Merpeople!AU

So here is Merperson!AU fanfiction fanfiction, all the scenes the walked into my head except for a short one that's more of an image (crow's nest, night, Min a triplet (they haven't talked yet), and an astronomy lesson). I will sail with them some more and see what there is to see about the Kaidanovskys though.
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Jin looks between Sasha, Aleksis, and Liu, wondering why they all seem so resigned pulling into port. "This is a good thing," he said, "right?" 
"It's the Ryuukyuujin," Liu sighs. 
"The green ship?"
"Yes." 
"But it's so pretty!" 
Taller Kaidanovksy drags him into a headlock. 
"Only you, triplet," grumbles Tall Kaidanovksy. 
"It is a pretty ship," admits Liu, "but that's not the problem. It's them. They're so ... iffy."
Jin twists around. "Which would make us what, exactly?"
"Oh no, Chernobog is not iffy," says Tall Kaidanovksy. "Chernobog makes no secret about ambiguity. Them," she nods with her chin, "pretend otherwise. Some days they say Russian, some days Japanese, others Chinese."
"Wouldn't they be Ryuukyiuan?" 
"Ryuukyuujin," corrects Liu. 
"Is what everyone says but they claim it is not so. In any day, resupplying must be done." 
.
On the pier stand two familiar figures. 
"Miyahira." 
The taller of the two bobs her head. "Liu." She squints at the triplets and points. "Hu, Cheung, and Jin."
"So close!" cries Jin. 
Hu and Cheung point at each other. "Cheung, Hu."
The shorter girl bows. "Cousin."
"Why aren't you with your parents?" 
"Mimi?" squeaks Hu.
"They're dead," says Min. 
"Cousin?" whispers Jin. "What happened to your hair?"
"They can't be dead."
Cheung murmurs, "What happened to /you?" 
"You're right. They're gone."
"How can they be gone?" 
"I was by the creek--the little one, not the faster one by the mill--and there was a 'bang' and then the water's rushing over the ground; next thing I know it's up to my ankles, and then up to my knees--"
"What did you do?" breaths Jin. 
"I climbed a tree." As if that's all there is to it. "And then I climbed a taller tree, and another, and another, and then I waited."
Miyahira adds, "We got a raven from Taiwan via Miyako a couple days later, picked her up four days after that. Also got a bit of maple for our trouble."
"What happened to your leg?"
"Or your face," adds Jin. 
Min and Miyahira say, "At some point--" They glance at each other. 
Miyahira takes over: "At some point, something tried chewing her up. Probably when she was swimming. Touch'n go for a while after we fished her out, but you made it." She smiles and nudges Min with her shoulder. 
Min doesn't smile back. 
"Did it get your head too?" presses Jin. 
"No, that was, uh ... Some guy? Overheard Min survived the calamity and took her for an angel or a demon--I don't really know, my Portuguese is shit--and wanted to 'cleanse the Earth of its foul something'." 
Mouth tight, Liu says, "I'm sending you back home."
"You can't--"
"Don't argue with me, Mimi, you're going home."
"There is no home."
Miyahira shrugs. "It's true, there's nothing left but ocean."
Liu's had it with this conversation. "You're not coming with us." 
Cheung, Jin, and Hu watch with puzzled, hurt, and disbelieving looks. 
"I don't know what else to do," Min says softly. 
"What do you expect me to do about it?"
"Liu, triplets, why are you still here?" asks Tall Kaidanovsky. "Who is--Miyahira."
"Kaidanovskaya," she replies cheerily. 
"I know my Hanzi," calls Min. "And my letters, and--"
"This is one of our cousins," says Cheung, "Yeung Min."
"I'm good at sums. I can speak Chinese, English, and Okinawago--"
"Her Japanese isn't too bad either."
"And I'm sure I can learn Russian."
"Can you cook?" asks Tall Kaidanovsky. 
Min nods. 
"Problem solved: You will help in galley. For now, stay with triplets."
(Liu and Tall Kaidanovsky would have words.)
.
Liu makes it very clear she would not be seen on deck if the waves were more than four feet high, or if they encountered another ship, or if the visibility was low--in fact, unless it's sunny and only breezy, stay in the stateroom. 
On favourable days she did opened a window instead of griping, but otherwise kept her feelings on the subject quiet and kept to (someone else's) quarters.
Unless a triplet smuggled her out through a window.
Except today, a triplet doesn't creep: a blond merperson dives, curls into a tuck, and with a slam of a tail (flinging water and seaweed across the room), comes to a stop upright and sitting. 
And then notices Min. 
"Uh, hi."
Min waves (and by 'waves' she lifts her hand and kinda moves her fingers).
"Do you speak...?"
"Yes." 
"Ah, good, that's... that's good." Kinda looks around. "This's usually empty."
"I'm new."
"Oh. So you're ...?"
Min sorta smiles and holds up the logbook. "Quartermaster ... kitchen aide, letter-writer, anything that doesn't involve the kitchen or leaving this room."
"Where're you from?"
"Hong Kong."
The merperson blinks--all four eyelids! "That would explain it, sailors being superstitious and that. Odd day, though. Usually there's debris and--debris but there's nothing."
"Oh." 
Awkward silence. 
"Can I get you anything?"
"Nah, I'm fine for a couple hours." The merperson flops back. And sits right back up. "You mind if I stay here for a bit?"
"Go right ahead."
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Category:Tang Min (ficlet)
Category:Mer!AUs