh shut up with the technicalities, I am five seconds away from murdering you, and no one will save you.”
Mai puffed out her cheeks, pouting at Hana. “Hitoka would save me, wouldn’t you Hitoka?”
Hitoka flinched, wings puffing up in surprise. “Uh…from Hana? Do you need saving?”
“She just said no one would save me, it doesn’t matter if I need it or not, it’s just important that you would if I did need it. And besides, you wanted to know about the technicalities, right?”
Hitoka looked around, looking faintly panicked about being put on the spot like that. She made a confused high pitched uncertain noise, which appeared to be the only response Mai would be getting.
“I’m interested in the technicalities,” Runa said, taking pity on Mai from her shallow pool.
“Thank you, at least someone appreciates me.”
Hana grabbed the nearest pillow and hit her with it for that. “I appreciate you plenty but not when you’re being pedantic and correcting me about something stupid.”
“It’s not stupid, it’s important,” Mai protested. “Correct terminology is very important.” Particularly for such a sorry group as them. Well, kinda. Most people would not know the difference but Mai did and it was important.
“You can tell me your pedantic correction,” Runa said sympathetically, patting the ground near her. Mai obligingly got up and moved over, forcing Hana and Kiyoko to scoot over as well to maintain their little circle.
“Thank you Runa, I’m glad someone appreciates the work I do here.”
“You don’t do any work here, at most the work we do is be stuck in here all day,” Hana snipped.
“Hana,” Runa said mildly, but with disappointment. Hana frowned and looked away, submitting. “Now, what were you saying Mai?”
“I was saying that technically only half of us are chimera. Technically, Runa and Hitoka are hybrids.”
“Because we’ve just got the one kind of…adjustment?” Runa asked, swishing her tail, fins flaring as much as they could in the shallow pool she was stuck in if she didn’t want to dry out painfully. She was almost a dead ringer for a mer, it was just the little things that gave away she wasn’t. The lack of fin ears, the strange placement of scales, the strange way her tail so obviously resembled a specific fish. Not to mention the hallmarks of a mammal, her chest and hair, those also gave it away. Mer were fish after all, not mammals.
“Because of the lack of localization of your stuff, actually. Hybrid is when it's blended, everything’s affected. Chimera is when it’s localized. My stuff’s localized mostly to my back and my teeth.” Mai of course bared her teeth although they’d all seen them before. “I have a dragon’s teeth, wings and tail, but I’m not half dragon.” She was still pretty chuffed about the teeth, she’d always been slightly jealous of other species’ sharp teeth, and now she had her own set. The wings and tail were pretty cool too though.
“If you had not been so vehement when we first came in I would have thought you were half dragon at the beginning,” Hana muttered under her breath, and Mai just bared her teeth in a grin again. Quite the compliment.
“I see? I think?” Hitoka offered, feathers still all fluffed up. It was cute, she was like a little fluffball. Like Runa, almost like a harpy, but just slightly wrong.
The rest of them were more obviously not a specific species, dragons didn’t have humanoid forms after all, especially not like what Mai had going on, centaurs didn’t have horns or cloven hooves like Kiyoko, and while Hana almost could resemble a harpy, with the wings and such, the hooves and general lack of feathers anywhere else gave it away.
Just mimicries of something that shouldn’t be.
“I doubt anyone will care about the difference,” Kiyoko said mildly, all legs folded politely underneath her. She said it was most comfortable, and Mai was taking her word for it. Goodness knows she’s sat in weirder positions. Well, kinda. Kiyoko only had so many sitting options, what with the unicorn bottom.
At the moment, Mai was just kind of crouching on the balls of her feet, a position that would be a whole lot less stable without her tail.
You’d think your balance would be totally thrown off by the excess weight on your back, but the tail seemed to regulate her balance automatically, which perhaps, was the entire point of one. Or most of the point at least.
It had been quiet for a little while, so Mai knew where this was heading. It was where the conversation always ended up heading. Escape.
“They rarely bother checking on us now,” Hana said quietly, and Hitoka nodded agreement.
“If I can put enough force behind it, I may be able to dent the bars,” Kiyoko said, looking down at the unicorn half. “If we time it right, they may not notice until we are long gone.”
She hadn’t offered that before.
“We have to be fast,” Runa reminded them of the reason they hadn’t tried anything before. She couldn’t leave the water for too long, and there was no guarantee there was water nearby when they got outside. They weren’t too concerned about being able to carry her, not with Kiyoko, but she’d already nearly suffocated once, before the pool was put in, and they didn’t want to see that again.
“We will be,” Mai said with a conviction she didn’t really feel. They didn’t need to know that though. Someone had to be brave. Might as well be her. “We’ll be fast, and it’ll work.”
Hitoka and Runa were looking at her admiringly, while Kiyoko and Hana were looking at her like they knew she was putting up a brave front. They didn’t disagree though. Maybe they could do it.
They would. If they put their minds to it. They’d figure it out. Mai believed in them.