#mermaid!john

[minky-for-short]

Sketch commission for one @ninyaaaaaaah

Laurette featuring Mer!John and Lafayette taking a bubble bath. 

I hope you like it <33

My Ko-fi

[junosartofgayz]

A soft chubby Mer!Laurens based off of a commission I got from @lauwurens !! I’m actually really proud of this one lmao

[xkozakana-blog]

Submerge pt 2

Merstuck!ectoBiologist [EB] joined chat. ~~ 1 ~~

turntechGodhead [TG] joined chat. ~~ 2 ~~

TG: Dave sighs once he’s out of the cave, relief washingover him, along with something like... regret? That wasn’t it, but it was the closest he could get to describe the emotion. He wanted to go back and stay near the mer he’d been watching, but the sun was setting. He needed to go. Further down the beach he stumbled across his red messenger bag and snagged it from the sand, hanging it over his shoulders. The rest of his group was just a little further down, and they’d obviously been waiting for him. He gets a couple annoyed looks from the younger kids, but no one really asks where he’d been, and for that, he’s glad.

EB: John sleeps peacefully in the patch of sea grass, comfortable and calm beneath the ebbing and flowing waves. The cave entrance and all was far enough underground that tides didn’t ever effect it so there was no worry about waking up on solid ground or anything unpleasant like that. The moon casts a gentle light down on the pool, making john's scales shimmer beneath the water as he peacefully sleeps, thankful for the lack of dreams. Whenever he dreamed it was always to replay memories, nightmares of his past that always left him exhausted when he woke up even after long hours spent resting.

TG: Dave’s night went similarly to the previous one, with Dave showering and going straight to bed, wondering when they would be going to the beach the next day. He knew how to find the boy now, but should he try to? Was that weird? He was concerned, yeah, but he wanted to see the mer again too. Not just to make sure he as alright, but just to see him. Dave pushed his face into the pillows and sighed, before slipping into an uneasy sleep.

EB: John woke up as the sun rose and stretched, wincing a bit at how sore his tail was. Curiously he began swimming towards the exit to his cave and found it a slow and painful process that left him trembling once he had made it outside. With that knowledge he knew there was no way he could catch anything, just like he'd feared. The injured mer ignored his stomach the best he could and wiggled his way back into the cave, bandages how ragged and falling off, probably not planning to stick around for too much longer. Once back inside he curls up in the grass, trying to quiet his anxiety. Spending a few hours in his cave home was fine with him, knowing he had to stay here all day made his nerves fray a bit, that and his hunger left him restless and circling the pool slowly.

TG: and of course, despite everything he told himself not to do, Dave made his way back to the cave the next morning, new things stuffed into his messenger bag. He paused on the way when he caught a glimpse of something shining on a familiar looking rock, and not too long after, Dave was once again in possession of his shades, and he was sporting a smile as he quietly slipped into the rocky cave. He stayed inside the crevice at first, checking back in his bag, wondering if he’d brought the right shit. The boy lived in water, so Dave could only assume he ate fish. He also hoped the kitchen staff at the hotel didn’t mind a few of their fresh fish going missing that morning.

EB: He couldn't help but poke at the bandages, feeling the frayed fabric rub against his injuries in a fairly unpleasant way though he couldn't yet decide whether to take them off or not. Being underwater also meant he couldn’t really hear the quiet noises of someone arriving and with how the tunnel to the land curved he couldn't see anyone either. His head broke the surface and he huffed in frustration, ear fins twitching and a pout on his face. Why did he have to have such rotten luck, he very rarely ran into sharks on this secluded stretch of beach and usually they ignored him. He touched tenderly at his injury and whimpered, the noise echoing a little in the cave.

TG: dave moved again at the pained whimpering sound, feet scuffling a bit through the sand as he entered the cave, damp newspapers wrapped up tightly around the fish he held in his hands. It didn’t look like the mer had noticed him yet and Dave took a moment to examine the boy, his pouting face and faintly flared fins on the side of his head. Dave had his camera in his sylladex, and wondered if he would be able to get a picture of the mer. then he wondered if he even should. He ignored that for now, and softly cleared his throat to alert the other to his presence.

EB: John had been decently distracted before the sound of a throat clearing alerted him to another's presence. Instantly his fins flared and his markings jumped to his skin, his blue taking on a sort of glowing sheen as he moved a safe distance from the land, just out of the human, Dave’s, reach. From there he watched curiously, trying to figure out what it was the other had come back for. He saw him carrying a black and white paper he'd seen humans looking at before but had no idea as to what was in it. His sense of smell was fairly weak above the water, maybe the same as humans, and with the smell of salt and sea filling the cave already he couldn't pick out any smells coming from the thing the human held. He watched the other nervously but already his markings were dulling a little.

TG: he didn’t know what the glowing thing was about, but already it was obvious it came up when the mer was scared. But when the blue glow began to fade, Dave slowly moved forward, up to the edge of the water where he knelled down on one knee, unwrapping the fish he’d gotten. He set both down on the sand just inside the water and wadded the newspaper back up, stuffing it into his messenger bag while he moved back to the cave wall, giving the boy some more space. He couldn’t see from this distance really, but it looked like the bandages on his tail were fucked up already.

EB: The mer tilted is head a little as he watched Dave place something in the shallow end of the pool before noticing what it was. He so hoped this wasn’t a trap because he was so hungry right now. After a few moments he decided he'd have to risk it, praying that the human's earlier kindness meant he wasn’t going to drug him or anything like that. He moved closer cautiously, watched the other the whole time before reaching out and grabbing the fish. He began ripping into it, trying his best to keep it out of the water. With this being his home, he didn’t want the smell of the fish lure anything into his cave. Once the fish was basically nothing but bones he puts it on land near where he'd gotten it and settles on looking at Dave. He'd a little glad to see the other had found his shades where john had left them the day before. As he settles he notices that the bandages are really falling off and are irritating him, making him begin picking at them again.

TG: "dude no don’t do that" Dave speaks without thinking and moves forward, just a couple of feet closer. Not close enough to touch the mer, but enough that he quickly makes himself step back before he can risk scaring the boy off again. Watching him eat that fish had been... Interesting, really, seeing the sharp teeth in such a human like face. Dave wanted to keep watching him, but he had a feeling that it was weird enough he had come back. At least the boy had eaten though, since it didn’t look like he’d be finding food on his own for a while.

EB: John stops what he's doing, looking back towards the boy who'd spoke up before pouting a bit, the stuff was itchy and irritating and he really just kind of wanted it off. The fact that john didn't immediately bolt was a testament to how much john was slowly becoming more comfortable with the human. With his upper half out of the water, the gills on his sides barely submerged, it was obvious that john was thin. He was still pretty young to be out on his own, not yet having reached the thirty year point that marked the end of growth for mer. As such he wasn't nearly as fast as many others which made catching things much harder, making him spend more energy for much less reward. Up until this point he hadn't been starving but he had been often hungry, now he was sort of screwed.

TG: Dave hesitated, then slowly began to move closer, speaking softly the entire time. "Alright so I know you’re probably scared and hungry and I doubt you like me getting up in your cave and shit, but you saved me and I didn’t just want to leave you on your own, because that’d be a pretty shitty thing to do. I can help you and stuff but it’s going to take some time for you to heal up, so I can bring you food like I did today and I can keep your tail bandaged if you’ll let me, but I get it if you don’t want me to. I do need to get those off, because I don’t want you to hurt yourself on them because they’re ripped up and shit." by the time he stops speaking he’s at the edge of the water, knelled down slightly to make himself seem smaller in hopes that would help the other relax.

EB: John blinks, a little surprised by the other's words. The other sounded reasonable enough which he thought was a bit weird for a human really but then again, it could still be a trick. Forcing down the thought he swallowed hard and moved towards the other just a little more, markings flailing slightly with a spike of fear but he kept moving, pushing his tail towards the other with his upper body staying more into the water, barely lapping at his side gills. He definitely wasn't anywhere near completely trusting the human but this was him trying to put a little trust in the other. He knew he needed help, there was a good chance of him starving to death or dying from infection with him on his own so he was pretty desperate at this point, pushing him to do that.

TG: Dave takes a deep breath, trying to remain calm and relaxed as he extends his hands to the mers tail. He keeps his touch gentle as he unwraps the bandages, wincing sympathetically at the red and irritated gashes that had broken up the shimmering blue of his scales. Dave snapped the top of the first aid kit open and took out an antiseptic pad, unwrapping it before gently pressing it against the boy’s wounds, watching carefully to make sure he wasn’t causing too much discomfort with the stinging antibiotic shit. "I’m sorry this probably hurt, but I promise its helping you"

EB: John watches him cautiously, flinching here and there but otherwise trying to force himself to stay still. He scoots back a little bit to get his gills a bit more submerged before settling again. It’s obvious that he's beginning to relax a little bit by how his markings are slowly fading bit by bit, never disappearing and sometimes flaring but for the most part they are lighter than they have been. They flare bright when the antiseptic touches skin, hissing out a breath and twitching his tail, nearly knocking the boy into the water when he does. Even injured like this his tail can do some serious damage.

TG: Dave digs his hand into the sand before he can be knocked back, but he isn’t able to hide his face from the lashing fin on the end of the tail. He can feel a stinging heat on his cheek where it must have hit, and a warm trickle of blood dripping down from it. He was surprised, cherry eyes wide behind his shades as he turned them back to the boy, biting down on his lip for a moment. Harmed as the boy was, he was still dangerous. dave wiped his face on his sleeve and got back to what he was doing, trying to be more gentle now to avoid more tail lashing.

EB: John bites his lip when he notices the flick of his tail had injured the other, ducking his head just a little bit in silent apology and trying to make himself calm down. He just had been surprised by how much it stung but he still felt bad. He had to remember that humans were weaker than mer, they relied on weapons and other evil things while mers survived on pure strength and smarts. The blue eyed mer sort of wants to apologize but part of him his hesitant to speak to the other, if he stayed quiet then the boy may think he can’t speak at all, there would be no weird questions asked or anything and he wouldn’t have to try to force himself to answer them. Speaking above water wasn’t something most mer were any good at and he personally was really self-conscious of his voice. It sounded so different from humans. So he stayed silent and kept himself as still as he could manage, trying to convey an apology.

TG: Dave doesn’t really get the apology, but he doesn’t seem too bothered by the injury either. Instead, he begins to stroke the side of the mers tail soothingly as he dabs the antiseptic pad to the gashes, attempting to help calm the boy as he cleans the wounds as thoroughly as possible. It doesn’t take long now that the boy is still, and he wipes his face again before snagging the cotton pads and the roll of gauze. He glances up, catching sight of those blue eyes again. "… Alright so I guess you can understand me. Try not to pick at the bandages. I can wrap them so they won’t fall off when you swim, but if you scrape them on the rocks or pick at them too much it could hurt you"

EB: He's relieved that the other doesn't seem angry at him for cutting him a little and relaxes after convincing himself that it was okay, he hadn't screwed up too bad. The mer sighs contently when the hand runs up and down the sides of his tail. Usually the scales turn out just a little when he's scared, part of his body's defense mechanism, but as he calms the scales fall smooth which happens after the light touch, even most of his markings are gone by the end of it. He's starting to think that maybe Dave wasn't that bad, it could be possible that not all humans are bad just like he himself wasn't a human hater like most of his species. He gives a smile of thanks and nods his head. It wasn't like he could really go anywhere right now anyways. Even bandaged up he wouldn't be able to go anywhere until healed back up or else he was asking to be caught or killed. A small frown touches his features as he thinks of having to spend so long in such a cramped area before twitching at the sound of a bell a little ways away. It was the sound of a fishing boat, rare around this area but they came by now and again. Now he was a little bit glad he was here, no risk of a net when he was hidden away at least.

TG: dave finishes with the last of the bandages fairly quickly, only taking a bit longer in the end to spend more time examining the mer. the scales, once they had flattened back down, were smooth to stroke, like hardened silk almost, and the color was just as vibrant as the beautiful fabric. Everything about this boy, really, was amazingly exotic and interesting to Dave. He took a moment to examine the mers face, the frown and the flinch when the bell tolled on a fishing boat somewhere off in the waves. He wished the mer could speak, communicate in some way other than expressions. But, at least he could understand Dave. "How much do you usually eat every day?"

EB: John frowns a little at the question, couldn't the guy just stick to yes or no or was he going to force you into charades. In the end he shrug his shoulders a little and moves his arms so his ribs are a bit more on display. The mer eats what he can catch so there isn't a set number and the ribs show that he doesn't get nearly enough to eat as he should. John actually is surprised with himself that he hasn't moved his tail yet, somewhere between the curiosity, the boat, and the gentle touches he somewhat forgot about it. It's getting a little dry so he pulls his tail back into the water, still keeping it closer to dave but pulled back a bit, still within the other's reach but at least its wet. Now it's john's turn to be a little curious. He makes an inquisitive face and points to Dave’s shades.

TG: Dave realizes his mistake a bit too late, internally cursing himself. He’d just bring what he could carry the next day, and hope it was enough. Besides, he could always go back. But now the boy was pointing at his shades, as if trying to ask about them. Slowly, Dave lifted his hands and slipped the shades off, blinking his cherry red eyes as they adjusted to the light. I have to hide my eyes a lot. Sunlight hurts them, and other people don’t like people with red eyes very much. Wearing these sunglasses helps fix both problems."

EB: John frowns a little at that, it must suck being sensitive to light and he didn’t really get why people didn’t like his eyes, they were a pretty cool color, they were almost the same color as the eyes of the mer royals and exotic as hell. Making a snap decision he reaches forward, snapping the shades out of the other's hand before slipping into the pool, dipping into it until submerged then coming up wearing Dave's shades over his own eyes and laughing a bit in his sing song voice, grinning.

TG: Dave blinked, eyes wide with surprise before he started to giggle, a hand moving up to cover his lips. The sound the mer had made was musical almost, and Dave wanted to hear more of it. He scooted up closer to the water, flicking a hand through it to splash the boy, who didn’t seem at all bothered by Dave unusual eyes. Then again, he was a fish boy. There were plenty of things that were odd in this situation already.

EB: John's grin turns mischievous when the other tries to splash him, you do not get in a splash fight with a mer. He slowly raises his tail out of the water, his tail closer to the boy with john balancing on his back. 'prepare to meet your maker' he thinks before smacking his tail down hard, completely drenching the boy before laughing his ass off in the same musical voice when he sees his handiwork.

TG: Dave considered getting the fuck out of the way when he watched the mer lift his tail, but instead he got caught up watching the way the water reflected light onto the scales. And, of course, Dave ended up with a face full of salt water and his ass getting smacked into the sand while he sputtered. The musical laugh after, though, kind of made it worth it. He rubbed the water out of his eyes and made a fake pouty face at the mer. "jeez I help you out and you splash me in the face. I can tell were going to be great friends"

EB: John grins at the other's words and it feels so good to interact with someone after such a long time. He does his best to ignore the pang of loneliness and just enjoy the moment. His tail throbs a little from flexing it and everything but for the most part it gets ignored in favor of swimming over and handing the guy back his shades. He doesn’t really want the other to wear them, it’s pretty dark in here and there is no reason to be wearing shades, but he figures giving them back would be a nice thing to do. While you’re over there you reach out of the water towards the bag the boy brought with him, curious.

TG: Dave starts to move the bag away, then he stops himself, letting the mer take the bag instead. It couldn’t really hurt anything, and besides, the boy was finally acting comfortable around dave, he tucked his shades into the collar of his shirt, leaving them off for now, because it was kind of nice to think the boy liked his eyes. He had no idea if that was true or not, but he liked the idea anyway.

EB: John is considerate enough to not take the bag into the water because he knew that human stuff tended to not enjoy getting wet which was weird but whatever. So he stays sitting on the sand as he looks around curiously, pulling out various things and putting them on the sand beside him. He keeps making little faces, having no idea what most of these things are. When it comes to a comb he tries to run it through his own hair and it gets stuck about half way through and he pouts and begins the careful process of trying to untangle it from his hair.

TG: Dave chuckles and gets up, dusting the sand off his ass as he approached the mer and took charge of the comb. He freed it fairly easily, then began to comb the boy’s hair, untangling it slowly but surely. There were bits of sand and seaweed in it, but none of that really bothered Dave, even the salty scent of water that clung to the boy’s skin didn’t bother him like it usually would.

EB: John is a little tense at first but calms down after a little while, making a pleasant little coo that he stops half way out of his throat and looks super embarrassed about. Once it’s over he runs his fingers through his hair and smiles a bit to himself before making a little gasp and pushing himself back into the water again, taking a few more breaths. Once he's confident that he can go up again he pulls himself back over towards the bag, tail trailing behind him as he sits down and begins looking at everything again. After the comb he doesn’t really recognize much. He does recognize the phone though drops it and jumps a little when it turns on. He'd seen a few of these on the ocean floor near the pier and humans always seemed upset when they dropped them into the water. He'd sometimes went over to them after the humans cleared out but none of them ever lit up like this. He looks to Dave more than a little confused.

TG: water proof cases were damn good things. He unlocks the phone and hands it back to the mer, sitting down next to him in the sand to explain how it worked, gently guiding the boy’s hands with his own. "This is a cell phone. I use it to communicate with other humans something, but mostly my bro. he’s kind of like my guardian. I play games on it and I use it to listen to music and shit too." to show off a little bit, dave opens his music app and hits play on a piano cover of one of his favorite songs.

EB: John watches all of it, amazed at what this thing could do. He watches as the thing moves around at slightest touch and everything keeps moving. When the music comes on his fins twitch up and he can’t help but start humming along. Even his humming is melodious, vibrating in his throat, sounding beautiful and matching the piano's pitch perfectly. His voice wasn't deep, it was light and joyful and seemed to convey his emotions. Mer were very open with feelings, on top of being able to generally sense the emotions of each other, their markings visibly showed fear and anxiety and even their voices sometimes pitched depending on how they felt. To them, humans were blank slates, no emotions came out of them, to markings or no really noticeable voice pitching to say how they felt. It was confusing and somewhat scary, not knowing how they were feeling.

TG: Dave smiled as he listened to the mer hum along, letting his eyes close. The song itself was beautiful, but with the boys voice added it just had more, and Dave was pretty sure the song alone would never be enough for him again. Almost sadly, he was reminded that he’d be leaving the beach the following week, and he probably wouldn’t see this boy again. Dave blinked his eyes back open, frowning slightly as he rocked back onto his heels. There wasn’t really a way to keep in contact with the boy either, and Dave found himself suddenly unwilling to leave.

EB: John is of course, oblivious to Dave’s inner turmoil, more interested in the fact that the music had ended. He put the phone back down and empties the last thing from the other's bag before pausing, noticing that the other was frowning. John's head fins flicked down a bit nervously. Did the other not like his voice? He knew it would sound weird to humans, it was so different. He frowned a bit in worry and silently resolved himself to stop making so much noise before he moved back into the water, swimming around a little to help get some air before laying on your back in the shallows and looking up at him. The mer found himself wishing Dave was like him and could come under water and be with him. Another pang of loneliness went through his chest knowing that he couldn't. Human and mer couldn't really be together, they were just too different. The thought made him sad and he began to realize that he kind of liked having Dave around.

TG: seeing the frown on the boy’s face, Dave smiled, moving back up to watch him from the other side of the water. He still didn’t know the mers name, still had no idea, really, and that almost bothered him more than the fact he would have to leave. Dave chewed at the inside of his lip for a few moments, lost in thought. It was obvious now that the boy could make sounds, and there was a chance he could speak, but just hadn’t yet. Dave wondered why, if the mer possibly didn’t know how to speak, or didn’t enjoy the sound of his own voice. He tilted his head to the side, strands of damp blond hair falling down over his eyes. "Can you talk?"

EB: John lays comfortably on his back, the water feeling a little warm when it was this shallow and around the middle of the day. It would still probably feel a bit cold to humans but to john it was really warm. He sits up after a few moments, figuring it was kind of rude to just be laying down when he had someone hanging around who would probably want to communicate or something. When the boy asks if he can speak he's really hesitant to answer. He doesn't really want to lie about it, he could speak but it wasn’t really an easy thing to understand above water and he still kind of felt like the guy didn’t like his voice judging from his earlier reaction to him humming but he rationalized that just because he said he could didn’t mean he had to. So hesitantly he nodded his head.

TG: Dave smiles a little bit, sitting up more to watch the other now that he was up too. "Alright cool. I won’t make you talk or anything, but I liked what I did hear of your voice. It’s different, and just... Kind of awesome, really. if you don’t mind it though, can you tell me your name?" he rocks back onto his heels in the sand, hands on the soft ground to help keep at least some balance so he wouldn’t topple over.

[xkozakana-blog]

Submerge pt 1

Merstuck!ectoBiologist [EB] joined chat. ~~ 1 ~~

turntechGodhead [TG] joined chat. ~~ 2 ~~

EB: Scales shimmered beneath the surface of the water, a brief sparkle to catch the light hitting the waves before disappearing beneath the surface. John knew it was dangerous to be this close to shore, especially when he knew at least one human was wandering around on the beach. Sure this was a private beach so it was a lot less likely to come across groups of people but it still was a little dangerous. The blue-eyed mer couldn’t help himself though, he was curious and more than a little lonely. He’d been risking himself, trying his best to ease drop while staying out of sight, for a few weeks now and so far he was lucky, no one suspected a thing. He was just starting to get used to the same hand full of people coming down to the beach when someone new showed up.

TG: this was stupid. Sunlight was stupid. Dave could already feel the burn on his pale skin turning his shoulders red, even though the layers of sunscreen he’d put on. That wasn’t doing jack shit. The water felt cool and nice, though. He started to move further out, letting the water wash up over his shins and eventually up to his thighs, darkening his red swim trunks and making them cling to his slim legs. At least he still had his shades, or else his sensitive eyes might have already burned to crisps in his head. He kept moving, enjoying the soothing coolness the water provided.

EB: Seeing the other walking into the waves he swims back a ways, still wanting to stay out of sight. The sun reflects off his tail whenever it gets near the surface and he hopes the other just passes it off as a school of fish or something enjoying the sun close to the surface. He's at home here in these waters, knowing every rock and cave around the rockier side of the beach all the way down to the old abandoned pier and sunken ship down at the other end. As such, he knows just where to hide, keeping out of sight behind rocks as he watches the boy. He can’t help but snicker a bit at the way the boy looks already bright red with sunburn.

TG: it was a bit too late when he thought about going back to shallower water. Seriously, it was already up to his shoulders at this point, the gentle waves lifting him and pushing him back just a bit with each pass. Dave wasn’t much of a swimmer really, but this motion was calming, soothing, and really nice. Well. It was until his foot slipped in a soft patch of sand, sending him under the water instead of stable on his feet. His lips parted in a surprised gasp right before he fell under the surface, allowing plenty of water in once he’d fallen. Dave flailed and kicked out in an attempt to get back to the surface, but he couldn’t move against the waves, which seemed intent of dragging him in deeper, and had already knocked his shades away.

EB: John could feel the riptide from where he was behind a rock a few yards away, he'd figured the human wouldn't be dumb enough to walk into such a strong current. He watches with utter amazement as the other slips off a steep sand shelf and falls right into the water. The blue eyed boy shakes his head quickly, no, the human would be fine, they could swim and the water wasn’t even that deep out here. Even as he watched the other was pulled deeper and farther from shore and when he pokes his head up he can’t see that any of those the boy came with have noticed that one of theirs has fallen in. He ducks back under and watches, wanting to make 100% sure that he had to step in before he would. Others of his kind would call him insane for even thinking of helping a human but his dad had always taught him that he had to be the better person, just because humans were killers didn't mean he had to be.

TG: Dave really did try to get back to the surface. Really, he did. But there was only so much he could do when his lungs had filled with water and darkness had begun to creep up along the edges of his vision. He kicked out, grabbed whatever he could, but there wasn’t anything but water, which was still forcing him back, tossing him around like he was just a rag doll. Dave’s eyes closed against the salty liquid, because he knew he couldn’t get back. He knew he’d managed to fuck up big time. He wanted to blame someone, anyone, but in that moment he could only think to himself that he shouldn’t have been that stupid. He fell unconscious seconds after coming to that conclusion.

EB: John finally surged forward when he saw the other's eyes closed, deciding that there was no way he was going to just passively watch as a human died...not again. He doesn’t hesitate to grab the boy under the arms and rockets to the surface, swimming him towards a flat expanse of rock nearby and laying him there, rolling him onto his side and smacking his back, trying to get him to cough up the water. When that doesn’t work he does the only thing he can think of. He pushes the guy onto his back and pulls himself up onto the rock before giving the guy mouth to mouth like he'd see other humans do to each other when this sort of thing happened. He hoped he was doing it right.

TG: something tasted like fish. Literally, it tasted like fish. What the fuck was that? Had he died and gone to fish breath heaven? Hell? He didn’t know which, but either way, it was unpleasant. But... he was breathing. That fishy breath was helping him breathe. Dave blinked his eyes open, groaning softly as he pushing Mr. fish breath back, turning over to cough up a shit ton of fucking water, and fuck that really burned. He rolled back to lay on his back, groaning again at the burn in his throat as he lifted his hands to rub the water from his eyes.

EB: When the other moved he gave a sigh of relief, watching as the other coughed up some salt water and wincing a bit, that did not look pleasant in the least. At least he'd done his job and the guy didn't die. Smiling at himself for a job well done he looked at the boy one more time before sliding back into the water, taking a nice breath, it’s hard to breathe out of water for very long, and turning. He had every intention of swimming off and letting the guy think he'd gone crazy or something.

TG: Dave lowered his hands just before the other slipped away, and sat up so fast he almost followed the boy into the water. Which would probably be bad, considering his previous experience with that shit. Instead he gripped the edge of the rock tightly as he leaned over the side, eyes narrowed against the blinding sunlight to see who it was that had, apparently, saved his ass. He wasn’t expecting to see a fish. And he really wasn’t expecting to see a fish with a human torso. He really, really wasn’t expecting that, or prepared for that. He blinked, cherry red eyes wide with disbelief as he tried to speak, but his throat was too fucked up from all the salt water to make more than a raspy gasping sound.

EB: John threw the other a toothy grin before disappearing below the waves, giggling to himself at how funny the other looked when he saw him, the guy's jaw had been on the floor. The other's eyes flashed through his mind and he had to admit that he'd really liked them, he looked better without the shades. He caught himself at that thought and frowned, shaking his head. Humans were dangerous, if given a chance they'd throw a net over him and put him in a tank. The thought sent a trill of fear through him, erasing the giddiness he'd gotten from saving the other. He heads straight towards his home to clear his head without having to worry about predators. His home was a little cave not too far away, one well hidden away. There was a small entrance deep underwater that was so small even he had trouble fitting through. But that was good, it meant sharks couldn’t get in either. Once he surfaces he looks around a bit, making sure nothing has changed. He's currently in a pool about seven feet deep at the deepest point, around four feet average all around. It’s about twelve feet at the widest and is in the shape of a messy oval, the thinnest point being the middle near the underwater entrance which was just wide enough for him to completely stretch out. About half the cave is above water and he's of course never been able to explore it. There is just a little bit of light filtering into the cave and he smiles a bit, glad to be home after all the excitement.

TG: Dave remains there for a few moments longer, biting down on the inside of his lip. He wouldn’t be telling anyone about that. Probably not even bro, and really, he usually had no problem telling bro secrets and shit. But something about the boy he’d seen, and not just the fact that he had a fish tail, something about Dave made him want to keep that secret to himself. He moved to the other side of the rock eventually, letting himself drop back down into the water, which was thankfully shallow at this point. He was still shaky as he made his way back up to the shore, but at least he was alive and shit. At least he hadn’t actually fucking drowned, Dave wanted to be afraid, almost, but his thoughts drifted back to the boy, and he wondered what time he and the others he came with would be returning to the beach the next day.

EB: John curls up in the bed of seaweed that grew at the bottom of his little home, relaxing in the barely there current and curling up on his side. Just enough sunlight filtered through into the cave to make it comfortable, some coming from a few cracks much higher up in the cave's roof, the other bit coming from somewhere else. There was a sort of ambient light that came from the direction of the land side of the cave, he had to guess that it came from outside but he'd never seen any evidence of humans down here so he had to assume he was pretty safe. If there was another entrance it must be hidden well or blocked up. He curls up onto his side and falls asleep easily, mind at ease and feeling safe as the light outside begins to dim with the disappearing sun.

TG: Dave didn’t bother telling the others what he’d seen. Or that he’d almost drowned. Which, he probably should have told them, but he didn’t want them to ask how he’d survived. Oh, a mermaid boy thing saved me. Fastest way to the looney bin ever. Instead, Dave just remained silent on the way back to the hotel they were staying at, only once reply to a question to say he’d lost his shades in the water. No one really spoke much to him after that, and if Dave had to guess, it was because of his eyes. He wore the shades because sunlight hurt, sure, but the looks he’d get when people saw his eyes weren’t all that great really. He kept the soft cherry orbs focused on the window, refusing to watch the other stare at him. Once they were back at the hotel he went on to his room, which was one thing bro had actually insisted on. At first the plan was for him to share one with the neighbor’s oldest son, but bro had stepped in there and paid for Dave to have a separate room. He knew how bad Dave was with strangers, the kid wouldn’t sleep the entire week if he had to share a room with someone else. He undressed himself once in his room, going straight to the shower for some cool water that wouldn’t kill him, then straight to his bed.

EB: John was up and awake by the time the sun came up, deep out in the water catching some fish. It was about an hour later before he caught one big enough to satisfy him and he took his catch to a shallower secluded area to eat it, not wanting to attract predators to his kill. Once done he headed back to shore towards where he usually hung out to observe the humans on the beach. On the way there he spotted something glinting in the water and swam towards it, finding a pair of shades and smiling a bit to himself. He swam over to the rock he'd left the boy at yesterday and put the shades on top of it before swimming deeper into the sea to lounge and enjoy watching the others.

TG: they group returned to the same beach not too much later, maybe after an hour or so. Dave stayed close to the beach at first, occasionally venturing out into the water, but never very far, and never for very long. Overnight the fear had set it, and yes, he was afraid to get too far out. He stayed a little closer to the group for a while, until the staring got to be too much for him. It was a little bit after lunch, and his thoughts had drifted away from the boy he’d seen the previous day, more to the annoyance of being a special for the other kids to gawk at while he chewed on his sandwich. He finished it as quickly as he could, washing it down with about half a bottle of apple juice before departing to explore the beach more. Today he’d worn a t-shirt to cover the burns and protect him from more, with a messenger bag slung over his shoulder, containing sunscreen, aloe, and his backup shitty anime shades just in case the sunlight got to be too much.

EB: John noticed the shades seemed to be untouched and the boy was back but not going anywhere near the water. He supposed he couldn't really blame him, not after nearly drowning yesterday. That would probably be enough to get most people far away from the ocean of a little while. Truthfully he didn’t understand why humans would want to be in water for long periods of time, they were such terrible swimmers and couldn’t even breathe under the water. No one saw mers trying to crawl around on land now did they. So he watched from a far, sometimes surfacing behind rocks, most of the time only his sparkling scales were visible below the waves. He kept well out of the way of all the humans until. It was late afternoon when someone yelled shark. He could barely hear it from under the waves but it sent a shock through him when he did make out the words and see the humans scrambling for land. His eyes scan the area and sure enough, he spots the dark grey hulking mass not too far away and best of all, it seemed to have spotted him. He curses and turns tail as quick as he can, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Marking appear on his skin, a defense mechanism to try to scare off smaller predators. Of course it wouldn’t do much against a shark tailing him. He goes as fast as he can back to his cave, feeling the shark close behind him. When he gets to the entrance he scrambles in as fast as he can but not before he feels teeth dig into his tail before he gets inside.

TG: Dave heard the shout at the same second he saw the boy again. It was just a glint of shimmering scales, but it was the same one. And he saw that same boy dart away under the waves, closely followed by the creature that had caused the alarmed shout in the first place. He saw as they both disappeared under water, near the rock he’d woken up on the day before. And seconds later, Dave caught just a brief glimpse of red in the water near the same spot. his bag was tossed into the sand and he was in the water before really thinking about what he was doing, running through the waves as well as he could before slipping off the steep cliff under the water. He was at least prepared for it this time, taking a deep breath before he went under. at that point it occurred to him that what he was about to try and do was really fucking stupid, but he could see through the patches of sunlight where the boy was half wedged into a cave and where his tail was trapped in the jaws of a shark.

EB: He can feel himself panicking, the marks along his body flaring bright blue as his heart rate skyrockets from pain and fear. He can feel the shark tugging and thrashing, can smell his own blood in the water and he knows he can’t get away, he can’t back out nor can he get inside the cave with the shark yanking on his tail. He can barely think past the pain and can feel his mind going a little fuzzy. He doesn’t want to die like this, he'd seen too many of his friends die from sharks, he didn’t want to go down like them, like his dad had. He's thinking all this while he holds on to the rocks in the entrance, unable to see anything but the tunnel leading to his home, unable to feel anything but panic and pain.

TG: he waited while he kicked and pushed his way through the water, trying to keep calm and at least partially aware of his surroundings as he moved in the water. it seemed colder than it had the day before, but maybe that was just because he was deeper, and losing his breath. Bro had taught him to hold it for up to a minute and a half, though, and he was going to use that skill, this guy had saved Dave’s life. He wasn’t about to let the boy die. When he was close enough, Dave realized he might die himself if he didn’t get back to the surface quickly enough. That thought was pushed away, and his katana was in his hands. Deciding to also ignore the harm salt water would do to the blade, he drove it down, piercing the sharks head and twisting until its jaw opened, releasing the boy. He let go of the blade and started kicking his way back to the surface, the sword forgotten in his rush to get back to air and dry fucking land.

EB: He was nearly out cold from pain and blood loss when he felt something hit the shark. Suddenly the jaw opened and john used every bit of his energy to get himself into his cave home. Coming up into the pool he collapses at the bottom, exhausted and bleeding. All he wants to do is pass out but he forces himself to stay awake to try to see what damage had been done. When he looks down at his tail he whimpers, seeing a huge crescent shaped gash on both sides of his tail, blood still flowing freely. He knew he was screwed, this type of injury was crippling when the only options he had for treatment was seaweed. Still he'd do what he could, gathering up some of the seaweed that grew at the bottom of the pool and chewing it into a police before pushing it into the wounds, hissing and head fins fanning out at the pain before he begins wrapping the lower half of his tail up tightly with layer after layer of seaweed until the bleeding finally begins to stop. Even so he's lost a lot of blood and his head is foggy and as soon as he's not in immediate danger of death he passes out.

TG: Dave grasps at the rocky cliff above the cave, breathing deeply, savoring the salt tinged air. He’d watched the shark sink, with a slight bit of regret at losing his katana, even if it was kind of shitty. That’d be pretty difficult to explain to bro. but there was still blood in the water, and he looks back down, eyes trained on the crevice the boy had disappeared through. He had to go back down. At least make sure he was alright, because there really was a lot of blood, even with the water diluting it. With a few more deep breathes he went back under, dragging his way down the rock this time to keep himself anchored. He was slim, so slipping through the crevice when he got to it wasn’t difficult.

EB: By the time the other makes it inside john is out cold but most of the blood has been completely diluted with the in and out flow of the water. However, when the human slips inside his instincts force him awake and he opens his eyes to find the human from earlier in his cave by the entrance. He swims back a bit until he hits the wall, forced back towards the land part of the cave since the human was by the entrance. He kept under water and curled up a bit, having no idea what had happened while he was struggling to get into the cave. All he knew was that he was injured and trapped. Even if it was probably safest to stay inside his little cave there was no way he wasn’t going to bolt out the entrance if given a chance.

TG: Dave watched for a few moments, holding his breath as well as he could. From there he could see the extent of the damage, and where it looked like the boy had tried to bandage himself up. He could also see the fear, and was reminded that he wasn’t looking at a human boy. And even if he was, the boy was hurt, and terrified. Dave gripped the rocky edge of the cave entrance, keeping himself in place. Trying to get away would just hurt the other, either because the blood would attract more predators, or he’d bleed out in the ocean. And so, Dave stayed where he was, counting to himself how long it would be until he absolutely had to go up for air. He extended a hand to the other, doubting it would do much, but at least attempting to communicate that he wouldn’t try to hurt the boy.

EB: John wanted to trust the other, what he wouldn’t give to have someone helping him right now but he was the only mer left in this area and he couldn't allow the humans he know about him. He'd had friends dragged away in nets to never be seen again, friends tangled up in discarded lines and left to bleed to death. Too many horror stories about humans had been taught to him to be able to trust humans. It didn't matter that he'd saved this one's life, humans didn't have the same bond that mers shared with each other. They couldn't feel each other's pain like they could so humans could hurt without remorse. He stayed under water where he felt the safest, still curling up a bit as he watched with fearful eyes, not calming at all when a hand was held out to him. He wished he could get a feel on the human but all he got was the same blankness he got from any other humans, leaving him with no idea of the other's intentions.

TG: he had to go up. There wasn’t a choice in it. He could see the dark edges again coming into his vision, trying to make him black out, the last of his breath slipping away. He released his hold on the rocky wall and forced himself up through the water, frantically grasping the rocks once again when he broke through the surface. He leaned against the wall heavily, panting softly, body shaking from the temperature of the water and the darkness of the cave. It was still bright enough to see, plenty of cracks and gaps to allow sunlight in, but it was definitely darker. He turned once he could breathing normally for the most part, scanning the water to see if the boy was at least still there.

EB: John watched as the boy shot to the surface but the water at the entrance was only around seven feet deep, even at the surface the boy's legs blocked off some of the entrance. He curled up a bit tighter, hoping the boy would just go away. His tail hurt horribly as he curled up on himself more and a bit of blood made its way into the water once more, forcing him to stop clenching up so bad. His eyes never left the other's body, tensed and marking still showing on his body, his body knowing that he wasn’t yet out of danger. He wished there was another way out but he'd never thought he'd get caught in his own cave like this. He can’t help the nervous energy that forces him to move, finding himself swimming back and forth nervously in the shallow water only a few feet deep.

TG: Dave kept his eyes trained on the other, wondering if he would be able to hear Dave if he spoke from above the water. Or if he would even understand what Dave was saying. It wasn’t as if he had any other options, though. He finally decided while watching the other swim around that if it was obvious the mer couldn’t understand Dave, he would leave, and just hope that the boy would be alright. I don’t know if you can hear me down there, or if you’ll understand any of this even if you can," Dave paused, listening to his own slightly hoarse voice echoing gently against the rocky walls. He kept his tone as soft and calm as possible, "I’m not going to hurt you. The shark is gone, I got rid of it, but I know you’re hurt. I have some stuff that might help you, and I can leave it here, because I don’t think you want me to go near you. I’m going to leave it up on one of these rocks, okay?"

EB: John paused in his swimming and listened to the other, he had been the one to get rid of the shark and he wanted to leave supplies for him? He wanted to bad to trust the other but everything he knew told him this could be a trap. Even so he nods in understanding, trying to quiet his nervous energy. His mind kept telling him that he was trapped and demanded that he swim around to try to find a way out even if he consciously knew that the only way out was blocked by the human. As soon as the boy was done talking and he'd nodded in acknowledgement he began his nervous swimming along the edges of the pool, keeping a good bit of distance between himself and the human at all times. He wondered briefly if the human was going to try to go back out the entrance or if he'd try to leave by getting on land and walking out towards where the sunlight filtered where john guessed there was probably an exit.

TG: Dave considered moving to the land, but it seemed like a bad idea. The boy was swimming right between him and that small patch of sand, and Dave didn’t want to scare him anymore than he already had. Removing the small first aid kit bro always insisted he carry from his sylladex, Dave set it up on the edge of one of the rocks. It had antiseptic pads, gauze, medical tape, and a shit ton of cotton swabs, cotton pads, and band aids. That had to help, at least a little bit. And the boy had seemed to understand, which was a bonus. He turned back to the boy once more. "The antiseptic pads will hurt when you use them but they’ll clean any cuts and keep them from getting infected. Sorry if I scared you" with that, he takes a deep breath and lowers himself back into the water, dragging himself back down to the cave entrance.

EB: John watches the human nervously, moving to keep out of his way when he sets the white box on an outcropping of rock along the outer part of the pool. He listens as he swims but even as he listens he's slowing down, becoming a bit more sluggish. His nervous swimming was making him bleed again and he was lightheaded, having trouble focusing. The human was ducking down to the entrance as john closes his eyes and goes still in the corner of the pool.

TG: Dave pauses when the movement at the corner of his eyes stopped. He glanced back, then immediately forced his way back up, grabbing onto the small box and going back under the water. it was back in his sylladex for the moment as he kicked through the water to the other, keeping close to the wall as he gets around to the corner the mer had passed out in. he was hesitant, but forced himself to reach out, arms looping around the others torso before Dave started dragging him up towards the surface. It was obvious the boy could breathe underwater, so when Dave got to the surface he laid the other out with his tail out, free for Dave to patch up while his torso remained submerged. It wasn’t very hard to patch up the gashes where the sharks teeth had pierced the shimmering blue scales, and the wounds were almost similar to the gashes and scrapes he dealt with after strife’s. When he was done, Dave moved back on the patch of sand after moving the mer back into the water, laying just under the surface. He moved over to the opposite exit, which he could see led back to the beach.

EB: The mer's skin was cold to the touch which may or may not have been a normal thing and he didn’t stir when he was dragged towards the sand, tail pulled out of the water while his upper body stayed submerged, allowing him to breath. Once the other was done and john was moved back into the water he still wasn’t moving, still completely out cold. Who knew how the first aid supplies would hold up under the salty water, probably not very well. He lay peacefully in the shallows for another five minutes before he begins to come to.

TG: Dave moves a little bit closer to the exit when the boy begins to stir, ready to bolt if he needed to. So far it seemed like the bandages were holding up alright, with the way he had wrapped the gauze they should at least last the next day or so, hopefully long enough for the wounds to stop bleeding as much. He had left the first aid kit by the edge of the water for the other, so he could at least use it again if he needed to. Dave bit his lip while he watched the mer, silent.

EB: John runs his fingers through his hair, not yet noticing that the human was still around. Thinking he's safe his markings fade into his skin and his fins settle, making him look much more normal. He looks down at his tail and notices the weird stuff wrapped around it. It worries him and he frowns, picking at the bandages just trying to figure out if they were good or bad.

TG: Dave almost says something, almost tells the boy to not touch the bandages, but he keeps his mouth shut, biting down on his lip. What was important was that the boy was waking up, moving around, and relaxing. Dave edged closer to the exit, trying to remain as silent as possible, hoping to not scare the other. He really wished then that he could flash step like bro, but he hadn’t learned how to do it successfully yet.

EB: John looks at the bandages for a few moments before determining that they aren't doing any harm and leaving them alone. His tail tingles and throbs a bit in pain but it didn't seem to be bleeding. At a small noise he turns his head quickly, spotting the human and his body quickly reacts, symbols covering his body and head fins flaring but he's frozen, too startled to try to move away from where he is, still sitting half out of the water, webbed hand resting on the cloth around his tail and head looking straight at the human.

TG: Dave looked just about as scared as the other at that moment, startled by the sudden movement and the glowing, yeah he’d seen it before but fucking hell that was kind of eerie in the darkening cave. Which reminded him, yeah, it was getting darker. The others would probably start to look for him soon enough. But Dave was caught up in staring at the mer too, it was really his first time to examine the other mostly out of the water. Dave’s own bright cherry eyes flicked from the webbed hand, long tail, glowing blue marks, the black hair and the fins on the sides of his head, ending on the others bright blue eyes. He nervously edged back towards the exit, getting right up to the edge now.

EB: John ducks his head a little and begins edging his way back towards the water. He wondered why the human looked so scared, it wasn’t like john could get out of the water to come after him, he'd just end up beaching himself and suffocating and he obviously wasn’t a siren so he couldn’t sing the human to him or anything. Still he was thankful for the bit of fear, it calmed him down a little bit, signs growing just a little bit duller. It felt good to have the water of the pool behind him instead of being trapped against the land like before, gave him a little bit more confidence. He made a little gasp and quickly ducked into the water a bit more, not having been paying attention to his need for breathing for the last few moments. Once the gills along his sides submerge though he goes back to watching the other curiously.

TG: "my name is Dave" he doesn’t really think before speaking, he just does it. And right after that, he’s gone. He slips back through the crack in the rock, emerging moments later to see the sun beginning to set on the other side of the cave. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment, but all he can see is the same blue staring back at him. Dave opens his eyes and goes back down the beach, searching for the group he had arrived with.

EB: John doesn’t get a chance to do anything after the other says there name, seeing the human leaving quickly out whatever exit is back there. Since it was around a corner there was no way for john to see it, there was probably a decently long tunnel since the light that did filter through was very muted but he really could only guess. No human had ever made it down here before, until today he guessed. As soon as he was sure the other was gone his signs faded to nothing and his body relaxed, finally feeling the effects of the fighting and blood. He was exhausted and when his stomach growled he bit his lip. There was no way he could catch anything while injured like this. Eventually he knew hunger would drive him to have to try anyways but for now he did his best to ignore it as he slid silently under the water. The blue eyed mer curled up in a sea of underwater grass and got himself comfortable, sure to keep his tail stretched out and limp to let it rest. After about an hour he falls asleep.

[xkozakana-blog]

Stuck

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turntechGodhead [TG] joined chat. ~~ 1 ~~

Merstuck!ectoBiologist [EB] joined chat. ~~ 2 ~~

EB: scales shimmered beneath the surface of the water, abrief sparkle to catch the light hitting the waves before disappearing beneath the surface. John knew it was dangerous to be this close to shore, especially when he knew at least one human was wandering around on the beach. Sure this was a private beach so it was a lot less likely to come across groups of people but it still was a little dangerous. The blue-eyed mer couldn’t help himself though, he was curious and more than a little lonely. He’d been risking himself, trying his best to ease drop while staying out of sight, for a few weeks now and so far he was lucky, no one suspected a thing. He was just starting to get used to the same hand full of people coming down to the beach when someone new showed up.

TG: he sighed as he slowly walked near the shore, mostly just keeping his eyes on the ground as he kicked at the sand a bit with each step. Rose had told him to explore, which, he guessed that’s what he was doing, but it wasn’t as interesting as he’d hoped it would be. Sure, the beach was nice, he hadn’t ever been to one before, seeing as he was from Texas, but it wasn’t anything really interesting. Looking up at the waves, he squinted even through his sunglasses, the light reflecting off the water.

EB: it wasn't all that easy to see the other through the reflection in the water, not to mention that he was keeping himself at a safe distance. Not for the first time he wondered how humans survived out in the burning sun, he knew they were just adapted to deal with it unlike his kind but he couldn't help but try to imagine the dry sunny air as being anything other than a slow death. He sees the boy slowly walking farther away and kicks forward, tail skimming the surface for a brief moment as they both seem to make their way towards a small nearby pier.

TG: he slowly approached the pier, running one hand over the worn wooden posts for a second before continuing, stepping carefully onto the pier. It seemed a little old, but held up well, so he just continued. Dave only stopped as he reached the end, peering down into the water. He couldn’t really make anything out, obviously, but he still tried to focus on how the little waves lapped at the posts holding up the pier.

EB: here at least he could get a decent look at the other, the light blond hair that moved slightly when the wind blew along the dunes, big dark shades that looked a bit too big on his face and made the mer laugh just a little. He also couldn’t help but notice the other was fully dressed which was just a little odd. It was mid-summer after all, the only time where he saw humans wear bathing suits. The rest of the time they just came for walks on the beach fully dressed since it never really got too warm outside of mid-summer this far north. His tail bumped one of the supports, making it creak and he remembered just how old this pier was. It was fairly long and had probably been used for fishing at some point. Now it was just abandoned.

TG: the little movement that came with the creak when something hit the pier startled Dave, he quickly set one hand on a post with a frown and cursed under his breath. He kneeled down to look into the water, whatever had hit it had to be kind of big, though the pier was obviously pretty old, it still shook a bit more than if something small had hit it. He kept one hand on the post as he looked down into the water silently, trying to make anything out.

EB: he's glancing back at the supports when the other is looking down, looking at the beam to make sure he hadn’t seriously damaged it while his hair swished idly back and forth. He glances up and sees through the cracks that the boy seems to be leaning over the side and looking into the water. He silently curses and swims further under the pier. There was no way that the other could have seen his upper body but there was a good chance that his tail had been spotted. Once he moved down further though he knew his blue tail would blend in a bit better with the water.

TG: he stayed there for a minute or two, simply watching the water, maybe waiting for something to show up or something. He didn’t really know what he’d expected to see, maybe a big fish? Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to come any closer, so he stood with a sigh and looked back up at the rest of the ocean. after a moment, he just kind of sat down, letting his feet hang off the edge of the pier as he leaned gently against the same post, he knew jade would probably get on him for not exploring enough if he’d come home that soon, so he decided he might as well just stay here for a while.

EB: he sighed slightly, glad that he didn’t seem to have been spotted before pouting. He really couldn’t see the other too much from down here and in the middle of the pier so he moved just a little farther out, fairly confident in his abilities to stay hidden. He’d been lucky enough to be born to a theme of blue, he blended in very well with the rest of the ocean. He was also fairly confident that his dad would steak him if he knew what his son was doing right now. It was so stupid and so dangerous but he tried to rationalize it. After all, he was just looking, it wasn’t like he was revealing himself and trying to talk to the guy, however much he wanted to. The instinctive fear was too much for him to overcome and he was rather grateful for it really. What if this guy caught him and handed him over to scientists. He shuddered at the thought, remembering the stories told to him when he was still young about human cruelty.

TG: Dave kicked his feet a slight bit, still staring down at the water. He was less curious about whatever had hit the pier and more just bored, but he was still halfheartedly searching the water for whatever it was. Though sure he wouldn’t find it, he lifted his shades to the top of his head just to get a better look at the water. The sudden change in light stung at his eyes before they adjusted, he swore quietly and rubbed at his eyes for a second or two before returning his gaze to the ocean once again.

EB: he moved closer when he sees the human moving, apparently taking those huge shades off his face. John blinks in surprise when he sees the color, pretty sure that red was not a normal human eye color. Then again, he hadn't really seen a large amount of human eyes to be fair so who knows, maybe it was. trying to move closer to see, he bumps the supports yet again and jerks back to look at what he hit, wishing he wasn’t so clumsy and maybe that the supports weren’t all so darn close together. He hears a creek, followed by a cracking noise and his eyes go wide, hoping that wasn’t what he thought it was.

TG: Dave set his hand on the post once more for support and froze for a few seconds as he heard the loud crack, "oh fuck." he said aloud. He quickly pulled himself back up and hesitated a second too long as something on the pier definitely broke, and the whole thing started to sink.

EB: he looks up, seeing some of the boards cracking, he should have been more careful, why had he hung around for so long? He berated himself while he watched from below, silently urging the human to run or move or something to get out of here. He was at the edge of the pier which was a decent distance from shore and while anyone with a decent ability to swim could get back it was still dangerous with riptides and things lurking around. He bit his lip and watched the drama unfold as more of the supports snapped and creaked.

TG: he took one step backward, not stupid enough to just stand there, so he spun around and quickly got off that god forsaken pier. if he’d stayed on for a second longer, he’d probably have gone down with the pier, he silently thanked himself for getting off fast enough and put his shades back on his face before running a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh.

EB: he sighs with relief as he watches the other make their way to safety. It’s only after the other is safely away that he realizes that he's still under a very much sinking pier. As he sees it collapsing around him he begins to dart out of the debris, only to feel something knock into his side. Bubbles trail up from his lips as the air leaves him, temporarily stunned before weight crushes him to the sea floor. Once everything settles about half the pier has collapsed and fallen into the sea and one of the supports is laying across half of his tail. He sputters a curse, knowing this was going to take a while to get free from. He had to go slow, any blood could attract predators and like this he was a sitting duck. As he moved the pier continued creaking and shaking.

TG: he stepped closer to the water as he watched the pier fall apart, a little frown still on his face. What a story that would make, almost getting dunked into the ocean because something hit the shitty pier a few times and broke it. He inhaled deeply, still watching the water as the wooden pieces settled down under and the water seemed to calm. He was still confused about what had hit the pier, and whether or not it was getting crushed by the parts of the pier in the water.

EB: he made a frustrated noise and let his head hit the sea floor, giving into his annoyance for just a moment. He looked back over his shoulder, holding his upper body up with his arms to peer back, trying to get a good view on just how he was trapped. It looked like two of the supports had fallen towards each other and crossed, holding up the boards on top of them but simultaneously trapping him. If he wasn’t careful he may knock a support over and the rest would come falling on him and he doubted he'd get out of that without injury. Stupid stupid curiosity. He gives a few more wiggles but can already tell this is going to take a while. Good thing he already ate and there were a few good hours left in the day.

TG: Dave stood on the sand for a minute, staring down at the water. he didn’t know what he expected to see, it was just like before with whatever had made the thing break, he was just curious, though it was probably just some big fish or something, he still kind of wanted to know if it got out or not, though he probably wouldn’t see it whether it did or not. he hesitantly sat down on the sand, there’s no way anything could happen on the sand, aside maybe from the tide getting him, but he was pretty sure it wouldn’t, so he just sat down, keeping his eyes on the water.

EB: he was glad at least that he was still a little ways out, still in water plenty deep enough to keep him safe even in low tide. Still didn't help him get out but he was a bit of an optimist, so sue him. The blue-eyed mer continued to struggle and pull, making the pier shudder and creak before he forced himself to stop, not wanting to thrash around and attract attention. One never knew if there was a shark hovering around nearby. He looked around to see if there was anything that could help him before realizing that since he was stuck laying on his stomach he wouldn’t be able to sit up to access his tail very well. He made a face and gripped the sand, hoping he could come across a rock and pull his way out.

TG: he was told to leave the house anyway, so he supposed it wouldn’t matter if he stayed near the shore just to see if anything ended up making it out of the wreckage. He could slightly make out the parts of the pier down under the water, it didn’t really look like there was anything under them, but he stayed put anyway.

EB: after tugging and scraping along the bottom for almost ten minutes he feels the pier shift and sway and makes a startled noise, really hoping that it didn’t crush him or something. Out of all the ways to die out in the ocean, crushed by a pier that you accidentally broke had to be among the dumbest ways to go. Thankfully it was just a bit more of the pier breaking off nearer to the short, debris that thankfully didn’t really affect him. He’d managed to get some of his hips free but most of his tail was still trapped under the weight. He takes a break, panting for breath as his gills twitch. He takes the moment to look around and sure enough, the human is still around, seems to be just sitting on shore. He really hopes the other can’t see him.

TG: he noticed some part of the pier shifted and broke off, but not anything else at first. He leaned a little closer toward the water and stared down at the mess of splintery old wood on the floor, and. something caught under it, apparently. His little frown deepened as he tried to make out what it was, since what he could see of it didn’t really look much like a fish.

EB: he bites his lip, knowing he needs to move before the human's curiosity got the better of him like it had john. He moves his tail, trying to get something to push off of under the pier, hearing it creak louder and trying his best to ignore it. a little more of his tail from free but the weight is moving, crushing down a bit harder on what is stuck and making him whine. Shit that hurt but at least he didn’t seem to be bleeding so that was something to be grateful for. There was no way anyone would be able to really see him from land but he was so screwed if anyone came into the water. Stay on shore, nothing to see here' he tries to think to the other, praying that his willpower alone will somehow make the human leave.

TG: it did quite the opposite, really. He leaned closer to the water, the little waves lapping at his feet as he tilted his head to the side. What the hell was that thing?? He could see it moving around, but still couldn’t understand what it was. He’d already been told about a lot of the fish around Washington from jade’s friend- fefiri? Whatever her name was- this didn’t look anything like any of the fish he was told about.

EB: he panted slightly, the threat of the human making him struggle probably a little more than he needed to. He arched his back, holding himself up by his arms once again to try to look back at the debris trapping him, hoping to spot a weakness or something. Maybe it could give him a clue on what direction to push or if pulling something away would help him get free. After searching for a while he sees that there is a board that, if he can grab it, he may be able to wiggle free before everything collapses down. Only problem was that he couldn’t twist around enough to reach it. Making a frustrated noise he turns back around and goes back to pulling and tugging, glancing back to the human and thinking 'shoo' over and over again a few times.

TG: he could definitely see the thing moving around now, though still unsure of what the hell it was. This only made him more curious, he hesitated before pulling off his shoes and socks, and rolling up his jeans to cautiously step into the water, not too far in, barely up to his knee, but still a little closer to whatever was trapped under the debris

EB: he looked up when he heard something entering the water, just his luck, of course the kid would come in. he could feel his heart kick up a few notches, remembering all the stories he's heard. He struggles harder, making the broken pier shake a little and everything shift, only finding himself pinned down further. the other was getting too close, john was still under quite a few feet of water so it wasn’t like he was in danger of the guy walking into him but the other would probably be able to see him in just a few more feet. Sharp teeth bit his tongue and he had to quickly swallow the bit of blood that threatened to come out.

TG: he noticed how much more it was struggling now and stopped stepping into the water. He didn’t want to get his pants wet anyway, but he was still curious and confused about what it was. He stood in the water for a little bit, one hand on part of what was left of the pier.

EB: he slipped a little freer, feeling a surge of hope, maybe he'd be fine, and he could get out without the human seeing him. Then the pier shifted again and the whole thing collapsed a little more and john felt more weight added. He could tell from how much it hurt that something wasn’t right but until he was free he had no idea what it may be. Gritting his teeth through the pain he shifted and wiggled, feeling himself slowly making progress, the pier creaking and moving every few moments. Now only half of his tail was trapped.

TG: as the thing started to free its self a little more, Dave could see its lower half seemed to be blue, which blended into the water fairly well, explaining how if this was what had hit it in the first place, he couldn’t see it in the water before. He leaned down and watched the water carefully, he still couldn’t really make out what the hell it was, but it seemed pretty distressed, unsurprisingly, considering it was trapped under a bunch of wood.

EB: he stopped at a spike of pain down his tail and made a noise of pain, some bubbles rocketing towards the surface before he tried to twist around, finding that he had a bit more freedom of movement now though he still couldn't flip over onto his back. He pushed himself up, curling his tail until his body was vertical and began grabbing at the debris, trying to grab anything he could see to try to get himself free. He finds himself exhausted a few moments later and let’s himself fall back onto his stomach. It had been quite some time since he'd had to use this much energy. He settled on watching the human as he tried to get a bit more energy. it looked like he'd be free in a few more minutes, hopefully the other got bored or, worse comes to worse, john would be able to get free before the human tried to call someone.

TG: he frowned as the bubbles reached the surface, a little ways away from where he was standing still in the water. He shuffled a little deeper into the water, despite the water getting his jeans wet, and gazed down into the water. He wasn’t really sure of any way he could help the thing, considering he was fully clothed, so he just stood there and watched as it seemed to continue to freak out.

EB: after a few moments he yanks hard on his tail, focused on getting out and ignoring the pain, being a little more panicked by the steps the human takes to get closer. The debris shifts and he lets out a garbled shout of pain, thankful to be underwater where there was no way the human would hear a thing. Finally he rips his way free, reveling in victory right before he sees the blood. His eyes widen and he curses over and over in his head, trying to assess the damage while at the same time trying to think where the best place would be to hide out from the sharks. He’d need some seaweed to try to smother the bleeding and then he needed to get somewhere inland where the sharks couldn’t follow. When he begins to move though he feels another spike of pain and whimpers but continues on, trying to at least get away from the pier and the human.

TG: as it got free, he noticed the blood from its tail as it started to swim away. He stepped out of the water and grabbed his shoes, keeping his eyes on the thing in the water as he followed it on land. Probably not the best idea, but he was curious, the thing was hurt, and again, he didn’t really have anything else to do. Following some injured creature under water is obviously the best thing to do right about now.

EB: at least he could breathe a little easier when the human gets out of the water as he switches tasks, trying to spot a good clump of sea weed. He swims slowly for a bit before finding some and going deeper into the water, grabbing some of the bigger pieces and sitting down on the ocean floor, beginning to wrap the strands around his tail. He’s used almost the entire patch of seaweed before he decides that the blood isn’t leaking through anymore and that he's safe for the time being. Now he just needed to get somewhere secluded and close to shore while he waited for everything to scab over and heal a bit. There was no way he could out swim anything at this point. It takes him a moment before deciding the best place was a small cave he knew, with an underwater entrance. He knew plenty of seaweed grew in the secluded area, it was close to land and the entrance inside was small enough that he doubted sharks would be able to follow. With that in mind he began to head there.

TG: Dave almost lost sight of it as it swam a bit deeper, but followed it none the less, or at least he assumed he was following it. He wasn’t sure where it was going to stop, but he hoped it was somewhere near the shore so he could get a better look at it. He was pretty certain it was what hit the pier, and had already been pretty damn curious about it and why it was so close to the pier. He followed behind as closely as he could, whatever it was probably hadn’t noticed he was following it, or it was too hurt to go any faster, but it was slow enough that he could keep up with it.

EB: he was slowed due to his injury and the fact that he was afraid to rip the sea weed wrapped around the bottom half of his tail. As such, it was nearly ten minutes before he approached the cliff and began swimming towards the underwater entrance deep in the water. It took him a little while but after a bit of a struggle he managed to fit through. It was a pain to get in and out but that also meant there was no way for larger predators to get in either. For the moment at least he was safe. The inside of the cave was small, a pool of water that was maybe seven feet deep and around twelve feet side. It made john a little claustrophobic but he'd have to deal with it for a little while. The bottom felt nice and soft, thin white sand with patches of swaying seaweed that made him just want to curl up and fall asleep. He glanced around the pool, head popping out of the water to survey the part of the cave above the water. He’d of course never gotten a chance to explore it but with how generally dark it was he assumed that he was safe enough. Satisfied, he curls up and lays down in the seaweed, deciding to take a nap to try to get some energy back.

TG: he sighed as he lost sight of it when it went into the cave, he watched where it’d left, waiting for it to come back out, but after a few minutes he simply sat down and rubbed his eyes under his sunglasses. Sure, following it all the way out here was a bad idea, but at least he got some exercise or something. He wasn’t really sure how long it’d be until it came back out, so that probably made it an even worse idea to wait for it to come out, considering it might take hours and his family might freak out that he’s not home, but Dave decided to take his chances. He was bored, and wanted to see what it was.

EB: john was curled up comfortably, the pangs of pain in his tail fading a bit now that he was keeping still. Only a bit of sunlight filtered through from a crack in the roof above as well as a little bit of light coming from around a corner of the above ground part of the cave. He’d been here quite a few times and never found any evidence of humans down here so he could only assume that there wasn’t a good way to get to the cave. Of course he could never know for sure. He yawns and closes his eyes as he gets comfortable in the shallower part of the pool, about three feet of water above him.

TG: ((ah shit I have to go, you’re rlly amazing tho! awesome prompt))

[crimeronan]

you dont have to publish all of these lmao but you are welcome to

dave, rose and jade get kayaks and take a trip down the eastern coast with john

sometimes john flops over the front of dave's boat and make him paddle for the both of them because he's lazy

they don't make it very far the first time they try but they keep at it and one summer they make it down to like georgia maybe or even florida

dave doesn't want to take john into the gulf though because he still doesn't trust the water there after the oil spill and he has no idea how to judge the water for himself but hell always be very conscious of john's health so he doesn't really want to risk it

they find some tiny uninhabited island and make out on it while the girls go off and pretend not to notice

---

i want to publish these i figure if they make me smile this much then hopefully they make other people smile too :)

(i'll probably just not tag them as johndave/mermaidstuck so i don't spam the tags)

what fucking cuties 

[crimeronan]

i forgot to add the ring doesn't fit past the second knuckle of daves pinky and it might actually have once been a little girl's but hey john doesnt exactly have a tiffanys down the block to go browse at does he??

(dave wears it on a chain)

(the chain was also from john so it's kind of rusty)

someday john might find a better one but dave prefers the first one

---

sdkfdljksfd

dies

[crimeronan]

sobs and just throws headcanons and after they youtube dave tries to explain shit like bloggng and cameras and all sorts of dumb hipster things that hes into

dave would show john sbahj and try to explain the irony in the comic to him

"dave this is shit"

"no dude you dont get it i am making a statement"

"dave. this is shit."

"shh you just have no appreciation for the subtle nuances and intricacies and EMOTIONS inherent in this comic john"

"i have no appreciation for shit, that's true. i thought you said you were taking art classes?"

"yeah the irony being that i /can/ draw like a motherfucking modern michelangelo but i dont because to render sweet bro and hella jeff in my perfect art style is to blind 99% of the human race with the sheer perfection"

"oh my god."