Archive of Our Own ^beta

"What...IS it?" Sebastian inquired as he studied the odd structure in front of him. It resembled a miniature lighthouse, colored in shades of white and cyan with engravings of some lost language lining the base. Despite everything, the small building was in pristine condition; one would think that it'd be worn down after residing in the Blacksite for who knows how long, but it seemed unaffected by time and age.

"Dunno." p.AI.nter replied, their face replacing a nearby door number. They squinted at the object and attempted to match it with anything in their database, but to no avail. "It was in containment, so it's gotta be alive, right?"

Sebastian nodded slightly as his tail tapped against the ground, expressing his confusion. He knew what p.AI.nter meant; there was a seperate wing for inanimate objects that Urbanshade had confiscated for one reason or another, yet for some reason this specific building was in the same confines as living creatures. It didn't seem alive in the slightest, as it hadn't moved one inch since Sebastian freed it and brought it to the lounge area he and p.AI.nter were currently sharing with a small pod of Deep Sea Bunnies. The pair had been watching it for fifteen minutes or so, but the lighthouse hadn't shown any signs of life. Sebastian was starting to think it was mistakenly placed in the wrong area.

"Hm..." He hummed, reaching up to his face and dragging a couple loose strands of hair behind one of the fins on his head, exposing his third eye to the artificial overhead light. "Kid, I'm gonna go see what else I can find around here. It won't be long before they send some kind of team or something down here to retrieve things, so we need to do what we can while we have this downtime."

p.AI.nter's scribbled-on expression revealed their concern, but they simply responded with, "Okay."

"Keep an eye on the thing, alright? Tell me if it does anything." Sebastian said as he patted one of the Deep Sea Bunnies on the head, to which it rolled over like a dog expecting belly rubs. Sebastian sighed before obliging, all which did nothing to boost p.AI.nter's mood. Afterwards, the fish flashed one last toothy grin at the screen to reassure the AI before exiting the room.

p.AI.nter briefly considered following him on the screens, but decided against it. They had just been tasked to watch the weird lighthouse and would hate to let their friend down. Instead, they fixed their virtual eyes on the odd structure once again, silently urging it to do something.

About ten minutes later, p.AI.nter had resorted to counting the Sea Bunnies. They kept wandering in and out of a little hole they had made in the wall, retrieving small objects and such to bring back to their nest. The computer lost track of them several times and kept having to restart their count — they simply could not comprehend what made these tiny nuisances appealing to humans. If only they had hands to pet the little things like Sebastian did, then maybe they could understand...

A sudden movement on the left caught p.AI.nter's metaphorical eye. They tore their gaze away from the Sea Bunnies and settled it back over on the lighthouse.

...Did it always have eyes?

p.AI.nter watched in silence as the front panel on the structure moved aside slowly, revealing a nervous pair of eyes underneath, cowering in the darkness of the crevice. It glanced around as if making sure the area was clear before cautiously standing up on long, rectangular legs that had been hidden underneath it before. It somehow looked both majestic and pitiful, with its beautiful exterior clashing against its terrified demeanor.

p.AI.nter watched it for a brief moment before their face vanished from the screen and they went off to find Sebastian.

The Arcorina's eyes darted to the screen at the movement and it shifted the panel to cover part of its face again, trembling slightly. It thought everyone was gone. It thought it was safe to come out. Had it thought wrong?

At the stress, small fractures began to appear along it and the vibrant white began to fade into a dull gray. It wasn't natural for it to be able to switch into its Minor form in a stable dimension like this, but the past few months of Urbanshade throwing it around in pocket dimensions to figure out how the Paironormal class worked had caused it to be anything but "natural."

It took a moment to calm itself down, causing the cracks to fade away and its color to become white once again. When it opened its eyes, it caught sight of the Deep Sea Bunnies coming in and out of their hole in the wall and took a few quick steps back before freezing.

There was something touching it.

It slowly shifted its gaze downwards and saw one of the Sea Bunnies rubbing its head against Arcorina's leg in a catlike manner. Arcorina made a small shrieking sound as it leaped back from the creature, holding out a panel-hand in a feeble attempt to make it stay back. The Sea Bunny tilted its head, then brushed against the hand, causing Arcorina to pull it back immediately.

The Sea Bunny kept waddling closer, wanting affection, and Arcorina desperately tried to wave it off — to no avail. When it realized that tactic wasn't working, it resorted to covering its face and cowering away from the approaching threat.

And yet the threat never came.

It finally decided to very slowly open its eyes and come out of hiding, and was greeted with the sight of a very tall fish holding the Sea Bunny and chuckling softly. Arcorina looked up to meet his eyes, then freaked out yet again and quickly hid, disguising itself as an inanimate lighthouse once again.

Sebastian wasn't fooled this time, and carefully set down the Sea Bunny before gently tapping on Arcorina's exterior.

"Hey," he said in a calm tone, trying his best to sound non-threatening, "I'm not going to hurt you. You can come out."

It took a moment of silence before the front panel of the lighthouse began to shift aside and Arcorina's face was visible again. It stared up at Sebastian nervously, hand trembling in the air. The fish gazed down at it in response, head tilted slightly in curiosity and pity. He knew how it felt to be afraid and alone in this place; he could only imagine what Urbanshade had done to this poor creature.

Arcorina blinked once, twice, before slowly emerging from its inanimate disguise. Something about the person in front of it seemed much more trustworthy than the humans it had been around before. He was much kinder, much calmer...

Maybe it was finally safe, Arcorina decided.