I Have No Excuse

There's a Sixth Chapter?!

Things were as normal as they could be when you were hiding a mer that was practically in your backyard. It was a Saturday morning and Blaster had gotten the idea to take our mer for a 'walk.' Maybe catch a few fish and what not. As far as we knew Prowl never strayed far from the shallows. Always preferring to stay close to us by the shore. Either watching us and hearing us talk despite not understanding or chasing the small fish around the cape. Within the cove all he did was watch us as he lounged on his rock perch. Occasionally making little sounds in response to us talking to him. A field trip around the coast wasn't such a bad idea. Not only that, but it would give us a chance to sneak a peek at what was being built on the coast. Rumor was it was some sort of bridge to connect to the other side so that people could just cut across instead of taking the long route finally. That had been a pending request for a long time and I knew my father had been sick of it. He made sure everyone knew when he was unhappy. Thus we borrowed the boat saying we wanted to check out the construction and just sit in the water and what not. Gaven had been in a rather giving mood ever since Prowl began helping him and Blaster fish thankfully. Just so long as we didn't get into any trouble or somehow get pulled over for something stupid we could borrow it.

"Come on, Prowl!" I called in the direction of the cove. "The coast is clear, pal, lets go explore a little, huh?!"

Blaster leaned back in his seat as we watched for our mer friend. A little more encouragement and the brief appearance above the water gave us our answer and we were off. It was a casual pace. Prowl popping up every once in awhile in the form of a black and white blur or flicking tail just hitting the surface of the water. I laughed as he darted about the boat with swift and careful movements. We stopped it a decent distance away from the shoreline. Just enough to make it out, but much to far for anyone to see our mer friend. I leaned over the side to peer into the water.

"So whatcha think? How's it feel to be out here?" I asked as he appeared above the water.

He was as silent as usual as he ducked back under, but I just grinned. Turning back to my friend I took a seat.

"I think he's happy."

Blaster however just snorted. He leaned on the side of the boat as it rocked with the waves. The sun was warm and the wind soft. A few puffy clouds floating on as our mer just swam around and below us, occasionally making little jumps in which he'd glance at us. Blaster at some point decided to jump in as well. I stayed in the warm and dry safety that the boat provided. I hated getting wet and no amount of goading could get me in that water. Once you get wet you get cold and I hated cold as much as being wet. Your clothes stick to you and it's uncomfortable. However it was amusing enough to see Prowl playing with my friend. It had started with Blaster splashing him when he swam up and now Prowl was skulking around underwater and randomly popping up to splash water at him while Blaster fruitlessly tried to splash him back.

"You're getting your ass handed to ya, Blaster!" I called as I leaned over the side.

"Like you could do better! I bet he'd kick your ass too!"

"There is nothing ya can say that's going to get me in there!"

"It's fuuuun!"

"Yeah because being wet and cold and having my clothes stick to me sounds like a blast!" Came my sarcastic reply.

"Oh quit being such a baby! Come play with us!"

"Nope! Nope nope! No!"

"Jazz!"

"No!"

"Jaaazzzzz!"

"Sorry! Just boarded the nope train to No Waysville! Nope Nope!"

"Fine! We'll just have fun without you! Right, Prowl?!"

I laughed as my friend got splashed again. The few times he did managed to get Prowl came with yells of triumph only for him to get hit again. So far it was an afternoon well spent. So when we took off again it was with large smiles and laughter to come with it. Blaster was soaked and had flicked water at me in a teasing manner when he got back on. I had no clue how he could stand it.

"Oh there." Blaster slowed us to a stop when the construction site came into view.

"Lets see how close we can get." I whispered like we could possibly get overheard from this distance.

However the sound of a whimper caught our attention. We turned to our mer friend. His scales were puffing out much like a cat's fur would when threatened and his wing fins were pressed close to his body. Those bright sapphire eyes seemed to be darker as he made an attempt to hide in the water close to the boat.

"Prowl?" I approached our mer friend. "What is it? What's wrong?"

The only response I got was another low whine.

"I think we should turn around." Came Blaster's suggestion and I just nodded.

With careful movements we turned around. I was making sure we didn't hit our mer friend in the process.

44444444444444 The Fours Have Returned!44444444444444

"What has ya so scared, Prowls?"

Our mer friend was restlessly circling his perch in the cove. His scales still puffed out and wing fins pulled in close. We had been watching him go around for several minutes since we returned to the cove. I reached my hand into the water.

"Calm down, pal. You're safe."

My efforts had as much effect as Blasters had. The constant circling was unnerving. Our mer was usually so calm and quiet. We both lay on our stomachs with our arms pillowing our heads as we just simply watched in silence. Then I started whistling. His ear fins twitched, but that was the only reaction I got for awhile. Ever so slowly he looked at us. Then he gradually began to slow as Blaster joined in. His circles widened until he settled below us, as close to the wall of our ledge as possible. His tail curling around him like he was a snake. The tail fin falling over his face as he tucked his arms in close to his chest. I reached down to run a hand over his back. He didn't so much as twitch as I smoothed the scales down. I sighed slowly.

"Geez, Prowl. What happened to ya?"