#the mermen can't talk in human speech. but they can learn! but initially it's just various chirps and trills and rumbles and growls...

[goldenimpact]

Couldn’t decide on who should be the human and who should be the merman, so have both! Both is good!

Probably shouldn’t have only one human looking after the intelligent fish creature, but what can you do if the fish creature only responds well to that one human? And if you catch them smooching, well, uh, just turn a blind eye and don’t tell the higher-ups, okay??

(under the cut: some bonus arrangements!)

We could also do “They’re BOTH mermen” AU... And they’re just out there in the ocean somewhere... Courting each other... you know... fish things... Aether’s a fish from closer to the surface and Xiao’s from deeper down. 

Aether probably started heading down out of curiosity and Xiao had to lead him back up because 1: Aether is way too bright and way too pretty to be down in the depths and 2: If Aether stayed any longer, he’d probably be hunted down for... various reasons (getting eaten or getting “eaten”). 

And then you know, they start spending time together every time Aether tries to go down. Then Xiao starts going up. Then they’re courting, and then--

Altogether! You could take this as a “They take turns being the merman on display” AU, maybe! That’s a funky world setting, actually... Maybe they’re less “animals on display” and more “dolphins that perform” kind of creatures? Taking turns being the trainer...