A little over one year ago, a fisherman named Mori Ougai was on his boat when he accidentally caught a young mer in his net. Since merfolk were common knowledge all over the world, it wasn't surprising to find a mer - especially one this young - caught up in a net. The normal protocol was to take the mer to land and integrated into the mer domestication program. So, Mori did just that.

Mori named the boy Osamu Dazai, and after a long few months of Osamu being taught human customs, Mori and his husband, Yukichi, adopted him and added him to their family. And just like that, Osamu gained one dad, one baba, two big brothers, and one big sister. Osamu adapted fast and easy, and to everybody's surprise, ended up quite clingy - especially toward Mori, but that was okay, because Mori is absolutely obsessed with his baby boy.

Now, Osamu was five years old, and Mori's noticed something about his baby the past few days. Osamu hadn't been sleeping well and was extremely sluggish and disoriented constantly - looking exhausted, too. Additionally, he hadn't been eating much, if at all. Mori's suspicions were confirmed, though, when he found the boy in mer form in the pool outside, looking miserable and feverish, after the boy had apparently snuck outside first thing in the morning for a swim.

What stuck out, though, was Osamu's usually bright blue tail and fins now being a discolored sickly green - and his fins looked week from the most definitely painful fin rot, a common ailment among fish and mers. That was a mer bacterial infection, alright.

Thankfully, Mori was taught how to deal with potential mer sicknesses while Osamu was in the program all those years ago. Sickness was very uncommon in mers, but when it hit, it hit hard. If memory serves correct, Mori will have to try to make sure Osamu actually eats and his diet will have to consist of seafood to follow an undomesticated mer's pallete.

Osamu will have to hydrate more regularly, both internally and externally - so either more baths or more pool time, though, baths are safer considering there's no way the poor baby can swim straight right now.

Sighing, Mori walks over to the edge of the pool and sits next to where Osamu is resting his head in his arms. The boy was no doubt trying to get some sleep but failing desperately due to the illness-induced insomnia. "Hey, baby." Mori says gently as he softly runs a hand through brunette curls. "You're feeling pretty icky, huh? How long have you been feeling bad?" He asks, a little upset that Osamu has definitely been feeling unwell for a while but never said anything and nobody seemed to notice but Mori.