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“Etho, I’m bored.” Cleo says, drawing out the man’s name. She maneuvers herself to be floating through the water right in front of his face, getting in the way of his work.
He sighs and pushes them away, sending Cleo through the water across the room. Etho sighs heavily and gives her a very unamused glare. Cleo knows she’s bothering him, but she also doesn’t really care. He bothers her plenty, so it’s a fair trade off. “Then go do something.”
Flexing her fingers so the webbed part is open, Cleo moves herself upright. The gills on her neck flutter with the movement.
She and Etho have been roommates for practically their whole lives. She’d consider him one of her closest friends – not that she’d say that to his face. Their relationship is one of lighthearted teases and friendly jabs with the occasional comfort when needed, not sappy sentimental words, and that’s how she likes her friendships. Sharing her emotions and deepest darkest secrets (not that she has any) is not anything Cleo wants to be a part of.
“Fine, but if I get fishnapped, I’m blaming you.”
“Yeah, okay.”
They chuckle as they swim away and out of the shared cave.
There’s only so much to do underwater before you begin to lose it. Cleo starts swimming to where she knows the occasional fisherman will hang out, hoping at least some entertainment will come out of it.
Weaving through schools of fish and patches of coral, they finally make it to their desired location. Cleo slowly brings themself up to the surface and shivers as the cold air hits them. They’ll never get used to the wind. Though, they could definitely do with the sun shining directly onto her scales, warming her up right away.
Making sure to keep in the shadows of a few large rocks and boulders, Cleo peers out at the vast ocean, squinting against the brightness of the place.
There actually is a boat out over the reef today, to Cleo’s delight. It’s a small white boat, probably carrying just one or two fishermen. Red and orange details swirl around the hull in a nice pattern, all the way to where the anchor hangs off the boat, the heavy thing deep down in the sea. Cleo can’t see the owner of the boat but she can see their fishing line casted into the water a little ways away. Ducking back below the surface, they make their way to the line with a few flicks of their fins.
Cleo follows the clear string down to the hook, a small bit of bait attached to the end. She hums and looks around at the seabed until her eyes land on something half buried by sand.
Her hands grip the item and swiftly pull it up from its spot on the seafloor. It’s rough against her skin, dark brown and possibly rotting, most likely a scrap of leather or a similar material from the people up above.
After cursing the human species for their disregard for the environment, Cleo turns back to the hook, still as fishless as it was before.
As carefully as she can, she pries the bait off of the hook and tosses it aside, letting it drift through the water. The fisherman doesn’t seem to notice anything, no attempts being made to reel the line back in, so Cleo continues with her plan. She finds a particularly decayed part of the leather scrap and does her best to thread the hook through it, which she manages to do surprisingly quickly.
Then, making none of her fins will be caught, Cleo tugs on the fishing line, mimicking the pull of a hooked fish. The human immediately responds as expected, the leather scrap being dragged upwards toward the surface. Cleo follows it up until she’s just below the water’s end, swimming to the edge of the boat so she won’t be seen before popping her head up to hear the reaction to this little prank. She nearly bonks her head against the white hull but pays that no attention, instead focusing on the sounds that come from on the deck.
“Oh, come on!”
Cleo blinks in surprise.
That’s a feminine voice. Cleo hadn’t been expecting that, much too used to the crabby old men that usually fish around this area. She swims away from the safety of the boat to take a peek at whoever that voice belongs to, ignoring how bad of an idea that is.
Standing up above in the sunlight is possibly the most gorgeous woman Cleo has ever seen.
She has bright orange hair and freckles that dot her cheeks. Her clothes are mostly navy blue with lighter blue accents, brown boots and belt with all sorts of fisherman things hanging from it. A dark blue ribbon holds her hair back in a ponytail, keeping it out of the way. There’s a fingerless brown glove on one of her hands that Cleo assumes aids with fishing in some way.
The woman’s eyebrows furrow as she pries the leather off of the hook. She murmurs something under her breath that Cleo isn’t able to fully make out, but they can tell it’s out of annoyance.
Once she turns around and walks farther into the boat and out of Cleo’s vision, their senses seem to flood back all at once. They dive under the water, cursing their curiosity. That was the stupidest thing she’s ever done – she could have been seen! Who knows what a fisherman would do if they saw a full fledged siren. Cleo can imagine nothing too good, considering how they treat the real fish that they catch. Something falls into the water next to her, startling Cleo until she realizes it’s the same hook, just with a new piece of bait attached.
… How much junk will this fisher reel in until they give up?
Doing the same thing over and over again probably isn’t the smartest thing to do, but Cleo’s bored and this is free entertainment. She’s just giving the human what her species dumped into the ocean back! This is like, community service!
With all of the human trash around, Cleo’s able to repeat this prank quite a few times. The fisherman on the boat sounds more annoyed every time, eventually resorting to throwing said trash back into the ocean, Cleo narrowly avoiding being hit. It makes Cleo giggle every time, finding nothing but amusement in the human’s frustration.
Unfortunately after the umpteenth time of replacing her bait, the sun begins to set and the line is not cast back down into the depths.
Cleo swerves to avoid the boat once it begins to move, sending bubbles and waves rippling across the water. They watch it go with a sigh. At least it kept them entertained for a good while.
She makes her way back to her and Etho’s home, easily finding it despite how dark the water is with only the moon to provide light. She knows this part of the ocean like the back of her hand, she wouldn’t be a real siren if she didn’t. After stopping for a quick chat with a neighbor Cleo finally makes it back inside her home and practically goes limp. She didn’t realize just how much that entire ordeal took out of her.
Etho’s nowhere to be seen, so they assume he’s either gone out somewhere or gone to bed.
Either way, they don’t really care.
All they care about is going to bed.
The fisherman floats around in her dreams, orange hair against navy clothes haunting Cleo like a ghost.
The next day, Cleo swims back to where she’d found the human.
It’s not weird, don’t make it weird. It was good entertainment and it’s not Cleo’s fault she wants more!
Unfortunately luck doesn’t appear to be on her side. Cleo surfaces behind the same large rocks as before and peers around them, only for there to be no boat in sight. It was expected, but that doesn’t make it any less disappointing.
Who would return to somewhere they only fished up junk anyway? That would make no sense. It would be like swimming back to a cave expecting there to be treasure this time. Cleo’s not upset about it, because it’s not a big deal, and probably her fault. If they had known the boat had such a stunning captain they wouldn’t have chased her away with the pranks. (Okay they still would’ve. But less!)
With a heavy sigh, they allow the water to envelop them once more, diving back into the deep ocean below. The sight of all the schools of happy fish and occasional predator doesn't fail to put a small smile back on her face, and before she knows it, she’s back home. Etho’s lounging around as expected.
“Back so soon?” He asks once he notices Cleo’s return.
“Yeah,” They reply, “Nothing interesting going on today.”
Etho raises an eyebrow. It doesn’t have the same effect due to the mask covering half his face, but it works well enough. He’d found that mask when he was a teenager and hadn’t taken it off since. “Where’d you go?”
“Up to the surface. I didn’t get to tell you yesterday, there was a fisher up there. I kept replacing her bait with random trash, it was awesome.” Cleo smiles as they recall the previous day’s events.
He chuckles lightly at this. “Of course you did. Couldn’t just swim away like the rest of us?”
“You know me, Etho.”
“This is true. Maybe don’t do that again though, I can’t imagine things going well if you get spotted.” He repeats her own thoughts back to her. It’s almost eerie just how similarly the two think, but maybe that’s why they’re such great roommates. Living with someone who doesn’t basically share a brain with her sounds like a nightmare and a half.
As much as she agrees with this idea, Cleo can’t help but feel drawn towards the human, almost like she needs to see that fisher again.
It’s one hundred percent not a smart thing to do and might just get her killed, but since when does Cleo not take risks? “I make no promises.”
Etho cringes at her answer as expected. “...Alright. Just be careful if you find her again.”
Cleo continues to check the spot by the boulders every day for a while, never having any luck.
“This is the last day I’ll check,” She tells Etho.
“You’re obsessed with her.” Etho replies.
Rolling her eyes, she doesn’t grace Etho with a response, instead choosing to leave the room to go back to the rocks she now knows so well.
The route is practically second nature by now, Cleo easily making her way there. She weaves through the fish and seaweed with practiced ease. Nothing gets in the way too badly so they arrive about when they expected to, the sun halfway through its rotation in the sky.
But this time, Cleo can feel something is different. She can feel it in the way the waves go up and down, how the currents ebb and flow, how the crabs scuttle along the seafloor. Being part of the ocean means knowing it as if it’s part of you, knowing when things change or the natural order is disrupted. Her scales bristle as she finally arrives at the boulders she’s grown so used to and surfaces, revealing her feelings to be right.
There, out on the water, floats the very same small white boat, with the very same fishing line cast into the depths that go on for ages below. Cleo can’t help but grin at the sight, diving back under the surface.
She swims her way to the hook. The type of bait attached to it has changed but Cleo pays it no mind; the poor thing won’t be helping today anyways.
Carefully, she picks up a piece of plastic that had been floating in a current nearby.
With the same amount of precision as last time, they pull the bait off of the metal hook and toss it aside for some other fish to find and snack on later. The plastic is easily punctured and stuck onto the line, so Cleo gives it a few good tugs before swimming upwards to follow it and catch the fisher’s reaction.
All they get this time is an annoyed groan. Disappointing.
The fishing line is soon cast back into the water, Cleo sinking right along with it. Though this time, she has a better idea than using random junk. Floating around her wrist is a bracelet she’d made a few weeks back, one she doesn’t care for, and what’s more confusing than fishing up a handmade bracelet? Very few things, they answer their own question as they slide the bracelet off of its place on her arm.
It’s an okay bracelet, nothing too special about it. She wove it with long strands of kelp and seaweed creating a simple braid. She’s not too sure how small the human’s wrist is. Hopefully it fits well.
Making sure to not rip the bracelet in half, Cleo carefully wedges it onto the hook. She then realizes she forgot to take the bait off, but it’s too late now.
She tugs on the string.
It immediately begins its ascent to the surface.
Cleo swims upward along with it, hiding under the ship’s hull like she had before.
This time, there’s a sound of confusion instead of words. Cleo listens as the fisherman shuffles about on the deck, doing something they can’t figure out. The fishing line is cast back into the depths and Cleo can’t help but feel disappointed. What does she have to do to get the human to speak again? It’s all very frustrating.
They dive down and make it to the hook before any fish can. The process repeats, though Cleo goes back to trash rather than her jewelry. They make a mental note to bring some other accessories next time.
Unfortunately the human decides to leave rather quickly, sick and tired of these games. Following her is… not the best idea Cleo’s ever had, and Etho definitely wouldn’t approve, but it’s not like he has to know about this any time soon. And it’s not weird, so don’t say it is.
Following the boat is easy with the way it disturbs the water, leaving a trail of bubbles and ripples in its wake.
It doesn’t take too long to stop and Cleo’s not entirely sure if they remember the way home, but it doesn’t matter for now. The boat has been parked a little off the coast of a small island and the fishing line is cast down once more. Cleo watches it slowly sink down but doesn’t follow it this time. Now that she knows the human’s other fishing spot, she can come back soon with all of the little things to attach onto the silver hook.
Cleo manages to find her way back home, only getting a little lost in a thick patch of kelp. She stops and says hi to a few friends as she usually does, not giving them the details of her day. They don’t need to know what she’s been up to. Also, sirens don’t usually take well to humans, considering the whole “luring them to their death” thing. Cleo just isn’t a huge fan of the taste of human flesh. It’s much more fun to mess with them than it is to eat them, at least in her own opinion.
She greets Etho with a smile when she returns to their shared home. “Hi, Etho!”
“Hi Cleo!” Etho replies, grinning back at her through the mask. “Did she come back today?”
“She did! I got to mess with her some more, it was wonderful. Speaking of, do you have any bits or bobs you don’t need?” She asks with a false look of innocence. He raises an eyebrow at her, not believing it for a second.
Etho crosses his arms. “What would you need those for?” He asks incredulously. He seems to know where this is going.
“Well, I just think it would be fun to give the human some siren trinkets, that’s all!” Cleo shrugs like it’s no big deal, which it really isn’t, but this whole thing makes it feel like it’s the biggest deal in the world. Especially with Etho looking at her with a very unamused expression. Etho’s not an avid human hater or anything, but he does tend to steer clear of that species in general. He sighs and runs his hands through his pearl-white hair. “Fine. I’ll go get some.”
Cleo blinks. She wasn’t expecting him to give in that easily.
“I appreciate you!” They call out as Etho begins swimming away, “You’re a superstar!”
A day or so later, Cleo makes their way to the second fishing spot with many trinkets in hand. There’s intricately woven kelp jewelry, things beaded with pearls, and just about anything Cleo could make on her own. The boat with the bright orange haired woman is in the same place, just as she’d been hoping.
With a sly grin on her face, Cleo easily finds the hook and removes the bait. It’s easy by now, with all of the practice she’s gotten.
They decide to go with a simple kelp scrap first so the fisherman doesn’t get too suspicious. Cleo gives the line a good tug and watches it rise, not bothering to join it on the surface this time. She has much more important things to do.
After a bit of waiting the line is cast back down a little ways away. This time, Cleo replaces the bait with another one of her seaweed bracelets, though this one much more intricately crafted than the first. She’s a bit sad to see it go, but it’s for the joke, so it’s okay. She stays put this time as well, waiting for the line to come down. Now on the third iteration of this, Cleo decides to properly switch things up, hooking on a poorly made pearl necklace. She’d made it in a few hours so it’s not the prettiest but it’ll do.
This time, she does follow it up, wanting to hear the reaction to such a different piece.
The pearl necklace is the most siren-esk object they’ve stuck on the hook by far, and also the least dismissable. You can brush off woven seaweed and kelp as a trick of the sea, but a string of shiny beads? That’s not ignorable.
Cleo surfaces and immediately hears a loud gasp. More rustling about on the deck commences, but they don’t get a chance to look before the line is thrown off the side, back into the depths.
By now Cleo’s an expert at this. They slide one of the more fancy bracelets off their wrist, one of the few things Etho had given them. It’s beaded with colorful seaglass and small pearls and other little gems Cleo doesn’t know the names of. She carefully threads the hook through a loop and lets it sit for a moment, watching to make sure it doesn’t fall off or break.
She grabs the line and pulls, racing upwards and just barely beating it to the surface. Cleo makes sure to move far enough away to be able to watch the fisherman’s reaction, but not close enough to be spotted herself. Her bright orange hair blazes against the sunlight, just as Cleo remembered.
The fisherman’s face contorts into one of confusion, then into one of awe.
Until she unexpectedly turns frustrated.
Before Cleo has a chance to process any of this, the bracelet has been thrown back into the sea with a huff from the human.
It lands shockingly close to them. Cleo shakes themself out of the surprise and dives under the surface to retrieve the bracelet, which thankfully hadn’t sunken too deep. She snatches it up quickly, ignoring the way a bead stabs into the webbing between two fingers.
What kind of thanks is this?
Cleo’s giving this woman beautiful jewelry, and she throws it right back into the sea? Who does that?!
Sure it’s not the fish she probably wanted, but this is much better than fish! This is fashion!
Launching herself back out of the water as quickly as possible, Cleo surfaces once more. Without thinking she chucks the bracelet back onto the boat’s deck, hitting the fisherman right on the face.
She yelps and falls backward, exclaiming all sorts of profanities Cleo doesn’t bother trying to understand. They’re much too busy being upset over the gratefulness this human seems to lack for the lovely gifts they’d worked so hard to deliver. They hover in place and cross their arms, waiting for her to show her face.
Right when Cleo realizes this might not be the best idea it’s already too late. Acting purely on impulse is never the smartest thing to do.
“What the hell?!”
Fuck.
“Fuck.”
The two lock eyes, both frozen in time, though for separate reasons. Cleo freezes because she’s been seen by a fisherman, a human, who will probably trap them in a tank and use them as entertainment regardless of how pretty she is. The human is most likely frozen because she’s seeing a siren for the first time and… they’re not exactly easy on the eyes, not with their fins and gills.
She’s not sure how much time passes before the silence breaks. The fisherman is the first to speak, running a hand through her hair. “Have you been replacing my fish with trash?”
“...Maybe.” Cleo shrugs, though a cheeky grin worms its way onto her face, giving up the truth.
The human narrows her eyes. “Why would you do that?!”
“I was bored!”
“So bored you followed me out here and started giving me jewelry?” She smirks, raising an eyebrow.
Cleo huffs. Maybe the jewelry was unnecessary, but it’s not Cleo’s fault they thought the human would look nice in a bit of siren attire. “Well, I thought you liked it, until you threw it right back at me!” They point an accusatory finger at her.
“Because I’m trying to fish!” The human’s eye twitches, “Believe it or not, I can’t eat jewelry!”
They turn around and flick their tail up at the woman, splashing her with the salty ocean water. “Well then I’ll just be on my way. I can see when I’m not wanted.”
“Wait- no, don’t leave, I have like – a lot of questions!”
This gets Cleo’s interest. It’s not exactly a surprise she has questions, and Cleo has a few herself. She spins back so she can look directly into the human’s green eyes. “Like what?”
“Like, what’s your name?”
Cleo freezes for a moment. They hadn’t been expecting such a normal question, like when you first meet somebody, not when you’re coming face to face with a sea creature you’ve most likely never seen or heard of before. Though it’s better than being thrown into a net and locked up for display, so she’ll take it. “...Cleo.”
The human smiles, one that Cleo can tell is genuine. Minnows swim around in her stomach. She crushes them as quickly as possible.
“I’m Gem!” The human – no, Gem replies, “I’ve never met a… fish person before. Are there many of you?”
“I’m a siren. And yes, there’s a lot of my kind, at least where I live.”
She should not be giving up all of this information to a fisherman. She should have swam away at the speed of light by now, far from any human, especially one that could easily tell others who will want to catch and trap all of her species. But something about Gem feels trustworthy and kind, as strange as that is considering this is their first proper conversation.
“Woah. Y’know, I thought sirens were a myth. Do you actually lure people to their death, and why haven’t you done that to me yet?” Gem tilts her head to the side.
“Killing sailors has gone out of style. Very few sirens still partake in it, because most of us have realized it’s a waste of time. Like, my roommate makes things out of seaweed and rocks for our community.” Cleo smiles, watching Gem lean closer with interest.
Unfortunately she leans a little too far.
Gem slips off the boat, tumbling straight down into the water.
Her shriek is cut off by the loud splash that follows her descent, which makes Cleo laugh before she remembers that humans can’t breathe underwater.
While Cleo doesn’t doubt Gem’s swimming abilities, this is the open ocean, and it’s always better to be safe than sorry. They quickly dive under and scoop Gem up in their arms. The human is heavier than they’d expected but that doesn’t impact Cleo’s own swimming skills, pulling Gem back up with their arms holding her waist tightly.
Gem’s own arms wrap around their neck, getting in the way of their gills, but thankfully not enough to cut off their ability to breathe. After coughing up water, Gem gets air back in her lungs and pulls away enough to look at Cleo with an embarrassed smile. Cleo once again ignores the minnows that swim around her stomach. “Uh.. thanks.” She says, arms burning against Cleo’s scales.
“No problem.” They reply, avoiding eye contact. “You wanna… get back on your boat?”
“Oh! Right, that would be nice. The water is pretty cold.”
Cleo nods and slowly makes their way to the edge of the hull. A weird tension fills the air. They’re looking at the boat, but can feel Gem looking at her, watching her every move. It’s not weird considering she has her arms around Cleo’s neck, but it’s anxiety inducing nonetheless.
She lets go of Gem so she can climb up a small ladder hanging off the side. Water drips all over the wooden deck but Gem doesn’t seem to mind. “Will… will I see you again?”
With Gem’s sleeve pulled up due to her fall, Cleo spots the poorly woven kelp bracelet wrapped around her wrist, the very first one Cleo had stuck on her fishing line.
“...Yeah. Yeah, you will.”
They dive into the water without another word, not sticking around for Gem’s reaction.
She’s not sure if Etho will approve of what’s just happened, but she also doesn’t really care.