Do Not Feed The Syreni

The first thing she noticed was the cold.

She felt it in her gills, first. It wasn't extremely freezing, but it wasn't the warm water of the shore she was used to. She curled in on herself as if to try to get away from it. Then, she started feeling it in her toes and her fingertips. It wasn't long before she was thoroughly uncomfortable, and she forced herself to wake up. 

At the first blink of her eyelids, she realized she wasn't in her cave. It was far too bright, and she couldn't see any of her traps. Then again, that was sort of the point of the traps, but a couple more blinks and she still couldn't see them. Or much of anything she was used to. Slowly bringing herself out of her sleepy haze, she began to realize something was very wrong here. Heart starting to race, she pushed herself off the sandy floor and took a good look around.

There were humans.

Not just humans, though - tons of people. Tons of creatures. She had no idea what they all were, but she could see them. They were underwater. She was pretty sure humans couldn't just stand underwater like this, though, so this was particularly weird. Was this a dream? Frowning, she swam towards them before her arm hit... something hard. Some kind of... barrier. It was invisible. It reminded her of the surface of those disks she found - the ones that reflected images back to you. It was like that... only apparently really big and see-through. 

Where was she? 

She began to turn, to see if it was this way all the way around her (it was), and saw something almost more shocking than the giant barrier and her missing hoard.

That was a deep sea Syreni.

Maro frowned. Something was very wrong, here.

Akvo watched the shore Syreni with a bored gaze, watching as she banged her head on whatever magical barrier he had faceplanted into a few minutes ago, as well. It would have been funny, the way she swum around like a newborn guppy, if it weren't for the fact that Akvo was lost and confused himself with the entire situation. He curled righter into the shadows of the fake-cave he had found. There were Syreni without fins, just watching them out there, the barrier they were enclosed in was too small for his liking, the water was warm (the one thing that was realllly bugging him right now), and it was far too bright for him to see very well.

All in all, this situation sucked.

The shore Syreni seemed to agree, by the way she frowned at him. Or maybe she was actually frowning at him; he wasn't entirely sure shore attitudes about those who lived deeper than most, but he kind of assumed they'd be rich, stuck up assis, especially to gold-less deep seaers. Well, he wasn't going to play along with the hierarchy, no way, and if the first sentence out of her mind was a stuck-up demand or complaint, so help him he'd throw his fake-cave at her. Probably. He hadn't really checked to see if it could be lifted, seeing as his eyes had been on fire till he had taken refuge in its confines, but the notion still stood.

"....Hi..."


Maro didn't know what to do. She was a bit nervous of the deep sea fellow, considering most from that depth were quite... vicious. She didn't want to do anything that might make him angered - she valued her life more than she valued the truth. And in any case, they were both in the same, crappy situation right now, weren't they? 

"Do you know anything about this? About where we are or who they are?" She gestured towards the crowd of individuals, who seemed particularly amused now that they had something to look at other than two curled up merpeople. As much as she wanted to move out of their sight, she had a distinct feeling he'd already staked his claim on that cave, and it would probably be unwise to get any closer to it. 

"Would you mind if I joined you in there? I really hate all this staring."

"I know we're close to the surface, that's for shore" Akvo huffed a little bit to himself in amusement before going back to his glaring down of the masses outside the barrier. He really didn't know why they just watched them, but it was setting him on edge. He didn't like one Syreni looking at him, let alone a whole group of what looked to be, he didn't know, albino shore dwellers?

He scowled at them. A particularly young one just smiled back, strangely unpointed teeth few and far between. Drat. Defeated in his intimidation of the strange people, Akvo turned his attention back to his confused tank mate.

"Look, I don't know anything about this place, and no you can not 'join me in here'" he huffed, glaring at the wall. Darn shore dwellers, thinking they could just have anything. Although, it probably wouldn't do to have a rough start with a shore dweller in a place surrounded by shore dwellers... plus, there was that one sunny spot in the cave he wasn't using...

"Ugh, fine, just stay out of my shadows, alright?"

Maro nodded, glad to be allowed in at all. At least he was cooperating a little - more than she'd heard of deep sea dwellers being. She was less in sight of some of the creatures outside and that was good enough for her.

"I don't know that we are near the shore, though," she shrugged, tucking herself into the little spot of sunlight. At this point, she was even questioning whether it was the sun at all. "I don't think those are Syreni. Not all of them. Some might be but you see those ones?" Maro gestured towards some humans. "The pink ones? Those aren't, for sure. I think they're called humans. They're those creatures who bring those big crates into the water." 

Maro crossed her legs, sinking to the sandy floor and noting that it wasn't quite right. The sand was coarser than she knew it to be - and she lived near the shore, where a ton of the rocks were. It was like... it was fake. It wasn't real sand or something. Just like she suspected the sun to be. She reached out into the shadows to feel at the cave to see if it was really rock, scowl on her face. This, at least, felt like the real thing. 

"Do you think there's even water out there? Or is that barrier holding the water in here? Because I don't think humans can deal with water very well."

"N-not all Syreni? Well what else would they be, eels!?" Akvo was frustrated by Maro's statement, at least until she explained it further. Well, actually, after she'd explained, he was still frustrated, maybe even more frustrated  than he had been before, by this knowledge of 'humans'. But at least he knew a little more what was going on.

Oh, who was he kidding himself, a Syreni-like species that weren't Syreni, all staring at them and unfazed by his intimidation tactics? This was worse than before, he was completely lost, confused, and get him the fuk outta there.

Of course, none of this really showed on the outside other than a momentary twitch of his face and a raised eyebrow as he continued to listen to her information.

"Whatd'ya mean, 'no water'?" she must have spend too much time in warm water, this one "you don't mean land or something? Sorry to break it to you, but land is above water, not... level with it" He completed his spiel with a roll of his eyes, going back to staring at the cave wall, because with the knowledge of 'humans' (how did he know she wasn't lying, though?), he didn't really feel like staring at their odd, scale-less faces.

Oh.

He did have a point.

"I mean like...." Maro huffed, not expecting it to be so difficult to explain these things to the deep sea dweller. Of course, she expected him not to know that much, but nothing? At all? She knew they didn't get much treasure down there, but how little were they getting if he couldn't even recognize a human?

Boy, she hoped they were called humans. She was so very sure of that one fact.

"Okay, I don't think that land HAS to be above water, you know? Like, isn't this stuff what land is made out of?" Maro picked up a handful of fake sand, letting it fall slowly back to the floor. "And that's under the water, isn't it? Like I said, maybe the barrier holds in the water the same way it holds in us. So the creatures outside don't have to be in it. Because maybe they can't be?" She questioned that last part - Syreni could be out of water, if only for a short period of time. And she could keep parts of her out of it as long as she wanted, as long as her gills were still under. Maybe humans were like that too? If they looked so similar to them, maybe they had more in common? 

Of course, maybe that was all wrong, but she'd spent years building up her theories on humans, and this one encounter with the deep sea dummy wasn't about to send all this thinking crashing down.

She crossed her arms and huffed, now almost wanting out of the cave as bad as she wanted in it in the first place. But it was still better with the significantly fewer stares.

All in all, Akvo was not very impressed with Maro's explanation. Maybe she was right, maybe she wasn't, but with all the complex things she described, along with what he thought must be hoity toity language (for the simple fact she was the one saying it), the understanding swam in one ear and out the other.

He simply shrugged, sparing a sideways glance over to the other Syreni. She looked fairly upset, if not downright uncomfortable. He wasn't going to try to figure out why, though. It wasn't his problem and wasn't his concern.

Though, it was fairly obvious where some of it was coming from; the continuing fact of the people outside the barrier that just weren't going away. Really, it was beyond the point of pisssing him off, now, and to the point where he was starting to get self conscious. Why did they stare? Surely they had something better to do; he couldn't fathom why the humans wouldn't have hordes they should be guarding or building. His worry really started to show on his face, at that moment, because who wouldn't be worried? Yeah, I didn't think you could think of anyone, either.

"Ok, so you're the 'all knowing' fish here, d'ya think we could break the barrier somehow?" he would have already tried it if it weren't for the fact that shade was precious and he didn't want to leave it "Would we even be able to swim out there? Breathe?" he growled a little bit when she didn't respond right away "I'm not sure about you, but I don't want to be stuck in a little shore box for the rest of my life. Use your brain, or legs, or whater you Shore Fish use to do anything"

Maro sighed, moving from her spot of sunlight and out of the cave back towards what she was deciding to refer to as land dwellers. They seemed to be intrigued by her movement, as if the fact that she was doing anything at all was some sort of miracle. Then again, all they'd seen of them so far was lying down and hiding in a cave. Maybe they thought she was here for their entertainment - how rude could they be?

She observed the barrier, seeing several smaller land dwellers pressed up against it and cupping their hands around their eyes. Were they trying to see better? She didn't see how that would help. Finally finding a small break in observers, Maro swam towards it to try to get a better look at what was outside this barrier, anyway. That didn't turn out well, actually. In fact, it seemed as she got close to the barrier, all the land dwellers flocked her direction.  That was pretty frustrating.

"Hey, Mr. Dark and Mysterious, do me a favor and come get stared at. I gotta see through this crowd and they won't stop following me around."

Get stared at? Leave the cave and it's sweet, sweet shade? Akvo wasn't really liking this plan, but planning to stay here forever was a worse one, so he figured temporarily listening to Maro and forming an mutual truce of sorts wouldn't hurt.

As he slowly swam out of the cave and the eyes of the land dwellers all glued to him, however, he couldn't help but think yeah, no this hurts at lot.

Sparing a glare at the water in front of him and internally cursing his own display of idiocy, Akvo darted back and forth and did a few fancy twirls in the water, emulating a slightly depressed dolphin. The masses loved it; more than one face was pressed up against the glass, and some younger humans even started to make fish faces at him. It pisssed him off (he was a Syreni, not a fish), but once Maro was done with looking wherever she was he would be sure to scare them Do what I do. Hold tight and pretend it’s a plan! or something.

"You seeing anything?"

Maro smirked, pleased Edgy McEdgelord had decided to play along for once. Taking her chance now that a significantly smaller number of land dwellers stood in her way, she pressed herself against the barrier, trying to get a good look at some of the things in the distance. There were more barriers, but these weren't transparent like this one was. And there were other containers, too, like theirs - ones with other creatures in them. Who was trapping all these creatures here? This wasn't right. 

"Uh... yeah sort of... I um..." Maro scowled, backing away from the glass uncomfortably. It didn't quite hit her until now that she really was here for the land dwellers' entertainment. Who decided this was an alright thing to do? 

"It's not just us in here. There's a bunch of other barriers. No more Syreni, though, not that I can see. I think they're organizing us by species.... Do you think this barrier blocks communication?"

Akvo mentally relaxed when he heard Maro start speaking, knowing that he wouldn't have to swim around like a clownfish anymore. Giving one last slap of his tail to the barrier (delighting some humans but, thankfully, startling others), he swam over to where Maro was, trying to see what she had been seeing. Unfortunately, the masses swarmed back in to close their ranks and obscure the view.

"More barriers? What are, we, their-their-" he paused, an idea forming in his mind. He quickly whirled around to face Maro, eyes wide and fins twitching in agitation "Oh god, humans don't collect living things as hordes, do they?"

He knew his habit of collecting hunting trophies as a horde would come back and bite him in the fins. Not that them getting captured was really his fault, but still, being on the other side of the situation made him think a little on what he did. A little. Okay, not really that much, because squids and fish weren't intelligent creatures anyways, but it still made him feel pretty darn horrible about his current situation.

"... They might."


Maro honestly didn't know. She knew very little about humans - only what she could pick up from their weird, choppy language and their treasures. She was so used to having wide open areas around her, and she was quickly becoming upset at the small enclosure she'd been placed in. 

She began pacing, running her hands through her hair. "This is so stupid. They can't just keep us in here, we're people. Who does that?" What was worse than just being stuck here was all the staring they were getting. She couldn't take a single step without some kid being in awe of her movement from the other side of the barrier. She wanted them to go away. She wanted them to go away so badly.

"Don't you have something better to do?! Scram!" She projected as strongly as she could, rushing to the nearest wall of the barrier and slamming her fist into it. Some of the land dwellers backed away, and a few dragged the smaller ones with them. They seemed unhappy with her outburst - which just made Maro want to do it again. "I said SCRAM!" She began to kick at the wall, this time as if she was actually fighting the people on the other side. The crowd seemed disturbed. Still, they wouldn't leave her. As soon as one did, another one came anyway.

"We gotta break out of here."

He was actually a bit surprised by Maro's sudden anger at the humans on the other side of the barrier. He didn't think his tank mate, fairly logical and reserved until now, would have it in her. He shrugged, internally acknowledging her strength, then joined her in attempting to break the barrier; he hurled himself at it and, when that didn't work, scraped his claws against it like he was sharpening them on a rock. It certainly didn't act like rock, though; an ungodly screeching sound resulted that sent humans covering their ears and cringing away, as well as long, white marks in the otherwise transparent barrier.

Wait, hold on. Those weren't just marks. They were indents.

"I think this barrier's ice, or something! You can dig through it!" working harder at his task, Akvo continued to slowly scratch grooves into the glass. It didn't make the same sound as before, but still humans outside were ushering their young away, unease written over their faces.

Akvo smirked. Served them right.

Of course, as the watching humans went away, more came. They were... different, though. Their clothes were all identical, and they were yelling something, seemingly upset...

Eh. He looked right at them and made another long scratch in the glass. Mannn, they didn't like that.

Maro stepped back, watching as the deep sea fish tried to claw his way through the barrier. Was it ice? Could it be ice? During all her rage, she hadn't really tried to check the temperature. Laying her hand on it in curiosity, she decided it didn't feel cold enough to be ice. But then again, all of this was cold, so maybe she wouldn't be able to tell, anyway. Whether it was ice or not, she didn't have claws like he did. She wouldn't be able to dig away at it like him.

Then the humans started approaching. They were all so similar, what were they doing? They didn't seem very pleased with their sudden outburst - what else would have made them come out here, right?

Did they put them in here?

"What are we doing in here? Why did you take us? Let us out!" Maro scowled, pounding her fist on the barrier.

Akvo didn't pause in his 'digging', although he kept a close eye on what the oddly similar humans were all doing. They moved around to the opposite side of the barrier until they were behind the one that wasn't transparent; there was a banging sound, then the ceiling of the barrier came off.

He didn't waste any time swimming towards the opening like a madman and flashing his claws out at the first human he saw. He didn't quite get as far as hurting one, though; the one he was going after stepped back and shot something at him; the shock afterwards reminded him of a jellyfish, if jellyfish were the size of giant squids and were supercharged.

As he fell back into the water and drifted down, he couldn't quite control his limbs, much to his shock and dismay; his arm was frozen in a weird position, and his tail twitched oddly every few seconds. Akvo was pretty sure he was garbling telepathically, as well, something about jelly. He could barely make out the weird, garbled language of the humans through the seaweed in his brain.

"Yeah, we had to tranq the male after he tried to attack one of the keepers. He did a number on the glass, too, probably going to need to replace it" there was a pause "Okay, tank 11C, got it. Should we tranq the female too?" another pause "Okay, going now"

That was the last thing he remembered before something like a really fast minnow came flashing through the water and embedded itself into his lower tail. He was out like a light.

"The Shime of the Lonlay Poot!"


Maro jumped back at the shock, feeling the surge through the water as he fell back into it. She could feel the static around her, and as she rushed forwards to see what had happened to him, she got zapped by the remaining charge. What the hell was that? She knew these humans were no good but this was ridiculous! Was he dead? Wow he better not be dead. Judging by his random garbling, he probably wasn't, but it was scary all the same.

She looked up towards the humans in fear, hearing the muffled sounds of their voices through the water. One of them lifted up his... weapon? Maro wasn't about to just stand there and take that. She had no where to swim but up, though. She didn't make it two strokes before the tiny silver minnow went rushing by her head and into her shoulder. Maro's eyelids fluttered closed as she stopped moving, sinking back towards the bottom of the pool.

The Shime of the Lonlay Poot.

Akvo woke to a killer headache and sore fins. Unlike last time he'd woken up in an odd place (he didn't think he would ever have to go through that again), everything was very dark and, while still warm-ish, more similar to his home temperature then the tank he'd first woken up in.

Now, this whole situation excited Akvo at first. I'm free, he thought, I don't know how, but I don't even fricken care! He swam excitedly forward.

Then hit his head on the wall of a barrier.

All his hopes came floating back down again, just like they had when he had woken up in the first tank and thought, hey, cool, I wonder if there's treasure around here?, then prompty bonked his head against the glass when he tried to swim forward. Jeez, small place, he thought, vowing to look where he swam next time he woke up in an unfamiliar place. If it ever happened again, that is, which he sincerely hoped wouldn't.

That got him thinking. Even if it was dark and cold(er), he must still be in the human den. He wondered what happened to the little shore Syreni that was trying to get them out? Scanning the tank, the absence of anything but water and darkness made it easy to spot her; she lay on the floor in the corner, unconscious. Worried, he swam over to her, and after a moment of serious contemplation weather or not she'd try to bite his finger off, he poked her in the cheek.

"Yo, sleeping beauty, you awake? We're in a new place. Again"

Maro felt a poke on her cheek.

She heard some kind of murmur in her head - maybe someone was trying to communicate with her. But she didn't want to move. It was so freakin' cold. Earlier, it wasn't so bad - she'd describe it as chilly. Now she might as well be under an ice berg. Shivering, she curled in on herself with a groan. She remembered some kind of flash - a tiny little object shooting towards her - before she passed out and ended up here. It was probably a safe bet she hadn't just been dropped in the deep sea - they were just somewhere else with the humans, weren't they?

Maro assumed that deep sea fish was still here. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but it was a safe bet they hadn't bothered separating them. Who else would have been talking to her, right?

"...Mmm.. what'd you say....? It's.... It's really c-cold...."

Akvo swam backwards and crossed his arms, his fins twitching in irritation at the sluggish shore Syreni.

"C'mon, it's not that cold, get up" he swam away from her, eyes trying (in vein) to locate the difference between the barriers and the water around them "We're somewhere, uh... I don't know where, but it's not where we were before"