Tango hadn't had this much physical contact with another mer since he'd gotten separated from his pod.
He was pinned against the cold wall of the pool, Jimmy pressed against him and holding him pinned. Everything was just too much, at the moment. He squeezed his eyes shut, just focused on the water pumping over his gills as his heartrate started to finally slow down.
Okay, back up a bit, how did Tango manage to get himself in this situation?
In all truth, he wasn't entirely sure. He'd been swimming around the pool, trying to get used to the way his ripped fins changed his maneuverability, going as fast as he dared in the enclosed space-- probably faster than was advisable.
It was an anxious tick of his, pacing back and forth when he was attempting to work something out. It helped when the problem was something he could inspect with his hands and where another perspective was incredibly helpful. Not so much when the danger was unseen, unheard, and completely out of his control. At least he could pace, here, rather than being stuck in an empty tidepool not much bigger than two body lengths across.
He'd been talking out loud to himself-- just gibberish, really, thinking out loud as he worked the stiffness out of his muscles. Anything to distract from the eerie quiet. The water being this quiet never meant anything good. He was going to go insane if he had to sit here in silence, just waiting to be ambushed. And him being loud wasn't helping. the sorts of predators that made the sea go quiet were the ones you needed to be quiet to avoid.
He felt like he was going mad anyway. There weren't any predators here, not the type that sound would do anything more to attract. But he simply couldn't bring himself to shut up. It was easier to just keep chattering away to himself, because then maybe he would actually have somewhere to point the pent-up jittery sort of borderline panic that was making his scales itch. Maybe then there would be a physical threat to sink his fangs into, instead of this growing dread and certainty that his pod was dead again.
He'd lost his first pod to a silence like this.
Tango hated silence.
It only took a half a second of distraction for Tango to lose focus on his careful balance of speed and water pressure and the way his fins dragged to slow him down for the turn and-- there was movement, something was above the water.
Thwack--
Well, that hurt. Tango shook his head, at least he'd had the awareness to twist, hitting the wall with his back instead of with his head or shoulder or anything that would've snapped with the wrong amount of pressure.
Then there were bodies in the water, humans surrounding him where he lay on the shallow bottom, a mer circling around behind him for the kill--
It was a split-second decision, and a lucky glance of blond hair versus blue that let him tackle the human into the water and take him hostage.
The other two had gills, but this one didn't.
Once he had his back to the wall and the held in front of him like a shield, the other two kept their distance.
It was Jimmy, the mer he'd yelled at before, and the blue-haired half-thing that'd helped steal Tango and maybe-kill Impulse.
The human he was holding hostage was the one who'd maybe-killed Impulse. In that moment, he was incredibly tempted to bleed the human out right here and now. He was a threat.
"Woah-- woah!! just calm down. we can talk about this, right?" Jimmy had his hands out in a placating gesture, "Just-- let Martyn go, alright? He's done nothing to hurt you, mate--"
"Oh? Why don't you ask him about what happened to my human?" Tango snapped, tightening his grip.
"Don't--! You're gonna hurt him--" Jimmy pinned his fins back in a show of submission, backing off.
But the other one was trying to edge around to the side of him. Tango bared his fangs in response, twisting to face him too, "You stay right there-- don't come any closer--"
The half-thing put up his hands, "Let him go, we're not goin-ta hurt you."
"Tell that to the human you killed--" Tango snarled, flaring his fins in threat, "You killed my human, it's only fair that I get to kill yours."
"Killed--" Jimmy twisted to look at the half-thing, "Scott, did you guys kill somebody?"
"No. No, we didn't kill him. We put him to sleep, that's all." The half-thing-- Scott-- shook his head, "Let Martyn go before you hurt him."
They-- hadn't killed Impulse? Oh. That changed a couple things. Maybe. If Impulse was okay.
A moment before Tango was going to let the human go, something sharp bit him in the arm.
Tango recoiled with a shout, shoving Martyn away.
He got tackled a moment later by Scott, everything starting to go out of focus.
They were all liars. All three of them. Liars and cheats and Tango wasn't going to let them get away with this--
He snapped at Scott, managing to get at least one or two solid bites in before the half-thing could really react. A moment later, Jimmy slammed into the two of them, knocking Tango's head spinning and taking the opportunity to pull them apart.
Tango twisted in his grip, shrieking in anger as he attempted to get his fangs into Jimmy too. He wasn't able to get around to anywhere he could do any damage. A moment later, Jimmy shoved him against the wall.
And that's how Tango found himself in this situation.
He gave a half-hearted flick of his tail, flexing against Jimmy's grip. Tango didn't really want him to let go, but he didn't want to just-- give up.
"Alright. Listen here, you." Jimmy hissed into his ear, "You need to hold your seahorses and actually listen for once, instead of just fighting us all the time. Now. Are you done? or are you going to keep trying to bite me?"
Tango shuddered, letting himself go limp as he tipped his head towards the wall. His mouth felt thick and clumsy and stuffed full of pebbles as he answered, "I'm done. . ."
"Moon and stars above, was that really so hard?" Jimmy asked, not letting Tango go, but loosening the death grip on his arms.
Everything was fuzzy, like the way it'd been when he first woken up here. Whatever it was that'd bitten him was nasty. Nastier than the time Etho had accidentally gotten Tango with his spines.
Jimmy did eventually let go of Tango, after Scott had gone back up to the surface to check on the human. Tango still had to lean against the wall, though. He didn't like his chances of staying upright with the way everything seemed tipped ever so slightly to the left.
He had to admit that he was sad about Jimmy swimming off to also check on his human after a little while longer. Even though Martyn hadn't actually killed impulse, Tango couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about almost drowning the man.
Sue him for being homesick, but Tango couldn't help but want the other mer around.
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I was seeing the comic of Emmets self destructing behavior even after he and Ingo reunited and wow… that implication it’s not the first time…
How many times must have this happened? How many times until Ingo knew snapping him out by a gentle hand on his shoulder? What bad habits did Emmet develop while being on his own? With "Ingo" encouraging him to be more healthy? Just so deliciously dark! I love it?
On the other hand how much strain Ingo's body going through when he has his moments he sees "the man in white" his body switches to "life-or-death-mode" receiving a little bruise could cause him to fall into full panic mode and try to treat it like a lethal wound if not for Emmet snapping him out of it and calming him down again.
While both have their moments of seeing their subconscious guardian angel both react differently.
Emmet is apathetic towards "Ingo" dismissing him since he’s not even there. He reacts mentally.
Ingo’s whole body could react to small bruises and injuries like they could kill him and depending on his support to get through it. He reacts with his whole body.
Also when Ingo’s aware he’s probably insecure about all the scars he’s got on him now. How many times he almost died… he doesn’t want the real Emmet to know. It’s bad enough that "the man in white knows"…
YES YES!!! This analysis is so perfect!!! If you'd allow me to ramble a bit...
Emmet's self destructive tendencies have been going on for a while since Ingo's disappearance. He has his Elesa and his depot agents to support him/remind him to not truly forget about himself (Elesa trying to take more time off from her job to check on Emmet/invite him out to lunch to make sure he eats, the veteran depot agents frequently checking up on him during the day/encouraging him take more breaks/interrupting his smoke breaks "accidentally", ect) but it's been hard to say the least. It will take some time for these habits to truly go away even with Ingo back, especially on his bad days.
BUT ALSO YEAH! Ingo! If Emmet appears at the corner of his eye suddenly or he sees him from a distance (any sort of blurred visage - as the man in white always appeared as) he might have a knee jerk response - a sudden urge to run or seek safety - but ultimately it won't be too serious.
His body reacts the most drastically when he is already in a state of injury and Emmet is within eyesight. Elevated heart rate, shortness of breathe, blurred vision, body tremors: his adrenaline levels will spike to an unnatural level causing a ton of stress on the body, since his mind is basically telling his body that he's on the brink of death. The quickest way to calm him down if it were to get this bad would be to have Emmet out of his sight until he can calm down...Not very ideal when the source of one's panic works the same job as you, in a work environment where slight injuries aren't too uncommon
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Hi! I was just wondering if you got my other ask about a TRT au that I want to write. I want to get the ok from you before I start anything.
I went digging for your asks and found them!
First off I feel like Deadpool when he's talking about fourth walls. A fanfic about a fanfic??? that's like... DOUBLE FANFICS
Second off I'm absolutely DELIGHTED by the idea and also really honored that someone would want to do TRT fanfic??? Just got me like
I am 100% ok with it! Anything that puts more fanfic into the world makes me happy tbh, AND it feels like a lovely continuation of the cycle that got *me* writing fic plus if i eventually take parts of trt and make it a real book as planned i would love if people ficced that IT'S THE CIIIIIIIIRCLE OF LIFE
There are only only two things I'd ask (applies to anyone else who may want to do TRT fanfic, which I'm fine with).
Proper credit back to TRT. If the fic's on AO3, then the 'This work is a remix, a translation, a podfic, or was inspired by another work' option when posting is what to use, and that'll let it pop up at the bottom of TRT under the 'works inspired by this one'. If it'll be posted on Wattpad or Tumblr, a link to TRT on AO3 and an acknowledgment is all I'd ask!
This one isn't specific to your idea (which I looked over and am totally fine with!). This is more for anyone else: please do not try to finish TRT, in the sense of trying to write the next chapters. AUs are fine, Blip fics are fine (I admittedly have a Blip side fic planned but it'll be outside of the main TRT story), various adventures, Foggy musings on canon, shenanigans, NSFW or SFW scenes, whatever, are all fine! I only draw the line at 'Pasta hasn't updated in a bit so I'm going to write the next chapters and post it'.
Other than that, you are free to move about the cabin with my blessing! I'm super excited to see what you come up with!
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