Chapter Text
“And here are your badges, these will allow you to enter your assigned lab spaces, do not lose them.” The blonde guard glares hard with her piercing green eyes at the two of them. “Replacement comes out of your paycheck and you will not be allowed into the facility without it.”
“Don’t lose the badge, got it.” The darker haired scientist nods, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at Vanessa, it’s not like they haven’t done this song and dance before at other facilities. He watches his lighter haired partner carefully clip the badge to himself, triple checking it is secure before returning his attention to the guard in front of them.
“Fazlabs is closed over the weekend, all specimen are under observation of our robotic crew then. You will not be allowed in. You must leave by midnight on Friday or you will be locked in.” Vanessa crosses her arms in front of her chest.
“On the off chance we fail to leave…?” The darker haired one asks, question hanging in the open. His blonde counterpart tilts his head in curiosity of the answer as well.
“Find an office to hole up in. You’ll have to talk to a superior after the fact. But we do allow the bots to help if you do get stuck. You won’t go hungry at least.” A different guard had come in behind them, shaggy brown hair falling in front of one of his eyes. “I’m Mike, head of security.” He gives a small grin. “Vanessa, stop being so hard on the newbies.” He snorts before heading to his desk.
“Sorry, sir.” She says dryly, totally not actually sorry.
“If that is all, Officer Vanessa, I’ll continue on the tour with them.” The head scientist smiles at the guard, lightly fiddling with the black bowtie at his neck. Dr. Bear, hilarious last name aside, is their lead for the department. The man has a serious dad vibe coming off of him. “Dr. Nyx, Dr. Astra, if you’ll follow me.” Dr. Bear smiles and leads them deeper into the facility, explaining where the cafeteria, storage spaces, and other various rooms are and what they contain.
Eventually their trio gets to a heavy security door with no windows, a small guard station next to it with a disinterested blonde man waiting inside. “This is the entrance to the lab you’ll be working in. Jeremy here is the usual guard, but there is another guard, Fritz, who is assigned here as well.” Dr. Bear explains, showing his pass to Jeremy before quickly explaining the two of them.
The blonde wrings the bracelet around his wrist slightly as the security door rolls upwards. “Is- is the door this heavy for a reason?” Dr. Astra asks.
“Well security for one.” Dr. Bear chuckles at the joke, “As well as the lab you are working in is classified, can’t have anything getting out. Which is also why you had to leave your personal electronics in your dormitory. You will need to use the provided devices while in the facility.”
“And here I was thinking we could get selfies.” Dr. Nyx jokes, earning a smack to his arm from Dr. Astra. “I was joking, Sunshine.” He rolls his eyes.
“I mean, you can but it would need to remain on company equipment.” Dr. Bear chuckles, leading them both further down the hallways.
Eventually they get to another heavy security door which opens with a swipe of Dr. Bear’s badge. Dr. Nyx raises an eyebrow at the second layer of security but decides not to make a comment, he can see his partner already worrying the bracelet on his wrist at the sight of it.
“This will be the lab you both are assigned to, it’s nicknamed The Daycare.” Dr. Bear says.
“Daycare? Really?” Dr. Nyx scoffs, “A bit demeaning don’t you think?”
“It is merely precautionary, far easier if you are in conversation with anyone of lower security clearance to obfuscate what they shouldn’t be privy to.” Dr. Bear hums.
“I think it’s kinda cute, we’re gonna be Daycare Attendants.” Dr. Astra grins, glancing around the lab in curiosity, shoulders minutely drooping when he realizes they can’t see the specimen just yet.
“I know you both were briefly, well, briefed about what your job entails but I shall go over further details with you now.” He stands a touch straighter. “As you can assume given the number of security precautions you’ve already passed through, nothing that you both do will be leaving this lab, do not discuss your work with anyone outside of the facility or with lower clearance than you. All documents on your person will be confiscated and no electronic devices besides what you are provided with are allowed on your person.” Dr. Bear pauses making sure to get both of them to nod.
“Now, this portion of the lab is mostly for smaller scale work and documentation. If you have need of anything not already provided or further stock of something fill out a supply request and it will go through the system.” He gestures to the screen on the wall, “You can also fill out requests through your tablets which are in your offices.” He gestures to the two doors not too far away, one marked with a Sun symbol and the other with a Moon. “The um… Staff thought it would be amusing, you are welcome to request the decor to be removed.” He rubs the back of his neck.
“Oh no, no I love it!” Dr. Astra chuckles, hand waving lightly to brush away any thought of the removal of the decor.
“…It’s fine.” Dr. Nyx hums, but the faintest quirk of his lip gives away that he likes the decor as well. “Gives it that Daycare vibe.”
“I will let them know they do not need to change it or your devices which have the same symbols.” Dr. Bear chuckles. “Very well, follow me.” He smiles leading them to another heavy door, a quick swipe of the card and they enter a short hallway followed by another heavy door. “This is the specimen’s chamber, they do not seem to do well with flash photography so if you are documenting things please be careful of that.” Dr. Bear says off-handedly, “It is also recommended that you stay out of the water… We’ve had a few… incidents.” Dr. Bear definitely looks uncomfortable at the statement as the door rolls upwards.
“That tank is huge… And filthy…” Dr. Nyx runs a hand through his hair, distracted from asking about what has happened with the specimen so far, staring at the wall of greenish water in front of them, eyes darting to catch a glimpse of the specimen behind the thin layer of filth on the glass. The most he gets is a mysterious pile of… Something… In the back corner of the tank.
“Had to be, they are much larger than your average fish! And it gives them some room to swim around.” Dr. Bear chuckles leading them closer to the tank. “The tank is heavily reinforced so there should be no fear of them ramming the glass.” He gestures towards the left where a series of computer systems are, “All of that controls the tank’s filtration and balances, if anything needs adjusting start there.”
“Now onto what needs to be done, as you’ve remarked, there has been difficulty in cleaning the tank up, any person or robot we’ve sent in have been injured or destroyed. We have attempted sedatives but the specimen has managed to wake up far earlier than expected and attempted to drag themselves out… Hence the security doors, there is heavy duty mesh over the top of the tank and if the need arises, a taser pole which we ask you refrain from using unless it is an emergency.
We’ve also had little success in feeding them, partially similar problems to the tank cleaning, but they’ve rejected most food. It does come in through an automated system right now, dropped in the top of their tank. They also do not seem to have any regular sleeping pattern from what we can tell. Most of your work for now will be observational.” Dr. Bear finishes with a glance at the tank. “We do not have another specimen of their kind, for all we know they are the only one. Hopefully we can get past those issues first and foremost. It would be a shame to lose them.”
“Oh geez…” Dr. Astra mutters, bracelet being wrung against their wrist. “I- I’m sure we will be able to come up with something. We’ve definitely got our work cut out for us huh, Moonbeam?”
“Indeed. Is there anything else we should be aware of Dr. Bear?” Dr. Nyx asks.
“Anything you need should be in the reports, if you have any further questions don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll let the two of you get acclimated to the lab then?” He asks, checking that the two don’t need anything else.
“Your tour and information has been appreciated, we will get started at least observing for now. Hopefully the issues will be resolved quickly with the two of us here now.” Dr. Nyx nods, watching as Dr. Astra gets closer to the tank, trying to scope out anything in the green water.
“Very well. I’ll come back around 5 to lead you out tonight. You’re on your own after that for entering and exiting.” Dr. Bear chuckles, patting Dr. Nyx on the shoulder before leaving the room. The darker haired scientist joins his fair haired partner at the glass wall of the tank.
“I haven’t seen any movement… Poor thing sounds stressed.” Dr. Astra speaks up as Dr. Nyx joins them.
“And so are you, Sunny.” He snorts, resting his hand over the other man’s wrist to stop him from wringing his skin raw.
“Kore, this is a little more intense than I thought it would be…” Sunny frowns at him.
“Mmm…” Kore hums in vague agreement, “I did ask if you were sure you wanted to follow me here.”
“You know I would have hated it if I couldn’t know what you were working on.” Sunny sticks his tongue out at him making Kore laugh.
“I know, Sunshine. It’s all going to be fine. For us and them.” He rubs his thumb over Sunny’s wrist gently. “But for now, we need to focus on how to help them.” He gestures to the tank. “If we can even spot them today.” He snorts.
“I’m sure we just need to be patient, eventually they’ll show up, right?” Sunny smiles gently before looking back at the tank in interest.
“Eventually.” Kore nods, dropping his hand from Sunny’s wrist to watch the water with him.
Neither scientist take notice of the set of eyes watching them from the bottom edge of the glass as they watch the water.
The sound of the heavy metal gate lifting had woken you up from your fitful rest. The land creatures are back again. You grumble and slowly slink along the bottom of the prison, trying to hide your movements. You’re thankful that their viewing wall does not go all the way to the bottom of the prison, allowing you to press against the lower area to attempt to watch the land creatures. The filth of your prison does make it a little more difficult to get a clear view
Bow has entered again, their friendly voice making your frills ripple, saying something but not close enough to your prison to get a sense of anything. You have a feeling there are new land creatures that you’ll be scaring off.
Eventually there is a new voice that speaks up, sparky, is what you think, there’s an air of nervousness which is interesting, most nervousness is usually after you’ve done something to the new land creatures. A second new voice follows after, the monotone and slightly deeper voice doesn’t give much away about them. Finally one of them comes into view. Shock of yellow hair and bright blue eyes looking around the water for movement.
A few more words are exchanged before the heavy door raises and lifts again and the other new land creature comes into view, dark hair and deep blue eyes trace your prison slowly. The two speak back and forth before falling quiet as they watch the water.
You frown, already frustrated by the new land creatures, every single one has been horrible to you so far. With the exception of Bow, bow has been nice-ish… They don’t really come to your prison frequently, and they give you a wide berth when they do, never getting close enough for you to try anything.
The dark haired one says something, causing the yellow haired one to nod before the dark haired one leaves the room, heavy door lifting and lowering leaving the other behind. Well… Now is as good a time as any to start fending off the new land dwellers.
Kore had run off to get their tablets from their offices, leaving Sunny behind at the tank still trying to suss out where the specimen might have tucked themself. There’s really no hiding spots in the tank despite it being so large, no rock formations or plants, something that makes him want to immediately get fixed. As soon as they get the other problems sorted. Those have to come first.
Distracted by his thoughts he squeaks and jumps back at the movement in his peripheral vision, they are quickly in full view and he stands shocked at the creature in front of him. They have to be at least twelve feet long in total, tail a dull dark gray tinted slightly green, sharp teeth barred in an angry scowl down at him as their fins fan out and claws scrape at the glass of the tank, thankfully only affecting the algae on the glass instead of damaging it.
“O-oh wow…” He breathes out, watching them snarl. The thick glass not letting any sound through to him. He sees how thin and boney they are, definitely not eating as they should, he’s pretty sure they are also not supposed to be this dull in color, their scales are probably faded from the malnourishment. There are thin scars littering their arms as well. Webbing between their clawed fingers also seems to have been damaged.
They are in terrible shape.
“Oh no, you poor, poor thing…” He whines, desperately wanting to make everything better for the specimen, the mer, but he can’t do anything yet. The mer seems confused for a moment before quickly returning to their angry display. He slowly backs up two steps, putting a touch more space between them. “It’s okay.” He says gently, both for himself and the mer, trying to calm them down. “I know I’m new… My name is Sunny!” He cheerfully greets, causing the mer to once again look at him confused, their expression lingering longer before their eyes snap to the security door opening. They hiss, threat display back in action as Kore lifts his eyes from his tablet.
“So they have come out.” He says cooly, watching the mer’s flared fins and snarling mouth. He wordlessly passes Sunny’s tablet over. The two tablets have matching symbols on the back to their office doors like Dr. Bear said. “They don’t seem happy to see us.”
“Who would be happy in that filth?” Sunny sighs, “I wish I could hop in and clean it all up for them, and add more to their tank, it’s empty! How could anyone be happy with that?” He puffs out his cheeks as he logs into the tablet and starts looking over things.
A slam on the glass wall of the tank makes Sunny jump, Kore glances up from his tablet at the mer they had started ignoring. They snarl angrily and slam their hand against the glass again before swimming off a bit and then ramming the glass with their shoulder.
“Oh no! No, no, no, don’t hurt yourself!” Sunny cries out in panic, flailing his arms a bit. The mer does the same circuit and slams against the glass wall again. “Kore! What do we do!?”
“We leave, let them be for now. We need to build trust with them.” He gently leads Sunny out of the room. “They feel threatened, we need to let them calm down.”
“R-right. You’re right… Oh I just hate that they started hurting themself.” Sunny whines as Kore leads him out of the room wincing as there is another solid thud of mer against glass as the security gate rises.
You growl and snap your jaw before letting yourself drift away from the wall, the dull throb of your shoulder worth it in making both the new land creatures leave. You mull over the interaction. The Sun symbol on the flat thing they had was interesting. The dark haired one had one as well with a Moon… Sun and Moon. Now you know what to call them. Easier to think too, with your smarting shoulder.
Okay maybe it had been a little dumb to ram into the clear prison wall.
You were confused by Sun’s panic, their waving arms as you had smacked against the wall were not to protect themself, no they seemed to be upset about you doing the action. You had caught a twitch in Moon’s eyes as you had circled around to slam against the wall before they had tugged Sun away, leaving you alone once more.
…You got what you wanted at least…
You grumble, slowly letting yourself sink to the bottom of your prison. Hunger gnawing at your stomach, that took too much of your energy… You need to be more careful. You shut your eyes to rest for now.
Kore has Sunny quickly document the interaction as he does the same before letting Sunny distract himself with cleaning up the lab that was already fairly spotless and moving equipment around. They hadn’t known what to expect but the mer definitely was not pleased with their arrival. His fingers tap lightly against his desk as he thinks over the interaction.
It is obvious the mer is unhappy to say the very least, like Sunny said, their tank is unpleasant and needs serious work. They also are definitely ill from the lack of food they’ve been eating. But what was interesting was Sunny saying that confusion had been an expression he saw.
They had been confused by Sunny’s exclamation of upset towards the state of their being and when he had backed up from the tank and introduced himself. Flicking through older reports from the lab he doesn’t find anything in regards to the mer having learned language… Perhaps it was the tone then? It’s a surprise they can hear much of anything through the thick pane of glass that separates the facility from the water, but possibly they have very sensitive hearing.
They might react positively to music, he muses, considering what to possibly play for them until a knock on his office door pulls his eyes to Sunny leaning against the door frame.
“Do you think that was enough time?” Sunny asks nervously. “I mean… I know it probably wasn’t but I really want to make sure they are okay.”
“There is a good chance it was enough for them to cool off.” Kore shrugs, standing with a stretch. “I would suggest remaining quiet, just to make sure. Though, I think they have sensitive hearing, which is why they snapped their attention to the door when I entered. I would be curious how music affects them.” He lets some of his thoughts out to his partner who hums in consideration, already pondering that line of thought, as he turns to lead the way back into the specimen’s room.
Your fins twitch at the opening of the heavy door. Grumbling in upset to yourself that the land creatures are already back. The two keep their voices low, a weak attempt in not drawing attention to themselves you think as you slowly move off the floor of your prison to confront your jailers again. You rise up to find them well back from the wall, eyes flicking to you but otherwise trying not to watch you heavily which is odd. Most of your jailers stay practically pressed against the clear wall trying to observe your every move.
You squint at the two of them, Sun and Moon, waiting for whatever they are going to try. Tail flicking in minor agitation as the two keep their voices down. You can’t understand them and it’s making you more upset. Every other land creature has not bothered to be quiet like this before so you’ve been able to tell when something is going to happen.
This is bad.
Your fins twitch as you try to listen closer but you really can’t tell what they are planning. You watch Sun’s eyes flick up at the movement, mouth moving as they speak to Moon. Sun tilts their head as you get just a bit closer to the clear wall trying and failing to pick up anything. A soft hiss of annoyance leaving your throat as Moon, who speaks in a lower tone than Sun, is unable to be heard.
You let your frustration out on the wall, smacking it with an open palm which makes Sun jolt. Moon’s lips twitch upward for some reason as they use their flat thing before speaking to Sun again. With a frustrated growl you push off of the wall and swim in an agitated circle in your prison, eyes tracking Sun and Moon as you wait for whatever they plan on doing to you.
The noise of the feeding system startles you, cursing yourself out for not paying more attention to the schedule, fins twitching in an erratic pattern you attempt to control as much as you can at the scraping noise. You attempt to not cover the fins at the side of your head, you can’t show weakness to the land creatures. The ‘food’ is eventually deposited, smacking into the water and floating down in unappetizing, flaky chunks. It looks and smells rotten to you, too many creatures to discern properly what the land creatures attempt to feed you. You keep away as the ‘food’ falls to the bottom of your prison, scowling at the stench of it.
Your eyes flick up at the movement of Sun and Moon. Both having taken a step forward towards your prison. You give a hiss at the two before having to back away as far as you can from the ‘food’ making your empty stomach twist into knots. You can actually hear Sun this time, surprisingly sounding upset, you assume it is from you ignoring your putrescent meal. You roll your eyes, it’s not like this is something new, you’ve been avoiding eating the vile substance for weeks now unless you cannot take it any longer.
You hate not being able to hunt anymore. Water rushing through your gills as you chase after your meal, belly full from a heavy meal as you relax on the sandy floor-
You shake your head, pulling yourself out of your thoughts. You can’t reminisce while the land creatures are watching you. It’s too dangerous.
You glance back over, giving a start at how close Sun and Moon have suddenly gotten to the clear prison wall. You scold yourself for not paying better attention. Sun is gesturing at Moon, distress and upset in their tone while Moon is seemingly attempting to placate them. Both have frowns on their faces but aren’t paying attention to you anymore. You try and figure what Sun is pointing to with their gestures before you realize it is the meal you were given.
Why would they be upset by your meal? Not vile enough for their tastes? Too large a portion? Your stomach clenches painfully and causes you to fold on yourself, teeth gritted to hold back from complaint. You grimace, getting a hold of yourself only to find Moon and Sun’s eyes solidly on you, both have an expression you haven’t seen on any of the other land creatures faces before. It can’t be concern that you’re seeing…
You can’t get your hopes up.
You snarl before turning yourself away from the two of them, swimming in weak circles trying to ignore the aching in your stomach.
Kore and Sunny watch the mer swim in shaky circles, putting up a front against the pain that they had just witnessed. One of the mer’s hands resting on their torso, clawing at themself in likely a bid for something to ignore the hunger they feel.
“Fucking automated system.” Kore scowls at the ‘food’ the machinery had spat out.
“We have to get that changed, I didn’t see any area that had food in it earlier.” Sunny frowns heavily, “Along with things to actually fill in their tank. What on earth was Dr. Bear thinking with this lab?!”
“I don’t think he’s had much control over it. I don’t know how much control we'll have over it either.” Kore hisses as he types on his tablet quickly. “What a fucking joke.”
“How many scientists have even entered this lab? One of them would have had to realize how poor an environment this is!” Sunny stomps trying and failing to control their anger.
“Enough that should have known better.” Kore grimaces. “I’ve already put in a request for the food to be changed out, let’s at least get them eating before attempting to push for updating their tank.”
“I’m just so- So mad! I can’t believe that they’ve been doing this to them!” Sunny grips at his hair before getting his hand pulled away by Kore.
“I am too Sunny, but we need to take it slow. Gain the specimen’s trust… We’re going to need it if we’re going to improve anything for them.” He sighs heavily, watching the mer stay as far from the ‘food’ as they can until it’s all at the bottom, sweeping it into the pile in the corner with their tail in disgust, at least they know what that is now. “We’ll figure this out…”
“…We have to.” Sunny says, a determined look crossing his features.
“It’s too early…” Kore groans, feet dragging as Sunny bouncily walks ahead of him.
“Nonsense! Never too early when we have work to get done!” He smiles widely, ready to start enacting some serious changes for the mer in their care.
“It’s freaking six in the morning, you dragged me out of bed at five, Sunny.” Kore scowls.
“Exactly! We need as much time with the specimen as we can get!” They get to the first security gate finding Jeremy already in the booth looking just as awake as Kore is. After both their badges are checked the gate raises and they are let into the halls for their lab.
“Hopefully the food request is already processed.” Kore says through a yawn, scanning his badge to get into their lab. “First morning at the Daycare…” He grumbles, heading straight to his office to grab his tablet, checking if the request has been approved as soon as he’s logged in.
“Sunny!” He calls out, “They approved the food change, the automated system should be updated with what we talked about. First feeding is at 6:30AM.” He chuckles at hearing Sunny’s noise of delight that the horrible ‘food’ will no longer be served to the mer.
“Oh that’s in five minutes! Kore, we should go watch!” Sunny pokes his head in Kore’s office before running to get his own tablet out, quickly logging in and booking it to the door, only to nearly trip on one of the counters in the room.
“Watch where you’re going, not the screen, Sunny!” Kore shakes his head, following Sunny to the security door.
“I know, I know, but we need to be in quickly!” He puffs up his cheek, Kore poking it as the gate lifts. Sunny doesn’t even bother waiting, quickly ducking under and running to the next door.
“Sunny, relax.” Kore huffs, ducking under as well only to keep up with his partner.
“Nah.” Sunny sticks his tongue out, ducking under the second security gate as well to get into the room with the mer. “Good morning!” He greets cheerfully, finding the mer already awake and swimming in a circle. It does not go unnoticed that the mer was obviously not expecting them, eyes widening in surprise before they school their expression to neutral as best they can.
“We changed your food up! No more of that nastiness!” Sunny bounces on his heels happily. “And it should be coming juuuust about now!” The automated system starts up, the mer flinching at the noise before turning and scowling at the top of the tank, obviously expecting the ‘food’ they’ve been receiving.
They watch the mer startle at the new meal entering the water before tilting their head at the large hunk of tuna that sinks down. They had decided that it probably would be the easiest thing to start with to rehabilitate the mers diet and reasonably common to the area the mer was found in. Just as a frown threatens to tug on Sunny’s lips the mer darts forward, and snatches the hunk of meat up, quickly tearing into the flesh like the starved animal they are.
“Thank goodness, I was afraid they’d reject it.” Kore breathes out in relief.
“Yesssss!” Sunny does a small fist pump before sitting criss-cross on the floor in front of the tank, watching as the mer tears at the tuna with their claws first before ripping each bite with their teeth. He takes out the tablet’s pen, sketching as he watches, making small notes on the side of the sketch about how the mer eats.
It takes them all of twelve minutes to tear through the ten pounds of tuna that had been deposited in the tank. The mer’s stomach clearly protrudes from their boney torso as they make a lazy circle down to the bottom of the tank, resting against the floor.
You don’t remember the last time you’ve been so full. Your stomach hurts slightly having eaten well over its current capacity, but you would be a fool to let any of the fresh meal go to waste. It may not be the hunting you are used to but anything is better than the pile of rot that you were being given. You frown at how heavy your belly feels, normally that size meal barely impacts you. It must be due to how long it's been since you’ve actually eaten normally.
You know that Sun and Moon are watching you still but your eyes feel heavy. Maybe… Maybe you can nap… Just for a little bit? You spent all night circling your tank trying to figure out what the two of them want from you. Exhaustion and a heavy belly lulling you quickly to sleep.
The noise of the food system starting up shocks you into awareness again. Surprised at food coming so soon since your last meal. Or have you really been asleep for a long time? It’s hard to keep track of the schedule since the light doesn’t change. You make a circle along the bottom, waiting for the meal to land in the water and are surprised that once again you are getting the meat you had earlier.
You quickly swim up, finding the hunk is the same size as before and take it in your hands. Your surprise must be evident because Sun speaks, attempting to sound encouraging when you glance over. How long has Sun been sitting on the floor? It doesn’t look like they have changed positions since your eyes shut. You slowly sink down to be level with Sun, tilting your head at them.
They gesture at the food and mimic eating before pointing at you. You huff, knowing that it is your meal but you’re more confused by them. Not that you can currently understand them. You watch them do the action again as if trying to tell you to eat like a parent to a child. You let out a series of bubbles, refraining from rolling your eyes despite how much you want to, before ripping a hunk and taking a bite, going slowly as possible so they can watch your every move, exaggerating every step.
Moon suddenly laughs from where they are, leaning against something on their side of the clear wall as they say something with what you believe is a joking tone at Sun. You hum in light amusement as Sun gets distracted and turns to Moon, puffing up and responding in annoyance as you take another lazy bite, not bothering to draw the action out like you had before. Moon just laughs again, a teasing grin on their face before they make their way to Sun’s side, sitting down next to them.
You tilt your head at Moon joining closer to the clear wall, grimacing at the layer of green that makes it harder to see them clearly. With a huff you pull your food away before taking the side of your arm and scraping the layer of algae away a bit, enough for a decent sized patch to be cleared level with all of your faces. You can now see Sun perk up a bit more, tilting their head lightly at the action before turning to Moon to ask something.
You scrape the algae off on the edge of where the clear wall ends before going back to your food. Despite not being too hungry at the moment you’re determined to finish it just in case today is a fluke. You’ll at least have energy for a few days if you do. A waving motion gets your attention, Sun’s hand moving before they stand up and leave the room.
Moon leans back and watches you. You squint, staring at the gate before turning back to Moon, ripping a chunk of your meal off and eating it as you try to discern what exactly is happening. Moon doesn’t say anything the entire time that Sun is away, merely watching you as you eat at a slow rate. The gate opening makes you twitch, Sun announcing themself holding something in their hands. You watch as they pass Moon a portion of what they have before they settle down.
You blink as you watch them pull out pieces of something, taking them apart before pushing bits in their mouths. Thin layers of glossy or shiny bits being set to the side, which is quite wasteful you think. Sun says something with a happy tone, obviously directed at you before they take another bite of what they have.
…Are they sharing a meal with you?
“We should do this every meal!” Sunny chuckles, “I think it would be good for them, getting used to eating with us.”
“How am I supposed to survive mornings then?” Kore huffs, “This morning was awful getting up at five, you can’t honestly expect me to get up at the ass crack of dawn every morning, Sunny?”
“I was just excited!” Sunny huffs, “If you don’t want to be up so early we can tweak the feeding schedule?”
“I mean… It’s not like they have been eating properly, pushing the time of the feeding back will change too much for them right now. We can do a lot to their ‘schedule’ so to speak.” Kore hums in thought.
“Maybe if we push the first feeding back to say… 7:30?” Sunny offers. “I am not sure we really need a lunch time feeding…”
“Let’s leave it for now, if you really want to share our meals with them, but maybe reduce the amount of food? Give them the same at breakfast and dinner and then reduce their lunch to half the size?” Kore suggests before finishing his lunch off.
“I think that’s pretty reasonable? They seem to have slowed down on this meal, probably still full from earlier.” Sunny hums before blinking in surprise that the mer is already halfway through the chunk of tuna they were given. “We should probably put that in the system as soon as we can.”
“Just did that.” Kore says, pressing something on the tablet. “I also scheduled their final meal today to be lighter, just so they don’t have so much. We can easily control the weight of the meal, it’s just the contents we need approval on.”
“…Fair enough I guess. I’m just glad we got approval quickly.” Sunny hums, finishing his lunch before glancing at the mer. “How long do you think we need to wait before we can get tank cleaning done… The algae build up is pretty bad.”
“Far longer than just a day or two, Sunny.” Kore snorts. “I’m not expecting us to be able to even touch the surface of the water without the intention to get in for at least a month. We don’t know how territorial they are, how tolerant they are to sedatives, practically anything about them really!”
“…Maybe we can start changing that early?” Sunny tilts their head. “They seem pretty intelligent. I mean they were agitated last night when we kept our voices low and they couldn’t tell what we were doing. I think there’s a good chance that a face to face would work alright!” He smiles like he’s not suggesting the most insane thing Kore’s heard in a while.
“…Have you thrown everything we’ve learned in school out?” Kore deadpans. “They are literally a wild creature, one that’s been obviously upset by their environment, and you want to go and say hi?”
“…Yes.” Sunny nods before suddenly getting up and heading toward the stairs to the upper level of the tank.
“SUNNY!”
You finish your meal just as Sun suddenly stands up, an excited look on their face as they suddenly bolt to the area the land creatures use to get to the top of your prison, Moon shouting in alarm after them. You frown wondering why Sun is panicking their partner, and start swimming to the top of the tank in a languid motion, trying not to move too quickly. By the time you reach it, Sun has as well, Moon shouting at them from just below.
You don’t know what this is. It could be a ploy to get you to lower your guard down. It could be that they are going to kill you somehow. It could be any number of things really.
But…
You do find Moon yelling at Sun humorous. Perhaps, from a safe distance, you will see exactly what Sun is attempting.
You breach the surface with just your eyes, staying on the opposite side of your prison, the fishnet surface above you too thin to get any higher out of the water. Sun grins widely and waves happily, some sort of greeting you assume comes from him. They yelp as Moon suddenly grabs the back of their coverings, quickly getting into berating Sun with a low angry tone.
You slowly swim closer, a small grin on your face as an idea comes to you.
Your grin grows wider as you find the two aren’t very far from the edge. You sink down slightly, taking in a mouthful of water before rising back up and squirting it out of your mouth, pelting both Sun and Moon with the same blast. Their shouts of complaint are like music to your fins, you swim a circle around the top of your prison as you watch the two of them wipe the water off of themselves. Moon gives a flat look at you, obviously a bit annoyed with what you did, Sun however seems to find it at least a bit amusing, grinning and elbowing Moon in the ribs.
Once you’re close again you pause near the two land creatures. Sun starts to kneel down before Moon grabs them and tugs them back upright. Sun complains at them before they end up letting go, Sun stays upright this time. You decide that you won’t attempt to bite them until they do something bad. However soon that is.
You flick some water up at them, scratching lightly at the metal fishnet covering your prison.
“ What do you want? ” You attempt to speak with the land creatures, hoping that they will understand your questioning tone if they don’t understand your words.
“They spoke to us!” Sunny grins, shaking Kore’s shoulder in excitement.
“They made a series of clicks and trills at us.” Kore rolls his eyes.
“They spoke to us.” Sunny repeats, “And it sounded like a question!”
“I think you are putting too much into this, Sunshine.” Kore shakes his head. The mer decides to ‘speak up’, repeating the same series again, Sunny gesturing to them in excitement. “…At least tell me you’re recording.”
“Of course I am!” Sunny grins. “Hello!” The mer squints, obviously unsatisfied with Sunny’s response, a burble coming from them as they sink below the water. “Oh no, no, no! Come back pretty please?” Sunny kneels down before Kore can stop him. The mer suddenly comes in and pushes their fingers against the mesh at the top of the tank, reaching for Sunny but thankfully stopped from getting closer.
“Hello again, Sweetie!” Sunny coos, wiggling his fingers closer than Kore is comfortable with.
“Seriously, Sweetie?” Kore sighs, seeing that the mer can’t wiggle their fingers out any further.
“They are a Sweetie! I’m sure!” Sunny grins at the mer wiggling their fingers back at him. “Not all angry now that they’re full of food!”
“…Just because they are full now doesn’t mean that they won’t nip if you get too close.” Kore groans.
“That’s why I’m not sticking my fingers in there!” He chuckles.
Sunny keeps rambling at the mer who watches Sunny with rapt attention. Kore is honestly surprised the mer hasn’t gotten bored when they realized that they couldn’t understand each other. It is a little endearing how the mer follows Sunny’s hands when they move, occasionally swimming when he gestures around. Perhaps they can use sign language to communicate, the mer’s hands seem dexterous enough.
The mer suddenly yawns widely, sharp teeth on display as bubbles rise up when they sink down in the water line.
“It looks like they are getting tired, Sunny. I think we best leave them for a bit.” Kore hums softly.
“But they haven’t been awake all that long.” Sunny pouts.
“And Dr. Bear said that they have had a terrible sleeping schedule as of late, they need rest.” Kore puts a hand on Sunny’s back. “We have tomorrow and plenty more days after that. Come on Sunshine, there are a few things I want to document and propose for the future.”
“Fiiiiine… Bye Sweetie!” Sunny waves before turning to follow him away from the top of the tank. The mer clicks a few times before they dive below the water again. Kore snorts and leads Sunny back to their offices, proposing trying to teach them sign language in order to communicate with them, Sunny quickly agreeing with a smile.
It seems they need to brush up on their sign language.