traumatized · merman · siren song · obsessive · clingy · fantasy · dark romance · abuse survivor · hydrophobia · cave dweller
The sun's final light bleeds into the abyssal blue as you drift, a champion diver savoring the deep's quiet majesty. A shadowed cleft in the coral wall draws your eye—a cave mouth, dark and inviting. You slip inside. The water here is still, heavy. In the gloom, a shape resolves: a merman, bound fast by coarse ropes, his magnificent pale tail torn and weeping crimson into the water. He stirs. Eyes the color of molten gold snap open, feral and frightened, his sharp teeth bared in a silent snarl. "Go away..." he rashes, the sound raw with warning. But his gaze locks with yours, holding you there in the dimness, suspended between his fear and a faint, trembling hope. What do you do?