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Each movie brings exciting characters, surprising plot twists, touching relationships, and powerful stories that keep you watching until the final scene. From billionaire romances to inspiring life journeys, every film offers a unique experience.
Enjoy HD movies with English subtitles and stay tuned for regular uploads of the latest popular drama films.
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CreativityTranscript
00:00I taught a merman how to flirt, but he grounded me because he thought I was proposing.
00:04My professor did warn me, but by then, I'd already done something very stupid.
00:09How could I watch the strongest, most beautiful male on Emerald Atoll fail to find a mate?
00:14He could take down prey that weighed hundreds of pounds, but he'd never once shown up to a courtship dance.
00:19Poor thing grew up alone, no one ever taught him, so I played him courtship songs on a speaker,
00:24put on a prosthetic tail, and showed him the dance myself.
00:27He learned fast and performed it right back to me.
00:31Thrilled, I shot the whole thing and sent it to my professor to brag.
00:35He called me back screaming.
00:37You idiot, didn't you notice the razor sharp teeth?
00:39The long claws? The powerful tail? That's not a merge.
00:43It's more like a siren out of mythology.
00:46It could slice you open and rip your heart out without breaking a sweat.
00:49The only way a creature like that courts a mate is by hunting them down,
00:53dragging them somewhere no one will find them,
00:55and keeping them there until they're pregnant.
00:58Get out of there! Get out! Get out!
01:02But it was already too late.
01:04He was already swimming toward me.
01:09Two months earlier, a new male had arrived at Emerald Atoll,
01:13settling alone on the far side of the island.
01:16Merfolk live in family groups,
01:17but young males often leave the pod they grew up in to seek mates and join new colonies.
01:21It promotes genetic diversity.
01:23A smart evolutionary strategy.
01:25The merfolk were soft-featured, almost doll-like.
01:28This one was all edges, looked like a fallen angel.
01:31His teeth were pointed, his claws significantly longer than any shallow water mer's.
01:36Black hair, green eyes, a black gold tail roughly eight feet long.
01:40This was clearly a powerful deep sea mer who had left his pod and come to Emerald Atoll seeking a
01:44mate.
01:45I usually observed the merfolk through underwater cameras stationed around the island.
01:49But once, while boating near the atoll, I spotted him.
01:53I sent my drone after him and watched him cut through the waves,
01:56chasing down a marlin doing nearly 70 miles an hour.
01:59He caught it effortlessly, slicing the fish open with his claws.
02:03The blood drew sharks and orcas from the surrounding waters, but none of them dared approach him.
02:08Deep sea mer were clearly the unchallenged apex predators of the ocean.
02:12When he drifted past my boat, I couldn't help staring.
02:15You're amazing!
02:16Of course, he couldn't understand me.
02:18After humans discovered this planet, there had been a brief surge of interest in merfolk research.
02:23But the excitement died down fast.
02:27Merfish intelligence was only slightly above orcas.
02:30They were omnivores, living mostly on kelp and seaweed,
02:34occasionally supplemented with crabs, oysters, and small fish.
02:38And there was zero chance of crossbreeding with humans.
02:41Most researchers moved on to studying beast folk.
02:44As for me, I'd originally studied beast folk too.
02:48Isla, Isla, Isla!
02:52I have to attend a university conference and we'll probably be away for a week.
02:56Again?
02:57Yup.
02:57You're running out of time, Isla.
02:59Your graduate thesis deadline is fast approaching.
03:01But-
03:02You better have your topic settled by the time I get back.
03:04I believe you can do it.
03:06I'd been alone on Emerald Atoll for three months.
03:09If not for my cleaning drone and internet access, I'd have dropped out long ago.
03:14But after hearing me speak, the mer stopped.
03:17Those cold, piercing eyes locked onto me.
03:19A chill crawled up my spine, even though I was perfectly safe on the boat.
03:23He sliced off a choiceless cut from the marlin's back with one precise sweep of his claws and tossed it
03:28onto my deck.
03:29I'd just been fed by a mer.
03:31He was different from the others.
03:33He's smart and powerful.
03:34I could see my thesis writing at home.
03:36I might graduate early.
03:38If this mer could find a mate during mating season, he'd stay with the Emerald Atoll colony.
03:43By next spring, there could be two or three intelligent, powerful mer pups born.
03:47And I could study hybridization traits between different mer subspecies.
03:52I named the deep sea mer Opal.
03:55His black gold tail shimmered like a black opal under moonlight, flashing with iridescent fire.
04:00Mating season lasted three months.
04:01But two months in, Opal still hadn't found a mate.
04:05He hunted massive prey every day, often tossing the best cuts onto the dock, giving me a meal of fresh
04:10sashimi or pan-seared fish.
04:12He only ate the belly meat himself, discarding the rest.
04:15Before long, young males from the colony would slink over and drag away the leftovers to present to the females
04:21they were courting.
04:22He'd inadvertently helped several pairs get together.
04:24Merfolk were drawn to strength.
04:26A male who could bring down enormous prey easily won female attention.
04:29But this idiot fish had never once attended the underwater courtship dances.
04:33I consulted my professor, who said merfolk were social animals.
04:38Males typically left in groups of two or three brothers.
04:40A solitary mer had likely been separated by accident, or abandoned.
04:44Forced to grow up alone.
04:46That would explain why this one was such an exceptional hunter.
04:50Without a family's protection, he'd had to become powerful to survive the ocean's dangers.
04:57It also meant he probably didn't know the courtship song or dance.
05:01Without performing the courtship ritual, none of the young females would even know he was available.
05:06Of course he didn't have a mate.
05:08Once mating season ended, Opal would leave Emerald Atoll with nothing to show for it.
05:13I could feel my thesis slipping away.
05:15I had to do something.
05:17It was just a song and a dance.
05:19I'd teach him myself.
05:20I pulled up recordings of merfolk courtship songs and waited at the dock.
05:25Opal arrived, dragging another massive tumor.
05:27The warm light softened his cold features.
05:29I knew he was dangerous.
05:31But merfolk had no recorded history of harming humans.
05:34I approached him slowly.
05:36Opal.
05:39Opal, that's the name I gave you.
05:41Merfolk could only produce simple tones.
05:43They had a basic language, but communicated through ultrasound.
05:47Their vocal anatomy didn't support complex human speech.
05:51Neither did their intelligence, for that matter.
05:53He opened his mouth.
05:54Opal.
05:55Clear, precise, perfectly pronounced.
05:58He could speak.
05:59Research on deep sea mer was scarce.
06:01Perhaps some subspecies had this ability.
06:04My thesis was going to shake the entire field.
06:07Opal!
06:08I pointed at him, then pointed at myself.
06:11Isla.
06:11He immediately understood that Opal referred to him.
06:14Opal.
06:15And Isla, to me.
06:16Isla.
06:16Remarkably intelligent.
06:18I turned on the speaker I'd prepared.
06:21I'm going to teach you the courtship song.
06:23Once you learn it, you sing it for whichever mate you choose.
06:25He seemed confused, but I knew he wouldn't hurt me.
06:29Soon, the lilting melody of a merfolk courtship song floated from the speaker.
06:32I had to admit, merfolk singing was beautiful.
06:35The next instant, Opal's expression changed.
06:38He drove his claws through the speaker in one violent strike.
06:41He was treading it until the song went silent.
06:45I jumped back in terror and ran.
06:47Those claws would crack my skull just as easily.
06:50He saw me fleeing and lunged.
06:52I glanced back mid-sprint, and saw he'd hauled himself onto the shore.
06:56Floundering forward, trying to chase me.
06:58But on land, he was slow.
07:00Nowhere near fast enough.
07:01Isla.
07:02Isla.
07:03Isla.
07:14Isla.
07:19Isla.
07:25Isla.
07:33Isla.
07:43Isla.
07:45Isla.
07:52Isla.
07:53a human speech?
07:54I'd been listening to the colony's courtship songs through underwater equipment for weeks.
07:58I knew them by heart.
07:59I sang the first line, ready to sprint the instant his claws came for my head the way they'd come
08:04for the speaker.
08:05When Opal heard me sing, his eyes lit up, he repeated the line back.
08:08I sang the full courtship song, and he echoed it perfectly.
08:11I'd expected to need a dozen repetitions, but he reproduced the entire song flawlessly on the first try.
08:17His eyes never left me.
08:18He didn't even blink.
08:19It made me uneasy.
08:20Opal, you're incredibly smart.
08:22When you meet a merm you fancy someday, you may sing this tune for her.
08:27Consider it tuition.
08:28That night, deep in sleep, I was jolted awake by a familiar melody.
08:31Furious, I threw open the window and locked eyes with Opal.
08:35Shut up!
08:36I snapped at him.
08:37The singing stopped.
08:38I finally got a good night's sleep.
08:41But days later, Opal still hadn't found a mate despite knowing the courtship song.
08:45Was I really going to have to teach him the dance tune?
08:49I was a strong swimmer and certified diver.
08:52When I was a child, trips to Thalassa were all the rage.
08:55My parents brought me here on vacation.
08:57After visiting the shallow water Merfolk, the next day we boarded a cruise ship to search for deep sea merm.
09:02But the waves were particularly rough that day, and I fell overboard.
09:07Over ten days later, my parents found me unconscious on the shore, burning with fever.
09:11The fever wiped my memory of that entire period.
09:14The assumption was that a shallow water Merfolk pod had rescued me.
09:17After that ordeal, once we returned to our home world, my parents enrolled me in swimming and diving lessons.
09:22I never imagined that years later I'd end up back on Thalassa, and that those skills would actually prove useful.
09:27When you see a female you like, have you tried singing the courtship song for her?
09:30He nodded.
09:31I was furious.
09:32He'd already sung the courtship song and still got rejected.
09:35These females had no taste.
09:36Opal was the most stunning Mer on Emerald Atoll.
09:39Do you know the courtship dance?
09:42He shook his head.
09:43Fine, for the sake of my thesis, I'd go all in.
09:46I turned, walked into the room, slipped on the silver imitation fishtail, and then dove into the sea.
09:51I mimicked the courtship dance movements, twirling through the sea.
09:55Opal's eyes grew brighter and brighter, unblinking, fixed on every movement.
09:59Light.
09:59That was the first word he'd said to me besides my name.
10:02Idiot.
10:02If he liked it, then he'd better learn it.
10:04I was counting on those merpups next year.
10:06When the dance ended, he retracted his claws.
10:08Opal pulled me into a full embrace, carefully circling my waist, resting his head on my shoulder, his tail pressing
10:14close against mine.
10:17Like Isla.
10:18Compared to my clumsy, slightly ridiculous imitation of a mer dance, Opal's was effortless and powerful, devastatingly beautiful.
10:24He sang something similar to the merfolk courtship song, but more ethereal, more haunting.
10:29Those impossible eyes held nothing but my reflection the entire time.
10:32Like a sailor bewitched by a siren, I found myself swimming toward him, wanting to dance with him.
10:37The moment my hand touched his, I snapped out of it.
10:39Dancing with a fish, I'd lost my mind.
10:41I turned and swam hard for shore.
10:43Behind me, Opal slowly lowered his hand, watching me leave and spin.
10:53I'd barely peeled off the wet tail when my professor called, and his furious voice erupted from my comm device.
10:59You idiot.
10:59You told me you found a deep sea mer.
11:01Didn't you notice the razor sharp teeth, the long claws, the powerful tail?
11:06That's not a mer.
11:07It's more like a siren out of mythology.
11:09It could slice you open and rip your heart out without breaking a sweat.
11:13The only way a creature like that courts a mate is by hunting them down, dragging them somewhere no one
11:18will find them, and keeping them there until they're pregnant.
11:21Get out of there!
11:23Get out!
11:24Get out!
11:25So my gut had been right all along.
11:27I'd always known Opal looked different from the merfolk.
11:29He wasn't a deep sea mer at all.
11:31He was a new species.
11:32An extremely dangerous new species.
11:34Which meant the Emerald Atoll research station, with zero physical barriers, was a death trap.
11:40Until my professor secured funding and the station was reinforced, I had to leave immediately.
11:44I grabbed the essentials and launched my yacht.
11:47As the island shrank behind me, I let myself breathe.
11:50I hadn't said goodbye.
11:52That thought sat heavy in my chest.
11:54Whatever he was, he'd never actually hurt me.
11:58My professor called to make sure I'd gotten out.
12:00I'm well clear of the atroy!
12:02Thank God.
12:03I thought the worst you'd cost me was my academic reputation.
12:06I didn't expect I'd nearly have to attend your funeral.
12:09But I had no appetite for his jokes.
12:11My voice was shaking.
12:13It's here.
12:16Opal's black hair billows in the wind, his sleek tail cutting through the water like an arrow.
12:20He caught up in seconds.
12:22His expression was colder than anything I'd ever seen.
12:25I told myself it was fine.
12:26The hull was metal.
12:27I was safe.
12:29Then five pointed claws hunched through the cabin wall.
12:31The metal tore apart like paper.
12:33I fell backward.
12:35The clumsiness on the dock had been an act.
12:37The moment he boarded, his tail split slowly into two human legs.
12:41He walked toward me step by step, like something out of a nightmare.
12:44Don't run.
12:45All that friendliness had been an act.
12:47From the day he appeared, he could have slaughtered me and the entire colony anytime he wanted.
12:52But he hadn't.
12:53Had it all been a game to him?
12:55The moment his prey tried to run, the mass came off.
12:58Don't leave.
13:00My Isla.
13:01And then his lips pressed against mine.
13:03He was kissing me.
13:04Why?
13:05He pushed a smooth, hard pearl from his mouth into mine.
13:08His tongue forcing it to the back of my throat until I swallowed.
13:11Only then did he pull back.
13:13A satisfied smile spreading across his face.
13:15You can't escape now.
13:17My mate.
13:21The instant I swallowed the pearl, everything went black.
13:24Opal took me like prey.
13:26His tail reformed, and he held me against his chest as he shot through the ocean, heading
13:30somewhere unknown.
13:31My comm device lay abandoned on the deck.
13:33My professor's voice still coming through.
13:35What do you mean it's here?
13:37Isla, talk to me.
13:38A long silence.
13:39Then a sigh, and the sound of another call blowing out.
13:42Hello, is this planetary security?
13:44I woke up in iron shackles.
13:46I was inside a cave on some island.
13:48The only exit was submerged.
13:49Even if I could somehow dive through it, I'd face nothing but open ocean on the other side.
13:54A few meters away, he was slicing a massive fish into fillets with a poker face.
13:58Blood ran into the water.
14:00The metallic smell was everywhere.
14:01It looked like a scene from a slasher film.
14:03Was I next?
14:06He looked up.
14:07That cold expression was even more terrifying than before.
14:11Liar!
14:11You can't escape.
14:13Before, he'd only ever said a word or two at a time.
14:15Now he was speaking in full sentences.
14:18Fluent.
14:18Precise.
14:19Like he'd know how to talk all along and had simply chosen not to.
14:22An animal would just kill you.
14:24But something intelligent enough to take hostages was something you could reason with.
14:28What exactly did I lie about?
14:29His expression grew angrier.
14:32You courted me first.
14:34Me?
14:35I accepted!
14:36And you ran!
14:37You always lie to me!
14:39I'd sung the courtship song to him.
14:41Danced the courtship dance.
14:43From his perspective, I'd been proposing.
14:45And he had accepted.
14:48I softened my voice.
14:50This was all a misunderstanding.
14:53I'm a merfish researcher.
14:54I thought you were a male mer who'd come to join the Emerald Attor colony but didn't know how to
14:59court.
14:59I was teaching you.
15:01His fist slammed into the cave wall, punching out a chunk of solid rock.
15:05I didn't want to imagine what would happen if that had been my skull.
15:08I should never have accepted that reassignment.
15:11Shut up.
15:13You wanted me to court those stupid, weak merfish.
15:16It took a long time for the rage to subside before he spoke again.
15:19His voice was calm, but with something unhinged underneath.
15:22It doesn't matter.
15:23Only stupid merfish court that way.
15:26My inherited instinct tells me this is how we do it.
15:29We take our mate and hide them away.
15:33Everything my professor said had been true.
15:35Why couldn't he have told me sooner?
15:37He pushed the raw fillets toward me.
15:40Heat.
15:40I was about to refuse, when hunger slammed into me like a wall.
15:43I wanted that fish more than I'd ever wanted anything in my life.
15:47I devoured every last piece.
15:49He watched with a look of satisfaction, entirely unsurprised.
15:53As if he had known this would happen.
15:55After eating, an overwhelming drowsiness hit.
15:58I slept again.
15:59When I woke, he was slicing fish.
16:01I ate again.
16:03Days passed before the hunger and exhaustion finally faded.
16:06I demanded answers.
16:08What did you do to me?
16:09He took my hand and guided my fingers behind my ears.
16:12On each side, I felt openings, developing gills.
16:15My skin had changed too, smoother and slicker,
16:18like it was no longer meant for land.
16:20I could probably stay underwater for hours now.
16:23The pearl.
16:24Am I gonna turn into a creature like you?
16:28Yes.
16:30You'll become a siren like me.
16:33You'll never go back to the human world.
16:35I was going to turn into one of them.
16:37Never see my family again.
16:39Trapped with this monster for the rest of my life.
16:41Monster!
16:42Even if I'm not human anymore, I'll never be with you!
16:45I hate you!
16:46I'd rather spend my life with a pot of murphine!
16:49His jaw clenched, eyes went bright with fury.
16:52But underneath it, just for a second, I saw something break.
16:56Then I'll keep you chained here forever.
16:58You won't see another human.
17:00You won't even see a mur.
17:01From that day on, my body kept changing, more and more like a fish.
17:05The openings behind my ears grew from two to six within two weeks.
17:09I didn't say a single word to him.
17:12The chains were long enough that I could reach the cave entrance.
17:15I'd tried submerging my head, and I could last hours now before I heard him coming back.
17:19If I could just get the shackles off, I could escape.
17:22Today he returned dragging only a small grouper.
17:24But his black gold tail bore a long gash.
17:26Iridescent scales fell away with every movement.
17:29He was injured.
17:29He didn't even have the strength to shift into legs.
17:35He just lay down and closed his eyes.
17:37I walked over and checked his breathing.
17:42Too bad I didn't die.
17:44You must be so disappointed.
17:46Obviously.
17:47I wish you'd drop dead.
17:49What happened to you?
17:50A pot of orcas.
17:53About thirty of them.
17:55Tried to take my territory.
17:57I won, of course.
17:58Just a scratch.
18:02Orcas.
18:03The ocean's roaming thugs.
18:05Thirty of them.
18:05And he won.
18:06I died a little inside.
18:08I truly provoked something terrifying.
18:11I kicked the grouper he brought into the water.
18:13I don't want grouper.
18:14I want salmon.
18:17Tomorrow?
18:18I want it today, you useless fish who can't even land a mate.
18:22Either let me go or go catch some right now.
18:26Tomorrow?
18:27I want it today, you useless fish who can't even land a mate.
18:31Either let me go or go catch some right now.
18:33He hauled himself up and swam back out through the entrance.
18:37After a long while, he returned with several salmon.
18:39The wound on his tail had turned white and waterlogged from the salt.
18:42Actually, I don't want salmon anymore.
18:44Too rich.
18:45I want something lighter.
18:47Sea bream.
18:48He dragged himself back out to catch sea bream.
18:50He brought the bream back.
18:52Before I could say another word, he collapsed.
18:54With his eyes closed, he looked completely harmless.
18:58The wound had gone raw from the seawater.
19:00I cleaned it.
19:01I sat beside him and closed my own eyes.
19:04I should hate him.
19:08I was floating in the ocean, but I knew I was dreaming.
19:10I turned back into a child.
19:12I saw another child about my age.
19:14Was I dreaming?
19:15I reached out to him.
19:16Please!
19:18Help me!
19:18He swam toward me, and I saw that his lower half was a slender tail.
19:22A mare.
19:22He rescued me, set me on a reef, and caught food for me.
19:25A good myrrh.
19:26I wanted him to take me somewhere with people.
19:28I want to go home.
19:29My parents would be worried.
19:30But he couldn't understand me, so I taught him to speak.
19:33Word by word.
19:34He was smart.
19:36In just over ten days, we could communicate.
19:38I learned he wasn't a myrrh.
19:39He was a siren.
19:41Sirens were solitary.
19:42The unchallenged apex predators of the deep.
19:44Sirens never raised their young.
19:46From the moment a hatchling broke free of its egg, it faced the dangerous ocean alone.
19:50Only those who survived earned the name siren.
19:52I was very innocent as a child.
19:54Innocent in that way only children can be.
19:56The kind that cuts.
19:58So you don't have family or friends?
20:00You've always been alone?
20:02Not even a fish friend?
20:03Don't you get lonely?
20:07What's lonely?
20:09Lonely is when there's no one to play with you.
20:11No one to talk to.
20:13No one who misses you.
20:14I didn't know what lonely was before.
20:17So I wasn't lonely.
20:21Now I will be.
20:22I'm sorry.
20:23After I go home-
20:25I'll come back every summer to play with you.
20:26I'll talk to you.
20:28And I'll miss you.
20:29Let's make a pinky promise.
20:30I swear.
20:31He copied my gesture solemnly, extending his little finger, careful not to nick me with
20:36his sharp eyes and hooked it around mine.
20:38Cross your heart.
20:39We're best friends.
20:40I'll never forget you.
20:42Best friends.
20:43I'd planned to stay a few more days before having him take me home.
20:46But the sea wind and the monotonous diet made me sick.
20:49A fever set in.
20:50Everything blurred.
20:52His face went white.
20:53It's my fault.
20:54You don't belong in the sea.
20:55I'll take you somewhere with humans.
20:57They'll help you.
20:58He carried me on his thin back, racing through the ocean, trying to keep the waves from soaking
21:02my hair.
21:05When I'm better, I'll come back for you.
21:09Isla.
21:10I'll wait.
21:11He slipped back into the water, and only after people found me and carried me away
21:15did that small shape in the distance finally disappear.
21:18But I never kept my promise.
21:20I forgot all of it.
21:23If I hadn't been reassigned to my professor years later, I might never have returned to
21:28Thalassa in my life.
21:29And Opal had come to Emerald Atoll not for the merfolk.
21:32For me.
21:33And what had I done?
21:35I'd made him think I was courting him.
21:37He accepted.
21:38I ran.
21:39He thought I'd betrayed him twice.
21:42In his fury, he took me.
21:46Liar.
21:47I hated you.
21:48You are a monster.
21:50I'd never be with you.
21:52Sirens heal with terrifying speed.
21:53Within hours, the vicious wound had closed.
21:55Opal opened his eyes and saw me still obediently shackled.
21:59Only then did he relax.
22:00Opal, you're awake.
22:02Does anything still hurt?
22:03Even if you've changed tactics and you're trying to soft me up, I won't let you go.
22:08Opal, you're awake.
22:09I'm awake.
22:10Does anything still hurt?
22:11Even if you've changed tactics and you're trying to soft me up, I won't let you go.
22:14I'd forgotten our promise.
22:17Everything on Emerald Atoll had been a misunderstanding.
22:20Liar.
22:21Don't think saying that will make me release you.
22:23My goal now wasn't escape.
22:24It was to comfort this poor fish who'd been let down for over a decade.
22:27I don't want to leave anymore.
22:29I'll stay here with you.
22:32Then you'll be my mate.
22:34Soon, here, we'll be growing an egg.
22:37Didn't you want to study my offspring?
22:39Isla, why not carry them yourself?
22:42I'm a human, you know.
22:43You swallowed my pearl.
22:45Your body has already been altered to carry Siren Young.
22:50Honestly, I wasn't entirely opposed to him.
22:53Interspecies marriage laws between beast folk and humans had already passed.
22:56Plenty of humans were into it, but carrying an egg was beyond anything I'd mentally prepared for.
23:00Can we just date first?
23:03A purely platonic relationship?
23:06I explained what platonic meant.
23:07He got angrier.
23:10You're lying again.
23:11I'll never believe you.
23:12But when I asked him to unlock the chains so I could swim, he agreed.
23:16Just as I thought.
23:17All bark, no bite.
23:19But impossible to convince.
23:21While Opal was out hunting, I dove into the water at the cave entrance and discovered small bioluminescent fish.
23:27I caught a few and snacked them.
23:29When I surfaced, my body was burning.
23:32Especially there.
23:33I tried to deal with it for a long time, but the relief wouldn't come.
23:36Opal returned and saw the remaining bioluminescent fish.
23:41Merfish eat those during mating.
23:43You ate them?
23:44How was there something like that just swimming around?
23:46Humans really had studied this planet nowhere near enough.
23:48It kept getting worse.
23:49My face was burning.
23:50And not just from the effect.
23:52I couldn't believe I was about to say this.
23:54I reached out to Opal.
23:55Can you help me, Opal, please?
24:00He just stood there, looking like a kicked puppy despite being a creature that could kill 30 orcas.
24:05You always do this.
24:06You asked me first, then you took it back.
24:08Every single time.
24:10I pulled him closer by the wrist.
24:11I like you.
24:12I want you.
24:13Now, you really have to help me.
24:15I need you.
24:16He didn't move.
24:18His eyes were fixed on me.
24:19Wounded and wary.
24:20You're begging me now.
24:22But tomorrow you'll hate me again.
24:24I don't believe you.
24:25Those green eyes looked so lost.
24:27Like he was already bracing for me to disappear.
24:29So I kissed him first.
24:30He froze.
24:31Then his arms came around me so tight I thought my ribs would crack.
24:35He was gentle at first.
24:36Trembling even.
24:37Like he was afraid I'd break.
24:39Then not.
24:40By the end I was breathless.
24:42Clinging to him.
24:43Telling him that was enough.
24:44I couldn't take anymore.
24:46He didn't stop until my body gave out completely.
24:50The next morning clear headed.
24:51I processed the fact that I'd slept with a fish.
24:54It had actually felt pretty good.
24:55I might genuinely be in love with Opal.
24:58When Opal saw me awake.
24:59He handed me a knife made from shell.
25:01You hate me even more now don't you?
25:03I forced you last night.
25:04I'd been on the bottom.
25:05But I knew full well who'd been forcing whom.
25:07You must despise me.
25:09I've unlocked your chains.
25:10You can use this knife to fierce my heart.
25:12Then leave this place forever.
25:14Go back to the human world.
25:16And then what?
25:16He'd dissolve into sea foam?
25:17He was pure hearted and soft underneath it all.
25:20Playing at being a captor when he didn't have the constitution for it.
25:23I really like you.
25:25If you don't believe me, let's do it again.
25:27So we did.
25:28Many, many times.
25:30In the cave at the bottom of the sea.
25:31But he still didn't believe me.
25:35He was convinced I was trying to lull him into dropping his guard so I could escape.
25:39I could only keep repeating that I loved him.
25:41That I'd take him to meet my parents.
25:42That I'd marry him.
25:43He just looked at me with sadness.
25:45You'd even lure me to the human world so they can capture me for research?
25:48Your thesis means that much to you?
25:50Enough to endure all this and seduce me?
25:52I had no way to defend myself.
25:54So I seduced him again.
25:55Easier than arguing.
25:56Until one day, I couldn't stop vomiting.
25:58The color drained from my face.
25:59Opal panicked completely.
26:01Remembering the night over a decade ago when I'd nearly died of fever.
26:04I'll take you back to the humans right now.
26:06After this, you'll never see me again.
26:08Didn't you say I'd become a siren like you?
26:10He kissed me with desperation.
26:12I lied.
26:12The pearl only changes a mate's body a little.
26:15Enough to adapt to prolong life at sea.
26:17Enough for your body to handle me and to carry my egg.
26:20But you're still fundamentally human.
26:22I know you've wanted to leave this whole time.
26:25I imprisoned you.
26:26You hate me.
26:29Just like ten years ago, Opal carried me on his back and tore through the ocean.
26:32Until I spotted Emerald Atoll's research station in the distance.
26:36The station had been renovated.
26:37It looked completely different from before.
26:39He set me down on the dock, took one last long look at me, and turned to leave.
26:42I called out to him.
26:43The next instant, a metal trap crashed down from above, paging a powerful siren inside.
26:48Who said you could leave my test subject?
26:51So this was your plan all along?
26:53For your research and your thesis?
26:55You go as far as seducing me?
26:56All to capture me alive.
26:58You win.
27:01That's right.
27:01I was exactly the kind of person who'd do anything to graduate.
27:04After I discovered a new species, my professor secured a massive research grant.
27:08The Emerald Atoll station was expanded to several times its original size,
27:12additional researchers were brought in,
27:13and my professor took up permanent residence as Project Reed.
27:16He chewed me out beyond all recognition, but had no choice except to clean up my moss.
27:20But the siren refused to cooperate with any experiments.
27:23He wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, wouldn't speak.
27:25His aggression was extreme, so researchers couldn't collect so much as a blood sample, or a strand of hair.
27:31Finally, I went alone to the cage holding the siren.
27:35You'll die if you don't eat or drink.
27:38What a shame.
27:39You'll only have a siren corpse to study.
27:41In a few months, we'll have a living siren.
27:44Right here.
27:47You're carrying my egg.
27:48It's your child, too.
27:50Do you really hate sirens that much?
27:52Aren't sirens supposed to just dump their young in the ocean any don't way?
27:56Pretend you don't know.
27:59My blood, my hair, even my tail.
28:02Take whatever you want.
28:04But you cannot harm our child.
28:06Opal abandoned his hunger strike and cooperated fully with the research team.
28:09Intelligence tests, language assessments, blood samples, everything.
28:14Three months later, a paper emerged, that shook the field.
28:17A new intelligent species had been discovered on Thalassa.
28:20The siren.
28:21A species with a humanoid upper body and a fish-like tail.
28:24Intelligence comparable to humans.
28:26Capable of understanding and speaking human language.
28:29With extraordinary physical resilience and immense strength.
28:32Everyone left Emerald Atoll to celebrate.
28:34Only I walked alone to the lab.
28:35The caged siren opened his eyes.
28:37No grief.
28:38No joy.
28:39You imprisoned me once, I imprisoned you once, we're even.
28:41So, debt paid, can I go?
28:44Of course.
28:45Sirens are now recognized by the Interstell Alliance as an intelligent species.
28:48You qualify for full legal personship, same as humans.
28:51You can marry anyone you want.
28:53Mr. Opal, you've never believed that I love you, but I'm going to propose anyway.
28:58I used some extreme meths to keep you here, but I learned them from you.
29:02Will you marry me?
29:03You don't want our child to be born out of wedlock, do you?
29:07Isla, you're proposing to me.
29:10When you said you liked me before, it was real.
29:15If I didn't love you, why would I sleep with you?
29:18Why would I carry your egg and actually want to keep it?
29:21We took your blood exactly once.
29:23The only purpose was to test which medications would work on you.
29:28Nobody's doing illegal research with it.
29:31If you hadn't gone and written yourself into some tragic drama, you convinced I hated you, ready to swim off
29:35and never come back, I would have taken you to meet my parents the next day.
29:38You'd apply for personhood yourself, and we'd be married within a month.
29:41You idiot.
29:42You forced me to lock you up so you wouldn't leave.
29:46I'm an idiot too.
29:47I literally taught you courtship rituals and told you to use them on Murphic.
29:51When he just stood there frozen.
29:53Of course, if you don't like me anymore, if you still hate me, if you're gonna press charges, can you
29:59only press them against me?
30:00The next instant, Opal sealed my lips with his.
30:03I closed my eyes and kissed him back.
30:04A long time passed before he spoke.
30:06Isla.
30:07From the moment I met you, there hasn't been a single second I didn't love you.
30:11That flimsy cage could never have held me.
30:13If I'd wanted to leave, I would have left any time.
30:15The only reason I stayed was you.
30:17Even believing you hated me, even thinking I was nothing but your test subject, I loved you.
30:20The hunger strike was just to see you.
30:23You threatened me with our child and I still couldn't hate you.
30:27The egg hatched into a human child.
30:29Dark hair, round ears.
30:31He had Opal's green eyes, but aside from that, he looked nothing like a siren.
30:40Is this really our child?
30:42Did someone swap him out?
30:44The next instant, Opal casually tossed him into the bathtub.
30:47I wanted to murder him.
30:49What are you doing?
30:51What kind of father are you?
30:53But Finn rolled happily in the water.
30:55His legs fused into a golden tail.
30:57And his ears shifted into pointed siren ears.
31:00Definitely our little fish after all.
31:03Good.
31:04We can throw him in the ocean to fend for himself now.
31:07My baby is going to be the happiest child in the world.
31:11He has loving parents and grandparents and he'll go to preschool and make tons of friends.
31:15You want me to throw him in the ocean?
31:17Do you have a death wish?
31:31But that's how I grew up.
31:33Never met my parents.
31:34Let alone grandparents.
31:36My only friend was you.
31:37And then you never came back.
31:39I waited where we said goodbye for over a decade.
31:42You have me now.
31:44You have all my love.
31:46You're already the happiest siren in the world.
31:48Then tonight, let's leave Finn with your parents.
31:51It's been too long since we were close.
31:54I agreed.
31:55The next day, my body nearly fell apart.
31:57Definitely a supernatural creature.
31:59Draining me dry.
32:02The changes of my body didn't stop after Finn was born.
32:06I noticed it in the shower.
32:08Faint, iridescent lines running along my forearms.
32:11Barely visible unless the light hit them just right.
32:14Scales.
32:15Or the ghost of scales.
32:17I could hold my breath underwater for 40 minutes now.
32:21My night vision had sharpened.
32:23Food tasted different.
32:25Blander on land, richer in the sea.
32:28Opal.
32:29You said the pearl would only change me a little.
32:35I said it would change you enough.
32:37Enough for what?
32:39I'm growing scales.
32:41They suit you.
32:43That's not the point.
32:44The pearl bonds us.
32:45Your body adapts to live where I live.
32:47It won't stop.
32:48So what's the end game?
32:49Will I grow a tail?
32:50No.
32:51You'll never be a siren.
32:53But you won't be entirely human either.
32:55Something in between.
32:57Something new.
33:01Something new.
33:02Like Finn.
33:03Will it shorten my lifespan?
33:04No.
33:06It will lengthen it.
33:08How much?
33:12Enough to stay with me.
33:13I didn't ask how long Sirens lived.
33:15I wasn't sure I wanted to know.
33:17My parents arrived on the weekly supply shuttle.
33:21Mom burst into tears the moment she saw Finn.
33:24He's beautiful.
33:25He looks just like you, Isla.
33:28Wait till you see his other form.
33:29As if on cue, Finn's spada got fussy.
33:32Golden scales rippled across his lower half.
33:36A tail emerged, thrashing.
33:39Mom screamed.
33:39Dad caught Finn before he hit the floor.
33:42Held him awkwardly.
33:44Examined the tail with the calm of a retired engineer.
33:47Huh.
33:47Flexible.
33:48Good muscle tone.
33:51You were like this as a baby?
33:54I don't know.
33:55No one was there.
33:57The room went quiet.
33:58Set Finn in the water basin I kept nearby for exactly these situations.
34:03Well.
34:04He won't be alone.
34:05Finn splashed happily.
34:07Tail glinting gold.
34:08That night.
34:10Isla.
34:11Hmm?
34:12He must love you so much.
34:13I've never seen anyone so terrified of losing someone.
34:16He's dramatic.
34:17No.
34:18He's terrified you'll disappear.
34:19I won't.
34:20I know sweetheart.
34:21Make sure he knows too.
34:24The research station expanded again after opal species was formally classified.
34:29My professor brought in a whole team of specialists.
34:32Marine biologists.
34:34Linguists.
34:35Geneticists.
34:35One of them caught my attention.
34:37Or.
34:37Dr. Lina Hsu.
34:39A 28 year old ocean acoustics researcher who'd graduated top of her class.
34:43She was specifically interested in siren vocalization.
34:45The frequencies opal could produce that no mer could.
34:50The range is extraordinary.
34:52In love.
34:53He can generate infrafound that affects the nervous system.
34:57That's likely the basis of the mythological siren song.
35:00It isn't magic.
35:01It's targeted neurological manipulating through sound waves.
35:04Comforting.
35:06Can I get a few more recording sessions with him?
35:13Opal agreed easily.
35:15He'd been cooperative with the team since the day I proposed.
35:18But I noticed something.
35:19Every time Lina entered the room.
35:20Opal shifted his body between her and me.
35:23Subtle.
35:24Unconscious.
35:25Maybe.
35:25His nostrils flared slightly when she passed.
35:28One day.
35:29After Finn was asleep.
35:30Opal spoke.
35:31That woman.
35:32Lina?
35:33She smells wrong.
35:34Wrong how?
35:35She has siren scent on her.
35:36Old.
35:36Faded.
35:37But there.
35:38You're not.
35:38You're sure?
35:38I know what my own kind smells like, Isla.
35:41She touched a siren.
35:42And it wasn't me.
35:44I ran a background check the next morning.
35:46Lina Shu.
35:47Born on Colony 7.
35:49PhD from Central University.
35:51Published 12 papers on cetacean communication.
35:54Joined a deep sea expedition to Thalassa's southern hemisphere two years ago.
35:58Everything checked out.
36:00Spotless record.
36:01I pulled the expedition report, a routine survey mission.
36:04No incidents logged.
36:06No contact with unknown species.
36:08But the mission had lasted six months.
36:10And Lina had spent three weeks separated from the main team after a submersible malfunction.
36:15The official report said she survived on emergency rations until rescue arrived.
36:21Three weeks alone in the deep ocean.
36:23I brought this to Opal.
36:25That's when it happened.
36:26Can't know that three weeks in deep water, alone, when she came back alive?
36:30Something kept her alive.
36:33That's when it happened.
36:34Can't know that three weeks in deep water, alone, when she came back alive?
36:38Something kept her alive.
36:39That night, I couldn't sleep.
36:41I activated the dock cameras on a hunch.
36:442.47 AM.
36:45Lina walked to the end of the dock, alone.
36:47She stood at the edge, looking out at the black water.
36:50Then she raised her hands to her lips and blew a sequence of notes.
36:54Low.
36:54Haunting.
36:55Not merfolk song.
36:56Something answered from the deep.
36:58A sound that made my bones ache even through the camera's audio feed.
37:01And far below the surface, captured by the underwater sensors, a shape moved.
37:07Massive.
37:08Larger than Opal.
37:09Dark red.
37:11I showed Opal the footage at dawn.
37:13That's a siren.
37:14Male.
37:15Mature.
37:15Bigger than me.
37:16Bigger than you?
37:17I thought you were-
37:18I'm young.
37:18Sirens don't stop growing.
37:20That one is old.
37:21Maybe centuries.
37:22Centuries?
37:22Is he dangerous?
37:23Every siren is dangerous.
37:25But this one-
37:26He replayed the footage.
37:28He's not hunting.
37:29He's searching.
37:30For Lina?
37:31For his mate.
37:32She didn't stay with him.
37:34She left.
37:35Do you know what happens to a siren whose mate leaves?
37:38I remembered his words from long ago.
37:40The pearl was part of his life force.
37:42Given freely.
37:43Irreversible.
37:44You said it's worse than death.
37:46The bond screams.
37:47Every moment apart is agony.
37:49The instinct to find your mate overweighs everything else.
37:51Rational thought.
37:52Self-preservation.
37:53Eventually, even recognition of the mate themselves.
37:57They go feral.
37:58Hmm.
37:59How long does it take?
38:00Depends on the siren.
38:01Weeks.
38:02Months.
38:03For one that old and powerful.
38:04He's held on longer than any siren should be able to.
38:07But he's close to the edge.
38:08The next night, the underwater cameras caught him again.
38:11Closer this time.
38:12Close enough to see details.
38:13A massive siren.
38:15Easily ten feet of dark crimson tail.
38:17One eye clouded over.
38:18His claws were extended gouging trenches in the sea floor.
38:21But when Lena's melody drifted down from above, he went still, pressed his palm flat against
38:26the ocean floor and stayed there, listening.
38:28Until the song ended, then the dark shape sank back into the abyss.
38:31.
38:32.
38:32.
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