Mermaid Au

Mermaid Au

All characters are mermaids, no humans. Mermaids in this Au eat fish and have claws for hunting. They live in underwater caves called dens. They usually live in big pods of over 10 mermaids for protection but some choose to have smaller groups. They also have claws, sharp teeth, and powerful jaws for hunting the sea life. Males are usually much bigger than females and are more aggressive but females can hold their own against them. Mermaids also have fins where their ears go.

Penelope has a dark green tail and fins Callisto has a blood-red tail and fins

When she was young Penelope's mother died from injuries sustained from a killer whale attack and a lack of resources leaving Penelope to fend for herself.

The Duke who was looking for Yvonne after she was separated from them found Penelope and took her in. Reynold and Derrick were not happy about this and never fully accepted her into the pod. As such, she was seen as an outcast in the group and always given smaller portions of their hunt so she sneaked out to go hunt for herself.

She found a nice little cave to eat in whenever she wants alone time a good distance from where the Eckharts reside. One day when coming back from a successful hunt she is attacked by an injured merman.

Callisto is the strongest in his group as well as the best hunter. His father is the group leader who is in charge of protecting them. He was very unhappy with his father for taking another mate right after his mother passed. And his stepmother wanted to get rid of him.

She had his father send him to hunt in an area filled with hostile mermen who were kicked out for being too aggressive. He killed them though but he got injured during the fight. He couldn't go back to his group yet because the smell of blood would attract other predators. So he sought refuge in a cave. The same cave Penelope frequents.

Penelope was dragging her still alive prey, an octopus to her cave so she can eat it in peace. It took her a great deal of time to catch because of how slippery they are. Callisto heard her coming assumed she was an enemy and attacked, only to let her go once he realized she was harmless. Penny still fought back though.

During their little scuffle Penelope's prey got away, she was very mad about it, octopus is her favorite. Callisto did apologize about it though but she didn't want to hear it, not only was he in her spot but he was the reason her food got away.

To make it up to her he offered to catch something for her instead but she declined more interesting in why he was there in the first place. So he explains the series of events that lead him here. Penelope is horrified as the area he's talking about is not far from her cave.

But she is madder than someone is invading her safe spot, so when Callisto mentions that he's staying till his injuries heal, she goes out to get medicine to heal him with the logic that the sooner he is healed, the sooner he will leave. He is very taken aback since nobody but his mother ever did something like this for him, so he lets her.

Even when he eventually leaves, he keeps coming back to the cave to see her. But because they don't want anyone from their group to find out they both go to the cave at different times. He even brings her food which quickly silenced any objections she had. Completely unknown to Penelope, Callisto was actually courting her by offering food and leaving her other gifts. He was planning on finding her during mating season to take her as his mate.

This became the new normal for them, sneaking off to their little cave until they were found out. Derrick had begun to notice Penelope sneaking off, not only that but she was gaining weight. He did not think much of it until he notice the smell of an unknown male on her. He was pissed, he never liked her since she was brought into their group thinking she could never fill the void felt when Yvonne went missing. And now she was sneaking off to go galivant with an unknown male and was probably pregnant (she was not, it was from all the prey Callisto gave her).

The next time Penelope snuck out he followed her from a distance to see what she was really doing. Unknown to him that Reynold was also following him, having noticed Derrick's weird behaviour when looking at Penelope. Reynold knew she's been sneaking off for years now but never thought much of it since she was never gone for long so he thought whatever she was doing was harmless. So he was kind of alarmed when he noticed Derrick following her knowing nothing good will come of it.

Penelope is none the wiser about being followed and reaches the cave first. Derrick upon reaching the cave notices that the smell of the unknown merman is all over the area and assumes this is his den.

He gets confronts her about it right there. Penelope is obviously terrified, she's always been scared of Derrick he was always openly hostile towards her from the very beginning even more as they grew up. Now he's found her only safe space and he knows about her meeting, someone. He's getting angrier and has her cornered now.

The only thing she can do now is trying to get him away from the cave in case Callisto shows up. He may get the wrong idea and blindly attack. Knowing him it could end in bloodshed given both of their personalities.

Luck however was not on her side cause Callisto does show up. Neither of them noticed him because he came through the kelp. He heard Penelope talking to someone and she sounded scared which was alarming as no one else was supposed to be there. Just as he comes into view Derrick suddenly grabs her digging his claws into her skin.

Seeing that he was going to hurt her Callisto attacks him. Knocking Derrick away catching him by surprise and putting himself between him and Penny. Who is officially freaking out, this is going to end very badly. The two males were going to rip each other to shreds and there was nothing she could do.

As if the gods heard her pray Reynold showed up and he and Penelope were able to separate the two males before they could mortally wound one another. Once that is done Penelope tries to convince Callisto to leave to calm the situation. He doesn't want to leave her but knows staying would only make things so he complies with a promise that she'll be ok.

She goes to the brothers where Reynold is still holding back Derrick. Derrick breaks free from Reynold and begins dragging her back to the dens, once there he keeps her trapped in an unused cave on the outskirts of the dens as punishment.

For weeks she stayed there locked if Reynold had not come around every day to feed her she would have starved. Even the Duke barely came to visit her, he didn't even ask for her side of the story only to scold her for meeting an unknown merman.

She would have stayed there longer but they had to migrate to the tropics for mating season. Penelope would have been left behind if Reynold didn't plead with their father to let her out and take her with them. Knowing that the other mermaids in their pod would not feed her when they're gone. the Duke agrees to let her go but she had trouble keeping up with them because she hasn't been outside. So Reynold carried her the entire way.

Mermaids go to the tropics to warmer waters for mating season. It's very common for various pods of mermaids to meet up there to find a mate. Their a little less hostile to each other as they tend to breed with other mers from different pods to prevent inbreeding. Some mermaids even leave their group to join their new mates or break off to start their own.

Penelope was looking forward to it because there was a chance that Callisto was going to be there. He had mentioned it briefly months before the location of the breeding grounds. They finally arrive after a week of constant swimming, there were other pods there already but Callisto was nowhere in sight.

Disappointed she heads back to the den she picked out. Mermaids don't stay with their pods when on the breeding grounds to encourage mingling with others. Plus mers often leave their pods to form their own when they get a mate.

The next day all the females were mingling together to prepare for the day, and the males were out hunting. Mating usually starts when at least one female goes into heat triggering all the others to go into heat as well. This is due to many generations of mermaids mating in warmer waters, their bodies subconsciously know that they are going to mate and prepare accordingly. So it's important that all females group together to ensure that they all go into heat, then they go into their dens and wait for a male they like and invite them in.

Around midday is when things started to kick in, by then all the mermaids had gone into their den and the mermen had returned from hunting. Penelope just wanted to remain unbothered, still sad about the fact that she hasn't seen Callisto in months.

Her heat was starting to take over, and everything was starting to burn. It seemed more intense with all the pheromones wafting around the water. Instincts taking over she cries out for a male to give her relief, and a hand reaches out to touch her. Surprised, she lashes out to claw its owner only to stop when she sees who it belonged to.

Callisto had travelled day and night to get to the mating grounds in time. His stepmother had struck again, this time she sent him to an area infested with orcas. He had to lead them on a wild goose chase for two days just so they'd lose interest in him. By the time he got by to the area, his pod lives in they were gone.

He kept swimming till he reached the mating grounds, praying that he wasn't too late. That Penelope had not chosen another male as her mate. His witch stepmother had tried again to get rid of him, sending him straight into a gang of orcas.

By the time he got back to his home, his pod had already set off to the mating grounds. Luckily he arrived just as the mermen were coming back from hunting. He recognized Reynold from before and with relief realized the Penelope was somewhere on the grounds.

The only problem was, that the mating ground are massive and the caves there were hidden in the seaweed. Giving its inhabitants some much-needed privacy for what they're doing. So the only thing he could do was swim about listening for her call.

Finally, he found her in a small cave similar to the one they shared all those months ago. She was just as beautiful as he remembered her. She had lost weight but that could be taken care of later.

Penelope was stunned, she was beginning to accept that she may never see him again after months of not knowing if he is alive. Without hesitation, she pulls him into her den where they spent the rest of the season.

Once the mating season was done the mers either went back to their pods or broke off to join another pod. Penelope and Callisto were the latter joining a group of other mers whom they met over the season and finally getting away from their awful families.

Months later Penelope and two other females suddenly disappeared. Callisto was obviously worried until an elder female reassured him that they would be back in a few weeks. True to her word, Penelope all came back safe and sound her own little surprise in her arms.

When a mermaid is expecting she eats twice her amount than usual to make up for the final trimester where she leaves the pods to give birth in a secluded area. Her fellow mermaids will also go with her to provide support and help in the birthing process and watch out for intruders. Once they give birth they stay a couple more days to nurse their pup before introducing them to their mate and the pod.

So to say Callisto was ecstatic to find out his mate had given birth to their pup would be an understatement. His daughter was so tiny she didn't even fit into both of his large hands.