Page 58 of The Noble's Merman

Soon enough he came back, balancing a cup in each hand and his own in the crook of his elbow. “Here, drink up!”

Mo gladly took the cup and peered down into its contents. It was a dark fluid, rippling in his grasp as the boat swayed gently from the crewmen who now started to dance. They all had drunk this substance, and they certainly were having a good time, he could see, singing and clapping to some sort of music he didn’t recognize. But how did one…?

“My goodness, Mo. You’ve no clue how to drink from a cup, do you? I’ve never seen you try,” said Kent after he drank from his own, face pinching adorably.

“As you can imagine, underwater we don’t use cups to hold liquids.” He smiled. “Even though I’ve watched you drink from one, I’d prefer a proper instruction. Can you show me how?”

Kent laughed, taking Mo’s cup in his free hand. “Sure. You just put your lips up like this,” —he demonstrated with his own cup first, tipping it up and swallowing— “Ah, and you let the liquid fall into your mouth. Careful not to spill it, though.”

“Sounds easy enough.”

And so, Kent held Mo’s cup in front of his face, and Mo put his lips on the bottom of it, just like his human said. He tipped it just like before, and soon the liquid rushed down, hitting his tongue and swallowing something absolutely disgusting?—

“Ah! Fucking shit, what the seas is this?” He nearly spit it out, but forced the awful substance down anyway.

Kent and Davies broke out into a laughing fit. Davies moreso, bending at the waist and slapping his knee. “That’s rum, for ya!”

He could feel his face twisting, scrunching into a point. “How can you all drink this?”

“You don’t drink it for the taste,” said Kent. “You just drink it for how it makes you feel.”

“So far, it makes my mouth feel like shit.”

Kent chuckled at that. “Give it time, and drink some more. Then you’ll start to feel it. If merfolk really are that similar to humans, it… dear me, it should work the same. Right? Oh no, what if you’re immune? Or even worse…? I didn’t even think before giving it to you?—”

“Everything will be fine,” said Walker, suddenly appearing in their circle. He raised his cup and took a sip. “Lyla, the mermaid who joined us previously, drank rum on occasion. I would say she got just as drunk as the rest of us, right?”

“Yes, but after only a few drinks, she always went with Brooks into his cabin. You know.” Davies chortled.

“I know very well.” Walker patted Davies’s back. “So Mo, you will be fine.”

“All right.” He smiled. “Let me have another go, then.”

Kent tipped the cup back on Mo’s lips, feeding him more of the abominable drink. But he wanted to taste it regardless—wanted to feel the same mind-altering effects, wanted the experience, and importantly, wanted to feel included. These men and Kent especially took him in as if he were one of their own. Mo took the cup for himself to finish off the rum, and a pleasant warmth filled his chest. A strange dizziness began swirling in his skull, yet it was nothing short of exhilarating. Drinking rum, being on a ship, and listening to strange music like this was a very human experience. Such a thing was something he’d longed for. Something he wasn’t even sure could be true in his life as a merman—yet here he was. Kent gave him this and so much more, yet never asked for anything in return. But Mo couldn’t have that—he gave Kent back everything he could. He gave him an answer to escape the clutches of his father, gave him an outlet for happiness, gave him unconditional love?—

A rush of something stirred again, making his head spin. Kent laughed as he reached over, caressing Mo’s shoulder. “Are you good?”

“Wonderful, actually,” said Mo with a smile. “What is that music that those men are playing? It sounds beautiful; I’ve never seen those things before.”

Kent glanced over the room and saw the men in question. “That there is a lute and the other one is a gittern. I suppose you’d have different sorts of musical instruments in the water, how would that even work? Magic?” His grin was so sweet, and it tickled Mo’s dizzying mind even more.

“No magic, no… it doesn’t require magic to play them. We have drums and other percussives, lyres and harps, and then a variety of horns you blow into to create sound. Do you have ones like that?”

“Yes, wow, that’s so fascinating to me. I wonder if your horns would even work the same in the air, and vice versa for ours…”

“Do you know how to play anything? Like that over there—the lute?”

Kent shook his head with a shrug. “No, but I do know how to play harpsichord.”

“Harp-si…?”

“It’s… this big box. And you have keys that you press.” He pantomimed the adorable motion of playing with his hands. “When you press the keys, it makes music.”

“That sounds amazing! I wish I could hear you play.”

“If I would’ve known, I would’ve brought one aboard!” Davies chimed in, returning to their post after dancing around for another cup for each of them. “Say, how about after this number you join us in song?”

“Sure, I’d love to!” Kent accepted his refilled cup, throwing back more of the liquid into his mouth.

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