[Closed] @eidxiety🧜‍♀️🔬

[winterbolt]

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[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.]

[eidxiety]

[It's a small kelp, but it'll do. Ain inspects it as it floats to him, grabbing it and returning to where he was curled up in the sand. He doesn't see roots on it, but maybe it'll survive if he plants the lower half anyway, and rips off one of the leaves on the upper half? It's a bit frustrating, but this is what he has for now. After planting what he can, Ain takes that leaf he plucked and literally starts to floss his teeth with it.

Thank God kelp is a thicker plant or this would cause more issues for him.

Sirens are not wasteful creatures, though. When Ain is done flossing his teeth, he doesn't let the kelp leaf simply float away. No no, he buries it in the sand so that it will decay on its own and hopefully give nutrients to the baby kelp he just planted. (The baby kelp will not grow, it has no roots it's just existing.)

He's not too sure about this little kelp, but he makes sure to steer clear of it when he goes about settling down to play with the chicken bones.]

[dyn4m0]

...he flossed his teeth with it?

[Add muses to himself, immediately rushing back to his computer so he can write this down. This is the exact sort of thing he wants to see and document. Behaviors they may not otherwise get to observe, including but not limited to attempting to actually plant the kelp so more will grow. That one will not, unfortunately, but Add can ask to have some more plants put in soon during a day he needs to remove Ain from the tank for whatever reason.

The day will continue on like this, with Add spending basically every waking moment watching Ain and writing notes and observations about what he sees him doing. It's probably a little boring for Ain, assuming he runs out of things to entertain himself with, but he at least isn't alone. Every so often some scientists will come into his office to speak to Add and get a look at Ain, checking up on his progress so far and speaking to him about whatever else might be going on in the facility. It's about that time that his superiors discover Add has not taken his lunch (he was going to work through it...he usually does this), and they basically order him right then to stop and take a break for an hour.

Ugh.

Well, at least Ain will get to watch as Add makes himself some shitty cup ramen for lunch, sitting back down at his desk to slurp the noodles.]

[eidxiety]

[Human food is so fucking weird, dude.

Ain waves hello to the other humans as they come in and leave, and then flattens himself against the dome to watch Add eat. Slurp... So humans also eat seagrasses... But where is his protein? Is Add one of those weird vegetarian things? That's no fun...

Ain doesn't know how to signal "where is the fish" to him. Nor does he understand that noodles aren't grass. He does know that humans are always eating with the food stick, though this one seems to be different from the one with the rounded base. Are they scared to eat with their hands?

He watches Add for a bit longer before he swims off to sit on top of his cave and sing songs. Now Add has a concert with his lunch. ...a muffled one, but still.]

[dyn4m0]

[One day when they can communicate properly, Add will explain these things to Ain and he will probably be even more confused lbr. For now, he slurps his noodles because he isn't eating ramen with his bare hands, not unless he wants 3rd degree burns with his meal.

A concert, though? Unexpected. The Sirens sing often, and this is a double edged sword because on one hand it can be completely harmless, whereas on another it can be actively detrimental. Their tanks are reinforced with glass that's made to keep the more dangerous sounds out, the ones that can hypnotize or even paralyze you at a strong enough frequency, but that doesn't mean they won't still give you a pounding headache. Add keeps some strong earplugs in his pockets for this reason, and he goes for them at first because he's not sure what Ain's doing-

Until he realizes he's just...singing for the joy of it. Not to hurt him, not out of frustration or anger. And although Add is SUPPOSED to be on break, he's immediately pulling out his notebook to write some notes down. This is his office, nobody can stop him.

He also gets the idea to pull up something on his laptop...he finds some classical music and hits play.]

[eidxiety]

[Ain stops suddenly and turns to the instrument machine, looking at it and squinting as he tries to hear the notes through the glass. It's distant, but Siren ears are sharp, and slowly does he swim back toward the dome and put his ear (or, well, his fins which cover his ear-holes) against it to hear better.

...

It takes several slow seconds of listening, but Ain eventually pulls back from the dome and starts singing out the melody of the song, now that he's caught it properly. Some notes get missed because the laptop's speakers don't exactly reach through reinforced glass, but for the most part, it's an almost perfect recreation of the song playing.

Sirens are very musical, you see. Singing is their whole culture, and mimicry specifically happens to be Ain's best skill.]

[dyn4m0]

[TAKING FURIOUS NOTES-

Add also makes a note in the margin of his notebook to ask about having a set of speakers installed into Ain's tank, so he can play music directly into the water so he can hear it more easily. Incredible...could music be used to teach him their language? Would it be easier for him to learn that way? It makes Add wonder...

He quickly finishes his ramen so he can get back to work (a good 15 minutes early but like, whatever), experimenting a bit by changing the song that's playing after about a half hour has passed to see if Ain will notice and swap the song he's singing to copy that one instead.]

[eidxiety]

[Ain notices! He does the same thing as before, swimming up to the dome and flattening himself so he can hear better, giving it some time to process the beats and melody, and then gets up and goes back to singing again. He is incredibly proficient at this, it seems. Once he has it memorized, it's not going to leave his head anytime soon.

Add better be teaching him good classical music because otherwise this is gonna cause "my parrot won't stop saying fuck" problems.

Sometimes as he sings more upbeat passages, he swims through the water and fluffs his fins out like he's dancing.]

[dyn4m0]

[Thankfully it's all relatively well known classical music with no lyrics, so he'll just be learning the melody. You know, for now. Who knows if Ain will end up accidentally hearing the hard rock that Add likes to listen to and then they're all fucked.

It's actually getting near time to feed Ain again...so as a reward for giving him so much to study, Add will go get a bucket of sardines to feed Ain, walking up to the top of the tank and pulling the grate back.]

I wonder what your favorite food is...I'll consider it high value once I figure it out.

[Tosses him a fishie]

[eidxiety]

[High-value snacks (fish you can get at the grocery store) (gummy octopi soon)

Ain wiggles his whole butt at the sardines like he's Going to chase those fuckers down even though they're already dead. Add tosses him one and he catches it in midair, swallows it whole, and swims back over for more.

Throw... throw fishie... Looks at Add with his big eyes (this will continue until that whole bucket is empty, thanks).]

[dyn4m0]

[Can't wait for Ain to become addicted to gummy treats and then Add has to limit them because he's getting FAT on all the sugar...

He was hoping Ain would catch it out of the air, and he's not disappointed. It prompts him to laugh- that stupid, asshole laugh of his- as he tosses him another.

Then...hmm.]

Can you say..."Please"? Puh-lease?

[eidxiety]

[Please? Puhlease?? Is this what humans call these fish? Ain squints like he's not sure what it is Add wants from him, wiggles his fins, then leans up so his head is out of the water.

He points at the fish.]

Puhh... puhhh leese.

[Police :) ]

[dyn4m0]

Please.

[Add reiterates, enunciating it as clearly as he can for Ain's benefit. He has no idea he's teaching him incorrectly but he'll figure that out the hard way later-

Either way, even if it's not totally correct, Add will get the fish tossed to him for his efforts.]

Good boy. Good Sirens say "please" when they want a snack.

[eidxiety]

[These fish are called please!!! Ain is knowing now :)

He points at the bucket Add has after he devours that one and brings his face up to the surface again.]

Puh-leese!!!

[POLICE POLICE YES THERE'S A MAN HERE]

Puh-leese! Puh-leese!!!

[dyn4m0]

[Haha...oh dear. Yeah that's not QUITE right, but it's close enough for now he supposes...every time Ain says it, he'll get a fish. Here you go here's your fish. He could just dump them all in, but he's admittedly enjoying throwing them in, so he'll toss them all at Ain one by one until the bucket's empty.

Then, after a brief moment of thought...he gestures to himself.]

"Add".

[eidxiety]

[Ain is full of pleases :) And Add is teaching him another word. ...oh, is that word his name? Ain wishes he could share his, but siren click-chirps are very hard for humans to say, he thinks. Hm.]

Aaaa... [Those hard consonants again! He hates them!] Aaaaaaa...duh.

[He is knowing!]

[dyn4m0]

[Aaaaduh...not correct, but also not completely wrong. Add sighs and shakes his head a little, propping his chin up in one hand with his elbow on his knee.]

Add. Ah-dhh.

[Then, he points to Ain.]

"Bluhen". Bloo-hen.

[Girl you can't just ASSIGN him a name.]

[eidxiety]

[Girl he has a name!]

Aaaddhhh. Aadhhh.

[He's trying. Sounding things out is hard! He's new to language! You guys make strange, fast noises with your mouths, but he sympathizes because the click language is very subtle and fast too, like dolphins on 4x speed.]

Aadhh.

[dyn4m0]

[Yeah but he doesn't know it, therefore: Bluhen.]

Add.

[He repeats a couple times to help Ain along, before he reaches out to give him a voluntary headpat, for once. He figures he's earned it.]

Good boy. I have some more notes to write and then I have to go. But you'll do a lot of interesting things for me to study tomorrow, won't you?

[He will not, he'll be flat and sad.]

[eidxiety]

Aaddh.

[Getting there! He'll keep practicing for now, he thinks. But then Add says "good boy" again and there it is, there's the second half of the word (it's two words) that he forgot earlier. Ain blows some bubbles on the surface of the water as he nuzzles into Add's hand.]

Guude boyhh.

[He's a good boy!! Look how good he is! Nuzzle nuzzle nuzzle.]

[dyn4m0]

[This Siren is learning fast. Though part of him does wonder if he actually understands the meaning of the words, or if he's just parroting the sound...hm. This will require more research, definitely.

He'll give Ain a few more pets before he gets up and puts the grate back, returning to his desk so he can finish up his work for the day and clock out, same as yesterday. It's Thursday, so he comes in tomorrow and then it's the weekend...

Now, Ain won't be alone because there is someone at the facility every day of the week. It just won't be Add that checks on him Saturday and Sunday, but a different employee. They'll come in, feed him, give him enrichment, and then leave for the day. No Add though...]