A Land Of Sea

Magnificent Apparatus

George began seeing less and less of Ranboo–the one who would feed them–as the days went on.

In the boy's place would be Dream, and while he wasn't quite sure why the captain had started regularly bringing them their daily meals, he was certainly grateful.

And maybe he was wrong, but George could have sworn Dream always snuck him the biggest meal of the four.

Perhaps that fact should have made him guilty, but the only emotion he could bring himself to feel was something crossed between gratitude and unease (unease not quite on the side of negativity, but unease teetering on both sides of the middle ground of emotion. That, of course, only caused further confusion).

While George attempted to place a name on his thoughts, another full moon passed. Despite not being in view of the moon, his scales gleamed brighter and his abilities heightened at the closeness of the goddess.

Two cycles have now come and gone while on this ship.

On the night of the full moon, Dream had visited the merman (or all the merfolk, as George so annoyingly–confusingly–hoped not to be true) again.

George wondered whether Dream knew about a mer's connection to the moon, as he seemed to know about so much else.

Broken from his mind, George looked up as he heard a gentle scream from the wood beneath feet.

Not expecting anyone (as he'd received food prior and it was rather late in the evening), the mer was caught off guard and alone, the only mer awake at the time.

Bringing his head above the water to both hear and speak better, he regarded Dream's hesitant steps with caution.

The last time the captain visited George this late (and for matters other than to bring food at that), the conversation hadn't ended well.

Perhaps Dream hadn't heard George that night. Perhaps his human ears simply hadn't picked up on that last phrase: 'My name is George.'

Even George couldn't deny the odds of such a forgiving fate, but until he had proof, until Dream called the name George, he would claim the captain had never heard him in the first place. Because it was much easier to say Dream was oblivious than to say Dream was ignorant.

"Hello." Dream said simply. His mask was down all the way, and it was a cursed thought of  hidden lips that crossed George's mind.

George watched the other man as he slowly walked over and sank down to the floor to lean against the post opposite George's tank.

It was the same way he'd sat that night.

It wasn't as if George hadn't thought about that night before now; many restless hours were spent obsessing over justifying his own actions, just as much as the Captain's, and despite how much he wanted to feel the pain and guilt of sharing his name, such a sacred thing it was, he knew somewhere in the spiraled depths of his heart he would never regret it.

But George had found it easy enough to push those clouds in his mind away when it truly mattered. When he truly wanted peace.

And for some reason, when this man sat like this again, he could not find that peace.

And he hated how he was content with that fact.

"Hey, you good? You're...thinking a lot." The golden haired figure out forth words, and George struggled to catch up at first.

"I- uhh.. I am good."

George bit his lip, wondering what defined 'good' in this instance.

No, good wasn't right. George was... appreciatively blissful.

But of course, he didn't know the word for that in English.

They sat there, watching each other with pleasant silence, each wrapped up in their own head. George didn't mind this. He didn't mind it at all.

But for once, it was George who broke the quietude.

"Why are you here today? You did no bring food, what is your purpose?" He stopped himself from saying, 'It's just like that other night.'

Dream paused, but George felt a smile through the mask. "I don't know." It was honest. "Just felt like talking to you."

George squinted distrustfully. Distrustfully, because that would mean everything George had speculated until then would be true, and that was a little too much to hope for.

"Oh come on now, you've been here for what, a month and a half? If I wanted to kill you, I'd have done it ages ago."

"I am finding that hard to believe. Humans always are killing. You kill part of my pod. Why I do believe you now?"

Another pause. Longer, this time. He seemed to be doing some mourning of his own, and a calm, almost forgotten sadness dawned over him in a rose gold that contrasted the navy grey depths of the sky.

"I can't force you to trust me, but I can ask. Not every human is the same, though a lot of them do some pretty bad things. And I-"

His breath caught. "I know I'm not the best person alive either. But I try to do things right in my own twisted way. So believe me when I say I will do everything in my power to make sure you don't die under my watch, or anyone else's for that matter."

And George didn't know why he believed him.

But just as abruptly as it had begun, it came to a close. The act changed to an interlude, and only served the purpose of tying a knot that didn't need tying. Or perhaps it did, and George didn't know that the pain that came from wrenches of a heart would evolve into the bonds that held together a magnificent apparatus.

Dream stood up.

"I'm sorry. I- I wanted to stay, but I guess I wasn't feeling it as much as I thought I was. I'm think I'm just gonna head to sleep."

George watched with a reverse fervorence that should not be allowed. Why hadn't he just went along with it? Why did he have to question the one human he actually felt any kind of confidence in?

Dream was almost at the steps, just like last time.

And just like last time, he stopped and turned his head over his shoulder to look at the merman again.

"Goodnight, George."

George came crashing down with devastation at the confirmation that Dream had heard his name that night.

George should not have been open that night.

Should not have been captured and put on this ship in the first place.

The next day, George should not have been disappointed when a black and white haired boy delivered their meal.

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Word Count: 1116
Date: 21/11/21

I have a love hate relationship with my writing in this chapter. And shush, no I did not take forever to write this. AND SHUSH NO I DID NOT PUBLISH AND UNPUBLISH THIS CAUSE I FORGOT A TITLE

Guess who's probably gonna throw my personal rule of only writing one book at a time out the window? You should follow me, to get announcements when I start a new book of course. Just saying.

Don't be surprised if something new is being cooked up on the horizon ;)

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