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

[itsjustanaccount]

Frankly, the only reason Kei Tsukishima is here is because of a dumb lottery project.

That's it, nothing else. His interests aren't really geared toward the aquatic. If he had his way, he'd be at the local museum, heart squeezed tight in his chest at the idea of looking at real life dinosaur bones up close and personal. The aquarium is for different types of people- romantics, maybe? People who always go to the beach when summer vacation rolls around? Who knows.

Still, it's not as if he hates the idea of spending his time in the aquarium, some hours from his own small town home. He can always do other things, when he's not studying for this project, and it's not horrible. He just doesn't care. That doesn't mean he comes unprepared, however. With a backpack full of spare folders and notebooks, Kei makes his way through the aquarium towards its closing eyes. That's the deal, after all. Get a look at it when there are less people, go behind the scenes eventually as everything is cleaned up...

But that's for later. Right now, he just roams, before a sign catches his eye. Mermaid Exhibit. Right, he remembers hearing a lot about that kind of thing on commercials and internet ads... Well, if nothing else, it can be a good focal point for his project, he guesses. So, six feet of blond apathy, he changes his course.

Really makes him wonder what kind of tank they'd even have for a mermaid...

[backstory]

The end of the day was about the only time Kija could bring himself to even somewhat relax. Cramped inside a small tank so that the paying customers would get a good look at the big draw to the aquarium, he was forced to endure the endless pictures, children banging on the glass, and questions that people asked. There was a small call button that allowed communication through the thick cage-- the most common question of all 'Can you speak', promptly ignored along with the rest of them.

He loathed them and he loathed this place with every fiber of his being, and yet... he was tired and ready for them to open the tank back up to the larger pool. For 'exercise' they said, but it was only during the evening and night when he was able to stretch his fins out and move comfortably among some of the other aquatic life. They stopped allowing him in the larger pool when customers were around after it resulted in them getting splashed and his refusal to 'play nice'. They were worried about public safety, too. Most of the keepers kept their distance from him, especially because the large tank was relatively unsecured. It wasn't like he could do anything much unless they got too near the water though. That's why this place was a prison. In a fish tank surrounded by nothing but land, escape was... near impossible. He had already been here for two months.

Movement caught his attention. Blue eyes lifted up and Kija watched the entrance to his 'room'. He had thought the rest of the customers had begun to filter out, but a young man wandered toward his exhibit. Reproachful, Kija fixed him with an unhappy glower and wondered if they would keep him locked in the small tank with the human boy here, or if they would still open the gate and allow him more freedom. Even in the pool, there was little there but empty water. They had discovered he knew how to throw things and promptly removed anything that could be weaponized.

If he merely glared and made his discontent obvious, he wondered if the human would leave sooner rather than linger. His long, glittering white tail shifted, and the fins along his ears flattened. He just had to look as unapproachable as possible.

[itsjustanaccount]

His first thought is that all the social media buzz over how pretty mermaids are isn't just bullshit.

His second thought is that he's simultaneously seen anyone more miserable. And he's a dickish high schooler. He's seen plenty of hormonal misery.

Coming to a stop in front of the glass, he tilts his head to meet the glare straight on, not shying away even remotely. The thing really is half human, or at least half human looking. Only people, not fish, ever look that kind of way when they're defensive. Fish just keep the glassy eyed stare, and sometimes puff up.

Slowly, his gaze drifts across the state of the tank, taking everything in. He'd thought for a creature like this, they'd give something bigger... He knows not every aquarium can afford to keep a giant pool for every single fish or otter or whatever it is that they have, but still. Finally, his attention is drawn to the call button by the glass.

Well. What the hell. Reaching over to press his finger against the button, he leans in on it to speak into the mic. "What's that supposed to do?"

[backstory]

It was talking to him. Truth be told he was used to humans making the attempt by now. He really did ignore it more often than not, much to the regret of the individuals who kept him trapped here. He saw no point in entertaining people, but a flicker of uncertainty flashed across his face.

. . . Did he mean the button? Clearly, he knew if he was talking into it. Or was he mocking him? Somehow it was that thought that ruffled him. Captive as he was, Kija was incredibly proud. That also translated over into easily riled up. He drew up, hands pressed to the glass as he huffed and responded in frustration.

"It means that you should go home already! I'm not going to talk to you!"

. . . Except in telling him so he did exactly that. Talk to him. To human ears, the sounds beneath water were likely somewhat muffled, though the device that allowed communication, to begin with, cleared it up some.

"It's almost closing time, isn't it?"

[itsjustanaccount]

Ha. A smirk crawls its way onto Kei's face at the reaction. So even mermen can be hotheaded types. Good to know. Leaning back, he keeps his finger on the button. It's fine. He can speak loud enough even from a distance.

"Didn't anyone tell you? I'm going to be pending some time after hours here." And now it almost seems like it might be worthwhile. "So you can glare all I want, but I'm not going anywhere. Do you think that's enough even regularly?"