The sea turned red with blood as the reefs bled the iron substance. Predator and prey alike swam side-by-side as they fled away from the grisly sight. The ocean dweller herself had a hard time getting away. Her tail was caught in one of those floating capture devices that the landwalkers used. It pulled her back towards the coral, which now had its maw opened wide. The paling creature of rock and dying polyps snapped its sharp teeth, scaring the very life out of her, until it was finally snuffed out by those teeth closing over top of her.
The finned female awoke with a start, a stream of bubbles being forcibly expelled from her mouth.
She then began to relax, gripping the seaweed nest beneath her. "Calm down." she whispered to herself in watertongue, "It was just a sleepstory."
She still felt unsettled, but nevertheless, she got up and drifted herself out of the nest. The underwater caves that she called home weren't that big. They weren't that great, either. It was dark, and she had to rely on her darkvision to help her get around. Luckily, she had most of it memorized, having raised herself inside of the stone walls. She could hear the commotion of the other reefswimmers hurrying about, so she assumed that it was the early hours of the morning.
Exiting the cave, she nearly swam into someone. The familiar male held onto his catch a little tighter, but gave her a friendly, tooth-filled smile. "Oh, hello, Ballora! You're not usually up at this hour!" greeted Lionfish. "Morning, Lion. I uh... had a sleepstory that didn't sit right with me..." the female admitted. Taking in Lionfish's appearance-- how his red stripes seemed more vibrant and polished, how he had shell adornments clipped along his fins and whatnot-- she concluded that he was on his way to another date. The poor soul couldn't seem to find a mate yet, but that only made him more determined. "A bad sleepstory? What about?" he asked sweetly. Ballora thought about talking to him about it, but Lionfish was pretty easy to scare, and she didn't want to ruin his date before it even started. "It's not important, really. Just something that's been bothering me, and it became too... too big of a problem. It's nothing to actually fear."
Then again, she was a bad liar.
Lionfish gave her a concerned look. "You know that if something's troubling you, you could always come and talk to me about it, right?" he asked her. Ballora smiled and swam forward, brushing shoulders with him. "I know." she answered, "Thank you, but I can take care of my own problems. I need to carry my burdens alone sometimes."
Lionfish didn't look convinced, but slowly nodded. He then started to look more optimistic. "I think I might know something that'll make your day a little better. Why don't we go out to the reef's edge and look for seahorses? You love those, right?" he suggested. Her daily excitement returning, Ballora immediately grinned at his thought. "I'd like that, actually."
"Great! Let me finish eating, and then we'll go!" he smiled widely with equal excitement. He then promptly devoured the large green parrotfish in his claws. After wiping off his mouth, Lionfish took Ballora's webbed hand in his own and towed her towards the reef's edge. They saw a lot of things along the way, and even caught a few curious glances from the other reefswimmers on their way there, including things like large sponges and actual lionfish (she made a mental note to tell the relocation parties about the lionfish later, as it would be dangerous to keep them at their beloved reef). When they arrived, Ballora immediately swam downwards, towards the darker waters, to look among the overhanging coral. "Do you see any?" Lionfish asked. "Not yet." she used her hands to pull herself along the wall. It was another moment before one of them said something again. "Wait, I found one!" Lionfish declared. Ballora was beside him in a moment, having used her tail to propel herself towards him. The little seahorse was hanging onto a branch of purple coral. The bluenette made a sharp noise of excitement and scooped the small creature up in her hand. Most likely having been handled before, the seahorse simply vibed, curling its tail around one of her clawed fingers. "It's so precious..." she brought it closer to her face. "It's beautiful." Lionfish said, "Just like you, eh?"
