Aquata Cove Ch. 67

"Oh yeah. All exaggerated and made-up. Humans are no more powerful than we are - except they can't conjure and cast like Noitas at all. Hang on..." Merrick looks, and picks up a couple of small boxes on his shelf - parcels he ordered, "Sweeet," He smiles as he cuts them opened, and pulls up his satchel. Arnaav watches as Merrick puts the contents of his parcel into his pack, and equips it over his shoulder.

"Ok, all set. Lets go." He said as he escorted the boy outside, and straddled onto his black and gold moped.

~~~

Merrick leans on the wall next to a door of a changing room for Arnaav to finish. It's taking a long while, but Arnaav insisted on figuring out how to put on the clothes by himself. Merrick chuckles as he can hear the boy grunt in discomfort, shuffling in there, before the door opened for him to walk out, wearing a yellow and blue star shirt, blue shorts and nearly tripping in Velcro sandals.

"I don't like this," Arnaav whines as he plucks at his shirt, and tugging at his shorts, "I feel so trapped." He waddles and skids in his open-toed footware, "How do humans even do this?"

"It takes some getting used-to," Merrick said, "I felt the same way."

"Do I have to wear this all the time?" Arnaav groaned as he squirms on the spot, "Can I take these off when we are back in the house?"

"Uummm..." Merrick pondered, "Yes, but you still have to at least wear that shiny cloth I gave you. Even in the house, humans prefer to stay in their clothes, and one of the humans who lives with me is pretty strict about wearing clothes."

"Aaawwwooo..." Arnaav moaned as they walked to the cashier, and paid for the clothes.

Once they walked out of the clothing shop, Merrick takes his iPhone out of his pocket, "Hang on, I'm gonna make a call..."

"Call?" Arnaav looked, "Call what?"

"Just one of the humans who live with me."

"Huh?"

"Hang, just a sec..." The phone rings a couple of times, before it's picked up on the other line.

"Hello?"

"Hey Yuri! Guess who!"

"Oh my God, Merrick?! When did you get back??"

"About an hour ago. Hey, do you know where Adam is? He left his phone at home." Arnaav looks at Merrick with an expression of bewilderment and curiosity. He can distinctly hear

"He's probably working at the Fish House, I don't know."

"Ah damn. Better head over there then." He leaned on one leg, "Other than that how're things?"

"Well-" In the background, there came to crash on Yuri's end, "Oh shit, gotta go. A patient just wrecked some of the equipment."

"Ok, bye-" Merrick winced as Yuri already hung up, "Ah crap," Merrick closed up the call.

"What was that now?" Arnaav asked, "Why were you talking to nothing? And I think I heard a hidden voice somewhere."

"Oh yeah," Merrick smiles as he then shows Arnaav his iPhone, "This is called a 'Cell Phone', or 'Phone' for short. It's one of the method humans use to communicate from almost anywhere in the world."

"Reeaallly??" Arnaav gasped in amazement, "You can talk to anyone, no matter where they are, even if they're on the other side of the world??"

"That's right." Merrick nods.

"Could you even contact the Kenovani pod?? Or could you let me use it to talk to my Mother and Father??"

"Heh, actually, no, it doesn't work like that," Merrick said, "In order to call someone using a phone, they must also have a phone with them for the connection to work. And phones can't function in the water at all."

"Oh, ok..." Arnaav pouted. Merrick smiled as he took his hand.

"Come on. Lets head for the pier."

~~~

Merrick locks up his moped in the parking lot of the Kele-Kolika Pier. Arnaav trembles with nerves as he looks around the countless cars, and even spotting a few humans here and there. Merrick smiled softly as he kneels down, and gently rubs the boy's shoulders.

"Everything's gonna be fine, ok?" He muttered, "Just stay close to me, and don't talk to stangers." Arnaav nods, and walks forth, trying to keep his balance in these confounding sandals.

Merrick guides Arnaav to the Pearly Seagull, where the jingle of the door's bell startles Arnaav, just as it did to Merrick all those years ago.

Arnaav looks, and his hazel, orb-like eyes widen as he slowly gasped while he looked at everything in sight of the candy store.

Gems, jewels, stones everywhere, held inside invisible barriers, infinity of colors dazzle and shimmer in the light as he walks forward. He's never seen such a whimsical sight, like someone somehow built a brand new treasure chest full of wondrous riches on a giant scale, from the inside.

The clerk, old Bertha, looks and smiles as she sees one of her favorite regulars walk in, along with a youthful specimen, looking more amazed with every step he took. While Merrick goes to the counter, Arnaav darts to the tall columns of jellybeans, each glass cylinder holding a separate color, and making a rainbow in a total of 10 colors/flavors. Arnaav gasped and plants his small hands onto the tops of the containers of rock candy, beaming upon the array of sparkling crystals within. He turns, and giggles as he sees the silly images of the gummies.

"Well howdy do, Merrick!" Bertha greeted as the tall, blonde male came to her.

"Hey, Bertha. How's biz?" He asked.

"Oh, business as usual. Who's you're little buddy?"

"That's Arnaav," Merrick answered as he turns halfway around to glance at the boy, "He's my little brother... Sort of."

"Oh, he just looks about the sweetest little thing in here~" She says as Arnaav squeaks in bewilderment as a popcorn machine starts to pop and crackle, before the hidden pot within starts to overflow with white and yellow clumps.

"Heh, yeah, he is. Although, fair warning, he's sorting out the same kind of social problems that I used to have, and this is his very first time in a candy shop, so please," Merrick puts his hands together, "PLEASE forgive him if he breaks anything or makes a mess."

"Oh that's alright, honey~!" Bertha merrily says as she waves her hand down dismissively, "He looks just like MY boy when he was that tiny~" She giggles as Arnaav instantly becomes mesmerized as he presses his face and hands against the glass of the ever-working taffy puller, rolling and stretching a fat ribbon of green apple taffy, "He's just about the most precious thing~!" She almost squealed.

"So do you know where Adam is?" Merrick asked, "I've been looking for him, and he forgot to take his phone with him."

"I saw him driving his fish cart a while go," Bertha answered.

"Great," Merrick smiles. He glances at the astounded otter boy darting about from location to location, before taking a couple of plastic bags, "I better take a little bit of everything, see what he likes."

"Take your time~" Bertha said.

Moments later, the two boys walk out of the shop, Merrick licking his strawberry ice cream, and Arnaav crunching on some purple rock candy, still hardly believing that this is one kind of jewel one is supposed to eat.

"Haannngghh, kkkklllgggg, Nnnaanngghh so this is what humans eat??" He asked.

"Sort of. Humans get hungry a lot, so they make morsels like this to nibble on when they're just a little hungry. Heh, and don't get me started on just what they can do with food, or even what they'd eat!"

They walk to the Fish House, and Arnaav tucks his bag of treats into Merrick's pack, just as he smells a LOT of fish somewhere nearby. Merrick smiles as they push through the glass doors of the front area of the Fish House, and entered into the nicely kept lounge - a few years back, the Captain a business deal for some major renovations; the Fish House now has its own tiny fish market, as well as large tanks full of exotic fish in a reef.

Arnaav quirks and turns his head everywhere, gasping and beaming as he sees dozens upon dozens of fish, octopi and squid, and crustatians, adorned with green vegetation upon beds of ice! Arnaav growls with hunger as he quivers with anxious yearning as he looks upon everything in sight! They're calling him. They mock him.

Merrick kneels down, grinning, "Crazy, isn't it?" He asked.

"Yeeeaaahhh." Arnaav half-squeaked as he nods.

"Though don't touch anything though. Humans react every badly when you just take things without permission or trade."

"Can we come here every sun???" Arnaav whimpered, his little nostrils completely filled with the aromas of so many different prey, just LYING there, almost begging him to sink a weapon in them for an instant hunt!

"Heheheh," Merrick pats his shoulder, "We'll see." He stood up, and peered about until he spotted the fat, old, pirate-like boss of this establishment, looking as ornery and crusty as ever. "Hey, Captain, excuse me?"

The grumpy looking man turns his attention the blonde trick striding up to him, "So what the hell do YOU want??" He growled.

"I- um, sorry, Captain, it's me," Merrick said, a little taken aback by Captain's demeanor, as always, "Mer-"

"What are ya talkin about? I've got shit to do."

"I-I know, I-I'm just looking for Adam, remember?" He said, earning a narrow, sinister squint from the older sea dog, "Merrick? I'm his boyfriend, I'm looking for him."

"Merrick, oh Merrick! Yes, goddammit, I git it," Captains also suffers from acute Alzheimer's; it's not as bad as it can be, but it's caused a few problems here and again. Times like these show that he hasn't taken his pills today, "You're my fuckin good-luck charm." He chuckles with his cigar-scraped voice as he roughly pats Merrick's shoulders, almost knocking him off balance.

"Heh, yeah, I'm looking for Adam, I just got back into town."

"Adam who?" Captain snarled.

"Adam, Adam Bryant." Merrick reminded him, "He has brown hair and uh-"

"Ah yes! Yes! I'm sorry, blondie, I can't even remember 5 minutes ago today." He growled, "I think he's off work now, I'm sorry."

"Ah dammit." Merrick took a look around and gasped, as Arnaav is now dangerously near a small spread of shrimp. "ARNAAV!"

The boy whips around, looking startled as his mouth gnaws on the upper part of the shrimp. He looks nervously as Merrick strides to him, "Arnaav, I told you, don't take things without permission!"

"I-I'm sorry, Merrick," The boy stammered, while Captain comes laughing over, "I just- I dunno, I can't, I'm sorry!"

"I'm very sorry, Captain," Merrick apologized as he turned around, "He has a hard time listening sometimes, I told him not to. I can pay for it."

"Oh fuck off, it's fine!" Captain laughed, "It's just one damn little shrimp it ain't gonna hurt nobody." Merrick rolled his eyes as Arnaav was encouraged to eat up the shrimp - he's trying to restrain himself from going on a tangent like his own Father would, but if Merrick ever pulled a stunt like that in front of Kaiken, he would not stop hearing about it for hours.

"Now quit yur bitchin and come fishin with me," Captain said, "I got a fuckin bet to settle before the end of the week, and I need your fishin mojo to git me a huge-ass fish."

"Language, Captain?" Merrick said, "My brother here is only 11 years old," He estimated on the spot, though Arnaav is rather short for such an age, "And do you know where I can find Adam?"

"Ah, find him later, c'mon!" He insisted, "Bet's over in 3 days. Lets get a move on!"

"I can fish with you later," Merrick said, "It's getting late out, and my brother's not used to being out at night."

"Ah you fuckin priss." Captain growled, "Fine, but Bryant's already off the clock. He still has that second job, doesn't he? Over at that gay bar."

"It's not a gay bar, it's a nightclub."

"Whatever," Captain grumbled, "That's where ya probably find him."

"Right. Thanks." Merrick nodded. He looked to Arnaav, who still looks remorseful up at him, groaning with minor sorrow for another misdemeanor. Then again, he hasn't exactly had much to since that flounder. He goes to the counter for this particular stand, and rings the bell for service.

~~~

"Hanngh hannnghh, nnhnnhnn," Arnaav crunches into an orange crab as the two of them walk down the side walk of a more city-oriented area, finishing the last of the sea meat as they approached a long line of people waiting outside of a bustling nightclub.

Merrick brings out his membership card as he and Arnaav approaches the beefy bouncer at the front of the line, next to the door, "Hey, Steve," Merrick says as he shows him his card.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hang on," Steve stopped him, "Who's the kid?" He asked.

"Oh don't worry, he's with me."

"You know we don't allow minors in the Waltz, Merrick."

"Only on Exotic nights, Steve." Merrick crossed his arms while giving a quizzical look, "Is it Exotic night tonight, Steve?"

"... No." He pouts before letting them in. Merrick holds onto Arnaav's hand as they entered into the club. Arnaav beamed about as he looks upon the décor all around, big, soft looking sponges placed upon large soft reefs around one area, while there are humans dancing in a large, flat scape.

They moved over to the bar, where Merrick picks up the boy, and places him on one of the tall stools.

"Oh, Merrick!" Comes a semi-thick, feminine voice. Merrick turns and smiles as he sees Rajani right next to them.

"Raja, hi!" Merrick greets as they hug tightly.

"Oh my Gohd, when did you come back into town?"

"Just today. I've been looking for Adam all day, but I keep missing him."

"Oh I see, he checked in about an hourr ago. No doubt He and Chloe are having anodder on of there fights."

"Hahaha. Ohh! Raj, Raj! Lemme show you what I got for Adam!" Merrick whips out his iPhone.

"MMMM!" Rajani flaps her hand about just while in the middle of drinking her margarita, and putting a sudden rush to it. "MmOhh, show me, show me!" She sets down her glass while Merrick swipes his fingertip on the screen, and then shows her his phone. "OOOOEEEEEHH!" She squeals as Merrick also acts in the same giddy fashion, "Oh my gohd, you are so bad, Merrick!" She holds his phone as she laughs.

On the screen of his phone, shows a set of skimpy lingerie - thin, borderline transparent pink fabric laced with small jewels along the line of the waist, with a single larger jewel tied at the rear area of the panty. A matching bra is shown above the bottom piece.

"It arrived before I came! I can't wait to try it on!"

"Good lord, Merrick, dis is girly even for you!" Rajani laughs, "What in Gohd's name are you gonna do with the bra?"

"What, I can't wear it?" Merrick jested with a smirk. Rajani laughs out as her face turns a little red.

"Oh my gohd! Hahaha!" She then gives the phone back, almost forcefully, "Send me deh link. Send it to me now!" She urged, "I need an orange set of these!"

"Haha, you got it," Merrick laughed as he copied the link of the website, and then pasted it to a text message, and sent it to Rajani's number. Rajani grins as she sees a new message on her phone.

"You have amaezing taste, Merrick!" She says, "Honestly, I neva know where to look for the kind of things you get."

"Yeah, you don't find fancy stuff like that at Lovers. Ooh! Lemme show you a toy I bought too! It's a neat jockstr-" Merrick takes a minute to realize that he's still around a kid right now, "Ah, maybe later." He chuckles as he puts his phone away.

Arnaav tilts his head as he looks at this brown-skinned woman. She sounds a lot different from all the other humans he's heard today.

"Ahnd who is this?" Rajani asked as she turns her gaze to the younger male.

"This is Arnaav, he's my little brother."

"Ohh, I didn't know you had a brother." She said with surprise.

"He's my adoptive brother."

"I'm surprised they let him in, hello~" She says with a welcoming smile.

"Why do you talk differently?" Arnaav innocently asked, causing a wave of awkwardness to stun Merrick's face, "I don't understand."

Rajani laughs at such a question, "Escuse me little man!" She smirks, "Aren't you a bold little cutie, huh?"

"Damn, I'm very sorry, Raja," Merrick said quickly as he put his hands firmly onto Arnaav's shoulders, "He's never met any other ethnicity. This is his first time talking to someone from India."

"Oh that is fine, no harm done," She dismisses, "He's just so damn cute~!" Rajani says as she feels at Arnaav's cheeks.

"Whassup, sunSHHIIINE??" Comes a fun, playful voice. Merrick turns and grins to see Jamal on the other side of the bar.

"Hey, Jamal, you horny bastard!" Merrick grabbed Jamal's approaching arm, and pull each other in for a slapping hug over that bar.

"And whassup wit you, lil man??" Jamal says as he ruffles Arnaav's hair.

"This is my brother, Arnaav, Jamal."

"Wait, what?" Jamal quirks a brow with a look of disbelief.

"He's from the Kenovani, and he's gonna be visiting us for a couple of weeks."

"Oh! Aight, I get ya." He nodded. He smiles as he looks to the small boy, "What can I getcha, lil man?"

"U-Um, whaa?" Arnaav meeped, having no idea what's going on here, let alone why Merrick's talking about the pod.

"He's shy, don't worry about," Merrick says, "Just get him a glass of water, Jamal. I'm gonna have a Sky Mix."

"Heh, sure thing!" Jamal shuffled about the glasses.

"Kenovani, huh? What does that mean?" Rajani asked, "Is dat a club or something?"

"It's just where Arnaav is from; it's kind of a boarding school. It's where I go every few months as an intern to get some experience. Though Arnaav can only stay for about 2 weeks before he needs to go back."

"Ahh, I see."

'Merrick...' Arnaav thought as he looked up at him, 'Why is he lying? What is he even saying? Surely humans already know about merfolk, right?' He pondered this while the big, dark human places a tiny tank onto the bar - similar to the tanks from this Fish House place Merrick took him, but it's a lot smaller than those, and it doesn't have any fish in it.

"It's ok, Arnaav," Merrick says as he takes his own drink, "You just drink it like this." He demonstrates.

'So it's already traded?' Arnaav thought before he takes the glass as prompted, soon becoming mildly surprised as he can smell the very fresh water inside the clear object.

"So when's Adam coming on?" Merrick asked, "Do you know?"

Just then, the lights dimmed all over, and the stage gained the attention all around.

"He's coming on now." Jamal answered. Merrick whipped right around, and pats Arnaav's shoulder.

"Here, Arnaav, look! Look look look look!" He spoke rapidly

"Hm?"

"My mate's up right over there!" Merrick said eagerly.

A warm tone rings of the mix between guitars to the steady beat. In the complimenting light of mostly dark with white spotlights and many dots of white star lights all around, Adam walks to the front of the stage, mic in hand, and dressed in sparkling apparel as the crowd cheers.

The music plays on, and Adam brings the mic to his mouth.

"~Oh you shine briiiight~" The crowd gives a generous round of cheers as Adam began to sing, holding his arm up and out beside him, "~Brighter than all the staaarrrs~" He smiles as he takes in the praise and calls, "~Brighter than firewooorrrrks ~So I give you all my loooo... OOooove~"

"Hoohhh..." Merrick is literally left breathless just from the first few verses.

Arnaav stars as his jaw drops, seeing a MALE, of all things, singing! How can males even sing? Only females can ever sing!

"~And you're perfection, even in your mistakes~" Adam walks to the side of the stage, along the ridge, "~Give a~ffection, even when your heart aches ~When I'm away,

you're who I'm thinking of, becaaauuse~"

"~You are my home, home, home~!" The audience cheers as he holds his hand out and up, "~Where ever I may rooaam~! ~You are the place where I can rest my weary bones~" He puts a gentle fist to this chest, "~You are my home, home, home ~You are my home, home, home~"

The music plays in a powerful and pounding rhythm as he dances to the beat, before continuing to the next lyrics