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dingbatnix · 7 days

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Scales

So! This is my thing for mermay! I read @baka-monarch 's little prompt thing (and I totally haven't been sitting on this partially-wtitten fic for several years, nope, not at all xD) and decided I needed to write it : D

So, enjoy!

Word count: 3,166

Warnings: small mention of blood, bare skin (cmon it's mermaids) ect.

Each individual muscle was at least three times as big as he was. George had long since lost his journal, but even if he still had it, he didn't think he would have been able to write anything down. He felt too…too in awe to properly note down data and theories as he traversed the alternating slopes of the frankly massive abs.

The mer's laugh, a deep, powerful thing, knocked George off balance. He wobbled, and when the giant began cackling harder at his predicament, finally fell down onto his chest. The brunette flushed, scowling deeply as he planted his hands on tanned flesh and pushed himself to his knees. The ground-shaking laughter of the mer had George's arms too unsteady to rise back upright, though, and he couldn't stop falling. His face burned in embarrassment.

Two massive fingers appeared and plucked up the tail of his brown leather coat, lifting the human into the air and re-settling him onto his feet nearer to the mer's head, on his sternum. The motions of each and every breath was more notable from George's new location, and he had to throw his arms out, again, to keep from tumbling back down to the gradually swelling ground.

George felt the displacement of air as the long, leviathan-like tail of the mer curled up from the roiling ocean waves and came roaring back down with a massive crash of the salty sea spray. He stumbled from the rush of movement that rippled throughout the colossal body underneath his feet, and, with a frown creasing his lips, George decided to settle down, cross legged, so he wouldn't have so many embarrassing moments of unbalance.

"So what's a little human like you got in the books for me today?" The mer's voice rumbled deep beneath George's crossed legs, and the volume of it had his head snapping up to try and meet the mer's eyes.

"Erm," George blanked as he caught the mer's deep, amber gaze. There were little flecks of brown and gold swimming in those pool-sized irises, and George could swear that he saw his own reflection in those dark, mirror-like slit pupils.

He was jolted out of the alluring sight when the mer blinked, eyes lidding halfway as he scrutinized the human in return. A small smile curled at the edges of his lips, wrinkling his short, flattish nose and crinkling up at the corners of the mer’s eyes.

George blinked rapidly, tearing his gaze away from the mer’s face to peer behind himself, at the supposedly bright green fishtail making up the lower half of the giant. Each scale was almost as big as his entire body, and the tail was at least sixty meters long. And, crazily enough, that estimation wasn’t even counting the length of the mer’s torso. All together, George thought the mer was about ninety meters long in total, or about three hundred feet, but he hadn’t found an instrument big enough to measure his full height. Either way, the mer was massive, truly one of the top predators residing in the ocean.

George cleared his throat, remembering that the mer had asked him a question. "Scale composition. But, Dream, I lost my journal. You made me drop it!" He jabbed an accusing finger up at the blond, turning back to glare up at those amused eyes. George wasn’t actually that upset about it, of course, it had been a new, blank journal, and he had dozens of them at home. It was more of the principle of the matter, that he had lost it while visiting the mer. He could not let that become a habit.

The mer let loose another small laugh, bringing a huge, clawed finger nearer to George to gently brush over the biologist's head. Dream's movements were too fast for George to dodge, so he settled for swatting at the pitted skin of the fingertip with a scowl.

"It would have probably helped," Dream murmured, a note of teasing delight coloring his tone. "If you hadn't been oogling me the whole time you were supposed to be 'researching.' You wouldn't have dropped it, then."

The mer was full on grinning, now, a lopsided, snarky thing that exposed his harpoon-sharp fangs to the coastal sunlight. The long, rugged scar bridging across his nose was warped with the expression, and briefly, the brunette wondered what kind of dangers resided under the ocean waves that could give a mer as enormous as Dream a scar.

He flushed again, scowl deepening as he turned his gaze away from the teasing, cheshire grin and instead inspected the distant sand dunes of the beach, far below his seat on the mer’s chest. “Well, it’s not my fault you’re a marvel of scientific discovery,” he murmured, trying to will away the heat he knew was decorating his cheeks.

The body underneath him tensed, and then fingers appeared behind George to pinch the edge of his coat again, plucking him up from his seat without any other warning. George yelped, scrambling for the rapidly receding ground before crossing his arms over his chest, afraid of slipping out of his jacket as he was lifted higher and higher into the air.

Dream moved suddenly, the behemoth rolling over from his back onto his chest, carefully keeping George high above his colossal movements. George held back a displeased whimper, curling his legs up closer to his body as he was dangled and swung dozens of feet above the ground. If he fell, it might not kill him, he’d be landing on sand, after all, but at the very least he would break something important.

He swallowed, trying to distract himself as the immense creature settled down to lay on his front. George’s eyes wandered to the rippling musculature underneath the mer's skin as he moved, and despite himself, a small grin slipped over his lips. It truly was amazing, how a creature as large as Dream was could survive in the ocean. He still wasn’t sure what Dream ate (he hadn’t quite worked up the nerve to ask, the stories of man-eating sirens and mermaids prevalent in his mind) but he was sure the mer had a carnivorous diet.

George was suddenly hurtling down towards the sandy ground at breakneck speeds, and he couldn't help the terrified shout that escaped from his throat. He slammed his eyes shut, a rush of nausea squirming through his gut and crawling up his spine.

The heavy motions surrounding him stopped, and the toes of his dangling converse bumped against something rough. George blinked his eyes open to find an expanse of tanned, leathery skin splayed out beneath his body. He glanced around, finding that it was Dream’s other hand, vast palm upturned against the sand.

Hesitantly, George stretched out his legs and planted his feet against the pliable skin. The fingers pinched around the back of his jacket released, freeing George to move on his own two legs. Around him, the mer's fingers curled inwards, almost closing George in on all sides by massive, column-esque fingers and long stretches of webbed flesh.

George glanced up at Dream’s looming figure, a questioning expression decorating his face. Long, sea-debris tangled blond hair tumbled down over the mer's shoulders and framed his fine cheekbones. A sharp smile decorated his lips, flashing pointed fangs against the midday light. The hand that had held the human had moved away to prop itself underneath the mer's chin, and the huge, webbed fins on the side of his head where ears would be on a human were twitching in unison.

In the distance behind the looming slope of the mer's shoulders, George could see the lemon yellow shine of Dream's colossal tail as it flicked up to what seemed like hundreds of feet into the air. The vast, sail-like fin tipping the end of the immense appendage flexed casually against the sky, blotting out the sun in the brief few moments it hung in the air. Then, it fell, and there was a far-off boom as it crashed back down into the ocean waves, one that George could feel in his very core.

It was always very humbling to be in the presence of a creature so massive that a wayward breath or an unthinking movement could have you dead, with very little thought or consequence to the behemoth before you. It was even more humbling when every ounce of said leviathan in question's attention was solely focused on you, and you alone, fully in-tune with each potentially devastating movement so as not to injure or even frighten you.

Dream’s grin widened, expression nearly glittering with the sheer amount of delight as he gazed down at him, the miniscule, insignificant human resting in the center of his enormous palm. His claw tipped fingers twitched, casting a brief shadow over George’s form.

“You think I’m a marvel, Goggy?” The mer asked, tilting his head ever-so-slightly to the side. His pupils, sharp slits against the amber of his irises, dilated, growing wide enough that George actually could see his own reflection. His cheeks were dark with a bright, fiery blush at the moment.

"What I think is that you're an idiot," the brunette griped, looking down as he adjusted the lapels of his leather jacket, attempting to hide the ever-deepening flush he knew was spreading. He was sure his ears were red, but he could probably just pass that off as a sunburn if he was asked.

A wheezy laugh escaped from the mer’s colossal lungs, reverberating all the way through the sand underneath them both as the warm, salty breath brushed over George, flattening his hair against his forehead. He wrinkled his nose at the sharp scent and shot a glare up at the blond, coughing meaningfully.

“I mean, I’m at least better than any of the other mers.” Dream rolled his eyes skywards, a frown twisting at his lips. “There’s so much drama nowadays, and some of those kids…” The mer let out a small, surly rumble, nose wrinkling as he grimaced.

The biologist perked up, interest immediately piqued. “There are other mers?"

Dream chuckled. "Yeah, there's a few here and there. You wouldn't want to meet them, though. They're not nearly as nice as I am.” George frowned at the implications of that statement, but decided not to pursue that train of conversation. Instead, he leaned to the side, trying to peer over Dream’s shoulder at the long, flicking tail that trailed for hundreds of feet behind him.

“Mhm. I want to examine your scales.” The human declared abruptly, planting a hand on his hip and pointing over the mer's shoulder. The blond frowned, shooting a quick glance behind himself, past the jagged sail that trailed from his lower back all the way down to about mid tail, to the glittering scales that decorated the appendage itself. They looked just fine, he didn’t know why George even wanted to inspect them. With a pout spanned across his face, he turned back to the little human, brows furrowed.

“But you don't even have your little writing book! C’mon, I just got comfortable,” he whined, ear frills flicking back against his huge skull.

“I don't care! Let me look at them anyway!” George demanded, crossing his arms and puffing his chest out. He cocked his hips, shooting his most petulant expression up at the massive mer. Dream’s pupils rounded out just a little bit more at the human’s actions, and he caved with an exasperated, drawn out sigh.

“Okay, okay, jeez, don't get your fins in a twist. Er. Legs? Hm. That expression doesn’t really work with humans, huh…” Dream trailed off, tilting his head at George for a long moment before his ear fins flickered out in a form of dismissal.

Heaving out a world-weary groan, the leviathan pushed himself upwards with his free hand. The platform of flesh underneath George’s feet moved, suddenly, and he had to drop down to his knees rather quickly unless he wanted to tumble down in an undignified heap. The hand was brought close to the mer’s chest as he rolled over and tried to settle comfortably onto his backside.

Once comfortable, Dream brought his hand down to about mid-tail length, folding over on himself and propping his free elbow on his own tail to lean his head against.

George scooted to the edge of the mer’s palm and hopped down with a small grunt. He nearly slipped when he made contact with the bright scutes and had to lunge back to grab onto the side of the mer’s hand. Dream’s scales, while crusted with beach sand, were still slick with a thin coating of seawater and a protective mucus. George was honestly surprised that Dream’s scales had as much of a slime coat as they did. He would have figured the mer to be more akin to a shark, or some other cartilaginous fish.

He crouched, after he had regained his balance, running a hand over one of the huge, curtain-sized scutes. “You have ctenoid scales,” George murmured, dropping to his knees to peer more closely at the overlapping plates.

“What does that mean?” Dream asked, hunching over just a little bit more to squint at George as the human ran his hands over the edge of one of the scales.

“It means that there are ridges along the edge of each scale. Like tiny teeth.” George paused for a moment, contemplating as he plucked his fingers against the prickly edge of the scale. If he wanted to, he could probably wedge his whole hand underneath the plate of what was probably some mix of collagen and dentine. He was tempted to try, to see how far his hand would go, but he wasn't going to risk it, on the off chance that something bad happened.

"What color did you say your scales were, again?" He inquired, glancing up at the looming shape of Dream’s head and torso. The mer’s eyebrows quirked, and one of his ear fins perked curiously.

“Like a yellowy-green. Can you really not tell? Is that a human thing?" He squinted, gaze searching as if he could see George’s eyes from the distance between them. Maybe he could, George wasn’t sure. He hadn’t gotten around to testing how good Dream’s eyesight was, and how well they worked above and below water.

Regardless, he shook his head. “No, I'm just colorblind. It’s a fairly common thing for people to have, but not all of us do.”

“Oh? Can you not….how does that work? Do colors not exist? How do you see?” A startled snort escaped from the brunette's lips at the mer’s question, and he grinned up at the blond.

“I can still see, you dumbass. I’m not blind. I just can't see red or green, and any colors that have them only look like the other color.” George rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the plates beneath his legs. “For example, you say your scales are green, but they just look bright yellow to me.”

“Huh,” Dream hummed contemplatively as he readjusted the arm his chin was propped on. The position he was in looked uncomfortable, but George wasn’t going to question it. While the mer was still a vertebrate, he probably had to be very flexible for life in the ocean.

He should ask Dream how many bones most mers had, actually. He might know.

George dropped his eyes back down to the mer’s scales, vaguely wishing that he still had some sort of writing instrument on hand. “These really are fascinating…” The human murmured, poking at one of the overlapping ledges with inquisitive fingers. Did the mer shed, like some kinds of fish and most reptiles did? He’d have to ask sometime, preferably when he had a journal on his person.

“Here, do you want one?” The mer abruptly asked, raising a hand and pointing at one of the bright scales. George pulled a face and shook his head, but the mer was already in motion.

“No, wait–” But Dream already had a claw prying underneath one of his scales, pinching it between two massive fingertips and working it out of the overlap from the surrounding plates. George shot to his feet in an attempt to try and stop Dream, but it was already too late. The muscles underneath George’s feet twitched when the scale was yanked from its cradle, and he threw his arms out for what seemed to be the millionth time that day, unwilling to lose his footing again.

Dream suddenly pushed the scale against George's chest, shoving the human backwards more than a couple of steps. It was almost as tall and twice as wide as the human was, and he had to scramble to grab it before Dream bowled him over.

“Dream!” He snapped, scowling as the mer’s huge hand slid away. The mer laughed, grinning brightly down at George. The human’s scowl deepened, and he rolled his eyes, turning his attention to the large scale he now held in his hands. He was surprised to find that it wasn't as heavy as he thought it would be. It only weighed about as much as a small paddle board, about four or five kilograms.

“Dream, where am I going to put this? It's bigger than I am!” George exclaimed, holding it out as far as he could so that he could examine it. Large globs of blood dotted the anterior end of the scale, slowly beading down as the gravity took the weight of the ichor. George grimaced in disgust, holding the sizeable plate further away from himself for a different reason this time. He shot a look up towards Dream, face twisted.

“Didn’t that hurt?” From what he could see, the spot where Dream had plucked the scale from was also bleeding, dark liquid swelling up from the bed of skin underneath the scales. Was it like plucking a hair from your head? Or did it feel like ripping out a fingernail? George wanted to know, but the mer only laughed, avoiding the human’s question and insisting that George keep the scale, as a souvenir until his next visit to the beach.

They devolved into pointless bickering until the sky started to grow dark with heavy clouds, and the wind picked up. At that point, George decided he needed to head home, before the storm properly began. Dream had agreed, saying that it was unpleasant to be near dry land during particularly bad storms. They bid each other goodbye for the day, and each headed their separate ways, Dream sliding back under the crashing waves of the ocean, and George walking back towards the city.

George did end up carrying the scale home with him, even though he had to fight against the growing strength of the wind to keep a good hold on it. He still didn’t know where he was going to put it, though.

Taglist:

@brick-a-doodle-do @i-am-beckyu @da3dm @kayla-crazy-stuffs @local-squishmallow @skullsnbruises @munchkin1156 @gt-daboss

#mer anatomy and biology my beloved <3 #im not a nerd i promise #mermay #mcyt g/t #mcyt gt #writing #giant!dream #g/t #tiny!george #g/t writing #bat's writing #mer!dream #giant!mer dream #giant mer!dream #marine biologist george #is that enough tags ???? xD #mermay 2024 #merfolk #mermaid

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