"Starfish, Reckless"
Her phone buzzed.
Again.
She checked the caller ID, reading that Kai Oceans was trying to contact her.
Again.
With a sigh, Mana swiped up to accept the call.
"Good morni-ing!" Kai's voice rang out, chipper as ever. Mana could swear she heard it nearby, too.
"Where are you?" Mana asked, no hint of excitement anywhere in her voice. As predicted, Kai responded as though she mirrored his enthusiasm.
"I'm right here!" He shouted, definitely audible from nearby, "Can you hear me?"
Mana only had to swivel her head to the right, and sure enough she saw a blue-haired sailor waving his arm, jumping up and down for attention. She pulled her phone away from her head just in time to hear him shout her name.
"Yeah." Mana put her ear back to the phone, "I can see you, too."
"Oh, thank God," Kai stopped jumping, "I was getting tired of that."
"Just stay where you are, I'll be there," Mana said, promptly hanging up on him.
The portside breeze caressed her skin as she approached Kai, who soon saw her walking towards him. Without a thought, he broke into a sprint and shoved someone aside. He yelled back an apology before colliding with Mana, wrapping his arms around her, and swinging about as though she were the one holding him.
"It's been too long!" He squealed, "How are you? How's Madi? Have you heard anything about-"
"Slow down, slow down," Mana cracked a smile as she pushed him away, "You were just at sea for a whole year, would it kill you to wind down a bit?"
"'At sea for a whole year,'" Kai scoffed, "As if you didn't go through five years of training in isolation without telling anyone!"
"Yeah," Mana's smile faded and her hand moved to the back of her neck, "Well, after Reflet died..."
Kai's grin evaporated at the mention of his brother. The beams behind his eyes seemed to shut off like a light switch. Mana could tell from Kai's face that he, too, was replaying the sight of Reflet 's skin cracking before the whole body dissolved. All that was left to say goodbye to was a pile of lavender dust.
"He was a good mentor," Mana murmured, a slight crack in her voice.
"And brother, too," Kai finished. His watering eyes travelled toward the ocean to his left, with Mana following close behind. Through the bustle of sailors and aquamancers hugging friends and family, Kai could still hear the symphony of waves beyond. As well as Mana knew this, she couldn't parse out the noise for the life of her.
"I thought of trying to bring him back while I was out there," Kai admitted, a sob almost breaking out, "But then... Well, Leviathan managed to talk me out of it. He knows better than anyone else to not pledge to the elders of the deep."
Notes
This one was actually based off of a role play that I did with some friends way back in 2015. We were all thirteen at the time and I wasn't very active towards the end, so I don't really remember all the details. I have a bit too much going on today to be able to re-read it, but I skimmed over a few things for the sake of the vignette.
What inspired this one was the connection between "starfish" and "reckless" matching my character's personality perfectly. He was completely reckless (and practically ADHD to boot), and his powers all revolved around being able to manipulate water. Originally, this vignette was going to be two brothers meeting for the first time in years, only to realize that they have nothing in common to talk about. Then I remembered that Reflet died in the RP, so I had to make a last-minute adjustment and replace him with Mana. Mana herself was someone that Reflet trained, so she seemed a fitting replacement. I had to forego the original idea for obvious reasons, and as cliché as it is to end on reminiscing about someone they used to know, it felt more natural than the two of them thinking they had nothing to share with each other.