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Captivity - 7 -

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Some of this image I'm not quite happy about. Mostly its just because I was fussing with a challenge to myself and trying a different technique. The image is done with pencil for line art only, then pen and brush tools for the rest of it. It does give it a nice painted look, though it still frustrates me a bit.

On another note, I present to you Chapter 7 of Captivity~

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 Chapter 7

Stepping Stones          





            
Fingers tapped along hard oak whilst a scowl crossed the face of their owner. Vlad Masters stared on at the screen before him with a look of deep thought. For the past few months he’d been watching that screen, searching for anything he could put to use. The cameras he’d had installed within the Center did their work just fine, it was simply what they showed that left him thinking.

             The aquarium’s newest resident was growing with the place and of its handlers, but it was still hidden from the eyes of the public, along with the primary attraction. And it was beginning to hurt his numbers. Since they day they’d found the mer off the Florida coast, he’d been keen to study it himself and bring the discovery to the world’s attention. However much to his dismay, the creature took hostile to his approach, and his ‘partner’ found it wiser to give it time to adapt and grow used to them. Well he’d given them time…

             The creak of the door brought his attention up from the display. Standing in the doorway looking rather sheepish was the young scientist himself, with his disheveled red hair and worn out clothes; sometimes he wondered why the man was even let into his office the way he was, but there wasn’t much he could do to change that. It wasn’t like the man could buy himself new clothes the way he lived; probably why he’d come striking up a deal to have the research center funded. Not that Vlad minded, he needed a new supplier in the exotic, and the man’s affinity to the wild world made him the perfect tool for the trade. Now it was a matter of putting that tool to use.

             “Did the vaccinations go over well?” He mused, knowing full well from what he’d seen that the man had backed down the moment the mer had hissed at him.

             “Actually, that’s, one of the reasons I’m here,” Nate rubbed the back of his head nervously, and Vlad new the excuses were coming.

             “I’m guessing that’s a no…”

             “It’s too soon. There’s a good chance we’ll ruin whatever trust we’ve built with him. I could see it in his eyes, the moment I went to reach for it. He’s only just started to let me in, and I know he won’t give me a second chance if I blow it now,” A sigh escaped the young scientist’s lips whilst he stared into the ‘lion’s mouth’. His boss hadn’t made any move to yell at him for his ‘incompetence’, but the look in the man’s eyes told of the growing agitation right below the surface.

             “So, in other words, you’re telling me that you won’t vaccinate the animal because you fear it will break its trust?”

             “Not fear. I know it would…”

             “Then what pray tell do you suggest?” the billionaire leaned back into his seat, waving a hand in inquiry. It wasn’t a friendly gesture; more of a warning that he was growing tired of the excuses and was going to obtain the results he wanted, one way or another.

             “Perhaps altering the medicine? Make it into a consumable form? It would be easier to slip it into his food unnoticed,” Nate pleaded. It wasn’t often that he asked such a thing, but he also knew this battle was far from over.

             “Changing the medicine into a consumable is time consuming and expensive,” He waved the biologist off, turning to pour himself another cup of coffee, “The budget can’t afford such a modification.”

             “And what of the worth we’ve put into this? Is it worth losing it?” The red head frowned. His eyes locking onto the older man’s who’d stopped mid sip to acknowledge the stare down.

             “Then find something to make it worth keeping, Mr. Manson… Find a way to increase the center’s profits before I go throwing money into a sink.. Maybe open the main exhibit, or lay off a few people,” Vlad sat back, setting his cup down upon the desk as he watched the scowl deepen on his colleague’s face.

             “You know as well as I do that I can’t do that… It’s too early into the center’s opening to be laying off anyone when we should be hiring. And... Danny barely trusts us handlers, let alone anyone else. Opening the main exhibit would only antagonize him. We’re a rescue and research center, not a zoo…” Nate’s expression steeled over as he spoke, a sign that he wasn’t going to budge from this perspective.

             Vlad only quirked a brow at this; the name had been expected seeing as the man before him was the animal lover type and had grown attached enough to personify the creature. Though there was still the matter of settling this matter in his favor…

             “Then find something to encourage the profits to keep your little search and rescue open. Especially if you intend to waste it on semantics…”

 

____________________________________________

 

 

             “Hey, did you hear the news?”

             Sam startled from her thoughts as a pair of hands landed upon the back of her chair; whirling round only to be greeted by the face of her roommate, she couldn’t help but grimace. She never liked being interrupted while she was reading, but then again, she had chosen to study at the school library before class, and the library, despite their running reputation, wasn’t as quiet as one would think with all the hustle and bustle. Thus she was forced to heave a sigh and bear with the social obstacle.

             “No, I haven’t. What news?” she frowned, watching as Valery plopped down onto the couch across from her, followed by a tall, but scrawny young man that she could only gander was the boyfriend she kept going on about, “Tucker, right?”

             He nodded cordially, adjusting his glasses as he smiled, “Nice to meet you in person.”

             “Likewise. So, news?”

             “Right. I’m actually surprised you don’t know about it, considering you practically live there,” Val grinned playfully at the scowl she received in response, though it was practically the truth. The goth barely came into the room except to sleep.

             “Get to the point, Val,” she frowned, taking the tease for what it was, but couldn’t help that her heart had skipped a beat. If the news about the center was big enough to reach her roommate’s ears, she could only fear that it pertained to the secret hidden within its sanctum.

             She swallowed visibly, catching glimpse of inquiry in the boyfriend’s eyes; having picked up on the social cues that signaled her distress. She attempted to ignore it, focusing her gaze back on her female friend.

             “Alright. So the Aquatic Center’s opened up a marine biology course with the school for the upcoming semester and class picks are next month. Figured, maybe you’d like to check it out?”

             Sam blinked. Any defense she’d been formulating in her mind deflated in an instant. In all honesty, it wasn’t expected, and her confusion quickly turned into irritation as to why she hadn’t known about this beforehand when she saw her uncle at least once a day, “So how’d you find out about this?”

             She watched as her roommate grinned from ear to ear, a look of victory had having such privileged information. Tucker however had taking on a look of confusion, filing some sort of question for later.

             “My dad works for the board, and the last meeting they’d been discussing the new classes. Supposedly it was something they’d been thinking about but never acted on until now, though I dunno why it was so sudden. I figured you’d want the insiders notification if you didn’t already have it. After all, the sign-ups are going to be first come first serve and since you’re always there, why not credit for it?” Valery crossed her arms behind her head, looking smug. Sam apparently understood the message as a frown held its place upon her expression.

             “I’m guessing that this information isn’t for free. So what do you want…?”

             “Aww, you caught me,” Val mused, pulling up a mock pout whilst dropped her arms back into her lap,” I know it’s a lot…. But, can I please copy your history homework? I know I shouldn't of procrastinated, but it’s due tomorrow!”

             Sam nearly fell out of her chair, staring blankly up at her. Honestly it wasn’t what she had expected, and she’d been expecting a lot worse.

             “That’s it?”

             Valery rolled her eyes, “Oh please, I’m not an extortionist. I’m not about to ask to borrow your car or something like that.”

             “Alright.”

             She blinked in astonishment as Sam pulled out a notebook from her back and handed it over to her. Turning it over in her hands, she stared at it, almost disbelievingly before raising her gaze back up to her friend, “Just like that? No argument about morals or anything?”

             “No reason to,” Sam shrugged, tossing a piece of gum into her mouth before packing up her things, “A deals a deal. Besides, you’ve given me a reason to go yell at someone.”

             They blinked in confusion as she grinned like the devil before turning to leave, “Just put it on my desk when you’re done with it.”

 

____________________________________

 

             “Mind telling me why you thought it was a good idea to start teaching classes?” Sam frowned, crossing her arms as she watched her uncle scoop fish food into a number of buckets. It only earned her a chuckle from the older man.

             To say that he was surprised by the conversation would have been false, considering the sound of his niece’s boots clacking upon the tile as she’d entered the facility foretold of her growing temper. From which she was quick to pursue and question the audacity of his academic pursuits.

             “The center needed some extra funding in order to afford some new medicines,” Nate shrugged, hauling the buckets along from exhibit to exhibit, Sam on his heels, “We can’t open the main exhibit while our aquatic friend resides there, and I’m not willing to lay anyone off, so I figured that marine biology first hand would be both an eye opening experience as well as profitable. Besides, it sounds like fun; I’ve always wanted to teach a class.”

             He grinned at the thought whilst watching the fish swarm at the introduction of food; they were always so active at feeding time.

             “Do you even have credentials to teach a class?” she frowned skeptically, tossing a handful of food in as well.

             “I do actually. I decided it was a smart investment when I got my degree. I guess I was right in the long run,” he mused, moving on to the next tank; hungry mouths a waiting.

             “But what if some of them get stupid and try to sneak off? What if they find their way into the main exhibit? What then?” It was a justifiable question. If someone snuck into the exhibit and saw, or was injured by its secret resident, the news would spread like wild fire. And yet, the young scientist was not the least bit perturbed by that fact.

             “There’s a reason they invented locks, Sammy,” he grinned ear to ear, only earning himself a face full of fish flakes as a result of the nickname.

             The conversation had turned into playful chatter from there as they made their way up to their final destination. Though what greeted them was not what they had expected.

             Instead of the excited yowls and screeches of their resident mer demanding food, they were graced by an eerie silence. The only sounds came from the artificial tide and mild scratching along the concrete.

             The sight itself was also unexpected, as instead of the sloshing waves and frantic swimming, the jet black mer lay coiled up, completely out of the water, and judging from the dry appearance of his scales, he’d not returned to the water in some while.

             “Please tell me he hasn’t beached himself,” Sam stared on fearfully while her uncle calculated the possibilities that could have caused his distress.

             But it wasn’t distress that they found. As they drew near, the mer raised his head to look over at them, giving a soft chirp in recognition before turning back to whatever held his interest. What they found next was an astonishing sight; for held within his webbed hands, was none other than Sam’s philosophy book.

             “So that’s where it went,” she half muttered to herself, remembering that she’d searched everywhere for it with no success.

             Since the book had been left by the water, Danny had taken a keen interest in it. Determined to understand her language, he had proceeded to open the novel and try to decipher it with little success. His first lesson was finding that the pages did not take kindly to saltwater and thus he waited till his hands had dried to handle it.

             Hours upon hours; he’d spent the night running over the text and trying to understand its meaning or sounds. He found that most of the symbols repeated in some order or another and had taken to clawing each one he found into the stone beside him. Though despite distinguishing each letter on its own, he could not place a sound with them, and thus attempting to formulate an audible word with them was frustratingly useless. By the time Sam had peered over his shoulder, he’d scrawled down a majority of the alphabet and a few numerals, all of which were in no particular order.

              “Nate, you need to take a look at this!”

             Said scientist warily made his way over, the dark mer deciding to ignore him though for the most part was completely confused by the reactions of his human caretakers. Was it honestly that surprising that he wanted to learn how to speak a language apart from his own? He’d heard of other mers speaking different tongues separate from the ones he knew of. Didn’t humans also have others that spoke differently and try to learn them too? He tilted his head up at them, unable to decipher their expressions.

             “This is… astounding,” Nate breathed, running his fingers over the damaged cement, “We knew he was cognizant, but to this extreme. Never in the animal kingdom have we seen this before…”

             It was honestly far beyond what he’d expected; to think that this creature, hidden from humanity as some sort of myth, was consciously aware to the point of understanding, and possibly learning their language. It made some of the old sea tales sound as if they could have been true. The question remained what to do with such a discovery in the here and now.

             “Give me a just a sec,” the biologist excused himself briefly, returning a few moments later with a large box  in his arms, “I remember you asking about this last time we set up the logic puzzles. I figured at the time, that it might be a bit much, but now, I think they should work with what we’ve got.”

             He set the container down in front of their curious eyes, unveiling the contents to be a number of softball sized foam cubes, each printed with individual letters on all sides.

             The mer’s interest was instantly peaked, pulling one of the cubes over and examining it with fascination before moving onto the next. His gaze constantly shifted from the scrawled text to the letters upon the blocks, recognizing them as the same symbols he’d been trying to decipher.

             “Alphabet blocks?” Sam turned one over in her hands, identifying the letter inscribed on all sides.

             “The fact that he is able to distinguish characters in written text makes it highly probably that he can be taught our language. There’s also the chance that he can understand the context within pictures as well. If so, he could very well learn,” Nate smiled at the concept.

             If this unusual creature could understand them, it could be one of the biggest breakthroughs in scientific history. Though, the question still remained on if it possible. Their mermian friend was intelligent enough to recognize his own reflection, but was also easily frustrated. It would take a bit of patience for anything to truly bear fruit.

             He turned his gaze over towards the jet black mer; the creature rummaging over the blocks in fascination before attempting to arrange them into simple words, probably repeated ones he’d picked up from the book. Though judging from their random order and look of confusion on the mer’s face, the creature held little understanding of their meaning.

             Of the random words, Sam was able to make out water, sun, and time. Taking the cubes that spelled out water, she lined them up facing the mer before reciting it to him.

             After a brief moment of confusion, Danny’s eyes seemed to light up with intrigue as she repeated the word.  He now understood the sound this small set of characters made and he mouthed the word silently as she repeated it once more. So now he knew what the word sounded like, but what did it mean? How was it used? His look of confusion must have been understood as Sam turned and wandered to the edge of the pool. His gaze followed her as she pointed towards the exhibit.

             “Water,” she smiled over at him, attempting to keep herself calm. She could see the mer mouth the word once more, though the look in his eyes was asking for better emphasis. She complied by scooping up a handful, holding it in view before repeating.

             Realization sparked. The dark mer’s gaze shifted between her hand and back to the pool, mouthing the now familiar word once more. Water was what they called it; the barrier that separated his word from theirs.

             The last two words were a bit difficult to try and describe. As it was, they were indoors, which meant no sign of the sun, and time was a concept rather than a tangible object, which was a bit too in depth for a starting point. Sam took a moment to ponder over this before turning her questioning gaze towards her uncle, causing the man to tap his chin in though.

             The look between the two humans was not missed by their aquatic companion, as her chirped at them before mouthing something else. Its meaning however, was sadly lost to them, and it became clear that it would take more than silent lip reading to be understood.

             “Perhaps I can bring by some children’s books later and see how well he responds to pictures in comparison to words,” Nate hummed, watching as the mer in question was now growing frustrated and had taken to messing with the blocks to see if he could make sense of it on his own. It left a chuckle in the scientist’s throat as he took in the irritated display, “Why don’t you introduce him to the alphabet while I get him something to eat”

             Sam just rolled her eyes as he got up and wandered over towards the fridge before turning back to the task at hand. Danny was currently ignoring the two of them, grabbing at different blocks and examining them in irritation, and the more frustrated he became, the less likely he was to focus, which left the goth with finding a means to an end.

             She managed to successfully halt his agitated actions with a hand over the next block he’d been about to grab, and making no sign of giving it over as she pulled it closer to herself and stared unblinking at him. The mer quickly quieted, familiar with the gesture from previous lessons; it was her claim and he respected it as such. That didn’t stop him from giving a whine of complaint at the loss.

             After a few moments of stillness, Sam figured he’d calmed enough to focus on the task at hand and took to arranging the blocks in alphabetical order. An occasional glance showed the initial confusion, but it eventually faded into a mild understanding. It left the question in mind; if he possibly understood the concept of a language’s alphabet, yet he never showed signs of having a language of his own, just the hisses and growls like other creatures when displaying their disposition. Perhaps his kind did have a language, but he could not speak it. Perhaps he was mute, just like some people were. She shook her head. It was too much to think on at that moment. Turning back to what she had started, she began to recite each latter and gauge his response.

             Danny seemed to hold a relative curiosity; ears perked and head tilting from side to side as she spoke. Yet he struggled to decipher how each letter formed new sounds when put into words, finding that, like with ‘water’, the sounds changed when characters were combined in different orders. Though even as he tried to focus on the syllables, his mind was still trying to piece together one word in particular.

             Growing bold, he ignored her original claim on the items and took to grabbing at a number of blocks, running over the sounds in his head and attempting to piece together the word that had been nagging at him. Sam looked ready to scold him for it before he managed to assemble the word he was looking for.

             Sam.

             She started, absolutely dumbfounded at the sight. Just as she’d been about to berate him stealing the blocks from her, he had slammed down the three cubes that spelled out her name.

             “Oh my god...” she breathed, almost unable to believe what had just occurred.

             “You alright there Sam?” Nate inquired, hauling over a bucket full of fish.

             “He just spelled out my name.”

             The scientist followed her faze down to the singled out blocks, setting down the bucket to get a closer look, “Astounding…”

             Danny just blinked, not understanding their tone of voice. He vaguely wondered if he’d done something wrong and picked up another block wondering if he’d misspelled it. When their demeanor did not change, he decided it was best to preoccupy himself with the presence of food.

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OMG....This is AMAZING!!! I am literally screaming from excitement!!!Excited