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Gestimas is a senior staff member at the Aquarium, but he’s hardly ever there. His job usually kept him away, and his job was to dive into various places and search for wounded sea creatures. Sometimes he gets called back to the Aquarium for the more difficult cases. The most recent one was a mer-troll who’d hit his head on the deck of the ship that caught him. He was panicked, screeching things in the tones that they used to communicate underwater.
What bothered Gestimas the most was what he managed to say. He said “father” and “Eridan” multiple times, to which the small fish in the ten gallon tank across the room responded to by jumping out. That only made the other panic more. Gestimas had Sollux put the small one back in the tank, asking him to keep the poor thing calm as he took care of the older one.
He somehow managed to calm both of them down after a while. Discarding his soaked lab coat, he made it clear that he was going to find the “father” of the two and that he needed his expedition crew ready within the hour. Gestimas read the report of the fishing ship as he walked, frowning. If the crew injured the father with their barrage of harpoons, then they didn’t have much time.
Within three hours, they were at the coordinates that the fishing ship caught the two young mer-trolls at. He shouldered on an oxygen tank, which was the most equipment he ever took on a shallow water dive. He’d figured out long ago that the more equipment he had on, the more likely he was to startle the wildlife. Reaching for his flippers, he stopped and frowned as Karmine Vantas, a marine biologist, walked up to him.
“This is near a reef, Gestimas.” he said, flipping through some papers on his clipboard. “It’s within a quarter of a mile. This place is protected.”
“Mmhmm.”
“And you know what that means.”
“I know, Karmine. I’m just a vet, so how about you get on with the paperwork?”
“I can only press charges if there’s proof that they injured-”
He cut him off by raising a hand. “They injured the older one when they brought him in on their deck, and caused distress to both of them. If I find the father today, and if he’s injured, then there’s your proof.” grabbing his flippers, he walked to the back edge of the boat and sat down so he could pull them on. “I know I’ll find him.”
“Hopefully. But if you feel that way, then I’ll have to trust you, Psychic.” he smiled as he said the other’s nickname, given to him by one of the Nitrams.
He laughed, holding the mouthpiece. “I know.” he put it in and moved closer to the edge.
“Good luck!”
Gestimas gave him a thumbs-up and slipped into the water.
“I swear, he loves water so much that if I didn’t know better, I’d think that he had mer-troll blood running through him.”
---
The water was clear enough for Gestimas to see for a few feet in front of him. There were clusters of coral here and there, and a small rock formation that looked almost like a cave. He decided that he’d look there first, just in case the father was wounded and hiding. If he wasn’t injured, then his job was done. But maybe he could understand human language, and if he could, maybe Gestimas could convince him to come to the Aquarium for his sons’ sakes.
He swam into the cove of the formation and regretted that he didn’t bring his clip-on flashlight. It was quite dangerous and stupid to go into a dark spot without a flashlight. But it wasn’t so dark that he couldn’t see a broken harpoon jammed into the rocks. He pulled it out and noted that it was shorter than it should be, and the barbed end was missing. That meant that the end was probably embedded in the father still.
Something moved to his right, and he just barely caught it in his peripheral vision. He spun around and tried to catch the movement again, trying his best not to panic. He put his free hand on a rock to keep himself steady as he looked around the darker parts of the formation. He was expecting the worst, but it was nothing close to what was actually lurking in the dark.
A purple, streamlined body slammed into him, pinning him to the rock, claws pointed at his eyes. The creature in front of him looked like an older version of the one at the Aquarium, and he looked mad. Gestimas simply looked at him, watching as he let out a stream of bubbles as if he were hissing, a cloud of purple seeping into the water.
He risked moving his hand to carefully push his wrist down, moving the claws from his face. The mer-troll watched him warily. Just as slowly, he pressed his palm to his forehead and took advantage of his ability to calm sea creatures. Thought projection, his father would call it. His message was short and sweet, simply a repetition of “your sons are safe, I can help you”.
He felt the other relax, simply turning limp in his arms. Patting his bag, he held him tight with one arm as he swam back to the surface with the harpoon gripped tight in one hand. Bobbing with the waves, he spat the mouthpiece out and let it hang over his shoulder, slowly swimming back to the boat. “Karmine!” he yelled as he got closer, tossing the broken harpoon on the deck. “Get me Karmine, and fill the tub!”
The crew member (Gestimas thinks he was one of the Nitram brothers) saluted him and scurried below the deck. The mer-troll breathed heavily, which was normal with a wound that close to the lungs. He lifted his head and looked directly at Gestimas.
“My sons... hurt?”
He blinked, surprised that he talked to him. “The elder one got a cut on his head, but he’s fine. The younger one has been getting himself stuck in pipes trying to chase after one of the techs, but it’s nothing that’ll permanently harm him.”
“Good.” he rasped.
“Is that… did he just speak?” Karmine asked, having walked in on the middle of the sentence. He squatted down near the edge, looking at the two.
“Yes and yes.” Gestimas replied. “Hey, can you hang onto the railing long enough for us to pull you out?”
He nodded and grabbed a rung on the ladder.
Gestimas hauled himself out of the water and on the boat, shrugged off the oxygen tank, and pulled off his flippers, tossing them to a corner of the deck.
“I’m going to get soaked, aren’t I?” Karmine asked as Gestimas crouched beside him.
“You’re the only person I’d trust with this. And if I trust you, he can trust you.” he reached down and grabbed the mer-troll’s wrist, Karmine doing the same. “Grab onto our wrists as best as you can, okay?”
He grunted in response, webbed fingers closing around their wrists.
“Ready?”
Karmine nodded.
“One, two… three!” They pulled together, slowly dragging the mer-troll onto the deck. “Karmine, sacrifice your shirt for his wound.”
“But you know-”
“I know, Karmine. Just wad it up and press it to his wound to try and stop the bleeding. Please… do it for me.”
Karmine bit his lip and pulled his shirt off, passing it to Gestimas. “Where’s the harpoon shaft?”
“Over there.” he pointed to it with one hand, using the other to wad up the shirt and press it to the wound on the mer-troll’s side.
“If the harpoon matches at the break and if it matches the lot on the boat, then-”
“Karmine, I know. Just… go do what you do, okay? Hold that for me, please.” he said to the mer-troll, who pressed a hand to the shirt wad.
“Oh all right.” he huffed and picked up the harpoon shaft. “Don’t get hurt. Are you going to need help carrying him? Rasmus could help you out.”
“Nah, he’s not that heavy at the moment, and I don’t think he could get really heavy.”
“If you need me-”
“Just call. How many times do I have to say “I know” for you to understand?”
“Can I not worry about my best friend?”
“I’ll be fine.” he leaned down and carefully picked the mer-troll bridal style, keeping his wounded side away from his chest. In response, he wrapped an arm around Gestimas’ neck. “He’s about as heavy as you are, Karmine.”
“Oh shut it.” he puffed his cheeks and stuck his tongue out, retreating below deck.
“I’m sorry.” Gestimas said. “I know you’re in pain.” he carefully walked down the stairs that led him to the holding tanks, placing him in one of the shallower ones. This specific one got nicknamed “The Tub” because it looked almost exactly like a bathtub. It held just enough water to keep the mer-troll from getting too dry, but not too much, which would make it impossible to do any medical work on him.
“I’ll be fine.” he replied.
“You’re lucky that you’re still alive.” Gestimas went to one of the tables and pulled on a pair of gloves. “I’m assuming that you broke the shaft so you could move around better.”
“Aye… But it’s barbed, so I couldn’t get it out..”
“That’s what I’m here for.” he smiled and grabbed the forceps, walking back over to The Tub. “Did it go all the way through?”
“Think so…” he leaned up, wincing a bit.
Gestimas leaned over the side of the Tub, carefully looking at the backside of the wound. “It’s just barely poking out, but it’ll cause more damage if I push it back through than if I pulled it out.”
“Yeah yeah, I know how it works.” he shifted some so he was leaning over a short edge of the tub, resting on his arms. “Just go ahead and pull it out, doc.”
“Give me a moment.” he scooted over some and reached over to grab a scalpel. Holding both tools very carefully, he got in the tub and sat near him, on the side that the wound was on. “How high is your pain tolerance?”
“High enough. Got this far with a harpoon in my gut, didn’t I?”
“You have a point. I’m warning you, though, this is the most I can do on the boat. There’ll be more examinations at the Aquarium.” he took the scalpel in hand and pressed it into his flesh, doing his best to quickly cut out a spot for the harpoon barbs to come out of.
“Don’t. Care.” he replied through gritted teeth. Hisses passed his lips and he dug his fingers into his arms.
“If it hurts too much, just let me know..”
“Shut up.”
He opened his mouth to say something else, but thought better of it, finishing the process of cutting a bigger hole for the harpoon barbs. Even more carefully (thank god it hadn’t punctured anything important, what a miracle), he pulled it out a bit with his hand, just enough so he could get the forceps clamped behind at least two of the barbs. He waited for the mer-troll to catch his breath and relax more before even attempting to pull the harpoon head out. Working quickly, but steadily as to not damage him more, he pulled the head out, dropping it in a plastic bin on the floor. Purple blood began to seep out, tinting The Tub’s water a hauntingly lovely shade of purple.
“Don’t pass out on me yet.” he said, getting out of the tub. He placed the forceps and scalpel on the desk and started digging around for some gauze and bandages.
“I ain’t that lightheaded, doc.” he chuckled, but closed his eyes anyway.
“You’ve already proven that, my friend.” he found what he was looking for and helped him sit up, pressing gauze to both sides of the wound and wrapping it up. On top of the layers of gauze and bandages, he stuck a layer of a waterproof material developed especially for situations like this. “Get some rest; we’ve got a little while to go.”
“Aye, yer the doctor.”
Gestimas pulled a chair to the desk, where he took on the task of cleaning the harpoon head of the blood on it. Karmine came in about half an hour later, while the mer-troll was asleep. He quietly took the harpoon from Gestimas’ possession, but the other man followed him out of the holding area so he could be present at the investigation of the harpoon versus the harpoon head because two sets of eyes were better than one when it came to investigating small details. When it was discovered that they matched, Gestimas felt relieved that he had a hand in putting law-breakers in jail. He also felt that today was a successful day, helping a species that was so rare, it was thought to be extinct long ago, and because he made a new friend, even if that friend was a mer-troll.