The Sky's Eternal Sunset

Oh, Swimming Away

I can't help but unravel when you pull out a thread

I just lose my mind when you mess with my head

And I will always throw a tantrum if you throw me just some bone

I'm not your puppy, I'm a famous fish, who'd rather swim alone

Mermaid -Emily Kinney

(⁠'⁠◉⁠⌓⁠◉⁠'⁠)(⁠'⁠◉⁠⌓⁠◉⁠'⁠)(⁠'⁠◉⁠⌓⁠◉⁠'⁠)(⁠'⁠◉⁠⌓⁠◉⁠'⁠)(⁠'⁠◉⁠⌓⁠◉⁠'⁠)

🎨You're packing already?🎨 asks a voice from the door.

Sora's oldest sister Namine leans on the door of Sora's room with a smirk. It's the room he used to share with Xion until she insisted on one of her own. Sora had a crying fit when they tried to get him to move into one with a smaller closet, so they let him keep it. When he's away for his studies, they use it as a spare bedroom, but when he comes back, it reverts to the way it always ends up.

The walls are plastered with anatomical charts and drawings; some printed from a computer and others drawn in his own hand. One would be hard-pressed to find the original wall color, but if the pictures were peeled back, they'd find it was as blue as the sky. Strewn about the floor are clothes, clean and dirty, as Sora tosses what he wants and doesn't want into his two suitcases. Among his clothes are several books and journals, haphazardly thrown in with no semblance of organization.

🎨It's a month early, you're gonna make mom cry,🎨Namine adds when he doesn't answer.

⛎I need to make sure I got plenty of clothes,⛎ Sora tells her. ⛎Last time, I ended up buying more underwear because I didn't have enough.⛎

🎨Right, cause that rare mer kept soaking you right?🎨Namine nods and scans the room. 🎨Which one was that one again?🎨

Sora is very familiar with where all his drawings from the Jamaican sanctuary are. There's a group of the young Marakihaus, Axel, and several different Rusalkas. But Roxas has a section all his own.

Without looking up from his dresser drawers, Sora extends his arm and points to several drawings on the wall behind him. Anatomical notes and hypotheses, all the things he wrote about in his thesis. A thesis that resulted in him getting his Masters. Namine enters and bends a little to look at them, adjusting her hair to the right side of her shoulders.

🎨Ah right, the red and purple one. The Rusalkas ones all look the same to me.🎨She shrugs indifferently. 🎨But he's kinda cute, I guess.🎨

⛎He's a punk,⛎ Sora says with a grin. ⛎Or he was... wonder if he's changed much...⛎

🎨Maybe,🎨 Namine shrugs again. 🎨do mer tend to change a lot in the course of a year?🎨 she asks.

⛎Physically? Not really after a certain age.⛎ Sora shakes his head and tosses some socks into his suitcase. ⛎But that's not what I'm talking about.⛎

He wants to know if Roxas's changed as a person.

Will he be the same mer that scared him shitless a year ago? Will he have a new sense of humor? Or will tugging on toes and spitting water in people's faces still be his prank of choice? Will Roxas still like Hawaiian music? Or will he have new songs to love? Speaking of love......will he have found it?

🎨Don't forget to call mom every day,🎨Namine reminds him and starts folding his shirts so they'll fit better into the case. 🎨She didn't like it when you went a week without talking to her.🎨

⛎She knows I was busy,⛎Sora explains. ⛎I had a lot of work to do and only a little time to do it.⛎

🎨No excuse. Mom won't stand for it again,🎨Namine scolds. 🎨She'll drag you back to Kailua herself if you forget to call her.🎨