Bleurgh!

Dawn did not know much about cooking. However, he knew some basics. It wasn’t difficult to follow the instructions behind the frozen food packaging. Besides, those gentlemen did not seem like they were professional chefs. Most men were only good at using the microwave and grilling meat.

Aqua rolled around on the sofa and looked at the strange box that talked while Dawn cooked. She could smell all sorts of strange scents as the human busied away. Those new smells made her stomach unhappy, and Aqua lost interest in the talking box.

Sniffing the air, the mermaid watched the human she saved, removing strange things from cardboard boxes. When he tossed the cardboard boxes, she gasped in alarm at the waste of edible material.

“What are you doing? Why do you throw those away? It can be eaten!”

Startled at the outburst, Dawn turned around. Aqua flailed on the couch with a panicked look on her face. He followed her line of sight, and it landed on the frozen pizza box in his hands. Putting two and two together, the mafia boss sighed. There were better things to eat than discarded cardboard. The overgrown fish probably ate discarded trash that humans threw into the ocean. How sad.

“Don’t worry about it,” he told her. “I’ll make you something better than cardboard. You won’t have to eat cardboard when you’re with me. It’s too bad I can’t take you to a nice restaurant now, so we’ll have to make do with frozen food.”

Restaurant? Frozen food? As expected, talking to a human taught her more than observing them from beneath the water.

Losing interest in the television, Aqua asked many questions that Dawn answered patiently. From their conversation, she learned the answer to why humans drove machines called cars even when they had legs. More importantly, the mermaid was surprised that humans made machines to imitate birds. They had machines to imitate legs, fishes and birds to get to places that were far away.

“Does that mean the bird machine humans create can reach the stars?”

Thinking for a while, Dawn chucked the frozen pizza into the oven and poured some soda for them. Aeroplanes couldn’t get into space, but rockets could. How should he explain it to her? Then again, rockets couldn’t reach stars. They would burn up, and the people inside would die. Technology was difficult to explain.

“No, they can’t,” the mafia boss eventually answered and passed a cup to the mermaid. She was still naked, and it bothered him. “Birds can’t touch the stars, so the planes can’t either.”

Accepting the simple but seemingly logical answer, Aqua stared at the bubbly liquid in the cup and sniffed. The drink fizzled, and Aqua was unsure what to do with it until she saw Dawn taking a sip. Copying his example, the mermaid drank, and her eyes widened when she felt the bubbles on her tongue. It was quite an unusual sensation, but it did not hurt. If anything, it was exciting. Not to mention, the liquid was sweet, so she swallowed it and took another sip, addicted.

Watching the mermaid experience new things was refreshing. Dawn had only ever taken out greedy women who wanted more than what they deserved in his eyes. They only knew how to ask for more whenever they saw him, and while they were pretty little things, it wasn’t the same as this mermaid who was full of wonder and gratitude. Not to mention, none of those ladies would take a bullet for him. This mermaid probably would. Heck, she sacrificed her tail to save him even though they didn’t know each other. She could be trusted.

“You like it?” he smiled when Aqua finished her drink.

The mermaid was about to answer when she felt a strange sensation building up in her chest.

Bleurgh!

The burp took everyone by surprise. Two seconds later, Dawn was laughing at the scandalised look on Aqua’s face as she covered her mouth with her skin flushing pink. What was that?!

It was probably the first time he’d seen a lady burp in such an unfiltered manner. Aqua was interesting, and Dawn could not help but wonder how she would react to everything else during her time as a human when morning came.

“S-sorry,” the mafia boss snickered when Aqua curled up on the couch, burying her face in her tail. The tip of her ears was still pink, and Dawn felt slightly bad for her. Struck by inspiration, Dawn poured a new cup of soda and drank quickly.

Bleurgh!!

The loud belching sound made Aqua look up. Dawn’s burp was longer, louder and generally more impressive than hers. The mermaid gaped in wonder and applauded as if it was some sort of magic trick, completely amazed.

“Excuse me,” Dawn grinned. “That’s what you say after you burp. Or pardon me if you want to sound sophisticated.”

Learning quickly, Aqua nodded and asked for a refill. Dawn obliged and watched as Aqua drained her cup. Then, she let out a loud belch and grinned.

“Excuse me!” Aqua giggled cheerfully, and Dawn couldn’t help but smile at her antics.

Most ladies tried to conceal crass behaviour like this. It wasn’t as if Dawn was turned off by their attempts to be sophisticated. However, it was refreshing to see someone embrace these things that make them human, especially when they weren’t exactly one. Unlike those gold-diggers and power whores, Aqua was very down to earth, even when she was more of an ocean girl.

The smile on Dawn’s face made Aqua feel tingly, like the soda she had just drunk. Why was he looking at her like that? It was making her feel uncomfortable, so the mermaid did what she normally did when faced with a difficult situation and hid her face in her tail.

In just a few hours of knowing his saviour, Dawn recognised her non-verbal communication. He had no idea if all mermaids hid their faces in their tails when distressed, but Aqua most certainly did. Was it because she was out of water for longer than she was used to?

“Do you want to swim for a bit before dinner is ready?” he asked with some concern when Aqua did not respond immediately.

Conflicted, Aqua wondered what she should do. There were so many questions she wanted to ask the human, but staying around him was starting to make her feel strange. There was something about the way he looked at her that made her feel like prey. Yet, there was no killing intent. Are all humans like this?

Walking over, Dawn called out to the unresponsive mermaid and gently rested a hand on her golden hair. It was rough from the salt in the sea, but they had a beautiful shine to them. It reminded him of the sun, contrasting his hair resembling the night.

Looking up from her tail, Aqua stared at the human with black hair. He wasn’t smiling now, but he was looking at her with eyes similar to her mother when Aqua told the good merlady how she collected another object humans had thrown away.

“I’m ok,” Aqua reassured the concerned human. “I just felt weird all of a sudden, but it’s gone now. What will you do after dinner?”

Looking at their naked torsos, Dawn frowned. He had to find them some clothes.

“We’re going to shower and find some clothes to borrow before getting onto land. Your tail is going to disappear when the sun comes up, so we have to find you a skirt and some shoes.”

With nothing better to do, going on an adventure with this fated human sounded like a great idea to Aqua. Beaming, she nodded. However, there was a question on her mind for the longest time.

“Why do humans have to wear clothes?”

It was a question that only children would ask. Dawn paused. How should he explain the birds and the bees to this innocent mermaid?

Deciding that there was no easier way to say it or a better way to answer the question, Dawn explained that not wearing clothes in human culture was akin to an invitation for mating.

Aqua knew what mating was. She had seen dolphins doing it and blushed. According to her mother, mating was a very sacred ritual between two individuals to share their lives together forever. It could not be done casually, and mermaids had to choose their partners carefully.

Seeing how Aqua understood the necessity for clothes, Dawn nodded and excused himself to ransack the rest of the yacht for what they needed. He should pack some food for the trip and steal some money if he could find any, so they could buy Aqua a skirt and some shoes. More importantly, he had sent the message to his aide. They should steal a car while it was still dark out and head to one of those hideouts.

Ricardo was going to pay for his betrayal in blood.