#mersharp

1. Mermay? Sharpagne? More likely than you'd think.

His eyes snapped up, his first thought being another employee had found him and was going to start harassing him. Nobody was running up the beach though, instead a frothing disturbance a few hundred metres away drew his gaze. With a furrowed brow, he fixed his bookmark before leaving his book on the rock, standing to approach the racket. 

An angry snarl threatened to escape as his closer inspection revealed something trapped in a discarded fishing net. It was large, and shimmering bluish scales shone as a thick tail smacked against the bank, distressed trills filling the air above the splashing. Champagne sighed quietly, approaching slowly as he called out.

“Easy there, buddy, you’re gonna get hurt if you keep thrashing like that.”

To his disappointment, that only seemed to make the creature more distressed, the trills cutting off as the tail slammed painfully against the sand and rope. Champagne winced as he noted a small trickle of red spilling between iridescent scales. If they kept this up, they could get seriously hurt- a severed fin or worse.

“Easy there, easy, let’s get that off you, ey?”

He reached forward, grabbing the net and pulling slightly to get the creature fully onto the wet sand dividing the beach and ocean. He tugged a tattered cover off the old net with a wrinkled nose, turning back to continue freeing the creature before freezing. 

Blue-green eyes that matched the shimmering tail stared back at him.

Champagne swallowed thickly. A mer. He was freeing a- a mer. Okay. Wow.

“Hi there.” He said softly, reaching to slowly start untangling the rope from around the large blue-green tail. The mer didn’t respond, watching him intently with wide, wide eyes, hands curling into sand, body tense.

2. Losing Ourselves on the Interstate

The kid fell asleep sometime before the border cross into Pennsylvania. Benny didn’t mind, happy to let the kid rest as long as they needed. The dark bags under their eyes certainly suggested they needed it. They blinked awake as Benny turned off to a pit stop. He didn’t plan to stay long, a few hours of sleep maybe, but the look in the kid’s eyes as they stopped at a slightly shabby carpark made him hesitate.

“Hey, Astra? Do you want to keep moving? We don’t have to stay.” Look, don’t judge, he tries, okay? He never claimed to be the best when it came to people, but even he could tell something was off with the kid.

“No.” They breathed. Their eyes were fixed on the wildflowers growing by the toilet block.

“You sure?”

“Yes.” The bite is back, but it has no real heat to it. “Bathroom.”

And then they’re gone, disappeared into the dark. Benny let out a soft sigh, then grabbed his favoured green blanket, climbed into the back and curled up to catch a few hours of shut eye. With the van off, the sounds of wildlife drifted through the metal plating to reach his ears. Tiredly, he rolled over, pillowed his head on his arm, and sunk into the depth of sleep.

A door opening caused him to stir in his sleep, but a quiet, “you can keep sleeping” stopped him from waking completely. 

It was only when the sun began to rise nearly six hours after he initially fell asleep that Benny properly woke. With a grunt, he pushed himself up and into the front seat. He kicked the door open, stepped out and stretched, watching the sky transform as he leaned against the van’s front. He glanced over as Astra rounded the bonnet to sit above the number plate. In their hand was a thermos that they offered Benny.

“Coffee.” They said by way of explanation at Benny’s odd look. It was decent coffee. Once he was feeling more awake, Benny hopped back into his seat and warmed up the engine.

“Come on kid. Let's go get some real breakfast.”

Astra nodded.

“Can we pick up some crickets from a pet store too?”

Benny frowned and turned to ask before pausing. His gaze flicked from the creature on his dash to the kid next to him.

“Where did you get that.” He asked flatly. Astra scooped the critter up and placed it in a small container.

“Behind the toilets. I don’t know how long they were there for. I don’t know if they’ll live, but they were an abandoned pet. Have to be. Leachie’s aren’t native here. And this one’s just a baby.”

Benny elected not to question the seemingly random reptile trivia, instead sighing and not trying too hard to hide his smirk. “Alright kid. Let’s get all three of us fed up, ‘ey?” Astra looked up at him with something like hope in their eyes, before looking down at the critter -leachie- with a small smile.

“Yeah.”

3. Sneak Peak to Chapter 11 of LttS

Jake muttered his goodbyes, mind a mess he was trying to clean as he kicked off the side of the building. The other’s had gotten used to his odd form of travel, only offering calls to be careful now instead of the shocked gasps he’d heard the first time they’d seen him fly. The wind whipped his hair about his face and he closed his eyes, imagining his worries being blown off his back. Unfortunately, it was this relaxation that allowed him to pick up on the sounds of yelping.

His eyes snapped open and he was diving before he could think, goop covering his eyes to protect against the wind. He barely had time to process where he was going before he found his target. 

He felt his blood boil.

“HEY!” He yelled, dust flicking around him and condensing in his goo as he landed, skin pricking with anger. The group jumped before turning on him.The ringmaster glared at him, but Jake wasn’t looking at him. Instead, he was staring daggers into the teen a few steps behind the leader. A very familiar teen who he’d seen only a few weeks ago in a dark alley. 

“What do you think you’re-” “Two options.” Jake cut off, voice pitched low and dangerous. “Either you can step away from that fine woman there, or I can make you.”

He grinned at that, all teeth and no spark, before flicking a small orb to land straight between the leader’s eyes. “So, what’ll it be?” 

The group charged.

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