#{|ooc: but for now-- i'm satisfied with finally getting this out before i consider sleep|}

[take-ya-to-the-ghey-bar]

{since i don’t currently feel like updating the verses page to include this, thanks to the ideas still being rather messy-- i’ve decided to just make this post for now and either update it later, or simply add a link to it on said page later-- but~! anyway-- finally, here’s some info and ideas i’ve had going for that merman!AU}

Personality tweaks here are of course minimal, with Minato remaining much the same aloof sort of man as usual. With the only real points of note being that he fits within the trope(s) of a mer who both avoids contact with humans, yet also hold some curiosity for them. Rarely making the venture to watch them from a distance, or investigate items of theirs that make it beneath the waves.

Appearances are easily some of the biggest changes here. Having a tail with smooth, typical fish-type scales, with pale gold coloration that fades into a light , faintly pinkish, orange from about half way down it’s length down towards the main tail fin. And while he doesn’t have as many added fins as some mers, he does have a set of pelvic fins, along with a dorsal fin. The pelvic fins having a fair bit of length, as they stop about mid-way down the length of his tail, the dorsal meanwhile, isn’t terribly large. Extending only a few inches beyond his tail. However, it does travel most of the tail’s length, staring from just slightly above where skin fades into scales. All his fins holding the same pale orange-peachy sort of color from a portion of his scales.

Other details include stray patches of scales that litter the rest of his skin, namely upon the top of his shoulders, the mid section of his back, along his sides, and a few tiny patches across his cheeks. The areas along his shoulders and back are somewhat dense, while his sides are more sparsely coated, and those upon his face could almost be mistaken for a bunching of freckles. His ears hold a mostly human shape still, however, they do extend to become small fins of their own, giving them an almost pointed look. And his hands also have slight webbing, though it isn’t even enough to reach the knuckle closest to his palms. His nails are also mildly pointed, and he has a small set of fangs in place of usual duller canines. Also, while i do picture he’d have gills, placement hasn’t been settled for them between his neck or ribs--

{and now, to save some length, i’ll be putting the few headcanons i have in mid below a cut-- along with links for refence images, as i haven’t been in the mood to try and do art for this, despite my temptation--}

First up, image refs-- which, sadly i lack proper sources for a share of this art, as it was found through just various sessions of googling, but if i can ever find a sourced version, then i may return to update it-- his main fins, including the dorsal, are much like this image-- however, the pelvic fins are more like this one. his ears i picture as matching this, but with the previously stated color. And the scales upon his shoulders are packed like this, or maybe more accurately-- like the patches of them that Rin {Kamisama no Uroko} gains during one chapter-- And now, for the headcanons~

✨} Minato is a mix between a butterfly koi, and betta. As i felt this combo was fitting for his combination of beauty, and somewhat aggressive nature.

✨} He still retains his earrings and tattoo in this AU as well, the earrings being either a somewhat common accessory for merfolk as would be the case on land, or, a trinket that found it’s way beneath the waves. And his tattoo retains the same sort of story it has in canon, the only difference is that now it wraps around his tail at what would be the ankle area.

✨} Other accessories he has are still along the lines of bracelets, necklaces, and chokers. Some made with stray human materials, such as ribbon, cloth, or leather, if not simply whole lost items to begin with. While others are made with shells and pearls.

✨} In place of his work for the rabbit shop, here, he and the others would be looking after nurseries of sea bunnies. As many merfolk find them to be adorable pets.

[yangssunglasses]

One more prompt? Prompt 92: “ Are you drunk? ” with Yang and Frederica. But since I'm not yet far enough in logh, I'm not sure if maybe it's totally out of character for those two to address this ehem... small problem... If it's OOC, consider the prompt invalid.

AN: I had some trouble with this prompt, but it’s finally done. I’ll post on ao3 after I come up with a suitable title, because so far it completely eludes me. I’m still working on getting the voice of the characters right, but I hope the fic came out okay.

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The Iserlohn looked like a ghost town during the nighttime orrather what could be considered the night on the massive spacestation floating in the middle of the cosmic void with no stars inthe vicinity. Yang passed on his way only a few sleepy people on thegraveyard shift who gave him respectful salutes. He answered themwith short nods, not keen to linger. He’d stayed late in the office,working on strategies and he wanted nothing more than some sleep, sohe was understandably irritated that he needed to go back there.

The moment he came in he realized something was wrong. Firstly,what tipped him off was that the door should have been locked for thenight. Secondly, the darkness inside didn’t feel empty. There was asilent presence wrought in the shadow.

“Is someone here?” Yang asked cautiously.

When no answer came, he switched on the light. He didn’t seeanyone, however the item he was looking for was conspicuously missingfrom where he’d left it on the desk. Yang came closer to investigate.He heard a shuffle behind the desk and checked there.

“Lieutenant Greenhill?” he gasped, flabbergasted to find hisaide sitting on the floor and obviously hiding. “What are you stilldoing here?”

“Nothing,” she replied, voice muffled behind her hand. “Goaway… please.”

Yang rounded the desk. The lieutenant curled up in her seat andangled her face away from him.

“Is everything okay?” he ventured, even more perplexed by herunusual behaviour.

“Fine, everything’s fine!” she insisted. “I… I droppedsomething, but I found it. I should get going now.” She shot up toher feet and started for the exit, but in her rush she tripped andstumbled right into Yang. He managed to catch her, arms automaticallygoing around her shoulders and holding her against him.

“Ah, I’m sorry, sir!”

Her gasp of surprise tickled his neck and with it he detected aspecific, but familiar pungent smell. Yang’s eyebrow shot up.

“Lieutenant… Are you drunk?”

Lieutenant Greenhill didn’t look at him, but her cheeks flushedprettily. “Ah… I…” She floundered, before regaining herfunction of speech. She stepped back, putting distance between them.“I’m off duty, so what does it matter?” she deflected.

“But why were you drinking in my office?” A realization struckhim. “And what were you drinking?”

Yang looked around for his bottle of brandy, the only reason hecame back in the first place. He’d forgotten to take it home. Latelyhe had a hard time going to sleep without a glass or two… ormore… as much as it took to have some real rest, undisturbed bynightmares. He spotted a shine of glass under the desk and yanked thebottle out.

“I can’t believe this…” he said in dismay. What was once ahealthy half of a bottle was depleted into maybe a two glassesmaximum. He looked at the lieutenant again, noting that the rouge onher face had to be the result of her drinking, not embarrassment likehe’d assumed.

“I’m sorry, sir, I’ll buy you another,” she blurted out.

“What?” he asked, distracted.

“Another bottle. I know I shouldn’t have drunk so much. I’msorry. It won’t happen again. That was irresponsible and foolish ofme and I’m incredibly sorry-”

“Frederica,” he interrupted firmly. He rarely used her firstname, as it seemed inappropriate between an admiral and hissubordinate, but in this informal situation he felt he was at aliberty to do so. “I don’t care about the booze. I care about-”he scratched the back of his head, thinking better of finishing thissentence, lest he reveal something he shouldn’t.

“About?” she prompted quietly, hanging onto his every word.

“-why you’re not acting like yourself,” he awkwardly finished.

She was still angling her head away, so he delicately gripped herchin and turned her face to him. Immediately, her red-rimmed eyesstood out to him. Yang’s frown deepened as he observed the dried teartracks on her face.

He was well aware his aide had plenty of reasons to cry, but sofar Frederica had held herself up admirably, working with as muchefficiency as before. You’d think she’d moved on past all the sorrowand grief, but in reality she was quietly suffering all this time.And he’d willfully remained blind to it because he desperately wantedto keep a professional distance between them. Now he saw howpointless and harmful it was.

“What’s wrong? You can tell me,” he coaxed in a softer tone.Frederica hesitated.

“I thought that… drinking might help me. To stop all thisthinking. I was… remembering too much,” she revealed haltingly.

Yang nodded in understanding. He knew something about that.However, for him time dulled the memories while for Frederica, theystayed just as sharp and painful as in the beginning. That was thecurse of her prized ability – the eidetic memory.

“And? Did it help any?” Yang asked.

Frederica shook her head. “No, not at all.”

“I see…” He glanced at the bottle. “And that was supposedto be a deluxe liquor…” he said with disappointment, prompting alittle chuckle from her.

Not for the first time he thought that her smile was beautiful. Heraised his hand unconsciously, wanting to touch her cheek, but heldback at the last moment. Instead, he quickly changed the directionand scratched his neck. “Well, that looks better on you. Tearsdon’t suit you. As well as drinking,” he remarked. “One of me isenough in this office,” he added self-deprecatingly.

“Admiral,” she breathed out with wide eyes. That he evenadmitted to his own drinking problem was unexpected.

“Think about it. If we both drank, Iserlohn would be doomed andAlliance with it. So I absolutely need you sober, lieutenant. Can youdo that for me?” Yang asked with all seriousness, looking straightinto her amber eyes, as if peering into her soul.

Stunned, Frederica nodded in agreement. “Ye-yes, of course,sir.”

“Good.” He sounded satisfied with that and stepped back.

Her eyelids were getting heavy and she stifled a yawn. Yang tookher arm gently. “You can’t fall asleep here. I’ll escort you toyour quarters.” He led her outside and closed up the office. If thefew people awake at this hour saw the admiral hauling his swayingaide through the corridors, no one questioned it. Not that Yangparticularly cared what they thought.

When they reached Frederica’s quarters, Yang watched her fumblingwith the keys to open the door. Frederica entered the doorway, thenturned to him.

“Thanks for walking me here, sir,” she said politely.

“It was no problem,” he replied with a shrug. “And don’tworry, you get a free day tomorrow.”

“I can work tomorrow,” Frederica objected, to the contrary ofher tired appearance. Heavy bags were already forming under her eyes.

“You won’t. It’s an order.” Yang countered. She’d thank himlater for this. He was fully predicting that she’d wake up with atremendous hangover. “Now go to sleep, lieutenant.”

His firm insistence must have discouraged her from moreobjections.

“Alright. Goodnight, sir.”

“Goodnight, Frederica.”

She closed the door, but Yang stood there for a while, justthinking. Then he sighed and walked off in the direction of hisapartment. Thankfully, it wasn’t very far.

In the end, he didn’t take his brandy from the office. He supposedhe’d have to make do without it for one night if Frederica wasn’tcoming in the next day.

One night of little sleep in exchange for a day of Frederica’srest didn’t look like such a bad deal to him.

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AN: Thanks for reading and feedback is gold to me.