mermaid oh murmur into my ear

[pipers_son]

MERMAID AU MEME



Rules:
● Put down character name and series in subject line.
● Add any preferences (romance and/or general, human and/or mer) in comment.
● Reply to other people!

Scenarios:

1 ♢ Little Mermaid
♢ Mer
♢ One of you is a mer person with something you want. The other is a powerful mage who can possibly give it to you. Can an arrangement be made...?

2 ♢ Exploration
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Whatever you are, your curiosity has gotten the best of you. Whether it's a sunken shipwreck on the bottom of the ocean or a mysterious cove hidden away along the cliffside... Venturing with a friend or running into something unexpected... What will you find?

3 ♢ Exchange
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Sometimes, territories are broached, but it's not always a bad thing. Whether you're of entirely different species, or just from different seas, you've met in peaceful circumstances- perhaps as a direct result of those! So it's time for a cultural exchange. Just ignore the fresh water mer.

4 ♢ For Science
♢ Mer and Human
♢ This is a one in a lifetime chance.... for at least one person. Are you on an isolated island? A ship far out to sea? A highly funded aquarium? Or perhaps even a laboratory with more than questionable methods... Either way, you have the chance now to study something rarely seen before. How will it turn out for both of you?

5 ♢ Ariel's Dream
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Some say it's impossible for a mer to live on dry land... except that's been quietly proven wrong. One of you has taken to living among humans, whether for years or still learning the ropes. As for the other... Are you a concerned friend, checking in on them from the sea? Or are you a landdweller, stumbling onto a great secret?

6 ♢ Sea Life
♢ Mer and Human
♢ While they have the legs for landdwelling, some humans seem to have more saltwater in their veins than blood, and those are the kinds of humans that end up with dealing with the mysteries of the sea the most. A surfer catching waves with shark mer? A pirate bartering with sirens for safe passage? A fisherman working together with those who know fish best? There's all sorts.

7 ♢ Stranded
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Well, fuck. Good job. One way or another, you're stuck where you shouldn't be. Whether that's a human lost in the tides, or a mer trapped against the land, you need help.... So don't be picky with what you do get.

8 ♢ Not Safe For Water
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ The scenario made explicitly for Guillermo Del Toro and anyone who was extremely anxious for a xeno sex scene in The Shape Of Water. Get your smut on. Feel free to mix and match it with any of the other scenarios as well.

9 ♢ Siren Song
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Sometimes, there's a good reason people fear the too wide expanse of the sea, or how deep its depths an reach... Strange songs which string through coastal towns and cause disappearances... The sound of something slipping through the water around a ship in the dead of night... Unexplained shapes which flicker outside of deep-sea vessels or submarines or installations. Do you want to know what's out there?

10 ♢ Capture
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Sometimes, there's a good reason why people fear humans. You don't belong here, being gawked at through thick aquarium glass or trapped in a too-small freakshow tank, but what can you do? Is there anyone who cares for your plight, or are there only people responsible for it?

11 ♢ Chance Encounter
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Well, this is awkward. You didn't mean to stumble onto a mer just... there, doing whatever, on the beach or by the docks or tangled up in your fishing net, but, well. It's happened. Now what?

12 ♢ Transformation
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ For one reason or another, you want to go where you've never gone before... A mer, venturing on the land either as a rare chance or every day business? Or a human, accepting some sort of trade or just to run away from the life you have now? Either way, it might get messy.... Feel free to mix in with other scenarios.

13 ♢ Fantasy Meets Fantasy
♢ Mer and OTHERS!
♢ Who's to say that humans are the only other creatures in the world? Maybe people living beneath the sea's waves aren't the only strange things. Maybe there are centaurs who travel along coastal roads to watch the night sky along with mer astronomers. Perhaps selkies are just distant cousins. Or who's to say that mer can't be a host of things unto themselves? The ocean's the limit.

14 ♢ Sci-fi
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Some say astronauts are nothing more than sailors venturing off into another unexplored sea, one that's above instead of below. And, befitting those same sailors of older days, they seem to tell tails of strange melodic frequencies coming in over the radio to their ears, and strange comets that look like tails passing them by on a landed planet. Do they not know what's accompanying them in space, or is that what they're actively chasing?

15 ♢ Divinity
♢ Mer and Human
♢ There are stories told of what exactly it is that could be both human and fish... So it's not surprising that, eventually, one would land upon calling them divine entities, either gods of the sea or lakes, or just their messengers. Is that true, or just a very clever, long lasting ruse?

16 ♢ Afterlife
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Some say mer are just humans, wrongfully forced overboard by superstition or cruelty and welcomed by the sea into something more. Others say that they're the spirits, haunting a particular sea or lake town for a wrongful death. What's the truth? Time to find out.

17 ♢ Peaceful Living
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Not everything has to be a dramatic mess. Sometimes, things just... work out for the best. These are better times, and mer are just another part of life. Water-side towns where everything is built around those that share the waters with them, or huge metropolises with water tubes and sprouts for mer to travel through. How will you imagine this sort of life?

18 ♢ Wildcard
♢ follow your dreams, make up whatever

Comments

Joker - Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler - ota

[pipers_son]

[ooc: good for human or mer, and also romance or gen, i'm flexible]

dumbass fish gets stuck in a net, news at 11 (7)

[dontpokethat]

This... was absolutely not how this was supposed to go.

It was just supposed to be a short trip out to get some fish and see if he could get any interesting samples. Basic research that should take a day at most.

That, of course, was before the storm hit. He supposes he should be glad his little boat didn't capsize, and that he didn't get washed overboard by the waves. Now he just has to hope that whatever that thump was that he heard last night, unable to see its source through the darkness and pelting rain, didn't do too much damage.

Even once he dimly feels the rain subside and the sun rise, it takes some effort to make himself pull the rain-beaten tarp from over his head, squinting through the bright light of day to take in the...

...The fish.

The tail end of the biggest goddamn fish he has ever seen, just on the other end of the boat.

Ginko stands up, slow and shaky, clutching the edge of the boat, and stares at it, trying silently to determine if it's any species he's seen, or heard of, or... or if it's alive.

[pipers_son]

The fish he's seeing is pretty damn colorful, if that helps any, although it's debatable if he's seen anything like it in Japanese waters. The sunlight practically shimmers against the brilliant stripes of blue scales which nearly seem to pop against the backdrop of orange scales. Down at the tail fin, delicate and thin, everything shifts into a much deeper blue, and the other fins don't seem particularly suited for deeper waters... Although none of that apparently matters, considering every bit of it is trapped in one of Ginko's nets.

The tail gives an aggravated slap against the deck, clearly trying to wiggle out somehow, which neatly answers the question of its alive. It might take Ginko coming closer to realize that there's red hair sticking out of the neat up top where the fish head should be.

[dontpokethat]

He's pretty sure he hasn't seen a fish like that before - certainly not one that big. He edges toward it, reaching slowly down to the pack strapped to the inner side of the boat to get his knife - just in case it's... dangerous, somehow. It doesn't look like a shark, at least, but it might still be able to do damage.

Then he notices the hair, or... something that looks like hair? There's no way it can actually be hair, it's a fish.

Probably.

He circles around carefully, his knife held close by his side, to get a look at the fish's head.

[pipers_son]

So, there's not a fish's head.

There is what appears to be a human head, fully blinking and conscious as a young man wearing far too many seashell necklaces struggles to untangle said necklaces from the nets. He's really involved in it... So much so that he doesn't seem to have realized that Ginko is so close by until he's right near him, and he pauses to stare up at him.

The tail flaps against the deck again, a little lighter.

[dontpokethat]

That's--

That's a person. That's a person with a fish tail, and the moment Ginko realizes that he's stumbling backward and away. Luckily, he stumbles and just ends up landing on his butt with his back against the far side of the boat, rather than actually going over the edge. He's still gripping the knife in one white-knuckled hand, and staring, wide-eyed, at the fish-man.

"Wh-- what?"

[pipers_son]

If he's expecting any sort of answer from the fish man, it's not coming. Those bright violet eyes just watch him carefully, keeping an especially sharp eye on on that knife. After a moment, however, he flashes a toothy grin Ginko's way.

He's still stuck here, Ginko, if that's any consolation.

[dontpokethat]

He's... not sure it is. Particularly because he... can't very well just leave him there.

For a few moments, he goes over his options. He could try and kill it; he can't see land anymore, and he might run out of food before he can get anywhere or be rescued. But that... that stopped being an option the moment he saw that distinctly human face. Besides which, it - he? - is looking at him. And at the knife.

Yeah, that wouldn't work for a number of reasons, would it.

He could try to keep him on the boat, try and study him; he can only do so much out here, but if he can get home he'll have more supplies. But how the hell would he explain this to anyone who saw him? Besides which, there's still the whole... intelligence situation. If this fish man really is as smart as a human, there's no way he could keep him trapped like an animal.

All in all, it only takes him a couple moments to confirm that he really only has one option here. He stands up slowly, gripping the side of the boat with his free hand, eyes locked on the fish man, and sets his knife down by his foot.

"I'm... going to try to get you free. Okay?"

Do mermen speak Japanese? He has no idea.

[pipers_son]

The entire time that Ginko takes to think, the merman doesn't take his eyes off of him, doesn't stop smiling. It's debatable if he even blinks. Instead, he almost stays as still as anything, and whatever breath he takes can't be heard over the sound of the waves hitting the boat.

Mermen speaking Japanese is a mystery that will have to be for another time, but mermen do seem to understand nonverbal peace treaties, or at least the act of putting the sharp object down. In a heartbeat, the smile vanishes from the merman's face, leaving something otherwise blank but no less intelligent.

It seems that he's waiting for something. Most likely Ginko's next move.

joy requires birds in everything news at 11

[espigeon]

Julien splashed down atop the kelp forest a while ago. From above it doesn't look like a whole lot. Some of the slimy, fronded sea-plants, the tops of those great stalks, stick a little ways out of the water, or show green and mysterious under the surface. He's ducked his head down and even exhaled and dived as much as he's able - not far - to see it better. Kelp forests are beautiful from within, he knows, and also support various tasty fish and lobsters and so on that he could take back to the jamjar, since not everyone else can subsist on acorns and toxic-to-human berries.

He hasn't seen much yet, beyond some birds, a very cute distant sea otter, and various vague shadows and too-small-to-bother-with fish. Possibly he just has to be patient. And think about sharks. Julien cranes his neck, trying to see into the green waters.

From beneath he's a feathery boat-shape with kicking scaly handlike feet. His feathers are caught with silver bubbles but hold their shape, repelling the water; Julien had spent most of the morning exhausting his preen gland and waterproofing himself, and isn't sodden.

birds should be in everything

[pipers_son]

Lobsters are definitely very delicious for just about anything that eats meat.... and that tends to include some of the more mysterious and omnivorous creatures in the sea. That includes, of course, mer.

Honestly, it hasn't been too bad a haul today. Some of the small fish can be good for snacks, although he's had to carefully eye them to make sure they're real small fish and not juveniles. It's better, he's found, to allow fish to grow to adults. More meat for the future. The larger ones have been quick, but he has an arm and no hesitation. Now, the lobsters, however....

When they haven't been hiding, they've been pretty darn quick with those claws of theirs. Kind of a nuisance, when he only has the one arm. He's coasting along the bottom of the forest, trying to keep an eye out for those bright shells... When he notices a disturbance in the water. Blinking curiously, he looks upwards to note the odd shape in the water. He's seen water birds, before, but usually not so big....

Curiously, he circles around, coming in from the back until he can ascend further through the water, before he reaches up.... to just snatch a feather real quick and twist back to hide into the forest again with a trail of bubbilng laughter trailing behind him. If Julien is quick, he might see a flick of shimmering silver and blue scales before he can properly hide.

[espigeon]

Sharks! is Julien's first thought and really, can you blame him. He jerks, his wings hitting the surface of the water, his feet doing a thing, and looks around wildly, turning a circle.

He's got a very wide field of view and multiple focal points so he saw something moving away and there's some bubbles up from around where it had been. That's what has him not laboring to take off. This does not seem like a shark thing.

"Was that a sea lion?" he asks himself, because he hadn't gotten a good glimpse. From the air he thought he'd seen some seals or sea lions - maybe this is a sea lion thing? Do sea lions try to eat Juliens?

Hmm. Well. This expedition isn't really about fishing directly but about whether fishing is a good idea here, if this is a good place to set up nets or lines. Using his beak and some of the fingers remaining on a wing he unspools a test line from his back, a hookless thing weighted with a rock and baited with a little branch of bright red rowan berries. With some difficulty Julien gets that tied to some kelp that's got enough of those floating bulb things that it keeps the line up, and drops the bait to where it's hazily visible from the surface.

[pipers_son]

Ha! What a jump. Birds are the same no matter how big they are, it seems. Still, there's a strange sort of noise coming from above, so muted that it's almost impossible to hear, but definitely not like most other birds.....

Well, that's fine. Pleased with himself, Joker lazily guides himself among the kelp before perking up as a vibration thrums through the water. Curiously, he glances inbetween the gently waving fronds again. Red! His fins perk up in interest. Red, and not smelling of blood in the water, so it has to be a fruit or berry. Curious, he drifts closer, circling around and staying behind the kelp a while.

On one hand, it's not lobster. Or fish. On the other hand, it's enough of a rarity that he thinks it'd be great to take back to the others. Not a lot of fruit ends up in the water, and not all of it is perfect to eat when it does. After a moment of certainty that it's probably not a trap, he finally flicks his fin and ventures closer to it to take the berries inbetween his fingers to inspect. Looks good so far.

[espigeon]

The rowan is bright and beaded with bubbles. The berries are soft and juicy and bittersweet and have a laxative effect in humans that's enough that everyone else won't touch them, as Julien has discovered, but they sit well with him and fish are attracted. It doesn't seem to take long.

Seeing the shadow curve out to the bait, odd-shaped and too big to reasonably subdue and fly back, Julien shuts his inner eyelids, putting a sepia film over his huge eyes, and shoves his face into the water to see better.

What the fuck.

[pipers_son]

What the fuck yourself, buddy.

The feel of something suddenly shoving itself into the water has Joker jerk back a little bit, but he doesn't retreat. It's a purely instinctual move, going against his more conscious knowledge that it's just the bird. Still, paranoia is always a friend... But as he looks up to see the enormous birdy beak, he has to say he thought it would be more....

Hawkish. Or something.

As it is, it just seems like a perfectly regular bid, so Joker has no shame in making direct eye contact as he reaches out to snag a berry. His now, sorry not sorry.

[espigeon]

Rude!!!!

He tries to say it but, you know, water. It's more clearly a word than it might sound like from more of a standard-configuration human, since his voice comes from his chest and not his throat, and resonates better in the water, but it's still more bubbles and an indignant sound than anything.

Julien pulls his head back up above the surface and grabs the line with his beak, but reconsiders. He's not a guy on a deck with a fishing line who can just haul things up casually, and anyway what'll that gain him? Instead, after a moment, he puts his face back into the water, this time holding a twig bearing red-and-green crabapples.

[pipers_son]

Despite the fact that he's pretty sure birds don't understand the intricacies of facial langugae, due to the fact that their faces don't move much at all, Joker still gives a saucy little wink up at the bird. Hey, the berries are in the water and are thus free game! It's all fair and square.

By the time the bird shoves his face back into the water, Joker has just about picked the berries off completely to put into his net. Well, the mouth of a fish in his net, but it's fine. The fish is dead. It's as good as carrying space anyway. Feeling the splash again, he glances up in interest. Oh, more fruit... But this time the bird is holding them in his beak, as if to tease him. Rude!

Still, he starts to idly circle around up the line, gauging if those fruits move at all.

Oh hey~~ 10, of course

[silentscales]

Snake was bringing in remarkable crowds for this tiny carnival. Sure, they had decided to stop travelling so that they can keep their tanked cash cow. That doesn't mean they did anything more than the pure basics to set up the cramped tank.

Snake could barely lay at the bottom of the cold and empty bottom to sleep. He's drifting near the bottom now, his long snake-or-eel-like tail curled underneath him. He rests his head against the edge of the tank, occasionally flinching or moving around with agitation when someone inevitably taps on the tanks.

He's exhausted, and underfed, and there are sores on his skin, as well as scars in his scales. He's listless and drifting, and the expression on his face is mostly lifeless until someone taps the glass a little too many times in succession. That's the only time he reacts anymore, giving a the audience a hiss that can't be heard through the water, but showing his many sharp teeth and rushing the glass.

[pipers_son]

Carnivals being able to stay in one place is quite a rarity, honestly. Enough of a rarity that when Joker goes to help scout out the next town, he can't help but have his curiosity piqued. The whole trick of a traveling carnival is that it brings something exciting and new and strange to the humdrum mundanity which makes up so many people's lives- a burst of color and warmth. If it sticks around too long, well, then it loses all of that appeal... So best to just be brief, passing through, and leave when it's been long enough and they can justify the expense of plopping down for that long.

Yet when he noses about the town, it seems that the secret seems to be one exhibit in particular...

...And he can't say he's particularly pleased when he sees what all the interest is about.

People like the strange, the unusual, the things they hardly ever see in their comfortable lives... but, unfortunately, that means they'll often treat people which don't fit their definition of normal as less than. He's more than familiar with that, which is why, outside of his own traveling home, Joker keeps his right hand tucked away hidden in the pocket of his coat. Speaking of tucked in...

As the group of excitable and chattering carnival-goers begins to pass on, the delight of the fish-man (snake man?) now passing, Joker takes a second to slyly slip out of it, making sure to stay out of sight from the carnival workers not stuck in a cramped tank. He waits, hidden in the darker areas, until he doesn't hear anyone, before slipping out to venture close to the tank himself. Poor sod really does look listless...

"Suppose it would be too much ta think ya know English, wouldn't it?" he mutters as he draws down into a crouch by the tank.

Oh hello there <3

[silentscales]

Snake does speak English, but he could only guess at that being the question, as sound does not travel well between air and water, but he'd seen enough people speaking outside his tank that he had learned to catch a few words.

He had been too scared to speak with anyone, though. Abuse was not the kind of thing that inclines someone to speak with their captors. No one else had given him reason either, and while this man is clearly a little different, he wasn't sure just how.

He does wake up a bit more, his tail flicking as he pulls away from the front of the tank, skeptically looking over the man from the shadows. Even if he keeps his mouth closed, there's an obvious intelligence in his eyes as he watches the stranger to see what he's planning. He does give Joker a bit of something, though, tilting his ear more towards him and then looking up to bring Joker's attention to how he had no room to surface in his tank.

[pipers_son]

Well, he guesses that's kind of typical. If fish had a language all their own, that would possibly be an even stranger discovery than to find one that was half human to boot. So perhaps it's really a bit much for English to be on the table as well.

Still, his head tilts back as he follows the fish man's gaze, and he hums. "So just-" Right, no English. Joker instead does a bit of miming, flipping one hand back to mimic an opening hatch.

[silentscales]

Snake looks him dead in the eye and nods. He swims to the top, then, eager for Joker to do something to give him even the slightest bit more freedom.

[pipers_son]

There they go! Communication is always possible, so long as you have two hands and are a good mime. Well, Joker supposes one could be a good mime without two hands, but it seems like it would be a lot harder. He glances around quickly to make sure he won't be interrupted anytime soon before straightening up to get a good look at the top.

It seems locked, but that's fine. He's a scoundrel for good reason, and that reason sometimes means carrying lockpicks (or hair pins, which are sometimes good enough) on his person. It takes only a quick moment before he's able to open the top.

[silentscales]

Snake gets to the surface, taking a breath of air from above the water, but he has to press his face against the bars to do so. He drops back down when the top initially is pulled away, but after a moment he realizes that it's all okay and heads back to the surface, raising his head above the water.

He's breathing like someone who has finally gotten some fresh after being in thick smog for too long. He keeps his eyes on Joker, watching the strange man curiously.

[pipers_son]

"There we go~." And since the good fish-snake-man can clearly understand what he's saying, Joker eases back with one hand on his hip. "Much better, yeah?" As long as he can keep nodding or shaking his head, he thinks they'll be able to keep up a halfway decent conversation. "Been like that a while?"