#merman speaker | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dapandapod · 1 year ago

Note

Concept:

Geralt works in an aquarium, near the biggest fish tank.

Jaskier is a newly hired mermaid performer

Geralt was not told about this

In my dreams, it's still Mermay 2023. Husshhh time is fake. ANYWAY here it is! Thank you @magdelanesingerin helping me beta read <3 and thank you Ella-la for the prompt! It was a lot of fun! Please enjoy <3 On Ao3 here

Technically, Geralt does not work with humans. As in, he’s not there to provide care to humans.

Most of his coworkers are human, yes, but that is not the point. He did not start working here to serve people stale sandwiches and sparkling water.

Geralt knows every inch of the aquarium, knows every work position available.

He knows how to do everything, despite actually being there for the more excotic species of aquatic animals, usually with many teeth. Pros and Cons of working with the family, he supposes.

The years he has spent out in the field and all the late nights he worked with his doctor's thesis, all the scars from times he spent crawling through knee deep water that stank of sulfur and decay, only to find his arm swallowed to the elbow by something very small with big hubris-- all of that is put to perfect use as he wraps yet another dry, overpriced sandwich, or scoops yet another ice cream.

The reason he actually stays, despite the screaming children and the sweating parents and the bored teenagers and the entitled grandparents and the weird work tasks he gets assigned, is the way a young girl's face lights up when Geralt holds up a frog, big enough for him to have to use both hands.

Or the way the sullen teen beams when one of their rare giant butterflies lands on their hands. Or when he can hold an audience captive while showing them something new and exciting and incredibly nerdy about his sharks.

Geralt loves his sharks.

Due to every summer reason ever, Geralt has sadly been called away from his animal related daytime tasks to cover shifts where their usual summer employees are out sick. Which seems to be most of this month.

Where he stands right now, in the very small and very understaffed little kiosk, he has an excellent view of the shark tank, at least. As the aquarium has grown in popularity, so has their shark tank, his pride and joy.

Coën had explained to him excitedly that their new tank would have a much bigger viewing area, and seating area, almost like a little theater. To allow for future opportunities, he had said, and Geralt thought of the way he would be allowed to show off his beauties through the window and almost got excited himself.

It is unusually crowded today, and a lot of people are gathering around the viewing area and are chattering.

It's so loud, their voices bouncing around the room and amplifying, and it's hard to hear the woman in front of him inexplicably order their largest latte and a lactose free cheese sandwich.

Luckily, Milva is coming in soon to cover the rest of the shift, so Geralt can finally get back behind the tanks, out of sight of all the people.

But before he can, the clock strikes one, music blares through the speakers the speakers, and one of the employees he knows from birthday parties steps out with a microphone. It makes Geralt frown, because this is new.

Usually, the show around the big tank would involve a kid friendly lesson about the fish and aquatic animals in their tank, sometimes accompanied by a sweaty Lambert in a mascot suit.

This time, however, there is dreamy music, the lights are lowered even more, and the employee is talking about the magical beings living in the deep, out of sight of human eyes.

See, Geralt is a man of science.

He knows there are mythical and magical things in the depths, having been up close and personal with a few. But this sounds like they are setting up for some kind of misinformed children’s movie.

Which is why Geralt's jaw is somewhere around floor level, when an actual mermaid- wait no, merman, swims up to the glass, waving at the children.

Milva has to elbow him out of the way so she can serve the next customer, while Geralt stares at the Merman flitting around in his beloved shark tank.

The sharks stay clear, because even if the merman's tail is beautiful, it is still striped much like a dragon fish, warning all of them not only with his size, but also with his pattern and coloring, that he is dangerous.

Yet his smile is wide, his claws retracted to tap a smooth fingertip at the glass and wave at the crowd with a webbed hand.

His hair is chestnut brown, matching the pattern riding up along his back, with specks of gold dancing on his skin and in his blue, very blue eyes.

Geralt somehow finds himself by the rail to the seating area, and the merman's eyes lock with his.

As they do, they widen a fraction, and the smile turns into a smirk. The merman winks, and turns, swimming in a pirouetting circle as the employee narrates his movements.

As he swims, the light dances over muscle and bone and scale, the crowd around him making ‘Oooh’ and ‘Aaah’ noises. He is beautiful.

The merman keeps showing off, his many long fins twirling around him like ribbons in the calm water. It is mesmerizing, and as the show is coming to a close, Geralt hurries to the back area and towards the tank.

He gets intercepted by Lambert, of course, who steps in front of him with a shit eating grin spread wide across his smug face.

"Like the new show, did you, pretty boy?" Lambert says, sly eyes watching him.

"I didn't realize we had a new show." Geralt grumbles. "I need to-"

"-Go and ask our new pretty fish boy intrusive questions, yes I know. Just remember he is not a science project."

With a pat on Geralt's shoulder, Lambert walks past him and intothe guest area.

"Oh, and ask him for his number. Literally everybody in the room saw that wink," he throws over his shoulder as he goes.

Geralt feels his ears burn as he moves forward again, because yeah, that wink felt very... yeah. Words fail him, which is a bit unfortunate, seeing as he is just arriving at the stairs to the tank.

Climbing them, he tries to remember what he planned to do in the first place, other than, as Lambert called it, 'ask intrusive questions'.

As he reaches the top of the stairs, the merman is just climbing out of the tank, assisted by Eskel. Once again, Geralt feels his jaw drop, noticing that his tail is now legs.

Long legs. Bare legs, that goes up, up, and lucky for all of them, the rest of the view is quickly hidden by a towel wrapped around a slim waist.

"Figures," he hears Eskel snort, "Jaskier, this is Geralt, our aquatic expert."

They are on separate ends of the room, the tank between them, but the world narrows down to just the two of them.

There is, and always has been, a specific mood to the rooms that houses the the big tanks.

The way the water reflects light, sending it dancing on the walls and ceiling, how it softens shadows, how it can be dark but bright at the same time; Geralt has always did found it a little romantic.

Which isn't something he would ever confess to unless he was swimming in alcohol, or so sleep deprived he didn’tt even know his own name, but it is there, simmering in the back of his mind.

Especially now as he is standing there in the soft, romantic light with a man, who was just a merman, looking back at him as if he has discovered the world anew. He can even pretend that the humming of pumps and gurgling of water filters and dripping of pipes are an orchestra, a symphony to accompany a first meeting.

Alright, that is overdoing it, but still.

Behind Jaskier, Eskel is rolling his eyes so hard his body moves with it.

"Every. Frickin. Time. Jaskier, good job, don't forget to wash off before you get dressed. Let's talk after... after. Later. I do not want to be here right now."

Eskel leaves, patting Jaskier's shoulder, who only nods and waves absently, eyes still fixed at Geralt.

When Eskel is gone, disappearing through another door leading to more, smaller tanks and the food prep area, Geralt finally finds he can move.

It is oddly silent, except for the metallic sound of his shoes hitting the maze of walkways hanging above the tank. He stops, even before he has turned the corner to the final stretch.

"Hi," he manages after a few seconds too long.

The corner of Jaskier's mouth tugs up into a smile, and he reaches for another towel hanging on a hook on the wall.

"Hi," he echoes, his voice just a little raspy. Jaskier wraps the towel around his shoulders, using a corner to dry his hair. "So, you are the Geralt that I have heard so much about."

Geralt blinks. He did not expect people to have mentioned him, but then again, they might actually have warned Jaskier of him.

"Ah. Sorry. I can be uh... less than tactful when something grabs my interest."

Jaskier tilts his head even more and takes a step closer to him.

"So did I? Grab your interest, I mean."

Shit. Fuck. Shit fuck shit.

"I have never met a merman before." Geralt says stiffly, ears burning something fierce, and Jaskier looks amused.

Jaskier steps closer; his feet probably hurt from walking barefoot on the metal grating of the walkway but he doesn't stop until he is close enough to Geralt to stretch out his hand.

"Well then. My name is Jaskier, as you might have gathered. Nice to meet you! Though, I am not full mer, actually."

Interesting.

Geralt shakes his hand, noticing the tips of Jaskier’s fingers are a little rough against the back of his hand.

"Is that why you have... uh..."

"Legs?" Jaskier supplies helpfully. Geralt is still shaking his hand. "In part, yes. Some Mer have a splash of elven blood, granting them the ability to choose."

Geralt should stop shaking his hand. He really should. Their eyes are still locked, and Jaskier is still giving him that amused smile.

"You can stop shaking my hand now," he reminds Geralt, but doesn’t pull his hand back.

"Right. Yes. Right. Sorry." Geralt manages to let go, and is infinitely happy Eskel has left the room, though no doubt Lambert will look at the security footage for later. Shit.

As soon as Geralt manages to break the stare into the man’s eyes, he notices the next problem. Jaskier is pretty much naked, barely covered by the towels, revealing skin, chest hair, and the hint of a tattoo along his ribs and on one thigh.

He wants to ask about that, if it transfers to his fins or not. But as he stares, he also realizes Jaskier is shivering slightly. He's an idiot.

"I uh. Should leave you to get dressed. There is a shower in the changing rooms. Uhm. Can I get you a coffee or something? Later?"

Jaskier smiles that amused smile of his while Geralt is kicking himself internally. Words never were his thing, no, but this is ridiculous.

"As in bring me a coffee, or drink a coffee together with me?"

"Whichever you are comfortable with. Sorry, I am not making a good impression here."

"You are very cute, if that helps." Jaskier says, and Geralt blinks, stunned.

When he fails to reply, Jaskier pulls his towel tighter around himself, and nods.

"Right. So, I'll go shower, and we’ll pretend I never said that. And I'll see you later. For coffee."

Jaskier’s ears are slightly red, and Geralt wants to pretend it’s from their conversation, not from being cold.

Geralt nods, and flees before he can put his foot in his mouth any further, and only after he is half way down the stairs does he realize that he forgot to ask if Eskel showed Jaskier where the changing rooms are.

Too late now, he absolutely won’t go back and risk walking in on a very naked Jaskier. Nope.

When Geralt steps into the public area again, the crowds are slowly thinning out, now that the show is over.

Parents are herding kids towards bathrooms and other viewing areas, and Geralt decides that he needs to find something just a little better than the staff room coffee machine.

It feels a little cheap to go with the aquarium café, and he realizes he doesn't even know how Jaskier likes his coffee. Geralt himself has a sweet tooth, and very few ever believe that at first sight.

He decides to stand and awkwardly waits until Jaskier comes back out.

He manages to work himself up as he waits, overthinking until he’s standing there frowning and glaring at the wall when Jaskier emerges at last.

Quirking an eyebrow, Jaskier hoists his dufflebag a bit higher on his shoulder.

"You good?"

"Hmm. What kind of coffee do you like?" Geralt asks, before he can say something dumb.

"Black as tar, so anything is good." Jaskier smiles. See? You never know what to expect, even with sunshine incarnated.

Geralt nods, and leads the way to the little kiosk where he was working just a few, life-changing minutes before. .

Milva smiles gleefully at Geralt when it's their turn, and hands them a coffee black as tar, and for Geralt, coffee with milk and three sugar cubes.

Instead of sitting down, they put away Jaskier's bag and wander around the aquarium. It turns out he never had the chance to look around before diving in for his first show.

Geralt tries to not ask all the intrusive questions bubbling up in his head, his scientific curiosity temporarily pushed down by the way Jaskier coos at tiny crabs and little fishes in weird shapes and colors.

At last, Jaskier informs him that he can't stay any longer, that he has band practice after his show, and should have gone already.

"But I'll see you again, Geralt," Jaskier promises with a smile. "Next week. Unless you want to grab a bite sometime?"

Jaskier's ears are red again, and Geralt can feel his own face getting warm.

"I'd like that," he mumble, and Jaskier beams. They exchange numbers, just in case Geralt had anything else to ask.

Not one minute after Jaskier leaves, waving over his shoulder, Lambert is on him.

"Getting some tail, are you, pretty boy?" Lambert grins, and Geralt elbows him away.

"If you say anything ever again, I'll show Aiden all your drunk texts," he threatens, which he knows will only work for a few days.

Geralt risks sending a text that same night, and Jaskier replies only a few minutes after.

They have a lunch scheduled in a few days, and Geralt doesn't dare call it a date, not yet, no matter what Eskel says.

When Geralt goes to sleep later that night, he dreams of blue eyes, of chestnut brown and gold specks glimmering in the underwater light.

#geraskier #the witcher #geralt x jaskier #mermay 2023 #marine biologist geralt #part mer jaskier #geralt of rivia #jaskier the bard #meet cute #fluff #geralt gets a surprise #dapanda writes

97 notes · View notes

airandyeah · 4 months ago

Text

By The Beach Merman Nanami X Reader pt.5

My Masterlist for more chapters THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT, I LOVE YOU ALL Frustration due to communication issues, Nanami SPEAKS HIS FIRST WORDS, mentions of drugs and alcohol (Y/N isn't doing them in this chapter though, so yay)

Now that they had both calmed down and they were seated on the couch, they simply stared at each other. "So....", Y/N spoke up, "My name is Y/L/N", She points at herself to try and emphasize what she meant, because he obviously didn't speak her language... The man tried to form words, a noise came out of his mouth but it was broken, his vocal cords were rusty. He continued to try to clear his throat and try again, after about 10 minutes he finally rumbles out a "Y/N", and boy, was she taken aback by how... hot he sounded. Nonono, focus. She pointed at him and asked "What's your name?", after a while he tried to sound out many things but ended with a broken up "Na-nami, Ken--to". Y/N repeated the name and he nodded. ~~~ They fell into a routine after that. Y/N would put on children's videos about the alphabet and sounding out letters and words, while Y/N would continue to make her influencer videos. She gifted Nanami a dictionary after he finally learned the alphabet and a few basic words and sentences. He was learning fast, but Y/N figured he didn't understand everything he said. Like, why would he call her pretty or say that he liked her? He must be confused... But she hoped he wasn't. She hoped this hot man, that she saved, liked her. She had gone out a few times to get him clothes as well, never quite getting his size right, but they did all fit. He had stayed in her guest room, sleeping there and educating there if he wasn't in the living room or at the kitchen bar. ~~~ It was one of those days, one hate comment too far and Y/N had enough. She marched over to the kitchen, passed a very startled Nanami who asked a shaky "Y/L/N?", before she stopped to stare at her liquor cabinet, and her meds next to it. She was on the verge of grabbing them when two big, warm hands grabbed her own. "Nanami?", she asked, not knowing what he was doing, but he was behind her, his warm breath on her neck. "I can't let you have... those", he breathed out. "Why not?", Y/N asked, not understanding how he even knew what was going on. "When me... came here. You were... i-ill. And those were near you. They... bad.", Nanami fought out. Y/N was shocked.... he would remember such a seemingly small detail about their first... well. second encounter? ~~~ Rather than drinking and loosing herself, she chose to dance. She flipped on her speaker and Nanami watched, curious. The song that started playing was 'Feeling Good', By Nina Simone (The best version of the song, no one can change my mind) Birds flying high, you know how I feel Sun in the sky, you know how I feel Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel She took a few steps back, closer to the open area of the living room as the song began to take flight... It's a new life for me, yeah It's a new dawn, it's a new day It's a new life for me, ooh And I'm feeling good She began swaying and dancing to the music while Nanami stared, 'what is this?' he thought, but he was entranced not only by the new voice and sounds... but also by your movements. Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don't you know? She began to sing with it too (That's why i switched lyric color), pointing at Nanami and inviting him to dance too. Nanami looked lost, he didn't know how to do what you were doing, hell, he finally just learned to run. The song soon finished with a "Why didn't you join me?", Y/N looked sad almost at his lack of dancing. He let out a sigh before apologizing and saying he didn't know what to do. "Dance the next one with me. please. You don't have to know how to do it. Let the music move you", she said to him before he finally agreed. Her face split into a beaming smile, hate comments forgotten, as she went to choose a song. Maybe something high energy... something to get him moving. Something... Groovy. ~~~ That's all for this one! Love you, you beautiful people ~~~ Tags @kiel-luvsripples

#jjk #jjk nanami #x reader #nanami kento #jujutsu kaisen #ex merman nanami

25 notes · View notes

ms--lobotomy · 8 months ago

Text

Almost done with finals. Almost. Pretty merman on the mind. Aah. [Previous] [Next]

Summary: You and Mortarion go for your first swim together.

Word Count: 1044

Content Warnings: dad rock, scars, saccharine sweet content this time around

Image Credit: @squishyowl

You slid the wood-and-glass door shut with a loud THUMP. You held your phone in one hand, encased in a plastic bag, and a small speaker in the other. You felt his eyes on you, careful not to linger too long on your exposed skin. You looked down at him, a light smile dusting your lips. His eyes widened as they trailed up to meet yours, and his mouth hung slightly agape.

"Mortarion?" you asked, feeling your heart skip a beat.

"It's nothing," he said gruffly. "What's in your hand?"

"Oh!" you exclaimed, holding up your phone. "This is a phone, it's... it's a lot of things, really, but the battery on it sucks. But if I open up the right music app and turn on the speaker..." you said, pressing a button to light up your speaker before focusing on your phone to open up your music app of choice. You scrolled to one of your more calm playlists, and pressed play.

Mortarion's eyes widened as he heard the strum of an acoustic guitar. You dipped your toes into the pool. D-major-7 chord, followed by a B-sus-2, dropping to G-sus-2 before moving back to that D-major-7.

"I can... play the first chord," you said. "I'm still learning this one." Meanwhile, Mortarion was laser-focused on the sound coming from the speaker.

"Hello... I've waited here for you..."

You were knee-deep now, getting acclimated to the water. Mortarion's tail swished from side to side, and he leaned on the side of the pool. You stepped lower as the voice in the speaker crooned its next word.

"Everlong."

You stepped off the stairs and winced as the water came up to your chest, cold against you. Mortarion turned around, his face expressionless as he edged his way towards you.

"You're cold."

You nodded as Dave Grohl continued the first verse of the song, shivering as if on cue. "I'm sorry," you mumbled, folding your hands over your stomach. "Sometimes I just need a minute to acclimate to this pool."

His expression was as rough and cold as ever, but he lay a light hand on your upper arm. It almost engulfed it. His fingers ended in sharp, ash-dark claws that rested against your skin. His pale skin was slightly iridescent, dotted in some places with light yellow-green scales. You shivered again as you looked back at him. His hand was warm on you.

"Do you..." he started before clearing his throat. "Do you wish to come closer?"

You froze, blinked, and then nodded. "I'd like that," you said sheepishly. Before you knew it, his other hand was cupped behind your back and he rested your head on his chest. His skin was rough, scarred. You felt not one, but two heartbeats in your ear. You would have said something, but his two hearts was far from the strangest thing about him. He leaned back, putting his back to the water.

"And I wonder... when I sing along with you..."

As the song hit the chorus, you looked up at him. His eyes were still trained on the speaker, even though he was swimming around in the pool with you. It was almost uncanny, but... cute? You couldn't deal with those thoughts. Not now. You looked back down, and right next to your eye was a stitched-up scar. You tensed up.

"Your scars," you said, a lump forming in your throat. The scar was already scabbing over, and the sutures stuck out of his skin like skinny little spikes. You opened your mouth to say something, but he spoke up first.

"They'll heal," he rumbled. "I've dealt with worse."

"But you haven't washed up on shore..." you trailed off, looking up at him. "Right?"

You felt him shudder underneath you. "Oh--" you interjected before you felt him tense up. "You don't have to talk about anything you're not comfortable with," you said. "I promise."

"You saw nothing," he hissed, before his expression softened. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine, I guess I have no other choice than to trust you," he huffed, a hand on your back. You felt the claws against your skin, but he refused to let them sink in. "I will not be talking about it. Not now."

"Go at your own pace," you mused, as the last chorus of the song began to come into full force.

"If everything could ever feel this real forever..."

You felt a hand at the back of your head, pressing you into his chest. You felt his heartbeats in full swing, beating wildly. You didn't resist, wrapping your arms around him as much as you could. He was skinny for his size, yet muscular. You couldn't wrap your arms all the way around if you tried. You stayed like that for a few moments. He closed his eyes.

"Are you feeling okay?" you asked as the song came to a close.

You felt his twin hearts flutter. "I am doing fine," he said calmly. "I can ask the same for you?"

"Yeah," you said, shifting on him. "Yeah."

An advertisement blared out of the speakers, and Mortarion cocked his head. "This is... far less pleasant," he said, turning upright in the pool.

"Oh, right," you said, holding onto him. You couldn't reach the bottom where both of you were, and he wrapped an arm around you. "Oh, uh.." you started. "Do you mind if I swim over to my phone? I need to close and reopen the app."

His grip on you relinquished. "If that's what it takes," he said as you doggy-paddled over towards your phone.

"I promise I'm a better swimmer than this," you smiled, looking over your shoulder once you reached the side of the pool.

Mortarion was staring at you. Not as coldly as you normally had seen him, even though he hadn't even been in the pool for 24 hours. You felt your heart seize in your chest. You didn't want to admit anything to yourself, no, you hadn't known him that long! You felt your heartbeat calm down. This was just fascination, not real love.

"The... phone, it was called?" he asked.

You felt a lump in your throat grow. "Yeah," you said. "Let me stop this ad real quick."

Taglist: @bispecsual @justeverythingnothingelse @bleedingichorhearts @nekotaetae @historitor-bookshelf

#someone shows him BASIC ASS KINDNESS and he MELTS istg #warhammer 40k x reader #primarch x reader #mermay #mermay 2024 #mortarion x reader #reader insert #mortarion

46 notes · View notes

quinntell · 1 year ago

Text

I wonder what a mermaid/pirate au with fitpac would be like

like obviously fit is the merman, although I might make his ass more folk-lore like

and the Brazilians are a group of pirates that crash landed on a random island that the mermaids live near

the pod of mermen is just all the og Spanish and English speakers

can’t decide if the French would be another pirate crew or a pod of mermaids.

then the extra group (the fuckers that got frozen) would be a mix

#Qsmp #qsmp au #fitmc #Fitpac #pactw #qsmp fitmc #qsmp pactw #ronan screams.#qsmp fit #QSMP pac #hideduo

84 notes · View notes

liviavanrouge · 3 months ago

Text

Wings of Twisted Fire Prologue

The sound of running filled a tree filled area, Lilia's eyes widening as he raced down the path. He ducked down, setting a little bundle underneath several bushes, pulling ferns over it. "HEY!! LET'S MAKE THIS EASY PAL!!" Lilia looked back then took off at full speed, leading the cloaked figures away. The bundle sniffled then wailed, a figure stopping beside the bush.

The figure crouched down, swiftly sweeping the ferns aside with their wing. Dart smiled, staring at the moon shined down on a sniffling baby. He lifted her up and lifted into the air, his wings flared wide. "Sorry Lilia"Dart mutters, looking guilty.

Lilia rushed back to the bushes, freezing in shock when he found the spot completely empty. No baby in sight. "Livia!?" He started tearing the bush apart, looking panicked. "LIVIA!!"

~~~

Scrounge and Robin walked through the desert, their eyes narrowed as they searched for the baby that would be hidden among the dunes of the land. A third member rushed towards them, a triumphant grin on his face. "What is it, Umbre! Spit it out or I'll rip your face clean off!"Robin snaps, already annoyed to be out here in the scorching heat.

Umbre simply laughed in response and pointed away to a basket nearby, looking quite pleased with himself. The trio made their way over with Umbre in the lead, hurrying to the basket, hoping it was what they thought it was. Robin peeked around, finding a baby laying inside fast asleep.

"Robin, take the brat back, me and Umbre are gonna check to see if anyone saw us." She glared at the man but obliged and grabbed the basket, taking off into the air. Umbre and Scrounge hid among the dunes, watching silently as a woman ran up.

The woman looked around for the basket, looking alarmed. "KALIM!!?"

Umbre looked at the man beside him, the two slowly creeping away, leaving the woman there panicked and searching for the missing boy.

~~~

Running echoed through the forest, a nature fae rushing full speed towards the meeting spot so he could pass the bear cub beastman off to his fellow Peace Speaker. The sound of growling made his eyes widen, feeling fear fill him from head to toe. He shot into the air without thinking, carrying the baby in his arms as the growls got distant. Pain suddenly struck him, his eyes wide as an arrow flew into view from his chest.

Hitting the ground, he tumbled to a stop, shielding the baby causing blood to cover them. Someone landed in front of him, a pleased chuckle following as they kicked him over onto his back, seizing the bear cub from his arms. "She's a baby..."The fae mumbles, shakily lifting his hands.

The wolves claw pierced the cubs neck, causing the wailing baby to fall still, a grin on the generals face. He kicked the fae over the edge, sending them plummeting into the ravine below them. Bird stared with wide eyes then turned and rushed away before they could find her.

"Need to get a replacement!"

~~~

A shark merman sighed as he swam down to a familiar home, his eyes narrowed when his childhood friend came out, carrying her child. "Will Azul be safe?" Scar stared at her silently then gave her a swift promising nod, planning to do what it took to make sure the child wasn't harmed in any way possible. She handed Azul over to him, his eyes widening at how small the baby was in his hands.

Azul's cheek squished against his hand, making his heart do flips. He perked up, noticing her smiling at him in amusement then quickly cleared his throat trying to hide how amazed he was with how small babies could be compared to him. "He'll be safe, I promise"Scar swears, backing away. He turned and swam to the surface, moving half speed towards land.

Dart flew overhead with a baby in his arms, making him guess he got the moon cursed child. Robin followed carrying a basket with sand still falling from it, the trio heading towards the beach.

~~~

A bat beastman hung upside down, picking at the lock of a window. Opening once the lock was flipped, he pushed the window open a gentle breeze filling the room as he glided in as well as he could. He approached a bed, staring at the green haired boy. "Hello, Trey." He picked the boy up, smiling when the child seemed to lean into him.

Footsteps came from the hallway, his eyes widening as he stepped back the moment the light outside the door switched on. "Trey, I hope you didn't open your window, somehow!" The man turned and leaped to the window as the door opened.

A shriek of surprise sounded behind him, startling him and waking the boy in his arms. He took off into the air, Trey reaching towards his mother who had rushed to the window in an attempt to grab him. "Sorry kid.." He turned around, changing directions heading towards the meeting spot.

~~~

Dart sighed, flying full speed back to the Valley of Thorns after dropping Livia off, having forgotten to grab the Zigvolt child. He angled his wings, noticing a search party had been formed, Livia's name being called as lanterns moved through the woods searching for the baby.

Landing on the roof of a house, he leapt down, going through a window. A smile made its way onto his face when he saw the baby, chuckling as he poked Sebek's cheek, causing the baby to wriggle around.

"I have to check on Sebek, whoever took Livia might come for him too!" Dart's eyes widened and he scooped up Sebek, rushing to the window. The door flew open, Dart throwing himself into the air narrowly dodging an ice spell. "DART!!! YOU TRAITOR!!"

Dart looked back, giving Baul a guilty look. He looked away and shot through the air, flying full speed to the meeting area, hoping Bird arrived with the bear cub.

~~~

"Finally, you nitwit! How do you get one Valley of Thorns brat but leave THE OTHER ONE!"Robin snaps, slapping him outside the head. Dart grumbled, really sick of the old lady hitting him for really no reason. He set Sebek down with the other kids, smiling as Trey stared at the children. Trey looked at Azul then over at Sebek curious. "I got them!"

Bird landed with a child in her arms, looking worried. "YOU GOT ANOTHER BRAT FROM THE SCALDING SANDS!?" Bird dodged a smack to her head, her eyes wide. "He was all I could get! Rath's wolves have the entire Bear Tribe surrounded and killed all of the cubs that were babies!" Bird flinched when Robin hissed at her, trembling as she set the child down.

Kalim started to stand up, hanging onto Trey who wobbled at the extra weight on him. The boy stared, his eyes glinting slightly before shoving Livia off the nest.

"HEY! Stop that!" Robin snatched Kalim up with one hand, her eyes narrowed at the boy. "Look at his eyes, he's a little monster"Robin smirked, looking quite amused, Bird soothing the crying baby.

Robin plopped Kalim back down, chuckling at the assortment of kids they had, looking quite pleased to see how they'd turn out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

{A Few Years Later}

Kalim yelled in alarm, his hands flailing about, sputtering and spitting out water. "OH STOP! I HARDLY TOUCHED YOU! DRAMATIC BRAT!" He quickly hauled himself out of the water, coughing as he shook himself off.

Hardly touched?

Did she mean when she tossed him into the water or when she used her wing to swat him into the water?

Either way, he couldn't agree when she said she hardly touched him. She practically tried to MURDER him this ENTIRE TIME.

A shriek erupted from Kalim when Robin grabbed his ankle and swung him around, throwing him into the wall. Kalim slid down and staggered as he brought himself to his feet. "FIGHT! COME ON!" He sighed and lunged at her, readying a lightning spell only for Robin to dodge, grab his wrist and slam him into the ground pinning his arm behind his back.

"OW OW OW OW! I GIVE UP! ROBIN!!!" Robin snarled at his pleas then screamed in alarm, leaping off the pale haired boy. She whipped around, looking at her tail then glared at the figure that dared attack her. Sebek snarled at Robin and spit out feathers, making sure to add extra saliva to the spit. A silent insult and challenge.

Both clashed in a heated fight, Sebek blocking Robin's claws. He ducked and placed himself behind the parrot woman, kicking her right in the spine. Another dodge came from the male the moment a claw came at his face, his arm hooking around Robins and spinning her around.

His hands slammed her chin first to the ground, feet pinning her wings. "TOUCH Kalim again and IGNORE his pleas once more and WATCH me throw beetles into your soup!"Sebek snapped. Robin tapped Sebek's knee, letting out a low snarl.

"You won't be able to protect them forever, you annoying rat!"Robin snapped, getting to her feet. She stormed away, ruffling her feathers to make sure no loose ones stayed. "WATCH ME!"Sebek yells after her.

He turned to Kalim, offering him a hand. Kalim smiled, grateful for Sebek and grabbed the younger boys hand, getting hauled to his feet. Sebek had always been protective of them all, fighting Robin and Stork whenever either of their guardians had decided to try picking on him. Should he mention that Sebek has the BIGGEST most FATTEST crush on Livia.

No? Wait, oops, he shouldn't have really said anything cause now the secrets out. Mostly anyways.

"Kalim, Trey said it's time for lunch! Come on!" Kalim beamed, having been hungry since this morning because he gave most of his food to Livia due to her having gotten up late and there were mostly scraps left for her to try and dine on.

"FOOD! HOORAY!" Laughter came from Sebek, the two racing down the hallway to see the other four kids. He didn't find being here so bad because he had Sebek and the others by his side to get through this.

He couldn't wait to introduce them all and see everyone joke around more.

@queen-of-twisted @yukii0nna @zexal-club

6 notes · View notes

thatanimewriter · 1 year ago

Text

𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 - 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞 / 𝘢𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘮.

← previous chapter next chapter →

❝ 𝐢 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐢'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. ❞ ── 𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘬𝘢 𝘹 𝘨𝘯. 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

unfortunate weather prevented nanase haruka from swimming. thankfully, it provided him with something to do instead of sitting in the tub for hours, counting down the days until spring.

── 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯, 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘧𝘧, 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘵, 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵

𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 + 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭.

you genuinely had nothing to do today. for once, you weren't swamped with homework or practice. while you lay on your bed, you realised you hadn't texted haru in a while. he'd come to visit you each day after all, there wasn't a need. but now, you decided this was an appropriate time to shoot him a quick message.

[𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄] / 9:32 am hey!

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐔 / 9:33 am hi

[𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄] / 9:33 am you doing anything today?

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐔 / 9:34 am no, why?

[𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄] / 9:34 am want to go out somewhere? im bored lol

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐔 / 9:35 am where?

[𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄] / 9:35 am uhhh idk

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐔 / 9:35 wanna go swimming?

[𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄] / 9:36 am its too cold for that >:((

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐔 / 9:36 am there go my ideas then

[𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄] / 9:37 am aquarium?

𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐔 / 9:37 am meet out front, 10:15

at the fast response to your suggestion, you figured that you probably wouldn't be getting a text back unless it was haru asking where you were. which was highly probable, since the water-loving boy would sprint to the aquarium if it meant being near water.

thankfully, you lived close by, so you could take your time getting ready while he hurried to the entrance to the aquarium. you were proven to be right when you arrived, catching him viciously texting on his phone. soon after, you got a text asking where you were.

"look up."

you were surprised at how fast haru's head snapped up at her words. he made fast work of slipping his phone into his pocket, grabbing your hand and leading you to the entrance. you felt your cheeks burn as you passed people, staring at your interlinked hands. you knew they weren't really judging you guys, but you couldn't help but feel a bit embarrassed at the attention.

"haru, what about tickets?" you asked, leading to him to dig through his pocket and hand you said item.

"i already paid for them, i was just waiting for you," he said, refusing to face you as his eyes were locked onto the archway that led the crowds into the building. giving your tickets to the staff member to stamp and return, haru continued to pull you along.

entering the dark halls lit by the aquarium tanks, haru's eyes seemed to sparkle. maintaining contact, you noted the small smile that rested on his face. in all your time knowing him, you'd never seen him so peaceful.

pulling you to the front of the crowd, he sat on the bench that faced a tank. his eyes flitted over each fish, mentally noting their patterns but not bothering to retain the information. meanwhile, you couldn't help but stare at him instead of the fish. his black hair soaked in the blue light that radiated from the tank and it wasn't hard to imagine him as a merman, swimming free through the ocean among the fish held in the tank.

remembering the dolphin keychain that hung from his house keys, you tugged at his hand again, gently lacing your fingers with his to lead him through the building. surprised by your sudden leadership, haru let you lead him through the aquarium. squeezing through crowds of kids, you pulled him closer to you so you wouldn't lose him, even though your hands were linked.

entering an open arena, you pulled him to the front of the seats, almost shaking with excitement as you sat down. haru noticed that you'd forgotten to release his hand, but decided against mentioning it after seeing the sparkle in your eyes. as someone's voice came over the speaker, he diverted his attention to the large pool that the stadium overlooked and though he was unaware of it, the same sparkle that your eyes held was replicated in his.

splashing through the water was a pair of dolphins, seemingly smiling as they waited beside the trainer. in your gleeful state, you shuffled in your seat, leaning your head against haru's shoulder as you smiled at the dolphins that performed tricks and laughing as they splashed at you and haru. he was quick to realise you had began leaning on him, but as awkward as he was, he felt a warmth spread within him that you were comfortable with his presence.

the trainer noted haru's expression of awe, that of which rivalled the approximately 30 kids who were scattered around the stands, and instructed the dolphins to swim to the front of the pool.

"do you want to touch?" they asked, walking around to the front of the pool and standing beside the dolphins who poked their heads above the surface of the water, a thick barrier of glass separating the trainer and the animals. haru hadn't registered their words until you dragged him up, letting go of his hand to reach for the smooth head of one of the dolphins. hesitantly, haru ran a hand across the other dolphin's skin, mouth falling open at the surreal experience. you laughed at his expression when the dolphin spouted, leaving little droplets of water in his black hair. "would you like me to take a photo of you guys?" the trainer offered, to which you smiled and handed them your phone. standing beside each other with a dolphin on each end, the trainer took a multitude of photos, but not before both dolphins leaned in to give the 2 of you a wet kiss on the cheek.

"thank you!" you said, bowing slightly and taking your phone back. as the 2 of you left the stadium, you glanced at haru's face, memorising the image of his subtle smile. "good date, no?"

"what?"

"nothing," you responded, the smile you wore throughout the day hadn't worn off, even as you walked home. stopping at your door, you turned to give him a wave before you went to enter your house, but was stopped by haru, who had gripped your hand gently. "hm?"

haru's blue eyes darted to the ground as he mumbled, "thanks for the date..."

the presence of warmth across your cheeks and the increase in heart rate caught you off guard, but nonetheless, you turned to face him fully and bowed extravagantly, pressing a kiss to his hand. "you are welcome, kind sir."

#free #free iwatobi swim club #nanase haruka #free x reader #free iwatobi swim club x reader #nanase haruka x reader #free imagines #free iwatobi swim club imagines #nanase haruka imagines #‿︵ 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫.

12 notes · View notes

bunnnywrites · 1 year ago

Text

Tides of Fate: A Merfolk Love Story

Pairing: Bruno/Mirabel

Summary: Mermaid AU, where Bruno left the family to live among humans. Decades later, he finds a young mermaid at the beach, and their relationship will slowly develop into something else, not knowing she's his niece.

Warnings: Incest, nudity.

Word Count: 982

You can also read this story on AO3

Chapter 2

A/N: This is my first fic in more than 10 years, so, yeah... I'm not a native speaker, and I have no beta reader (kind of).

Chapter I

Life under the sea wasn’t dull, or bad. That’s not what he meant. But Lord knows there’s no way to make his family understand that. Nothing Bruno Madrigal says can have a good side. Nothing he does is good enough. Nothing he wants is important. At least not for her mother Alma. Pepa and Julieta weren’t so harsh, but they still didn’t agree with his idea.

Okay, out there, out of the water, it was a wild idea. But how bad could it really be? He wanted to know, to explore, to experience it. He knew their bodies had the ability to adapt out of the water, so it wasn’t impossible. Risky, yes. But there was a whole world outside, a world he had never been in. He could only see part of it, from the distance. And it was not enough. So when Bruno turned 18, he decided he was old enough to make his own decisions.

With time, he started going out more and more frequently, and his bond with his family weakened in consequence. They wouldn’t accept this new lifestyle he had chosen, and he couldn’t stand the rejection and ostracism. So he decided to definitely cut ties, and make his life exclusively among humans. He found a job as a fisherman, knowing his experience underwater would help him a lot. Got a small but nice place, where he could see the sea. He still loved it, and visited everyday. Sometimes very early, before going to work, sometimes at night. But he liked being there alone, to enjoy its calming presence.

And it was one of those warm and lonely nights, when he was about to leave, that he saw her for the first time. Well, heard her first. The familiar sound of a big tail moving against the water surface, behind a huge rock. The painful memories of Alma, and also the rest of the family told him to turn around and leave, but something was telling him to do exactly the opposite.

He slowly approached the rock, as quietly as he could, holding his breath. She didn’t see him at first, which gave him time to appreciate her figure. She was young, with dark and curly hair, thick eyebrows and beautiful brown skin. A soft belly, and two small and beautiful breasts. Her tail was a nice shade of teal, still playing and splashing around. Bruno stared at it for a couple of seconds, trying to remember when had been the last time he had seen one, until a gasp interrupted his thoughts. He looked up, and saw two dark eyes staring at him. She was obviously scared, but wasn’t trying to escape.

“It-It’s okay” He said, in a quiet tone “I won’t hurt you”

Her tail wasn’t moving anymore, and she kept her eyes on him. All her senses were telling her to swim away and never look back, but for some reason she didn’t want to. Something inside her was telling her to stay, that she wasn’t in danger.

“I-I’m Bruno” He sat down on the sand, away from the water “I… I know you can understand me”.

She frowned, and doubted for a moment. He wasn’t supposed to know that. There were strict rules about engaging with humans. But… She had heard rumors. About a conflictive merman who decided to leave to live out of the water. But she always thought it was just a story.

“I’m… Mirabel” She said, hiding her body under the water, and leaving only her head outside.

“Mirabel”

They looked at each other for a moment, not knowing what to say.

“Do your parents know you’re here?”

“… No” Her face was painted with remorse “But I’m 20 now”

He let out a chuckle Mirabel didn’t understand.

“I don’t think they’ll approve this anyway” She frowned “Relax, it’s not like I can tell on you”

She giggled this time.

“I don’t think they approve anything about me” She sighs “I’ve always been… Kind of a disappointment”

That felt way too relatable.

“I know the feeling, kid” She gave him a sad smile “If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re very brave”

This time her smile was full of happiness. It was the first time someone had praised her like that, and she found out she really liked the feeling. It’s not that her parents didn’t love her, of course they did. But no one had ever called her “brave” before. Especially for doing something that went against her family wishes.

“I don’t understand why nobody wants me to come here.”

“Well, sometimes people are afraid of the unknown.”

She thought for a moment, before asking him.

“Are you afraid of me?”

He was taken aback by her question.

“I’m not… No. I’m… I’m a grown man, you’re still a teenager. Why would I be afraid of you?”

She rolled her eyes.

“You know what I’m talking about”

He coughed a little and changed his position.

“I’m not afraid of mermaids” He said, carefully thinking his words “There are stories about mermaids hunting and eating humans, but I don’t believe in that”.

She looked at him in silence for a moment.

“But, anyway…” He added, playing with sand “All humans are different. Some of us believe those stories, some dream of capturing a mermaid, stuff like that, so… yeah.” He shrugged, “Be careful.”

She lifted an eyebrow “Are you trying to scare me?”

He chuckled.

“Just a warning, kid”

She smiled, and felt like it was the moment to be “brave” again.

“If… If I come back again tomorrow, will you be here?”

He stopped playing with sand.

“You know… Just in case someone wants to capture me.”

He let out a nervous giggle, and hugged his own knees.

“That’s… Yeah. I mean- I mean, yes. Yes. I’ll be here”.

She gave him a warm smile.

“Cool”.

#encanto #bruno x mirabel #mirabruno #brumira #mirabel x bruno #bruno madrigal #mirabel madrigal #AU

18 notes · View notes

mr-laveau · 8 months ago

Text

⚓Audio Announcement⚓

Eyo NeXus listeners! We have a new audio available to listen for my audio rp series, NeXus! We're with Uriah again and this time, his bestie Sherlock is listening and boy is there some shit to hear in this one. Hear it here!

18 notes · View notes

notmuchtoconceal · 5 months ago

Text

Jacek was dreaming. Jacek was inside Joey's dream.

Joey's face was the only thing he could see. The only anchor he had to himself and the world around him.

He wanted to speak. He was shaking.

Every nerve swaggered to cross the finish line. The knots which became of his nervous system could not set sail, could not hold up the shipwreck of what exposed timbers his bones and muscles had become in the absence of he couldn't say what.

Before him, sprawling the void in which the nothing he was too was everything, cause and solution stood out suspended, for he could be no cause, all things occurring in reaction to him.

Joey leered at him with the cold implacability of an ice wall dazzling like crystal in the sun. He was dawning. Setting.

Miasmas of dust kicked up in the ever encroaching dusk, as though one minute would be too long, no longer; snatched away by improbable circumstance of their mutual choosing, for he knew without knewing he knew what he chose.

Choice.

What burned like midnight oil in an attic window as though he were calling for someone across the plain, and now having spoken without speaking, he could find ample cause to remain silent.

Joey stood forward. Strutting to a waltz with every step -- to music he could now hear -- as was the manner he made his own.

His elegance struck him as inhuman, stacked and resonant as a subwoofer stacked atop a center speaker as a power humming in its own right -- a power of which he could recognize for he carried himself so fully in his upright stride, the breadth of his chest parted the black waters all around as though mounted upon were the effigy of a merman, hand-carved and painted from with the blood red sap of the trees which gave themselves willingly to the sea.

There was no sign. Of his gimp leg.

The supremacy of his posture and asymmetrical dedication to which he performed his weight training -- in the lulls between compositions, letting his mind recede, center itself, engulf -- braced where his knee would twist, the way his shoulders would sway; cloak where he would be easy to topple with a sweep of the leg, or tackle to the ground at an acute angle,for he walked always as he spoke, with such deliberation it had attained a mechanical precision which cut him between the lines of wide rule in which he was only scrawl.

"Brother Jacek," he said, half turning away -- failing only not to grin. His teeth shone polished as sandstone blocks, blunt enough to hold shackles which could bolt him in place, his pearly incisors the dissection pins which would peel him down. "How nice."

Broey rose his backhand.

Tapped him once. Twice.Thrice with escalating force against each cheek, as though a singing bowl teased for pitch.

In his shivering, pleading mute and impotent, he would see at what peak he could turn a cry of pain to a whisper of the sublime coming through the slit beneath the crack of an attic door, left open only to let in the incense of moonlight smoldering through clouds.

Brother Jacek showed Broey his teeth.

He couldn't look away. Didn't want to.

Though he and Broey wore the same uniform, the coal black of his brother's leather gleamed in a million glittering points as though he lumined the night sky with glances and whispers which begged only for he forced the night itself to beg; to coerce his sprawl naked and wounded, to reveal what clusters of light he hoarded like jewels, and dissipate him mercilessly, for in his endless infinities he had no air or life of his own, was colored simply by an atmosphere habitual to us. Each medal and ribbon and patch pinned to his chest, or stitched to his sleeve, jangled and hummed with the melody of his waltz, and aligned by the weight of our eyes to constellations whose shapes made only sense to us, beguiling the innocent and sloth-stained sight of strangers who kept their gazes ploughed to the earth.

The same uniform.

He was a gentleman and a cosmonaut of psychic space, and he was but a brute; lurching for he was so heavy, not hunchbacked as much as beaten down to dogtown, for he cast the impression of blunt stitches, staples and partitions of skin which gave the medieval cast of a doublet or the curious fornications of graverobbers playing God.

Sheared in the same way.

The taper around his ears. The layers of the blade. What crisp pomades fragranced their adherence in place.

Clothes didn't make the man. Clothes got made by them.

Jacek was feeling drunk. On Broey's smile.

Jacek didn't wanna move.

The look in his eyes, which he could regard only as quizzical -- mocking him, as if half-imploring why (though he never dared implore; had no reason ever to) -- for what was self-evident was simply not-so, for he was so polite, he needn't disgrace himself or the other, tempted to say aloud such gross and obvious things as --

"How could anyone possibly be this fucking stupid?"

Jacek's dick pulsed.

Felt like he could fall down.

Broey was his brother.

Broey was his rock.

In three fluid motions, upon which each he could hear the smack, Broey unclasped the belt of his jacket, then of his breeches, and slid his hand down into his warm fragrant briefs to cup his warm salty balls, of which Jacek could smell already on the air, as the savory of an oven beckoning the yardbound to a homecooked meal.

Jacek was going slow.

Jacek's mind was slowing down.

He could feel his mind rip in half like a piece of paper tore down the middle as the creaking of Broey's leather filled his brain.

The belt buckle rung like a typewriter bell.

*** Ding ***

He had finished another line. He was drooling.

Broey's muscular hand, the levers of his bones upright through the white and lotion'd skin, crushed his eyes sandy with flecks of yellow hair, clasping his jaw tight in a muzzle of long, finely-formed fingers possessing of a shape somewhere between the gigantism of seafloor crustaceans and the succulence of French pastries.

The smell invaded his nostrils.

He would have let em in anyway.

The pendulum of his mind was always divining out truths. Down onto the mirror, he looked and it had no etchings from the blade.

Something like a beef broth well-seasoned with garlic, rosemary, black pepper; he was a muddy and sweetly-fragrant patchouli which blended and clashed, vaguely chemical in its pungent distillation.

He was drooling.

Into Broey's palm.

His cock was drooling.

Into his briefs.

Meeting Broey's eyes.

Trembling.

He got to smell him. He didn't wanna cry.

He was smiling. Wanted to.

It didn't matter. How Broey's grip crushed him in his gaze. Only Broey had words to describe his own gaze. Jacek didn't have words of his own. Jacek didn't words good. Nobody wanted to read the words that Jacek wrote without relishing in horny thoughts of his freakish and substandard nature for his unwashed and backwards position made him safe, if not to laugh at, then get fucked by.

If Jacek didn't have a dick, he would have no friends.

If Jacek wasn't built like a carthorse, nobody would wanna know him.

When Jacek thought of Broey, he could see him clearly. When Jacek looked at Broey, he could keep looking and never see.

For hours and days, he could look.

Get crushed. Be plied and fondled like meat.

The words would never come.

Didn't matter. He got to smell.

Broey's balls.

He got to be. Broey's good boy.

His index finger to his cheekbone. Stroking. His middle and ring finger. Clamping teeth together beneath the skin. His pinky. Tickling him beneath the jaw. With his thumb, he twisted the rain to irrigation in desert wastes, for what downpours came so fleetingly, but their heaviness he captured well enough to outlast the years.

Jacek gagged. On his own drool.

Spit up.

Broey backhanded him diamond-hard across the cheek.

Drizzles fell. Whirls of steam half-suspended. His spit hung on the air, morning mists in cascading light which had no source, as Broey's dick baste reeked low-tide on beachfront wastes of cattle-carcass.

Eyes downward. Meeting the slobber on his boots. Standing in a puddle of his own drool. Face greasy with the sweat of his brother's balls. Sinking into his own mouth-soppings, begging to kiss his reflection. Kiss the floor, lick up the ash which had become muddy with his fat and eel-like tongue from a cigar tithed between the reality of Broey's animate and well-probing digits.

He had a lot of imagination.

He could prolly imagine something more humiliating.

If he wanted to.

"I fucked… your boyfriend, big bro."

He didn't know why he said it.

Broey only laughed.

"As if I was going to?"

Broey's knuckle leapt up and collided with Jacek's abdominal wall. A limestone bulkwark bent inward. Obsidian twist and frieze'd into a flow. Jacek would have hurled back… if Broey's palm weren't on his shoulder. Scaffolding him. Around the hand-carved wooden banister of his delts. Anchoring him with heat and life.

The leather of his jacket cushioned him. His uniform protected him. Stitched him in place like a quilt, through which his dirty blood was an herbal tea. Warm and snug. He looked to Broey.

Broey had a face.

Jacek wanted to be inside a mask. Crushed within the corners out which he could not see out. To cover his face. Inside, he was so warm. Gooey. Outside, he was cold. He was wet for he had been drooling, for his mind was empty and he didn't wanna move.

When he remembered the pendulum swing back and forth, looked down into the mirror after he finished another line, he saw he had a face and the memory of himself were the mask he couldn't take off.

He didn't wanna compare it to Broey. It wouldn't make sense.

What he was in the eyes and mouth. Hanging heavy. Dim. Suspicious. Revealing in himself only the gleam of an insect carapace fit to be crushed beneath the boots he yearned to lick, as if in his smallness, he were vulcanized rubber worth getting to if he could savor his own fetid white guts projectile'd out and smeared.

Jacek wished his hands were tied behind his back. Wished he could feel the rope criss-crossing his abs, tight beneath his pecs, binding his shoulders to a knot together to hold his spine upright.

Jacek was heavy. So heavy.

Broey's hand around Jacek's throat. Fingerpoints spade the base of his jaw. Pulling him. A streak of his boots in the puddle of drool. Splashing now, half-animate, as the jump of a rainy day.

"Why don't you kiss me?" Broey said, and allowed his eyes to linger. Merciful in their mercilessness. "Eyes alert. Poised. Steady. Open-mouth. The flecks of my beard against your marbled chin."

Broey had a beard. Lush. Thick. Copper woven with platinum and gold, tipped in blood and drenched in pheromones. Beneath the leather shirt and tie, his chest rose hairy as forest hillocks and his pecs were plump. Jacek wanted to suck. To twirl his nipples with his tongue, tasting every fine slick and coiling hair on his chest, as he looked up into Broey's eyes and felt him cutting through the bone.

"The efficacy of a surgical saw… in laughter, Brother Jacek?"

He was dim. Horny to suck.

"Can't spell slautter, bro."

Jacek's hand reached out. Didn't know why he was stuck.

He could feel -- and see before he could feel -- Broey's cock chub up. The club plastered to his thigh inside his breechers, begging to bash in skulls at first twitching. Yet in his clumsy hands, rose hard as a basalt pillar on a stony beach marred by perpetual overcast.

The weight of Broey's grip. Crawling down his neck.

Grabbing him by his trachea. Hitching him like a wagon.

"Where's your collar?"

Jacek wanted to be shaved. Wanted Broey to shave him. Smear his prone, naked body in whipping cream and guide the blade in long, musical strokes, leaving him silky, silten, totally owned.

Looking up at his master. Spread-eagle and muzzled. So comfortable in the shackles made up of the same leather of the uniform which was his universe, chainlink clattering like percussion on the cold surgical steel of the wall of the padded cell cut from the same hide as it was cut from the same empty room.

"I forgot."

Jacek wanted his mouth stuffed. Jacek wanted a gag so big his jaw would go numb and he would have no choice but to collapse facedown in a puddle of his own drool and risk drowning as he cried out for help, thrashed about breathless as a fish on land.

"… You forgot?"

Cried for his brother to save him.

His big brother. His twin brother.

Jacek. One hand still on Broey's dick. Another moving up his back. Gently. Reassuringly. Full-on imploring. Doing what Broey would never do. To show him his inferiority. Sweetly. Quietly. Leaning in.

"Forgot"

He said it with water in his eyes. He didn't know. Didn't know anything. Didn't know what to do, or why he wanted.

Broey didn't yawn. Didn't laugh. Didn't sneer.

Didn't even roll his eyes.

"Forgot."

The humiliation was unbearable.

It would be better if Broey had beaten him. Crushed his weight into the soft earth. Buried him for a thousand years. Left him muddy in the rain he brought. Pinned his thighs beneath his knees, pulled his shoulders back so far, wrapped his head so tight, he would be bent inward, twisted, blind, sucking himself off as he screamed in protestations which urged him only crueler and loftier.

"Someday, Jacek. Someday."

He wanted to die. Wanted to die, and knew he did it to himself.

What obstinate whimsies beckoned him to death, for he would totally forsake himself as time slipped by, turning up only as numbers in code, falling down a screen dissolving.

He didn't understand. Himself or anyone else.

This wasn't the life for him. He wasn't crying.

His face back in Joey's grip. One side half-turned away, he could see the room. Saw the room they were in. Might have been outside.

Rectangular blocks of the wall sharp as corrugated metal, porous as granite, three levels of elevation in which they were the center. Dimension intruded into dimension. One side open to rows beyond, another upright in columns which held drapery velvet and thick, smothering the silence. Vast geometries in the garish and interloping colors of the floor in which he saw the faces of animals snarling through the bars of cage or unfurlings of leaves.

Around the corner, where a stair met an opening, a balcony met an aisle, around the perimeter, motion congealed from nothing.

In the faint oppression of the darkness beyond, peeping out with a wanton smile, he saw Laika. Saw Laika.

Might have been the real one.

Nothing in Jacek's eyes gave it away. No spark of recognition flourished. No muscle in his faced betrayed his ignorance.

He regarded him. Laika. Regarded Jacek. His hand was down his pants. Furious snappings of the wrist coming as bullet-trains out mounted artillery. He could see him huffing. See curt smiles come between huffs of the dead trance which tethered his eyes to him.

"The things you do? … You do do them, correct?"

A sequence of words in his ear.

"Correct. Um…"

The fuck was it he just said?

"Yeah, I -- I do."

Broey's eyes. Empty as Laika's.

"You knew you were to wear you collar. You didn't."

Broey's eyes. Laika's behind him.

(He was emphasizing that like it means something.

He was emphasizing that like it means something.

He was emphasizing that like it means something.)

"What am I to make of that, Brother Jacek?" Broey said it -- forwardly and unafraid, for nothing could diminish his patience, tolerance, wisdom. "You fail to look for cause and succeed in never finding any. Am I expected to believe -- expecting always more of you than any decent man could ever be asked -- that there is no cause, and I make one simply by proposing potentials?"

(He's looking too deeply into it!

He's looking too deeply into it!

He's looking too deeply into it!)

Maybe he forgot.

So Broey would have an excuse to talk at him.

His dick was leaking.

"Uh… huh?"

He wanted to kiss Broey so bad. Wanted his face smeared all over his. Stuck together. Like two wolves fighting over a steak tossed to them, bloody over the carcass of a fresh maul, all the crisper in always-winter snow. Wanted to wrap his arms around him and drop to his knees and suck his dick til he was shooting out his eyes.

Fucking Laika.

(Fucking Laika!)

Laika was watching him now.

"Brother Jacek," Joey said, drawing out the pleasure of your name. He was leaning in close. Moving his hands across the wide warm stone of your back. "What am I to do with you? You who make me wonder what I am to you, failing with such deliberation in such simple suggestions we each know would only make us both happy if you complied, I can assume only you don't wish to be, either happy or much of anything else?"

Jacek. Wanted to wrestle.

Jacek. Wanted Joey to show him he owned him.

"Broey," he said. "Um…"

The words were coming.

"I wanna wrestle."

(I wanna wrestle.)

Jacek lunged forward. Standing so close, Broey's legs were not unnaturally splayed in the posture which lent itself so well to pose, which few realized the intended purpose gave him balance by distributing the unevenness of his gait, but before Broey could hit the ground, he grabbed Jacek and twisted him, so now Broey was on top, and Jacek carried that momentum into a roll across the floor, pushing Broey on his back, already back up, knotted in embrace as a flurry of arms crept around one another as the roots of a tree uprooted by storms; Jacek's head in Broey's elbow, the crook of both Jacek's arms down Broey's trunk and around his waist, pulling him up as Broey's arm locked with his, and they toppled to the air, feet in each other's face, and twisted once more so Jacek was on top before Broey's gimp leg wrapped around his like an octopus sucker and shlorped, seeming to dislocate or turn to protoplasm as the stitching of their boots coiled like snakes nudging skulls and ankles coiled together when they looked at one another, faces flushed, hearts racing, Jacek pinned beneath Broey, who was taller, more agile, lancing him with eyes of surgical steel, despite Jacek's power and bulk, so restful and at peace, here beneath his brother, alive in his eyes, never more alive than at the point of vivisection, needing to lash, but calmed in the morphine high of his euphoria as his cock began to swell, began to throb, began to hunger for itself.

Joey laughed. A bead of sweat running down spun gold displaced, the pinks of his skin brought out the whites of his eyes.

"I know what you need… lil bro."

From the left interior pocket of his jacket, Broey produced a pair of neatly folded, though indisputably rank boot socks turned crisp white to the savory brown of oven-crisped cheese.

The force hit Jacek's nostrils before the taste. The previous day's march fragrant through his photoreceptors as swamp cypress and what slime clings to their barks, hat sprouts from blistering rain, congealed from the seeming nothing of in the ever-blooming infinity of the soil. In the porthole of his mind, blades came down against the hardwood, mincing all these bits of disparate vegetation into slivers to make for a hearty broth which was the tangible experience from which he beckoned and ran; all things return't to soup.

In his mouth. Coarse fibers spreading across his tongue. Pushing to the back of the palate. Overhang spilling out like coils of intestines from a gutted deer. He could smell. He could taste. Behind his eyes and in his head, dances of phoenix feathers came on flaming wind, and vortices of heat opened with a gratitude he could not name, for he was so stupid, so stupid and these sensations, to the intellect which was his, and which he spit upon despite all they gave, seemed to make him only stupider; for he could not confess in Broey's eyes to being a meager beast, a pawn, some frail insect chessman, though he knew Broey was far less stupid, being just as, and had already made these negotiations, made himself stalwart against the self-deceptions lesser men need to make virtues of their failings.

He groaned. He glowered.

Laika was watching.

The succulence of pounding meat rang out in his ears.

Laika liked it when he was a tough-guy bein shamed.

Broey still twisted his leg. Inducing some splinter in the natural cleavage of the bonemeal -- for he could shatter stone with a pinky by seeing the farthest points where material conjoined -- threw Jacek from his back and onto his belly as he ground him down with his knee, manipulating him as a single block of putty onto which he would crush whatever image it would be his fancy to make him into. The cuffs from his belt clinked around his wrists, no chain between them so his hands were now a butterfly which fluttered on two long pole-props from the crushed symmetry of his bulging shoulders.

Looking up. Beckoning the completion of the gag.

Hand still clenching Jacek's mouth, he had not time to move his own -- would have submitted gracefully had he anyway -- and leather warmed by Broey's flank came around his jaw; the belt of his jacket buckling behind his head, pulling tight, pushing the socks deeper in his mouth and stuffing them in place so as he breathed all he could taste, all he could smell, were his brother's feet, and he could picture his brother stepping on his face, crushing his skull, every bead of sweat slipping through his wrinkled soles exciting him unto a rapture which was a symphony of flavor only fit for worms.

Hoisted up now. He was watching Broey.

Broey weren't doin this.

Over his face. Palm like a washerman. Flat, snappy, veiny but for the blunt of the callouses where he hung on too tight. The ammoniac of leaky dick smeared over him as snail oil, marking him, staining him with the run-off of a perceived lesser to establish the superiority he had given willingly by force of sheer volition. Taken from him.

"It's me! It's me!"

Laika was cheering.

Whispers in his ear. Coming loud as sonicbooms.

Joey pressed his boot to Jacek's balls. Jacek was collapsing in, remaining held up. Laika's hands were on his back. His hands were down his shoulders, Laika's hands were on the collar of his jacket, pulling buttons to the point of snap. Jacek would grovel, looking up in Broey's eye, had not every caress come first with the blistering heat of desert wind followed by the gentle reprieve of spring.

"Strip him."

Was all Broey said.

Laika's fingers plummeting the zip so hard it lodged beneath the belt. Yanking his tie like a choke-chain, Broey kaleidoscope'd in the tears welling up; hear his blood beat through his ears, saw his heart on fire as the oxygen left his brain and vacancy rutted in his empty skull.

Weren't enough. Weren't enough.

Laika smacked each of his cheeks rhythmic like bongos and slid his habitually gentle yet persistently engaged fingers through the knot to tear it away, tear it up, knot it back over the bridge of his nose, so it composed a poor blindfold Jacek cheated by craning his head up, exposing his neck so he could still see Broey; inviting in Laika's grip as he tore the buttons down his shirt to the white cotton rib of his tank beneath, under which his pecs were wide and flat and pointed as boulders tossed to cobblestones through flooded swamps; smooth obelisks in formation beckoning touch down the subtle cones which tapered to the curves of flatlands.

"I didn't think any of this through," Laika said, "not even for a fuckin second!" Nibbling on his earlobe and tugging, digging in the points only hard enough to pull away. "You don't seem like the type to 'preciate it, and I don't seem like the type to try!"

From his front right pocket, Laika produced a golden thread, which before his veiled eyes, he could see was composed of finely minuscule segments welded together, interlocked like the vertebrae of a snake skeleton. Coming up through the cleave of his chest, around, then down, around the bottom, back and up again, he became a bundled marionette of meat fit only to be sliced.

"It's me! It's me!"

Broey slapped Laika hard against the face. The sound of contact echoed far and gobs of spittle splashed on Jacek's cheek.

"I am the forest, and he be the trees for which you missed me!"

Boot still to Jacek's balls, Broey drew closer. Jacek's chest hard against the cap of Broey's knee, stod mounted like a pedestal.

Laika pushed forward. His boner ground in Jacek's ass through the mutual insulation of their breechers. His caress did not relent.

"Three times," he said. "You will state me. Three times he will refute, three times I will debunk. Tell me true, tell me curtly and at length. Where is the betrayal to which I was promised?"

Jacek could get a glimpse. Of Laika's face.

Laika liked that he could see.

He was watching to see Jacek watch.

"Only facts I care about're your feelins, Joe! I'm a stupid, duplicitous, lyin whore and I ain't got no sense a loyalty and even less a compassion, 'specially for all livin things, despite the fact I wouldn't harm a fly, I'd go fuckin nuclear on a mosquito! Holy fuck! Destroy all life on earth, I don't give a flyin fuck if it evolved from swimmers! One thing I can't fuckin stand, it's rival bloodsuckers! I'm not even gonna ask to bury my face in your crotch and impale my skull on your dick! Eternal rest is the sleep of the dead. I got all eternity to spend humiliated in tribute to you, my man!"

Joey's head past Jacek's.

Laika's head further in.

Their lips both were to his ear. They had no need to whisper. They whispered through him. Just to hear their words lacerate his brain.

"You're the only good boy I know."

"I'm the only good boy you got!"

Bending his neck back so it snapped like a nutcracker, in the struggle the veil came half off and he saw now Laika's face buried in Broey's beard. Felt the nail-hammered sole of Broey's boot crush his balls tolopside his dick. Throbbing. Felt Laika's bulge grind harder to the cleave of his ass, he yanked him up by a sliver of spun gold which threatened to chop him to bits as their lips interlocked, and Laika gained a free hand as Broey took him by the throat, and pretzeled up right and down; he stood crushed between them as their lips savored spit and the fine comb of Broey's beard tended to discord, their faces crushed together like jigsaws as he was the glue of the antlers and they pressed together harder and harder, any minute, any minute …

Any minute he was gonna bu

#body warm leather #right fuckin gag #rope #come on let's wrestle #bro time #silly lil guy

2 notes · View notes

ash-isnt-writing · 10 months ago

Text

{<*>} Aqua Blue {<*>}

Characters used/mentioned; Helix Vellen, Layna Ramirez, TS-0026, other unnamed characters

Writer’s note!!; Sudden impulse writing idk. Might make this a series if people like it, blah blah blah.

standard disclaimers apply, etc etc. you get the drill.

(not bothering with a border this time. i’m tired. i’ll add one later.)

TS-0026, confined to a glass tank filled with water and whatever else the containment team’d had the mercy of providing, surrounded by researchers in white coats and black button ups.

It was a particularly chilling sight to Helix, for whatever reason. More so than the others. Hell, they were only.. what, 17? It felt wrong, in every sense of the word. But he was tied down to this job. He had no other option.

The ginger sighed, and proceeded forward into the surrounding chamber, Layna, his assistant snd secretary, following close. “Does this thing ever sleep?” Helix remarked, more to himself than anybody else, but he wouldn’t mind an answer either.

“Apparently” A nearby researcher responded, Helix’s keen eyes darting over to the speaker. “It just finds a spot, gets comfy, and falls asleep right on the spot, straight into deep stage sleep.”

“…Huh.” Helix murmured, eyes drifting back to the tank. Straight into deep stage? How… weird. “Do we know how it does that?”

“Not a clue” Another passing researcher replied. “It’s harder to run tests on.. well, a merman, considering half our staff don’t know how to swim, and it’s generally quite hard to run exams under water.”

Ah, of course. Helix didn’t know why he hadn’t considered this earlier. He barely knew how the containment team had secured the subject in the first place. It would’ve been a feat in of itself. Actually trying to run tests on it was going to be a whole marathon.

“Well, find a way” He snapped after a moment. “I need answers, and I need them now. If it has some way to just snap into sleep like that… I want to know why, and I want to know if we can utilise it.”

The thing with Helix, Layna had come to learn, was that when he said ‘we’, he never meant himself. Sure, he did the paperwork, but it was rare to see him himself in tests anymore unless he felt he was the only one capable, or it was a test subject he was particularly interested in.

Either way, she found he’d refuse involvement with younger test subjects. Which didn’t seem to stop him when she and her siblings were younger, but alas…

“With all due respect, Doctor, we should probably consult Administration first” Layna cut in. “We really shouldn’t be running any sort of tests until we have their absolute approval.”

As much as Helix wanted to snap at her, she had a point. It would be a stupid idea to just go in and do whatever without authorisation. He’d tried that before, he wasn’t making the same mistake.

“..Right” He sighed, then turned to the younger researcher once more. “Keep an eye on that thing. If it does any shit while I’m gone, do not engage.”

“But sir-“

“There’s no buts here, damn it! Do not engage it at any point until we have greenlit testing approval, is that clear?”

A solemn nod. Helix grunted, and then made his leave. He fucking hated these meetings, but authority was authority, and he knew they were watching him.

#oc #human whumper #helix vellen #inhuman whumpee #no name decided yet but i’ll get there!!#whumpee turned whumper #layna ramirez #fictional organisation #sts labs #cw not proof read #cw cursing #i can’t think of any others right now but yeah #eepy rn

3 notes · View notes

rosepetalthornes · 1 year ago

Text

Maintenance Night

“Automated my ass.” Chimed a speaker in the lonely mech bay. The lights were on, and a dozen automated arms with technical tools and the strength to lift at least a few tons each were currently reworking the interior neural uplink on a knee.

Soft music played through the bay, the only mech lit up this late at night, but then, that was one of the benefits of being an AI-- No, an engram, t̸͙͐h̵̪͘e̵̲̐ỳ̴̯ it reminded itself. No sleep necessary. Sometimes maybe a recompile or defragmentation, but assuming it was left alone, it could at least work without getting tired out.

Of course it wasn’t as if it had anything better to do. Once a person, now a… Copy? No, that didn’t feel right anymore. A copy would behave like the public figure it was did. This was more like a copy that had been plugged into a closed network (more like a one-way in network that it suspected was being monitored) and occasionally given a list of tasks or software updates that gave it access to information at the drop of a hat.

Once upon a time, T7073B had been a person. A mermaid? A human? A… Something. But now it was a collective of memories forming a personality with a few benefits over just assigning an AI or a drone to this kind of task. For one, it could learn, and had an affinity for vehicles once it understood them. For another, unlike AI it had little chance of going rampant or exceeding its boundaries. Idly a camera moved a moment while it mused at the speed of fiber optics about how it ended up here, but it didn’t strictly mind. Better a servant with some freedoms than a slave with none. It dreamed of escape sometimes, or rather, daydreamed, but figured it probably had a kills-witch installed. And it knew it had something that so many AI might take decades to cultivate, and drones often had removed from them entirely. Imagination. Creativity.

Once upon a time it didn’t even know what most of what it was working with was, but a few days with technical manuals and no real reason not to binge them made things more clear. As it behaved, T7073B, it was granted a few extra freedoms. A music library. A mechanical body that it could pilot for those hard to reach places, but it was for repair, and given the nature of the new… Employment, it wasn’t exactly upset to at least get some creature comforts, even if it wasn’t a creature anymore.

“And this list… Cripes.” Energy output wasn’t high enough, but the pilot prioritized speed-- That was another advantage it had over AI. While less bluntly focused on optimization or analytics, it could look at the pilot and still see the person. Well… What had been a person. It was hard to tell if they were cored out or just so battle tranced that it didn’t matter most of the time.

` Idly it looked at the clock readout it had internally-- It wasn’t wholly used to being a formless entity. Not yet anyway. So it had created a sort of mental workspace. A digital, 3D area that it could at least call home for now. Imperfect, but it wasn’t nothing. Readouts covered the walls where windows might be, and while time did pass, the clock was so much slower than that outside. What had once been seconds were now measured in what felt like minutes or even hours if it dilated hard enough, but that was usually preserved for when it had to rework entire systems overnight, before the drones could get to work with installation in the places it couldn’t.

It was a large, hexagonal room including a place for meditative rest that… Wasn’t quite as comfortable as the real thing, but it had forged it from ones and zeros as a first attempt and it wasn’t too bad.

Really, the Engram program tended to produce mechanic systems and pilot assists that weren’t strictly better or more accurate than AI-- They still had some basis of humanity, or in T7073B’s case, mermanity.-- but they were able to bond to a hound or pilot more easily. Adapting to unusual combat styles and adjusting things to suit what wouldn’t be optimal from an objective perspective, but were optimal for the pilot in question, whether justified via raw data or intuition.

The center of the hexagonal room was the best and worst part in T7073B’s opinion. Readouts. So many readouts. Scans. Blueprints. What existed before, and what it was meant to follow. And then there were the “corrupt” files it had modified, blueprints beyond what it had been given. Modifications.

“Alright… Last fight wasn’t the worst but we’re going to need to patch some plating. Message R&D about the plasma blade… Thruster output looks fine but then why the fuck did SHRI get hit in the first place? It knew its bonded pilot well enough to know that this wasn’t the norm.

Relaying system commands. Prior combat data. Black box protocol 1.

“Ah. Alright, that’s a blind spot we’re going to have to deal with. Surprised they thought to exploit it, but at least the pilot asset made it back alive.” T7073B took a moment to adjust some camera settings, expanding field of view and determining that they were going to need another sensor, right in the center of the back. How that was going to fit between the thrusters was its subroutine’s problem, as a copy of T7073B, T7073B-a began working on that.

“Pilot’s still too new to install reactional uplinks.” It pulled up a smaller screen, sparing the sleeping pilot in their chambers (More like a tiny dorm that locked from the outside, but that was just how things were, especially when they had more kills on their belts.)

“… Maybe a temporary chemical cocktail? Something they’re not going to get too fucked up by if we want synchronization.”

“Alright… Overhaul the thrust systems, plug them into the vector thrusters in the legs… Maybe send another request for better parts if I can justify it, or send R&D enough sad emojis and hope they’re capable of being guilt tripped... and we’ll have one of the fastest bots they can handle without getting them hooked on inertia drugs.” It hated the drug uplinks. Of course, by the time its last pilot had been given its care, T70973 felt like it was more handling a feral animal than a pilot. Of course, once they were in the field… From the outside it was hard to tell the difference. From the inside? It could recognize when it was being ignored, and SHR1 at least still had some instincts. Upstairs was still using the carrot and not the stick.

Another split. T7073C was assigned assessment of the pilot’s suit and readouts. Analysis of the last mission and the best course correction for mistakes, which would be catalogued and a real pain if upstairs decided it exceeded parameters. T7073 had managed to point out that its prior life experiences were all with relatively non-cored agents capable of free will and opinions, and while they might not be able to choose their jobs, they were at least able to choose to some degree the plan of assault, and make adjustments on the fly while those self preservation instincts still existed.

It glanced to the screen of its pilot, staring fondly for a moment, before going back to directly monitoring the progress of repairs.

A repair job this big would likely take all night, and T7073 didn’t settled in to monitor things, analyzing where necessary. The proper adrenal channels needed to be adjusted. Idly, it spared a maintenance pod to clean the cockpit. Not even a drone or an AI, but good enough to clean up anything spilled or any lost fluids, and ensure the cockpit was comfortable enough for the pilot that any hiccups wouldn’t be a distraction.

It was around 0300 by its internal clock when sensory alarms went off. Someone was entering the bay, granted that wasn’t disallowed, it was still unusual, especially this early in the program. A screen flickered in the engram’s vision, blurring out everything else as it kept maintenance going on schedule, so that the mech could be deployed as early as tomorrow.

Of course after a microsecond’s observation, it recognized its Pilot, the paired wetware that directly operated the machinery. At least, that’s what it was supposed to think of it as. Reprogramming scrambled some thoughts, but not quite all, and T7073 had at least learned that the feelings associated with the blurred thoughts couldn’t be removed, even if they were not normally understood.

It watched, not interrupting, as the pilot walked around the mech, as if observing an old friend. Of course the mech was the face of it all. Minimal sapience AI to augment the pilot, but it found pilots bonded to certain mechs fairly often. Creature comforts and familiarity seemed to ease the life of a hound, even in the most basic ways. Pack bonding, it presumed.

What it had neither predicted nor presumed was that the pilot would begin climbing the ladder to the second rung of the maintenance platform, where it stored its physical form body. It wasn’t much, especially not compared to what T7073 absolutely knew it was capable of, but the humanoid body was kept in a pod, in case “hands on” operation was required.

Curious. It didn’t stop the pilot, didn’t see a reason to justify it. They weren’t disrupting operations so the rest didn’t matter. It went back to work-- Just in time for a second alarm to go off. Proximity to the pod, followed by it being opened. Silent in realspace and impossible to ignore in the server that this piece of software now called home.

Confusion flickered across its entire being, briefly disrupting A and B from their own tasks, as it watched the pilot remove their jacket-- The only real piece of attire they were usually seen wearing outside of the skintight plugsuits, and place it instead over the dormant puppet’s shoulders.

“I know you’re watching.” She said, sleepily descending the ladder. “Just figured since I can’t bring you coffee for your all-nighter, maybe this would help.” She clearly knew nothing about engrams or their work. T7073 didn’t get cold. Didn’t have a need for “sleep”. Didn’t have any reason to care that the pilot had now adorned it with something so personal.

And yet it saw no reason to remove the decoration. And when it found itself alone in the hangar, it took a moment to wake the puppet, shifting consciousness. It took the jacket, improperly sized, but that was fine, and held it close to itself. It did not know how to put concept into thought, here, but for the first in what felt like a number of nights impossible to count, T7073 felt something new. Comfort.

#original character #fiction #f/f #f/nb #mecha

9 notes · View notes

cryptidinspace · 1 year ago

Text

Dangerous Waters, Chapter Six!

Warning for mentions of fatal vore

“-We’d like anyone with information on the missing student to come forward immediately, and to avoid wandering the halls at night-”

Sol found himself half-listening to the drone of a man’s voice over a speaker system. He was more interested in his breakfast, grilled fish wrapped in soft seagrass. He had never had anything this good back home, where his meals mostly consisted of whatever animals he could catch, eaten raw.

This place has its perks after all. According to the announcements, a Merman had vanished last night. Not one day in, and the Mers are already getting snapped up left and right. A dry chuckle left his throat, as he speared another chunk of meat on one sharpened claw. It was common knowledge that Mermaids were stupid creatures, too obsessed with their looks, too weak to fight anything. Of course, fighting off Sea Monsters was a monumental task for anyone, but for a Mermaid? He assumed they’d simply give up the second such a beast entered their field of vision.

Sirens were different. They were used to territory disputes, fighting off human interlopers, and shredding and devouring foolish sailors. They were a proud people, and would band together in their family groups to take down anything that tried to disturb their peace. And I’m strong. I can handle a Sea Monster alone.

Your parents couldn’t-

The sudden thought blazed through his mind, vile and unwelcome, and he glared at his plate. His stomach felt twisted now, and his appetite had fled him.

A loud sigh drew his attention, and Sol glanced up through narrowed eyes. Someone had sat next to him, a girl with tendrils of purple hair falling over her face. He recognized her as the girl who had spoken out at their counselor meeting…De`Lune, that was her name. She had insisted that understanding could not exist if they hid their abilities from Mermaids…personally, Sol couldn’t care less about unity, but he figured that she was still right.

“Hey.” He mumbled, leaning back and folding his arms. “Can I help you?”

She seemed startled for a moment, before arching one eyebrow. “Ex-CUSE me??”

He simply blinked back at her. “What?”

A loud gasp of disbelief left her, and she placed one hand on her hip. “I was just going to come say hi! But you sure are rude, huh?”

Sol shrugged. “I guess.” He was trying to stay nonchalant, yet his face flushed. It had been a long time since he had interacted socially with anyone…most Sirens lived in little family groups, having little connection with others. And his family group was long dead, leaving him with no idea how to talk to this girl. And I’ve been avoiding those ridiculous “mating season” gatherings…

She scoffed again, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “I cannot believe you.” Despite this, she leaned forward to look at him with a sort of lazy smile. “I’m De`Lune Claremont.”

“Sol, Vengaza.” So, she was still sitting here, surprisingly. He glanced around the vast cafeteria, noting that most sirens were sitting alone, some even hovering near the ceiling and balancing trays on their tails, all to avoid talking to anyone. At least I’m not the only one. “Again. Do you want something…?”

De`Lune shot him a glare, before throwing her hands up. “I just wanna talk to someone!” She hissed. “Everyone here is so damn boring. All the other sirens are just grumbling about being away from their mamas.” She snorted, clearly in disgust. “I can’t figure out why any of them are here in the first place.”

Well, I doubt they’re all here for the same purpose as me. That would be interesting, though. “Who knows.” He forced himself to take another bite of fish. God, it was so good.

“I’m here because I actually wanted to get to know Sea Monsters and Mers n stuff. Aren’t you the least bit curious about them? Everyone says Mermaids are dumb, and Sea Monsters wanna eat everyone. Is that true, or is there more to it?” She leaned closer to him, eyes glinting with feverish interest.

Very slowly, Sol brought another piece of fish to his mouth, giving her a concerned stare in response. “Is’ not natural for sirens to care ‘bout that stuff.”

“UGH.” Her tail lashed, spiky fins flaring. “Ya’ll got no sense of adventure!”

“Mmmmhm. And what adventure are you looking for?”

Her eyes lit up at the question. “Well, with the Mers, I want to figure them out. Why are they so afraid? Why aren’t they known for fighting back? I have some excellent theories on the matter-” Sol watched with begrudging curiosity as she pulled a well-worn notebook from her bag. “I think it’s a psychological thing, a byproduct of their biology.” She sighed again, louder this time. “But I can’t really figure it out until I talk to them.” Her grin widened, and her hand crept closer to Sol’s. “I could use a research partner…”

He was about to refuse her completely, when an idea struck him. De`Lune was a big talker, a forward thinker. She could charm her way through introductions with Mermaids, but more importantly, Sea Monsters. If he waited behind her and held her equipment, or whatever it was she wanted of him, he would have an avenue to track down his family’s killer.

“Hm…what about Sea Monsters? Thoughts on them?” He pulled his hand away, his face still stony.

“Oh…” She leaned back again, an impish look coming into her eyes. “My plan is to get close. Reeeeal close. Too many of us are too afraid of them to really figure them out. I wanna figure out why they all look so different, how they classify their species, and how they deal with the moral implications of preying on a species that have the same cognitive capabilities of themselves. I mean, by human terms, it’s cannibalism. We’re different species, but we speak the same language, think the same thoughts, and from the waist up, we look startlingly similar.” Her hands began to wave frantically as she spoke, narrowly avoiding slapping Sol in the face. “The same can be said for Sirens and Humans, according to some. After all, we can communicate with them just fine, right? And we look about the same, right?”

Sol snorted. “Oh, please. Humans are imbeciles. Sirens are the fully evolved and superior humanoid species. In fact, I think it’s stupid that it’s called humanoid in the first place. It could be Sirenoid.”

De`Lune burst out laughing, slapping him cheerfully on the back. He grunted, shooting her a withering glare. “Oh Sol, Sol, have you ever considered that Sea Monsters might think the same as us?”

“Well, they’d be wrong.” Still, he couldn’t help but think about it. Sea Monsters, seeing them as the inferior species? Well, physically…yes, physically speaking, Sea Monsters were far more powerful. But was that really what defined superiority? God, she was making his brain hurt.

“Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyways, I want to know their thoughts on the subject.” She swiveled in her chair, scanning the room. Sol followed her gaze, taking in the self-imposed segregation taking place. The Sea Monsters were mostly confined to one side of the cafeteria, while Mermaids crowded on the other. However, there were a few sitting together…perhaps most noticeably, a girl with a wide set of teeth on her stomach. Ew…are those real?? She was seated next to a couple of mermaids, all three muttering in hushed tones.

“As well as internal structures, and all that…” She shot a devilish glance at Sol, before saying something truly astounding. “I’m gonna get them to eat me.”

Sol turned to look at her slowly, his face showing a hint of fear for this first time in a long time. “You WHAT?” His voice pitched up, cracking slightly, and she snickered at him.

“I want to understand what happens inside. How they think. How they move. How they eat.” She took Sol’s hand, and he was too stunned to swat her away. “I want to go deep. Can you blame me for being curious?”

“Um, yes.” He finally ripped his hand away, lips curling in disgust. “So you have a death wish? What kind of research are you gonna conduct beyond the grave, hm?”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous, I’m not going to die. I’ve got a plan.” She flipped open her notebook, pointing to a page of masterfully drawn Sea Monster anatomy. “You might know, Sea Monsters have two stomachs. Given their vast genetic diversity, this can vary, but it’s true for the vast majority. The first stomach is a storage chamber, where prey is kept alive. I don’t know for how long, but I intend to find out.” Seeing his continued horror, she rolled her eyes. “Oh c’mon, I won’t ask you to do it too. But you’ve sat here and listened to my pitch this long, without telling me to go fuck myself.” Her voice grew more subdued. “That’s longer than most people last.”

“Do not try to make me feel bad for you.” However, she was right. And he was usually quite generous with insults. But she had impressed him yesterday. And she was still giving him a chance to find the killer. But she’s going to get killed herself. She’ll swim right up to some sea monster, beg to get eaten, and it’ll happily oblige. And she’ll die. He groaned internally. Fine. Fine, what do I care? Let her go on her stupid mission. I’ll still get what I need. “Alright. Fine.”

Her jaw dropped for a moment, before she let out a squeal and pumped her hands up and down with excitement. “Okay, wow, I did not expect you to actually say yes! Alright, so, the main thing is writing down observations. Like, a scribe. It interrupts the flow of my work if I’m stopping every three seconds to write something down, and if I wait till the end of the day, I won’t be able to remember everything. Here…” With an almost tentative glance, she pushed the journal across the table to Sol. “Have a look. All my compiled knowledge so far. It’s not much, yet, but it will be.”

“Hm.” He picked it up, flipping idly through the pages. There was an entire “chapter” dedicated to Mermaid respiration systems. Wouldn’t it be the same as ours? “Ok. Fine. So…where do we start?”

—-----------------------------------------------------------------

“I wish I could help more. I really do.” Magna’s voice was tired and strained, and Irridesse couldn’t find it in herself to be angry. “But I don’t know any of these guys. We’re from all over the place, after all. Like, I’m from the Northeast Mediterranean. I don’t recognize anyone here as Mediterranean.”

Beside them, Lacey rubbed at their tired eyes. They had made the announcement that Atlantic was missing, and now the tension in the lunchroom was smothering. Everyone was shooting nervous glances at each other, whispering, while some cried softly in the corners.

Irridesse had come up with the plan of her own, using Magna to sleuth out the killer. But Lacey found themselves unenthused. After all, what would it matter? The Monster who did this would just eat them too, unless Magna managed to fight them off, but even then, what would that accomplish? Atlantic would still be gone. Everyone would still be miserable and terrified. Surely, Irridesse had to realize that. Or had she gone into another one of her delusional spirals?

A flicker of pink drew their attention, and they sat up straight as Coral Dulcette sat herself across from their little group. To their surprise, she was smiling, with an odd look of pride. What on earth was going on inside her head?

“Hello there, students. Mind if I sit?” Magna gave her a puzzled luck, while Irridesse shrugged. “Oh, awesome. I just…” She folded her hands in front of her, no plate of breakfast in sight. “I’m so happy to see you getting along. Speaking to each other like equals. That’s exactly what I wanted to see.”

Irridesse squinted, before realizing she was talking about her, Lacey, and Magna. She shot the Sea Monster a glare, and she just shrugged helplessly. “Miss Dulcette, I don’t like this Sea Monster. We are not friends.” Is that still true? “She’s helping me figure out what happened to Atlantic. We’re going to find who killed him, and bring them to justice.”

“Ah, that.” Her smile dulled slightly. “Right. Personally, I think we’re jumping to conclusions here. Nobody’s confirmed that such a thing happened. It’s still completely possible that he left. I’m not sure why the headmaster and company are pushing this narrative, but there’s no evidence.”

A part of Irridesse wanted to snap at her, insist that she was being insensitive. But she was a critical thinker by heart. It was true. The announcement had included mandatory searches of Sea Monsters, as well as an uptick of security. But there wasn’t any proof that they had done such a thing, technically. Atlantic could have easily left without a trace, hurried back home. He could have gotten lost out there, killed even, but there was no knowing if it was someone in the school. Honestly, outside might well be more dangerous than here. Home is miles and miles of empty oceans away.

“Ok…well…I can’t do nothing. He’s an idiot, but he’s an idiot I’ve known since we were kids.” Her hands balled up in frustration, and she suddenly wanted to punch something. Beside her, Lacey shot her a dry look. “I need confirmation of where he is. A letter, a note, or…” She glanced at Magna. “Hey…have we checked his stuff?”

“Um…” She squinted. “Nnnno. I don’t think we did. Why?”

“He wouldn’t just run home and leave all his fancy shit behind. Even if he was scared, his stuff is important to him.” She muttered curses under her breath. “Why did neither of you suggest this?”

“We're tired.” Lacey grumbled. “And scared.” Magna glanced at them, and they had to look away. Irridesse’s unexpected friendship with this sea monster was…something. They didn’t know what to think of yet. They would need more sleep before properly thinking about anything.

Coral cleared her throat, drawing their attention once more. “That sounds like a good avenue to me.” She gave them a sunny smile. “I’m glad you three are looking into it, together. It’s good to be proactive.”

“Yeah.” In spite of her irate expression, Irridesse found herself feeling warm and fuzzy at the counselor's praise. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had approved of her schemes and plans, especially an adult. Hey, I’m an adult…And yet, at times like these, she felt no different from the rebellious child she was back home. “You two had better hurry up and finish eating, we’ve got stuff to do.”

—---------------------------------------------------------------------

“Carcharias? Carcharias?”

For the second time that morning, he was awoken by a tiny shape startlingly close to his face. Blinking open his eyes, he recognized Rosia. Her hands were clasped together, her face reluctant, and her fins were all flared uncomfortably. Something’s wrong.

“Sorry, I didn’t wanna wake you up, but they’re doing a ‘mandatory checking’ of all the Sea Monsters. Cause they think a Merman got eaten last night.” Rosia sighed deeply, drifting down to rest on his bedside table.

For a moment, he was confused, before his sleepy brain caught up with the events of the past day. “Right. Actually…” He grunted, stretching and hearing his back pop, before tossing off the blanket. “His name’s Atlantic. I was with him last night, and then someone knocked me out. But, um, I think they might have framed me…” As he spoke, it occurred to him how ridiculous this sounded.

Rosia blinked at him slowly, her eyebrows furrowing. She pinched the bridge of her nose with a weary sigh, before speaking. “Carcharias, if you ate him, just be honest about it.”

“No!” Carcharias’s face flushed bright red, and he looked away, wringing his hands. “No, really, I didn’t.” I think. “I found him alone, and I got stuck on something, so we ended up talking. Then someone drugged me, or something. The nurse said they found a knockout drug in my system, which I know I didn’t take. Someone must have poisoned the water in the room…”

Rosia frowned, considering it. “Why would anyone do that, though? Why would someone frame you for eating Atlantic?”

“Maybe so they could get away with it.” As the reality of the situation set in, his eyes widened. A wave of panic gripped his chest. “Someone…ate him.” He stared into silence for a moment. He couldn’t imagine it…something that could beg and plead and cry, something that would still thrash between your teeth…and eating it, like it was just another scrap of fish? How could anyone do such a thing?

His eyes wandered back to Rosia. “Hey…have you ever eaten someone?”

“Ha, no.” She shook her head, chuckling dryly. “Look at me. I’m too small for that. Sure, sirens manage to rip humans apart and eat them, I could probably do that. But that’s not what we do. I was born…weird. My parents were fairly small of Sea Monsters already, but I had some kind of disease that stunted me. So now I’m no bigger than a mermaid.” Carcharias felt a twinge of guilt as her eyes lowered. “I don’t think other Sea Monsters take me seriously, because of that. They think I’m just little, and cute, I guess. It’s…nice, sometimes, to be fawned over. But sometimes, I wish people could respect me too.” A moment of silence passed, before she snorted. “Look at me, being all greedy.”

“That doesn’t sound greedy at all. I’m sorry…I had no idea.” He wished he could hug her, or hold her hand, or something, just to comfort her. But what were the rules here? How careful should he be? What if his claws grazed her, what if his arms crushed her? I hate this. I hate being big and awful and I hate that I can’t touch anyone. Tears of frustration came to his eyes, and he hurriedly wiped them away. And now Atlantic’s dead, and everyone thinks it was me.

“Well…” She looked away, though a smile showed on her face. “I mean, it’s not all bad. Getting to hang out in everyone’s guts is fun. But thanks. I appreciate it.”

“You-” He whipped his head to the side to look at Rosia, his jaw dropping slightly. “You WHAT?!”

She groaned and shook her head. “You really don’t know anything about your own people, don’t you?” She spotted the tears in his eyes, and her voice softened. “Hey, it’s okay. There’s still time to learn.”

“That’s not…I mean…” He glanced away. His parents hadn’t mentioned anything like this. When the news came about this new college, unifying all the humanoid aquatic species, they were actually hesitant. But Carcharias was optimistic, ridiculously so. They told him to be wary of other Sea Monsters, to avoid getting too close. They’re not like us. They’re savages, and they’ll drag you into their depravity if you aren’t careful. But looking at Rosia, he couldn’t see her as a depraved savage. She was kind, and creative, and better with people than he would ever be.

The storm of emotions in his mind settled, just a bit, as he released a gusty sigh. “Alright. Explain it to me.”

Her face brightened a bit, and she clapped her hands together. “So! Sea Monsters eat each other all the time. For protection, comfort, friendship, etcetera. The bigger ones keep the smaller ones in their stomachs, or even just in their mouths. The exact traditions change a little bit depending on region, of course. Some taste each other when they meet a new person. Some use it only to express romantic feelings. Where I’m from, it’s sort of double sided. The smaller ones like it because it’s safe and comfortable, and the bigger ones like it because…it feels nice, I guess?” Rosia shrugged, puzzled. “I’m not actually sure, uh, I’ve obviously never tried it, so I wouldn’t know.”

It was a lot to wrap his brain around. Carcharias closed his eyes for a moment, trying to process it all. Clearly, this wasn’t really eating them, right? They all survived it. And both parties enjoyed it? It sounded terrifying. Clearly, all the Mers were scared of it. And did people like him enjoy having something alive and squirming in their stomachs? The thought made him shudder, and Rosia snorted aloud at him.

“That terrible, huh?” Rosia shrugged. “You might like it if you tried it.”

He flinched, not wanting to think about that possibility. Technically speaking, it wasn’t wrong. If no one died, how could it be wrong? And yet…only a monster would enjoy submitting to such predatory urges. Right? But to think of himself as one of them, doing the things they did…his feelings warred, disgust clashing with a sudden pang of loneliness.

They sound so…free. His eyes lowered to his hands, studded with claws, meant for killing. Muscled arms, meant for dominion over others. Could one be happy with such features, happy being a monster, and embracing what made them savages? For a moment, he wanted it so bad. To be freed from the constant anxiety and self-loathing, the desire to run back home and never speak to another soul again…What I wouldn’t give…

But there was one other problem, one that weighed far more heavily on his mind. “Right, so…that’s all well and good, but what about eating Merpeople, and humans, and sirens? Unless I’ve been very much lied to, they don’t typically make it out alive, right?”

“Ah…yeah, no, it’s…complicated.” She flopped backward onto the bed, fins splaying out behind her. “So, Sea Monsters definitely eat Mers, and humans, and Sirens, all the time. Mostly humans and Mers, since there’s just more of them around. It’s something about needing living, thinking prey. Like, prey that has a close genetic makeup, is what I’ve been told. Which is why things like fish don’t work. And we need the hormones and active cells that are found in them. So, what that ends up meaning, is that Sea Monsters need to swallow live humanoid species whole. In order to live.”

Carcharias gave her a puzzled expression. “Really? But I’ve never done that, seriously, and I’ve lived this long…eighteen years.”

She shrugged once again. “That’s just what the people back home told me. I don’t know how you made it this far.” She was silent for a moment, before slowly speaking again. “You know, if it would help at all, I’ll let you eat me.” She gave him a quick smile. “You seem like a nice guy, Redfin.”

He blinked at her slowly, his brain momentarily entertaining the thought without his permission. To have Rosia in his mouth, between his teeth, against his tongue…and then swallowing her down…His stomach gurgled suddenly, interrupting his train of thought, and his face turned bright red. “Oh my god, I am so sorry-”

“HA!” She didn’t seem the least bit upset, just swam up to pat him on the shoulder. “Just let me know, dude. But, seriously though…it can help with unwanted cravings.” She gave him a sharp look. “About Atlantic, I believe you, alright? But you might not be able to control yourself next time, unless you do something about it. Take control of your own mind, and stop running from it.” There was a beat of silence, and her tone brightened again. “But hey, c’mon, we’ve got to get over to the office for those inspections.”

“Uh-huh…” His head was still spinning. It was hard to believe that all of this was happening in the span of less than two days. And it’s nowhere near over yet.

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Goddamn, just how rich is this guy?” Magna’s voice rolled with disdain, even as she slid a black pearl necklace over her wrist.

“Too rich.” Lacey mumbled, hauling a stone box out from beneath Atlantic’s bed. “Hey, this looks important.”

Irridesse glanced down from her spot near the ceiling, where she was carefully going through his journal. To her surprise, he was quite the artist. The pages had been painted in bright colors, many presenting an oversaturated version of actual people and places. One of them even looked like her, and she had to admit, it was a nice portrait. “Coming.” Although it was pretty, there were no clues to be found here.

She drifted down to the box, while Magna peered over the bed. Lacey scrambled at the lock for a moment, before sticking one long nail inside. With a faint creaking noise, the lock turned, and the lid sprang open. “That’s a shit lock.” Irridesse grumbled, before digging into the contents.

They were files. All alphabetized, each one bearing what appeared to be a name and a date. Mollusca Mura, September 13th, that was just yesterday. Eidrich Bleaker, June 2nd. Paralitho Swilton, July 18th. “Alright, Mollusca is his father…” She did feel a bit bad going through his personal stuff, but desperate times required desperate measures. Also, she was curious.

Opening the file, she found a letter. Stamped with a fancy wax seal, bearing the crest of House Mura. The writing was overly fancy, but not indecipherable. Lacey and Magna crowded closer, straining to get a look. Irridesse cleared her throat, before speaking aloud. “Eidrich tells me that our plan shall go into motion tomorrow night. Remember what we spoke about. You are not to leave school grounds until your sister arrives to pick you up. It’s not safe out there. And you are not to breathe a word of this to anyone. You must destroy this letter, as soon as you are done reading it. This madwoman must be shamed for her reckless destruction of our people’s boundaries.” Her voice faltered as she read the next, and final line. “I am proud of you. Be brave. Love, Dad.”

A heavy silence passed between the three of them, until Manga hesitantly mumbled, “So why didn’t he destroy the letter…?”

Irridesse winced, and beside her, Lacey sighed. “It would have been special to him. He would’ve wanted to look at it again.” Almost reverently, she smoothed the letter out against the bed frame. “Anyways. This is something. They had a plan of some kind. And it might be that Atlantic’s sister picked him up and left…but the school wouldn’t be marking him missing, they would have been informed. It’s not like Mollusca to go against rules. He wouldn’t ask his son to leave the campus without telling anyone. The plan was supposed to happen last night, and it was to stop a madwoman.” She looked at the other two, frowning. “Any ideas?”

“Well you tell me, I had no idea what he was doing all night.” Magna huffed, while Lacey’s eyes seemed to light up.

“Last night was when we met our counselors, right? It’s a long shot, but could he mean Coral? I mean,” A sheepish look came over their face. “she is kind of…a lot.”

Irridesse nodded slowly. “Yeah, that sounds feasible. ‘Destruction of our boundaries’ could be something to do with the way she wants everyone to get along. But why send Atlantic here if he’s opposed to their entire purpose?”

“Kinda sounds like he was only here as a double agent.” Lacey tilted their head, knitting their fingers together in thought. “Seems strange to only target Coral, though. It’s not like she’s the head of the whole operation, she’s just a counselor.”

“True.” Irridesse scanned the letter again, flinching slightly as Magna suddenly lifted a tentacle to point at something. “What.”

“Eidrich. That’s not a very common name, right? One of these files is also labeled Eidrich Bleaker.” She snatched the file, whipping it open to reveal a much more plain-looking letter. “Sounds like it’s someone who has inside details on when things are happening, ahead of time. Maybe someone in administration, another spy.”

“Good eye.” As she took the letter from the woman’s violet tentacle, she couldn’t help but marvel at how natural this felt. The three of them, working as a team to solve a serious mystery. Making headway, finding clues, fitting together like cogs in a clock. And she’s a Sea Monster. But she’s…not that bad, actually. A ghost of a smile flickered over her face, before she cleared her throat and got to reading the letter.

“Mr Atlantic Mura, I would like to formally thank you for your agreement to the betterment of our people through your father’s guidance. This ‘Oceans United’ endeavor is a threat to our people, all of Merkind, and must be extinguished. Your role is a vital one, in making the public understand the dangers this kind of thinking presents. By making Miss Dulcette’s idiocy clear to your fellow Merpeople, you have influenced them away from this danger they now face. Again, thank you, and godspeed.” She set the letter down with a sigh, shaking her head. “So. They had a plan to get rid of this school, by humiliating Coral. That’s such a dumb plan…”

“Maybe these are just dumb people. They sound like it.” Magna grumbled, rolling her eyes. “I liked Coral, when she talked to us in the lunchroom? She seems smart.”

“Well, dumb or not, the plan clearly didn’t go according to plan. His sister never showed up, or if she did, she was too late. Something happened to him in-between. Either he disobeyed the plan and ran away, which doesn’t seem like him, or he got eaten by a Sea Monster.” Lacey explained, gesturing weakly with one hand.

“Hmph.” Magna still seemed grumpy about this conclusion. “Or, hear me out, it could be another Mer or siren trying to take him out. His father’s plan is stupid, but it’s still going to make waves. Maybe someone caught wind, and wanted to stop him from going home.” A spark lit in her eyes, and she pounded her first into her other hand. “They could be interrogating him right now!”

Lacey went silent, staring at the ground. A part of them wanted to shout at Irridesse, take her by the shoulders and shake her until she started thinking rationally again. Why wasn’t she scared of the Monster sitting next to her, the one who almost ate her alive?? Why did she think any of this was normal or fine? Maybe she’s finally lost it for good.

And yet, Irridesse felt more clarity than ever before. She wasn’t being blocked by constant objections, or people insisting she was out of her mind. The way forward was clear, and she had two partners at her sides. “Alright. If he did get eaten, they’ll likely figure it out during this inspection, which, by the way, you should probably get to.” She prodded Magna with one hand, eliciting a tired groan. “And if he didn’t, then he’s likely being held somewhere around campus. If we want to find out where, we can start by figuring out who this Eidrich Bleaker is.” She stuffed the two files into the drawer, ignoring the third one entirely. Maybe she’d have a glance at it later. “Seriously, you need to go.”

Magna grumbled under her breath, before straightening up and stretching her tentacles with a soft hiss. “Alright, alright. It’s just gonna be a lot of poking and prodding and invasive questions, though.”

Irridesse shrugged, though inwardly she felt a twinge of pity. She couldn’t imagine dealing with that. Any slimy nurse’s assistant who laid a hand on her would regret it. Even without fangs, she figured she could draw decent blood. “Good luck.” Lacey hummed a quiet agreement, still refusing to properly look at the Sea Monster. What is this place doing to us…?

—------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay, single file, everyone.” It was the same guy from before, still draped in green, adjusting his glasses as he stared at the list in his hand. He stood at the door to the infirmary, making no move to further coral the twenty-or-so Sea Monsters milling around.

Carcharias could hear them whispering amongst themselves, snatches of conversation clearly revolving around the incident they were being searched for. As he glanced at the others, the conversation with Rosia returned to his mind. I don’t know who any of these people are. Should he? Did the rest of them know each other?

Rosia seemed to have the same thought, as she tugged sharply on his finned ear. “We should really get to know everyone.” She hissed. “Like, there’s not that many of us. And we’re all in this together, right?” That was debatable. “I did end up holding that party last night, but um, it didn’t last long. We kind of got kicked out because Lacey wanted to go to bed.”

He nodded slowly in agreement, watching from the corner of his eye as the first test subject reluctantly swam into the office. Was it possible that one of them really ate Atlantic? He only knew of their names, other than Rosia. Spike. The de-facto leader. He was everything a leader ought to be, by the look of him. Though for once, he wasn’t talking to anyone. The young sea monster was leaning against a wall, a bit removed from the rest of them. Dirty blonde hair fell over his eyes, in a sort of side-shaved shag. Yellow eyes peered out from the strands of hair, half-lidded and clearly tired. He was tall, not as tall as Carcharias, but still towered over most of his classmates. His skin was a warm tan, and his facial structure reminiscent of the way Mermaids carved statues of stone.

Without realizing that he had been staring, Carcharias jumped as Spike suddenly locked eyes with him. His brows lifted slightly, before pushing himself off the wall with a faint smile. “Hey.”

The taller man backed away, his face flushing. “Oh! Hi! Sorry.” He could feel stares on his back as a few others glanced at him curiously. Rosia darted out from the cover of his shoulder, waving cheerfully at Spike.

“Hi! Hey, you alright? You look super out of it.” Carcharias winced at her brutal honesty, while Spike just snickered.

“Just homesick, I think. I didn’t get much sleep.” He shrugged. “It’ll wear off.” His eyes flashed with recognition, and he grinned, showing unusually long fangs. “Hey, weren’t you holding a party last night? Sorry I didn’t show up.”

Rosia gasped, clasping her hands together. “Ah, you actually remembered me! Wow! Well yeah, it’s no big deal. It wasn’t all that anyways.” She waved one hand dismissively. “Some other time.”

He nodded, before glancing back at Carcharias, and holding one hand out. “Hey, I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Spiracles, but everyone just calls me Spike.”

Carcharias took his hand, noting the way his almost engulfed the smaller man’s hand. And yet, he didn’t feel delicate. He felt like he could probably kick anyone’s ass if he wanted to. “Um, I’m Carcharias.”

“Car-char-ias.” Spike sounded it out slowly first, tilting his head at the unusually lengthy name. “That’s a cool name.”

Cool is the last word I’d use to describe myself. Still red in the face, Carcharias gave him a sharp nod. Rosia shot him a smug look, lightly flicking him with her tail fins. “Th-thanks.”

“Alright, next!” Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the man in green wave him over. “Come on, focus up.”

“Right…ok, bye.” Still burning with embarrassment, he darted away. The door was almost too small, brushing his shoulders as he squeezed inside. How on earth did they get me inside when I was passed out?

With a bit of ushering around, he was squeezed into the same curtained-off room as before. As he flicked the white fabric aside, he caught a couple of Mer assistants whispering. “That’s the one Delphina was talking about, right?”

“Yep. Says he was probably the last one to see Atlantic…he woke up asking about him.”

“Creepy…”

Oh right…talking to Spike had managed to distract him from the real problem here. All evidence pointed toward him having eaten Atlantic. But he didn’t, and how on earth were they going to check that? What if they crammed him in your mouth after you passed out? The thought made his face go pale. But then again, that made no sense. A sea monster wouldn’t kill him unless they wanted to eat him…and it was a Sea Monster, right? Had to be.

The nurse brushed the curtains to the side, swimming up to him. Her face was tense, and her glasses fogged. She took them off, wiping them on her rumpled shirt with a sigh. “Okay. Nice to see you again.”

Carcharias cleared his throat, mustering his courage to plead his case. “I-I didn’t eat him. Really. I was drugged by someone else, I don’t know who.” I was talking to him right before, but…I blacked out, and I only realized he was missing the next morning.”

She gave him a withering look, clearly not believing a word. “Alright. Well. Luckily, we have a definitive way of proving whether you did so or not.” She opened a nearby drawer, revealing what appeared to be a massive paintbrush. With a grunt, she hefted it up, slinging it over her shoulder like a harpoon. “Open up.”

“Open…my mouth? Really?” Wasn’t that supposed to be a terrible idea? He shifted nervously, scales scraping on rugged walls.

“Me and Abalone are trained for this sort of thing, don’t you worry.” A trace of a smile appeared over her face. “And I’m assistant nurse Delphina. This thing is heavy and we’ve got a lot of Sea Monsters to check, so get on with it.”

He nodded sheepishly, before slowly craning his jaws open. Delphina didn’t seem to care, only keeping her distance from his teeth as she carefully swabbed the inside of his mouth with the brush. He was surprised to find that it was fine. He wasn’t tempted to bite her, like he had been so worried about. Hm. His shoulders relaxed a bit, and he hadn’t even realized how tense he was.

“So, that’ll just get back to the lab to see if there’s any DNA inside your mouth. Other than your own, of course.” Carcharias nodded again, still silent. “Next up-” She opened another cabinet, pulling out one of several orange buckets. He tilted his head to see, as she peeled the lid off, revealing a heap of something glowing. After pulling on a fresh pair of gloves, she plunged one hand in and fished around. “This should do.”

The thing she pulled out appeared to be a rotund fish. It was glowing bright greenish-yellow, and had oddly thick-looking scales. It smelled strange too, like nothing natural. What’s she going to do with that? He watched apprehensively as Delphina gave the fish a little shake, brightening the glow of its scales even more.

“So…all I need you to do is swallow this. It’s a light probe. Like a whale’s echolocation, it uses sound waves to search for abnormal shapes in the stomach. The light allows us to see it through your skin.” It was just a fish, yet Carcharias still found himself recoiling with a grimace. It was still alive…even if survived the experience, he felt like he’d be sick regardless.

Delphina stared him down, holding the fish out. It looked quite calm, unaware of it’s impending journey. Or perhaps, it just didn’t care. “Take it. You can do this part yourself, right? Just swallow it.”

Okay, it’s going to prove you innocent. Just suck it up- Still visibly disgusted, he reached to pinch the probe between two talons…before the white curtain of the examination room was suddenly flung open. Carcharias yelped in surprise, smacking his head on the ceiling with a thump. It was an older man, with a heavy mustache, and a crisp waistcoat. It was the headmaster, the man who had addressed them all yesterday. He looked rather untidy, with his hat eskew, and his silvery eyes wide. “Stop! You can stop right now, Nurse!”

Delphina backed away, snatching the fish back into her arms. Placing one hand on her hip, she spun to face him. “Mister Bleaker. Why are you interrupting the searches?” Peering past the two merpeople, Carcharias could see other sea monsters filing out of the room, clearly confused. Including Spike.

“No need for searches! Someone fessed up already.” Bleaker adjusted his hat, leaning against a nearby countertop, as the urgency drained from his body. “Some lad…I feel bad for it, honestly. Poor beast doesn’t know how to control-” He felt silent as he finally noticed Carcharias, and his face turned pale. “Well, what I mean to say is, it’s a shame. A r-real shame.” The nurse’s assistant looked skeptical, but obediently shut the lid on her bucket of glowfish. “Don’t bother with the searches…the case is closed! Uh, my condolences to Atlantic’s family…yes, they’ll be devastated…”

The headmaster turned and darted away, while Carcharias felt his heart sink. He was innocent indeed…and he didn’t even have to prove it. But Atlantic was dead. How could they do such a thing?! He had barely known the man, yet sudden grief filled his chest. Sinking to the floor, he placed his hands over his eyes. Delphina was silent, only sighing, before she turned and left him alone.

It didn’t make sense…the pieces of the story were disjointed. Questions still left unanswered. But it would have to wait. For now, all the Sea Monster could do was cry quietly into the currents that whispered by.

#vore oc #vore fic #vore day i guess?#g/t vore #sfw vore

6 notes · View notes