#troll talks

So far, in this AU, Salim hasn't had Zain. He 100% will with Jason though!

Salim's sex is complicated. It's not too uncommon for siren to be born some level of intersex to start, and Salim is one of them. He has a fully functional set of male genitalia, but his female sex organs aren't fully developed, which is why Salim is a lot more masculine leaning for siren. He has a slit for penetration and a cervix, but everything past that is underdeveloped, which is why Salim and Jason haven't had any children yet (referred to as 'pups' like baby sharks).

Jason is convinced their two species can't have kids, and he's unbothered by this because when he first met and eventually started to court Salim, Jason didn't even know male siren could reproduce. So, the fact Salim has yet to give Jason any is no big deal.

Salim, on the other hand, takes their failure to reproduce after the mating season every year a lot harder. Reproduction is a lot more meaningful to siren because their species is not only dwindling, but there are also a lot more instinct driven creatures.

When the Marine Biologists first rescued Salim (because they wanted to prevent any pups from happening in their care should Salim be capable of carrying), they checked his body for his sex(es) and assumed because of his under developed female sex that Salim's body had failed its attempt at 'Sequential Hermaphroditism'.

It's a bit disappointing, because now even though they don't have to worry about figuring out birth control while they help, they also never be able to figure out whether or not the two species can reproduce once re-released.

One of the things a lot of Marine Biologists argue about is whether or not siren can or can't just choose to morph their bodies and add their secondary sex as they see fit. At first, Salim is used to argue the case that they can... but that changes when Salim's sex eventually changes in captivity, which finally proves that sirens do not have any control over the biological change and that it does require an extreme circumstance to trigger.

(The reason Salim's sex changes here under the stressor of being severely injured and abducted by humans, and Not from the Kraken pit which is arguably far more stressful, is because Salim wasn't actively mated at the time so there was no reason for his body to trigger that change when his male sex is fully fuctional)

Salim's ex-wife in this Au is a failed courtship/mate attempt. Salim was relatively young, 20 and pretty fresh from leaving his family pod still (they leave once they reach maturity and are old enough to mate to go and start their own pod. They can't stay in their original family pod because even though their parents will always see them as their pups, they themselves develop instincts that make them hostile to their family.)

It goes decently well when they first find each other. Mutual courting is very rare, but they're both participating, which is a great sign. Salim leaves her favourite dead fish at the borders of her territory, and he often finds his own favourites killed for him and waiting at his own. They sing together, take down ships and sailors, sunbathe, etc. So, after a few months of really good courting, Salim tries to instigate the hardest step of any courtship: Entering her territory.

Salim keeps his eyes down, ears and fins low to make himself look as nonthreatening as possible. His entire posture is submissive as he fully crosses into her territory. It's his turn to go still as she approaches him, sniffing him all over, manhandling him into whatever position she wants, leaving him laying in the sands, belly up, vulnerable and submissive- and that's exactly how it's meant to be done.

It's all instinctual, innate. Salim calls for her from just behind the line of the large circle of bones and remains that dictates what sands belong to her. He waits for her to approach, his body so low he is in the sand, more of a crawl than a swim.

She stills completely, snarling when Salim's hand passes over the line, but that's normal- Salim loves her and would be doing the same if she were the one taking this step instead of him.

She appears to accept him, so Salim cautiously stretches out his tail to it's full length- He's only 20 so it's not much of a display, but her tail is only a little longer than his so she can't be much older or any more use to tails larger than their own attempting courtship. She stretches her own out as well, and Salim marvels for a minute, never touching, however. And when she swims off deeper into her territory, leaving Salim on his own still inside, that too is a really good sign.

Salim explores the territory slowly, keeping low in the sand, very alert of where the other siren is in her space at all times. Her goal is going to be to take Salim off guard, Salim's goal is going to be to win the fight she instigates.

If Salim wins, he will have proved he's a good and strong enough partner, so they'll mate. If he looses, it's entirely up to her if she lets him go or kills him- but in either case, whether Salim leaves with his life or not, if Salim loses, the courtship is failed and will proceed no further.

It's a long and difficult fight when she does eventually lunge and attack, far more intense than any fight Salim's had with other sirens in passing before. There's blood in the water from their bites and scratches- there's no intent to kill on either side, but it's important they both put their all into the fight.

The fight's over the moment she pins Salim, her tail immobilizing his own, claws dug into the scales over his arms, and lands a hard bite right over his jugular. Should she choose to bite any harder and rip away the skin in her mouth, Salim will die.

He lays under her, eyes closed, both of them panting from the fight.

She lets go.

And as hard as it is, Salim forces himself back up and swims out of her territory as fast as his injured body will take him.

The fact that she let him go instead of killing him is proof they both wanted Salim to win. They loved each other- but love is not the deciding factor. They do not interact again.

(This is why Salim and Jason don't officially mate until Jason wins one of their play fights)

Salim and his ex would be 'court mates', which is like partners, literally just meaning their courting to eventually be 'mates'. Mating would be like marriage to siren, they have one mate pretty much their entire lives- some may seek another mate if their first one passes away, some choose not to (especially if they've already had several clutches).

Merfolk do marry, and they use both the term 'mate' as well as 'husband'/'wife'. A lot of merfolk courting is swimming together, eating together, and there's a lot like how humans date since merfolk societies work decently similar to human societies (It's speculated that a lot of merfolk civilizations, when they see something they like from humans, will just integrate it into their own. For example; merfolk have markets and exchange goods/services there, which can be traced back to starting around the time when human markets grew in popularity around ports and beaches).

(Jason thinks marriage is stupid... but if he does ever find a pair of matching rings he likes (in the ocean or on people, he's fine with stealing/biting a finger or two off if he needs to), well maybe he'd ask Salim if he wanted to get married (they'd both wear it threaded through a necklace chain because Salim's webbed fingers make it impossible for him to wear rings).)

Marriage for merfolk is a small ceremony where they essentially just put a ring on each others ring finger (these rings are either made for them, found on the ocean floor/while combing beaches, bought at merfolk markets, or stolen off humans), and a kiss at the end.

For merfolk, they see marriage as a promise to stay together and it is very frowned upon by other merfolks to separate afterwards- nothing is stopping them from doing this, however, there's no such thing as divorce, they can just take off the ring and say they aren't married anymore and that's it.

Salim and Jason courting begins a year after they'd met. Once they've finally found and settled into their own territory. Jason initiates, tries merfolk courting rituals, lots of 'dates' and 'fancy' swimming around Salim... and for a couple of months, it gets him absolutely nowhere. He almost gives up and convinces himself that maybe he'd misread Salim and that the siren isn't interesting in mating- until he realizes he's been an idiot. His fancy swimming is nothing to a siren's, not when he can't twist and turn his body like they can, and his 'dates' aren't hitting when Salim doesn't know what normal merfolk pod bevaiour is like.

So, he starts trying to court Salim like a siren. He hunts for Salim's favourite food and gifts it to him, he sings for him even if he's terrible compared to a siren, he brings Salim shiny trinkets, and is a lot more touchy (siren are very touchy, huge on cuddling, and use biting fondly (most of the time, unless fighting)).

And now that Jason's actually courting Salim correctly, Salim is showing a lot of interest. Salim starts courting back, and now that Jason knows what a siren courting looks like, merfolk courting is boring by comparison. And dear god is Salim's tail beautiful whenever he stretches it out for him.

Jason loves the play fighting Salim starts and their little chases.

He can't describe his surprise and then his wonder when he accidentally wins a play fight with Salim, when Salim suddenly just submits under him and finally allows Jason to mate him

Siren are pregnant for roughly the same amount of time as tiger shark, which can be longgggg. Roughly between 13 to 16 months. Unlike sharks, however, siren lay eggs instead of a live birth- though they're very quick to hatch, usually about another month or two. Siren clutches are usually around 7-12 eggs, but on average, only three or four will survive to full maturity. When the eggs are laid, the siren who carried them won't leave the nest until they've all hatched. Sirens aren't very negatively affected by pregnancy, nothing like morning sickness, at most maybe a little discomfort

Merfolk are far closer to humans with their pregnancies, though, like siren, they can tell when another mer is pregnant by a subtle change in scent. They don't really behave any different, but just like humans, they do experience morning sickness, cravings, pregnancy pains, etc. Merfolk usually have just one pup at a time, but twins are possible. Merfolk also have live births.

Most siren will come to realize they or their mate are pregnant around halfway through the second month, a small change in the scent of the pregnant siren is a dead giveaway and begins to happen around this time. On top of that, the pregnant siren does have behavioural changes as well; increased aggression/hostility to anything besides their mate, increase in nesting with a larger focus on building up a soft and safe area for their pups, etc.

The non pregnant siren does experience bevavioural changes as well, triggered by their mate's scent. Mostly, they too become a lot more aggressive and completely take over the hunting (usually hunting is a joint activity otherwise).

Jason, because he's not a siren, won't develop the behavioural changes naturally, but he's not an idiot, so he'll see Salim's changes and step up to fill the role Salim needs him to on his own conscious effort instead of instincts.