Chapter Text
You sat, moving your bucket and laying down your mop, leaning with your back against the glass of the siren enclosure. Some kid had mashed their animal-themed snack into the floor, and although the floor was smooth the snack had dried and hardened into a crust that you were having to soak and chip away piece by piece. You were starting to lose the will to continue the battle.
... Somehow, this wasn’t what you thought you’d be doing over the summer. Or with your life, to be honest. It turned out that, despite your degree and copious work experience, when you applied to the aquarium they weren’t interested in you doing anything worthwhile. They weren’t really interested in you at all, honestly- they handed you a mop, a pair of rubber gloves and a bucket, and told you to make sure things looked nice and the bins weren’t overflowing.
Ebott aquarium was world famous. Why wouldn’t it be? It had sirens. Sirens weren’t exactly something you could go see in the wild on a marine safari, they were immensely dangerous. Their territorial nature, power, speed, intelligence, penchant for singing to/eating humans combined to make them something universally feared. Very few existed in captivity.
Ebott had three. The first, second and third largest captive in the world, to be precise. A very glamorous achievement.
Nothing glamorous about working here, you thought, glumly. So much for a ‘fun first day’.
You weren’t inside the siren areas, where the action happened. Looking at the huge beautiful tanks with state-of-the-art sound blocking. Much too fancy for you- you were a janitor. You’d spent all day by the crappy indoor whale themed kids play area, enjoying people dropping trash right in front of you even though the garbage was only a few feet away.
At least it was quieter, now. The aquarium was closed, it was just staff and cleaning crew out and about, milling across the massive grounds and clearing after the stampede of people that passed through every day. You’d eventually found your way into one of the siren rooms, and it was only because you’d spied the nasty dried snack on the floor and you knew that now you’d seen it it’d be your fault if someone found it still there later.
Skull, the siren of that room, wasn’t even visible. His massive, deep, artificially darkened tank always appeared empty. He was tucked away in his artificial den cave, completely out of sight.
Skull was the most recent addition to the roster of sirens, arriving a few months ago. Some kind of deep sea squid, or octopus? You couldn’t remember. He’d been a huge deal when they bought him, people flocking to see this strange and mysterious new creature, but the crowds quickly thinned when it turned out Skull just remained totally hidden from view in his cave all day. The already-resident orca and shark sirens were far more active and interesting, and his dark atmospheric room was pretty much always empty.
... You glared at the floor. At the offending snack. Your vision had taken a weird pinkish hue, you must’ve been really tired.
...
Then you sighed, with less emotion this time, leaning backward so the back of your head lightly bumped the glass.
Was this seriously how you were going to spend summer? Your hopes were astoundingly low and you were still disappointed. You couldn’t wait for the shift to be over.
...
An odd sensation passed over you. You creased your eyebrows; a little shudder, nothing to do with the ambient temperature and definitely not anything to do with your emotions. You were far too gloomy to be getting anything out of your body except hunger pains.
...
... Just out of a niggling paranoia, you looked over your shoulder at the glass.
...
A huge shadow, large enough to engulf your form, was pressed up close against the glass. A thick, engorged red iris the size of your fist was leering intently down at you, bathing you in a eerie red glow.
...
You yelped, startled, staggering a few steps back, simultaneously kicking your mop bucket over and letting your mop shoot out of your hands like that one video of the old woman throwing a milk jug. Both clattered loudly to the floor.
The siren was RIGHT at the window.
Holy crap, he was huge, your eyes boggled- you didn’t expect him to be that big. You didn’t expect him at all. Easily big enough to crush you. He was silhouetted like a beast against the backdrop of his enclosure, a thick skeletal upper body the size of you and a lower half of writhing, midnight black tentacles, at parts thicker than you were wide. Jet black suckers pressed against the glass, like he was trying to reach right through it.
His eyelight was totally locked onto you, a broad smile on his face. How long had he been there, only a few inches of soundproof material away, watching you? Another shudder passed over you, all your hair standing on end, as you held eye contact.
... Skull cocked his head. He was decorated in scars, some so wide they probably would’ve cut you in half, like the jagged gaping hole in the side of his head. You seriously couldn’t get over how big he was, so close to you. Watching so intently, with that massive, impossible grin.
...
“... H... hey there.” You said, your heart absolutely pounding in your chest even as you reminded yourself that you were completely safe behind the glass. Maybe he was like a tiger? Unable to stop himself from hunting someone who had their back turned. Maybe he came out when all the people were gone.
...
You let out a shaky breath. His stare was making you feel so tiny, but he wouldn’t drop your gaze. And he was still ‘smiling’.
...
... Fuck it. You approached the glass.
Who could blame you? This was so exciting, once you let your animalistic shock bleed away eagerness quickly took its place, your heart continuing to pound. You’d never seen a siren before- you’d certainly never been this close to one. It was like being right up close to a polar bear exhibit. Sure, him approaching so closely and so silently had startled you, but you were capable of getting over it, right? You were human.
You put a hand on the glass, awed, aware of your heartbeat in your throat. His gigantic form was stunning, the way his tentacles moved, like ink billowing in water. You felt your fear thrumming through you, you had to make a conscious effort to stop yourself from stepping back.
...
One of his huge hands, big enough to engulf your head, came up... and he put it over where yours was on the glass. Your entire hand could fit in just his palm.
He lowered himself, very slowly, leaning downward to be closer to your eye level. Technically, your faces were inches away from each other... you had no idea why he was staring so intently.
“... You’re, uh... you’re friendly, aren’t you?” You joked. It wasn’t like he could hear you anyway.
... He cocked his head, an inch.
...
“... Holy shit!” Someone said, at full volume.
Their voice carried across the entire room, making you jump like a startled rabbit.
You broke eye contact with Skull, looking up to see a keeper standing a few feet away from you. He was dressed in the standard smart black uniform, the aquarium logo machine stitched onto his breast pocket, a roll of cloth tucked under one arm- staring at you like you were holding a live grenade.
... You immediately held your hands up in surrender. The weight of his gaze was much too intense for your first day at work.
“I-I’m getting back to work, I just...”
The keeper wasn’t listening to whatever random excuses were blurting out of your mouth. You thought you were about to get fired; you flipped over your mop and bucket, and now you’re standing around messing with the siren instead of doing your work?
He moved over to you, looking between you and the siren.
“How did you get him to come up to the glass?” He asked. He sounded sharp, but... confused? His nametag read ‘Kevin’, and a large silvery scar ran over the back of one of his hands.
You weren’t expecting that question. You binked- “... what?”
Kevin’s eyes narrowed. “How did you get him to come to you?”
“I-I just...” You looked over at Skull, as if he was going to pipe up and defend you, but you found yourself staring at an empty tank once again. What? Where did he...
“Come with me.”
Kevin grabbed your upper arm, marching you out of the darkened room.
Oh you are SO fired, a little voice cooed at the back of your mind. Fucking up this bad on your first day, huh? What a star. This’ll go great on your employment history.
Kevin’s grip was firm, practised from what must’ve been years handling wild animals. Through corridors of glass exhibits, interactive info panels and fish-themed snack vending machines, he ducked down a corridor and came to an official-looking door that immediately made your stomach turn. Seriously, you were actually getting fired? Dragged into the boss’ office and thrown out by the ear? You didn’t even have a nametag yet!
He knocked on the door, loudly and aggressively, but he didn’t wait for a response- he opened it and walked in.
It was a large, smart-looking office, cabinets and shelves covered in files, the walls adorned with timetables and laminated announcements and whiteboards that hadn’t been touched in a long time. Everything smelled faintly of fish food... a woman sat at the main desk, silvery grey lines in her tightly bunned hair that were definitely due to stress and not age. She looked annoyed, but not startled, that Kevin had barged in.
“Seriously?” She had the voice of a manager. Her nametag said ‘Edith’, and like Kevin, she had scars on her hands. “Can it wait, I’m in the middle of-”
He cut her off. “She got Skull to come out.”
...
She closed the laptop, her entire disposition instantly changing. It was like she hadn’t even seen you before, but now, she suddenly realised you were there, looking at you with stern eyes- as if you’d lied directly to her. You hadn’t even said anything yet, you felt very out of place in your brown janitor uniform. These guys were much more important than you.
“... How far out?”
“Up against the glass.”
The woman let out a short, bark-laugh, like he’d told a really shitty inside joke. But she quickly sobered when his expression didn’t change.
“... You’re serious?” She stood up, approaching the two of you. “Against the glass?”
He nodded.
...
She finally turned completely to you, her dark eyes serious. “How did you do that?”
“I-I didn’t do anything.” You felt like a broken record, sweating, wondering who was going to have to clean up your things and trying to comfort yourself with the fact that if you were fired you weren’t going to have to clean up that fucking snack. “He just came over. Is... is he not supposed to do that? Did I do something wrong?”
Kevin and Edith shared a look with each other. Kevin nodded.
... Edith turned to you again. “What’s your name?”
“... Y/n.” You mumbled, confused, wondering if this was the kind of place where security walked you out.
“How much experience do you have with animal care?”
... You blinked. Weird question.
“... Uhm... n-not much?”
“Fantastic, you won’t have any expectations.” She went over to her desk, opening her laptop but not sitting down. “Great to meet you. From this point on, you’re part of the siren care team. Welcome to the group.”
...
“... What?”