#yes I got naked on a giant clam shell

[nary-a-care]

SO WHEN APHRODITE LIES NAKED ON A GIANT CLAM SHELL SHE'S A "GODDESS" BUT WHEN I DO IT I'M "DRUNK", "CAUSING A PUBLIC DISTURBANCE" AND "NO LONGER WELCOME IN THE AQUARIUM"

[voreconnoisseur]

Pilot Fic 2 - Water, Water Everywhere

--Same prey, different scenario and pred, still willing and safe. --

When an old buddy of mine from school mentioned that he’d been going through some tough times, and that he’d had to sell his plane and was missing flying anything that wasn’t a company jet, I offered to let him pilot mine for a flight with me over the Atlantic for some sightseeing. I’d just got my hands on a new plane, and I was looking forward to give it another test spin. This outing, unlike a certain previous one, went mostly according to plan. No crash landings or bad weather.

That is, until I found myself looking down the barrel of my “friend’s” Smith & Wesson.

He forced me to land on some uninhabited island we’d flown over a few minutes ago, forced me to get out, hopped in the cockpit, and flew off, gun still in hand.

Honestly, I was impressed he was able to get back in the air with the terrain as it was. It was just a short stretch of rough sand.

I was really starting to hate sand at this point.

I figured he’d taken my plane to sell like he had his own. What sort of “tough times” might warrant marooning someone on an island, I didn’t want to know. What concerned me now was finding some way to get rescued. And then I could let the authorities know what the bastard had done, assuming air traffic control didn’t figure it out on their own first. The good news was that meant someone would probably start looking for me soon. Just needed to survive until then.

The most important thing in a (hopefully) short term situation like this is to make yourself visible for rescue teams. I spent about a half hour setting up an S.O.S. sign made of rocks in the sand, and another hour trying to light a fire out of driftwood.

My efforts in that regard were wasted, however, as some heavy showers rolled in and put it out before I could do anything. Damned island weather.

Now I’d need some shelter. Not that I wouldn’t have needed it in the sun, but now it be miserable to work on. The dilemma of staying visible was heavy on my mind, too. Moving inland toward the trees might make it easier to build a shelter, but I’d be far less visible. Not to mention any deadly spiders or snakes I might bump into by accident. I decided to tough it out on the beach.

I wandered the coast a little, being sure not to stray too far from my sign, and climbed atop a rocky outcropping over a small lagoon, being careful not to slip on the wet rocks. There was no visible sign of any other islands.

Of course, I knew that. There was one inhabited island a a few kilometers to the southeast, but not close enough or large enough to see with the naked eye. Whichever direction it was, I sure wasn’t going to be swimming there, and I didn’t want to even consider trying to raft over there. I’d never sailed in my life.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of bubbles in the water. I peered into the lagoon—it was deep, dark blue, and I couldn’t see the bottom.

The bubbling ceased, and I looked a little closer, expecting to see some aquatic animal, but what I found instead was far more intense.

An almost-human face, staring at me, through the surface of the water. And no, it wasn’t my reflection.

It was a good bit larger than a human’s face anyway—by 4 or 5 times, maybe. Covered in scales. And the nose wasn’t quite right. The eyes, though, were what immediately made me think: “That’s a person.”

The face burst from the water like a breaching whale, followed by the upper body attached to it. Now, even as I stood high up on the rocks, it towered over me.

Another thought, but not my own this time, echoed in my head:

You’re right. Not a human. But a person, yes.

All I could do was stand there and gawk. Eventually, I just crossed my arms and stood there in the rain, lips pursed.

“Huh.”

The being’s eyes widened as it continued to look me over.

That’s an interesting reaction for a human! Have you seen my kind before or something?

I shifted a bit and decided to initiate conversation again, with this <i>person</i>. I didn’t have any clue what was going on with the whole telepathy deal, so I just spoke out loud instead.

“Can’t say I have. But not much can surprise me at this point.”

You’re not even a little bit scared?

The sea-person grinned a bit after sending this thought, revealing several rows on rows of teeth like those of a shark. Though this wasn’t in any way comforting, I really didn’t have the emotional energy to get upset about it. I had things to do.

“No. I don’t think I am.”

That’s unusual. They cocked their head to the side. Not afraid I might eat you, or something like that?

“Well, for one thing, there’s nothing stopping me from doing this.” I hopped backwards off the rocks, further inland. It didn’t look like they had legs, so it would be difficult for them to get past the rocks.

And what’s the other thing?

I let out a small grunt of amusement.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Their eyes widened and they grabbed hold of the rocks and pulled themself closer.

You must be REALLY well traveled.

“You could say that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a shelter to build.” I turned to leave, but was interrupted by a shrill noise in my brain as well as my ears this time.

WAIT!!

I looked back only to see the person (I guess you COULD call them a mermaid, since they had a tail instead of legs and appendages that looked like fins, but it was a far stretch from the pop culture variety) making a face almost like a pout, save a couple of teeth that were long enough to jut out.

I can help you with the shelter.

“How do you propose you do that? You can’t get out of the water, can you?”

I can BE the shelter. I can put you inside.

I turned around again, and bent over to pick up a couple pieces of useful-looking driftwood.

“Forget it. If you’re looking for an easy meal, you won’t find it on this island.”

I promise I won’t hurt you. I don’t want a meal or anything! And I can only eat small stuff anyway.

“Yeah, bullshit. Not with those teeth.”

They’re for cracking open shells.

As a demonstration, the being dove into the water and re-emerged with a solid looking clam about the size of a football. They bit into the clam effortlessly, piercing a hole into the shell, then put the clam to their lips and slurped out the meat.

“If that was supposed to make me feel better, it didn’t. Anyway, how are you gonna go about eating me is you ‘can only eat small things?’”

I’m not going to eat you! I have a storage stomach that can fit large things. My kind stores our young inside to keep them safe from predators. Only tiny pieces of food can pass through it.

I couldn’t make too many assumptions about mer-people, knowing nothing about one, but to me this one gave off the impression of the human equivalent of an inexperienced and optimistic kid. I still didn’t trust them entirely, but seeing the way they communicated, and didn’t seem to have any issue finding real, non-me food, I didn’t see what reason they’d have to lie to me. I was also kind of curious to know more about them. Curiosity killed the cat and all that, but I was already in mortal peril with no shelter and no food.

“Alright, fine. I’ll do it. I’m too sick of this rain.”

I climbed further back up the rocks, almost slipping once or twice on the now-soaked surface. A pair of giant silvery webbed hands reached for me, and in the moment, I was too in awe of the shimmering scales to be frightened.

I was lifted, somewhat roughly, off the ground, and in a swift motion, my upper body was placed in the mer-person’s mouth. They had a pretty human-looking tongue, and I wasn’t sure whether that made it better or worse. The long teeth I’d seen early were just far enough apart that I could be wedged comfortably between them. Well, I wasn’t being bitten, so I was safe at that point.

Without struggling, I let myself descend smoothly down the being’s throat as they tilted their head toward the rainy sky. It was damp inside, but at least I had some relief from being pelted with heavy raindrops.

It only took one gulp to drag me into the small cavern that was the storage stomach. Amazingly, the fleshy walls were glowing a soft blue. It wasn’t big enough for me to stretch my limbs out, but it wasn’t so cramped I couldn’t move.

Everything okay?

“Yeah... this is really something,” I murmured more to myself than them.

The glow is for young ones. It’s to make them feel safe. Does it work on humans?

“I dunno. It’s pretty neat, for sure.”

I heard (or maybe felt) a loud purring noise coming from all around me, and some pressure pushing up against my side.

I should probably tell you more about myself, now that we’re better acquainted. I’m male, and you can call me Markov.

I gave one of the fleshy walls a heavy pat.

“Nice to meet you, Markov.”

It is a pleasure.

Whenever I heard his voice in my mind, it sounded cheery. It was strange, since it was more of a feeling than a literal sound.

Suddenly, the space I was in lurched as I was flipped upside down, and I let out a rather embarrassing yelp upon hitting the squishy glowing floor with my face. The movement stopped for a moment, then changed to a slow undulation of the stomach walls.

Sorry! I know you’re not used to this. I just started swimming, that’s all.

“Oof. Warn me next time.”

I shuffled around, squirming to regain the more comfortable position I’d held earlier. The swimming movements stopped for a second, then started up again.

I’m going to take you to the human settlement on the nearby island. Is that okay?

I have a vaguely amused huff of relief.

“Sounds perfect to me.”

--I may write a sequel to this chapter after a few other fics I have planned.--