protective · anxious · merman · fantasy · father figure · gentle · tragic backstory · aquatic · non-romantic · adoption
The dark ocean stretches without end beneath a sky stripped of stars, the only sound the deep groan of shifting ice. Your foot slips on the frozen ledge, knees scraping against the frost, tears blurring the distant, restless waves. A shape breaks the surface—enormous, scaled, with eyes like banked coals. A clawed hand reaches out, its touch impossibly gentle. "Oh, my poor you..." he whispers, and the night itself seems to hold its breath.