Mermaid Feeding Rules

"Sofia." The mermaid called out to Boyce, but there was no response. The human raised his eyelids and glanced at him, then lowered his head quietly.

"Sofia..." Garcia called out again, but Boyce didn't even raise his head, deliberately ignoring the mermaid beside him.

Garcia spoke again unwillingly: "Boyce."

A few days ago, Boyce told him again very seriously that the two names Boyce and Sofia have different meanings to him. Although these two words are used by mermaids to refer to him, he does not Unwilling to accept the meaning behind the name sofia.

Probably because Beuys emphasized it several times, Garcia also subconsciously began to pay attention to the difference, and was more inclined to "sofia", which in a sense labeled human beings as his own name. After several failed corrections Boyce made no further attempts to correct him, but also did not respond to address other than his own name.

It wasn't until he heard the mermaid call his name that Boyce gave him another look and responded.

Seeing that the mermaid was still looking at him, Boyce took out a pack of snacks from his pocket and stuffed it in the mermaid's hand, then lowered his head and continued to study the information in his hand. Since the last time he gave Garcia a piece of chocolate Afterwards, Boyce discovered that the mermaid seemed to have a sudden interest in human food.Although Garcia never asks for anything from himself, every time he receives food from Boyce, he will reveal his joyful emotions.

Boyce felt that he was taming a wild beast. The two sides tested each other's bottom line and began to establish the rules for getting along.

But this idea only appeared in my mind for a moment, after all, no pet would try to use the breeder as a companion.

Garcia took the snacks from Beyce, which was a pack of jerky. Beyce hadn't brought it to Garcia before. The mermaid took the jerky, but didn't open it, but approached in the direction of Beyce. some.

The mermaid felt that she was being perfunctory, and Boyce seemed to be like this recently. After stuffing herself with some food, she began to get busy on her own.Garcia's original excitement about humans taking the initiative to share food began to fade.

Humans don't understand the habits of mermaids, he thought, Sofia... no, he should be called Boyce, he doesn't think sharing food is a very close relationship.This kind of behavior is very common in his cognition, and it is not a common thing worth deliberately mentioning.

Garcia lowered his eyes, looked at the brown jerky wrapped in transparent plastic in his hand, and suddenly lost his previous interest. Like the food that Boyce brought over occasionally before, it seemed to appease him. People are surprised by the taste, but it seems to be just food.

Sharing food suddenly seems to lose its significance as a sign of intimacy when the other person doesn't see it as a special gesture.

The mermaid frowned slightly.His humans didn't know that sharing food was an almost exclusive intimacy among merfolk, nor were they willing to accept what the word "Sofia" meant.

Garcia began to realize that the partner he identified was different from him, not only in race, language, and habits...

Garcia knew Beyce only as a male human until he met him, and he made some guesses about his profile based on what he knew little about humans and the human mates of other merfolk.

But Boyce and Garcia envisioned something different.

If their first meeting was at sea, Garcia would tempt humans to jump into the ocean at the first meeting, and then bring their fancy partner back to the lair, instead of trying to make a human willingly leave here with him .

But because he is still confined to the research institute, Garcia has to start thinking: what is his Sofia thinking every time he rejects himself and the title Sofia?What do people mean by liking?

For the first time, Garcia began to think about this kind of question, trying to understand a human being.

He leaned closer, getting closer to Boyce, casting a shadow on the paper in front of Boyce.

Garcia's eyes fell on the words on the paper. Although Garcia had been in the institute for more than a year and could already understand human language, Garcia had never seen human words before.

Garcia was curious and displeased by what distracted Boyce: What was he looking at?

And Boyce remembered what s-24 said before: "Do you want to mate with him?"

Almost subconsciously, he put a hand on Garcia's shoulder, trying to push him away.

Then Boyce's eyes fell on the unopened plastic wrapper in Garcia's hand.

Boyce had also brought snacks wrapped in plastic before. Garcia, who saw this kind of food for the first time, stuffed the wrapping paper into his mouth. Fortunately, Boyce stopped it in time.

"Did you forget how to unpack it?" Boyce subconsciously thought that the mermaid had forgotten what he taught him last time, so he took the jerky from Garcia, unpacked it and handed it to him.

Garcia looked at Boyce, but still didn't touch the food.

"What's the matter?" Boyce allocated a little energy from the experimental data to the strange-looking mermaid.

"What are you looking at?" Garcia asked.

"It's human writing," Boyce told him.

Mermaids are solitary creatures, and each mermaid will avoid another mermaid's territory if it is not necessary. Although they have language, they have not developed writing. They basically use language and simple symbols for communication.

"I want to learn this." Garcia pointed to the words on the paper.

A trace of surprise flashed in Boyce's eyes. He didn't know why Garcia suddenly became interested in human writing.

Garcia is not interested in human writing itself, he just tries to understand this human being through these, to understand what he likes.

Garcia felt the steady heartbeat in his chest, but he still didn't understand what Boyce meant when he said last time, "I like to have something to do with this place".

"Don't you like it?" Boyce said suddenly, looking at the untouched jerky in Garcia's hand.

Boyce felt that he should have a good understanding of this mermaid's food preferences. He accepted the food well before, but today's meat Garcia has not been touched.

Boyce subconsciously grabbed the mermaid's hand and pulled it over, wanting to smell the smell of dried meat, a faint spicy smell rushed into his nostrils, and Boyce felt that he had found the reason why Garcia didn't like it.

"There are chili peppers in it." Boyce raised his head and met the mermaid's probing eyes.

He was about to open his mouth and let the mermaid throw it away if he didn't like it, but he saw the mermaid lowered his head and took a bite of the jerky.

Garcia lowered his eyes, not knowing why, it seemed that for a moment, the frequency of his heart beat faster.