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@leilakeila and @yowuw had the brilliant suggestion that one of the attractions at adult Danny's tourist trap would be a blob-ghost petting zoo, and that Cujo could be the shop's mascot and security.

All I heard was that Cujo was there and I knew what I had to do.

Feat. St Bernard Cujo! As opposed to Mastiff Cujo from the Service Dog AU

On the dissection table- because thats all it could be- lays a small child. Small but noticable gills on the neck, the occasional fleck of scales and webbed fingers mark them as merfolk.

Viewers watch on in horror as the table is bloodied. A steady incision made in the left leg. The Justice League had been contacted but there was no indication they would make it in time to help.

A large Bang! went off in the background of the video, clearly catching the duo off guard. The man turned to his (wife?) with a weird moniter in his hands going off the charts and with an excited yelp they both took off running up the steps that were just barely in frame behind them.

A few long moments later, two teens sneak into the lab. The boy rushed over to unchain their parents 'test subject' while the girl kept watch.

Freshly released limbs had bloody wounds rubbed into the pinned down areas and quiet whispers of empathy were only just picked up by the audio. One of the viewers pointed out that the boy himself had scars in similar places.

The boy picked up the kid and the trio quickly slipped away out of camera view. Soft thuds mark their escape from the house, seemingly unaware of the Livestream their parents were apparently trying to make.

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The story makes international news and leaves everyone on high alert. Government agencies scramble to prove they had no connection to the couple, the GIW undergos mass arrest when their names Maddie and Jack Fenton come up on their payroll. A channel is made to document any sightings of the kids.

The first one is posted after a day. It's security footage from a fast food restaruant. Four teens- the two from before plus a goth and someone named ''Tucker''- along with the comparitively tiny Mer sit in a booth. ''Tucker'' and "Sam'' argue about possible dietary restriction before seemingly ordering one of everything. There is soup, and a burger, the largest cup filled with water they could find in the back, chicken tenders and salad.

When the server goes to deliver everything, the four watch them like hawks, understandable given the previous day.

(Did any of them even know Half the world knew what went down? )

(Did any of them know how Aquaman was taking the news of one of his subjects being injured like that? )

( Did any of them realize that their choice to protect the kid was one of the main reasons war hadn't been declared yet on the human race?)

Jasmine is heard softly encouraging the tiny Mer to eat something, anything and eventually the soup is downed and apparently liked enough that she gets up to order more.

Right before they leave, while under the relative safety of a roof, they swap the bandages wrapped around most of the kids leg and arms and slowly tell them about future plans despite the fact that they probably can't understand the language.

(Jasmine points at a laptop screen filled with a view of the ocean. "We" she circles the group with her pinky "are going there to get you home." The atlantian can't speak english but the way their eyes light up and they relax further into Sams side shows they understand the basic message)

(At first many of them hadn't wanted to believe the incident was real. Maybe it was a cruel joke and any second the child would pop stop crying and pop up and everything would be fi- but it never happened.

The Justice League getting so involved, the things being dug up and revealed stamped into everyones mind that it was very very real.)

The first true recorded sighting - the one that temorarily calmed the world down- was located somewhat close to Central city. From the panicked planning and thrown together bandaging, they had been more focused on just getting away then moving towards any source of water.

Despite being the earliest recording, it isn't found or put onto the site for weeks. The recorder having taken it before watching the news.

Its enough to make Aquaman's search slightly less manic.

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There are other videos, though none of them quite as long or as originally distressing as the first two. The page begins to feel a bit like an analog horror.

They mainly stop for food, water, and more bandages, except it doesn't seem to be only for the Mer. 'Danny' is seen walking with a limp in one video, 'Sam' is caught rubbing her shoulder in another.

Everyone could see the incident, it only makes sense that some might not have the best intentions. Logically the sibling duo would have sustained injuries in some part of the rescue, its just that their focus had been on the most severe injury in the set.

The realization- that all of these children could be injured, are actively injured- hits like a punch to the gut for many parents.

@soulrox wanted to include your contribution, too.

They had been driving for about 4 hours. Sometimes Jazz wished he brother could grow up slower, but right now? She wished they all had drivers licenses and could take turns. "Tucker, where's the closest place we can stop?"

Sam kicked off her shoes. She had been in too much of a hurry to properly get dressed, when they called her in the middle of the night, which resulted in blisters all over her feet. They had had to move up their plans when the Fentons started their exploritory surgery early. She had actually only been awake for about 5 hours.

She got up. The wood floor felt so good on her feet, even if she had to tread carefully to avoid splinters. She moved Tucker into a laying position and removed his backpack. He opened his eyes for a brief moment, closed them again, and adjusted himself slightly.

Sam walked over to Mer and stroked their head gently. They closed their eyes and turned upward so her hand was on their forehead. She could feel the skin on her hand drying. From what she could tell, Mer seemed to soak up water through their skin rather than drinking it. It was so cute how they opened and closed their little hands at nothing when they were happy.

"Let's see if this place has any water." She smiled and walked away from the child. Unaware that, had she only looked up, she'd have seen someone approach the cabin.

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The top of Kátur's head wasn't wet, but it was the only part of their body that came close. The moment Sam (that's one of the humans, they call her Sam) took her hand off their head, they lay down in the, something? It felt like the table they had been tied to, but with rased sides, and no one trying to hurt them.

These surfacefolk were so much nicer than the others. They didn't seem to need any water at all. Or have any water most of the time, which was really uncomfortable. But Kátur knew they were trying to help.

*drip* *drip* *drip*

Kátur let the drops hit their belly. It might be empty, but at least it wouldn't be dry anymore. They closed their eyes, enjoying the minor relief each drop provided.

It was enough to wake Tucker up. He hadn't been able to sleep the night of the rescue, or really the night before that. With every passing minute, it felt like his brain was more and more out of order. He could barely keep the stupid GPS working. He tried to push himself off the couch, but his arms wouldn't lift anything. All he could do was watch the little mer and try to figure out what they were pantomiming. They showed their teeth, growled, and put their hands up like they were claws. None of it made a lick of sense to Tucker.

[Line Break]

Sam came back into the room, and the Mer immediately turned their efforts towards her instead. She came to the sink and handed the child a water bottle she had found under the leaking air-conditioner. She thought it would be best to let the Mer decide where to pour it on themselves since they would know what parts of their body felt driest. She looked back at Tucker, who had gone back to sleep. She crouched down, brushed a lock away from his nose, and put his barret over his eyes to block out the light. It was nice to see him able to sleep after all this time. Sam was pretty sure he hadn't slept since they found out about the kid. She went back to the sink.

The little Mer had saved a tiny amount of water in the bottle. They held it out to Sam and turned around, showing the cracked skin on their back. The open window probably wasn't helping their condition. She looked around and took their jackets from the floor. She hung them up on the broken curtain hanger, blocking some of the light. Then she started splashing water on the Mer's back. She could hear their skin crackling like a cactus when it finally gets water. The bottle was empty. She wished they had more. She leaned onto the edge of the sink, putting her weight on her left arm instead of her right. The little Mer grabbed her by the cheeks and pressed the middle of their face on her nose and their foreheads together. They had only recently started doing this. They were pretty sure it either meant "I like you" or "thank you." Either way, Sam appreciated every second of moisture being dragged off of her nose.

[Line Break]

Jazz shot awake, ready to throw hands. Something was wrong. She could feel it. Every ounce of her big sister instinct was telling her danger was nearby. She checked her watch. Could the little brother really have gotten himself in danger in ony half an hour? She got up, and gravity increased a hundred fold. Ugh. So tired. She trudged to the door and cracked it open. The Mer was in the sink. Sam was under the sink, seemingly trying to manifest knowledge on plumbing through a dead cellphone. Tucker was asleep on the couch. No Danny anywhere. "Where..." she groaned, "Danny..."

Sam looked up from the pipes. "Gas station, should be heading back now."

"He went alone?!"

Sam proped herself up with her hands. "We needed water, and you and Tucker needed sleep. Besides, who could have gone with him? Me? Then Mer would be here, alone with two sleeping adults. And Mer couldn't go. It's hot enough in the shade."

Jazz looked down, unsure of what to say.

Sam sighed. "Sorry." She sat up. "I've thought about this a lot. It really was the only option." She rubbed her sholder. "It'll be ok. He can handle himself."

The girls awkwardly stared at the floor between them.

Here's me trying to interpret how Danny's hazmat suit would look like if it were more realistic, based on my experience with biohazard PPE.

Optimuses: “Don’t worry. It’s not like they’ll eat you.”

….

They all reach the Primes.

The different reactions from the Primes: 🫤😠🤨👋😒😊😄😃😁👍😯😦🤔

Optimuses: “See! They’re fine with the idea of us exploring this place.”

Megatrons: “They’re just waiting the moment we are not watching them.”

Meanwhile, Unicron and Primus: 🍿

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Always inspired by the Void Au of @rainy-s-other-corner .

Rung aka Primus in the Void: "Now I'm with my sparklings or, as humans call them, children. A therapy will help them."

Unicron: "What the frag is happening?"

Lil follow-up to my last post about Danny running his own souvenir shop.

I mentioned under the cut that Danny might try to construct his own attractions to entice people to his shop- and to extort them with tickets to enter.

With a little ghostly magic, he can obscure the fact that this is blatantly a simple sheet metal frame around an old screen-billboard.

He has no idea why his patrons genuinely seem to believe that such a dangerous piece of machinery would be accessible to the public and only guarded by some stanchions, but whatever.

I repeated the experiment later, wearing the boots but otherwise my usual clothing and mimicking the expression I thought I’d had at that moment. People parted like I was Charlton Heston.

I now wear that style of boots whenever possible. I recently had a man do a double-take as I walked by and ask me, politely, where I had served because I “looked like a soldier.” I’m not current or former military. I was wearing a flowy purple peasant top and looked as un-soldierlike as possible.

Wheel like you’re gonna win the Indy 500 and don’t care how.

Your crutches are short swords; walk like you can see them buried in the bodies of anyone who crosses (in front of) you.