[Closed] @eidxiety🧜‍♀️🔬

[winterbolt]

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[dyn4m0]

[He figured Ain wouldn't know what the fuck this even was, so he'll walk over to the tarp, using one finger to dip into the blue paint so he can mark one of the canvases with it.]

It's paint. "Pay-nt". Here-

[If Ain will let him, Add will take his hand and press it into some green paint, guiding it over to the same canvas to place said hand onto the white surface. It comes away to reveal...well not really a handprint because he has webbing, but you get the idea.]

[eidxiety]

Paaaayent.

[Close enough!

Ain thinks the colourful mud is very cold, but he starts chirping out happy notes when he realises what he can do. Oh, so it's like the art stick! But more! Oh, he knows what he wants to draw with it! He could show Add things that Add can't see because Add has legs and can't survive underwater!!

...

Anyway Ain puts his thumb in his mouth and licks the paint and immediately goes BLEH about it because it doesn't taste good, so he's solved that issue. He will now paint for several hours with both hands, and although one can't call these museum-famous pieces... they're at least coherent. A late middle, early high school level of art if an average had to be stated here. The first thing Ain paints, using his handprint as a baseline, is a coral reef and brightly-illuminated ocean waters, with colourful blobs resembling various fish. The fish aren't too detailed since he's made them by pressing his thumbs onto the canvas, but they are quite clearly fish, and perhaps that's all that matters.

The second canvas, though, gets a darker palette, depicting what looks to be a crashed ship deep underwater with a hole in the port side, a rock jutting into the bottom of it and the sails torn. In the background of it, Ain paints a horrifying creature the size of the ship itself, with a humanoid torso and too many legs to even be called an octopus-Siren, looking more like something out of a creatively-designed horror film than something that could be real.

After those few hours pass, he — covered in paint because he's used his thighs to sometimes wipe the extra off when switching colours — points to the canvasses and looks at Add like he didn't just make "Windows 7 Wallpaper" and "Horrors Beyond Mankind's Comprehension".]

Guude boyyhh?

[dyn4m0]

[This is several hours worth of enrichment for both Ain and Add it seems, because Add is just gleefully over here observing and noting everything Ain does. This hasn't been recorded before- this kind of art making in the form of painting, anyway- so he's just excited to be the first to get to do it. Hah, take that, Bill who likes to loudly brag about how many Sirens he tagged last week in the break room-

The first picture is a lovely piece by the standards of a creature who has never had access to these sorts of tools before, and Add can absolutely tell it's some sort of underwater scape Ain's likely seen. He recognizes the coral, and the colorful fish, and everything...

But the second....one? Is uh....it's um.


Uhhhhhh.

He's trying very hard not to let his concern-etched intrigue show in his expression as he smiles at Ain, though his eyes say "oh god".]

Y-yeah...good boy. You did a great job. These are...pictures of what you've seen, huh?

[What the fuck is that thing]

[eidxiety]

[Ain has seen these things :) He looks very happy to explain all of this to Add, but unfortunately he cannot explain with words, so... he points to the fish painting and clicks in a certain pattern that means "fish", and maybe if Add's been listening enough he might pick up on the subtle way Ain's tongue forms that word without really forming it. Then, he remembers, shakes his head, and says:]

Puh-leese.

[God no they're "fish" baby, they're fish.

He ambles over to Add and points to the shipwreck piece, at the ship specifically, and clicks out a specific pattern that means "boat" but in Siren language is closer to "wooden human carrier".]

[dyn4m0]

[>Add is stressed, again, what the fuck is that thing-

Urgh, he's realizing his mistake with the "fish" in real time, though. He shakes his head and sort of...bows it slightly in an apologetic gesture he isn't sure will come across as he points to the fish and says:]

No, "Fish". Fuh-ih-sh.

[Ain is about to be so confused but maybe eventually he'll catch on to the fact that "Please" means something totally different. Either way...

Add steps over to the shipwreck piece and takes a closer look, holding a hand near his chest as his eyes scan the image of the unknown creature. It looks like it could be a Siren, but...it's not. Not exactly. A completely different species? Uknown to the world, that's for sure...

He points to it questioningly.]

What...is that?

[eidxiety]

Fuhh...iysh?? [Points to the yellow fish he's drawn amidst the corals.] Nouuu puh-leese?? Fiysh??

[Why did you lie to him... Or are these called different things? Hm. Much to discover here.

Anyway, he doesn't understand the question entirely, but Add points to the creature and Ain at least recognizes his tone as a question. He's not sure how to explain this thing he saw, though. She was not a Siren. She was too huge, and she wouldn't let any of his pod near the shipwreck. Honestly they call her a scylla but she's missing some heads because Ain couldn't figure out how to draw them.

He clicks. Makes swimming motions with his hands like how a serpent would cut through water, and then waves his tentacles about and hisses with his hands in front of his face and his claws out.

Scary :( she was scary and hostile, he's trying to say.]

[dyn4m0]

No please. These are fish. Please means something different. Which...I'll figure out some other way to explain it.

[We'll just stick to pointing out names of things for now, because more complex concepts just aren't going to work until they can communicate better.

For now, Add frowns as Ain continues to do his best to explain the creature to him, and it...honestly just concerns him more. This is clearly a hostile being that lives so deep down that it remains undiscovered. He's going to have to report this. Like, why would Ain lie?

The paintings are still wet, so he'll leave them where they are for now. What he will do is make his way over to the examination tank and reach in to turn on the faucet, filling it with water as he would if he were giving Ain an exam.]

I'll worry about that later...come here, Bluhen. I need to wash the paint off you.

[eidxiety]

[He wishes he understood a single word you're saying. He's starting to recognize Bluhen as like, his pet name, which is fine but he wishes he had a way to communicate to Add that he has a name and his name is Ain and it's very easy to say in clicks! AAA!

Anyway, he big steppies over to Add and looks with trepidation at the exam tank. Oh no.]

Chhhehk uphh?

[ :( ]

[dyn4m0]

No, no check up.

[Add, whose hand is wet from testing the water temperature, comes over to use that wet hand to wipe some of the dried paint off Ain's scales to show him what he means.]

"Wash". Wa-sh.

[See, Add? You can teach him concepts over things, just not complex concepts like the idea of saying "Please" when you want something.]

[eidxiety]

Waaashhh.

[Oh, so, paint doesn't stay on? Okay. That makes sense. It didn't taste very good, so Ain won't want to lick it off later, but this is a strange way of washing.

...oh, so, what he does in the mornings is what they call "wash". Okay. Got it. Ain's fat tail wiggles, and the bobbins slap Add in the calf gently. Sorry.]

Wasshh.

[Thank god Ain knows how to wash himself, but he keeps looking back at his tank like... how is he supposed to remove this without mud?]

[dyn4m0]

[Well good news, Ain! You're about to find out how humans wash when they don't have access to fish oil.

Add knows regular soap and shampoo may not necessarily be safe for Ain's scales, so he's going to use something specially formulated to be gentle for his skin. It will wash the paint off, and that's really what matters. He'll wait at least for Ain to climb into the tub, and before Ain can look at him questioningly, he's putting on a pair of latex gloves again, only this time it's so he can squirt some soap into his palms and start gently rubbing it over the painted parts of his skin and scales.]

Hold still. You got this shit all over you...

[eidxiety]

Washhe?

[Wash... he doesn't know what this soap is, though. It smells quite sharp to him, even if it's the unscented medial lab variant, and he sniffs the air a few times. After holding his hands out so Add can wash those too, he quickly snatches one away and licks the bubbles off of his hands.

...

He immediately makes a horrified, disgusted noise and dunks his hand under the water, smacking his lips several times.

Do NOT like soap.]

[dyn4m0]

[See you’re who Nintendo makes the switch cartridge taste bad for. Sirens and children.

Add snorts when Ain eats the soap and immediately gets his karma for doing so, returning to washing his front which is a rainbow for as much paint as he managed to get on himself.]

Yeah, you don’t eat the soap, dumbass. Lucky for you it’s non toxic just like the paint.

[Thank god this shit doesn’t taste nice or else he’d have a problem. Okay thighs now, which. Hm.

Anyway just gonna wash those real quick-]

[eidxiety]

[Luckily most of it is on his sides and not between his legs? Thank god?? Enjoy those fat fucking thighs though. They're only gonna get bigger when he discovers candy.]

Payynnnt.

[He's knowing. The colourful mud is paint. He points to the soap Add has.]

Aaa?

[dyn4m0]

Hmm? Oh, yeah. That’s “soap”. Soh-puh.

[Yeah uh what are your thighs so fucking fat for, you don’t usually walk around that much!!! Is it because your tail is fat?

He’s just not going to dwell on it and try to get that part washed as fast as possible thanks.]

[eidxiety]

[The body fat has to go somewhere when he transforms! Half of his normal tail fat goes into the shorter tail he gets when he's in human form, and the other half goes to his thighs and ass. It has nowhere else to go.]

Sohhpuh. Sohhpuh washhuh.

[He understands. It's not oil and mud, but it does the same thing. Although, his hair feels like it's losing some of its softness, so when Add is done de-painting him, he points to his hair.]

Washuhhh?

[dyn4m0]

[Add looks sidelong at Ain just as he's about to pull his gloves off, putting two-and-two together when the Siren points to his own hair.]

You want to wash your hair?

[He's learning so much about Siren hygiene today. But okay, they do at least have something for that as well.

Add bends over and rummages in the container he pulled over until he finds some shampoo that they use on penguins and seals and the like to get their fur de-greased, so it's as strong as it is gentle. And since he doesn't trust Ain to not grab the bottle and start chugging, he'll squeeze some of it into his gloved palm and start washing his hair for him.]

[eidxiety]

[For as much as Ain is a sentient creature he sure is happy to have men pamper him. Hmm. He'd probably have tried to take the bottle from anyone else, but with Add he just sits there and looks pleased the whole time.

So yeah, Add washes him, and Ain happy trills the whole time. Finally his hair will be soft again... Saltwater doesn't quite ruin Siren hair like it does to humans, but Ain does largely prefer to be soft and smooth in general. If he's not fluffy he'll explode.

When he's finished being bathed, he chirps, then points at Add.]

Guude boyhh!

[dyn4m0]

[...oh. That's...

Add feels weirdly flustered when Ain calls him a good boy- or "guude boyhh", as it were- and leans in to pull out the drain stopper so the water can drain out of the tank. Ain's all clean now, so he'll get up and start guiding him back towards his tank.]

You're not supposed to be getting attached to me, you know.

[He says this as if Ain can understand...it's more to himself than anything, really.]

I'm not anything to you. I'm just the scientist who comes to feed you and makes sure you aren't eating things you shouldn't. That's all.

[eidxiety]

[Sorry, Ain is not understanding. He climbs out of the tank and follows after Add, and as usual, it's time to climb on all fours up the landing and dive into the water. He does spin back around before the grate shuts to bring his head back up above water and say happily:]

Addhh~

[So yeah, he's attached. That shouldn't be surprising considering Ain's report generally says he's pretty attached to humans, and now there's an additional note that says he gets depressed when This Specific human isn't around. Man, Add's gonna have to take PTO at some point and Ain's going to have the worst week of his life, huh...]

[dyn4m0]

[Haha FUNNY YOU SAY THAT...

Add sighs, but whatever. As long as Ain is happy, clean, and healthy, then he's doing his job correctly. Back in the tank you go little fishie.

He has some more paperwork to finish, on top of needing to clean up all the paint supplies and tarps, so Ain will get to watch Add for a few more hours while he cleans up. Once done, he'll gather up his data for the day to prepare for a meeting on Thursday in which he will present these art pieces like "hey guys, what the fuck is that". So you know, good times are being had by all.

The next couple weeks pass similarly. Add has a routine where he comes to work each day, feeds Ain his meals which vary from fish to beef to chicken, does his studies and research on Ain's various behaviors and quirks, then writes up his notes for the day. Ain of course does have to go through two weekends of Add being gone because he doesn't work weekends, but alas...maybe he'll? Get used to it??

Or, well. It's more like he'll have no choice but to, because the following Friday, about four weeks since Add's research began, he's pulled into his boss's office and told that he will be taking the following week PTO. No, this is not up for debate or discussion, you haven't taken any time off in a full year and if you accrue any more PTO we will be held liable for employee health reasons. Unfortunately, if Add wants to keep his job, he kindof has to take it.]

What a pain...

[Add sighs as he does one last round of his office that Friday, looking up at the tank where Ain is in. He wonders how the Siren will fare. He's been getting annoyingly attached no matter how hard he's tried to avoid that...but maybe the week away will help with that? One wonders.

Before heading out though, Add climbs up to the top of the tank and pulls the grate aside, plopping a few clams into the water that Ain will need to spend some time prying open.]

Behave this week, alright? It'll be a problem for me if you don't.

[eidxiety]

[Ain has gotten a little more used to the weekend schedule. He understands now that Add doesn't come in for two days and won't be in at nights, so he's a little better, but he honestly just goes to sleep when Add leaves for the day (healthy sleep schedule!) and during the weekends, he's become a little better at occupying himself and not making people worry. He's still sad, but he understands that Add will come in after two days pass.

He has also annoyed them for plants in his tank. And has learnt more words. "Kelp", "where", "what", "yes", "fish", "please" (after a week of correction), and a bunch more concepts have been introduced. The other scientists seem quite pleased with his progress, and the weekend team is often trying to teach him new things on top of this. They've only Kind Of managed to work on his pronunciations of some things, but he's doing better. He's learning his hard consonants. All in all, it's impressive how fast he learns, they say, like he's not also a human person (partly).

The clams are tossed in, and Ain swims up to see Add first before he leaves.]

Good boy!!!

[He will be a good boy :) He doesn't understand that Add is going to be gone for a week, though.

So, that Monday rolls around, and Ain has since fished pearls out of his clams and is generally in a good mood, but... Add does not come in. Other human shamans come in and talk to him and give him things like food and toys, but Add doesn't come in.]

Where? Add?

[They try to tell him that Add is "out this week" and "will be back next week", but these concepts have not been shown to Ain so he has no idea what they're trying to say.

Somehow, he shovels through Monday without having a full breakdown. Tuesday comes... and no Add. He asks where Add is and gets a similar response he doesn't understand, with a shake of the head, and it's that headshake that he takes completely wrong that makes him fucking despondent. No Add?? Never again??

Ain does not behave this week, if "behaving" means "don't stress the scientists out by being flat" because uhhh. "No Add" makes the Siren super depressed, actually, and he winds up unable to cope with this (because he doesn't understand) and buries himself in the sand for a while. Attempts to fish him out to check on him don't yield much, and at one point it seems he's so upset over this that his greens are starting to fade, much like goldfish do when they're stressed.

Okay, so he's definitely sick, they think, but then the answer winds up being that he's just sad and possibly lonely. Trying to play with him doesn't do much, and they don't have the authorization to call Add and say "can we put him back in the pod tank so he calms down", so instead they have a rotating group of scientists come in during the nights to make sure he doesn't eat his fins out of stress.

The next Monday rolls around and Add will come in to the scientists painfully trying to explain to him "Add soon" and "are you excited to see your friend?" and Ain is just not having this, they're clearly teasing him ("soon" is not one of his words yet) and so he's laying in the sand crying about it.

So uhhhhhhhhhhh—]

[dyn4m0]

[Add, throughout all of this, is...completely unaware of what's going on. See, his boss does have his emergency contact, so if things went really south he could text him, but ideally Add needs to NOT be working so that he can just get through his week off before he proceeds to work another week straight, as you do. As much as he'd rather just be...you know, working, given that he enjoys his job so much, he does have a smattering of hobbies he's able to kill some time with along with some actual chores that needed to get done at his apartment. He deep cleans (he does this once a month anyway, so this is like a DEEP deep clean), reorganizes, and bags up some stuff he doesn't need to donate. He dabbles in Gunpla as a hobby, so each evening is spent assembling thousands of teeny tiny Gundam pieces into a full replica that he ends up finishing before the end of the week. He actually has time to start on a second one with the last remaining days of his weekend he has left, left completely in the dark as to the fact that Ain is just...completely flat and depressed by this point.

When he comes in to work that following Monday to start back on his regular routine and review the footage from the week before, he is not expecting to be accosted by his colleagues pretty much the second he enters the door. The fact like five people are talking to him and crowding him at once is actually a little overwhelming, prompting him to push away from them with his forearm.]

What the hell did you do while I was gone!? What happened?

[Normally Add would be reprimanded for speaking to his coworkers that way, but the concern is...warranted as he hurries back to his office just in time to see a few other scientists speaking to Ain through the glass to try to coax him out of the sand where he's just...laying there. Weeping.

Okay so trying to desensitize Ain to his absence and also not let him get attached clearly didn't fucking work, did it?]

Bluhen-!

[Add drops his bag by his desk and hurries over, putting a hand on the glass as he notes immediately just how pale his fins are. He used to be a vibrant green, but now he's barely even a pale imitation of what he was before. It's a clear sign of major stress, just one step off from Ain actually getting sick if he gets any more stressed.]

Bluhen! Look at me, can you hear me? Oi!

[eidxiety]

[Ain turns his head toward the glass when he hears the banging, looking tired and grumpy and rubbing his red eyes. He stares at Add...

...

He stares at Add.

Oh! It's Add!

Suddenly he springs out of the sand and plaps his hands against it, trying to touch Add but there's obviously glass in the way. That's fine, because once he's stared long enough to confirm it's him, he starts zooming rapidly around the tank and chirping, trilling, and generally singing happy songs until he runs out of energy and has to lay back down.

He's immediately back to normal following this, bringing his rainbow rings to the forefront of the tank and jingling them for Add to see.

The scientists in the office just kind of sigh like yeah, tracks...]

[dyn4m0]

[A sort of collective- if a bit exasperated- sigh of relief is breathed when Ain literally pops back to life when he realizes Add has returned. It's unlikely he'll be on a break this long again for a while so it...should be fine? But this has concerning implications for Ain's ability to be released back into the wild, much less returned back to his pod after Add's study concludes. For now, he sighs heavily and ushers everybody else out so he can do damage control, shrugging off his coat and hanging it up over the back of his chair. From there, he'll look back to the tank glass as Ain looks out at him, his brows furrowed with concern and annoyance.]

What did I say about not causing problems for me, hah? You're lucky my boss wasn't breaking my door down, you little shit.

[Hang on, he's coming to the top of the tank to check on you because you look BAD.]