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Sketch by Samtember <3
If Grace had to name one downside, Erid was only really lacking in the food department.
Okay, fine, he missed being able to touch and breathe the same air as the organisms around him, but he'd already known that loss when he sent the beetles to Earth and chose to save Rocky. It was fine! It was fine. He definitely didn't lie awake at night clutching his pillow and wishing it were another person— ahem.
But he could live with that! Food, though, well… it was kind of a basic need for any living thing. And pretty much all of Erid's natural resources were way too high in metals for him to safely consume.
So when the biodome was installed, Adrian was happy to experiment on foods synthesized to be at least somewhat reminiscent of Earth. Some things would be off, of course, like the texture or colour, but Grace didn't mind. He was just glad to have survived, all in all. Some textures would squick him out, but as long as it tasted good and gave his body the protein it needed, then he found no reason to complain.
Which is what led him to today, blinking at the tray balanced atop Rocky's head.
"Adrian make sushi!" Rocky whistled happily. And sure enough, it was… actually pretty similar-looking. The red tail poking out from under one slab of fish, he could do without, but beyond that… Grace was actually kind of impressed.
"Whoa, really? It looks just like the kind I'd get at San José's best sushi bar!" Grace picked up the tray, catching a waft of the dish. It was actually fishy-smelling! And oh man, did that make his mouth water. "I love it already."
Rocky raised his carapace proudly. "Yes yes yes, Adrian work very hard. Look at many Earth recipes and pictures on thinking machine." Rocky clambered inside, giving Grace room to bump the door shut. "I make sure Grace no die."
"As you always do, Rock." He set the tray at the table, then grabbed a glass of water and chopsticks before taking his seat. There was even a small cup of sauce to dip the sushi in— it was clear, but the smell was actually kind of familiar and sharp, a tangy taste when he snuck a finger in to check it.
He started with one of the nigiri, and wow, it actually tasted like shrimp and rice. "Oh my god." Grace covered his mouth, eyes sparkling.
"Is good or bad, question?"
"Hang on, just— give me a sec." He may or may not have had to rub a few unshed tears from his eyes. "I hadn't tasted that in so long… I think they might have nailed this one, bud!"
"Nails bad for humans."
With another laugh, Grace dug in. Every piece tasted strikingly similar to what he remembered and loved, be it because of nostalgia or the eridian scientists' brilliance. He started with the most familiar portions and worked his way around, until he felt brave enough to pick up the weirder looking one with the tail. It didn't quite look like a fish, more of an eel— but eel was edible on Earth, so he shrugged and plopped it onto his tongue.
"Mm…" The flavour was savoury, rich and salty with just a hint of sweetness. He rolled the sushi around with his tongue, nibbling on the rice that slipped out of the nori wrap. "Mmn, mm mm mm." Grace had to sit back, practically melting in his chair. "Gotta hand it to Adrian, they really got the seafood figured out," he mumbled around his mouthful.
Rocky preened with an appreciating coo. "I tell Adrian Grace like, question?"
"Not just like, this is probably my favourite dish so f—" Grace froze, shifted the sushi again, and then frowned.
Did he just feel that tail move?
"They did cook this, right? Like, cure the meat and everything?"
Rocky tilted with a questioning trill. "Sushi meat not raw, question?"
"Well- yeah, but—"
The tail suddenly spasmed, flailing against his mouth. Grace managed nothing more than a shocked noise as he leaned over the plate, trying to spit out the sushi piece. Instead, it fell apart on his tongue, and something inside it moved.
"It's still alive!" Grace yelped, muffled as it was. Rocky's confused chirp went unnoticed, because as soon as Grace had managed to utter those words, the fish inside suddenly managed to flop over, and something sharp sank into his tongue. "Ow ow ow!" Grace covered his mouth and managed to remove the more edible pieces of the sushi, but the creature now in his mouth held on firmly. If anything, he could have sworn it hissed at the encroaching fingers, making extraction difficult.
"Ah- fudge—" Grace clambered out of his chair and hurried to the nearest mirror. He'd have to use the chopsticks to get this poor thing out. Afterwards, then… Well, maybe it could go back in the water, unless it was best to put it out of its misery. He'd have to remind Rocky on how sensitive the human digestive system was.
"Okay… Let's get you out of there, bud," is what he tried to say. But it was hard with an entire writhing fish in your mouth. Still, he held his jaws open and angled carefully, using the chopsticks to reach for that slippery red tail. It kept sliding out of his grasp the first couple times, but then he managed to catch onto the very tip of its fins. "Ah!" Grace pulled the long appendage out, even when the minute muscles strained against him. Something like claws or teeth scrabbled against his taste buds, and the fish almost slid free when it suddenly coiled and lunged again.
Except this time, it bit down right on his bottom lip.
"Ow!" Grace hissed, dropping the chopsticks in the chaos. The small wriggling body smacked against his chin, digging in harder.
"Is this not part of sushi experience, question?"
"Nope! N-no, it definitely is not—!"
Then he finally saw it in the mirror.
The tail was different from its upper half— it's upper torso: bronze skin flecked with scales, one and a half arms— oh god it was missing an arm, he didn't do that did he??— and a mop of black hair. It was still slick with saliva, but the shape of it was uncannily humanoid… from the waist-up, anyway. But he was only seeing its backside at best, as the fish— merperson?— was still flailing and writhing, refusing to let go of his lip.
"Oh," Grace mumbled, finally realizing. He started to raise his hand to it, wanting to reassure and set it down— but the spicy thing hissed and swiped at his nearest finger, piercing skin. He yelped, quickly withdrawing the hand. Yep, lacerations. Christmas Eve, those claws were sharp!
"Come on…!" He didn't really have any other choice but to try again. And again, the weird little hybrid creature snarled at him, lashing its ribbony tail. "Ow! I didn't even hurt you! … Unless I bit you? Oh no, you're not injured, right?"
Hisss!
"I'll take that as a no."
Okay, this was fine. He was fine! He just had a merperson dangling from his lip like a heavy, mauling piercing. No big deal!
… Okay his lip really hurt.
"Uhhh…." Grace glanced around the kitchen helplessly. Something, anything? Any idea at all-?
Oh, a cup! Fill the cup with water so it wouldn't suffocate. That'd suffice.
Grace hurried to the sink, turning on the faucet to quickly fill the cup. Behind him, Rocky chittered curiously. Since he himself wasn't freaking out— on the outside, anyway— Rocky seemed a bit less worried, back to just confusion.
"What Grace doing, question?"
"Giving them some water."
"Not eat fish, question?"
Grace whipped his head around to gawk at the eridian, though he quickly regretted it when the merperson's grip tightened to brace against his chin.
"Rocky- humans don't exactly eat fish that are still alive. No animal, for that matter, is usually alive on our plate. But this?" He mindfully kept his finger away when pointing at the creature clinging on to him. "This isn't food, bud. And I just put them in my mouth. They're probably freaked out right now. I would be too— I kind of am."
"Ohh." Rocky warbled sheepishly. "Apologies."
"It's okay, Rock, that's my bad for not specifying. As for you…" Grace set the cup down and stared at it for a brief moment. How was he supposed to get the mer into the water?? It attacked every time his hands came close, and his every move made it sink its fangs deeper into his lip.
"Um…" Grace hesitated. "Can you, uh, let go, little guy?"
The mer turned its head, just enough to catch a glimpse of its side profile in the mirror. A strong jaw, broad nose, and blood-red eyes. There was an old scar that slashed across the face, over the nose bridge.
And boy, did they look livid— if the hissing didn't already give that away.
"I know, I know— I'm sorry. I only saw your tail and thought you were just fish, nevermind still alive! The, uh, eridians aren't very familiar with human culture still, there's a few things we're both learning about each others' species, and I'd be happy to tell you if you could let go of m—?"
The mer growled, and then new noises muffled by the flesh in its teeth— words. Human words. "So you can let me fall on the floor and not have to deal with the blood on your hands? Fat fucking chance, demon."
Oooooookay… so the mer could talk. That- hmm. Okay then??? Table that How and Why for later.
"Wh-why would I drop you?? I meant put you in the cup so your gills don't dry out!"
The mer sneered. "And then you'll guzzle me down?"
"No- I'm not gonna eat you—!"
"I was in your MOUTH, don't fucking lie to me!!!"
"I didn't know you were in there!"
Rocky tapped his foot to ask a question. "Humans weird, why always talk to their food, question?"
"They're NOT food, Rocky!" Grace suddenly remembered how small this creature was— and it was right at his voicebox, too. "Shoot- I'm sorry, that was probably too loud," he mumbled.
"A little." The mer sounded dour, but had also stopped shouting. It was still holding onto his lip like a lifeline, though.
Grace forced himself to take a breath. "Okay, timeout. Neither of us like being in this position, so we should both work together to fix that. I can hold the cup up to you so you aren't drying out, and um… Well, I'd like for you to let go of my lip, cause it really really hurts, but if you're still worried, then… umm… Stop biting me, instead?"
"… Yeah. Okay." He felt the small head nod against his skin. "Fine."
"Okay." Grace slowly turned and grabbed the cup, lifting it up to his chin. He felt the tail stir as it entwined itself within the ripples of water, fins extending to softly splash. The mer let out a breath of relief, death grip relaxing. It then retracted its sharp teeth, its arm awkwardly lifted to still hold on to him. In turn, Grace sighed, feeling the stabbing pain finally fade to something a little more tolerable.
"Thank you." He kept the cup level, ensuring his end of the compromise. "How did you get in there, anyway?"
The mer blinked out at the surrounding room, then eyed Rocky. "I fucked up," they grumbled. "Thought rescue was actually coming for me. Got scooped up into a box, instead."
"Rocky not realize fish was friend," the eridian chittered. "Rocky look on many moons for life, wanted Grace surprised."
Despite the bizarre circumstances, Grace found himself chuckling.
"I'm definitely surprised." Then he furrowed his brow, having to go cross-eyed just to peer at the mer. "How are you speaking English, though?"
The mer shrugged. "Grew up speaking it." They glanced around a second time, before finally asking a question of their own: "What station is this? I don't recognize it."
"Oh!" Grace turned toward the nearest window, trying not to flinch when he felt the mer's grip momentarily tighten. "We're on planet Erid, quite a few lightyears away from Earth. Rocky's friends were nice enough to build a biodome for me, so I could live here and not… y'know." He pushed the curtains aside, letting the artificial foggy sunlight wash over them both. "I guess you breathe oxygen too, which- good, that's, um, that's good. I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I'm glad you're okay." He smiled down at them. "I'm Grace."
"… You're a human? Like- an actual person?"
"Yep! Born and raised in California."
"That…" The mer trembled. "That's not possible."
"Hm?"
"The planets are gone… The stars are dead." Then they tilted their head back, letting out a wry chuckle. "You're fucking with me. This isn't real. None of it is. I'm still in the blood ocean after all."
"Umm…" Yikes. Grace wasn't confident enough in his notes over the Psychology textbook to deal with something like this. His free hand awkwardly hovered nearby, unsure of how to comfort. "What's a-a blood ocean?"
"Rocky find fish friend on liquid moon. Whole moon is ocean, same liquid in humans."
Grace felt his stomach drop.
"Wha- why didn't you tell me!?"
"Grace was asleep! Adrian watch Grace for Rocky."
He groaned. Son of a biscuit. Cultural differences strike again.
"Okay- so you live on a moon that's, what, an entire ocean made up of—?"
"Human blood, yeah." The mer looked up at him like he was the crazy one. "Where have you been the past two decades?"
"Um. In space? Mostly, anyway—"
"What about the Quiet Rapture?"
"The who what now?"
"The—!" The mer hissed in frustration, slapping their tail in the water. "Why am I even entertaining this… Just stop pretending, please. I'm so tired. What more do you want from me??"
Ow, his heartstrings.
"O-okay, if you don't wanna talk, that's fine too… uhh- oh! What's your name? Since I already introduced myself."
"… You don't know my name?" The mer looked flabbergasted by this simple fact.
"Well, Rocky didn't know to ask, and I never heard you say one, so…?"
"Mmn. Right." A small pause of awkward silence. Then, finally: "It's Simon."
Simon. Grace felt his lips curl up into a little smile. "Nice to meet you, Simon… Err, sorry about the whole sushi thing."
"Mn." Simon let out a tired sigh. "And no, you didn't bite down."
"Oh, good." Grace pointedly refused to mention the fact that Simon had tasted delicious. "G-good, um. Glad we got that misunderstanding out of the way."
"Sure." The mer glanced up at his countenance, then finally let go of his lip and sank into the cup's waters. Relieved, Grace rubbed the incisions on his poor tongue and lip, wincing at split skin. It hurt, but he'd survive— and so would Simon.