Prompt: A breath away from death
Phil was well aware that a majority of what was sold on the black market was a load of crap.
As was to be expected when you ran an illegal operation, there was nobody to check the legitimacy of the wares. Anybody with a charming smile and tall tale could set up shop with a number of rubbish items, and as long as they were convincing enough in their lies some idiot would pay them for empty promises.
However, very rarely, something of merit could be found.
Phil supposed even a fool might strike gold occasionally. While it was a minority of his visits that turned up anything useful, it did happen that something actually magical or valuable was sold on the market. And the upside to almost everybody there being a charlatan was that they often didn't know the difference. They couldn't tell when something special had fallen into their hands compared to yet another useless trinket.
Which meant Phil could do excellent business there.
Today was not panning out to be one of those days. He'd been meandering the market for close to an hour now, but nothing he'd seen so far looked interesting enough for him to inspect it closer. A lot of jewelry had gone up for sale today, rubbed in jade powder to give it a green glow which would read to an untrained eye as paranormal. For Phil, this just made them look dusty and unclean. There were books by the dozens too. Some of them weren't half bad and Phil might consider purchasing them for his personal collection if the prices weren't so outrageous. The pages weren't even cursed, as the vendors claimed.
He was starting to consider heading home empty-handed when his attention was caught by a flickering sort of movement. It seemed to be a fish, the glass jar it was kept in was put front and center on the vendor's table. Selling animals on the black market wasn't completely unheard of, but it was definitely not a weekly occurrence. Interest piqued, Phil kept an air of casual disinterest around him as he walked up to the stall to get a closer look.
A small group of others had gathered as well, listening in rapt wonder as a man with dark hair spoke to them. As Phil drew closer, their words became clearer to him.
"-from exotic lands. It was a real hard find, I tell you. Almost cost me my life."
A few murmurs of admiration went through the crowd. Phil rolled his eyes, it had been a while since he'd heard such bullshit.
"Now, a simple taste of its flesh would bestow immortality on those who consume it. Age nor sickness will touch you anymore, allowing you to live a thousand years or more. All for the small price I'm selling it at."
Phil grimaced at the vendor's words. Mermaid meat being a delicacy that could make you immortal was an old legend, so old that most people hadn't even heard of it because those that spread the rumor had all died. Mermaids were pretty much extinct anyway, defeating any need for the legend to persist. He pushed his way between two others to get to the front, wanting to at least get a closer look at the poor misshapen fish this man was making out to be a mythical creature. Phil couldn't imagine it to be a very convincing charade.
But what he saw made his heart stop.
Because the thing in the jar was definitely not a fish. Its tail could have you fooled, long and scaled with a fanned-out caudal fin at the bottom. Several dorsal fins also ran along the back of the tail, with one more on each side of the creature's hips. They swayed lightly in the water, with minimal movements to keep afloat. But the top half that rose above the tail was undeniable human. It looked out at the crowd with dull, blue eyes - not really perceiving the staring - as if they were in a stunned state. A halo of long pink hair wafted around their head, finned ears peeking out from between it and pinned back slightly.
A mermaid. Phil was staring at an actual, real-life tiny mermaid.
Somebody tapped the glass jar curiously and it flinched. A feeling most angry and vile pulled at Phil's gut, almost making him slap their hand away.
Because holy shit, that was a mermaid. It was a creature spoken of only in fables, but one that was definitely supposed to possess intelligence comparable to that of humans. It was a fully sentient being - a person.
And there it was being treated worse than an animal.
"If any of you are interested, I propose you make your minds up quick," the vendor went on. They rattled their purse of gold, signaling they were preparing to leave soon. Noon had come and gone, the market would be closing for the day. "This is a special bargain I'm running just for you folks, if it doesn't sell here I got plenty of buyers lining up off the books."
To Phil, it was clear this person was lying, and not very good at it either. But whispers among the crowd made it seem not everybody knew that. Several of them were considering the purchase. Immortality was such an appealing prospect after all, even for a steep price. Who wouldn't be willing to spend all the money in the world to live forever?
Phil looked down at the sign in front of the jar. They were charging an arm and a leg for this mermaid. More than he could afford. Before any of the other people gathered could ruin his only chance at helping this poor thing, Phil cleared his throat.
"Is there any proof of these legends then? Immortality sounds a little too good to be true, mate."
The vendor's eyes moved over to him, pale gray with wrinkles around the edges. They narrowed a little in annoyance, though they also made an effort to smile at him. Their grin was crooked and foul.
"Of course it's true. I wouldn't dare to lie about something so serious. The price tag doesn't lie either."
"Well, I'm just asking because if it's true…" Phil left a pause there, tilting his head and grabbing his chin for good measure. To others, it would seem like he was asking these questions in good faith, but truly he just wanted to make a show out of it. To have as many people listening in as he could manage. "Wouldn't it make more sense for you to eat it yourself then?"
Their smile did not fall, though it twitched uncomfortably. "That's-"
"I mean, if I had a chance to become immortal, I would grasp it with both hands. You can make a lot more money for the rest of eternity than you'd make just selling it, wouldn't you?"
Another wave of whispers swept the crowd, people agreeing with Phil under their breaths. It was a good start, but Phil had to push on if he wanted the man to actually sell him this mermaid and not just wave him off and try again with another group of morons later.
"Unless you can't because it's poisonous," he said thoughtfully. "Though I'm sure then you wouldn't be trying to sell it. That's frowned upon even in these circles."
"W-what do you-" The man grew two shades paler.
"I'm just saying, it doesn't look very healthy. There's barely any color on it left, really. I'm pretty sure it's more likely to give you food poisoning than grant immortality if you ate it now."
A few people looked into the jar better at Phil's claim, nodding to themselves. The mermaid did look terrible, Phil had to suppress the lingering worry gnawing at his heart. Whether it would be sold to somebody intending to kill it or not mattered little, it looked like it would die either way without the proper care.
Care Phil didn't know if he could give, but damn if he wasn't going to try.
"The jar- it's just, it's making it look a lot worse than it is, I'm sure." To the vendor's credit, their poker face only faltered a little. Sleazy as fuck till the very end. "Give it a little time and it will perk right up, and then-"
"If it makes it that far," Phil cut in. "It might die before it gets healthy enough to consume. Only a fool would buy it without any guarantees." More noises of agreement, some nervous looks as people started to step back. Phil pushed on. "Lucky for you, such a fool I am."
"What are you playing at?"
Slowly, the crowd was trickling away. Phil's speech had disheartened many of them from the tenuous promise of immortality, figuring that even if the legend was true (which it wasn't, Phil knew) it would simply be too much risk. Especially for that price. The vendor was watching their profit slip away like sand through their clenched fingers. And worse, they might be only a blink away from being accused of selling poisoned wares.
This was the exact thing Phil had been hoping for.
"I've always been a gambling man," he said. "If you sell it to me, I will take the burden of responsibility off your shoulders. Whether it dies or not won't matter to you. Though I do think half price would serve then, wouldn't it?"
"That's preposterous," they sputtered, offended.
"As preposterous as selling damaged goods is?" Phil leaned back a bit, pretending he was about to walk away. "It's your choice, mate. But while the authorities might be glad to turn a blind eye to this market, they'll probably draw the line at a threat to public health after somebody dies from eating that thing." He shook his head in mock remorse.
"Wait!"
Before the word had properly left their mouth, Phil was already turning back.
They scowled nastily. "Fine, half price and you don't show your face at my stall ever again."
Phil grinned back. "Sounds like a plan."
He handed over the gold fast, halfway scared they would change their mind. It was still a ridiculous amount of money, but Phil knew he had saved a life in the bargain. Or he would be saving a life if he could take the mermaid home and it survived. He wasn't lying about it looking half-dead already. He held the jar up to his face.
It had its eyes closed, hunched over on itself but without the room needed to sleep comfortably, it had fallen into an unconscious state instead. It was shaking ever so slightly. Phil tugged the jar under his arm quickly but carefully. There was no time to waste, every second was of the essence.
Without so much as a glance back at the vendor, he hurried home.