I would like to be asleep, however, I am thinking about mermaid techno getting rescued from polluted waters by giant Kristin cupping him in a pool of water in her palms.
It’s all Techno’s known, gills stinging with every choked inhale, unable to see more than ten feet ahead from the murky water, littered with scars from bumping into things and sudden attacks and sharp garbage floating in the water. Techno is utterly alone in the riverbed, and doesn’t even know it. Poor little merfolk! So Kristin decides to save him.
Harder than she expected, nearly catches him the first time cause he couldn’t see it coming, but managed to wriggle out. Techno swam as fast as he could away, only to slam into a second soft wall that folded and tried to crush him beneath pillars. He pivots, but a second one swings in from nowhere, the little merfolk panicked and trying to maneuver out of the way. They’re unbelievably coordinated, but he’s clever and small and fast. Techno has absolutely zero way of comprehending the thing he’s fighting against. Thrashing as he’s scooped out of the water, terrified of asphyxiation. Only the creatures somehow hold enough water? He’s swimming in circles, viscerally aware limited water is leaking from the thing?? Carrying him??????
Then he’s put into a tank (not that he can even recognize that) in a plastic bag to acclimate and he’s fruitlessly thwapping the bag with his tail when a thing swims up to him. Not fish. Kinda fish. Looks like…him? Because Techno is so endangered he’s never even seen another merperson. Partially bc of the heavy water pollution he’s used to. He’s confused why he can see so far and feels exposed cause of it, or why each breath doesn’t sting, or why it’s so easy to get to the surface because there’s no layer of garbage.
The other, bigger him is miming stuff with their hands cause sound cant get past the invisible barrier. His spanning green and white striped fins flare out in amusement as Techno startles and tries to get away, slamming into the invisible barrier over and over trying to find some gap in it. The little black fish surrounding the other him poke at the barrier curiously, when they should be fleeing because they look delicious.
Techno cautiously acclimates to the other him’s presence. But spooks again when the giant fleshy tentacles begin shifting the bag, lowering so the top is open to the rest of the water. Other him says his name is Phil, and looks horribly sad when Techno asks what he is, and looks happy when asked about the tentacle monster. Hands, he explains when asked, pointing out into the depths where just barely Techno can make out an incomprehensibly gigantic face. Its teeth bare as he notices it. That’s my wife, Phil explains cheerfully.
Seeing as Phil is evidently insane and/or evil, Techno attacks him mercilessly.
1.Unfortunately Philza turns into an annoying neighbor constantly cheerfully pestering the confused techno who has never held a conversation in his Life. Territorially, Techno tries to drive him off constantly. It doesn’t work.
2.Techno not understanding glass and being terrified when he realizes he’s trapped in a tiny territory
3.Techno hiding for days under a sea shell whenever he sees Kristin (he’s bad at it, his eyesight is terrible after living in muck all his life)
4.Techno refusing to eat fish pellets. Or half a giant fish. But live prey he eviscerates with gusto
5.Shell being lifted up. Fear. Terror. Metal spears chasing him relentlessly, maneuvering so fast, before trapping him between (the tweezer prongs). Techno struggling in vain, getting a light squeeze in response, and screaming before going limp. Kristin immediately releases him, and Techno darts away immediately, laughing that the trick worked. Now armed with knowledge of how the tweezers worked he evades them for days.
And then cold. So horribly horribly cold. Techno feeling sluggish and lethargic, only able to thrash weakly as the tweezers gently seized his middle and lifted him up. Some weird bristle thing began stroking his tail (tooth brush) until the grime of a life in polluted waters began to scrub off. Almost felt nice, brain too sluggish to do much more than the mermaid equivalent of purring. Phil resting his head in his lap and combing out wild tangled hair as his crowfish symbiotically clean Techno’s scales. Working together to patch up Technos wounds and many many scars while Techno shivers and hugs Phil. The bigger merfolk just laughs and teases him for being used to a tropical environment.
6. slowly getting used to the giant woman, stops hiding from her, eagerly pokes out his head in case there’s more food when she passes. Still won’t go up when her fingers dangle in the water. Phil is still crazy nd insisting he’s married to the weird terrestrial behemoth.
7.After a few weeks of Techno healing, adjusting to not living in a cesspit, curing his chronic malnutrition, figuring out Phil is crazy but harmless, Techno gets captured again. Taken to the ocean. Sees what his habitat was meant to be like this whole time. This vibrant coral reef and dozens of merfolk everywhere he looks and so much food and water as far as the eye can see. And techno cautiously explores, hiding behind Phil when anyone approaches since he’s never really been in a social environment before. Beginning to adjust. Beginning to realize how bad his life was before.
8.Techno gets his own cleaner fish swarm but they’re so noisy for a guy used to the isolated silence of what’s basically a dead zone so he starts calling them chatter, and then just chat for short. Or voices either way
9.And then one day he ventures out past the reef to where the water plunges down cold and dark. And among the depths he sees a familiar giant face in the swirl of tendrils and fins.
And he finally realizes: oh maybe Phil really is married to the giant woman
Fin.
Biiig wife <3 3bigwife
