so as much as we all like being nasties w/ the other questions, i'm genuinely curious about some of the world-building too in the mershark au...if you've got it figured out, it's OK if not lol. like stu is another mershark? do others know about john's on-land adventures and interaction with humans, would that be something they're OK with? i just have...questions haha
omg these questions are much easier to answer without worrying about facing public judgement haha
@twinkpaul and i have put a lot thought into their world, but it’s been over the span of at least two years, so i’m probably forgetting some things? i’ll answer to the best of my ability
yes, stu is another mershark! i mentioned in another ask that john used to hook up with him casually, but we’ve also discussed a scenario in which stu’s feelings toward john are a little more than casual. so when john eventually wants to introduce paul to his friends, that creates sort of an awkward tension between them
mersharks know about humans, but kind of view them in the same way that we view sharks: they are extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. they know humans are responsible for the ocean pollution, for instance, so they just kind of think of humans as these careless, destructive creatures. however, humans also kind of have a mythological status, since the mersharks live in deeper water and very few have ever seen a human
so john and paul’s relationship would be viewed as pretty taboo from both sides. since paul rescued john and cared for him, john learns right away that paul is not dangerous, but the other mersharks aren’t necessarily as willing to accept that. john has pretty much decided to move in with paul and live on land as much as he can, so he’s not too worried about what the other mersharks think of their relationship
paul takes john back to the ocean a lot though so he can hunt and get some exercise, so john is free to visit them if he wants, but he tends to stay close to paul. paul will sit on some rocks or a pier or something while john swims around, and maybe he’ll bring along his guitar to play with while he waits, and john will bring paul pretty things that he finds underwater
which reminds me, this picture is pretty much how we imagine paul in the au:
just imagine him sitting by the ocean waiting for his shark baby <3