Mermay!

[paintbrush]

Time for mermaids, sirens and other water creatures! Comment with your merfolk characters, or make your very own AU. Splash around in the waters or try to drown someone. I'm not judging.

IDEAS

Merfolk

Longing to see the surface and all it offers?
Trapped in a net! Are you facing your kidnappers or a savior?
Long travels with your pod, to explore new waters?
Hurt or sick, and taken to a mer facility to be healed - but they actually nice, or will the experiment on you?
Taken from your pod, you've ended up as a sideshow, a circus act or any other form of entertainment.
It's mating season! Try to impress your future mate, even if you might come from different worlds!

Humans

Is that an actual mermaid???
Fallen into the water and saved by a person with fins!
Lured to the waters by siren songs, you're risking an early death by drowning...
How do you kiss? Is it going to be wet and salty?
Finding an injured merfolk, and dragging them home to your bathtub to heal?
A little merfolk child needs your help to find their guardian. Hopefully they won't get the wrong idea.
You really want to be a mermaid, too. Is there any way your new friend can help?

Comments

[ricochetingbullets]

Dex focused intently on Bucky's hands, trying to interpret the signals he saw. It was his natural curiosity that had gotten him into all this trouble years ago. Dex hadn't cared at all for humans but what he did like was their shiny objects. He had a magpie-like fascination with collecting the ones that inevitably ended up on the ocean floor and keeping them in his shelter. Some poachers had been looking for a healthy, young mer to sell to a lab with less than scrupulous morals and figured out Dex's weakness. They'd baited a trap with some shinies and Dex had been caught in it, sold off to be a guinea pig for people more interested in just psychologically torturing the shark mer than performing anything like ethical experiments on him.

Ever since then, Dex had tried to indulge his curiosity as little as possible, afraid it might get him into trouble again. But right now he couldn't help it. He hadn't seen another mer in almost fifteen years. He thought he understood what was being asked. He'd been taught some basic sign language by the scientists, even if signing 'No' when he couldn't take what he was going through anymore had never gotten them to stop.

He signed back his name to Bucky after figuring out what question he was asking. 'D-E-X.'

[staring_problem]

He nodded at that, smiling more broadly, too-sharp teeth on display, though it was excitement and delight rather than any kind of threat. He signed 'B-A-R-N-E-S' right back, before tapping a B at his temple, somewhere between a salute and an ASL 'I understand', a single sign for a name was easier than spelling it out every time.

He held up an index finger then, a near-universal 'wait here', before he swept off to his hide at the far side of the tank, returning with the dive board and a wax pen to write on it, brow furrowing as he did so, turning the board around and pressing it to the glass to reduce the distortion, 'U probably have 1 of these 2 - check where U sleep''.

He was still a little wary, not sure if this was some kind of trick or not, whether he was there to put Dex at ease so he'd be more docile and the labcoats could run tests, but he doubted it since the only tests that had been run on him were things like a blood panel to find out what nutrients he was deficient in so his diet could be adjusted accordingly.

[ricochetingbullets]

Dex hadn't even properly explored his whole tank yet and so he swam off into the water after he slowly read the message, disappearing into the thick kelp beds that had been planted there. His particular species of shark mer often lived in the muddy flats or rocky terrain at the bottom of kelp beds on the ocean floor, which sadly meant they had to share their territory with humans a lot more than any of them would have liked. It didn't take him too long to find a construct made of rock that was clearly designed to be big enough for him to comfortably sleep in.

Between the size, the plants, and the sleeping quarters, this was already ten times better than the tank he'd been in before. He'd had none of that before, not an ounce of privacy where he could try to get away from the scientists. But Dex didn't dare to hope that things would get better. Sooner or later, humans always revealed their true colors, and he'd experienced far too much cruelty from them for so long.

He went inside and found his own board plus a pen that he'd been given to communicate with. He grabbed it and swam back over to where the other mer was at. He scribbled down in messy writing that was none too easy to interpret and held it up to the glass. 'What is this plais?'

[staring_problem]

Bucky's own handwriting was a tidy block print, odd abbreviations sometimes, but clear enough. He tilted his head from side to side at that question, holding up the 'please wait' finger again before rubbing his previous message off, brow furrowing as he wrote another.

'Research + Education Facility. No tests, just ???s. Dont have 2 answer but they'll ask again later.' That was one thing that had been made clear to him from the beginning, he didn't have to answer any questions he didn't want to, though they would ask again just to make sure it hadn't been a moody day or a case of not fully remembering the answer, since anywhere else he'd been, answering wrong or with incomplete information was worse than not answering at all.

[ricochetingbullets]

Dex thought about the answer he'd been given. For a moment he wondered if Bucky was telling the truth or just feeding him a lie so he'd remain complacent. But what reason would the other mer possibly have to lie? Dex could see the multitude of scars on his left arm and knew he'd been treated even worse than Dex had wherever he'd been before this. If he said this was a good place, there was every chance it really was.

But just to make sure, Dex scribbled out another short message on his board and held it up. 'No xspearmints?' Dex (fortunately or unfortunately) hadn't had a lot of physical experiments done to him. But in some ways the psychological ones were worse and had left far more lasting scars on his mind. First he'd been scared for a long time. Then that fear had morphed, becoming anger, frustration, and finally a deep rage inside of him that made him lash out at any humans that got too close. He had trouble believing nothing would be done to him in this place against his will.

[staring_problem]

He actually had to think about how to answer that one, because while it was a science facility, and the interviews and flash cards were technically experiments to test their cognitive function, he was pretty sure that wasn't the kind Dex meant.

'Just ??s and cards, sometimes games. Don't have 2 participate. Hard 4 me 2 believe 2' That much was definitely true, he still didn't believe it most days but the reassurance from the doctors every time before an interview or a puzzle was definitely starting to sink in. Along with the fact that they did leave him alone if he said he didn't want to answer or play along, and he didn't even have to say it, on the really bad days he could just stay hidden away and they would only check to make sure he wasn't injured and that was the end of it.

[ricochetingbullets]

Dex thought about that. The puzzled expression that had been on his face for the entire conversation didn't go away. He scribbled out a few more words and held it out for Barnes to read. 'Cards n games? Confusing.' If they were playing head games with the two of them, it was clearly for a long con. Dex wouldn't put it past humans, he'd had it done to him in the past, but......the faintest glimmer of hope was stirred inside of him. This tank was nicer than anything he'd had in almost two decades and already that madness induced from the stressful and claustrophobic feeling of swimming around in too-small of a tank for years on end.

'End gol?' He knew humans didn't keep mer around just out of the kindness of their hearts. Even if these were decent people, there had to be some reasons they wanted to keep the two of them here. Maybe they wanted some docile pets and knew making sure they were content would keep them as such?

[staring_problem]

'4U? Rehab + release' It was the ultimate goal for him, too, but he knew he had a lot farther to go in his rehabilitation first, it was why he was quick to scribble down: 'Me 2 but later'

He considered for a moment before wiping that out and continuing with: 'Docs R fine, assists R better.' Along with a not-quite stick-figure sketch, the best that could be done with a wax pen, someone in a short lab coat with glasses and a high ponytail labeled 'Darcy = best assist' Mostly he liked her because she was one of the very few who would talk back to the doctors if she didn't like how they were handling something, and she was clear about it unlike the other two who always phrased it as a question.

[ricochetingbullets]

Dex had to read the words on the board held by the other mer slowly, once and then a second time to make sure he was understanding correctly. His reading comprehension skills weren't the greatest after all. He decided to confirm what he was reading for himself. 'Release means go home?'

That was a dream Dex had never allowed himself to think too much about. He'd always thought he had about as much chance as going to the moon as he was of seeing his home waters ever again. The idea of him being close to achieving it was something he tamped down deep inside of him. Dex didn't want to get hurt when it turned out that it was never going to happen.

Dex bared his sharp teeth, looking angry as he shook his head vehemently at the thought of any of the humans here at the lab being nice enough to interact with, not after experiencing their cruelty far more often than their kindness on a consistent basis

[staring_problem]

He nodded at the question wiping his own board clean again, considering a moment before scribbling down a full answer 'That's what it means, I've seen it happen. Sometimes they come back to visit.'

There was a very slim chance that it was all some elaborate ruse, that the releases he'd seen on the screen were pre-recorded, or even staged, and those returning mer were agents of some kind. But even with what he'd been through -maybe because of it- he didn't think it was a lie, for one thing that was too many moving parts to keep up with, and more than that, he was allowed to communicate freely with those return visitors, even using what little of his own language he still remembered, most of it having been burned out of him, never allowed to communicate in a way handlers couldn't understand until he'd arrived here.

[ricochetingbullets]

A great deal of sadness and then a look of longing passed over Dex's face. There were stirrings of hope within him that he was trying very hard not to indulge. If he did, it would only hurt all the worse when they were dashed to pieces once again.

Still, he wrote out an honest response. 'Would like that. A lot. Want to go home. Wanted it for a long tim.'

[staring_problem]

'Going 2 have 2 trust them 2 help.' Probably a laughable sentiment coming from the guy who trusted two of the techs and sort of trusted one of the others, and barely trusted any of the actual doctors, if he trusted them at all.

'Have 2 make sure ur healthy & not a danger 2 anyone' That was part of the reason Bucky himself was still there, there were still implants in his arm that could pose a danger to himself or others, even though the specific program he'd been part of had been disbanded, that didn't mean others wouldn't want to get ahold of him.

[ricochetingbullets]

Dex hesitated when he read what Bucky had put down and then looked a little downcast. See, he'd known there was going to be a catch, even if he hadn't yet realized it. 'Always dangerous' was what he wrote down.

He honestly didn't mean to be, but at his core, Dex tended to lash out when it came to a fight or flight response. He'd been unable to get away from anything (or more specifically anyone that was around him) for so long that all he could do was go the other way and try to hurt the people who were trying to do the same thing to him. He was sure the other mer had seen what he'd done to the rescue worker and all they'd been doing was trying to help him.

[staring_problem]

He just shook his head at that particular answer, expression resolute as he wrote out an answer 'Just what u learned. u can learn different.'

Once he knew Dex had gotten that, he held up a 'hang on' finger before writing another message, 'U only bit 1, I tried 2 drown 1.' The doctor he'd tried to drown had extensive SCUBA training, as well as having worked with the coast guard for a number of years, so she had ultimately been fine, certainly the best candidate for surviving an attempt like that, not that he'd known it at the time.

She was also the one doctor he almost trusted, but her schedule wasn't regular, since she was a specialist and he'd only seen her a handful of times since his arrival, though she was supposed to be the one handling the removal of the remaining implants in his arm, part of why it hadn't happened yet.

[ricochetingbullets]

Dex wasn't surprised to hear Bucky had tried to drown someone. Mer naturally kept themselves and out of sight of humans when in their natural habitat but that didn't make them pushovers by any means. They had to share their waters with things like sharks, sea lions, and dolphins. It made them tough and hardy, willing to fight to keep their territory and survive attacks from the animals that tried to encroach into their space.

'They punish for that?' If Bucky had come from a similar situation that Dex had, he was sure the other mer had experienced bad consequences if he misbehaved when kept captive by other humans. Dex would remain suspicious of his new surroundings for a good long while, afraid that anything he did would result in things like electric shocks or food deprivation, two common tactics the labs had used when trying to get him to obey their orders.

[staring_problem]

He shook his head almost immediately, even signing 'no' at the same time as if that might get his answer across more fully.

'If u get hurt they move u 2 a recovery tank
smaller but not tiny
so they can see u + monitor healing'

He'd been in the recovery tank himself more than once, mostly it was just shallower than the actual living tanks, deep enough to stay fully submerged and turn around fully, but shallow enough that they could still be reached without much effort.