Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tommy has been in his tank for as long as he can remember. He likes his tank. He has rocks and toys and friend fish and food fish too. Dream even got him a crab at one point. But the crab was mean and it pinched him so Dream took the crab away. There's plants that he can snuggle with and holes in the rocks for him to sleep in.

His tank is big. Oh so very big. His tank is so big that when Dream comes to play with him, the water is above Dream’s head when he stands on the sand and if Dream lays down on his belly with Tommy, the tank is over two Dream’s long one way and one Dream long the other!

Tommy is really small compared to Dream so that means the tank is really big for him!

Dream is in his tank playing with him right now. He's sitting on the sand at the bottom of the tank. He's got his silly bubble tube in his mouth and is blowing bubbles for Tommy to chase.

Tommy loves this game. It's so much fun. They play for a while until Dream makes  hand signs to talk to Tommy.

"Done play. Want food?"

Tommy nods excitedly and swims up to Dream and starts searching the pockets of his shorts. Tommy thinks shorts are funny. Silly Dream has legs instead a tail and he has no scales to protect his legs so he has to wear shorts.

Dream nudges him away from his pockets and points up. 

"I go get. Wait please."

Tommy chirps and Dream smiles at him and swims up to the edge of Tommy’s tank. Dream reaches outside the tank, something Tommy’s not allowed to do unless Dream is there, and grabs the bucket before dropping back down. Once Dream and the bucket are fully in the water, new food fish swim out of the bucket and Tommy chirps again before he starts to chase his new food fish.

Tommy doesn't get alive food fish all the time so he's always really excited when Dream gives him some.

He catches a little shiny food fish and bites it so it can't swim away. He eats it all gone except for the crunchy big bones. He chews on the little bones but his teeth can't bite through the big ones yet.

He starts chasing another food fish and catches it right as Dream uses the bucket to make a noise so Tommy will look at him so he can use the hand signs.

"I have clam. Want now or later?"

Tommy loves clams! He lets the second food fish swim away and races over to Dream and makes the hand signs.

"Now, now, now!" Dream smiles but he raises an eyebrow and doesn't give Tommy the clam right away. Tommy whines but Dream shakes his head.

He signs. "Forget?"

Oops. Tommy signs, "Please?" And Dream smiles approvingly and reaches into the bucket and hands Tommy the clam. The clam is as big as Tommy’s face! He doesn't get big clams very often, usually they're just the size of his hands!

Tommy trills and dives for the tank floor to grab a rock to break the clam open. It takes a bit but he gets it open and starts to eat all the yummy clam inside bits.

He finishes the clam and hands Dream the broken half of the clam shell but he gets to keep the other half to add to his collection.

Dream signs, "I go now. See tomorrow."

Tommy signs back, "See tomorrow! Play game?"

Dream smiles and runs his fingers through Tommy’s floaty hair. It makes him giggle. 

"Yes, play game. Be good."

Tommy nods and Dream swims back to the edge and climbs out. Tommy misses Dream when he's gone but that's why Tommy has his toys and his friend fish. Sometimes Dream can't always come back tomorrow and that's why Tommy always has food fish and friend fish. 

Food fish always looks the same. Shiny little silver fish that a bit bigger than Tommy’s hands. Tommy’s only supposed to eat two food fish for each tomorrow that Dream doesn't come back. Even if he can eat four food fish and still feel hungry he has to only eat two. The bucket had five food fish in it so that means there's now six food fish in Tommy’s tank. Tommy also has seven friend fish that he's not supposed to eat unless Dream doesn't come back for a lot of tomorrows. 

Tommy doesn't want to eat his friends either. One of the friend fish he named Henry. Henry has been in the tank almost as long as Tommy has been! His friend fish were all sorts of bright colors so it was easy to tell them apart from the food fish. Henry was a shiny red just like Tommy’s scales!

Dream usually knows when he's going to be gone for lots of tomorrows so he'll always make sure Tommy has a full belly before he leaves and will put lots of food fish in his tank. Dream had only been gone without telling Tommy once and that was only for three tomorrows, he hadn't even had to eat a friend fish!

Dream had been really sad about being gone without telling Tommy. He had said sorry and given Tommy two whole clams! Dream tried to tell him why he was gone but Tommy didn't know many hand signs back then. He'd been even littler back then. Tommy was just glad Dream had come back.

Dream always came back. No matter how many tomorrows he was gone he always came back. Once, a long time ago, Dream was gone for seven tomorrows! He'd left Tommy with so many food fish in the tank and had given him three clams but said he had to wait to eat them. Only one clam a day. It was annoying to have to wait and really lonely without Dream to play with but once Dream was back he had played with Tommy all day!

So Tommy settled in for a nap as Dream got out of the tank. He waved to Dream through the glass Dream waved back before he walked to the door.

Dream would be back tomorrow and they would play a game and maybe Tommy would even get another clam.

—---

Dream did not come back tomorrow. Or the tomorrow after that. Or the tomorrow after that one too. Or the next.

Dream had now been gone for four tomorrows and Tommy was really hungry but he didn't want to eat his friends. He cuddled with Henry and whined for Dream to come back and play with him. He'd eaten all the food fish in his tank and tried to play Catch all by himself but it wasn't the same. So instead he played Stack with his shells and shiny rocks. He had chased the food fish around and around the tank before he ate them but the food fish were all gone now and he didn't want to chase his friends, that wasn't nice.

Tommy was really hungry but he could wait till Dream came back tomorrow. Dream had to come back tomorrow.

—---

Dream didn't come back tomorrow. Tommy was so hungry and he cried as he ate Beatrice. Beatrice was his least favorite friend fish but she was still his friend. She was a shiny yellow color and liked to dig in the sand by the rocks in Tommy’s tank. She also tasted really yummy and Tommy really hoped Dream came back soon.

—---

It was just Tommy and Henry left. Dream had been gone for so many tomorrows that Tommy had lost count. He was so so hungry but he refused to eat Henry. Henry was his best friend.

His belly hurt and his tank water was starting to get icky. Dream had told Tommy about filters and how Dream had to change the filters so Tommy’s water didn't get icky. Tommy’s water had never gotten this icky before. Dream would always come back. He would always come back and give Tommy fish and change the filters and play games with him.

Tommy whined. Why was Dream not coming back? Tommy had been so good. He listened and played the games and ate his food and let Dream brush his scales even when they itched.

He didn't reach outside the tank unless Dream was there and he didn't argue when Dream had to take the food fish bones from his tank when there were too many to fit in the corner.

Dream always came back.

—---

Tommy couldn't sleep, he was so hungry. He'd tried to eat the tiny things in the sand like Henry did, but he couldn't find anything bigger than his little finger claw and the little sand creatures were really hard to find. The water was also really icky now and Tommy wasn't feeling good. Tommy was really slow when he was sick, so the tiny sand things always swam away before Tommy could catch them.

Henry bumped against Tommy’s face but Tommy didn't want to get up and play Stack. Henry would play stack with him too sometimes, but he would just knock the shells over so Tommy had to start again. Tommy was so sleepy but his tummy hurt too much to sleep. Tommy pushed Henry away and Henry went back to chasing the tiny sand things.

Tommy twisted in the sand and looked out of the glass. It was the same as always. The lights above Tommy’s take turned on and off like they always did but the outside tank lights had stayed off since Dream left.

Tommy closed his eyes and whimpered. He wanted Dream back.

—---

There was a noise.

Tommy woke up and at first he didn't know why. His belly still hurt and he felt really tired but he was awake now.

At first he didn't realize what was different until he heard it again.

A noise.

Tommy then realized that the outside tank lights were on!

Dream was back! 

Tommy zoomed over to the glass and started tapping so Dream would come wave at him and know he was awake.

The noise stopped. 

Tommy tried to look for Dream in the outside tank but he could only see a little bit and Dream wasn't where he usually was. Tommy tapped again and still Dream didn't come wave at him.

Tommy whined. Where was Dream! Tommy was so hungry and he really really didn't want to eat Henry but he was so hungry! 

There was another noise and Tommy recognized it as the chirping that Dream sometimes did when he wasn't in the water. It didn't sound like Dream though. It was much deeper than Dream’s chirps.

Tommy saw something move in the corner of the outside tank and that's when he realized it wasn't Dream who was making the noise.

Dream’s hair wasn't pink. And he never wore clothes like that. Only shorts and sometimes a tank top. Tommy’s eyes went wide as he realized that there was a stranger in the outside tank! Strangers were never supposed to be in the outside tank! Tommy had only met one stranger once, but that was a long time ago and Dream had been really upset about it. Dream had told Tommy that if he ever saw a stranger again then he was to hide and make sure they didn't see him.

Tommy shrieked and dove for his sleepy hole in the rock. He had to hide. The stranger couldn't find him and Tommy would get hurt. Just like Dream said. Maybe the stranger had hurt Dream and that was why Dream hadn't come back yet.

Tommy had to hide and hope that Dream would come and chase the stranger away before they could hurt Tommy.

Dream always came back.

—---

Techno stared. Mouth dropped in shock. That- no. It couldn't have been. There was no way that he just saw a pup tapping on the glass of the giant built-in aquarium at the center of Dream’s compound. It had to be a trick of the light. His weak human eyes just mistook a large fish in the aquarium.

There was no way that he saw a pup because if that was true then Techno was going to find a way to bring Dream back to life just so he could kill him again. And again. And again.

Techno cautiously approached the glass and looked inside the tank. There were scattered bones and shells all around the tank floor. The tank was much bigger than Techno had initially thought but there were obvious signs of the tank having been inhabited. Coral and kelp with some other assorted plants that would make a sustainable ecosystem for maybe a dozen larger tropical fish.

But the tank was empty. 

Techno saw the scattered bones and his eyes, weakened that they were in human form, could still pick out the distinct teeth marks of something chewing on them.

Techno searched the tank and spotted the rocks against the far wall with an opening that could fit a young Mer pup.

Fuck. 

He backed away from the glass and searched for the access to the tank. The door a bit farther down the wall opened to reveal the filtration room.

Techno immediately choked on the smell and slammed the door shut as he stepped away. He took a deep breath of air and opened the door again to look at what was inside. The room's light was already turned on and he could see the pipes, drums, and smaller tanks set up around the room.

He did the math. 

Dream had been dead for a week and a half now. Based on the tank size and the pumps and filters he was seeing, the filters were supposed to be changed at least a week and there was a water flush system to handle the excess waste from the tank that had to be manually started. 

The smell told him that the filter should have been changed a while ago. Maybe even as far back as the day Techno had killed Dream. 

Techno touched the water cycling through an aerator tank and immediately yanked his hand back. The water felt disgusting. Slimy and foul. 

As much as Techno wanted to confirm if he had seen a pup or not, there was no way he'd be able to enter the tank to look without fixing the filters. Based on the tank size he'd have to stay human regardless, but the thought of water that nasty touching him made his skin crawl with a thousand crabs.

Even if it wasn't a pup that Techno had seen, he'd seen something and he couldn't in good conscience leave anything to suffer the slow death of fouled water. The time it would take him to change the filters was negligible and he wasn't in any rush while searching Dream’s compound.

Techno found the spare filters and water treatment supplies and got to work. The filters were truly vile and Techno had had to leave the filter room for a few minutes so his urge to throw up would subside. There was still no sign of life in the tank but Techno grew more certain that he'd definitely see something after finding how intricate and dedicated the tank's support system was. The possibility of it being a pup in the tank also grew, but he really didn't want it to be true.

Techno scowled at the thought of Dream keeping a pup like a pet. The sick bastard kept a baby for his own amusement while he hunted the adults. Bastard probably killed the pup's parents and took the pup as a trophy. At least now that the hunter was dead, along with most of his associates, he'd never be able to hurt the pup ever again.

Techno was very grateful that when in human form, his instincts were suppressed. If he had any less control he would have gone feral at the thought of a pup in these conditions. If he confirmed the existence of a pup it would be even worse. He was barely keeping it together now because he forced himself to remain objective and only think of the pup as a hypothetical.

If he confirmed the pup's existence before he improved the tank conditions it wouldn't end well. He likely would lose control and do something drastic to make sure the pup was safe. But since he was currently human and breathing air, he could keep himself together and do the logical thing even if it went against his immediate instincts. 

If there truly was a pup in that tank, and Techno was desperately trying to remain in denial, he wouldn't be able to move the pup right away anyway. They were likely too young to shift to a human form and any drastic water changes would make them sick. Pups were so incredibly delicate and the smallest thing could spell their demise. With pollution becoming rampant in the oceans, pups were struggling more and more to make it to adulthood without developing any life threatening illnesses.

So, as much as his instincts were screaming at the thought of a pup in this artificial tank, taking the pup straight to the ocean or his family's artificial pool system, would be a death sentence for them.

It was more important to clean the current tank, brace himself for if there actually was a pup, and then squash down his instincts and follow the logical decisions he made ahead of time. Which meant not snatching the pup out of the tank the first chance he got. He had to make sure they were healthy, and then figure out how best to move them safely without making them more sick than they probably would be from being in captivity and in such disgusting water.

Techno finished the filter change and started the system flush that would drain and replenish the tank's overflow water. The new water would then gradually filter into the tank's current water so that the pup didn't go into shock at a sudden water quality change. Similar to how humans had to adjust to different altitudes in the mountains. 

Techno then started looking for any food he could put in the tank. He had no idea when the last time Dream might have fed the tank was and what kind of food had been fed previously.

He found a freezer with tuna chunks. He grimaced at the thought of anything, but especially a pup, eating already dead and frozen fish. His instincts as a Protector took additional issue with the fish being clearly human caught and processed. All clean lines with a knife, cut into squares instead of using claws to separate the fish muscle by muscle.

But the tuna was better than nothing. He hadn't found any other potential food sources, besides a few tiny shrimp in one of the filter tanks. He set the tuna into a waiting bucket and filled it with warm water to thaw for a few minutes. While he waited he investigated the access point of the tank. 

There was a three foot gap of open water before the wall that formed the tank's lid started. There was a small platform running along the edge with stairs leading up to it. Techno stuck his arm into the water as a test and confirmed his suspicions about the water quality. He was right. His body absolutely noped out at the thought of swimming in that slimy mess. He shuddered and washed his arms thoroughly in the closest sink.

Anything living in that tank had to be absolutely miserable in that water. A pup would likely be sick from the water quality alone and adding that on top of not getting enough food? Techno had to bite his tongue to keep his focus. His pointy teeth reinforced his conviction, logic over instincts. He didn't know for sure there was a pup. And if there was he had to keep him cool. His instincts said that Techno needed to dive into the foul water and pull the pup out immediately. Then they would go swim in the open ocean till he felt clean again. Logic told him that if he gave into his instincts the pup would surely die.

Mers were just as, if not more, intelligent than humans. But the ocean wasn't as forgiving as land was. Thousands of years and hundreds of generations of survival had shaped their instincts. The adjustment Mers had to do over the past two-hundred years as humans moved into their territory and started spewing their trash into their waters, would take a while to override and change the impulsive reactions that had kept Techno's ancestors alive since the dawn of time.

Techno checked the chunk of tuna thawing in the bucket and determined it was thawed enough. The chunk was only the size of his fist but he could feed more if whatever was in the tank ate it all. Unless it was a pup. Then he'd have to ration the food so they didn't make themselves sick. Most pups had instincts that told them to not over-eat, but he had no idea what instincts a pup in captivity would maintain. 

He found a piece of rope cord and tied it to the handle of the bucket before dropping the bucket into the tank. The part of him that said there was a pup didn't like this option. His instincts wanted to go in and feed the pup himself but he knew he couldn't do that. 

If there was a pup, and Techno was slowly losing his hold on his denial, then all the pup had known before now was Dream. The pup might not even understand anything he said in the Mer tongue if they were really young and had been in captivity for a while. The pup might not even have functional instincts that would have them understand that Techno was a Protector and would sooner die that ever cause the pup harm.

Techno stayed back from the tank's edge and waited to see what would happen. He had a limited view of the tank from this angle but he didn't dare go back into the larger room where the hypothetical pup was more likely to see him and thus keep hiding.

It took a long time. But Techno was patient. He was still as a rock and kept his eyes trained on the tank water. He picked out more details the longer he looked. Patterns in the sand and the deliberate placement of the bones. Fifteen minutes in and Techno admitted that there was most likely a pup in the tank and started to prepare himself for it. Tightly restraining his instincts that wanted to go find the pup and make sure they were okay. He gripped firmly on the ledge railing and dug his claws into the wood so he wouldn't be able to move suddenly and jump into the water on instinct.

If there was a pup he had to keep his head and do absolutely nothing at all. The pup had been in captivity for Prime knows how long with only a monster like Dream for company. The pup would be scared and frightened and would not understand that Techno just wanted to help. He had to wait.

Patience.

Techno estimated a half hour had gone by before it happened. It was only a split second but he saw a tiny hand and arm reach out and snag the bucket and drag it farther back into the tank out of Techno's sight.

There was a pup.

Chapter Text

Oh prime. There was 100,000% a Mer pup living in the tank in the center of Dream’s Hunter Compound.

Techno nearly bit his bottom lip off and felt the wooden rail splinter under his grasp as his claws dug in further. The pain was grounding in some ways but worse in others. He focused on the taste of his blood in his mouth without the mix of ocean water. Flexed his knees, ankles, and each individual toe. Techno was in control. He was in his stupidly short human form and was breathing air, not water. He had lungs not gills, skin not scales. Techno was a master of his instincts and would not let them get away from him. He was not in the ocean, he could not go feral because he was not in the right body to do so. If he went feral on land he would just create more problems.

Compartmentalize. Details. Analyze. Assess the situation and make a plan of attack. Acting rash would just hurt the pup.

He was a fully intelligent being, capable of independent and rational thought. He was superior in every way to stupid humans and would not lose himself to his primal instincts.

Details. Focus.

The pup was tiny. The water had distorted the hand and arm but they were obviously small. There was no way they were more than three years old unless they were severely malnourished.

No. Bad Techno. He bit his tongue harshly and tasted his own blood again. Don't think about the horrible treatment the pup must have endured before now. He can’t freak out now, he’d just scare the pup.

The pup was still a literal baby. They shouldn't be anywhere but by their parent's sides. Hitching rides in their parent's hair and being cradled in their parents' hands to shield them from all the dangers of the ocean. Raised in the shallows of the Pup Islands or in the Colony Caves. There is no reason in the Depths for a baby to be living alone in a Prime damned tank!

Techno knew about the human government agency that enforced standards of care for human pups, he had a delirious thought about what would have happened if those people had found the pup. A human child could die if left alone for any length of time. Obviously, Mer pups were more resilient, but they still should not be left alone for more than an hour or so while their parents went hunting, some parents didn’t even do that! It was very common for Mer parents to have special necklaces that they wore where their pups would stay whenever the parents weren’t in the Nurseries. 

Mers were more intelligent than human babies when they were born, but they were much smaller in comparison. Only about six inches long at birth on average. But they also lived longer and grew much bigger over time, maturing at different rates over the course of their lives.

Mer pups spent about a moon in the infant stage of life. Their only concerns being nursing to safely transition their tiny bodies to solid food rather than the umbilical nutrients from their mother. By two moons old, most pups were capable of eating solid food on their own. The pups then started the toddler exploration stages of life, safe in the care of their parents till they were physically big enough to start exploring on their own. At this point the pups could potentially feed themselves by scavenging the feeder fish and invertebrates that could be found in reefs or a Pup Island’s shallows, but pups were never left to truly fend for themselves at that age, always being adopted by other Pod or Colony members.

Techno viciously squashed the thought about where the pup’s Pod and Colony members were. The current location at the center of a Hunter Compound provided the most likely explanation of why a pup was with humans and not with their family. Pods and Colonies would fight to their last member to protect pups and ensure their survival. 

Techno knew his family would be just as fierce in defending this pup from anything that might threaten them in the future. Techno’s immediate family may be small, just his two parents and his one brother, but he had a massive extended family that lived in  Colonies across the world. 

Which would be great because Techno would need all the help he could get with his pup.

Wait.

His pup?

Techno rolled that thought over his head. Tracing each one of his teeth with his sluggishly bleeding tongue so he would remain grounded. His grip was still locked tight around the broken wood railing and he didn't feel like he was about to lose control. It had been less than a minute since the pup had snatched the bucket and Techno had gotten completely lost in his own head trying to keep his instincts under control.

He heard a very quiet, but still audible, chirp come from the water and realized that his instincts were fully gone on claiming the pup. At the sound of a happy and content pup, Techno had immediately started to purr for two seconds before he forced himself to stop.

Somehow, in the struggle to control himself from acting on his instincts, he'd forgotten to keep the subconscious emotional stuff under guard as well. In making sure he didn’t physically jump into the water, his instincts jumped straight to the emotions and claimed the pup as his.

Shit. 

His pup. 

Despite what his instincts were screaming for, it wasn't practical for Techno to claim the pup as his own. He was too young to have a pup of his own. The pup not being his biologically also presented an issue. Logically, a Mer couple who already had a pup or two should assume the care of the pup once Techno could get them out of the tank. But Techno’s instincts did not like that thought. Techno realized he had been baring his teeth, subconsciously, at the imaginary Mer couple who might take his pup away. Which was stupid for multiple reasons. Techno was half the numerical age most Mers started to seriously date and settle down with a Mate. The imaginary Mer couple would be much better equipped to raise a traumatized pup.

But Techno wasn't a naive young adult with no purpose in life like some other Mers his age. Techno had known who he would be and what his life goals were by the time he was thirty. Techno was a Protector. He was a fierce fighter and skilled hunter. He'd started training with weapons when he was thirty-five and had been doing land missions since he was forty-eight. 

Techno, at fifty-three, was less than half the age most Mer were when they became parents, but he was a skilled warrior who already helped protect his Pod, Colony, and every Mer in the world by hunting the Hunters. A week and half ago he accomplished the greatest victory for Mer safety in the past two hundred years by eliminating the most prominent group of Mer Hunters in the world. He had ripped Dream’s throat out with his own claws just outside the Hunter’s Compound. He took the fight to the Hunter’s on their territory, and he’d won. No other Mer, his age or older, had ever had such a victory.

Technoblade turned fifty-three years old a moon ago. He was mentally around twenty in human years and would only age five more mental years over the next fifty. He was also three feet longer than the average male his age, something he got from his mother. His brain wouldn’t change much at all, it was only his physical size that would change in the next fifty years before he would be “grown-up” enough to have his own pups. Most Mers were over one-hundred-twenty when they had their first pups. Male Mers were usually around fifty feet by that age. If Techno’s larger than average size and growth continued, that meant he’d hit fifty feet before he turned ninety. 

With Techno’s size and skills combined, it made sense that his instincts believed he was more than capable of having a pup of his own while still so young. He was more accomplished than most Mers four times his age. So when part of his brain tried to say that Techno wasn’t ready for the responsibilities of a pup, the instinctual part of his brain disagreed. It was a painful itch in his skull to think of himself as incompetent or incapable of parenting on his own. 

Mers could have children at Techno’s age, since they finished reproductive puberty in their mid-forties, but it definitely wasn’t common or expected in any sense. When Mers could live up to seven-hundred years old, it made no sense to rush into having a family. Most Mer’s would have their pups between one-twenty and two-hundred, with maybe one pup a decade until they decided that they had enough pups to drive them crazy. In recent decades with the increase in pollution, Mers were having fewer children so that they could devote more time to ensuring the health of their pups. Having to spend more time hunting for pollution free food and having to abandon ancient Pup Islands and Nurseries as humans moved in and brought their pollution with them. The lower birth rates, pollution sickness in Mers of all ages, and the Hunters who could wipe out entire Colonies in a few hours, meant that the total Mer population was roughly half of what it was two-hundred years ago.

Mers were a multi-generational culture, living in Colonies with multiple family Pods. The age distribution of Mer was now heavily skewed to the older generations. A Mer couple would have their own pups, raise them to adulthood, and then either help raise their grandpups, or assist with any other pups in the Colony. With less pups to care for, more adult Mer had turned to the human world, going to visit and learn about the full-time bipeds. Most Mer would only go to visit land a few times in their life. Preferring to stay with the Colony and contribute to their survival.

Techno’s immediate family, his parents Philza and Kristin, and his brother Wilbur, were odd-balls of Mer social norm with how they lived mostly separated from the rest of the Colony. This was because of how much they had to interact with the human world. The Craft family was the big name for human interaction among Mers. Since the 1800’s Techno’s dad had been closely monitoring the human world to stay on top of the human’s technological advancements. 

His parent’s couldn’t migrate with the Colony when Dad had a human business to run, earning human currency for Mers to use when they went on land. Mom had started going to human school in the 1950’s, learning about humans from the inside so that she could help Dad with his business and navigate human politics involved in pollution. This meant that his parents had not lived with a Colony full time in almost a hundred years.

Even now that Techno was old enough to strike out on his own and reintegrate with a Colony, he couldn’t migrate with the Colony every season when he was spending weeks or months tracking down hunters on land. Wilbur, who was older than Techno, was also staying in the human world for the next decade or so for his music. His brother did this for multiple reasons, but mainly because Wilbur’s musical instruments and equipment wouldn’t work underwater and it wasn't easy to move the equipment around. 

Some of the places and islands the Colony would migrate to didn’t even have electricity, besides a few solar panels to a single hut that Dad had built to house a satellite phone unit. The phone was in case the Colony needed immediate assistance, that way they could make contact with Dad, Techno, or the other Colonies around the world. Most Mers didn’t need electricity when they had reefs, coves, and caves to inhabit and perform their daily jobs for the Colonies communal survival. The phone units were used though. Techno had gotten multiple calls from Colonies across the world as they reported Hunter sightings and any casualties they suffered.

Now that Techno had handled the most prominent Hunters, all of Mer kind could rest easier now. The most pressing threat to the Mers was now reduced to just pollution and ocean based predators. Any self-respecting Mer older than forty could fight or hold-off anything smaller than they were. And by the time a Mer was fully “grown-up”, there was very little in the ocean bigger than them.

Techno was not yet physically “grown-up”, but he could fight off any shark on his own and dolphins, the bastards, were manageable as long as he wasn’t severely outnumbered. His only real concerns for ocean predators were the bigger whales and the giant squid that sometimes crawled out of the trenches. And most “grown-up” Mers would struggle with the larger specimens of ocean cruelty anyway. Only Protectors, which Techno was, were able to fight whales and giant squid on their own. Techno’s fighting skill more than made up for his lack in size. Ina few years he’d be able to handle anything that dared to challenge him. He’d be more than able to protect a pup from anything the ocean might throw at them.

And it wasn’t even like he would be around those dangers for another decade or two, giving him plenty of time to grow more and train his fighting skills. Most pups spent their early lives at their parents' fins in the shallow coves of the Pup Islands or in the caverns of underwater caves. Parents of young pups would establish a Nursery and raise their pups in safety till the pup was big enough to not be an easy meal for a passing shark.

Techno’s family had done things a bit differently since they stayed in one place closer to land. Raising Wilbur and Techno is a specially designed artificial nursery pool in the family’s main house. Techno and the pup could live in the very same house that Techno and Wilbur had been raised in. He had known that Dream’s Compound was in the same general region as the family house, but he hadn’t expected it to only be two hours away by car. There had been multiple time’s when Techno had tracked Dream back to the southern region of North America, but until recently he hadn’t been able to narrow the location down to a specific state or island.

Dream’s death a week and a half ago had been his final devastating blow to the Hunters and he'd spent the time since cleaning up the rest of the Hunters that had gotten away when he killed Dream.

That was why it had taken him a week and half to actually come back here to search Dream’s compound thoroughly. He'd killed Dream right outside the building and hadn't bothered to search the place beyond the main halls. He’d ended up chasing one of Dream’s lieutenants, Punz, up the coast, all the way from Florida to Massachusetts, and had only gotten back last night. 

That meant it was a week and half that the pup had been abandoned and left to swim in festering water. Techno could have found his pup before they ever had a chance to go hungry and get sick from the foul water. His instincts were torn on what he would have done if he had found the pup earlier. He had to chase Punz and finish him off, but he could never imagine, willingly, leaving a pup behind in captivity. Maybe he would have called his parents to come get the pup while he chased Punz.

It did no good thinking about the possibilities of the past. Techno hadn’t found the pup and so he had chased Punz. He had unknowingly left the pup behind to get sick in the nasty water.

Techno suppressed the instinctual growl in his throat. The pup would likely hear him and Techno didn't want the pup to think he was upset with them. Techno breathed deeply and made himself let go of the splintered railing. He was good. He had stayed in control and now it was time for him to walk away and give the pup space so he didn't overwhelm them any further.

Techno couldn't see any movement in the tank from where he had been frozen for the past Prime knows how long, but the bucket had drifted back into view, completely empty of the tuna chunk.

Techno really wanted to give the pup more food but if they hadn't eaten in a week or more then too much food would make them sick. He was already worried that the tuna chunk he'd already given them was too much. So he settled for very slowly and carefully pulling the bucket up and out of the tank. Hopefully without the pup noticing. 

He quietly climbed down the ledge stairs and started checking over the filters. In less than an hour since he first changed them, they had already filled with more gunk and grossness. Which was ultimately a good thing, if the gunk was in the filters then it wasn’t in the tank. He switched them out again, doing the math that he could change the filters three more times with the spares that were in the room. 

The issue with cleaning a tank was that if you maintained it, you wouldn't need to change the filters often. But once a tank went bad, it could take double or triple the effort to fix it than maintaining it would have. Normally the filters for this system would be changed once or twice a week. But with how bad the tank had gotten, three more filter changes might only be enough for today and tomorrow while trying to get the tank cleared up.

Techno would have to either find where Dream stored more of the tank supplies, or he'd have to go buy some more. If that was the case, then he had to hope that the filters weren’t a custom order and were something he could get locally. Two days was nowhere near enough time to get the pup ready to move. If he was only considering water quality, the pup could potentially be moved a week from now. But Techno also had to consider the pup’s physical and emotional health. 

If Techno could get the pup to trust him enough to do a proper medical exam and the results were good, then the pup could maybe be moved within a week and a half. But any timeline for moving the pup was heavily dependent on if the pup would be comfortable with Techno and if they trusted him. If the pup didn’t trust him, then they would freak out when being moved and potentially hurt themselves or make themselves sick with stress. The last thing Tehcno wanted was to aggravate any medical issues the pup might have.

Only Prime knows what kind of torture Dream had put the pup through. The mistreatment combined with the confinement? In a tiny tank like that? Techno shuddered and flexed his claws as he softly shut the door behind him. He couldn't imagine anything worse.

—---

Tommy was less scared than he had been at first but he didn't dare leave his hiding spot.

He heard sounds coming from the outside tank that Dream had told him had the filters that made his water not icky. That was also the outside tank that Dream used to come into Tommy's tank. Tommy didn't know what was happening until a while later he coughed and he realized that the water was slightly less icky. He'd been coughing a lot since the water got icky, the icky water made his gills itchy. But now the water was less icky?

He peaked out of his sleepy hole, where he was hiding, and he didn't see the stranger anywhere. He didn't leave his hiding spot though.

Tommy breathed deeply and had to stop himself from chirping when he felt how nice the water was on his gills. The clean water came from a spot right near the rocks where Tommy’s sleepy hole was. His gills hurt a lot less when he breathed the less icky water.

Tommy stayed hidden in his sleepy hole and enjoyed the clean water for a while until he smelled food. He immediately perked up and looked around the tank. He saw the bucket that Dream would use to bring him food sitting on the sand of his tank. That hadn't been there before. There was also a piece of rope tied to the bucket.

Tommy had a similar piece of rope that Dream and him would play Tug with sometimes.

That was weird. Dream never dropped the bucket into Tommy’s tank. He always came in with the bucket. Tommy could smell food though.

It wasn't a food fish, but a piece of big fish that Dream usually gave him. Tommy preferred alive food but he would have fought an evil crab and eaten it at this point. He was so hungry. He really wanted the food but he had to hide! What if the stranger saw him when he went to get the food from the bucket? Tommy waited as long as he could but he was so hungry so he decided to be sneaky and grab the food. Maybe this was a new game? Tommy could play by being super sneaky and his prize would be food for his hungry tummy!

Tommy was halfway to the bucket when he realized that he still hadn't seen Dream and there had been a stranger in the outside filter tank. The outside tank that the bucket came from.

Dream would have come into Tommy’s tank to give him his food. 

Dream never dropped the bucket.

Dream wasn’t playing a new game with Tommy.

Dream wasn't back. It was only the stranger.

The stranger was trying to give Tommy food.

If Dream wasn't back that also meant that the stranger had made his water less icky, not Dream.

The stranger wasn't Dream and Tommy was supposed to hide from strangers but he was so hungry and the food smelled so good and his tummy was so empty.

Tommy decided. He'd grab the food really sneaky fast and then go back to his sleepy hole and would keep hiding from the stranger. Dream would understand. He wouldn't want Tommy to keep being hungry.

Tommy did just that. He snatched the bucket super fast and grabbed the piece of big fish and raced back to his hiding spot from the stranger.

The piece of fish was really big. Like the size of Dream’s hand big. Tommy knew he had to eat slowly or he'd make his tummy feel bad. But he didn't want to eat slow. He wanted to take big bites and make his tummy stop hurting.

There was also the problem that the stranger had given Tommy this food. Dream had never said anything about what to do if a stranger gives him food. Tommy looked the piece of big fish over. It looked just like the pieces Dream would give him normally, just bigger.

Tommy took a small nibble and his mouth was so happy to have food! It tasted the same as the food Dream gave him. It should be safe for Tommy to eat even if it came from a stranger.

Tommy took a bigger bite and couldn't help a chirp that escaped now that he finally got some food for his tummy that wasn't his fish friends.

Maybe the stranger wasn't so bad if they gave Tommy food. 

He still wanted Dream back though. 

Chapter Text

Techno had searched the entire compound top to bottom in the past three hours. Good news, he found more filters, enough for two weeks probably. Bad news, he found Dream’s research and records of everything he'd done to the pup. The research notes told him a lot about the pup’s wellbeing and circumstances that would help him care for the pup. That part was the only highlight of the research notes that Techno could think of. The rest of the notes reinforced Techno’s desire to somehow revive and then kill Dream all over again. 

He now knew for a fact that the pup's parents were dead. Techno didn’t know the dead Mers in the gruesome pictures, but he would ask around to see if any of the Colony had survived. Dream had literally taken the newborn pup from where they had been hiding in their deceased mother’s hair and decided to keep the pup as a pet to study and learn how to better hunt Mers. He found a note about Dream planning to train the pup to Hunt with him, using the pup to flush out Colonies for the Hunters to attack.

He'd found the records of what Dream had been feeding the pup and it wasn't horrible but the pup was slightly malnourished from not being able to nurse from their mother and from having a limited diet since then. The pictures in Dream’s notes showed a skinny pup that would never survive in deeper waters or anywhere farther North than they currently were. It was a good thing that the family house was two hours South of the Hunter Compound and sat at the edge of a warm water current from the tropics. Techno couldn’t see any ribs, but the pup would likely get sick from being in the open ocean for any length of time before Techno fixed the pups diet to help them gain weight. 

Dream had had the pup for over two years and two months and had documented the pups growth closely. The pup was 7.5” inches long when Dream first measured them and had shown clear signs of only being less than a moon old. Putting the pup's birth sometime in early April most likely. 

The average newborn pup size was 6” inches at birth. Infant Mers should grow about 6” inches a year. But now the pup was only 1’6” or 18” inches. A pup that was above average length at birth should have continued that growth margin for at least the next five years. Meaning that the pup should be 1’9” or 21” inches. 

Techno could correct the malnutrition easily enough with time, but he’d have to start soon and be firm about the pup eating more with a wider nutritional variety. If the pup had been older, four or five maybe, then the issues would be more permanent. With Techno’s undivided and dedicated attention, he could get the pup back to their true growth potential and in a few years no one would ever notice the four or five missing inches.

The biggest obstacle in Techno’s plan to help the pup was that the pup had never met another Mer and might not even know that other Mers existed. The pup might think of themselves as just a different kind of human. Dream’s notes weren’t clear on the pup’s concept of self and identity. 

The pup would have zero instincts for Pod dynamics and anything Mer that was learned by observation in the early months of life. The pup was stolen before their brain developed enough for anything but nursing and reflex grips to hold onto their parents as they floated around the Nursery. The pup would have only the base level instincts, the instincts ingrained into their very DNA, but they would have no idea what a Protector was and might not even know what a parent is. Having only known Dream for their whole life.

Dream had decided that the pup was male and had named them Tommy. Technoblade personally objected to the pup having such a human name and was determined to give them a proper Mer name. Once he had a chance to see if anyone from their Colony survived and knew their birth name, of course. The pup might be Techno’s now but he wanted to honor the pup’s birth parents and their sacrifice. 

Techno also doubted Dream’s ability to tell the gender of a pup. Most pups were completely androgynous in appearance for the first two decades of their lives. A pup’s genitalia was also completely indistinguishable at this age. Most Mer children were raised completely gender-neutral till they started to show secondary gender signs around fifteen to twenty. There was a type of magic that could be used to determine a pup’s gender at birth, but that practice wasn’t common and even frowned upon by some Colonies. 

Despite those factors, Techno would need to perform the spell in a few days so that he would know whether to reinforce, or restructure, the pup’s concept of their gender if Dream had told them they were male and they actually weren’t. Techno would still raise them neutrally, just like any other pup, but he needed to know how to have the gender conversation if needed.

Dream had gendered the pup solely off of the pup's scale color. The pictures in Dream’s notes showed a standard red orange scale pattern, which matched with the tropical area the pup was likely born in and then taken from. 

Mer coloring patterns did tend to follow gendered splits in a basic sense. Male Mer usually had bright shades of colors and shiny scales that would be used to attract the attention of predators so that the males could draw the predators away from the Nursery and the rest of the Pod. Female Mer usually had darker shades of colors and matte scales that were better at camouflaging in deeper water and dark caves so they could hide the pups from danger and act as ambush hunters. 

But the scale color tendencies wasn't a strict rule. Not only was there a spectrum of intersex, transgender, and non-binary Mer that could have any color of scales imaginable, but some Mers were completely cis-gender and had scale types that others of the same gender didn’t.

Techno fit the gender color pattern with his iridescent pink and white scales, but his dad had multiple shades of green, both light and dark, with only a few white scales on his stomach and fins. Wilbur had mostly scales of vibrant, but not shiny, yellow, but he had some golden brown stripes along his arms and back. Mom fit the gendered color pattern with her very dark purple scales that seemed pitch black in low light, but Techno had a friend named Niki and she had pastel purple-pink scales.

A pup’s scales might also change color as they get older. Techno had been more magenta than pink as a pup, slowly turning a lighter shade every year, and he only got his pure white belly scales when he was twenty-three. The pup's red scales could darken to a deep maroon color or they could end up looking like Techno and become more pastel. So Techno would refrain from gendering the pup till he could perform the spell. The spell required Techno to be able to hold the pup in his hands, so he wouldn’t be able to do it till he earned the pups trust.

A bit of good news to counteract the bad of Dream planning to manipulate every aspect of the pup’s life, Dream had been teaching the pup to communicate in human sign language. Meaning the pup wouldn't have any severe cognitive developmental delays from being deprived of language skills. More bad news to the bit of good news, Techno didn't know human sign language and the pup wouldn't know any Mer tongue. The pup's understanding of English was likely none as well, since nowhere did Dream’s notes mention teaching the pup to speak or understand it. Mers could speak English while in their Mer form with enough practice, but most didn't bother training their vocal cords when they could just shift if they needed to speak to a human for some reason. Unless you were Wilbur, who was able to mimic any sound from nature with ease as part of his Siren abilities.

Either Dream didn't know Mers could speak English in their Mer forms, or he had purposefully not taught the pup to keep them ignorant. Techno didn't know what was more likely. Dream's notes compared the pup's conversation ability in hand signs to that of a human three year old. Able to ask simple questions and form partial sentences. The pup probably had a more advanced thought process and self awareness, but was constrained by the vocabulary Dream gave them. 

Techno dug through Dream’s library and found a book on human sign language thankfully. It was a start at least. The language barrier was the biggest issue Techno faced in getting the pup to trust him. He had gone through and practiced just the alphabet for an hour, using a mirror to make sure he was doing it right. Once he felt confident enough in that he spent another hour learning the words he thought would be the most useful. Like fish, eat, you, me, yes, and no. The book suggested a few other phrases as high priority and he made sure to learn those too. 

Techno took the time to sort through Dream’s records to find the supplier of the fish he had been feeding the pup. He also found notes that the pup liked clams a lot but that they didn't eat crustaceans after an incident with a crab when they were only a few moons old. Honestly, the incompetency to give a crab that still had its claws to a baby. You were supposed to break the claws open so the pup could scavenge the meat out and then let them figure out the best way to get through the crab's body shell once the crab was no longer dangerous.

Techno made a note to reintroduce crabs to the pups diet carefully. Starting with tiny ones that wouldn't be capable of breaking skin even if their claws were intact.

The pup was also supposed to have tank mates. A variety of common tropical fish and a steady number of surplus feeder fish for the pup to hunt whenever Dream wasn't able to feed them everyday.

Techno had seen no signs of the tank mate fish and mourned for the pup. Every young pup went through a phase of adopting a random fish or other sea creature and refusing to eat it or let it go. It was a lesson that Mer parents tried to handle with care, teaching the pups about the hierarchy of the ocean and why they couldn't keep the random fish and creatures as pets. For Techno's pup it would have been even worse. Those fish had been the pup's only companions besides Dream, one of the fish having been with the pup for almost a year and a half.

Techno resolved to get the pup a new pet of some kind as soon as they moved to the family house. He'd wait till they were at least a few years older to have that conversation. It was more pressing to give the pup a familiar source of comfort in the drastic changes they'd be going through. And if a school of brightly colored tropical fish would provide that comfort then Techno would go catch the replacement fish himself if he had to.

In the meantime he settled for a quick drive to the fish breeder where Dream bought the live anchovies he fed to the pup. He got a dozen of the bait fish, planning to release them all into the tank so that the pup would have them readily available as they got hungry. 

Techno also knew that food would be the quickest way to get the pup to trust him but he wasn't the type of evil monster to continue starving a child just to make them trust him faster. He wasn't Dream. He'd rather the pup be healthy and have a full belly and take a long time to start trusting him than manipulate them into trusting him by withholding food. 

Techno drove back to the compound and had just parked the car when his cellphone rang.

Oh. Prime dammit all. He had forgotten his cellphone in the car all day after the reveal of the pup. It didn't seem possible that he'd only found the pup six hours ago, it felt like a lifetime that he'd been dealing with his new parental instincts. He had missed his check-in by hours and was definitely in for a scolding.

Not answering would only make it worse and delay the inevitable. He answered the phone and braced for impact.

"Technoblade Protesilaus Watson Craft! You better have a good explanation young man. I've been worried sick about you! Your last call was two days ago and you missed your check-in, not even a text! What was I supposed to think!"

Techno winces. "Sorry Mom."

"You should be! If you hadn't answered this time, I would have sent Phil after you! I've called you thirteen times! You can't go off like that and not keep us updated! Dream might be dead but there's still more hunters out there! You could have been hurt and we would never know!"

"I know. I'm sorry. I promise I meant to call. I just got distracted by something this morning and lost track of time. My phone was in my car all day and I just got back in it." He hated lying to his mother. Telling half-truths was only slightly better, he just had to be careful about what details he omitted. 

"Hmph. That brain of yours isn't meant to be on land. You dry out and your Protector instincts send you chasing after the first shiny rock you see." Her tone was still edged with annoyance but the obvious worried concern was gone. Her teasing him about the way his brain acted on land was the signal she wasn't mad anymore, still upset, but not mad. 

Techno laughed. "Mom, c'mon. You're just as bad as I am, if not worse. I distinctly remember you walking into a building because you got distracted by some random lady's hat." 

His mother owned a very extensive collection of big brimmed sun hats that she wore whenever she was in the human world. If she could find a hat big enough for her Mer form and if hats were at all practical underwater, she would have a collection of hats for that too. Wilbur and Techno had jokingly gotten Dad a hat of his own a few decades ago, a bucket hat with green and white stripes that matched his scales, and he refused to wear any other hat now. Going so far as to get multiples to keep in all the houses around the world so he could wear it with every outfit anytime he was on land. As it stands, his parents will literally go on dates in the human world whenever Mom feels like wearing a hat. And Mom always wants to wear a hat.

"Hush you. It was a very pretty hat."

"If you say so Mom."

"I do say so." Techno could hear the teasing tone and could practically see the smile on her face.

"So what had you so distracted you forgot to call your mother?"

Techno winced again and must have made a sound that the phone picked up.

"Techno. What is it?" Curse his mother and her instincts for whenever her son’s are getting into trouble.

"Uh. Well." He literally had no idea what to say. 

"Do I need to send Phil?" 

"No!" The immediate shout was damming. Literally anything else in the ocean would have been less suspicious.

"Uh. I mean. Please don't? I promise it's not bad. I just don't know how to tell you because it just happened this morning and the situation is very delicate but I have it handled and completely under control. I just might not be able to come home for a few more days. I promise to call every single day, even two times a day if you want! But please don't send Phil, or Wilbur, I promise to have a good explanation when the time comes but would really appreciate it if you could just trust me for now."

Techno swallowed harshly. Putting a cork on the absolute word vomit he just spewed.

At first his mother said nothing and Techno felt himself starting to sweat. Finally she responded.

"Alright. I'll trust you and not tell Phil and Wilbur. And I’ll stay at the house or with the Colony for now. But I want those two calls a day with detailed voicemails if I don’t pick up. And your explanation better be worth it."

Techno breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Mom."

She laughed. "Love you sweetie."

"Love you too. Seriously, I promise this will all be worth it. I just want to figure this out by myself. This is all new to me and I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm going with my instincts so please don't be mad when I tell you eventually. This is something we’ve talked about before but I don’t think either of us expected it to happen this soon."

There was a pause. A very heavy pause. Oh no.

"I understand." She paused again and Techno could hear the soft smirk on her face. "Just remember that I'll love you no matter what and I support your choices unconditionally as long you stay safe. You can tell me anything and at worst I'll laugh for a bit, but I will never judge you or love you any less. Your instincts won't lie to you but remember to think things through. Don't be hasty and stay safe. Call me in the morning and you can talk to Phil about the hunter stuff then. For now, go have fun and explore what you're feeling."

Techno was too stunned to protest as his mother hung up. He stared at the phone in his hand. Blinked once. Twice. A third time.

"HEH!"

He yelled and dropped the phone like it had burned him. Oh Prime. Please. No. Do not tell him that his mother just insinuated what he thought she did.

Techno didn't want to believe it but he couldn't think of any other reason she would have said that . 

This was even worse than the puberty talk when he was thirty.

His mother thought he was… seeing a human.

The thought made Techno gag as his entire body seemed to convulse and tried to physically reject the idea from his mind. 

Techno wasn't even sure he had a romantic or sexual attraction to Mers! Something his mother was well aware of! She had been the one to tell him it was perfectly okay if he never chose a Mate or had pups!

Oh Prime, please let Techno be wrong about what his mother had been implying.

Mom and Dad had him and Wilbur at almost twice the age most Mers did. Wiland Techno were also less than four years apart, Wil being the older brother. When they were younger, Wilbur would make the joke of them being twins instead of regular brothers since they were so close in size and age. 

By having pups later in their lives, and only having the two of them, meant that Techno’s parents set themselves up to miss out on seeing entire generations of grand-pups being born in their Pod and family. Not that they seemed to care about that very much. Mom and Dad always stated they were happy with just their two boys and while they wouldn't mind grand-pups, they were happy with just the four of them.

Which was a relief to Techno, who had never considered having a family or Pod of his own beyond a very vague, "in the future when I'm way older, maybe". Wilbur on the other hand, had already planned to have at least five pups, three girls and two boys, by the time he turned one-eighty. Techno doubted that possibility when his brother couldn't get a single Mer (or, and just the thought of this made Techno a bit sick , a human ) to go on a date with him. Wilbur would likely do a speed-run of maturity in a decade or two, after he finished out his time as a human musician and needed something to fill the void of his Siren instincts.

Techno slumped in the driver's seat and pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes. This was a nightmare come true and he didn't even know how to stop it! He wanted to keep the pup a secret because while he was in control of his instincts while in human form, his parents and brother had decidedly less restraint in maintaining a human facade when they found something that poked at their instincts.

It was also partially because his own instincts were snarling to protect the pup and keep them hidden so no one could take them away from him. The callus way Dream had written about killing the pup's birth parents was haunting the corners of Techno’s mind. Techno knew the second he hit the water and transformed, there was a high chance he would go feral if someone even mentioned taking the pup away from him. He could potentially hurt himself, the person he saw as a threat, and worst of all he could hurt the pup on accident in his instinct frenzy if he lost total control.

Keeping the pup to himself was not practical and honestly kind of messed up, but he had to pick and choose with his instincts. Keeping them at bay to stop himself from acting rashly, in regards to moving the pup out of the tank immediately, was hard enough. He'd already claimed the pup subconsciously and to try and break that connection now was beyond his abilities. His logical brain knew that his family wouldn't try to take the pup away from him without proper precautions and reasons. But his instinct driven brain saw them as a threat to his pups safety and his ability to care for them.

Techno sighed and beat his forehead against the steering wheel. 

He couldn't tell his mother she was completely and absolutely wrong without telling her the truth about what he was doing or her becoming curious about what the truth might be.

But he also could not let her keep thinking that.  

He shuddered again and reached to pick up the phone from the car floorboard. He powered it back on and redialed his mother. More lies of omission it was.