Sep 21, 2024
Realized I hadn’t posted art in awhile. Have a Leyton wedding photo :)
seen from Australia
seen from Belarus
seen from Syria
seen from Germany
seen from Russia
seen from Netherlands
seen from China
seen from Germany
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Maldives
seen from Türkiye
seen from Brazil
seen from Brazil
seen from Türkiye
seen from Russia
seen from Brazil
seen from Russia
seen from Sweden
Realized I hadn’t posted art in awhile. Have a Leyton wedding photo :)
when u accidentally abandon ur ocs......... they will come back...............
huevember day 6-10 !!
featuring some art of friends, ocs and a little cuphead !
Peyton situated her suitcase in the corner of the small room and explored the space as she stalled going downstairs. Just for a minute. There was a certain level of care to the space that differed from the mansion. This was a family home. Everything, from the quilt and the bed frame, the dresser with knickknacks and a selection of books, had been picked purely based on love. On comfort. Their possessions appeared caringly used. Like they lived. It wasn’t that the mansion didn’t have a style. Obviously it did. But parts of it looked more like a museum than a home. She decided to get new throw pillows for the couches and a table runner for the dining room. Something with color. And pictures. She and Lex needed to hang up some personal photos.
ao3 ffn wattpad
Thanks to Ink for sending me a pic of this shirt and mentioning Peyton
Chapter 27
She did it. After a day and a half of deliberation, she sent another email to Dr. Henson. It was a polite inquiry for now. Peyton wanted to see how he would react to getting an email from her, not Lex. And if he still had the files on their sessions to give her, that couldn’t hurt. But for some reason it still felt like she was waiting to hear back about a job opportunity. A certain anxiety simmered low in her gut and she purposefully closed her internet browser to stop herself from constantly refreshing her email.
ffn
ao3
Was inspired to do a little Peyton/Lex mermaid au >:3c
“I’ve been paying you quite handsomely to make sure this research gets done, Mr. Miller.”
Lex rose and rounded his desk with a sneer as Mr. Miller stood stiffly in the middle of the room, a crease between his brows and hands clenched at his sides.
“And yet,” Lex continued, “I’m not getting progress reports on my desk. I’m getting damage reports.”
“Mr. Luthor, I’ve ensured every precaution. We have security around the clock, every employee has been vetted three times over, and I personally review security footage every morning.”
“And yet.” Lex snapped.
“Mr. Luthor, the sabotage we’re experiencing isn’t coming from land. Whoever is doing it must be coming from the sea . My suspicions are, in a submersible.”
Lex stared, his gaze stern and unmoving as he took in the information. If the saboteur came nightly in a sub to ruin his research, they were well funded. A competing company. Or his father.
“I’m visiting the site personally,” he said, and Mr. Miller’s expression slid into resignation. “I hope you’re buttoned up as well as you say.”
[[[]]]
Lex could practically taste the anxiety from the staff as he stalked down the pier to where the structure for his research sat. From where it protruded from the water, it appeared in perfect condition. Shiny, new, and ready to give them insight on the viability of this method of clean energy. But under the waves was apparently another story.
The wind whipped the lapels of Lex’s wool coat as he stood on the end of the pier and looked down. All he could see was the dark blue water churning around the pillars holding them up.
A man joined him, a large tablet in his hands; Lex turned his head to watch the screen.
“As you can see, Mr. Luthor, the damage done is purposeful, but confusing. It doesn't match our expectations for what could have caused it. While I agree with Mr. Miller’s suspicion of a submersible of some sort being used, this damage isn’t clean. It looks to me like it was done by hand, possibly with primitive or ill equipped tools.” Lex gaze rolled lazily up to meet the man’s, annoyed.
“I think if the perpetrator can afford a sub, they’d also be able to afford some wire cutters.”
“Of course, Mr. Luthor. That’s what has us confused.”
Lex turned back to face the open ocean and shoved his hands into his coat pockets; the briny air threatened to bite even through the wool. It would only be colder when the sun officially went down.
“Have a team prepared,” he said. “I want eyes under the water at all times; this ends tonight.”
[[[]]]
A team went out in a boat to do patrols and monitor the underwater drone they had circling the area while another team kept watch over the beach. Lex stayed behind on the pier to keep an eye on both. From his position, he could see the light of the boat as it did circles around the cove as well as the floodlights along the beach. He shuffled as a cold wind broke past the protection of his collar and nipped down his spine.
If someone was diving to do all this damage, they’d still feel the sting of icy waters even in a wet suit.
The damage still bothered him. Even if it were a competing company, he hadn’t heard reports back from his eyes and ears that others were mimicking his techniques or technology. It could still be his father, he allowed. His father never did like it when he branched out to try and be successful on his own terms. It wasn’t like his father hadn’t tanked one of Lex’s companies before.
He sat at the edge of the pier and crossed his arms tightly over his chest to try and stave off the wind. His head was freezing, but he wasn’t about to put on a knit cap and be compared to a wanna-be fisherman behind his back after he left.
A splash to his left yanked his attention away from the beach and he hopped up on to the balls of his feet as he tried to see into the dark waters. Something flickered beneath the surface, like a shadow, and the shape of it had his attention locked. He only saw a flash of it; it could be a seal. But it could also be a person.
Bubbles tumbled in the roiling water and broke in the open air, and then Lex saw it. A thin, pale arm just under the water reached over to grab the pillar under his feet, and a body used that stability to pull itself up over the water.
Lex stopped breathing.
A woman clutched at the pillar, exposed from the water from the waist up. He couldn’t quite tell what color her hair was in the dark, but it wasn’t dark enough even wet to be too deep of a color. It was slicked away from her face as it tumbled down her back and floated behind her. From his spot, Lex could see the outline of the side of her face. She had wide eyes and long lashes; a square shaped jaw and ears that appeared slightly pointed near the tips. Even more oddly, they nearly looked like they grew transparent closer to her earlobe.
Her neck was exposed to the cold, but it appeared she was clothed in something. There were darker shadows randomly over the material. Something spotted? Sealskin?
She didn’t shiver in the freezing water.
The woman hadn’t spotted him. Her eyes were drawn up in worry, glued to the boat still circling the cove, and Lex eased closer as he was filled with the distinct feeling of other. He crept to the very edge of the pier and crouched down to be closer to the woman. This close he could see additional details: a necklace made up of tiny seashells and other trinkets tied in her hair. There was something distinctly inhuman about her as a whole that had Lex gripping the wooden planks under his feet with an excited, white knuckled grip.
“Hey!”
He called loud enough for his voice to carry over the wind and the woman gasped as she spun herself around the pillar away from him. They made eye contact just as the boat’s light made a pass in their direction. Wide brown eyes stared up at Lex.
And then she ducked into the water and disappeared from view. Lex panicked.
“My boat can find you! I’ll search the entire cove!”
His words were swallowed up in the wind and spat back in his face, but he waited, his eyes desperately searching the water for any sign of movement. Lex didn’t even realize he wasn’t breathing until he caught sight of a ripple, and the woman’s face appeared again, just enough to poke above the surface.
“How?”
Her voice barely reached him and her gaze was wary and doubtful, but she was still there. It took him a second to pull himself together and realize her question was in reference to his boat.
“It has a camera so we can see under the water,” he said. “Who are you?”
The woman scowled further at him and her eyes darted toward the boat as if that would verify his claim.
“Aren’t you cold?” Lex tried instead. Nothing about her looked cold. She didn’t shiver, her lips weren’t blue, and she easily tread water without signs of fatigue. But he wanted to see what she’d say. “You’ll catch hypothermia in these conditions.”
The woman blew out a puff of air and rolled her eyes as she looked back toward him.
“I’m fine. Don’t try to find me.”
“Sorry, but I’m afraid that’s not an option. Someone has been destroying my equipment, and it’s important enough that I can’t let that go on.”
The woman’s scowl deepened and she ducked down lower into the water, until just her eyes and the top of her head were still visible.
“My name is Lex,” he said. It was strange that she didn’t bob in the water like a normal person treading water would. He needed to get her to a better lit area, preferably on land, to figure out what was going on.
“Are you the one that’s been breaking things? We can talk about this.”
The woman rose back up, her chin tipped up, and she crossed her arms over her chest without sinking back down at all.
“I don’t think you’d be able to find me,” she decided. “You haven’t before.”
She was gearing up to dip below the water and disappear again. Lex leaned further over the edge of the pier to try and fully meet her gaze.
“I have more boats,” he said. “I’ll drain the cove, if I have to.”
Her eyes widened at that and her arms went slack.
“You can’t do that!”
“I can. But I won’t have to if you just come up here and talk to me. Please. I only want to talk.”
The wind was the only thing he could hear as the woman considered her options. Her eyes darted back to the boat, which was making another lap in their direction, and she dipped down to be out of sight of the light this time. She was clearly considering his words with a deep concern; but she kept her thought process to herself. Still, she didn’t try to leave.
Finally, she glared up at him and flashed her teeth in a silent snarl. Lex swore he saw pointed canines flash in the low light.
“I’ll talk from here,” she told him.
She really didn’t want to get out of the water and Lex’s intrigue grew.
“The boat will be making closer rounds soon,” he told her. “There’s a chance the crew could spot you if we stay here. I’m assuming you don’t want that.”
The woman flashed her teeth again, but Lex had been in business long enough to recognize the expression of acquiescence.
“Fine,” she snapped. “But give me your coat.”
Lex didn’t hesitate to shed his wool coat, and by the time he did the woman somehow managed to pull herself up onto the pier. He turned to look at her only to be met with her hand shoving his face in the opposite direction.
“Don’t look at me!”
She ripped his jacket out of his hands, and Lex rubbed his jaw as he listened to the rustle of fabric. He cut his eyes to the side and his breathing hitched as he caught sight of a long, dark tail. Moonlight glinted off scales in a greenish-blue hue.
Something sparked in the atmosphere, and it wasn’t the wind. It almost felt like a pressure, a static, something else other that Lex couldn’t quite describe in words, and he tore his eyes away to maintain his facade of obedience.
With a loud exhale, she pressed his jacket back against his arm. It was sopping wet.
“Here,” she said. “You can have it back.”
It was heavy in his hand and Lex let it fall against the wooden dock with a splat.
“Thanks,” he said dryly. He rolled his lips as he cut his eyes again. “Can I look now?”
“If you must.”
He didn’t waste any time to openly stare. The woman crouched next to him with her hands supporting her and legs turned inward awkwardly. Legs that hadn’t been there seconds ago.
His earlier guess at her wearing sealskin looked to be correct; it stretched from her bust to mid-thigh with intricate stitching detail along the hems.
And not that he needed more proof, but this close he could confirm her ears weren’t normal; there were unnatural folds of skin on either side of her neck. Everything he knew about the world tilted and spun and fell at his feet.
The wind bit harshly through his button-up, and Lex swallowed then gestured towards the research building.
“Let’s talk out of his wind,” he said. The woman looked ready to argue and Lex pushed his luck a little bit more. “For my sake. My jacket is soaking wet.”
After a short deliberation, the woman’s face wrinkled in distaste and distrust, but she pushed herself up onto her feet. Her entire body swayed dangerously, as if intoxicated. She stumbled and took a few sideways steps to correct herself and stop herself from falling. Lex reached out without actually touching her in case she took another dive.
“Woah, you okay, there?”
“Stupid things,” she muttered under her breath. “I’ve got it. Let’s get this over with.”
[][][][]
They made it to the research building without the woman falling, and she seemed to master her legs well enough by the time he pulled out a chair for her to sit in.
Lex’s heart beat in his ears as he tried to be polite and offer her a cup of coffee. She didn’t particularly like it, but Lex downed half his mug in a scalding swallow as he studied her in the light.
A mermaid. It was a ridiculous idea, yet he’d seen it with his own eyes.
“What can I call you, then?” He asked as he sat across from her. “You know my name.”
The woman pressed her lips together as she stared at him.
“Peyton,” she finally said. “What is it you want with me?”
Lex broke out into a smile as he sat his mug on the table and leaned forward conspiratorially.
“Well, Peyton, I think we both know who’s been the culprit behind my equipment being destroyed again and again. All I want to know is why.”
That was a lie. Knowing now that she was a not-so-mythical creature opened the door to infinite questions, and he was a man that hunted answers.
At his insinuation she tilted her chin up defiantly and clicked her tongue against her teeth.
“Your machines are disruptive. I’ve seen things like this ruin waters before.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever seen something like this,” he argued. “I’m trying to create truly clean energy. Something that will help keep our world, and your waters, clean instead of pollute them.”
“It’s loud. And ugly.”
Lex laughed lightly and leaned back.
“You’ve been destroying it before we can refine our approach or make any adjustments.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “Does that mean you live in the cove, if the sound bothers you? Are there others like you here?”
Her expression fell completely flat at his words and her shoulders stiffened minutely; all telling. Lex had seen the expression more than once in his line of work.
“I promise,” he said, hand flipped palm up, “I’m not here to hurt you. I only want to understand.”
Peyton’s expression didn’t exactly soften, but she studied him back for the first time, as if evaluating him for his own actions instead of her expectations.
“I knew we didn’t blend in well enough,” she said to herself; as if commenting on some long held argument he wasn’t privy to. “Is that all you want? Me to leave your machines alone?”
Just telling her to leave his research alone wasn’t going to really help. He’d given her no reason to believe it wasn’t something else about to spew oil into the water and cause an ecological disaster. And, besides that, it wasn’t what he really wanted. Not anymore.
Sure, he still wanted his investments to pay off, to create change, but now there was something bigger. An idea, a person, far more interesting. If he merely got her to agree to leave his research be, she’d be gone and that would be the end of things.
He didn’t actually think his boat would be able to find her.
“I think we could work together,” he said, “in a way that would be mutually beneficial.”
Peyton leaned back in her chair as she stared at him; one eyebrow rose on her forehead.
“On your project.”
“I imagine it would be impactful on your world if it succeeded. If you have any of your own ideas for collaborations, I’m more than eager to hear them.”
Recognition flashed in Peyton’s eyes, she leaned forward and laced her fingers together as she stared a hole through him.
“And just how long do you anticipate being in contact with me,” she asked. “Your phrasing sounds more like an alliance than a consultation.”
Lex tucked away the questions of mermaid politics and business practices for later; instead he met her gaze straight on and let himself smile.
“We can start with the clean energy project and see where it goes.”
Ideally, their interactions would go on a lot longer than that.
@carefulfrog
Glasses and different hair work for some people…