badliifechoiice2 | mermaid oh murmur into my ear

mermaid oh murmur into my ear

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?"

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.

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.

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.

The merman is... not smiling anymore. So that... well, it might be good. Ginko isn't sure.

He guesses he'll find out.

Ginko edges closer, leaving his knife behind on the deck. If he does end up needing it unexpectedly, he'll have to dive for it, at this distance, which he hopes will be reassuring enough for the merman. Of course, if his unexpected passenger turns out to be malicious, he... might be screwed.

For the moment, though, he kneels down about by the merman's waist. He doesn't reach for the netting caught around his necklaces right away; that seems like a quick route to a broken wrist.

Instead, he nods toward the worst of the tangling, then looks to the merman's face again, trying to keep as much of the tension out of his expression as he can. He's still not sure how much good words will do here, but, just in case: "Can I try and get that untangled?"

For what reassurance is available, it's that the merman hasn't tried to reach out to grab him yet, or do anything else suitably aggressive. He just continues to watch silently, craning his head to keep track of him. At least there's no narrowed eyes, pupils as normal as can be guessed for something that's part human and part fish....

Nothing tense, so far. If anything, he seems relaxed enough as he tilts his head towards where the netting is wrapped up around his waist.

He'll take that as permission and hope he's right, then. It takes Ginko another moment to tear his eyes away from the merman's, but he manages to turn his attention to the netting instead. Some of it is just looped around itself, making the mess look - and probably feel - worse than it is. So he sets to work on that first, untangling the knots and the netting with practiced hands until it's been simplified down as much as he can manage.

Now is the tough part, though, because it... definitely is wrapped around the merman's waist, far enough that he doubts he can just pull it away without moving him. Shit, this was already weirdly intimate enough.

He looks to the merman again, one hand pulling uncertainly at the net in a weak effort to indicate what he needs to do. "Could you, uh... roll toward me? Or lift your back. I think I've almost got this part."

All of that weight wrapped thickly around near his tail has been hellish, honestly, and Ginko will be able to literally feel the relief as the scaled muscle beneath his touch begins to ease up instead of twisted in pain. There's still the main problem, of course.... but it's definitely made a difference.

However, the next part will definitely be a little more difficult. Meeting Ginko's eyes, he makes a bit of a face with his tongue sticking out inbetween his teeth.

....Is that a 'no' or....

Ginko just... stares at him for a few moments, his brow creasing as he tries to decipher that. Is he injured so that he can't comply? Does he just not want to? Of course, that's assuming that the merman can understand him at all.

Wondering is getting him nowhere. Ginko takes a deep breath and looks at the netting again, then back at the merman's face. "...I'm going to try and lift your back. If you don't want me to... I don't know, slap your tail twice or something."

He's really putting a lot of faith into this fish man's ability to understand him, jeez. He slides a hand under the small of his back, getting ready to lift him up a bit and unwind the net from his waist.

Holy shit-

Ginko can now consider the mystery of a merman's ability to understand English to be at approximately zero, because the sudden lift comes by complete surprise if the light flailing is any indication. Through the net, fumbling, one clawed hand digs its fingers through the netting to dig desperately into Ginko's clothing. There's no other fighting there, however, just a wide eyed look...

And the reveal that, while his position has made it hard to tell until now, he's completely missing a right arm.

WHOOPS. Ginko flinches as the merman starts flailing, half expecting those claws to dig into his arms or face. When they don't, he works in a hurry to get that net unwound as fast as he can before the merman changes his mind.

"Sorry, sorry... almost done." His eye drops to that missing arm, and he makes a quick mental note of it. That just adds on another reason why he was having trouble getting himself free, huh.

He finally finishes getting that part of the net untangled. Ginko sets the merman back down, gently, then sits back on his heels, holding up his hands, not touching him anymore. He looks him over, working out what might still need to be done to get him free. "Okay. Sorry about that."

Repeating that probably isn't doing much good, huh.

It's not really doing much good, but at least the merman isn't flailing anymore. Instead, he's carefully inspecting himself, tugging his fingers free of the netting so that he can try and feel along his waist. After a few moments of making sue that there's no apparent bruising or anything else, he looks back up at Ginko and grins.

Grin, not a smile. No teeth, notably.

Catching on quickly, he points up towards his neck where the necklaces are still a mess. As Ginko saw, he's been working on them, but...

Up to this point, Ginko's been making a lot of guesses - that bits of the merman's body language might be good, that maybe he's not as tense or as suspicious as he had been to start with. This, though, he feels pretty confident about. A quick self-examination, a smile with no bared teeth - that seems pretty definitively like a good thing.

He nods, relaxing a little bit himself out of relief, and leans over to start getting the necklaces freed from the net. One shell at a time, he unwraps and untangles loops of netting; it's somewhat more tedious work than freeing up his waist had been, which isn't too surprising, since it's... well, it's a bigger mess.

Working from here, though, also gives him a chance to get a better look at the merman's face. Which is... actually a slightly weird experience, looking at someone who looks so human and knowing he's... part fish, or something.

Ginko isn't the only one finding this to be an incredibly fascinating experience. Now that a lack of aggression has been clearly established, he's a lot more relaxed and interested as he takes in Ginko's face. That personal bubbles are being breached doesn't seem to bother him at all. Eventually, some minutes into Ginko's patient work at his neck, he struggles to stay upright enough so that he can lightly pat at Ginko's hand to get him to stop. Once that's been done, he starts to adjust himself, dragging his not particularly elegant lower body along the boat's deck until he can mange to sit up a little better.

This isn't for Ginko's benefit, although he does tap his arm again when he's done to let him know he can continue. Instead, while Ginko is still there in front of him, he starts to carefully feel along the man's face. It starts at the jaw, his fingertips for some reason just a little bit sticky.

"--Something wrong?" Ginko stops his work and sits back as Joker pulls himself upright. So he wanted to change position - makes sense. Ginko can't imagine it would be comfortable to lie in one place for this long.

He leans in to keep untangling the net, but he's barely started when his hands still again at the brush of the merman's fingers against his face. It doesn't feel like an objection, so he keeps working after a moment... somewhat distractedly this time. It's kind of weird, feeling fingertips dragging over his jaw, the stickiness all the more evident for how they inevitably catch on the layer of stubble on his skin. "Uh... what's this about?"

Ginko really should know better than to continue speaking Japanese to someone who very clearly doesn't understand the language. The fishman just hums, low and lazy, not stopping his casual exploration of Ginko's face. The stubble is definitely particularly interesting to him, apparently, because he rubs his thumb against it a few times.

With his interest satisfied, he flicks his tongue out around his lips thoughtfully. "Uh?" he mimics, low and soft in his throat.

Listen, he's not actually expecting to get very much across with this. But it would feel strange to just go silent, with how human this guy's upper half looks. ...Besides which, he's kind of prone to mumbling to animals and the like anyway.

He tries his best to ignore the touching for the time being - though it's tempting to just push the merman's hand away. He doesn't know how that would go over, though, so... he opts to stick it out until it stops. That soft sound gets his attention again, though, and he raises his eyebrows slightly. "...Are you copying me?"

That's interesting. And possibly a further sign of intelligence. Ginko examines the merman's face as he talks; maybe he can at least get a concept through here. "Do you have a name? I'm Ginko." He sets a hand briefly on his own chest before going back to untangling the netting.

He's sure doing something, Ginko, part of which is just humming some more at the question. Clearly he'll ignore that, since it doesn't yet much any sense to him. Instead, he stares back, apparently now a little more amused if the quirk of his lips is any indication. Curiously, he watches the hand as it moves away from the netting and settles on Ginko's chest. In turn, he redirects his own hand down from his face- you're welcome, Ginko- and presses it right over the man's heart.

"Ginko," he says, mispronouncing it just a little bit as he works his tongue around the word, some sounds a little too sharp on his tongue.

Okay, well, if there's one thing he's learning here, it's that merpeople don't seem to have much sense of personal space. He startles, and... slides his hand gently under the merman's to dislodge it as he replies.

"Yeah, that's... close enough. I'm Ginko." He smiles hesitantly, and maneuvers the merman's hand over to his own chest. "What about you?"

Personal space is for the weak! Or, really, those who aren't already used to swimming in schools, where fin brushes up against fin, and the ocean goes on for ages and ages with plenty of empty space that's just too depressing to think about.

Something like that, maybe, although he doesn't offer such a thing.

Instead, he cocks his head curiously to the side, fins along the side of his face perking up in faint interest. "Ginko?" he repeats, a little better this time, as he taps his fingers against his own chest. Ah, language barriers. A little tricky, sometimes.

"No, uh-- just me." Ginko shakes his head and pats himself again. "I'm Ginko, you're... probably not."

He can't guarantee that this fish man's name isn't also Ginko, but that does seem unlikely. Either way, though, this is going nowhere so Ginko just... shakes his head and goes back to untangling the netting. "Forget it. Almost done with this, anyway."

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

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SO FOUND THIS FINALLY AFTER HALF A YEAR....

\o/ YOU DONE IT

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