I'll take y'anywhere y'wanna go, Tal had promised on a charitable impulse for his good friend and best wingman. What y'need is a vacation. From Stormbreak and all the Void drama happening there, and the emotional tangle of Sohalia's return and Safrin and Flora, though Tal didn't know about those details. For that matter, Tal wasn't sure how he felt about Soh's return and the fact that she hadn't sought him out, but for now he was just focusing on being grateful that she was alive and safe.
Somewhere.
Somewhere else, because he and Koa had ended up on the golden sands of Torchline, and who was he to turn down a suggestion of sightseeing someplace they'd never been before? Maybe they could find some unique gifts for Alys and... whoever Koa wanted to give presents to.
The only problem, of course, was that the best place for any of that was underwater. One of Tal's least favorite places. But he'd managed to procure some manta crystals on a previous job and there was a Bubblestream that went to the Underwater City right from the docks in Kaiholo and it only took about twenty minutes for the courier to keep his face submerged long enough to make sure his crystal worked and start to trust it.
Then he and the dragoon could get whisked away by the bubble tunnel and deposited in a whole new world of twilit waters and schools of fish and bustling merfolk swimming past them as they went about their business in and out of the City. Even Tal was struck speechless as he floated like a sack of potatoes in the gentle current, Goggled eyes wide as he took in the sight of the fantastical city with its soaring towers and organic architecture spread out below them. One hand clung to Koa in a mild deathgrip, but at least he'd finally stopped flailing?
Hello, and welcome to this fun experiment.
No, we're not talking about the two handsome dumbasses about to go on an under the sea adventure with only the rock pried from a dead animal to keep them from a terrible, choking death. We're also not talking about the whole 'really ought to be crushed to death by water pressure at the bottom of the ocean like this makes no scientific sense' bit, 'cus let's face it, you live in a city in the clouds and oxygen deprivation has definitely already had its way with you.
There, did you catch it? That's right: you. We're going to try some second person narration, baby!
So here you are: on a silent vacation beneath the waves, hand in hand with an openly panicking Talyson and blissfully oblivious to the Messenger's terror. You're way more interested in the bustling city around you and its myriad of inhabitants. Through goggles you ogle the twilight towers, leading your hapless friend toward the phosphorescent alleys and bioluminescent streets.
And, yo, is that a mer-whale? Gurgled bubbles and violent tugging being your only real tools to get Tal's attention, you eagerly employ them both, pointing toward the retreating mermammal before setting off in hot pursuit.
Shhhh everyone knows that water pressure is optional on Caido, silly! Just ask any of the Merfolk!
But maybe don't ask Tal. He wouldn't know the answer and if he did he couldn't easily communicate it while breathing water - which made his chest feel weirdly full and heavy, unless the magic worked some other way, in which case it was all just psychosomatic and still felt uncomfortable to the courier.
The only thing that made it even slightly okay was that Koa was with him and Tal was lightly barnacled to his wingman as the wonders of the Underwater City unfolded around them.
If he'd been smart he would have put a child leash on either himself or the Dragoon to help keep them together, but alas, hindsight was perfect and Tal, decidedly, was not. All he could do was respond to Koa's tugging with a few blorped bubbles of his own and then a look of confused amazement as he caught sight of the merwhale.
Which, following it - them? - seemed kind of rude, but he wasn't about to let Koa leave him behind! So Tal put his legs to use and kicked after his friend in a desperate thrashing that produced something resembling forward thrust. It was enough to keep them moving deeper into the twists and turns of the City and its spires began to rise above them, even as shadowed grottos came into view near the mouths of decidedly less-magical alleyways down at the level of the seafloor.
Tal isn't the first person to think about leashing you- both your parents went through phases of seriously entertaining the thought. Alas, your ADHD inclinations are not at all hampered by being underwater, and you're too far ahead of Talyson for him to remind you not to gawk and stare.
The merwhale turns down what you can only describe as a street, though of course its denizens are not beholden to staying on the road. You roll onto your back as a school of large fish swims over head, their figures briefly blotting out what little light there is. Looking to Tal, you point toward the whale, and then a side road, and then shrug, eyebrows raised beneath the mask that covers half your face. This expedition was his idea, and as much as you think stalking citizens to see what they get up to feels like a solid play, you're willing to let the Messenger have a say in where to next.
Koa's parents weren't the only ones who had been tempted to put a leash on their offspring, but Tal would have settled for a bungee cord or a safety line if it meant being able to keep up with his Dragoon buddy, who looked a hailuva lot more graceful and natural in to the water than the courier did. Still, Tal did his best to keep up. It was that or be left behind and have a panic attack!
Though the mysterious beauty and just weird fucking shit that happened and grew and lived underwater made for a pretty good distraction from his state of high-anxiety. Between merwhales, meroctopi (meroctopodes?) and the crazy architecture with its organic curves and gravity-defying spires, Tal was actually starting to forget how scared he was, or that he was breathing water and not drowning on it.
Sure, he still flinched when the light momentarily disappeared, looking around and then up with a moment of fear before realizing it was just fish, but the idea of going down a side-road to who-knew-where when there might be back-alley barracuda waiting for a pair of handsome idiots to swim past...
Tal shook his head vehemently, but the motion - aside from making his neater, shinier hair float around his head in a dark cloud - brought the tip of something into view between some buildings and he pointed to that instead with sudden interest. Mildly terrified interest, but hey, everyone started somewhere.
The top of a gigantic spiral shell was visible there, the upper floors busy with Mer and (presumably) Attuned swimming in and out of the marketplace. Even Tal had heard of it from customers in Haulani. If there was anyplace they could find unique gifts for their various girls, surely it would be there?
Let's be honest: you look graceful and handsome doing anything. Or so you'd like to think, and who am to shatter that boyish ego with some unnecessary harsh truths? Yeah, maybe your swimming looks a lot like flailing when compared to a mer, but at least you're trying, dammit! And with enthusiasm (and musculature) like yours, who needs actual skill?
Distracted by a school of delightfully tiny mer- clown fish, you once again miss Talyson's discomfort. Coming in at the tail end of a head shake, you instead clock where he's pointing: to a spiral pathway of shops and markets, rising along the edge of the city.
Hey! I've heard of that! you gurgle - entire inaudibly, of course. Snatching Tal's outstretched hand, you kick off the ground and through the water, heading towards the shops.
[fin]
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