Trapped (Gumdrop x Yukio - Private)

[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar was a rather happy merman. He enjoyed swimming where he probably shouldn't, but no one really cared as all merpeople were very curious and loved to look around in areas that they probably shouldn't. However, Talamar seemed to have a bit more curiosity to him as he would swim in places that were forbidden and even the most curious in his family wouldn't go there, but he would. Today he was in such a place. He was at the very edge of the coral reef. There was a drop there, one that went into the deep caverns where sharks and giant squids and other mysterious creatures lived. Mainly where the merpeople lived.

 

They lived in deep dark caverns that were carved out by previous ancestors, they used lantern fish's lights to make their homes more bright, or glow worms that had the unfortunate meeting with a merperson. Because of this they were a bit paler than their brothers and sisters in the coral reef called Atlantis, but those merpeople were protected by strong currents, Talamar's people were not. Talamar looked much like his people, pale with white hair that he kept in a messy short way, that way he could feel the water run through it. His tail was just like any other merperson's tail, though his mother had part tuna...so his tail wasn't a spectacular coloring like his father's who was part lion fish. He had the small barbs to prove that he had it in his blood though. Some were very long but none of them were poisonous. His eyes were also just like his fathers, a brilliant blue, just like the ocean above.

 

Talamar wasn't supposed to be anywhere near the coral reef, being up this high could mean certain doom because there were all sorts of dangers up here, mainly something called humans. He had never seen one in all his years swimming around the coral reef and he just assumed that they were some monster that mermothers told their merkids to keep them from coming up here.

 

Talamar stopped at the edge for a moment, after all these years he had never really seen anything new crop up in the reef, maybe a bit of clear death traps. He wasn't sure what it was called, but it was an awful sight it was nearly impossible to break and was perfectly clear and would wrap itself around an unsuspecting fish and drown it. It was the only reason he would come up here, to save the poor fish that got caught in these traps. Sometimes they had drawings on them or foreign writing, at least what he assumed was writing. Today however, he saw something that wasn't invisible. It looked like a whale from where he was, but whales didn't stay up that long.

 

He was to curious and decided to swim closer to it, the closer he got the more and more he saw of the thing. It was dark like a shadow. As he got closer he saw a giant hole in the thing where he could see the sun's light. Maybe it was dead. If the whale was dead that would explain why it stayed up so long. He swam right up to the hole in the the thing and moved to stick his hand through it, but he couldn't there was something blocking him...like the clear death traps, but it felt harder more solid than the clear death traps. He tapped and hit it a couple of times, looking very confused. What under the ocean was this thing?

[Yukio Takamiya]

Kertia tried to restrain himself from going balistic at the idiocy of the people he was currently working with. He didn't understand why the director couldn't give him a better team to work with. It wasn't that he wanted to boast and say that he was the best of the best. But he was, that was a fact. He had evidence to back up his claims in his line of work. The team didn't understand what he wanted them to do at all. Wasn't it obvious that diving equipment was needed if they were going to explore the sea. They only thought of it once the boat left the shore, how ridiculously smary of them. He couldn't progress with the project if he couldn't dive, this entire trip had been a waste of his time.

 

Kertia flipped through his notes with an evident frown in his brows. The previous round of divers reported the sightings of merpeople around this area but the ultrasound sensors hadn't picked up anything other than mere fishes. Were merpeople more discreet than ordinary fishes? Kertia noted that down. He went to the railing and looked down at the glass window in the floors of the boat, watching the various species of fishes swim by.

 

Kertia stayed like that, just identifying the fishes that he saw. He was so into the moment that he jumped when a pale face appeared and hands touching the glass. Kertia took a while to recover from his shock and started to laugh. His team looked up from their work and begab to stare at him weirdly. One moment he was shouting at them, the next he was laughing maniacally.

 

Kertia couldn't help the happiness bubbling up within his chest. His hypothesis had been right, merpeople were practically undetectable unless you spotted them with your own eyes. He looked back down at the merman and smirked at him before calling to his crew. "Ready the nets, a really large one. We have a really big fish to catch."

[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar gasped and pulled back slightly when he saw the face on the other side of the clear trap thing. What was that? It look similar to him, but merpeople very rarely went to the surface. He swam a bit towards the very edge of this clear thing and his eyes went wide. This was no merperson. It couldn't be. It was still day and this thing had legs. He continued to eye the creature for a while until it spoke. Talamar couldn't hear what the thing said, but he recognized a few words. 'Big fish' he frowned a little. There were no big fish up here.

 

He finally took his eyes away from the strange being through the clear trap and looked around the ocean, wondering if maybe he missed something. He usually was very vigilant when he came up here, big fish could mean trouble. He looked around and swam to the edge of the whale like creature. The only big fish that he saw was the one he was under...certainly the thing on it wasn't talking about the one it was on.

 

Talamar frowned and swam to the other side, passing underneath the window a few times as he surveyed the waters. This creature he had found was strange. It thought it saw a big fish yet there was no big fish to be found. He swam back to the window and looked at the thing again. He heard something strange hit the water and looked over to the side he had just been on. He frowned, what was this thing? What was it putting in his waters. He looked up to the creature and frowned, knocking on the clear substance and shaking his head. It couldn't be good, very few things that came up in the reef were good.

 

When the thing didn't seem to understand he swam over to the net and tried to push it away, hoping that the thing would understand that he wanted it out of the water. He pushed at it a few times, but each time he would get it wrapped around his hand or arm and would have to work at getting it off before pushing it again. Soon his arms were all tangled up in the rope and he was struggling to get out and starting to panic a bit. If he had a hard time with this, the other fish would find it impossible.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Kertia stood by watching as his crew threw the nets into the ocean, a smile playing on his lips. He couldn't control the joy at this newest discovery. His obsession for knowledge also played a huge role in what he was feeling currently. The merman was going to be the perfect test subject. Kertia could feel the questions running through his head. Like what in their blood made them resemble humans so much? Did their breathing organs resemble the human's too? Kertia could barely contain his excitement.

 

He heard a knock and turned back towards the glass window. The merman was there, shaking his head with a frown in his brow. Kertia understood what he wanted and smirked at the white haired fish. It seems that he didn't understand that Kertia was now a predator and he was his prey. Kertia didn't see the merman swimming away so this merman didn't understand the danger huh? He turned away from the glass window and moved towards his crew at the edge of the boat. He saw hands coming out of the water occasionally as the merman tried to push the net out of the water. As expected, soon his target was tangled in the nets.

 

"Haul it out," Kertia ordered. The crew although dazed at the merman, complied. They grunted as they pulled. The merman was unusually heavy, Kertia noted that down. When they had finally successfully pulled him out, Kertia stared in awe at the merman. He was mesmerized by his tail, at the unique colour which he couldn't describe. And the visible muscles that rippled under those scales, which inferred that mermans were extremely powerful swimmers. Kertia's eyes practically sparkled when they moved to the merman's face and upper body. White hair, not a colour seen usually especially if it was natural. The merman had the palest skin Kertia had ever seen, flawlessly smooth. Overall, the merman was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

 

Kertia changed his mind. This merman was too beautiful to be dissected. And Kertia wouldn't allow it to be experimented upon, it was now his. He squatted down to at it full in the eyes and lifted its chin. Simply beautiful.

 

He paid the crew. A large and handsome sum, to keep quiet about the discovery of the merman. They tied the merman's hands with strong ropes and tranferred him to Kertia's large home secretly in a tank.

 

Within the next few days, Kertia was now looking at the merman in the large tank of his home where he kept other fishes before him. The tank practically took up his whole wall since it used to house a shark. But the shark had now been removed to contain this merman. He was smaller than the shark and had plenty of space to move around with the company of other fishes as well. Kertia smiled up at the merman, he was truly a fine specimen.

[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar gasped as the net started to pull out of the ocean with him still attached to it. He struggled to get out but couldn't and when he was on top of the boat he eyed the things around him. Now he was terrified. What were these things that had pulled him out of the water. He struggled against the net for a moment before the thing he had seen before who didn't seem to care about what he was trying to tell him looked at him.

 

He shivered at the touch to his skin. No one had ever touched him like that before. This was the way you touched a woman. He frowned and turned his head away. As his hands were tied and he was forced to sit on this awful whale like creature with no water he started to panic. Where were these people taking him? As he got to watch them move around the creature, they were most definitely not merpeople....but everything else about them was like the merpeople. Other than the timing and the fact that they seemed to prefer to stay out of the water. Soon enough he was being shoved into places that he liked even less then the thing they were on out in the ocean and after a few hours he was finally put back into water.

 

He seemed hesitant as he was let go, this water was nothing like his home. He frowned a little but eventually started swimming, he needed to warn his people about this. However, instead of being faced with more ocean he was faced with a strange looking place. It looked like an office, though it was different from the ones they had in his home. He swam towards it and winced as he hit his head on something invisible. He put his hand out, great...more of this clear death trap stuff. He had had enough of it. He punched it and then winced, it made an annoying sound inside the water. So soon he was swimming back and forth, trying to figure out where it ended. When he found the edge of it he was met with a wall of rock. He frowned and looked down, he could see where the floor of this ocean was so he swam up.

 

As he got to the surface, he was surprised to find he could see everything around him, it was just a large metal room. He saw a few rocks on the surface and a large gate made of metal that he couldn't get through. Talamar swam to the largest rock he could find and got up onto it. From there he could see just how big this ocean was...it was tiny. He frowned and slid back into the water where he was more comfortable. Back down in the water he swam in the direction of the clear death trap again, only to see the person again. He watched the person for a moment before frowning.

 

Talamar was angry with this person, why was it keeping him trapped here? What had Talamar done? He swam off towards the back of the ocean so that he couldn't see the person. He sat there for a day before he got bored and started to swim around the ocean. He talked to a few of the fish, though well out of sight of the person and asked about where they were and what that thing was beyond the clear death trap. He found out that everything here had a name. The person was a human, the fish weren't sure what it's name was or if it had one, they assumed so as other humans who came into the office would call it Kertia. They also assumed it was a male, as they had seen other humans that were clearly female. They explained even the clear death trap had a name, depending on what form it was in. This one was called a window, made of glass, and if tapped on did indeed make an annoying sound.

 

What Talamar was here for, none of the fish could say for certain, some said that fish would be captured by the net and would never be seen again, others that were captured were put back claiming horrible things had happened to them, the last bit just stayed in the tank (what this ocean was called by the humans) and passed their lives away swimming around and enjoying the free meals. Which reminded Talamar...he was hungry. He hadn't eaten anything in the past couple of days. He bit his lip and looked towards the glass window. He signed and swam back over to the glass window, waiting for Kertia to show up. When he finally did Talamar watched him for a moment before sighing again, and pointing to Kertia and then up towards the metal room he had found.

 

He wasn't supposed to talk to humans, but if the fish were right, he would be stuck here for the rest of his life unless he came up with something. He waited for a few moments to make sure the Kertia understood before he swam up to the surface and found a rock he could sit on and be safe away from Kertia. When he found one he sat on it and waited, his tail folded so it was out of the water and he could sit comfortably.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Kertia took the day off just to watch his merman swim around the large tank. He found that he couldn't get tired of watching him. Although the merman was just swimming around like any of the other fishes, Kertia didn't mind. He was beautiful beyond conscience and Kertia wondered if his other kind were all the same. Even his obssession for knowledge was overrode by this beauty and Kertia couldn't bear to destroy it through his experiments.

 

He sat in his study looking through papers of other projects that were taking place currently. Kertia sighed tiredly. The director was pestering him for results on the merman project but Kertia hadn't thought of an excuse for the delay. At most, he would have to say that the merman which the divers spotted was due to the reflection of light and it was just another human sized fish. But that would be deceiving the world, mistakes weren't allowed in science. It went against his morals as a scientist to submit false results. But the deed has been done, Kertia couldn't return the merman now. That excuse wouldn't do either. He had to request for more time to find another merperson to replace the current one.

 

Letting out another sigh, Kertia got up from his seat and left the study towards his aquarium where the merman was kept. He hoped that seeing it would help him to destress somehow. When he entered the aquarium, Kertia saw the merman looking at him before pointing upwards. He knew then what the merman wanted. But could the merman actually speak since he wanted to communicate with Kertia.

 

Kertia left the room and headed for the stairs located a few steps from the door. He ascended the stairs and arrived at another door which he opened. It was door to the room which he used to feed the fishes since he couldn't do so in the aquarium itself. Once he entered the room, he spotted his merman already sitting on a rock. Problem was that the rock was right smack in the middle of the water and Kertia couldn't reach him. He made a mental reminder to have that rock removed soon as he walked to the edge of the water and stood there.

 

"I assume that you can talk since you've called me here?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head and giving the merman a gentle smile. The merman was probably scared and confused at all the ruckus of being brought here. Kertia could understand that. He studied marine life and knew that a change of habitat could affect the merman in a bad way. He just hoped that the other wouldn't fall sick like ordinaru fishes. Kertia wouldn't know if the usual medication worked the same way on a merman.

[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar waited for Kertia, he eyed the door when it opened and then the man as he moved closer to the water. He bit his lip one more time, unsure how he felt about actually taking to the human. He nodded, "I can." he said, in very plain spoken English. The benefit of living in the ocean is you learned any language you needed to just by listening along the waves, but you never really got to use it. He licked his lips, he was hungry but that would have to wait for now, he needed to find out why he was here.

 

"Why have you brought me here? Why have you brought any of them here?" he said, pointing down to the water, indicating the fish. "They say you do horrible things to them. Some of them don't come back to their families, what have you done?" he asked, frowning at the man that was thankfully out of reach. "Why do you keep me here? I don't want to be here, I want to go home."

 

Talamar definitely was agitated. He was confused, and a bit scared, which is why he would do his best to stay away from the other. He glanced around the big metal room, looking for the sun or the moon. "What did you do with the sky?" he asked. It was the only way that he could decide how long he was able to stay up here without having to go back into the water. "What are you going to do with me? Make me disappear like the sky?" he asked, wondering if humans had such power. Was that why the elders of his community told him to stay away from them?

 

His stomach growled a little and his hand flashed over it, to quiet it. He frowned at himself and looked up to the human. "The fish say you give them food. I have not seen any." he said, "I am hungry."

[Yukio Takamiya]

Kertia sighed and leant against a wall. "So many questions. However will i answer them all?" He said smiling slyly at the merman. It appears that his merman was the curious type. But Kertia had also expected that since land was a foreign place to it.

 

"Why i brought you here? Because i felt like it. Why i brought them here? Because it is my job to study them," Kertia answered the first two questions nonchalantly. But did the fishes really tell the merman that they were treated horribly? Kertia didn't agree with that and frowned. If he really wanted to be horrible, the fishes would have died by now. Fishes in the lab died eventually because of experiments. But the fishes in his home aquarium were never experimented on, they were pets. He only examined them, toyed with them using the net. But that was it, they were fed and given a comfortable environment to stay. But what he got were complaints that they had horrible things done to them? Had he gone to far with the net games?

 

"I only played with them and they thought it was horrible. I'll take note of that," he said. "And i didn't know that the fishes i have here were related. How coincidental seeing as i got them separately. The only reason why some of them don't come back is because i've lost interest in them. They were thrown back into the sea," he explained. "Then again i don't see why i should have to explain my actions to you. And you don't have a choice. You see, you're a little different from normal fishes. I'm afraid that you probably won't have a chance of ever returning to the sea like the others. So deal with it," he ended.

 

Kertia was about to leave the room when he heard the soft growl of his merman's tummy. Turning back to look at the merman, Kertia felt the tiniest bit of guilt earing at him. How could he have forgotten to feed him? And for days at that. He had forgotten that the merman hadn't had a single meal while being transported.

 

"What do you eat?" He asked. "Somehow, i can't picture you eating fish pellets."

[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar frowned as his first questions were answered "What gives you the right to do that?" he asked, getting angrier at this human who dared to think he could treat him whatever say he pleased. But the moment that Talamar was going to jump into the tank and ignore Kertia, the man said he was going to make a note of how the fish felt about being played with. Playing? He couldn't imagine what Kertia meant by that but he would let it be for now.

 

Again the merman looked confused by Kertia, "related?" he looked down at the water, "Some yes...others are in marriage. Do you not have that, Kertia?" he asked, using the name he was given to address the man by. "So they are here merely to amuse you? What a horrible person." he said, frowning, again he was going to jump back into the water. However he was told he was never going to leave and then his stomach growled forcing him to stay.

 

He tilted his head "fish pellets? What are those? You feed them to the fish?" he asked, again looking at the water. His tail was becoming dry and without indication of what time of day it was he prompted to stay out of the water a bit longer, if only to get food. "I eat what fish eat. Kelp, seaweed, other plant life that lives among the sea, along with other fish at times. Ones that have recently died." he explained, "Mostly though I eat the plant life or fish eggs that have not been given life yet."

 

He glanced down at his fins and hesitated. He needed to make sure that he was going to be give food, he would just have to hope that this human would not notice that his fins were changing color. They were becoming pale like he was, it must be night then. At least he knew it was night now, what he was going to do about it he didn't know.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Kertia closed his eyes and ignored the merman's burst of anger. "The fact that you now belong to me gives me that right," was his reply. Kertia didn't care if the merman was angered or not. Creatures who were lower than humans should learn to submit. That was the way he thought. At the merman's next question, Kertia gave him a quick glance before adverting his eyes again. "A family? Once. "Marriage partner? Never." Kertia replied coldly. Talking about his personal life was never a favourite topic. To Kertia, the family who abandoned him weren't worth mulling about. And a spouse would only hinder his career path, he didn't have the time for such trivial issues.

 

Kertia realised that perhaps the merman wasn't all that different from other fishes after all. Apart from appearances, his diet and habits were similar to ordinary fishes. But specially getting the stated food seemed like a hassle to Kertia. Fish pellets provided similar nutrients as what fishes usually ate, and what his merman ate as well. But giving the merman fish pellets just felt wrong. The image itself was disturbing. Sighing Kertia spoke," how about trying human food instead?"

[PrincessGumdrop]

Kertia's response only seemed to make Talamar even angrier. How dare this man claim that he owned a creature of the sea like that. He seemed to quickly forget his anger though and moved forward with the conversation as Kertia move forward. "So you should understand what it is like to lose a family." he hissed for a moment before glancing down at his fin again, this was taking too long. His scales were now the color of his body.

 

He eyed the man when he asked about trying human food. Human food? What did humans eat anyway? He took care to slip into the water, just before he felt his fins separate into what would have looked like feet had he not slipped into the water. Once there his body worked on fixing the process that had begun and soon his fins were back to their normal color. He swam a bit closer to the edge, but not close enough to be grabbed. "What do humans eat?" he asked, tilting his head. He suppose he would be up for trying it, but that would mean trusting this human to not do things with his food. He preferred something that he knew what it was supposed to taste like. "Can't you just give me something normal?" he asked. Though in retrospect that was a silly question to ask. After all what was normal for him was not normal for Kertia. Talamar swam around a little bit more as he listened to Kertia explain what food there was.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Being a scientist, Kertia was used to observing his subjects carefully. He was what one might call an overly observant person. Which was why the changes in his merman's tail didn't escape his eyes. Kertia had a pretty good idea of what was going on. His hypothesis was that the merman adapted to land if he stayed out of the water for a period of time. The tail started to look more human, but whether it transformed into legs or not, Kertia would have to create an opportunity to find out for himself. He took this all in and made a mental note to record his observations mentally.

 

"If I were to tell you what humans ate, we would be here the whole night without you getting your meal at all. Humans eat many things, which also include fishes might I add." Kertia said the last slyly on purpose, casting the merman the sideway glance to observe his reaction. "I'll see what I can find," he finally said with a sigh and left the room.

 

Kertia strode into the kitchen and opened the fridge, hoping that perhaps he may have some kelp. The lady that often came to clean the house and cook his meals had coincidentally used kelp for his previous meal. Kertia found the kelp at the back of the fridge, soaking in a bowl of water. He took it out and considered heating it up. But then 'food' under the sea were cold too. Kertia shrugged and left the kitchen with the bowl in hand. He re-entered the room and squatted down by the water, holding the bowl out to the merman. "So, do you have a name?" He asked after a while, while watching his merman eat.

[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar tilted his head when the scientist told him what humans ate was a rather long list. He didn't seem surprised by the sheer fact that humans ate fish, heck, he had said they did too, but the look that Kertia gave him... That alone caused him to scoot back in the water a bit, half scared that he was going to be for dinner one night. He was almost positive humans didn't eat fish after they had just recently died.

 

He waited for the man after he left. Ducking down into the water for a moment and swam around before he came up to the surface. He eyed the bowl for a second but even he knew what it was before he saw it. Kelp. He smiled a little bit and swam over, quickly though gently taking the bowl out of Kertia's hands. He swam over to the rock again and pushed the bowl onto it first and then pulled himself back on top before he started to eat.

 

He looked over to Kertia for a moment when he was asked his name. "Talamar." he said simply and took another bite of the kelp, it was rather good. Which surprised him, but maybe humans knew how to make kelp. Perhaps they made other things as well. He looked back up from the bowl after a little while and opened his mouth, hesitating in what he was going to say "You say I'm stuck here, right? What do you want from me? Just something to look pretty like your other captives or are you wanting to learn about my fellow merpeople?" he asked.

[Yukio Takamiya]

After hearing the merman's name, Kertia who was satisfied made to leave when he heard the other speak again. He turned back to the merman who was still atop the rock, eating his kelp, which was weird since no human ever ate kelp like that. Kertia pondered upon Talamar's question. Talamar was indeed more beautiful, which was logical since he looked human. Kertia couldn't possibly find fishes appealing. He tilted his head and thought hard. His initial purpose for capturing the merman was indeed to know more about his kind. But his research didn't just go into their habits and lifestyle. It went into their body structure and functions. "Hmm...if I were to answer your question, I would say that your first guess was right. However, your second guess isn't exactly wrong either," he replied slowly as if unsure of his own reasons for keeping Talamar. "In fact, knowing more about your people was my initial purpose. But there is a certain limit to that now that I've decided to keep you here."

 

Kertia started to pace around the room. "Dissection wouldn't be avoidable if I decide to learn about a merman's anatomy, no?" He explained with a smirk. Kertia loved the merman's reactions whenever it came to death, being eaten or dissected. "You should thank me actually, for bringing you here instead of the lab," he continued after that. "Who knows what kind of things would be done to you by those low lives in the lab. You can scream and cry all you want, but they would continue to take you apart piece by piece without any pain relievers." Kertia was thoroughly enjoying himself. In truth, the reason why he was saying all this is to let the merman realise that staying with him was better than staying out there. "Just be thankful that I've taken a liking to you and decided to keep you here instead of taking you there to die." Kertia of course knew that the merman would want to go back to the ocean instead of staying with him too. The ocean would always beat his tank which size couldn't be compared.

 

"You could go back to the ocean if you want," he drawled out. "But I couldn't guarantee that you wouldn't be captured again." Kertia stopped pacing and came towards the edge of the water, bending forward. "Scientists all over the world has been notified of sightings of merpeople. They would always be on the lookout for one. Good luck to the rest of your kind," Kertia straightened up again and watched Talamar, awaiting his response. Would the merman prefer to stay or go back?

[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar tilted his head once more before he bit out of the kelp again. He had never really heard about limitations on studying something like that, however as the man expanded on what he was saying, Talamar grew pale. Was this human serious, would he really do something like that? Something so awful to him? He couldn't believe anyone was that cruel, but perhaps the elders were right in saying that humans were evil.

 

He waited until the other stopped talking and he was waiting for Talamar's response. "Di...dissection can be avoided while learning about somethings anatomy, especially if that something can talk." he explained and looked away for a moment. He was shocked that his human was so up front with what he wanted to do that it took him a moment to compose himself. When his people were threatened he froze. He liked his lips and finally sighed, "I-I'll stay...forever if you can at the very least not tell people where you found me." he said, hoping the human would at least be slightly compassionate.

 

If it was all he could do to protect his people then that's what he would do. If he had to be stuck here for the rest of his life, then that was what he would do. He had endangered his people all he could do now was protect them in any was he could. Plus, if he was lucky enough perhaps he could help one of the other fish escape and get a message out to his people to leave or to be more on guard than he was about the upper realms of their world.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Kertia smiled when the other stuttered. The merman was starting to seem truly adorable, displaying his emotions so openly like that. He wanted to see what other emotions this part fish could make. He wanted to know so much. How alike they were to humans, both mentally and physically. But at the same time, he wanted to immerse himself in the beauty that was the merman. "Did i forget to mention that scientists prefer seeing things with their own eyes? It doesn't matter how much information you provide my dear Talamar," Kertia paused and looked the merman straight in the eye. "Because it's obvious that you haven't dissected and studied your own kind before. There is a limit to how much you could tell us," he said this slowly for more effect. It wasn't Kertia's intention to truly frighten his new pet, but his pet was starting to seem a little too gullible about what truly existed in this world. He was naive and oblivious to the dangers around him, confined to the ocean his whole life, it was no wonder mermans knew almost nothing about land.

 

"It is my utmost intention to keep you a secret from my fellow men Talamar," Kertia responded. He had no intention of letting the merman know that he was secretly being kept. If Talamar knew that, he could escape any time and Kertia couldn't call for any help. And if he did, his actions would be questioned about why he even had a merman in his possession. "Of course, your people's whereabouts would be safe if you behave. And if i feel like it, i would feel inclined to help them if they meet any trouble with humans. But that would be if they're careless enough like you..." he emphasized the last four words,"... to be found." So Kertia couldn't find a replacement merperson now that he had made a promise to Talamar. Does that mean that he had to lie about the existence of merpeople. No, he didn't have to lie. Kertia couldn't be faulted if he simply said that 'he couldn't find any', not 'they don't exist'. It would be a huge mar to his reputation and what others thought about his capabilities. But Kertia was still their best researcher and scientist, he wouldn't be marked for a mistake or two. Still, it didn't sit well with him that he had to degrade himself because of his circumstances. Kertia clicked his tongue irritatedly, the things he does for his pet.

 

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[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar was most definitely frightened by the end of Kertia's little speech about there only being so much he was able to tell him. He placed the bowl of his half finished seaweed and slid into the water, he wasn't going to hide away just yet, but the water made him feel a lot safer than being up and fully visible to Kertia. He didn't even want to return the bowl either as that meant he had to get close to the mad man that called himself a scientist. Kertia was right, they had never done a dissection on their own people before, only other fish and that was only after they had died of a disease of some sort and couldn't be eaten.

 

As the other explained he would keep them secret he nodded "then I will stay with no objections." he said, and looked towards the water's surface. "My people are not nearly as careless as I am." he said and sighed. "If you like I can answer any questions you have now." he said, keeping a hand on the rock he had claimed. He was hoping that if he kept the other talking that his head might not fill with ideas of dissecting him.

[Yukio Takamiya]

Kertia shifted his eyes to once again look at Talamar, wondering if the merman would be able to answer his questions which were mostly scientific. The look on his face confirmed Kertia's suspicions that merpeople didn't dissect their own kind so the merman probably wouldn't help much in his research. Then again, Kertia could learn about them psychologically.

 

"I want to know how merpeople view the ocean, not just as a home but on a wide perspective," he said. "Tell me what you think of the ocean, what does it mean to you?" Kertia was almost excited at the prospect of new knowledge that his voice rose a little higher. He came closer to the water, staring at Talamar. Negative or positive answers, he wanted them all.

 

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[PrincessGumdrop]

Talamar looked completely confused by the first question. What else was he supposed to view it as? "It...is my home?" he questioned, before thinking about it for a moment. That's not what the man wanted, was it? He had specifically stated not as a home. "It is...." he frowned for a moment before thinking again. As he thoughtwe swam around a little bit before nodding. "It is life."

 

He smiled at his answer "The ocean is my life, it gives me every thing. It gives me food to eat, water to drink, air to breath. It even gives me a safe place to hide. My ocean is death as well. It has many dangers, just like my life does. It brings sharks and eels and whales..." Talamar looked over to the rock, "I assume it is the same as your land is to you." he explained. "You don't wish it ruined so you protect it. I do the same thing for the ocean." Again he swam around the aquarium, his head still in view. "The ocean is everything to me, the only things I hold above it is other beings." he looked over to Kertia and eyed him for a moment. "Is that your only question? I would think you would have many more for me. After all I'm your first merman, am I not?" Talamar questioned, "May I ask you questions as well? You are my first human." he asked.