George was woken up abruptly by a fish slapping him on his face as it swam past him. He sat up quickly, annoyance was written over his face as the fish turned around and stared at him. "You'll pay for that!" he growled, leaping through the water towards the small red (or what he assumed to be) creature. It quickly darted away from him, swimming fast through the coral. "Oh no you don't!" he yelled, before darting right after it, swerving through coral and other creatures, his deep blue tail propelling him forward. The fish in question also swam faster, and George pondered for a moment on why the fish was so fast, but he brushed it away from his mind as he noticed he was slowing down. His webbed hands pushed through the water, gaining himself some speed as he dug his claws into rocks before launching himself forward. The little fish disappeared from view behind a rock, and George groaned inwardly...stupid fast fish. He slowed down, his tail floating behind him as he peered over the rock. The little fish had taken shelter behind it, almost as if it thought he was unable to see it. A curious creature, George thought, too bad it would be his breakfast, otherwise, he'd have liked to see just how interesting it was. He raised his webbed hand slowly, to not cause too much movement in the water that would alert the fish of his presence, but hadn't thought ahead about the fact that he had a shadow. The fish noticed this shadow, and of course, swam off.

George began the chase again, as the fish swam into tall bushes of seaweed that rose too far to the surface to see past it. If he'd had time, he would have taken a moment to admire them, but he was on the hunt. Seaweed whacked into his face as he scrambled through the endless amounts of tendrils. "I hate seaweed." George mumbled miserably to himself, but cut his murmurings short as the seaweed in question suddenly disappeared. Instead of the slimy yellowish plants in front of him, there was nothing. The reef stopped. He risked a glance downwards and realised he couldn't see to the bottom. He also looked up and realised he was much closer to the surface than he liked to be. Of course, he was far enough down that nothing from above could see him, even if they had night vision or something (like he did, but George wasn't one to brag), yet he was close enough that he could rely on the light of the sun, rather than his own instincts and 10/10 eyes. George looked back in front of him, and saw that the fish had also stopped, as if surprised by the sudden change in scenery.

He smiled wickedly, and pushed forward, his claws grasping onto the fish and killing it quickly. He held it in both his hands, and stuck his tongue out at it. "That's right fish, I'm better than you." It didn't respond of course. It was dead. George pouted, before lifting it up and taking a bite. He leaned back and sat on the edge of the reef, letting his tail rest below him. George took another bite and stared at his tail. He'd managed to go his breakfast hunt without scratching himself on anything or losing any scales. He grinned to himself, "Suchseth!" he tried to say, but had forgotten he had fish in his mouth. He swallowed it quickly and said a quick "Success!" to make up for it, raising the fish in victory.

George finished the fish with one final chew and gulp, his stomach slowly not feeling too empty anymore. He sighed to himself and laid back on the reef, seaweed squished underneath him. He looked up to the top of the ocean, watching as the waves above him lapped and moved around, sunlight beaming through stripes over the ground. He felt warm. He didn't often feel warm. Not recently, anyway. George moved more inland, his tail no longer dangling over the edge, and found a warm spot hidden in the seaweed for a spot to lay. He figured, since he'd managed to find breakfast a lot faster than he usually did, that maybe he could have a nap. He curled into himself, bringing a hand to his brown locks of hair, brushing it out of the way as it swayed in tune to the water, before curling into himself and falling asleep.

This time, when George awoke, it was gradual. It was undoubtedly not sudden like his last wake up call had been. He appreciated that. As he looked up to the surface again, he realised with a start that he'd not had just a small nap, but had slept almost a whole day. "Well shit." he said to himself, stretching and yawning, a hand raising to cover his mouth as he did so. It had been a long time since he'd had a good sleep like that, and that caused him to have an odd feeling of contentedness in him, one that he somehow felt in his chest. George smiled, leaning back, his hands resting on the sandy rocks behind him, and brought his gaze once again up to the surface of the sea. It was mesmerising to watch the way the sunlight filtered through the water, so mesmerising, in fact, that he decided he could stare at it for hours. He could if he wanted to, he'd eaten yesterday, so that meant he probably wouldn't feel the need to eat for a few days.

George stared at the surface for a few more minutes, before deciding, despite the fact that he thought he could stare at it for hours, that he was bored. Ooooh. A great idea came to mind. What if, instead of looking at the surface he went up to the surface? George gave himself a pat on the back for that brilliant idea. He started to slowly swim up, and ignored the fact that he'd always known that the surface equalled bad. He was just too curious to care. And sure, he'd been up to the surface before, but not in years! The last time he'd had the chance was when he was still in his pod, and it hadn't ended greatly. In fact, it was cut short by the fact that humans decided his buddy Karl would be a great person to stab. George bit his lip, rest in peace Karl.

As he swam up, more instinctual thoughts barged into his mind, practically screaming 'stop this right now you blubbering idiot!', but just when he was about to listen to those thoughts, he realised he was right below the surface. Right below meaning he could feel the lapping of water on his head. "Oh...well, I'm already here...may as well." he muttered to himself, before lifting his head above water. He shielded his eyes from the glaring sun for a moment, and let his breathing adjust from the small gills on the sides of his neck to his lungs, before opening his eyes and murmuring a soft, "Oh...wow."

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I apologise that this is a short chapter, it's mostly just an introduction to George's perspective and setting the scene. More interesting stuff will happen within the next few chapters, as well as George and Dream meeting! oOOooOoOOo exciting, I know!

See you next time :P

-Bella

24/12/20