Meeting in the Deep :M-L:

Mesi was silently swimming in the darkness of the abyssal zone of the dark ocean, the light from her antenna helping her to see certain objects around her even though her grey eye still could see her surroundings perfectly clear. Suddenly stopping in her tracks, she frowned as she noticed that humans had yet again fished too much around these areas making it empty with almost no food to keep her energy up. Sighing, small bubbles floated out from her mouth as she put her fin steady to look up in the darkness, making a simple push before swimming to the brighter waters above.

The red was slowly becoming more and more difficult to see, Leon sighed, rubbing his temples, swimming straight down wasn't good for him, even sperm whales swam at an angle when they dived but Leon just wanted to get down there, grab some samples and get back up to a shallow tropical bay. The large diver's net he held drifted in front of him, two fingers holding it, the mouth billowed open and several times he had to stop to pull out some hapless creature. The grumpy mumbles began to echo when he got deeper. At this point he could barely see and a chill went over his skin.

Mesi wasn't really swimming that fast, actually slower then she usually did. Yet she was unfocused, not thinking about her straight line of a path as she swam upwards to soon squeak out as she suddenly found herself bumping into something. It wasn't painful, but it really caught her by surprise as she twirled in the water while blinking rapidly before her eyes widened as her lightbulb let her see what she had bumped into... Is that a kind of stomach? Looking up slowly, she soon met his eyes as she bit her lower lip nervously.

Something made a noise and Leon froze. A little movement caught his eye and he looked down, or rather up, at his stomach to see a little light bobbing about. He brought his face closer, bringing more than his reflective eyes into the light as first his shark like snout was illuminated then his cheeks and mouth, as he emerged from the thick darkness so did she to him, a small little black and white fish. Or at least she looked black and white. It was difficult to tell this deep down. He had heard about anglerfish and their nasty little teeth and whilst the first bite would feel like a pin prick he didn't know if they were related to piranhas or not, besides, blood in the sea attracted nastier beasties too.

Gently he brought the mesh net around her until he pinched it at the bottom, effectively pinning her without completely restraining her. Unsure what to say and never good at introductions the large Merman continued to stare, large eyes blinking occasionally.

Mesi let out another tiny sound, whimpering as she tugged at the net to find any meaning of escape, while panic began to rise quickly on her face she looked to him with a wide eye. Suddenly freezing up as she didn't know what to say or what to do, she looked at him in worry and surprise. Letting out yet another small sound from her throat which sounded to be confused, her tail curled slightly around her.
"Please don't h-hurt me..." she shook out silently, her voice almost inaudible but it was still there.
She whimpered while looking up to him as she shook her head, which caused her long hair to curl around more as it floated in the water easily.

A little whisper reached his ears, she was fighting the net but she looked more scared than angry. He remained motionless with the exception of those blinking eyes and the occasional balancing swipes of his tail. In a low even tone he replied seriously "Please don't hurt me either". His expression showed no emotion as he spoke; the unintentional poker face adding sincerity to his words.

"I-I n-n-never attack o-or hurt others f-for fun." Mesi's voice spoke, still quiet but more hearable than before as she still tried to find her way out. The small anglerfish looked so frightened, hating to be trapped as if she wasn't even worth anything. That only caused her to shake too, as she felt her hands touch at the net... It was so familiar, getting chased by humans and their objects and weapons as they tried to capture her... What would happen now? She wondered, whimpering more. His fingers parted and the net began to drift, he pulled it away, gently untangling her hair from one of the strings with the tip of his finger. It was soft and very, very light. The green reflected off her hair and skin making her seem almost see through... He quickly closed his eyes tight and shook his head. That's what the deep did to him, messed with his mind.

Shaking his head brought his hair into his eyes which reminded him he was still upside down, it was why he kept it long but if he moved upright he'd lose the little creature. Holding his hand out palm to the surface he spoke "Let me hold you in my hand, I need to re-align myself before I pass out".

She breathed out in relief as the net disappeared from herself, to then look at him with wide eyes as she tilted her head. Looking uncertain about what he just said, she was silent before gulping and slowly swimming up to his hands. "P-Please be gentle sir." Her young voice begged, her ripped fin trying to keep herself steady as she was still slightly trembling. But now more accepting, after all he did free her... now didn't he?

He began to curl his hand then thought better of it, he didn't want to accidentally squeeze too hard; instead he brought the other hand over, cupping her in the two. With a powerful thrust he righted himself, his whole body tensing as he circled; the way he held his hands meant the momentary lack of space was not large. When he felt his hair floating upwards as usual he slowly opened his hands, a beam of light peeping out before he opened his hands fully like an oyster revealing a pearl.
"All done" his tone was not exactly sing songy but it was obviously meant as reassurance.

Mesi blinked, looking up to him with wide eyes as she blinked with curious eyes. Looking to him with a childish face she soon swam up carefully to be more at his eyelevel as she looked at him.  "S-sir, isn't it dangerous for you to be down here? I-I-It's so d-dark and all." she frowned while saying these words, looking to him in wonder. Leon had to partially cross his eyes to focus on her, the little green light still catching his attention, as it was evolved to do, though the rest of the darkness made his slitted eyes almost round.
"I work down here, hence the net, I have to collect rocks and such, the humans want it for research". As if reminding him his eyes began to glance around scanning for threats; not that it did much good, the little anglerfish was the only real source of light round here.
"And I'm not a Sir, I'm simply known as Leon, what might your name be?"

"...You work for humans?" Mesi blinked, sounding like she had a mixture of emotions in her words. Confusion, fright and puzzlement. And well, perhaps a few other things but that wasn't much at all. "O-Oh sorry- then si- I mean Leon!" Mesi squeaked, embarrassed as she blushed darkly in the awkwardness she was giving off. But she couldn't help that, she was just so shy around new things! "M-My name is M-Mesi." She nodded, smiling gently.

"Mesi..." he repeated, as if committing the name to memory "Yes I do work for humans, it allows me to get close to them. Fascinating to watch, you know instead of fins or tails they have 'legs' which do this" using his index and middle finger, both of which were longer than Mesi, to 'walk' along his palm, avoiding Mesi till he finished his finger stroll. For once a spark of life came to his eyes. It wasn't due to the actual humans so much as their odd behaviour which was entrancing.

"Oh... I know how humans walk indeed; it's rather hard to do actually." Mesi giggled, remembering old memories of when she had transformed to a human to walk around on land. Her legs had been all wobblish and felt like sea grass. Looking entertained at how he used his fingers, she looked to him curiously; blinking away as she smiled and giggled every now and then until he was done.

"How-- " at that moment a huge shudder went through his entire body. He would normally be surfacing from this freezing water about now and the low oxygen levels were restricting his breathing. He looked down at little Mesi. Unsure if she would want to leave the abyss. Then again she had swum up into his net had she not? Maybe that's where she was heading? Mesi blinked, looking to him with wide eyes. ''I'd rather that you would start heading back up, t-there isn't much you'll find down here. Plus I w-wouldn't want you to crash right into other certain things or people...'' she chuckled nervously. Rubbing her stomach, she turned her sight to the side. ''Or make you accidently cash through my watergrotto, that would be very bad.'' she smiled softly, sighing causing more bubbles to spread out from her mouth.

"People? I don't think you'd find many humans this far down Mesi. Besides you little fish are quick swimmers aren't you? You could get out my way, the only other big creature round here is the whales." For the first time he indulged in a small tight lipped smile, "I'm the biggest thing round here" He tried to follow the direction she was looking in but saw nothing but thick oppressive darkness. Another shiver ran through him.
"People doesn't have to mean humans, it can mean other living and talking creatures too." Mesi smiled, but then her shook her head slightly as a frown curled on her lips. "And no, not really... I should be able to, but my fin... My fin is rather ripped and torn." She chuckled sadly but quickly shook it off. "Oh, you are the biggest one here at the moment. But really, there are many others bigger then you. And I'm not talking about the whales or such."

A prickling sensation ran down his back and he grew uneasy.
"You errr...wouldn't happen to be talking about anyone i-in particular would you?"

Seeing her sadness made him feel awkward, he didn't deal well with this sort of thing, he tried something which his colleague did to their daughter when she was sad; very carefully with one finger he stroked her hair, he didn't know if it was a universal gesture or if it would upset the little fish further but it was either that or flee.

"A-actually, I am... Have you ever seen something lurking around in the water? Something green and swift?" Mesi wondered, looking to him in question. She then blinked, his finger gently stroking her hair make her feel somewhat relaxed. How odd; blushing she nervously felt her voice starting to stutter. "T-tha-that a-ac-actually m-makes me fe-feel happy i-in some o-odd way." she gasped, giggling.

"L-lurking?..." That was never a good adjective to hear when you find out you may not be the biggest out there. His composure began to break down, being this deep always made him paranoid anyway; she certainly wasn't helping. The most he had ever heard was someone commenting on an illusion they saw in the sea when they flew over on a helicopter, he remembered them describe what looked like a huge shark tail much larger than any species described before. The young man had laughed saying if he didn't know any better he would have said it was a sea monster. In brief stints of humour Leon had called himself a sea monster when people wouldn't accept basic merman, the thought of the real deal, quite frankly, terrified him

That was better, she looked much happier now and her giggle was very sweet which went against her striking appearance, he felt curious, not an emotion he usually displayed, very carefully he went to move the large lock of hair at the front, wanting to see her whole face…

"O-Oh, bu-but don't worry... He can be nice! Or w-well, at times…." Mesi nodded, smiling in thought of her close friend. A great and frightening predator, even though at times he was still a cuddle bear.
She blinked, looking at his face in wonder as she at first didn't react to him lifting up her lock of hair that swayed gently over the other side of her face; when she did though, her head tilted as her gaze looked back to him in puzzlement. But she didn't mind at all really, but it was a first.
What he now could see was that her other eyes pupil was pale and mixing with its gray colour. Looking like it was smeared out as if there was a damage which had caused it to look like that. Clearly, you could see that she was blind as that eye never really moved or blinked at all.

When he pulled back the hair Leon paused momentarily. He brought his eye closer, turning his face away and looking sideways to get closer. "That's interesting..." he murmured before focusing on the rest of her face, it was quite rounded and seemed very childlike and innocent. She didn't seem to open her mouth much when she smiled, then again neither did he for good reason. Her words finally registered with him. HE. Another guy like him, or at least, a scarier sharkier version of him. Leon wondered how he hadn't met them yet, not meeting Mesi was understandable since she lived all the way down here but still…
Then again upon reflection Leon generally stayed in quiet private bays, not the crowded public beaches or the more secluded ones people visited and when out in the open he tended to avoid popular areas, if a sea monster was going to live anywhere it would be there.

"What do you mean, at times? He doesn't hurt you does he?" One cowardly part of Leon thought along the lines that if HE would hurt a tiny thing like her Leon stood no chance but the majority of him was just concerned for her.

Mesi blinked, looking him straight in the eye as he was closer to her. Blinking a couple of times with her good eye she raised an eyebrow in wonder. Silently taking in his own details as she watched over the parts of his body and face that she could see. In the brief silence, she lightly swayed her torn fins to try and curl up even more to sit correctly as she just remembered that she was still sitting right there in his hand.  At his next words, she began to giggle while putting a slightly webbed hand over her mouth. A way to cover her sharp teeth as she began to laugh even more.
"No no no, never! He simply doesn't fancy... humans that much." She said with another soft giggle before sighing to take it easy. "In other words, he is one reason why many people disappear at sea." she explained slowly.

Leon suddenly disappeared from her light, his hand snatching away from her in a flurry of water swirls, he was still close by, his long hand braced against the side of the abyss canyon as he clapped a hand over his mouth. A queasy murmur emerged from the darkness
"He eats</b> people?"
His eyes were closed but he knew he could still see her little light. The long forgotten net gently floated back to the surface…

Mesi was silent for a while, before nodding as the little lightbulb moved slightly with her. Frowning she let out a small sound. "Yes... But, he has a reason for doing such. Though, that isn't my place to tell just why." she sighed. She fought with her fin to keep steady, her tail being too weak; she leaned to a large coral from a cliff slowly. Her hands holding to it tightly, like a small child that seemed afraid of getting dropped from a certain height. Very carefully nodding whilst trying to keep down the contents of his stomach Leon acknowledged that, he wasn't a particularly open person either and respected her loyalty.

He sensed fear; the delicate sensors in his shark-snout like nose picked it up once he calmed down. He gently held a finger out to her, his own tail rhythmically swishing to keep him upright, the large muscles strained, his tail fins were angled like a whales and as such only designed to move up and down but to remain stationary he had to move side to side which was starting to ache.

"I'm sorry Mesi... I didn't mean to frighten you...Do you go up to the surface much?" He was simply dying to feel some warmth in his skin again and his gills were working top rate to get him oxygen, the way this was going he'd have to use his other lungs to take in some oxygen rich air if he couldn't filter it in time.

"D-D-Don't worry." Mesi stuttered back, eyes looking at his finger that was so close to her. Silent for some seconds, she soon reached out to place both of her hands on it. Hands shaking slightly, but almost unnoticeable. The truth was, that even as an anglerfish she could still feel the need to swim up to warmer water due to her more human upper body not being able to keep up with the chilly emptiness. Nodding, she looked up into his eyes from her line of sight. Sure, the lightbulb helped to see the colours of things and objects but it wasn't that perfect itself as it barely helped her much. So really, she could see some form of 'lines' to see the details of him, but nothing more than that.
"Y-Yes, mostly to sunbathe." she replied with wondering eyes.

His other hand came up behind her, forming a little basket as his other fingers joined below into a flat wall. He was beginning to struggle and quickly asked "Do you fancy some sunbathing? If not I'm afraid I'll have to leave you now. His eye slits had returned to being tiny slits as he got more panicky for breath, the reduced light intake meant he could barely see her now, listening out for her word. Mesi nodded, frowning as she noticed the off balance he had in this deep water. Not to mention his breathing, which caused her to look at him in worry.

"Then let's g-go up, d-do you need more e-energy?" Mesi asked, her voice small and innocent in question as her big eye looked to him sadly as it seemed like the lightbulb on her antenna began to glow even brighter all of sudden... As if it was showering out more energy and relaxation; for a brief second her lightbulb sent him into a trance as before but he quickly snapped out of it, with a powerful thrust of his tail he began to surge upwards, his hand position preventing Mesi from getting washed away if she lost her grip, his hair was plastered to his face whilst he sped up with each powerful fin beat.

Light began to filter through the ocean, creating a never ending blue, Leon and Mesi emerged into the light but he had no time to look yet, his face was tilted upwards towards the surface, both to use his aerodynamic snout and so he could see sweet oxygen getting closer, his arms had extended as he streamlined himself, bringing Mesi down near his indicative cloth, it was only when they began to see the movement of the waves that he looked down very briefly to check what colour his cloth was, currently a mixture of visible green and its natural red, he didn't take much notice of Mesi except that her lighter purple areas matched his eyes
He lifted his face and pushed harder.

Mesi held onto his hands as tight as she could, her tail twisting a slight bit to keep her even more steady as they quickly went even higher up. Her wide gray eye looking at the light that spread around them. Her long hair curling and spreading out as he continued his way, twisting around her arms and waist as her antenna's light began to mix up with the brightness showering down upon them. Without thinking, she felt her lips curl into a bright smile of awe. Something that always happened whenever she was closer to the sun, just a little something that made happiness spread inside of her. Leon looked down again, the cloth was an almost pure red, he jumped slightly when he saw Mesi's smile...
"Look out!" Without even slowing Leon breached the surface, bursting out of the water up to his tail, taking in a large amount of air into his secondary lungs, the dry feel burning his throat but giving him what he needed.
They hung suspended for a fraction of a second before he slowly did a back flop back into the water. He had considered letting go of Mesi instead of subjecting her to that but he didn't want to risk swatting her with his tail

Mesi squeaked, not having truly registered what just had happened. Having her eyes closed shut tightly; she curled more into his hands as she held onto his fingers once they were back into the water again. Slowly re-opening her eye, she looked up to him with her pupil seemingly having grown a bit. But other than that she didn't seem to have any more reaction then slight shock. Blinking over and over yet again, she soon found herself smiling again as she began to giggle. "That was fun~" she happily exclaimed like a happy child.

Leon was on his back, taking a moment to recover. In all honesty that was the most fun he had had in a long time. He looked down to where she was curled in his hands above his stomach. He moved his hands away from her slightly so he could see her in full light, she was silver at the front with the rest of her body in various shades of purple; he had originally thought her hair was pure white or at least silver like his but he saw some faint purple there too. Then she flashed that smile again. Whilst he wouldn't say it was ugly or frightening it did cause one to do a double-take when they see it; many small pointy teeth greeted him. He soon adjusted to it and smiled somewhat himself, though it wasn't much. Not wanting to appear rude he explained "I would smile more but it's physically difficult for me"

Mesi slowly blinked, tilting her head as she noticed that his sight was set to her teeth. Her shoulders dropping slightly, she put her hand in front of her mouth to cover them in slight shame. Yes, she knew that anglerfish were meant to have these kind of long and sharp teeth. Even though she used them when feeding, she couldn't help but feel uneasy about them herself. Making a more simple smile with her mouth closed she nodded slightly. "Ah, d-don't worry at all about such. No matter how big or small a smile is, it doesn't have to mean truly just how happy you are." she reassured while pushing away some of her hair from her better eye. Looking to him curiously she then looked him over to see all of his colours, every single detail slowly and carefully. Yet it was his eye colour which seemed to make her the most curious.

He saw her inspect him and now that he was back to normal waters his shyness returned and he turned his head to break eye contact, the hair drifting to cover most of his face except his mouth and the long silver line that ran from it to where his jaw hinged. When he spoke his mouth opened a little and the grey skin stretched. "It doesn't matter how your mouth looks either, y-you don't have to be conscious about it..." He took the courage to bring a hand up and move his hair to look at her again.

She let out a small sound as he turned his head, did she make him feel uncomfortable? She was so unused to feelings and expressions yet so far, and she was still learning about certain movements others made. Actually, at times that could be more comfortable then talking all the time.

Smiling softly, she nodded and slowly uncurled her tail to stretch out a little while looking to him as she played her own fingers on her stomach. "Y-you don't mind b-being t-this close to humans, e-even if you work w-with them?" she wondered shyly too, her voice small and tiny in wonder. Her fingers felt nice as she drummed against him but her question took him off guard, as he thought his tail began to gently move them through the water, drifting along like a shark that can't stop moving.
"Well when I was young I used to watch them from afar, then I got spotted and offered a job so I've grown used to them I guess...."

Mesi blinked as she listened, it was they who had offered him a job? That sound very interesting to her, making her look even more curious.
"But... Weren't they frightened or awkward w-when asking you?" she wondered silently, then frowned as she thought of the words she just let herself say. "N-Not m-meaning t-to say th-that as an insult! I-It's j-just that, f-from w-what I've seen h-humans r-react so str-strange around things they are unused too." she then quickly added as she continued to drum her fingers.

"I-it's okay, I know what you mean, it's not exactly normal in their world for a 30 ft merman to be watching your research boat from behind a rock." He lay his head back as he thought about it, luckily he was a bit smaller when he was young otherwise the chaos would have been worse.
"I was spotted and they quickly began to set up harpoons they use to tag large marine creatures but I called for them to stop. Seems they calm down quicker when you talk to them"

"R-really? I don't think they would do such if they would see me though." She blinked in wonder, pouting sadly.  "I find it h-hard to trust humans, really. As m-my first encounter with them wasn't that good. Which can be shown on my fin." she pointed down from her tail to fin with a small sigh to then look back up to him.

"Well maybe it's because I was so huge? No offence but you don't seem so threatening when you're tiny" He brought his head up again, light purple eyes staring at her impassively, she did look very sweet and innocent yet her species and teeth indicated there was another side to her that he hadn't seen. Mesi blinked, then smiled and lightly tilted her head to the side. "Yes, that is another thing. I'm small: to them I am not a 'danger'." Then looking him in the eye, she wondered what he was thinking at the moment. "Is s-something the matter?" she asked gently, lower lip pouting out more in confusion.

He shook his head "Nothing's the ma--" as he opened his mouth to say 'matter' it turned into a yawn, he tilted his head back and for the first time in ages when someone had been around him he unlocked his jaw to let it go to full capacity, the grey line stretched into a layer of skin as his mouth opened to almost 160 degrees his chest and some of his stomach rose under Mesi though his lips didn't curl back, and no evident teeth could be seen either.
Halfway through he froze, remembering his little audience and quickly snapped his mouth shut, the bone moving backwards to lock in place.

She blinked a couple of times, eye wide as she watched him do all of this. Her sight directly snapping up every little new detail she could see as she lightly wriggled while sitting onto his stomach still. With her head tilting even more, she smiled and let out a tiny giggle. Looking impressed and very curious about what he just did.
"W-well, that's a first... B-but really. Don't mind me, r-really! We are all different, aren't we?" she said gently."

"I'm a little conscious about it...it tends to scare people since most can go inside without touching the edges" which certainly wasn't normal, at least not to humans because to them nothing is worse than seeing something that can easily swallow you whole. The thought of swallowing people brought back thoughts of her friend. He was instantly curious; maybe Mesi's natural curiosity was rubbing off on him?
"Can your friend do this? Y'know the whole extended snake jaw thing?" He was about to ask if he had no teeth either but quickly stopped himself since it wasn't exactly true for Leon either. Mesi tilted her head, blinking then as she thought about the question. Wondering how to answer she was silent for awhile. She then twirled her tail to gently stroke gently over her fin. "Well, not really like you... But he can open his mouth really really wide!" she beamed up then, nodding. Looking around, she then blinked. ''He has to use his tongue though if he doesn't want to hurt what he is eating.'' she added silently. The last part stunned him, "That sounds...considerate?"
His neck began to hurt from looking down at her at that angle so he scooped her up off his stomach, levelling himself and bringing her closer.

"Well... I think he doesn't hurt them for his own enjoyment. But it also depends on the gender, I thin- eep!" She squeaked out in surprise as she scooped her up, making her blink in surprise as she then began to giggle more again. His face for once cracked into a smile, literally cracked because his muscles looked like they weren't used to it.
"I think I've heard enough, no more I beg of you" he chuckled. He already feared this mysterious green friend and didn't want to know about whether gender got you swallowed or chewed.

Something brushed the top of his head and he looked up to find his net, remembering his original task. He sighed. "I'm going to have to return this at least. Think you're up to it?" Normally he would have said awkward goodbyes LONG ago but Mesi caught his attention and he enjoyed her company. Mesi tilted her head, smiling as she looked up to him. In fact, she rather enjoyed this company too. How strange really, usually she wasn't one to speak much with others.

"S-sure, b-but if I get nervous or anything... Can I hide behind you?"  she let out a childlike whimper, sounding innocent and in slight fright of possibly getting to see another human.

Looking him in the eye, she suddenly reached out to put her hand onto his nose gently with a tilted head. Her tail wriggling shyly, she blinked a couple of times in thought.
"Of course" He smiled at the feel of her hand though the electrical sensors in it protested at her conductivity. He listened for the sound of engines as he swam with Mesi. As the gentle hum filled across the waves he began to ascend, folding the net whilst they got closer. She swam gently close to him, not wanting to get lost as she pushed forwards not to get left behind either.
"A-are w-we close now?" she wondered nervously.

He pointed to a large shadow looming up ahead, "They're a nice bunch, and they're used to me" As he swam he began to blow bubbles, his signal to the others that he was approaching. Mesi still let out a whimper, worried as she swam slightly closer to him. Her sight darting back and forth as she looked to him like a frightened child who seemed so unsure of what to do.

Reaching the boat he surfaced with a blank face "Sorry, empty handed today. I had an encounter" Hanson looked over the boat from where he was operating the winch ready to pull Leon's load up. "What do you mean? What sort of encounter?" Two other faces appeared as they heard the news. Leon kept his face completely emotionless as he replied "I accidentally caught someone and got distracted"
He looked down through the waves; indicating for Mesi to surface. Very quietly he murmured "Be nice to her."

She felt herself take a hold of her arms without even thinking; slowly moving her tail and fin to swim up until her head could be seen coming out of the water.  Mesi could feel their eyes going onto her, her body starting to shake uncomfortably as she gulped nervously. Her fingers fiddling nervously as she tried not to look back at them. She wanted to dive back into the water, but looking up to Leon something told her to stay even though fright echoed through her whole body.


Hanson, the leader of the team, simply blinked. He looked back and forth between the two, eventually a smile went over his face; he leaned over, extending a hand "Hello my dear, nice to meet you" Leon sighed, he wished he had some better social skills like the guys, and some back bone, he thought as he realised that whilst Hanson was risking meeting a predatoress to be a gentleman his first words had been Please don't hurt me either, whilst he trapped her in a net.

Mesi blinked, looking at his hand curiously before taking her own slowly to his to shake silently. Still too nervous to talk, she simply blinked but made a gesture of understanding to say hello in the handshake. Then letting go, she looked up to Leon with curious eyes yet her senses told her to still keep in check for these humans... Just for the safety of it.

Hanson smiled "It's alright young lady, nice to see Leon finally find a friend, bout time the old stogie sought company of his own kind" At that Leon's gaze snapped back to him, looking highly un-amused. He went back to putting the net away and getting a briefing with the guys for the next time he had to dive. In the back of his mind he couldn't help but hope Mesi would accompany him while he was down there. Sure she was no protection from the giant squid or jellyfish but it was better than being on your own down in that darkness.

Mesi smiled, yet careful to do such with her lips sealed. Not wanting to frighten them with her long sharp teeth as she shyly nodded. She blinked, glancing over to Leon with an even wider smile as she let out a small giggle.  Being able to transform into a human was one thing, but speaking and chatting with them was another thing and not something she usually did for fun. Humans were her food, well... At least those humans she found in need to be her food. Thieves, 'evil' ones and such...

Hanson let off another smile "Am I going to get a name from you young lady or are you going to be as tight lipped as Leon's become?"

He took a glance at her lure, calling one of the other guys over "Clearly she's some sort of anglerfish variety. Would you say she's of a pelagic nature?" The other guy, obviously some sort of biologist, shook his head "With the bioluminescence she looks more adapted to a Ceratiidae lifestyle"
"Or you could stop being technical and ask her if she came from the deep" Leon cut in, starting to get uneasy about bringing Mesi here. The little lady in question tilted her head, looking confused before giving out a small chuckle.

"I'm called Mesi, and as guessed..." she pointed a webbed finger to her antenna in amusement. "...I'm from the darker parts of the ocean." she replied softly, careful not to show teeth before looking back to Leon with big eyes of wonder.
"That's an unusual name" he replied. "And some very interesting markings you have there"
"Yeah, Leon had to have a tattoo just to look a little more interesting." another chipped in. Leon's face was deadpan but he gave her a glance that told her he thought she was doing well. "Yes yes, I was young and stupid I know, Do you want to go now Mesi?" He asked.

Mesi looked uncomfortable as he mentioned her markings, her antenna seeming to droop a little at those words. She then nodded at said question, quickly swimming closer again yet being careful not to hurt her fins more here. With a farewell wave he sank back down to the coolness of the water; closing his eyes and taking a moment to let his face cool off from the harsh sun. He glanced at Mesi out of the corner of one half opened eye, his deadpan face still in place.
"Don't think I didn't notice, what's the matter with your markings?"
Leon didn't know when he had gotten this bold, but then, he had already defied most of his usual behaviour with her. She silently mumbled something unhearable, holding onto her arms as she tried to avoid his face. Her eye was somewhat saddened at the question, the light from her antenna growing strong and then returning dim all the time.

Thinking he hadn't heard what she said, she slowly began to form out her words again as her fin began to curl in some matter of being ashamed. ''...I got them when I began to swallow human flesh.'' Finally looking at him, she found herself backing off. He would probably see her as a monster now, but really... Who wouldn't? She thought.

Leon didn't move. The water seemed to still around him as he took in the words. He never guessed that sweet little Mesi was of the same ilk as her friend. Maybe it had been dangerous to his team to bring Mesi?He frowned. No, she wouldn't do that to them. Perhaps like her friend she had her reasons. Much to his surprise he wasn't as horrified as he thought he'd be, though he still felt nauseous about it.
"I...see..."

Mesi blinked, clutching at her own arms as she gulped, her head lowering as she looked down to her tailfin. "In other words... I'm more of a monster than others, really." she quietly trembled out, feeling her hands shaking. She couldn't tell how he was feeling about it really, as his comment didn't give a positive or negative effect either.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry... Y-you mustn't want to be close a-anymore for s-such reasons." she whimpered out, her sight darting back and forth.

Leon moved onto his stomach, hand moving out behind her and gently pulling her closer.
"It's not for me to say what you should and shouldn't do. I can't say I approve of it but like you said. We all have our reasons." He felt a little awkward with her but it was nothing new to him, he was even a little glad to be back to his old deadpan self, if there was one thing Leon liked it was security in the familiar. Mesi blinked, tilting her head up as she looked to him right in the eye while she felt heat rise to her cheeks nervously. "B-But still, I promise never t-to do such things in front of you Leon..." she nodded, her arms falling to her sides.

"I-If I d-do something you find un-uncomfortable or such t-then tell me so and I will stop right a-away." she meekly let out, nodding yet again as she blew out air from her mouth, making bubbles fly up.

His large eyes were grateful, unsure of how this would work out he brought her to his chest, large hand over her back as he tried to hug a creature ten times smaller than himself. She blinked slowly, eye wide in alert and her body stiffening for a couple of seconds before she let out a small sigh as a smile formed on her lips. Relaxing once more, she leaned more to him and spread out her arms to his chest to in some sort of way hug back as she let out a small giggle.