CustardSlice

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro inhaled deeply, hearing his name in the man's native tongue. He hadn't imagined that it would sound so different, so short but full of long sounds. He played it back in his mind, playing with the idea of where to form the sounds in his own mouth before he was met with a new utterance to decipher. Unlike Shiro, this man relied only on his language to communicate and the words he spoke were as unfamiliar as the last. Shiro played the words back again and took notes from the way that the man spoke to understand that he had returned his name. Which of those sounds was his name?

He likened this language to that of Zarkon and his men. The sounds were harsh and sharp, using the mouth and tongue to form the different sounds and the throat and chest to put emphasis into those sounds. Shiro had begun to learn phrases and words that were shouted across the arenas at him and at the crowd and he had begun to try to speak it himself. It had been difficult. Merfolk spoke with their throats and the backs of their tongues. The sounds and clicks that they made were more reminiscent of dolphins, which was perhaps why the two species got along so well. But Shiro had persevered and got used to exploring how to use language.

Here, in front of this curious land man, he felt baffled and unusually shy. He moved his mouth, rehearsing the motions it would need before he started to give up, turning his head with a click and splashing the water with his hand in his embarrassment. He stared away from the man into the darkness of the night sky and listened again to what he remembered the man said. He felt a chill, recalling his own name being said and wished deeply to return this favour to the man. He wasn't sure about customs, but even for the sake of an acquaintanceship he wanted to know what to call the man.

Again, he practised forming the words before glancing back over his shoulder and slowly repeating the sounds. They were hushed and almost foreign, but he frowned and slowly repeated them, "Col..nee..Kee?" The words felt strange to say and he was sure he had missed some of the sounds. He stared hard into the dark eyes of the man and fell back onto his own language again, "Which part is your name?" he asked.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro let the man leave the shell behind before he carefully picked it up and drew it close to him, accepting the gift calmly and formally, by holding it below his heart and nodding to the man. He felt a spark in the pit of his stomach and was unsure whether it was excitement or something more. He hadn’t met anyone calm and intentionally harmless for months and the last trinket he had received had been from Adam. He gripped the shell and let the ridges sink into his hand, imprinting their patterns along his palm slowly.

The rest of his arm tingled slightly from where it had touched the land man and where he had brushed against him. He had never touched anything living above water, let alone something living and dry and the friction that accompanied the movement was tantalising. He felt a strong urge to hold him again, to reach out and touch the smooth skin and soft hairs covering it, but he knew that customs and traditions would frown upon him. Instead he watched and listened.

Shiro had no real way of knowing what the man was saying but he did his best to listen. The man’s manner of speaking was so different to that of the merfolk and they used such different movements to communicate. He found himself relying on the pattern of emotion; the only thing he could recognise.

His voice was gentle and calming. Against his better judgement, Shiro was drawn to him, drawn to his dark eyes and the hair that curled at the ends around his cheeks and his neck. Shiro swam closer again and touched the dock. He lifted himself more, his shoulders and gills completely exposed and the old wounds stinging lightly in the breeze as the salt was exposed to them. He couldn’t push himself any higher without his tail fin or the strength from his shoulder, but he felt close enough to the man now.

He had so many questions, so many curious thoughts, but communicating them felt impossible so instead he drew attention to the fact that he had no idea what to name this man. He placed a hand on his chest and slowly, carefully willed his name into the sounds he uttered. The distant relative of sirens, merfolk such as Shiro had a sort of telepathy in their language. It wasn’t something that came strongly naturally and instead it was something that had to be learned. Shiro brought back those lessons and murmured his name once again to the man, wondering how it would sound from the man’a mouth should he understand, “My name, it is Shiro. What may I call you?”

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Shiro’s whole body was tense and poised to run. He laid eyes on the land man and a sort of shiver made its way through his body. In the moonlight, the man’s face was cold and pale and his hair jet black and soft. A breeze ghosted through the hair and lifted strands in ways that the currents could never lift hair of merfolk. His presence was light, yet tense and smeared with a darkness that wasn’t entirely his own. His body wasn’t strong like those he saw on the plastic littering the seabed. He held himself crookedly and he could sense the strain he was putting on the muscles he used. Something about this man was sick and it was painted on him.

Yet his eyes this time told a new story. His eyes were wild and bright with curiosity and wonder. The moonlight danced in the dark mix of blue and black and purple and Shiro found himself staring back with just as much wonder. A strange smell accompanied the man this time, masking the sickness and the darkness and somehow matching the gracelessness of his movements.

Shiro shrank back slightly when the man let out sounds. They were low and hummed with a buzz from the back of his throat. He sensed youth and a shy nature from them, but also sincerity. His gestures and facial features so closely resembled that of merfolk that Shiro found himself understanding that he was being thanked. He drifted closer as the man held Shiro’s trinket to his chest. A gesture that could only mean it had been accepted and he then noticed the conch shell sitting in front of him. A returned trinket? Perhaps this man knew more of mer-culture than he had initially thought. Shiro was close now, close enough to touch the wet wooden slats of the dock but he dared not. His instincts still told him not to get too close. This could still be a trap.

The man then picked up the conch shell and Shiro reeled back. He rose slightly and scrunched up his nose with distaste. He looked from the shell to the man and disregarded his previous thought that he could know of mer-tradition. Only lovers or families handed trinkets to one and other. He was certain that the man didn’t intend to court him. Regardless, Shiro was intrigued by the man’s offer of friendship and he slowly extended a hand from the water. He could feel it trembling as he did so, feeling vulnerable to attack, but he focused and carefully touched his hand to the man’s arm and gently guided it down to the dock. Shiro noticed that the skin felt softer than a seal and not at all slimy like the scales of a fish. His own skin was wet and rough, the skin of a shark. “Leave it here. I will take it when I leave.” He said, his voice low and gentle, his language a mix of whispers, long notes and soft clicks at the back of his throat. They sounded different above the water as the air carried them differently and completely ethereal to human ears. He locked eyes with the man again, hoping he would understand.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

I DIDNT EVEN THINK WE ARE JUST WORKING AS A HIVE MIND XD Yaaaasss haha it’s going well so far! XD

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Also feeling some mer-vibes from Keith’s mother.. and it’s okay if that’s not what it is, but also a great link if that IS what it is

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

The moon was high and bright when Shiro was startled awake by lights and a slam. He looked across to the shore, frowning at the sight of two bright lights twinkling by the house. They were brighter than the moon, brilliant like stars but this time Shiro did know better. The lights were man made and he had seen their kind before. The vessels that travelled on the water’s surface carrying the land folk had similar invasive lights that dazzled and danced along the surface as much as they did beneath it.

His heart began to race at the thought that perhaps the land man was going to find him using this vessel and he quickly began plotting his escape before the lights turned and faced the other direction and left the cove dark once again. Shiro let himself settle, safe in the understanding that he was alone now and he let his eyes drift, sleep pulling him in ebbs and waves like the ocean. That was until he saw the faintest movement. He narrowed his eyes to focus on it and leans forward again. It was the same land man, he was sure of it.

He watched the man find his trinket and saw the shell glint in the moonlight. The man slumped and Shiro couldn’t make out what else he was doing. Was he rejecting the trinket? Merfolk rejected such offers rarely. When they did it was a heartbreaking feat that left both parties at odds and in an awkward situation within the school. He wasn’t sure what it meant for a land man to reject a trinket.

Shiro hadn’t meant to leave the shell as an offer of courtship; that he had done only once and the memory of that final rejection still stung. He and Adam had been courting for so many moon cycles that they had lost count together. They had explored reefs and brought communities of merfolk together, relishing in each other’s accomplishments and finding new ways to admire one and other everywhere they went. Shiro had never wanted it to end. But for Adam, there had been limits. Shiro’s final mission before being taken by Zarkon for his fighting pits had signified the last of those limits.

It was tradition, that before long periods of separation between merfolk, friends, family and lovers, trinkets were exchanged as a promise of return and as a prayer for good health throughout the period of absence. Shiro had found the perfect trinket, so beautifully simple, yet unique. He had taken it to Adam and offered it to him one evening.

“I won’t accept this, Shiro. I want you to stay here - the trenches are dangerous for merfolk, you know this!” Adam had gripped Shiro’s wrists, every part of him begging Shiro to leave this mission.

“I have to go, the research is so important for our community, I can’t reject an opportunity like this!” Shiro had argued back, hurt that Adam would deny him such a valuable opportunity and failing to see how anything could go wrong. But of course it did.

Adam refused the trinket Shiro offered and wouldn’t see him the day they left. When Shiro returned, the community had been torn apart by a family of killer whales and Shiro never saw Adam again.

Perhaps it was the menories of the scarred community burned into the back of his mind or the guilt that tore apart his heart, but Shiro couldn’t let this land creature reject his trinket. The ill fortune that had fallen upon Adam because of Shiro couldn’t happen to the land man, not when he was so broken already.

Shiro slipped into the water and slowly made his way towards the dock. He hesitated when he got there, but he pushed his head through the surface and laid eyes on the creature before him.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

It’s all fitting together so well >3< animals have that sense when something’s up too, it would work since he’s half fish ;)

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

It was several moons before Shiro could build up the courage to make his way back to the cove. He spent the suns circling the bay in wide, swooping patterns, flinching and cautious of everything that moved around him. He could sense the agitation in the fish that swam by him, as they left him alone and darted around him.

The sea had a magical sense of healing. Especially the warmer and shallower waters. The salt and water wrapped around his wounds like a serum and he wrapped young weeds around the gashes to keep smaller, more brave fish from nipping at them as they healed.

Shiro’s restlessness wasn’t helping them and his jolts and nervous nature was making them heal jaggedly, not neatly like others had done. He just couldn’t bring himself to lie still. He had searched for another section of the bay to rest in but everywhere smelled like land men. Nothing compared to the smell of the one he had encountered but it was everywhere.

All of his instincts flared up and screamed at him when he thought of the land man. His sense of flight heightened dramatically and he knew that he should have left the bay. But it was his space and had been for so long that he just couldn’t bring himself to give it up. That and his curiosity was preventing him from leaving. The land man had been so strange, yet so familiar. Like Shiro, his skin had been pale and soft, not dark and hard like Zarkon’s minions. His skin reminded Shiro of his people, his home. His eyes had burned themselves into the back of his head. He hadn’t seen eyes so dark, yet so full of hurt and emotion in a long time. Something was holding onto the land man and causing him a deep-rooted pain that Shiro couldn’t decipher from his memories anymore. It made him want to go back, like seeing a wounded animal and passing it by.

As the suns rose he found himself returning closer to the bay and if he slipped above the water now he could see the wooden structure settled above the beach, where the land man retreated to like a crab returning home.

Three suns and he finally made it back to the dock. He went under the cover of night, when not even the fish disturbed the water and he circled the protrusion of wooden slats. It was then that he saw the shells and glass, laid out neatly on the wood. He was unsure at first. Unsure what the meaning behind it was - was it a trap? His flight instinct flared for a moment before he calmed and recognised the gesture as one of good intentions. Merfolk left trinkets for one and other as a sign of friendship and sometimes courtship. He found it strange that this land man did the same but his curiosity built up again. He frowned, then searched for a trinket to return to him. In the end he chose a broken abelone shell. In the moonlight it looked silvery but in the sunlight it would shine with a rainbow of colour. He placed it on the edge of the wood before scarpering back to his cave again, watching and waiting.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

Watching through the slats, Shiro Laos eyes on the land man for the first time. He had seen them before, smiling and laughing from the plastic pieces they left floating in the ocean but he had never seen one close before. This one was quite erratic and Shiro couldn’t work out his pattern of movement. The only thing he noticed was that he stayed away from the water’s edge sharply, like he was nervous about it. It seemed that the rumours were true.

Shiro kept his head low and his tail poised to dart away quickly should he need to. The land man didn’t know that he was there and waves of uncertainty were beginning to wash over him. Unlike the creatures he fought in the arenas, this creature was completely different and had different patterns of motion due to his walking through the air not the water. Gravity held him down and affected his balance, whereas currents and up thrust affected sea creatures.

Shiro watched instead. He couldn’t see any of his sea glass on the wooden structure anymore and his heart sank, seeing one glittering in the man’s hand. He had taken them all. Shiro would need a new place to collect them, a new anchor to his safe haven. Somewhere away from this creature above him.

Suddenly, he wasn’t above him. Shiro started as the man fell to his lower body and the wood creaked above him. Before he had time to react, the man shifted and Shiro met the creature’s eyes fully. They were dark and full of such a range of emotions that Shiro felt his stomach squeeze. He opened his mouth to gasp before he darted away. His tail released like a spring and he shot through the water, back beyond his cave. He knew better than to lead the land man there. He swam out deep into the bay and stayed low against the sea bed. He swam until he couldn’t smell the oily metallic tang that permeated the water around the cove and he looked back behind him. Safe, but spotted. He couldn’t get those eyes out of his head.

of mer and men [Sheith Merman!AU]

@svpernxva Completely down with that idea XD