Thread by @mzblackpoison

#shl #woh #wenzhou specialist yby is brought in to help w a male pair of mers: wenzhou; having mated for years but have not showed any signs of pregnancy.

also they're extreme loners to other mers, are picky eaters, and hate all staff - except noobie zcl apparently.

abo verse and mer-hybrid
entirely SFW✅ no smut

mer alpha wkx, mer omega zzs
noobie mer keeper zcl, specialist senior mer keeper yby, mer betas caoxiang
※ yby pov

happy extremely belated mermay

in 20 years, yby has never encountered a more stubborn mer - Ever. wen kexing the mer is named, problem mer no.1, exact age is unknown but has been in captivity for 36 years, mated to problem no2, never sired any offspring in captivity despite even being mated.

wkx is The issue.

not so much his mate, named zhou zishu, exact age also unknown but in captivity for 40 years after being rescued severely injured, has never sired nor damed any offspring - despited being mated.

zzs is.... Less of an issue, but also an enabler by his lack of regard.

the pair are quite the unconventional pair of mers.

mers are social creatures and live in pods, but these two are loners. they rarely interact with other mers, and zzs goes out of his way to avoid other mers at all costs. wkx merely follows his mate, right at the end of his tail

they have a small pod of just the two of them and they seem content keeping it that way, Really content.

for all their solitary behaviour, yby has noticed wkx finds joy in bothering the other mers with harmless pranks. little pranks to get a rile out of them while fully knowing

that none of the other mers, not one out of over three dozen, will challenge him.

wkx is an alpha mer and he's clearly at the top of the hierarchy but he doesn't lead the pod - doesn't even bat a fin at the pod, really - so he's not exactly The Alpha of the pod.

wkx's pranks usually involve creeping up on unsuspecting or napping mers, and poking them or nipping them lightly, just to bother them or startle them.

it normally ends with wkx 'cackling' by grinding his teeth - an indicator of happiness, while the other mer swims off.

sometimes wkx with throw rocks and pebbles, or seaweed (which doesn't get far), or stealing more food than he will or should eat.

so there's that: a loner non-leading alpha of the pack who much rather pester his mate or prank other mers. yeah, not conventional at all.

then there's zzs, another anomaly. he's also a loner, never one to interact with others and relishes in his mate's presence to keep other mers away.

zzs has Got to be the laziest, chillest, most uncaring mer yby has Ever encountered.

the omega mer is simply too smart and uncaring to be bribed with food. it makes him incredibly uncooperative for keepers and same goes for wkw, although zzs would just rather get smth over with sooner and quickly so he can sleep again.

the duo also seem to despise all the keepers and staff - yby received an oh-so-lovely welcome gift his fourth day in the form of a deep bite on his arm from wkx and a full-body soak courtesy of zzs.

yby now brings three changes of clothes and puts a requisition for extra gloves.

perhaps the lack of success from food bribes come from the duo's picking eating habits.

picky eating isn't rare in mers at all; many of them come from all regions of oceans and seas & were raised on different diets. that being said, the problem duo like to throw their food back.

throw it back as in pelting pieces of raw fish straight into the keepers' faces or the back of their heads.

yby is told an anecdote of the duo once holding a competition of throwing their food into the keeper's bucket as they walking around the edges of the auqarium tank.

somehow, yby isn't surprised to hear that. he's seen what shenanigans wkx gets into and he's seen zzs participate is just as many.

raw fish basketball? not surprising.

yby was brought in for two reasons: the first being their near-absolute solitary behaviour, and the second being their lack of offspring.

he's told the duo have been mated close to five years now and zzs has not once shown any sign of pregnancy.

zzs was a rescue, originally brought in for just recovery and rehabilitation but could not be released due to the severity of injuries on his tail.

but zzs was rescued over forty years ago, could there somehow still be lingering trauma affecting him?

the zoo has checked multiple times, zzs shows no fertility issues nor issues with his reproductive system.

even more perplexing, is that he and wkx began courting just days after wkx was introduced to the pod after his rescue and introduction to the zoo's mer pod.

apparently the two had a natural connection and a few months later, they were mated. that's considerably fast for mers; the mer equivalent of a shotgun marriage.

now nearly five years later, still no offspring.

wkx also does not show any fertility or reproductive issues.

the zoo's hope is that yby will be able to help them curtail the duo's recluse behaviour, but most importantly, aid the two into breeding successfully.

they are one of the aquarium's few mated pairs and there is a mer conservation program in place.

so yby starts basic: physical exam and xray.

that's how yby receives his 'welcome gift' from wkx in the form of a solid bite to his forearm.

yby has never once wanted to punch a mer in the face as much as then. alas, he can't hit the mer bc he scared it or it felt threatened.

he and three other keepers had set out to corral the duo to do the examination but ofc, since they Are the problem duo that despise all the keepers, they don't make it easy.

they spend a good half hour trying to 'catch' wkx. even sectioned off and secluded from all other mers,

problem mer no1 still refuses and cooperate and swims the length of the pool leisurely.

god this is such a waste of time. wkx just Refuses to climb onto the ground and into the trolley tub.

they give up on wkx for now. time for problem mer no2...

corralling zzs goes much better. in fact, a whole lot better. it only takes 10min of coaxing before the mer swam into the separate enclosure.

unlike wkx, zzs swiftly hopped out the pool and with all five of them keepers, they managed to lift him into the trolley.

yby waits at the edge of the pool for wkx who braces himself at the edge, watching as his mate is wheeled away. his ear fins droop almost comically when zzs is out of sight.

just like that wkx decides to cooperate and pulls himself out of pool.

FINALLY they're making progress.

tbc.

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wxk makes a pitiful call for his mate, a soft and inquisitive trill that sounds awfully sad for a mer whose mate was visible mere seconds ago. nonetheless, it's a sad sound. yby urges the other keeps to push wxk's tub faster, lest the mer becomes agitated.

the whiney trills continue until they pull up into the same examination room, where zzs is already being examined. another specialist is poking around and doing a basic exam first.

wkx just about jumps out of his tub. he flicks his tail excitedly - much like a dog, if yby

is being honest - and calls out once more, now sounding much more lively. zzs responds with his own trill. yby snickers quietly. they two are such a contrast. wkx is so wild and excitable while zzs is much more sedate and rarely shows big reactions - even to his own mate.

yby doesn't know what the mated mers are communicating about, but there's a Lot of exchanged trills and vocalizations. yby hears the other keeps coo at the mers but they are educated enough to not try petting either mer as if they were a house cat.

yby watches carefully as

another specialist begins are more targeted examination on zzs's reproductive organs. the whatever ultrasound wand whatever grainy ass output imaging whatever whatever. he'll just wait for the professional to explain the diagnosis.

which turns out as he expected.

no visible fertility organ issues. but they'll need to check the mers' hormone levels to be sure - which means a needle jab. great, lets see how badly this goes. wkx is already half hanging out of his rub, both arms reached into his mate's tub. the sunny mer is chattering away,

flailing his hands with equally facial expressions but his zzs remains unmoved. as stony his face is, yby can tell the mer is fully focused on his talkative mate.

without missing a beat, wkx flicks his tail out, hitting the approaching keeper right across the face and knocking

off the glasses, all while maintaining his one-sided chat.

ofc it won't be easy.

"hey!" he calls, the mers ignore him. "come on now, the faster we - gah!" yby barely dodges the mer's tail but still ends up speckled in cool water. wkx's tail sways side to side taunting him.

"hey - " another flick of water douses him. yby heaves a sigh, frustration rapidly building up.

"ye-qianbei, maybe this will up." it's one of the noobie hires, zhang chengling, holding out a bowl of cut up raw octopus tentacles. right, a food the duo will actually eat.

yby sighs. "brat, we can't bribe them every time we need them to do smth." the noob shrugs. not to mention problem mer duo are just too stubborn to be bribed. he's just about to tell zcl that when zzs reaches out a clawed hand.

out of fear, yby grabs the noobs shirt and yanks

him backwards, out of the mer's reach. the young man drops and stumbles into him in a mess of flailing limbs with a squawk. turns out yby had nothing to fear. zzs is bent over the edge of the tub, picking up the fallen pieces of octopus and eating them. upon mer chirp from wkx,

he tosses a few slices to his make without looking. wkx catches them straight in his moves and gobbles them up, barely chewing at all. his ear fins flutter as he eats but upon realising yby is watching him, his expression immediately changes. gone is the happy smile of a snack

and replacing it is a ferocious snarl followed by a growl. zzs remains unphased, only smacking his mate's tail with his own and tossing the last morsel over.

okay. that's certainly enough excitement for the day.

yby calls it a day. despite the snack, he doesn't want to risk

upsetting the mers any further - upset wkx - so they're wheeled back to the pool where they slide out of their tubs and back into the water. they disappear from sight within seconds.

they'll just get a blood sample tmr then, he guesses.

•❅──✙•-𓏴-•✙──❅•

tbc.
next update we see just how much wenzhou adore noobie!zcl and do everything to spite specialist!yby

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poll: what do should happen to yby 'tmr'?

1. double soak in the aquarium
2. splashed w water every time he passes by
3. fish basketball w his face

if theres enough votes, i'll do two options/events

so the next day does not start off well.

yby gets to work to find the two other keepers soaking wet and trudging to the change rooms. wkx dragged them both into the water which is (i) dangerous, and (ii)fucking rude wtf! honestly, yby shouldn't let anything surprise him by now

so yby feeds the remainder of the mers' morning meal alone. most of mers are quick to snatch up their meal but the wenzhou duo are nowhere to be seen. perhaps they've already taken their share or maybe just in another one of their moods again.

it only goes downhill from there.

the day can be described in one word: Horrific.

it really should have been a day like another other, but NooooOoo the problem mers decided they wanted to 'play' around, a lot. and that entailed yby getting his own dunk into the aquarium water.

he was trying to corral zzs into a

separate pool area, cuz they needed draw blood and all that jazz. the mer in question remained hidden for the vast majority of the morning, while his mate terrorized the other mers.

every time yby checked in, he could spot wkx harassing others by means on swimming too closely,

slapping with his tail, poking, and pelting them with unsuspecting passerby fish, crabs, and just pebbles. yby watched thoughtfully. nothing in wkx's profile listed those as his rut behaviour. in fact the file had a laundry list of his pranks and harassment - harmful or not.

that's when yby took his first dive into the pool. caught up in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed the dreadful mer swim up to him and then he was being pulled down.

no, yby did Not panic for the first few seconds when he was dragged under water. no, yby didn't flail in confusion.

if anything, yby was most definitely in control of his body and quickly pulled himself out of pool. and wkx was Totally laughing at him, that stupid fish was peaking out the surface, grinding his teeth. yby wanted to smack those fluttering ear fins.

yby received empathic looks from the two previously dunked keepers. ugh, now he Really smells of fish. will he ever get the algae out of his hair? gross

already worn out, he instructs the noobie keeper from yesterday - the one whom he thought was going to get clawed - and another keeper to get zzs's blood. he doubts they'll be able to, but maybe that can convince him to enter the other pool area.

to his surprise, an hour later, noobie zhang chengling is knocking at his office with news that they've got zzs in the pool. yby is ecstatic for an excuse to not do stupid admin and paperwork anymore.

sure enough, zzs is in the large pool, leisurely swimming laps around.

lil noobie learns quick, yby notes, as zcl brings out a bucket of food. there's cat food, some small frogs, a crab, a handful of cut fruit, and eel chunks.

now if only zzs can be bothered to obediently listen to them...

tbc.

i swear, Next update we'll see wenzhou adore zcl and yby's second dunk in the pool