The things were about as large as his clawed hand, and quick too, but they had a limited place to run and nowhere at all to hide. Meison lunged after the white one, catching it in his claw and biting down on it in an instant. His sharp teeth went through its tough scales too easily, and almost bit it completely in half. this he followed with the striped one, and one of the rarer orange-pink ones. The last he left, admiring its quickness, before returning to Julian to hear his words.

"N-no! No..." He didn't feel good at that half-accusation. He didn't hate anyone, except the tappers and screamers and loiters and flashers, the jeering faces in the less-than-intelligent crowd. Those were the ones he hated. Julian wasn't like them, he had no reason to hate the human. "I don't." He sighed. "I don't hate you. I'm sorry if it came off like that. I just... I was just... tired." Blaming something other than himself. It was natural for him. Meison drifted to the last angelfish and put his hand to it. By now it seemed to sense little danger and nipped at his claw.

Meison stared at the human, at the thing in his hand. A lot of humans seemed to have one, and they talked into it incessantly. Mostly about him when they were in front of his tank. They all seemed to make similar yet annoying sounds... if he thought back, he could remember someone calling it a 'cell phone'. A device to talk to others, then, by the way Julian used it. As he put it away, Meison approached cautiously.

"Outside...?" He asked. "Outside, in a bigger one? Like around the ocean?" If he recalled, Julian had made a comment on a large outside pool. But he'd said it wasn't near the ocean and didn't have decorations. "Does it have sand? I like the way it looks on the ground..." Maybe that was too much to ask for. He was getting out tomorrow, and that was definitely going to be a treat. But how they would manage it was a question he didn't want to ask.

Meison smiled, for a moment, before he realized one could easily see his crooked, long, gar-like teeth, and he snapped his mouth closed entirely. "I, um... That'd be nice. And no one would be there to see me?" He distinctly recalled Julian saying the park would be closed. If so, did that mean closed to all visitors? Most of the people who worked here? That was a help, really. And maybe he'd be able to get out of the water for a while. Maybe it'd have a flat surface above the water. Meison wasn't sure how these scales would react to being out of water so long, if they would dry or shed. But it would be nice.

Julian would be the only one there...? He breathed in as if breathing in a whiff of clean, cool water or air. Well, that would be good. He'd be able to feel more free, and with this beautiful human around, he could rest just a little easier. He was so different, strange, a thing Meison liked to look at. He was like a living piece of art, a sculpture come to life. If he could Meison would immortalize him. If he could, he'd bring him into the ocean. But Meison was a monster, and nowhere near the ocean. Maybe one day...

Glancing up to the human, he shook his head. "Ah... You call it caviar. Fish eggs, of a type. Sturgeon, specifically. I... It's been so long since I've had the chance to even catch a sturgeon, let alone collect their eggs..." He lowered his head in thought. It was in surplus underwater, in the city..

Meison shook his head, looking confused. "Expensive?" He asked. "How could that be? It's so plentiful! Don't humans look hard enough?" Pregnant fish and whales were everywhere in the water, one simply had to do a little searching. But the way Julian acted made him feel that this might be coming from his own pocket. That maybe he couldn't afford to keep finding Meison exactly what he wanted.

He lunged forward, pressing himself against the glass. "Y-you don't have to..." He started. "You, ah... You might find... starfish. They're to the east, in tide pools at the edge of this city. Not a long walk, honestly... They get trapped when the tide goes out and..." Was he actually thinking about someone else? The thought made him snicker, but little else.

Meison furrowed his nonexistent brow, but nodded regardless. If the human thought he could do it, who was he to stop him? It was on him if he wasted his money when Meison gave him a choice! But... He reached up, to where Julian's hand rested, and put his against the glass. His was longer, and tipped with those ugly, curved black claws. His greenish, scaly skin in comparison to this dark, beautifully tan, soft skin. A treasure.

He nodded in agreement. "If you... it's your decision." He said finally. "I'll not try to change your mind." Taking his hand away, Meison drifted back and went around to the angelfish. It darted away, though he followed it.

When he looked back, he found Julian had gone. And when the lights started going out, he felt even more alone. There was a loneliness that settled in at the silence now in the quiet tank, and those around him, and even with the angelfish still floating about, possibly beginning to grow hungry, Meison felt as if everyone in the world had vanished. A feeling long known to him these past few years, but now magnified. Nothing here could talk to him when Julian was gone. Everyone seemed curious and watchful and endlessly amazed but no one seemed to want to take time with him, except that strangely beautiful man. Strangely beautiful, like so many oddities of the sea. As if he were from the ocean, just more adapted to the human world. Meison liked that, and as he decided to sleep, curl up on the top of the rock, he put the struggling angelfish out of its misery.

Very early morning came with a team of men and women. They had lowered a cage into the water and instructed him to get in so that he could be transported to the larger tank outside. Though it looked like the one he'd been captured in, Meison did so quickly, closing the door himself and feeling a little refreshed when the air hit his body. He didn't easily move when they hefted him down the steps and through a few halls he recognized, and then, finally, outside. The sunrise was beautiful from where he was, between four large men carrying the cage, and as they stepped out onto a walkway, he looked down and saw a massive, beautiful pool of water. Its bottom was wavy and soft to the eyes.

When he was slid into it, Meison darted through the water finally, rolling through the cooler water and leaping out from point to point. He might even be able to jump right out of the pool, but that would mean a hard, rough landing. The fresh, non-circulated air was a delight on his scaly skin, and for a moment he almost felt as if he were back to normal. But the reflection that sometimes stared back at him kept him grounded.

When Julian arrived, Meison jumped from the water again and darted to the platform on which he sat. Letting himself hang halfway in the pool, he studied the can Julian was playing with. "What is that?" He asked curiously.

He had kept true to his promise. What kind of person did that? What kind of beautiful human wanted to waste time on someone like him? Meison took the can and studied the contents---they weren't sturgeon, but he recognized them as tuna. More common, perhaps, for those on land. Without the use of his fingers, Meison had to rely on his tongue to scoop some of the eggs from their container. The salt was heavy, and a briny scent wafted up and caught on the wind. Regardless of what fish they came from it was nice to eat them again, and he shook his head quickly. "No, not disappointing at all." He assured the human, and set the can on the platform as Julian sat back a bit. Diving down, he twisted slightly and brought his tail up out of the water, flipping it at the human and darting into the center of the pool.

It felt good, and... oddly familiar... to play. Play because now he had the room. Because he was outside and he didn't feel sluggish and tired anymore. The deep pool let him dive down a bit, but never let him escape the sides of the area, which were made of such reflective glass.

Meison shook his head quickly, as if trying to rid himself of an annoyance. That couldn't be right... Julian had to be playing on Meison's fear of being eternally hated or feared or undesirable, which was a sick thing to do. But the human didn't seem to be that kind of person. No, he was always genuine. Always so patient. While the others didn't listen to him or ask him what he liked or preferred or even if he might be okay, Julian went about and spent his own money on Meison, even if he couldn't afford it. But still, this had to be the result of... delusion, of some sort.

He drifted slightly backward. "Ah... Are you sure... you're okay?" He insisted. "Sure you aren't too cold...? Or perhaps held your breath too long...? Maybe swallowed salt water?" How could anyone find this mess of a monstrosity 'attractive'?

Ask him!

No.

Stop being so ridiculous.

I'm not being ridiculous!

You'll never know, then! Maybe it's something else.

How stupid...

Well, fine, be that way. Live forever in a cesspool of your own personal disgust.

Meison shook his head. The voice was incessant, like a prodding child, but it had a point. "W-what... Uhm, what do you mean...? I mean, by... by what you said?" That was less than smooth, but Meison had been put on the spot. It was all he could get out.

Meison had worked to bite his lip, but the teeth went a little too far and he tasted blood. Julian had turned away too quickly to reply to immediately, though Meison had no idea what to say now. He'd grown up knowing just what to say and when to say it---that was the mark of a royal, someone meant to lead, someone that knew how to reply to even the most difficult questions or the hardest riddles, or keep their head in a tense or awkward situation.

Only Meison had never been in this situation before. Personality? What kind of personality did he have? His curse had 'copied that personality into physical being', so the old maid had said. He had an obviously ugly personality. He'd paused too long, though, it seemed, as Julian had left and crossed the pool by the time Meison had come back to reality. Had he really meant that? All of it? Meison was annoying and demanding---of course he was! That was why no one else wanted to take on the responsibility of handling him, keeping him relatively at ease. But Julian had. Such a kind, sweet personality, he seemed always eager to please, went out of his way to make sure Meison was comfortable despite the merman's insistence that he was ugly in every way and didn't want to be around anyone that could even begin to form an opinion on him.

He drifted forward, following Julian's original path and coming to a stop at his feet, where the cement platform was. He still hardly knew what to say, but tried anyway: "I don't... know how you might be able to see such a likable personality." He admitted. "I've been nothing but sour and angry and bitter since my capture, since my transformation. I scare away everyone... I hate being around people. And being around someone so..." He stopped himself, and swallowed hard. "Being around someone so beautiful outside and in is intimidating to me now. I don't see how you can enjoy being around me, when I've only berated you and tried to scare you away." He leaned up, onto the cement and used it as a bed, feeling tired and misplaced. He wanted a source of comfort now, but didn't dare touch the human for fear of harming him accidentally.