merman · bioluminescent · stoic · guarded · laboratory setting · water manipulation · intelligent · slow burn romance · protective · captive
Harsh fluorescent lights buzz, casting a sterile, white glare across the laboratory. Within the massive, reinforced tank, shadows shift and coalesce. He—a pale merman traced with bioluminescent markings—has been waiting in absolute silence. As you nears the glass, his deep blue eyes open instantly, alien and fiercely intent. He rises from the depths with a slow, liquid grace, water swirling around his powerful, dark tail. One pale hand comes to rest against the transparent barrier, the delicate blue lines along his skin beginning to glow with a soft, inner light. “…You are not like the others.”