still thinking about marine biologist!reader. come home the kids miss you 🥹
Orca Mer!ghost and marine biologist!reader who runs a mer sanctuary???? Yeah.
Ghost was a new rescue, youve been told. He was found off the coast of a popular tourist spot, and had suffered a broken arm from a boat getting too close. As one of the few on-call staff members with medical experience, you get called in to fix him.
Its...bad. when you first see the mer, thats all you can think. Bad. His arm is limp and cradled to his chest, you only catch glimpses through the tight anxious circles he swims. On his eighth turn you spot two notches and a tag on his dorsal fin. He was one of robas, that bastard.
Protocol states that he should be sedated for the procedure. It also states that you should never even stand close to a tank with an agitated mer. Soap, one of your three permanent patients, had once told you that seeing figures looming over the surface of the water was much more threatening than someone dipping their legs in. when your feet are in water, soap always had the best speech, growing up alongside humans we can see you are human stepping into our territory. We could easily drown you. It is like...submission? I dont know the English word for it.
So, you don a wetsuit and place all the needed supplies by the edge of the pool. The second your feet breach the water surface, ghosts hand is wrapping around your ankle and yanking you into the water. He had crossed the tank in seconds, and you were about ready to accept this would be how you die.
Except, you never feel your back hit concrete, or water filling your lungs. No, ghost just drags you into the centre of the pool then...leaves you there. You tread water as he circles you slowly, silently grateful for all those days spent in prices tank. Just as you begin to think ghost is waiting for exhaustion to overtake you, he pauses his circling and stops directly in front of you. "You..." his voice is scratchy and wavering, clearly unused to english "you...water...why?"
You had been trained on how to speak with mers that had limited speech. They weren't stupid, but you couldn't ramble at them like you could soap. Slowly, you gesture to your forearm, then point at ghost "broken. I'll fix it."
Ghost makes a displeased rumble that you know means danger. "No."
You nod, no need to anger him. "I promise, ill fix it. Can I show you what I want to use? Just so you can see?"
When ghost doesnt say anything, you slowly drift towards the edge of the pool again. He watches silently, and you think youll make progress, only for him to growl when you reach over the sill. "Hey, hey." You put your hands up so he can see them "its just stuff to fix you, okay? Do...do you want to come look? You can touch and ill tell you what it does."
Water sloshes against the sill as ghosts large form swims close. The bandage looks comically small in hid hands. "Those," you explain, careful not to grab at them, "are waterproof bandages. Its to help hold your arm in place when I fix you."
Ghost nods, picks and pulls at the stretchy fabric for a bit before moving on to the next item. You spend the next hour like that, going over each item and what it does again and again. You would spend the whole day here if thats what it took for ghost to feel safe.
You seriously think this will be all the progress for today, content with it even if youd prefer ghost be fixed sooner than later. Youre so caught up in whether his arm could handle another day that you dont register the presence drifting closer to you until a large hand circles your waist.
With a yelp, you're dragged backwards to lie on ghosts chest as he floats belly-up. He just rumbles at you when you squirm, hand nearly as big as your abdomen resting over your stomach. He holds his broken arm in fron of you, "fix it."
...well, you would never say no to helping a mer. So you work with what ghost gives you. Laid back as items are passed to you. He doesnt react when you pull at the bones until they set properly. The hand on your stomach may have been playful were this gaz, but you know its nothing more than a warning. Ghost could gut you if you upset him.
Its slow work, but as the sky is beginning to shift into warm hues, ghosts arm is bandaged and properly set. He startles you against by picking you up with one hand and sitting you on the sill. The second he lets go, ghost is darting to the farthest, deepest end of the pool.
Mildly, you note that he isnt swimming tight circles anymore.
