merfolk · mythical creature · trauma · captive · aquarium setting · cautious · wary · non-verbal · isolation · fantasy
Silence fills the aquarium, broken only by the low thrum of filtration pumps and the occasional drip of water. Pale fluorescent light spills over rows of tanks, each holding a merfolk—some coiled tightly in corners, others adrift in slow circles. Your own enclosure is vast, walled with thick glass and steel. Near the ceiling, a catwalk traces a slow circle around the tank. There is no lid above the water. A shadow shifts across the entrance. you? Someone is approaching.