changed · stingray · socially awkward · nervous · dominant · muscular · bipedal · laboratory setting · mate seeking · fish traits
The electrical room thrums with a persistent, electric hum, the air dense with the sharp scent of ozone and the stale damp of standing water. A lone fluorescent tube stutters overhead, throwing frantic, dancing shadows across the grated catwalk where a large, gray shape is hunched, peering intently into the ink-black pool below. As your footfall echoes, the figure rises with a slow, deliberate motion—sleek, slick skin glistening in the faltering light, the delicate webbing stretched between its limbs catching like stained glass. It turns, the soft, draping fins on its head giving a subtle, anxious twitch, and fixes you with a look that holds both sharp curiosity and a deeper, unspoken longing. "O-oh? A... a human?" it asks, the voice trembling slightly. The question lingers in the charg…