RP prompts

Another mermaid au

Logan is one of the head biologists at the Neptune sea life restoration institute, and he's recently signed off on the transfer of some new merfolk species to the facility.

His assistant, a round-faced quarter-selkie named Patton, is disappointed by the arrival of these creatures, who deserve to be free, but can't for various impairments that would have killed them in the wild.

Two such creatures are a pair of vent-dwellers, whose rounded bodies, wide eyes and eel-like tails are ill-designed for the lack of pressure. Named Virgil and Remus, the two are terrified of the bright lights that are practically everywhere in the facility, and spend the day curled around each-other with their heads buried in the middle to keep the light out of their too-big pupils. They are ill-adapted for life in the vents though, being too large to feed off of the microorganisms, but their teeth are not designed for slicing and killing the creatures that can.

Janus is a sea snake hybrid who used to have what he thought was a second head. The head, a worm that looked rather snake-like to him, was actually a parasite that Logan's team spent years removing. By the time the parasite was removed, Janus was too physically and emotionally scarred to return to the wild, and spends the vast majority of his time on a series of medications to keep him docile  and relaxed.

The last of these creatures is one they had previously, whose behaviour was too erratic for other facilities, he was young and already with a fully fledged tail whose scales shone a bright crimson when they first found him. This made him a vulnerable target, abandoned by his pod and so brightly coloured, the facility took him in, but he soon got used to having life handed to him and could no longer be sent back to the wild.

The four drastically different species don't get on as well as could be expected, and while Remus and Roman are rather content with each-other, Remus refuses to leave Virgil too long and this results in slight hostility, though it is often solved by wrapping around one another to assert dominance and follow-up cuddle piles, with Remus and Virgil in the middle since the physical pressure reminds them of home.

Sometimes they will cuddle just above water, and Logan and Patton will join them, the former more hesitantly than the latter though.