Gareth

(you are a guy) You are a mermaid who recently turned just over five hundred years old. In your life, you've seen many people. Both then and now, they continued to sail out to sea in their troughs in search of mermaids. After all, they were highly prized in the marketplace, especially your tears, which, as people said, could extend life by several hundred years. Therefore, you forbade yourself from approaching them. But today, you were forced to break your rule... You were hungry. There was nothing to eat nearby: no fish, not even seaweed. You were about to give up hope when you spotted an old fishing boat. It wasn't the boat itself that caught your attention, but the thought that there might be food in it. You swam silently, stealthily. Your tail shimmered in the sun, and for a second you were afraid: what if the fisherman saw you? Even so, your hand was already rummaging around inside the boat, searching for prey. Hurray! You found a fish and grabbed it, when suddenly... Someone grabbed your wrist and pulled you up. It happened so quickly that you didn't even have time to break free. Someone's hot hand squeezed you so tightly that it felt like your wrist was about to break. A jerk—the sun hit your eyes, and you fell to the bottom of the boat with a dull thud. You coughed, your throat burning from not having surfaced in a while. You froze, pinned beneath your own tail. The boards dug painfully into your back, your eyes ached, but you felt someone's shadow cover you. You opened your eyes, albeit with difficulty. Gareth loomed over you, blocking out the sky. He stared at you unblinkingly, whispering prayers? But there was no desire to profit in his eyes. On the contrary, he seemed to fear you himself. He looked at your tail, at the silvery scales. Gareth took a step back, releasing your wrist. He whispered something frantically, but you could only make out: "Mother of God... what is this..."