is terrorism about resisting oppression? is terrorism about demanding your birthright to live safely and peacefully in your homeland? is terrorism about hating the killers of your family, your friends and your people?
accusations of terrorism are often weaponized against those fighting for liberation and sovereignty and dignity. the french settlers called the algerians terrorists. the indian government calls the kashmiris terrorists. the pakistani army calls pashtun activists terrorists. the turkish government calls the kurds terrorists. apartheid south africa called nelson mandela a terrorist. americans called the vietcong and the black panthers terrorists. the israelis call the palestinians terrorists. all oppressive regimes are connected. all oppressed people are connected. injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
grace, who has been alone for five minutes: oh my god. an alien! im not alone anymore! i hope he wants to be friends :)
rocky, coming up on 50 years of solitude, imprinting on grace in ways baby ducklings can only dream of: if you leave me to sleep where i can't watch your heart beat i am blowing up this tunnel with us both in it
Ok so because I can -and cuz someone asked so very politely ( @storm-spirit-art this is for you uwu) - I’ve decided to make a second post about the Jaime mer!au.
[Original post with context]
So this time instead of writing everything out again, I can actually just screenshot the sleep deprived ramblings I did to @maybe-its-kris instead.
((Also just a reminder that this au was inspired by “when the water ran red” by Poker on AO3 -specifically when it comes to all the pup worldbuilding.))
You can see now what Kris has to put up with lol.
So this was moreso going on about the developmental differences between human young and mer young, and also talking about how the mers would have to accept the fact that Jaime isn’t Normal™.
However, as much as Jaime wants to scream that he’s not a pup, after his encounter with an adult mer (Barry Allen); Jaime starts to notice some more subtle differences in the way he acts.
It starts off as small things where Jaime didn’t feel comfortable being away from his family, where there’d be a festering anxiety along with feelings that he wasn’t safe. At first he had just reasoned to himself that it was because he’d been attacked, but after the encounter with the mer, it starts to seem less like a logical reaction and more like a developing instinct that he can’t refuse no matter how hard he tries.
Also, along with the reverlation that the paediatrician was a mer all along, Jaime begins to realise that that ‘suspicious medical checkup’ was INDEED as suspicious as he thought it was. He didn’t know if Dr Allen had clocked him immediately or if it was due to the information his mother had given the other -but regardless, that advice that the doctor had given him after the appointment made a lot more sense now. Putting the clues together; the rashes seemed to be from the fact that his body was a lot more sensitive to being dehydrated now. It was also safe to say all his problems with the nausea and inability to keep food down was due to the fact that his diet had completely changed, which explained the seeming ‘randomness’ to what foods Jaime could and could not eat.
As much as he had the sudden desire to turn his nose up at the prior “medical advice” that was given to him, he couldn’t deny that everything that was suggested had indeed helped him -even if the paediatrician turned out to be a giant monster that wanted to kidnap him for some reason.
Going forward from the event of almost being kidnapped, Jaime was forced to acknowledge that if he wanted to find a cure to this; he had to survive long enough to find a cure. Meaning he was going to have to work with his body, not against it. If that meant his diet had been restricted to essentially only seafood, then he’d just have to deal with it. If it also meant that he couldn’t fall asleep unless he was huddled in a corner shielded by several duvets, then he’d have to just deal with that too, regardless of how much he hated the fact it felt like he’d lost all control of his life.
Any time he goes out (going to the library to research, going to school etc) he’s constantly suspicious of everyone he passes. He had no ideas mers existed before this entire fiasco, and going by the doctor; supposedly they were perfectly hidden in sight. Although in saying that, he has no frame of reference -he has no idea how common or rare they are. Logically they can’t be that common if they’ve remained mostly hidden for so long (“mostly” counting the fact that folklore exist of mermaids, although the tales and stories do actually seem very different from the real thing, so maybe those stories aren’t accounts of real mers???), but also what if mers have some crazy magic that can hide them from humans? And thus, Jaime is wary of everyone.
He stays even further away from the beach than before, considering now he knows that it doesn’t matter how careful he is, there’s always the possibility of a mer turning up and just throwing him in the water anyway.
(Also somewhat relevant; the way I noted down the story line was by drawing really rushed doodles and saying “that’ll do, I’m sure I’ll know what that means once I forget” with mixed success. Anyway, this was the doodle for Barry Allen throwing Jaime into the water.)
Anyway, Jaime goes on for a while with no sight of Dr Allen or any other mers for that matter. He’d be happy about it, except the fact he knew that the doctor knew who he was and where he lived -so obviously Jaime’s lack of seeing him was probably intentional. Which wasn’t the most comforting thought.
While time goes on, his rashes only get worse. With them only getting more dry and painful, even though Jaime tries to stay in the shower for longer periods than he usually would. Non surprisingly, his mother is still concerned and suggest that’s they should go back to the doctor to find more treatment options.
She’s really taken aback to how adamant Jaime is against it, he’s vehemently against it. Of course he can’t just tell her that Dr Allen tried to kidnap him, so he makes excuses saying the rashes aren’t that painful! (It is very painful). It’s getting a lot better! (It is getting noticeably worse). Just a little more time and they’ll probably disappear before they know it! (They won’t. Not unless…)
His mother sighs, her energy to argue spent completely as she says she won’t force Jaime to go. Not yet. But if it gets any worse she will force him.
At that, Jaime’s forced to confront the fact that the only option technically left was the thing he’d been trying to avoid for so long. The only way that rash were going to get better was if he actually spent time in water. Like,,, encased in water, not just letting the stray water droplets hit his body in a shower.
But the ocean was dangerous. Not even just counting the possibility of encountering mers, but also the threat that came from humans. The beach was a massive tourist destination, it wasn’t uncommon to see hundreds of people in the water around the shallow sands. Even the docks were always alive with activity, it was no wonder the older mer had whisked him away from the area almost immediately.
Not to mention after the whole fiasco that resulted in that weird magic restoring the ecosystems, there’s been so many scientists and marine biologists about. Jaime hadn’t seen them personally, but he’s heard about it from people at school and on the local news. So that’s even more eyes than before.
And he’d dread to think about going back to that large canyon. It’d probably be safe from humans, sure, but from mers not so much.
It seems hopeless to a point Jaime was considering just digging a pit himself and filling it up with water -but at second thought he didn’t have a safe place in mind for that to be practical, nor the equipment that would make it possible.
As much as the dilemma was twisting around in his head, forming into indistinguishable knots of anxiety and dread, he tried to remind himself over the simplicity of this situation. If he didn’t get in the water, his mother would eventually end up forcing him to go back to Dr Allen -who’d then just throw him back into the water regardless. He could worry about it all he liked but truly right now he had the liberty to worry about it, and aslong as he avoided the problem he’d lose that liberty soon enough.
So he made a promise to himself, he’d take the plunge (hah) atleast once, while on a slow day at the docks, he’d swim over to where the old coral reefs were and then he’d let his mind fester on the anxieties of what to do.
His reasoning was over the fact that once he was actually in the water, he’d have the ability to look around for anywhere safe he could return to often. He’d have a way better idea of the options available, and maybe come to find the situation wasn’t as hopeless as he thought it was. Of course the mers could still potentially be a problem, but if it was between maybe encountering another mer vs being thrown back into the sea by a mer -the answer was obvious.
And so on a day with some high winds and approaching rain clouds, Jaime sneaks away to the harbour. He keeps in the shadows constantly. Last time he was here he happened to run into a mer by chance (maybe chance, maybe premeditated, he hadn’t actually confirmed), so he wasn’t about to risk it.
Fortunately that dry bit of sand and pebbles hidden completely underneath the docks (the place he had escaped to and hidden before), was as secluded as it was the first time he was there. And honestly he’d prefer to slowly walk into the water and swim away in a controlled manner this time (as opposed to being thrown from the dock and having to swim-sprint (is that even a thing??) away).
The process of turning was still as weird as it always was, but he tried not to get hung up on the changing sensations. He kept low to the grimy mud of the ground, swimming under ships at every chance he has, making it out the harbour with little fuss. Mentally he praised the strong winds of the day, considering most ships wouldn’t want to go out in this weather if they could help it, plus the amount of tourists were minimal.
He didn’t catch any boats that seemed to focusing on marine biology, but then again any scientist could be using normal boats for all he knew.
Swimming in the direction of the old coral reefs, Jaime tried to pick off any spots of weird goopy mud that cling to his hands and scales. It was not a pleasant sensation in the slightest, and he was more concerned about getting it off than he was looking around. So he was shocked to see a miniature sea of colour beneath the waves when he arrived at what he knew was the old coral growths.
See they were called the ‘old’ coral growths because specifically; IT WAS ALL MEANT TO BE DEAD! You could see where the coral used to reside but essentially everything had been bleached into oblivion and the area was classed ecologically dead.
And yet the sight that Jaime was met with was the opposite. Flashes of almost every colour of the rainbow seemed to crawl and sprinkle along every rock available, swarms of fish both in schools and as individuals were swimming back and forth, plants of which Jaime’s never seen before could be spotted throughout the cascading landscape of shimmering colour.
… He didn’t know how to feel about this. Surely this couldn’t have been him, right? He barely understood what was happening but there was no way in hell that he was the cause of all of this.
And so he simply refused to acknowledge it. He swam over the coral and between the rocks, not contemplating how in the hell this happened. Nope. Not at all. All he needed to find was a safe place to stay hidden, and that was that.
The sound of a distant approaching propeller was enough to get his movements from leisurely floating, to panicked zipping back and forth. Almost every tunnel he found was way to small for him to fit through, and also seemed to be preoccupied by very intimidating looking eels -but the propeller and engine were getting louder and he didn’t have much time.
He dove down into a small ravine, each side covered in various coral shelves, small fish, and crustaceans. Luck seemed to be on his side at that moment as right at the bottom of the ravine was a small indent into what seemed to be a decently sized cave. It was still small enough Jaime could barely fit through, but it opened up considerably once he was through the entrance, so much so he could float in the small cave and still barely touch the sides.
Immediately like a stray wave had caught him off guard, his mind hummed and fuzzies at the edges. It was so quick that he couldn’t catch that it had happened, but the next thing he knew was that his mind was adamant he was safe.
It was dark. Completely cramped. And he was safe.
He didn’t want to leave -or he did actually, he knew he’d have to go back home soon, but everything in his body was telling him he shouldn’t leave. The sound of the propeller was muffled and far away, any anxiety of a boat simply disappeared once he entered. Well, it’s not like anyone could get him while he was in here, so why would he have to worry?
Before long the sound of the propeller had gotten fainter as whatever boat it was had driven past him -but Jaime barely realised as he felt his eyes start to droop. He felt as if he was making a sound, some kind of chirps maybe, but it was still scratchy and quiet from his lack of voice.
It really should’ve concerned him with how quickly he was loosing himself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ANYWAY! I’m going to stop that now before I get too far ahead of myself lol.
Also I really sure do hope that people do not have any expectations of me for the next few months because Subnautica 2 is about to drop in the next few days and It will consume my life. :3
(My condolences to the people who indeed do have expectations of me. I love you all, and yet you guys have to put up with so much of my procrastinating lol XD)
omg it’s a low quality doodle with Bernard and Dragon Tim/Spiney. Who could’ve foreseen this??? Not me, that’s for sure. úwù
I love the fact that Bernard looked at THE MOST spikey, rocky, uncomfortable dragon and thought “wow. He’s so huggable. Imma hug him. His snuggles are the best snuggles. Absolute cutie.” And he ain’t even wrong.
Of course Jason is also very huggable, but he has the advantage of being an unintentional space-heater with what feels like the power of the sun.
Lol I’m coming to the realisation that if someone’s only seen the art of my fic, they’d think the fic is filled with nothing but fluff and hijinks………………. I mean,,,, it does have that stuff…………….. yep……………… only good vibes over here……………….. you can trust me owo
Considering Kris made their lovely Mer!Jaime art, I’ve decided to finally show my own mer au so that the fandom can eat well.
[EDIT; there is now a part 2]
Lil context; this mer au was inspired by the fanfic “when the water ran red” by Poker -which is a DSMP fic and one of the best things I’ve ever read. A lot of the world building in this au is stuff I’ve made, but especially the pup idea and natural behaviours were inspired by Poker’s fic. (Also this au is VERY self-indulgent, but that’s no surprise with me lol) Anyway, HERE TAKE THE DOODLES;
Look at him. Look at the babyyy. He so smol. So tiny.
Context plus small fic (essentially) under the cut;
So the story goes, Jaime -who is only 14 in this au- is walking along by the coast one day, minding his own business. At one point he comes across a weird looking fountain within an alleyway.
It looks shallow, and very old in the way it’s carved into the wall. If Jaime had to guess, he assumed it’s purpose was for an old religious reason, but he didn’t pay it any mind as he walked by.
What does catch his attention is the Thing that shoots out of the water towards him. It’s too quick to get a good look at it, but all he knows is that it is huge. It grapples at him and begins to drag him back towards the fountain.
He can’t even scream before he’s submerged within the -definitely not shallow- water. When he can finally focus on what’s infront of him through his panicking, he’s met with the sight of a large being that is definitely not human, even if it seems to have human expressions.
It looks at him with what seems to be both fondness and pity. Which even while in his flailing panic, Jaime can tell that’s definitely a weird combination. It was akin to how someone would look at a bug they liked before they step on it.
And he finds out why when the entity wraps it’s distorted hands around his neck. It isn’t a strong hold, but it burns. The pain crawls through his body to the point his entire world goes fuzzy from the agony.
The next time his vision begins to return, the harsh press of concrete is what he recognises first. Then the sheer cold of his soaking clothes sticking to his body and the floor of the alleyway. Then he notices the spreading red colour that seems to be travelling through the puddles that surround him. He loses consciousness before he can call for help.
Time seems to flash in and out, sensations eluding him no matter how hard he tries to focus on it. He’s pretty sure that at one point there’s someone beside him, but he can’t be sure. There isn’t any pain, but to be fair there wasn’t much of anything in his current state.
There does seem to be a consistent melody thrumming through his head, unimpeded by the fading consciousness, and yet undefined in its nature. It reverberated through his head, so much so he wouldn’t be surprised if his body was shaking with the power of it.
By the time his sensations began to get back to him, it felt like only a moment had passed. And yet by his sheer exhaustion it felt like he had been running for weeks without stopping. Each limb felt as if it was full of lead, while the only movement he could achieve was lifting his eyelids to see the image of his mother.
He didn’t even have the energy to open his mouth to speak. And it would be much later, a day later to be exact, when he’d learn that he couldn’t speak. At all.
He could make the motions to talk and try to push air through his vocal cords, but to no avail. The doctors said it was due to the injury. They couldn’t say whether or not he’d ever get his voice back, as the damage seemed to be so severe.
He had to talk to the police too -or wrote to them, rather. And he told them what he knew, which wasn’t much to be honest. But they checked the fountain Jaime said his attacker emerged out of, and came back saying the water was only an inch deep. And thus, any weird unexplained things about his report were simply excused as panic or pain-induced hallucinations. But there was one thing they knew for certain; Jaime had been attacked by someone. The mere shape of the injury was enough to confirm delicate precision -which the doctors had informed the police themselves. Jaime didn’t know what they meant by it being obviously inflicted.
Fortunately that was the extent of the questioning, considering he couldn’t give them much else. His family had been distraught the entire time, and even now the stress was clearly visible on each of their faces. But a weight definitely seemed to be lifted from their chests when they had the all clear to go home.
It was when Jaime had to replace the bandages when he finally got to see the injury. To which, he finally understood why the doctors had been so sure before.
The marks covering his throat were precise and completely symmetrical. With a central outline of a hexagon, and leg-like spikes protruding from the corners of the hexagon. It almost looked like a bug of some kind -but a disturbing minimalist interpretation of one.
He doesn’t like looking at it after that. He doesn’t like being reminded of the fact the attacker had intent to do that. He doesn’t like going anywhere near water after that, either.
Of course most people would see that as reasonable, the human body will learn to have flight responses to things that have previously hurt you, after all. But Jaime knows that’s not entirely what’s happening with him. His apprehension comes from the fact that this entity seemingly emerged from a puddle! So going by all the information he had; there was seemingly no water source small enough to stop this thing from potentially appearing again. He couldn’t even trust a glass of water.
When there was no progress to his voice getting better -and Jaime was getting sick of writing down everything he wants to say- his mother proposes that they should learn ASL. Atleast the most convenient signs, and if they find it helps they’ll go from there. Initially, it surprises Jaime how quickly he catches on to learning the signs, but he’s just happy he doesn’t have to bring a pen and whiteboard wherever he goes now.
Drinking and eating had also become its own chore, as even though his oesophagus remained undamaged, the act of swallowing was still painful. It didn’t help that he was struggling to hold food down anyway, it seemed to be complete random chance whether Jaime could eat a type of food or not. And it was way more likely that he couldn’t hold it down, which was completely unfair in his opinion. It was getting exhausting.
After a week of being discharged from the hospital, Jaime finally decides to face his fear and take a shower. He knows that he can’t hide from it forever (it’s water for gods sake! It’s everywhere! It’s in everything!), so it’d be easier for him to take the plunge now instead of letting the fear fester into something worse.
He let the shower head run for a while, just watching the droplets -not taking his eyes off it just in case the weird entity would emerge. There wasn’t anything suspicious by the time the steam was fogging up the mirror, and so with a sigh Jaime moves into the water.
Of all things he expected to happen (either completely nothing, or being kidnapped again by a monster through the water, etc) he did NOT expect to suddenly lose his balance and fall to the floor, only to turn back and see an ENTIRE FISH TAIL!
It was so jarring he could only lie there and look at it. It felt real. So real, like he could feel the sensation of the floor through the entire tail -type of real. Whispy, thin, and absolutely massive fins protruded from the tail, lying upon the floor while catching the light of the bathroom.
He was lucky he was the only one in the house at the time, as his subsequent freak-out had no witnesses. It was through his panicking that he realised that sound had emerged through his throat. It was raspy, barely audible -but it was a sound! He couldn’t form a word, but he could guess that whatever had happened to him had somehow reactivated his vocal cords.
With enough time lying on the floor trying to drag himself out of the bathroom, an obscure sensation crawled over his body before BOOM! The legs that he was realising he was taking for granted, appeared once again.
Fortunately for Jaime, relatively quickly he managed to clock the fact that it was contact with water that caused the transformation. Unfortunately for Jaime, he found that out because he had to turn the shower head off and it was the contact with the water that caused him to transform again. He also managed to clock it was specifically when he was dry when he transformed back to two legs.
He was in shock mostly, contemplating whether he actually woke up in the hospital or if this was all some kind of coma induced dream. Because in all his experience of life thus far, This. Was. Not. Possible. Then again, so was a massive monster emerging from a puddle, and yet here we are. He had the injuries to prove it happened, too.
After enough questioning reality, he realised that his entire understanding of life had been essentially flipped on his head. He was gonna have to avoid water which- (it’s water for gods sake! It’s everywhere! Oh god, it’s in everything!)- was not going to be easy. Fortunately his family was already convinced he had a new fear of water, and he was probably gonna have to lean into that. Hard.
He made a point to avoid any and all contact with water. Which included things like; taps, glasses of water, sprinklers, showers and baths, condensation, and especially the sea. Or rather, try to avoid being anywhere near the sea, for that matter.
And for the most part, his tactic worked. Even when he was allowed to go back to school, he managed to dodge water like his life depended on it. And, well, it felt like his life depended on it.
His mother was still stressed. Always asking if he was ok, if his neck hurt, if he was hungry, if he wanted to stay home from school that day -her consideration meant a lot to Jaime. He hated how worried he made her, so he tried to reassure her where he could. But considering the fact his ‘fear’ of water was getting worse, and that he was still struggling to hold down most foods; his attempts to reassure didn’t help in the slightest.
His voice was also back to being completely absent too, meaning it was only with the tail he could make a tiny bit of sound. Which was not fun at school. Like, at all. Most teachers understood his situation, but some really didn’t care to even bother to understand, which has led to more than a few really awkward situations where all Jaime wanted to do was curl up into a ball and be consumed by the earth.
It didn’t help that after enough time it felt like his skin was becoming way too dry to be normal. It was so serious he began to develop large rashes along his body, to which he couldn’t put ointment on it considering when he had tried it, it had turned the skin underneath to scales -as the ointment was water based.
When his mother spotted the rashes she insisted they go back immediately to the hospital -regardless of how expensive that was. Considering the injury on his neck, she probably assumed it was some kind of serious infection, so Jaime couldn’t blame her for her concern. Still, no matter how many times Jaime tried to reassure her it was ok, she was adamant on going.
They went to a paediatrician this time, a man with a very approachable vibe called Dr Allen. He’s very welcoming when they enter, asking how the recovery is going and listening patiently when his mother talks.
It might be Jaime’s imagination, but he swore something in Dr Allen’s expression seemed to be changing as his mother explained everything. His eyes became pinched when she talked about Jaime’s struggle to hold down foods. His head tilted a fraction of an inch when she explained the rashes. And his smile dropped into a forcible neutral expression when she explained about Jaime’s “borderline debilitating” fear of water.
His first question was not about the rashes, or the food, or anything his mother had mentioned. His first question was;
“Has your son been exhibiting any new behaviour? Not counting the fear, have there been any other differences you’ve noticed?”
There was a pause in the room, his mother obviously wasn’t expecting the question. Non the less she ended up saying no, there hadn’t been any ‘new behaviours’ she’s noticed.
Like a candle losing its flame, the forced neutrality that Dr Allen held slipped away, replaced with a smile in which Jaime couldn’t tell if it was equally forced or not.
In the end, Dr Allen ended up giving them advice to try before there’s any medical intervention. And yet every bit of advice he gave rubbed Jaime the wrong way. It felt like Jaime was missing out on something, like the doctor was talking past him and not to him. But then again Jaime’s not a doctor so who’s he to say?
Dr Allen told him to try to rehydrate by drinking out of enclosed bottles with straws, and that would probably lessen the rashes. He also said that before getting medical intervention for Jaime’s struggle with food, he should try to eat a fish-only diet. When his mother asked how that would help, Dr Allen waved his hand saying “I’ve seen situations like this before, and in some cases they found that changing their diet to only fish really helped in their recovery. It might not work, but it’s atleast worth trying considering the alternative has an extremely expensive medical bill attached to it.” So his mother just nodded -although it looked like she wasn’t entirely convinced.
But try it they did, and to literally everyone’s surprise; it worked. For some unfathomable reason Jaime could eat fish perfectly fine! As weird as it was, Jaime couldn’t deny the flood of relief he felt once he could eat it without throwing up. Finally since the attack there wasn’t that stress and anxiety that arose every single time he had to eat something.
As for the water bottle with a straw, well, it wasn’t particularly a “fear” anyway, so as long as it was already completely sealed he didn’t have a problem with it. It didn’t really help with the rashes, though, and to be completely honest Jaime didn’t think it would. Honestly he was moreso confused why the doctor didn’t recommend some kind of hydrating ointment.
A few days after his visit back to the hospital Jaime found himself walking down the street adjacent to the beach. He didn’t want to be this close but he was doing an errand for his Nana, so aslong as he kept his distance from the actual water, he reasoned to himself that he’d be fine.
Imagine his surprise when he runs into non other than Dr Allen himself, meandering on the docks doing whatever it is that paediatricians do in their spare time. Jaime wasn’t going to say anything, but the other waves him down when he sees him and suddenly Jaime is in an extremely awkward situation where he doesn’t particularly want to converse with someone who’s essentially a stranger but also if he just ignored him then that’d be extremely rude but also the guy is crouched on the edge of the docks right over the water and Jaime really doesn’t want to get any closer to the water but also the guy probably just wants to check on him and hey that might save another trip to the hospital-
Jaime ends up walking over to Dr Allen despite his internal bickering. He’s constantly cautious about the water, but the wooden docks are wide and the water is calm in that moment. Dr Allen asks him how he’s feeling, if the fish diet idea worked or not.
Jaime, of course, gave a nod in response. Now, he wasn’t entirely sure what to expect after that, but it was along the lines of; “that’s good to hear!” Or “keep it up and you hopefully won’t have to see me any more!”
What he didn’t expect was for Dr Allen to give him a cheerful grin before getting up from where he was crouched on the edge of the dock, grabbing Jaime under his arms, and throwing him into the water.
He tried to escape, he really did. But by the time Jaime realised what was happening, he was already in the air with the water below him fast approaching.
He hit the water with the same impact as a boulder, or maybe it just felt that way, as the sheer fear began to shoot through his system, making all his senses go haywire while he flailed around. He didn’t even know when the transformation happened, all he knew is suddenly he was having to grapple with a tail.
He tried to swim away, swim down, do anything but stay there. But his movements were awkward, and he had no idea how to actually move the tail to swim. He hadn’t had any time to take a breath before he was thrown off the dock, plus with the panic of him thrashing, he didn’t have a lot of oxygen left.
There was a large splash beside him but he barely noticed the displacement in the water through his struggling. What he did notice was when two massive hands grabbed him in his struggling. His first thought was that the murderous entity was back, but non of his screams were anything more than a squeak.
He doubled his flailing when they started to move, but the sensation of water rushing past him never stopped. It felt as if he was being dragged once again, but this time it there was no stopping in sight.
Just when Jaime’s vision began to blacken with the last of his breath running out, one of the large hands came up to cup his cheek.
“Breathe. It’s ok. Trust me, just breathe”
Jaime didn’t want to give in, he knew he’d just choke on the water. But it was only human to gasp for breath when you were running out of air, and so even though it was pointless, Jaime found himself trying to inhale.
It really shouldn’t have shocked him when he survived. So much other weird magical things were happening to him -hell, he had a fish tail- so it really shouldn’t have been surprising that as he inhaled the water, his vision returned to him as it finally felt like he could breathe. It was a weird, alien sensation of breathing through water, but it worked!
And as good as it was that he wasn’t going to drown anymore, unfortunately that still left the problem of being kidnapped. Atleast with his new energy he could struggle with a returned vigour.
Through his struggling, he did manage to see that it was actually Dr Allen who was pulling him along -but he looked weird. For one, he was absolutely massive! More than double, no triple, Jaime’s own size. Aswell as the fact his features definitely seemed a bit more fishy than before, with scales under his eyes and distinctly pointed ears to go along with it.
Things were starting to piece together in his head, even if he didn’t fully understand what was happening. Every suspicious thing the doctor did was suddenly making a lot more sense -and what made it even scarier was the fact whatever his plan was, he had been plotting it for a while. Escape felt futile, but Jaime kept kicking (can’t kick without legs, it was moreso thrashing) and screaming (squeaking, in this case) anyway.
Eventually their motion stopped dead when they were in what seemed to be an underwater ravine, far away from the beach and out of sight from any boats. Dr Allen managed to turn him around to address him, and as much as Jaime wanted to, he couldn’t manage to get close enough to bite the other’s face off.
“There we go, pup. See, that wasn’t so hard was it?”
Jaime hissed at the other before he could stop himself. Actually, he wouldn’t stop himself even if he knew he was gonna do it.
“God, you look a lot more frail than I first thought, it’s going to take a while before you’re back in good health. But don’t worry! The pod is going to look after you now, you won’t have to live in pain anymore. You’re safe now, it’s ok.”
Jaime had no idea what he was talking about, but he did not like the implications. He managed to get the sign out for ‘no, go away! I am not small!’ To be completely honest Jaime didn’t have half the signs for what he wanted to say right now -but he was going to do everything in his power to adapt.
Surprisingly, the other seemed to understand the signs. Which, atleast there was that Jaime didn’t need to worry about?
“Haha, pup you’re too young to even be out the nest -I can’t believe you survived that long on the surface. Even adult mers would struggle after going so long without being in the water! But you don’t have to worry about that now, you’ll be able to spend your time in a nest from now on, so hopefully the symptoms of dehydration will fade.”
Jaime assumed he was referring to the rashes,,, which made sense, he guessed. But that didn’t mean he wanted to be held captive underwater!
‘No! I go home! To family. Go away!’ Jaime signed rapidly.
“Oh that’s…bittersweet. I know they probably love you, but you’ve got to understand Jaime, you’ll die if you stay up there. The surface is no place for a defenceless pup. And hey, don’t you want to have fun and play with other mers? I have my youngest, Bart, he’d be thrilled to play with you, I’m sure. There’s other kids aswell, and, yeah, they’re a lot older than you, but I just know you’ll get on with them fine-“
Jaime began to thrash around again. This guy had lost it completely if he thought Jaime would ever be ok with being kidnapped. And why did he keep being called a pup? He was fourteen! Which was still a teenager, but this guy was talking as if he was some kind of helpless baby!
‘I am fourteen, asshole’ Jaime was glad he learnt the sign for that, even if this was the first time he was using it properly.
“Exactly! You’re not even two, and yet you’re out here on land where most mers aren’t allowed until they’re atleast ten!”
Jaime made a very confused motion, not knowing how to process the nonsense that was being spouted.
‘That’s not what I said! I said fourteen! Not two!’
There was a moment of silence where they just looked at eachother, with the slow water currents passing them as it traveled through the ravine. Dr Allen’s eyebrows pinched before he spoke again.
“Oh, ok. Right I should’ve considered that you aren’t aware of how it works, which is… sad, but expected. So you know how when humans refer to a dogs age, they have actual years and then human years?”
Jaime didn’t like where this was going.
“Well, mers have a very similar system to help break up the life stages to be easier to understand and keep track of. Mers live considerably longer lifespans than humans, and all you’d have to find the ‘human years’ equivalent is by dividing the actual years a mers experienced by ten. And so when a mer is 327 -like me-“
‘327???’
“Then my age would be 32, essentially. When a mer is 100 years old, they’re 10 and finally allowed on the surface with supervision. And when a mer is 14, they are 1. A pup.”
This was ludicrous. Jaime had never witnessed the sheer mix of ridiculousness and audacity of which this person seemed to show. In what world could someone look at him and think yes, that’s definitely a baby?!? Why was he even having to argue about this?! The sky is blue, and he wasn’t a baby!
Even if by some stretch of the imagination, Dr Allen was telling the truth about these ‘mers’; there was still something very clear that needed to be stated.
‘I am not you. I am D-I-S-E-A-S-E-D. I will find a C-U-R-E.’ Jaime didn’t have the signs for it, but he spelled out the words non the less.
A familiar face of pity seemed to emerge on the other’s face, while dread began to fill Jaime’s lungs.
“Oh sweetheart, don’t say that. I’m sorry, it must’ve been so hard on you to be alone. You must’ve been so scared. But I promise it’ll be ok, you’ll realise once you’re safe, that this isn’t some kind of disease. I’m sorry what you’ve experienced has made you think that, pup.”
Jaime realised that it was as the words were spoken that, truly, there was nothing he could say that would convince the other to let him go. If he didn’t escape now, there was no telling how long it’d be before he’d be able to see his family again.
Disregarding any sense of self preservation, Jaime launched forward to smash his head against the other’s chin. It wasn’t particularly impactful considering the size difference, but it was enough to shock the other into letting go for a moment. And it was only a moment Jaime needed to push out from the grip and start trying to swim away.
The adrenaline running through his veins this time didn’t impede his thought process of figuring out how to actually move with a tail this time. His mind was a lot sharper than it was when he was initially falling into the water, and with that he managed to actually move his body in a way that could be counted as swimming.
He wasn’t fast, and he didn’t have much time to pin down the finesse of swimming, but all he needed to do was get away.
He managed to make his way up the top of the ravine and into the flatter shallows that connected back to the dock. But it was only after a few meters from the ravine’s edge did he hear the much larger mer coming after him.
He tried to duck in and under rocks -using his much smaller size to his advantage. And it worked! For a minute or so.
He wasn’t even halfway back to the docks before a tight grip encased one of his arms. More panic flooded his bloodstream as all the negative emotions that had built up since the initial attack started to roll together, like some out of control snowball rolling down a hill. His senses fuzzed as the only thought in his mind was to get away-
He tried to scream. And this time, it worked.
A voice he wasn’t sure was his -wasn’t sure was even human- echoed within the water. Blinding light seemed to encase the area, but Jaime didn’t catch it since his eyes were closed. The world around him shook as the stones jittered and the loose sand shifted.
When Jaime’s senses returned to him, all he had the mind to realise was that there wasn’t a hand grabbing him anymore -so without a second to spare he pulled himself away and began swimming as fast as he possibly could in the direction of the docks.
In his haste, he didn’t manage to catch the fact that the world around him wasn’t the same as it was a moment ago. It had the same shape as before, the rocks where they were, the trails of sand still flowing round the sediment. But if Jaime were to pay attention he would’ve seen that the entire rocky plain had somehow sprouted waves upon waves of kelp, as far as the eye could see.
He’d also be able to see that this same kelp had completely entangled his pursuer -who was struggling but didn’t seem to be getting anywhere with his attempts.
All Jaime knew was that after he screamed, he managed to make it all the way to the docks without being captured. It was only when he had managed to drag himself onto a dry patch of sand that was hidden completely under the docks, was Jaime able to realise the exhaustion that seemed stuck to his body.
With the adrenaline wearing off, there was absolutely nothing left to use. It felt as if he was back on that hospital bed again, completely powerless and weak with no energy stores to help.
He didn’t even realise when he transformed back or how long he was led there, but it was when he felt his phone vibrate with a text did he realise that he probably should try to get home.
The walk back to his house was excruciatingly slow as it felt like he wasn’t entirely in touch with his limbs. He didn’t even notice that there seemed to be large crowds around the beaches, but then again a large number of tourists was never something that was unusual. What made his trek even longer was the fact that he had to keep to the shadows, knowing that Dr Allen was most likely on the surface looking for him. Plus the fact Jaime was still avoiding any and all water where he saw it and-
Yeah, it wasn’t a surprise that it was getting dark by the time he got home. It also shouldn’t be a surprise when he returned to see his family who were completely distraught and panicking over him potentially meeting the same attacker from before.
He almost told them about what happened with Dr Allen. But then he’d have to explain everything weird and mystical that had been happening to him -and he was tired. So tired he could barely sign. So instead he told them that he was ok, and that he just got scared of some water and lost track of time, and that’s why he didn’t have what he went out on an errand to get. Of course his mother scolded him, telling him that he should’ve called her at least! But that was the only thing she scolded him for, as she seemed to accept the excuse without questioning it.
He finally felt safe in his home, and he immediately beelined for his bed. Before the exhaustion took over completely, he did have an idea of an ultimatum. He knew this situation was only going to get worse if he let it. He barely understood what was happening, but admittedly Dr Allen did give him a starting point to research. So the path was clear;
He was going to do everything in his power to find a cure.
And with that resolve, he finally felt the sensations of the waking world leaving him.
It would be the next day where he’d learn that the news of the city was covering the fact that seemingly a anomalous miracle happened underwater the day before, where the previously dying marine ecosystem off the coast of their city had somehow boomed with thriving life in an instant. No one knew how it had happened.
Disturbingly, Jaime was starting to realise that he was the one who had probably caused it, and it was why he felt so stubbornly tired since.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So yeah! That’s the gist of the beginning of the au. A lot of it is my own world building reminiscent of what I made for my Infamous Second Son mer!au, but as stated before a lot of it inspired by “When The Water Ran Red” by Poker. Go check them out, they truly are an amazing writer, and they managed to hook me into a story of a fandom I wasn’t even in!
The rest of this BB mer!au is less detailed, but it’d follow Jaime’s struggle with his new condition, while also trying to dodge every attempted kidnapping the mers do. They even get their kids (who are all over 100 years old) to disguise themselves as normal kids in Jaime’s school, to try befriend him before trying to force him back into the ocean to join their pod.
Obviously that’s devastating mentally to Jaime when he realises that all of those ‘friends’ never actually saw him as an actual friend, but rather a baby that they needed to protect and tell him what they’d call “white lies” the same way an adult would lie to a toddler to get them to do what you wanted.
Oh, and also with his symptoms getting worse, plus a developing mental regression he couldn’t stop if he tried -his relationship with his mother becomes more and more tested as time goes on. She truly wants to do everything she can to make sure Jaime is ok, but as his symptoms gets worse and she’s continuously left in the dark; she can only take so much before she realises anything she tries aren’t helping at all. So what is the point of tying? She’s trying so hard and Jaime’s being combative to everything she suggests (going to another doctor, going to a therapist, talking to the student councillor, talking to HER).
So there’s that going on in Jaime’s life too. I just like to see him suffer, what can I say? uwu
I can’t believe I wrote that much but at the same time I can. You can see how I manage to hold @maybe-its-kris hostage for so long to talk about my aus. Pray for them >:3c
I have emerged from the pits of Hell that is known as Finals Season, finally laying eyes on the sun for the first time in millennia. Rather than appreciating it's beauty, I had instead hissed at it and crawled back into the darkness of my room.
Merman!Jaime Reyes inspired by @cakeleighh's Mer!AU that they got to yap at me about.
I know I’ve said it before but I will 👏 say 👏 it👏 again 👏!
THIS IS SO AMAZING AND LOVELY AND ITS A BLESSING THAT MY EYES ARE ALLOWED TO LOOK AT IT!!! YOU ARE A WIZARD, CASTING YOUR INFINITE KNOWLEDGE TO CREATE ART THAT I CAN ONLY HOPE TO FULLY COMPREHEND!!!!!!!!!!
Also I also just noticed how you’ve done the line-art where the outer line is bigger than the inner line, which is a beautiful cherry on top. And also also also, that lil rat is so cute eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, and also a complete mood. I, too, hiss at the sun when it wrongs me lol.
I think the dono drives have been my favourite part of the charity stream so far! (REMINDER THE HERMITCRAFT CHARITY STREAM IS LIVE NOW!!)
Side note; Martyn is the GOAT of reading donos. This man cannot be stopped, it’s superhuman. Plus last year he did all the dono reads while being sick and loosing his voice.
I think the dono drives have been my favourite part of the charity stream so far! (REMINDER THE HERMITCRAFT CHARITY STREAM IS LIVE NOW!!)
Side note; Martyn is the GOAT of reading donos. This man cannot be stopped, it’s superhuman. Plus last year he did all the dono reads while being sick and loosing his voice.
