[Sometimes, being a pathetic little guy is actually a viable strategy to getting somebody to stick around and give you a chance. Or, at least, it's working right now, and Sampo's not going to look this gift fish in the gills, or however the saying goes.]
[He ends up in the warm, damp embrace of a hot merman, draped sort of dramatically in his arms like a consumptive Victorian poet. Cradle him, Gepard. Let him lay seductively(?) in your wet, manly lap and ignore the fact that he almost drowned.]
Gepard. [He says his name like he's tasting it, like he's feeling the shape of it on his tongue. He likes it, it suits his handsome savior.]
I could die happy now! [Dramatic, sure, but there are worse ways to die than in the arms of a handsome man. Sampo knows, he nearly died in one of those worse ways. And he's probably still a little bit of a loopy mess from just getting dragged out of the ocean.] Do you have to go? Maybe the rain will never stop.
[He'd thought that maybe the man- Sampo, that Sampo would take a moment to gather himself and then push away, but no, apparently he's going to drape himself like he's a consumptive Victorian poet, so apparently they're doing this now. Okay. Well. It's not bad, actually, it's kind of nice, if anything Gepard feels like he's weirdly taking advantage of Sampo, somehow. And-
Okay, Sampo's getting a little too close to his- uh. Slit. Clinical and boring. Slit. Indistinguishable from the rest of his tail, still a bit...um, sensitive. Nothing to see there, but Gepard, nevertheless, lies down. Sampo can use his chest as a pillow. There's no way this can go wrong.
...there. Perfectly normal.]
If the rain never stops then I'll never leave. [Obviously. Also, he's gently going to hold one of Sampo's hands and keep it away from sensitive gill areas because the man is obviously delusional and might cause an accident if they're not careful.] But I'm sure you'll get tired of this beach before long. You seem like that sort of man.
[Sampo will gladly rest his head upon your ample bosom, Gepard, blissfully unaware of the fact that he had nearly laid it on a much more sensitive area of merman anatomy. But he'd also gladly put his head there, too, if Gepard would only ask.]
[He lays there and looks up at his pretty rescuer, and he really does feel a little better now that he's laying down again. Less dizzy, for one thing. Generally less like he's going to fall over and die. Still pretty bruised and scraped up, but he'll probably survive so long as someone eventually finds him out here and, like, gives him a warm place to sleep for the night and some dry clothes.]
How could I ever get tired of this view? [The one of Gepard's lovely face.] I could look at it all day.
[And he's even getting his hand held, which is very nice and sweet. What a wonderful fishman. He would probably make a great fish-husband. Isn't that an interesting question? Is marriage a thing in the deep blue sea? Are there fish-husbands and fishwives, bound in holy fish matrimony? How would you get fish-married, anyway? That would imply that there are fish priests, too, and Sampo thinks that he might be getting a bit off-track here.]
...thank you? [He says this in tones of deepest confusion and slight alarm, and Gepard peers down at Sampo. Sampo looks...okay, health-wise, specifically. In terms of health, he looks okay. Gepard's free hand, the one that's not keeping Sampo from grabbing things he shouldn't, runs through his hair, searching for signs of a cut, a bruise, blood...something to explain the delirium. Because he's obviously delirious, given the entire...not getting tired of him pretty face thing. And the flirting. And not wanting to be alone.
He should leave. For Sampo's sake, if nothing else, but how can he leave now?]
You must be cold.
[That's it. Delirium from the cold. He figured it out. He cracked the cold.]
I'm sorry. There's only so much I can do to help, given that I am- you know. A merman. [Nevertheless, his free hand is busy trying to rub what little heat he can into Sampo's back.] My tail's probably not pleasant for you.
[Is Sampo cold? He's not sure, he sort of got numb to the feeling after he was in the water for a little while. The ocean in this part of the world does get very cold, enough so that even if he'd managed to avoid drowning, he likely would've just died from hypothermia. It isn't impossible that he's a little delirious from hypothermia, especially since his savior isn't exactly the best at warming him up.]
[There's a hand in his hair and another trying to rub a little warmth into his back, and if he weren't in potential danger, this might have really been a lovely place to be.]
It's okay. I'm sure it's a very nice tail. [Sampo doesn't really know what the metric is for determining the niceness of a tail, but it isn't very warm. Man, being a mammal is a pain sometimes.]
I didn't think that mermaids were real. Or mermen. Merfolk? [The rain might be starting to let up a little. Once it does, people will probably come down to the beach to check on their boats and make sure they hadn't come unmoored in the storm.] I've been on the ocean a lot, and I never saw one before.
[His hands still for a moment, one hand brushing a lock of hair away from Sampo's face, Gepard gazing at him soberly. It's a nice face, unfortunately. He shouldn't have realized this. He didn't want to realize this.
Holding Sampo had backfired, apparently. It had made him appreciate things that he might not have paid all that much attention to if he had slipped away when he could. Probably. But how could he have left?]
You're not supposed to. [Gepard says this softly. How is he supposed to admit, "Actually, I was supposed to leave you to die?" There's no way he can say that.] There's laws forbidding humans and merfolk from interacting. If all went the way it was supposed to, you never would have known I was here.
[There's probably a few questions to be had, like why did Gepard know this beach was probably safe, why he had stuck around this long, and so on. But those don't matter, right?
Right?]
Of course, some of my kind gets curious, which is where your stories come from. And, sometimes my kind gets careless. [...okay, he can admit this much.] Like I did. But there's no point in me dragging you out of the ocean if you fell back in by accident.
Well, I guess you have to be careful. If people knew that someone as good looking as you is hanging out in the ocean, everyone would be tossing themselves in just to have a chance to meet you.
[Or they'd probably try to poach the merfolk, either because of bullshit folk-remedies involving their body parts or to sell them as curiosities or to museums and aquariums. But Sampo's definitely in the group that would be willing to yeet themselves into the watery deep for a shot at a hot fish boyfriend.]
Don't worry, I won't fall back in on accident! I'd do it on purpose.
[The rain lightens more. Whether he likes it or not, the weather is a countdown for how long he gets to bask in Gepard's chilly presence.]
What's it like, living in the ocean? Are there cities?
[He's enamored with the idea. An underwater metropolis full of lovely fishpeople, made of... coral and rock and mother-of-pearl. There were stories, of course, about a merfolk ocean king, which implies the existence of a merfolk kingdom, but Sampo had written all that off as just fairytales, like the rest of merfolk existence. But he's got a real merman in front of him, so maybe the merfolk kingdom really does exist, too.]
[The rain is slowing down, and with that his time with Sampo, and he's perfectly fine and not at all upset about this. (Don't read too much into it.) Gepard starts to shift to better lay Sampo upon the sand. And rock. And various other things.]
We have cities.
[It's better to focus on that then on the fact the human is still flirting with him. (Why?)]
That's all I can tell you - it's not safe for either of us if you know too much. But...
[...he can say this much, he supposes.]
It's nice. Pleasant. It's much like human cities- at least, from what little I've seen. [Not much, but...a little, not that Sampo needs to know the details.] The main difference seems to be that I swim and you walk.
[A day trip to the merfolk city, that would be nice. Then he could see his mysterious merman savior again, but in a situation where someone wasn't imminently in danger. He'd have to wear something nice.]
[Further up on the beach, there's the distant sounds of people approaching, the dim glow of lanterns. The storm has lightened up enough that people will come down to check on their possessions and assess the damage. Storms often damaged boats, after all. Sometimes they washed things up on shore.]
[The sand, when Gepard lowers him down to it, is rough and cold. Gepard might not have exactly been warm, but being left on the ground feels somehow worse. But Sampo also really isn't in any position to do anything about it, considering that he isn't strong enough to really move much yet.]
I have to go. [Gepard keeps his voice level. Steady. Reassuring. Soothing, even. He pats Sampo's leg. Is that soothing? Probably not, actually, but he can pretend. And maybe it is? He never had legs. He doesn't know how it feels to have one patted like so. Also, something's telling him anything like an arm might keep him stuck longer, and that's bad. A leg? A bit safer. It's like stroking a whale.] I enjoyed our talk. I'm glad we met.
[He...thinks, but soothing, reassuring, steady. His gaze, level, his smile, fond yet distant. His guardsman's smile. Polite? Maybe a bit too polite. He should be a little less polite.] Perhaps one day we'll meet again? [Is that better?] If I ever get a chance, I'd like to talk to you again, but for now this is goodbye.
[...okay, now Gepard's going to head back into the ocean, with every intent of diving deep underwater and leaving, but he's got a nagging feeling, and for all he knows what he should do (get the hell out, swim away) he's...he's unfortunately invested in this really weird human who keeps on flirting with him for some reason. He can't just leave, at least, not without knowing how all of this ends.
Hopefully, Sampo thinks of all of this as a fever dream, but: Gepard grabs some seaweed to hide his unfortunately pale hair like a stupid hat, surfaces just enough from the water at a distance, and watches and waits for a rescue, and the second he hears that? Down and under and away, and he'll try to forget whatever it was that just happened.]
[A cool hand touches his leg, and Sampo watches Gepard move away from him with an almost feverish rapture, like how penitent pilgrims gaze at relics of saints-- like he could burn his face into memory. Gepard even smiles at him like the statues of saints, his face beautiful and his smile a distant benediction. No pious man ever wanted to take an exalted saint's face in their hands and kiss them, probably, but Sampo never would've claimed to be one.]
[He'll find him again. If he can remember his face and that there are merfolk cities under the sea, he'll be able to find him.]
We will. You can count on it! [He tries to keep up the enthusiasm, but, well. It's hard when his lips are starting to get as blue as his hair.]
[The voices are getting closer now, close enough that Sampo can start to make out conversation, and Gepard's long, sleek body disappears into the surf. In the dim light, he vanishes into the dark water with ease, and Sampo wouldn't have been able to find him again even if he hadn't been freezing. It feels very lonely with him gone, with nothing else for Sampo to focus on but the unrelenting sound of the surf and the approaching voices and the way the cold keeps getting deeper into his bones.]
[A few minutes later, there's a shout from the boardwalk-- someone's spotted him, and soon there are a few people walking down onto the beach to have a better look at him. Someone touches his cheek-- a woman with grey-blue hair-- and recoils at how cold he is. She gives a few orders to the others, and they start to move him; someone wraps him in their coat, to try to warm him up a little. They don't try to make him walk, but carry him off the beach, and he tries to look out at the water for as long as he can for just one last glimpse of a lovely savior.]
[As he's carried-- and my, someone's massive to be able to carry him like a child-- the woman keeps talking about hypothermia, something about possible concussions, he stopped trying to stay awake once the ocean was no longer in sight.]
[He waits far longer than he had intended to. At the first sight of humans finding his, uh. The man he rescued.
At the first sight of humans finding the man he rescued, Gepard dips underwater, but, well, he should watch the whole rescue because what's the point in rescuing a man if he doesn't confirm he's safe? So, he bobs back up ever so slightly, just in time to see Sampo get wrapped in a coat and carried off as humans said things he couldn't quite catch from out in the ocean. He can just hear the hint of noise. He waits until they're out of view, and then, satisfied in a job well done, Gepard dives underwater again and proceeds to ignore any feelings of being lonely.
...it's strange how incidental encounters can make someone feel strangely lonely. And curious. And want to know more. But he is a merman, and Sampo a human, and they never should have met, and what little time they had was enough, and so Gepard catches and eats a blackfish in contemplative silence and then goes back home.
No one questions where he's been. He's always been a good soldier. At worst, Dunn asks, "Where have you been?" (Paraphrased.) And Gepard says, "I ate a blackfish." (Extremely paraphrased.) And Dunn says, "Oh shit, it's that time of year? I gotta catch me a couple, thanks for the reminder." (Also still paraphrased.)
His sister, Serval, just gives him a sidelong look and passes him the seaweed, and Gepard doesn't know if he's glad she doesn't ask further questions or extremely wary. But even he knows she wouldn't guess what it was he actually had done, because there's a difference between going up to the human settlement...
...technically forbidden, but everyone knew everyone else had done it at least once, even golden children who were upheld as paragons of merfolk...
...and talking to a human at length.
Gepard returns to the beach three times, kind of. The first two times he bobs in the waters, ready to slip under at a moment's notice, but no one comes close enough for him to have to flee. He sees no one, and no one sees him.
The third time, he impulsively, recklessly, stupidly leaves a seashell where he and Sampo had talked. It's a nice seashell. Blue. Small. Easily missed. He tells himself that the tides will drag it back out again, or people will assume it just was there and has no significance, or someone who isn't his The Man He Rescued (somehow, Sampo had picked up capital letters along the way) will pick it up and wonder about the beauty of nature. It's hardly unique to merfolk - Gepard's definitely not reckless enough to pull off a few of his scales and leave them there as treasures. Even if his The Man He Rescued finds the shell, he might not even care. After all, a dream is just a dream, and mermen don't really exist. Right?
When he gets home, his sister nudges him with her tail and says she loves their music too, and Gepard awkwardly laughs, not sure if she's giving him an out and saw through him, or if she doesn't actually know what it was he was doing. And if she had seen through him, he wishes she'd tell him what he's doing, because he really doesn't know.]
[For several days after his rescue, Sampo wouldn't be able to meet up with Gepard at the beach, even if he wanted too-- he's recovering from his dip in the ocean, shivering in his restless sleep under the care of a patient doctor. It's a little while before he's well enough that the doctor-- Natasha-- will let him out of bed, and not without plenty of warnings about pushing himself too hard. She didn't want him to end up right back in her clinic because he overestimated himself.]
[He finds out the details of his rescue from her, at least the part of it that happened after the rain let up. That she and some others had come down from town to check on the boats and the beach, exactly for reasons like this-- sometimes boats sank in the storms, and because of how the tides ran, bodies would sometimes wash up on the beach. If they were very lucky, they would make it past the rocky cliffs and outcrops without being dashed to pieces against them, and would end up on the shore still alive. Sampo, apparently, is one of those lucky few.]
[But he knows better. He know it's not just luck that got him onto that beach, because even though his memory is a little hazy, he remembers blond hair and a firm chest and a comforting voice. He remembers that his rescuer had a fish tail and lived in the ocean, and while he would have said that he's too old for sentimental things, he is apparently exactly dramatic enough to still fall for the idea of love at first sight.]
[Once he's well enough, he takes walks on the beach down where he was found, looking out to sea in the vain hope that he might catch a glimpse of a pretty blond head. But even he's not quite foolish enough to think that he'd actually see him, it's just... the hope of it, maybe. And he does find a pretty blue shell once, and it reminds him of his merman savior, so he keeps it on the windowsill in the room that he rents.]
[If he takes an honest assessment of everything right now, he's honestly not terribly poorly off. Sure, being thrown overboard means that he's basically at square one when it comes to finances and material possessions, having basically nothing but the clothes on his back, a blue seashell, and a dream, but he's also far enough away from the kingdom that he'd been in that no one gives a shit about what he'd done. The Crown probably won't stop looking for him, but he has time. And, well.]
[No one would look for him under the sea.]
[It's an absolutely batshit stupid idea. Truly insane, he probably has saltwater poisoning or something and that's why he's even thinking about it. But even if Sampo hadn't believed any of the stories about merfolk before, he does now, and that means that he takes everything he'd heard in a new light. Among the stories of beautiful women with their tits out saving drowning sailors, there had also been ones that talked about witches with the power to change a man's form, including ones who could turn merfolk into humans. And if they could do that, than it stood to reason that they could do it the other way around, too.]
[So now he's Sampo Koski, a fugitive with a truly stupid dream. All he needs is a witch and he'll be ready to keep a promise that he made to a merman.]
[...satisfied at a job well done, Gepard focuses on his work. Because he has a job. He's a defender and protector, which involves cutting fishing nets and setting any careless merfolk free (hasn't happened recently, occasionally it comes up, not all merfolk are as strong as he is and capable of ripping himself free) and patrolling and herding whales away and making sure nothing dangerous gets too close to the cities, making sure humans never learn of their existence, that sort of thing. Yeah. Just focusing on that. Definitely a career-oriented merman.
Yep. Focusing on his priorities.
His human is probably all healed up and on his way. (Gepard...thinks, he doesn't actually know how long it takes for a man to recover from near-drowning.) Except...does he have any money? Because when a guy gets washed overboard, they tend to lose everything - even Gepard knows that much. He knows currency is important to humans. They need coins to survive, trinkets to barter with, things to ensure a safe life and safe passage elsewhere.
And he is somewhat responsible for his human's continued existence, yes? When you save a life, you're responsible for what it does. He should check up on his human to make sure that his human is convinced that the rescue was just a fever dream brought on by the cold water and trauma of ending up on a beach. So, Gepard diligently goes through his things and picks out a golden pendant that never seemed to corrode no matter how long it was under the water and seemed to glow gently in the dark (perfect for bartering), and a handful of coins from a distant land (might be worth something, he doesn't know), and goes back to that beach and waits very patiently for a sign of his human so he can...
Throw them at the guy's head and vanish underwater again. Or something. Honestly, Gepard hadn't gotten much further than that in his planning, all of this is very impulsive which really isn't like him? (And if Serval knew, she'd say no, this is like him, he's stubborn to a fault.) Gepard's telling himself that he's seeing this (whatever this is) through to the end, and that's why he's so determined to throw some offering at his human's head and vanish again. Or. Something.]
[Money certainly is a thing, and it's a thing that Sampo Koski will acquire in the usual Sampo Koski way-- with a combination of legitimate and illegitimate business dealings. This little town that he's landed in has a bit of a problem getting goods that it needs, and Sampo is just the man to get those goods for them, one way or another. A man who can get things done! That's Sampo Koski.]
[He still finds time to go down to the beach, though. Just to walk. And that's not weird at all, a lot of people go to the beach to walk and clear their thoughts! Very good for the brain and the lungs. A little healthy sea air never hurt anyone, even if Sampo is a little more preoccupied with looking out at the ocean than he is necessarily with strolling.]
[But that's his business.]
[On this particular day, he's sitting on the pier rather than down on the beach proper, letting his legs dangle down towards the water. The ocean is calm, the sea breeze is cool and brisk; if he was going to see anything, this would be a good day for it, right? The perfect time for a pretty blond head to pop out of the water, if one was ever to show up.]
[Assuming that a pretty blond head ever would show up. Who knows if his merman savior would ever show his face back at shore again? Sampo vaguely remembers him saying something about merfolk law and humans, probably to keep them separate. Maybe he really wouldn't ever come back, and Sampo wouldn't see him until he finally figured out how to get a fish tail of his own.]
[Once he learns how seedy this particular human is, Gepard will be fucking disappointed. But for now: ignorance is bliss. Ignorance is bliss, and Gepard swims close to the island- but not too close, no, just close enough that he can see the shore.
He pops his head up, prepared to calmly scan the area for signs of his human, prepared to see nothing, fully expecting to have to come up with a Plan B. But it's a calm day. Weather? Fucking amazing. He locks eyes with Sampo and Gepard freezes...
...before he dives underwater again. Swim, swim, swim, swim, swim-
Sampo might expect to be disappointed, but then he probably hears a thonk under him, which is the sign of a guy surfacing a little too quickly and hitting his head against some boards. And then he hears some cursing, probably, just in case he didn't know what that thonk is.]
Is anyone else around? [That fucking hurt. Ow.] Did anyone else see me?
[There’s a moment when Sampo is looking out to sea that he spots it— a very human looking head popping above the blue-grey water, a flash of blond that quickly disappears again. Sampo sits up, leaning forward as though he could catch another glimpse. But it seems as though Gepard has disappeared under the water again. Scared off? Too cautious to approach?]
[There’s a thunk from underneath the pier and curses in a familiar voice.]
[He scrambles to his knees, leaning over to look underneath the pier, searching for the source of the voice.]
It’s just me! [Just your good friend, Sampo Koski.] Don’t worry, nobody can see you.
[Just him! Just Sampo. Way to make a guy feel special, Gepard.]
[His eyes glow ever so slightly in the dark. Nothing special, just an everyday part of merfolk anatomy. Gepard stares at Sampo, then, nods. He swims out a little, not quite out into the open, but not quite so hidden under the pier. It's to make it easier for Sampo to look at him; it also makes it easier for him to look at Sampo.
If Sampo's staring under the pier, it'll draw attention and cut whatever-this-is short.]
You seem to have healed well. [Gepard...assumes, honestly, he has no idea.] I'm a little surprised you're still here.
[Gepard’s eyes are visible in the darkness underneath the pier, glowing pale blue in his pale face. It would be startling if he didn’t know that it’s Gepard; it’s pretty because he does.]
[When his merman acquaintance swims out a bit, Sampo sits back on his heels to talk to him a little more normally. It probably would’ve looked a little weird to any passerby for him to be leaning over the pier.]
It’ll take more than a little shipwreck to keep ol’ Sampo Koski down!
[Actually a shipwreck totally could keep him down, but he was fortuitously rescued.]
I think I’ll be hanging around for a little while. I don’t have a whole lot of cash on me, and, anyway, this seems like a pretty good place to lay low. So you can keep coming back, if you want a little conversation! Or if you want me to get anything for you.
[Surely there has to be something that would pique Gepard’s interest after watching humans.]
It'll be easier for us to meet if you can find somewhere a little less out in the open.
[Because, unfortunately, there's something that's piqued his interest and it's Sampo Koski- but Gepard's not going to admit that to himself, much less to the man himself. No. Absolutely not.]
Coming out here is difficult as is. Meeting with you more so, especially if I'm trying to not be noticed. [By anyone but Sampo, that is. Which brings up the question of why he came out here, and he could just say, "I picked through my treasures and found something I thought you'd like, or could at least use." But.
...does he want to speed up Sampo leaving? If he gives him the things he picked out, Sampo could use them to trade his way off of the island- maybe he should hold onto them a bit longer. Maybe? Or maybe not. Maybe he's overthinking things.]
[It’s a little harder to find a good meeting place, because it has to be accessible by both land and sea— there are only so many places that meet that criteria and are also well hidden.]
There’s a cove about half a mile down the beach, if you head west. Do you know where that is?
[Sampo had thought it might be good to hide goods for some small time smuggling, but it might also work as a rendezvous for secretive mermen. It’s not very easy to get to by land— kind of the point, so that people don’t just stumble across your smuggling operation on accident— but Sampo could make it work. Especially for the sake of his fishy savior.]
I can find it. [There's a slightly stubborn jut to Gepard's jaw, a slight tension to him. If Sampo actually knew who he was as a person, and could see him better than the angle he got, he'd probably recognize it as challenge fucking accepted. As they didn't know each other all that well, and the angle sucks, who knows what he takes from that.
And then, with a slight hint of a challenge to his voice (who is he challenging? does it matter? it probably matters, but he wouldn't know) Gepard impulsively tosses up the 100% meaningless golden pendant he picked up, and tries to not think too hard about how it seems to shine as it arcs in the air, nor how he wanted to find something...nice. It would be something that his human would like, but he didn't really know his human besides the delirious things he rambled about on the beach, so he went for nice in general.]
Here. [Catch!] You seem to be doing well enough for yourself, but in case you wanted something to barter with... [What was the story attached to it? Oh, right, something like-] It's said that it was made by a witch who took to the sea, in memory of the sun she was leaving behind, but I don't know how true that story is.
[Gepard tosses something into the air, and it sparkles briefly in the light as it arcs up towards Sampo; he isn't expecting to play catch with his mermaid acquaintance, so he fumbles the catch at the start. Juggles the thing briefly before catching it securely and taking a look at the little trinket that Gepard brought for him.]
[Gold, it feels like, judging from the weight of it in his palms. And an odd make, the designs on it don't look like anything that Sampo has ever traded before. He's been to a fair few places, so it says a lot if he can't recognize it. There's the whole glowing part, too, that's definitely unusual.]
Well! It definitely looks valuable!
[There is a certain temptation to sell it, of course, because gold always sells well and unusual gold can sell even better if he can find the right buyer, but... well, how can he really part with a gift from a merman? A glowing, golden pendant given to him by an actual merman? It's like something out of a fairy tale. It even has a fairy tale to go with it, about sea witches and such.]
I'll take good care of it. Ah, but I didn't bring a gift for you! If I'd known, I would've gotten something for you.
[What the shit, Sampo wasn't supposed to want to keep it, and Gepard ducks his head underwater for a moment. Just a brief moment. If asked, he's prepared to lie and say that it's to keep himself hydrated. Proper hydration is important. Dry gills tend to get sensitive. He can survive out of water far longer than a human might expect, at the cost of really sensitive gills. Could be worse.
And it's technically true, though the real reason is because he had to hide the moment in which he felt flustered (slightly widened eyes, a slight smile) when his human said he'd take good care of it, because that sounded like he wasn't going to trade it to the first person, which- well. Well.
Well well. Well well well well he should say something instead of basking in feeling pleased.]
You don't have to get me anything. [...] Besides, I'm a fish. [Basically.] I'd probably ruin anything you got me just because of what I am.
[Don't ask him, he's not a fish scientist or anything. Are mermen considered one of the perks of being a marine biologist?]
Come on, it isn't like everything up here gets ruined the second you put it in water! There has to be something that you'd like.
[Something shiny? Something rare? A tasty morsel that he couldn't get underwater? Maybe that's a thought, Sampo could bring him pastries and cake, baked goods that he wouldn't be able to get in the ocean. You can't bake a croissant at the bottom of the sea! Gepard could try what Sampo brings when they meet up in the cove, and decide if he likes any of it or not.]
If you can't think of something, I'll figure it out! Don't worry, Sampo Koski is great at giving gifts!
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[He ends up in the warm, damp embrace of a hot merman, draped sort of dramatically in his arms like a consumptive Victorian poet. Cradle him, Gepard. Let him lay seductively(?) in your wet, manly lap and ignore the fact that he almost drowned.]
Gepard. [He says his name like he's tasting it, like he's feeling the shape of it on his tongue. He likes it, it suits his handsome savior.]
I could die happy now! [Dramatic, sure, but there are worse ways to die than in the arms of a handsome man. Sampo knows, he nearly died in one of those worse ways. And he's probably still a little bit of a loopy mess from just getting dragged out of the ocean.] Do you have to go? Maybe the rain will never stop.
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Okay, Sampo's getting a little too close to his- uh. Slit. Clinical and boring. Slit. Indistinguishable from the rest of his tail, still a bit...um, sensitive. Nothing to see there, but Gepard, nevertheless, lies down. Sampo can use his chest as a pillow. There's no way this can go wrong.
...there. Perfectly normal.]
If the rain never stops then I'll never leave. [Obviously. Also, he's gently going to hold one of Sampo's hands and keep it away from sensitive gill areas because the man is obviously delusional and might cause an accident if they're not careful.] But I'm sure you'll get tired of this beach before long. You seem like that sort of man.
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[He lays there and looks up at his pretty rescuer, and he really does feel a little better now that he's laying down again. Less dizzy, for one thing. Generally less like he's going to fall over and die. Still pretty bruised and scraped up, but he'll probably survive so long as someone eventually finds him out here and, like, gives him a warm place to sleep for the night and some dry clothes.]
How could I ever get tired of this view? [The one of Gepard's lovely face.] I could look at it all day.
[And he's even getting his hand held, which is very nice and sweet. What a wonderful fishman. He would probably make a great fish-husband. Isn't that an interesting question? Is marriage a thing in the deep blue sea? Are there fish-husbands and fishwives, bound in holy fish matrimony? How would you get fish-married, anyway? That would imply that there are fish priests, too, and Sampo thinks that he might be getting a bit off-track here.]
You're really pretty.
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He should leave. For Sampo's sake, if nothing else, but how can he leave now?]
You must be cold.
[That's it. Delirium from the cold. He figured it out. He cracked the cold.]
I'm sorry. There's only so much I can do to help, given that I am- you know. A merman. [Nevertheless, his free hand is busy trying to rub what little heat he can into Sampo's back.] My tail's probably not pleasant for you.
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[There's a hand in his hair and another trying to rub a little warmth into his back, and if he weren't in potential danger, this might have really been a lovely place to be.]
It's okay. I'm sure it's a very nice tail. [Sampo doesn't really know what the metric is for determining the niceness of a tail, but it isn't very warm. Man, being a mammal is a pain sometimes.]
I didn't think that mermaids were real. Or mermen. Merfolk? [The rain might be starting to let up a little. Once it does, people will probably come down to the beach to check on their boats and make sure they hadn't come unmoored in the storm.] I've been on the ocean a lot, and I never saw one before.
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Holding Sampo had backfired, apparently. It had made him appreciate things that he might not have paid all that much attention to if he had slipped away when he could. Probably. But how could he have left?]
You're not supposed to. [Gepard says this softly. How is he supposed to admit, "Actually, I was supposed to leave you to die?" There's no way he can say that.] There's laws forbidding humans and merfolk from interacting. If all went the way it was supposed to, you never would have known I was here.
[There's probably a few questions to be had, like why did Gepard know this beach was probably safe, why he had stuck around this long, and so on. But those don't matter, right?
Right?]
Of course, some of my kind gets curious, which is where your stories come from. And, sometimes my kind gets careless. [...okay, he can admit this much.] Like I did. But there's no point in me dragging you out of the ocean if you fell back in by accident.
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[Or they'd probably try to poach the merfolk, either because of bullshit folk-remedies involving their body parts or to sell them as curiosities or to museums and aquariums. But Sampo's definitely in the group that would be willing to yeet themselves into the watery deep for a shot at a hot fish boyfriend.]
Don't worry, I won't fall back in on accident! I'd do it on purpose.
[The rain lightens more. Whether he likes it or not, the weather is a countdown for how long he gets to bask in Gepard's chilly presence.]
What's it like, living in the ocean? Are there cities?
[He's enamored with the idea. An underwater metropolis full of lovely fishpeople, made of... coral and rock and mother-of-pearl. There were stories, of course, about a merfolk ocean king, which implies the existence of a merfolk kingdom, but Sampo had written all that off as just fairytales, like the rest of merfolk existence. But he's got a real merman in front of him, so maybe the merfolk kingdom really does exist, too.]
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We have cities.
[It's better to focus on that then on the fact the human is still flirting with him. (Why?)]
That's all I can tell you - it's not safe for either of us if you know too much. But...
[...he can say this much, he supposes.]
It's nice. Pleasant. It's much like human cities- at least, from what little I've seen. [Not much, but...a little, not that Sampo needs to know the details.] The main difference seems to be that I swim and you walk.
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[A day trip to the merfolk city, that would be nice. Then he could see his mysterious merman savior again, but in a situation where someone wasn't imminently in danger. He'd have to wear something nice.]
[Further up on the beach, there's the distant sounds of people approaching, the dim glow of lanterns. The storm has lightened up enough that people will come down to check on their possessions and assess the damage. Storms often damaged boats, after all. Sometimes they washed things up on shore.]
[The sand, when Gepard lowers him down to it, is rough and cold. Gepard might not have exactly been warm, but being left on the ground feels somehow worse. But Sampo also really isn't in any position to do anything about it, considering that he isn't strong enough to really move much yet.]
Leaving already, handsome?
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I have to go. [Gepard keeps his voice level. Steady. Reassuring. Soothing, even. He pats Sampo's leg. Is that soothing? Probably not, actually, but he can pretend. And maybe it is? He never had legs. He doesn't know how it feels to have one patted like so. Also, something's telling him anything like an arm might keep him stuck longer, and that's bad. A leg? A bit safer. It's like stroking a whale.] I enjoyed our talk. I'm glad we met.
[He...thinks, but soothing, reassuring, steady. His gaze, level, his smile, fond yet distant. His guardsman's smile. Polite? Maybe a bit too polite. He should be a little less polite.] Perhaps one day we'll meet again? [Is that better?] If I ever get a chance, I'd like to talk to you again, but for now this is goodbye.
[...okay, now Gepard's going to head back into the ocean, with every intent of diving deep underwater and leaving, but he's got a nagging feeling, and for all he knows what he should do (get the hell out, swim away) he's...he's unfortunately invested in this really weird human who keeps on flirting with him for some reason. He can't just leave, at least, not without knowing how all of this ends.
Hopefully, Sampo thinks of all of this as a fever dream, but: Gepard grabs some seaweed to hide his unfortunately pale hair like a stupid hat, surfaces just enough from the water at a distance, and watches and waits for a rescue, and the second he hears that? Down and under and away, and he'll try to forget whatever it was that just happened.]
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[He'll find him again. If he can remember his face and that there are merfolk cities under the sea, he'll be able to find him.]
We will. You can count on it! [He tries to keep up the enthusiasm, but, well. It's hard when his lips are starting to get as blue as his hair.]
[The voices are getting closer now, close enough that Sampo can start to make out conversation, and Gepard's long, sleek body disappears into the surf. In the dim light, he vanishes into the dark water with ease, and Sampo wouldn't have been able to find him again even if he hadn't been freezing. It feels very lonely with him gone, with nothing else for Sampo to focus on but the unrelenting sound of the surf and the approaching voices and the way the cold keeps getting deeper into his bones.]
[A few minutes later, there's a shout from the boardwalk-- someone's spotted him, and soon there are a few people walking down onto the beach to have a better look at him. Someone touches his cheek-- a woman with grey-blue hair-- and recoils at how cold he is. She gives a few orders to the others, and they start to move him; someone wraps him in their coat, to try to warm him up a little. They don't try to make him walk, but carry him off the beach, and he tries to look out at the water for as long as he can for just one last glimpse of a lovely savior.]
[As he's carried-- and my, someone's massive to be able to carry him like a child-- the woman keeps talking about hypothermia, something about possible concussions, he stopped trying to stay awake once the ocean was no longer in sight.]
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At the first sight of humans finding the man he rescued, Gepard dips underwater, but, well, he should watch the whole rescue because what's the point in rescuing a man if he doesn't confirm he's safe? So, he bobs back up ever so slightly, just in time to see Sampo get wrapped in a coat and carried off as humans said things he couldn't quite catch from out in the ocean. He can just hear the hint of noise. He waits until they're out of view, and then, satisfied in a job well done, Gepard dives underwater again and proceeds to ignore any feelings of being lonely.
...it's strange how incidental encounters can make someone feel strangely lonely. And curious. And want to know more. But he is a merman, and Sampo a human, and they never should have met, and what little time they had was enough, and so Gepard catches and eats a blackfish in contemplative silence and then goes back home.
No one questions where he's been. He's always been a good soldier. At worst, Dunn asks, "Where have you been?" (Paraphrased.) And Gepard says, "I ate a blackfish." (Extremely paraphrased.) And Dunn says, "Oh shit, it's that time of year? I gotta catch me a couple, thanks for the reminder." (Also still paraphrased.)
His sister, Serval, just gives him a sidelong look and passes him the seaweed, and Gepard doesn't know if he's glad she doesn't ask further questions or extremely wary. But even he knows she wouldn't guess what it was he actually had done, because there's a difference between going up to the human settlement...
...technically forbidden, but everyone knew everyone else had done it at least once, even golden children who were upheld as paragons of merfolk...
...and talking to a human at length.
Gepard returns to the beach three times, kind of. The first two times he bobs in the waters, ready to slip under at a moment's notice, but no one comes close enough for him to have to flee. He sees no one, and no one sees him.
The third time, he impulsively, recklessly, stupidly leaves a seashell where he and Sampo had talked. It's a nice seashell. Blue. Small. Easily missed. He tells himself that the tides will drag it back out again, or people will assume it just was there and has no significance, or someone who isn't his The Man He Rescued (somehow, Sampo had picked up capital letters along the way) will pick it up and wonder about the beauty of nature. It's hardly unique to merfolk - Gepard's definitely not reckless enough to pull off a few of his scales and leave them there as treasures. Even if his The Man He Rescued finds the shell, he might not even care. After all, a dream is just a dream, and mermen don't really exist. Right?
When he gets home, his sister nudges him with her tail and says she loves their music too, and Gepard awkwardly laughs, not sure if she's giving him an out and saw through him, or if she doesn't actually know what it was he was doing. And if she had seen through him, he wishes she'd tell him what he's doing, because he really doesn't know.]
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[He finds out the details of his rescue from her, at least the part of it that happened after the rain let up. That she and some others had come down from town to check on the boats and the beach, exactly for reasons like this-- sometimes boats sank in the storms, and because of how the tides ran, bodies would sometimes wash up on the beach. If they were very lucky, they would make it past the rocky cliffs and outcrops without being dashed to pieces against them, and would end up on the shore still alive. Sampo, apparently, is one of those lucky few.]
[But he knows better. He know it's not just luck that got him onto that beach, because even though his memory is a little hazy, he remembers blond hair and a firm chest and a comforting voice. He remembers that his rescuer had a fish tail and lived in the ocean, and while he would have said that he's too old for sentimental things, he is apparently exactly dramatic enough to still fall for the idea of love at first sight.]
[Once he's well enough, he takes walks on the beach down where he was found, looking out to sea in the vain hope that he might catch a glimpse of a pretty blond head. But even he's not quite foolish enough to think that he'd actually see him, it's just... the hope of it, maybe. And he does find a pretty blue shell once, and it reminds him of his merman savior, so he keeps it on the windowsill in the room that he rents.]
[If he takes an honest assessment of everything right now, he's honestly not terribly poorly off. Sure, being thrown overboard means that he's basically at square one when it comes to finances and material possessions, having basically nothing but the clothes on his back, a blue seashell, and a dream, but he's also far enough away from the kingdom that he'd been in that no one gives a shit about what he'd done. The Crown probably won't stop looking for him, but he has time. And, well.]
[No one would look for him under the sea.]
[It's an absolutely batshit stupid idea. Truly insane, he probably has saltwater poisoning or something and that's why he's even thinking about it. But even if Sampo hadn't believed any of the stories about merfolk before, he does now, and that means that he takes everything he'd heard in a new light. Among the stories of beautiful women with their tits out saving drowning sailors, there had also been ones that talked about witches with the power to change a man's form, including ones who could turn merfolk into humans. And if they could do that, than it stood to reason that they could do it the other way around, too.]
[So now he's Sampo Koski, a fugitive with a truly stupid dream. All he needs is a witch and he'll be ready to keep a promise that he made to a merman.]
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Yep. Focusing on his priorities.
His human is probably all healed up and on his way. (Gepard...thinks, he doesn't actually know how long it takes for a man to recover from near-drowning.) Except...does he have any money? Because when a guy gets washed overboard, they tend to lose everything - even Gepard knows that much. He knows currency is important to humans. They need coins to survive, trinkets to barter with, things to ensure a safe life and safe passage elsewhere.
And he is somewhat responsible for his human's continued existence, yes? When you save a life, you're responsible for what it does. He should check up on his human to make sure that his human is convinced that the rescue was just a fever dream brought on by the cold water and trauma of ending up on a beach. So, Gepard diligently goes through his things and picks out a golden pendant that never seemed to corrode no matter how long it was under the water and seemed to glow gently in the dark (perfect for bartering), and a handful of coins from a distant land (might be worth something, he doesn't know), and goes back to that beach and waits very patiently for a sign of his human so he can...
Throw them at the guy's head and vanish underwater again. Or something. Honestly, Gepard hadn't gotten much further than that in his planning, all of this is very impulsive which really isn't like him? (And if Serval knew, she'd say no, this is like him, he's stubborn to a fault.) Gepard's telling himself that he's seeing this (whatever this is) through to the end, and that's why he's so determined to throw some offering at his human's head and vanish again. Or. Something.]
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[He still finds time to go down to the beach, though. Just to walk. And that's not weird at all, a lot of people go to the beach to walk and clear their thoughts! Very good for the brain and the lungs. A little healthy sea air never hurt anyone, even if Sampo is a little more preoccupied with looking out at the ocean than he is necessarily with strolling.]
[But that's his business.]
[On this particular day, he's sitting on the pier rather than down on the beach proper, letting his legs dangle down towards the water. The ocean is calm, the sea breeze is cool and brisk; if he was going to see anything, this would be a good day for it, right? The perfect time for a pretty blond head to pop out of the water, if one was ever to show up.]
[Assuming that a pretty blond head ever would show up. Who knows if his merman savior would ever show his face back at shore again? Sampo vaguely remembers him saying something about merfolk law and humans, probably to keep them separate. Maybe he really wouldn't ever come back, and Sampo wouldn't see him until he finally figured out how to get a fish tail of his own.]
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He pops his head up, prepared to calmly scan the area for signs of his human, prepared to see nothing, fully expecting to have to come up with a Plan B. But it's a calm day. Weather? Fucking amazing. He locks eyes with Sampo and Gepard freezes...
...before he dives underwater again. Swim, swim, swim, swim, swim-
Sampo might expect to be disappointed, but then he probably hears a thonk under him, which is the sign of a guy surfacing a little too quickly and hitting his head against some boards. And then he hears some cursing, probably, just in case he didn't know what that thonk is.]
Is anyone else around? [That fucking hurt. Ow.] Did anyone else see me?
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[There’s a thunk from underneath the pier and curses in a familiar voice.]
[He scrambles to his knees, leaning over to look underneath the pier, searching for the source of the voice.]
It’s just me! [Just your good friend, Sampo Koski.] Don’t worry, nobody can see you.
[Just him! Just Sampo. Way to make a guy feel special, Gepard.]
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If Sampo's staring under the pier, it'll draw attention and cut whatever-this-is short.]
You seem to have healed well. [Gepard...assumes, honestly, he has no idea.] I'm a little surprised you're still here.
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[When his merman acquaintance swims out a bit, Sampo sits back on his heels to talk to him a little more normally. It probably would’ve looked a little weird to any passerby for him to be leaning over the pier.]
It’ll take more than a little shipwreck to keep ol’ Sampo Koski down!
[Actually a shipwreck totally could keep him down, but he was fortuitously rescued.]
I think I’ll be hanging around for a little while. I don’t have a whole lot of cash on me, and, anyway, this seems like a pretty good place to lay low. So you can keep coming back, if you want a little conversation! Or if you want me to get anything for you.
[Surely there has to be something that would pique Gepard’s interest after watching humans.]
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[Because, unfortunately, there's something that's piqued his interest and it's Sampo Koski- but Gepard's not going to admit that to himself, much less to the man himself. No. Absolutely not.]
Coming out here is difficult as is. Meeting with you more so, especially if I'm trying to not be noticed. [By anyone but Sampo, that is. Which brings up the question of why he came out here, and he could just say, "I picked through my treasures and found something I thought you'd like, or could at least use." But.
...does he want to speed up Sampo leaving? If he gives him the things he picked out, Sampo could use them to trade his way off of the island- maybe he should hold onto them a bit longer. Maybe? Or maybe not. Maybe he's overthinking things.]
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[It’s a little harder to find a good meeting place, because it has to be accessible by both land and sea— there are only so many places that meet that criteria and are also well hidden.]
There’s a cove about half a mile down the beach, if you head west. Do you know where that is?
[Sampo had thought it might be good to hide goods for some small time smuggling, but it might also work as a rendezvous for secretive mermen. It’s not very easy to get to by land— kind of the point, so that people don’t just stumble across your smuggling operation on accident— but Sampo could make it work. Especially for the sake of his fishy savior.]
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And then, with a slight hint of a challenge to his voice (who is he challenging? does it matter? it probably matters, but he wouldn't know) Gepard impulsively tosses up the 100% meaningless golden pendant he picked up, and tries to not think too hard about how it seems to shine as it arcs in the air, nor how he wanted to find something...nice. It would be something that his human would like, but he didn't really know his human besides the delirious things he rambled about on the beach, so he went for nice in general.]
Here. [Catch!] You seem to be doing well enough for yourself, but in case you wanted something to barter with... [What was the story attached to it? Oh, right, something like-] It's said that it was made by a witch who took to the sea, in memory of the sun she was leaving behind, but I don't know how true that story is.
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[Gold, it feels like, judging from the weight of it in his palms. And an odd make, the designs on it don't look like anything that Sampo has ever traded before. He's been to a fair few places, so it says a lot if he can't recognize it. There's the whole glowing part, too, that's definitely unusual.]
Well! It definitely looks valuable!
[There is a certain temptation to sell it, of course, because gold always sells well and unusual gold can sell even better if he can find the right buyer, but... well, how can he really part with a gift from a merman? A glowing, golden pendant given to him by an actual merman? It's like something out of a fairy tale. It even has a fairy tale to go with it, about sea witches and such.]
I'll take good care of it. Ah, but I didn't bring a gift for you! If I'd known, I would've gotten something for you.
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And it's technically true, though the real reason is because he had to hide the moment in which he felt flustered (slightly widened eyes, a slight smile) when his human said he'd take good care of it, because that sounded like he wasn't going to trade it to the first person, which- well. Well.
Well well. Well well well well he should say something instead of basking in feeling pleased.]
You don't have to get me anything. [...] Besides, I'm a fish. [Basically.] I'd probably ruin anything you got me just because of what I am.
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[Don't ask him, he's not a fish scientist or anything. Are mermen considered one of the perks of being a marine biologist?]
Come on, it isn't like everything up here gets ruined the second you put it in water! There has to be something that you'd like.
[Something shiny? Something rare? A tasty morsel that he couldn't get underwater? Maybe that's a thought, Sampo could bring him pastries and cake, baked goods that he wouldn't be able to get in the ocean. You can't bake a croissant at the bottom of the sea! Gepard could try what Sampo brings when they meet up in the cove, and decide if he likes any of it or not.]
If you can't think of something, I'll figure it out! Don't worry, Sampo Koski is great at giving gifts!
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