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

[showyouthesight]

[Rin looks reluctant to give up the newest treasures, but he eventually relents with a sore look. Nagisa did have to go all the way to the land to get them. He's earned them.]

Oi, I don't steal.

[Taking stuff from the ships totally doesn't count since it's not like those guys were going to come back for any of it. They probably don't even know where it went.]

[naggysa]

[Taking the toys back, Nagisa swims back over to his stash so he can carefully put them away on the rocky shelves again, his eyes searching for the aforementioned favorite treasure. It isn't long before he finds it, reaching in to a pretty deep crevice to pull out a glass bottle.

Inside the bottle are a lot of little loose pieces of wood, but if Rin looks closely, he'll be able to see that a lot of the wood looks exactly like the shipwreck they both met at.

...obviously, this was meant to be a pristine ship in a bottle at some point, but somehow being left to the elements and the sea itself, it's come apart inside. But Nagisa thinks that's just how it was supposed to be, and honestly it looks cooler that way.]

So? Isn't it cool?

[showyouthesight]

[Rin reaches for the bottle to see if he can figure out what's supposed to be inside it. He's seen bottles plenty of times in his explorations, but they usually have liquid or those hard flat circles stored in them, not wood. What would be the point of that? Though, some of the pieces do look a little familiar.]

It's like a craft piece? Of a... ship?

[naggysa]

I think so! A lot of it came out of the bottle when I found it, so I kinda just...stuck it back in? But it's still cool looking.

[The seawater has done a number on it, and the cracks in the bottle are to blame, but for the most part otherwise all of the pieces are there...just not entirely intact anymore.]

[showyouthesight]

I wonder what it looked like it when it was brand new and all together. And why put it in a bottle? To keep people from messing with it?

[Not that that did a lot of good, judging from its current condition.]

Hey, come to think of it! How did they get it in the bottle anyway when it was all in one piece? It wouldn't have been able to fit!

[naggysa]

[Nagisa just shrugs, lifting a clawed hand to scratch the side of his head.]

Beats me. Maybe they got some sorta magic that we don't know about. Figures, since they already got so much weird stuff.

[showyouthesight]

No way! They can't be magic. They're not that cool.

[But the ship inside the bottle is definitely a good trick. And then did come up with those things that can produce instant pictures of things happening. So they're at least really creative.]

They've just got a few ideas that are better than others.

[naggysa]

Says you! They're a lot cooler when you actually get to see 'em up close doin' stuff.

[With that, Nagisa moves to retrieve the bottle so he can carefully store it back in its safe place. One day he'll find somewhere to display it where it can be seen without the risk of getting broken.]

How's your tail?

[showyouthesight]

It's not like I can just trundle onto land like you.

[Which makes him sound huffier than he means to. It would be so much easier to learn about two-legs if he could go the surface too. He could probably grab one of the ones that he's seen balancing on some thin planks in the distance. But it's not like they speak the same language either. And he knows from experience that his appearance tends to scare others.

As it should.

At the mention of his tail, nearly forgotten amid all this two-leg excitement, Rin glances back at it. It's still sore, but he can move it a bit.]

Still not as good at it could be.

[naggysa]

[Nagisa turns back to face Rin as he talks, propping his head up in his hands again.]

Mm...well, like I said, you can stay here 'till it gets better. I sleep on the sand anyways, so you can have the water.

[And that's it, really. He doesn't seem bothered as much as he should be by the fact that he's allowing a shark to stay in his home.]

[showyouthesight]

[Rin stomach groans loudly, as Nagisa says that, reminding him that he hasn't eaten since he left for his ship-exploring. He's used to eating a lot throughout the day. It helps his metabolism. But as he glances around the tiny cove, he's somewhat disappointed in his options.]

Who knows how long these things take to heal?

[It's probably the worst injury he's ever gotten. He's usually smarter than this.]

[naggysa]

Eh...it shouldn't be that long if you try not to use it much, right?

[What Nagisa (repeatedly) fails to realize is the fact that Rin has to keep swimming so he can breathe. He's a shark, after all.

Speaking of hunger, Nagisa is starting to feel a little hungry himself...he hadn't eaten since that morning, having gotten too caught up in his shipwreck excursion to stop for lunch.]

[showyouthesight]

I don't know. I usually don't get hurt. I'm smarter than that.

[He's also used to working with someone more his size.]

[naggysa]

Being smart doesn't really have anything to do with getting hurt. I mean, not unless you were doing something that you knew could've gotten you hurt.

[Exploring abandoned wreckages can be dangerous, he guesses, but it's more dangerous for the predators, not the wreck itself.]

[showyouthesight]

It has a lot to do with it. You learn how to avoid most accidents.

[He runs a hand down the back of his tail]

[naggysa]

Oh yeah? You make it sound like you've been in lots of trouble before, Rin-chan.

[showyouthesight]

[Rin snorts loudly, flaring his gills]

Oi, I just said I know how to avoid real trouble. But a little trouble keeps things interesting.

[naggysa]

Okay, mister troublemaker.

[Nagisa sneers, his fins slapping against the rocks.]

What's real trouble look like, then?

[showyouthesight]

[Rin just points huffily at his injured tail.]

This is real trouble.

[naggysa]

Well...it could be worse. You could still be stuck down there.

[It slips out of Nagisa's mouth before he quite realizes what he's saying, and he regrets it almost immediately, given the way his expression falls, tightens, and he quickly looks back over at his collection lining the wall.]

[showyouthesight]

[Rin has the decency to look the least bit sheepish about his bitching.]

I'm not blaming you... It was just a shitty set of events.

[naggysa]

Yeah...I guesso.

[Nagisa sighs, turning his attention back to Rin. By now, long shadows are being cast into the little cove, with orange light filtering through and reflecting off the water as the sun goes down.]

So, you're staying, right?

[showyouthesight]

Depends on what you've got to eat. I'm starving.

[He looks around the cave again for anything that might feed a shark.]

[naggysa]

Weeell...there's fish, mostly. There's lots of schools of fish around here. That's okay, right?

I can go try to catch enough for both of us, since you're...yaknow.

[showyouthesight]

I need big fish. Can you catch a big fish? Those little ones aren't going to do it.

[He gestures at the various skeletons lying around.]

Maybe if you herded them here, I could grab a few.