【R76】Tide wave

The mermaid folded her hands and rested her head on her upper arms.

Not far from him, the flames created by humans are getting smaller and smaller, like a swaying scale, struggling for the last time on the burnt wood.The faint fire had failed to arouse Morrison's curiosity.He turned his gaze back to the human face, and was puzzled to find that the other person pursed his lips in a suppressed smile.

"Did I miss something funny?"

"Sorry." The human said with a smile, "I just thought, if there is a painter here, he will definitely draw your face."

"For painters, one of the most common small rocks on the bottom of the sea is a good object to describe." The mermaid raised her eyebrows, "They never let go of any opportunity to draw. What's more, I am not your kind .”

"No, you don't understand." Reyes shook his head, "Look at you, you have almost fulfilled all human fantasy about mermaids."

Morrison's arms rest on the shore.

The ear fins fit neatly on the side of the brain without seawater washing, and the water drops fall along the longest cartilage; A lonely island hidden by the tide; the two shallow cavities on the back of the waist are filled with sea water; although the tail of the fish is not very obvious due to the night, but when he unconsciously shakes the tip of the tail, there are white bubbles and tiny fish on the sea surface. The vortex indicates its existence.

"That's it?" The mermaid rested her head on her arm without knowing why, "Your imagination is really barren."

"It's all the fault of those weirdo writers. After all, almost all the books introducing mermaids always like to portray you as evil beauties who like to lean on the reef to bask in the sun. By the way, you are all young ladies without exception. They use The sweet singing lures the passing ships, and then leads them to the reefs before crashing into the ship and destroying them. Before I met you, I never considered the possibility of male mermaids." Reyes' expression softened, and after a while he pretended to be a mermaid. Covering his wound, "Hey, I mean. If I can't hold on, can you sing me a song? The kind that seduces sailors."

Morrison was confused by Reyes' request. He was silent for a few seconds, and then a threatening whirring came out of his throat. It was obvious that human words offended him: "I can't sing! Seductive sailor is Se The tricks of the ren. Why do humans always confuse us? The harpies are almost the same as the mermaids."

Reyes shrugged: "Because for human beings, you are all creatures living in legends, and it is inevitable that you will lose your shape after experiencing too many oral traditions. We don't know your world, and you can't tell the same. A creature of land, isn't it?"

"Then tell me about it." Morrison responded casually, "The land you live on."

Since the octopus wizard has given him the ability to communicate with humans, why can't he satisfy his budding curiosity.

"The land where I live—" Reyes explained to the mermaid another completely different world—

"Summer afternoon sunlight pours into the house through the wooden window sills, and the heat radiates the brown-yellow land. The undulating and uneven ground has been leveled by the farmers, and the tall green plants stand on the ground like a planned forest. The wind strokes every leaf vein, and the smell of the farmland is brought into the room. It is the smell of grass, soil and corn fruit baked by the midday sun. Cicadas are on the trees, and grasshoppers are clinging to the planting poles, screaming exhausted A disturbing song was played, and the dirt road was filled with harsh noise.

A country boy, wearing a light-colored crew-neck underwear and a pair of denim overalls, is bending over to work in the field.His skin was tanned red by the sun, and his light blond hair seemed to have faded from long days in the fields.In the shade without sunlight, the boy's little terrier with a red bib was snoring and sticking out his tongue on the haystack. "

Morrison thought of the bedtime story he had told Hana and Sombra.In the story, the princess and the prince are always busy getting to know each other, and then fall in love; the characters representing truth, goodness and beauty will jump out to help you when you need them most; while the evil villain is still hiding in the dark and trying to disrupt everything... Morrison led the children to follow the protagonist in the story straight forward, but never thought of stopping to look at the surrounding scenery.

In the human narrative, Morrison seems to understand why girls always pester him to read bedtime stories.

The mermaid rubbed her cheek against the scales on her arm to keep herself awake.

Reyes didn't notice the mermaid's tiredness, so he changed the subject and talked about the winter story.

"However, in winter, all these disappeared. The sun still shines on the earth as usual, but the thick white snow and ice reflect the light back, which is more dazzling and cold. There seems to be no sign of life in the village, and every family hides in the warm shelter. At home, only the snorting of horses from time to time can break the deep silence.

But the terrier with the red bib loves the season.It will get into the snowdrift, jump into the air suddenly, twist its flexible limbs in the air, like a fish jumping out of a pond to breathe, and then gently and softly fall back into the snow.Snowflakes, as huge as fluff, fluttered down, covering the earth with layers of thick quilts.In winter, you think you can hear the sound of falling snow, but in fact, when the five senses and six senses are covered by fluffy snow, all the sounds have been absorbed. "

Human voices now become snowflakes falling into the sea, distant and indistinguishable, and reassuringly magical.

Morrison tried to open his eyes, but he was so tired that there seemed to be a sea hare on his eyelids, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop the drooping trend.

Finally, the mermaid fell asleep on the bank in a dazed state.

The sound stopped abruptly.

Reyes could finally look at the strange creature in front of him without any scruples.

The skin on Morrison's shoulders and back was exposed to the air. The man pressed one finger on the skin of the mermaid, and the moist and greasy feeling spread out on his fingertips. Reyes hesitated for a while, and then covered his entire palm. .

The mermaid's body temperature is much lower than its own, just like dipping its hands into a cool well at noon.

The man's warm hands lingered on Morrison's exposed back, so it seemed that Morrison was almost indistinguishable from a human being.

There are many light blue scales with metallic luster on the joints of his spine. On both sides of the vertebrae, there are many scars of different lengths. The scars that have healed are whitish and wrinkled, forming on the perfectly smooth surface. A series of discordant hills.Reyes

The machine fondled it fascinatedly, hoping to smooth it out.

After rubbing repeatedly, his palm took away the mucus from the mermaid's skin.Dehydrated skin takes on a strange reddish color, as if sunburned.Soon, the mutated skin began to secrete a small amount of transparent water layer.Although the mermaid was falling asleep, her body instinctively sensed that she had left the sea.

The water content in the air is not sufficient, and the skin without soft scales will crack if it loses contact with water for a long time.

Reyes withdrew his hand, rubbed his index finger with his thumb and then separated.The mucus formed a crystal clear downward arc on the fingers.

He once heard from fishermen near the port that a golden mermaid fell in love with a human being. She sang love songs one after another to her lover, and was finally accepted by the other party.Reyes smeared the transparent liquid from his fingertips on his arm, imagining how the mermaid's skin would feel when it touched his own skin, and imagining the moist liquid that wrapped the mermaid's skin flowing onto his body.

Then he imagined the mermaid singing to him.

※※※

When Morrison opened his eyes, it was daylight.

After glancing at the sleeping human lying on the ground, the mermaid dived back into the sea.He dug some shells from the reefs on the seabed, cut off the adductor muscle with his nails, and then sent the food back to humans.

After doing this, Morrison left the cave along the waterway.

When he got home, he found Hana curled up in the doorway.

"Daddy!" The little pink thing threw himself into the mermaid's arms, rubbed his forehead against the mermaid's shoulder for a while, and finally raised his head, wagging his tail from side to side in dissatisfaction, "Where did you go?"

Morrison had one arm around Hana, and no one mentioned the little pink tear crystals in the sand.They walked through the porch and came to the living room: "I heard a strange sound before, so I went out to have a look. Hana woke up so early today."

The young child believed her father's crappy lies, she nodded half-understood, and then withdrew from Morrison's arms.The little girl sat cross-legged on the giant clam fan leaves, and the older mermaid began to prepare today's breakfast.

"Because brother Genji is going to take Sombra and me to the Harvest Festival today!"

Morrison had the impression that the eldest son of the Shimada family mentioned the Harvest Festival a month ago, and he agreed to Hana's proposal to stay there for two days.For Hai Long's family, the mermaid is very reassuring - he once thought that the unsheltered plain of the big water and grass forest was the residence of the sea dragons, but it turned out that the fortified Dragon Palace City hidden among the red coral bushes was Shimada's real family.Morrison broke open the sea urchin and handed the bile in the middle to Hana: "After eating this, I will give it to you later."

"But brother Hanzo said he would come to pick me up, I want to ride on their manta ray." The little mermaid blinked her eyes, "Is that okay Daddy?"

"Well... well. Remember not to cause trouble for others."

"Daddy, the story from last night." Hana muttered with food stuffed in her mouth, "Did the little mermaid guess the name of the moray eel?"

"Guess right. When the lord passed by a cave, he heard the moray eel singing. He sang his name. The lord thought it was very interesting, so he told the little mermaid. So on the last day, the little mermaid said the name of the moray eel." real name. Moray disappeared with a 'poof'."

"Wow! What's the name of the moray eel?"

Morrison also doesn't quite remember what was written in the book.The mermaid was silent for a moment, then mischief prevailed.He thought for a while, and said a name in human language.

Hana wanted to imitate, but she found that her tongue seemed to be a little knotted: "Gabriel Lyesol? What a strange name, no wonder the little mermaid couldn't guess it." She read both sides again, although the tone was always wrong, but I also learned a general idea, "I want to tell this story to Heiying!" She announced excitedly.

Morrison smiled.

As soon as the mermaid prepared snacks for the little girl, Hai Long arrived.

Morrison hugged Hana onto the back of the manta ray, and the little octopus sitting next to it immediately stretched out its ankles to tickle Hana.The little girls giggled and laughed happily, like two clownfish swimming in the sea anemone.

"The children are counting on you."

"Don't worry, Mr. Morrison. I'll take care of them." Shimada Hanzo nodded at the mermaid, and twisted Genji who was sitting next to him trying to steal the reins from his brother.

"have fun."

"Bye Daddy!"

The black shadow beside him also waved at him, flexing his wrists and making a farewell gesture.

Morrison watched as the manta ray's thick, wide pectoral fins sliced ​​through the water, swimming farther and farther.

The house suddenly quieted down.

※※※

After Hana was picked up by Hai Long, Morrison had more time at his disposal.

After finishing his daily patrol, he would go down the waterway and into the cave where humans were hiding.Reyes has a lot to say about land.His voice is deep and hoarse, which is commensurate with his strong figure; his tone is steady, like the sea holding up his own; he doesn't talk about the country or the army with mermaids, and he doesn't inquire about private affairs. He always says all kinds of interesting things pleasant thing.

In just three days, Morrison was on the plains of the farm and also visited the majestic green islands; he fantasized about canyons covered by wet fog, and ravines exuding a mysterious atmosphere; people sat on chairs made of canvas Smoking a cigarette, the accordion played non-stop to the sound of babbling, and men and women danced on the sand to the beat.

But the time for magic is coming to an end.

※※※

Compliments to Angela and her perfect ointment, man's wound is healed except for some slight puffiness.The mermaid splashed some seawater on the wound, but the other party didn't respond.So he lightly poked the newborn skin with his pointed nails, and immediately got a cramped face with grinning teeth.

"The wound is completely healed, and it's time for you to go home," Morrison told Reyes on the night of the third day.

The human froze for a moment, his brown eyes looking down at the merman for a moment.Then, the man nodded.

Reyes slid into the sea, hung his arms on Morrison's shoulders, and clenched his palms on the mermaid's chest: "It's a good thing you don't have a shark-like dorsal fin." The man muttered to himself, as if he wanted to say something to ease the tension, But it didn't work. His stiff body was pressed against the slippery mermaid's back, and his strong legs wrapped in clothes brushed against the tail scales from time to time.

After passing through the underwater channel, the mermaid gradually floated up with the humans on its back.

The destination of their trip was the north corner of the cliff where Reyes fell. There was a gentle sandy land that only appeared during the low tide season. The ground was covered with slippery moss, like the home of sea dragons on land.Morrison rarely went to that headland, because the fishermen's settlement was just behind.

Morrison placed the human in the shallow sea area near the beach, and he could not move forward, otherwise he would most likely be stranded there.The human came off his back, and the man paddled the water, maintaining an upward posture.

"Take care. Don't fall into the sea again." Morrison turned and prepared to dive.

Gabriel Reyes will always leave.

He is a piece of crushed sand accidentally mixed into the clam shell, before it has time to implant in the soft flesh, it is washed out by the sea water, and will eventually be mixed with countless sea sand.

"Can I see you again?" the human behind suddenly asked.The galloping wind blew the opponent's warm breath to the side of the ear fins, turned around, and disappeared into the blue waves.

What is he saying?Morrison was taken aback, but the swinging side fins did not stop.

Thinking the mermaid didn't hear, Reyes yelled again, "Will I see you again?"

Morrison turned around suspiciously, facing the humans: "Why?"

"I have to repay your life-saving grace." Reyes said with a serious expression, "I will wait for you at this promontory on the night of the next full moon."

The merman leaped out of the sea, the water ripping off his tail scales, the moonlight kissing his shoulder.Then he fell back into the sea, flying happily among the white waves, and the appearance of being intimate with the tide formed the deepest impression in Reyes' mind.

TBC