[Closed] @eidxiety🧜‍♀️🔬

[winterbolt]

Comments

[dyn4m0]

[Is that what you want, Add? Do you want to see this grown man throwing a tempy tantrum??

Well, no, even if he thinks seeing Ain pout is cute. (What?)]

I just believe in what I can see, that's all.

[Add's still scratching at his neck...but eventually it dies down to rubbing, and then he stops altogether, holding onto his wrist for a moment like he's reminding himself to Not do that.]

Fine...but first. Do I need to feed you before I do this?

[Because he's not going to stick his head in there and have you try to eat him-]

[eidxiety]

I'm not going to bite you if you dunk your head in...! Are you still mad at me for accidentally biting your arm? You should have told me you were mad at me...

[Why didn't you tell him he was a bad boy and banish him to the back of the cave to never be seen again?]

I'm too tired to move that much 'cause of earlier, so even if I did want to bite you, I wouldn't be able to. I just want to lay here.

[dyn4m0]

[Ain, babe, your anxiety-]

I never said I was mad at you to begin with! I'm not stupid, I know that was your instincts kicking in. That's why I asked.

[Since Ain IS technically still in heat...even with his hormones pacified, you really never know what might happen.

Add moves away from where he'd been rifling through the cabinets after that, making his way straight for the tank so he can climb to the top and pull the grate back.]

How is this supposed to work, anyway? It's not natural for me to want to breathe water, even if gills actually appear.

[eidxiety]

You should have been mad at me...

[Wehh... but Ain will stay flat in the sand, kicking up piles of it over his back so that he's partly submerged. Warm... he loves a warm sand bath. Add would never do this but Ain? Ain is thrilled. We need to teach Ain about spas clearly.]

I don't know how the anatomy works, but when you were submerged for thirty seconds or so, gills split open on your neck and let you breathe. That's also why you hacked water up when you woke up, I think. Just hold your head underwater for a minute. Do humans know how to count minutes? Minutes are how long it takes you to sing the fish song~.

[Ain what the FUCK is the FISH SONG]

[dyn4m0]

...what the fuck is the fish song?

[Said while he's just. Paused at the top of the tank, his hands on the edge now that the grate has been pulled back.]

[eidxiety]

[Ain sits up properly and coils up his lower half like a snake.]

It's a song they teach baby Sirens. It tells baby Sirens what fish they can eat safely, since some of them are poisonous or venomous, and others will get you high or sting you and hurt you when you're little. There are different versions of it depending on where your pod migrates around~. Basically, if a fish isn't in the fish song, babies shouldn't eat it.

[And then Ain sings the fish song. This would be extremely super cute if it was just clicks and chirps, but Add now understands the clicks and chirps. Underneath the pitch of Siren sounds are lyrics that sound vaguely like the alphabet song, only it's describing the colours and appearances of edible fish. Like salmons being "silvery and sleek".

It is extremely childish, but it's exactly like human ABCs.]

[dyn4m0]

[Fascinating how human and Siren culture has somehow managed to overlap this much. Even Sirens have their own version of the ABCs.]

I...see.

[Add sighs, shucking his hair back with his fingers even though it doesn't do much for it since it's already stupid and spikey as it is.]

I know how to count minutes, so I'll be fine.

[Which means...Ain is going to get to watch from the sand below as Add rolls up his sleeves so they won't get wet before he leans forward and dunks his underneath the water's surface, blinking a few times to get his eyes used to the unique saline mixture they have to ensure the water has so the Sirens thrive. They are from the ocean, after all. Weirdly, it would normally burn a lot worse than it is now...is this part of the Siren's Blessing?

Well, something to experiment more with later. For now, he keeps his head under the water, and for thirty seconds nothing much happens. He's counting mentally as he waits, looking down at Ain who is currently a bit of a fuzzy blob due to the distance.

But then...as the seconds tick by, and time gets closer and closer to a full minute, he starts to feel...strange. His lungs start to feel uncomfortable, that familiar sort of ache for oxygen you'd expect if you've been holding your breath for a long time. His skin prickles like it's preparing itself for something. He feels a weird sense of trepidation, and then....

Before he's even properly prepared for it, the sides of his neck start splitting open. The skin literally opens up as the gills appear, causing Add to plunge his hands into the water without thinking to grab for his neck. His fingers start to press at them, even claw anxiously, but the second he tries it hurts and he jolts away, an alarmed stream of bubbles leaving the gaps in his teeth.

His next reflex is to want to pull out to breathe air, but his body is frozen in place, locked where it is because now it's changing to need water. Water is where the oxygen is.]

[eidxiety]

[Ain sort of registers this as a struggle and gets off his ass to swim toward Add. Maybe in a minute he'll become clearer, too, no longer blurry to Add's human eyes. Very gently, two tentacles hold Add's shoulders so he doesn't fall forward and pitch into the tank again, and his two hands gently hold onto Add's. Don't scratch your neck, that's where your gills are!!

(He does not realise why, exactly, Add is scratching like that.)]

Shh-shhh... you're okay, it's okay. I'm not going to let anything bad happen, just stay calm. Don't pick at your gills or you'll damage them.

[Ain's gills are on his sides where his ribs are, and he's not sure why Add's didn't show up there, but maybe it has something to do with how humans breathe. Maybe there's no logic behind it at all and Ain's overthinking it. Some Sirens have their gills lower down, and Ain's never claimed to be an expert on how his own kind works.

He chirps a soothing song in Add's ears. Unfortunately the chirping has actual words this time too, and so it's largely "it's okay, you're okay, I'm right here" type comforts. At least it's not a children's song about fish.]

[dyn4m0]

[Honestly, Add doesn't understand it either. If he had to guess, it's maybe because humans take in oxygen primarily through their lungs via the mouth and nose, and maybe something about it makes more sense to have the gills located closer to the esophagus? He can't claim to understand, just that it stresses him wildly the fuck out. Maybe it's because he's in this weird inbetween form, a middle ground between human and Siren. Perhaps if he were fully a Siren, they'd be located elsewhere.

OR...maybe it's because he only has his head underwater, and if the gills appeared on his sides he'd just start asphyxiating. It could also be that.

Whatever the case, Add still has yet to take a breath. He's still holding it as precious bubbles of air escape his mouth and nose despite him trying to hold it together, only kept from scratching his neck by the way Ain gently holds his hands. He grips back a little too tight, only saved from falling in as well by Ain's tentacles holding him back.

He can't keep doing this forever. He has to breathe.

He looks back at Ain with his eyes blown wide as the Siren sings to him, chirping soothingly to try to help calm him down just as the ache in his body reaches an apex, and the cells screaming for air take matters into their own hands. He inhales sharply, water rushing in as he coughs and gags against the feeling, his body rejecting the sensation of it at first despite the fact he does feel relief from taking a breath as he does. He sucks in another, and another, his gills flaring and doing their work as his body acclimates to having water in its system instead of air.

This goes on for a time, and he's certain his eyes would be streaming with tears if he were above water, until eventually he calms down enough to actually say something.]

F-...fuck....what the fuck...

[eidxiety]

Are you mad? Do you not like it? It's a bit too late to take it back...

[His final two tentacles rise up through the gentle current to give Add's face a little squeeze. This is meant to be comforting, but it's also just as gooey as one can imagine a bunch of tentacles against their face would feel.]

You don't have to use it. Just don't dive underwater and it won't even be a thing! ...and don't keep fishies as pets because you'll hear them talk!

[what]

[dyn4m0]

I'm not...mad! I just-

[He's still wheezing, which sounds a bit strange underwater as you might expect, but more than anything he's just kindof having a Moment about this. Sometimes you need to have a moment.]

This...this shouldn't be possible...this isn't....

[Add you threw logic and science out the window the moment humanity discovered Sirens even existed, but he's still clung to the idea that there's a logical explanation for everything, magic isn't real because he has no whimsy in his heart, etc etc.]

[eidxiety]

[Ain, meanwhile, who is full of joy and whimsy, cannot imagine being so lifeless you think there's no magic in the world. Buddy shrimps see colours that don't exist on the visible light spectrum for humans and some fish make bubble nests. How is this not magic.]

Why not? It is possible because you're right here doing this. You're breathing underwater and not dying! And talking! And I bet you can see me very well, right? I was told human eyes don't work underwater which is why your diving skins [close enough] have the big glass eyes.

[The goggles. That are not glass by the way.]

[dyn4m0]

[Add is only just now starting to get whimsy in his heart, thanks to Ain. Otherwise, he's just boring and logical and ppbbbttt all the time. Ain, of course, still doesn't know he's in the middle of having a bit of a crisis of self, given that he jerked off to a fish earlier. Is something just wrong with him? Is he that much of a freak that he's not fit to be a scientist? Maybe he should just turn himself in to the authorities now-

He takes another few slow breaths, still pressed by the feeling of water entering and exiting his lungs in a sensation he would never be able to describe if asked. He can feel his blood rushing to his head a little since he's half upside-down with his head under the water, so it's making him feel a bit woozy on top of everything else...

Add has to admit it. Ain was right. He has gills, he can breathe underwater...and there's no scientific explanation for this happening. It just happened. He's living proof of it, being able to hear and understand Ain just being the tip of the iceberg.]

I...

[...]

...let me go. I'm coming in.

[?????]

[eidxiety]

In your fabrics? Are your fabrics empty of all your stuff you put in them, like the pen?

[Did you empty your pockets, he's asking. But Ain will let go either way, and if Add slumps like a boneless fish into the water that's on him. Ain will be right there to catch him and make sure he doesn't hit his head on anything coming down somehow. He doesn't know, humans are clumsy. Add will probably bonk his head or something on the glass if he doesn't slide in right.

But whenever Add is safely in the tank, Ain gets very visibly excited and starts swimming circles around him, then chirps, then swims a little forward before twisting around.]

Do you want to see my den?

[It's where he keeps his toyes :) ]

[dyn4m0]

[He wouldn't be able to explain why he's suddenly wanting to come into the water when just a second ago he said he couldn't. He knows his time is limited, with the cameras and alarms and everything, but...if he's able to slip in carefully, maybe he won't trigger anything. Of course, he IS entering with his full ass clothing on, so he will have to have an explanation for that.

It's part of his crashout, just let him live.

Anyway, he's in the water. He's got his labcoat on still which is cumbersome, and no he didn't remove his pen from his pocket, but it's capped so it's probably fine. He is In His Fabrics and dealing with it as he floats awkwardly in the middle of the tank trying to process the fact he just did that while Ain swims around him, very much capable of eating him right now if he decided he wanted to. It seems the treatment is working to prevent that, at least for now.]

Uh...s....sure.

[Sure! Why not! Nothing else makes sense anymore let's see your den Ain, show him your toyes.]

[eidxiety]

[Chirp chirp chirp! There goes Ain, swimming over to his den to make sure Add can enter. He has to sweep some of the packed mud out of the entrance with his tail, but other than that, the entrance is large and easy to swim through, and it's not like Add will have to go very far to reach the back corner where it is. It's large enough to fit an entire two Sirens in it, clearly, since they wanted Ain to breed and oops look where he is now. It's also dark, but Ain's natural glow lights it up a tiny bit.

He lays down on his back and patpats the seaweed bedding.]

Under here is where I store all my pearls, hehe. They're in the holding thingy under the sand. [The plastic flask he was given when he broke the glass one and cried about it, yes. Ain digs it up to show Add.] And I keep the other things floating at the top there so I can grab them easier.

[Which would be the second flask, and the pool rings and kongs.]

[dyn4m0]

[Fortunately for everyone involved, Add is able to swim his way down to the bottom since he can swim. He'd be a pretty shitty Marine Biologist if he couldn't, really. Of course, being that he's a human in full clothing down here, he can't swim nearly as elegantly as Ain can. It's pretty awkward all things considered as he sortof shimmies his way into the cave entrance, though he seems to be a little hesitant to just go in all the way. Maybe there's a latent fear of getting stuck and then suddenly needing to breathe air. Some sort of claustrophobic thing, you know.]

So you kept all of those things we put in here for you...

[eidxiety]

Uh-huh. I play with them when I get bored.

[He's going to re-bury the pearls, though. He doesn't want the currents to sweep them into the filter. Ain doesn't understand the filter save for knowing that the filter sucks things up, and he doesn't know what things, but he does know one time he swam up to it and stuck kelp leaves into it because he thought he was feeding the machine until it broke and made a horrible noise he didn't like.]

The chewy thingies help my teeth feel better. I don't know how to explain it... I guess it's because teeth keep growing forever unless you teethe on stuff, right?

[that

is not true for humans, ain,]

[dyn4m0]

Humans don't have that issue. We stop teething around 2 or 3 years old.

[So you know, that's just a Siren thing.

From Add's perspective, this den is. REALLY fucking small, actually. Like yeah it's big enough for two Sirens in theory, but only JUST big enough...he might have to talk to his supervisor about this. Ain did mention a bigger tank, and even though he's not sure if that's feasible...mm.

He's just going to keep a hand on the edge of the den, mostly so he doesn't go floating away back towards the surface.]

Well...they're doing their job, then. We give you these things precisely so you don't get bored.

[eidxiety]

I want to have lots more things~. I want to walk around and see stuff with you and learn what more human stuff is~. And I want to try your wheat snack.

[Ramen.]

Do you want to come in and lay down with me? There's not much else I can show you, unless you want to see where the eyes are?

[the

the what]

[dyn4m0]

[Okay Add doesn't even have time to feel things about being asked to "lay down" with him before Ain says something else out of pocket.

He just. Stares-]

...the what?

[eidxiety]

The eyes! I think it's like the thing that sucks up the kelp leaves that I made scream once.

[You know, a human-made contraption. Ain will get up, though, and swim out of the hide and twist around until he's sitting on top of it. Then he points upwards at the wall where, wedged in the corner of the tank, is a small waterproof camera.]

This is one of the eyes. I get into staring contests with them, but I always lose.

[dyn4m0]

[Add, from where he's watching from the den entrance:]

That's a camera, Ain.

[He guesses he's never actually explained what that IS though...he never had need to, and like you don't REALLY want to tell the sentient creature there's something watching all the time.]

It's installed in here so we can keep a lookout for you to make sure you're alright. [That's putting it SO lightly.] But I'm the only one who reviews the footage right now, unless I'm out for whatever reason.

[eidxiety]

Ohh, this is how you watch my feet like you said earlier!

[That's not what he said earlier. He still said footage... this one is going to require a thorough sit-down for Ain to understand. Satisfied knowing what the eyes are, he swims back into his den and lays down again.]

Do you want to come in now that I'm not showing you what the eyes are?

[dyn4m0]

[hkhdkgh please don't make him go in there he doesn't know what his fucked brain is going to do in response at this point...

But fine. He's already in here, so he supposes he'll indulge this...he sighs, causing another small stream of bubbles to leave him as he scoots back over before tentatively entering the den proper, looking a whole lot like he knows he isn't supposed to be here.]

Okay. I'm here now.

[Sortof.]