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softquietsteadylove · 1 year

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What’s better than jealous Thena?

A very territorial Thena! Especially if it’s comes to Gil!

Maybe you can write something about how very territorial she is? Choose the AU 👀

"What do you think, Angelfish?" Gil asked as Thena held onto his arm.

For their day out this time, he had brought her to a soft sanded beach, with reasonable human activity but nothing unreasonably crowded. She had seen one in a commercial on tv - the box, as she was still calling it - and asked about it.

"It's nice here," Thena smiled, looking out at the sparkling water and practically feeling it against her skin. She could smell the salt on the air and practically taste its salinity.

"A lot of people like the beach," Gil explained faintly as they walked towards a nice spot somewhat away from the centre of things. "The bright sun and nice weather can make people want to be outside, and there are lots of things you can do here for free."

"Hm," Thena hummed next to him so he would know she was listening. But she was taking in all the different coloured towels people had and their large hats and sunglasses and children running around and screaming.

"How about here?" he suggested, holding out his hand to a nice soft patch of sand a reasonable distance from most everyone else. She nodded and he immediately spread out a blanket that couldn't possibly supply warmth. "Sit on this, Angelfish. It'll keep sand from getting stuck to you."

Thena did so, sitting on the beach blanket but pressing her palm to the sand. Just as he said, granules of sand stuck to her skin. She blinked, "hm."

"Sand can be a real pain to get rid of once it's on you," Gil murmured as he also stuck their umbrella into the sand and set down the bag of supplies he'd brought with them. He smiled, "although I guess it's not really a problem for you, huh?"

Thena smiled back at him. Gil was becoming increasingly comfortable with going out around other people. She had gained more and more practice among humans with his and Sersi's help, and he had even found a funny article of clothing for her to wear today.

Gil had on shorts made of a funny material, similar to a diver's proper scuba suit or rashguard. He said they were made for getting wet, and then they could change and dry themselves with the towels properly so their clothes after would still be dry.

Thena was wearing a white 'bathing suit' as it was called, which was a hilarious contradiction of words, but never mind that. Gil had showed her how to put her arms and legs through, and then to tie it behind her neck in a secure knot. On top of even that, he had still asked her to wear one of her dresses for walking around while dry, too.

Gil was rather attached to clothes and the mere concept of them.

"You hungry?" Gil asked as he finally sat down himself and pulled out a funny smelling lotion. "There's food and ice cream and stuff."

"Ice cream?" Thena perked up at the mere mention of it. She wrinkled her nose as Gil spread the funny smelling stuff on his skin, "what is that?"

"This is called sunscreen," he explained as he massaged it into his palms and then rubbed his arms first. "It protects human skin from the sun."

"Why are you in danger from the sun?" Thena frowned.

"Too much of a good thing," Gil chuckled, moving on to his shoulders. "Consider it like being in the sun too long and drying out."

"Ah," Thena nodded; she did know what effect that could have. "It can cause scale peeling."

"Right," he grinned at her as he massaged it into his legs too. He looked at her, "I...don't know if you need any or not."

Thena leaned away from him, "it smells unpleasantly."

"I don't want you to get sick, though," he sighed, although he tilted his head. "I guess your skin isn't really the same as mine. Do you...do you know what a sunburn is?"

Thena shook her head.

"Okay," Gil sighed, putting away the bottle of sludge. "But I'm gonna keep an eye on you. And if your skin starts to get red or feel warm to the touch, don't say I didn't try to help."

She laughed; Gil had such a worrisome nature, but it only ever endeared him to her. She tilted her head at him, her hair tumbling around her as she did, "I'm sure you'll keep a very close eye on it."

Gil blushed, although she wasn't sure what she had said that might embarrass him.

"Uh, h-how 'bout that ice cream?" he suggested, standing rather rapidly. "What kind do you want?"

"Mango?"

"And what if they don't have mango?" he asked, having explained to her that not all ice cream places had the same kinds.

She had argued that was understandable, but it didn't make sense for them not to have the best flavour.

"Whatever tastes like fruit," she shrugged, and Gil nodded, walking off with a little money he kept in the bag he'd brought. She watched him go before pulling the bag closer to rifle through it.

She tossed aside the bottle of lotion, then the water bottle and his keys and wallet and phone. She grinned, pulling out a rolled up bag of sardine snacks.

The beach really was lovely. It was picturesque and beautiful and everyone present seemed to be enjoying themselves. She did want to take Gil swimming, although she would have to keep in mind to keep her legs on while she was doing it. It was pretty instinctive to put her tail on, after all.

She looked down the beach, easily able to see Gil at the medium distance at a little stall. The sun was bright, hitting his black hair and bringing out the brown undertones in it. It looked soft and fluffy as the breeze moved it.

Thena tilted her head. A female approached Gil, seeming to ask him about the ice cream. She couldn't quite hear them over the roar of the sheer volume of people also present. And their backs were to her, or she would read their lips.

She tilted her head in the other direction as the female stepped more into Gil's space. The stranger didn't seem to know him, and certainly Thena didn't know her. And yet the human had cozied herself right up to Gil's side, as much as he tried to move out of her way.

Was not the purpose of a line to be single file and long?--not people next to each other side by side?

Thena stood, dusting off her sundress. She made her way towards the ice cream stand, watching two more females join the first. They were speaking about being friends, asking about Gil and why they hadn't seen him here before.

Because he hadn't been here before; what a stupid question.

The first one to approach him closed in on his border with her other two packmates flanking him, creating a tight triangle on each of his sides. They had blocked off his escape route.

Thena bit on her lip, keeping in mind to press her fangs against her tongue.

"That's so funny!"

Thena watched as the primary female laughed, throwing her head back, showing off her long jugular and putting her hand on Gil's arm. She walked faster.

"Uh, well," Gil squirmed, trying not to make contact with her or the other two as his personal space continued to shrink and shrink and shrink. "I should really-"

"So passionfruit, huh?" the second one asked, clearly next in the pecking order for their prey.

Gil gulped, "my girlfriend likes fruity flavours."

Thena had heard this 'girlfriend/boyfriend' label applied to each of them in several contexts by now. She never managed to pin down a description of what exactly they meant, and they seemed to change slightly depending on the circumstances.

But what was important was the 'my' that came before it.

"Aw," even the tertiary of the pack felt bold enough to speak up. "You have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, I do," Gil nodded eagerly. He was bartering for his release.

"Well," the primary was up again, moving closer to him again, "where is she?"

"Excuse me," Thena growled, already congratulating herself for her restraint for not hissing in the woman's face.

"Oh," all three of them made a surprised expression and stood back. "Uh, okay...not what I expected."

"Hey," Gil looked at her, holding her hand in his protectively. "I-I'm sorry, you should-"

"You're his girlfriend?" the primary asked. Her tone was sweet, but Thena couldn't help but feel that it was very fake. "You're so pretty."

Then frowned; the words were complimentary, but she had never felt so insulted.

"Is she from, like, Sweden?" the secondary joined the pack leader in their subtle intimidation display. Their arms sat crossed around them under their busts.

"I had a marine biology outpost in the Bering Sea until last year," Thena spouted off the practised line entirely naturally, by far the most practised detail of her human life she knew, by now. Second to anything relating to Gil, of course.

"That must have been lonely."

Thena wished she had her tail so she could wave it between her and Gil and them, beating her fins in a display of her anger. Instead, she clung to Gil's arm, pulling him closer to her. "It was before we met."

"Oh," the primary blinked. She was bad at acting.

"Look ladies," Gil attempted to address the pack, leaning both of them away from the pack's approach, "I'm sorry, but I'm trying to enjoy a date with my girlfriend."

"Oh, well, we wouldn't want to interrupt."

She was bad at lying.

Thena didn't quite know how to employ such subtleties to her speech, with their false meanings and tones and implications. She tilted her head at them, "you desire my mate."

"Uh," she scoffed in Thena's face at the accusation, "mate? What're you--from some old timey cult?"

"I do not know what a cult is," Thena answered straight forward. It continued to take the human women off guard. She stepped forward (but only enough to stare them down, not enough to have to let go of Gil). "But I know that you are unwelcome here. I would hate to have to engage in anything with you."

The women looked at her, and Thena didn't know what they were imagining. But she grew up with Ikaris--she knew how to fight, be it properly, or being reduced to biting and scratching.

The women laughed off the interaction, but they were both backing away and tightening their formation. They could act as superior as they desired, but they were still the ones retreating.

Thena maintained eye contact, never taking her eyes off of her enemies until they were turned and walking away. She could very clearly hear them talking about how 'weird' she was and how 'crazy' she seemed, and how her being with Gil didn't 'make any fucking sense'. She tipped her chin up; the victory was still hers.

"Hey," Gil whispered, pulling her back to him, "Angelfish?"

Thena slowly turned back to him, her chest aching faintly as she tried to even out her breathing. Having just lungs wasn't always easy. She frowned, "you should have called for me."

Gil blinked, obviously surprised at that statement, "what?"

She pursed her lips at him, "you were cornered, Gil. A pack like that, obviously aggressive about territory?--you could have called to me for help. I would have heard you!"

His surprise didn't quite disappear, but he smiled, "you'd come over and protect me, huh?"

Thena huffed, crossing her arms (a very human habit, if she did say so herself). "I wasn't going to let them try and edge in on my territory, like that. If we were in my habitat, our tails would be crossing and she would have my fang marks on her.

Gil continued to grin at her in that way that made him seem amused by what she was saying. His hand moved so he could settle his arm behind her, his hand landing on her waist. Her back sloped into the bend of his elbow naturally.

Thena tilted her head as she felt Gil's lips on her cheek. She liked it when he did that.

"Thanks for coming to my rescue, Cuddlefish."

Thena looked down at her sandy toes. Gil was right, the sand was everywhere. She toyed with the hem of her dress. "You protect what is yours, Gilgamesh. It is the most natural thing in the world."

"I guess I feel the same way," he said softly, holding her close to him.

She sighed, immediately melding into him. Sometimes - as impossible as it was - she felt she could miss him as soon as he was away from her for mere minutes. A silly thought.

"You still gonna order somethin', son?"

Gil blushed a vivid red, pulling himself away from Thena and stuttering at the older gentleman running the stand. "S-S-Sorry, I, uh, d-distracted-"

"That's clear," the man with a moustache snorted, although he gave Thena a nod, "somethin' for the lady?"

"Do you have mango?" she asked outright. There was no better way to ascertain things than asking directly.

"Mm, no mango," the shop keeper shook his head. "But I've got passionfruit, strawberry, blueberry cheesecake, and lemondrop."

"Hm," Thena nodded, wondering what 'cheesecake' would taste like. And what the difference between a lemon and a lemondrop was. She looked up at Gil, "what should I do?"

He beamed at her, "I was going to get passionfruit for you. It's kind of like mango. I'll get lemondrop, and if you don't like yours, we can trade."

Thena beamed right back at him, wishing she had her tail on to express some of her happiness for her.

The mustachioed man shook his head with a chuckle, already readying the individual scoops for each tub, "sucker."

Thena laughed as well, leaning against Gil's side as he handed over their money and waited for their ice cream, "my Suckerfish."

#Thenamesh Mermaid AU #the shopkeep can laugh all he wants #he did let them have their little cuddle before interrupting #anyway Thena saw this from a distance and said oh hell no #and where she's from #they would have finished this properly #She would be pummelling them with her tail #slapping them with her fins and biting them #territory is territory after all and that includes one's partner #altercations about territories don't necessarily include mates but Gil doesn't have to know that #if Thena wants to keep other women away from what she had claimed as hers that's her business #they get their ice cream and stroll back #and Gil sighs when he sees that she dug through their stuff for the sardines and then left everything everywhere #she's messy #and he loves it

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