[When you have hair this long, knots are a given. Sometimes, Rosso ties it back in a high ponytail. Today is not that day — it would've come loose in the water anyway.]
Thanks, [Rosso spits,] I've been growing it out since I was a kid. Only cut it when it gets past my knees.
[Which is too fucking long, Rosso!!!]
It takes maintenance to stay strong enough to trap a whole fucking crocodile in it, okay? [Translation: I spend two hours a day taking care of my hair.] You'd probably be able to appreciate the work if you weren't dumb as hell.
Every second I'm 'round you I can feel my brain deteriorating so yeah, I guess you're right.
[They're supposed to be friends, honest.
Adrian snorts, exhaling a short stream of bubbles from his snout now that he's been freed from Rosso's hair prison and has nothing really to show for it other than embarrassment. That didn't...really go at planned, but in the end it's probably fine anyway. They're back to their usual antics, picking at each other and being dumb, which is far and away better than struggling to process Trauma.
Unfortunate, that. Because Adrian has not escaped that inevitability, he has only prolonged it. Just wait until he's had more than a few quiet moments to breathe, then it'll really start to sink in and I get to make another network post yaay.
For now, he simply begins to circle Rosso beneath the water in a lazy paddle, trying (and failing) to look scarier than he is.]
At that point you might as well just not cut it at all. Waste of time.
[He sure is one to talk, with his hair past his shoulders and then some as a lion. But at least that's a MANAGEABLE length.]
[Rosso bobs up and down in the water, treading it lightly with his arms, but not super dedicated to it. It seems to him that he can just... float. Like, whenever he wants. He can just go up?? Or down?? Being a fish is insane.
Hopefully the lesson is learnt about his hair, though Rosso does bother to drape it over one shoulder as Adrian tries to be oh-so-scary, just to sort of... condense the cascading waves of it. Slightly. Now it's mostly just flowing in front of him rather than in all directions.
And of course, after a moment passes, he starts trying to work that knot out with his fingers. Listen, he really cares about how his hair looks okay—]
What, you want me to grow it longer? [Whoops, we've devolved into full teasing now.] Was there not enough to run your hands through when we were laying on the bank earlier?
[Being a fish, in fact, makes swimming around a hell of a lot easier. It's something Adrian could maybe get used to, if he wasn't such an enormous grump about everything. But hey, at least he's been spared from Rosso's Rapunzel hair.
Not that that helps him much when Rosso is coming directly for his life anyway, that comment actually throwing him off so badly that he forgets to respond initially. Jaws parted, the dumbest look on his face, before he finally sputters:]
Wh- f...fuck you I was tryin' to calm your ass down-!
Wait. Did he just— is Adrian okay?? Rosso didn't just— he didn't— nuh uh, no way, he did not just fluster Adrian of all people. There's no fucking way his offhand, stupid, thoughtless comment did that. He's just stunned because Rosso had the audacity. Obviously. Probably.
Yeah okay so anyway—]
I'm calm. [No, he's freaking the fuck out internally. Luckily he looks calmer than he feels, focused on digging that knot out of his hair.] You're the one who made the comment in the first place. Reap what you sow and all that.
...
'sides, I'd probably do it if you like it that much anyway.
[Thank god he's in this form, because his expressions are difficult to discern like this. He can either look really fierce, or really dumb. Not much room for inbetween. Is he flustered, or is he hungry? Who knows!!!
He's still blowing agitated bubbles though as they talk, like a petulant child who doesn't want to stop playing in the bath.]
...doin' somethin' just cause somebody likes it? [Somebody, not him, he never said he liked it] Somebody's gone soft.
Working out the last of the tangles in his hair, Rosso flips it back over his shoulder to where it was originally. Nevermind Adrian's threatening crocodile circles, he's going to have to avoid getting ensnared on his own time.]
Dunno, [he responds, the fins on his head wiggling in a way that's reminiscent of how his werewolf ears used to flatten against his head whenever he was flustered,] maybe I'm just soft for you.
[...
anyway Rosso's leaving that there and ducking into the water now to go see what's actually in the lake, bye—]
Adrian stiffens, but just as his mouth opens, Rosso disappears beneath the water.]
O-oi-!!!
[motherfucker-
Croc or no, as a mer, he doesn’t have to worry about needing air. He can breathe both thanks to the gills along his sides that crocodiles definitely don’t normally have, which is why he’s quick to dive beneath the surface to chase Rosso down, I mean follow him.]
[Welcome back from the dead, Adrian, have fun dealing with Rosso, who decided to grow a spine about his feelings for half a second and then flee.
Consider Rosso followed, as he swims lower and lower with his cheeks burning and thinking to himself why the fuck did I say that aaaaaa. As one does.
The lower he swims, the more the bioluminescence gets really obvious. The blue glow from his fins is enough to light up the surrounding environment — lingering traces of that blue light sweeps across rock faces and plants and schools of fish just minding their own business. The scars over his arms, too, are similarly lit up in a pale pink over that lightning-bolt pattern contained within them, something that Rosso is currently ignoring as hard as he physically can.
When he glances back over his shoulder and sees Adrian running swimming him down, he does mental math on how he's going to save face after that little comment, can't figure out how, and simply swims into a rocky alcove some distance away. Follow him into the forbidden cool lake rocks if you dare.]
[God damn it Rosso, if you're going to open your mouth at least own up to the shit that comes out of it!
As Adrian follows him into the depths, his own little bits of bioluminescence start to manifest themselves. Mostly just in the sharp points of his fins, where pinpricks of orange glow through the blue that he chases deeper and deeper into the lake. He huffs when Rosso looks at him and then just keeps swimming, determined to speed up to try to catch him-
Only for him to swiftly duck away into a bunch of rocks. Cool. You can't hide from him in there, Rosso, he spent a good solid three years of his adult life living in caves, caves don't scare him.
So he will follow, assuming there's enough space for his fat ass, wiggling through the alcove with bubbles trailing through the gaps in his teeth.]
I'm [eating his feelings] exploring the fucking lake, obviously.
[It's the worst lie he's told in his life, but hey, at least he... found something. What he found is a cave, and it's plenty big enough for Adrian and his chonky crocodile butt to fit amidst Rosso and his three thousand fins.
Rosso's still trying to think of a smooth way to explain away what is obviously flirting, like "maybe you're wrong about me and I've always been soft" (which is true, but requires a level of self-awareness that he doesn't have), or the more realistic "I don't just cry over anyone", but none of that is going to be... you know, said unless Adrian presses.
He's dumb. And chewing on his thoughts. And he kind of wants to bury his face in his hands and scream into them, because his brain is still trapped in the awkwardness of "oh my god, why". Maybe he should swim farther, maybe there's some tight little space he can cram himself into that Adrian can't get to and he can just die there.]
[And thus Rosso continues to be the orchestrator of all of his own problems...
Adrian grumbles at Rosso's reply, at least taking a moment to actually look at where they've ended up. And it's...]
Well. This sure is a cave.
[It's a nice cave, granted, but still. The reptile in him definitely wants to find a nice, flat rock to go lay on, but he manages to keep that locked down for the time being. Honestly, the only reason he's here is because Rosso came down here first, and what was he going to do, just float awkwardly in the middle of the lake?
Never mind the fact that Adrian himself is still trying to work out what the heck that meant, though he hasn't...really found the words to confront him on it yet. It's just. Weird. It was weird alright.]
If you lured me down here just to kick my ass, you coulda' done so in public too. Ain't like anybody woulda' stopped you probably.
If I wanted to kick your ass, I would've dragged you out of the lake. [...] I don't have enough legs to kick your ass underwater.
[At that, he comically wiggles his tailfins about, which does nothing save to stir up lots and lots of tiny bubbles. And possibly tickle if Adrian's in the Fin Zone somehow.
He's about to let them settle into a lapse of awkward silence, like they'd done on the floor of his apartment the day he came back to life. But then, his hand brushes over some soft-feeling algae, and he suddenly jerks it away with a little ew of shock. It's slimy and foreign and alarming to touch, and as he whips his head around to glower at the spot...
Well, it seems that the algae is bioluminescent, too, because it begins to glow a very soft green.
This is the point where Rosso's fish instincts start to become apparent, because now he's gone from "flee from problems" to "ooooh it's shiny". Almost forgetting how gross the stuff feels to touch, his eyes track further algae trails up the cave wall and he reaches out to poke those, too. Expectedly, they also glow. Neat.
...
And then he remembers where he is and what he's supposed to be doing, clears his throat, and tries to act Cool. Collected.]
You'd know if I wanted to kick your ass anyway. I'd make it clear as fuckin' day.
[Well the bubbles do make him sneeze, somehow, underwater. So thanks for that.
What he isn't expecting, though, is the way allof that algae starts to glow. Obviously he's never been able to see the world from this deep underwater before, and...it is actually quite pretty. He can't really think of anything on the surface he could compare it to, either.
Rosso seems to be having the same sort of experience, if the silence he's lasped into while poking it is any indication. Very smooth.]
Yeah, I bet. No way you'd pass up that kinda chance.
[...]
...yaknow. I kinda get what Maya is so into about bein' like this. Kinda. At least nobody can bother you down here.
To beat you in a fight? Yeah, no way. [...] Y'know, I don't actually want to hurt you. Most I'd do is tackle you again.
[........anyway there's glowing algae to look at, everyone look at the algae, no one pay attention to Rosso's Going Through It, he's fine this is fine. Quick change the subject—]
When I first arrived here and dragged myself outta that fucking sinkhole, Nanami told me that the lake has a bunch of glowing corals somewhere. Never asked where, since I wasn't a fish at the time. Think we can find 'em?
[It'll be like a grand adventure except not really, the lake is only So Big and a bunch of glowy shit cannot possibly be hard to find.]
[No really, he is a bit surprised. Mostly because...he wouldn't even blame Rosso if he wanted to. Adrian really does still feel bad about the two-week radio silence, even if his explanation for it was sound.
Whatever, he doesn't want to think about that anymore right now, not when those memories are still so fresh. Time to also focus on the algae!]
Corals...I mean. Yeah, I guess we could do that.
[Moreso since Rosso seems enamored by the glow of the stuff in here, so he can imagine he'd like the coral even more.]
If it glows, it'll stick out like a sore thumb anyway.
[Rosso's best trait is showing feelings with his fists, but even he knows when to stop fucking using them. S...sometimes. Don't worry about that.
Since they're moving on to calmer waters now, Rosso's moving from where he's currently been... "sitting"/hovering in the water and swimming out of the cave with a,]
Let's go, then!
[thrown over his shoulder.
...
The childhood wonder phase did not blow past him. He's just getting worse at hiding it now.
He figures that a lake with cool glowing coral has to be hiding it. After all, the lake doesn't light up at night, and Rosso can't see anything else shining in the depths save for himself and Adrian. In his mind, that means it'll be lower down, maybe in a different little alcove... maybe there's part of the lake that's so tucked away you can't even get to it just from directly jumping over that spot at the surface? Oh man—
Fish brain says swim down, and so down he goes, hugging the stone walls of this particular section of the lake as a guide. It's here that, eventually, the stone carves out another path — a diagonal chunk weathered away by years and years of slow-churning waves — and Rosso takes a semi-sharp turn into the well-hidden pathway.
And boy. If it wasn't dark before, it sure fucking is now. There's no light this deep whatsoever. He and Adrian are probably the brightest things in the entire area currently.]
Adrian huffs as Rosso just scurries off, leaving him once again to follow behind at a short distance. It's fine, it's better to keep moving than to stop for too long because things sure keep getting Awkward when they get silent, don't they.
The depth nor the darkness bother Adrian in particular, though he has to say it is a bit unnerving going down this deep when he's never ventured into Lake Dala at these depths before. He has no idea what- or who- might be down here, and the thought of getting jumped now of all times makes his skin crawl. Hopefully it doesn't happen, but like...he can't promise he wouldn't fuck somebody up right now if it did. He is not in the mood to deal with monsters being dumbly territorial right now, okay.
Fortunately it seems like they're alone for the time being, save for the occasional fish that passes his nose that he has to resist the urge to try to snap at as it goes by. The soft glow from both of them helps in darkness like this, but only just.]
[It was probably a rhetorical question, but Rosso answers it anyway, leading the way through the water. The only territorial fish here is probably him, honestly. If other mers are about, they've left the duo alone, likely because they're so goddamn loud.
Rosso carves a path through tall, aquatic plants he mentally wants to call seaweed but probably aren't seaweed, some of them overgrown enough to cover the cavernous walls and ceiling above; through schools of fish so startled by the presence of another that they dart in all directions and smack stupidly into every possible object in their paths; under overhangs, past dips, and finally to a cave entrance so narrow it might as well be called a crack. There's a soft, vaguely-purple glow coming from it, and Rosso turns to look back over his shoulder at Adrian hopefully.
Nevermind the fact that he may or may not look slightly horrifying with his one red-glowing eye. Don't worry about that.
That crack in the stone is big enough for a full-sized person to squeeze through without much of an issue, though Rosso does find himself hoping that Adrian doesn't somehow get stuck trying to get in. Naturally, once he wiggles his way in, he spots a much larger cave entrance on the opposite side...
Which really, really doesn't hold a candle to the massive, purple-glowing tree of coral branching out every which direction in this particular cavern. Fish Rosso doesn't think he's ever seen before swim leisurely around the branches, unperturbed by the sudden arrival of two much larger guests; bubbles emerge from a much rounder coral with flat divots against one of the rounded cave walls, floating up to the roof and then popping without ceremony. Everything else within the cave has a soft, multi-coloured light to it — greens and blues and oranges decorating the walls and even parts of the lake floor — but Rosso's more taken by the purple centerpiece.
Clearly. As he swims up to it and starts doing circles around the base of it, observing with such wide-eyed curiosity it's like it's not even him. Some doppelganger stole his face or something, who is this man—]
Do you see this?
[No, Adrian has no eyes with which to see, obviously.]
[Adrian honestly isn't really expecting to see much. This is a lake, not the ocean, so how grand could it be really? Not that he can even say much to that effect either, having not seen the ocean at all until he came to Ryslig. He doesn't particularly care one way or the other if they find something or not, but Rosso's enthusiasm for discovery is...somewhat infectuous, he supposes. Reminds him of another brat who saw the world similarly...
So he'll humor the search, continuing to follow behind Rosso as he lets him lead wherever he may. The sight of that narrow crack is very ugh, because while Rosso might be able to slip his skinny ass through, it takes Adrian...considerably more effort to manage the same feat. Manage it he does, of course, though Rosso might have to wait for him to struggle his way through. Or don't, maybe he just rushed on ahead while he was stuck back there for 30 seconds, it's fine-
When he does make it through into the cavern, well. Yeah, Rosso, he sees it alright. He'd have to be blind to not, the lights from both the coral tree and the other bioluminescent algae and flora glinting off every scale on Adrian's hide, turning him into a vaugely dim disco ball. He doesn't centure as close as Rosso, choosing instead to hang back as he watches him swim around the tree, examining the structure with a kind of wonder that's...
He's. Not sure what this feeling is he's feeling, actually. Just that it's there, and it's lodged itself annoyingly in the center of his chest, sitting there festering.]
[Despite Rosso's entire... personality, he really does love things like this. Quiet moments, peaceful time spent with a friend, beautiful things hidden away from the world where no one can touch them — those are all his favourite things, things he never really got growing up and working as a Master save for rare intervals where there was a lull and he could just be. He didn't get to grow up and go on adventures like those kids who constantly bug him back home, he got to grow up in a lab and be thrust into a prestigious position he never wanted in the first place.
So, stuff like this — stupidly cool corals and fish with fins so colourful he wonders if they're venomous or not — means a lot to him, even if he's ordinarily bad at showing it. Even if he won't say it. Not vocalizing any of his feelings does nothing to hide them now, not when he's practically doing flips in between the wider branches of the large coral. It's obvious even to someone with no emotional intelligence whatsoever that Rosso's living his best life in this exact moment.]
Elrios doesn't have anything like this, [he tells mid-flip, then swimming lower to go check out that one coral making bubbles,] I'm pretty sure most of the ocean is just dead. Not like I could've gotten to it anyway to check.
[There's some cool shit in the demon ocean! Unfortunately that requires going to the demon ocean. And being able to breathe underwater.]
This is so fucking... cool. It's making bubbles, how is it doing that??
[He's not expecting Adrian to be able to answer it. It's probably some overly-scientific explanation that Rosso will inevitably zone out on anyway. Even if he sought an actual answer and expected Adrian to have it, though, he turns to look at his crocodilian friend and then almost snort-laughs at the sight of just... Adrian the Disco Ball.]
You look like a really stupid mosaic.
[No idea what a disco ball is so this is the closest approximation, RIP. Rosso probably looks similar — less of him is covered in scales, but the upper part of his tail is equally mosaic-y, if not more so, because it's black.]
[It's weird. Adrian knows Rosso well enough to know that he can be dumb, and ridiculously childish, and irritable and loud and all sorts of other things. But...he's only seen this side of him one other time, back when they visited Amusement Mile together and he treated all of the rides and food and everything like they were just these amazing, wonderful things. It made Adrian...jealous, actually. Wishing he were capable still of that sort of unbridled wonder and joy. He's so jaded that he's not sure that's something within his reach any longer.
But here, as he watches Rosso flip and swim around the coral tree, marveling at its existence and how it's even doing what it does, he's realizing...maybe he's wrong about that.
It isn't the coral itself that he's looking at with wonder, though.
He blinks, snapped briefly out of his thoughts when Rosso turns his attention to him, commenting on how the lights are reflecting off him onto the cave walls and also Rosso himself. It prompts Adrian to scowl a bit, jaws parted as he swims into Rosso's space-
-and bonks his snout into his shoulder before swimming past him, moving around the back side of the coral as if to get a better look.]
[With anyone else, he'd pretend he doesn't care. Or try to convince himself this is just some Thing underwater, "every place has something like this, it's not that special". Anything to hide his emotions. Perhaps it's a good thing that it's Adrian, then, and not just some person he's sharing his time with. Only someone equally bull-headed with just as many walls surrounding his heart could possibly break through and get a side of Rosso he never shows to anyone.
It'd odd. It's pleasant. It's almost like Rosso doesn't have to hide behind his constant japes and jabs — he doesn't really think Adrian's stupid, doesn't actually want to kick his ass (sparring matches and Mario Kart notwithstanding, Rosso has to draw the line somewhere). Yet part of him does anyway, part of him wants to be a little more defensive and reserved from time to time... keep up appearances as they say. Since he's, y'know, dangerous and angry and scared of himself.
Somehow it feels like he's less that around Adrian, and especially in this moment. It's good. It's freeing. That, or the coral has some weird mind control happy drugs it's putting out into the water.
But man, if he knew Adrian was jealous of him, he'd laugh. Not because it's funny, but because he's Rosso. The guy whose head is never on his shoulders, the guy who kicks cars, gets in fights with people over little things, can't possibly control his temper, some fucking human experiment thrust into a life that didn't belong to him from the beginning. A part of Rosso might even be jealous of Adrian, who, even if he had nothing, at least had freedom.
Melancholy aside... Bonk received. Rosso's too busy being distracted to respond in time, so he swats at the empty space maybe a second after Adrian's already swam off, making a disgruntled little tch in the back of his throat.]
It's funnier on you, you bigass lizard.
[Since he can't find why the coral is making bubbles, though, Rosso occupies himself with the very important task of popping them. Fishbrain go brr—
And then he pokes his head around the rotund side of the coral to look at Adrian. Hi.]
[Well you know what they say. Grass is always greener, and all that. They're two halves of a very similar kind of person, one who has been treated unfairly, grew up in unfortunate circumstances, and hardened their heart against the world. It only makes sense that they would find a weird sort of kinship in one another, even if they don't necessarily recognize it right away. Whatever the case, Rosso knows things that very few others are privy to...and it would be less still, if Adrian hadn't been forced to confront his past in such a raw, public way.
Never again. Not if he has anything to say about it.
Rosso is hardly the only one of them who feels often like they're a monster. But, well...that takes on a whole different kind of meaning, in this place. They're hardly the true monsters, here.
Adrian pivots underwater, using his massive tail as a rudder to turn himself around effortlessly without having to move his legs too much. It's honestly not all that different from flying, just even less effort to keep yourself aloft since water does half the work for you.
Rosos popping those bubbles is funny. He really is like a kid sometimes.]
Nah. I mean, I guess there's more glowy shit...
[He noses at the sand around the base of the coral, turning up a few chunks of various rocks and things. None of them look all that special on the surface...not until Adrian finds something that glints, reflecting the light in a way that immediately sets off his Mer brain.
...just. Going to pick that up as carefully as he can between his teeth (don't swallow it, don't swallow it) and pull back, paddling backwards until he's in front of Rosso again. Then, after a moment of deliberation and prodding with his tongue to see if his guess is correct, he'll deposit it in his hands.]
Sea glass. Maya told me 'bout this stuff. Most'a the time it comes from like, trash in the water n'shit, but this is like...molten glass.
[He looks over to where the bubbles keep coming from.]
...betcha that's some kinda heat source, down there. Not super strong or nothin', this is a lake, but yaknow.
[Okay now Adrian's just eating stuff he finds under the substrate here, cool, maybe there's a crab or something down there. Do crabs live in lakes under magical-glowing corals? Crabs where Rosso comes from are about the size of cars, so maybe it's a really tiny crab, like a baby—
Oh. Oh!!
The sea glass is deposited into his hand, and Rosso leans back a tad to hold it up to the light. Honestly, without that centerpiece coral tree, this cave might not be as well-lit as it is. The purple glints within the red, and Rosso finds that he suddenly wishes he had pockets just to keep this in. Invariably, there's going to be more shinies somewhere.]
It's pretty, [he muses aloud, quite nearly shining the reflected light in his good eye while he inspects the glass.] This is just a... thing that happens? The earth just... does that, huh?
[It's so hard to pretend he's not fascinated by the mere concept. Obviously the process behind making glass — by the hand of man or mother nature herself — is known to Rosso, who used to be able to burn so hotly that he very well could make his own. What he didn't know is that it could be so pretty, and that it could possibly be found underwater like this. He wants to dig around for more. Maybe a different mineral beneath the sand made some in alternate colours, or something?]
Back home, [he begins, unbidden as he clutches the tumbled glass in his palm,] Gaia and I used to fuck around with our powers and make our own glass when we had a break and didn't wanna do shit. He was always more responsible than me, so I couldn't pull him away for longer than five minutes, but he'd be able to manipulate sand 'n' shit into various shapes and I could cook 'em.
...
One time we made a glass pane and put it in the doorway and Ventus walked into it. [The El Masters are very mature in this essay I wi—]
Anyway, not like it compares to this kind of thing — that was all artificial. Made me think of it, I guess.
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no subject
Thanks, [Rosso spits,] I've been growing it out since I was a kid. Only cut it when it gets past my knees.
[Which is too fucking long, Rosso!!!]
It takes maintenance to stay strong enough to trap a whole fucking crocodile in it, okay? [Translation: I spend two hours a day taking care of my hair.] You'd probably be able to appreciate the work if you weren't dumb as hell.
no subject
[They're supposed to be friends, honest.
Adrian snorts, exhaling a short stream of bubbles from his snout now that he's been freed from Rosso's hair prison and has nothing really to show for it other than embarrassment. That didn't...really go at planned, but in the end it's probably fine anyway. They're back to their usual antics, picking at each other and being dumb, which is far and away better than struggling to process Trauma.
Unfortunate, that. Because Adrian has not escaped that inevitability, he has only prolonged it. Just wait until he's had more than a few quiet moments to breathe, then it'll really start to sink in
and I get to make another network post yaay.For now, he simply begins to circle Rosso beneath the water in a lazy paddle, trying (and failing) to look scarier than he is.]
At that point you might as well just not cut it at all. Waste of time.
[He sure is one to talk, with his hair past his shoulders and then some as a lion. But at least that's a MANAGEABLE length.]
no subject
Hopefully the lesson is learnt about his hair, though Rosso does bother to drape it over one shoulder as Adrian tries to be oh-so-scary, just to sort of... condense the cascading waves of it. Slightly. Now it's mostly just flowing in front of him rather than in all directions.
And of course, after a moment passes, he starts trying to work that knot out with his fingers. Listen, he really cares about how his hair looks okay—]
What, you want me to grow it longer? [Whoops, we've devolved into full teasing now.] Was there not enough to run your hands through when we were laying on the bank earlier?
no subject
Not that that helps him much when Rosso is coming directly for his life anyway, that comment actually throwing him off so badly that he forgets to respond initially. Jaws parted, the dumbest look on his face, before he finally sputters:]
Wh- f...fuck you I was tryin' to calm your ass down-!
no subject
Wait. Did he just— is Adrian okay?? Rosso didn't just— he didn't— nuh uh, no way, he did not just fluster Adrian of all people. There's no fucking way his offhand, stupid, thoughtless comment did that. He's just stunned because Rosso had the audacity. Obviously. Probably.
Yeah okay so anyway—]
I'm calm. [No, he's freaking the fuck out internally. Luckily he looks calmer than he feels, focused on digging that knot out of his hair.] You're the one who made the comment in the first place. Reap what you sow and all that.
...
'sides, I'd probably do it if you like it that much anyway.
[help]
no subject
He's still blowing agitated bubbles though as they talk, like a petulant child who doesn't want to stop playing in the bath.]
...doin' somethin' just cause somebody likes it? [Somebody, not him, he never said he liked it] Somebody's gone soft.
no subject
Working out the last of the tangles in his hair, Rosso flips it back over his shoulder to where it was originally. Nevermind Adrian's threatening crocodile circles, he's going to have to avoid getting ensnared on his own time.]
Dunno, [he responds, the fins on his head wiggling in a way that's reminiscent of how his werewolf ears used to flatten against his head whenever he was flustered,] maybe I'm just soft for you.
[...
anyway Rosso's leaving that there and ducking into the water now to go see what's actually in the lake, bye—]
no subject
the fuck
is that supposed to mean???
Adrian stiffens, but just as his mouth opens, Rosso disappears beneath the water.]
O-oi-!!!
[motherfucker-
Croc or no, as a mer, he doesn’t have to worry about needing air. He can breathe both thanks to the gills along his sides that crocodiles definitely don’t normally have, which is why he’s quick to dive beneath the surface to chase Rosso down, I mean follow him.]
no subject
Consider Rosso followed, as he swims lower and lower with his cheeks burning and thinking to himself why the fuck did I say that aaaaaa. As one does.
The lower he swims, the more the bioluminescence gets really obvious. The blue glow from his fins is enough to light up the surrounding environment — lingering traces of that blue light sweeps across rock faces and plants and schools of fish just minding their own business. The scars over his arms, too, are similarly lit up in a pale pink over that lightning-bolt pattern contained within them, something that Rosso is currently ignoring as hard as he physically can.
When he glances back over his shoulder and sees Adrian
runningswimming him down, he does mental math on how he's going to save face after that little comment, can't figure out how, and simply swims into a rocky alcove some distance away. Follow him into the forbidden cool lake rocks if you dare.]no subject
As Adrian follows him into the depths, his own little bits of bioluminescence start to manifest themselves. Mostly just in the sharp points of his fins, where pinpricks of orange glow through the blue that he chases deeper and deeper into the lake. He huffs when Rosso looks at him and then just keeps swimming, determined to speed up to try to catch him-
Only for him to swiftly duck away into a bunch of rocks. Cool. You can't hide from him in there, Rosso, he spent a good solid three years of his adult life living in caves, caves don't scare him.
So he will follow, assuming there's enough space for his fat ass, wiggling through the alcove with bubbles trailing through the gaps in his teeth.]
The hell're you goin?
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[It's the worst lie he's told in his life, but hey, at least he... found something. What he found is a cave, and it's plenty big enough for Adrian and his chonky crocodile butt to fit amidst Rosso and his three thousand fins.
Rosso's still trying to think of a smooth way to explain away what is obviously flirting, like "maybe you're wrong about me and I've always been soft" (which is true, but requires a level of self-awareness that he doesn't have), or the more realistic "I don't just cry over anyone", but none of that is going to be... you know, said unless Adrian presses.
He's dumb. And chewing on his thoughts. And he kind of wants to bury his face in his hands and scream into them, because his brain is still trapped in the awkwardness of "oh my god, why". Maybe he should swim farther, maybe there's some tight little space he can cram himself into that Adrian can't get to and he can just die there.]
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Adrian grumbles at Rosso's reply, at least taking a moment to actually look at where they've ended up. And it's...]
Well. This sure is a cave.
[It's a nice cave, granted, but still. The reptile in him definitely wants to find a nice, flat rock to go lay on, but he manages to keep that locked down for the time being. Honestly, the only reason he's here is because Rosso came down here first, and what was he going to do, just float awkwardly in the middle of the lake?
Never mind the fact that Adrian himself is still trying to work out what the heck that meant, though he hasn't...really found the words to confront him on it yet. It's just. Weird. It was weird alright.]
If you lured me down here just to kick my ass, you coulda' done so in public too. Ain't like anybody woulda' stopped you probably.
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[At that, he comically wiggles his tailfins about, which does nothing save to stir up lots and lots of tiny bubbles. And possibly tickle if Adrian's in the Fin Zone somehow.
He's about to let them settle into a lapse of awkward silence, like they'd done on the floor of his apartment the day he came back to life. But then, his hand brushes over some soft-feeling algae, and he suddenly jerks it away with a little ew of shock. It's slimy and foreign and alarming to touch, and as he whips his head around to glower at the spot...
Well, it seems that the algae is bioluminescent, too, because it begins to glow a very soft green.
This is the point where Rosso's fish instincts start to become apparent, because now he's gone from "flee from problems" to "ooooh it's shiny". Almost forgetting how gross the stuff feels to touch, his eyes track further algae trails up the cave wall and he reaches out to poke those, too. Expectedly, they also glow. Neat.
...
And then he remembers where he is and what he's supposed to be doing, clears his throat, and tries to act Cool. Collected.]
You'd know if I wanted to kick your ass anyway. I'd make it clear as fuckin' day.
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What he isn't expecting, though, is the way allof that algae starts to glow. Obviously he's never been able to see the world from this deep underwater before, and...it is actually quite pretty. He can't really think of anything on the surface he could compare it to, either.
Rosso seems to be having the same sort of experience, if the silence he's lasped into while poking it is any indication. Very smooth.]
Yeah, I bet. No way you'd pass up that kinda chance.
[...]
...yaknow. I kinda get what Maya is so into about bein' like this. Kinda. At least nobody can bother you down here.
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[........anyway there's glowing algae to look at, everyone look at the algae, no one pay attention to Rosso's Going Through It, he's fine this is fine. Quick change the subject—]
When I first arrived here and dragged myself outta that fucking sinkhole, Nanami told me that the lake has a bunch of glowing corals somewhere. Never asked where, since I wasn't a fish at the time. Think we can find 'em?
[It'll be like a grand adventure except not really, the lake is only So Big and a bunch of glowy shit cannot possibly be hard to find.]
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[No really, he is a bit surprised. Mostly because...he wouldn't even blame Rosso if he wanted to. Adrian really does still feel bad about the two-week radio silence, even if his explanation for it was sound.
Whatever, he doesn't want to think about that anymore right now, not when those memories are still so fresh. Time to also focus on the algae!]
Corals...I mean. Yeah, I guess we could do that.
[Moreso since Rosso seems enamored by the glow of the stuff in here, so he can imagine he'd like the coral even more.]
If it glows, it'll stick out like a sore thumb anyway.
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Since they're moving on to calmer waters now, Rosso's moving from where he's currently been... "sitting"/hovering in the water and swimming out of the cave with a,]
Let's go, then!
[thrown over his shoulder.
...
The childhood wonder phase did not blow past him. He's just getting worse at hiding it now.
He figures that a lake with cool glowing coral has to be hiding it. After all, the lake doesn't light up at night, and Rosso can't see anything else shining in the depths save for himself and Adrian. In his mind, that means it'll be lower down, maybe in a different little alcove... maybe there's part of the lake that's so tucked away you can't even get to it just from directly jumping over that spot at the surface? Oh man—
Fish brain says swim down, and so down he goes, hugging the stone walls of this particular section of the lake as a guide. It's here that, eventually, the stone carves out another path — a diagonal chunk weathered away by years and years of slow-churning waves — and Rosso takes a semi-sharp turn into the well-hidden pathway.
And boy. If it wasn't dark before, it sure fucking is now. There's no light this deep whatsoever. He and Adrian are probably the brightest things in the entire area currently.]
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Adrian huffs as Rosso just scurries off, leaving him once again to follow behind at a short distance. It's fine, it's better to keep moving than to stop for too long because things sure keep getting Awkward when they get silent, don't they.
The depth nor the darkness bother Adrian in particular, though he has to say it is a bit unnerving going down this deep when he's never ventured into Lake Dala at these depths before. He has no idea what- or who- might be down here, and the thought of getting jumped now of all times makes his skin crawl. Hopefully it doesn't happen, but like...he can't promise he wouldn't fuck somebody up right now if it did. He is not in the mood to deal with monsters being dumbly territorial right now, okay.
Fortunately it seems like they're alone for the time being, save for the occasional fish that passes his nose that he has to resist the urge to try to snap at as it goes by. The soft glow from both of them helps in darkness like this, but only just.]
How deep is this lake...
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[It was probably a rhetorical question, but Rosso answers it anyway, leading the way through the water. The only territorial fish here is probably him, honestly. If other mers are about, they've left the duo alone, likely because they're so goddamn loud.
Rosso carves a path through tall, aquatic plants he mentally wants to call seaweed but probably aren't seaweed, some of them overgrown enough to cover the cavernous walls and ceiling above; through schools of fish so startled by the presence of another that they dart in all directions and smack stupidly into every possible object in their paths; under overhangs, past dips, and finally to a cave entrance so narrow it might as well be called a crack. There's a soft, vaguely-purple glow coming from it, and Rosso turns to look back over his shoulder at Adrian hopefully.
Nevermind the fact that he may or may not look slightly horrifying with his one red-glowing eye. Don't worry about that.
That crack in the stone is big enough for a full-sized person to squeeze through without much of an issue, though Rosso does find himself hoping that Adrian doesn't somehow get stuck trying to get in. Naturally, once he wiggles his way in, he spots a much larger cave entrance on the opposite side...
Which really, really doesn't hold a candle to the massive, purple-glowing tree of coral branching out every which direction in this particular cavern. Fish Rosso doesn't think he's ever seen before swim leisurely around the branches, unperturbed by the sudden arrival of two much larger guests; bubbles emerge from a much rounder coral with flat divots against one of the rounded cave walls, floating up to the roof and then popping without ceremony. Everything else within the cave has a soft, multi-coloured light to it — greens and blues and oranges decorating the walls and even parts of the lake floor — but Rosso's more taken by the purple centerpiece.
Clearly. As he swims up to it and starts doing circles around the base of it, observing with such wide-eyed curiosity it's like it's not even him. Some doppelganger stole his face or something, who is this man—]
Do you see this?
[No, Adrian has no eyes with which to see, obviously.]
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So he'll humor the search, continuing to follow behind Rosso as he lets him lead wherever he may. The sight of that narrow crack is very ugh, because while Rosso might be able to slip his skinny ass through, it takes Adrian...considerably more effort to manage the same feat. Manage it he does, of course, though Rosso might have to wait for him to struggle his way through. Or don't, maybe he just rushed on ahead while he was stuck back there for 30 seconds, it's fine-
When he does make it through into the cavern, well. Yeah, Rosso, he sees it alright. He'd have to be blind to not, the lights from both the coral tree and the other bioluminescent algae and flora glinting off every scale on Adrian's hide, turning him into a vaugely dim disco ball. He doesn't centure as close as Rosso, choosing instead to hang back as he watches him swim around the tree, examining the structure with a kind of wonder that's...
He's. Not sure what this feeling is he's feeling, actually. Just that it's there, and it's lodged itself annoyingly in the center of his chest, sitting there festering.]
Yeah. ...yeah, I do.
[For once he doesn't have anything smart to say.]
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So, stuff like this — stupidly cool corals and fish with fins so colourful he wonders if they're venomous or not — means a lot to him, even if he's ordinarily bad at showing it. Even if he won't say it. Not vocalizing any of his feelings does nothing to hide them now, not when he's practically doing flips in between the wider branches of the large coral. It's obvious even to someone with no emotional intelligence whatsoever that Rosso's living his best life in this exact moment.]
Elrios doesn't have anything like this, [he tells mid-flip, then swimming lower to go check out that one coral making bubbles,] I'm pretty sure most of the ocean is just dead. Not like I could've gotten to it anyway to check.
[There's some cool shit in the demon ocean! Unfortunately that requires going to the demon ocean. And being able to breathe underwater.]
This is so fucking... cool. It's making bubbles, how is it doing that??
[He's not expecting Adrian to be able to answer it. It's probably some overly-scientific explanation that Rosso will inevitably zone out on anyway. Even if he sought an actual answer and expected Adrian to have it, though, he turns to look at his crocodilian friend and then almost snort-laughs at the sight of just... Adrian the Disco Ball.]
You look like a really stupid mosaic.
[No idea what a disco ball is so this is the closest approximation, RIP. Rosso probably looks similar — less of him is covered in scales, but the upper part of his tail is equally mosaic-y, if not more so, because it's black.]
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But here, as he watches Rosso flip and swim around the coral tree, marveling at its existence and how it's even doing what it does, he's realizing...maybe he's wrong about that.
It isn't the coral itself that he's looking at with wonder, though.
He blinks, snapped briefly out of his thoughts when Rosso turns his attention to him, commenting on how the lights are reflecting off him onto the cave walls and also Rosso himself. It prompts Adrian to scowl a bit, jaws parted as he swims into Rosso's space-
-and bonks his snout into his shoulder before swimming past him, moving around the back side of the coral as if to get a better look.]
Speak for yourself. You're so glittery and dumb.
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It'd odd. It's pleasant. It's almost like Rosso doesn't have to hide behind his constant japes and jabs — he doesn't really think Adrian's stupid, doesn't actually want to kick his ass (sparring matches and Mario Kart notwithstanding, Rosso has to draw the line somewhere). Yet part of him does anyway, part of him wants to be a little more defensive and reserved from time to time... keep up appearances as they say. Since he's, y'know, dangerous and angry and scared of himself.
Somehow it feels like he's less that around Adrian, and especially in this moment. It's good. It's freeing. That, or the coral has some weird mind control happy drugs it's putting out into the water.
But man, if he knew Adrian was jealous of him, he'd laugh. Not because it's funny, but because he's Rosso. The guy whose head is never on his shoulders, the guy who kicks cars, gets in fights with people over little things, can't possibly control his temper, some fucking human experiment thrust into a life that didn't belong to him from the beginning. A part of Rosso might even be jealous of Adrian, who, even if he had nothing, at least had freedom.
Melancholy aside... Bonk received. Rosso's too busy being distracted to respond in time, so he swats at the empty space maybe a second after Adrian's already swam off, making a disgruntled little tch in the back of his throat.]
It's funnier on you, you bigass lizard.
[Since he can't find why the coral is making bubbles, though, Rosso occupies himself with the very important task of popping them. Fishbrain go brr—
And then he pokes his head around the rotund side of the coral to look at Adrian. Hi.]
Find anything cool?
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Never again. Not if he has anything to say about it.
Rosso is hardly the only one of them who feels often like they're a monster. But, well...that takes on a whole different kind of meaning, in this place. They're hardly the true monsters, here.
Adrian pivots underwater, using his massive tail as a rudder to turn himself around effortlessly without having to move his legs too much. It's honestly not all that different from flying, just even less effort to keep yourself aloft since water does half the work for you.
Rosos popping those bubbles is funny. He really is like a kid sometimes.]
Nah. I mean, I guess there's more glowy shit...
[He noses at the sand around the base of the coral, turning up a few chunks of various rocks and things. None of them look all that special on the surface...not until Adrian finds something that glints, reflecting the light in a way that immediately sets off his Mer brain.
...just. Going to pick that up as carefully as he can between his teeth (don't swallow it, don't swallow it) and pull back, paddling backwards until he's in front of Rosso again. Then, after a moment of deliberation and prodding with his tongue to see if his guess is correct, he'll deposit it in his hands.]
Sea glass. Maya told me 'bout this stuff. Most'a the time it comes from like, trash in the water n'shit, but this is like...molten glass.
[He looks over to where the bubbles keep coming from.]
...betcha that's some kinda heat source, down there. Not super strong or nothin', this is a lake, but yaknow.
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Oh. Oh!!
The sea glass is deposited into his hand, and Rosso leans back a tad to hold it up to the light. Honestly, without that centerpiece coral tree, this cave might not be as well-lit as it is. The purple glints within the red, and Rosso finds that he suddenly wishes he had pockets just to keep this in. Invariably, there's going to be more shinies somewhere.]
It's pretty, [he muses aloud, quite nearly shining the reflected light in his good eye while he inspects the glass.] This is just a... thing that happens? The earth just... does that, huh?
[It's so hard to pretend he's not fascinated by the mere concept. Obviously the process behind making glass — by the hand of man or mother nature herself — is known to Rosso, who used to be able to burn so hotly that he very well could make his own. What he didn't know is that it could be so pretty, and that it could possibly be found underwater like this. He wants to dig around for more. Maybe a different mineral beneath the sand made some in alternate colours, or something?]
Back home, [he begins, unbidden as he clutches the tumbled glass in his palm,] Gaia and I used to fuck around with our powers and make our own glass when we had a break and didn't wanna do shit. He was always more responsible than me, so I couldn't pull him away for longer than five minutes, but he'd be able to manipulate sand 'n' shit into various shapes and I could cook 'em.
...
One time we made a glass pane and put it in the doorway and Ventus walked into it. [The El Masters are very mature in this essay I wi—]
Anyway, not like it compares to this kind of thing — that was all artificial. Made me think of it, I guess.
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