#mermaywrites

The 'Hoomans(?!)' were at it again. They had captured me, imprisoned me and now tried to study me. And actually expected I cooperate. It was ridiculous. Not only that, their language sounded even more terrible now. They were just as ruthless and awful as they were a few hundred years ago and certainly never did anything good in the history of their entire species. And now feed me like an animal. WITH animals.

And a stupid octopus, whatever this was supposed to have been. At least they DID feed me, but I couldn't get out because of constant lightning above the... glass prison. Stupid decorative nonsense. Stupid firm walls. Their stupid boats weren't as sturdy. Stupid sciency things they threw in, just to check on my... everything. So, I crushed it and threw it into the lightning. They wouldn't get any information from me.

Speaking of which, they threw another thing in. And the new, weird-looking one was there, staring again. He sometimes just sat there and stared. Jeez. Anyway. Today's... thing... was... made of glass and had... land kelp on it. Also driftwood. In dry. It looked dry. And there was movement inside. ... what?

Finding an octopus wasn't difficult. This was Hawaii. Tourism forced people to display their natural resources. And most definitely the local fauna. Locating it was easy, one of the team members graduated about 'colour change in octopodes' and so... one night octopus arrived on hour doorstep about three hours later. It looked very suspicious of everything. But I think that simply comes with it's nature of being a night octopus. And therefore having goat eyes. Admittedly, it didn't have much to hope for. And his thirty litres tank might not be small, but it still wasn't that much, and void of entertainment. So its tentacles already made it's way through the small gap in the lid of the portable aquarium. I rolled our new friend into the facility and in front of the basin. It was feeding time for the loveliest of mermaids we had. And unlike me, the octopus didn't take ages to adjust to the darker room. It did look at the basin. And apparently recognised the mermaid. ... the tentacles retracted completely and it squished itself into the corner. Ah.

Mr. Loew brought me outside and he took his phone out. I grabbed his arm and lead him a little further away before he switched it on. He looked slightly irritated, not that it bothered me, but appreciated him not saying anything. So he powered up his phone - a year old, maybe two, somewhat sensible - and used the internet. I... kind of missed the internet, since I started working here. No more spider-vids. So I waited. And then looked at what he was trying to show me, still unconvinced.

The lion in my lab was somewhat... annoying. Of course I smiled at him, at 'mister Loew', but he was here to deny our grant and seriously, we didn't need money trouble. A sentient being with extraordinary strength and an extraordinary will to definitely kill us all. Which is unfortunate. It made research, communication and any way of compromise incredibly hard. There was no chance of us becoming 'friends' any time soon. As much as I'd like.

It was distracting, the whole someone-came-to-examine-our-research thing. So I tapped my pen on the clipboard, watching the people take the newton-meter out of the basin. That thing is meant to measure strength. She broke it. She bloody broke it. I didn't even know how, she simply managed. And now we had a broken one in front of us. Maybe examining it might help.

"Welcome in our facility, Mister Loew," said the security guard and handed my ID back, "I hope you will find everything is in order" I smiled politely, nodded at him and wished him a nice day, following through the corridors, suitcase in hand. There was no real doubt in his job being legitimate, he followed procedure, was friendly, had done everything he had been supposed to as a guard to a research facility. The problem here was certainly not him. It was the people currently occupying the facility. That had filed for another grant. Of course, protecting out shores was important. Destroyed boats actually cost a lot of money.