AKA my favorite Sanders Sides AUs on this hell site, in no particular order. Also this gets long so buckle up, buttercup.
@princeanxious’s @thelostguardianau. I love this so much. The character arcs. The designs. The emotions the chapters make you feel. It’s just so good. Also, I love sides with wings.
Also @princeanxious‘s Mer AU. This is still fairly new but I love it. I love the disigns for all of them. The fit so well. Between the biomers, and the merrays, it’s just so good. Also I L O V E Emilie as a rainbow!mer. I stan the anxious Prince Luka.
@altruistic-skittles’s MerDeceit AU. I just love it. Dee is a cute little mer-eel. The character designs are so good. I really love Mer AUs.
Also @altruistic-skittles’s @illuminated-au. Once again the character designs are so good. The soulmarks are beautiful and amazing. I stan one Cat/Turtle Mom.
@em-be-lievable’s Dragon Witch AU. This is so good. There’s so much representation and I love it. From Trans!Deceit to Genderfluid!Emilie. I live for established RomanxPattonxLogan pinning after Virgil. The character arcs and designs are amazing. I love these disaster gays. Everyone is a mess but together they work well.
Also @em-be-lievable’s Four Horsemen Au. I just love these boys so much. Their designs are so perfect for them. They are so angry and vengeful. I love it. I love Em’s telling of this. Growing up by grandparents in an EXTREMELY Christian home, I’ve heard the version in the Bible a million times. I just love the different take on it. It’s a good change. I stan a Punkle that is also a Unicorn Dragon Witch Pirate.
@justisaisfine’s Sanders Bros AU. I love everything single thing about this AU. I love all the feels it gives me, good and bad. I have cried over things in this, like seriously cried. I definitely didn’t cry at Dee telling Patton his name or at Remy’s confession. I just love these boys and really want them to be happy. Also I have started saying the “I’m telling you three times” thing from this to calm my anxiety. I stan this awesome artist and content creator.
@paws-and-claws-au by @ironwoman359 and @thegremlinprince. I LOVE fantasy AUs and this one is one of my absolute favorites. Also it’s Analogical and Royality AU which are two of my favorite ships. I stan Taylor and Grim. They are both good beings.
@teacupfulofstarshine’s Lovely, Dark and Deep AU. An Analogical AU with Mer!Logan?? Yes please!! Did I mention I love mermaid AUs?? Anyways, this one is so detailed, and amazing.
Also @teacupfulofstarshine’s FBI AU. This AU got me into shipping Logince full force. I love everything about this from Virgil being over protective of his brother to Logan and Roman being disaster gays. I stan one awesome Star Mom.
@insanelycoolish’s band AU, This Love-Hate Relationship. I love these disaster gays so much. Between Roman pinning after Virgil and Logan completely infatuated with Patton. Oh and the Remas hurt/comfort that starts their relationship. And Declan (Deceit) being adorably confused by Beckett! Oh my stars!! I stan Finn the Fox.
@sanders-creatures-au Another fantasy AU I ABSOLUTELY love!! It’s still fairly new but it’s still amazing. It’s a mythology mash-up. Cervitaur!Patton, Harpy!Virgil, Mer/Undine!Logan, and Siren!Roman. It fits them. All of their designs are amazing, even though we haven’t see Ro’s yet. I stan the awesome content creator behind this.
@residentanchor‘s powers AU, A Lesson in Practicality. The story is so GOOD!! The dialoge and dynamics between everyone is so well writen. Their powers fit them so well. Patton making copies of himself and being an empath works so well. Logan being a mind reader and have telekenisis is so him. Roman basically being a human battery and magnet so quite shocking. Virgil controlling time is amazing. Also, @robinsdraw animated part of it and they LOOK SO STINKING GOOD!! I stan this Celery.
@robinsdraw’s @robinsdownside. This is so good and I love it. Between the animations and written stuff, there’s so much stuff to love. Robin’s art and writing is just amazing. I stan this wonderful person.
@fibi-draws‘ Moxiety Mer Au. This is so cute, and I love it. It also got me into shipping Moxiety romantically. Noodle is adorable, and so is Dee. Roman just seems like an asshole but who knows if that is actually how he is. I just love their designs and this whole AU to pieces. I stan this amazing content creater.
@randomslasher‘s Mer Au. I love these boys. They are so adorable, and such a G R E A T famILY. I love LAMP/CALM in all forms. The different takes on what the boys look are the reason why I love mer AUs, I honestly think this one is my favorite one. I stan LJ.
@sandersdogs Side as dogs?? Uhm YES!! I love this. The kind of dogs definitely fit the boys. Especially Virgil. I own a pitbull. And yes he looks mean and fierce, but he is like the sweetest thing ever. I stan the creater of this awesome AU.
@curlyq-art‘s @ask-virgil-vlogs which is a High School AU. I just love this so much. These boys are amazing and deserve love. Also Deceit with vitiligo in Human AU is my favorite thing ever. I love it.
Also @curlyq-art‘s @themarchingsides AU. Another High School AU. These boys are good, and another AU where I ABSOLUTELY LOVE Deceit’s design. I mean De with blonde hair is something I didn’t needed in my until I seen this.
I might as well throw this one in too because I love it as much as the others, even though I am a part of this one.
@scripted-sides-podcast which was started by @the-prince-and-the-emo. I would sit here and say how much I love the writing but that would might come cross weird. I will how ever complement the VAs (voice actors). I’ve only heard Roman’s and Logan’s (@socially-awkward-noodle and @jesuisfabulous respectively), but them are amazing.
I think sometimes they forget they’re dealing with an ocean monster :D
Regardless, Patton is so proud of his newest son. Deceit is slowly but surely starting to learn English... you know, in the same way that a pet would. They don’t know if he has the capacity to manipulate human speech yet, but no doubt Patton will probably find out sooner or later~
Okay, so originally I was going to draw Deceit as a merman, then I thought “Nah just make him a sea snake lol”
Because brain :D
Anyway, in this AU, Roman, Logan, Virgil, and Thomas are all marine biologists. Their lab is partially underwater as both aesthetic and study purposes.
One day, they decide to bring their friend, Patton, to the lab because they had to pick something up on the way to... something (details, details~) and Patton ends up coming across this peculiar serpent looking merman. He tries to tell the others what he saw, but the merman is gone before they come.
Some other days later while they’re doing research, they start to see this glimmer of gold, but they’re never able to catch what it is. It’s been a month now. They’ve started to name the thing Deceit, because as soon as they try to catch a glimpse of it, it’s gone.
Patton ends up visiting again, and once the four of them aren’t paying attention, Deceit sneaks up to the glass once again. It starts to examine this strange human on the other side, and Patton puts his hands up to the glass. In awe, Deceit ends up matching his fingers perfectly, just as the other four end up turning and catching the sight.
That background itself took about 3 hours to complete. It’s the most satisfied with a background I’ve been in a while.
Also, don’t listen to underwater sounds for mood music. It goes from whale to horror movie in 0.5 seconds (or at least mine did).
Yeah, this is quick and nothing special really, but I thought it was fun to write. Just something to entertain me while I distract myself from getting ready for work :)
Parings: N/A (just a lot of platonic goodness)
Main Characters: Patton, Deceit, Thomas, Virgil, Roman, Logan
Warnings: Nothing really. This is rather chilll.
Word Count: 2294
Summary:
Roman forgets his sunblock at the marine biology lab, and the group heads of to find it. Patton, however, finds something better.
-
“Okay, everyone’s buckled in back there, right?” Thomas asked as he turned around in the driver’s seat.
Unsurprisingly enough, Virgil had already plugged in headphones, and Roman was updating his social media and not paying attention. Patton, however, who was sandwiched in the middle of them to keep peace in the back seat, flashed a thumbs up.
“Ready whenever you are, kiddo,” Patton answered.
Thomas passed a glance over at Logan, who gave him a curt nod.
“Oh isn’t this exciting!” Roman mused as he turned off his phone. “Finally, we’re going white river rafting. I can’t think of anything more exhilarating than battling through waves on a giant watery roller coaster of fury.”
“Not to mention the beautiful pinophyta trees that line the riverside,” Logan added.
Thomas backed the car out of his driveway and started their journey down the road. The sunrise set the sky into a swirl of cotton candy sweetness as birds lined the wires and observed cars like the morning news.
“Wait!” Roman shouted out, making Thomas slam on the breaks rather hard at a stop sign. The car behind them gave a shrill beep of their horn. Virgil jolted forward, and an earbud fell out of his ear. His head darted around the car.
“What happened? Did we crash? Is everyone okay?” Virgil asked. All eyes turned on Roman, and Virgil grumbled, “I should’ve known it had something to do with you.”
“My sunblock. I left it back at the lab. We have to go get it,” Roman informed.
“You made Thomas slam on the breaks for a bottle of sunblock?” Virgil asked.
“Um, yes,” Roman retorted. Thomas shook his head as he pulled through the stop sign and drove down the road. Roman continued, “You know what looks good on me? Almost everything. You know what doesn’t look good on me? Sunburn. And wrinkles. I’m not going to turn into the California Raisin because I didn’t apply sunscreen and got premature wrinkles at the age of 30.”
Logan rolled his eyes. “The chances of you getting that many wrinkles in four months are slim to none.”
Patton put a hand to Roman’s shoulder and spoke, “It’s okay, Roman. You can borrow some of my sunblock.”
“Thank you but you don’t understand,” Roman said, “I need my sunblock. My skin will break out in a rash if I wear anything else.”
“We can just stop at the store and get you a new bottle,” Virgil mumbled.
“But still,” Roman whined as he flopped onto the back of Logan’s seat, wrapping his arms around it and squishing his cheek against the headrest, “Thomas, can we please go get it? I’ll die if I end up burning.”
Thomas sighed through his nose. “Well, I guess. The lab is only 20 minutes from here.”
“Are you kidding me?” Virgil grumbled. Roman shot him a dirty look.
“Now, Virgil,” Patton spoke in the middle, “Roman wouldn’t make us wait any more than we had to. He’s been excited about this for about a month.”
“Besides, I think it’s about time we showed Patton the lab,” Roman said.
Logan perked up at the thought. “That’s the best idea you’ve had in a while.”
“Thank you!” Roman paused. “Wait-”
“We’ve always wanted to introduce Patton to the world of science we all love and cherish, and there’s no better time than when the whole lab is shut down. We can give him an in-depth tour of the underwater lab and allow him to observe the ocean behind the safety of polymethyl methacrylate.”
“Just say plexiglass like a normal person,” Virgil grumbled.
“Sounds like a whale of a time,” Patton mused.
“Then it’s settled!” Roman announced.
Virgil shook his head but made no comment. Thomas turned off the road and onto the highway that would take them to the marine biology lab they all worked at.
The whole way, Patton bounced in his seat. He didn’t particularly pay attention to how they got into the lab or where they were, but he knew the four of his friends used special key cards to get almost everywhere.
After a short elevator ride down, the five of them walked into an underwater observatory surrounded by glass and ocean. Patton’s jaw dropped as he walked in. Fish swam by the windows as if it were just another coral reef. Patton rushed over to one of the viewing panes and pressed his fingertips against them.
“Please keep your hands off,” Virgil ordered. “I just washed off the fingerprints from the last tour group that went through here.”
“Sorry,” Patton mumbled and took his fingers off the glass.
“Right, I’ll leave you three here and go get the sunblock,” Roman spoke as he swiped his card key on one of the access doors.
“I’ll come with you,” Logan spoke. “I’d like to make sure the files I entered saved properly last night. I’d hate for months of research to meet its end because of a technological malfunction.”
“Which is why I write everything out on paper,” Virgil said.
Patton sat down on the floor and stared out into the ocean in awe. Tiny fish swam up to the glass and darted to the left. His eyes lit up like a child in an aquarium.
Thomas smiled as he watched Patton become completely saturated in his own curiosity. He turned to Virgil.
“Hey, Virge, you mind helping me out in the rehabilitation room? I want to check on Beth.”
“And leave Patton alone in here?” Virgil asked.
“He’ll be fine,” Thomas spoke. “Besides, how much trouble can he get into sitting and staring at fish?”
Virgil bit his thumbnail and watched Patton. A rather large fish swam up against the glass, making Patton yelp and jump backward. Still, Patton watched the large fish swim up to the top, his cheeks alight with a smile. It spread its way over to Virgil’s heart, and Virgil let a small smile slip onto his face as well.
“I guess he’ll be fine for a minute or two,” Virgil spoke, “but we come right back as soon as we’re done.”
“Of course,” Thomas replied. They informed Patton of their plan, who waved them off with a word of reassurance.
The silence of the observing deck and ocean waves outside eased all of Patton’s tense muscles. He put his hands on his ankles and watched the coral reefs flash with all sorts of different colors.
What he wouldn’t give to work here instead of being a cashier at the local food market. I mean, sure, it had its perks as well, but to sit here and stare at the ocean all day? That was a dream for him. Unfortunately, he’d never make it through college, or he’d be here. After all, he met the other four while out scuba diving, and they bonded over their love of the ocean.
A glimmer of gold flashed through the reef. Patton honed in on the color. He inched a little closer to the glass, and the gold disappeared into the coral.
“I wonder what that was,” Patton mumbled to himself.
He watched more fish swim about the reef, forgetting instantly about what he just saw. After a few seconds, he saw the glimmer of gold once again, and Patton got as close to the glass as he could without putting nose prints all over it.
A face popped up on the other side of the glass in front of him. Patton yelped and fell backward onto his bottom. The person on the other side backed up as well. They swam around in a circle and wrapped their long tail around them.
Wait.
Tail?
Patton blinked and scooted closer to the glass once again.
The person in front of him blinked back, its heterochromatic eyes staring at him. What looked like thick red eyeliner surrounded one brown eye and one gold eye. Its dusty brown hair swirled atop its head like seaweed, Most of its torso was the color of pale skin but shimmered like a thousand tiny scales. Its tail, which was long enough to wrap around its own body twice, sparkled like a million gold coins. Instead of looking like a merman’s tail, it had fins on the top and bottom that ran all the way to the tip, much like an eel.
“Hello there,” Patton spoke through the glass. “I’m Patton.”
The creature stared back at him. It slowly unraveled its tail from its own body and drifted a little closer to the glass until they were nearly face to face again.
“What’s your name?” Patton asked as if expecting an answer.
The merfish- merman- (mermeel?)- blinked back and tilted its head to the side much like a confused puppy. Patton couldn’t help but smile.
The mereel watched Patton bare his teeth and flinched back. It darted back into the reefs with a high pitched whine and out of sight.
“Oh no, I’m sorry!” Patton spoke and pressed his hands against the glass. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Please come back.”
Patton scanned the reef for any type of movement. The longer he waited, the more his shoulders sagged in defeat. He wondered what he did to scare it. Maybe it saw Patton smiling with his teeth as an act of aggression. He scolded himself for being so careless.
Patton rested his head against the cool glass and sighed. He made a mental note to wipe the fingerprints from the glass later so Virgil wouldn’t be upset.
A light clicking noise brought Patton’s head up once again. His eyes widened as the mereel studied him again, its brows furrowed in concentration. It seemed to take an interest in the hand Patton pressed up against the window.
Patton drew his fingers back, and the mereel’s gaze followed it. He waved his hand back and forth, watching its head shake from side to side as it followed the movement. Patton smiled, but this time he made sure to keep his teeth hidden.
“You like my hand?” Patton asked and chuckled at his own joke.
The mereel took its attention off Patton’s hand and returned to his eyes. It held up its hand and spread its clawed fingers wide, revealing a thin yellow web between them. The mereel squished its fingers together and drew them apart several times.
“Oh, no, I don’t have webbed fingers,” Patton said and spread his fingers apart for emphasis. It looked rather distressed with the revelation. Patton continued, “I wasn’t built for swimming like you.”
Patton gazed into its eyes, which didn’t seem to blink at all, and he felt a strange emotion in his chest. Curiosity? Excitement? Loneliness? Patton put a hand on his heart. Where did all that come from?
The door to the research bay opened, and Patton turned to catch Logan and Roman arguing about something.
“Guys, come here, quick!” Patton spoke. “You have to see-”
A soon as Patton looked back, the stranger had disappeared from the window and disappeared without a trace. Roman and Logan stood at Patton’s side.
Logan hummed and informed, “Ah yes, the green sea turtle, truly a remarkable reptile. My guess is that it’s a female getting ready to or already nested on the beach since it’s rare to see one this close to the shore otherwise.”
Patton’s smile fell. He saw the sea turtle gliding through the ocean at a distance. Sure, the turtle was beautiful, but that wasn’t what caught his interest.
“Well, shall we get back on track to our grand adventure?” Roman asked as he gently shook the suntan lotion bottle in his hand.
Patton looked back at the glass, and he wished he could see that glimmer of gold one last time. It’d probably be the only time he’d ever get to see it again.
“Of course. We’ve held off our endeavor long enough,” Logan spoke.
Roman patted Patton’s shoulder and said, “I know how it is staring at the ocean. It’s easy to get lost in thought, but it’s time to move on.”
“Okay,” Patton admitted in defeat. He stared at the glass for a little while longer before following Roman and Logan out of the door to the top level of the lab.
Back in the ocean, the long eel-like merman swam back up to the glass. He pressed his webbed fingers up against it and studied the area on the other side. Strange lights flickered around the space every once and a while and distracted him, but the person he was looking for had vanished.
The mereel let out a short call resembling one of a dolphin. He hoped it would grab the strange creature’s attention. Nothing showed up in the space behind the invisible wall. He let out a longer squeal, spooking off a family of fish that congregated against the bottom of the large stone wall. Still, nothing answered.
He wanted to learn more about it. Sure, there were other creatures like it on the other side of the wall, but this one felt different. The others would watch the fish with a level of common familiarity and go about their business. They always spooked him to a certain level.
But this one? This one was friendly. He wasn’t sure why he could tell, but he could. There was a sympathetic connection as if the creature wasn’t used to seeing anything in the ocean.
The mereel’s eyes drooped, and he swam away from the glass. After a moment of waiting, he returned back to the glass and let out another cry for attention, hoping the stranger would come back.
The ocean’s waves answered but didn’t satisfy him.
With a disheartened whine, the mereel swam away from the glass and back to the lonely coral reef.
Parings: N/A (just a lot of platonic goodness)
Main Characters: Thomas, Virgil, Roman, Logan
Warnings: Minor injury, blood mention, crying, implied black eye
Word Count: 2814
Summary:
In which the four biologists keep seeing a glimmer of gold out of the corner of their eye, but they can’t figure out what it is. All they know is there’s something fishy going on.
-
Thomas sat beside the large plexiglass windows and took several deep breaths in. All that work... wasted. He let his head rest against the cool glass and blinked his eyes rapidly.
It wasn’t fair. He worked so hard on his report only for it to get stolen under his nose. How could he be so careless? He brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them.
Fish of all colors passed by the glass without a care in the world. Thomas wished more than anything to be one of those fish right now. He wished he could swim away from his problems. Fish had nothing to worry about besides eating and not getting eaten.
On second thought, maybe being a fish wasn’t as stress free as he thought.
Thomas sighed, and he looked away from the glass. He wiped a tear from his eye and stared down at his hands. There had to be something he could do, some way that he could prove all that hard work was his.
The ocean shimmered beside him, catching his eye for a moment. He looked back into the water and caught sight of something golden on the ocean floor. Thomas blinked several times. He cleared the tears and sighed.
It seemed the gold glimmer was just a part of his imagination.
Thomas watched several fish swim by the window of all shapes and sizes. What he didn’t expect, however, was some diver coming face to face with him.
Thomas jumped back and put a hand on his heart. Who the heck was opening their eyes up underwater? Where was their scuba gear?
The person on the other side squinted at him and stuck out their tongue. Thomas’s eyes widened. Their tongue was long and forked, much like a snake’s tongue.
“Oh my goodness gracious,” Thomas whispered as he watched them swim away. It wasn’t a person at all, but- no that couldn’t be right. Merpeople didn’t exist.
The door to the observatory opened, and Thomas took his eyes away from the glass. Virgil walked up beside Thomas, a full coffee cup in his hand and his eye turning a suspicious shade of pink around the brow.
“Hey Virgil,” Thomas whispered.
Virgil sent him a lopsided smile and stared back out at the reef. Thomas turned his attention back. He hoped to see the strange fish he saw before, but it disappeared. His shoulders deflated a bit.
“Hey,” Virgil answered, his voice scratchy. He took a deep breath in and released it soon after. “Just want to say, sorry.”
“For what?” Thomas said with a light laugh. “You didn’t steal my reports.”
“No, but it shouldn’t have happened. And I swear it won’t happen again.”
Thomas furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to ask, but Virgil cut him off.
“I might have threatened Jameson if he did that again I’d do worse than break his nose.”
“You did what?”
“Roman helped, but yeah.”
“You guys didn’t have to start a fight with him for me. You can both get in serious trouble for it.”
“He wouldn’t dare, because he knows we’ll spill everything about the reports. We should’ve done it in the first place. Nah, I’d rather the bastard suffer because he’s afraid of the consequences. Sometimes fear is a good teacher.”
Thomas shook his head and sighed. “I don’t condone violence, Virgil.”
“Good thing I do.”
“Virgil!”
“What? You can’t tell me he didn’t deserve it.” Virgil grumbled. Thomas sent him a disapproving stare, and Virgil shrugged. He continued, “Alright fine, if it makes you feel better, I wasn’t really planning on hitting him again.”
Virgil sent Thomas a quirked smile, and Thomas returned a light laugh.
“Thanks for sticking up for me though. I’m glad I have you to watch my back.”
Virgil shifted uncomfortably. He brought his hands up and said, “Look, I’m not a hugger, but if you need a hug-”
“Thanks but no thanks, Virge. I’ll get one from Patton later.”
Virgil sighed in relief.
Thomas turned his attention back to the reef. He asked, “Hey, have you seen anything weird out on the reef lately?”
“Like what?” Virgil said with a chuckle. “It’s the ocean. It’s full of weird things.”
“Like,” Thomas paused, “like things that look almost human.”
Virgil snorted. “Did you accidentally drink salt water again?”
“No,” Thomas retorted. He looked back at the glass. “I just thought I saw something strange is all.”
“The only strange thing out here I see is you.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” Virgil shook his head and patted Thomas on the shoulder. “Why don’t you head home and get some rest? You could probably use it. Besides, the last place you should really be with an unclear head is here.”
Thomas took a deep breath and nodded his head. “Okay, I’m going to go gather my things and call it a day.”
Virgil watched Thomas return to the labs to no doubt say goodbye to Logan and Roman. He took a sip of his coffee and gazed out into the ocean. Part of Virgil shivered as he stared out into it, the fear of the unknown setting his adrenaline alight and goosebumps all over his body. The other half wanted to learn what exactly was out there so he knew how to at least stop himself from getting eaten when the planet was overrun by ocean one day.
Virgil took a sip of his coffee. The warmth chased the goosebumps on his skin away.
A large yellow tail slapped across the glass. Virgil choked on his coffee. Brown splatters of coffee and spit coated the glass, and Virgil cursed as some splashed onto his shirt and burned his chest. Just his luck.
What kind of asshole fish was that?
Virgil grumbled to himself as he walked back to a sink to wash out his shirt. It must’ve been his imagination, but he could’ve sworn he heard someone laughing as he walked away from the empty observatory.
--
“Roman, you’re not going to believe this,” Logan mumbled as he stared at the monitor. Roman rolled back in his chair and stared at the screen in front of him.
“What, did an octopus steal your camera again?” Roman asked with a chuckle.
“No, not this time,” Logan replied. He adjusted his seat and backed up the video. Roman leaned in and rested his elbow on the back of Logan’s chair.
Logan instructed, “Watch carefully.”
At first, nothing looked out of the ordinary. There was a sea turtle that got really close, sparking Roman’s interest for a few moments. He never got over how graceful they looked in the water compared to on land. Though, no one truly lived until they watched a dozen turtles bulldoze their way through the sand and into the home they were destined to be in.
Logan paused the video and Roman furrowed his brow.
“Did you see it?” Logan asked.
“See what?” Roman’s eyes darted all over the screen.
Logan sighed through his nose and backed up the video. He waited for a few moments then hit the pause button.
“There, right there,” Logan said as he pointed to the screen.
Roman squinted. From what he could see, a long eel-like shadow swam in the background. Roman nodded his head.
“It’s huge,” he said.
“It’s also not like any eel I’ve seen,” Logan replied. “Take a look at where the subpharyngeal gland should be.”
Roman leaned in and squinted at the shadow. His mouth drew into a small “o” shape.
“Is that… that looks like a long fin of some sort,” Roman spoke.
“Precisely. I’ve never seen anything like it. For one, eels don’t have pelvic fins, so there’s no way anything even remotely resembling a fin should be there. And besides, at that distance, the eel should not be that size. It has to be about thirty feet long.”
Roman let out a low whistle.
Logan continued, “I believe this may be a new species of eel, or perhaps a distant cousin in the Anguilliformes order.”
“Does it show up on the video anywhere else?” Roman asked.
“Sadly, no,” Logan answered, “but I’d like to keep an eye out for it. Perhaps if we’re lucky it’ll drift by the camera once again and give us a better look at it.”
Roman rubbed the side of his face. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and then opened it again.
“You know, Pat did say-”
“Utter nonsense,” Logan snapped. “You know as well as I that there is no such thing as merpeople. They’re fisherman tales.”
Roman sighed. He stared back at the monitor, watching it over and over with Logan. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps it was some sort of new eel. However, in the back of Roman’s mind, he couldn’t help but feel there was a little too much humanity in the way it moved.
--
Roman sat over the side of his rail as he adjusted his mask. Virgil fiddled with the underwater camera to make sure it was working correctly and handed it over to Logan.
“We’ll be back as soon as we ghost over the reef,” Logan spoke. “It should only take a few minutes.”
“Yeah, yeah, just get your butts up here so Thomas doesn’t worry too much about you,” Virgil grumbled.
“Aww, don’t worry, Black Gayrade, we’ll be back before you can worry yourself into the grave,” Roman said with a wink.
Virgil picked up his foot and kicked Roman square in the chest, knocking him over the side of the boat and into the water with a light cry.
Logan shook his head and spoke, “Your endless childish shenanigans will never cease to sound like an elderly married couple, will it?”
“I can kick you off the boat too if you want,” Virgil said with a shrug.
“No that’s quite alright,” Logan responded and adjusted himself on the rail. He crossed his arms and fell backward into the water.
Logan swam down to Roman’s side, who glared up in Virgil’s general direction at the moment. Logan rolled his eyes and motioned for Roman to follow him.
The two divers found themselves within a school of yellowtail snappers and passed over the coral reef. Since their last adventure 8 months ago, the reef hadn’t changed all that much, which was a good thing.
Logan stopped to let a few Angelfish pass in front of him, and when he looked back, Roman disappeared. He turned his head about left and right, but the other diver was nowhere to be seen.
Logan continued down the reef, keeping his eyes open for any signs that the reef would be in danger. An octopus rolled along the ocean floor, distracting him for a moment. Its grace never ceased to amaze him. However, after his wrestling match a few years back, he learned to keep a rather safe distance.
A large shriek cut through the ocean. Logan flinched and tried to figure out what made the noise. It almost sounded like a dolphin but was much more aggravated and high pitched. Logan heard it again and started swimming over to the source.
As he made it to a rock’s edge, Roman popped up over the side swimming to the surface at a rapid rate. Logan followed him as fast as he could. He surfaced a few seconds later to a coughing Roman.
“What happened?” Logan asked and swam to check for any sort of injuries.
Roman threw his mask off, his eyes wide. His lips failed to form coherent words, and he grabbed onto Logan’s shoulders as he got close.
“You’re never going to believe what I saw down there,” Roman managed to speak between his coughing.
Thomas and Virgil pulled up beside them with the boat, Virgil doing all but falling over the rail to help them up. Roman hissed as Virgil pulled him over the side, and he reached down to ghost his fingers over four large gashes in his side.
“What the hell is that?” Virgil shouted as he helped Roman out of his gear. “Are you trying to send me to an early grave? What happened? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I think,” Roman responded.
“My word,” Thomas whispered as he looked over the scratches on Roman’s torso, “are those claw marks?”
Roman’s eyes lit up. “You-you’re never going to- I mean I still can’t believe- it was incredible!”
“Slow down,” Thomas urged.
Roman took a deep breath, held it for a second, then let it out. “I think I just had a grand battle to the death with a mermaid over a manatee.”
“You’re kidding,” Virgil spoke with a dead expression.
“I would never kid about something like this,” Roman responded. “There I was, minding my own business on the reef, when I saw this thing thrashing about at the bottom of the ocean. Of course, I had to see for myself what all the fuss was about. Then, as I’m getting closer, I see it’s a manatee trapped in a plastic fishing net, the frightened mammal struggling with all its might to free itself from the wastes of humanity.”
“Poor thing,” Thomas whispered.
Virgil asked, “Did you get it free?”
“I’m getting there!” Roman snapped. He regained his composure and continued, “So, like the true chivalrous prince of the ocean I am, I swam down to assist it. At least, I tried to. It appears I wasn’t the only knight in the water. One minute I was attempting to unravel the net and the next a blunt force of a thousand barracudas rammed into my side and severed me from the manatee.”
Roman ghosted his fingers over the gash on his side. His voice grew gentle.
“I never saw something so gorgeous in all my life. Its whole body glistened in the water like a thousand golden gemstones.”
“So what happened afterward?” Thomas asked.
Roman gave a weak chuckle. “I swam to the surface as soon as I could. My assailant knocked the air mask out of my mouth, and I had to resurface quickly or I’d run out of air.”
“And the manatee?” Logan questioned.
“As far as I know, it’s still at the bottom of the ocean,” Roman grimaced. “I’m going back down after it.”
“The hell you are!” Virgil snapped. “You have a bleeding gash on the side of your chest. You’re lucky a shark didn’t smell you. There’s no way you’re going back down there.”
“Then I will,” Logan offered.
“No one is going back down there,” Virgil snapped. “We’re going back to the lab and making sure whatever scratched Roman wasn’t poisonous or something.”
“Venomous,” Logan responded.
“What?”
“Unless Roman bit the fish in question, it’s not poisonous. It’s venomous.”
“I really couldn’t give two flying fish tails right now,” Virgil growled. He turned his attention back to Thomas. “Start the boat. We’re getting out of here.”
Thomas watched Virgil with an uneasy expression. “But, Virgil, that manatee is still down there. Someone has to go help it.”
“I-” Virgil stopped as a splash interrupted him. He turned quickly to catch Roman leaning over the side of the boat calling out Logan’s name. Virgil let out a sharp curse and joined him at the edge.
Meanwhile, Logan dove down as quickly as he could. He should have plenty of air in his tank to get him to the ocean floor and back. Now it was only a matter of finding the manatee in question.
Logan stopped halfway down. He caught a glimmer of gold pass by in the corner of his eye. After turning around in a complete circle wondering if it was just a trick of the light or if he actually saw this supposed merperson that everyone kept talking about, he continued his dive back down to the bottom.
What Logan discovered was a net torn to shreds and no manatee in sight. He picked up pieces of the debris, clutched a sample in his hand, and swam back up to the surface to reveal his discovery with the others.
“You!” Virgil yelled as he pulled Logan over the side. “I’m banning you from going out on a field study for the next fifty years!”
Logan took the air valve from his mouth. “I think I found the remains of the net.”
All four biologists gathered around the boat to examine what Logan found.
“It looks… chewed,” Roman informed.
“You think whatever attacked Roman tried to eat the manatee?” Thomas asked.
“There was no trace of blood around the net,” Logan informed, “and no sign of the manatee’s body whatsoever around it.”
“So what, this thing attacks Roman then releases a manatee?” Virgil summarized.
Logan looked back into the ocean. “Yes, Virgil, I believe that’s exactly what happened. I may not believe we’re dealing with a merperson, but we are definitely not dealing with an ordinary fish.”
After talking to @sweetest-honeybee I decided to change up the fins on the ears. In my opinion, it looks much better that way as well. :)
On a side note, please feel free to critique me. I’m not a perfect artist, and I promise I’ll at least consider it. I might not agree, but I do appreciate people who help me try to improve. That’s how I got where I am today <3
I also really wanted to see that smile colored >w>
Tagging this as body horror again because my boy’s smile is so creepy it’s cute :3
