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Learning Curve

Summary:

Morgan is a Ichthyologist working at his parents aquarium and marinelife rehabilitation center as Chads assistant. Wanting to do more he takes a trip to the beach and catches the interest of a never before seen species. That then almost kills him. and everyone else. Trying to convince his family that its better left alone doesn't go as planed as he's now the leader of the research team taking care of their latest exhibit.

edit 18/9/24: I'm going through and doing a grammar edit. re-reading this there's a lot of mistakes I missed and I just want to clean it up a bit.

First fic, no idea what I'm doing. Feedback would be appreciated.

Notes:

I am not an author. I don't usually partake in fandoms. I've never written fanfic before but I was inspired by Mutual Fascination by Max_Love a while back and wanted to try. Only decided to post for the new hostage negotiation. Feedback would be appreciated. I'm also very dyslexic and posting this was a lot more confusing then I thought it would be.

Mutual Fascination: https://archiveofourown.org/works/46937542/chapters/118238212

Chapter Text

The salty air brushed past me as I crawled down the bank. The steep rocks make it a difficult climb. But the small cove I had discovered was well worth it. A little shore teaming with life relatively untouched by people. A bit of research proved that humans have tried to cultivate the area, but its ecosystem makes it difficult and every project got abandoned. Just fine by me. The setting sun meant most of the tiny creatures that called this place home were out foraging in the safety of their tidepools.

I can feel the frustration leave me as I watch the little crabs scuttle about. I had told them it was a bad idea. Chad’s ideas usually are. Merfolk are temperamental at best. I would know, it's my specialty. But no, ‘make it work Morgan’, ‘listen to your brother Morgan’, ‘ how did this happen Morgan’, ‘you should have stopped it Morgan’. God, everything was always his fault and he hated it. Merfolk were intelligent. With their own customs and language of sorts. They are at least aware enough to know when they're being disrespected. There's a reason no other aquariums put them on display. Now that poor kid in the hospital and the Ray-Mer is in isolation. I feel worse for the mer. The sign said not to show teeth but no, ‘my baby’s not doing anything wrong.’ Ray-mers need their school. She doesn't deserve a punishment for following her instincts.

A bright crab catches my attention. A common shore crab, but it's got a rich purple shell that catches my eye. I quickly take the camera from my bag, stepping carefully closer to the pool it's resting in. Broken shells and bits of coral litter the pool, almost hiding it. They crunch slightly under my water shoes. It only took me a week learning about shallow water creatures to decide I'm never going in barefoot. The crab notices me over it and raises its claws. The smaller one looks like it's just growing in. I snap a couple quick pictures before moving on down the shore.

Some splashes around the bend catch my attention. My view is cut off by an outcropping of rocks. Quick to climb around it, before I started to freak out. A mer sat on a sandy section of the beach. Arms warped in netting as it tries to flop its way back to the water before it suffocates. Crap.

I'm back in work mode as I quickly get closer. They notice me and hiss. Much fainter then it should be.

“It's okay.” I quietly coxed. Slowly taking a knife from my pocket. They hiss louder, still too quiet though. The prominent fin and strike down its tail tells me it's a merlin. They usually don't come anywhere close to shore. I can't imagine how tired this one must be. Keeping my teeth tucked in and avoiding eye contact while quietly explaining I'm not a threat. I don't know if it understands or is just too tired but either way I get close enough to start cutting away the netting. I made quick work of it and quickly jumped away once all of it was off and the Mer was free. It tried to strike me but id just managed to get out of reach.

“Told you I'm just helping.” I mutter as it seems to roll over and rest on its belly. Eyeing the water not far in front of it. Out of nowhere it spurs to life and jolts into the water before seeding off. Clearly in a rush to leave. “Well, can't say I blame you.” I chuckle a bit. I stuff the netting into my bag, Barnaby is gonna have a field day with this. Merlin-Mer's were rare to catch sight of. Rarer to get close to. Simply too quick to keep up with. The couple of scales littering the net will be cool to add to our collection.

Not quite ready to head back I continue combing the beach to see what else there is. There's not much around this time of year but bits of coral and crabs but it's still interesting to look through. I'm combing through a pile of washed up coral when an odd piece catches my attention. “What the fuck?” carefully unburying it to reveal a bone. A very human looking bone. If I wasn't in my line of work I might have freaked out, but the distinct edges where that cartilage would have sprouted into fins told me this was from a mer. Though they are not common, bones like these do wash up. I gently set it down, doing a thorough search of the area to see if there's more, but I quickly had to stop when I started to run out of light. I’ll have to come back tomorrow and see if I can find any more. I gently pick up the bone and grab a piece of driftwood, stabbing it into the ground where I found the bone before heading back up the beach to my old pick up to head home. Actually excited for work tomorrow. Maybe I can find out what kind of mer this is from?

~

Well that was… interesting. Not many humans come down this stretch of beach. And not only does this one let my entertainment go, then they pick up a piece from my last one and leave with it? Do they want to stop it or not? Well, if it's bones they like. Yeah, I can do bones.
With barely a splash his eyes vanish from the surface as he slinks back into the murky depths.