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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well, Haru's going to have to hope that their "uncaught" streak extends up to the point that they decide to leave.

There's forgotten pieces of foul-scented bottles, torn pieces of some kind of film... nothing particularly striking. Perhaps Nagisa will find something interesting, but Haru's tempted to just go stay on watch--

Until something shiny and rectangular catches Haru's eye. Only problem is... it's further onto the land than most of the other things left here. They'd have to really climb up on the sand and grab the thing before any human comes along. Haru looks to Nagisa, wondering if he saw it too... and is thinking about risking it.]

[Of course Nagisa spotted it; it's shiny, after all, and the selkie's eyes are well trained to spot things glittering in the sand. He shoots Haru a smile as his grip on the rocks tightens in anticipation.]

We should go get that. There's nobody around right now!

[Well...]

I'll go get it.

[he volunteers. As the older one of the two, it's only right. Well, maybe it's more suited to Nagisa, since he offered in the first place. But what motivates him most of all is the fact that when he's told he can't do something, Haru gets the motivation to do just that. More out of pure petulance than about proving anything.

And he's been told that as fast as is on the water, he's just as slow on the land.

The selkie's body moves across the sand far faster than Haru's own fish-like form, perhaps, but Haru's sure he can do it. Digging his fingers in the sand, he moves as fast as a hermit crab with a far-too-large shell. Just inching along the beach...]

[Nagisa just watches Haru for a moment as he very slowly pulls himself along, slipping off the rocks and back into the water. A second later, he comes up onto the sand as well, his flippers pulling him forward a foot in half the time it takes Haru to move just an inch. He stops there though, just hidden behind the rocks- they don't need two merpeople on the sand, at least he knows that much. But Haru is...so slow...

He keeps an eye out for humans while he moves, praying that maybe they all decided to go use the toilet at the same time, or something.]

Hurry, Haru-chan!

[The sun must have moved down in the sky a little by the time that Haru finally grabs the strange, shiny object. Perhaps this is a cold day by human standards, because there's none in sight. But he won't risk being here any longer.

Now comes the fun part of having to turn around. Haru swivels around in the sand, wrestling with all his weight. It takes so long, and he's frustrated at just how difficult it is to maneuver on the land-- so with one huge push and an annoyed grunt, Haru manages to almost stand on his tail... and fall on his side.

Ah, but that works far better. Haru starts rolling on his side, not unlike a barrel, back towards the water. The world spins around and around and he's got sand up his nose, but he's moving far faster than before.

Such a beautiful, graceful creature of the sea.]

[That...sure is a sight. Nagisa has to clap a sandy hand over his mouth to keep from bursting into laughter at the sight of Haru flopping over and then proceeding to just roll himself across the sand like it's no big deal. Well, at least it's marginally faster than the slow crawl he'd been doing, even if it is funny to watch.]

[Gradually gaining speed, Haru eventually rolls all the way back into the ocean with a huge splash. Shaking his head from side to side, he shakes out the sand out of his hair (and nose) before resuming his usual nonchalant look. As if he wasn't doing sideways pirouettes along the sand.

He holds out the strange object to Nagisa.]

Here it is.

[The object suddenly lights up, and a picture of a human with some hairy creature shows along with some symbols that Haru doesn't recognize.]

[Nagisa takes the object from Haru just as it lights up, quirking a brow as he turns it over in his hands before zeroing in on the picture.]

This is weeird...can you read any of this, Haru-chan?

[Haru shakes his head-- this is as bizarre an item to Nagisa as it is to himself. Something near the bottom flashes, and Haru follows an urge to poke it. It feels like a thin, finely refined glass, like fallen parts of ships. Some of the symbols slide to the side just a bit along with his finger.]

Huh.

[He keeps his finger pressed to it and moves side to side a bit... until a new picture shows up. It's the same human... on some strange rock formation, with some strange white stuff surrounding him. In the distance appears to be another rock formation that looks like the trenches underwater.]

What is this?

I dunno...I've never seen anything like it before.

[Nagisa continues holding the device while Haru prods at the symbols and causes the pictures to change, which prompts the selkie to tip his head curiously to one side.]

What's all that white stuff? Not sand, right?

Me neither...

[Haru presses more of the strange symbols, suddenly bringing up a series of images. Pictures of the man and the beach, but small images of other places as well. More of that place with all the white stuff, but something with other bright lights and such. What are all of these things?]

It doesn't look like sand.

[But he almost feels curious now. Are these kinds of places that humans can go to?]

I think it's some kind of land thing.

Hmmm...

[Nagisa leans in closer, but doing so doesn't really make the images make much more sense to him. Where were all these places that this human had gone? It just makes Nagisa even more curious (and confused) than he was to start with.

He turns to face Haru again once he's gone through a couple more of the images.]

This must be somewhere on land, far away from the sea! That's the only reason we wouldn't know what it was, don'tcha think?

[Suffice it to say, whatever poor soul lost this device is probably never going to see it again.]

Maan...I wish there was some way we could go see...

[Haru looks it over, scanning over all the details. Something that look like seaweed, but on land, growing out of the dirt. He turns away to look at the ocean.]

Is it really anything that different from what we can see in the water?

[Everything can be compared to life in the ocean. The only difference is that it's on land. So a pointless venture. Well-- he's heard stories about things that the sea witch can do. But that's risky and far too much trouble. Haru would rather point at the root of the issue... that being that the ocean's superior anyway.]

Of course! There's gotta be! You don't see humans walking on the seafloor, or fish on land! They're both two totally different things!

[And worth exploring, in his opinion, even though his opinion isn't entirely correct.]

But... it seems generally the same.

[And there's so much to see in the ocean that they didn't see yet. Not that Haru has that much inclination to explore even that much.]

Besides, it's not like we can go there...

Mmmhh...I guess you're right.

[Nagisa sighs, his shoulders slumping as he turns the device over in his hands again.]

Well, we can keep this at least. I'd say it was worth coming after!

[Of course...it probably won't keep working if Nagisa plans on bringing it underwater with them...]

[Instantly, Haru feels guilt at seeing Nagisa so disappointed. Maybe-- but no, that would take too much effort for so much danger and comparatively little reward. In this situation, however, it wasn't too hard to find this interesting object. Haru doesn't doubt that Nagisa must have a collection of human objects somewhere...]

If you really want to... I guess we could come back up here again sometime.

[The rolling escape was probably the most thrilling experience he had outside of the water.]

[Haru is right about that. Nagisa has his own little treasure trove of stuff. He'll have to show Haru sometime, if he's willing to sit through Nagisa pawing through a whole ton of junk for him.]

You really mean it?! It's way more fun coming up here with somebody else!

[Seeing Nagisa so excited feels so heartwarming that Haru has to look away.]

Yeah, yeah. And because I kept us out of trouble.

[That makes him qualified, doesn't it? It wasn't so bad coming out here, especially with how cute Nagisa can get when he's excited about something. One of his greatest weaknesses... aside from mackerel.]

But I get to pick somewhere we go, too.

That seems fair. Where would you want to go?

[...he's not sure he even has to ask, though. Haru would be completely content never leaving the ocean ever again.]

While I was chasing mackerel, I saw something strange...

[So no, it's not exactly what Nagisa might have thought it was. But it's at least in the area.]

It looked like a human sculpture.

[Though mers also enjoyed their arts, they looked far different from whatever that thing was. Far too realistic compared to what underwater society liked best. If there's a thing that Haru can appreciate from humans, it's that they apparently like art too.]

[Nagisa looks up from where he'd been poking at the device they found, having figured out how Haru was making the pictures change right as he mentions that.]

Woooah...do you remember where it was? We should go check it out!

It's just past that place where there's a steep drop in the sand. By those two red rocks and the forest of kelp.

[That's about as specific as he can get. But for now, he's about to dive back underwater before any humans really do show up.]

It looks like... well, we can go see it.

Awesome! You lead the way, Haru-chan!

[He'll just hang onto this device...maybe he'll get lucky and the waterlogging it's going to receive won't break it too much.]

[Diving back under the surface, Haru doesn't waste time in heading straight towards the site in question. While he doesn't actively pursue an exciting life, Nagisa seems to inspire new and foolish ideas, if just to keep him entertained. His friends sure do keep him from staying in one place for long...

Down they go, further into the dark water-- but Haru knows not to go into the deep water where even a mer's sight becomes obscured.

It's not too long until they arrive at the statue of a handsome man in intricate human clothing. Far too much to bother with, as with most strange human customs. How does their skin not itch with all that on? The thing on his head, however, reminds Haru of the Sea Prince with his coral crown.]

There he is. Looks weird.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject