#even if this is a wird vomity mess XD

[septnautical]

Hair Tails

It always weirded Zara out… the boys’ hair was always so well kept. Did they know what scissors were? Did they have any here? What about when they were little? Did their hair just grow wildly until they couldn’t stand it? Kinda like Marvin’s when she first saw him…

One day, while hanging out with Jackie, she couldn’t take it anymore. She had to know.

“Hey, Jackie?”

The reaper merman turned on his side from where he was laying on his stomach. Zara floats off with a giggle, since she was hanging on his back. She pokes his nose, making him twitch it sillily, then settles down next to him, resting on his hip.

“I got something weird to ask you,” She hums, reaching up and running fingers through his wild green locks. “How do you boys take care of your hair? How do you cut it? What did you do before you came to the Ocean Arms?”

Jackie blinks and then puts on a thoughtful face. “Huh… well- when we were first in our tank, the white suits would come in and shave our hair to all look alike. It was easier to test us that way, if they wanted to put like… those weird sticky squares on our head.

But, when we escaped, the couple of us with claws would try to cut everyone else’s hair! So, me, Anti and Henrik.” He laughs and sinks to the ground, a faraway look in his eyes but a small smile gracing his lips.

“Henrik always tried to use white suit tools… it freaked us out so we kinda stopped asking him after a while. Anti was the best at it- but he would tug and shove us to make us sit still and he wasn’t very patient… Then, I’m one of the babies- so it was hard for me to control my claws or mandibles to help. But, i was eagar and i tried my best! There were a couple messy jobs when we were small.” Jackie laughs again and Zara joins him, the image of little jackie too cute in her head.

...when Anti got taken and Schneep started to get a bit more.. Distant. That’s when I really learned how. I’m pretty good at it now~” The reaper grins smugly, wiggling an eyebrow at Zara. The girl chuckles then pushes her hair out of the way of her mask.”

“Maybe you should do me sometime!”

The merman pales and then laughs nervously, “Uh- how would you like a short haircut?”

Zara bursts into laughter at that, “Oh c’mon Jackie, you did Marvin’s hair just fine! He’s keeping it longer now isn’t he?”

Jackie hums in thought then smiles, “Oh yeah- longer than he did before that’s for sure.. But definitely not as long as it was! When we found him he was a mess! It was all curly and matted, and chopped in weird places….”

The blue suit winces visibly, “ah- part of that might have been Zeke… he got annoyed by Marvin’s hair pretty quickly and chopped some off to see his face…” She looks at Jackie apologetically.

He shrugs, “It might have been a relief for Marv. His hair was so crazy… and he wouldn’t let us touch it for a long time after he got back too.”

Zara is quiet for a bit, tapping her fingers on her leg as she thinks. Then, she perks up and taps Jackie rapidly on his tail. “Jackie! I just had a great idea!!”

Not that Jackie gets to hear it- Zara actually swims off before telling Jackie, leaving the merboy laying in the sand with a confused head tilt.

The raven haired girl swims around for a bit, looking around the sunny spots near the base on the reef. She brightens when she seems a familiar patch of purple and she swims down. Marvin is curled up on the sand, peacefully dozing. His head is resting on his arms, his tails curl up against him. With his mask, he looks so much like a sleeping cat Zara can’t help but giggle at the sight. The merman slowly opens his eyes and looks up to Zara blearily, blinking sleep out of his eyes. He yawns and stretches and Zara has to cover her mouth to not laugh again at how cat like it is. Marvin sits up and rubs at his eyes, tilting his mask sideways on his head.

“Zara…?” He croaks, sleep thick in his throat, “What’re you doin’ here…? Whatcha want?” He narrows his eyes slightly, studying her closely. They really haven’t had much time to hang out,so he wasn’t sure how to act around her. But Jackie trusted her, and she did help save him.

Zara studies Marvin right back, watching as the currents stir Marvin’s hair. It’s a light mossy green with hints of brown peeking through. It floats just past his jawline now, in a curly messy bob of sorts. When Zara first saw him, his hair was wild and went to his shoulders, bangs so long you could hardly see his eyes. Jackie had done a really good job of cleaning him up. But, Zara knew something that would help him even more.

She sits down next to him and he scoots back slightly, looking at her with big confused eyes. Zara smiles timidly then pulls something out of her pack. It’s a nice looking piece of blue green fabric- looking like it could be used in some of the ocean’s arms suits. Marvin leans closer to it and tilts his head, before looking back to Zara, “What’s that?” He asks quietly.

“Well, Jackie was telling me about something I was curious about. I wondered how you all keep your hair so nice when you don’t have tools like us humans do… and then i remembered that you were wanting to keep your hair longer- but it’s gotta be a little annoying right?”

Marvin feels through his hair and looks up as he thinks. “Yeah… i guess- It gets in my face sometimes when i swim… or in my mouth when I’m sleeping.” He sticks his tongue out and smacks his lips like he can still taste it. Then, he starts to twiddle his fingers slightly, looking away from Zara. “i… I like having it longer now though… it’s nice to be different from the others. It… feels good too? Now that it’s not so… you know.” He gets a darker, faraway look in his eyes. “And… it’s a reminder… of what i went through. That I'm stronger now than i was then.”

He looks back to Zara and then snaps out of his daze, his ears and cheeks turning a slight magenta as he stammers, “Ah- sorry that was… probably stupid- to be so… weird about hair…”

Zara quickly shakes her head, then lightly grabs Marvin’s hand, “It’s not weird! I think your hair is lovely- and the fact that it has such a good message for you is wonderful!”

Marvin knits his eyebrows together in confusion, “Then… why bring it up? I thought you were gonna tell me to cut it like my brothers do…”

She giggles and shakes her head again. “That’s something boys dont get- but, i thought i’d give you an easier way to get your hair out of the way when you need it!” Zara stretches out the ribbon in Marvin’s face then swims around to be behind him.

The warper merman stiffens slightly and Zara hesitates, not yet touching him. “...do you mind if i try something Marv? I won’t hurt you or cut it- I swear.”

He’s quiet for a second before squeaking out, “O...okay..” He tries to force himself to relax, twirling and untwirling his tails to distract him. Zara finds that kinda cute-

Taking his hair, she softly and gently bundles it up in her hands, grabbing some of his still choppy bangs and trying to merge it with the back and smooth it out. Then she twirls the ends so it kinda resembles a bun- he doesn’t have that much hair though- so by the time she ties the fabric around, it’s more of a small ponytail than anything. But, the blue suit swims away, satisfied. She reaches into her bag then pulls out a small compact with a mirror, showing it to marvin.

“All done! What do you think?”

Marvin blinks and takes the mirror, looking at it strangely for a second. He’s only seen his reflection in pools and glass windows before. But, as he adjusts to it he straightens and tilts his head around to see.

“Wow… Zara- this looks really good.” He mumbles, then feels up the back of his head. “And… feels good.”

Zara grins, “You should be able to swim with no problems now! And you can take the tie out whenever you want it loose! In fact, want me to teach you how to do it yourself?”

The warper looks at her with sparkling eyes, before timidly asking, “...c-can you…?”

The girl smiles warmly and plops down by him, pulling out a small purple brush that shines iridescently in the ocean light. She gives it to Marvin and then babbles excitedly, “Yeah! I can teach you all sorts of things to do with your hair! We can braid it- ohh! You would look so good with a dutch braid??” She moves to his back again, then waves a hand to him, “That brush is for you by the way! It’ll help you pull your hair back better- and so it won’t get tangled! It must be hard to brush with claws!”

Marvin looks to the brush with wonder, watching the color change as he twists it around in his hands. “.. t-thank you Zara…” Braids huh- Jack knew how to do those… but he never got the chance to teach Marvin how.

…..

Later that night, Marvin is getting ready to sleep in the cave, looking at the brush. Then he smiles and removes his mask, letting his hair down and starting to brush his hair, snuggled up against the wall.

Jamie swims over with wide eyes, and points to the brush with excitement. “Pretty!”

The warper mer smiles and pats the place next to him, and Jamie eagerly swims up and curls up to his side. Marvin then takes the brush and brushes Jamie’s soft teal locks. The cuddlefish merman’s eyes flutter and he smiles wide, nuzzling up more against Marvin. This reminds Jameson of Jack… playing with all their hair as they laid in a pile together.

Marvin grins mischievously then uses his new tie to mess with Jamie’s hair, who giggled and swatted at Marvin, his hair now sticking up in a straight ponytail like a pineapple.

Chase swims over to the commotion with a low chuckle, “What are you two doing?”

Marvin slips the tie out of Jamie’s hair then bundles his own hair back with it, a sly grin on his face. “Nothing~!”

The older brother cocks an eyebrow, “Is that so?” It was good to see Marvin joking again- playing games with his siblings. It warmed Chase’s heart. He floats down to them and then picks up the brush curiously while also eyeing Marvin’s new hair tie.

“Where’d you get this stuff Marv?”

The warper merman sinks against Chase with a soft happy smile, “A friend.”

Chase smiles back then ruffles Marvin’s hair lovingly, earning quiet protests from the younger brother. “You look good, kiddo. S’like a new you!”

Marvin hums and feels up to his ponytail again, his smile getting bigger. “Yeah… it is.”