test starter for mer au

Davis was fed up. He was fed up with the looks. Always of either disdain or pity. He was fed up with the condescension. He was fed up with being thought poorly of. Damnit, he was raised by his Bro, and his twin was Dave. The two best hunters and fastest swimmers in the school, save for the war leader, were his family. It was in his goddamn blood. But not a soul gave him a chance. He didn't care if they thought they had good reason to. He didn't care that his large fins dragged him down in the water, making him slow. He didn't care that he was prone to intense fits of anxiety that left him either frozen or in a fight or flight response. It'd been weeks since his last panic attack! He was doing really well! And the last time they had even tried to train him in hunting, he and Dave were barely approaching puberty.

He'd done poorly then, yeah. He'd frozen up, being flanked by several hunters, all much larger than him. He'd hyperventilated, his gills flapping in the water. Bro had made them all stop until he could calm down, and he had to stay by his guardian's side from then on. Bad start. And it only got worse. He panicked at shadows, at every time a fellow hunter came too close, he was a slow swimmer... all in all, it was a complete failure, and everyone had been disappointed in him, unlike with Dave, who was a natural. It was humiliating. And from then on he spent his days with the elderly, learning the stories of their kind, while Dave got to keep training.

But that was so long ago! And even if he was never able to be trained properly, Davis exercised every day, building up muscles to match his twin's, though he never came close to Dave's speed- no matter how often he swam laps, Davis' fins would always slow him down. But their war leader, a great brute of a mer, was slow as well! He just made up for it in strength and tactics. Why couldn't Davis do the same?

He was fed up with singing songs and telling stories day in and day out. That was Dave's interest, not his. But every single time he begged to be a hunter, something that EVERYONE wished of him, he was forbidden. It was so self-defeating; everyone thought him a disappointment, a waste of space, for not being a hunter when food was scarce. And yet they never gave him a chance. The only ones who didn't dislike him for it were his family, though even they didn't think he could live up to expectations.

But he'd prove them wrong, Davis finally decided. And so, while everyone slept in the kelp and the sand one night, Davis slipped away, a golden glimmer in the moonlight filtered through the seawater. He took with him a net he'd made himself- a fine piece of craftwork. Something that did bring him some amount of praise at times was his handiness with making hunting tools. And now he'd finally use it himself. He'd catch a bunch of fish, or maybe a real big one or two, and bring them home and make everyone, especially Bro, proud.


His plans swiftly went awry. Every time he came upon fish to catch, he knew not any tactics for approach, especially not by himself. They all swam away from him effortlessly, and he couldn't catch a single one. Determined, he pushed on all night, all the next day, and into the next night. Until he got exhausted and found some crevice to pass out in. When he emerged the next day, feeling mighty sorry for himself and deciding to head home, Davis realized... he didn't know where home was. He'd lost all sense of direction while he was hunting!

Panic quickly settled in, and Davis froze for several mines, gills overworking themselves, until he flitted away back to the crevice to hide for a good few hours. Finally, he managed to calm down long enough to leave. Swallowing hard, Davis followed his gut, picked a direction that felt familiar, and swam in the direction he hoped was home.


It wasn't. Davis wound up lost for several days, growing hungrier and hungrier. His swimming became sluggish, fatigue and hunger gradually overtaking him. Idly, he wondered which would kill him first: starvation, or the agony of knowing that everyone was right that he was a failure.

Eridan:
In a stupor from hunger, Davis completely failed to notice the obvious- an approaching human ship. If his senses weren't dulled, it wouldn've been impossible to miss. But as it stood, Davis was barely conscious, drifting near the surface. A sitting duck. And he only became aware of his surroundings again when a net suddenly came about him, causing him to shriek with terror as reality came rushing back in the most horrifying manner possible. This had happened before. When he was small. He could remember it, it was burned forever in his dreams, and the thought of it happening again was worse than death- not that he had the capability to kill himself at the moment.

Screaming and thrashing uselessly in the net he was caught in, Davis was gradually pulled from the water, hauled up onto the deck of a ship full of swarthy humans, the mere sight of them filled the merman with enough repulsion and horror that he would've vomited on himself if his stomach had contents. As they approached, he thought to himself that he'd definitely fight, rip out a few throats and tear off some faces with his teeth and claws.

But when hands came upon him, all he managed to do was freeze for several seconds. And then his mind effectively whited out as Davis began to thrash and screech, aimlessly flailing, trying to claw and bite anything, everything, the hands, the air- he went absolutely apeshit wild in desperation.

Cronus:
And then Davis spotted a shimmer up ahead- a school of fish. Hunger and instinct took over, and Davis rushed forward with a speed abnormal for him, circling the school, confusing them into a funnel, until he could rush through with his net.

Several seconds later, Davis came down from his adrenaline high to discover he was holding a net absolutely brimming with fish. He'd done it. He'd actually done it! The bounty he held could feed several families in his school. He practically shined with pride! Though the pride lasted only a second as Davis plunged a hand into the neck, grabbing a fish and swiftly stuffing it into his hungry mouth. Food first, confidence later.