heavily inspired by @rawme-price and his orca!simon/orca!141 series (here!)
This is it, you thought, as you stared certain death in the face.
You’d been raised to be more careful, of course. You knew better. You knew better. But, curiosity got the better of you, and now–
Well, now, you were fishfood.
The orca mer glared down at you, pitch-black eyes boring into your very soul. It had backed you up into a corner after chasing you down, a silent hunter, stalking you through the waters that you strayed too far into.
You just couldn’t help yourself, could you? Drawn to the weird thing that swam on the surface of the sea, only its belly visible, the water turned to bubbles behind it before returning to normal. You’d never seen anything like it, absolutely fascinated.
And that fascination was going to be your utter downfall. By the time you realized where you were, it was too late for you. It didn’t stop you from trying to escape, you swam with all your might, but you knew, deep down, that it was pointless. Orcas were the prime predators of the sea, massive and dominating with an even bigger appetite, known for toying with their food.
Fuck, you could only hope the mer would just make it quick, not play with you.
It – he – leaned closer, and you squeezed your eyes shut, pressing into the rocky outcropping at your back as you braced for pain–
“Where’s your mother, pup?”
…What.
You cracked an eye open, peeking at him. Where you expected sharp teeth ready to shred you to bits, you found nothing more than a displeased frown, a pinch in the mer’s brows. Confused, you let out a small, down-swooping chirp.
“Your pod?” He pressed.
Pod? Ribbon seals didn’t have pods, they were solitary creatures, including you. Last time you saw any substantial amount of your kind around one another was during the last breeding season, which you decided to skip. In real time, you witnessed his brows twitch, saw something come over his eyes.
Then, he was hooking his arms around your midsection, tucking you under his belly as he kicked his tail to swim out of the tight space you’d wriggled into. You squealed, struggling in his grip, but froze when he let out an irritated grumble.
“Hush, pup. Not gonna eat ya.”
Incredibly cautious, you tilted your head back to look up at him (as best as you could), mainly seeing his strong, scarred jawline and the protrusion of his Adam’s apple. “...You’re not?”
The mer scoffed, as if offended you thought he would. “‘Course not. ‘M not gonna eat my own kind, ‘specially not a pup.”
You opened your mouth to inform him that you weren’t an orca mer, actually, but snapped your mouth shut. If he didn’t know you were a ribbon seal mer, maybe you could sneak away safely later and not get turned into a midday snack?
Swallowing, you cautioned to ask, “Where are we going?”
“Back to my pod,” he answered. “Can’t just ignore an abandoned whelp.”
“I’m not abandoned–”
His head snapped down to glare at you, and you promptly shut up.
The longer he swam, dragging you along underneath him, the less you trembled. Maybe he really wasn’t going to eat you – or, maybe, he was planning to share with his pod.
Fuuuck. An entire pod of orcas, your natural predators? There was no way you were getting out of this alive.
That truth seemed to solidify further as he dove deeper into the waters, the surrounding temperature dropping by the second. The pressure increased, pressing on your ears, until he directed you both into the yawning mouth of an underwater cavern. The entrance to a cove, his home.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck–
“Simon,” another voice greeted your… captor? Savior? Whatever the hell he was. Simon drew you upwards with him, where you both surfaced into a dome-like area. The walls were coated in bioluminescent algae, keeping the space cozily lit a cool blue. It was huge, bigger than any other cove you’d ever seen. You supposed it made sense, given it was meant to house several mers that were at least five times larger than you. “Whatcha got there, son?”
“Lost pup,” Simon answered, thrusting you forward with a grunt. “No mother or pod. Think it strayed too far from home.”
The other mer – another orca, of course, because what else? – glanced between you and the man who brought you here, evidently processing the announcement, before he crooked a finger at you. “C’mere, kid.”
When you hesitated, Simon pinched your backside, causing you to yelp and zoom forward on instinct. The second orca mer caught you by your arms, forcing you still as he examined you from head to tail. He turned you around, lifted you up with haunting ease, and paused.
“Fuck happened to yer fin, kid?” He asked suddenly.
What fin? The only “fins” you had were at the end of your tail, what did he…
Oh. Oh. Orcas had dorsal fins, a feature that you distinctly lacked.
“Um…”
He interrupted you fumbling. “Did… did you get abandoned after being injured?”
“...Yes?”
The man inhaled sharply, then spun you back to face him again. “Poor thing,” he cooed, his rough voice now saccharine and sweet. Coddling. “Bit underfed, too, ain’t ya?”
You looked down at yourself, perplexed. You ate well, each day full of successful hunts. You didn’t think you were underfed, but clearly, the orca mers disagreed.
“Don’t worry,” he said as you heard soft splashing behind you. “We’ll take care o’ ya. All o’ us.”
All of them?
Slowly, you looked over your shoulder, where you saw two more pairs of eyes besides Simon’s curiously locked onto you.
Ohhh, you were so screwed.
(pics of ribbon seals under the cut!! ♥)
