#mermaywrites

[asheewrites]

MerMay 6 Hoomans??

The 'Hoomans(?!)' were at it again. They had captured me, imprisoned me and now tried to study me. And actually expected I cooperate. It was ridiculous. Not only that, their language sounded even more terrible now. They were just as ruthless and awful as they were a few hundred years ago and certainly never did anything good in the history of their entire species. And now feed me like an animal. WITH animals.

And a stupid octopus, whatever this was supposed to have been. At least they DID feed me, but I couldn't get out because of constant lightning above the... glass prison. Stupid decorative nonsense. Stupid firm walls. Their stupid boats weren't as sturdy. Stupid sciency things they threw in, just to check on my... everything. So, I crushed it and threw it into the lightning. They wouldn't get any information from me.

Speaking of which, they threw another thing in. And the new, weird-looking one was there, staring again. He sometimes just sat there and stared. Jeez. Anyway. Today's... thing... was... made of glass and had... land kelp on it. Also driftwood. In dry. It looked dry. And there was movement inside. ... what?

I swam closer to squint at it. This... this looked REALLY WEIRD.

[asheewrites]

MerMay 5 “I’m just looking”

Mister Loew... hobbled. In front of the basin. It was a little bit on the strange side. He hobbled and fretted, staring at a distinct point of the aquarium. And then back at the mermaid. I looked at this for maybe half an hour, while checking the water composition for the 500th time, before I left my office and tapped him on the shoulder. "I'M just- ... looking," he said, blinking. I patted his shoulder a few times and looked a little bit concerned: "Are you okay?" He glanced back at the aquarium: "... I'm worried for the octopus" "Eh... I'm sorry to break it to you, but... octopi are... disposable. It was part of the menu this lunch?" Here he had the mind to look appalled for three seconds. "Yes, but... we put him in there," he said. As dignified as that sentence could possibly be spoken. "... but you actually wanted to make a terrarium, didn't you?" I said, because we wanted to actually do something else. "I wanted to see how it goes before I try," he said. "... as you can see, she mostly watched the the critter. Because it acted kind of silly. Maybe missed to terrify things. Or... she actually watched you bobbing in front of the basin, which looks entirely ridiculous," I huffed, because it was true. "The octopus is safe, at the very least," he nodded, weirdly proud, it seemed. What a strange man. But alright. "You know, if you distract her with a terrarium, it might be even safer" He tilted his head slightly, encouragement seemed to work, he did walk off for a bit. ... he seemed to not work with living beings most of the time, I supposed.

[asheewrites]

MerMay4 ‘WaterAcrobatics’

Finding an octopus wasn't difficult. This was Hawaii. Tourism forced people to display their natural resources. And most definitely the local fauna. Locating it was easy, one of the team members graduated about 'colour change in octopodes' and so... one night octopus arrived on hour doorstep about three hours later. It looked very suspicious of everything. But I think that simply comes with it's nature of being a night octopus. And therefore having goat eyes. Admittedly, it didn't have much to hope for. And his thirty litres tank might not be small, but it still wasn't that much, and void of entertainment. So its tentacles already made it's way through the small gap in the lid of the portable aquarium. I rolled our new friend into the facility and in front of the basin. It was feeding time for the loveliest of mermaids we had. And unlike me, the octopus didn't take ages to adjust to the darker room. It did look at the basin. And apparently recognised the mermaid. ... the tentacles retracted completely and it squished itself into the corner. Ah.

Usually he was food then. I felt a little bad. But we did give the mermaid a little more shellfish than usual. And waited until she had finished and settled on the stones a little further down, grumpily poking the rubber-jellies. Done feeding, it might be a good idea to introduce the octopus. Like... a cat? 'A pet' was the thing my team chose for entertainment. As a person that had only travelling as a hobby, I kind of had to go with this attitude. So we slowly lowered the aquarium down, giving the invertebrate at least a little bit of protection. The mermaid was of course immediately on the case and inspected the thing, while it was lowered down. She knew what an octopus is. And also what glass is. So there was no poking or prodding. Just looking at the critter. That by now has definitely folded itself in a corner. Not a happy little thing.

The mermaid, though? She just settled next to the aquarium and looked at the creature. And it looked back for a very, very long time. Until it didn't anymore. And slowly moved one tentacle in the direction of the exit. Maybe it didn't want to be on display anymore. And when the mermaid didn't move, there was another one added. It slowly and fluidly moved towards exit-territory, while she did pretty much nothing but look. Torturous experience: The tentacles one by one inched out of the small gap and moved down the side of the aquarium, the side away from the ladyfish. When he finally got out, he cartwheeled the hell away. Literally cartwheeled. Then ran. On its 'legs'. Hightailed out of there. Hid under stones, went completely under a few rocks.

We all concluded that he was now a LOT less safe than before. But he was less visible. ... the mermaid looked at us. Apparently, water acrobatics were not cool enough to accept her new pet. ... we could admit that was probably fair.

[asheewrites]

MerMay3 - ‘Octopus’

Mr. Loew brought me outside and he took his phone out. I grabbed his arm and lead him a little further away before he switched it on. He looked slightly irritated, not that it bothered me, but appreciated him not saying anything. So he powered up his phone - a year old, maybe two, somewhat sensible - and used the internet. I... kind of missed the internet, since I started working here. No more spider-vids. So I waited. And then looked at what he was trying to show me, still unconvinced.

And I saw... a terrarium. "...what?" Because... what? He smiled at me, slightly: "Well... I have an aquarium, and I do think it is an interesting pastime, it is for me with fishes" After a few seconds of staring at the insects wriggling around in there... I looked up at him: "... you are aware we have a murderous mermaid on our hands that tries to murder anything living on land?" He looked at me, then shrugged: "I am not fond of the ocean, yet I do enjoy curating my own aquarium" Then he showed me a live feed of an aquarium. 'Lion's Den' it was named. And it looked very well taken care off, enrichment facilities and all. So he had some experience with taking care of animals. "It's all water tight, it only has to be opened every three days to get more air," he said, clearly taken by the idea. ... alright. I sighed and still frowned a little: "... it... might be something we should try" Everything was good by now. "One of my assistants will put someting together. If you wish to participate, it is of course possible. Until it is done, we will try an octopus. They are intelligent and maybe a good companion" He looked satisfied enough. ... well, if it made him happy. Research was meant to be shared, after all. And the more people learn, the better.

[asheewrites]

MerMay2 - ‘Discovery’

The lion in my lab was somewhat... annoying. Of course I smiled at him, at 'mister Loew', but he was here to deny our grant and seriously, we didn't need money trouble. A sentient being with extraordinary strength and an extraordinary will to definitely kill us all. Which is unfortunate. It made research, communication and any way of compromise incredibly hard. There was no chance of us becoming 'friends' any time soon. As much as I'd like.

It was distracting, the whole someone-came-to-examine-our-research thing. So I tapped my pen on the clipboard, watching the people take the newton-meter out of the basin. That thing is meant to measure strength. She broke it. She bloody broke it. I didn't even know how, she simply managed. And now we had a broken one in front of us. Maybe examining it might help.

I sighed. There was no way I actually could examine it, with the cellphone wielding 'public servant' walking around. As much as he hadn't believed me, he was at least taken the 'no cellphones'-rule seriously. Might even be this was the reason she crushed the bloody thing. ... it was somewhat hard to keep her occupied. She crushed a lot of things. And ate the fish. Fast. Or shell fish. Not so fast. I supposed she preferred this. The question what would happen t one of us if we actually got into the basin with her was... not one I wanted to entertain. Maybe I could try myself at one point, it certainly was a somewhat awesome prospect.

For now, though... I needed to find some way to distract the big fish lady. She discovered the jelly fish suction toys again. So she stuck those against the wall. And wobbled them around, but she was clearly bored. Very much so. "I have an idea," said 'Mister Loew'. And I wanted to roll my eyes. He probably saw me write down the possible ways to entertain her. It simply... wasn't easy, with no electricity and zero cooperation from her. Of course, I still smiled: "Yes, Mister Loew?" "I should show you on the phone," he said, nudging me to the exit. ... that... I... "... of course, mister Loew," I followed him. Lord.

[asheewrites]

MerMay1 ‘Your Friend As A Mermaid’

"Welcome in our facility, Mister Loew," said the security guard and handed my ID back, "I hope you will find everything is in order" I smiled politely, nodded at him and wished him a nice day, following through the corridors, suitcase in hand. There was no real doubt in his job being legitimate, he followed procedure, was friendly, had done everything he had been supposed to as a guard to a research facility. The problem here was certainly not him. It was the people currently occupying the facility. That had filed for another grant. Of course, protecting out shores was important. Destroyed boats actually cost a lot of money.

But actually going out there and claiming they had captured a sea monster and now they needed money to keep it in check and take proper safety precautions. And they... attached a photo of a woman under water to an E-Mail inquiring about said monster. Lets say I was... somewhat underwhelmed. They claimed the footage is difficult to take since the mermaid is irritated by too much electric devices. So it's polaroids. And she's nocturnal, so that's what I get. Blurry underwater photos of a woman. Talking to them on the phone had been a little bit like pulling teeth.

And, well, I had planned to catch a seminar in the area anyway, so... here I was, making a detour. Business law had gotten some changes, it was at least an informative journey. And now I... would look at this 'sea monster', save money for the whole bureau and dismiss the case. Research facility in Hawaii needing more funds to keep a sea monster in check. Sure. I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose when I walked into the main 'room'. Which was actually mostly dark. So that bit was at least truthful. But there was a great big amount of... nothing to see. In the huge basin in the middle. And the people that actually were stationed around it... were looking at... liquid thermometers. And wrote things on papers, next to others checking the water quality with... chemistry sets, apparently. I frowned a little. So far so... in line with the report. Frowning down at my own papers, I looked for the lead scientist in the whole thing. Apparently, the people all were busy enough not to actually notice me rounding the basin in my search. And they all glanced at the basin from time to time.

Either someone told them I was coming or there was at least something in there. After I walked... half around it, I saw someone in a lab coat. With white hair, up in a loose bun. And glasses. And hiking boots. Well. The last one came as a surprise, but well, she looked like the photo on her ID, so... "Dr. Laurel? I'm Enoch Loew, we corresponded via E-Mail, I came here to evaluate your project," I said and held out my hand. She stopped gnawing on her pencil and turned towards me, staring a very... neutral expression. I... waited. It was a little awkward. Then she perked up, smiled, put the pencil behind her ear, grabbed my hand enthusiastically and shook it: "Greetings, Mister Loew! Welcome to the lab! Thanks for visiting us so soon, the precautions get more urgent every day" I looked carefully neutral, coughed and asked: "I...wanted to get an impression myself. The picture I got was... not very distinct" "Well, as you can see, the visual is hard to get. She needs to calm down a little more before we can get a decent image, really" I looked at the doctor in front of me for a few seconds, then frowned a little: "So... you... have a mermaid" She blinked: "Ah... I thought you were informed already. Well, she does have both human and fish anatomy. Therefore, yes, I suppose you could say she is a... mermaid? I suppose?" This was all going a bit far, really. I took a deep breath, when... ... the scientist in front of me turned to the basin. "What are you-" My eyes went wide when something moved in there. With actually some speed. It came closer and closer to us and I made a step back when there was a VERY loud bang against the glass. And I saw... scales. And two arms. And eyes staring in my direction, not happy, pretty small. And there were teeth. Very sharp teeth on display. And... and it was... bigger than human sized. And naked.   And- "What are you doing?!" I said, maybe a little late, because the scientist had her hands in my pockets. And I took a step back, which she simply followed. "Ah!" The lady said and took something from me, while I still stared at a pissed of fish creature. After half a minute, she turned to the basin and waved with the something: "THEEERE! IT'S OFF! NO REASON TO WORRY!" The... the mermaid did not look happy. But she did turn from the glass. Dr. Laurel handed me my powered down phone: "She does not like that," she said, cheerily. "You... is this safe? She... she looked positively furious!" I might have been a little ruffled. "Sure! We are becoming friends!" She said, when a fist connected with the glass from the other side. Her smile faltered the tiniest bit: "... and we'll have the funds to strengthen safety soon, right?" I... frowned at her.