It was a quiet day.
Phones sighed contently as he read through the headlines of the Marineville Echo. Stingray had not been needed for several days now so her crew were cooped up inside the officers' lounge, waiting on standby in case there was a call to action. Troy was talking to Commander Shore in the control tower while Phones and Marina remained at a loose end in the lounge area.
Across the room was Lieutenant Fisher, lounging on the sofa with his head buried in some cushions. He too was on his break, meaning that Atlanta would be taking care of his duties until he was fully rested. The young aquanaut had come down with a bit of a migraine during the past hour, so the Commander had extended Fisher's break, hoping that it would give him enough time to recover before he would be needed back on duty.
In the small kitchen area on the edge of the room, Marina was looking for something to drink. She pulled open the fridge doors and peered inside, trying to find a carton of what Troy had introduced to her as 'apple juice'. Being an inhabitant of the sea, Marina had never even heard of such a thing, having being raised on liquids made out of underwater delicacies such as seaweed and blended coral instead. When she had first tried apple juice she had been in awe of how delicious it tasted and promptly began to try different flavoured juices with the help of suggestions from Troy.
Marina couldn't see any cartons of juice in the fridge so opted for a medium sized bottle that was tucked away in the fridge door. The liquid inside of it was transparent, so she deduced that it was probably water. She lifted it up and placed it on the counter, taking a glass out of the cupboard. The mermaid removed the bottle lid and poured the liquid into the glass, a look of confusion passing over her face as it began to fizz. Was water supposed to do that?
As the bubbles settled down, Marina stared at the clear contents of the glass with a look of innocence on her face. She tapped it once, gasping as a stream of bubbles fizzed up inside the strange liquid. She had never seen the water she'd drank before do that, so was astounded to why it would be suddenly doing it now. Her actions caught the attention of Phones, who started watching her.
"Hey, Fisher. You awake?" He called over to the sleeping man.
"I am now." The younger man grumbled groggily. "What is it, Phones?"
"Look over at Marina."
Fisher raised an eyebrow at the request and peered over at the green haired girl, watching as she closely observed the glass of lemonade. The mermaid appeared to have some sort of obsession with touching the glass to make it fizz up.
"Just what is she doing?" Phones asked, walking over to where the Lieutenant was resting.
"I'm not sure..." Fisher murmured, sitting upright against the arm of the sofa.
"Maybe she wants to try it? Maybe she don' have nothing like that down in Pacifica?"
"You might be right there." Fisher replied as Marina picked up the glass and began to drink its contents.
"What do you think, Marina? Do you like it?" Phones called over.
Marina coughed as the fizziness of the drink tickled her throat. She placed the empty glass down on the counter and blinked. Did water always taste like that? She didn't think so, and was starting to doubt it herself. The girl made eye contact with Phones and pointed at the bottle of lemonade before pointing at the tap, hoping the aquanaut would understand what she meant.
"Are you wondering if that was water, Marina?" Phones asked, hitting the nail on the head.
Marina nodded.
"It wasn't water. It may have looked like bottled water, but what you actually drank was lemonade."
Marina made a silent 'o' with her mouth. Well that explained the tangy aftertaste she was getting. Water was definitely blander than that. As this conclusion dawned on her, she suddenly felt her diaphragm heave. The mute girl quickly covered her mouth but failed to stop a small squeak from escaping.
"Aww, she's got the hiccups!" Fisher chuckled.
Marina continued hiccuping, much to her annoyance. She patted her chest but nothing seemed to appease them, her body continuing to jolt. The mermaid grabbed the glass once again and poured some tap water into it, quickly chugging it down, but this still failed to stop her chest heavings.
"Your hiccups sound adorable, Marina!" Phones laughed.
"Yeah, you sound like a little mouse squeaking!" Fisher added.
Marina rolled her eyes at their playful teasing and soon after, Troy walked into the room, causing Marina to cover her mouth. She couldn't let him hear her hiccups!
"Hey there folks." He smiled, walking over to where the two men were sitting. "How're you doing?"
"Pretty good thank you Troy, yourself?"
"I'm good thanks." Troy replied. "What about you Fisher? Still got that migraine?"
"It's still niggling at the back of my head but it's not nearly as bad as it was, thank you Troy."
Troy nodded and looked over at Marina, who turned away from him, embarrassed. She covered her mouth and hoped Troy would leave it at that, but of course the captain had to pry. He raised an eyebrow and walked over to her, gently placing his hand on her shoulder. "Marina? Are you alright?"
"She's got the hiccups, Troy. I guess she doesn't want ya hearing them!" Phones chuckled. Marina defiantly shook her head.
Troy laughed at this. "What? You're afraid of me hearing you hiccup, Marina?"
Marina covered her face and nodded slowly before a small hiccup escaped from her lips.
"That sounded so cute!" Troy smiled, "It's interesting to hear you making any sort of sound at all, Marina." Troy brought his hands up to her own and lowered them off of her face. "But I'm glad I was able to hear some sort of sound from you, no matter how trivial."
Marina felt her cheeks heat up at his confession and bowed in understanding. Another hiccup escaped her lips and she shook her head, causing Troy to laugh again.
"How could we try and get rid of her hiccups then, Troy?" Phones asked.
"She's already had some water but that obviously hasn't worked as of yet." Fisher added.
Troy rubbed his chin in thought and Marina looked up at him with a tilted head, wondering what plan was brewing in his mind. The captain slightly bent down in front of her and stared into her beautiful eyes, causing her to blush a little bit more. Marina closed them and Troy leant his face forward, leaving a few inches of space in-between their faces. He suddenly let out a loud whistle, making the mermaid jump, causing her to let out a muted gasp as her eyes shot open.
"Sorry about that, Marina! I figured that making you jump would be the best thing to stop the hiccups. Did it work?"
Marina had not expected Troy to startle her like that, but the unconventional method had seemed to stop her hiccups. She waited a few moments to see if her hiccups were going to come back, but thankfully they had completely stopped. She nodded her head.
Troy grinned. "I'm glad that cure still holds up alright!"
"That was pretty sneaky of you Troy." Phones smirked.
"Yeah, you're such a tease Troy. I thought you were going to ki-" Fisher was suddenly interrupted by Commander Shore's gruff voice which projected over the room loudspeakers, along with the alarm signalling Stingray was being called to action. The aquanauts waited for him to finish before Troy adjusted his cap, heading towards the control room with his crew following.
"Come on Phones, Marina! We're off on another adventure!"
