badliifechoiice2 | I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue

I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue

Mermaid AU Meme

Rules:
- Put down your character name and series in the subject header. Put down any preferences (romantic or if you're a mermaid/human) in the comment.
- Reply to other people! RNG a choice from the prompts below, or just come up with whatever on your own.
- This is not a strictly romance meme. Feel free to have whatever shenanigans you like.

Merfolk and Merfolk

1.
Little Mermaid it
♢ One of you is a merperson with something you want. (Power? Help figuring out what this weird human doodad is? Becoming human?) The other is a powerful sea mage of some sort... And for the first of you, you better hope they're the good sort as you venture forth to their lair...

2.
Exploration
♢ C'mon. What's the worst that could happen when checking out this enormous sunken ship at the bottom of the ocean? You're merpeople! What's the worst that could happen? (Besides sharks. Or giant squid. Or maybe worse.)

3.
New tides
♢ Hey... That person isn't from around these parts, are they...? Maybe one of you is from deep seas, or a swamp-mer way out of your territory, or just from simply a different ocean. Hopefully neither of you are particularly territorial...

4.
Hey there, Ariel
♢ So. Looks like one of you actually took up on some sea witch's deal and is living in some human settlement. The other? Is trying to help you deal with that. Whether it means puzzling out human culture and items with you, pleading with you to come back home, or even offering you a dagger just in case you need to stab your crush (what? it's a legitimate strategy), you two need to cope.

5.
Wildcard.

Merfolk and Humans

1.
For Science!
♢ You're a scientist, here to study a fascinating new creature. Although the 'creature' in question might take offense to you saying that... So are you searching them out for the first time in the open ocean? Keeping them in some sort of containment? It's up to you.

2.
Stranded
♢ There was a shipwreck, and you're the sole survivor... Although you very nearly weren't. Whether you've just woken up or have been trying to puzzle things out on this deserted island, well... It seems you're not alone, although they're not exactly on the island with you.

3.
Siren Song
♢ Merpeople aren't always good signs... Sometimes they lure sailors out onto rocks, or extinguish their stamina and drown them in the ocean's tumultuous waters. Is this another encounter that will end in tragedy?

4.
Chance Encounter
♢ You're nothing extraordinary, just a regular person in a beach town, and one way or another... You find something that's very much not regular. Maybe you just walked into the cove at the right time, or found something- someone- trapped or injured that needed your help. So now what?

5.
Wildcard

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[Haru flicks a strand of seaweed with his fingertip, before letting out a deep sigh.

He just thinks of it this way-- if he doesn't agree to go, Nagisa will probably sneak off on his own. Bringing his arms back to push himself off the rock, Haru lifts himself from his resting spot, ready to say goodbye to a relaxing day.]

And I'll be ready to lay the blame on you.

[While he doesn't care about getting in trouble, getting chewed out annoys the hell out of him.]

[She could be either.]

[Haruka didn't understand the strange attraction-- no, the draw he felt towards this shark. After the rescue, he could have just left and they'd part ways that would never have to rejoin. But... here he is, swimming on over towards Rin. It's not just about gratitude, as it'd take more than that to risk coming out here to meet him.

Tales of these kind of folk saturate the kingdom he... lives in. Where they don't look nearly as tough as Rin. Haruka considers himself difficult to scare - even being caught in a human's net phased him for a brief moment afterwards - but he never saw any of Rin's kind himself. He had no idea what to expect.

Still, the first interaction involved one of them rescuing Haruka. So it can't be that bad...]

Hey.

[They're close now, Haruka peering at Rin. Looks like Rin's been waiting a while. Not that Haruka can feel all that bad. He swims at his own pace.]

[I don't know why I kept thinking anglerfish, totally different and horrifying sealife james, but yes good for that. You have a starter in mind or should I go ahead?]

[I EVEN LINKED A PICTURE. I'll put a starter up you butt.]

[Grimsley blinked when he saw a human at the beach. Not that it was unusual. It was a beach. People came here all the time. But for the most part, Grimsley knew the times when the beach was dead. Late at night, the moon was out, the street lights were flickering. It was the perfect time to visit land.

But now he was face to face with a human. And just... looked at him. The man was shorter than most humans he's seen. But there's something about him that... doesn't make him feel worried or afraid. He feels relaxed.

But it's still a human.

He leans against a rock and looks at him. His black and yellow tail splashing the water behind him.]

Hello. Surprised to see someone else here.

[...that wasn't a no he just heard. In fact, that was pretty much Haru saying he'd go along, wasn't it? Nagisa's pout is quick to turn into a smile again as he gestures for Haru to follow him.]

You won't have to, cause we aren't gonna get caught! Come on, hurry!

[And with that, Nagisa takes a deep breath and pushes off his rock so he can slip beneath the surface of the water into the murky depths.]

[Rin's own exploratory efforts halt when he notices a new scent in the water. Not one that makes his nose curl like those uppity mermaids. This is something he's never smelled before. And boy does it smell tasty. Plump and fat and probably full of delicious juices to run down his throat.

He doesn't bother wondering what the unusual creature is doing this far below the surface. It's snack time!

Rin spins his body around and swims after the scent, moving stealthily so as to avoid startling his prey once he spies it. The cloudy water here should help as well, masking the type of fish he is and preventing the premature flight many of his targets take upon spotting the telltale dorsal fin of his kind. He stalks his exciting new prey silently, cutting through the water like a blade.]

[Nagisa knows these waters rather well, but...he'd admit that he's never been down quite this deep before. It's a risk he's more than willing to take, though. The ship is far too interesting, too exciting . It's in his nature- his very species is as curious as they come, which means that he's not paying as much attention to his surroundings as he ought to. Even if Rin didn't know how to keep himself hidden in the presence of prey, Nagisa likely wouldn't have noticed him approaching right away.

His eyes continue to scan the ship as he passes from one end of the deck to the other, not realizing that danger lurks just below. He grins to himself as he lays a hand on the ship's steering wheel, turning it this way and that before giving it a shove hard enough to make it spin round and round, bubbles rising up to the surface far above in the wake of the movement.

He doesn't realize he's a sitting duck.]

[Rin looks up. He never even heard Haruka approaching. Just what is this guy? Nobody has ever been able to sneak up on him. It makes his heart race a bit in a way he doesn't quite understand.]

Took you long enough.

[He swims closer, splashing the shallow water around him, his silvery tail casting faint reflections over the cove's surface. Unlike Haruka, he sports a thick set of gills at his neck and where Haruka has smooth cerulean scales on various parts of his face and upper body, Rin has more of those silver streaks. His tail itself is lined with something that scrapes anything it touches, requiring Rin to be more careful when swimming too close to Haruka. He's not sure the merman has even noticed this detail yet. Haruka is always so insistent on swimming in front of him, making Rin chase after.]

I would've gone hunting if I had known you were going to take your sweet ass time.

[Like Haruka always does. Rin has yet to go hunting during his wait. He doesn't want to miss greeting the merman from a vantage point.]

[Damnit. they're going to have their ears chewed off by patrols and Makoto and Rei will fret about them forever. Honestly, everyone's too paranoid about "dangerous" places. Stay away from humans, don't go past that trench, yeah yeah. Haru can handle himself. He'd just say his greatest weakness is Nagisa dragging him into these things...

Quick to dive in after Nagisa, Haru feels the water rushing through his hair as they move towards their... their...]

What are we looking for, again?

[Probably a human, works at a fish stall. but would hilariously enjoy playing him as a merfolk.]

The shore, obviously!

[He calls back, like it...well, should have been obvious.]

All the best stuff washes up on the beach! I know a place we can go where nobody will see us!

[Which implies that he's probably been snooping close to civilization more often than he really ought to...]

[Nagisa's shapely form soon comes into view for Rin as he rounds the ship's innards. A seal? This far down? Why the hell would it do that? And how the hell is it managing to breath at this depth? Even those dumb dolphins struggled in these waters.

But the creature's lousy judgement is Rin's opportunity. He hasn't had anything as succulent as seal meat in forever. Damn things could be real torpedoes in the water and he isn't the swiftest on land. This is a much better setup.

He narrows his gaze on the blubbery body before him and then charges it full throttle, terrifying jaws open for the killing bite.]

[Nagisa might have lousy judgement, but in the end it's sheer luck that saves his life. Something glinting on one side of the ship catches his eye, and he turns his head to look over at it just as Rin rushes for him. He jumps hard, his hand jerking off the wheel as he spins around to face the shark that's speeding right at him, no doubt trying to aim for his throat for a quick kill.

Without thinking, Nagisa suddenly dives down, headfirst toward the deck before changing direction at the last second, slipping beneath the edge of the wheel before pulling up on the other end in the hopes that Rin won't be able to turn in time, leaving him right in the path of the immovable steering wheel. If he hits it, he'll either hit it hard enough to daze him so Nagisa can get away, or he'll get stuck if he's really lucky.]

[Nagisa is partially accurate in his predictions. His move is bizarre enough to catch Rin off-guard and prevent a completely smooth shift in his charge, meaning that he does smash into the wheel fairly hard. Though it's only the lower half of his tail that makes contact. Still, it hurts like a son of a bitch and Rin cries out as the pain shoots through him, making another rapid attack difficult. He growls and jerks his tail closer to him, feeling for any damaged bone or cartilage, as his sharp eyes try to spot where the seal has dashed off to.]

[Where is the seal, you ask? Well, anyone else would have kept swimming without stopping, but Nagisa ends up turning instead to see what actually becomes of the shark trying to attack him. His eyes dart from the wheel up to Rin, just as he looks over to see where his meal darted off to.

That is when Nagisa starts swimming, powering through the water with his tail and flippers as fast as he can possibly go.]

[Rin's thought he's seen everything in his 18 years, but the sight of the slender merman flailing in the water as if he doesn't even know what to do with his tail has to be the weirdest one yet. The merman's struggles are so pathetic that Rin has to remind himself that merpeople don't eat other merpeople because the guy is sure looking like his usual prey right now. Not to mention that he's somehow ended up in shark waters when he's clearly not of their kind. Not that Rin's seen a merman like him in any of his travels, as unathorized as they may be.

And are those pieces of two-leg weeds hanging from his arms? Why the hell would a mermaid have those? Okay, so maybe Rin had dabbled in the weird coverings once or twice when an unsuspecting two-leg left them too close to the shallow waters. It wasn't the most compatible with the dentricles on his skin. But the ones on this merman appeared shredded. Had the guy done that himself? Why?

But the most startling of all, aside from the disastrous attempt to swim, were the bizarre bits of twisted shell on the merman's face.]

[Rin curses and tries to pursue his target, but it's hard to swim when every swing of his tail makes him shudder. It doesn't look like anything is damaged, but a bruise is a given. And right now, it's just plain sore. He watches his meal get further and further away from him eventually has to stop when the stinging sensation becomes too much. Sousuke is going to nag the hell out of him when he hears about this.]

Dammit.

[He heads for the nearest rock or coral formation to rest against while the pain dies down. There's no way he'll manage to swim all the way back home in this condition.

Defeated by a fucking human contraption because he was swimming where he shouldn't have been. It figures.]

[Against his better judgement (or moreso due to the lack thereof), Nagisa glances back after a while to see if he's still being pursued. He's both surprised and relieved to see that he isn't, but he doesn't stop swimming yet. He keeps going until he reaches the edge of a rocky outcropping beneath the water that he can slip behind, his chest heaving from the sudden exertion.

Once there, he carefully peers around the edge at Rin, watching him as he lays there with his bruised tail-fin. Nagisa hadn't really meant to get him hurt or anything, but as far as he's concerned, that shark deserves it for trying to eat him...]

[He waits for a moment or two until he can manage to catch Rin's eye, and- again, there is no good judgement here- Nagisa sticks out his tongue and blows a raspberry at him, bubbles escaping his mouth as he does.]

[Rin is surprised to meet the seal's gaze when he looks up again. But he's even more surprised to see the seal sticking out its tongue at him, like it's actually mocking him. Since when do seals have the mental capacity to do that?

Not to mention, he's already irritated as hell.]

You little—

[Nagisa isn't the only one with crappy judgment today, as Rin dives back into the water and shoots off toward Nagisa's rock. Only to be again stopped by his nigh useless tail. He shrieks again and then glares at said tail before going back to easy sways to keep afloat.]

Whatever. I bet you're all fat with no real meat anyway. One of the others will pick you off before you reach shore.

Edited 2015-12-02 05:38 (UTC)

[Nagisa gives an indignant snort, but not much more than that. If he wastes too much of his air he won't be able to last as long as he'd like down here. He's already frustrated that Rin ruined his exploring. Serves him right.

And since Rin is closer now, Nagisa is careful to stay half hidden behind his rock, just in case the shark gets a second wind. He tosses his head a little, pumping his tail down hard through the water. Well, if he is all fat, then that's just too bad for you, isn't it?]

[It was mostly easy to shrug off how he looked different from the others before, but now with his coming of age having finally arrived, Rei began appearing more similar to the rest of his school as far as growing a proper tail goes. And thus, he was now expected to be like everyone else.

Well, pardon him for being a late bloomer. The fully emerged fins and tail became a major game changer on how he got around.

Although wasn't so much as getting around as it was more like not letting the waves take him wherever they want him to while he struggles to keep himself from flipping all over the place. But before he knew it, he found himself in unfamiliar territory and the first thing to greet him was one of these human contraptions that clearly displayed a better aptitude to the water than him. He had seen humans use such devices to keep themselves afloat but he also has come to learn that just wearing these things doesn't suddenly grant one the ability to master the water.

He soon gives up after struggling to push himself forward along the surface, arms too tired from pushing forward while also pulling the weight of a much heavier tail that he's still unfamiliar with. His peers would always talk about how getting a glimpse of the surface world while gliding is different from simply peeking out from the water. He can't swim and therefore, he can't glide. What a waste of a beautiful tail...

Maybe this is simply just meant to be the end of him. Natural selection never stops and he's been deemed not adaptable enough to survive.

As he slowly lets himself sink with these thoughts, he leans his head back to tip his body to look at the rest of the area upside down...and that's when his eyes widen. How long had he been watching?!

AAAAAAAAAAA NATURAL SELECTION, HAVE MERCY.]

[He isn't that far off, no longer swimming quickly. In fact he's swimming rather relaxedly and causally away as if nothing happened at all]

[Not bothered at all about Rin's annoyance, Haruka's expression doesn't waver. He's just captivated by the sight of Rin and how he doesn't look like anyone else he's seen before. The moment he catches himself staring, Haru quickly looks aside.]

Got held up by friends.

[His tone is casual, even as he's... slightly troubled about hiding so much from them. If Haru told them about he got caught in a net, they wouldn't let him out of their sight. He's already had to make up an embarrassing excuse for why he needs to leave the territory unaccompanied more often lately. As bad as he feels for making others worry, he knows nothing bad is going to happen. And they worry too much, anyway.]

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I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue

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