[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!
[Meanwhile, he's debating the merits of ducking his head underwater and vanishing, but- ah, he promised he'd meet his human at his cove, and he...actually wants to meet his human at his cove (he's been a good soldier, he deserves this much) and that means he can't just escape this conversation. Even if he leaves now, the subject will probably come up again.]
I didn't save you because I expected a reward. [Which brings up the question of why he brought a gift-] And I stayed with you because when you save a life, you're responsible for seeing things through. [Or...something, very duty minded, very practical. Which brings up a question. Can a fish blush? If he can, he is, if not, there's still a certain fluttering of gills. Because this is very nice. He rescued a human and he turned out to be handsome and nice and wants to bring him things, and Gepard is going to be very disappointed once he learns what Sampo is really like, probably. And by then it'll be too late, probably.]
But if you insist, I'll be happy with whatever you bring.
That's very noble of you! Very dutiful. You must be a very reliable person.
[He seems like it, since he cares to check in on the guy that he saved. Most people would've just dropped Sampo off on the beach and called it good, if they even bothered to save him at all, but not Gepard! He came back, even though it's dangerous. Normally Sampo doesn't really go for the goody-goody type, since they're likely to want to have him arrested, but Gepard is a fishman! He hasn't broken any merman laws, or at least not any that Gepard isn't also breaking.]
[But it sounds like he'll accept gifts, and that's a good first step in weaseling his way into the good graces of a merman. Everybody likes gifts!]
Ah, dutiful and gracious! Say, you don't happen to be married, are you? Got a pretty mermaid girlfriend down there? I'd hate to make someone jealous and get you in trouble!
[Lies, he'd be here to steal their man. Fish. Fishman. Whatever.]
-it would be a boyfriend if I had one. [Gepard says this with all of the absent tiredness of a fish who had this conversation one too many times with one too many people. Sometimes, a guy can prefer men to women, and that's fine. And no, he doesn't feel like changing his mind anytime soon.
Sampo can see the moment in which Gepard realizes one possible interpretation as to why he asked if he was single or not. He stills, bobs in the water, his eyes widen slightly, narrow slightly, his mouth clenches shut, and Gepard contemplates doing a flip and splashing his human in the face.
On one hand: it's far from subtle. It would increase the danger. It's a stupid move.
On the other hand, Sampo absolutely deserves it.
Much to consider. Maybe at the human's cove, at leisure?]
[Gepard is really giving valuable information away today! It would be a boyfriend if he had one, that tells Sampo two things-- that mermen do sometimes like to fool around with other mermen, and that Gepard is currently without a fooling-around partner. It's a complete vacancy! And here Sampo Koski is, all ready to step into the role.]
[Gepard seems to catch on that this might be the reason behind the question, or at least gets very suspicious of it, giving Sampo some serious side-eye from the water. But Sampo just smiles at him, pleased as anything because of his newfound information, and lets Gepard think whatever he likes. His continued silence on the matter speaks volumes. If blue-haired human men weren't to his tastes, wouldn't he say so right away?]
Already? You just got here. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health, I promise! [For whatever that's worth.] She just said not to do anything stupid, I think I'm still in the clear.
[Point, counterpoint. He knows what human men do. They walk around on their legs and do leg things, and go look at things like trees and eat fruit.]
More specifically, you're talking to a fish who should have left you to drown, and was, in fact, supposed to have let you drown. If any of my kin learn about you, you'll be in danger.
[...he's just going to slightly float under the dock again, not too much, just a little. Mainly because at this angle, it's tempting to find the nearest chunk of kelp and throw it at his human's smug fucking face.]
There isn't a fish alive that's half as handsome as you.
[He's talking to a merman, thanks, that's very different from a fish! Fish don't talk, for one thing, or at least not in any language that humans can understand. Maybe merfolk can talk to fish and actually understand them, though Sampo doubts that very many fish have anything interesting to say.]
[Well, if Gepard was supposed to let Sampo drown according to the laws of his people, maybe he shouldn't be so upset when he finds out that Sampo isn't exactly the most law-abiding person, either. Fishmen in glass houses shouldn't throw stones!]
Mmmaybe you should've, but you didn't! [He says it with a singsong pitch and leans back, casually propping himself up on his hands. Entirely unconcerned.] I guess if you don't want either of us to get in trouble, you'll have to be very careful when you come to see me, right?
[In for a penny, in for a pound, Gepard. If any other merfolk find out that Gepard's visiting a human, Sampo won't be the only person in trouble!]
Besides, it'll be hard for them to do anything to me while I'm on land.
[Sampo wasn't supposed to double down on it. He was supposed to go oh, right. He's talking to a monster (at least from the perspective of a human), something dangerous, unknown, something to be careful around. He's not supposed to say, extremely paraphrased: you're still handsome, would.
But that's what it sounds like his human's saying! Which leaves Gepard...
At a loss, especially at the singsong tone.
He scoots a bit further under the pier. Just a little. Hunting for a glob of kelp. A throwable glob of kelp. One that could be wadded into a kelpball and hurled at the head of a stupid human.]
There aren't any humans around, are there? Besides you.
[While Gepard messes around under the dock however he pleases-- Sampo's not going to question it, who's he to criticize the habits of handsome wet men who grace him with their company-- Sampo tips his head back to look around, checking for any prying eyes.]
Nope! Just the two of us, from what I can see. [And he's very good at spotting people. Comes with the territory of doing illegal things.] Is there something that you wanted me alone for?
[There are plenty of things that he'd like to be alone with Gepard for, only some of which might be physically possible considering their differences in anatomy at the moment.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2024-09-24 09:19 pm (UTC)[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?
no subject
Date: 2024-09-25 02:15 am (UTC)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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-25 02:40 am (UTC)[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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-25 03:37 pm (UTC)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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-26 07:12 am (UTC)[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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-27 02:03 am (UTC)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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-29 04:27 am (UTC)[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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-29 08:10 pm (UTC)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?
no subject
Date: 2024-09-29 09:26 pm (UTC)[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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-29 11:14 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-30 12:49 am (UTC)[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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-30 02:22 am (UTC)[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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-09-30 04:10 pm (UTC)[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.]
no subject
Date: 2024-10-01 01:38 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-07 08:28 pm (UTC)[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.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-08 02:01 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-08 05:38 pm (UTC)[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!
no subject
Date: 2024-10-10 03:00 am (UTC)I didn't save you because I expected a reward. [Which brings up the question of why he brought a gift-] And I stayed with you because when you save a life, you're responsible for seeing things through. [Or...something, very duty minded, very practical. Which brings up a question. Can a fish blush? If he can, he is, if not, there's still a certain fluttering of gills. Because this is very nice. He rescued a human and he turned out to be handsome and nice and wants to bring him things, and Gepard is going to be very disappointed once he learns what Sampo is really like, probably. And by then it'll be too late, probably.]
But if you insist, I'll be happy with whatever you bring.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-10 04:40 am (UTC)[He seems like it, since he cares to check in on the guy that he saved. Most people would've just dropped Sampo off on the beach and called it good, if they even bothered to save him at all, but not Gepard! He came back, even though it's dangerous. Normally Sampo doesn't really go for the goody-goody type, since they're likely to want to have him arrested, but Gepard is a fishman! He hasn't broken any merman laws, or at least not any that Gepard isn't also breaking.]
[But it sounds like he'll accept gifts, and that's a good first step in weaseling his way into the good graces of a merman. Everybody likes gifts!]
Ah, dutiful and gracious! Say, you don't happen to be married, are you? Got a pretty mermaid girlfriend down there? I'd hate to make someone jealous and get you in trouble!
[Lies, he'd be here to steal their man. Fish. Fishman. Whatever.]
no subject
Date: 2024-10-10 09:14 pm (UTC)Sampo can see the moment in which Gepard realizes one possible interpretation as to why he asked if he was single or not. He stills, bobs in the water, his eyes widen slightly, narrow slightly, his mouth clenches shut, and Gepard contemplates doing a flip and splashing his human in the face.
On one hand: it's far from subtle. It would increase the danger. It's a stupid move.
On the other hand, Sampo absolutely deserves it.
Much to consider. Maybe at the human's cove, at leisure?]
I see that I should go and let you rest.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-11 03:00 am (UTC)[Gepard seems to catch on that this might be the reason behind the question, or at least gets very suspicious of it, giving Sampo some serious side-eye from the water. But Sampo just smiles at him, pleased as anything because of his newfound information, and lets Gepard think whatever he likes. His continued silence on the matter speaks volumes. If blue-haired human men weren't to his tastes, wouldn't he say so right away?]
Already? You just got here. The doctor gave me a clean bill of health, I promise! [For whatever that's worth.] She just said not to do anything stupid, I think I'm still in the clear.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-11 10:19 pm (UTC)[Point, counterpoint. He knows what human men do. They walk around on their legs and do leg things, and go look at things like trees and eat fruit.]
More specifically, you're talking to a fish who should have left you to drown, and was, in fact, supposed to have let you drown. If any of my kin learn about you, you'll be in danger.
[...he's just going to slightly float under the dock again, not too much, just a little. Mainly because at this angle, it's tempting to find the nearest chunk of kelp and throw it at his human's smug fucking face.]
no subject
Date: 2024-10-13 01:44 am (UTC)[He's talking to a merman, thanks, that's very different from a fish! Fish don't talk, for one thing, or at least not in any language that humans can understand. Maybe merfolk can talk to fish and actually understand them, though Sampo doubts that very many fish have anything interesting to say.]
[Well, if Gepard was supposed to let Sampo drown according to the laws of his people, maybe he shouldn't be so upset when he finds out that Sampo isn't exactly the most law-abiding person, either. Fishmen in glass houses shouldn't throw stones!]
Mmmaybe you should've, but you didn't! [He says it with a singsong pitch and leans back, casually propping himself up on his hands. Entirely unconcerned.] I guess if you don't want either of us to get in trouble, you'll have to be very careful when you come to see me, right?
[In for a penny, in for a pound, Gepard. If any other merfolk find out that Gepard's visiting a human, Sampo won't be the only person in trouble!]
Besides, it'll be hard for them to do anything to me while I'm on land.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-13 05:06 am (UTC)But that's what it sounds like his human's saying! Which leaves Gepard...
At a loss, especially at the singsong tone.
He scoots a bit further under the pier. Just a little. Hunting for a glob of kelp. A throwable glob of kelp. One that could be wadded into a kelpball and hurled at the head of a stupid human.]
There aren't any humans around, are there? Besides you.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-13 05:19 am (UTC)[While Gepard messes around under the dock however he pleases-- Sampo's not going to question it, who's he to criticize the habits of handsome wet men who grace him with their company-- Sampo tips his head back to look around, checking for any prying eyes.]
Nope! Just the two of us, from what I can see. [And he's very good at spotting people. Comes with the territory of doing illegal things.] Is there something that you wanted me alone for?
[There are plenty of things that he'd like to be alone with Gepard for, only some of which might be physically possible considering their differences in anatomy at the moment.]
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: