Melusina's Song

"Ow--" Thomas grumbled sitting up rubbing his head... Lucky for him that toss haddnt broken anything.

He stared in shock as she swam around. Gorgeous- powerful, almost scary. And she apparently found him amusing. he sat on the platform, dripping- watching as the water began to settle again, aside from the currents she left in her wake.

"Wow..." he breathed out, watching her. He stayed there for a moment before shifting into a more comfortable position.

She was showing off. She knew it though he probably didn’t, and now that he was above water she could understand him better. She knew the sound he was making was one of some kind of wonder, as his facial expression was rather obvious.

“Wow.” She said, popping her head out of the water. She said it flatly, without the wonder that was in his voice, simply copying the word that he had said in response to her. As soon as she spoke however, she dove back down, her eyes trained on him.

Thomas watched her as well, amazed that she had heard him with enough clarity while she was underwater to copy the word perfectly. "Do you have a name?" he asked.

He was sure she woudl repeat the question, and he woudl introduce himself... unless of course she knew more than she let on- and he woudl love a full out answer.

She watched him carefully, wondering what she should do. He was asking her something. She could see that. But what? She really wished she knew this humans language at that moment. Even though no more than a few hours ago she didn’t want anything to do with her captors.

However, she had spent long enough in that tank to have a rudimentary knowledge of his tongue. She’d heard the words often enough anyway. It was just a matter of connecting those words to what they signified.

“What. Is. Your. Name?” She repeated slowly, popping her head out of the water again. This time she stayed above the water, her hair dripping wet and lank against her face. She cocked her head to the side, hoping he would respond to the question and give her some idea of what the words meant.

He smiled, gesturing to himself. "My name is Thomas." he said. "What's yours?"

He spoke gently though not like someone speaking to a child. He was simply making sure his accent didn't interfear with her understanding.

She watched him curiously, the sounds forming in her head to make sense to her mind.

“My name is Mesulina.” She said slowly, the words coming out jarred and difficult to understand. Yet, she knew that she was speaking them correctly, knew that in his tongue she had answered correctly. Or at least she was pretty certain she had.

“Mesulina.” She said again, more clearly before diving back under the water.

Thomas smiled, chuckeling, crossing his legs where he sat to watch her. "Mesulina." he tried her name on his lips. He liked it, he had to admit.

He wanted to teach her more english now. He couldnt understand her language either, but at lease she coudl make the sounds required for english, as opposed to him attempting to speak her language. He wanted to know how she got into this mess, where she was from. He wanted to get to know this mermaid.

A night time breeze swept by making him shiver slightly, though he remained sitting, watching.

((TIME SKIP!!!! =) ))

Mesulina swam back to the surface and watched him and so started a rather impromptu lesson on how to speak. She was very intuitive, and very clever, as it didn’t take her very long for her to wrap her head around the new sounds and words and figure out their meaning. After all, it was in her nature to learn languages quickly and efficiently. After all, there were many different types of creatures in the seas, all speaking their own tongues, and her people were the only ones that could translate across the them all.

Morning came far too quickly, and before Thomas could say another word she ducked under and hid in her cave, knowing that light meant her torture started all over again. She wouldn’t come back out again until the sun went down and the people went home.

As Garrison made his way into work and towards the mermaid’s enclosure he noticed Thomas. He was going over there to activate the net that would pull her out of the cave and close it off so that she was forced to be out in the open.

“Oh I see you’re here bright and early.” The large man said laughing. “And I see that she’s still hiding in that damnable cave of hers.”

"... Actually, I think she might be nocturnal." Thomas stood up, stifling a yawn. "She was fairly active last night." he stated, implying he had stayed working over night. His new boss was going to rejoice the day Thomas offered a week of free labor.

he rubbed his eyes and face, forcing the drowsiness of the long night away. "If you keep forcing her our of her home and making her nervous, you'll make her sick and you might lose her." he warned. In other words; keep a nocturnal up all day and it'll die. "She'll come out on her own when people stop pounding on the glass or when she get's hungry, I'm sure."

Garrison looked at him with surprise etched on his features. First and foremost he couldn’t believe the kid had stayed there the entire night. Second he couldn’t believe he was actually telling him what to do with his tank, like an actual trainer might do.

“Are you telling me I’m supposed to leave her in that cave where no one can see her?” Garrison asked, shock written on his features.

"Well no, if you WANT a dead mermaid, then by all means keep pulling her out." he responded simply. "I'm simply advising what I think you should do. Set up a rope and 'do not tap' sign and you might be surprised." he stated confidently.

All the while he felt horrible though, referring to her as if she were more no than a dolphin on display.

Garrison couldn’t help but laugh. Kid had spunk had to give em that.

“Alright. I’d rather not lose the prime attraction. I’ll close the exhibit for the day to get all that set up. I warn you though, if it doesn’t work I’ll go back to previous methods.”

He left it at that and walked off to his office to order the sign and rope put up. No matter how he seemed, he was concerned about the fish girl dying. He did need her to be alive for the zoo to keep drawing in people.

The day passed by peacefully for Mesulina. The very first since she had first been captured. No one banged on her tank and she wasn’t forced out of her safe haven. When night fell again she ventured out, looking around her.

Thomas had spent the day sleeping and working on essays before returning to the Zoo. the sun had just finished setting as he climbed onto the swim out, wetsuit on and goggles in his hand.

He didn't seem as happy as he had the night before. One of the trainers for the zoo had told him point blank on his way out that morning that he had better watch his back. If he made them look bad, the owner would give them a pay cut.

None the less, he sat down, sighing upon doing so.

“Hello.” Mesulina said, popping out of the water. She looked at him carefully, noticing immediately that something was different about him from the night before. Flicking her tail she splashed him with some water, and laughed playfully, her beautiful voice filling the night air again as it had the night before.

She dived down into her tank and swam around freely, enjoying the sense of safety she had for the first time she was brought to that damnable place.

Thomas smiled watchign her. "Good evening." he greeted back before she dove under.

He let his feet soak, not bothering to get into the water himself.. last time he had she had kicked him out.

When she resurfaced Thomas was holding up a necklace for her. A simple stainless steel chain and pendent on it. the pendent was of an inland flower, one she woudl never be able to see.

“Whats that?” She asked, pointing at the flower on the chain, curiosity on her face. It seemed so innocent her expressions and it truly was. In almost every sense of the word she was like a child learning to experience the world for the first time.

"A flower. It's called a Lilly." he informed her. "Come here." he held the necklace out to he, having unclasped the chain. He smiled at her, showing that it was okay. Seeing her hesitate, he showed her what he planned to do but putting it on himself, then removing it.

"It's a gift."

Mesulina still hesitated unsure what to do. She understood the concept of a gift, but in her world gifts were a very special thing. One did not just simply give a gift. It was a mark of friendship, of loyalty. She couldn’t just accept it without giving him something in return. So she thought hard and decided to do the one thing that would show her friendship the most. She plucked one green scale from her tail and handed it to him, and took the necklace from him.

She did her best to translate the words from her language to his that was normally said when someone exchanged gifts.

“Gift for gift. Friendship bound.” She said slowly. Clutching the necklace in her hand.

He blinked and smiled, taking the scare carefully. "Friends." he agreed.

He smiled at her still, honored to receive a gift in return, though hadn't expected one. "Mesulina, where are you from?" he asked. "I want to help you get home."

Mesulina didn’t know how to respond. What was home to her? She’d left home so long ago now. That was the whole reason she had been caught in the first place. So did she even have a home now?

“I don’t have a home.” She said sadly, her emotions open and easy to read as she ducked back under the water for a moment.

"I'm sorry to hear that." he said watching her. "Is there anywhere you woudl rather be than here?"

Mesulina wasn’t sure how to answer that question. She mulled the thought around. Was there somewhere she would rather be? She didn’t want to be there anymore that was for sure and yet she was starting to like it. At least now that she had him to talk to.

“Do you not like talking to me?” She asked, curious. Most of the humans didn’t want her gone at all, and yet he seemed to. It was confusing for the childlike mermaid.

Thomas smiled at her. "I do like to talk to you." he admitted. "Though I would like more to see you happy.

Mesulina smiled. It was an honest sort of smile, full and purely joyful. She was not a creature who could hide her emotions and she felt everything completely.

“I am happy. Now.” She said simply, no trickery or hidden messages in her voice. “I’d be sad if you weren’t here.”

"I've arranged for people to stop knocking on the glass.... That must have hurt your ears horribly." he said apologetically. "But I wont be here for ever."