I'll tell you a tale of the bottomless blue

[sassybird]

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

Comments

[naggysa]

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?

[nanaharu]

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.

[naggysa]

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...

[nanaharu]

[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.]

[naggysa]

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.]

[nanaharu]

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...

[naggysa]

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...]

[nanaharu]

[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.]

[naggysa]

[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!

[nanaharu]

[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.

[naggysa]

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.]

[nanaharu]

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.]

[naggysa]

[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!

[nanaharu]

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.

[naggysa]

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.]

[nanaharu]

[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.

[naggysa]

[The selkie follows Haru diligently, gasping when the statue comes into view. He's a little surprised that he's never seen anything like this before now, but Haru always did have a strange knack for finding things that others might just overlook. He swims in close to get a better look, circling the statue as he examines the clothing that has been etched onto its features.]

Ahhh, humans like to cover themselves up with lots of stuff, don't they? You'd think it'd get heavy...

[nanaharu]

Yeah... seems pointless.

[Haru rests his crossed arms and his head on top of the human statue, looking at from upside-down. Just as ridiculous this way. But really, while it's something new, Haru sometimes wonders why they give so much thought to these humans-- all while keeping a distance from them.]

I wonder if humans know anything about us.

[naggysa]

[Nagisa grins, stopping in front of the statue with his hands on his hips, head tilting curiously to one side.]

Maybe! We're a lot better at hiding than they are, though...and humans don't seem to try to keep their distance, do they? I mean, they're in the water a lot, in big oval rafts and things...

[nanaharu]

Humans probably wish they could be like us.

[This assertion comes with an airy tone of "isn't it funny because you were just curious about the human world?" Honestly, what's so great about humans? True he still feels some faint (faint) draw to the unknown, but from what he can see...]

They just look silly.

[Haru grabs the nose of the statue. Just because.]

[naggysa]

...don't they look like us, though?

[He offers suddenly, swimming up close to the statue's frame again.]

I mean, sure, they don't got tails or flippers or gills...but the top-half is still the same, isn't it? Why do you think that is?

[nanaharu]

My grandmother told me that humans were the seafolk who got curious and decided to crawl onto the land. So they grew legs to walk out of the water, but they were cursed to never come back to the ocean.

[His grandmother was so old, Haruka half-wondered if she was around since before the humans left, and she saw this for herself.]

But some of their children want to come back to ocean.

[Haru snorts a bit, clearly showing little sympathy for them. Maybe it's not their fault, but still... too bad.]

[naggysa]

Woah, seriously!? That's scary!

[But also...kindof cool...but still scary since Nagisa himself likes to explore the beach so much.]

...you don't think that'd happen again, do you?

[nanaharu]

It could.

[He'll just let that hang ominously.

Though Haru doubts that anything bad would happen just for a little bit of crawling around. Actually turning into a human would probably take a very strong wish-- something that's driven by the call of the unknown. Not something that Haru himself thinks about... all that much.]

[naggysa]

[Haru whyyyyyyy.

Nagisa frowns, quickly swimming around the statue so he can be closer to where Haru is still beside it.]

I don't want that to happen, Haru-chan!