Theweirdestroller - A Very Bored Author

Seaweed Nest

Cross was running his hand over the soft nest that he and the shiver had been sleeping in since he arrived. It was soft and plush, warm and safe. But it was starting to fall apart. He would have repaired it himself. If he knew how. There were quite a few nests hidden in the Trench. At times Cross saw the others working on theirs. It was amazing how everyone, everyone except him, knew how to weave these special nests that were all so comfortable. He wasn't jealous per se, but he certainly would love to learn.

"Whatcha doing Cross?" Dream swam up and curled himself around the thresher. He gave a small hum at the warmth.

"Just thinking," Cross received a bonk for his response. "How do you all make these nests?" The leviathan gave a squeal and darted away from Cross. Had... had he said something wrong. Just as the poor mer was about to leave, Dream swam back in, kelp in hand. He dumped the seaweed on Cross and sat next to him.

"Ooh, I've been wanting to teach you this!!" 

------

"Baha, oh my gosh Crossy-" A certain bull shark mer burst out laughing at the sight before him.

"Shut up," The mer glared at Killer for even thinking about teasing him. "It's Dream's fault."

"Don't blame me! I was just trying to-"

"Brother, you don't even know how to make a nest,"

"I do! It's just... Different is all," The goldfish pouted. Nightmare allowed himself to fall into his smaller form. Once a reasonable size, he untangled his brother and mate from the mess of seaweed they had made.

"Don't do this again. Horror will be happy to teach you both," He gave both of them a pat before leaving to dispose of the knot of kelp.

------

"This is nice," Cross murmured as he sunk deeper into the newly made nest. Horror only purred in response. Dream was still off sulking somewhere, though, it was likely Dust was with him as the whitetip had mysteriously vanished some time ago. "Thanks for the lesson," Cross got a kiss for his words.

Goldfish

Green eyelights met empty black eyes. Sans glanced over to his friend, more than a little curious as to what was going on. Kelp didn't blink. Neither did the fish in the tank. The older skeleton went over to the completely normal one, or, Sans thought Kelp was completely normal.

"Uh, buddy?" Kelp waved him away. "Kelp?" The younger fisherman finally blinked. And the moment that was over, he stared with an even more intense glare than earlier.

"Has that thing ever blinked?" He asked, finally turning away from his "adversary."

"Pretty sure it hasn't. It's a fish," Kelp took a moment to digest the words that had just been said. A soft ohhhhh came from the fisherman as he turned back to the goldfish. "It doesn't have eyelids, I thought you knew that,"

"I do! I just forgot," Kelp mumbled, his face flushing a light green. Sans patted him on the back as they continued walking towards the docks.

"Umm, Kelp?" Horror was shushed. The Great White nudged his landwalker partner. "Kelp?" The two sharks present shared a worried look for their two-legged mate. "Are you okay?" Green had been staring at gold for an unknown amount of time when- Dream blinked and shook his head. After a few more blinks, he looked back at Kelp, who was dusting off his shorts and slowly standing up. Once he was straight, he had a grin plastered on his face. The three mers were about to ask when-

"Hah! I knew it! You do blink!" He gave off a cheer, confusing his present company.

"Why wouldn't I?" Dream asked, confused, but completely adoring the sense of accomplishment Kelp was oozing.

"There's this-" Kelp struggled with the words for a moment. "Goldfish, and the damn thing never blinks. It doesn't have eyelids. But, you're a goldfish-" Dream let out a soft laugh.

"Kelp, I'm still a mer. Of course I blink," The skeleton didn't bother fixing his clothes to keep it from getting wet, he simply jumped in the water and hugged Dream. Horror and Dust joined in the hug, all three mers purring happily.

"That's even better. It means I win against that stupid fish. Because you're a leviathan and far superior,"

"Why were you even having a staring contest with it?" Dream asked, wiggling his tail with glee as he was surrounded by loved ones in a tight embrace.

"I- don't remember anymore... But! That doesn't matter," The three remained hugging until the mers had to return to the Depths.

Leviathan

"It's a seal!" Reaper cried out, tail thrashing in agitation.

"It was in mine territory. And not every seal falls under the protection of you and ink-for-brains over there,"

"Hey!"

"I mean, he's not wrong," Error said, arms crossed.

"guys-"

"I don't think it matters if it was in your territory or not. Lay off the seals," Reaper growled.

"Guys-"

"Ah, yes. Because you're allowed to control what me and the shiver decide to eat. It's not like we eat them regularly."

"Seals should be off limits. We really don't need selkies to think we're a direct threat to them,"

"Why on earth would they even think that? We eat all sorts of things that have mer variants and I have yet to see a rebellion of anything against us,"

"Guys!"

"It's a valid point, sure, but you don't see us going around eating sharks,"

"Because, none of you even like eating sharks. And I've eaten them before. You think if anyone wouldn't, it'd be Dream and I."

"𝒪𝒽 𝓂𝓎 𝑔𝑜𝓈𝒽, 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊, 𝒮𝐻𝒰𝒯 𝒰𝒫!" The water warmed instantly as Dream fell into his larger form. "𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒷𝒾𝒸𝓀𝑒𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔. 𝐼𝓃𝓀, 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝓅𝑒𝓇. 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓃𝑒𝒹 𝑜𝓃 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒩𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉'𝓈 𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎. 𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓎 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝒾𝓉. 𝒮𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒𝓃'𝓉 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝑒𝓍𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓈. 𝐼𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝒶𝓁. 𝒮𝒽𝓊𝓉 𝓊𝓅. 𝐸𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓇. 𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝒽𝑒𝓁𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒷𝓎 𝑒𝒹𝑔𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓂 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓃. 𝒲𝑒'𝓇𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝑜𝓁𝒹𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓌𝒶𝓁𝓀𝑒𝓇 𝒸𝒾𝓋𝒾𝓁𝒾𝓏𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊'𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝓌𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝓎𝑒𝓈𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒹𝒶𝓎." Dream allowed himself to shrink back down. "We know not to eat anyone that's been claimed by a leviathan. All other prey is allowed."

"But-"

"No buts! Geez," Dream threw up his hands and started to swim away. "Deal with this amongst yourselves. Just- don't tear any boats or cities apart. Thanks," He spat sarcastically.

"Are they always like this?" Cross asked from his place beside the shiver.

"Unfortunately." Dream growled. The four sharks, two selkies, and one goldfish continued to watch until finally, the leviathans ran out of things to argue about. And thank goodness for that. Any longer and someone was bound to get hurt.

Nightmare broke off from the rest of the group to scoop up his shiver and brother, returning to the Depths as quick as he could.

"I can't believe you were even bothering to argue with him,"

"It's not my fault they don't know when to meddle,"

"Oh my goodness. You're not allowed in our cuddle pile tonight,"

"I never am," Dream looked at the shiver.

"Who wants to find some nest away from Night for this evening?"

Ink and Error grabbed Blue, swimming off to their own territory.

"That was a pretty stupid argument. Let them hunt what they want," Blue said from within Ink's grasp.

"But Blue, what if they get ideas?"

"Then I'm safe with you guys. But I don't want you having petty squabbles over something like this,"

"Seriously? Seals? That's what you're arguing about?"

"I-"

"No, stop. Lets just get back home." Reaper made a dejected sound and carried his upset selkie away.

Octopus

An octopus slowly crawled out of its cave. The shell of some unfortunate creature was held in one of its many tentacles as a shield. As though such material could protect it from the dangers that surrounded it. The world was dark, the moon high in the stary sky, making only a sliver of a reflection. A large shadow passed the tiny being and it sunk into the coral, switching colors to be as close to invisible as it could get. The shadow passed, leaving only a trail of bubbles in its wake. The octopus continued onward. Despite being to close to the surface and so far away from the demons lurking in deeper water, the shallow reef was far from safe. Suckers clung to the rocks and coral and it continued moving in search for... something.

Bubbly giggling could be heard and the cephalopod held the shell up in the direction of the noise.

"Aww," The thing cooed as it watch the octopus with great interest. "You're so cute!" It squealed. The octopus backed away, keeping the shell up as the only barrier between it and the creature. As it moved away, the water got warmer. "Don't leave, I just want to play~" The octopus did not understand the words and slipped itself into a crevice of the rocks. "You're no fun," The warm being whined before swimming closer and snatching the shell away from the suckers with multiple little pops. "You're really bad at hiding you know," And those were the last words spoken before the small warm thing turned into a giant, sweltering beast that dug its fingers into the rocks and broke them open. Escape was impossible, so the octopus changed its colors and sunk as far down into the remaining sanctuary as possible. The being was boiling the water around it and thus, the water the octopus was in. Living in such extreme heat was impossible, but that wasn't what killed it. When the being became small again, it shot its head forward and bit down with all the force of an ancient being.

Dream opened his jaw and let the dead creature float into his hands. Oh, this was going to be fun. The glowing mer sped off towards the depths, octopus in hand. The water around him got darker and darker as he left the sunlit zone and entered the trench. There was no light except the glowing scales of the goldfish as he went deeper and then- he stopped. A glowing cyan light suddenly appeared, bathing Dream in it's light.

"Nighty!" The goldfish chirped. "I brought you something, I think you'll like it," The giant beast, "Nighty" lifted and hand to take whatever his brother had brought back down.

"I don't like the look you're giving me," The kraken said as his brother drifted into his hand. The small and slightly deformed body of a tentacled creature. Nightmare huffed, the action causing the octopus to start drifting away if it hadn't been for Dream who quickly caught it again. "You're the bane of my existance" The leviathan deadpanned. Dream laughed, a warm, bell-like sound that Nightmare would have loved hearing if it hadn't been directed at him.

"Oh c'mon brother, it looks just like you," Dream said through his fits of giggles.

"No, it does not. It's tiny and pathetic and-"

"Literally exactly like you?"

"Shut up."

"No." Dream said, his eyelights glinting with mischief. Nightmare growled and pinned his brother down with one of his many tentacles. "Come ooooon Nightmare, it was funny,"

"It was not. Now stay." Nightmare pressed with the slightest bit over pressure, careful not to hurt his currently tiny brother. The body of the octopus drifted past the very stuck Dream.

"You can't just let it go to waste, at least it eat," The trapped mer complained- Before having his catch shoved unceremoniously into his mouth. Nightmare released his brother and tucked the tentacle back with his others.

"See, not waste. Happy?" Dream gave his brother an empty glare before ripping the octopus apart and eating it. He offered some to his brother, but the kraken declined. And no, it wasn't because it was "cannibalism," because it wasn't. He wasn't an octopus. He was a leviathan. His brother was just being ridiculous.

Selfish Shellfish

Hunting in the reef was just fine and dandy with Killer. He had no issues with it. But hunting alone? That's where the issue lies. He was all on his lonesome, the rest of the shiver doing who-knows-what without him. And no, he wasn't upset or jealous just... really... lonely? Killer growled as he snapped at another fish, ending its life swiftly. This was stupid. Cross was free today, he could have joined him. Killer flicked his tail sharply, scaring away any prey that might have strayed close enough to be an easy kill. He was also grumbling loud enough to garner the attention of anything that might want to make a snack out of a lone bull shark mer. Not that anything would, lest it evoke the wrath of two leviathans. So Killer kept swimming, upset that he was alone on hunting duty, envious of his mates who were probably all curled up without him. No- He should probably stop that thought. They were all busy, sans Cross, but he still couldn't help but feel hurt. And Cross was down for the count because he was being forced to recover by Dream. It was unfair to act like he had been abandoned here.

Killer sighed and gathered his catch. Probably best to bring this all back to se could reunite with- Something shiny caught his eye. The mer took a sudden turn and dived to the soft sand of the reef. There was sitting a comically large pearl, like the ones he had seen in the artwork of mermaids Kelp had shown the shiver. It was a soft pink and had a light cream star-shaped marking on it. It was beautiful. Killer instantly had two thoughts. The first, try to woo his mates with the lovely treasure. Give it to them as an act of affection. Or... Keep it for himself and show off the remarkable thing he found at every opportunity. Both were fair and reasonable choices-

"Killer! Killer! C'mon! Where are you," The familiar voice of Dust rang through the reef as more fish fled away. A few pilot fish darted around, also searching for the mer. One approached the bull shark who had his hands cupped around the pearl. He growled at it and got a face full of bubbles for his trouble. Killer growled and went out to meet Dust. "Killz, thank goodness. I was worried you got lost for a second," Dust said in mocking relief.  Killer only glared. "Whatcha got there?"

"None of your business," Ah, sounded like Killer was going for the 'keep it and gloat' route with the pearl.

"C'mon, show me," Dust pushed, swimming around his partner as they started off towards the Depths. Killer sighed and slowly revealed the glistening pearl safely nestled in his hands. "Woah..."

"I know, right? It's my little reward for having to go out there all on my lonesome," Killer replied, a smug grin on his face. Dust only gave a laugh before darting deeper, Killer following soon after. The two were back to their normal flirtatious ways, the faux animosity between them forgotten. Killer had been showing off the pearl to Cross when Dream gasped.

"Nighty!" He cried out. "It's- Oh it's really it!" The goldfish swam over to Killer and yoinked the pearl right from his hands. Killer made a noise of protest but was ignored. Dream was already making his way to Nightmare. "My pearl!" The joy in his voice so evident that Killer's imaginary complaints died in his throat.

"I can see that." Nightmare's ecstatic tone giving away his emotions. "Where ever did you find this Killer? We lost this centuries ago," A slightly guilty look crossed Dream's face and was swiftly ignored.

"J-just in the reef," Killer's face had taken on a more red hue as Dream swam back to him.

"Well thank you so much for returning it," Dream pressed a passionate kiss to Killer's teeth leaving the bull shark out of breath and working his gills overtime.