Give Me a Sword and a Thousand Words: [Battle] Laguna - "Collateral Catch"

7. I am Your Brother… The song’s really in your head… to the point where you’ve actually come to believe that you are Laguna’s brother! Draw or Write your character as a merfolk! 

-

Brother, dear, where have you been all these years? 

(I’m sorry…? I don’t know what you mean.)

Don’t play ignorant. You know as well as I do that your topside business has kept you away for longer than you promised. You were supposed to come back.

(Come back… everyone’s always telling me to come back. To where?)

The Sea. The City. Your Home.

(You must be mistaken. I don’t belong in the sea.)

What nonsense has the topside corrupted you with? Perhaps you need a reminder of your oceanic origins.

-

He could feel the water again, the current rushing around him, the song skewered through his soul pulling him with it. He’d lost all sense of direction and felt he was on the verge of losing consciousness, or had at least just come out of it. If he had been sitting still, he might’ve shivered violently; whether that was from the temperature of the water, or the cold tendrils of enchanted song weaving through him… he couldn’t be totally sure.

He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath until he released it all with a gasp, sucking in water; gasping again when he realized he wasn’t choking on the liquid (but still gagging at the saltiness of it).

Too much going on. How long was this going to last? He wished for it to end, yet he also felt a certain dread at meeting the one behind this. Not a fearful dread, but a familiar dread. A guilt that didn’t seem to be his own, but he could take hold of it and grab it and–

Why would he want to do that?

“There you are, Ronin. I’ve finally found you– what? No-!”

The alluring melody ceased, turning into a distorted screech of frustration. Scap found himself drifting slowly through the water, feeling dizzy and battered. The ache of magic thrummed through his bones.

“UGH. Wrong one again.”

He looked towards the sound of the voice, catching a glimpse of glittering green scales, red hair, and a squinting expression of complete disappointment.

“Is that what he’s doing now? Sending substitutes in his place so he doesn’t have to come back? I didn’t think he’d stoop to such lows to take advantage of his clients like that,” the mermaid was muttering. “Ronin, you seagull.”

Wait, that name sounded familiar. “Ronin’s your brother?”

“Yes. That topside traitor. He doesn’t even visit on the holidays. HHH! Just makes my blood boil thinking of him.”

Scap rubbed his face, pausing momentarily in surprise when he realized several things at once. 

He’d left his mask at the Guild.

He could breathe (and talk) underwater.

His hands were webbed claws, and the bottom half of himself was a plated, crustacean-like tail for swimming. Complete with fins and all.

The mermaid noticed his look of surprise and rolled her eyes, speaking before he had a chance to pepper her with questions. 

“This is how the magic of the City works. Yes, it will wear off. No, it won’t wear off while you’re still down here, because the surface is too far, and believe it or not, dealing with drowning visitors is an immense inconvenience.”

Scap switched his question. “How did you mistake me-” (and probably a dozen others) “-for your brother?”

“Oh, no, I didn’t mistake you for him, I actually recognized that right away. Unlike the dozen others before.” She kept squinting. Maybe she had vision problems. 

“A shrimpy kid like you? You’re smaller than Ronin when he was still a teen, years ago. Decades ago. If I can’t tell you from him even without visual correction- hah! Something must be wrong with my memory as well. Just like something’s wrong with his, because he STILL hasn’t returned my summons…!”

Scap sighed, watching the red-haired mermaid fume and fret to herself. Maybe now would be a bad time to ask where the exit was.

-

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