#mer janus

[pizza-box-raccoon]

Cyerce Nigricans are also called the Leaf Gilled Slug but I think their body more resembles scales.

There are so many pretty sea slugs and they are so tiny. Must be tough for a little sea slug mer to gather food.

[ashs-random-writing]

All Bottled Up

~~~~~

Janus was completely fine. He loved being trapped in a bottle from human littering, in fact, it was one of his favourite hobbies. He especially loved when the currents and tide started dragging him towards shore, leaving him ready to be discovered by a human, or a bird or something similar. Either way, he was screwed.

You’re probably wanting context right now, huh?

~~~~~

Janus was completely fine. He loved being trapped in a bottle from human littering, in fact, it was one of his favourite hobbies. He especially loved when the currents and tide started dragging him towards shore, leaving him ready to be discovered by a human, or a bird or something similar. Either way, he was screwed.

You’re probably wanting context right now, huh?

The first thing to say is that it was absolutely not Janus’ fault, no matter what may have been said. He did nothing wrong. Someone had insulted his tail, he had a right to attack them! The only problem was that this person happened to be about ten feet long, to Janus’ three inches. He didn’t even scratch them that much, just on the eye, and they had another one of those!

They didn’t seem to see his point of view, for some weird reason, and instead chased him closer to shore than he ever really wanted to go, and stuffed him into a plastic bottle that a human had thrown into the sea. He had been there for a few hours, and was starting to get hungry. If a predator didn’t kill him, hunger was sure to at some point.

His beautiful fanned out tail was uncomfortably scrunched in the bottle, and he was starting to get claustrophobic. The currents picked up, and the waves above got rougher in what Janus recognised as a storm. Just his luck, so many things tended to get thrown to shore during storms, and he would very likely join them. Just as he finished thinking that, the currents picked up and he was pushed up into the waves above. He could see the dark sky, covered in clouds, in between getting violently thrown around in the bottle.

Water was spilling out, and then filling back up from the waves. Janus wasn’t scared when he started thinking about how, if he got deposited onto the beach, the water could spill out and might never fill up again, leaving him to dry up.

Luckily, that’s not what happened. The tide left him in between a few rocks, and, while he passed out on impact, he didn’t die. The bottle stayed mostly upright, and he woke up to a human’s face staring down at him. He darted to the bottom of his plastic prison and stared up.

They said something, but he wasn’t listening. This could very well play out smoother for him if he pretended that he wasn’t sapient. He would rather be silently studied than interrogated any day. The human grabbed the bottle around the top, near the opening and Janus was lightly thrown into the plastic

The walk back to what was presumably the human’s house was tense, the human seemed nervous if the steady shaking of their hand was any indication. Janus sat in the bottom of the bottle and stared up. The human looked down at him as well, some sort of emotion on their face. He couldn’t decipher if it was concern, pity or curiosity.

None of the options really bode well for him, the first two would likely lead to them keeping him because of worrying that he could get hurt again out there in the world, and the third probably meant constant observation and studying, maybe dissection. He just let his fear show on his face. It wasn’t hard to pretend that he didn’t know what was going on and that he was just a simple animal, he just had to let instincts take over. They had to believe he was a dumb animal, they had to.

Their hands were shaking as they fumbled to put a small metal thing into their door, before going in. He immediately froze upon a sound that he had only ever heard described by other tiny mer. Large merfolk always seemed to roll their eyes at the fear of the creature, but based on the way the bottle was hastily raised in the air upon the predator’s arrival, the human knew the danger it posed

“No, bad kitty, down! This isn’t for you!” The beast jumped onto a countertop near him, taking a swipe at him with its paws. The human held him higher and yelled at the cat.

They put his bottle on a high up shelf, before going somewhere with the cat. The cat didn’t return with them, so he let himself relax just slightly. The bottle was picked up and set down on a lower surface whilst the human leant down to look at him

“Sorry about that, little guy, Sock gets a little excited around new things. My name’s Patton!” Janus just stared blankly, still letting his fear show.

The human- Patton- just frowned slightly “Can you understand me?”

He stared still, never taking his eyes off of them. They weren’t as big as some of the people he knew, but Gods, were they very large. Also, what sort of creature walked on two legs? Not even Crabs did that. It was mostly birds that did that, and he didn’t really think that humans were birds, to be quite honest.

They grabbed the bottle with an apologetic face, and Janus darted to the bottom. He was taken into another room, with a large tank full of water. Janus stared at it, floating lower in his own water. Was the human going to put him in there? He didn’t really know how to get out of his bottle, he had gotten slightly bruised just from getting stuffed in, and he had tried so many times to try squeeze himself out before the storm.

Patton set him down on a table, as they looked through something. They came back holding something sharp. Janus tried to figure out what that would be used for, a sense of dread welling up in his throat. They got closer, and Janus bared his teeth at them, crouching at the bottom of the bottle.

Patton frowned “I’m just going to use this to cut the top of the bottle away so you can get out, okay? No need to worry” Their voice was calming, but Janus wasn’t very reassured, all it would take was one wrong move...

He pushed himself into the ‘floor’ and hissed at the approaching object. Patton stopped for just a moment before carrying on with sawing at the plastic, occasionally pausing to check on him. Janus pretended not to notice, instead staring at the knife with a (mostly) faux fearful expression, though he still kept a watchful eye on the human in his peripheral vision

They eventually managed to saw it off, before picking up the bottle and going towards the tank

“I’m just going to pour this in here, and you can stay there a while, okay?” It wasn’t much okay to Janus, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was slowly poured into the larger tank and immediately hid from the giant in some plastic plants.

He could still hear the human, though slightly muffled through the glass. They were talking into something like they were having a conversation, and Janus made the startling revelation that they were somehow talking to another human and telling them to come and see him.

He stiffened. Getting out of this may be harder than he first anticipated. He could swear he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, in the room next to his tank, but when he looked out again, nothing was there. Another human soon arrived, immediately going to the tank

“Oh My Stars..” They were staring at him with excitement in their eyes. Janus went further into the fake plants, baring his teeth at the human. They leaned closer, nearly pressing their face into the side of the tank

“You really found a miniature humanoid creature, and it seems to have adapted to aquatic life, which would definitely explain how we’ve never found something like it before..” They carried on rambling, and Janus mentally cursed to himself

Of course the human called a scientist. Although, their ramblings did make Janus think. Did humans really only come in one size, no larger humans and no tinies? Now, that was strange. He had assumed that his fish half would be the only interesting part of him, but apparently not

Eventually, the humans left him alone and in the darkness of the night. The only light was coming from a lamp a few metres away, and that was rather dim compared to the lanterns under the sea

He heard a sound to the left of the tank and turned towards it quickly, scared that the cat could be back. What he saw confused him, as he had already concluded that such did not exist, or at the very least, regular-sized humans didn’t seem to know of it.

A him-sized human was getting closer to the glass prison. He watched them curiously as they climbed to shelf next to the top of the tank and looked down. He swam up there, and peaked his head above the water

“You know, you can stop the act now, the humans are gone” They were talking with a small grin on their face

Janus grinned back “Well, why would I do that? It’s so much more fun to pretend to be a mindless animal. Besides, you are human, are you not?” he leant his arms on the lip of the tank, displaying his sharp teeth in a smile

They smiled back, still looking exactly like a tiny human

“I’m not, actually. I’m a borrower! Humans don’t know we exist, but we have to stay in human houses to survive, and borrow food and stuff from them, hence the name”

Janus nodded “Speaking of names, what happens to be yours?” he asked, leaning a little closer.

“I am Roman” They stated, bowing from their shelf “And you?” They turned their attention back to Janus

Janus grinned “Such a nice name, bit of a shame that I won’t tell you mine” He watched them sputter for a moment, before carrying on

“I mean, if you keep visiting me, I might just consider it. I imagine it will get terribly boring, having no one to talk to until I manage to escape” He floated backwards lazily, looking up the few inches to where Roman was staring at him. Their face broke into a grin

“Well then, I might just have to carry on visiting. Until then, what can I call you?”

“You may call me-” He was cut off by the sound of human footsteps a few rooms across, getting closer. Roman immediately hid, and Janus went back under the waves and pretended to sleep. He kept his eyes open just enough that he would still know what was going on, but anyone watching him would think they were closed

It was the second human, he noted, not Patton, and they appeared to be writing something down, mumbling to themselves

“At least it’s not nocturnal, that would be a pain. It would be really annoying if we couldn’t observe it... it seems to have the lower half of a betta fish, and the top half appears sufficiently human, though it does have gills.. We may have to perform tests to find out what it can and cannot safely consume and how long it can stay out of water” They carried on rambling to themselves, and Janus was left wondering if they would ever leave.

A quick glance to Roman’s hiding spot showed that they were still as stone, barely even breathing whilst the human was in the room. Janus was very glad that there was more peace between small merfolk and the larger merfolk. He couldn’t imagine having to hide every time a larger-mer swam near him, but he was pitiful of Roman. He understood why they hid, however, humans were known for their hatred of the unknown.

Even if a human didn’t hate a non-human, that didn’t mean they were safe to be around. Not with their curiosity and want to know more. In a way, he was doing the same thing as Roman, hiding behind a disguise instead of behind a picture frame. After about ten more minutes of the human studying him, they left and Janus got back up and swam to the top of the tank

“I thought they’d never leave, now, what was I saying?” He leant back on the edge of the tank, staring up at Roman with a smile

They smiled back, though a little more nervous, eyes flickering to the door again. Suddenly, they got a mischievous glint in their eyes

“You were just about to tell me your name” They looked smug at their attempt of tricking him

“How about no. But you did remind me, I was gonna give you a nickname to call me by, but how about you think of one” He didn’t want Roman to figure out his name before he could dramatically reveal it

Roman turned from him in mock offence “Well, since you are so rudely withholding your name, I shall dub thee Deceit!” Janus rolled his eyes, leaning closer

“Why are you so dramatic?” They held a hand to their chest with a gasp

“Me? Dramatic? Never!” They were failing to conceal a grin and Janus pushed himself backwards into the water, feeling himself about to yawn

“Alright, I’m gonna go to sleep for real now. Remember to visit if you ever want to know my name” He said, as they opened a hole in the wall and walked through it.

For the second time, he woke up to a human face staring at him. He hid in the plastic plants again. He didn’t even like the plastic plants, they felt like a mockery to him

First humans pollute the ocean with chemicals and plastic, and then, when they had fish, they refused to even use real plants, only the same things that were killing aquatic life. The human was Patton this time, looking at him with concern

“Hey there, lil’ guy, don’t be scared, it’s just me. I brought food! I don’t really know what you eat, so it’s just fish food, but I hope you like it! I know you probably don’t understand me but I do want you to be safe”

Janus held back a scoff, still staring at the human as they sprinkled something vaguely food-smelling into the water and gently encouraged him to eat up. He hesitantly grabbed one of the flakes and took a bite, only to drop it in disgust

How could anyone ever eat that? He swam away from the foul attempt at food and crouched in the plants, hiding again. His brain started wandering to his underwater friends.

Remus was a ‘regular-sized’ octopus mer, and absolutely loved grabbing him from behind to freak him out, either with his tentacles or hands

Virgil was a shadow mer, meaning he had magic. He could conjure storms sometimes, only in highly emotional moments and when doing spells, and he could change his size. He couldn’t really get smaller than Remus, but he could get bigger, about 60 ft tall. When he was that large, Janus was barely noticeable against him, and could rest on the very tip of his finger, although Virgil always proclaimed that was ‘too dangerous’ because he was too small to be noticed and could get hurt

In such cases, Remus would hold him and tell Virgil what he was saying, the size difference making him too quiet to be heard by the giant mer. Janus definitely preferred him at normal size, and he was pretty sure that Virgil preferred it as well.

Janus was pretty sure that, if Virgil found out who stuffed him in the bottle, the mer who condemned him to this fate of glass walls and fake food would get what was coming to them. Remus would likely try to strangle them and Virgil would likely strike them with lightning or such.

Patton sighed at his lack of co-operation as the food-flakes sank to the bottom of the water. They went to the other room, where human no.2 was sat down. Janus could only hope their notes would never spread

--

Roman didn’t expect to see a merperson in real life. He thought such only existed in the movies Patton and Logan would watch together, and even then, those mermaids were human-sized. He was both upset and overjoyed when Patton walked into the house with a borrower-sized fish person

On one hand, the mystical creature he was so fascinated by was *his size*, but on the other, they had been captured by a human; a fate worse than death. They were pulling the same trick that he was taught, playing dumb, faking that they weren’t sentient

He could admire that they could keep up the act even with the humans staring at them all afternoon. It was nightfall, and after he had checked that the humans were either sleeping or otherwise preoccupied, he ran towards the mer

They talked for a while, Deceit (very rudely) refusing to give over their name, before they both went to get some sleep. Roman borrowed some bread crumbs before that, though, and watched his new friend float in the water from a small hole in the wall

It had been so long since he had had anyone to talk to, and now there was someone trapped behind glass, but still seeming to want to be his friend. They had actively told him to come back to see them. Sure it was more ‘I’m gonna withhold information if you don’t talk to me’ but it still counted

Patton, immediately upon waking, went to Deceit again, giving them fish flakes. Roman grimaced in sympathy, he had tried those before, they didn’t taste that nice. Logan was in the other room writing notes and Roman turned his attention to him

There were pages upon pages of notes, which Roman didn’t think was a particularly good thing, especially given Deceit’s obvious reluctance to give important information to the humans. Both humans would be leaving to go to ‘work’ soon enough, leaving Roman and Deceit in the house alone.

With the cat, unfortunately, but that beast was being kept in Patton’s room as long as Deceit was in the house. That was another good thing that came from their arrival; he could borrow without getting attacked. About an hour later, both humans had left the house, and Roman set out on a quest to Logan’s room, where the notebook was being stored.

There were a few things he could do to destroy the notes if he wanted, but he eyed the inkpots on the shelf that his exit lead out to and grinned to himself. The notebook was in perfect range to get ‘lightly splattered’ with a full pot of dark blue ink

The notebook was closed, so if he was to do it right at that moment, the ink would spread over all the pages and dry them permanently closed before Logan got home. And, the best part was, that it would look like an accident. It would seem like Logan’s fault for leaving such valuable notes under a shelf full of ink. He pried the inkpot open and tipped it over, watching it cover the galaxy patterned notebook, before running back into the tunnel system he lived in, and navigating to the living room, back to the shelf where he had talked to Deceit the night before

They immediately swam to the surface to greet him, leaning on the edge of the tank

“Hello, Roman. Could you just not get enough of me? You saw me just last night” They had a teasing grin on their face as their tail swished through the water

“No, I just thought you should know that Logan no longer has any of his notes on you, courtesy of yours truly” He bowed, before looking back up and grinning. Deceit looked shocked, which was quite a change from the relaxed, calm façade they usually wore

“Really? How’d you manage it? I assume the humans might have a hard time figuring out what happened if you were too over-the-top, but I somehow doubt you were, as dramatic as you appear to be” They tapped their chin in thought, tail swishing in the water behind them

“I just staged a small ‘accident’ involving an entire pot of ink and his notebook” He grinned back, sitting down

“Weren’t you worried about the humans coming back and finding you before the ‘accident’ was done?” They were seeming concerned for him, as they leaned closer

“No, they’re gonna be gone for a few hours yet, and we have the house to ourselves. Now, do you want some better food than those fish flakes?” Deceit nodded, looking down at the fallen flakes distastefully

“Oh, absolutely, but first, why don’t we just talk for a while?” They started floating lazily, looking like they were checking their nails

“Sure! But what should we talk about?” he wasn’t very used to being able to talk to people, he had moved out from his parents home ten years prior and hadn’t met any borrowers since. Deceit was a surprise he had ever seen one, even if they weren’t exactly a borrower

“Anything, say… what do you do in your day to day life?”

Roman proceeded to explain the life of a borrower, and explaining how risky it could be and times he had nearly gotten caught. He started explaining how the cat made it doubly dangerous, to which Deceit winced in sympathy, before the sound of the door cut him off and he had to run and hide.

He forced his breathing to shallow out for the second time as Deceit dropped back into the tank with an audible splash. Roman’s heart dropped. The human had probably heard that and would probably start investigating why Deceit was trying to get out of their tank, leading to Romans’ discovery

Luckily, that’s not what happened, instead Patton, as he was the one who walked in, just walked over to the fish tank and sat down, leaving Roman to fret about the possibility that the human may be able to see him. This wasn’t like the night before, when it was dark and his own silhouette would be nearly indiscernible from the picture frame he was hidden behind

Patton may very well notice him if he stayed there any longer. But... he could also get noticed if he moved. He felt tears well up in his eyes and blinked them back. He hesitantly peaked over to Deceit’s tank, seeing them hiding again. At least they had that in common.

The human sat there for too long, forcing Roman to stay still as the figurines on the shelves. It was maybe half an hour later when Roman was able to move again, immediately dropping to his knees and crying. Deceit swam up to the top of the water again

“Roman, are you okay?” they whispered, eyes flickering to the open door that the human had gone through. Roman shook his head, trying to steady his breathing out as it was getting harder to do so. Suddenly he felt himself get splashed with cold water, and snapped out of his dilemma. Deceit was staring at him, looking concerned

“Roman, get a hold of yourself. I can’t have you dying of stress on me, okay? I-I think you may have to leave for now, just until tonight, it’s too dangerous” They quickly went back to their relaxed, ‘don’t care’ attitude “And, I can’t loose my one source of entertainment whilst I’m stuck here, of course. That’s the only reason,”

Roman nodded emptily, waving slightly before opening the entrance to the wall. Once he was out of the open, he slumped against the wall, and started crying again. He could hear the human walk back in a few minutes later, muttering something about a storm outside and sounding confused

Roman didn’t know why he was talking about a storm, their little device in the kitchen was saying that it was supposed to be sunny that day, and for the rest of the week. Storms weren’t mentioned. Just as he thought that, a clap of thunder sounded. Roman wondered what that was about, the humans’ device was almost never wrong.

He walked back to his home, finding it was the same lonely, depressing place he had left it. He had tried to make it homey, but he didn’t have many materials at his disposal. He had borrowed some lost fairy lights, and strung them up in his home, and the sections of the wall surrounding it, but they didn’t do much other than adding a dim glow to the dark walls. He had borrowed some paper and coloured pencil lead, and hung some drawings up next to his bed for a splash of colour, but they got irritating after a while

He sighed, listening through the wall to see if the humans were close. Patton was probably still with Deceit, and he couldn’t really imagine how they must be feeling, getting so closely observed by a human.

He slumped down on his bed, a single small blanket he had managed to sneak into his home, and started thinking. Would the humans start looking for tiny non-mers? Would they try and find him? What if Deceit finally cracked and told them everything, including Roman’s existence?

He shook his head, Deceit wouldn’t do that to him. He started drawing, first a snake, then a mer-person that looked suspiciously like Deceit. The picture was hung above his bed, and he laid down and stared up at it

--

Virgil was Furious. Janus had not come back from his swim around the reef all night, which, naturally, made him worry. Then, a mid-size mer came back into the reef, clutching at their eye. Virgil recognised them as having only moved nearby a week before, so they were immediately a suspect

Everyone else already knew not to mess with Remus or Janus. He swam over to them, feigning concern for their injured eye

“What happened? Are you okay?” Remus was trailing after him, looking ready to strangle them if necessary

“Some stupid little betta-mer tried scratching my eye out. Got ‘em back though”

They seemed way too smug for having done something to someone not even a tenth of their size

“Oh, and how, pray tell, did you do that exactly?” He subtly started growing his body about an inch every few seconds, pretending to be interested and supportive of whatever they had done

“Stuffed ‘em into a bottle and let ‘em float to shore. Probably got washed onto the beach with last night’s storm, eh?” They were laughing. They were laughing about hurting Janus. He felt a low growl build in his throat as Remus snuck behind them and restrained them. Virgil grew to full size, voice distorting

“You shouldn’t have admitted to that. You hurt my friend, and now I’m gonna hurt you,” He grabbed them as Remus let go of them.

They left with a few bruises and possible broken bones, and Virgil was confident that they wouldn’t have the audacity to come back. He cried for a while, before surfacing slightly at nightfall. There were no humans on the beach, luckily, but there also weren’t any signs of Janus.

A quick spell showed that he was there for a few hours at least, earlier that morning. Luckily in a rather deserted portion of the beach, but he wasn’t there anymore, which meant that he had been found. Virgil reported back to Remus, who was looking around underwater

“Nothing?” they both shook their heads, and Virgil went back down to normal size, sitting on the sand

“What if we never find him? What if- what if humans are torturing him right now and we won’t be able to help because they’re on land and we’re too big to be transported unnoticed-” Remus cut him off, wrapping a tentacle around his mouth

“It’s only been a few hours, he can’t be too far” Virgil pried the tentacle from his mouth

“Humans have him, Re, what are we meant to do?”

Remus thought for a moment “Do you know any spells that can show if someone has been near someone and how recently? Would that work?”

Virgil thought on that “yeah… yeah that might work”

The next morning, a giant Virgil went close to the surface, but far away from the beach itself. He started muttering the spell, Remus perched on his shoulder, and there was a small purple glow as a storm started above him, travelling to where dozens of humans were previously enjoying the sun and warm weather. He blacked out for most of the next hour, whilst the storm was still going on, but Remus filled him in on the fact that there was a lot of lightning and that his eyes were glowing a neon purple.

And that he looked powerful, but that was practically a given for a shadow mer. Once the storm was done, humans started flooding the beach again, and Virgil discreetly watched from a distance, at normal size. He helplessly scanned the beach and all the people on it, but none of them were glowing.

He stayed there for a few more hours, him and Remus looking around. A flash of light caught his eye in a mostly empty portion of the beach. He turned towards it to see one singular human looking around where Janus was presumably found. Based on how they were glowing, they were likely looking for more tiny mers.

They had been close to Janus sometime in the past three hours, and here they were snooping around to try find more tiny mer. Virgil, after pointing the specific human out to Remus, grew to full size and swam closer to them, staying carefully under the waves, before he was sure that this human was the only one that could see him

Once he was sure, he started rising, baring his teeth at the human, who was attempting to back away and instead tripped on a couple of rocks on those stupid two legs they walked on

“Where. Is. He?!” He demanded, slamming his hands down on the beach next to the fallen human as Remus crawled on the beach in a similar fashion, scowling

The human stared and stammered a few moments before speaking “I- who?”

Virgil growled, leaning closer “I think you know exactly who I mean, human. I know you have him”

They paled, starting to sit up “He- I don’t know what you are talking about” Remus crawled to behind them and restrained them, starting to drag them into the ocean

They struggled, eyes going wide and panicked. Virgil followed the two under the waves and seized hold of the human, concentrating his magic into their body. Their body accepted the magic, desperate to not drown, which meant the human was now Virgil’s and would have to do everything told of them. Virgil wasn’t very comfortable using such types of magic, but he would use any means necessary to bring Janus back

“I shall ask you one more time, where is he?”

They held their mouth closed with one hand and used the other to hold wire frames on their face. Remus used a tentacle to try and pry away the hand, but failed. He turned to Virgil

“Why don’t we take their breathing for a few seconds, get them really scared?”

“That could work, but if they drown then what are we gonna do? They’re our only lead on him, Re”

Remus grinned “That’s the thing, they have absolutely no reason to withhold this information from us unless they’re protecting another human. We have someone else to threaten if this one doesn’t co-operate”

The human’s eyes widened at that “Okay- I’ll talk. My roommate found your friend on the beach in a bottle and brought him back to help get him out, but I requested that we keep him in our home as I wished to study him”

Virgil growled “What is your name, human?”

The name fell out without the human meaning for it to it seemed “Logan. I am Logan”

Virgil put on a sickly-sweet smile “Well, Logan, I have a question for you”

Logan nodded, albeit hesitantly

“What made you think you were allowed to do that?”

“Wh-what?”

“You heard me, what made you think that you could ‘keep’ someone, simply for your own curiosity? What made you think that was an okay thing to do?”

The human struggled to keep their mouth closed, but Virgil glared and barked out an order to speak, squeezing their torso slightly.

They shook and explained that they were simply too curious and how they ‘had never seen a tiny person before, let alone one that was half fish’ and how Janus was ‘an important discovery for the scientific community’

Remus looked seconds away from wrapping his tentacles around their neck and squeezing until the life left their body. Virgil was doing the same

“Do you really think that justifies keeping someone captive, or are you just spouting any excuses you think may save you?” He released his grip on them, letting them float in the water. They, smartly, didn’t attempt to swim away, though Virgil did catch them looking upwards a few times

They stammered for a few moments before staying silent. Virgil could feel a small section of their emotions and rage bubbled inside him again. Guilt was on the forefront, but fear was still present. Virgil didn’t think they had the right to feel guilty, simply because someone had called them out

Virgil doubted that they would feel as guilty as they did had he not threatened them. Virgil was snapped out of his silent anger by thunder overhead and realised that he may not have regulated his anger very well

Remus had perched himself on Virgil’s shoulder at some point and the human was staring at him. Virgil glared back, baring his teeth at them. They flinched, and Virgil made sure that he didn’t feel guilty; this was the person who had taken his friend, after all

He grabbed the human once again, going up towards the surface, and depositing them on the now-empty beach. He didn’t really understand why humans didn’t enjoy storms, but he was certainly thankful for that little oddity. Virgil smirked down at them

“Here is how this is gonna work, okay? I will make me and Remus here look human, and you will take us to your home, we will collect Janus and you will tell no one that you saw us, or of our existence, you understand? If you are cooperative, I might consider relinquishing control of your soul. If not, then, well, pray you’ll never have to find out what I can do” He left the threat open to interpretation, hiding the fact that he didn’t actually have a threat in mind

They shuddered nonetheless, although did ask a question

“Am I allowed to tell my roommate? This would be rather hard to explain otherwise” They smoothed out the fabric dangling from their neck, which was now extremely soaked, just like the rest of them

Virgil and Remus looked at each other, before turning their attention back to the human

“You may tell your roommate and no one else. I suggest you start getting your explanation ready in your mind” He added a bit of command to his order of only telling the roommate. He didn’t need his secrets exposed to the whole world.

As an afterthought, he added “And I strongly suggest you don’t let your roommate share what you tell them. I wouldn’t take very kindly to that, as you might possibly guess. And, I don’t think that would be very good for you. If I relinquish control, I can seize it right back if you do the wrong thing, you know” He added force into his words, emphasizing his point

Logan nodded, not making eye contact.

Virgil put his hand to his shoulder and let Remus climb onto it, before channelling magic into his friend and changing his tentacles into a pair of human legs. He then did the same to himself, shrinking down and scowling at the feeling of two legs and the fleshy, soft texture of them.

Once Virgil gave the word, Logan started leading them towards their house

--

Logan didn’t enjoy the merfolk's company very much. First, they threaten him, and then they drag him underwater. He could admit that it was partially his fault for not giving them the information they wanted, but he didn’t want them to hurt Patton.

When he got dragged underwater, his body and mind went into a state of panic, which he was pretty sure was their plan because then he had no choice but to accept the magic that was offered if he wanted to survive. Even though he could breathe after that, his chest was tight and it was extremely difficult to disobey the giant mer. He had to physically restrain himself from answering their questions right away, but that seemed to just annoy them.

The octopus mer tried ripping his hand away from his mouth, but Logan remained stubborn. They suggested taking away his ability to breathe underwater, and Logan tensed slightly, until the giant mer denied that idea. That was good, they hadn’t figured out that he wasn’t the only human involved.

Until they did. Logan would like it to be clear that he did not forfeit information because he feared they would realise that he was disposable to them, but because he was scared that they would hurt Patton. They clearly had some way of finding out who had seen their friend, if the way they singled him out was any indication.

He stuttered out an explanation, making it clear that he was to blame, not Patton. Patton had only wanted to help, after all. They growled at him, forcing him to share his name against his will. He really didn’t like the feeling of his body obeying to an outside force instead of his own mind. He stared up at them, as they now showed a terrifying sharp-toothed, very obviously fake, grin

“Well, Logan” They said his name in a sort of mockery, and the feeling in his chest tightened, almost suffocating. He had a feeling it was their magic keeping him in check. “I have a question for you”

He nodded, swallowing thickly

“What made you think you were allowed to do that?”

“Wh-what?” He didn’t expect that, more on the lines of ‘how would you like to die?’ but, then again, they probably wouldn’t be able to find their friend without him alive, unless they waited for Patton to show up, and they already had control over Logan.

“You heard me, what made you think that you could ‘keep’ someone, simply for your own curiosity? What made you think that was an okay thing to do?” He tried to keep his mouth closed, without a direct order to answer, it was a lot easier, until the giant ordered him with a quick squeeze of his torso

Logan started nervously rambling, not really listening to what he was saying, but needing to make an excuse. No matter what he said, the mers seemed to get angrier. The octopus mer seemed quiet in a way that made Logan think that they may have been planning a murder

The giant mer let go of him, but he didn’t swim away. He doubted that they would very much like him escaping

“Do you really think that justifies keeping someone captive, or are you just spouting any excuses you think may save you?” Logan looked down and the mers stared at him for a few seconds

The giant one was looking extremely furious, eyes glowing and mouth twisted into a snarl. The octopus mer floated up and latched onto their shoulder as thunder boomed overhead, above the waves. The giant snapped out of their seeming trance, and glared at him. Logan flinched, trying not to think about all the things they could do to him

They grabbed him, taking him to shore and ordering him to take them to his and Patton’s home. He made sure he was allowed to tell his friend, but he was rather unsettled by the threats they used against him. While his main goal was to make sure Patton was safe from them, he would very much also enjoy getting rid of the magic swirling around his soul and forcing him to do things

Once they told him to start walking, he could not stop until they commanded him to, which they did just about halfway through the journey.

“Tell me, human” They spat the word, but it was better than the tight, suffocating feeling in his chest when they used his name. He shuddered “Do you regret your actions. Before you get any ideas, I now command that you can’t lie to me”

Logan looked at them, finding them only marginally less intimidating now that they were a reasonable height

“I- I really do..” he stuttered, not looking at them. The octopus mer seemed quiet, which for some reason seemed weird.

Logan got close to the house and started unlocking the door, hearing Sock’s insistent meowing from Patton’s bedroom window. He tuned that out in his mind, not regarding it as important until the octopus mer grabbed his arm

“Don’t tell me that’s what I think it is” They warned, and Logan stayed silent for a few moments

“It’s a cat...”

They both stared at him with varying degrees of anger

“You have a cat, and you have been keeping a tiny mer in the same house?! Just when I thought you couldn’t get any worse” The, previously giant, mer glared at him and then at the white-footed cat in the window, baring sharp teeth at the creature

Logan just lead them into his house, immediately getting greeted by Patton, who seemed worried about his absolutely soaking wet clothes and self, before noticing the two behind him

“Oh, who are they?”

“Patton, may I talk to you in private?” He cast a nervous glance to the mers, who were both glaring at the humans with malice

The octopus mer was the one who gave permission

“Oh, go ahead, just show us where he is, and then knock yourself out. Preferably not metaphorically” Logan pointed them to where the tiny mer’s tank was located, shaking slightly and trying to smooth out his wet clothes

“Logan, who are they?” Patton sounded a little more forceful, and Logan cast a nervous glance to the doorway

“Patton- their friend- we- we took their friend, Patton- they want revenge and they- they did something to me, Pat, I’m scared” He was whispering and he wrapped his arms around himself like a frightened child. Patton put a hand on his arm and looked at him with a concerned expression

“What did they do to you?” Patton’s voice was soft and full of concern, a nice contrast to the harsh words and tone used by the mers. Logan shook his head, he didn’t even know where to begin. The fact that they gained possession of his soul? The fact that they were threatening to kill him? The fact that they could make him do anything and he couldn’t do anything about it

His roommate pulled him in for a hug, and Logan, for once, didn’t pull away. They could hear the mers in the other room conversing, sounding different, not threatening at all. Just sounding like worried friends. He couldn’t hear their words. He looked down.

In the mers minds, he had probably deserved everything they did to him; he had stolen their friend away from them, and had tried to keep information on his wrongdoings away from them

-

Janus had been floating for a while after Roman left. It was terribly boring with no borrower to talk to. Patton had been in and out of the room holding his tank, and in between human visits, he would catch glimpses of a figure wearing a red cloak, running along ceiling beams and going in and out of tunnels in the walls.

Janus didn’t call attention to that, he understood Roman’s need for secrecy. When the second human, ‘Logan’, finally arrived back at the house, there were other people with them. Janus froze, until he heard a familiar voice and two familiar faces walked through the door

They immediately ran over to him and fretting

“Oh, thank the stars you’re okay, I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t” Virgil leant down to look at him in the tank

Janus smiled, before frowning

“You both have legs”

Remus grinned “Don’t worry Jan, my beautiful tentacles will be back the minute we get back to the sea”

“How did you guys even find me?”

“We used a sort-of tracking spell, to see which had been near you and how recently, and we used some... persuasion to get Logan to bring us here” Virgil explained, wringing his hands anxiously. Janus raised an eyebrow

“What exactly do you mean by persuasion? Last I checked, you could barely talk to a person to help you with something, let alone persuading anyone of anything” He teased, splashing him

Virgil winced “...You know that dark magic I was researching the other week?”

“You didn’t”

“He did!” Remus nodded enthusiastically

Virgil put his hands up, face going red “I know, and I’m not proud of it but I did what I had to do to get you home. They wouldn’t give us any information, and what was I gonna do? Politely reason with a human for however long it would take, whilst you could’ve been, I don’t know, tortured or something?”

Janus nodded, he could agree with that. If he had the power to help one of the other two whilst they were in trouble, he would use any means necessary to get them back

Patton walked in with an obviously forced smile “Well, I think it’s time you should leave. I’m sure you’ll want to go back to your homes, and, uh, stuff” They seemed in a hurry to get the mers out, likely nervous that what horrible thing happened to Logan would happen to them too

Virgil gathered some the water surrounding Janus into an orb and hovered him above his hand. Janus floated idly, as his friends and him walked out towards the ocean

Janus’ thoughts started to wander to the borrower who still didn’t, and never would, know his name. His mood got a little more sombre at that. The miniature human would still have to scavenge for food in a human house. Janus had achieved his own happy ending, but would Roman?

They got under the water and Janus allowed himself to swim freely through the reef with his family.

A few months later, a human woke up without the tight feeling he had grown used to being in his chest, and felt free for the first time since that day, whilst a borrower looked mournfully at the ocean through a window.

Everything was back to normal.

~~~~~

Taglist: @a-chilly-pepper 

[callboxkat]

Banished (part 11)

Author’s note: Surprise! There’s a new chapter! 

Summary: Janus has been banished from his pod for crimes that he did not commit. However, this merman’s bad luck is far from over. A mer is not meant to live on their own in the open ocean, and as one would expect, things do not go well. Enter: Florida Man.

Chapter Warnings: censored swearing, injury mentions (burn, cuts), banishment mention, murder mention, fainting, Remus being his chaotic self, weapon mention, arguing

Word count: 4126

Banished Masterpost!

Writing Masterpost!

...

Sadly, Logan was the sort of driver who obeyed all the traffic laws. He didn’t even speed. Not even a little! So, Remus’s drive took a little longer than usual, since he wanted to at least keep Logan’s car in sight in his rearview mirror.

Was that strictly necessary, given that Logan already knew where he lived? No. But also yes.

Thankfully, even with Logan’s tragically legal driving style, they made it back to Remus’s house before Remus’s anticipation made him buzz right out of his skin. Remus pulled to a stop on the curb, suddenly enough that the new buckets of sea water he’d collected sloshed dangerously. He hopped out and bounced towards Logan’s approaching car, barely remembering to actually close his own car door. While Remus waited, Logan carefully lined his car up on the street, turned it off, and finally stepped out, apprehensive.

A neighbor stood on the other side of the street, watering their plants and watching the pair. Remus jauntily waved, drawing Logan’s attention to the neighbor as well.

The neighbor scoffed, turning off their hose. They tossed it on the grass and crossed the street.

“You’re not planning on making more of those obscene costumes of yours out here, are you? Those things are disgusting. Just last week you covered half the street in glitter and rotten sea weed!”

Remus frowned for a second, then gasped and put his hands on either side of his head. “OH! I completely forgot, my swamp monster costume!” He sighed dramatically. “Damn, that party was supposed to be tonight.” Maybe he could still make the costume? There would be future parties to crash. And it would be fun to just wander around town, dressed up like the lost city of Atlantis’s worst nightmares. Maybe he’d accidentally dress up as someone Janus knew!

The neighbor was still scowling, looking between Remus and Logan while Remus’s imagination threatened to run away from him. “Who is this? One of your weirdo friends?”

Remus put away thoughts of terrorizing the town and put an arm around Logan’s shoulders. “Oh this? This is my friend with benefits.” Remus winked.

Logan’s brow furrowed. “What?”

The neighbor’s expression was overcome by revulsion. “Why the hell would I want to know about that? Ugh! You’re disgusting. Do I even want to know what you wanted that old aquarium for? And why did you leave so much sand in my mailbox?”

Remus smiled innocently, his arm still around Logan’s shoulders. “I put a 20 in there, too!”

“I didn’t ask you for that.”

“It’s for the tank.”

“It was covered in sand!”

“You don’t like your money crunchy?”

“…Crunchy?”

“Yeah, crunchy.” To illustrate, Remus took a sandy dollar from his pocket and popped it in his mouth with no hesitation, chewing on the salt-soaked paper. The sand grains crunched audibly in his teeth.

At that, the neighbor took several steps back. “What—just—what the hell are you two doing in there? I know you’re up to no good.”

“None of your business, dork!” Remus said, his voice slightly muffled by the dollar. “Now go away before I sick my new fish on you!

The neighbor looked confused and disgruntled, but they threw up their hands and walked away with another loud scoff, stomping across the street. Their front door slammed shut. The hose was still lying on their lawn, forgotten.

Remus leaned over to stage whisper to Logan, shoving the sandy dollar to one side of his mouth. “Logan. Logan. I called them a whale p*nis.”

“I am aware.”

Remus spat out the soggy, sandy dollar, cackled, and grinned like the Cheshire Cat. “Anyway… onward!” he announced, pretending to brandish a weapon. Swords were overused, so he liked to picture a huge, jet black morningstar instead, covered in jagged spikes longer than his thumb. Maybe not practical, but it sure would have that intimidation factor.

“That would be preferable to remaining outdoors,” Logan commented, looking at Remus’s brandished arm with a furrowed brow. Unfortunately, he could not see Remus’s objectively bad*ss morningstar. “I was under the impression that that was why we were here.”

“Don’t want to admire my curb appeal?” Remus joked, putting away his imaginary weapon and turning to the other man.

Logan squinted up at the lime green house. “I’m not sure you know what curb appeal is.”

“Fair enough!” Remus said, marching up to his house. He unlocked the door and swung it dramatically open, his fun-hating neighbor instantly forgotten. “Jan!” he called. “I brought Logey to see you!”

Remus entered the living room first, Logan following behind more slowly. He paused in the doorway, while Remus trotted right up to the tank.

Janus was awake—if he hadn’t been before, yelling someone’s name was usually a good way to wake them up—and was now leaning on the edge of the aquarium, watching them.

“Hey Mr. Taser Fish—feeling chatty today?” Remus asked. Janus had still been asleep when he left earlier, so he hadn’t gotten to ask.

Janus, his eyes still on Logan, slowly reached up a hand and tapped twice on the aquarium glass.

Remus’s shoulders dropped. “Aw. Oh well. I guess we’ll get to play charades a bit longer—that’s fun, right?”

Janus shot him a skeptical glance before returning his gaze to Logan.

Logan was watching their interaction with a conflicting mixture of fascination and apprehension. Remus could practically hear the rapid spinning of gears in his head. He stepped back, gesturing between them. “So, Janus, meet Logan. Logan, this is Janus.”

Despite his clear interest, Logan didn’t seem inclined to come any closer than the doorway where he currently hovered, keeping Remus solidly between himself and Janus.

When Logan finally spoke, his voice was an oddly high pitch. Remus graciously decided not to call him out on it, even if it was amusing. “You, uh, look improved,” he said.

It was true. Janus still looked tired, and maybe a little feverish; but the only other time Logan had seen him, Janus had been visibly sicker, and pretty out of it. The swelling in his face had gone down noticeably, and his neck also looked less red. The injury to his arm was hidden by his capelet, but Remus knew that it already looked much better, too.

The capelet, of course, had not escaped Logan’s notice.

“Did you give that to him?” Logan asked, looking to Remus.

“It’s his,” Remus said. “Found it on the beach, with some other stuff. I did give him the pillow though—it’s my raincoat!” he added proudly

“Oh.” Logan looked back to the tank, seeming to notice the other items as well. He swallowed, turning to address Janus again. “Ah… do you remember me? I know you were rather… unwell, when we first met.”

Janus seemed to consider, then slowly tapped on the glass, with clear hesitation.

“He does,” Remus supplied. “Kind of, I think he means.”

Janus’s nail tapped again on the glass in confirmation.

“That’s what that means?” Logan clarified, his eyes flicking to Remus.

“Yeah. One tap is yes, two is no.”

Logan nodded. Another long moment passed. Logan had a look on his face like he couldn’t quite believe what was happening. And he still hadn’t ventured past the entrance to the room.

Remus smirked a little. “Jeez, Logey, no need to be such a scaredy cat. He’s just a fish man.”

Logan shot him an irritated look. “I’m not afraid,” he argued, even as his gaze drifted to Remus’s bandaged arms. Obviously in an attempt to prove it, he straightened his back and approached, walking right up past Remus and up to the edge of the tank.

He stuck out a hand, and Remus did not miss the way his other one was clenched in a fist, or how he set his jaw. Remus scratched at the edge of one of the bandages on his arms, waiting to see what would happen.

Janus looked warily at his hand, then back up at Logan’s face.

“You shake it,” Logan blurted out. “You take my hand in yours, and shake it. It’s a hand shake.”

Behind them, Remus danced from side to side. “Shake, shake, shake,” he sing-songed to himself.

“It’s a gesture meant to be part of a greeting,” Logan continued, ignoring him.

Janus frowned, but then he deliberately fastened his small hand around Logan’s. Logan jumped slightly despite expecting the touch; but Janus didn’t shock him, and didn’t try to scratch him with those nails that were just a little too sharp to be human. He shook Logan’s hand, from side to side.

A little smile of delight appeared on Logan’s face, his mouth twitching up to reveal very white teeth. He quickly recovered, though, smothering his expression into something more neutral. Remus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Logey took himself too seriously. It wouldn’t kill him to let himself smile.

“Generally, you, um, shake hands up and down,” Logan said. He still sounded nervous. “Like this.” He carefully shook their hands properly.

Janus furrowed his brow, then retracted his hand.

“So, are we all best buds now?” Remus asked, grinning.

“That seems premature,” Logan commented, sounding a little breathless. Based on Janus’s expression, he shared a similar thought. Now that Logan’s handshake of bravery was done, he took a few steps back.

Remus pointed at Logan. “It’s only premature with that attitude,” he said, accentuating his words with his pointed finger. He turned back to Janus. “You want some lunch, new best bud?”

Janus tapped once on the glass.

“Great!” Remus left the room, heading towards the kitchen.

He only made it about five steps, when there was a loud thump from behind him, followed by a splash of water.

Remus stopped, frowned, and spun around on his heel, going back into the room.

Janus had pushed himself up so that his whole torso was above water. He looked like he regretted the sudden motion, but still his hands gripped the edge of the tank, his eyes wide with surprise. Water dripped down the sides of the glass.

Logan, meanwhile, was not standing where Remus expected to see him. A beat passed in which Remus stared at the empty space where his friend was supposed to be, and then he looked down.

Logan was sprawled out on the floor, unconscious.

“Huh.” Remus looked at him for a second, then back up at Janus. “Well, sh*t.”

…

Remus walked into the living room with Janus’s lunch in one hand, and a glass of water in the other. “Alright, Jan Jan, I actually got your food this time! This is for you,” he told the merman, handing over the fish with a flourish.

Janus accepted the food and sank to the bottom of the tank, where he started eating, never taking his gaze off of the humans for long.

“Aaand this is for you,” Remus said as he handed the water to Logan, who sat on the couch, his face still flushed red in mortification. The fact that Janus kept looking at Logan was not helping him feel any less flustered.

Logan took the glass with a small nod. Janus had started to pick his meal apart, tearing off scraps of fish and eating them one at a time. Logan slowly sipped from the glass of water. He’d insisted he must have been dehydrated or something, from work, but he got the sense that Remus did not believe him.

Remus plopped down beside Logan. “So, you sure you’re good? How’s the head?”

Logan took another sip of water. “I’m fine.”

“Really? I mean, I took one step out of the room and you conked right out on the floor.” Remus cackled. “Is Janus really that scary? I know he’s got fangs and stuff, but he’s the size of a little kid.”

Logan’s mouth thinned, his hands tightening on the glass. “W-well, in my defense, it’s not every day that I am pressured into meeting someone whose existence is so improbable, especially one with fangs and the ability to electrocute me—”

Remus put his hands up, interrupting Logan’s justifications. His expression had fallen, and he had the grace to look sheepish. “Hey, hey, I’m sorry. Not judging. But your head’s okay? I don’t want any cracked eggshells. This is a whole eggshell household.”

Logan put a hand to the back of his head subconsciously, even though he had already carefully checked for an injury. “It’s fine.”

Remus looked him up and down, squinting, before he  seemed to accept that he was telling the truth. He clapped his hands together. “Excellent! In that case, I’m going to go grab those buckets from my car.”

He started out of the room, only to pause and point a stern finger back at Logan. “No more fainting,” he said.

Logan sighed.

…

“So, how do you want to do this?” Remus asked, pacing back and forth with a hand to his chin. All of the buckets of sea water were lined up along the wall, and the remains of Janus’s meal had been taken away. Now they just had to clean the tank and switch out the water, but Janus was still in there, and he probably wouldn’t want to be in there for the whole time. Plus, they should probably check his injuries.

“Your arms are still burned,” Logan reminded him from the couch. “You shouldn’t pick him up. Your bandages will get wet, at the very least.”

“I’ve done it before,” Remus shrugged. “He’s not heavy.”

“It would be better if I did it,” Logan said.

Remus turned, giving him a disbelieving look, and tilted his head. “Ah…”

“I’m fine now,” Logan insisted.

Remus wasn’t convinced. He glanced at Janus, who looked uncertain about the whole idea of being picked up at all. Remus doubted he wanted to be picked up by someone who very well might faint again and drop him.

He considered. “I could cover up my arms. Like for the shower, but less naked.”

Logan let out a frustrated sigh, shaking his head, but he seemed to realize that neither Remus nor Janus were going to let him pick up the merman that day. “…Fine.”

Five minutes later, freshly adorned with two large plastic trash bags, which were taped in place around his arms with duct tape, Remus walked back into the room. He swung his arms as he walked so the wrinkles in the plastic caught the air and made them puff out slightly.

“Like my new digs?” he asked. “How do I look?”

Logan set his empty glass on the table. “You look like you taped a pair of 13 gallon trash can bags to your own arms. With… is that zebra print duct tape?”

“I’m a trendsetter; you can just say it.”

Logan frowned his confused frown, and Remus grinned before he turned to Janus. “Alright, Mr. Taser Fish, ready to go?”

Janus looked reluctant, but didn’t fight Remus as he lifted the small merman from the tank, dripping water. Remus carried him out into the kitchen, setting him down in the kitchen sink, which was half-filled with saltwater. He’d grabbed some towels to pad the side of it and make a pillow.

Janus looked around uncertainly as he shifted to get more comfortable. He looked up at Remus, who could tell he wanted to ask a question. Remus could guess what it was.

“This is where we fixed you up,” Remus explained. “Is it comfy enough?”

Janus took a moment to assess his surroundings, before carefully tapping once on the counter.

“Great—I’ll just take care of the tank. Just yell if you need something. Or drop a plate on the floor. I got the whole set at a yard sale just for promising I’d leave, so it’s no loss! Maybe I’ll actually go buy those ones I’ve had my eye on. They’ve got this octopus on them, and he’s got a top hat and a bunch of knives. Which is just top tier design.”

Janus stared at him. Remus grinned, saluted, and bounced back to the other room.

…

Cleaning the tank took a while, but it wasn’t too long before Remus had finished pouring the last bucket of seawater in, tossing the empty plastic container into the haphazard pile of other buckets, to be taken back to the beach the next day. He returned to the kitchen for Janus, who wasn’t pleased about being woken from his nap; but he let Remus pick him up and carry him back to the tank readily enough.

“Oookay,” Remus said once Janus was back in the tank. “Logey, you ready to go?”

“Ah… yes, I suppose I ought to return home,” Logan said. He got to his feet. “I’ll see myself out.”

“I could drive you.”

“I require my car. I’ll be fine on my own.”

“No, no, no, congrats on your new stalker, buddy. If you won’t let me drive you, I’m going to follow you home, to make sure you get there okay.”

Logan frowned. “That is unnecessary.”

“Well, what if we stop somewhere for some food? Then I’m not just following you, we’re going to hang out. You have to eat lunch at some point, right?”

“…That would be acceptable, I suppose.”

“It’s a date!” Remus turned to Janus. “Butt—” he waggled his “—before we go, do you need anything? More food? My offer of a bedtime story is still open, even if it’s noon.”

Janus had seemed to be attempting to follow Logan’s and Remus’s conversation, with limited success. At being addressed, he straightened slightly, then mulled over the question for a long moment.

He glanced down, steeled himself, and stuck out one of his hands.

Remus blinked, confused. Did he want a handshake? Maybe he wanted one from Remus and Logan.

But when he reached to shake the merman’s hand, Janus yanked it back with a look of frustration, only to hold it out again. Remus realized he was actually offering the metal cuff on his wrist, the one with the bandage wrapped underneath.

“Are you giving that to me?” Remus asked with a frown. “The cuff?” It was pretty, sure, shiny metal despite being from underwater, and etched with symbols, but it was a little small for Remus’s wrist.

The merman hesitated, frowned, then tapped on the tank.

“Oh. You don’t want it?” Remus wasn’t sure what he’d do with it, but if the merman really wanted to give it away, he wouldn’t refuse.

The merman tapped what seemed an overly adamant no. Remus got the idea he was missing something.

“Okay. Does it… do you know how to take it off?” The cuff didn’t appear to fit over his hand, and neither Logan nor Remus had noticed any way to release it. The cuff seemed featureless, other than some symbols that decorated it, symbols that resembled Janus’s writing the day before, but which might as well have been gibberish to Remus.

Looking frustrated, Janus tapped twice again, another firm no.

Ohhh. “So… you want help getting that off? Like the garbage, the other day?”

The merman tapped loudly on the glass. There was a desperate, yet utterly hopeless look growing in his eyes, one that alarmed Remus. It was just a bracelet! A thick bracelet, sure, but it couldn’t be that bad, right? Maybe it had been stuck on him for a really long time or something.

Remus hesitantly took his wrist, which Janus allowed. He turned it this way and that, inspecting it. He thought of the bruised skin around the cuff, currently hidden by bandages, and realized that that was probably the result of the merman’s own attempts to remove it. “How did you even get this on?” he wondered aloud.

Remus heard shuffling steps as Logan came over to see. “He doesn’t have it on by choice? I thought it was decorative.”

“I guess not?” Or if it had been, it wasn’t anymore.

Janus let out a frustrated sigh through his nose. Remus considered trying their pizza box alphabet again, but then the merman took one of his fingers and traced a line along the cuff, from one side to the other. Remus leaned in closer, making Janus twitch uncomfortably, and finally saw a near perfect seam in the metal, which followed along some of the symbols—letters?—etched there.

“I see,” Remus said, and Janus relaxed imperceptibly at the small amount of progress. So, it did open somehow. Or had, at some point. He considered, inspecting the cuff further.

“Does it unlock?” Logan asked. “Is there somewhere a key goes in?”

Janus reached out with his free hand and motioned to a portion of the cuff. Remus squinted, and realized that he could in fact see a small hole there. But it was so small, there was no way his lockpicking tools could fit inside.

“Hmm. That’s way too small for a paper clip.”

“You don’t have the key, do you?” Logan asked.

Janus sighed and didn’t bother answering. His body language, and perhaps the fact that the cuff was still on his wrist, were answer enough.

“How’d you get this on here in the first place?” Remus asked.

Janus, of course, said nothing.

“I guess I could try my lockpicking kit—”

“You have a lockpicking kit?”

“—but I really doubt it’ll work on this.”

Logan held out a hand. “May I see?”

Remus glanced at him with an exaggerated amount of skepticism. “Only if you pinkie promise to stay conscious.”

“Shut up.” Logan brushed away Remus’s proffered pinkie, and very carefully took Janus’s wrist from the other man, at first touching it only with his fingertips. The merman looked uncomfortable, but there was a faint, guarded hope in his eyes.

A silent moment passed as Logan examined the cuff. He ran his thumb over the symbols. “Are these letters?” he asked. “What do they mean?”

Janus’s hands clenched suddenly, and Logan quickly let go of his wrist, practically scrambling away.

Nothing else happened, so Logan shakily cleared his throat. “W-well, It… it looks like it is made of rather strong metal, and as… as Remus said, there is no obvious mechanism by which we can remove it.”

Janus wilted in bitter resignation.

“So… the only option may be to cut it off.”

Janus lifted his head, eyes wary. He put his free hand over the cuffed one protectively. Logan didn’t seem to notice.

“He means the cuff, not your hand,” Remus interjected, before that misunderstanding could become disastrous.

“I—yes, of course I meant the cuff. I know someone who can do it safely. If-if you’ll let him.”

Janus stared between them, disbelief written across his features. He opened his mouth, closed it, then tried again.

“You can remove it?”

The words were very quiet, hoarse, and clearly painful to get out, but they were understandable. Logan’s eyes widened. Remus managed to keep his scream internal—barely.

“I believe my friend can,” Logan said slowly. “Will you allow me to contact him?”

“Only if my lockpick doesn’t work!” Remus assured. He was 99% sure it wouldn’t, but he’d still try.

Janus’s hand wrapped around his wrist. He still looked incredibly doubtful, and the silence went on long enough that Remus almost thought that that was their answer; but then he reached forward, and tapped once on the glass.

…

This was a terrible idea.

Janus knew it. He knew he should be absolutely against any more humans finding out about him. More humans meant more unpredictability, meant more danger.

But if it meant the end of this f*cking cuff on his wrist, he’d do almost anything.

Remus’s ‘lockpick’ hadn’t worked—sharp metal tools that he struggled to fit in the near-perfect seam in the metal, with the only effect a sore hand and a new scratch in the cuff’s surface that didn’t do anything towards weakening its structural integrity.

So, now he and Logan were gone doing whatever they were doing, and Logan was going to reach out to this ‘friend’ of his.

Maybe he actually didn’t know anyone who could get the cuff off. Maybe he’d hit his head when he fainted, and wasn’t thinking clearly. Maybe this was a waste of time.

At least Logan didn’t seem nearly so scary anymore, after what had happened.

Janus leaned his head on the cool glass, letting his eyelids close.

Maybe it was a waste of time to even try to get this cuff off, but undeniably, there was still a part of him that desperately wanted to go home. If not back to his own pod, who would know of his conviction with or without the marker of his banishment, then to another pod. One who had never heard of Janus, the vicious attempted murderer who got off easy.

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Mer Janus: I don’t like sleeping alone.

Remus: You’re in luck. I love sleeping in water.

Mer Janus: You would really sleep in the tub with me?

Remus: I sleep in the tub at least once a week. This isn’t a problem.

[arya-skywalker]

The Meeting (Sanders Sides Mer AU Part 3)

TW: villain Janus and Remus, tentacles, dehumanization, chains, kidnapping, imprisonment, slavery (kinda?)

Part 1

Part 2

~*~

Virgil groaned and stirred, then froze. Something was very wrong. He was... floating. And wet. Something cold and hard bit into his legs. He jerked awake and immediately regretted it.

He was underwater. In a cave. No, in a cell. There were shackles by his ankles connected to the ground.

“Oooh goody! You’re awake!” Maniacal laughter followed the exclamation, then a strange creature swam into sight. Its bottom half was all green and black tentacles. However its top half was.... almost human. Grayish skin speckled with scales. Bright green eyes slightly larger than a normal person. Glowing green markings covered it from head to the tips of its tentacles. And teeth... way too sharp when it grinned.

Virgil scrambled back with a stifled curse. “Who are you? Where am I? What do you want?” He snarled. Wait, he could talk. And breathe. Underwater. His head hurt.

“I’m Remus,” the strange man said with a terrifying smile, hand on his chest as he bowed. “You are my guest. This is my home.” He giggled. “Do you like it?”

“Let me go.” Virgil tried not to think about how impossible this was. “I must be delirious.... or dead.”

“Nope! Not dead! I made sure Jannie brought you here alive,” Remus said cheerily. Then he turned and shouted, “JANNIE COME SAY HI!”

Another being swam into view, far more graceful. A golden tail shimmered in the uncertain light.... the siren from the wreckage. “Ah. It is awake.” He clicked his tongue. “Took you long enough.“

Virgil shuddered. “So it wasn’t a dream....” he muttered, then shook his head. “How long was I out?”

“Nearly two days,” the gold siren said casually. “Don’t thank me— Remus is the one who wanted you. If it were up to me, I would have let you drown.”

Virgil glanced between them warily. “Why? What do you want?”

Remus swam over and reached towards his legs with a long tentacle. “I was curious....” he said, pouting slightly. “I’ve never seen a living human before.”

“Whoa, hey, tentacles to yourself!” Virgil snapped, flailing backwards in attempt to get more distance between them.

“Awww don’t be scared! I just wanna get to know you!” But luckily the tentacles receded.

“Usually kidnapping isn’t the way to make friends,” Virgil spat.

“Mmmm.... maybe not. But it’s the only option I’ve got.” Remus suddenly went silent, staring off into the distance.

“Remus can’t go up to the surface,” the siren said. “So he asked me to fetch a human for him instead. Your pirate friends are likely dead by now.” He inspected his nails casually.

Virgil froze. “Dead? All of them?”

“Mm. I didn’t bother checking since I had to drag you down here. But the ship sank. I found the wreckage after, with plenty of bodies floating around.”

“You killed an entire crew just to get to me? What.... why chose me? I’m no one.” Virgil rubbed his arms and shuddered.

“No, no, no. You have it backwards.” He clicked his tongue. “I was going to sink the ship anyway. You were simply the easiest target. And now you have nothing to return to, which means less reason for you to run away.”

Virgil looked away, wishing he were anywhere else. Bile rose in his throat. This couldn’t be happening. Maybe he was still dreaming.

“Hey, hey! You’re upsetting the human!” Remus whined.

“You care about it already? Remus, honey, it’s dangerous,” the siren replied.

“It’s not gonna do anything from a cage! You took away all its toys!”

At that, Virgil tensed and quickly checked for his possessions. Knives, gone. Pistol, gone. Earring, gone. Anything sharp, gone. “What the hell? Give me back my stuff!”

Remus giggled. “You can earn them back! As long as you play nicely,” he said.

Virgil clenched his jaw. “How long do you plan to keep me down here?” he asked slowly.

“Forever, of course!” Remus said with a grin. “But if I get bored, Jannie can kill you early.”

“It would be my pleasure,” the siren said with a cool smile.

Virgil bit his lip and closed his eyes. Maybe he’d wake up and all of this would go away. Maybe he was still delirious.

“Don’t be shy,” Remus whined after a few minutes. “C’mon, tell me about yourself! What’s it like up there?”

Virgil reluctantly looked back at the strange man. “You really just wanna like... learn stuff? You’re not gonna... hurt me?”

Remus shrugged. “Might hurt you later. But for now, storytime!”

Virgil rubbed his face. Not exactly a good start. “Ummm.... well, I’m a cabin boy—“

“What’s that?” Remus asked, blinking.

“Uh it means that I’m lowest on the food chain. I follow orders, run errands, clean stuff and cook and shit. Which includes furling the sails in storms.” Virgil scratched the back of his neck.

“Mm. I was wondering why someone would be so stupid to climb up there in a storm,” the siren commented, then scowled. “Not that I care.”

Virgil shrugged. “Whatever. I’m really not that interesting. I’m no one,” he muttered.

“Awww c’mon! Tell me anything! Even the boring stuff!” Remus smiled, showing off shark-like teeth.

Virgil hesitated before telling them how the ship worked. Easy enough, not too personal. Something they probably didn’t know. Remus constantly interrupted with questions, while the siren lurked silently. Hopefully it would be enough for them to leave him alone for a little while.

[callboxkat]

Banished (part 12)

Author’s note: Happy New Year :) I hope you all have a wonderful 2022.

Summary: Janus has been banished from his pod for crimes that he did not commit. However, this merman’s bad luck is far from over. A mer is not meant to live on their own in the open ocean, and as one would expect, things do not go well. Enter: Florida Man.

Chapter Warnings:  lying, illness and injury mentions, saw blade?

Word count: 3270

Banished Masterpost!

Writing Masterpost!

Over the next few days, Janus didn’t do much besides eat and sleep, slowly regaining the strength that had been robbed from him by whatever hell he had been through before Remus found him.

As time went on, with nearly a week passing since that fateful early morning on the beach, Janus’s improvement became obvious. Even the yellow accents of his fins grew visibly more vivid. Remus gave him a comb for his hair, too, and that tangled mess was transformed into sleek, dark waves that nearly reached his shoulders. Logan had begun coming over as frequently as his other responsibilities would let him. Thankfully there hadn't been any more fainting, although that wouldn’t stop Remus from teasing him about it. The day after that incident, Remus had followed Logan around the whole time they were in Remus’s house together, holding a large pillow at the ready as if to catch him. Together, they’d been helping Janus, from checking on his wounds to cleaning the tank to simply keeping him company when he was up for it.

Still, Janus hadn’t said a word since agreeing to let them remove the cuff. Remus wondered if he still couldn’t speak, if those few words had somehow made his throat worse, or if perhaps he was simply afraid to try.

Logan had contacted his friend—Remy, apparently—saying that they needed help removing bracelet that another friend of his had gotten hopelessly stuck. Apparently, he was still waiting to hear back. Remy was, according to Logan, almost always on his phone, but was frustratingly bad at replying to texts. Worse at answering phone calls. Remus could relate, but he was still going to complain about it.

At least the wait gave Janus more time to recover before this guy showed up. The fewer questions they had to answer, the better.

Finally, the response came. Luckily, it was when Logan and Remus were both at Remus’s house. Remus had just come in from putting out some cat food for the neighborhood strays. Logan, sitting at the kitchen table with some article about vocal cord injuries pulled up on his laptop, waved Remus over to show him the text.

Remy A.: Sorry, I’ve been crazy busy. Still need my jewelry removing expertise?

“Finally!” Remus moaned, splaying himself dramatically across the table. Raising his volume to compensate for the fact that he was now speaking into the wood, he added, “I was starting to think your friend died on us, Bookworm.”

Logan huffed. “No, he can simply be lackadaisical at times, especially with timeliness in responding to texts.” Obviously hoping to catch Remy before he looked away from the phone again, he began to quickly type. Remus got up from his sprawled position across the table and walked around to lean conspicuously over Logan’s shoulder and watch.

Logan: Hello, Remy. Yes, if you are available, we would appreciate your help.

Logan tensely watched the phone for a few moments, and sighed in relief when the ellipses popped up. He’d clearly been worried that they’d been waiting for a few more days or at least hours; but thankfully, Remy’s reply was much more prompt this time.

Remy A.: How long has it been on there?

Logan: Quite some time. I am unsure of the exact timeline, but no less than a week.

Remy A.: Yikes. Why didn’t you call the fire department doll?

Logan visibly faltered, and glanced up at Remus.

“Tell him he’s… I don’t know, scared of firefighters? That’s a thing, right?” Remus mostly just thought they were hot.

The other man hesitated while Remus briefly fantasized about committing a minor act of arson to attract the fire department’s attention.

Logan: Our friend requested we not do so.

Remy A.: Is this just an excuse to see me? Be honest, babes.

Logan: No, we do require your assistance.

Remy A.: No cap?

Remus cackled at Logan’s confused expression. He didn’t offer help with this one.

Logan: He does not have a cap stuck on his head, only the bracelet on his wrist.

There was a pause. Remus had a feeling that Remy was laughing. Remus himself had a hand pressed over his mouth. A squeak escaped, earning him a frown from Logan.

Remy A.: Ok I’ll come, text the deets.

“Time and place,” Remus supplied, masterfully recovering from his mirth.

“Ah.” Logan quickly typed out the address, and in the next few texts, they scheduled for Remy to come that evening.

Logan: Can you promise discretion with this matter?

Remy A.: Girl Cmon

Remy A.: Some mystery guy gets a bracelet so stuck he needs it cut off, and you’re telling me I can’t post this on my insta?

Logan: Yes. Please.

Remy A.: …Fine, but I’m not a charity. You’d better have coffee ready.

Remy A.: Starbucks. Don’t cheap out.

Remy A.: Make it a venti. Splash of oat milk. Two pumps of caramel.

Remy A.: Two ventis and I might not even ask questions.

Logan sighed in relief. Remus whooped, to Janus’s bewilderment.

Logan: Done.

“So, uh…” Remus leaned back. “How are we doing this without telling Remy he’s cutting a manacle off a live wire from Unda da Sea?”

Loan wiped a hand down his face, setting the phone aside. “We will figure something out.”

“Well, we’d better figure it out fast. We’ve only got a few hours.” Remus lurched back, putting his hands on his hips and popping his back like a sheet of bubble wrap. “Anywho, I’m gonna go tell Aquaman the news!”

…

A few hours later, there was a knock at Remus’s door.

Logan answered it, Remus at his side.

A young man stood there, a pair of shaded goggles on his forehead, but his dark hair was still immaculate. He had a messenger bag over one shoulder, and stood with the air of someone who’d spent all morning waiting in the line at the DMV.

Ew. Why was Remus thinking about the DMV? He was going back to thinking about hot firemen. And getting that cuff off Janus. Obviously.

“Heyyyy girl, what the heck kind of house is this? Is it radioactive? I am so suing if I get radiation poisoning.”

“Hello, Remy,” Logan sighed. “The house is not radioactive. Correct?” he glanced at Remus.

“Correct! But that’s a fun idea.”

“So who is this anyway?” Remy asked, glancing Remus up and down. “You know I like a tall drink of water.”

“This is Remus,” Logan said.

“Into people with Rem- names, huh?” Remy joked. “And here I thought I was special.” He rolled his shoulders, exaggerating the heaviness of his bag. “Now are you gonna invite me in or what? This neighbor of yours keeps looking at me like I’m going to come cut the heads off all their flowers.”

Another intriguing suggestion. Remus grinned. “Come on in!”

Remy sauntered into the house, glancing around at Remus’s taste in décor. Dégore.

“So, he’s this way,” Remus said, pointing upstairs. “But before we go up—no pictures, no gossip, no nothing, got it? Keep your trap shut, or I’ll happily find out what it’s like to disembowel someone.”

Remy clearly found this threat hilarious. “Logan, you have got to tell me where you found this guy.”

“He is also a lifeguard. We work together.”

“Hm. I do like a man in uniform.” Remy winked at Remus.

Logan sighed. “Eccentricities and small talk aside, we really do need you to promise discretion. Our friend is very nervous about this whole thing. He doesn’t like a lot of attention, positive or negative. We need to know this won’t end up on Facebook.”

“I don’t have a Facebook, I have an Insta—are you telling me you don’t follow me?”

Logan was unamused.

“Fine, fine, I promise. Now where’s my coffee?”

“In the kitchen,” Logan said.

“Two ventis with a splash of oat milk and—”

“Yes, yes, we followed your specifications.”

They waited while Remy drank the first coffee—impressively fast, to be honest—and then the three of them made their way upstairs, to the spare bedroom.

Janus sat in the bed, looking about as nervous as Remus had expected. The blankets were pulled up to fully cover his tail, and he wore a long-sleeved kids shirt that Remus had picked up, as well as a pair of yellow gloves to hide his not-quite-human hands. He also wore the least exciting of Remus’s costume wigs, which had been arranged to hide the fins on his ears. He could pass as human, at first glance. Hopefully, Remy wouldn’t look too closely.

Naturally, Remy squinted in confusion the second he stepped into the room. “Uh. Not to be rude, but… Why is he so small?”

“We asked for discretion for a reason,” Logan said. “He has a medical condition. I hope you can understand why he would not like a metaphorical spotlight placed upon him.”

Remy glanced between them skeptically. “Sure. Fine. One more question, though—what happened to his face?”

Unfortunately, there hadn’t really been a way to hide the bandage on Janus’s cheek. It was literally on his face.

Remus and Logan glanced at each other.

“It’s related to his condition,” Remus finally said. “Right, bud?”

Janus slowly nodded.

Remy frowned, but didn’t question it, probably because they had gotten him his two coffees. He shrugged off his messenger bag and approached Janus, who stared up at him with clear apprehension.

“Hey girl, I’m Remy.”

A moment passed.

“He doesn’t speak much,” Logan explained awkwardly.

Remy raised an eyebrow. “Right.”

Remus gave Janus an encouraging motion behind Remy’s back. Please, just say something. Anything.

“…Hello,” Janus said. He didn’t open his mouth much, hiding his many fangs from view. Which was good for secrecy, bad for Remus’s desire to see his many many fangs again.

More importantly, his voice wasn’t a painful croak: The word came out crystal clear. He could talk! Janus could talk!

Logan briefly put his head back and closed his eyes in relief.

Remy glanced up at Janus, then back at Remus and Logan, before he finally shrugged. “This is weird as hell, but whatever—I got my coffee.” He set the bag on the bed and started pulling out supplies. “I’ve got a file that should cut through this crazy stuck bracelet of yours—let me see?”

Janus held out his arm, only trembling a little bit.

“I’ll be honest,” Remy said, taking Janus’s arm and thankfully not noticing how Remus and Logan both tensed, “I was half expecting this to be a pair of handcuffs.” He chuckled. “That’d sure explain why you didn’t call the fire department.” He turned Janus’s arm a little, looking at the thick cuff, etched with lettering that no one but the merman could read. “This is still super weird, though, tbh.”

“Can you cut it off or not?” Remus asked. Logan cast him a warning look.

“Sure babes, I’m a pro.” Remy turned and smiled at him, then turned back to Janus. “Here, doll, put these on. Just in case any metal goes flying. Can’t hurt those pretty eyes of yours.”

He held out another pair of goggles, like the ones he wore. Janus then slowly put the goggles on his own head, imitating the way Remy’s were situated. The strap was far too long, and they nearly fell down to hang around his neck, but Remy caught them.

“Like this,” Remy said. He moved the goggles to sit over Janus’s eyes, then adjusted the strap to fit, thankfully taking care where it crossed over the bandage on his face. “Gucci?”

Janus probed the goggles with his gloved fingers. “Thank you,” he said.

Remy smirked, and pulled his own goggles down over his eyes. “Ready?”

“Yes,” said Janus.

“Alright, then. Just hold still, and I’ll have this off in no time.

He put the file against the cuff and began vigorously sawing it back and forth. Janus tensed at first, making Logan take a half-step forward, but the merman relaxed at the lack of pain. A long moment passed, empty save for the sound of metal scraping.

Remy made a frustrated sound, and the sawing picked up pace. A couple of sparks flew. Thankfully, Janus didn't freak out.

“Sorry,” said Remy. He pressed harder, sawing even faster.

Snap!

Everyone in the room jumped. Remy nearly fell over, but quickly recovered, and drew back, looking stunned.

The file had broken. There was barely a dent in the cuff.

“What the hell is this thing made of?” Remy asked.

“Perhaps a defective file?” Logan suggested carefully. His hands were clenched in a tight knot.

Remy blinked, then shrugged, still bewildered. “…Maybe. Don’t worry, I’ve got an extra.”

He retrieved it and began again, but before long, that one had also snapped.

“Girl, what?” Remy said, staring at the broken pieces.

Janus looked like he was going through the five stages of grief.

“…Got anything else?” Remus asked, beginning to wish he’d never gotten the merman’s hopes up.

Remy, however, was undeterred. “Excuse me, ma’am, there is a genius at work here. Of course I’ve got something else. Go get some water. Cold water. A lot of it, we’ll need it constantly pouring if we can. Oh, and probably a bucket, if you don’t want it to be all Wisconsin Dells in here.”

Remus had no idea what that was. “Your Midwesterner is showing,” he informed Remy, who rolled his eyes.

“Okay, first of all, rude.” Which wasn’t a denial, Remus noted.

As Logan went to fetch the supplies, Remy returned to his messenger bag and pulled out some kind of flexible material. He pulled back Janus’s sleeve and slipped it in the space between the cuff and his wrist. Remus was glad, again, that the bandage there had already been removed.

Janus was looking fidgety again, which Remy didn’t seem to notice; but then again, he was rather out of the loop about… certain things. Including the small chance he might get electrocuted.

“What are you doing?” Remus asked.

“I’m breaking out the big guns.” Sure enough, Remy held up a power tool. But….

“It’s awfully small.” Remus commented, tilting his head to the side. “Sure, people say size doesn’t matter, but it kinda does.”

“It’s a rotary tool.” Remy said, plugging it into the wall. “And I’ve got just what we need—I work with steel sometimes, so I’ve got a good blade for it. A diamond saw. Cost a pretty penny, but this thing just cuts through everything like butter. It can handle a bracelet.”

He attached the blade, and held it up to show Remus and Janus. Even the blade was small, maybe a little bigger than a half dollar, attached perpendicular to the rotary tool. He hit the button, and it spun with a whir. Janus looked uneasy.

“This will keep me from hitting your wrist,” Remy said, gesturing at the material between the cuff and Janus’s arm. As Logan came in, carrying a large water bottle and a bucket half filled with more water, he added, “And that will keep the blade from getting too hot. Bring it over, babes.”

Logan set down the bucket of water, and Remy handed over another pair of goggles. They weren’t as heavy duty as his or Janus’s, but were better than nothing.

“Just pour that over the blade while I cut,” Remy instructed. “And you just stay still, okay? And let me know if it starts to feel hot. I’m not here to burn anybody.”

“Go slow,” Remus said.

Janus had gone rather pale. As Remy took his wrist, he started visibly trembling. Remus gave the merman a thumbs up and what he hoped was a reassuring look.

“Logan, you ready with the water?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” Remy turned on the tool, and touched it to the cuff just before Logan got the water over it.

Sparks flew, and Janus flinched back violently with a drowned out hiss. The whir of the tool instantly cut off. “Woah!”

A beat passed, and then Remus’s eyes bugged out. The wig on Janus’s head had slipped, and one of his ear fins poked out in the air, in plain view. Remus bent over and started coughing and hacking violently, drawing Remy’s attention while Logan scrambled to hide the fin.

Janus’s chest was heaving. Remus straightened from his sudden coughing fit, wiped a bit of sweat from his brow, and laughed nervously.

Remy knelt there for a second, blinking, then said, "Uh, you good, doll?"

"Yep!"

Remy glanced him up and down, and turned back to Logan, who was poorly acting natural. “Hey, L… maybe start with the water sooner.”

“Apologies.”

They started again once everyone had calmed down a bit, with Logan pouring the water before Remy turned the tool on. Remus didn’t really think it was Logan’s fault that Remy had started the tool first, but decided against pointing that out.

There was a tense atmosphere as the tool whirred and grinded. After a moment, Remy stopped. “Aha, there we go!”

Remus leaned over to see. There was a clean cut in the cuff, about a quarter of the way through it.

Janus was staring like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Not too hot, is it?”

“No—no,” the merman said, recovering his voice. “It is not too hot.”

“Gucci.” Remy nodded to Logan, and they began again, cutting through more of the cuff.

Minutes later, they hit the center of the cuff, and there was a flash of light. Remy jumped, the tool turning off again. Nothing else happened, though, and after a moment of inspecting the tool in confusion, he started it back up.

“Was that Janus?” Remus silently mouthed at Logan.

Logan subtly shrugged one shoulder in response.

And then they were through. Remy sat back and pulled up his goggles, triumphant. “Told you this baby could do the job.”

There was a neat slice taken out of the cuff, from one end to the other.

“Now we’ll just turn it, and get the other—oh!”

As soon as Remy touched it, there was a sharp creak, and the cuff sprang open on a perfectly hidden hinge.

“Well, that works, too,” Remy said with a sly grin, not noticing Janus’s jaw drop open. He patted the blanket over where Janus’s legs would be. Remus twitched, but all Remy did was turn and unplug his tool from the wall. “Now, where’s my other coffee?” he asked as he coiled up the cord. “It’d better not be cold, or you’ll have to buy me another.” He got up, grabbed his bag, and started for the door. Logan glanced at Remus, hefted up the bucket of water, then followed after Remy. Remus didn’t move until he heard their footsteps going down the staircase.

He walked over to Janus. The poor guy looked about ready to lose it. He was just staring at the cuff, still hanging loose on his wrist.

“Here,” Remus said as kindly as he could. “Let me get that for ya.” He took the cuff carefully unhooked it from the merman’s wrist, and set it on the nightstand. Remus didn’t know how or why Janus had ended up with this metal cuff around his wrist, and he didn’t understand why it upset him so much, since it didn’t look like much more than a thick bracelet, but it was clearly significant.

Janus stared for a long moment at the cuff on the nightstand. He ran his hand slowly over his wrist, then did it again. He looked up at Remus, utter disbelief on his face. He hesitated briefly, then made a motion to beckon Remus over.

Remus stepped nearer, then knelt down next to him.

Janus reached up and placed a shaky hand on Remus’s chest, on the upper part of his sternum. The merman didn’t speak, but Remus knew he was saying thank you.

[callboxkat]

Banished (part 9)

Author’s note: I hope you guys enjoy!

Summary: Janus has been banished from his pod for crimes that he did not commit. However, this merman’s bad luck is far from over. A mer is not meant to live on their own in the open ocean, and as one would expect, things do not go well. Enter: Florida Man.

Chapter Warnings:  food, injury mention, animal skeletons

Word count: 2334

Banished Masterpost!

...

“Ooh, maybe we could try charades!” Remus said, sitting up straight.

The merman, who had been watching him quietly (but pretending not to), lifted his head. He had propped himself so his torso was half out of the water, and was picking at a little can of salmon. He was clearly unsure of what to make of it, but just as clearly very hungry. Remus guessed it was the injury to his face slowing him down—hence the canned fish.  He would have gone with tuna, but he could already hear Logan’s lecture about mercury, blah, blah, blah.

The merman had been hesitant to accept the food at first. It was pretty different than what he was probably used to—and it may or may not have been cat food—but Remus had scooped a bite of it into his own mouth, which had seemed to reassure him. So, after a reminder from Remus not to open his mouth too wide, and to be careful not to bite his cheek if it was still numb, the merman had started to eat.

Now, he squinted slightly at Remus, like he wasn’t sure what to make of him. He lowered the half-empty tin of salmon with a little frown.

“Do you know what charades are? You act out what you want to say, and the other person guesses. So, for example.…” Remus held up two fingers. “Two words.” He lowered one. “First word.” He pinched two fingers together, leaving a small space. “So now I’m miming what the first word is—which is ‘small’. So I’d guess that—or you would, I guess—and then I hold up two fingers”—he did so—”to signal the second word.” Remus hesitated, then motioned at his legs, putting them together with the toes pointed out to either side, and then made a swimming motion. “And you’d guess, ‘merman’! So I’m saying, small merman! Which is you.”

Said small merman continued to stare at him, his expression blank.

“Not feeling charades? Okay, that’s cool, uh….” Remus got up and spun in a circle a few times, looking around. “Hey, can you write?” He was facing away the first time he asked, so he looked back to the tank and tilted his head. “Can you write?”

The merman frowned slightly, and carefully ate another bite of salmon.  

It wasn’t much of an answer. Whether that meant “no”, or he was just being shy, or was maybe still judging Remus’s unpracticed charades skills, Remus didn’t know, so he left the room and came back holding a notebook and the one working permanent marker from his pencil cup. He wrote ‘HI’ on the paper, to demonstrate, then held the notebook and marker out to the merman.

The merman hesitated, set down his food, then pushed himself up so that he could prop himself up by his underarms. He paused, then reached out for the paper and uncapped marker. Wet spots spread on the paper, warping it slightly.

He cast Remus what was an unmistakably skeptical look, then wrote on a dry portion of the paper. Remus leaned over to see.

What the merman wrote was definitely some kind of language, but it was just as definitely not English. The letters were written in a  neat, spiky script, which didn’t seem to have any spaces. It reminded Remus a little of Nordic runes, but the alphabet was clearly not that. It didn’t quite look like any language he’d seen before.

“Ah… can you write in English? Like. In the English alphabet. You know, A, B, C, D, E…?”

The merman huffed, dropped the marker and paper on the floor, and sank back into the aquarium, clearly annoyed.

“What? It’s not my fault I can’t read your weird Fish Speak,” Remus pouted, although he wasn’t sure the merman could hear him through the water and the glass. Sure enough, a moment later, the merman floated up enough for his ears to be above the water, even as he continued to sulk. “We can figure something else out.”

The method Remus eventually got the merman to sullenly agree to was not the most sophisticated, but hopefully, it would work! The merman was clearly unhappy, his face tinged red with embarrassment, but he seemed very frustrated by the inability to communicate, so he was willing to try.

Remus sat cross-legged on top of the coffee table, holding a notebook and a pizza box that he’d written the alphabet on the bottom of in big, bold letters. As an afterthought, he’d added a Th, Ch, and Sh at the end. The merman, finished with his meal by now, leaned against the side of the aquarium with his little hands on the rim, waiting.

“Let’s start with something really simple. You’ve got a name, right? A name that’s not, like, a dolphin scream? Although that would be pretty cool. Is it a dolphin scream? No—uh, too many questions, sorry. Do you have a name?”

The merman rolled his eyes and tapped the rim of the aquarium once.

They’d decided on that as a signal for yes, while tapping twice meant no. Nodding seemed to hurt the poor guy’s neck. Remus couldn’t say that surprised him. It looked a little, uh… strangled-ish.

Remus smiled at him. “Okay, great! So, let’s start with that. Just tell me your name.” Remus hoped it wasn’t too many letters. Or sounds. Whatever.

He picked up the pizza box, smiled encouragingly, and pointed at the letter A. “Aaa.”

The merman stared.

“Ay?” Remus tried, still pointing at the same letter. “Aah?”

Nope.

He moved on to the next letter. “Buh.”

Still no.

“Cuh.”

It wasn’t C, either. They continued like that, with Remus slowly going through each letter, even repeating letters like E that had multiple sounds, without any response from the merman. Remus was starting to think that maybe the merman didn’t understand what he was trying to do after all, until he said, “Juh.”

The merman, who’d begun to look resigned to this not working, started and tapped the side of the aquarium loudly.

Remus’s face split into a manic grin. “Juh,” he repeated. “Juh?”

The merman practically slapped the glass.

“Juh!” Remus cackled. He picked up the maker and wrote a triumphant J on his paper. “Nice to meet you, J. Okay. Next letter.” He pointed at the A again. “Aaa.”

The merman smacked the side of the aquarium, even louder than before. He stared at Remus intensely.

“Next letter A!” Remus said, grinning, writing it down, feeling excitement bubble up inside him. It was actually working! “Okay. Third letter.”

Soon, Remus had a whole three letters written down: JAN.

The fourth letter took a while to get to, even with Remus skipping K, since C was basically the same. The merman—Jan—was growing visibly impatient. Then, finally, Remus said, “Uh.”

Jan immediately jerked, and tapped the glass loudly.

The fifth letter took almost as long to get to: S. Remus started going through the alphabet again, only for the merman to tap the side of the aquarium twice. Remus broke off and turned to him. “Oh—no more letters?”

Two taps.

“So we’re done? S was the last one?”

One tap.

Remus smiled, put down the pizza box, and grabbed his notebook.

JANUS

“Jaynus,” Remus said, amused. Then he frowned, and sounded it out the way he’d offered the merman the letters. “No—Janus.”

Janus tapped the glass once, seriously.

“Janus!” Remus said, turning to him, ecstatic. “Your name’s Janus!”

Janus tapped the glass once, again, and then, to Remus’s slight alarm, covered his eyes with his hands, starting to tremble.

Remus’s grin faded, and he slowly set down the notebook. “Janus? You good, bud?”

The merman tapped once on the glass, softly, but put his hand right back over his face. His eyes were red, Remus saw. He softened.

“Hey, uh… that took a while to figure out, and you’ve had a day. How about we take a little break, huh, Janus? I could get you some dinner. That salmon was really more of a snack, and your face should be un-numbified by now. Does that sound good?”

Janus moved one hand just enough to look at him.

“So, since you can answer now… you do eat fish, right? Or are plants better? Uh… yes for fish, no for plants. I guess tap three times if you eat bugs or rocks or sunlight or something.”

Janus swallowed, slowly put down his hands, and, not looking at Remus, tapped once on the glass.

“Okay, great. I’ve got plenty of fish. I’ll go grab what I’ve got and you can point at which one you want.”

Janus tapped on the glass again in agreement, and Remus went to get the merman’s dinner options. It took him a little while to figure out how to carry everything, with his arms bandaged, but finally, he had everything ready. He returned holding a baking sheet loaded with a box of fish sticks, some frozen shrimp, a tin of sardines, another can of cat food salmon, and an entire tilapia that still had the scales on it, which he’d originally planned to use for his own dinner that night. It was lucky that Remus liked fish. When he walked back into the room, Janus was sitting on the floor of the aquarium, staring off into space. He was holding onto the red scale that served as a pendant on his necklace, running his fingers over it.

He looked… really sad. Really, really sad.

Remus frowned as he approached the tank. Janus, however, looked up as he neared and quickly regained his composure. He pushed himself up to the top of the tank and poked his head out, looking with interest at the food on Remus’s tray.

Remus decided to ignore the merman’s previous melancholy. He set down the tray, pulling the shrimp and fish sticks out of the boxes, and opening the tin of sardines and can of salmon so that Janus could actually look at their contents. Then he held up the tray, smiling encouragingly.

In what was, he had to admit, not at all a surprising decision, Janus pointed at the tilapia.

“Excellent choice,” Remus said. “So… I’m guessing you want it raw?”

The merman’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and then, hesitantly, he tapped the glass. Remus laughed.

“Okay, yeah. Raw. One sec, I’ll be right back.” Remus carried the baking tray back into the kitchen, put away rest of the food, and belatedly realized that he could have given the fish to Janus first, since it had been in the fridge and didn’t need to be thawed. At least, until he remembered the antibiotics Logan had left for him to give the merman. It was about time to give him those, too. Remus snapped his fingers, went to the cabinet, and pulled out one pill. He crushed it and dissolved it in a small amount of water like Logan had told him to.

He brought the fish and the little cup of antibiotic soup back out to Janus, then handed the fish over. Janus took it in both hands and sank down into the water. He inspected it for a moment, but seemed to deem it acceptable. He opened his jaws, revealing rows of sharp little fangs, and tried to take a decent bite, only to wince as the movement clearly hurt the injury on his face. Remus watched as the merman paused, then tore off a small piece of fish with his fingers. He ate this eagerly, already tearing off another piece as he chewed. He had a few more mouthfuls, then paused, glancing up at Remus. Remus tilted his head. Maybe he was being a little weird, watching like this. Oops.

Unexpectedly, though, Janus tore off a piece of the fish, broke the surface of the water, and held it out to the human. Remus blinked in surprise. Janus offered the bite of fish again, insistently.

Remus stepped forward and took the piece of fish. Janus moved back, waiting.

The piece of fish was very much raw, still with a few scales on it. Remus tipped his head back and swallowed it whole. Not much different than sushi, he thought. Rather salty. The scales were interesting.

Janus seemed satisfied, and let himself sink back to the bottom of the tank, where he finished his dinner. He must have been pretty hungry, because he finished the entire fish, save for the bones.

Once he was done, seeming significantly more content than before, Remus waved a little to get his attention. After a few seconds, Janus got up and poked his head out of the water.

“I’ve got this for you,” Remus said, holding up the little cup of antibiotic soup. “I just need to put it in the water. Is that okay? It’s just an antibiotic, so your cuts don’t get infected.”

Janus looked uncertainly at the cup of water. Remus hesitated, poked a finger in, and licked it.

Ew. Bitter.

Janus still looked uncertain, but Remus gave him a puppy-dog look, and the merman didn’t stop him from pouring in the medicine.

“Want me to take the bones?” Remus offered, pointing at the little pile at the bottom of the aquarium.

Janus hesitated, eyeing him, then reached down and scooped up what was left of his dinner. He handed them to Remus—or, more accurately, dropped them into Remus’s hands.

Remus grinned, and brought the bones to his room, where the rest of his real animal skeletons were. He set the fish bones down on his nightstand, next to the deer skull he’d picked up off the side of the road himself.

Janus was curled up on the floor of the tank when Remus got back, either asleep again, or pretending to be.

Aw. That was disappointing.

Remus shrugged and went back into the kitchen, pulling out his phone. He guessed he probably owed Logan an update.

[snowe-zolynn-rogers]

Remus: *flops in the water with mer Janus*

Mer Janus: Since when did you have a tail!?

Remus: I got one so I can swim with you.

Mer Janus: Aw.