fearlessly | mermaid: the squeakquel

mermaid: the squeakquel

[ things have not gone well for alisaie, since the day she saved the boy.

truthfully, things had not been going well for her before then, either, or for as long as she could remember. she did not fit in amongst her peoples, who hid deep beneath the waves. the surface was expressly, strictly forbidden, and for very good reason - the hyur who lived on the lands, the dominant species, are powerful, violent, and untrustworthy, vicious monsters that kill on sight.. or so the stories said. many thousands of years ago, long before the memories of even their most ancient elders, sahagin once thrived, spread across the seas, and the hyur were not unknown to them then. tales say that they once worked together, or at least tolerated one another, until the great hunt began, and while the two-leggeds were powerless in the water, they had great strength in their enormous wooden whales and weapons and vast, endless numbers.

no one can remember how it began, but nevertheless it was not a war, it was a massacre, and what was left of her people fled deep, deep beneath the waves where the weapons could not reach and the hyur could not swim, and it is here that they have remained ever since, rebuilding, surviving, yet still their numbers are so very few in comparison with the vast kingdoms they once kept. the hyur, it seems, have long forgotten them, and as far as her lord father is concerned, that is for the best. keeping away from the surface, away from the two-legged, was the only way to keep themselves safe. alisaie had disagreed.

she knows now that she had been foolish, and naive.

it is not so uncommon for rebellious youths to swim up to the sun, but even the most brazen of sahagin do not venture near to the shorelines. the hyur still swim, still sail in their great whales now built of unforgiving iron and steel, and the few sahagin who have swam higher have always been met with severe punishment. alisaie was a brazen youth, too, and far too stubborn and foolish for her own good. no threat or punishment could keep her away, and when her father found out that she had saved a young hyur boy from drowning, tangled in kelp, his wrath had been a terror to behold.

still she had not learned. she wishes now that she had. but the more they tried to to tighten their hold on her, the more they lost control, and alisaie's rebellious spirit had become her undoing. she had believed, truly believed that the stories could not be entirely true. so much drifts beneath the waves, little tokens of the civilization that they once knew, and so few of them are weapons, or danger. alisaie had found strange metal items, she had found adornments and pictures, bright toys, innumerable things she cannot know the use of, she has studied them, found fascination in them - surely like her own people, the hyur cannot all be so vicious. the drowning boy had looked so.. small, so soft, and afraid, and even these many years later she still remembers his eyes. they had not seemed so dangerous.

she was naive, her father said, before he trapped her in her chambers. she was a danger to all of them, revealing herself even to a child hyur, she puts them all in peril by drawing so near to she shores. she had hated him then, for his closed mind, for how he tried to control her.

now she wishes she had listened. the iron whales had coasted directly over their home that day, and brought with them a cacophany of great noise and flashing lights - the booming of cannons shook the firmament, and the fires rained bitter ash into the waters below. the hyur were fighting one another in a spectacular, horrifying display, and she had not been able to keep away. what a fool she had been. they caught her in their unforgiving nets, and since that day she has known only terror, and fury, and deep, full, unrelenting regret. her father had been right.

she cannot know how long they have kept her. many years, now. she is held somewhere dark, somewhere cold, and they are always watching her, studying her, scraping her scales and plucking her hairs and fins, stealing her blood. they speak to her, and for many years she does not understand, but in time their language becomes a puzzle for her to unravel, even if she does not understand the purpose of all of their words. what else does she have to do to keep herself occupied but to listen to them? there is nothing else to keep her mind from dissolving. when they discover that she can speak their words they are quick to teach her more, to share their language; they are cruel, but they are curious, and though she had been quite certain that they would take her life, they have not killed her.

sometimes she wishes they would. she has long ago lost all sense of the passage of time, and any hope that she would ever swim freely again. at first she would fight them with her teeth and claws and powerful tail, but soon they learned, tainting her waters with something that tasted sweet and sharp, that kept her drowsy. after a time, the hyur stop coming, only one or two remain to observe her, to keep her fed, and alive. she will die here, in this hole in the earth, in this cramped tank, in this water that tastes like rust. she should have listened to her family.

so it comes as a great surprise when more hyur come, one day, when they drag her from her pool and into a small, cramped tank that barely fits her, and haul her away from the hole in the ground and up to the bright, searing sun. alisaie hisses and spits, slamming her body against the glass walls, but the sweet, sharp taste comes again, she is sedated, and a dark cloth is draped over her tank.

she is groggy still when, many hours later, after a long rumbling and swaying, the cloth is swept away and the bright sunlight streams in again. alisaie cannot see clearly, but there is.. a man before her, a man she has never seen before, adorned in dark cloth, his eyes hard but not unkind, not critical like the eyes of the hyur who had kept her before, and when they sweep over her she feels.. seen in a strange way she cannot entirely parse. behind the man are four others, younger, and behind them a vast staircase leading to a great, shining building.

she's so tired..

through the thick glass their voices seem dull and distant, but she hears words - gift, and lucis, mermaid and peace and keep. she will look better soon, they say, she is dull from the stress of travel, and soon her pale scales will shine pearly white and lush pink again, her torn fins will mend, she will be beautiful, a sparkling, priceless gem worthy of a king. there is no other like her. her head pounds, and her eyes are bleary. in time, the man in dark cloth draws near to the glass, and his piercing eyes find her, see her again, and when he speaks she knows that he is speaking to her, and no one else.

You will be safe here. I will give you all that is in my power to give. I'm sorry.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah, sorry, I-I'm not too good at explaining it...basically it's, uh, science? Yeah. Science that makes food in a box!

[ Good enough. Or it's gonna have to be, unless she'll tolerate talking to Ignis, but Prompto is surprised she's even spoken to him this much. Apparently bringing her weird shit she doesn't know is the way to coax her into a conversation! Noted. ]

But, um, they taste good! Maaybe not like anything you've had before, though, unless they've got sweets under the sea...

[ Are her tastebuds even like a human's???? There are so many questions. This could end badly, and so he's even more twitchy than usual, drumming his fingers on his arms and tapping his feet. ]

You don't have to try 'em i-if you don't wanna, though.

[ oh she certainly wants to - ever since she was a child she has been filled with a burning, aching curiosity about the world above, and all the things that fall from it. even now that desire to learn new things has not been entirely quashed.

.. but when he says that word, she definitely hesitates, the cookie halfway to her mouth. she looks at it again, and her expression hardens, her voice sharp. ]

The hyur who took me. They called themselves men of science. They said that was why they kept me alive.

[ prompto's foot in mouth syndrome is legendary. ]

[ Oh..............

Yeah, he definitely boobied right into that one, whoops. He goes pale, backpedaling harder than anyone has perhaps backpedaled before. There's just so much gesticulating going on. ]

N-n-not that kind of science! Baking is only about makin' stuff that tastes good!

[ But this does...explain a lot about her opinion towards humans. He had hunches about her time with the Niffs, based both off her disposition and all the general horrors of the Empire. What would they want with someone like her, a creature of legend, if not to experiment on her and break her down?

No wonder she had been in such rough shape when she arrived. ]

I'm...sorry they did that to you, though. Not all science is bad. It just is the way the Empire does it. ]

[ she thinks cookies are evil... this truly is the darkest timeline..

she has not dropped it yet, however. ]

.. and I am to believe that your people are different?

[ so far, they.. are a little different. they've not harmed her, not pulled her into nets to poke and prod her, they've not drugged her or torn off her scales. they've mostly left her be, and given her a far better place to live.

but it has only been a few weeks. she still cannot help but feel that another shoe (fin??) is waiting to drop. that this will fall apart, and she will be at the mercy of men once more.

her eyes are on him. ]

...I can you we are, but I kind of get the feeling that that's something you're gonna have to see for yourself.

[ His word doesn't amount to much, and actions speak louder than words. With any luck, the war will end sooner rather than later, and they'll be able to set her free, the ultimate way they can prove their character.

In the meantime...well, he can only hope that she'll see they are men of their word, that they aren't like the Empire, that they wish they didn't have to keep her here, either. ]

...So, are you gonna try it?

[ SHE'S BEEN HOLDING THAT COOKIE A LONG TIME... ]

[ SHE HAS.. she's not so sure of it!! but none of her food thus far has been drugged or poisoned or otherwise suspect, and he has brought her many gifts that have proved trustworthy.. so.

lifting the cookie, she gives it a sniff. it is much more difficult for her to smell things in the air, but it has a sweet, pleasant scent.

he is right. she does not trust them, and nothing that he can say will bring her to trust them, and so she can only move forward, and judge their character for herself. at last, alisaie takes a small bite, and chews thoughtfully.. then another, larger bite, and then at last, the entire cookie is in her mouth. and she is reaching for another. ]

[ Ah...well. She must like them at least a little, because she is sure scarfing that first one down. pretty decidedly after her first bite, and then she goes for another. He can't help a small, pleased smile when she reaches for the next one. Maybe it's a small victory, but it's a victory nonetheless.

...He just really hopes her digestive system is equipped to handle baked goods... ]

Soooo...what d'you say? Cookies, pretty tasty, am I right?

[ She wouldn't keep eating them if they were disgusting, right??? The proof is in the pudding! (Next time he'll bring her pudding.) ]

[ i mean, she will probably barf them up later, but she will also probably have no regrets.. they're delicious, sweet and buttery (not that she knows what butter is), fatty, crumbly.. mmm. i could go for some buttery cookies.. ]

I've never had anything like them..

[ fish kind of eat, like.. anything, but something like a cookie would not make it very far in the ocean to be scavenged. she scoops up a few more.. ]

[ I could also go for some now, good thing I still have a box of thin mints left! ...Or half a box. Look, at least I didn't eat them all in one sitting...

And there she goes, picking up even more cookies, and Prompto makes less of an attempt to hide his smile, sitting down on the rocks near the water with his elbows resting on his knees. ]

Is that a good or a bad thing?

[ He already knows the answer, but he's curious about how she might describe them. ]

[ the next cookie she eats in two bites, the one after, entirely whole. don't get het wrong, sahagin fare is pretty good, fish and crabs and seaweed are delicious, but there is something about this.. cookie.. that is very, very addictive. maybe it is a drug, after all..

she shoots him a squinty-eyed look, cookie crumbs on her cheeks. ]

They are good.

[ she says, her voice still hard, because just because the cookies are good doesn't mean they're best pals!! ]

[ Man, now I want seafood, too...good thing I have some fishies in the freezer!!! And yes, sugar is definitely a drug, and he is kind of trying to win her over with it, so...in a way he's drugging her. With kindness!!! ]

Oh, great! Glad to hear it. If you like those, just wait until you try the ones my buddy Ignis can make. They're outta this world!

[ He grins down at her, nothing but warmth in his smile. ]

Anything you wanna try, you just give the world, and I'll do my best to make it happen.

[ He's like her self-appointed butler now. ]

[ she's gonna be the first diabetic mermaid.. thanks prompto. she's slowing down on the cookie scarfing now, though, so she can turn her eyes on him again, and for the first time her expression is not hard or sharp or ferocious, it is.. curious.

well, it is still a little hard. but her eyes are wider as they watch him. ]

What is a buddy?

[ none of the imperial scientists were particularly buddy with each other, after all.. she's not heard this word. ]

What else could I want?

[ Damn, though, even if she's slowing down, she sure did put a dent into the plate he brought for her. But he almost doesn't notice that, because he's more caught up in how much her demeanor has shifted. She doesn't look exactly...friendly, no, but she does look less like she wants to shank him, so, that's something. ]

Oh, uh, a buddy is a friend! D'you know...what friends are? Do they got friends under the sea? Like, singing crabs and all that?

[ What, it's a reasonable question!!! ]

And...I dunno, what do you like to do for fun? Besides read, I mean.

[ friend. right. she knows that word.. somewhat. it, also, was not commonly used by the imperials, but used much more than "buddy" for sure. ]

Singing.. crabs?

[ she's looking at him like he has three heads.. THIS AIN'T THE LITTLE MERMAID, BOY, SHE WILL EVISCERATE U IN WAYS ARIEL NEVER WOULD..

maybe she just mistranslated him... anyway, for fun?? it's been a long time since alisaie did anything even remotely.. fun. her expression falls a little, her gaze distant as she thinks, tries to remember her life before all of this. ]

I enjoyed.. the waves.

[ mermaid surfing!! ]

[ well no wonder she got captured if she's out surfing the waves

That might not be the answer that Prompto would have expected, but then again, it's not like he knows a lot about what mermaids do in their spare time. Like, she can't read...books, can she? Maybe they have seaweed books or something. But ever since she got here, she's mostly just been swimming around and lurking. He still knows so little about who she is.

And there's not a clear way for him to make her surfing the waves again possible, but the wheels in his head are already turning... ]

Yeah? Wonder if there's a way to create waves in this water...like at the pool!

[ Wave pools!!! Sure, it's not the same as the ocean, but it'd be something. ]

[ she thinks for a moment, takes another cookie, and then slips back into the water to swim a little nearer to him. only a little. there's still quite a bit of space between them, but not she can at least peer into his face a bit more easily. ]

The pool?

[ she knows what a pool is in the.. literal sense. a pool of water. but it sounds like he is referring to something specific. ]

[ ...Right, she isn't gonna know what a pool is, huh. At least, not the way he means it. Fortunately, unlike baking, this one is a little easier to explain. ]

The pool! It's a place humans go to swim that's, uh, a little more regulated than the ocean. Like, the water's always warm, and clean, and sometimes they have machines that can create waves in 'em.

[ Does she see where he's going with this?? ]

[ for all she has learned, she knows very little about a hyur's.. recreational habits. she knows their language, their mannerisms, and plenty now about their cruel sciences, but few enough of the technicians ever spoke about their personal lives. so she knows what machines are, but not the function of a pool.

it seems they do it.. for fun? hyur would often swim in the oceans - it is how she had first found him, after all - but she cannot understand why. they're not aquatic!! ]

Why do hyur.. swim? You are land mammals.

[ it's not like she goes for strolls on the earth.. though okay, she might have, if she could. ]

[ You mean Alisaie doesn't want legs for jumping and dancing?? Ariel would be so disappoint. But I guess this is not really a Little Mermaid AU...tho someday... ]

Just, you know, for fun! It's good exercise, keeps you fit, and...yeah. It's just a lot of fun, swimmin' around in the water. Even if we don't have fins.

[ She seems to enjoy it plenty herself, though he certainly can't swim anywhere near as good as she can. No human could. She's a sight to behold when she cuts through the water like a torpedo. ]

[ i mean she could probably be into it sure but she never really thought about it?? swimming is just so much better. its like being able to fly except only in the wet.

as near to him now as she dares to approach, alisaie leans into a closer rock, her tail swishing languidly in the water behind her. ]

But you are so bad at it.

[ no offense......... u humans just kind of flail around in the water like distressed seals. ]

[ He doesn't fail to notice how close she's dared to swim, and the closer she nears him, the more he's afraid to move, as if one small move might startle her away. Or convince her to pin him to the ground like she had that first day he'd visited her. But that...must be a good sign, right? She is at least curious enough about what he has to say to draw a little nearer, and he can only see that as a step forward.

Her remark makes him burst out with laughter, though, sooo hopefully that's not too alarming! ]

Heh, I'm sure we look super bad at it compared with what you're used to! But still. It's fun.

[ See, even humans can get behind swimming! ]

[ it is definitely a little alarming.. not because it's a laugh, because she knows what laughter is, but it is so sudden and explosive that it startles an already edgy mermaid, and she leaps back immediately into the water again, behind the rock, peering up over the edge of the stone at him.

oh. he was just laughing. but she's easily spooked!! ]

I.. I see..

[ ahem. she flushes pink in mild embarrassment, and leans into the rock again. ]

Well, it is strange. And dangerous.

[ lest he forget he nearly drowned!! ]

[ Oh, oops...look, he has a boisterous laugh, he can't help it!!! It's also a little amusing when she skitters away, but he makes a modest attempt to smother that one at least. They haven't quite reached the "teasing" phase yet. ]

Yeah, tell me about it! If it weren't for you, I would'a died because I tried to swim. But I guess...have you ever wanted to know what it was like to run on the ground, or fly in the sky?

[ Maybe it's strange, and maybe humans aren't very good at it, but they can't help but want to try something that doesn't come easy to them. ]

I suppose I am curious, but..

[ she's ariel, after all, which means she wants to be where the people are, but she also loves the sea. it's vast, so, so, so much bigger than every landmass combined, there's an infinite space of caves and reefs and trenches to explore, far more than she could ever see in a lifetime. the ocean feels like.. freedom. ]

But swimming is just as flying, in the water, is it not?

[ there is nowhere she cannot reach beneath the surface, and swimming feels weightless and liberating. this tank might be a prison, but even having this much space has felt incredible, to be able to stretch her body and swim in broad, open circles.. she feels alive again. ]

[ He chuckles again, though much more quietly this time!! Lest he startle her away again. ]

Guess so. Aaaand neither are things humans are really good at, but that doesn't stop us from trying.

[ Humans do a lot of things that they might not be good at, but still want to try. With mixed results, sure, but Prompto is an optimist. He likes to think that they wouldn't be where they are today if people hadn't taken risks along the way. ]

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