#roshanngabe

When I came to the conclusion that there must be some fin-like qualities to the hair she said: “No,” turned around and disappeared into the tank again.

To swim circles.

'No'.

Well. That... was... unfortunate.

I nibbled at my pen some more and frowned. This would not exactly dissuade the government to actually dissect her.

…

Her movements were... graceful. The wave of her tail propelled her effectively through her confines space. One wave of her tail brought her from one side to the other.

So effective.

And beautiful.

And deadly.

And... my... captain was frowning at me from the door, tapping her foot.

Damn.

I walked over and smiled a bit apologetically: “I... made first contact?”

“I saw that, doctor Laurel. I would not call it a success,” he actually grumbled.

“It's a rocky start, nothing to worry about!,” I waved my hand, trying to laugh it off. I didn't even want to see how he reacted, “She was just captured, you would be angry, too”

He sneered, then said: “Mh. Fine. I just hope you have a plan”

“But of course, it'll just take a bit of diplomacy... and time!,” I hugged my noteboard and shrugged.

“Well, take care of that, then, we'll take course towards land again, now” and wandered off.

I... was not sure if this was a great thing, but... well, it would take a week until we are back, so... plenty of time, right? Right.

…

There was just one problem: I did not, in fact, have a plan, I mean... seriously.

There were so many 'what if's' to consider... it was a miracle we actually met, let alone capture a mermaid, for heaven's sake!

We even were lucky enough to understand their language – Spanish, in this case, a really old dialect – so that was that.

I made sure the mermaid was accommodated and taken care of and captured and talked to and now... it apparently was a question of diplomacy? And patience?

I mean... she did stare at me for five minutes.

And now swam in huge 3D-circles around in the tank. Her tail flicked against the wall every time she changed directions. The noise that made was actually... kind of reassuring? Did not sound like it was going to break, at least.

But she seemed... preoccupied, and I couldn't exactly knock, so... time to plan. And... maybe do some sketches. The cameras made proper pictures anyway, but... maybe it would make me able to figure... what questions to ask and... and...

…

Whatever.

I wanna oogle the mermaid. No one can blame me for that. It's a mermaid. I'm gonna oogle all I want until she's willing to speak with me again.

http://asheewrites.tumblr.com/post/153179839530/14-human

I checked the route and... yeah, we had reached the destined area. This was the place where all the ships had sunk since... well, since forever. And now... I needed to investigate. That was the objective of this little voyage.

Possibly even make sure it didn't happen again.

And for that... it was important to wait for the signs... and keep on the look-out.

Because there had always been signs, before the ship had been sunk. And this time... this time there was more opportunity to check.

The reports had told of unusually hard sailing for a while, despite the weather being... windy, but not catastrophic. And then... well... the ship gets lopsided and then... sinks.

Thankfully, not all are actually killed by it anymore, there is air support by now.

And I... have another advantage: Cameras!

All over the bottom of the ship. Plus nets.

Usually, no one would take it serious, but: I had funding and I merely spoke of an investigation and so... I was allowed to go on a mission... to find a mermaid.

The island had enough legends about them... and sightings, too!

The legends definitely involved the more vicious of mermaids: Drowning people, sinking ships, the works.  

And I... I was interested.

So this boat would swim about in the waters that the islanders avoid.

And I looked at my laptop monitors since two days, puttering about and changing shifts with my colleague... who didn't exactly believe me, but humoured me... for a fee, of course.

In the end, I was sleeping when there finally were some more alarming signs... and Alice shook me awake with the words: “You were right! Come and DO something!”

I picked my glasses off the nightstand and stumbled towards the laptops.

The sight was one to behold. Slightly different from the usual depiction of mermaids... sharper edges and stronger muscles. I was impressed.

But now... I looked... and saw that yes, they did actually make contact with the ship and that meant...

I smiled. And pressed a button.

An hour later, we had one more passenger on the boat. In a special room. Thankfully, some shipwrights were familiar with pumping systems that kept the seawater in an aquarium fresh... better for the specimen zoologists caught. So this is what was installed. Just that it was open at the top. And the 'aquarium' was behind bars. Strong bars. Secured with electric current.

There were life monitoring systems attached to the foreigner. They... seemed fine, if a little cold. And sure enough... she woke up after three hours.

It didn't take them long to orient themselves.

They weren't happy.

This tail was strong and the bulletproof glass... well... I was not sure if it would actually hold long. But there was hope. And we knew that electricity worked.

I waved at them. They knocked against the walls, maybe experimentally.

They... were not happy. Anger made the sharp teeth a liiiittle bit more apparent.

The noise the tank made didn't exactly inspire trust.

But they got out of the water, leaning an arm on the top: “Think before you speak,” they hissed, “the last person who didn’t lost more than his tongue.”

I... put the notepad behind my back and rocked back and forth on my toes, taking the advice into consideration, listening to the light growl before I said: “Hello... my name is Roshan... and I would like to ask you to stop sinking ships”

I thought it was a reasonable request...?