Private Blue Bayou

[Ishani Dinn]

The last time she had been to Pirivena, Ishani had gone to the worst parts of the abandoned city, searching for lost children among the dying and the damned. Now she found herself in a very different sort of place, for a very different purpose. She was looking for the Finfolk who resided in the parts of the city that had been swallowed up by the sea, in hopes of obtaining one of their Atargatis Skins for study.

An abandoned structure, already half submerged, was connected to a patch of high dry land (not far from a main road) by a walkway constructed from scrap metal. Call it intuition, the Force, or just common sense, she was absolutely certain it had been put there for a reason—and she intended to find out what was on the other side.

She turned to Arcturus and her brow furrowed. Somehow in all the nervous excitement of having to figure out how they’d even get through customs, between making sure the alignment-disguising amulet worked and neither of them had accidentally brought blatantly alchemical or Force-imbued gear along, all while trying not to imagine nightmare scenarios in which she ran into someone she used to know on her homeworld, she hadn’t thought to ask one very important question.

“Uh, Arc… do you know how to swim?”

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

It was a rarity indeed that Arcturus got to utilize the Force Dead box he'd made to house his dagger in moments such as these. They'd had to slip in through customs as every day ordinary people, no Force to speak of. Mundane, that was the word he was thinking of. They had to seem mundane. Which meant no rings, no lightsabers, and no daggers.​

​

Even poor Nostremous had been relegated to the ship. Probably for the best though, he didn't think the snow mouse was a very strong swimmer.​

​

Now they stood before an opening which would lead them down into the sunken ruins of some lost civilization, or so it seemed. Beside him was Ishani, this was a trip they had agreed upon making when they'd first met one another. The idea of the skins had intrigued him, and she too wanted to figure out what made them the way they were.​

​

Only natural then that they make time to visit.​

​

Arc had never been to Chaldea before, and it was certainly something to look upon. Gorgeous in places, as they'd come in to land. Frustrating in others as the customs had been thorough and their refusal to accept the presence of those who were Sensitive to the Force made life tough.​

​

Thankfully he'd learned multiple methods to keep his presence dampened, even without his rings.​

​

"Yeah," he said, though he didn't sound entirely certain of himself. It was one thing to be able to swim on the surface, another all together to have to submerge oneself within it.​

​

He couldn't even remember how strong of a swimmer he had been when he'd last had to swim.​

​

Welp, only one way to find out.​

​

Thankfully in this 'verse, rebreathers were a thing. So he pulled one out. No drowning for him today... Hopefully Ishani remembered one too.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

She stared at him a while, giving him and his rebreather a good long look, then shrugged. “Okay. It’s just, the only time I’ve ever seen you go anywhere near a large body of water, you barely got your feet wet.”

Taking his hand in hers, she started across the walkway. It was more stable than it looked and didn’t move much beneath them. She still took careful steps, minding where she put her weight.

“Isn’t there some Force technique to control your breathing? Maybe if we did that, we wouldn’t need rebreathers...”

The walkway led inside what had once been an upper floor of an office building. Many of the desks and chairs remained, though they had been displaced about the room by the various forces of nature and time. The water level had yet to reach this floor, but they could hear splashing somewhere within. Following the source of the sound led to what had once been a stairwell—but somebody had flattened the steps into a smooth slope leading straight downward into the rising tide of the floor below. They had even attached a pipe system at the top to spurt water and ensure the makeshift water slide always stayed wet and slippery.

“Cheeky devils,” Ishani remarked with a smirk. “Out here building their own water park.” The Finfolk were funny ones, that was for sure. But she couldn’t imagine a more obvious invitation, save perhaps a giant neon sign screaming “HERE BE MERPEOPLE” with an arrow pointing down the slide.

Letting go of Arcturus’ hand, she pulled her clothes off. Beneath it all was something more than a swimsuit, but not quite a diving suit either. Presumably he had something along the same lines in addition to the rebreather, unless he didn’t care about getting his clothes wet or was going to go skinny dipping for chits and giggles.

Ishani hesitated at the top of the slide. She had spent much of the voyage on the Leviathan thinking about how they were going to do this, running through all her alternate plans from A to Z as she lay in bed, a still sleeping Arcturus having wound up as the little spoon thanks to her clever machinations.

It seemed unlikely that they would be able to barter for a Skin. The Finfolk hid them when they walked on land, taking turns guarding them for each other, and they were notoriously, even suicidally protective of them, so stealing one wasn’t a good idea. It looked like they would have to sneak in, stun somebody, bring them back to the surface, and yank the Skin right off their back. But stun weapons wouldn’t work underwater. The closest thing she had been able to come by was a waterproof tranquilizer gun. Worst case scenario, they could just, y’know, use the Force. Most ordinary Chaldeans were woefully untrained, with no resistance to Force Users beyond cultivating ysalamiri as pets and surrounding themselves with Void Stones. Although they sure did a lot of that… good thing ysalamiri couldn’t breathe underwater.

“They communicate with sign language,” she said, trying the rebreather to make sure it worked. “It’s based on Galactic Standard, but I don’t, uh, ‘speak’ it. Do you? I mean, I don’t plan on chatting much, but if we need to, telepathy would present a problem.” It would tip them off that they were Force Users, for one.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

He didn't respond to that, instead he simply took her hand and allowed himself to be led on into the ruins.​

​

At mention of Force Abilities though he hummed then nodded his head rather thoughtfully. "I mean, yes... Breath Control. But if you inhaled water it can't do chit against that, just makes it to where you don't need oxygen for a little while."​

​

He paused that thought, before shaking his head.​

​

"Besides, even the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi used rebreathers!"​

​

Good enough for a literal hero, good enough for them, he reckoned!​

​

Further in they wandered until they could simply walk no more. Before them lay a ramp that had not always been a ramp, which was kept doused with a steady stream of water. Like a bizarre slip-and-slide. Curious. He realized rather quickly that this was the end of the road in so far as walking was concerned.​

​

He paled ever so slightly, before taking a long breath. You're fine, Arc... You have a rebreather. You're fine.​

​

Watching as Ishani set about undressing into something more water-appropriate, he used the moment to cheekily admire her before pulling off his shirt and slipping out of his trousers. He still kept his underwear on, but there wasn't much difference between that and a bathing suit in truth.​

​

Other than the rebreather he hadn't exactly come prepared for... this.​

​

"I, uh, know a little," he said, with an unintended air of mystery. He didn't bother to expand upon the why of that, in fact even thinking about it made his shoulder and his wrist sting with imagined pain. Yeah, he'd avoid that talk for now.​

​

"Ready?" he said, before she could question it, and surprising even himself he was the first to step toward the makeshift slide.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Oh yeah, Breath Control. She’d read about it being used to keep from breathing in poisonous gases, but not for breathing underwater—and Arcturus clarified why that was. It was amazing, really, that a Jedi could theoretically survive in the vacuum of space for a time with the help of the Force, but apparently couldn’t do the same underwater. Your lungs decompressing was somehow preferable to their being filled with water. Water; it’s freaking scary!

And they were about to completely immerse themselves in it!

She noticed the subtle signs of anxiety coming from him. The goof hadn’t even brought a swimsuit, for one. “My eyes are up here, babe,” she purred, snapping on a pair of swimmer’s goggles with a smirk. Could he even open his eyes underwater? She had brought a backup pair, which she offered to him. But man, this was already shaping up to be either a complete clusterfeth, or the most fun they’d had in ages.

“You know a little?” Since he was apparently in a hurry to get this over with, she didn’t press the matter too much. In what had become a tradition every time they were about to do something potentially dangerous and/or stupid, she stopped to kiss him. It looked a little funny with the goggles. “Yeah. How about you, Captain Underpants?”

She let him go first. Assuming he didn’t get cold feet, in which case she was sliding down with him however he did it, she went feet-first. A childhood memory of being forced to go down a slide into the deep end of the community pool resurfaced. There were photos her mother had taken of her glaring at the camera, standing in line with her hands on her hips, dread gradually becoming more apparent in her gaze until she was clutching the railing with white knuckles. If she remembered correctly, she had sat at the top of the slide, paralyzed with fear, until suddenly someone kicked her, and she was falling, unable to stop herself from hitting that cold chlorine submersion at the bottom…

But she wasn’t a child anymore, and swimming lessons had long since taken away the bulk of her fears.

A splash, and sound grew muffled. Her nervous system went haywire at the sudden cold—why was it always so damn cold? But homeostasis gradually returned, her body adapting to the change in temperature. She could look around with the goggles, too.

The stairwell opened up into a large foyer or atrium, completely underwater. Sea life had just begun to encroach, plants growing along the walls and fish darting among the remains of furniture. Everything was bathed in blue light as the sun’s rays filtered through the windows and doors. She made sure to find Arcturus before venturing any further.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

"I wasn't looking for your eyes," he assured her, with a boyish grin, as he undressed and neatly folded his clothes to the side. She offered him a set of goggles soon after, how was it she'd remembered to pack a spare set and he hadn't even brought one? Well it would be stupid of him to reject it, even if he didn't like the idea of wearing them. It was with a slight sigh that he took the pair, and placed them on.​

​

Yep, uncomfortable. Just as he'd expected. He adjusted them slightly but it didn't make much of a difference. Oh well, guess this was his life now.​

​

"Yeah," was all he said after that. He stepped forward a little more, stared down the barrel of the gun, and then launched himself down the makeshift slide into the depths beyond.​

​

Any amount of fun he might have felt during the descent was dampened by a sense of dread.​

​

Reaching the bottom of the stairwell was no better. Now on each side he was pressed upon by water, and without the natural pressure caused by the 'waterslide' he was having a hard time staying in place, his body naturally tried to float up some, and he was constantly fighting against it.​

​

It was not a nice feeling.​

​

He was calmed some when Ishani found him, reached out and touched her hand. Are You Okay? he signed at her, though he wasn't sure how much if any she knew.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

In response to his signed question, she swam circles around him twice, only stopping her showing off when she realized how miserable he was. Then she wrapped her arms around him, partly so that he wouldn’t have to worry about fighting the water around him for a few moments, but also to share some of that sweet, sweet body heat. It was cold here inside, away from direct sunlight.

<I take it you’re not a fan of this, huh? Well, I’ll make it up to you later.>

Holding his hand, she tried to guide him through the maze, though depending on how uncomfortable he actually was with swimming, it might feel more like she was stringing him along. She led him first to the door, which was permanently open—it led out to what had been a balcony, the open air exchanged for the open sea. Well, there was their escape route.

It also gave a rather fantastical view of the sunken city beyond.

<These ruins are supposed to be crawling with Finfolk. It’s their biggest… well, really their only permanent settlement in the entire ocean. Normally they just swim from town to town...>

Ishani peered at the dark depths further below, a little concerned. While Finfolk didn’t need to worry about changes in temperature or pressure, the water would get dangerous the deeper they went, especially for the unprotected Arc. <We should stay in this general area, close to the surface. Shouldn’t be too hard to find one of them…>

Swimming away from the door, still hand in hand with Arcturus, she felt three presences abruptly appear like blips on her radar. She pulled Arcturus into what might have once been a janitor’s closet, now long since emptied and populated by a starfish and his friends.

Less than a minute later, a mermaid swam past. Purple hair billowed behind her head like a flag, the same color as the scaly tail she maneuvered as easily as a fish. She was followed by a boy and girl, roughly college aged. He was a blond with a green tail, she was a redhead with a silvery tail. The trio passed them by, preoccupied with their own business, failing to notice the intruders hiding in the closet.

Her heart pounding, Ishani waited for them to leave—but while they disappeared from view, she could still sense them nearby. The one with purple hair eventually broke off, going her own way, while the boy and girl remained.

Was it really that easy? Already with her guard up, she broke away from Arcturus to peer out. Yep, they were just sitting there—though she saw the flicker of hand gestures indicative of a conversation between them. In the glow of sunlight, their skin had an iridescent sheen, telltale of the Skins they wore. Arcturus could feel it too—an unnatural barrier between them and the aquatic world around them, bearing the distinct taint of the Dark Side.

<We only need one.> She sounded like she was trying to assure herself. <Although… if we took both… we could actually wear them ourselves and go wherever we wanted without being bothered…>

Her interest, of course, had always been purely academic. Nothing to do with fulfilling any fantasies. Not at all.

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Graceful in the way in which she swam, Arcturus felt certain she could have managed without the suit at least at these higher depths; lower there were the issues of pressure, and darkness, and the unknown, but here... She was almost mer herself, at least that's how it appeared in that moment. She picked up on his mishmash of emotions and soon settled and wrapped her arms around him. It was an anchoring feeling, pleasant and comforting. For a time it seemed as though they weren't even under water.​

​

But then it ended and it all came rushing back.​

​

I'll be fine, he assured her, knowing that with enough time to adjust that would be a statement of truth and not uncertainty.​

​

He took her hand, and allowed himself to be led through the sunken city. She explained things, he listened, but he didn't really respond. Not telepathically, or with sign, and obviously not verbally. It was taking a lot of him to simply remain in the water, to keep from floating upward, or sinking downward.​

​

The appearance of three others put a slight wrench in their plans. Before he knew it he was hiding within what had once been a closet with the girl, the door held ajar and unable to move open or close thanks to the water pressure. Not too soon, because the trio of mer swam by almost immediately, hair billowing behind them.​

​

Their tails were something to behold, though he did his best not to gawp. It was simply unlike anything he'd seen before.​

​

Then three became two, as one drifted away. Ishani poised herself, almost ready to pounce; she had her sights set on the pair, but the realization that this was happening came with a few concerns. We need to make sure we get them to the surface he said, though he knew deep down she knew that too. His sand wasn't going to work down here, which meant they'd have to go for blunt force trauma to knock them out.​

​

And that came with its own issues.​

​

Are you sure? he inquired, before steeling himself. Alright, let's just try and make sure they're okay on the other side...​

​

Then he swam forward.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Arcturus didn’t respond to her suggestion that they wear the stolen Skins themselves, but he did stress the need to make sure they didn’t harm the Finfolk in the process. Right. Of course. She didn’t want to go around hurting innocent people. She was a thief, not a murderer.

Pulling out the tranquilizer gun, she peered around the corner. The boy was both the larger target and the closer of the two to her position, so she aimed at him first. It took less than a second for the dart to harpoon through the water—and yet it never met its target.

From her perspective, it looked like the redhead had pushed the blond out of the way just in time. This by itself wasn’t particularly impressive—a sizable chunk of the Chaldean population was Force sensitive, but possessed only passive untrained powers, like the ability to sense danger in the nick of time. But Ishani felt the Force ripple as it was deliberately and skillfully manipulated. The mermaid used a form of telekinesis to knock him backwards, and then turned her attention to their attacker. Ishani felt her fury in the form of a crushing vicelike grip that engulfed her entire body, making it very, very difficult to breathe...

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ishani had said that nobody on this world was permitted to use the Force; it was banned, or something... If he remembered rightly. It had been some time since they'd had the conversation. And yet somehow, some way, the pair who were aimed down sight of her tranquilizer gun deftly moved aside, one pushed and the other the pusher.​

​

There was no way they could have known. No way they could have sensed. They had to have used the Force.​

​

And precognition wasn't something you could simply do without some level of training.​

​

Chit.​

​

Arcturus reached for his dagger... And found it wasn't where it should have been. Of course not, it was in the nullification box. He should have had Nwit open it once they were through customs, he should have summoned it, but he hadn't.​

​

And now Ishani was choking; he could sense the Force in use around them. For a moment the boy felt helpless.​

​

And then a blind rage washed over him.​

​

Without much in the way of warning he lashed out through the Force toward the mer who was suffocating Ishani, a blast of pure energy was sent her way. Feth keeping them alive, feth everything he'd just said, he wasn't going to stand there and watch his girl be choked out through the Force. Something other seemed to rise up from his core, took control of the usually rational minded boy.​

​

He could feel his core bubbling and boiling as the darkside spewed forth, and like a strained dam it all broke out.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Before Ishani could slip into unconsciousness from the pressure, Arcturus leaped to the rescue. The blast of emotionally charged dark energy was both frightening and exhilarating; Ishani felt it rather than saw it, her vision having gone blurry. There’s no way she survived that, she thought dimly. I hope the suit wasn’t damaged, at least...

The blackness started to disperse from her eyes. She found the scene very different from what she expected. The merman was dragging the still alive and still very pissed off mermaid away, swimming frantically toward the surface.

How she could have taken much of Arcturus’ hit directly, resisted the bulk of it and emerged seemingly unharmed was beyond Ishani’s oxygen-starved brain. She felt a profound need to surface; the rebreather couldn’t seem to provide enough air to her battered lungs.

<They’re going up.> Her telepathic communication with Arc was fuzzy, unfocused. <Let’s follow them.>

It was more of a plea than an order or a suggestion.

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Arcturus couldn't make much sense of what had happened either, but he didn't care because it had worked. Ishani was no longer being subjected to a Force Choke, and that's all that mattered.​

​

She didn't have to tell him twice. He reached for her hand and slowly began to swim upwards. The apprehension and fear he had felt when first submerging himself had waned now, not because he thought any differently of being underwater but because he needed to be stronger in that moment. He needed to get Ishani back to the surface, so that she could recuperate.​

​

And they still had the matter of the merfolk to deal with.​

​

Specifically the one who had seen fit to harm her.​

​

She wasn't going to get away from his wrath that easily. In fact, Arcturus was still shaking with the adrenaline. He didn't say a word, he simply brought Ishani up after them.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

They emerged above the surface to find a tumultuous sea. The skies had been clear when they got here, but now they were dark and raging. There was something unnatural about it all, a strange energy humming in the charged atmosphere, but it was no less dangerous for it.

Ishani breathed as much as she could despite the waves harrying them. In the distance, muffled by the storm, a man’s voice shouted, “Stay away! Leave us alone!”

She followed the sound of the voice and found the pair of mer floating a few waves away. The merman had his arms wrapped around the mermaid as though he were trying to restrain her. Animalistic, alien malice foamed in the Force around her. Whatever she was, she wasn’t human.

While Arcturus had given in to blind rage, Ishani still had some degree of rationality left. She understood why this had happened, and didn’t blame them for striking out. But she also really wanted those Skins, and she wasn’t going to stop until she had them.

She tried to stun the merman. It worked. He fell limp in the water, releasing his companion. Her rage rose like a gorge, and with it the tempest around them seemed to worsen, the sea churning and bubbling. She lashed out at them with a blast of energy, hoping to drag them both beneath the waves.

Arcturus Dinn

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ordinarily, Arcturus would have done as the merman bid.​

​

It was true, this time they were playing the role of antagonist and the mer were simply reacting in defense of themselves. He was not an antagonistic type of person, he tried to be charismatic, to find alternative routes to achieve his goals, but something about this interaction had seemingly broke right through all of that.​

​

Maybe it was a culmination of the past few months. Maybe all he could hear in that moment were Darth Empyrean 's words in his ear. Whatever the reason, he found that for perhaps the first time he didn't care what the other side thought. They were a hinderance now, they were in the way, and they were dangerous. He'd been the one pushing to ensure that the pair were left as unharmed as possible by this exchange.​

​

And yet as they bobbed around at the top of the raging ocean, as the merman sunk beneath the waves at Ishani's urging, all thoughts of grace and mercy were abandoned.​

​

Arcturus reached out down and grasped one of the mundane blades he'd taken to carrying ever since his venture into the Temple of Annihilation with Kal during his self-imposed exile. There was much in this Galaxy that could be used as a focus for forming mystical from mundane, he'd learned as much there. Why not add to his growing collection of throwing knives?​

​

Well, mundane as this one might have been it could still hold a purpose. Yet it was not the mer who the blade was directed to but Arcturus' own hand. He cut a thin trail down his palm and felt as droplets of blood pooled there. The Force bubbled and burned around him, and as he thrust his bloody hand forth toward the mermaid he used it as a conduit in and of itself.​

​

Even as the blast of energy rocketed through the air toward them, the mer woman began to convulse within the waves. Rage no longer blind began to further build within the boy who himself was fighting to remain afloat. There was so much at play in that moment, so many overwhelming stimuli, that it was all he could do to keep the rest at bay and focus on their attacker. His jaw was clenched, his eyes were narrowed in hate; the mer's own began to bleed, seeping blood down her cheeks and into the tumultuous waters.​

​

Arcturus was struck by the bolt of energy, thrust back the ritual was ceased and yet the mermaid began to sink just as he did. Bubbles rose from her as the last breaths were stolen. Down, down, down the two of them spiraled, leaving Ishani upon the surface alone.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani struggled to stay afloat. She breathed in saltwater, coughing violently. A headache that had begun when she suffered the mermaid’s crushing grip now throbbing in her skull, making it virtually impossible for her to focus.

She was glad to see Arcturus continuing to fight, though she didn’t fully comprehend what he was doing until she felt the mermaid’s body begin to shut down, the tempest of hatred within Arc rising to rival hers, then overcome it. Finally, there was a burst of bright light—at first Ishani thought it was lightning, but it was not a bolt so much as an orb that rose from the waves, struck out blindly, and quickly floated away. A primal, ancestral awe clutched at Ishani as she realized why the mermaid had seemed so powerful despite her obvious lack of training.

“She’s a Bamarri—” she started to say, only to realize that Arcturus was no longer there. Panic shot through her, and though her lungs and the migraine screamed at her not to, she reattached her rebreather and dove down.

She stretched out with her senses. The merman was alive, and she sensed no distress from him; his suit kept him alive and breathing even as he floated inert. The mermaid, however, was quite dead—and the sight of her corpse was gruesome. Blood leaked into the water around her as she sank. Ishani turned away with a grimace. She needed to find Arcturus—

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Spiraling further and further down towards the depths, Arcturus felt oddly suspended and adrift.​

​

The warm embrace of the ocean was all that kept him from truly panicking, the rebreather stopping him from inhaling any water. Pain emanated from his chest where the bolt had struck him, his limbs felt heavy and unresponsive.​

​

Opening his eyes did little to help, the waters seemed dark and gruesome given the storm which had been raging above. Sand and dirt had been kicked up from the ocean floor. Down, down, down...​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

At last she found Arcturus, alive and breathing, but clearly weakened. She could deal with weakness. Her arms reached out and grabbed him, pulling him up until they broke the surface again.

Okay. They were all right. He wasn’t going to die on her. She wasn’t going to let that happen. His hand was bleeding into the water, the salt no doubt stinging the wound. What exactly had he done? Some kind of blood magic?

She would deal with it and the rest of his wounds in a minute. For now she needed to get them back to dry land.

They were closest to the half-sunken buildings which jutted out from the sea, but she avoided these. Instead she headed for the shore, relying on her own skill as an experienced swimmer to get them there. Simultaneously, she reached back and seized the unconscious merman and the corpse of the mermaid, stringing them along. It wouldn’t do to leave them out in the open where they might be discovered by others of their kind.

Exhausted, Ishani let a wave toss them onto the sand, lacking the strength for the final push. For a while she lay there beside him, water foaming around them as the tide continued to lap at the shoreline, distantly aware of the arrival of the two bodies moments after them. She detached her rebreather and pulled off her goggles, then did the same for Arcturus, but no more than that.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Soon enough he was not sinking, but floating... Flying.​

​

He could just about make out the shape of another who had him within their grasp, their hair billowing out with the motion of the water. Another mermaid, perhaps? Certainly as beautiful as the sirens told in stories. He closed his eyes once more, and just allowed himself to be pulled free from the waves. His heavy limbs tried to assist but he was infantile in his actions and barely helped at all.​

​

Back on dry, or semi-dry land he simply lay there for a time. Rebreather and goggles were removed. Whoever had carried him free from the water was with him here too, and as he opened his eyes he saw the one person he'd been hoping for this entire time.​

​

Ishani.​

​

He let out a spluttered sigh of relief, beginning to feel the stinging in his hand and the pain in his chest more readily now that he was back on dry land. As much as he wanted to sit up he just remained where he was, lay in the sand. Life still beat from one of the mer who had washed up with them, but not the other.​

​

That thought had him a little more pressed, he sat up though every muscle ached and fought against it, and turned to the still breathing mer.​

​

What would they do about him?​

​

He wasn't awake yet though.​

​

"Are... Are you okay?" he asked, looking across to Ishani. She better be okay, for the sake of the remaining mer.​

​

Ishani Dinn ​

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani didn’t want to get up either, but Arcturus’ sudden urgency prompted her to sit up as well. “I’ll be okay,” she murmured.

It was obvious what had drawn his attention. He looked over her shoulder at the merman, asleep in the sand, while she was confronted with the sight of the mermaid on the other side of him. Blood still leaked from the redhead’s eyes, nose, and mouth, mingling with wet sand and sea foam. Ishani grimaced, fighting the urge to turn away again. She understood why this had happened and didn't necessarily resent Arcturus for killing her, but the sight of a dead mermaid made her feel some type of way. As if they had violated something sacred. She still remembered the two mermaids who had found her drowning in the open sea when she was a little girl, and had pushed her back to the surface, helping her swim to shore.

But this hadn’t been an ordinary mermaid. She’d harbored one of Chaldea’s other, far more dangerous and unknowable secrets. A Bamarri spirit, capable of possessing the bodies of the dead, had been in control.

“Don’t,” she said softly, resting a hand on Arcturus’ shoulder. “We only need the suits.”

They could keep the merman sedated. He didn’t need to die. To prove her point, she turned away from Arcturus to face the sleeping blond. Feeling along his hairline with her fingers until her nails caught on the seam between skin and Skin, she began to peel it off. The transparent layer lifted soundlessly and without much resistance, coming apart at his back without much prompting, two halves separating along his spine. Not even the tail was hard to remove, though she reddened and quickly averted her eyes when she realized he was naked underneath. She left the Skin in a pile laying on top of him. Probably not very smart, but there wasn’t much else to cover him up with.

Next she faced the mermaid, and again she felt that pang of mixed emotions. She hesitated even to touch the corpse, afraid it would be cold, afraid of touching the blood. For a while she just sat there, staring, unable to lift a finger to begin the process.

Arcturus Dinn​

 

[Arcturus Dinn]

Ishani's response lay somewhere in limbo. Not okay, not broken, just... somewhere in between. And that made it difficult for Arcturus to fully realize how it was he should feel, how it was he should respond. A small measure of rage still boiled beneath the surface when he turned his attention back toward the merman, though it quickly faded with the realization that he hadn't done anything. He wasn't the one who had choked Ishani, he wasn't the one who had been in a blind rage.​

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He'd been the dam holding it all back.​

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Arcturus exhaled a long breath, and let it go. ​

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"Yeah," he said, as Ishani told him to leave the mer be, his body shaking as the adrenaline waned and the chill which came with leaving water settled in. Force was it cold... What he wouldn't give to have his clothes back right about now.​

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For a moment he watched as Ishani set about unsuiting the boy, curious as to how the whole thing worked. He too looked away when he realized the boy wasn't really wearing anything else, instead settling his eyes upon the girl. Ishani wanted nothing to do with her, barely looked her way, and he couldn't blame her for that. She was a mess, bleeding from every orifice. Unlike Ishani though, Arcturus couldn't look away.​

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He'd done that. With just the Force, and his own blood, he'd done that.​

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Eventually, straining and groaning in pain, he shuffled forward in the sand and placed himself before the corpse. Then, following the example set by Ishani, he began to peel away her suit too. He didn't know if Ish ever would have been able to stomach it, the least he could do was carry that burden instead.​

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Ishani Dinn ​