The Odd Fountain

Raian wasn’t too sure if they had paid or not, they were in quite a hurry after all. Mochi at least left a tip in the form of a single anchovy, so there’s that. They were a bit past curfew by now, but Raian decided he could take the scolding, depending on who’s giving the scolding.

After a brief stop for dessert, and with full stomachs and slightly achy legs, there was one last place the boy was told he needed to see.

It was a little bit cramped and wasn’t too unlike the street Mochi made Raian buy that odd sphere at, but it had a lot more appeal to it. The buildings seemed old, at least some of the oldest in the city, and the darkness of the sky warded off by a complex web of warm, hanging lights.

In the centre, a rather large fountain sat. It wasn’t exactly ornate despite looking like it had been tweaked at least once or twice in its lifetime. A brief history lesson from Raian told him that this fountain was here long before Tarin Oth’s first bricks were even laid.

Fortunately for both of them, the spot was quite barren, something Raian was quite proud of himself for finding. From the sounds of it, everyone was choosing to spend their night in a performance hall just across from the fountain.

It was by far the fanciest building here, right next to a slightly tilted clocktower, having dropped plays and fanciful performances about death and the fornication with an enemy’s mother in favour of performances of musical nature. Bands, operas, orchestral performances, and those strange warbly sounds brought over by the elves were all the rave. These days, music often spilled from those doors.

Almost tripping once or twice due to not looking where he was walking, the boy was a bit preoccupied with all the flashing lights. He wanted his room to look more like this. He knew he’d have to ask nicely though. Despite it being a little bit chilly, he couldn’t help but feel a radiating warmth from this place.

Mochi finally saw why Raian wanted to make one final stop here.

“How did you find this?” Mochi spun around to his handler.

“Aha…” the man let out an awkward chuckle, “Unali and I were out one night a few years ago and they needed to throw up, so…” he gestured toward the fountain.

Mochi grimaced, inching away from the flowing waters.

“Don’t worry! They cleaned it. I think.”

The boy remained mildly suspect of Raian’s words. He had seen Unali in plenty of states, and their vomit always somehow ended up rainbow coloured. The thought as to why that was the case didn’t have enough time to be entertained before Mochi noticed something glistening at the bottom of the fountain.

Disregarding the concept of Unali’s clown vomit, the squid plunged his entire arm into the cold waters, snagging up a handful of gravel and coins.

“Raian, look! Someone left a buncha coins at the bottom! We’re rich!” Mochi yelped.

Extending a wet arm to his handler, he thought that maybe he can fund his room’s renovation himself now.

Moments later, the waters ceased to flow, and the fountain deadened. Despair flooded over the boy, as it didn’t exactly take a genius to figure what happened. His worried gaze met with Raian’s, entirely uncertain of what to do.

“Ah, it didn’t like that.” The man smiled knowingly as the last few dribbles of water joined the pool.

“What do I do?!” Panic continued to rise.

Raian nodded toward the shimmering waters and gestured toward the clump of coins. Eventually, Mochi got the message and slowly tipped the mass back into the pool.

Uttering a single ‘sorry’, the boy endeavoured an attempt to maintain eye contact, even if the fountain probably didn’t have eyes. And with a painfully long wait, the fountain soon sprung back to life.

Raian tossed a complementary coin at Unali’s expense with an impressive bloop, and Mochi could’ve sworn the waters got a little bit more crystalline.

Due to the odd nature of the fountain, it was technically classed as a working citizen of Tarin Oth. It was provided with monthly wages and even paid taxes. In exchange, it just looked nice.

His smile didn’t immediately return, much to Raian’s worry. Instead, Mochi saw to sitting on the edge of the ornamental piece, kicking his sandals to side, and only just now realising that he left his socks at the beach.

He knew Raian wouldn’t be mad, but that didn’t stop him from being disappointed in himself, and as the two listened to the gentle thumping of distant music, something finally gave way in the boy’s mind, and he opened his mouth.

“Am I weird?” the boy asked, looking deep into the waters.

“What gave you that idea?” Raian turned, lifting his leg to rest on the brim.

“It’s just…” Mochi trailed off, dipping his toes into the cool waters, “people were looking at me a lot, and I don’t really know why – did I do something wrong again?”

Keeping his troubled mind occupied with picking up bits of stone and the odd coin with his toes didn’t help the unbearable, crushing silence as much as he wanted, until he felt a tap on his arm.

“Hey,” the handler spoke with softness, “you didn’t do anything wrong, you’re just… new to these things, y’know? And I hate to break it to you, but some people will look, for better or worse. Sometimes I can’t blame them.”

The man shuffled closer until his shoulders bumped with Mochi’s, and the boy stopped swishing his legs about. His fingers gripped the brim of the fountain a little bit tighter.

“Why were they looking at me so much though?” the boy gave a light kick of the waters.

“It’s impossible to tell, but it’s not something you should feel bad for. Some people are just nosy. They’re just not used to some things, and that’s their problem. I get odd looks here and there as well.” Raian continued, trying his best to word it in a way he would understand.

“You do?” Mochi’s face brightened up ever so slightly as he turned to his handler.

“I mean, look at me.” Raian gestured vaguely, “I’m a brown man in a city where, quite frankly, there’s not a lot of people like me. Unali’s purple, a Senrali, and gender is more of a suggestion to them, and as much as I like to think we’ve come a long way as a people, there’s still going to be some that don’t like us for things we have no control over.”

The boy felt another nudge against his shoulder, except this time he turned away to hide the slight simper forming across his face. He couldn’t quite hide his tendrils doing a faint jig in the evening breeze though. Now that was a tell Raian would always pick up on immediately.

“You are weird, but…” the man spoke reassuringly, “not because of the way you look.”

“Why am I weird, then?!” Mochi frowned, snapping his incredulous gaze at his handler.

“You tried to eat a moth.” He said flatly.

“Once! I tried to eat a moth once!”

Mochi made a rather pathetic attempt to kick some water Raian’s way, luckily the man was a master of evasive manoeuvres, and even luckier he didn’t have to whip out his skills just yet.

The evening went on as Mochi continued to make attempts to get at Raian before inevitably giving up. With so much to take in at once, how could they leave now? They didn’t talk much more, but at the same time, they didn’t feel like they needed to.

While they couldn’t enter just yet, Mochi was still giddy at the presence of music. The boy spent his time pacing about the pool of the fountain, dancing wherever he could. He wasn’t exactly good at it, but that didn’t stop him.

They were far past curfew at this point, but maybe for once it was best to just let the squid be. Let him enjoy his time, and perhaps Raian can enjoy his too.