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sansxfuckyou · 1 year

Text

You're different

Summary: You meet a freshwater Troll in the creek close to where you reside, turns out he never made it back to the ocean, he asks for your help.

Warnings: Minor wounds, isolation, broken horns, blood, claws, check tags for further warnings.

Authors Note: third fic for the every ship challenge, also, @gillbuoy I forgot to mention that some Trolls don't fully develop into merfolk but still have gill slits that can be opened, just no tail or fins, in the merfolk AU, once again, I take reblogs as a form of currency over likes.

In this world, seventy five percent of it is covered in water, the remaining twenty five percent is home to Lusii and Trolls who don't fully develop.

Some Trolls are freshwater, some Trolls are saltwater, they all hatch on land though.

Most Trolls that don't fully develop into 'merfolk' never meet any other trolls in their lifetime.

They just live with their first Lusus in one of the few land hives, unaware of the fully developed Trolls that exist under the waters surface.

Sure, myths have been etched into stone by the last generations of landwalkers, but otherwise, no landwalker has found proof of a fully developed Troll. Landwalkers may fish, they may swim, but no fresh or saltwater Troll is bold enough to get that close to them. Its a bit of a bummer for some landwalkers, as the only social interaction they have is their Lusus and whatever creature they can find.

You are Gamzee Makara.

You are a land dweller.

Your Lusus died three sweeps ago and you are surviving on your own perfectly fine.

The isolation is starting to get to you, otherwise your fine.

You walk through the woods of your island, a bag slung on your shoulder for anything edible you may find.

Leaves and branches crack under your weight, you're still light for your height though. Most times in the middle of day you would be out at the beach, simply staring at the sky as crabs and gulls skitter around you. Today you woke up just starving, and you were fresh out of anything edible, which is what brought you to the woods where you are currently eating anything salvageable.

The sound of rushing water, salvation!

Your claws and perfect for fishing!

Your pace picks up and you start to tumble as you make your way over, freezing up when the deep creek comes into view.

There sits a Troll, one horn shattered off at the half point, the other to large for its head. Said Troll isn't wearing a shirt, and the Bronze slits on its sides are exposed along with the fins protruding near its elbows. On its head are also auricle fins, the webbing is Bronze, and the Trolls short hair is a little bit damp, splotches of scales exist on its skin. And at the Trolls waist, it turns into that of a fish, you didn't know what kind, but the fins were frilly and the scales a deep Bronze with highlights of red and gold.

Fuck, if that wasn't beauty you don't know what is.

No!

Bad thought!

Food, focus on food, that Troll is half food!

Your face is burning a brilliant Purple and your heart is picking up pace as you reach into your back, gripping an angled edge you always had on hand. You held said sharpened edge in your hand before going to take a few steps forward, landing on a branch that gave off a massive crack. You froze up completely as you stared at the Troll whose Auricle fins twitched, he snapped to look at you before delving back into the water, trying to swim back upstream but unable to jump the first small leap.

He gave a whine as a rock tears open scales, Bronze spills out and tints the water said color as he just falls limp. You take that as a sign of something and step further ahead until you're at the edge of the pool and staring at the Troll who stares back. His eyes are Bronze and the slits on his torso flutter a bit as water filters in and out, they have similar slits on his neck.

"Yeah, pathetic isn't it, a Bronze blood like me stuck starving to death in freshwater," he said with a sigh, it caught you off guard that it could speak.

"What are you?" Was all you could muster, that caught the Trolls attention as he propped himself on a rock, leaning his torso against it and holding his chin with webbed fingers.

"I'm a Troll, just like you, the only difference being that I fully developed and you didn't, my name is Tavros, yours?" the Troll, Tavros asked, you barely even registered his question, so many questions of your own spin through your head, the Purple on your face dies down which is the only good thing.

"Fully developed, freshwater, what the fuck?" you say, although its more of a mutter and you have to take a seat to take it all in, Tavros smiles a toothy smile.

"Right, you're a landwalker, and according to you few, me and the rest of the seadwellers are naught but myths," Tavros said, his head tilted to the side a bit, must've been his horns weighing him down, his frilled tail swished back and forth in shallow water a little bit.

"I'm so confused," you mumbled to yourself, holding your head in your hands, none of this made any sense to you, and the lack of food in your stomach was not helping, "I'm Gamzee by the way."

"Interesting name, say, whats your Caste?" Tavros asked, you had never heard that word once in your short life.

"My what?" You asked, raising a brow as you lifted your face from your hands, reaching to rub your neck, it itches whenever your dehydrated and oozes whenever you drink to much water.

"Your blood color," Tavros said, he sounded a little bit impatient.

"Oh, that, its Purple," you said, digging a claw into one of the slits on the side of your neck, it was bone dry, you dipped a hand into the water before rubbing said liquid into it, much better.

"Hmm, your hatchmates has been looking for you, they sent me up to try and find you, I got stuck here this morning instead," Tavros explained, gesturing with one of his hands a little bit, the scales on the back of it glimmered iridescent, he stared at your neck, a faint Purple line where the slits where, "you know, even though you've never been underwater before, I could help make it so you can be semi aquatic."

"Naw man, I been under the waves before, it was not pleasant, I nearly drowned, washed ashore the next morning and found my Lusus dead, he probably saved me," you explained, Tavros eyes widened just a little bit, you only noticed cause you were staring at them.

"My Lusus is probably worried sick, I don't know if you want to come underwater, but if you help me back to sea I can say I couldn't find you," Tavros said, it sounded like a good idea, you stood up and made your way to the first rock barrier down.

"How deep does the water have to be for you to survive?" You asked as you tromped through the water and got ready to push a rock out of its place.

"Deep enough it'll hit my gills," he said before pushing himself over to where you were.

"Alright then brother, get ready," You said before pushing out a few small rocks, then a larger one, Tavros hopped into the next pool, you did as well, water only hitting up to your ankles.

You and Tavros continued pushing out rocks and helping him further and further downstream, at one point you fell into the water and he had to catch you from cracking off your horns. You asked him why he caught you, and he just said that it hurt a lot before pointing to his own broken horn, that makes sense now. By the time you made it to the outlet into the sea, the sun was setting, you were still wide awake though, shivering a little bit, the slits on your neck oozing Purple from the time they got submerged.

At the last pool before Tavros would have to book it and never see you again, the two of you took a small break. Tavros was lounging against a rock and you simply sat in the water beside him, it was freezing but he was warm.

"Hey Tav," you began, you swear you could feel one of his fins twitch at the nickname, he turned to face you, "I want to go underwater with you, I don't want to join my hatchmates though."

"So, you just want to live under the waves with me, that's awfully sweet, but you would probably die of hypothermia before long, unless you suddenly grew scales to insulate yourself," Tavros said as he tapped the scales on his arm, they made an odd clinking sound as claws met scales.

"Then maybe we could do both, I could live on land sometimes and water the rest of the time," you offered, beginning to sound desperate as you spoke, Tavros took a moment to respond this time.

"I suppose it'll work, take off your shirt and turn to me, if you want to do this that is," Tavros said, adding the last bit after shock settled onto your face for a second before you did as told, cool breezes washing over your bare gray skin, you shivered as the slits on the sides of your torso where hit with air, Tavros gently pressed his claws on them, digging into the slits a little deeper than felt right, you squirmed as Purple started to drip, "this is gonna hurt you more than me."

And then he pressed his nails in real deep and tore, pulling them out as the preexisting slits finished. You nearly screamed, but it didn't actually hurt, it just made you whine and squirm cause it felt really weird. When he pulled away his claws they were coated with Purple, he washed it off before splashing water on the angled slits, it filtered in and you coughed at the sudden burst of oxygen in your chest.

What the fuck...?

You slunk deeper into the water and held your breath, you were fine, in fact, you couldn't even breath through your nose until you brought up the gill slits. Guess you had gills now, that's weird, Purple still oozed from then as the commonly dry gills got used to the sudden liquid. Tavros took a shaky sigh before placing his hands on your neck and you seized up completely, he gave you a soft look.

"I think these ones might be deep enough, tell me if it hurts, I just have to check," Tavros said gently, wrapping the tip of his tale around your legs just a little bit, you shivered, his scales were slimy.

He gently pressed his claws until your gill slits, they were nice and damp, good. He pushed into each slit until he felt the filter where oxygen is normally filtered from water, you whined, it stung. When he pulled his hands from your neck you were still squirming a little bit as your gills shut back up a bit more, he splashed some water onto them, more oxygen.

"I am good?" You asked, Tavros didn't nod, instead he dunked your head underwater, you struggled for a second, then, air started filling your lungs and you opened your mouth, there was a blocker in the back of your throat, the gills on your torso fluttered as they took in oxygen until you resurfaced, coughing just a bit.

"Well, you didn't die, so I'd say you're good enough," Tavros said before pushing himself to the edge of the pool, you followed him before getting ready to push away a rock, "just follow me, once we're deep enough to be submerged I'll lead you around."

"Ok," you said before pushing out the rock, Tavros was swimming to the ocean in a flash, head fully submerged and horn digging a trench into the dirt, you followed on foot into the depths.

When you were at shoulder height, you were freezing a little bit and shivering, Tavros resurfaced and grabbed your hands. You stared at him, he pulled you onto his back and you gripped his horns, he froze up, gills clamping shut until you released his horns, you placed your arms around his torso. Then he dived, webbed hands held in front of himself and the water running around you so fast with thrilling, you were grinning so was Tavros.

"So, what do you think?" Tavros asked as he started to slow at a hive, the entrance built into a coral reef, it was the only one there, maybe Tavros lived by himself, he dropped you down and normally you would float, but instead you stayed grounded as he opened up the hatch, revealing a deep tunnel system that had multiple doors, oh, so its a big hive.

"Is this all yours?" You ask, your voice sounds a bit stupid, but Tavros doesn't say anything about it, instead he pulls you down further and further until you reach a small ledge that you land on.

"No, I share with a friend, but I'm sure he won't mind you sticking around," Tavros said as he opened the door and swam in, you followed and found another Troll, this one had red scales and a few scars on his tail, candy red gill slits on his torso and neck, he turns to the both of you with a glare, but his gaze softens.

He's on Tavros in a second, his candy red tinted stress tears fade into the water. Next he has a claw pointed at Tavros and he's ignoring you.

"I was so fucking worried about you! What if you got hurt? What if you got killed? But no, you return with some stupid landwalker corpse to take up our space and-!" He cuts himself short after glancing to you, your gills clamp shut for a second, he realizes you're alive.

"Gamzee isn't a corpse Karkat," was what Tavros said, the Troll, Karkat, his eyes widen exponentially as he stares from you to Tavros, then again.

"Fuck it, you two, we're talking tomorrow, tonight your lousy landwalker matesprit can stay," and with that Karkat storms off to his own personal chambers and you're dumbfounded.

What a lovely life you've wandered directly into.

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