And you decided whether you saw beauty or destruction

Scales and scales

(Mermaids)

When it comes down to courting, there are two things at play.

The first, and the one they all were raised for, is the harmonization. The harmonization is what happens when two merpeople find their destined mate, merfolk relies heavily on their singing and thus honor these unions beyond their reproduction success; it's like a soulmate, you don't pick who you harmonize with.

The second is the tail, a merperson's tail is their pride, and an important tool when courting, they are your biggest asset when trying to get someone to sing with you, and they also show how fast you are, which is important when tailing ships, or running away from them, depending on whether the humans to be hunted were informed or no.

Connor is born with a bland pale brown tail, four trail of pearl-like semi-translucent white beads framing it from below his waist all the way to the start of his caudal fin, curving around his other fins; so for the wide majority of his existence he's been an outcast, the thing is, his tail changes completely during the night, so he makes sure to sleep far from the rest of the frenzy.

During nighttime, when only the hunters are awake, but far out where they can't see him, Connor glows brightly, the pearl-like decorations on his scales light up to match his moods, tonight they go through the entire spectrum of cyan.

The other outcast in the frenzy is a young merman named Evan, who can camouflage himself, and thus is marked of as untrusty, but allowed to stay because of the utility of this ability.

They approach each other seeking for companionship, for an ally, and they've shared their lives, and their struggles, and now Connor's going to share his secret with Evan. It's nerve-wracking, not because he doesn't trust Evan, but because of the implications that showing off his tail has; but Connor refuses to think about it, and just leads Evan to a dark cave beneath the coral they call home.

Hs spinous fins make trading through the cave easier for him than for Evan, but they manage, Connor hears a soft gasp from the other merman as soon as they get to the dark part, Connor is glowing a pinkish violet, but in the dim light he can see the look of awe that's taken over Evan, so it quickly turns full out pink, Evan grins.

"This is beautiful Connor"

His lights, as Connor liked to call them, turned a bright fuchsia, and he knew his face was flushed.

"Why don't you show this? You would get so many wanting to court you"

But Connor shakes his head, and his lights go purple, and instead of answering he leads Evan back out of the cave, where his emotions aren't on his sleeve. The sun falls warmly on them, it's mid-day and there's singing echoing from merfolk who are finding their other halves.

"I want to show you something too"

Evan has admitted before on using his camouflage constantly because he thinks lowly of his tail, but now the usual bluish platinum he generally uses gives way to a dark metallic blue with black accents, his dorsal fin has white ones instead, and his caudal has both and circular spots of orange, no one could fake such a scale pattern, no, this is what Evan really looks like. Connor thinks him mesmerizing, and suddenly understands why Evan was so appalled with him hiding his tail's true beauty.

Connor pulls Evan to him, who allows it, and holds him so he can't look at him, and then he starts singing, softly, tentatively, Evan's hands tighten on him, and he joins. Their voices meet and intertwine in a single melody, as they serenade each other... they harmonize, and Connor feels himself beaming.