Chapter Text
The ocean is peaceful; looking out at the waves and watching the foam collect on the rocks. It’s lonely- sure, but the ships passing by always give a nice change of pace and I enjoy guiding them away from the cliff edge. Herons and seagulls often pay the beach many visits and so do plenty of tourists. I enjoy watching them from atop this hill. Though- the beach has been dead for quite some time… alas is the life of the lighthouse keeper.
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The multicolored camper pulled into the gravel driveway of the tourist trap beach, coming to a slow halt as the bright blue face of the driver popped into existence on the front windshield.
“The ship has docked at the destination captain Mickey!” The loud, cheerful voice rang out, the side door opening to reveal five anthropomorphic creatures in equally colorful swimwear… plus a golden dog.
“It sure is… empty. Are you sure we’re at the right place, Funny?” The mouse wearing a pair of red and yellow swim trunks asked, sandals on his feet and a large duffel bag slung over his shoulder.
“Yessir! ‘Scalding shores’, the hottest tourist attraction on highway eleven! Although… I suppose it is a little emptier than I remember seeing it Mickey…” The face said, looking around.
“Oh, I’m sure that won’t be a problem.” Another mouse wearing a pink and white polka dotted one piece says, setting down two rainbow umbrellas. “That just means we won’t have to worry about bothering anyone!”
“You can say that again! A-Huyuck! This place is drier than a baloney sandwich without mustard!” A tall lanky guy in green swimtrunks replied… bringing out a cooler. A duck in blue swim trunks following. “Yuck! I hope you didn’t pack any of those! It’s a thirty minute drive back to town and we’re here for a week!”
“Calm down Donald… I packed the cooler too.” Another duck, presenting much more femininely said, stepping out last. She had a frilly purple two piece on along with some fashionable sunglasses.
“Alright gang! Let’s pick a spot to set up our chairs! Funny, are you joining us?” The mouse in red- Mickey, asked the face on the windshield.
“Absolutely!” He exclaimed, poofing away. The vehicle stayed intact, but from the door- a sixth person. Tall, dark skinned- with curly blue hair. They wore a large blue t-shirt with a saying on it and a pair of multicolored swim trunks to the knees.
From up on a hill about a mile away, watching the group- the lighthouse gasped. “A shifter? Another? For real? Oh! I haven’t spoken to another in so long… but from a vehicle? I thought we could only be buildings- maybe the magic is stronger now? Oh! I must simply introduce myself… but- what if they don’t know there’s others… oh I can’t… but I want to! Oh… they’re pretty too… what a shame…” The soft pale circle on the side of the tall lighthouse said out loud to herself, watching as the group unloaded chairs and umbrellas from the bright camper.
The girl duck, Daisy, glanced up in the direction of the lighthouse… a tall imposing white brick tower with black metal railing and a red metal cap on the top of a large octagon of glass. “Hey… Funny. You said you knew a lot about this beach so, what’s the history of that?” She asked, gesturing up to the lighthouse on the cliff.
“Oh! Thats ‘Calden’ - the lighthouse that guards the shores. The cliffs have large jagged rocks at the bottom, which would tear up the bottom of ships! The lighthouse signaled to captains to not get too close to the shore here.” Funny explained to her.
“Is that lighthouse like you, Funny?” The male duck, Donald, asked… holding a dark blue inflatable water ring.
“Oh! No… I don’t think so Donald. Funhouses are one of a kind! I’ve… never met another being like me before.” Funny went quite for a moment, their cheerful expression dropping for just a second as she stared out on the horizon of the water, before turning back to Donald.
“The locals do report strange sightings here though… rough waves on clear days, storms that seem to be moving in strange ways and even… mermaids!” He said, stretching his arm out to gesture across the large body of water, then he notices Donald’s expression— squinting up at the lighthouse on the cliff.
“What’s wrong Donald?” She asks.
“I… thought I saw eyes on it.” He says, taking a few steps forward. “Eyes?” Funny asks, whipping around to look where Donald was looking, Daisy also leisurely glancing up.
“Yeah! In a yellow circle! Like you when you’re on the fish tank or walls!” Donald says, staring off into the distance like the air owed him money.
“Donald… come on. You’re probably seeing things because you’re thirsty or something. Funny said it herself he’s never met another Funhouse… plus, a smelly old lighthouse doesn’t seem super… fun…” Daisy says, heading towards the half circle of beach chairs where the umbrellas were and the cooler sat. Minnie- the mouse wearing pink- was setting up a small volleyball net, while Mickey and Goofy- the lanky guy in green- were halfway out in the ocean on surfboards.
“I know what I saw…” Donald grumbled before following Daisy… leaving Funny to stare up at the building in the distance…
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Once the sun started to set the group made a fire, cooked hotdogs and sat around telling spooky stories. Then, as the stars started emerging from the night sky they piled back into the camper.
Funny in a pullout at the back, Donald and Mickey in one to the side, Minnie and Daisy on the pullout couch, and Goofy sprawled out in a sleeping bag on the floor. Everyone was asleep, the sound of the waves lapping at the sand and the far cries of seagulls made a soothing ocean symphony… well- everyone was asleep except Funny.
She couldn’t stop thinking about what Donald had said earlier in the day… ‘The lighthouse had eyes’
Did he mean it? He seemed like he did, but Donald’s been known to stretch the truth a bit. But he didn’t seem like he was joking.
All these thoughts racing in Funny’s head made it hard for him to fall asleep.
They needed some fresh air. Carefully stepping over Goofy and opening the camper door as quietly as she could, Funny walked down the waters edge, sitting down in the sand.
She sat for a while before starting to talk out loud to himself.
“This is ridiculous. You’d think I’d be able to feel it if there was another Funhouse around here. I’ve never been able to sense magic like mine anywhere we’ve traveled. Like Daisy said a lighthouse doesn’t seem like the type of building a shifter would inhabit.”
“It’s not like I don’t like my friends— they’re great! They’re just… not like me. And it’s not like I want them to be! I want them to be- them! But… I wouldn’t mind someone who knows my powers like I do, who I can relate to on that level…”
“Does that make me selfish?……. No- no I don’t think so…”
He looked up at the moon… a bright pale yellow light against the purple blue of the night sky… her eyes casting down to the reflection off the ripples in the water… scanning over the bright white and yellow eyes staring up at them— the sand beneath their— Wait eyes?
Funny’s head snapped back up as her brain processed what her eyes glazed over. About ten feet out in the water, a pair of bright white and yellow eyes stared back at her- a head half submerged under the water’s surface. Pale hair surrounded the head, floating on the surface… a heartbeat of silence- and another. The two figures just holding eye contact, like some messed up staring contest.
Funny blinked first, and the head vanished, dipping below the surface with a splash— making Funny scream.
“HYAAAAAAH!!”
Scrambling away from the water, frightened, now knowing that was real- and not an anxiety induced hallucination. Funny’s scream managed to alert Minnie- who was already slightly roused from her sleep. She raced outside to see what had happened.
“Funny? What’s wrong?” She asked, slowly creeping towards him.
“I….. I think I just saw a mermaid…”