#what a SOMFT MAN amiright?

[llamagoddessofficial]

@radpunch​ thank you sm for commissioning this 🥺 soft siren Skull... bein sweet and cuddly with a dumbo octopus siren mc.... two of them bonding over both being octopi.... literally what could be cuter??? nothing, the answer is nothing. 

Hope you like it!

... The first thing you noticed was that the water smelled like chemicals. Sharp, fake, unpleasant, itching your nose and eyes- but even despite that, it was a relief to be back in liquid again. 

You felt... disoriented. The world was still spinning, but it was gradually getting easier to see what was around you. You suspected the humans had used drugs to keep you quiet during the transportation process; you remembered being pulled out of the ocean and placed in a walled tank for a day or so, but you could barely recall anything past the moment when you’d seen more humans approaching that tank. 

Vague, blurry sensations of being carried... a tarp over your body, the sound of vehicles, gravity weighing down on you as icy air pricked at your skin.

... You started focusing on the tank you were in now. After blinking a few times and scrunching your nose, coming to your senses a bit more, you could see it was decently sized; much bigger than the one you’d been in before, big enough to house several sirens. Glass walls, a textured pebbled floor, some fake plants and...

...

A... cave. 

A big one, right in the corner. Dark, ominous. For a moment, your mind attempted to be helpful and lessen the panic, offering the conclusion that it might be for you... but it was a doomed attempt. It only took you a few moments to see that there was something else inside that cave. A slowly writhing shadow...

... And a huge, glowing, crimson eye. Staring right at you.

...

When it saw that you’d noticed it, the eye twitched ever-so-slightly, shrinking in size like it was zeroing in. Your skin began to prickle, and you backed away; you couldn’t smell whatever it was, thanks to the overwhelming fake stench in the water. What even was it? Was it going to eat you? Was that why you were here- as food? As a fancy, live snack? Oh no... your heart was pounding faster. You desperately wanted to start looking around the cage, but you couldn’t... instead of your eyes darting like fish in a barrel looking for a way to escape, you were completely frozen, unable to break eye contact with the red iris.

...

Something moved out of the cave. Inky black, it was...

...

... A tentacle. Curling, slowly. Another, and a third... huge appendages, each one longer than you were tall, thick and obviously strong enough to wrap you up and crush you like coral in a parrotfish beak.

That’s it. I’m food, aren’t I? That’s why I’m here. I’m done for.

... The creature emerged from the den, into the light.

...

The first thing that struck you about the skeleton beast was how massive he was. You barely noticed the crack in his head (the ocean was full of creatures with injuries and anything of his size would’ve been in its fair share of vicious fights), you were too focused on the mouth full of razor blade teeth. He was, indeed, another octopus siren... but he was nothing like you, an entirely different species- your tentacles were short and stubby, lower body soft and rounded and brightly coloured. He, on the other hand, was completely midnight black, not a speck of colour in sight aside from the bloody red of the eye trained on you.

You’d frozen solid. Your prey drive was screaming at you... but there was nowhere to go. You were boxed in with him, all you could do was float there, completely still in terror. You felt a few stray bubbles slipping out of your slack-jawed mouth... leftover air from your time in transit. 

...

... He cocked his skull. He moved closer, but you still couldn’t budge, your gaze didn’t leave his teeth. The nearer he got, the clearer the size difference between the two of you became; the more your mind blared that your reason for being here was obvious.

... Before you could process what to do, he’d closed the gap. Looming over you, a shadowy beast... was this really how you died? Locked in a glass box as food for a monster? All you could see was his eye.

I don’t want to die.

...

... You didn’t realise you were trembling... until you felt suckers brushing over your upper arm. You almost flinched- almost.

...

He was touching you. You couldn’t look. Don’t hurt me.

... The tentacle travelled down, to your forearm, pressing and pushing with surprising control and care... it curled loosely around your wrist for a moment, before retreating again to ghost over your palm. You felt another one come up to touch your shoulder, and another on your collarbone- you were tense like a coiled spring, anticipating the attack that was doubtless only seconds away.

...

... But... no violence. 

The massive appendages were deliberately only applying the barest possible pressure, tracing your skin like you were venomous... his eye, which you’d expected to have become an excited slit or shrink down in excitement, was instead vibrant and oddly fuzzy; pointing toward your nose instead of the typically more ‘delicious’ parts you thought he’d be watching, like your stomach.

He... 

...

... Wasn’t eating you.

...

For some reason, the realisation that he didn’t intend to just immediately clamp his teeth on your squishy body and shake you like a ragdoll seemed to... melt some of the invisible ice around you. Perhaps it was the fact that he was clearly touching you cautiously, taking care not to bump or break anything? 

He’s deliberately trying to NOT harm me.

...

He appeared to be, very gently, examining you. In the same way you’d examine a pretty stone you’d picked up on the beach- the fear melted away even further, and you started to feel a bit silly. He was just brushing the dark limbs over your skin, your back, while one massive finger on his scarred skeletal hand traced your cheek with undeniable... 

... Curiosity. That was the emotion you couldn’t read- he was curious.

You had a sudden thought, as you looked up at him. He seemed engrossed in the way your hair floated.

How long had he been here? 

How long had he been in this stifling, chemical-filled glass cage? Sure, it was large to you, but to a monster of his size it could never be enough. His body had the telltale signs of open-ocean wear, you could only assume he was caught and placed in this enclosure. But how long ago? When was the last time he saw the sun, or another siren? No wonder he was examining you. When did he last have company he understood?

...

You allowed yourself to, very cautiously, start examining him too. While a few of your own tentacles poked at his inky skin (you’d never gotten this close to such a large predator before) you reached out a hand and touched his sternum. Warm, and solid... it was painfully clear now that he had absolutely no intention of hurting you.

The bones of his chest were covered in nicks and bumps. You wondered what his hands would feel like...

...

... He took a moment. Like he was processing. 

...

... But once he’d apparently realised you were willingly touching him back, the floodgates opened. His eyelight blew to almost fill his entire socket, and suddenly he didn’t look nearly as frightening- in fact, he maybe even looked a little goofy. He apparently decided that the tiny distance between the two of you was far too great; his giant tentacles dragged you in until you were flush against his huge chest. 

You squeaked, pretty loudly, even as his skeleton AND octopus arms wrapped around you with a mixture of impatience and obvious carefulness- you weren’t expecting to be cuddled, you braced your hands against his ribs in surprise but he didn’t seem to care at all. He let out a noise you’d never heard before... a soft, low, warbling note emerging from within the chest you were being eagerly squished to.

He pushed his face against your hair. And, incredibly... spoke. You felt his voice in your bones.

“someone... for me.”

...

You couldn’t get another word out of him for the rest of the day. He was too occupied with showing you just how comfy his cave could be.