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

By the time Makoto emerges, Chikusa isn't looking at him, although his arms aren't raised up to shield his face. Instead, they're loosely wrapped around him, the same kind of gesture he's always had. Not too tight, because he doesn't want to give too much away.... But always when he doesn't feel comfortable, when he can almost feel his mind start to drift off away from his body and needs something to anchor himself down.

"I left for college," he says quietly, staring down at the water still. In the darkness, he almost can't see his own body down there. Almost. "And of course I'd hide." He doesn't move his head, still, but his gaze flickers over to where the gun is holstered underneath the water.

... It's painful, watching that kind of gesture. His movements slow and he has to kick hard again to keep himself up above the surface.

"You left for college and didn't come back. No note, no call, no nothing. And with the reports of that mermaid around... of course I'd thought you'd gotten hurt. I know you were around when that mermaid escaped the aquarium. I... I want to believe you wouldn't let something like that out..." Something too inhumanly clever, something dangerous... but the clues add up. He knows how much Chikusa can be swayed sometimes.

He moves closer, hands out. He doesn't have the gun in his hands, or any other kind of weapon. "I missed you. You're my brother. We're supposed to be there for each other, and I though... that I wasn't there for you and you just..." Died, but he doesn't want to say it again.

Something like that- "They were torturing him," he says sharply, the words leaving him in a quiet rush. Jellyfish don't have hearts, but do mer regardless? Either way, something in his chest is hurting. His tail gives a pulse, a dozen different frills moving him back through the water and away from those hands. It hurts to do it, but it hurts just as much to know what his brother thinks.

"They'd electrocute him... to get him to do what they wanted. He didn't have any scales on his hands anymore... Because they kept taking them from him." He's really hunched into himself now, the myriad of little tentacles that make up his hair hiding his face further. "And they lied about things he did."

He's quiet for a few long moments, before disappearing under the surface briefly. When he bobs up again, he pushes his hair out of the way. He just... needed a moment. "And I was supposed to know that how? I was scared, Chikusa." It's not an excuse and he knows it. But he'd panicked and lost it, and he turns slightly, staring up at the sky.

"I hurt you. ... I can't make up for that." He'd seen the damage. He draws his gun again... and pops out the ammo slide, flinging the bullets as far out into the water as he can. He pulls the pieces of the gun apart and flings them in different directions before looking at Chikusa again, wiping his face. "I was lost without you. ... You're my little brother. You keep me on track. What am I supposed to do without you?"

That, at least, has him ducking his head a little guiltily. "I would have come back," he mutters down at the water. And he would have, for some things. The ocean is wide and vast, after all. So unlike the land he's been anchored to for all his life- most of his life now. And he's still not great at swimming, either.... Let alone the abilities that let Chrome and Mukuro shift from sea to land so easily.

It takes a moment before he looks up again, still half hidden underneath his bell. "I would have."

"... I had no way of knowing that, either." He lets out a long breath, reaching a hand out. He just wants to touch his brother once more. "Let me... at least pretend, for a moment..."

Pretend things aren't like they are. Pretend Chikusa hasn't become something inhuman. Pretend he's sane again.

Even with how his head is tilted, he can still just barely see that hand reaching out to him. For a second, a twist of longing hits him. He's never really had anyone besides his brother, even in a family raised by parents. If there'd been anything, anyone, to want to go back to...

"I won't feel the same," he says quietly, eyes still locked on that hand. "I'm colder now. But..."

But if that's fine...

"But you're my brother." Even if everything else in the world changes, that simple fact is enough. It's enough to love, to care about the little boy he'd held in his arms once upon a time.

He swims closer, his expression full of longing. He just wants this, just for a moment.

That's enough. And as long as that's enough.... Making sure the tide doesn't force the more venomous parts of him towards his own family, Chikusa slowly unwinds his arms from around himself. A part of him is actually nervous- more than that. Scared.

He's seen how they treat mer, listened to Mukuro on his venomous tirades on how other species are treated. And they both know, from the split now going through his bell, how easy it is for people to harm things that aren't like what they know. And... he's not like how his brother knew him once, not right now. The hand which extends itself out past the safety of his bell shimmers slick and strange in the moonlight, delicate with how thin he's always been. Too smooth, too cool, as if it could fold underneath a tight enough grip....

Is this still alright? He doesn't know.

He holds the other's hand, careful not to press too hard. It's really tempting to just pull him close, but he's not sure if that would even be okay. He sniffs, trying to fight against tears.

"... Chikusa. I... if I let you go, am I ever going to see you again?" He's not sure he could handle it. He's not certain that his heart won't break, leaving him to wither away.

What a question to answer, and Chikusa doesn't answer it for a long moment, just stares at their linked hands. It's weird, to see how different he's become with something else that he can compare himself to...

"Can you keep a secret?" he asks quietly at last, still not looking up. "An important one. One that... can't ever be found out by someone else..."

... Something's wrong. More than it already is. He can tell, from the voice and the way Chikusa doesn't look up, and he can practically feel it hanging in the air.

A secret... "Of course. If it's for you, I'd do anything." It's true - there's no one in the world he cares for more, wants to protect more. When he lost Chikusa, he lost most of himself.

"...I'm not supposed to let anyone else know.." No one human, at any rate, and he really is inhuman now, isn't he? But Makoto, his brother...

A slow, wet breath, and there's salt heavy in his mouth. It doesn't sting as much as when he'd only been human. "They... can walk on land, too.... I don't know how, yet, but...."

... But maybe, at some point, he can. He can visit his brother. Makoto moves forward and tries to take Chikusa in his arms, not caring that he might get hurt. He misses his brother so much...

"I..." His voice is hoarse, and he tries to speak. "... I have a question." There's something there, something inside his mind. He's not sure that he can push it so hard, but... "How did you... even... no." That's a different question, one he doesn't care so much about. "Would you... take me with you?"

He can't bear to lose Chikusa again, even for a little bit.

There are a lot of questions to ask here. Chikusa knows that there have to be. If it were him, in the same situation.... Yeah. He'd have a lot of questions. With half of his mind focused on keeping his lower half away just in case- which means mostly twisting around a little as his brother comes in for a hug so that the current works in his favor- he kneads his fingers into the back of his shirt. Underneath the soft material of his bell, the world seems a lot cooler, with the outside world awash in blue.

The question that does come isn't the one he expects at all, and Chikusa jolts up a little bit, staring in quiet confusion. Does he mean- "Take you with... how?" he asks, tentative, cautious and not willing to be hopeful.

"Take me with you. Out to sea, under the sea... it doesn't matter. You're the only one I've ever cared about. I don't want to lose you again. I'd follow you wherever you went. Just..." He pulls back a little, staring Chikusa in the eyes.

"Just look at what happened when you disappeared. I don't think I could deal with that again. Please don't make me. Please." He doesn't please, never pleads, but this? This, he can't help. The idea of losing Chikusa again makes him feel sick.

It's weird to see his brother like this, looking at him so desperately. More than weird- terrifying. Terrifying, and he knows he can't help as much as he wants to. Without his glasses, the wide confused look to his eyes is all the more apparent. A good thing, considering how blank Chikusa can get otherwise.

"I don't know how." It's a quiet admission. "But Mukuro- and Chrome- they could do it. They could help."

He lets out a deep breath. Other people - people he can't trust. But if it means being with his brother... "If they'd agree." He needs this. He can't lose Chikusa again. He'd just go even more insane.

"Chrome will." It's said in a quiet simple truth. Mukuro, as far as Chikusa knows, has always been a part of the sea... but him and Chrome are different. They don't belong to it so wholly, were never born in it or lived there. They were just running away... so she should understand this situation.

...Although that reminds him... he looks back to the open water. "...I need to go back to where I was waiting for them..."

"... Are you... going to be gone long? I can stay somewhere nearby..." His bike is still on the beach, after all. He's afraid of letting Chikusa getting too far away. He might just... disappear again.

"...It's by the shore..." Because he's not recovered enough to be in open waters. He's not well enough to be near regular humans, either, apparently, but at least it's easier to hide that way. Tilting his head up a little bit, he blinks at the hole in his bell.

"...I'm not sure I could make it." Now that he thinks about it.

"... It's my fault." He frowns and takes Chikusa's arm. "I can lead you over there. If they have a problem with it, then I'll deal with it. Let me at least try to make up for this a little."

Well, it's not like he has a choice otherwise, and Chikusa is feeling too dazed to think of anything else he could do. So he gives a slight nod before looking between them. "Will you be able to swim all the way there... and in wet clothes...?" It seems far too tiring, at least from Chikusa's point of view. That's how he would have thought even before he become more aquatic than mammalian.

"I'll make it." He has to. "I'm not leaving you out here to be defenseless." He starts swimming, mostly doing a modified side stroke. It's difficult with one of his arms occupied, but he's managing. Barely. "I... have to."

He's tiring, and he knows it, but he can't give up. Not when Chikusa needs help, not when he's at fault for the other's pain.

Makoto can say whatever he wants, but the movement of his body is a lot more difficult to lie about. Chikusa stays silent for a moment, trying to help as best as he can with with the pulse and push of his lower half, yet he has to say something eventually.

"Makoto.... You're going to wear yourself out. Go rest."

mermaid oh murmur into my ear

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