Mermaids in Massachusetts

The Culture

"Room service!" a chipper voice called, waking Austin from his restless sleep. It was more of a nap if he was honest- he barely slept at all.

"C'm in," Austin grumbled. The door opened, revealing a mermaid with blonde hair and a tail of a Sagittarius; it was long, muscular, and a dark, deep green.

"Hiya. You must be Austin and Tanner," the woman said, smiling at the two of them. "I'm Brandi, and I'm sort of like your waitress for today."

"Hmm," Tanner mumbled, sitting up. His hair was all over the place, bedhead a wreck. Austin smiled, finding it rather endearing.

"Is there anything in particular you would like to eat? We do have chefs here, and they are known for their talent," Brandi said, giving two pieces of paper to Austin. He passed one to Tanner without thinking, then began looking at the paper's contents.

"Wait. Is this, like, a menu?" Austin asked. The paper was just a list of different types of foods- all foods Austin had known from above.

"Yep. You ask for it, we've got it."

"But how does that work? You can't burn a fire underwater," Austin said, and Brandi laughed.

"As far as I know, we're the most intelligent, well connected species on this planet, as of, like, ever. I think finding a way to make fire without oxygen and preserved in a waterless bowl is easy enough," she said. Austin shook his head in surprise. These mermaids sure have their shit together, he thought, remembering the disastrous ways of the mermen.

"Do you guys have Hawaiian pizza?" Austin asked, looking up from the menu.

"Of course. Don't you want anything fancier? We have steak, lobster-" Brandi started, but Austin cut her off.

"I just want Hawaiian pizza, honestly," Austin said.

"Fair enough, I can respect that. Anything for you, Tanner?"

"I... I don't, um," Tanner said, looking at the menu. "I actually can't... you know, read."

Austin's eyes widened. He knew Tanner didn't go to school- he knew, and yet, it felt strange seeing the effects of that on someone. He figured that Tanner must have picked up grammar and etiquette from his Teach, because Austin had never met someone with such a way with words.

"Hey. I can read it for you," Austin said quietly. Tanner nodded, leaning in to Austin's side.

"It is too early for this," Tanner said as quietly.

"Tell me about it," Austin said, smiling at Tanner.

"They've got omelettes, salads, burgers, soup, and sandwiches- okay, pretty stereotypical. Any of that sound good to you?"

"Austin, I have never heard of any of those things in my life," Tanner said. He seemed almost sad, melancholy.

"That's okay. Omelettes are like, eggs-"

"You eat eggs? Like, reproduction eggs? Gross," Tanner murmured, and Austin smiled.

"Salads are just plants, basically. Burgers are like, hmm. How do I explain burgers," Austin said, thinking hard. "It's like, meat with vegetables and dressing and cheese on this piece of bread thing. They're good, trust me."

"Ausy, I will just take what you are having," Tanner said.

"Great! I'll see you two in a few minutes with your orders," Brandi said, walking out the door.

"Okay, what's wrong," Austin said, scanning Tanner's face.

"Nothing. 'm just really tired," Tanner said, crawling back onto the bed. "I also love this bed thing. 's so comfortable."

"Yeah. I think I might have complained about missing it a little, while first living with you guys," Austin said, lying down. Tanner joined him, cuddling into his side.

"And I keep thinking how much Mason would like this," Tanner said, looking around. "He loves structure, organization, and-"

"Women," Austin finished, and Tanner raised turned to face him.

"What?"

"I probably wasn't supposed to tell you that, but I feel like I should tell you things," Austin said. He knew Mason wouldn't care as long as Tanner wouldn't. Austin didn't know what he'd do if Tanner would.

"You mean, like... he likes women, or he likes women?"

"The second one. He told me, the night we were prepping for Blake's Teach to come for us. I can't even remember how the conversation came up, but he seemed scared that you, Russell, and the others would kick him out for that. I felt bad for the guy," Austin said, sighing. "Where I'm from, the only way people can reproduce is with a guy and a girl, or maybe just in a lab, sometimes."

"He was scared that he would have gotten kicked out?" Tanner said, mentally skipping over that last sentence.

"Yeah. He said that he tried to love a guy, but he just couldn't do it. I dunno, I found that kind of relatable," Austin said. Tanner nodded, pulling Austin into his chest. Austin was used to being the little spoon- he was short, and he just... liked it better. It felt safe, secure.

A knock was heard at the door. "Hey, Brandi got busy with another customer, so they sent me to deliver your food. Can I come in?" a voice called from the door. This voice was less excited, and almost sounded a little more edgy.

"Uh, sure," Austin said, sitting up. The door opened. A woman with a bright red tail and black hair walked in, smiling at the two boys. She carried two boxes, each presumably filled with pizza.

"You wanna eat this here?" She asked, and Austin shrugged. "Cool. Just think of whatever you want, it should appear," she said. "Well, except food. Don't do that."

"You mean we can just think of things and they will appear?" Austin asked.

"Well, yeah. That's how that works," she said, placing the boxes on a small end table. I swear that wasn't there a minute ago, Austin thought, eyes darting back to the woman.

"So I'm Julie by the way," she said, leaning in the doorframe. "What's it like past the boundary?" she asked, looking between the two.

"Uh," Tanner stuttered. "It is nice, I suppose. Not as nice as this. Something must have happened, I have no idea."

"It's kind of in anarchy," Austin said. "Cannibalism, murder, the whole lot."

"I see it as a cultural difference," Tanner defended, and Austin smiled.

"Call it what you want, babe, you have to admit that this place is better functioning."

"We have not even left this city. What if the whole world past these walls is so much worse than home?"

"Yeah, maybe. I mean, there was a really big gate around the outside..."

"As someone who's lived here her whole life, let me tell you- we're like this all around. I myself was born near California, but I travelled down here to live in Artelaine."

"Artelaine?" Austin asked, and Julie smiled.

"You've been here for two days now. You think you'd know the place's name," she said.

"Before this trip, I've never left home," Tanner said.

"Wow. Up here we're always everywhere. I lived on the coast of Canada for a while. I moved to Oregon for a year, spent some time in Africa. I moved here because of the huge trade business. Plus I like the people here, which is always important."

"Yeah," Tanner muttered. Austin could tell from the look on his face that he was thinking about his old Teach. Austin put a hand on his shoulder, and Tanner leaned in to the touch.

"Anyways, it was nice talking boys, but I've got a restaurant to run," Julie said with a wave.

"Thank you!" Austin called after her. She shut the door, and Austin turned back to Tanner. "Now for real. You have to try this pizza."