1: a medieval allegorical or moralizing work on the appearance and habits of real or imaginary animals
2: a collection of descriptions or representations of real or imaginary animals
They say that there are rabbits living on the moon, so it was no wonder that a wolf would find comfort in the moonlight.
Legoshi was so sure that the baby was going to be a boy, although, it would be hard to explain to his wife what an Imaginary Chimera was. Haru had a hunch that the baby was a girl, a mother's intuition she called it. Her name would be Cress.
Happy late birthday to Sora. Here's this random one-shot au to celebrate.
Waves lapped on the sides of the boat, rocking it back and forth. It was enough to lull one asleep, one such as a young man by the name of Sora. The gentle breeze touseled his hair and tugged at his eyelids. How he longer to curl up and nap by the seashore, soaking up all the rays. Kairi, his ladylove, massaging his scalp as he fell asleep.
Yes... That did sound quite nice.
Sora must've began snoring because Riku, his shipmate and captain of the barge, clasped him over the shoulders in admonishment effectively jolting Sora out of his slumber.
"Sora, you lazy bum!" Riku chided. Despite his ever growing impatience with Sora, he did have a soft spot for his old friend, making him roll his eyes good-naturedly. "It's time to bring in the nets! Didn't you hear me?" He knocked his knuckles against Sora's temple to make sure that the lights were on.
"Oh yeah, sure sure." Sora yawned. "I definitely heard you." He stood there, rubbing at his eyes.
"Well?" Riku tapped his foot. "Get to it! Tidus and Wakka are waiting."
Sora gave him a mock salute, absent of respect. He knew Riku for long enough that it was hard to look at him as his superior and less as his childhood best friend. Riku could boss him around all he liked, it wasn't going to stop Sora from napping on the job again.
Not like he was going to truly do anything to punish Sora for it.
Blinking the rest of his slumber away, Sora trudged over starboard where Tidus and Wakka were already getting started without him.
"Working hard or hardly working, yeah?" Wakka joked as the brunette approached. He chuckled to himself where Tidus just scoffed, shaking his head. "If we weren't all friends, Riku would've fired ya a long time ago," Wakka continued.
Sora shrugged. Since Wakka was already pulling the crank, he readied himself to bring in the net alongside Tidus. "I can't help it that it gets so boring," Sora retorted. The net breaches the surface, urging Sora to raise his voice over the waves. "When we're just waiting around, I just get so sleepy. Could'ja really blame me?"
"Sounds to me like you're not really cut out for this," Tidus teased, grinning from ear to ear. "Maybe you should be making crafts at home with your girlfriend instead!"
Sora started at Tidus, blinking twice in rapid succession. "You're right! I should be at home with Kairi. Why didn't I think of that?"
"You do that," said Wakka, straining with the crank, "you won't have any money. No money, no marriage. Me on the other hand..." His wedding band glinted in the sun, speckled with salt water. It was a bronze little thing, nothing too spectacular, but he brandished it as his most prized possession.
Ever since Wakka had married, he spared no opportunity to not mention it or his lovely wife Lulu. It was almost tiresome, especially for the likes of Sora and Tidus who were still only dating their respective girlfriends and lacked the proper funds to take things further.
The two groaned in unison.
"Ah, whatever." Wakka verbally waved them off. "Hey." He squinted his eyes, spotting a bit of red nestled between the mackerel. "There's some garbage stuck in the net, yeah?"
Upon closer inspection, the bit of red was hair on a doll. "What? This isn't garbage-" Sora weaved his hand into the net and freed the doll. "This is an Ariel doll. Some little girl must've lost it when playing at the beach and the waves swept it out to sea."
Sora's companions eyed him incredulously.
"Ariel?" Tidus questioned.
"Y'know, from The Little Mermaid," said Sora, "the Disney movie. I mean... The tail is missing and it doesn't look much like a mermaid but... You get it. It's Ariel. You could just tell."
The more he spoke, the more strange he was getting looked at by Tidus and Wakka. They never understood it when he made references to movies, even if- in Sora's humble opinion- that this was surface level information. Everyone's seen a Disney movie at least once. For Sora, he practically grew up on them.
He then fell silent in embarrassment, pocketing the doll. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything."
✿♡✿
After the long day they had out at sea, Sora was completely wiped. His limbs were hardened from the few years he'd been working for Riku on his barge.
As soon as Riku inherited it from his parents, he immediately put it to use by getting his friends on board.
Quite literally.
Riku had been itching to get off the island and out to sea. If it was financially viable for him, he would've moved away a long time ago.
It wasn't as simple as that, however. As much as Riku would keep tight lipped on the matter, he truly cared about the people on the island and wouldn't trade them for the world.
Despite the muscle Sora has built over the years, it didn't stop the weariness from taking over. His legs felt like jelly on land. As if it was unnatural for him to walk on a steady surface. His actual house was more like his second home, the first being the sea.
He could still taste the saltwater on his tongue.
"Ma, Kairi, I'm home!" Sora called out.
"Sora!" A redheaded blue barreled into him, tackling Sora into a hug. Suddenly, he didn't feel so tired anymore. Kairi pulled away from him, as her hands still lingered on either side of his arms. "Your mother is at the market."
In other words, she would be gossiping with the other mothers and would likely be there for a while.
Sora shifted slightly. "I uh, got a surprise you."
Kairi lit up. "What is it? Wait- don't tell me... You didn't put a fish in your pocket again, did you? That's nasty, Sora."
"What? No... Not this time." Sora dug into his pocket and pulled out the doll. "For you."
"... Ariel?"
"She's got red hair like you and you both like to collect things," Sora explained haphazardly. "She's missing her tail but... You can pretend she's human."
"Sora, I'm a grown woman."
"I know."
She took the doll. "I love it."
Kairi inspected the doll further, turning it around in her hands.
"Looking for something?" Sora asked.
Her eyes flickered towards him. "I was wondering if you managed to hide a ring on here somewhere. This gift is about as sudden as the fish you tried to give me."
"You're still stuck on that?" Sora chuckled.
A few months ago, Sora pranked Kairi with a fish he brought off of the barge and stuffed an engagement ring in its mouth. Looking back, it was a ridiculous plan and Kairi had said no.
At first, he thought it was because of his bizarre proposal, but it turned out that Kairi had a lot of insight for the future. They couldn't marry if they were still living at his mother's house.
Riku's barge was doing decently, but the money wasn't there. Homes and weddings were expensive.
Kairi was being smart when she said no.
But Sora could really care less.
She was right, of course.
But his heart told him it didn't matter. They could live in a soggy cardboard box on the shore for all he cared. Just as long as they were together.
"There's no ring," Sora clarified. "Unless you want me to try again. I'd be more than happy to."
He leaned in for a kiss to which Kairi stopped him by holding the doll's hand to his lips.
"You stink," she said with a giggle. "Go shower."
"You could shower with me."
"No way, what would your mother say?"
"Hm. You're right. I guess I could..." In one swift motion, Sora swept her off of her feet, making her squeal in both delight and disgust. "... Make you smelly!"
He rubbed his face all over her, smothering Kairi in the stench of fish mixed with the musk of his sweat and sea spray.
