This was the part Kelly disliked. She had always had fish in an aquarium for as long as she had memories, but hadn't named any since she was six. Fish were fish. Not real pets, but living decorations. Granted, Princess and this new one were more than 'just fish' and certainly more than decoration, but she still had a tough time of it while she waited for Walter to get here. Eventually, though, after a long time of staring into the merman's mock human eyes, and admiring his sparkling red tail and baubled red hair, she decided.
"Ruby. We're going to call you Ruby."
That elicited a strange response from the merman, who shook his head rapidly. Kelly furrowed her brows. It was like he understood her, and had decided he didn't like the name. But . . . no, it was some strange reaction to being out of water like this. Poor thing must be scared and dehydrated. Right? Still, Kelly bit her lip and filed that question away in her brain as something to investigate later, along with the question of how he got here.
"OHMYGOOODD!" Walter very nearly shrieked as he appeared in the sanctuary. He carried a stretcher that smelled vaguely of fish.
"Exactly. He's the real thing, too."
"Where did he come from?"
"We'll figure that out later. But we need to get him into water." Kelly said, standing up. The merman went scared as he saw the loud, large man, and as Kelly turned her attention from him. Walter hoofed it to them and put the white cloth stretcher down beside Ruby. The juvenile started to scootch away from the foreign object, but Walter grabbed hold of his fin, and Kelly wrapped her hands around his shoulders.
"One. . . two. . . three." The pair lifted the merman off the ground and put him on the stretcher. He was starting to panic, flipping his tail more, jerking wildly. That ended the moment Kelly and Walter lifted the stretcher off the ground, and Ruby grabbed hold of the poles.
"We have to get him up stairs, at least. But he's going to attract some attention." Kelly said. Walter nodded. They started to move to the stairs, Kelly walking backward, and Walter guiding her. She could hear the crowds still milling about on the upper levels. They were thinner now, but still present. Getting Ruby to the back areas and then the tank was going to be a bit of an attention grabber . . .
