(Based on my friend @skyc47su ‘s mermaid tf2 au! Just a random cutesy drabble about baby mermedic. Johannes is her medic OC. :3 )
Momma had left him on the beach.
Not alone though, Johannes was with his auntie, Claudia, one of momma’s younger sisters, and plenty of cousins to play and nap with. Johannes didn’t mind being on land. He liked digging in the sand and finding shells. He would hand them to Claudia and bounce and wriggle as she looked to see if there were tasty treats inside. Clams were yummy.
It wasn’t very hot today, not like somedays they were dropped off on the beach. Those days, the babysitter had to keep the near tide pools so she could dunk them if they were beginning to dry out. But today a soft rain was falling, and kept them cool and wet, and they were allowed to be on the soft sand away from the rocky tidepools were mean crabs liked to hang out. Crabs weren’t very nice; they liked to pinch and hurt.
Relieved of half her duties as a babysitter, Claudia stretched out on the beach as the little ones played around her, some digging and building mounds, others wrestling and “chasing” each other. (More like scrunching across the ground on their tummies.) She dozed, one eye opening whenever one of her children squeaked a little to urgently. But being the young caretaker she was, she didn’t know it was when children were the quietest they were most certainly getting into trouble.
Johannes had seen blurs of color, up the beach where the sand met grass. Tall ones, moving in the air over a pillar of subdued blacks, browns and blues.
And beautiful colors they were, bright even against the grey sky. It wasn’t often he’d seen such pretty colors on land; in the reefs, yes, but never on land. The ones in water were darting points that held his interest for ours, and he often tried to ride one handed on his mother as he made grabby hands at them, cooing in delight. Sometimes his mother would catch one, and show they were in fact fish, small and wriggling.
So were these just much bigger fish? Could he hold them in his hands? Or maybe ride them like a parent? He chirped at the figures, and saw them move. There were sounds coming from them, odd soumds. Nothing like the squeals and chirps of his pods. He snuffled the sand and then the air, but the strange scents told him nothing.
It didn’t occur to him how far he was straying from Claudia and the others. If it did, he would have flopped back over under the adult’s arm, chirping and pointing at the weird shapes. He would have hoped she’d let him ride on her back as she went to help him investigate the odd things.
But he didn’t notice, and the strange sounds were so interesting and inviting, ooohs and aaaahs. He whistled back at them, and they laughed. As he got even closer, one of them went to the ground, and he flinched, backfin rising. But nothing happened, and he his curiosity pushed him to continue forth.
Two large black things came into focus, and he grabbed ome with his tiny baby claws. It felt weird, hard but not like bone, instead like extremely tough skin. He sniffed it, gnawned on it a bit, and found it sandy and bitter. Not good to eat, so he continued upward, squeezing in the gap between the two things.
If he knew the words for them, it would be boots, rubber ones. The pants did not hold his interest other than a few grasps. He was much more interested in the raincoat, all yellow and bright even in the rain.
It felt weird, just like the pants, but resting on it he realized it covered another living being. He chirped and whistled in greeting, wagging his stubby little tail, but in his excitement he lost his balance. With a squeak of distress he tumbled off the being’s lap.
Immediately he was answered with his adult’s alarmed whistle, and before he could respond, it became a warning, defensive, angry, telling him a predator was near.
When adults gave such warnings he always whimpered, curled in a ball, and clutched at the nearst living thing for protection and comfort.
The large body ripped itself from his grasp as it scrambled away, and Johannes cried, hugging his tail. His babysitter crashed over the beach in only a couple bounds, snarling and slapping her tail in warning. He shivered between her hands as she posted herself on her arms over him, making herself as big as possible. He slowly let go of his tail to hug instead her arms.
He had no clue what had happened, or where the predator had come from, but tears streamed down his cheeks as he buried his face in the crook of her elbow.
The blurs of color quickly retreated. His babysitter postured and snarled as he clung in the safety of her shadow. Eventually, at the worried cries of her other babies, she carefully returned to them, dragging herself with one arm while holding Johannes with the other.
An hour or so later though, the shapes left the beach, to have new ones take their place. Many as brightly colored as the last. This time his babysitter held Johannes when he tried to squirm toward them.
