"daddy noo!!!" this week has been a total disaster for both kashiel and rafayel.
one. kashiel just discovered he can trade his short legs for a pretty, chubby tail.
two. he now loveees to bathe and soak in the tub for HOURS in that tail. every "10 minutes, daddy" is the biggest lie this boy ever came up with. because the promised 10 minutes will drag to 2 or 3 hours.
three. rafayel questions his ancestors if this child is truly just a confused lemurian. kashiel apparently loves water, except he screeches when daddy proposes to take him swimming in the vast ocean instead. his son likes tap water in the confined porcelain bathtub and hates the concept of ocean? make it make sense!
"raf! what are you doing?" your jaw falls seeing your husband holding your baby upside down by kashiel's end of tail, droplets of water from your son's mop of hair drenching the polished and dry floor.
"MUMMY! daddy wan'to throw me in water!" rafayel rolls his eyes at the exaggeration.
"what water?"
kashiel urgently flails in struggle to point at the glistening ocean outside their house. "that water! big scary water."
"the ocean?"
you try to not show how confused you are.. your half lemurian baby who possesses a fully functioning tail.. is scared of the ocean? his supposed nature and home, one he can breathe and lives in?
"if you love your tail so much, you might as well put it to practice and use it to explore the ocean, baby. the ocean is much cooler than that little bathtub." rafayel interrupts. and the boy immediately writhes in disagreement and whines about how he's sure it's not that fun.
"daddy will swim with you. 's not like i'm going to dunk you in the ocean by yourself and leave." right, definitely not the best example to come up with because kashiel screams in distraught, imagining the opposite of daddy's words. he has lost every littlest bits of trust for daddy.
you inch closer and your husband holds kashiel upright again, handing the little bundle towards your open arms. "mummy.."
"oh, baby. how long did you bath?"
"10 min–"
"don't lie. he did 2 hours." right on cue as fiery little merboy glares at daddy.
"hm, don't you think it's better if we spend 3 hours learning how to swim in the ocean, baby? do you know how to swim, kash?"
kashiel pouts, as he flaps his wet tail nervously. little fingers fiddling with the shells and pearls crusted necklace on your neck. one that he and rafayel made together and gifted you some weeks ago during their last failed attempt swimming underwater. "but mummy.. i know to swim."
"oh you do?" you ask suspiciously.
"sure he does if sinking to the seabed and wailing like a whale calling for another whale count as swimming."
"eeee i no wail like whale!"
you see, your husband's critical issue with pissing off your son is one thing, but the priority here is to finally convince kashiel to be brave and embrace his nature. it's obvious he's terrified for another attempt under the salty water because of the funny and embarrassing little accident he had during his first time with daddy few weeks ago.
which is, sinking to the seabed, exactly like rafayel claims. kashiel had come back home, face blotchy and wet with tears because a school of shrimps laughed at him when he fell face first in the ocean depth.
"daddy's pretty sure the conch sealed your scream last week. maybe we can go and find it–"
"rafayel, enough."
"yes, ma'am."
hiking kashiel higher in your arms, you pat the chub of his glistening tail. "give it a try, please? won't you, baby? mummy promises to wait for you and daddy."
lips jutted in conflict as he leans his little head against your chest. "wait on that white thingy," he states firmly.
"the yacht, yes."
"pinkie, mummy?"
"promise."
his tail flaps in relief as your pinkie links with his. now looking at the waiting daddy. "daddy pinkie too! no leave me with mr. whale."
"yeah, yeah. i promise." he stalks closer to replicate the same little gesture to seal his promise.
"a brave boy with the prettiest scales like you should show off his tail to his ocean friends." your words of assurance elicits a brilliant smile from the sweet boy who's now back in daddy's arms.
"i give you my scale, mummy!" he reaches down to pluck one of his sclaes but both of you beat him to it.
your husband yanks those fast hands away, telling kashiel a stern no as the boy pouts. he understands the prohibition but his scales are so pretty! he just wanna give everyone a piece of it! (well, kashiel already gave you few. it's more than enough for your own lovely collection.)
and when your two favorite lemurians finally return to the surface of the sea when the sun is slowly setting, kashiel squeals in delight because he can finally use his tail. showing off how he propels those fins to swim underneath. how his ocean friends sung praises to the lemurian child. babbling every little part of his adventure with daddy while rafayel shifts back to his pair of legs, sailing all of you back to the shore.
