[Closed] @eidxiety🧜‍♀️🔬

[winterbolt]

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[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.]

[dyn4m0]

[Oh don't worry Ain, you'll get MUCH better than that...Add taps at his laptop and continues to work for a while, until about a half hour passes and the loudest crack of thunder shakes the entire building, so violent that Add actually jumps with surprise. He could already hear it distantly raining, but now it's like. Rushing rain on the roof outside.]

Fuck.

[He hisses to himself as he gently slides Ain out of his lap so he can get up, walking across his office only to stop short when his phone be-beeps with a text. It's his supervisor...apparently the parking garage has flooded and anybody still at the office (which is like, a lot of people) aren't going to be able to get to their cars for a while. The safest thing is to just hunker down until the rain stops, so like...probably another hour? Not that Add is too mad about it, he's never been too mad about overtime, but it's already getting pretty late.]

[eidxiety]

[The crack of thunder being that loud makes Ain jump and yelp, but at least he's heard thunder before. He knows what it is, it's just never sounded so... metallic before. And suddenly there's a lot of noise from outside, too, that sounds like rain but way too violent.

Unsure what to think when Add pushes him off, Ain cowers under the desk and whines. Then there's another music note from the box, which he mimics the sound of as Add stands there looking frustrated.]

Aa?

[He can see where Add's brow is scrunched, so he taps between his eyebrows. Why mad??]

[dyn4m0]

[Frustrated though he is, he hates seeing Ain scared like that. He knows he doesn't understand, so he'll...try to explain.

He comes over, crouching in front of where Ain is hiding as he shakes his head.]

No, no mad. [He points to his own brows, then forces himself to relax.] Not at you. I'm caught up in a storm that's rained us out. I'm probably not going to make it back home tonight if my car's flooded.

[Here- he reaches under the desk and takes one of Ain's little webbed hands, carefully coaxing him out.]

Let's get you back in the tank so I can go check on it.

[eidxiety]

[Honestly, Ain is more scared of the storm than Add. Storms in the open ocean are horrifying, and though he's dealt with them before, it doesn't mean he likes hearing them. Especially not this loud and artificial-sounding through the metal and brick that makes up the building. It makes him think that the whirlpools are going to open up under the building and swallow everyone and then Add will drown because he's a human or Ain will get ripped apart or—

Anyway, he creeps out from under the desk and wiggles on over to his tank as usual, plopping into the water. In here, it's harder to hear the rain, so that's comforting at least.

Add must be going home, but won't the rain kill him? Can humans get wet?? Ain looks concerned, but doesn't say anything else, floating there while he watches Add leave.]

[dyn4m0]

[Add's gone for a while. He checks up with his coworkers, then grabs an umbrella to see what the damage is in the parking garage, only to be stopped outright by the custodian who won't let them open the door. He's already set up a ton of sandbags in front of the doorjamb because the water has reached a standing level of about a foot due to flash flooding. They are Not getting outside without flooding the building, and even if they could it's super dangerous to be driving right now. Everybody's stuck for the night, which isn't the worst outcome...they often sleep over for unrelated reasons, like needing to be there for the animals for this or that reason.

To that end, Add goes to the break room community closet and grabs himself a pillow and a blanket since he'll be sleeping on his office couch. He will also go ahead and heat himself up a TV dinner from the few they have in the fridge since he won't be able to go home or order food or anything. Mmm we love microwaved swedish meatballs.

Fortunately for Ain, Add comes back in one piece as he takes off his jacket and officially "ends" work for the day even though he's still at work, tossing the blanket across the couch along with the pillow before taking his food over to his desk. He guesses he can watch Youtube videos on his-

...and then, just like that, the power goes out.]

[eidxiety]

[Ain is lazily chewing on his kongs when Add comes back for some reason, and he excitedly swims back over to the dome like "haha you can't go in the rain can you human :)" and is about to start singing, when very suddenly the lights all go out at once and cast them both in darkness. Ain, knowing it's too early for the fake suns to turn off, points emphatically at the lights that are above his tank and out of reach like "HELLO THE SUN".

Add may or may not see this. Ain himself glows, he's quite bioluminescent especially in his eyes and the spots down his tails, and obviously the two anglerfish-like sacs on his tail are Quite Luminous, but beyond that there's literally nothing in this office that is going to light anything up.

Ain also probably looks horrifying right now, but that's okay. He swims back and forth, waiting to see if the suns come back, but something seems to be wrong with them. Add looks distantly frustrated or maybe panicked to him... and he came back, too... is this because of the storm?

He knocks on the glass. Hi can you see him?]

[dyn4m0]

[Well Ain is about to learn a new curse word as Add gets up and immediately bangs his toe on his desk before he turns on his camera light so he can rummage around for some candles to light. It’s bad enough he’s stuck here, but the power too?

They do have emergency generators for the animals who need the power to survive, but the lights aren’t considered a necessity, especially the ones in his office. Sighing, he’ll look over to Ain once he gets a few of the candles lit, and yeah he sure does look fucking terrifying doesn’t he?]

It’s okay. Power’s just out…going to just have to deal with the dark until morning.

[eidxiety]

[In case you thought Ain was all cute all the time, turns out Sirens are deep-sea predators and definitely look like it.

Ain watches the candles and literally goes :O at them. Pretty... he likes those lights. They smell like food?? Why do they smell like food?? Can he eat fire—]

Aaa??

[He points to the candles. Then to his mouth.

Food?]

[dyn4m0]

[Buddy-]

No, this isn’t food. It’s a candle. Fire, bad.

[Don’t touch it you’ll be sad if you do.

Add returns to his desk now that he can sort of see things, back to his shitty dinner that’s at least no longer lava temperature. At least he got that made before the power died.]

Well…at least this is an opportunity to study your night time behaviors. You’ll be asleep most of the time I’m sure, but still.

[eidxiety]

No??

[But it smells good. Why smells good if not food? (Buddy you're going to be fascinated by the concept of cologne.)

He spins around in the water, and in the dark it is far more creepy to see how his tail moves. The bioluminescent spots down his side turn to a degree that's horrifyingly inhuman and slow, despite the fact Ain himself moves as a normal eel-like creature might. Basically: have you ever seen a sea emperor leviathan subnautica because—

He looks again at the fake sun and frowns before blinking back at Add.]

Sun?

[dyn4m0]

[Sun…yeah, Ain would be confused by his lights going off early, wouldn’t he? Add isn’t sure how to best explain it…

He turns himself around in his chair to face the tank, gesturing with his hands as he talks.]

The storm- [He points to the ceiling.] -caused lightning to strike- [He wiggles his fingers down towards the ground, then makes an explosion sound with his mouth.] -and it took out the power. Which means it took your “sun”.

[He ends that explanation by pointing up at the currently-off lights in Ain’s tank.]

[eidxiety]

[The sun EXPLODED???? Ain looks very alarmed by this news and keeps looking back at his lights like no?? No they didn't?!! But he has no fucking idea how to articulate that he doesn't think the sun exploded but that it's just off, so???

Whatever, he supposes that he doesn't actually understand the fake sun. Maybe it did explode. Maybe that's why it's contained in long rods, to keep the explosion from reaching him.

After that, he'll swim around for a while and let Add do whatever he wants to do. Maybe half an hour before he usually goes to bed, though...

He rings. He is phone.]

[dyn4m0]

[Poor Ain thinking his sun exploded…meanwhile Add (wrongly) thinks he did a decent job explaining why the lights went out, good job him.

He’ll finish his dinner in boring silence, deciding to burn some phone data so he can watch something for a while. Then, while he’s awkwardly brushing his teeth at his desk, he nearly chokes on his toothbrush when his phone rings, prompting him to quickly grab it-

Only to answer, and find it’s not ringing at all. It takes another “ring” for him to realize it’s not the phone at all.]

Bluhen.