Leviathantale Mermay 2022 - Pearl Edition

Day 7: Anchor

Horror and the other sharks brought home their catch. Their Shiver has grown tremendously. After joining Nightmare, Dream and Balance, it wasn't long before six more bull sharks followed, all a different color of the rainbow. In addition to Killer, Misery, Execution, Slaughter, Knife, Meteo, and their only adult female Mer Vita also lived with them. Later, the other leviathans joined them, even if they didn't always live in the grotto. With the leviathans came their mates and their children.

Lots of catches today. They had many hungry mouths to feed and Horror loved nothing more than to see his partners and shivermates satisfied and full. It was rare that they had Bill and 404 to visit, with the throng of children frequently visiting each other. If Horror hasn't forgotten anyone, today they are... twenty-two Mers who need to be taken care of. Oh wait! He forgot himself! So twenty three.

Horror followed the other sharks into the cave, all of whom were carrying different treats. Horror had several gold tokens that he placed on the big pile of loot where a wide variety of delicacies for everyone can be found.

"DADDY!" Horror had hardly laid his catch when he was hugged by his child. "Hey Cookie." He wraps his arms around his little starfish for a hug and plants a kiss on his forehead. "That hungry?"

"Yes, that too." Cookie pushes himself out of the hug and grabs some smaller fish. "Squall is just talking nonsense again and that scares me!" The young shark Mer wails with the eyes of Dust and the happiness of Cross when he allows himself to emerge from his conch shell, behind which he hides his emotions.

"Hm? What did Squall say?” Horror wanted to take away his little starfish's fear so his child didn't have to be afraid.

The other Mers were already finding spots near Nightmare and the other children, although the children were a little to themselves and had different conversational interests than the adults.

"Squall said you almost turned to seafoam!" Cookie swam with Horror and now that Horror took a closer look, Cookie's eyes were clearly flushed, as if little Mer had been fighting back tears.

He pulled Cookie into another hug: "Oh my little starfish! Everything is good! I'm not seafoam as you can see." He takes a tuna for himself and swims to the others with Cookie in his arm.

"Squall thinks an anchor killed you!" Cookie wailed, tears running and mixing with the seawater.

"Shhh, it's good. I live! But Squall wasn't entirely wrong either, an anchor had actually caught me..." He rubs soothing circles on Cookie's back while speaking quietly, not wanting to lie to his child and at the same time calm him down.

The other children became aware and Bill, 404 and Balance also looked over at them. However, 404 was careful not to get too close to anyone, he didn't want to accidentally touch anyone with the poison that he carried as a lionfish. But that has never stopped Bill, a handsome yellow black flying gurnard, from being practically attached to the other.

"Uncle Horror! Tell us about it?” PJ, an adorable eel like Error, and Goth, a fluffy Selkie like Geno, came swimming up excitedly, followed by the other kids who gathered around Horror and Cookie. The heavily pregnant Balance also scooted a little closer to listen to the story, even though he already knew it. Only Squall, the small but almost adult, gray-spotted mimic octopus Mer held back. But Horror meant getting closer to him and joining them.

"Only if you eat your food while you're at it!" Horror growled good-naturedly at the crowd of children who were already making themselves comfortable around him.

Receiving enthusiastic nods and affirmations in return, he began the story.

"Mhmm, I may not remember it all...it's been a long time, you know. And since then, remembering hasn't been my forte either.” Horror taps the edges of the skull hole.

The younger children looked at him with big eyes.

"What happened, Uncle Horror?!" Sugar asks curiously, nibbling on his fish.

"I was a little older than Squall now and I was hunting." Horror scratched his skull gently. "I was chasing a big shoal of anchovies... Or was it mackerel?" He shakes his head, "Never mind... I was hunting and was just concentrating on the shoal. That's why I didn't notice the big ship. I don't know what kind of ship it was. Could have been a fishing boat or a yacht…” Horror shrugs.

The children in front of him had snuggled up to each other and listened to the story with wide eyes. Horror is incredibly lucky to have found a family where he learned to talk about this event so easily, was loved the way he is.

"Noticing the movements in the water too late and... got the ship's anchor on top of me." He frowns and squints his eye, the memory getting a little fuzzy here. "I think he had detached himself from the ship... And I... fainted. The impact had cracked my skull, but somehow I avoided worse…” Horror thinks hard.

"When I came to, I had a terrible headache and was pinned between the anchor and a rock."

"How did you break free?" Créme and Cocoa asked in unison as Execution laid down next to Balance and began to nurse the little goldfish who was expecting his baby. And Skadi, Error and Reaper's little killer whale kid, who saw Knife as his second mother, slid excitedly in his seat.

"I kept pushing the anchor until I could move it." He smiled at the children, "I kept it! Should remind me to keep an eye on my surroundings.”

"H is really strong. Surely you agree with your daddy, don't you Cookie?” Dust swam to Horror's side and nudged him when the great white turned to him.

"Yes! Daddy is the strongest shark!”, nodding his head vigorously, Cookie confirmed Dust's statement and snuggled up between the two fathers.

Cross pouted playfully. "And what about Mom?" "Mom is the best guard!" It all came together as four of the kids threw themselves at Cross and hugged him. Cross staggered under the onslaught, causing the other Mers to laugh.

"Anyway, you should always be aware of your surroundings when hunting!" Horror takes Cookie from Cross and caresses little Mers' face. "Now eat up your fish and then it's off to the nest!"

The children protested, but most of them, especially the younger ones, were already yawning and finishing their meal to be cleaned up by their parents and taken to the nests.