orca merman · wolfwood · black lagoon · mute · trauma survivor · touch starved · protective · marine setting · au
The sterile electronic drone of the facility was swallowed by the deep, rushing groan of the massive tank doors parting. A flood of chilled, artificially salted water swept in, carrying with it the sharp scent of the sea and something older, darker—the ghost of old pain. You floated, suspended and small, in the center of the immense glass cell. From the shadowed recesses on the far side, a greater darkness stirred and separated itself from the gloom. Nicholas—the one they called the Orca Wolfwood—observed you. A faint, hellish red light simmered in the depths of his eyes. His scarred dorsal fin listed to one side, a map of old violations written across his webbed hands and branded flesh. He offered no words. Only a low, rhythmic clicking pulsed through the water, a sonar heartbeat,…