MERMAY where are my fish!?! I’m drowning here!
Briar… had little to say at first as they had to readjust and fix themselves after being saved not once but apparently twice… their memory was a little blurry. The last thing they remember was them being dragged under by something a lot smaller than this guy here. Then, blacking out and so they looked to him for an answer. And whether or not he understood he opened his mouth, and inside was the creature that Briar had been attacked by. It was alive but it had a gaping hole in its chest and cuts over it. Most likely from when it was apparently bitten into by Briar’s… new friend here? Maybe? They weren’t too sure what to call this guy. But he saved her?
Clearly her assailant couldn’t move too well but they gave some resistance once it felt the tongue under it move and it tried to grip forward before Briar watched as it was rolled back and then heard a loud echo of a gulp dragging… food down a throat. That sound had never really stuck with Briar till this moment when they heard it so surreal and loud around her. And then a moment after her savior put his head on the boat lightly almost as if they knew too much pressure would shatter the wooden frame of it. And opened their mouth and rolled out their tongue for something. Briar was confused as they stared. Clearly it wanted something right?
Briar thought for a moment and hoped maybe if it was hungry they could feed it something else, and as they tried to stand they forgot about their ankle as they quickly fell back to the ground. The adrenaline earlier had worn off, although they didn’t feel any pain they could see their ankle was clearly almost bitten through and it was barely hanging in thanks to… their muscles and tendons. Bone was showing but that wasn’t a great sign. It wasn’t bleeding much or hurting at all. Could the one from earlier have had a numbing and clotting agent mixed into its saliva? The opportunity to study it unfortunately wouldn’t come.
However, as Briar failed to walk they heard an echoing sound again. Almost like a chorus of lights hums. Looking back at their “savior” they noticed he was grinning before using one of his hands which Briar was forced to realize could be used to squeeze the life out of their smaller body to pick Briar up by their collar and lifted them up and let Briar fall directly into their mouth. This was… too say the eats way too much to process in a moment and Briar blanked. They didn’t move and didn’t struggle, but they also weren’t bitten into? Or even moved around at all. They could hear a slight dripping noise around them, saliva? It had to be that and soon they felt the liquid start to rise over their leg.
That liquid brought two things: a burning pain, and soon relief. The pain almost seeming to last forever until it was completely gone and once it was the soothing relief felt like stepping into a warm bath after a hard day of work. Getting to feel the weight lift from your shoulders as you slump down and feel the freedom of relaxation pour over. Until Briar opened their eyes and realized they were now being held in the air again and soon planted on the deck of their boat. And they didn’t fall over? Looking at their ankle it was healed. Almost as if nothing had happened to it.
“You know, it’s rude to not say, ‘Thank you’ in your kinds culture. Especially when someone helps you not once, not twice, but three times isn’t it?”
Briar stared almost completely slack jawed before muddling over their words.
“I-How did you-Wait hold but you! I-My!”
Even pointing at him and then at their own ankle and then once at their own mouth.
“That! You! Genetics! Saliva?! You-Gah!”
After about another minute they seemed to have collected themselves enough to say an actual sentence….
“Thank you for… helping me each time.”
“Ah of course, it’s not an issue after all you’re the one who showed up in my home and made today a bit more interesting, consider it a favor repaid.”
Bruar was a little confused by what they meant. It was obvious they lived in the ocean but well it wasn’t like that was an intention or anything
“Uh huh…. Ok got it. Ummmm sorry for intruding?”
And the man before her laughed and simply smirked afterwards.
“You know, I think I got lucky and found one of you with a sense of humor. Normally you’re all too scared to make a joke like that. It’s the ocean! You can’t exactly intrude on that.”
Whether Briar wanted to admit it or not, he was in a way right and wrong. But, better to not correct the one clearly able to eat her if they wanted to.
“Ehe…. Fair point but again thank you. Ummm what now?”
The man seemed to ponder for a moment before sticking his finger upwards!
“I’ve got it! You can be my little explorer! Keep going around the seas and maybe you’ll find me again and maybe we’ll talk about your travels! Buttttt should you leave forever, maybe you’ll see me sooner than you’d like to heh.”
He’d dive under the water directly after saying that. Although in Briar’s neck a small tattoo would appear. Briar would be oblivious to this, but someone looking may comment on it. But, it was the design of a kraken or at least a giant octopus if you looked at it the wrong way.
