#bkdkmerau

From @ - hotpotatopotat Au

It's 4 pages and has some new mer and characters too that will be introduced into the story eventually. I appreciate you all!

So crazy you ask because I have an answer but never planned to tell anyone or make it a comic really. I'm so sorry for the wall of lore text but I actually have an answer LOL I always hc that mers are uniquely equipped to learn languages, since the ocean is so big and they travel long distances, meeting a lot of different mers. The dialects they speak are akin to what other cetaceans have, like a family language that can be extropolated into different contexts. But most mers also learn to understand foreign/human languages simply because their exposure to humans is unavoidable. However, in order to actually speak they have to want to. Most of their own language is from nonverbal cues, so speaking in human language is not easy. For example, Stain mer didn't use human language until forming a bond with Toshinori, and he wanted to learn to talk. Bakumer spent most of his time around humans growing up, so he learned and wanted to talk fairly early on. Some mer work with humans as ambassadors and translators even. So to answer your question, some little mers might pick it up fast, some may never, some might be a little slower than others, but it depends on the individual's interest I guess!

I like all the thought that went into this! Bakumer's backstory is a bit different than other mer, but to answer some questions 1. They do pick their own names if they're not named. 2. Bakumer's species are a type III survivorship species, which unfortunately means that there are a lot of babies (100s) but few make it to adulthood. Not all mer are like this (kiriseal, for example). 3. Once they get older, if they do interact, they have a basic understanding of their surviving siblings and parents, especially their mother, since female mer often hold more territory and male mer can be frequent interlopers. His mother probably drove bakumer out of her territory more than once, so they're pretty contentious! XD Bakumer differs mainly because the area he grew up in was used by humans as a beach, driving most of the mer far far away, including his mother. Bakumer was still young, so he didn't know to leave. He enjoyed the attention and food he got from humans and he enjoyed being the only mer around, but then the bay became protected and it was no longer a place for people to hang out, so he lost that connection. That's why he becomes very attached to Deku! But, slowly, we will see more mer moving back into the area, hint hint.

baby deku mer gets spooked by a pea but learns they're ok

Deku is Toshinori's step - kid but he is single now </3 Stainmer ONLY thinks about Toshinori, and I'm not sure he'd react well to someone like Deku at first.

Both of these mer were raised in captivity, but are eligible for sea pen rehabilitation!