A/N: Okay so this is based on Mermaid prompts from minnothebunny and xx-insatiable-xx on Tumblr. Descriptions of the mermaids based on art by lissa-42, also on Tumblr. There was also a request of a deaf/hard of hearing story so I am going to be combining the two. For the purposes of this story Anna is the mermaid. She has the power to bring in the tides and the storms. Kristoff is a marine biologist on the hunt for a mythical creature that can bring about storms. Kristoff is the deaf one in this story. Sven is his Hearing-Ear dog and Olaf is his research partner and interpreter. Many of the deaf AU's I've seen have Anna as the impaired on but I thought it would be cooler to give it to Kristoff. For the purposes of this story, whenever someone close to Kris (as he's called in this one) it is safe assume that they are speaking in sign.
Anna is a common mermaid who longs to know more about the world above her. Every twilight she sits on an outcropping of rocks near the quaint fishing village of Arendelle. Kris, a deaf fisherman has no one left after his elderly parents passed away a year ago. His only companion is his dog Sven. Fate steps in and the pair are entwined.
The Silence of the Storm
Chapter 1: Kris Bjorgman
Bulda's Folly chugged out to the open sea. Its captain Kristoff or Kris as he had been lovingly called by his parents, sat at the helm, guiding the old boat to where he thought the fish might be. It had only been a year since his parents had passed on, leaving him the old boat that was held together by duct tape and prayer and the cottage on the cove. His only companion, his dalmatian Sven lay at his feet, snoring slightly. The dog had been a gift from his mother Bulda to help Kris with his disability. Kris was deaf, thanks to a nasty bout of meningitis when he was a toddler. As a special needs foster child he spent most of his life in group homes. The elderly couple Captain Pabbie Bjorgman (his real name no one knew anymore) and his wife Bulda saw ten year old Kris as their chance to have a child and Kris's chance to be part of a family. Captain (that's what everyone called Pabbie) and Bulda made sure they could communicate with Kris and gave him all the love he had been deprived of for his whole life. Sven, was just another part of that love. The pair grew up together. Captain and Bulda took Kris to their friends who raised dalmatians and let the boy pick out the one he wanted. The dog learned quickly that Kris was special and would come to certain signs that Kris used and was protective almost to a fault.
Kris missed his parents deeply. They had been everything to him. Captain taught him everything he knew about the sea. Out on the water was the only place that Kris didn't feel like he was different. When he was swimming, he was his most peaceful. Everything under the water was just like him, void of sound. As a young man, Kris was very tall and broad. He wasn't made to be a fisherman, Bulda knew that. But Kris loved the sea. He loved being out on the water. He got his build from rowing. When he came to live with Captain and Bulda he was a very angry child. Bullied for his size and disability he had a lot of aggression. Captain and few of his friends helped Kris build a rowboat so he could use that to take out his aggression. Most days as soon as the bus dropped him off at home, Kris would take Sven and they would jump in the boat and row until got dark. Captain bought him a small outboard motor in case he got stuck and needed a way to get home. He and Bulda never told him he couldn't something just because he was deaf. They told him that he could do whatever he wanted and they would always love him.
Bulda's Folly sputtered and died, black smoke billowing from the engine. Kris and Captain had built and rebuilt the engine for Bulda's Folly for years. He hoped it would be an easy fix and he wouldn't have to code in for a tow from Jack, the tugboat guy. Kris struggled to speak and even with his hearing aids he couldn't always make out the garbled words coming from the radio so he would use Morse Code. Many of the old timers who had known Captain, would intercept Kris's radio calls and relay them for him. He kept a large supply of flares and emergency rations in the cabin just in case. The radio on the boat was the newest thing in it. Bulda made sure that no matter what, her son had a way to contact the world.
Kris opened the engine hatch and saw the issue. The gasket blew. There would be no fixing it here. He closed the hatch and went to the radio and tapped out a distress call. Marie, the dispatcher at the cannery heard the call and relayed the message out to Jack to go tow in Bulda's Boy. Bulda's Boy. Thats what the old timers called Kris. It gave him a sense of belonging and he never minded it.
"Jack's coming to get you, Bulda's Boy. Sit tight," Marie said into the radio. She knew he might not understand him but she radioed him anyway. Bulda and Captain always made sure no one ever treated Kris any differently because of his disability. She also taps out the message, which triggers a lamp by the radio that helps translate the message for Kris. While he has a phone that is enabled for only FaceTime and texting, the signal doesn't go as far as he needs it at times. So Morse Code and a network of people keep Kris safe. Just as Captain and Bulda wanted it.
While waiting for Jack and his tugboat, Kris picked up his binoculars and watched the horizon for signs of any sea life. Off in the distance he saw a humpback breach the surface. A flock of birds were following a school of fish. Closer to his favorite place along the cove he calls home a pair of seals are basking in the sun. Something purple flashes in the fading light of the day and Kris focuses the binoculars on the something purple. He's seen it before. Mostly just at twilight as he's running Sven along the beach. He always sees it at twilight, just as the sun is sinking down into the horizon. Captain always said there were strange and wonderful creatures living in the sea and sometimes they let us see them. Kris wondered if this was such a creature.
The chugging of another boat and the blowing of the horn caused Sven to jump up and paw at Kris's leg. It was in Sven's training to alert Kris to noises and alerts. The dog knew the difference between a knock on the door and the smoke alarm. Jack, the tugboat guy, threw a line to Sven and he caught it in his mouth and drug it over to Kris who tied the line to his boat.
"What blew this time?" Jack asked, in sign. Most of Captain and Bulda's close friends learned to communicate with the boy when they first adopted him so he's always feel a part of the community at large.
"The gasket," Kris said. "Hopefully I can fix it at the dock."
"Might be time to retire the old girl and get a new boat," Jack said, attaching a few more tow lines to the boat.
"With what money?"
"True. Come on kid, let's get you boys home." Far from a kid, Kris was nearly twenty-six, but to the community of Arendelle, he was still Bulda's Boy.
Kris looked back at the rocks, knowing it was too late to try to come back. Maybe it was just his eyes playing tricks on him but he swore there was something else there. Something special. Something that would end his isolation forever.
There. That's better. I really rushed the last round of this story and I wanted to slow it down, make it more like Curveballs but with mermaids. I know this chapter is all about Kris but I need to show that even though he feels all alone in his life, there are people in it that care about him. As always please leave me a review. Preferably more than "Update soon please." Let me know what you like or don't like about the story. Please and thank you.
