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mynamesaplant · 1 year ago

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Comfort for Weirdos

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Dawn gets a new babysitter and she is not a fan.

Another PLA Mer AU! This one's been sitting in my Works in Progress for a little while, so I'm just posting it to be done with it. Thanks to Monsoon-of-Art for all the inspiration!

Don't like reading on Tumblr? Read it here on AO3.

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Dawn occupied herself while Ingo was engaged in quiet conversation with Palina, staying tucked behind Ingo’s fin and puffing out warm air only for it to turn into little clouds and drift away. Palina was nice, if a tiny bit overbearing. She was always so concerned about what she was eating. Dawn always made sure she had a belly full of something from Jubilife before she set out on her journeys.

Although Ingo had her tied up in discussion, Dawn felt the mer’s gaze on her – silently fretting about what she could possibly be eating when Ingo was notoriously picky and bad atrocious at hunting. The surveyor pretended not to notice Ingo shifting his weight slightly to glance down at her, trying to be absorbed in a new task (grooming her snowy tail) while the adults spoke in muffled tones overhead. She was obviously the topic of conversation, and she was relieved when Ingo told Palina he would join her in less than an hour, shepherding Dawn away.

“Bye, Dawn!”

Palina called after her, waving before they rounded the corner and Dawn waving back with a sheepish smile on her face. She really did like Palina… Now if only the warden tried giving her something cooked.

“Where are we headed today?”

Dawn asked, wriggling across the ice and finding it frustrating that she was so slow. Her claws were so blunt and useless in these ice caverns. Ingo didn’t immediately reply, nudging her towards a hole to the underwater entrance to the main settlement.

This cavern was just one of the many. Little hidey holes for seclusion and storage. The cavern they were leaving was dedicated to food stores which desperately needed replenishment, but Dawn was hoping that she was finally going to see where Ingo spent his time when in the settlement before they headed out to “hunt.”

Ingo’s version of hunting was setting up clever traps. Ingo was big and Ingo could be fast, but he just did not have the natural knack for hunting that she had seen any of the other mers display. Even the young wardens like Lian and Sabi had the skills for catching small fish.

All the clan members utilized traps in some way, but Ingo was the only one who seemed to have trouble actively hunting. On one of the few occasions that she had seen Gaeric and Calaba interacting, they both readily agreed that Ingo probably had issues because he was used to hunting in a pod, just like regular orcas, so hunting solo was harder for him to grasp.

“I must make a small detour before departure with Palina.”

Dawn was a little too excited by the prospect of seeing somewhere new to realize Ingo’s choice of words. He told her to take a deep breath, guided her through the tight tunnels with a hand on her back, nudging her forward. She trusted him completely to get her safely to their next destination, despite her poor vision and swimming ability, he always took it upon himself to keep her safe.

She had asked him the first time he brought her to the settlement about barely seeming to fit in the tunnels and he blushed, tugging the brim of his cap low and sinking into the collar of his jacket. He had mumbled something about them not being designed to his specifications, before diverting her attention, but it slowly dawned on her why the more and more she got to interact with the other clan members.

Although Ingo had never outright stated that he wasn’t originally from Pearl Clan, it was obvious that many of his idiosyncrasies made his relationship with the clan quite strained. His odd eating habits. His withdrawn behavior. His out-of-place dark clothes. Ingo was no outcast, but he did stick out like a sore thumb, just like she did.

Maybe that’s why they got along so well. Pearl clan’s bewildered acceptance of “Ingo’s pup” was proof enough to the girl that they trusted him implicitly, even if they wound their warden a little peculiar.

“Almost there.”

Ingo assured her, nudging her ahead as he wiggled through a particularly narrow passage, before arriving to their destination – which seemed familiar to Dawn, although she didn’t immediately know why. She clambered out of the water, Ingo pulling himself up and taking up most of the space, unable to climb out with so little space. The surveyor swiveled her head around the space, they must have been pretty deep considering how dense the ice looked down here, although there were a lot of tunnels off this…

“Hey, wait a second…”

Now she remembered where she was and scrambling back toward Ingo when he scooped her up. He looked sheepish but still maneuvered her over to the hole she had fallen down once before. She wrapped her arms around Ingo’s hand, holding on for dear life as he apologized.

“You cannot join me on this adventure, Miss Dawn. Those tracks are too dangerous for an additional car.”

“I’ll stay in the forest! I promise! Please, don’t send me down there.”

He looked mournful at her for a moment, ears drooping at the fearful tint to her voice, but carefully started to pry her fingers loose.

“He’s expecting you.” “He’s going to bite my head off!”

Ingo frowned, pausing, which only gave her more time to sink her short, blunt claws into skin. He thought that she might be a little more forgiving after their last encounter with the story about Gaeric. The other warden had a gruff exterior, but he was a good man, and on occasion a good friend. Ingo knew how all of Pearl clan felt about Dawn, mostly confused and very concerned, but they did what they always did and protected a pup. To the clan, she was a pup, and that meant she had to join the rest of the pups with their designated guardian. Today, it was Gaeric’s job.

Ingo’s hope was this time around that, with other pups around, Dawn would see another side to Gaeric and warm up to him some, and the warden in return would warm up to her. He did not realize just how frightened Dawn still was of him – even with the buffer of other interactions, albeit with other clan members within proximity, she seemed to find any one-on-one time without Ingo’s presence to be very distressing.

“Gaeric doesn’t hurt pups. He will not hurt you. Please, even if you do not trust Gaeric, trust me.”

He knew from the word go this wasn’t going to go well, but he still pried Dawn loose and sent her down the chute, nails screeching for the entire descent.

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This time down the chute was a lot shorter than the first time. Dawn was cursing and trying to get on the slick ice to stop herself because she did not want to go down there. She could bear to be around Gaeric when other adults were around, but the sense of dread and anxiety she felt from being remotely alone with him made her stomach churn uncomfortably.

The incline grew steeper, and she was in Gaeric’s lair, sliding across the ice on her front until she knocked into the warden’s flank. This time, he was awake.

“About time.”

He grumbled and reached down, whether to pick her up or just touch her in general, Dawn was not interested. To her own surprise, she hissed and managed to coordinate her limbs well enough to send her skittering back along the ice. Not that she got far. With a twitch of his tail, she was sailing back in his general direction, this time greeted by a few familiar faces.

“Sabi?”

Dawn said, Gaeric releasing an exasperated sigh when the young Diamond clan warden waved and clambered over to her, Lian not too far behind her. Both looked extremely excited to see her.

“We were worried that Ingo forgot.”

Lian had taken her hand and was trying to pull Dawn back over toward the bigger mer, but she resisted. She was a little surprised how strong Lian was, but she was quick to distract him with a question.

“Why are you guys down here? Why are you down here Sabi?”

“Oh, Mr. Gaeric and I play a lot. He doesn’t know how to get rid of me.”

Beyond them, Gaeric rolled over onto his back and snorted derisively, he clearly had other thoughts on the matter and chose not to voice them. Lian answered her first question while he still tried to pull on her arm.

“It’s Gaeric’s turn to watch us. Gaeric’s the best! He usually lets us do whatever we want until we get tired.”

Dawn couldn’t help but notice the man in question puff up with pride at Lian’s words. With a quick yank, she freed herself and was looking over at Gaeric with slit eyes. She didn’t trust him further than she could throw him. She wanted to get out of here ASAP… The problem was that she didn’t know this place well enough.

Sure, there were a lot of little tunnels, but they were probably like the chute she had come down which made them too icy and steep to climb or just lead to nowhere. The only surefire way she knew out of here was the large hole in the floor that was filled with sea water, the issue there was that Dawn was a miserable swimmer and, knowing how deep they were, she wasn’t going to have enough air to navigate the underwater passages in pitch blackness and make it out into the open water.

She needed a reasonable way of getting out of here. She could do it while Gaeric was dozing, but she would need help from Lian and Sabi – neither of whom seemed keen to let her go. They wanted to play. They loved to play with her, and she loved to play with them, just not here. Gaeric made her way too anxious to want to do anything but leave immediately. Lian was still talking, chattering up a storm about some game they could play, but Sabi was watching her expression closely, noticing the surveyor had no interest in games.

“Hey, I have an idea for a game.”

Dawn said, keeping her voice lowered and clapping her hands together. Lian perked up and Sabi tilted her head, a hint of mischief in her sea green eyes that wouldn’t have been noticed unless you knew to look for it. Gaeric would have recognized it.

“You guys are really good at swimming, but who do you think is better at climbing?”

“Me, I have more limbs.”

Sabi replied matter-of-factly, already getting wind of Dawn’s “game”, and finding it extremely amusing. It was fun to annoy Gaeric and this would annoy him to no end. He didn’t mind playfighting or even pups clambering all over him, but he did not tolerate escape attempts. Sabi knew this would be fruitless, but it would still be funny to watch how events unfolded.

“Yeah, you’re right, Sabi. You must be faster than me or Lian.”

Lian puffed up indignantly at the quick acceptance on Dawn’s part, clacking his claws on the ice with a distinctive tink-tink-tink.

“No way! I have claws.”

He was quite aware that his claws were not long, but he had his whole life to get used to the ice and snowscape surrounding him. Sabi was still new to his home territory and often got assistance from Lord Braviary to get from place to place, he was positive that he could beat Sabi in a climbing competition and impress Dawn.

“You think so?”

Dawn asked, raising an eyebrow, and glancing skeptically at the sharp slopes that lead into Gaeric’s lair, some exposed in parts and others not. She was trying to be smart about this. It would probably be better to pick a chute that wasn’t exposed so Gaeric couldn’t stop her once her little competition was under way. A suitable one was the one she had fallen down, but that had also been a long way up…

“Well, let’s give it a try. It’ll be a like a race, so we should pick a shorter tunnel to climb up.”

“Oh, I know the perfect one.”

Dawn could tell that Sabi was indulging in her little game. The small mer was a little strange like that, but the surveyor was not going to question it. She gestured for them to follow and took them to the base of larger tunnel that Dawn could see the top of faintly and didn’t look too steep compared to the other chutes. Perfect.

“This’ll be easy.”

Lian proclaimed confidently, adjusting his hat on his head and cracking his knuckles just to emphasis his point. He had actually pulled his hat a little lower to cover up the light sweat accumulating on his brow.

He already knew that Sabi had quite the advantage over him better multiple limbs and how well she was able to coordinate them. Lian took a deep breath, taking a quick peek at the tunnel and flexing his hands, preparing for the climb. He wasn’t going to let the Diamond clan warden intimidate him. He was going to prove Pearl clan’s superiority and win over Dawn’s favor in one fell swoop.

Sabi was also looking at the tunnel, wondering if her limbs would even be long enough to reach the other side, but she wasn’t in this for the competition. She was mostly wondering how Dawn, with her blunt nails, was going to finagle her way up there without directly asking for their help and without alerting Gaeric.

The large warden appeared to be sleeping not too far away, but she was certain that he was moving incrementally, aware of Dawn’s half-baked plot, and only pretending to sleep to see how and when he would need to intervene.

Dawn’s plan was a little convoluted. She knew she couldn’t climb up the chute, so she would see who the better climber was and then try to convince them that sliding down the chute like a slide would be fun. They could make a new game out of it to see who could go further.

Once Lian and Sabi had helped her up and had slid away, she would make her escape.

“Okay, who wants to go first?”

Dawn barely got the words out when Lian took off his hat to let it drape across his back and got onto his belly. He pushed himself back aways and narrowed his eyes, attempting to determine his trajectory with his tongue caught between his teeth in thought.

His claws dug into the ice and, in a flash, rocketed forward on the slick ice. His aim was perfect, Sabi and Dawn jumping forward to watch his progress as he maybe got halfway up the chute on momentum alone. The boy let out a little growl and crunched into the side walls, clinging there and dangling for a moment, before he began to work his way up.

His tail flopped and the sound of heavy breathing filled the space, little droplets of sweat showered on them like rain, but he made it to the top and peered back down with a toothy grin.

The Diamond warden seemed to be lost in thought, running a gloved hand over the ice and the palm came away damp. She frowned, casting a surreptitious glance to her limbs while Dawn called up her congratulations. Lian was always going to go first, he had more to prove, and thought he had a slight advantage over Sabi because he was used to the terrain – which was undoubtedly true, but Sabi was used to ice and snow now.

Sabi already knew what Dawn hoped to gain from this so-called game, she wanted them to assist her to get to the top of the tunnel because she knew she wouldn’t be able to do it herself. Lian would be quick to step up and help her as the winner of the race, Sabi’s suckers wouldn’t be able to get the proper suction needed on the slick walls. Nevertheless, she attempted it anyway, encountering the exact problem she foresaw, but still managing to get to the top to look down at Dawn who was beaming up at them.

“Lian won! Sabi had a disadvantage going second… Man, it’ll be fun to slide down those. It was fun the first time.” “Weren’t you screaming the whole way down?”

Sabi called down and Dawn’s features broadened into a forced smile. It actually sort of hurt. She was hoping that hadn’t been noticed, but apparently loud screaming wasn’t subtle. She didn’t want to upset either of them, so she didn’t say anything, but she did double down on her suggestion of sliding down and how fun that could be.

Lian’s tail thumping against the ice overhead, his eyes lighting up and ears perking with excitement, he would take any opportunity to play more with Dawn. She was very fun. Sabi could be fun too, but she could also be a stick in the mud because she knew the outcome of all their games. If she wanted to slide, Lian would slide with her. Heck, he would even help her up.

He joined her at the bottom of the chute, frowning at her blunt claws and wondering how on earth she survived on her own being so small and having no real way of defending herself. Dawn wasn’t much bigger than him, but he had had his own troubles getting up to the top. Luckily, Lian didn’t have to think too hard about the logistics, because, as he tried to nudge Dawn in front of him to give her a boost, she was grabbed by her tail and dragged backward.

The motion was not as delicate as it should have been, but Gaeric was a little aggravated. Ingo’s pup was trying to rope the others into an escape attempt. Although his irritation was mostly extended to Dawn, he reserved a little of it too for Lian and more of it for Sabi. Lian should have known better and Sabi would have been the cause for the problem had Dawn not been there. He held back a low warning growl as he dangled Dawn before him, his face turning stern while she wriggled and writhed.

“Nice try, pipsqueak. Find something else to do with them.”

He set her down a lot more gently than she was picked up, instinctively grabbing her tail to rub where his fingers had applied pressure. Another small, defiant hiss escaped her, which made the warden roll his eyes impatiently, but he laid back down, watching her and the two young wardens through narrowed eyes.

Gaeric didn’t know how to feel about Ingo’s pup. She was just a little too peculiar. She was like Ingo in that way, which was why Ingo probably felt so strongly about protecting and guiding her, but Gaeric couldn’t get over the little warning bells in his mind. His gut told him that she was a threat. A little stunted, malnourished pup… What in Sinnoh’s name was wrong with him?

Dawn remained still until his eyes closed before rejoined Sabi and Lian, both of whom looked a little dejected that their fun had been interrupted. She was brewing a new plot in her mind, but all the possibilities were coming up short. There were very few avenues for escape. The tunnels being one. The hole in the ice that Gaeric used to get in and out of his lair seemed looming and dangerous, but it was the only other glaring possibility.

Swallowing thickly, Dawn pushed some panic back down below her ribcage where it sat heavy and churning in her stomach. She really wanted to get out of there. Ingo told her to trust Gaeric – she couldn’t do it. Their first interaction was just plain bad, she was utterly convinced that he would just snatch her and gobble her up. It had actually brought her to tears with how frightening it had been. It also seemed like Gaeric just didn’t trust her, not an ounce, when she had given him no real reason not to trust her.

Sabi and Lian watched her cast her eyes over to the hole, the cold, dark water beckoning to her. Sabi, not one to squelch an opportunity to swim, caught up to Dawn, even when Lian called after them that maybe they should pick something else to do. They could play tag or make some snowballs to toss around in a game of keep away. Neither of them seemed to be listening to him, so he hesitantly trailed after them.

The surveyor stared into the water, murky and emanating a freezing chill even without touching it. It was not remotely inviting, but Dawn’s distrust of Gaeric and Ingo’s betrayal at leaving her there with him like she was some useless, flopping baby was making her just want to go back to land and mope until she was scheduled to return to the village. Over her shoulder, Lian was cautioning her, trying to dissuade her from entering the water. It was a bad idea.

“We could play some other game.”

Lian suggested weakly, staring daggers at Sabi who blinked back at him. He gestured to Dawn’s back wildly, eyes huge and a small snarl curling his lips, the Diamond warden tipped her head and her horizontal pupils darting over to Dawn. She knew the outcome of this too. It would be hard to sway Dawn from her path but that could be a game in and of itself. It would save everyone a lot of trouble if she intervened, so she did.

“I think we should play a bit of hide and seek in some of the tunnels. Remember when you and some of others found some tunnels that lead to different caves?”

Lian’s face pinched like he was really debating on whether he wanted to tackle Sabi for bringing it up, but it had the benefit of immediately getting Dawn’s attention and her dark eyes were gleaming with interest.

“Tunnels? Caves? That sounds like so much fun! You found them Lian?”

Lian’s eyes grew even wider as she leapt forward, a dazzling smile on her face. He felt his cheeks grow a little warm, rubbing his chin in thought even as his ears and tail gave him away, the former being perked up, almost wiggling with the attention, and the latter slapping lightly against the ice.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit…”

If he was trying to sound modest, he wasn’t doing a very good job, but neither Dawn nor Sabi said anything. The smaller mers took Dawn by the hand and dragged her over to some of the smaller tunnels, all of them were just small enough to fit, which was claustrophobic, but perfect for evading Gaeric. The tunnel wasn’t particularly long, shimmying along far too slowly behind the more cautious Lian and Sabi crowding behind her.

“Are there more tunnels in these other caves? “A few but we didn’t get to explore a lot of them.” “Why not?”

Lian made to the cavern, pausing to check the ice, and already spotting an obvious problem. Dawn squirmed past him, trying to get a better look and to get some space, but Lian grabbed her arm and held her back, the ice beneath her groaning in protest.

The cavern was big and almost looked as though it was formed by bubbles, the ceiling was made up of half circles that caught what little light filtered in and refracted it around the space. That light was emanating from the floor, a soft orange glow. The cavern would have been quite dark without these odd features and Dawn squinted into the gloom as Lian pointed towards the center.

“That’s why.”

He replied, nodding toward the ground. Dawn squinted.

“I don’t… What am I supposed to be looking at?”

Lian looked at her with a level of disbelief that made Dawn cringe. How anyone fell for her and Ingo’s web of lies about her origin she did not know.

“The ice is thin. See the puddles? It’s like this every so often. We think there are heat vents or something below the ice-” “I think its magma. I don’t think heat vents glow.”

Sabi interjected, Lian closing his eyes to prevent anyone from seeing them roll in his skull. Lian had never seen a deep-sea heat vent before, but he knew what the ones closer to the settlement looked like, and although those ones didn’t glow, he found the idea of magma in the icelands a bit farfetched.

“Anyway, when the ice is solid, we can play in here. It’s not safe right now.”

Dawn wanted to counter that they were all capable swimmers, but she feared that if she opened her mouth and said anything else, she would make herself out to be even more of a fraud than she already felt. Lian felt a wash of guilt as that light in her eye vanished and her ears drooped. She was disappointed.

“We should go back is what you’re saying?”

She asked morosely, spotting the aforementioned tunnels across the room and looking at them longingly. Oddly enough, there were huge chunks of ice encrusted rock jutting through the floor, so she had to wonder if these were natural caves that lead into rocky crevasses in the earth. Maybe Sabi’s theory wasn’t too far off.

If that were the case, she definitely didn’t want to go down there in her current mer form, the rock would feel unpleasant against her skin. Even as a human, she wasn’t sure she would want to go down there. Although she loved exploration and discovery, she felt as though that discovery could be made by someone else, and she would be just fine with that.

“We should go back.”

Sabi had said unexpectedly, clinging to the walls and dangling down between the two of them upside down. She hoped now that Dawn would stop having funny ideas and just go play with them back in the other cavern. There was nothing else of significance she could foresee, so now she just wanted to get to the fun stuff. Gaeric would yell at them when they got back, being a little harder on Dawn specifically for causing such a ruckus with her mere presence, but they all would inevitably end up asleep as they usually did.

Dawn was the caboose on their journey back. Dragging her feet, so to speak. She already got the impression that Gaeric was going to yell at her for persuading the two wardens into exploring the tunnels, which he had told her to not do. She was attempting to delay the inevitable. She hated to be berated. Captain Cyllene had been very disappointed in her last few reports, calling them fanciful tall-tales and that she needed to remain “grounded in reality” if she wanted to continue working in the survey corp.

They weren’t tales! The mers were right in front of her! All her captain could see was her making up stories instead of looking at pedantic sea stars and mussels in tidal pools. She was doing her job! Laventon had had to take her aside and gently explain that, while the information and drawings (all from memory, by the way!) of the merpeople in the waters around their settlement would be of particular interest to children, Cyllene would have very little patience for it.

Dawn stopped writing about them and returned to her sea stars and mussels - enjoying the world that she had inadvertently discovered, and still somehow finding ways to disappoint all the adults.

Gaeric was waiting for them, his whiskers bristling, and eyes narrowed when the two wardens slunk out of the cave, a growl reserved for Dawn in particular, making the space rumble. She flinched when he addressed her.

“When I said finding something else to do, small fry, I assumed I was being loud and clear. Stay where I can see you and stop causing trouble, got it?”

Although he was saying it to Dawn, Gaeric stared daggers at Lian and Sabi, affecting the former much more than the latter, Lian pulling his hat down tighter over his eyes much in the same way Ingo did to avoid eye contact. They should have known better, but Dawn should have listened to him, she had deliberately disobeyed. He didn’t know how Ingo managed her, he really didn’t. The pup was a handful and a half.

She was fussing with the sleeve of her tunic, dark eyes cast down as if she was waiting for more yelling and the large warden stopped midway through a tirade that he had been planning since he saw them disappear into the cave system. This was a little unfair of him, wasn’t it? Dawn wasn’t from here. She didn’t know how to act appropriately with the clan and their hierarchy, and on top of that, Gaeric hadn’t really given a reason to trust him. Especially after their disastrous first encounter.

It was a mutual distrust, but he recognized that she was out of her element and didn’t receive as much guidance from him as he should have provided as her temporary caretaker.

She heard a sigh overhead and a big hand at her back, scooting her along. Dawn squirmed, clearly uncomfortable being touched by someone who wasn’t Ingo and Gaeric moved his hand away.

“Come on.”

Dawn didn’t move and he was tempted to say something, demand that she follow him, but he was reminded of a young Irida in this moment and just how stubborn she could be when there was something she just didn’t want to do. He left her, figuring she would come over of her own accord. Trusting her to stop misbehaving. Although not a pup but the strictest of definitions, she was no doubt tired, and she would come rest sooner or later.

It took less than ten minutes for Gaeric to regret his decision, most of the pups all curled up and nestled on top of one another near his side, sleeping and quiet. He was about halfway to join them when he heard a loud splash and a shriek.

“Cold! F-F-F-Freezing!”

Gaeric lunged forward instinctually, shoving Sabi and Lian out of the way and scooping Dawn out of the water. Both of them, but especially Sabi, looked shocked that she had gone into the water. They both knew how shocking it would be to their systems. They knew acclimation was necessary for such cold water.

“What is wrong with you?”

He snarled, looking at her sodden coat and listening to her chattering teeth. Although she squirmed and wriggled, Gaeric pressed her against his chest with one hand and unknotted his parka with the other. Her pristine coat could hold up in relatively cold water, but the water down here would still be shocking to the uninitiated. Dawn should know that.

There were a lot of things that Dawn should know. It wasn’t a lack of Ingo teaching her, his fellow warden was diligent and patient in all that he taught her about their clan, but she had no concept of the fundamentals and that just seemed so suspect to him.

Gaeric tried swaddling her in his parka, it would help dry her and keep her warm, but being sopping wet and just being so damn wiggly, she slipped out of his grip and was quick to try and drag herself away.

"Alright, I've had just about enough."

Before she even knew what was happening, she felt a light pressure at the back of her neck. Although she thrashed and squirmed, she had been a little too slow to prevent Gaeric from getting a good grip on her this time. She was scruffed. Dawn reached over her head and tried to pry his fingers loose to no avail, dripping water, trying to stop her teeth from chattering, and wailing to be let go all at the same time.

Gaeric huffed and cast a glance down at the content pile of pups left undisturbed by her shenanigans, then to Sabi and Lian, looking up at her unapologetically, cringing when the older warden jerked his head over to the other pups. They went without argument. Playtime was over.

"W-Wait!"

She squeaked when Gaeric swung around, bundling her up in his parka and effectively pinning her arms at her side as he did so. He lowered himself to the ice by the pups once more and set her down, Dawn trying to wriggle free with very little success. In the blink of an eye, she was surrounded on all sides by flesh. Dawn was effectively trapped in an arm prison. He moved himself accordingly to cut off points of escape and sighing when she kept trying to free herself, too much fabric and wrapped very tight.

"You've got to chill out, kid. Ingo will be back later."

Gaeric wasn't an idiot. The pup was frightened. She only really seemed to trust Ingo and they hadn't really gotten off on the right fin, so to speak. Although he was trying to be stern with the best of intentions, she found him terrifying and she now had no avenues of escape, which only made her more anxious. The little keening noises of fear making Gaeric reconsider his choice to isolate her to keep her out of trouble.

"Oi! Lian, Sabi - get up here."

He couldn't allow her to keep roaming around, but she might calm down in the presence of others. He knew the young wardens were awake – having just moved to the pile of pups a moment ago themselves so as to not inflict his ire, but, when they didn't move, Gaeric grumbled.

With a surprisingly quick movement, he pinned Dawn with one hand and reached down with the other, scooping up the pups with one massive hand. Pups felt safer in groups. He deposited them all on top of her before he lowered himself down, resting his head on his arms. There would be a bit of fussing, but he knew they'd settle down and sleep. It was hard to resist considering how comfortable and warm and safe the piles felt.

"Please, just sleep, Dawn."

Gaeric almost begged, slowly sensing the pups returning to sleep as Dawn emerged, having managed to free herself (probably with the help of Sabi or Lian), looking up at their babysitter and the mer eyed her back, almost daring her to do something.

"You called me by my name..."

So, he had. There was a beat of silence, and, to his immense relief, she was settling down in the crook of his arm, idly drawing patterns on his skin. She must have realized that this was not a punishment as much as it was a silent plea for her to calm down and relax a little.

Flipped over on her back, but she didn't close her eyes, just stared up at the ceiling of the cavern for a long time. He watched her impassively, feeling his eyes start to droop. His irritation, however, would not allow him to fall asleep. Something nagged him persistently in the back of his head, his gut instinct that something was not right about her making the large warden narrow his eyes and grumbled out a question.

"Why won't you sleep?" "’m not tired."

She replied stubbornly, her form tensing against his arm as he asked more questions. It wasn’t an opportunity to be missed. She was never away from Ingo long enough to get a straight answer out of her.

"Pups are supposed to sleep. Helps you grow. Maybe that's why you're so tiny." "I'm not a pup."

Her lower lip quivering a little, her dark eyes fixed on the ceiling above and refusing to meet Gaeric’s gaze because she knew she would succumb in the same way she crumbled under any adults’ eyes. She would spill all the beans just so she would stop receiving that look. Arms folded tightly over her slim chest, she tried to feel braver than she felt in this moment.

Gaeric already made her nervous - why was he bringing this up again? No answer either she or Ingo provided ever satisfied him and their answers never changed. So, why ask again and again? Was he trying to catch her off-guard? Catch her in a lie? If he kept pressuring her, Dawn might just snap.

She felt like she was trying to shrink back against his arm, trying to avoid his notice the same way that she would try to avoid the captain’s scrutinizing gaze. She knew what was coming what she saw his brow furrow. She had seen the commander’s face with the exact same expression many times before.

“You say that, but you certainly act like a pup. You should know better than to jump into unfamiliar water. You’re as finicky as Ingo... You never eat. You don’t sleep. You wander off on your own. You can barely even swim. You’re both so… weird.”

He watched her turn her head away, bringing her hands to her face and Gaeric could see they were coming away wet. He quickly bit his tongue. That was too far, his mouth was ahead of his brain. What was left unsaid was that Gaeric thought they were a perfect set. Ingo seemed so normal in comparison to Dawn. Everyone knew it and was too kind to say it, especially to the pup. Not him. He had to make himself look like more of a jerk.

"Why does it matter?"

The words quivered with held back emotions and Gaeric internally berated himself. She’s a kid. She’s just a kid. She never asked for this. In his head, he was trying to form an adequate apology, but in the meantime, his mouth kept moving.

"Because you should be twice as big at your age, and you shouldn't have this coat. It should be getting all patchy and you should be getting some spots."

He replied, trying to keep his tone even as he adjusted his arm, indicating her pearly white coat that stuck out like such a sore thumb. Maybe by pointing out the oddities, she could see why he thought it was so strange that she looked the way she did. It did nothing of the sort. She sank lower and lower, rubbing her eyes and trying to hide the fact that she was sniffling. Oh Sinnoh, Ingo was going to kill him for making her cry.

“Kid… Listen, that came out wrong.”

Dawn didn’t even try to stop him when he shifted his arm to nudge her back into sight. She was scrunching herself up into a ball, her sniffling becoming more pronounced as she wrapped her arms around her tail. Gaeric squeezed his eyes shut. Lord Avalugg, grant him the wisdom to know when to shut up.

He heard Lian’s small voice trying to rouse Dawn and not sounding very successful. She was going to wake up the other pups. He adjusted his bulk one last time, scooping Dawn and Lian up, Sabi grabbing onto his fingers with her arms, suckering into place so the large warden didn’t try to shake her loose, and deposited the trio onto his flank.

Gaeric had every intention to apologize to her later because, even if he didn’t understand her and her situation, nobody deserved to be treated as he just treated Dawn.

“Please, just sleep, you three.”

He placed a hand over them, enshrouding them in darkness, and only moving it away when they were still. They were finally sleeping and Gaeric sighed, folding one arm beneath his head and the other protectively around the remaining pups, before drifting off to sleep himself.

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The scene he stumbled in on was certainly a more serene one than he anticipated. Ingo appeared from the hole in the floor, peering around before clambering up to gather his young ward, and he found everyone sleeping peacefully. He shifted closer, softly calling her name with no result.

“Dawn?”

He tried again and that’s when Gaeric grabbed a fist full of his parka and dragged him down onto the ice with less of a resounding crash than expected. Although he had never felt so inclined towards aggression, a deep, throaty growl resonated through the cavern and Gaeric glared at him and pressed a finger to his lips before gesturing over at a few sleeping pups on his side. Dawn was among them, nestled into his Gaeric’s fur beside Lian and Sabi (of all pups), which only sent a little twinge of jealousy through the bigger mer, but Ingo got the picture.

After what had probably been a long day of trying to wrangle Dawn and the young wardens, Gaeric had finally managed to get them to sleep, and he would do anything to keep them that way.

Ingo stifled a sigh as he was dragged closer, Gaeric’s grip loosening while sleep began to reclaim him, but not relinquishing his hold entirely. In a few hours, he would be completely awake and ready to start his nighttime patrol, but he was content to return to sleep. Ingo being added to the sleeping pile whether he wanted to or not.

He carefully worked Gaeric’s fingers loose, but settled down beside him, using one of his soft fins as a pillow and closing his eyes. Ingo listened to the soft breathing of the pups and the light rumble of the other warden’s snores felt soothing in a way he couldn’t quite describe. Ingo pulled his cap a little lower over his eyes and allowed himself to relax. This cavern was the most comforting and safest place in the world as of this moment.

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Gaeric woke up before the pups or Ingo, remaining still for as long as he could afford to. He had never seen Ingo or Dawn look so relaxed, the pup’s small hands fussing with his spotted fur as she slept, Sabi and Lian half on top of her like they had been holding her down… Or maybe hugging her. Gaeric didn’t need a closer examination to know he had upset the pup; he could still see the tear tracks.

He needed to be careful about the things he said about her and her caretaker. He turned his gaze toward Ingo, his frown softened in sleep and his arm half thrown around him. Both of them were so weird about doing group activities. Ingo had every excuse in the book to avoid communal grooming, meals, and rests, and Dawn was just the same. It’s like they fought every instinct that would make them less out of place.

Ingo was a good mer. He cared so deeply for the clan, and it ran deeper than the debt he felt he owed them. Gaeric respected him – he had even said so, although he wasn’t sure if Ingo took his word for it.

His pup was… weird, but she was doing everything in her power to help them (and the Diamond Clan). She was weird, like extraordinarily weird, but he had to give credit where credit is due. Even if she was weird, she was Ingo’s pup. Even if she was weird, she had a good heart.

“Weirdos…”

Gaeric said, but he meant it with affection.

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