[Closed] @eidxiety🧜‍♀️🔬

[winterbolt]

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[dyn4m0]

[Okay but, consider...Add is fucking insane. As it turns out, he values science and discovery above all else, even his own wellbeing. If Ain had bitten him, he would have just accepted it as a consequence of his actions. It's worth it to learn more about how Siren's behave.

To that end, he does flinch back with how quickly Ain snatches the pen from his hands, allowing him to grab it because like what ELSE do you do when a Siren is coming at you like that? He's allowed to have the pen for now while he's being supervised and Add can make sure he doesn't put it in his mouth, it's fine.]

Kekeke. I wonder what you would have done if your full attention was on me, just then?

[Thankfully he has another pen in a cup on his desk, which he'll roll over to and grab so he can take some more notes. While Ain curiously clicks the pen, Add flips to another page of his notes. Hmm...]

Almost done for now. I need to check one last thing...

[Ain is unaware, obviously, but...he's not just Add's study project. He's intended to be a key player in the upcoming breeding project, and while all of the pod has been cleared as far as being viable goes, he wants to check him out for himself. Now, knowing Sirens are sentient, he's not just going to go grabbing at him without warning. It's why he rests a hand on Ain's stomach first, his fingers edging towards the underside of his tail.

Are you going to let him check your slit Ain, this is for purely scientific purposes-]

[eidxiety]

[Ain is happy and clicking his pen and clicking at the pen, he has the pen he's going to write on himself with it—

Add reaches a little too low and Ain suddenly clamps his fin-wings up around himself and hisses, this time a threat hiss and not a hunting hiss, before he reaches for Add with his drawn-on hand and pushes his hand back. This is probably expected; Ain has never tolerated this part of the exam before, and very rarely do Sirens ever, like most animals. Of course, he looks sad about it after the fact, like he's realised he's not getting any toys now that he's pushed Add back.]

Nnn...nnouuu.

[No :( ]

[dyn4m0]

[Ah. Hm. Add doesn't goad Ain this time, and he ends up jerking his hand away because he is legitimately sure Ain would bite him if he continued. Or worse, who knows. He does need to continue his examination, but...again, Sirens aren't wild animals. At least, not wild in a sense that they can't understand. They may not understand everything about humans, but they're fiercely intelligent. They're smart, they know things, they just haven't found a way to cross the barrier between species yet.

Add sighs, considering. He wonders if this might have to wait for some other time, assuming he can ever properly take a look. To test, he hovers his hand over Ain without touching him, looking at him questioningly with a slight tilt of his head. He decides, if he says no, he won't push it.]

...?

[eidxiety]

[Ain looks very unsure about this. His slit is usually showing when he's just swimming around, why can't you look then? Putting your fingers there is for mates!! Add is not mates!! But Ain doesn't know how to explain this, like how he wouldn't stick his fingers in the human slit (lmao) without being mated to one. Maybe it's different for humans. Maybe humans just stick their fingers wherever. He doesn't understand, but he does know that Add is a Shaman.

He can't speak properly anyway. He'd say all of that if he could. As it is, he draws himself more inward, curling up into as much of a ball as the small tank space allows him to, which isn't very much to be fair. His tentacles all draw in toward his body too, the kong toy and pen clung onto, as his eyes dart between the colourful rings he can see off to the side and Add like he's trying to make a choice. Does he suffer and get a reward, or not suffer and get nothing? There's a battle going on behind those eyes of his, but in any case, it seems like he's more scared than anything.

He tries, very hard, to communicate.]

Nn... nooouu... ch... che... eck-uhhph.

[No checkup :( ]

[dyn4m0]

[Add...is not expecting Ain to speak words, or at least come very fucking close to it, and that's enough to cause him to stop dead, his hand still above Ain before he slowly curls his fingers into a fist. His brows rise towards his hairline, and for a moment he says nothing, taking note of his closed-off posture and that fearful expression he has. He knows that even if he tried, he couldn't properly explain that this is just a check-up- it doesn't mean anything more than that- and that, coupled with Ain's upset, is why he ends up drawing his hand away.]

Alright...alright. No more, we're done.

[He's gotten plenty of data anyway, and...he needs a moment to recover from that. He's not sure he's ever heard a Siren nearly speak in the way Ain just did.

He swivels around in his chair and wheels himself over to the cabinets again, pulling the bottom one open so he can grab the treat box from within. This time, he takes a couple marshmallows and stuffs them into a second kong, extremely high value since it's pure sugar, and adds some more peanut butter on top to make them a little harder to get to. He'll make his way back after that, both the kong and the ring toys in hand as he takes them with him, offering them both to Ain.]

You did good. Let's...get you back to the tank for now.

[eidxiety]

[The way Ain just lights up like a long Christmas tree when he's given things. He is listening to you Add, he's trying to learn your words so he can talk to you. Aren't you proud of him? He reaches out for the toys with his tentacles, looking markedly less sad now (though still a bit red around the eyes like he was going to start crying if anything continued).

He wiggles and chirps, then reaches for Add's hand carefully. If he's allowed to take it, he plops the hand on top of his head and wiggles it back and forth.

Pets :) ]

[dyn4m0]

[Add doesn't stop him, though he's a little bit hesitant over the way Ain reaches for him suddenly. He watches warily as the Siren takes his hand, then puts it on his head...

Oh. He sees. For as smart as Sirens can be, they really enjoy the simple things, he notes. Like being pet, or told they've done a good job.

Sighing, Add rolls his eyes and...yes, he pets Ain's hair. Pat pat.]

Yeah yeah, you were a good patient. Can you use your legs this time so I don't have to carry you?

[He wants to see those up close as well so he can take notes while he watches Ain big steppy his way back into his tank with his prizes.]

[eidxiety]

[Looks at Add like :)? while he's trying to tongue this marshmallow out of the second toy... sorry he doesn't understand. He sits there in the tub, very good, very eating, and jingles the set of rainbow rings with one of his tentacles.

The pen clicks, and he goes back to drawing on his hand. Sigh. Add you're gonna have to take that from him.]

[dyn4m0]

[Oops, right. Also Add you can't just TALK at Ain and expect him to understand...he'll learn eventually. Both of them have a lot of learning to do, it would seem.

Nevertheless, Add will reach out and attempt to take the pen from Ain, which hopefully will be acceptable now that he has TWO kongs and the rainbow rings.]

This is mine. [He reminds him as he gets up from his chair, then points at his own legs, then to the tank.] Can you walk? [Mimes walking with his fingers in midair]

[eidxiety]

[Aaahhhhh his stick :( He has drawn so much nonsense on his hand (it looks like a clam in a kelp forest??) he misses his stick, but he will be nice and let Add have it back while he eats his snacks.

...

Oh, he wants him to walk? Okay. Ain wiggle wiggles out of the sloped tank and manages to transform just before his otherwise fat body would've collided with the ground, though he does still struggle to stand up after getting out of there. Does Add want him to go back to the tank? He's eating his sweet dirt right now, Add has to hold on while Ain shakes his tail out and big steppies around to look at all the new things in here.

He points to whatever computer is in here, laptop or desktop or otherwise, and then to the keyboard, and imitates the clacking sound of keys with his lips and tongue. This is an instrument to him. He thinks that it's sort of like when Sirens bang shells and stones together to make music. Humans seem very skilled at it, with how fast their fingers move.

He sings a tiny tune after clicking. Instrument. Play music.]

[dyn4m0]

[This is...fine, he guesses, though he's a little bothered by getting water all over the floor. It's something he'll have to get used to having a Siren in his office for study though, so whatever. He'll give Ain time to eat his snack and explore a little, though it can't be for very long. They're not supposed to roam like this without strict permission and supervision, but...just inside his office should be okay for a little bit.

It's another opportunity for study, he realizes as Ain mimics the sound of the keyboard. He jots a few things down, noting that they pay close attention to the things they do and remember it. Mmm...]

You'll be in here for a while so I can study you.

[Add says, knowing he won't understand but filling the silence just for the sake of speaking aloud.]

Once I've collected enough data, we'll be able to see about integrating you into the breeding program...but that won't be for a while yet.

[eidxiety]

[Girl you literally told him to get up and walk what did you want him to do??? Magically suck up the rest of the water like a sponge??

Ain does not understand :) but he continues to do big steppies around the office and point at things while he eats, only stopping near the glass of his tank when he realises there is Something in this kong toy that he has to fish out. He has never seen this. What is this thing? Limk limckc lickfkcmf

...

Oh! Squishy sweet thing! Ain chirps happily and chews, swallows, and then goes back to tonguing the sweet dirt out of the toy, and walking around with large, full-leg-swing, British-military-type steps. His tail swings opposite of whatever leg moves to keep him balanced; Sirens are not, uh, land-faring and do not know how to locomote so easily like humans do, it seems.

After a bit more walking in circles, wondering when Add wants him to stop but generally entertaining himself by pacing around like this, Ain sings out the tune of someone's phone ringtone that he can hear a door and a half down the hall.

Sirens are also parrots, didn't you know?]

[dyn4m0]

[Listen he didn't think this through okay, this is his first time having his own Siren to study he doesn't know-

He will watch Ain as he wanders his office and points at things, and occasionally he'll offer the word for whatever he's pointing at. Computer, chair, plant, etc. It's amusing at the very least to watch him walk, because he clearly hasn't mastered the art...but Add can't imagine he'd know what to do if he just had a tail for his lower half, so.

Once the peanut butter and marshmallows have been consumed, Add will start to shepherd Ain towards the tank, gesturing towards it with his clipboard.]

Alright, time to head back. I need to document this for my report.

[eidxiety]

[Ain tries so hard to say the words back to Add.]

Commmmter! Chaaare. Plantch.

[He's trying. Consonants are very difficult for him, especially the English language ones, which is deeply ironic because his ass was found in Germany. Add starts guiding him, though, and Ain climbs the stairs up to his tank entrance on all fours (he has not figured out stairs yet, walking as he does), wiggles his butt, and throws himself into the water through the top hatch. He is immediately back in fish form again, swimming off with his toys and tossing them, watching the currents caused by the bubbler take them, chasing them...

He was given raw sugar so he's going to be zooming back and forth for a while. While Add works, he will occasionally be greeted to Ain trying to lick the glass. Whenever he's caught doing this, he giggles childishly and swims away to hide, only to poke his head out when he's sure the scientist isn't looking and do it again.

Playing :) ]

[dyn4m0]

[The possibilities here, Add is suddenly realizing, are endless. His ability to mimic human speech is unparalleled…could he teach him? If he could, it would be an absolute marvel. A breakthrough. It’s something he’ll have to work on with Ain further. For now, he definitely notices his playful nature, which he writes about in his notes.]

I anticipated him being skittish and afraid the first day, hiding instead of wanting anything to do with me. Barring a couple hiccups during examination, he was actually quite tolerant of it all. Stubborn and needy…but tolerant. I want to study his hunting instincts more, though.

[THAT is a accident waiting to happen, but a risk he’s willing bc to take. For science.]

Specimen designation will be cumbersome to repeat…I noticed how his fins seem comparable to that of a blossomed flower, and due to his country of origin, I’ve decided to call him “Bluhen”.

[eidxiety]

[Add's decided to give him a new name and Ain is out here licking the glass...

Ain, oblivious to anything going on, watches Add talk to himself and flattens himself against the glass dome to watch with his face quite literally pressed to the glass. His cheek is against it, and he is Seeing. He will watch Add for most of the time, play when he's not immediately perceiving this new human, wonder why he's in a solo tank but not think much of it... keep playing. Bury the rings under the sand before digging them back up and leaving them at the top of the tank while he chews on a kong and builds a sand castle.

Or, well, a Siren's version of one. It definitely doesn't look like a human castle, and resembles something like the mouth of a cave where they'd commonly live, but like. Castle.

He will do this on repeat, moving between watching Add to playing to digging to building, until Add either does something else or leaves.]

[dyn4m0]

[Despite very much being an adult, Ain is a playful one...Add isn't sure if that's better or worse for his studies, but at least it means that he's healthy and not like, depressed or something. If he was, that would be a direct failing on Add's part, and that's something he isn't going to tolerate. Especially not with his first assignment like this.

He'll observe Ain in silence for a while, occasionally talking to himself as he makes his notes. He'll have to bring him some other objects to see how he interacts with them, but for now his tank setup seems sufficient. Plenty of space, somewhere to hide and sleep...and the way he's playing in the sand indicates he likes that, too.

Eventually it's time to pack up his things and head home, so he'll do just that as he gathers up his work into a foldable bag, finally remembering the coffee cup on his desk that has ice cold coffee in it by now. Sighs. He gives Ain one last glance before he turns out the lights and leaves for the night, just the ambient glow of the low lighting of the tank there to keep the room from being pitch black dark. How Ain handles being totally alone is a mystery to Ain until he clocks in for work the next morning...

Fortunately for Ain, he's someone who comes to work early, and while Ain is probably used to having feeding times alongside the others in his pod, things will work a little differently now. Add is Ain's sole caretaker as Ain is his responsibility to study and observe, which means his first task when he turns on the lights is to put down his things and...immediately leave again. He isn't gone for too terribly long at least, just long enough to grab Ain's breakfast and carry it up to the top of the tank where the grate is. This morning it's a bucket full of raw chicken legs that have been dusted with vitamin powder for Ain's health, and though he would normally just dump them in...

With the grate pulled aside, Add holds up a piece with a pair of tongs.]

If you want it, you'll have to come get it. Up out of the water for me, now.

[eidxiety]

[Add is going to review the camera footage later and realize that Ain gets so flat and depressed when left alone. The second the other man leaves, he swims around aimlessly for a while, chirping to himself... but no one is there, and he's not used to being isolated. His attempts at entertaining himself go nowhere, and eventually, he just lays in the sand for several hours and stares at nothing. He'll pick himself up eventually and go into the cave, but it's fairly difficult to rouse him in the morning.

Until the food comes out and he realizes Add is back, and then he chirps out HI HUMAN!!! and races to go see him, floating under the grate and staring up at Add with huge eyes as it's pulled back. The food gets dangled but not dropped in, and he tilts his head before popping out of the water like a seal and trying to steal it from Add with his mouth.]

[dyn4m0]

[Reviewing the camera footage will be what Add does while Ain eats his breakfast, and he will find it interesting to note that he becomes depressed and despondent when left alone. It makes sense; Sirens are social creatures and not really meant to be taken from their pod, and while some might see doing this to Ain cruel, it's a necessity for study. He's not being left alone for more than a few hours every night, but even so. It's something Add will have to study with a closer eye in the coming weeks.

For now, he's pleased when Ain comes to the surface for the chicken, allowing him to yoink it from the tongs.]

Good boy.

[From there, he'll turn the bucket over and drop the rest of the food in, allowing Ain to snatch it as it falls or later find it in the sand for enrichment. He'll be able to play with the bones once he's finished as well.]

We won't be doing any physical experimentation today. I'm just going to spend some time observing your behavior in an isolated setting.

[He says this as he climbs down the stairs and sinks into his desk chair to grab his notes and laptop so he can get to work.]

[eidxiety]

[Ain is a good boy!! He doesn't know what this means yet, but Add keeps saying it so he's started to pick up on the syllables. This is one long word to Ain, and he's not sure how to say it. Trying to fit his tongue and lips around "goo" is easy enough, but it's those end consonants man...

Anyway, Ain will eat and occasionally talk to himself, but by the point he thinks he can say "good" without ruining it (it comes out as "guude"), he forgets how "boy" sounds, so he'll have to give up there for now. He lays down and annihilates this chicken, sniffs around his tank and digs for more of it, eats that too despite the sand because Sirens lack "food on floor gross" human sensibilities, and then buries the bones for later.

What he actually does while Add is typing on the computer is dig up more sand, to the thicker mud and silt layer at the bottom of the tank, and start giving himself a mud bath. Sirens are very clean, you see, but obviously they can't take showers because they live underwater .. so Ain is using the mud, sand, and his hands to scrub himself.

He's quite meticulous about this, careful to use some of the larger stones as something like pumice stones on his skin and scales, removing the dead ones so that the new ones growing underneath can shine. He doesn't have any fish oil for the rest, though, since they haven't been giving him that, so Ain simply scrubs out his hair as he normally would and skips the whole fish oil conditioner thing.

It's no wonder he's soft. He gives himself a whole spa treatment every morning.]

[dyn4m0]

[This is his favorite part, Add thinks. Getting to watch Ain's natural behaviors and document everything he sees. What's natural instinct, and what's a quirk unique to Ain himself? That's what he wants to learn. Sirens are fastidious, clean creatures, he's learning. It's fascinating to watch as he cleans himself diligently, and it makes him wonder what he would do if given access to less rudimentary tools. Would he learn how to use them like a human would? He's seen Sirens make each other things before, like necklaces, so he's certain it's possible.

Add types away, typing his notes instead of writing them for now since he doesn't have to be walking around and interacting with Ain (and possibly getting his expensive equipment wet). He occasionally uses a recorder to tape himself talking as well, since he finds it's faster and easier to verbally notate what he's thinking so his phone can notate it for him.]

So far, the subject has not shown any adverse effects to being separated from the pod, likely due to careful introduction of enrichment. He's not to be left alone for more than 12 hours at a time, and eventually the hope is that he will become used to the schedule.

[He will not. He will be flat every time Ain leaves.]

"Bluhen" has passed all preliminary medical examinations and is a normal, healthy male. Induction into the breeding program is expected to begin in the following months when the mating season starts.

[eidxiety]

[It's funny, because when Ain is done with the mud he covers it back up with the sand in a way that is very "pull the shower curtain closed when you're done". He has taken his bath. Next up would be dealing with his teeth, but he has no plants to clean them on, uhh...

Hm.

Ain swims over to where he buried the bones and pulls one out, re-buries the rest, and starts picking at his teeth with it. This is fine and good, this will get any missing chunks out of his teeth, but he really needs a plant he can brush them on properly.

He taps the glass. When Add looks at him, he points to the sand, then positions a tentacle in front of where he just pointed, sticking straight up and wiggling like kelp would. Then he points to his teeth.]

[dyn4m0]

[Add lifts his head to look when Ain taps the glass, watching as he pantomimes...something. Now someone else might not understand, and it's not like Add knows 100% for sure what he's asking for, but he's worked here long enough and has enough of an idea of Siren habitats to know he's talking about a plant. The Pod tank has a ton of natural flora planted throughout to make it feel more like their natural habitat, and Ain's tank...has none of that. Again, to be expected. It's up to Add to decide what to put in there and what not, for his study. But as much as he wants to learn about how Ain acts with and without certain stimuli, he isn't going to just make him miserable.

After a moment of thought, he moves to get up from his desk and steps out for a moment. Though he can't plant something right now- Ain would need to be removed from the tank for that, it'd be a whole day ordeal- he can head to their supply room and pick out a living kelp sample. It has to be kept in the water because it's, you know, kelp, but Add can just take the container, water and all, back to Ain's tank.

From there, he'll come back to the glass and hold it up.]

Is this what you're asking for?

[eidxiety]

[Ain nods yes, does a spin, and starts chirping. Yes! He needs it for brush him teeth!! Please give plant thank you. He's glad Add figured it out, since Ain will be the first to admit that his miming abilities aren't all there. He tries, but...

Anyway, expecting to receive plant, he will swim to the top of the tank and wait very patiently.]

[dyn4m0]

[Add makes his way back to the top of the tank, pulling the grate aside once more so he can carefully overturn the container and let the water with the kelp inside flow into the tank. Normally he might make Ain work for it more, but he's more curious right now to see what he does with it. Does he want to eat it, or does he want it planted in his tank?

This time, Add is smart enough to not let go of the container also. This will not always be the case.]