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

Something that needs to be taken apart? Why would you do that?

[Rin treats most of his findings like rare works of art, things that must be keep in their original condition. The only exception are the ones that look like they can be repaired. But even those require a lot of soul-searching to risk damaging them further.]

Sometimes I find stuff that's already pretty broken. I like pulling the pieces apart if it's really bad so I can see them, but otherwise I just leave it how it is if it looks cool.

[He's got several broken cameras in different states of decay, one of which he did finally pull apart so he could examine the lense and inner mechanisms of the strange device.]

Just depends on what it is! Or if I have, like, a couple of that thing already and don't mind breaking it more.

Ah, so like you want to know how it's put together?

[He's never tried that, but now that he thinks about it, it does sound interesting. If he can bring himself to tinker with any of his collection.]

What do you have the most anyway?

[For Rin, it would probably be various things the two-legs use to decorate themselves since those are Rin's favorite, aside from the navigational trinkets. He has coral shelves full of them, either hidden or hanging on the hard pieces.]

The most...?

[The selkie hums thoughtfully as he slowly slips back into the water, shivering a little at the feeling of the cool water against his skin after having basked in the sun while he was applying the makeshift bandages.]

I dunno exactly what everything is, but most of the things I have are shiny. You said you wanted to see, right?

Yeah. And I was a good patient too so you have to keep your promise!

[Rin sounds rather insistent about it, although he holds himself back from slapping his tail this time.]

I bet I could even identify some things for you.

C'mon, then!

[Nagisa gestures for Rin to follow him with a jerk of his head, starting off into the cove. He doesn't move toward the deeper water, but instead sticks to the inner walls of the cave, his eyes scanning the rocks and little natural outcroppings hidden there.

As Rin will see almost immediately once he gets close, there are lots of trinkets and strange items lining the rocks, placed up high enough that they won't get taken away by high tide. Broken cameras, cell phones, random articles of clothing, shoes missing their matches, beach toys...Nagisa seems to have everything but the kitchen sink tucked away back here.]

[Rin moves carefully, using his arms to drag himself through the water more than his tail. The water's shallow enough that he can just about press his hands against the sandy bottom to accomplish it but still deep enough that he doesn't have to worry about actually dragging his tail along the bottom and bumping it more than he would like. Though the sight of a mershark getting around in this fashion would probably be hilarious to most observers, especially since Rin's dorsal fin still remains just barely peaking above the surface, signaling a false menace.

Rin's eyes widen at the collection, mouth dropping open as well. It's just as expansive as his own, maybe even more. And he's pretty sure he doesn't have anything like the cameras, phones or toys, not that he has precise names for any of them. He's never observed them from his ship stalking ventures.

He points toward one of the cameras.]

What's that supposed to be? I want to see up close.

Oh! One sec.

[Nagisa swims over to where Rin points, hefting himself up onto the edge of the rocks again so he can reach the little natural shelves that he's covered with trinkets and items of all shapes and sizes. He grabs one of the cameras that seems to be the least broken beyond being damaged by the saltwater. As expected, it doesn't turn on anymore.

He turns back to show it to Rin. It's a digital camera with a glass face that's been cracked, as well as a lens on the other side.]

This used to light up, when I first found it. It had, like, pictures and colors and stuff on it! But now it doesn't work anymore.

[Rin pulls himself closer and reaches out for it. It's so shiny!]

What's it supposed to do? Just light up? Two-legs have much smaller things for that.

[He taps curiosuly at the face and then buttons with his claws.]

How are pictures supposed to fit in this?

[He's seen them in the ships. They're at least several feet, nowhere near small enough to fit into a camera that's barely five inches tall.]

I dunno! But I know what I saw, this thing had pictures on it when it could still light up.

[He says that with conviction in his voice as he leans against the rocks, watching Rin fiddle with the camera.]

I've watched them using these things, though. They'll point them at each other and stand real still, until...CLICK!!

[The selkie shouts, tossing his hands into the air for emphasis.]

It lights up and flashes super bright!

That's where the pictures come from? I always thought they were just really good artwork.

[Well, the ones on the ships usually were paintings. But the idea of making a picture just by pointing it at someone is really cool! That would mean you could tons at once! What a great way to store memories.

Rin points the camera at Nagisa and peers at him through its tiny lens, keeping himself upright in the water with one hand while the other steadies the camera.]

Do a pose!

Eh?

[Blinking with surprise, Nagisa looks over when Rin calls out to him. His expression quickly turns to recognition, though, and without hesitating he sits back a little on his seal body, lifting his arms high in the air and flexing his surprisingly filled-out biceps.]

How's this?

Eh, it works.

[Rin shrugs with a playful grin and presses down on one of the buttons.]

Click!

[Nagisa lowers his arms after that, smiling right back. If only the camera still worked, then they'd really have something to play with.]

Looks good, huh?

More importantly, we've captured this memory forever now. But I've decided to keep it just between us. Most people suck at appreciating collections.

[He holds the camera back out for Nagisa and gestures to the toys on the shelves.]

What are those?

[After taking the camera and putting it back, Nagisa is quick to grab some of the toys that Rin is pointing at, holding them out again for the shark to take.]

I found these buried in the sand! I've watched humans digging up the ground with them.

[What he's given Rin happen to be various plastic digging utensils that a child might use to make sandcastles. Some of them are cracked while others remain mostly in one piece.]

[Naturally, Rin does the first thing he can think of when being handed something made of plastic. He nips at it with his teeth. They feel incredibly flimsy.]

They dig up things too? I thought they just liked dragging them out of the water.

[It's not like Rin has much experience with the land habits of two-legs.]

[Nagisa might have scolded Rin for biting on his things, but with as much reverence as he treats oddities like this (such as with his reaction to tearing up the shirt from before), he's not that worried that he'll ruin them just because he can.]

Yup! I've watched 'em collect seashells, but most of the time they just dig the sand up, push it into piles...and then leave it like that for the tide to wash away. It's super weird, but then I tried it...and it's actually kinda fun?

[Sharks bite things, Nagisa. It's what they do.

Rin pulls a confused face.]

Piles? Are they trying to make a trap?

[In response, Nagisa just shrugs, deciding to just move up onto the rocks again as long as he's showing Rin his collection. He props his chin up in his hands, letting his elbows rest on the rock he's currently draped over.]

Dunno. I never found anything inside 'em. Rocks, shells sometimes...but if they were trying to catch anything, they were pretty lousy at it.

[Rin glances at the weird item again, his gills flaring slowly as he considers it.]

You said you've built these piles before too? Show me what they look like. Maybe their shape will help me figure out what sort of trap they've supposed to be.

[Giving a thoughtful noise, the selkie leans over the rocks as his eyes search the water until he finds where the sand bar starts again as it stretches out past the opening to the little cave they're in. He continues laying on his belly as he pulls himself over to the edge of the rock, using his hands to scoop the sand toward himself into piles mimicking what he saw on the shore.

It's not quite the same- his are pretty lumpy and a lot wetter than the ones he saw- but it's close enough.]

I think I heard one of the smaller ones call them..."sand castles". But they don't really look like castles at all, do they?

[Rin does another of those confused head-tilts, his fins twitching.]

What's a castle? And you're right, they don't look like they can catch much of anything.

You know, like uhh...those big coral formations?

[He doesn't actually know what castles are either, so don't feel bad, Rin.]

Oh! Those things are pretty cool.

[Rin's cornered many a school of fish by them, just by hanging out during feeding time and pulling a sneak attack. It had the double bonus of just being a really pretty place. Which he didn't at all tell Sousuke repeatedly while they were waiting.

He peers at the "castle" again, trying to swim as close at he can to it.]

Too bad that doesn't look anything like them. Are you sure you did it right?

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