Logan sighed and watched the light from the cracks in the wood of the ship paint parts of the brig a pale gold. He'd never been able to sleep well, being a light sleeper under water presented a lot of problems, but now he hadn't been getting any sleep at all.

He hugged his arms close to his chest and ran his thumb absently over his markings. They were slightly sunk into his skin and right now they were glowing very weakly. It was odd. His markings had never glowed that much before but now they were glowing nearly all the time.

"Well, I suppose a part of the crew could..." Logan shook his head. "No, it's Remus. He got his soul from me so... maybe it's just something to do with the fact of... I don't know." Logan had never admitted he didn't know something before. He shook his head again and looked at the scratches on the metal he'd made, faintly outlined by the rising sun.

He tentatively ran a finger along the scratches, trying to work out how deep they were. How long would it be until he broke through the metal of his cage? And then what next? He'd die without enough water, that's what would happen next. And that wouldn't benefit anyone.

"Well, I suppose it'd benefit me more than being kept alive for the simple purpose of my scales." Logan thought, smiling morbidly.

Pressing his face against the glass, Logan squinted to see if he could see anything through the cracks in the wooden planks. To see if he could see any of the ocean. He couldn't. He sat back on his tail disappointedly.

"Mo-Mo-Morning." Patton yawned as he stumbled down the brig stairs. "You okay, Kiddo?"

"I'm-" Logan looked at Patton sharply. "Why do you care?"

Patton shrugged sleepily. "It's a good way to break the ice. Easy way to start a conversation."

"That's not an answer."

Patton yawned again and pushed his wonky glasses up his nose.

"Your glasses are wonky." Logan pointed out. Patton looked at him like a little puppy before blinking and taking his glasses off.

"Right. Thanks Kiddo." He said, grinning and putting his glasses back on. "I fell asleep with them on."

"Oh. Anyway, back to my question. Why do you care whether I'm 'okay' or not?"

"Because you're my Kiddo."

Logan tilted his head to the side. "I don't understand."

Patton sat down on the floor. "You know how we went over nicknames?"

"Mhm, I remember distinctly. It was a different name that you called a friend to their actual name."

"Yep-a-doodle."

"What?"

"Nothing. But yeah, I call all my friends 'Kiddo'. It's just my little nickname for them."

Logan tilted his head slightly. "You consider me your friend?"

Patton nodded and smiled at him cheerily. "Yep. You don't seem like other merpeople."

"Other merpeople? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, um," Patton paused, trying to phrase what he wanted to say, "like your soulmate. Remus. All the merpeople I've met have been more... in tune with their animal side."

"Animalistic." Logan corrected.

"Hm?"

"It's animalistic side, not animal side. Being more in tune with their animal side would mean they have the spirit of an animal. Animalistic is- sorry." Logan said, noticing Patton's face and cutting himself off. "I tend to get carried away. Remus said it's something I need to work on."

"No, no, go on. There's nothing else to do but talk here, anyway." Patton said, smiling at him and putting his hands under his chin. "Go on, don't be scared." He said when he noticed Logan's hesitation. "It reminds me of someone when I was a little kid."

Logan tilted his head. "Do you remember who?" Patton shook his head.

"No. Don't really remember anything until about... ten years old? Only flashes really. But go on. This isn't about me, it's about you and your explaining things." He grinned at Logan again. Logan shot back a small, shy smile.

"Um, thank you. For wanting to listen."

Yeah, I'm really leaning hard on the Logan-isn't-listened-to angst crutch. Also.... is is too early for a flashback scene to do the story-telling for me? Am I a little too obsessed with flashback scenes? Yes and yes.
Bye,
Blaize