Mermen AU if you are still doing it? ^^
The trio’s names are vastly different in this verse than they are in canon, largely due to the completely different language that Deep Dwellers use. Ice’s name consists of two clicks and a low pitched squeal (”Click”); Cobra’s name consists of a high pitched squeal, three rapid clicks, and a low whistle (”Squee”); and Fist’s name consists of a long whistle, starting at a high pitch before dropping to a low pitch, followed by a sound similar to rocks grinding against each other (”Whistle”).
It’s pretty common to see schools of Dwellers take parts of other beings, such as the bones of small fish, and use them as jewelry. The meaning behind these things can vary from school to school; some use them as indicators of rank, while some use them as mementos of successful hunts and battles. Click, Squee, and Whistle use them as a symbol of solidarity, as all the bones pierced through their head fins come from the fish they successfully captured during their first hunt together.
While Dwellers traditionally shun those who are light-colored–as they tend to make both hunts and hiding from predators more difficult–the trio have managed to figure out how to use Click’s pale coloration to their advantage, having him act as a decoy to lure or drive prey to wherever Squee and Whistle are lying in wait to ambush them. How they typically deal with predators, on the other hand, depends on the predator in question. The trio are usually able to work together to drive off most sharks, with one notable exception–the Great Whites. They, along with toothed whales such as orcas and sperm whales, have to be hidden from, in which case Whistle will use his large body to cover Click’s to ensure the lighter Dweller isn’t spotted.
Dweller schools typically hold large territories on the ocean floor for roaming, and while these territories more often than not overlap, many schools still fall back to attacking any “intruders” they encounter when two or more of them run into each other in these overlaps. The trio have not yet been able to establish a territory of their own, nor have they had much success in joining or taking over a larger school. Their wandering, while largely aimless and driven mainly by hunting and fleeing from other schools, has nevertheless brought them closer to the American continents, into areas that have largely been devoid of Dwellers.
Due to living near the edge of the continental shelf for nearly all of their lives, the trio have never encountered humans or non-Dweller merfolk. With them traveling ever closer to the shores of the Americas, however, the chances of this happening are steadily increasing.
