Chapter Text
The Pirate Isles. Composed of a handful of islands with towering mountain peaks and rocky terrain above on land, and a thriving community of sea creatures, aquatic fey and mermaids below in its beautiful, deep ocean.
As the name would imply, most people who frequently travel here or live on the Isles are, in fact, pirates. For people known for theft, chaos and murder they’re quite nice to the ocean inhabitants, especially mermaids.
A lucky day for a traveling pirate crew would be when a vessel caught the eye of a pod of mermaids, even more so when they had a chance to approach them and strike up a conversation. Pirates sailing in these isles usually kept extra trinkets and jewelry from their hauls for the chance of gifting one to a mermaid that swims near their ship.
It wasn’t only out of the kindness of their heart which they do indeed still have, but also as a way of showing respect to Mother Nerei and her princes’ — the Prince of the Aurora and the Prince of the Umbra, the ones who rule over this sea. Pirates owe them their accolades for even being allowed to cruise in these waters.
Minjae and his pod never really got the chance to see a ship up close, nor had an encounter directly with a mariner. They lived around the tiny island of Sarr, the one island that laid directly between the designated line that marks where each prince’s territory began and ended, where the last remains of human life was a single, torn up light-house.
No ships dared to pass here, and if they did they never stayed long — considering it to be a bad omen. The storms that garnered around the isle were ravenous, not even the strongest ship could leave one unscathed.
Mariners rumored the storms were the cause of the Prince of the Umbra protecting a special artifact — it wasn’t true, albeit even with that knowledge it never tempted a pirate crew to investigate shockingly. There were enough folktales and legends to fill a book up about this island alone, and they rather guided their boats north for a safer crossing.
His pod consisted of four other mermaids — Jinsik, Yujun, Sumin and their elder, Mingi. They’re all extremely close to each other, a brotherly bond forged upon years of growing up under Mingi’s care. He was the kind of cool, funny, adventurous elder the boys looked up to, and they got up to lots of fun exploring spots under and around the isles.
They couldn’t actually make it up to the isle itself, mermaids having the ability to grow legs and walk upon land was only for the lucky of the luckiest mermaid out there. It never hindered them though, the sea was so vast and beautiful they ought not harp on what they could be missing out on.
Except one day, where one human piqued Minjae's interest.
A nice sunny day, no clouds threatening to whisk up a heap of thunder and rain. Minjae and his pod were on their way to Telfar Isle, up north of Sarr, to meet up with elder Jongho. Still not the most bustling isle as it had many rumors and threats of storms attached to it as well, but compared to Sarr it got a lot more visitors. It was a resting spot for pirates after long, treacherous treks in the open sea.
He and Jinsik had decided to race each other to the isle just about half-way through their swim to Telfar, a challenge Minjae would never turn down. Minjae was the fastest swimmer in the pod for sure, his record lap around the Sarr Isle was almost five minutes exactly, he could beat Jinsik with ease.
Minjae and Jinsik positioned themselves right behind a taller chunk of coral, marking the starting line. Yujun decided to be their referee, and Mingi and Sumin were stationed on the side giggling at the strange timing of the race. Yujun gestures in the direction of Telfar, "Who ever makes it to elder Jongho's cave first past the kelp, and no making shortcuts or obstacles along the way!"
"Don't get cold fins." Jinsik comments, trying to aggravate Minjae. Minjae scoffs back, "You should be telling yourself that." That was always Jinsik's tactic when going up against Minjae, getting under his skin. He's grown tougher against his snarky remarks — but he can't lie it does still rile him up at times.
Mingi and Sumin begin to cheer beside them. "You got this, Minjae!" Mingi yells, his hands are cupped around his mouth for a louder effect. Sumin follows up, screaming even louder. "GO JINSIK!" Their laughter multiplies while showing their support.
Yujun raises his arm, signaling to the two boys to prepare themselves. They both steady their tails and lean forward as bubbles begin to swirl around them, eagerly waiting to launch. "Ready…"
"Set…"
"GO!"
In a quick flash, Minjae and Jinsik dart out of sight, leaving a outline of bubbles where they once were. Their tail fins flick up and down rapidly, accelerating their movements. Swimming over and under rocks, passing by schools of fish, there's some mermaid pods that catch eye of their race too — only getting a glimpse the stream left behind from their tails.
Since mermaids also have water manipulation abilities, they can easily boost their already extremely fast swimming abilities to even faster speeds, cutting through the ocean like missiles. The only downside is that its much easier to crash into things — and slamming into a rock at those speeds is not something anyone would be able to tank, so the practice isn't as common to see.
When Minjae looks over next to him, he can see Jinsik is starting to lose his stamina and begins to stagger in speed. He arrogantly laughs, turning back and trilling his tongue to mock him. Jinsik's expression sours, yet it turns into a more surprised one and he points ahead. "WHALE!"
Minjae's head yanks itself back into position — he's about to collide headfirst into a huge-ass whale. In the nick of time he manages to steer overhead and soar above the whale, leaping out of the water as graceful as a dolphin before plunging back into the ocean. The rush of adrenaline hits him hard, and he lets out a amazed laugh, instinctively checking back to make sure Jinsik is okay. Seeing him coming up from the underside of the whale, he continues to push on, now completely in the lead.
The kelp forest is in view now and Minjae promptly slows down to ensure he doesn't get tangled in any of the long strands. Minjae had lost a couple of races due to getting caught up is bunches of seaweed — and his very 'valid' excuse never flew by with his pod since he was the only one who ended up getting stuck in them for swimming too fast. Sure; maybe he was going a bit too fast, though it's still a passible complaint and it shouldn't count!
Once he clears through the clumped thicket of kelp, he can see elder Jongho's underwater cave. He isn't home at the moment, likely off scavenging anything the pirates left behind on land. Jongho was the only mermaid Minjae knew that had the ability to walk on land, and he uses the aspect to it's full potential. He's always off in human business, relaying all his experiences back with Minjae's pod. The descriptions of human food always make his mouth water — it honestly makes him a bit jealous of his elder.
His cave was very pretty and sparkly since Jongho had many more encounters with human civilization — the entrance had various tinted glass bottles strewn up to serve as a door curtain, and inside was a plentiful heap of various treasure. Trinkets, silverware, gold, jewelry, Minjae can't think of one thing Jongho doesn't have.
There was one thing Minjae spotted that was new, a stunningly intricate hairpin. It's modeled into the shape of a longsword, and it's absolutely beautiful. Too bad he doesn't have the need to pin any of his hair up, so he simply admires the dedication put into the pin. Minjae circles around the rest of Jongho's possessions while waiting for the others to catch up.
Minjae is now sitting for an agonizingly long time — which is like twelve minutes — waiting for anyone to show up, He's sure he's done about four laps around the collection of mirrors in the cave. He wasn't that far ahead from Jinsik after they were blocked by that whale, why are they taking so long? Minjae starts to make his way out of the cave, until he spots something. A large, eerie shadow passes overhead where he's floating. It's a ship…
It's- It's a ship!
He gasps in excitement. A ship this close to him? That means he could see a human, speak to a real human! Minjae looks back from where he came, with still no sign of his pod coming he slowly begins to follow behind the ship as it pulls into the empty, dingy harbor on the other side of the island. He swims over to a more hidden set up of rocks, spying on the crew and analyzing their boat.
The ship is quite small, not tiny like a row boat but definitely not as ginormous as the stories made them out to be. The brown wood clashes with the faded orange coat of paint around the railings of the boat, and it looks pretty scratched up and aged. Besides the ship itself, Minjae makes out only two people aboard, though from this distance he can't make out their features.
He stealthy dips back into the water and swims over to a unoccupied dock, peeking out the gap of old barrels left behind. From this spot, he can decipher them more clearly. There's a shorter man with a black, patterned bandana wrapped atop his forehead with the rest of his blonde hair falling down the back of his neck. Covering his left eye is a black eye-patch, and he's wearing a fashionable velvet colored coat that catches Minjae's eye.
He then looks over at the man with dirty brown hair who's slightly more scrawny, wearing a simple blue tunic and black baggy trousers, except one of his arms are wrapped completely in a strange black bandage, stopping at the center of his palm.
They're speaking between each other calmly, at this distance Minjae can barely decipher what they're talking about, something about deep six? Pirate lingo probably, he's not very caught up on the strange slang mariners use to communicate with each other. His attention is recaptured as someone else pops up from below the deck.
They're extremely tall, kind of dwarfing the rest of their own crew, and their hair is tied up in a scrappy little bun. Minjae really can't tell if its a woman or a not, the hair is a bit of false advertising. In their hands is a crate, they drop it on the ground with a small grunt where the group is standing, cracking the top open with their hands. Minjae can't see what's inside, yet he can see the crew let out a disappointed sigh. Must've accidentally taken a stash full of junk, that's what he can assume.
The man in the velvet coat, who Minjae can safely assume is the captain, gestures to the brown haired man to follow him. They close the crate back up and hop off the boat to follow their captain deeper into the island. Once they're out of view, he turns back to the tall pirate. The person walks over to the other edge of the boat, leaning against the railing.
This is my chance. Minjae whispers to himself for encouragement, starting to move closer.
He somewhat regrets not approaching earlier, but the group looked busy — so it wouldn't hurt to wait. Weirdly enough, every inch closer he gets to the ship, every stroke of his tail pushing him towards the pirate, Minjae starts to feel slightly nervous.
No, they likely don't have any real reason to try and harm him, yet the thought lingers nonetheless. What if they're angry about something? What if they have an irrational fear of mermaids? What if he accidentally startles them and then they hurl spears at him—!
Jeez… when did he become such a nervous wreck? He's never been this shaken up at the thought of talking to someone, he assumed it wouldn't be too different from striking up a conversation with other mermaids and sirens. Minjae shakes his head, trying to drown out the negative thoughts. He makes it to the bow of the ship, peaking out from the side to glance at the pirate… then Minjae freezes.
From their features, he can definitely make out that they're a boy — a damn beautiful one at that. Cute, curvy pink lips and a nicely chiseled nose, his cheeks aren't extremely puffy but it's round enough that you couldn't resist the urge to poke and squeeze at it, and his jawline could likely split a fruit. His ears are small with piercings shaped like stars embedded in his upper lobe and a small silver chain with a miniature sword on the end of it dangling from his earlobe.
The man is resting his head against the palm of his hands, his cheeks are slightly squished while staring down at the ocean in contemplation, or perhaps boredom. Minjae looks at eyes next, they're dark and his pupils are quite big — like tapioca pearls. He's cute. No, he's Super cute… He's… He's adorable!
Minjae can't stop staring, however a better word for this would surely be ogling. His brain is now completely out to lunch while he admires the boys beauty. He's never seen someone so captivating ever, his gaze is completely glued to the man's every tiny movement; the leisurely tapping of his finger against the wood railing, his chest heaving in and out faintly with each breath, the small bounce he has in his leg… Do all humans exude this level of charm?
He's too deep into his trance, and he's snapped out of it by two hands grabbing his shoulder. Completely lost in the sauce, and afraid he's about to be kidnapped, Minjae let's out a loud, wimpy yelp. It startles both the man and the person behind him. They cover his mouth and the two of them dunk back underwater. The boy snaps his head toward the sound — only he was too slow, and Minjae was already gone.
Minjae can hear his muffled Who's there? from underwater, although his concerns don't lie with the delightful art-piece of a man anymore — who the hell is grabbing him right now?! He breaks free from their tight grasp, turning around angrily to see…
Jongho, who looks like he's two second away from bursting out in a fit of laughter at Minjae's expression. He just barely keeps his giggles in before speaking up. "Minjae, why the hell did you squeal like that?"
That pisses him off. Who sneaks up on someone then gets surprised when they get scared! "What do you mean why did I squeal like that, why would you grab me so suddenly?!" Minjae throws his arms up in anger with a furrowed brow — which becomes Jongho's breaking point, and he begins to laugh in his face.
Minjae rolls his eyes, his ears partially flushing in embarrassment. "It wasn't that funny…" Yeah, it definitely wasn't his proudest moment. Being caught ogling someone and letting out the weirdest squeal right after… It's prime teasing material for Jongho now.
Jongho calms his laughter down somehow, taking on a more laxed demeanor. "You would usually hear the swish of my swimming behind you and turn around, what had you so mesmerized up there?"
Minjae grumbles. Just from the elder's expression, he can tell he already knows what he was looking at, who he was looking at — he just want's him to admit to it. He ignores him and swims down back towards his cave, granting another snicker from Jongho's mouth.
He just lost his opportunity have having his first encounter with a human, a really cute one at that! Minjae has already memorized his face now down to a tee, his cute nose is definitely a sight for sore eyes. Maybe I can pray to the Mother Nerei to give me one last shot at seeing him, he thinks, if she'd have any sympathy for his poor love-struck soul, she wouldn't make this the last time they meet!
Jongho swims next to him, slyly continuing his one-sided conversation. "Your pod was waiting for you the whole time you were up there checking out some eye candy. They sent me to go fetch you on the off-hand chance you had a run in with some pirates…" Now he's really rubbing it in. Gods dammit Minjae, why'd you have to get caught by him of all people…
"Please, for the love of the princes', do not tell them about this." Minjae whines, casting puppy-dog eyes in Jongho's direction. As expected, It's not very effective…
Jongho's face doesn't take on any pity neither from his cute face or his futile attempt at convincing him, he simply pats his back. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." Minjae lets out a heavy exhale, weight beginning to lift off his shoulders.
"For now."
Dammit, should've seen that line coming.
Meanwhile, on the ship…
"Hunter? What's wrong?" Seonghwa, who's just came out of the captains quarters at his raised voice, rushes over to stand behind him while he's staring deeply into the water down near the bow of the ship.
Hunter doesn't look back at him, his gaze completely locked down onto the blue sea. "I heard someone… or, maybe I heard something, it was kind of like… a goat bleat."
Seonghwa's brow furrows. What kind of sea creature could make a sound reminiscent of a goat bleat? He can't think of one off the top of his head. "Uhm.. I don't think any aquatic animal could make such a noise."
Hunter continues his glare into the ocean, as if he stares hard enough maybe it will come back up from the water. Then, he lightly gasps, whipping his head backwards to look at Seonghwa. "Maybe it was a mermaid?" His eyes gleam accordingly, he's always wanted to see a mermaid with his own eyes — though their crew never had the luck of bumping into one. They say their beauty is unmatched from the rest, but he'd like to put the descriptions to face.
Seonghwa, in return of his excited smile, gives him a exasperated laugh. "Possibly. Well if it was, something must've scared it off sadly." Hunter looks back at the water, sucking his teeth with a sigh. "Just my luck." Meeting a mermaid is in almost every pirate's memoir, he'll have to meet one eventually, right?
At Hunter's peeved expression, Seonghwa pats his shoulders lightly. "Don't worry too much. Second times the charm, y'know." Yeah, just how the third, fourth and fifth time is as well… Either way Hunter listens to him — he'll get another shot, hopefully.
Maybe If I pray to Mother Nerei hard enough, I'll get another chance at seeing one, Hunter thinks, slouching back over the railing watching the ocean ripple in smooth movements.
・・・・・
The two mermen make it back at Jongho's cave, where Minjae is met by a very concerned Mingi. The second their eyes connects, Mingi darts over to him and grabs his cheeks. "Minjae! Where were you, are you okay? Are you hurt?!" He hastily examines his face, twisting his head up and down looking for any scratches.
Minjae yips back, his words slightly muffled through the near death-grip he has on his face. "I'm fine, I'm fine! Let me go already!" Minjae grabs his wrists, trying to pry him off. He's still irritated from bickering with elder Jongho, and his elder's overreaction is not helping quench his anger.
Mingi looks annoyed at his squirming, pulling him closer. "I told you thousands of times to not stray away from us when we visit Telfar, it's dangerous. Now let me finish doting." Minjae continues to protest only for it to prove fruitless, and he goes limp with his head rested against Mingi's chest. His coddling bit is only half genuine, the other half is just Mingi wanting to mess with Minjae.
He glances over at the rest of his pod next to them — they've been watching their whole interaction, hearing Jinsik's repeated awww's and cooing at their sweet little moment. This day is starting to play more like a humiliation ritual.
Yujun interrupt's their touching moment, "Wait, did you guys actually get a chance to see humans?" Yujun and the other boys look over at Jongho who's resting on a weathered antique chair, since Minjae is pre-occupied at the moment. Jongho nods back. "Yeah. Nothing too crazy really, They were docked at the harbor across the island…" His gaze falls off of Yujun, biting his lip to hold in the last detail of Minjae eyeing up a pirate.
The whole pod gasps and whips their head back at Minjae. The boys pry Mingi off of him, Sumin grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "Seriously? You saw humans?!"
Then, Yujun— "What were they like? Were they the vicious kind?"
Followed up by Jinsik, "Did they have those reaaally big hats with feathers and all that crap?"
The whiplash from their rapid questioning and Sumin's shaking leaves him dazed, and he pushes Sumin's hands off his shoulders. Why does everyone keep manhandling me today for fuck's sake?!
Minjae steadies his head and clears his throat, "I-I mean, I didn't get that good of a look on them…" Lying straight through his teeth. "I just— saw them from afar. Not even a chance to talk with them before Jongho dragged me back here." Well, at least that part wasn't technically a lie. He ends his sentence with an uneasy ahem, Minjae lies all the time with no shame but this time feels different, due to the fact he can feel Jongho's amused glare burning into the back of his neck.
Thankfully the boys believe him, including Mingi. Yujun and Sumin groans in a exaggerated tone, backing away from Minjae. Jinsik leans back with a pout. "When are we gonna be able to interact with humans…" Mingi rolls his eyes. "You four are way too obsessed with human business, why not enjoy the sea life?"
Sumin swims over to the stash of treasure, fiddling with a ring. "We do enjoy it, but human stuff looks too cool to not be curious about." Yujun sits on a rock right next to Jongho's chair drawing circles on the surface with his finger. "I mean, have you heard about the kind of food they eat? Barbecued gopher legs? I don't even know what a gopher is and it still sounds tasty!" His stomach grumbles right after that, clearly imagining about it too hard.
"I'd be careful chasing after ships nowadays." Jongho speaks up amidst their conversation. His slightly ominous tone catches the pod's attention, and their eyes shift over to him. "I've heard news of a new pirate crew who's begun hunting mermaids for their scales while I was up in Immurk's Hold. Apparently it's quite valuable in other regions." He sits up straight, his eyes looking across all of the boys. "Just be cautious, okay? I wouldn't want any of you to get skinned alive."
Great way to sully the mood. The pod looks between one another nervously with quivered lips, their once hopeful words falling flat in their throat at the notion of possibly being murdered. Of course, they still had that persistent fear of what they would do if they actually got the chance to get up-close to a mariner — Minjae would know seeing how he had to work up the courage to even touch a ship. But now hearing there's pirates directly targeting them? Maybe they were a little too lenient on the tales they've heard about them to form a opinion.
Seeing the tense air, Mingi clears his throat. "Don't look so down guys. He's just looking out for you." Mingi reaches out to ruffle Sumin's and Jinsik's hair, rousing them out of their moment of contemplation. "We came here to hang out, not to yap about humans." He pulls the two boys in closer, an arm draped over each of their shoulders and pulls them out of the dimly lit cave. They get swirled around into a circle by his hands and bump bodies, causing them to laugh in response.
Soon the three of them begin to play tag, flying in and out of the sight-lines outside the cave. Minjae watches them with a weary smile — the words Jongho spoke are causing conflict in his head. That boy he saw, what if he's one of the mermaid hunters? That would make meeting up with him again more risky, and he values his life more over the chance of speaking with a cute guy… Right, he'll just have to forget his face before he does something stupid, before he thinks of something stupid about him.
"Minjae." Jongho once again brings him back to the present with his voice, his eyes have the same earnest structure in them with his eyebrows flat on his forehead. "Don't take that as me trying to scare you away from him." His expression relaxes again, not looking as taut anymore when watching the three men chasing one another. "I would've told you and your pod regardless of what happened today."
That gives him some relief, thankfully. Minjae nods with no verbal response, sinking down to the cave floor to rest his fins. They've somehow forgotten that Yujun is still in the cave — he's munching on a sea cucumber, looking between the both of them. "Him? Who are you talking about?"
Minjae turns back ready to make an excuse only to see a half-eaten sea cucumber in Yujun's hands and panics. "Wha— Yujun, we told you to stop eating those!" He reaches out to grab the 'food' from his hands, Yujun dodging him with his reflexes. "It's not like its poisonous, let me finish it atleast!"
"It's gross!" They've begun wrestling each other now, floating back up in the cave trying to grab hold of the sea cucumber. "You haven't even tried it; here, say aahh!" Yujun attempts to force it into his mouth, and he misses. Minjae gags as he feels the weird texture being smushed against his face. It's a very awkward tussle, Jongho is still in his chair laughing at the newfound chaos. Never a dull moment with this pod, is there?
・・・・・
It's been a week since Minjae had seen that pirate boy now — and no, he still hasn't forgotten the details of his face. That perfect visage has been haunting his visions ever since then, almost like a hex placed upon him. A hex… of raging homosexuality.
Trying to actively not think about his face only made him think about him more, his head is running over circles over just one man, he must've been a mage of some sorts — there's no possible way Minjae is this whipped over him and the only exchange of words between them was a shriek!
His pod has noticed it too, the way he's zoning out more often, how they have to consistently call his name twice or thrice to get his attention, his incoherent mumbling in his meditation. They say he keeps calling out 'squeeb' in his resting state in various different tones; is that even a word?
This morning marks day eight since he crossed paths with that crew of pirates, with Minjae being the first to open his eyes. Every day for the past week he's been the one waking up first, rushing to poke his head out of the sea in case he could spot a ship, well, looking specifically for his ship. Gods, it sounds more pathetic like that. Minjae never caught his name and now he's referring to the man like a omnipotent deity.
He swims over the set up of rocks, carved almost perfectly for a spot where mermaids can sunbathe. They never get a chance to really relax here since the neighboring nixies are somehow always occupying the space — they're small little aquatic fey who are known to trick and charm mariners who enter their territory. Much nicer to other sea creatures in comparison yet they're still big sticklers on keeping territory to themselves.
Minjae sits atop one of the smooth rocks, his head arched back to take in the morning breeze. The sun is still rising in the horizon which makes for a beautiful scene. He's trying to will himself to give up on finding him now — think seriously about it Minjae, what's the point? A mermaid taking a liking towards a pirate won't get far past the crushing stage, they live completely different lives. He doesn't have the power to walk on land… it wouldn't work.
He slouches forward and rests his elbows on his tail, propping his head up on his hands with a saddened expression.
It wouldn't work.
Minjae sits there in silence, the sound beating waves against the shore and the rocks beginning to fall deaf to his ears. Until, something catches his eye. Beside him, a water weird begins to approach him. It's not in a humanoid form, instead shaped as a simple column of water. Minjae stares deeply at the water weird, which he can catch his own reflection in. He doesn't know why, but he reaches out to pet the water weird on the tip of its make-shift head.
They don't behave like pets at all, so he's not sure if it would even find pleasure in being patted on the head. It doesn't respond for a second, processing his action. Then, it lurches over and pats his head as well. Minjae laughs at the weird for copying him, it was strangely cute of the weird to do — like it knew that would help him feel better.
The water weird drifts to float right in front of him, until a shard of light appears in the center of its translucent head, about the size of a pearl. It radiates brightly while inside the head of the weird, Minjae wants to reach out and grab it, but he waits for the weird to move first to see if it has other intentions.
After staring the weird down for a while, it moves a bit closer to his hands. It's waiting for him to grab the item. Hesitantly, Minjae reaches into the werid's head and grabs the shard, pulling back out quickly in case it would harm the weird.. He stares down at the light in his palms now, it sort of looks like he's holding a star fragment in his hands.
"Am I supposed to wish upon this or…?" Minjae tilts his head up to the water weird, amazed albeit confused. He knows weird's are intelligent enough to understand humanoid speech, they just struggle to respond back at times. Since this was a easy enough question, the weird answers back with a nod.
Minjae's eyes widen, not actually expecting a serious answer. Did she… Did the Mother actually hear my prayer? He's still doubtful even with the fragment in his hands. He quickly pinches his side with his free hand — fortunately, he hasn't gone insane just yet. Quickly, he grips his hands together tightly, cupping the light from the shard and closing his eyes as he makes his wish.
"Please, give me the power to walk on land and meet that pirate once again."
He clutches the fragment closer, and doesn't let go until he can feel the shard fizzle out of his hands. Minjae watches the fragment he was holding turn into dust, drifting around him in a swirl before whisking away with the wind. He looks back down at the water weird, smiling as bright as the sun coming up in front of him. "Thank you." It nods again, sinking back into the water and leaving.
Right when he was about to give up, Mother Nerei sent a gift out to help him… It warms his heart, she truly does have a soft spot for love-struck mermaids!
Minjae sits on the rocks a bit longer, waiting to see if his tail would change into legs. Nothing. Then he figures he should try it on the dry land, so he swims over and army crawls onto the beach where the rampant shore doesn't reach. Still nothing. Well, I guess he can't rush it. Let's just hope it come into effect sooner or later.
Great to know that Mother Nerei has got his back— only now it raises a new, glaring issue.
How is he even going to find him?!