[Closed] @eidxiety🧜‍♀️🔬

[winterbolt]

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[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.]

[eidxiety]

[He's all pale and colourless, but he'll have his greens back in a few days, provided Add doesn't leave or explode outside of scheduled hours again. He's like a cat with separation anxiety.

Add goes up, and Ain swims to greet him, chirping, but then suddenly wheels around and darts into his cave. A short second later he swims out, then holds a tentacle up.

He has pearls :) from his clams :) see? See them? He has them!]

Add!!! Aaaaadd!! Here Add! Happy!!

[Words are being learned, you see.]

[dyn4m0]

Huh? Your language is improving…you’re enunciating.

[Add sits cross legged as Ain brings up the pearls, and in spite of himself, his expression softens a little as he holds his hand out to take one of them.]

So you were just being dramatic, right? You’re not sick?

[Come here Ain he needs to check your fins.]

[eidxiety]

[They've been working on it! You know, when Ain isn't crying because "no Add". He's gotten better! Sometimes the occasional erroneous syllable escapes into new words, but old words are easier, as are words that end in a vowel. Vowels are very easy, in fact.

A pearl gets plopped in Add's hand.]

Out?

[Do you want him to leave the tank and big steppies? He hasn't been able to big steppies in a while, they were under pretty explicit instructions to keep him in his tank.]

[dyn4m0]

Yeah yeah, come on out.

[He imagines Ain hasn't left the tank for a while, so some exercising his legs will do him some good. That, and it will be easier for Add to actually look him over without the barrier of glass or water between them.

In the meantime, he rolls the pearl around between his fingers before he pockets it, for now.]

I wanted to start teaching you some signs, but we might have to wait until you're recovered first...

[eidxiety]

[Ain climbs, flops, and grows his leggies. Downstairs they go, and Ain stops in the middle of the floor as always. The office smells different, now that Add has been gone for so long.

He follows after Add, clinging to his sleeve with a tentacle.]

Aa?

[What are we teaching? He kind of knows the word teaching, but he has a hard time saying it due to how long it is.]

[dyn4m0]

[Ough, he's following him around like a lost puppy...but at least this is making him use his legs, which is important. Add will walk him over to the corner of the room near his desk before stopping and turning to face him.]

Like this. "Please".

[As he says the word, he signs it, holding his hand flat against his chest and rubbing in a slow, counter-clockwise motion (to him). To Ain, it will be clockwise.]

[eidxiety]

[Yes he missed you, what the fuck. Look how motivated he is to be alive now that you're back! Look how he magically stopped crying!

Anyway, Ain doesn't seem to understand that he's supposed to make those motions with his hands.]

Please?

[At least his "please" no longer sounds like "police".]

[dyn4m0]

Here, do this.

[He'll take one of Ain's webbed hands, press it to his own chest, and copy that motion he just did to himself.]

"Please". That's sign language for "Please". You can use it while underwater so I can understand what you're saying even if you're inside your tank.

[eidxiety]

[...huh. Okay. Ain thinks he gets it. He copies that chest motion that Add did, and at the same time he does it, he says:]

Please?

[He's saying please, but he doesn't know what he's asking for.]

[dyn4m0]

Yes. Good boy.

[Add nods, then pets Ain on the head to reinforce the behavior. It would have worked better if he had been associating the signs with the words all along, but better late than never he supposes. He'll add this on to their training (because Add is also an overachiever and is fluent in sign language so he could communicate with the fishies, no he does not have a problem.]

Soon enough, I'll have you talking in full sentences. The look on those doctors' faces will be hilarious.

[eidxiety]

Good boy!

[The rest of those words are lost on him, but the bobbins on his tail are swaying as the Whole Tail tries to follow suit. Unfortunately those sacs are quite heavy, so he doesn't get too far with wagging it like a dog.

Anyway, Ain sits down on the floor in front of Add's chair and sort of... oozes into a flop with his arms over Add's lap. Happy. Trilling. :) ]

[dyn4m0]

[OUgrhgh-

Add isn't expecting Ain to just schlorp his way over and lay in his lap like that. He's a little damp, he's getting his pants wet...but this is something that Add is used to working with animals that are frequently Wet, so it's fine. He sighs, looking away as he strokes Ain's hair again.]

I need to get you to be more independent, somehow. You can't just be following me around like a baby duckling. You're an adult Siren, and it's not like you'll be kept away from the Pod forever. Just long enough for me to finish my study.

[eidxiety]

[Ain is rumbling in such a way that almost sounds like purring... he does not understand you, he's happy to be pat and cuddled. Look man, your adult Siren has separation anxiety, you're gonna have to accept this.]

Add here... [Purr, purr.] Happy...

[Rumbles.]

[dyn4m0]

[That...makes Add feel...weird. Flustered, in a way he definitely shouldn't. His face grows hot all the way to the tips of his ears as he strokes his fingers through Ain's damp hair in a way that would get him chided by his peers. It's not an easy thing to undo, he realizes...but he'll have to try. For Ain's own wellbeing...]

You're a nuisance. Leave it to me to pick out the one Siren in the pod who's...like this.

[Yet, here he is petting him and letting Ain purr on him because it's clearly making him happy. It's fine to indulge, if for just a moment.]

[eidxiety]

[Yeah you picked out the clingy gay one with emotional issues. Sorry.]

Noo...ssans.

[Why, of all words, did you pick up on that one. You don't even know what it means??

Anyway, Ain continues to trill and purr, and this is how Add's gonna have to do his work today it seems. If they stay like this long enough, Ain might just fall asleep on him.]

[dyn4m0]

[It's fine, so long as it's not too long. Ain can only be out of the water for so long before he starts to dry out, after all. Still, Add will allow it while he works on his notes and reviews the security footage...and fucking YIKES it really was bad while he was gone, wasn't it...why didn't someone call him-?

As if on cue, Add's phone abruptly starts ringing, prompting him to pick up.]

Yeah? ...this afternoon? Should be fine, it usually doesn't hit as hard as the forecast says anyway. ...yeah yeah, I know. I won't stay over time. I'll be home before the storm even gets here, it's fine.

[eidxiety]

[The phone ringing wakes Ain from his little nap, just long enough to hear the ringtone. He thinks this is more music from one of Add's strange machines, like the classical music, and listens very briefly to what he says with it lifted to his ear. Can he talk through the little box? Ain doesn't dare touch it because the machines scare him and he knows that many human things can't get wet just from witnessing humans in general keep their machines away from him (save for the x-ray machine, which they did dry him off for so he wasn't moist the whole time). But he's curious. Did it make the noise?

He looks up at Add and waits patiently until he hangs up, and then immediately sings the ringtone back to him like a cockatiel.]

[dyn4m0]

[Add hangs his phone up after that, and...Ain copies the ringtone, and he just groans.]

Well, that's going to be the next six months of my life.

[Sighing, the scientist rubs his temples before he gives Ain one last little pet, reaching down to touch his scales briefly.]

You're getting dry. I'll let you stay out for another hour while I finish up for the day, and then it's time for you to go back into the tank. Got it?

[Add he doesn't know thing.]

[eidxiety]

[He does not got it, he knows two things and "tank" is one of them. The other thing is that his skin is dry, yeah.]

Aa?

[No knowledge. He will continue to be flat here... he does feel like it's getting near the typical time Add goes home for the day, though. That's fine... he can survive the nights, but if Add doesn't come back in the morning tomorrow Ain's going to become evil.]