I Have No Excuse

Untitled Part 29

Today was the day. Prowl was compliant as always when we started securing him to be moved. Though he did look a little irritated when we woke him up right after he settled to do so. But he made no efforts to fight us or make it any harder. Just gave us a look that effectively said 'really?' before huffing and letting us do what we wanted with him. His neighbors however were more interested. Scavenger was making little sounds and pacing. They all looked a little worried, but Scavenger was the most obvious. They had hissed at Arcee when she entered as per usual now. They didn't like her any longer after she had taken the art stones. Then they grew quiet when others came in. It seemed they caught on that this wasn't a tank cleaning or a usual check up so now they were observing more closely. They'd change their tune when we put them in with Prowl and Prowl... Well I had no doubt that he wasn't going to be happy.

The moment we put Prowl in the merger he gave us a questioning look, but didn't seemed too bothered. We gave him half an hour to get himself settled before we started moving the others. They gave us a little more trouble, but were much more compliant than they could have been. They obviously didn't like the idea of being moved, but maybe it was the hope that they would get to see Prowl if they didn't cause too much trouble. Arcee had wisely stepped back and let us handle them on our own. All in all it was a rather smooth move. One by one they were put into the merger.

Prowl was not happy. His scales had puffed out and he had a low growl when he saw us coming in with them. He hissed aggressively at Scavenger when he was dropped in. Scavenger however just made a little chirping sound and looked rather happy despite the threat. Thankfully he didn't try to move any closer to Prowl. We waited a minute before we dropped in Hook. Hook was much calmer than his other pod members so he stayed close to Scavenger. No change so in went another and the process continued until they were all in.

Prowl was tense. His posture was quickly shifted from offensive aggression to defensive, but the others made no moves or gestures to show that they noticed. They seemed rather happy. We simply watched. Cliff and Arcee were pretty relaxed as they watched so that put me at ease. No calls were made yet, but they didn't appear to be worried that they were going to attack. Prowl however was unpredictable when he wanted to be so until he backed down no one was leaving. It was just a precaution as no one really believed that they were going to fight. Prowl wasn't stupid and he knew he was outnumbered. As for the others they hadn't shown Prowl any form of aggression or anger in weeks.

The stare down was long, but that was a usual occurrence. None of them seemed to want to test the waters. At any move Prowl would hiss at them. Then when he was sure they weren't going to move he moved to the glass and stared at me. Yeah he was not happy. He didn't look Pissed, but it was painfully obvious he was blaming me. If anything he looked unamused at the moment. Definitely upset, but I didn't think he would try and drown me or anything. I sighed after several minutes of this staring contest. He hadn't blinked yet and I swear he was going to burn a hole into me like this.

"This isn't a punishment, Prowl. Ya need to move on and get out of here before we have people swarming ya because you're so smart. This will help ya heal, ya know. I promise."

My little pep talk didn't have any effect. The staring contest went on for another minute before one of the other mers made a sound. Prowl turned briefly to hiss at whoever made the sound before rounding back on me.

"Can't ya at least Try and make nice? I mean they aren't trying to kill ya or anything. They even seem to like ya."

Prowl growled softly before turning back to his new roommates. Then he moved back to his chosen corner to hide himself in the coral and flora.

"Well I think that went well. Lets let them sit for a while. We need to have someone watching them until further notice though. Just a natural precaution." Arcee spoke up after a second.

"I don't think they need it, but its protocol. So who wants to take the first shift?" Cliff asked as he looked around.

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Prowl would hiss at them anytime they tried to get closer. He would ignore them as he worked on digging himself another nest. He'd wait until they got their ration of the fish at feeding time until he snatched his own before returning to his corner. It only happened a few times before they started bringing his over to him. Or at least as close as they could get. Prowl had at first refused to eat it and I was worried he was going to try and starve himself, but he ate once they all had their backs turned. He didn't want them watching him eat it for whatever reason and I didn't much care for it so long as he was eating.

His scales were starting to look dull in several places as he wasn't grooming himself and that was what worried me. I hoped that once he was done making his nest that he would start to groom himself again. Blaster reassured me that if it went on too long we'd pull him out for a while to groom him ourselves or Ratchet would order it at some point. It took a while for scales to rot so he would be ok. No one here would let it get to that point. No one was afraid of Prowl and everyone approached Prowl without fear of being attacked. Blurr was the only one who had a slight sore spot, but it passed rather quickly and even he found it funny that Prowl had stolen his snickers bar now. Prowl was going to be fine.