And I'll Not Go To The Waves, Love | Suegiku Siren AU

Chapter 2

Sirens, much like humans, were no strangers to the concept of boredom– after all, there were only so many leisurely swims one could go for before growing tired of it. Jouno was no exception, and when boredom hit, it hit hard .

They were just floating in the open water, nothing but his head above the surface and his hair splayed out around him like a halo. He stared upwards with his forever unseeing eyes closed, as being above the surface often made them sting with the sheer dryness of the air. Underwater, he needn't blink, and so he often forgot it when he did stick his head out of the ocean. And so, since he did not see regardless, he simply kept his eyes screwed shut when not swimming around.

But with boredom came the desire to instil fear– the only form of entertainment he truly dabbled in. He didn't get to do this all that often, however, as he largely lived in solitude with no humans or even other merfolk around, and scaring fish was... not entertaining in the slightest. They got spooked by just a change in the current, after all.

But today... that ship that had entered the Misty Waters about 3 days ago had yet to leave, and thus the solution to his boredom was apparent: the humans on board would be his source of entertainment for however long they decided to remain there. After all, they were smack dab in the middle of his turf, so he felt he had every right to mess with them.

Now, what to do... simply leading one of them into the water didn't quite speak to him the way it usually did, so he needed something new and exciting .

What scares humans?

Death , first and foremost, however that was a very short amount of satisfaction, and Jouno wouldn't really get to enjoy their agony for all that long. But it was a viable option, so he kept it in mind.

Storms at sea , perhaps, but Jouno unfortunately could not control the weather, and thus that idea was off the table as well...

Hm.

And then an idea hit him. Word had gotten around and he had heard of this thing called ghosts , a paranormal entity invented by humans that seemed to scare them– All sorts of stories that caused great unease, all following a similar formula. Now, he didn't know much about the topic, but what he did know was the following: the image of dead humans making strange appearances and disappearances, often appearing increasingly closer and maybe slightly translucent.

Jouno could become one of these ghosts! He was made for the job– appearing and disappearing was the main focus of his ability, after all, especially in the fog of the Misty Waters.

Alright, so ghosts were the apparitions of the dead... so first... he had to die? Well, not actually die, but just convincingly stage his death. Or could he skip that step altogether and pretend he died a while ago?

Ah, well, he'd try the easy way first to see if that worked before making it needlessly complicated. Surely, the sudden appearance of someone unknown would be reason enough to be fearful, right?

Now, the challenge would be to appear humanoid enough for these people to be fooled by his disguise. First off, he needed clothing. Preferably something long and wavy that covered his legs all the way to the ankles, in case those were a bit hard to maintain. It had been ages since he last shifted his form in such a way, and he had no way of confirming he was rusty.

All he could do was hope he still remembered how to take a form his eyes could not perceive.

On the ship, Tecchou wallowed in slight annoyance as he watched the waves wistfully, not allowed to enter them again. His current inability to perform any of his duties was causing him to become rather restless to say the least. The rest of the crew didn't need his help, in fact, he wondered if perhaps it was this restlessness in his body that the captain was punishing him for.