FIRST MEETING (TW: mild drowning): It's an uneventful day that Yuuta's new world is flipped on its head. Metaphorically, and then quite literally. He sees a shadow under the water first, and in the sleepy haze of summer heat passes it off for a cloud passing over head. The thump against his little fishing boat he assumes is Rika being rambunctious. He hasn't seen her in a couple of hours and that usually means she's found something to play with.
Last time it was a shark.
The tug on his line wakes him up enough to start reeling. There's a salmon on the end, flailing hard, huge and shining quicksilver in the sunlight as he wrestles it aboard. Yuuji will be pleased, he thinks idly, already dreaming about the meals his friend might whip up. That's all expected, a known order of events in Yuuta's life. A head popping up from under the water is not a part of the natural order of Yuuta's day, however.
They're beautiful, this interloper, fine boned and pale skin only a few shades too grey to pass as human, with large violet eyes. Though the maroon fins where their ears should be shatter any kind of illusion of humanity.
And now, look. Yuuta is used to non-humans. He might not have spent his Whole life around them, but the last few years have been spent around them, living, fighting, existing. And Rick's spirit has been his close companion since her death, corrupted as she is. He's used to them. Desensitized to their idiosyncrasies. So he's unnerved by this creatures sudden appearance, but not afraid.
Then the jaw unhinges and Yuuta throws himself back with a yelp. Right into the water. Where the thing that may or may not want to eat him lives.
And he's supposed to be one of the most powerful Magicians in the world. A fearsome warrior, unparalleled.
The boat flips with him, casting the water in shadow until he can't tell up from down, can't find the surface through the salt searing his eyes. The weight of the ocean drags at his clothes and he's not the strongest swimmer at the best of times, but he can't seem to fight against it enough to drag his body upwards. His heartbeat pounds fast, faster in his ears, throat closing and his already limited air supply feels completely depleted. He's drowning two feet below the surface and can't get his bearings enough to fix it.
He's going to die a very stupid death. Gojo-sensei is going to gut him. Verbally. Which is worse than literally.
Yuuta allows the resignation to settle in and his limbs get heavy. Darkness spots his vision. He drifts weightless for a second before something solid grabs his waist and his head breaks the surface. The first lungful of air burns down his esophagus and into his aching chest. He pants like a dog and clutches at the slippery body supporting him. The creature is nearly nose to nose with him, face as blank and unaffected as before. Those eyes blink at him.
2. RIKA wrestles a shark. It insulted Yuuta, or she thinks it might have. It certainly has the shifty eyed look of something that would insult Yuuta, but just to be safe she decides to put it very firmly in its place.
3. SHARING IS CARING: Yuuta and Toge (thusly named by Yuuta; his real name doesn't translate, and when asked, Toge brought a sea urchin and patted his hand against the spikes, which Yuuta took to mean something sharp. It's perhaps not the best or most apt, but Toge hasn't complained about it, so here they are), have learned to communicate in different ways. Toge defaults to chirps and whistles, or simple words that can't control, but has no way tell extensive stories, other than humming a soft melody infused with intention and emotion, which shares the whole picture, but misses fine detail.
Yuuta makes up for it by tell long, meandering stories. Of the war, of his friends. Of Megumi, lost and wandering in the dark, of Yuuji, cursed by blood to lose his body to a beast, sometimes with no warning. Or Nobara, injured and endlessly sleeping, and Maki who walks unendingly searching for a way to wake her up, accompanied by the ghost of her human twin. Of Gojo-sensei, felled by his own hubris, but who visits sometimes in his dreams, surrounded by those he loved and lost in life, happier than Yuuta has ever truly seen him.
They stay together for hours, basking in the sunlight, following it up and down the beach to always stay in the warmth until the sun sinks below the horizon.
vaporwave
origamiaround
turnnoffyourmind
yousharknotpass
dededos
areudirty
romaincrisis
