Eva stared at the mermaid in disbelief. Mimicking her name was something that only a few animals could do but… the mermaid had just spoken. There was no other way to explain it.
The name sounded strange, like many voices speaking at once. A strange reverberation that no human could produce. “Viola.” The mermaid repeated her name and pressed a hand to her chest just as Eva had done.
“Viola,” Eva laughed nervously.
Viola smiled revealing her sharp teeth. The last few minutes had felt like an eternity, like a strange dream that was too incredible to be real.
She had gotten to pet a mermaid, she hadn’t dared move her hands anywhere else. Not with how… human Viola was. Oh god, Viola was fully a person and they had her a prisoner here. The happy vaguely horny cloud evaporated from her mind leaving her with embarrassment and horror.
How did Viola even have an English name? Had she known a human before who gave it to her? Did she simply overhear it and decide she liked it?
“Eva,” Viola said, this time the way she had spoken her own name. The strange echo of voices all speaking simultaneously.
“Yes?” Eva asked, her voice strained. Viola pressed her hand to Eva’s chest. Her skin was like that of all whales, smooth and strong. Similar to the dolphin but on a grander scale. Yet there were more intricacies due to her being so human.
“Eva,” Viola repeated. She was holding up a fish with one hand with the other hand sideways. She then dropped the fish and put that hand on her chin, making a chewing motion as she wiggled her other hand from side to side.
It was clear Viola was trying to tell her something but Eva just felt very confused. Fish and still hand, chewing and wiggling hand.
Viola clicked in annoyance and gave up on the gestures. When she began to make the fish swim through the air before snapping at it with her teeth it finally clicked.
“Oh, you want living fish?”
Viola just blinked at her. Communicating without language was hard. Viola repeated the snap at the moving fish before letting it drop lifelessly to the ground and swatting at it distastefully.
“I'll try and bring you something better for dinner,” she said. While she couldn't make the orca sounds Viola could the mermaid seemed to be able to mimic English. She might be able to teach her. Her mind buzzed trying to solve the current puzzle. How could they communicate? Words were little good and writing would be entirely useless. Drawing, however…
She really needed to talk to Phillip. She was getting ahead of herself, they needed to let Viola go. She could convince herself it was acceptible to keep an orca but a sapient mermaid, that was crossing a line.
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“What the hell was that,” Phillip yelled when she returned.
“Playing nice, look we really-”
“You could have died. Eva, seriously!”
Eva clenched her jaw, looking around to see everyone else quietly watching their interaction. Realizing the same thing Phillip took a breath and headed for his office. The expectation for her to follow was obvious. She stomped after him, through the metal detector and past the guards, to his office.
Phillip collapsed behind his desk. “Eva you have worked here two days and so far seem utterly incapable of doing your job safely. I can ignore yesterday, accidents happen but what the hell were you thinking letting the specimen get so close to you?”
“Her name is Viola.”
He frowned at her in confusion.
“She spoke to me, watch the tapes. She's been trying to communicate this whole time. It's no wonder that she drowned the last trainer, she's practically in solitary confinement,” Eva replied her voice growing in volume.
“The specimen mauled and ate the last trainer, Eva. It did not simply drown him.”
A chill ran up Eva’s spine. No one had told her that. “W-well my point still stands. We can’t keep her here.”
Phillip sighed, “Eva, you have not made some grand discovery. Talbot is well aware of the situation. It's out of my hands.”
“But–”
“You didn't blink twice at the captive dolphins and orcas. The specimen is an orca, perhaps a strange one but as far as we are concerned an orca. Now I suggest you focus on doing your job and keeping your mouth shut. Talbot is… he gets what he wants, Eva, and he wants the mermaid,” Phillip said.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
She didn't have a reply to his ominous words but she suddenly felt far less safe. If they had been hiding this then what else were they hiding? Maybe she didn't know Phillip as well as she had thought.
“Fine,” she spat. There was nothing else she could say. “At least get me some live fish, she hates the frozen stuff.”
“Eva,” he said gently, “don’t get attached.”
She nodded and stood, unable to look at him as she hurried out of his office. It was impossible not to get attached. Viola was the most incredible creature she had ever seen. But she couldn't afford to lose the job, for Viola’s sake if anything.
Shame burned hot within her as she headed for the bathroom, she needed a moment to herself. This wasn't like the dolphins and orcas kept in Ocean Land, they were domesticated. They couldn't survive in the wild if released. Not that anyone had really bothered to try. She had ignored so much for the chance to simply work with these animals.
Eva let out a shuttering breath, she didn't like feeling powerless. She knew what was happening to Viola was wrong but she couldn't change it. All she could do was try to make her happy here. Firstly they needed a way to effectively communicate.
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When she returned to work after a break and a trip to the store she had a solution. “Will this be a problem?” she asked, handing the sealed whiteboard and marker set she had found to the guard as she stepped through the metal detector. He looked at the other guard who shrugged and nodded.
“Don't make a habit of it,” he replied gruffly and handed it to her.
She gave the friendliest smile she could muster, unlocked the door and headed for the control room. She could hear an orca song as she approached, except there was only one creature that could be singing.
“What's going on?” she asked.
“T-the specimen is singing,” Abby replied looking away from the window. “W-we don’t know why but it's very loud.”
She wants to go home. It didn't take a genius to figure that one out. However, something caught her attention. A familiar sound, “Ay-va.” Viola was calling for her. She was supposed to blow a whistle when she fed her so it made sense Viola would try to call her.
“Right… well I should investigate,” she shrugged.
“Be careful. O-oh Phillip had some living fish imported, there in the wet room.”
“Thanks,” Eva called as she hurried to the elevator.
As soon as she was in the wet room she kicked off her shoes and tossed the packaging in the garbage, slipping the whiteboard pens in the pocket of her wetsuit, the board itself tucked under her arm. She noticed a large cooler with a clear lid and around a dozen small fish swimming around. It wasn't remotely enough to keep Viola fed but it would be a good treat.
She stepped into the cage only to realize she couldn't open the door without another person. But she wasn't really in the mood to go find Phillip nor did she want anyone else lurking around. She ignored the walkie-talkie strapped to her belt and looked around for something long she could poke through the bars.
She grabbed a broom and unscrewed the end leaving her with a pole. Then she got the computer set up to open the door, stepped into the cage, and tried to use the pole to hit the enter key. It was finicky and certainly not easy but after a few tries…
Click
The door slid closed behind her as the bars in front of her rolled away. She slipped the broom handle through the bars leaving it within reach before gathering her supplies and stepping out into the enclosure.
Viola’s song abruptly cut off and she poked her head above the water. Swimming over and pulling herself onto the platform after seeing it was Eva.
“I brought fish,” Eva grinned, only a little out of breath as she lugged the cooler full of water. Viola watched with rapt interest as she set it down with a thunk. Eva pulled the lid off and stepped back, feeling quite proud of herself.
Viola dragged herself over the smooth stone. Her arms were quite muscular, she was a strange contrast between whale and woman. She glanced into the cooler before glaring at Eva, she was clearly not impressed by the selection of small fish. The universal expression for “really?”
“That's all I could get on short notice,” Eva shrugged with a chuckle.
Viola clicked in response as she fished around in the cooler before pulling out a fish and swallowing it whole. A long pink tongue ran across her lips to complete her look of satisfaction. Her clicks were more chipper. Eva didn’t even know if she was reading Viola correctly but she seemed pleased. I guess it’s better than the frozen stuff.
“I also brought this,” she added, holding out the whiteboard.
Viola cocked her head in interest as she grabbed another fish. Eva pulled out the whiteboard marker and uncapped it. Drawing a few lines before wiping them away. Viola whistled excitedly and held out a hand.
Eva felt extremely pleased with herself, she handed the marker and board over before sitting down as Viola began to draw. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes while Viola drew, erased and drew again. Eva couldn't take her eyes off her. Her large focused black eyes, her long tail streached out which occasionally twitched as she worked, her powerful hands that were unskilled with a marker but were excellent at catching fish to snack on.
“Ay-va,” Viola whistled, dragging Eva back from the clouds. She held up the whiteboard for Eva to see. There was a human figure with long hair and a wet suit. Viola had drawn her. “Eva,” Viola said, this time with a chorus of voices as she tapped the board.
Eva smiled, she couldn't help it. They had bridged a gap in communication. Now there was just one more thing she wanted to try. She reached into the cooler to grab a fish and missed. The fish all effortlessly avoided her swipes. Using both hands she finally managed to scoop one up only for it to jump out of her hands and onto the rock where it wiggled desperately for water.
A chittering clicking noise made it clear that Viola was laughing at her failure and she glared at the mermaid, her cheeks hot with embarrassment. She had no reason to feel embarrassed but there was something about being around Viola that just made her nervous. Though not in a bad way.
Eva pointed at the fish, “fish.” She held out her hand and after a moment Viola handed her the whiteboard. Careful to not ruin Viola’s drawing she drew a small fish in the corner. Adding a circle for an eye and a few fins to make it clear. “Fish,” she repeated pointing at the drawing and then the real fish.
Viola scooped up the flailing fish, “fish,” she repeated before swallowing it. It sounded more like “fsshh” but it was certainly a start.
“Yes, fish,” Eva said. “Good mermaid. No that makes it sound like you're a pet,” she blushed. "You’re a quick learner. Are you a mermaid? What do you call your kind?” The questions simply burst from her the moment they came to mind.
When Viola obviously didn't have a response Eva sighed. She had a million questions that were too abstract to draw on a whiteboard. This time she drew a stick figure, featureless and simple. “Human,” she said. Then she drew two more stick figures, “humans.” Then she pointed back at the more detailed drawing of herself, “Eva.”
Viola seemed somewhat confused so she tried a different approach. “I am a human, my name is Eva.” She then pointed at her arm, then her leg, then held up some hair and tapped her nose, “human.” Eva then tapped her temples with her pointer fingers, “Eva.”
Viola carefully watched her movements but still seemed somewhat lost. Eva tentatively approached with her hands raised unsure of if she was allowed to touch. Viola just looked confused and tilted her head the way she had before when she let Eva touch her. Eva gently tapped Viola’s temples, “Viola.”
When Eva stepped away she could tell Viola didn't understand. Eva felt disappointed but she couldn't be surprised. Viola wasn't human, most of the basic assumptions and building blocks of language were fundamentally different. The only reason they could communicate as much as they could was because they were both smart enough to work around that, at least sometimes.
Viola grabbed the whiteboard and began to erase everything. “Wait!” Eva yelped, which made Viola jerk in surprise. “Sorry, I just… I wanted to…” She gave up trying to explain and gently took the whiteboard from Viola before cradling it close to her chest. The drawing of herself was still intact except for a large fingerprint on the torso over the chest and heart. She almost liked it more now.
When she looked back up Viola was smiling at her. Eva’s throat felt dry and her heart thudded. Viola twisted so she was in front of Eva. She leaned down and pressed her forehead to Eva’s. Briefly, a fleeting gesture that Eva didn't entirely understand. Maybe her mind was a little muddled by how big and warm Viola was or maybe it was the language barrier. Either way, it felt important. Viola moved away just as quickly, leaving Eva with the whiteboard as she slipped back into the pool. Progress was slow but it was progress none the same. I’m fucking friends with a mermaid!