[Closed] @eidxiety🧜‍♀️🔬

[winterbolt]

Comments

[dyn4m0]

[Add dreads that day...not only is it fish, one of Ain's favorites, but it has "human" foods intermingled in it...he really will never want anything else.]

Our food often has a lot of sugar and salt and fat. It makes it very bad for you, but it tastes a lot better as a result. There's a reason we keep your diet diverse and don't feed you fatty steaks or uni all the time.

[Because! It's bad for you!!!]

[eidxiety]

You should diversify my diet more by giving me more human foods to try. I liked the sweet things you gave me with the banana, and the... milk? [He liked the fruits.] There are big tree seeds that grow very far from the beaches where humans found me. They're brown and fuzzy, and they have liquid inside that tastes very good and slightly sweet. You can't eat the outside, but the inside has this white meat in it. It's very good.

Can you get me that?

[Can you get Ain a coconut? A large tree seed??]

[dyn4m0]

...a coconut?

[Okay but like...he CAN, but how is he going to explain to his coworkers "yeah I just thought he might like a coconut"?? Obviously they don't HAVE those here...mm. The only thing he can think of is maybe he can spin it that it'll be some kind of enrichment thing for him...especially if he has to figure out how to open it himself.]

If I get you a coconut, I'll have to get coconuts for the whole pod. Can you deal with that?

[eidxiety]

Coconut! Yes, can I have one? [They sell them at grocery stores, so Add's gonna have to make a little trip to get like. 30 fucking coconuts.] I think everyone would like to have one, so that's fine.

[He just didn't want to deal with the feeding frenzy. If they're individually being handed coconuts, that's fine. Meat though... that's gonna cause issues when all those Sirens have strong hunting instincts, and Ain has anglerfish-type hunting capabilities which means he Lays There. Add's gotten more hunting instincts out of him than anyone else has, historically.]

What foods do you like?

[dyn4m0]

[Thank god the local grocers around here are used to this facility just randomly coming by sometimes to order food in bulk. They will be curious about the coconuts though, so Add will have to take the time to explain...oh well.]

Yeah yeah...you can have one. I'll worry about that later this week.

[What foods does he like...? Well, that's an easy question for him to answer, albeit an embarrassing one.]

...I like sweets. But you shouldn't have those often, they're a once-in-a-while treat.

[You know, like the uni they gave you-]

[eidxiety]

Sweets... that's just a flavour, though. Fruits are sweet. Do you like fruits? I want to eat what you eat!

[Oh no, we've hit "I want to do what you're doing" hours.]

What was the thing I had yesterday for breakfast? It was made of a lot of little squares and had dark brown spots in it. [The chocolate waffles.] That was sweet.

[dyn4m0]

When I say sweets, I mean more like that waffle you ate. That’s a sweet, technically. The square thing with brown spots. Desserts…like ice cream and cake. Things you eat as a treat only and never as a full meal.

[His boss is very aware of his sweets addiction and constantly harasses him about it. She’s always bringing him candy…]

I do like sweet fruits though, yeah. Less things like lemons or oranges, but they’re fine I guess.

[eidxiety]

[Ain knows only two thing but he is taking so many mental notes.]

Okay~. I'll get you ice cream and cake.

[Where. You don't even know what these things are, or what they look like. You don't have money.]

Those are easy human words to say, I think, so that shouldn't be too difficult. Aise kkreem. Kayk~. Yeah, I think I can do that.

[dyn4m0]

[That’s exactly what Add is thinking, yet he finds himself stupidly endeared all the same. Fuck you fuck you he hates you-]

Ugh. You’re so…

[Dumb!!!! But Ain has been in his lap purring this whole time, and they’ve been talking a while…his break will be over soon. It’s hard to believe that much time has passed already. Hmm.

Add swallows thickly, his fingers shifting along Ain’s hips.]

I have to take you back soon. I don’t know how often I’ll see you alone until your tank is fixed.

[…]

Can I…kiss you?

[eidxiety]

[No mate time :( that's okay... Ain will survive until he has the big tank and can bother Add all day...

He does brighten and sit up straight when Add asks that, though. Affection? For him??? Unrestrained affection, even? Because let's be real, Add is very restrained in his advances. Ain can't fault him for it since it seems society has hangups, but still.]

You can kiss me all the time, whenever you want.

[He is sitting so politely. Waiting... for kisse.]

[dyn4m0]

[Add is struggling...visibly. Affection is hard for him, but Ain has probably clocked that just in the few months they've known each other. Society has hangups, HE has hangups...it's just hangup on top of hangup here, but he's fighting past it for the sake of smooching his Siren.

His mate, rather.

He has to take a moment to steel himself, inhaling shakily as he brings his hands up a little higher along Ain's hips so he can hold onto him more easily. Just incase he ends up slipping off his lap or tilting too far backwards. He's not too heavy that he can't support him, but he DOES still have that fat tail in the way...

It takes Add a moment to work himself up to it, so it's a good thing Ain is (probably, mostly) patient...but eventually kiss him he does, leaning forward to press their lips softly together. It's a chaste kiss, but the intent behind it is there, even if Add looks like he's going to explode while doing it.]

[eidxiety]

[Ain's fat tail is wiggling, meanwhile. Oooh he's so happy. Add keeps the kiss chaste and sweet, and Ain is... well, it's still chaste, but it's a whole lot of trying to move their lips together and show just how passionately he feels. It's inexperienced, sure, but that doesn't mean he's not thrilled.

He's curling his tentacles around Add's legs without really thinking about it, like he's trying to anchor himself to the man, but also to properly embrace him. Ain has multiple limbs, they must touch.

He kisses Add until they're both breathless, and then parts with a tiny laugh, bashful despite everything.]

I want you to kiss me more like that.

[dyn4m0]

[They're breathless now, and Add feels like all the blood has rushed to his head. Ain is clinging to him with his tentacles alongside holding onto him with his arms, and he's finding that he wishes he didn't have to let go. He never thought he, of all people, would want to be embraced like this. Touched like this.

He's panting hard against Ain's lips, and for a moment he has to let his forehead rest against Ain's while he catches his breath. He can't help but wonder if Ain feels more or less breathless because he breathes water more than oxygen. Something to use as an excuse for study, perhaps.]

Haah...hah...later. When there's...more time.

[When will that be? He can't rightly say. Maybe when Ain's tank is done and he has more excuses to "work late".]

[eidxiety]

[Ope, he's nuzzling Add's cheeks again. He has to scent mark you, you have to smell even more like him. Keep in mind all of this is happening while this fish is naked in Add's lap—]

Okay. I'll be good until then. [He will not be good.] Is it time to go back?

[It is time to plop Ain back in the water and be like "okay, act natural" while he gets nitpicked by a mother.]

[dyn4m0]

[He is dying thank you!! He is going to explode and die and it's all Ain's fault. He's also going to return to his work only to have every Siren in that tank staring at him because they can just Smell Ain on him.]

Y-yeah...come on, let's go.

[He will move to stand, either letting Ain get off his lap as he does so or having the motion just dump the Siren off, either way. Sorry Ain Add is terrible at this. They're both fortunate that they were able to stay in relative privacy through his whole break, meaning they've hopefully gotten their close contact out of their system...at least for now. Ain will have the whole Pod to play with still, so at least he's not going to be Alone or anything.]

[eidxiety]

[Yeah, the whole pod is making eyes at them as they come back in. Ain big steppies his way to the hatch and goes into the water to re-hydrate and swim around, expecting his own lunch soon because it sure is that time. Ain has to explain to everyone that humans have some kind of social taboo with mating to Sirens, and the pod kinda shrugs like yeah some Sirens won't like it either but that's kind of preferential rather than being seen as a moral sin. Unless that particular Siren is real angry.

Humans are quite strange, they all agree.

Ain eats his lunch when it comes, and spends the day largely chasing the others around until dinner. At one point several of the Sirens decide to nap together, so Ain joins in on the massive pile, out in the open rather than in the den. Add will get to see exactly how his fish is getting squished underneath the pile when sleeping, and how much of a pain in the ass it is to wake him back up after so they can have dinner.

After that, it's more playing, singing, and Ain teaching them more words for things, until the fake suns go out and all the fishies have to sleep.]

[dyn4m0]

[It's really much of the same for the next two weeks. Add gets to learn a lot of new information, not just about Siren pod behavior as a whole, but Ain's behavior with other Sirens. He notes...that he's a very social creature, perhaps even moreso than a lot of his kin, and he's the happiest when he's with a group. He's more anxious than he lets on, as he definitely seems more extroverted when he has other Sirens to play with. Otherwise, when alone...he becomes sad, and despondent. Or, he becomes overly clingy with his human caretakers, Add in particular.

Add takes special care of Ain, feeding him apart from the other Sirens, as promised. About half a week in, they all get their own coconut to eat and play with, so Add gets to watch the Sirens bounce coconuts and their shells around in the water for the next couple of days afterwards.]

[eidxiety]

[The Sirens eat coconuts like you'd expect them to, which is to say: some of them jam their thumbs through the shell to drink that way before it all spills into the water, some of them take their coconuts to the air pocket above to crack them together and slurp that way, but all of them eat the meat by scraping it out with their teeth or claws. And yes, the shells become toys for them to bonk together, like playing instruments.

This is Add's week, and the week after that. And then one day, before Add comes in in the morning, Ain decides to Do A Crime.

He has not forgotten that Add wants cake, and he wants to say thanks for the coconuts for everyone, so Ain and his crafty bones sneak out. It's just as the sun comes back on but before Add usually comes in that Ain squishes himself through the grate at the top of the tank through that hatch he's usually fed at, shakes off, and plonks around on his bare feet looking for clothing. He can't find the hospital scrubs they gave him, but he does find an extra labcoat hanging in this room and puts that on. He understands how buttons work thanks to seeing them so many times and manages to button it up, but the coat is a little too large on him and gives him slight sweater paws as a result. Oh well, he can work with this.

From there, Ain discovers that the door to this containment unit doesn't exactly open... so he shrugs and squishes himself flat under the door. Reminder that he has octopus genes—

Now that he's outside, he can at least open the door if he needs to, but he does a little spin and then directs himself down the hall to where the cafeteria is. No one questions this, no one asks where Add is, they all just look at him like "yeah I guess you have permission to do this???". Like usual, Ain politely stands in line (there isn't much of a line this early in the morning) and when he gets to the front, he asks the woman running shop here, very seriously:]

Cake for Add??

[Little does Ain know that Add has to like, pay for meals and that this will be charged to him lately, but he receives a little square of chocolate cake in a clamshell case and plonks down the hallway to go wait for Add. He can't get under the door again with this, but luckily he sees Add coming and runs (read: big steppies very fast) to catch up.

His sweater paws hand the cake over.

He has no idea that he's three seconds from being yelled at.]

[dyn4m0]

[Giving all of the Sirens coconuts was...both a good and bad idea. Good, because it gives him a lot more information to note down for his notes, and bad because...well, it's noisy. Even underwater, the clatter of coconut shells against themselves and rocks and other things are very, very noisy. And he has to BE in here all day for work for a while...but it's fine. He's made the fish happy, and happy Sirens are better all around.

Anyway! Add absolutely has no idea what's waiting for him that next morning. He was just expecting to, you know...go to work like normal, feed the Sirens like normal, do his work like normal...

So it's probably a good thing he's not mid sip of his hot morning coffee as he slugs to work and swipes his ID card at the door to clock in, pivots on his foot, and looks up just in time to see Ain Rapidly Approaching him wearing a lab coat and holding a piece of chocolate cake in a plastic takeout container.

It's also a good thing his instinct is to grip his cup tighter and crush it ever so slightly, instead of dropping it in alarm.]

Wh-!? Ain??! What are you doing out!?

[eidxiety]

Got cake!!

[He says this in full humanspeak in case anyone is around and continues holding this in Add's face like, you said you wanted cake so? take cake??? hello????? Then in click language, he continues:]

You said you wanted cake, so I got you cake! I crept out through the top of the tank and under the door and the nice woman who serves the food gave it to me when I asked for cake for you. This is thanks for getting everyone coconuts.

[GIRL]

[dyn4m0]

Under the-?!

[Add stiffens, remembering himself at the last second, and comes in closer so he can hiss-whisper:]

You went under the door?? How did you even do that?!

[Oops guess who hasn't fully documented this behavior in Sirens yet!!! And it's also slowly dawning on Add that he also was able to easily escape the tank this way...

Oh dear.]

You're not supposed to leave without me here!

[eidxiety]

[Holds onto Add's hand and plops the cake into it since he's not taking it... smh.]

But I wanted to surprise you with cake... I can't surprise you if you're there. [Duh.] And I don't understand the question. I just went under it. Do you want to see?

[Not all Sirens can do this, like, that orca alpha definitely cannot... but he could also crush that top grate and break the glass if he wanted to. The Sirens are in there because they want to be. Free food and soft sand and temperature-controlled waters are basically a luxury Air BnB to them.]

[dyn4m0]

[He's holding the cake now...it's not that he isn't happy to have some cake, it's sweet that Ain got it for him, but him ESCAPING is of higher concern and priority right now. His eye twitches, but he can't press his fingers into the bridge of his nose because he has coffee in one hand and cake in the other.

Hoo boy.]

...show me.

[eidxiety]

Okay~.

[And Ain big steppies back to the room, oblivious, while the people around them are genuinely like "oh this must have been for enrichment, nods, makes sense". When they reach the door, instead of Ain doing what he was planning to do originally and see if he couldn't get the keycard unlock to work for him, he just

flattens himself on the floor

and squishes under the crack like an octopus, despite a) having relatively solid bones and b) his tail being kinda chunky and c) his fins being all frilly and fragile-looking.

He's just under there.

He will wait until Add's back in the room before he says anything.]

See? Not all of us can do that, but I can.

[dyn4m0]

[Add watches with a mixture of horror and shock as Ain just slips underneath the door like he's made of some kind of liquid, and the few employees who happened to be standing around to witness this all gasp and clamor to the door to get a closer look, even though Ain has already squished himself through to the other side.

Oh, this is bad. This is fucking BAD with a capital B. Not only did an entire room of people just SEE that, but they're also witness to Add being a terrible caretaker because his Siren escaped and he's going to get his ass fucking fired. He might never get to see Ain again, if that happens, and the thought makes his mouth go dry. He can't even focus on the people trying to ask him questions as he disassociates his way into the room, gesturing for Ain to go back into the tank.]

J-just get back in the tank for now, okay? I know you didn't mean it but- We'll talk about this later.