Sympathy for the Siren (Leon & Roses)

[Abovetheroses]

Decades have come and gone. The extermination long over. Ariel’s face scrubbed from Disney’s archives forever, no longer do little girls dream of being mermaids. For you see when the real mermaids were discovered and the human’s childlike fascination forced them to try and make contact, their persistence did not end in a way anyone expected. At first they fled and humans pursued. When they finally stood their ground humans died, pulled to the depths by the siren’s songs. Needless to say, the humans weren’t happy. Slaughter is what came next. Like the great shark hunts, televisions and newspapers were filled with images of merfolk strung up on docks and bows of ships. Mankind hunted the beast until they could no more. Rumor of their extinction started to spread, and once again people felt safe going back to the beaches.

But one small aquarium, back in the very beginning, thought that they might be able to make a profit of the whole merfolk scandal. You can’t keep dangerous sharks in tanks, but what about mermaids?

It was a large tank compared to most in the building, but still too small for a creature her size. The filter in the wall broke almost ten years ago and no one had bothered to change it since, the algae clinging to the grimy glass and walls were proof of that. There were no decorations, live or artificial, just rough cement walls on three sides and a large glass window on the other. The dingy water was greasy and stagnant, full of filth and trash, the only movement coming from its single inhabitant. There were no signs or labels directing visitors to this exhibit and to get to it, one had to traverse down a dimly lit hallways devoid of any other creatures.

The flickering lights threatening to go out revealed the almost lifeless creature sitting in the bottom of her tank. IT was clear that at one point in her life she must have been beautiful, but that was sixty years ago, back before her imprisonment, back before the war. Pale skin once flawless was now sunken and sickly, showing malnourishment; her ribs and hipbones poking through the almost translucent layers. He cheeks were hollow, bright violet eyes were sunken. Long thick tail that should have been a vibrant blue green was dull, scales falling off in patches. The scales traveled up her spine and across her chest just barely concealing her, they covered her elbows and wrists, but even there too they were sliding off in dull groups. Pointed fin like ears poked out from pearlescent hair that had lost its sheen. The mermaid sat listlessly on the bottom of her tank staring at the wall trying to avoid the filth that floated above her.

It had been a few days. Her bright eyes flicked towards the surface. The never fed her anything fresh or healthy but… when you went days without eating even rotten fish would have appeal. She wondered if anyone would come today to feed her.

Her ear twitched and her gaze shifted to her glass window, pale strands drifting and swirling about her face as she heard strange sounds traveling through the water. Odd noises started several days ago from somewhere else in the building. Something mechanical. Banging. Loud men talking. Something was happening but she didn’t know what it was. As long as no one came to bother her, she didn’t care. At this point all she wanted was food.

 

[Leon]

The day was looking good, all things considered. Lawrence had a good head on his shoulders and a strong arm for working. He hadn't had a decent job for awhile and had been living off of his savings and even that was starting to dwindle with all the living expenses. Lucky enough for him, an add he had put up had finally gotten answered. It was to do some sort of work at the aquarium, doing some renovations with some other hired hands.

Lawrence had arrived at the aquarium with a rather sizeable group. He wore a white rag around the top of his head as a bandana in order to keep the sweat from dripping too much. The long brown hair came to just about the back of the neck, it was hot some days but it did keep him from getting too bad of a sun burn. The stubble from a few days of not shaving was starting to show on his chin and along the jawline.

The black shirt had the sleeves ripped clean off, a blue jacket wrapped around his waist if it ever got too cold where ever he was going to be working. Blue jeans because they were the best and a pair of works boots. The only thing that didn't have a purpose for work was a single blue wrist band on his left side. It held no purpose aside from the one he had given it.

While everyone was being assigned jobs to start pulling down walls or breaking tile, he was pulled to the side by the owner of the aquarium and the man that had gotten Lawrence the job in the first place. "So, what can I do for you sir?" He had to make a good enough impression, he needed the money. "So, this is the guy?" The boss would nod to the question. "Are you sure?" Another nod. "Lawrence, am I right? I have a special job for you. It'll be well worth the money, I assure you but I need you to keep this...quiet." Lawrence wasn't too keen on how they spoke directly in front of him but he would nod. "Sure, whatever you need."

The three would begin to walk into the building, taking just a bit longer than he would have thought. The hallways seemed to get longer and the work that needed to be done to not only it, but the lighting seemed dire. The men would stop, the sight of a glass tank at the far end would catch Lawrence's eye. The owner would point down. "At the end of the hall is a tank. We need you to put the contents of the bucket into it and get what you can off the surface. It's been awhile so there is much to be done. I've heard good things about you so this'll be your job while things are going on."

"Really? Just feed the fish and clean the tank? That's all?" He would ask questioningly "That's all. And remember, the contents of the tank is dangerous so don't get too close." The two would then leave with Lawrence standing there. "....wait, how am I supposed clean the tank and not get close?" The men did not turn, they seemed to busy speaking with one another to answer him. He would take a breath, he would simply have to find a way. He would slap his hands against his cheeks to get himself pumped. Maybe if he got a good chunk done, he'd get paid a bit more.

He made his way toward the tank, the smell was...awful. He had smelled worse but it didn't help the overall situation. He would stop just short of exiting the hall, taking a moment to try and get accustomed to the stench. He would look down to see a bucket with different types of fish, not entirely sure if they were something one fed to any sort of living creature. But, a job was a job and he would reach down, taking the bucket in hand, starting his way up the steps along the side of the tank. "Wonder what kind of beastie we got here."

 

[Abovetheroses]

There were more sounds reverberating through her tank. Voices. Too far away to tell what was being said though. Then there were more loud noises, banging and scraping. The hollow pit that was her stomach ached instead of groaned. She needed sustenance and that fact distracted her from the strange sounds just out of reach. The mermaid wouldn't call what they brought her food, the rotten carcass of putrid bait weren't fit for bottom feeders let alone one of the ocean's top predators. Most other creatures in the aquarium at least got fresh food, stuffed with vitamin pills or other dietary supplements. But not her. Decades ago, she used to fight them, try to get more, threaten them, attack them. They'd just withhold her food until she'd obey. Here, she was at their mercy.

The high pitched whistle of a dolphin in some other tank reached her ears through the walls and water. The juvenile was calling for it's mother, who'd never be able to hear it. The poor creature was all alone with other strange dolphins in its tank. The mermaid's heart ached for it as she heard it's sad plea. Pitiful creature.

Footsteps stole her attention away from the other sea creature. Someone finally entered her viewing area. Yet instead of approaching the glass she heard the metal stairs to the side of her tank creak under heavy body weight. Hardly used, they groaned with the pressure of each shifting step as the person climbed higher and higher. The creature at the bottom of the tank slowly stirred, one small twitch of her once shimmering tail brought her body around, silvery hair floating still gracefully around her in the yellow-brown water. One more small flick lifted her frail body off the floor and about halfway up the tank. She could already smell the fish, and the man.

Peering up at the surface with violet eyes, she hovered there, eyes accustomed at looking through the refractions as she watched him approach the walkway that crossed her tank. He was new. She didn't recognize him as any other the other men that had fed her before. For that reason alone, the mermaid frowned, she didn't like change. It was never a good thing. Not in this place. New things meant danger and danger could mean death.

 

[Leon]

Lawrence made his way up the stairs, they themselves also need of some repair. He figured that he might have a go at them at some point, he had no want to go crashing through the metal and shrapnel. It would be a freebie on his part but if it made his working conditions better, he wouldn't mind. Surely there were plenty of leftover supplies that he could use in order to do the job well enough. Though, he was more interested now in what was in the tank...if anything.

The way it looked, it seemed like nothing could live in this swamp of a mess. He thought that it might have just been a waste disposal area for unwanted everything. He would look down to the bucket and would quickly look away from it. Just the image of it swishing around, no, that would be too much, sloshing around was almost sickening. He wasn't sure if he could possibly eat after this, at least not for awhile. He would have to wash himself several times before even thinking that he was clean tonight.

As he made it just past the top, he would look across the top. It was just as bad as he thought. He needed to get his tools and maybe some supplies from the aquarium if he was going to get anything done. It looked horrid, a layer of green and yuk covering the top of the water. The only sign that there would be any way was the soft shifting of grime on the top layer. "How in the world can anything live in this shit?" He didn't know a lot about fish but he knew that an aquarium should at least keep better care of their animals.

He now began to wonder if anything was actually in the tank. For all he knew, this was all some elaborate joke and when he was done, it'd be empty for some new use from his hard labor. "Why though?" He said more to himself as he would come up and place the bucket onto the edge of the tank. He would reach to the side and pick up a spare pipe, slowly pushing it into the gunk. It was thick, that much was for sure but if there was something in there, just dumping it onto the shit on top wasn't going to get anywhere. "C'mon you lil devil. I got some....some....stuff for ya." He did make sure to keep a good enough distance, he wasn't about to let some sort of shark take a bite outta him as he was pretty sure that wasn't covered in his workmen comp.

 

[Abovetheroses]

He was merely standing there, inspecting her tank. Clearly he was new at this. Part of her found th thought amusing, she wondered how much she might be able to toy with him, convince him to give her everything in the bucket at his side. But another side was still filled with fear. The humans were the ones that trapped her here as a mere child. Growing up in this prison has been a living hell. She couldn't let her guard down, not even if it was to play a game on one of them.

She watched him grab a pipe, the thing that was often used to beat her, poke her or used to torture her in other ways. But this man used it to stir up the floating debris and filth at the top of her water. More things started to sink around her as the layer was being broken, and the mermaid idly wondered what he'd do if she grabbed the pipe and pulled him in. It caused the faintest flicker of a grin to pass across her once full lips. It was strange how much they still feared her. Her, their prisoner. The one that they tortured and abused, but the one that they feared. It made her wonder what really happened after the war. How many of her kind were really left out there that the humans still feared her in this pitiful little cage.

It was like a film being broken apart, the grossness atop her tank , giving this pitiful eyes a clear view of what lay beneath the surface. As soon as he saw her, he mermaid's delicate hand lashed out and grabbed hold of the end of the pipe he had in the water. The thin membrane stretching between her fingers was far thinner than it should have been, holes were even showing in a few places. as she grabbed the cold metallic object. Her head broke the surface where he had cleared a spot just big enough, the silvery tendrils of hair clinging to her sickly skin. She never came this close to the surface because of all the filth that gathered there.

When her eyes cleared the water level, they seemed impossibly bright for as dull as the rest of her and the room seemed. They were the only thing that hadn't lost their brilliance. Her gaze flicked between his face and the bucket of... food... as she clung to the pipe. She wasn't about to let the weapon go for fear of it's use against her, but she wasn't about to go back to the bottom without food either. The question now is what would this human do now that her presence was known.

 

[Leon]

The man would tense as he continued to push away the grime from the top of the tank. He would actually have to put a bit of muscle into it as the buildup on the end of the rod was actually more than he had thought. "Son-of-a...c'mon..." It was only a few moments before he thought he saw something in the opening he had made. He thought it might have been some sort of seal or maybe it was a dolphin but he couldn't have been further from the truth.

As a hand came out of the water, his voice got caught in the back of his throat. They were keeping a person in here?! When she pulled herself up, a firm grip on the end of the pipe, the slow realization came to the forefront of his mind. This wasn't a person, it was a goddamn mermaid. He would let go of the pipe, his body instinctively threw the bucket forward as he stumbled back.

He lost his balance and tripped down the stairs, breaking them halfway down. He would hit the ground hard but rolling away from the tank as fast as he could. The metal of the stairs hitting the ground with loud clanking noises as he scurried away from the tank, trying to make a mad dash for the hallway. He did not even make it just past the opening before a arm would reach out to stop him. "Whoa Whoa Whoa! Where are you going?" Lawrence would quickly point back. "Why didn't anyone warn me there was a monster in that tank!?" The owner would push Lawrence back against the wall, a pair of black suited men would then come up behind him.

"We might have not told you everything but you have already taken the job." The two men would come to hold Lawrence against the wall by his shoulders as the boss would continue to speak. "You were told what you needed to do and by god, you are going to do it. The money is well worth it." Lawrence would try and shift out of the grip but the two would not budge. "H-how!? How am I supposed to do that with an abomination swimming around it?!" The boss would give a simple shrug. "That isn't my problem. That's your problem mister Lawrence. You won't be leaving till its done. You'll find that a room next to your new workplace will have...enough to keep you preoccupied. We will be bringing you some blankets if you haven't finished by the end of the day." Lawrence would simply stare. "Even without the creature swimming around, that isn't enough time!" "Then you'd better get on it."

The two men would pull him off the wall and toss him back into the room with the tank before walking away. "And I'd think twice before answering ads from now on. Who knows what kinds of accidents might happen if you try and leave...without doing a proper job." Lawrence just laid on the ground, staring at it like a hole might open up to wake him from this horrible dream. He just wanted some money, not this.

 

[Abovetheroses]

He gave her the pipe. Once more that grin tried to flicker it's way onto her lips but it quickly vanished as the bucket of her food was thrown forward and dumped into her already filthy tank. It was only going to get filthier now as fish parts and juices mixed with trash and filth. She frowned and dropped the pipe for now as her gaze watched him quite literally fall his way down the stairs, breaking most of them on his way. Funny creature. He might hurt himself before she had a chance to play any games with him.

This time familiar voices reached her ears as this stranger was held at bay by the men that owned her now. Disgusting men that let her live like this, in her own filth and waste. But it amused her how they even managed to manhandle this new one. It was nice to see that she wasn't the only one that was forced to do things she didn't wish to. Her slender hand plucked a floating fish carcass from the water and she bit into it. Rotten, of course, but her teeth tore it's flesh from it's bones with ease and she devoured another two before the man was thrown back into her room, clearly unwillingly seeing as he was on his backside on her floor.

She swam over to the window and watched him gawk from his position on the floor. It wasn't a new expression to her. At one point in her early years here she had tried to hide behind her long luxurious hair. But now she just let it float as it wished. There wasn't much left of her to hide. Bright eyes caught his for a brief moment before she glanced away. Swimming back to the surface the mermaid took the skeletal remains of her meal and loaded them into the bucket she lifted off the floor. Then she hoisted them over the edge and threw them to the floor letting the filthy water and remains splash onto the observation floor. She sank back down into the water and looked out the window at the man to see if she got him wet, not really caring one way or another. She just didn't really want the bucket in her tank. She'd keep the pipe. But he could have the bucket and her trash.

Idly she wondered what exactly he was doing here anyway. He had come in with her food but was surprised by her presence. So if he didn't know about her, then why was he here? What did her owners want from him? It was a curiosity she was itching to know. It was the first real interesting thing to happen in quite a few years. Perhaps... perhaps his arrival wouldn't be completely terrible.

 

[Leon]

Lawrence would move a hand to brush his hair from his face. This was a horror show if ever he saw one. How the hell did he plan on getting out of this? He could try and run but even as built as he was, he could only do so much against those men. It was a simple numbers game at that point and it wasn't on his side. He didn't even have anyone that would notice he was gone till it was too late. He heard the splashing and shifting, looking up to see the gaze of the mermaid. She would quickly turn away from him.

Maybe it wouldn't be all that bad. Maybe he could find some sort of way to go about this. But what in the world could he even do? What could he build in order to deal with this siren? He would start to get up when there was a sudden splash and the bucket would come flying down. It would hit the ground as he would throw himself to the side, the contents spilling out onto the floor, devoured fish that seemed to make him want to vomit more than before.

He would then look at the tank, pointing his finger at the creature within. "Hey, I'm not too keen on this either. You keep your...claw...fins to yourself!" He didn't even know if it was able to understand him. For all he knew, it was like talking to an actual fish. He would look around and see tools, wood, steel and a few other things he could use in his conquest. "Stupid fish. Stupid job. Stupid smell." He would walk over and pick up a power drill, pulling the trigger to let it spin viciously to see if it actually had power. He first needed to fix the stairs before anything else. "Just have to make it fast, how hard could it be? Yeah, yeah, I got this."

 

[Abovetheroses]

She looked at him as he pointed at her. Rambling and shouting about his unhappiness. Oh, he was unhappy? She rolled her bright eyes and looked away from the man, no, child, posturing about how sad his situation was.

That's when he grabbed some object and he turned it on and it made a wretched sound. Her ears twitched with annoyance. Slowly she circled her tank. With the man at the side, he couldn't see her so she swam to the top, after picking up her pipe of course. She cleared a whole in the slime on the surface and poked her head through it. Slits behind her ears opened and water trickled out as she emptied her lungs of the disgusting liquid. Once it was all gone, her nostrils flared and she took a breath of air for the first time in a long while. Damn, it did smell foul. Not as bad as it tasted though.

Delicate hands cleared a path at the surface of the water as she swam over the the edge where the human was working. She grasped the edge just enough to pull herself up to see him down where he was working.

She paused a moment, trying to get her brain to switch to the human language. She hadn't spoken in several decades and it wasn't her first language, she wanted to make sure she got all the little nuances right.

"You try swimming in your own shit for more than ten years. It tastes worse than it smells." Her voice while sarcastic was melodic, almost like she was a singer. She wasn't trying to do anything but it was what got many merfolk in the past in trouble. Humans had an almost irresistible draw to a mermaid's voice. And when one chose to actually sing, it was impossible to resist.

She stayed there at the surface watching him, her pipe in her hand just in case he tried anything after she spoke. After all, if he was going to be forced to stay there, she was going to be forced to endure his company. Might as well try to at least make the best of it.

 

[Leon]

The man would walk over to the steps and look them over from the ground first, seeing if there were any other visible issues that he could deal with before getting to work. The shape of the entire tank was in piss poor shape but one step at a time and he would have it looking... acceptable. He would take hold of a tool apron and strap it around his waist.

He would hear the sloshing around in the tank but would simply dismiss it as the devil swimming around. She was still a large problem, maybe he could threaten her to the bottom of the tank what he worked on parts of the top. His attention was quickly brought up to the creature as her words came to him. It sounded...so pure, even with the words she used, it came from her lips like a poets writing.

"I... It..." He would shake his head and looked down at the drill in his hand. "Not sure if its been ten years but living in a dump has gotten me adjusted to bad smells...just wasn't expecting my day to be... like this."

He would walk to the side of the tank and to the bottom most step, reaching into his belt to take out a long screw. He would place it against the frame of the step and begin to drill it into the side, just enough to pierce the tank but not enough to cause a leak. He would have to redo each one and go over it again with some spackle.

 

[Abovetheroses]

"Try living in a prison." She couldn't help the words. They escaped before she could stop them. Her bright eyes looked away from him as she sighed. Shaking her head she looked back at watched him as he began his repairs. She tried to find her snarky attitude once more. It was easier to try and hold onto that contempt then the sadness.

"So are you speaking to me like I'm not some monster anymore?" She pulled herself out just a little bit more. propping her arms on the edge of her tank and resting her head on them. Her tail flicked back and forth taking the weight off her frail arms but it did little to keep the filth from collecting in her long hair. "I don't blame you for hating me, you know." She said flatly. "You weren't around when this all started like I was. You have no idea. You are just ignorant. Like all the rest." Her beautiful face frowned.

Her throat was sore. It had been many years, very many, since she had last spoken aloud. Webbed finger rubbed her neck and she cleared hr throat softly as she watched him use the strange whirring object to re-errect the stairs to the top of her tank.

Footsteps shuffled in the corridor behind the human repairing her tank and the mermaid let herself sink back into the the water. It was another man in a black suit. "Good. I'm glad to see you have decided to get started. The boss will be pleased." He strolled over to the glass where the mermaid had sank to the bottom back corner, her back to him. "Don't let the bitch get too close." He pounded his fist on the glass a few times and grinned as he watched her grab at her ears. Then he walked out, his check-up complete.

The mermaid stayed put, trembling slightly as she sat on the floor. That man was one of the worst... the things he had done to her over the years. The only one worse than him was his predecessor, but she had killed him years ago.

 

[Leon]

She had him there and his lack of a response seemed to justify that as he had plenty of close calls but never actually being put in prison. He would move along, step by step, bit by bit as he heard her words yet again, a symphony to the ear over the harshness that his drill seemed to make in comparison. He would glance up as he saw her at the edge of the tank, watching.

"It was a knee jerk reaction." It was the first time he had seen merfolk up close and it was just like being in a shark cage. The sight alone was enough to not want anything to do with these deadly sea creatures the way they were talked about.

She said she didn't blame him but there was a distinct hatred in her voice that made it sound like anyone coming through that hallway wasn't well liked. "Hey, I think I deserve a bit of leeway too. I might not that knowledgeable but at least I'm committed. I learn and I overcome, it's part of the job."

He would finally get to the protion he had fallen through and looked it over, walking back down to grab some bars and moving back up, starting on these now, stopping only when someone else came into his view.

A man in a black suit like the ones that were stopping him from leaving. He spoke of being fairly happy that Lawrence was doing his job but he would just smile and nod. Watching as the man seemed to enjoy the torment of the mermaid and gave Lawrence a warning to not get close.

Lawrence would stop what he was doing, looking at the tank. He didn't know much of merfolk aside from the word of mouth and few articles he had read but this just seemed wrong. Even a shark had no reason to be treated cruelly and the tank itself showed just that. Neglect and a willingness to simply keep her at the brink.

"You know..." He would start walking down the stairs, taking a large step over the unfinished hole as he made his way down to the bottom. "I don't have much experience with fish and the like but if I'm going to fix things here, I'm going to have to get that shit outta that tank." He would scrounge around for a strainer and figured he'd have to do this in steps.

"You don't have to like me and I don't have to like you. But I can help you if you help me. Let me start by getting some of that gunk out, you don't get too close and we'll all be better, yeah?"

 

[Abovetheroses]

She listened to him from her position on the bottom on the tank but made no motion to move until the other human had left and it was clear he was not about to return. Then slowly she turned around and made her way back to the surface, this time at the opposite side of the tank. Over here she didn't have a good view of him, she couldn't see what he was doing, but if it made him more comfortable then she'd stay here. As much as she had an aversion for humans, it was nice having someone to speak with. Being alone for years at a time started to make her think about doing awful things. Especially to herself.

When her lungs were clear she finally spoke. "I won't come near you.... But I am not a fish. And while it is quite clear you don't like me, I have no opinion of you. It's just your kind I have a relative distaste for." She snorted a bit and folded her arms across her chest. But then she undid the action and started to pick things out of her hair and push them towards the other side of the tank so he would hopefully remove them with the miniature fishing net he seemed to be holding.

"And why do you think you deserve any leeway in this matter? I have received none." She said flatly. "I was barely older than a child when the war happened. Do you think that I was somehow involved in it? Or orchestrated any of it?" She spoke of it like it was the equivalent of World War II or something but the way text books told it, it was more like the humans were attacked by guerrilla warfare and then they exterminated all the mermaids. A complete and utter decimation of a race. Not a war. "Your kind are the cruel ones, blaming me for something I had nothing to do with. It's been almost a century and still I get no say in anything. How do you say it? 'Charged with a crime I did not commit'?"

She sighed. "When humans treat you like a monster for so many years, it's hard to not slowly become the one they think you are." Her bright eyes watched him as he worked. She was a sad creature, no matter how tough she tried to act, and her voice was slowly letting that fact on the more she spoke.

 

[Leon]

He would finally come to find the object he was searching for, though he was sure that this would be the more distasteful part of his job. Though, with little actually choice in the matter, he would simply suck it up and try to push through it.

He heard her agree to the terms of staying apart from one another though she seemed rather off put at being called a fish. Also that her problem was with his race, not him personally. "Well...I...can't really blame you for that. But I never went to war with anyone, well, not an actual war. What people have done isn't what I've done." He would start up the stairs.

She spoke of her time in her cage, a child striped from all that she knew to swim in a prison that was made for the falsely accused. "Not everyone is cruel, not everyone is nice either. It's the rule, history is made by the victor. There aren't many merfolk around to argue what did or didn't happen and hell, even if there were, from how you put it, they wouldn't be allowed to tell it."

He made it to the top as he would let the strainer dip into the water, slowly shifting it to the edge and flipping a patch of putrid mess out, hitting the floor with a wet slap. He wasn't sure what sort of comment to make, he wasn't some grand ambassador of peace. His opinion meant little against a whole slew of others.

"Humans are the most dangerous animals. We look for a fight whenever we can, even against ourselves. I don't really care what happened, only what I was taught. I'll try and be a bit less... skeptical." Another slide would force another pile to land top of the last on the floor. "I like learning things, don't see how this is much different."

 

[Abovetheroses]

She watched him begin to scoop the stuff from her tank and deposit it over the edge. The first step towards a cleaner, healthier place to live. "They know we speak. You are the first I have spoken to in more than thirty years." She admitted. "They used to do things. Torture. Abuse. Ask me things I had no answers for. So after a while I stopped speaking. But you are right. If they were to ask, I'm not sure any other human's would listen to what I or any other would have to say."

The mermaid eyed him curiously. "Willing to learn?" She echoed and moved more debris towards where his scoop was. "We shall see." He seemed genuine enough, and until he proved otherwise, the mermaid would give him the benefit of the doubt. He had yet to really do anything but show a general fear and distaste of her. "Humans are quite dangerous, of that I have no doubt." For a moment, a dark shadow fell over her eyes as she tried to hide some long lost memory. Something painful and no longer attainable.

She shook her head and rid herself of the thought. "What is it that they call you?" She quirked a pale brow as she followed his movement. "And how is it that you found yourself stuck in my company? It seems as though this was not your first choice of occupation."

Now that they were talking civilly, she could actually get a decent look at him. He was rather handsome, for a human. And he seemed like despite being forced into this situation he was a decent person. Time would tell though, if the latter were true.

 

[Leon]

It was not hard to think that people wanted to hear what they wanted too. There would be no other reason to see otherwise if it didn't fit an agenda. She would speak that she had not spoken with another in thirty years. It was a bit of a shock to say the least, she didn't look to be anywhere near that age but at the same time, he wasn't really fluent in how the species aged. Never had a reason to look into it.

He could tell that things were bad for the creature but he didn't think that torture was among them. The state of her living environment was abuse enough, he saw little reason to do much else. He didn't think that his apologizing for the actions of strangers would do anything for her so he would just keep pulling more trash to the edge, flipping it out.

She seemed curious to the words he spoke of wanting to learn. Learning was how he got by at this point. Learning to build, learning to make due with what he had. "Yeah but not all of us are so bad." He would listen as she would ask him what he was called and what got him in his current predicament.

"I'm pretty much an all round worker." He would chuckle. "Though I guess you mean my name. Lawrence." He would let the net move further out, he having to force a larger mush to the side causing the muscles on his exposed arm to tense against the weight but still trying to keep up the conversation. "Money *Gah* Need to make a... living somehow. Thought it was going to be..." He would finally get the debris to the edge before taking a breath. "...a simple building job. Move this there, put that here. Simple and easy money."

He would take the pole in both hands as he would force the large mass over the tank edge. After it was pushed over, he'd continue. "Rent ain't as cheap as I'd like it." He would pause for a moment, he wasn't sure if she even knew what 'rent' was. "Rent is what a person has to pay in order to live in a house or in my case, a large room."

 

[Abovetheroses]

"Your species.... So very strange." She mused aloud as she watched him. Bright eyes trailed over his figure as she watched his muscles flex and strain to clean the masses from her tank. "You force one another to do things and... pay for things." She still didn't quite understand the term. "All the while taking things that aren't actually yours. Your ignorance is truly baffling." She swam in a small circle before stretching her arms above her head, her long lean body arched creating an almost perfect silhouette, the murky water just barely hiding her chest. God, she would have been gorgeous if she was healthy.

"Your society has truly gotten things backward. I do not know when it all went so wrong. I-" She caught herself mid-sentence, almost like she knew she was about to say too much. She took a deep breath her bright eyes watching him for a long few moments before she swam to a different side of the tank. Still not beside him, but just a slight bit closer.

She smirked. "Lawrence," His name rolled off of her tongue in an unintentionally seductive way. "What would you do if you knew the truth?" She asked him, her tail flicking back and forth, not quite as careful to keep it's distance as she had been earlier. "The truth about the humans and merfolk, and I'm not talking about the war."

If only he knew. But what then... would he help her? Or would he tell on her and let the torture commence once more?

 

[Leon]

"Can't really argue there." He would agree as most people he talked too were never simple when it came to his work. It would always be something unique and different, something complicated in its structure and he had to find a way to make it work. On the other hand, he had the very simple jobs sometimes where it was just simply destroy the entire structure and leave.

As she spoke of taking things from others, he would reach outward with the strainer to take hold of another batch. "I'd like to think we've evolved past that, at least in my time. We give back too, trying to make things better..." He would watch the sludge move toward the edge and make sure to add. "Well, most of the time. Like you said, confusing." As he would toss the mess over the edge, he would glance up to see her swimming around. She would start to comment about something about the society and how things had gone in such a poor direction.

She would swim around a bit more but he would keep a tight grip on the strainer, moving another bit of mess in it as she would ask him a question of truth. He would think about it for a moment. "Well, I can listen. Hearing a story from another side wouldn't hurt anything would it?" Though, he thought back to the previous words they had spoken about these sorts of things being told to better the side telling the story but talking with her did help pass the time and kept his mind from the smell that he had gotten used too.

 

[Abovetheroses]

Small delicate hands would reach out and grab hold of the strainer but just enough to stop it and get his attention. Nothing of a violent of forceful nature, as soon as she held his attention she'd let the object go. "I'm not talking about stories Lawrence. I'm talking about a history long forgotten by your people. Something that you chose to forget, especially when the war happened." A frown marred her pale features as she watched him, unsure of if it was wise to tell him.

She looked away and took a deep breath as her violet eyes drifted about the room. "Perhaps you are not ready to hear such things." The sadness overtaking her face was heartbreaking. The fin like ears at the side of her head dropped and her shoulders slumped into the water. "I'm so ready though." She whispered. "Just... not on my own." She rubbed a hand over her face, pinching the bridge of her nose in an effort to stall the impending headache and keep the frustrated tears from falling. The human before her didn't need to see that, how desperate and pitiful she really was. He was her first ray of hope, she needn't put it all on him though. She still wasn't sure if he could be trusted completely after all.

"How long do you think it will take you to complete you work here?" She settled on asking him. As she brushed her long hair over her shoulders another question came to mind. "Might I make one request of you? Could you get me fresh food?" Unaware of its cost or where he might find it all she wanted was something that would help her heal and get stronger. He didn't need to know that it had anything to do with her earlier questions and babblings. Not just yet anyway. But maybe. If they both played their cards right, he might be the first in a very long time to learn her secret.

 

[Leon]

He would not be paying attention to the strainer as his attention had become more looking for other lumps he could get so when something caught a hold of it, he would look and see her there. He almost freaked once again as remembering his first encounter with her with the pipe but, he didn't. He froze but he held tight to the pole's end. He was locked onto her from the small action but her words came out in such a way that he didn't want to NOT believe her. She even seemed to start breaking down which caused him to feel all the worse. "H-hey, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to doubt you or anything, really."

She would then bring up the question of just how long it would take him to finish his current job. He would look the tank over once and then another question would come to light, one for food. He would think for just a moment before crouching down, letting the end of the pole rest on the top of his shoulder. "Well, a couple days at the least. But I can never tell till I get a good look at everything. Could take weeks, a month but that all depends on how I feel on the day." He would let his head rest against the pole. "I mean, they can't really lock me more away now can they? But yeah, you eat....fish?" He would say the word questionably as he wasn't sure if the shit that he had dropped in earlier was just leftovers from the other sea creatures and she was just getting them because they didn't want to get her proper food.

 

[Abovetheroses]

His time frame wasn't too reassuring. The days tended to blur together but even she could tell the difference between a week and a month in this wretched place. She hoped it'd take longer. She'd have more time to talk to him, earn his trust and maybe, just maybe he could help her. If it all went well. When he mentioned food though her thoughts shifted for a moment and her eyes lit up just a little bit. She nodded a bit more vigorously than intended. "Yes. Fish. I'd just prefer it much.... fresher then what they give me." She looked over at the bucket still spilled out on the floor. Then her excitement returned for a moment. "Are we near an ocean?" Unaware of where her prison cell was located she had no idea how easy it would be to procure her food. "Would you be able to find squid at all?" She sounded so hopeful. "It was always my favorite and I haven't had any since before." Her excitement dissipated when she realized that she was already asking more from him then she should have been. "But I will be happy with anything you might be able to find."

The mermaid looked down at her hand and touched the thin membrane that stretched between her fingers. It was too thin and had a few holes but that was because of her current predicament. She mumbled something to herself and looked over at him, studying him carefully as if she wished to say something. But the sounds of voices yelling down the hall interrupted any thought she may have had. They yelled something about stopping, a break, the end of the work day? She didn't quite understand. But her eyes flicked from the dark hall to her unwilling companion.

"It appears you might be done. For now." It was strange to find that thought a bit unsettling. The churning in her stomach was unfamiliar and the mermaid didn't like how queasy she suddenly felt. All at the thought of the one other voice in the room leaving. Even if he was scared of her.

 

[Leon]

Lawrence would notice a bit of pep flow into the mermaid at the very idea of getting something to eat which made even he a bit hungry as all the actions of the day were starting to catch up to his stomach. She seemed rather keen on the idea of getting something better than what was in the bucket he had accidentally dumped in prior. "I think I can do fresher." She would then come at him with a question about the ocean which would cause him to give way to pause before shifting his hands a bit around the strainer. "I'd say about an hour's ride, give or take. Not really ocean front property. Though, I know a fish market not to far from the aquarium and I can see about getting something there but I can't make any promises." He didn't want to get her hopes up too high but he figured that whatever it was he could get his hands on would be better than what she was being given.

He would stand up straighter and would push the strainer further into the water so that he could place his hands at the top of the pole he was holding. He watched the creature in the tank looking down at her hands. It was just like looking at any other animal. Kind of cool to be so close but there was still a hint of danger like with any harmful animal that had such a reputation. He watched as she turned her attention to him and he would have sworn she was going to say something else but they would turn toward the dark corridor as yelling would signal that they were starting to wind down. Lawrence would start pulling out the strainer from the water and look over the top of the tank. He had made a small dent in the top fill but there was surely more to do and maybe he would be able to either get something quicker when he came back.

"Yeah, looks like. I'll be back either later on or tomorrow. I don't have much in the way of after hours life." He would raise the pole up and onto his shoulder as he would wave to the mermaid as he would start down the steps. He would come to stop at the base of the tank, rather close to the glass so that he could see inside the foggy water while placing his hand against the glass, looking it over. "We'll have this fixed up in no time."