MERMAY MEME

[pcrtiallystcrs]

It's May and you know what that means: it's gonna be mers.
From the traditional to the octopi and jellyfish to selkies to turtles, come one and come all- even you folks who just want to smooch a fish. ...... Or keep one.

Comment below and roll for scenarios and please tag appropriately!

If one is human...

1. Abandon Ship: Maybe you were exploring the sea, but suddenly debris started floating down. It looks like something is happening on the surface- and perhaps someone needs saving... but from the waters, or from you?

2. Up Above: What's that casting such a huge shadow on the ocean floor? It's not a whale, and it's moving so fast- clearly it's time to investigate. Now, will you see something grand? Or will you get caught in a net? 

3. The Saltwater Room: There's always been a strange window in the cliffside, and you never once knew what it was for. Every now and then you'll give it a look, but you never really find anything. Except this time. This time, the room has someone inside of it. And they just saw you, too.

4. O Captain: Maybe you aren't the mermaid. Maybe you're a sailor or a pirate on a journey, seeking something only a merfolk has the answer to... but will they help you? Or will you try to take your guide by force?

5. Captivity: Maybe you were captured recently. Maybe it was a long time ago. Maybe you've been in this tank all your life. A human keeps you on display, sometimes bringing guests in to see you and oh, they gasp in awe.... but maybe one doesn't. Or maybe your eyes are on your keeper instead. 

6. The House on the Sand: You grew up by the beach, and side by side with a human who lived in a house on the beach. You were their closest kept secret, their closest confidant- and they, yours. Until one day they vanished and the house was empty. Years passed... but now, the light is on in the window again. And you'd know the person at the shoreline anywhere, even after all this time.

7. The Little Mermaid: You fell in love with a human, and you'd do anything to join your love on the surface... or maybe, they could join you. 

8. Wildcard: Your city now.

If both are merfolk...

1. New Seas: All your life you've lived in the reef- and you know the ocean is huge, of course, but your little piece of sandy waters is all you've ever known. You know everyone in the school... until one day, you see a new face in the water. 

2. Shipwreck: Now here's something special- a long-since-downed ship, just full of all sorts of neat human treasures. Maybe you're curious, maybe human artifacts sell well back in the market at the reef- just be careful. You aren't alone.

3. The Sea Witch: Everyone knows about the banished witch in the depths- how the king of the seas cast them out. Everyone knows you shouldn't make deals with them, the cost is much too great. But you have a wish no one else can help you with.

4. Story Time: Sometimes you don't want an adventure. Sometimes, you just want to get snacks with the gang and tell outrageous stories about those weird leggy fuckers that can't swim very well. The more off-the-mark, the better- someone's always going to believe every word.

5. Undersea Temple: Maybe you shouldn't be here. But the long since empty halls are calling- perhaps literally. You and your friend are exploring holy grounds, be it once human or merfolk's. Maybe it's just eerie. Maybe you aren't alone.

6. Lord of the Sea: It happens rarely but sometimes the Ocean Deity leaves their territory and checks on the various undersea cities and reefs. Perhaps you are part of the procession, or perhaps you get to meet a god for the first time. Don't hide behind your tailfin too much.

7. Pearl of the Sea: Uh oh. You, a lowly commoner, fell in love with the Mermaid King's child. Whatever will you do? ... Other than give up. That's not on the table at all.

8. Wildcard: There's plenty of ideas in the sea!

Comments

[oh gosh welp xD]

[floatsaway]

[It is indeed!! Most shipwrecks have a wild collection of books littering the seafloor, and those that haven't completely withered away have been kept by curious merfolk for a long time. Eventually, various languages learned from numerous books cultivated all over the various oceans meant the language of sirens was bound to change and shift as well. Many merfolk were actually bilingual for this reason alone.

But this little...Kat he said? This Kat seems to be having some difficulty, so Ochako just waits patiently as he stumbles a bit with the writing. Her tail flutters behind her, and she does look around a bit, shifting and moving from the porthole to remain unseen as people come and go up above, but overall she stay close.]

My name is Ochako!
I've never seen a Kat before...only humans.
Staying long?

[She means is the ship staying long - most passenger vessels like this don't stay arounf for more than maybe two weeks at a time. She doesn't stray close, either, but there are times when humans come in large numbers...they drop some neat items into the sea. Ochako's a bit of a collector, and her satchel is stuffed with things she's collected, ready to be sold for goods back in her small, aquatic world. Her life isn't exactly easy there, too...and keeping food on the table gets hard, even out at sea.

Trading rare oddities from the human world is the best thing she can do to get food, goods, and necessities.]

[that is such a cute way of tweaking her backstory to fit!!]

[catinspats]

[Guta mouthed her name while trying to read it, them thought for a moment about the rest of her reply. True, the ship won't stop long... they were just going to restock and will likely set sail again by morning! But it was adventure he was seeking, when he head out, and riches and fame! A mermaid's already tons more exciting an adventure than just working on a ship! After a moment, he put on a toothy grin and tried to act casual about his reply:
Yes!

Maybe he could go an underwater adventure! Or get rich off of pictures of a genuine mermaid! Or something like that...]

[thank you!! ;w;]

[floatsaway]

[A picture would probably not get Guta much... While the merfolk aren't as technologically advanced as the humans, they still knew to avoid the "click" of a camera shutter and swim away as fast as possible when they saw a device that could make it. Nothing good ever comes of those things, the stories say, and merfolk who've encountered them were said to have been spirited away...never returning to the seas again.

But a deep dive through the reef is absolutely something Ochako would be happy to share with a friend!! Some humans were kindly, curious and sweet, making oaths or promises to never speak of what they saw in the depths. There were legends, myths, and the reclusive merfolk preferred them to stay that way. The oceans were already saturated with human interference, no need for any more if they knew their stories and folktales were true.]

Good!! :D
Do you like to swim?

[They can play together!!]

[catinspats]

[He hummed happily as he wrote, his long, short-haired tail curling and swishing in amusement. He'd love to play! He didn't get many chances to, since he had to work and support himself, and the rest of the cabin crew are adults.

He planted the paper against the glass again, text climbing sideways up the margin now.
I am an OK I can swim OK!
Not very good.
My furr gets wet and gross.]

[floatsaway]

[Oh!! The tail moves so oddly! Back and forth, almost like a shark's s-pattern when it swims...or the merfolk with shark traits. Ochako's eyes zero in on it and she beams, curious to see how this Kat can swim with both tail and all those other appendages and such.

But, hm...fur? What is fur? Ochako's sure she's read about it before, but never really understood what it was. Her head tilts to one side curiously. Wait, wait...it much be that stuff all over him! That mossy stuff!!]

Fur?
That stuff all over?
I can help with that, but it's kind of weird...

[catinspats]

[He looked confused, but interested, tilting his head.

Weird how?

Could she give him something to make his fur resistant to water? Will he get a diving suit? Maybe she has magical powers! Magbe he could swim around jn giant bubble full of air! Or maybe…]

[floatsaway]

Oil.
We get it from otters.
Repels water.

[It's a gland they have, mostly the adults, that they rub on their fur that makes it repel water and keeps their babies afloat on the waves when they need to gather food. It's not the greatest...and it definitely doesn't have a very pleasant odor, but man alive...it will make his fur super silky and fluffy once he washes it off in a proper bath.]

[catinspats]

[So no water in my furr?

He looked surprised, amazed! He never would have thought of that, but it sounds like it would work! How amazing!

Wen When do we go?]

[floatsaway]

Yup!! ^u^

[Ochako nods her head on the other side of the glass, beaming back at the little Kat. Her long tail flutters behind her as she looks around a bit, then up at the dancing lights above the water's surface. Time isn't exactly easy to tell in the ocean's depths, especially the deeper you got, where no light could reach...but with the light up top now, it had to be fairly early morning.]

When can you come?
I can get the oil and come back.
An hour??

[catinspats]

I can wayt an hour! An hour is good.
[He was so excited at the prospect! He was eager to join her, not thinking of anything else, swept up in the excitement. He should get back to the surface! Maybe he can still communicate if he put the paper and pen in a bag?]

[floatsaway]

Okay!!
See you by the water, then!

[And with a wave of her hand and a flick of her long, fan-like tail (and after wiping clean the messages from the porthole, oops), Ochako disappears from the glass and back into the depths. It does take a little while to procure some of that oil she was talking about, but she does manage to get enough of it for a few trinkets she picked up before she met the cute little Kat thing.

After that, she goes home to deposit her things, pick up a bigger mesh bag to store things in, and packs away some essentials like food, some medicinal sea-plants, and other little doo-dads. Then, it's back to the surface again!! Ochako has a mouthful of sea grapes in her mouth as a snack to give her some energy, and she's already peeking around the many boats on the harbor, keeping to the shadows and only visible enough that her eyes and top of her head peer out from the water.]

Am I too early...?

[catinspats]

[Don’t worry, he’s just hiding really high up, Kats cats love high places!

He comes sliding down the sail of one of the ships, swinging down the rest of the way, landing on his feet at the bow of the ship.

Guta peered at her from the ship, then, quietly, climbed the bowsprit, making his way close to the very tip of it, and hung down over the waves, still gripping the bowsprit with his legs, but extending a free, furry hand.

[floatsaway]

[Oh!! Ochako ducks down under the water at first, somewhat startled, but peeks up again when she notices nothing is really happening. She spots her new friend and perks right up, going so far as to wave and actually poke out of the water up to her chest. A risky thing for a mermaid, but usually she can slip back into the water before anyone is the wiser of what they actually saw.]

Uwaah, you're so acrobatic!! Like a penguin, but out of water!

[Since, uh...she only really knows aquatic creatures, and how they move. The birds and gulls are things she's only really seen for a few minutes before needing to go back below the surface.]

[catinspats]

Acrobatic… penguin? Are they acrobatic?

[Guta’s ears twitched and he looked confused while trying to picture a penguin doing acrobatic stunts.]

I never saw one! Are there any around?

[He peered down at the water, as if thinking he might see one swimming under there.]

[floatsaway]

Yeah!! They way they move and shoot through the water, going left, right, up, down...it's like they're twirling all around! And then they can just pwoosh! Shoot right out the water like it's nothing!!

[She laughs, waving her arms animatedly before remembering she has to remain on the down-low, lest she be spotted by someone unsavory. Most humans are kind, like this Kat, but there are definitely a good bunch that aren't so pleasant at all...]

I think the water's a bit too warm for most of them right now, but a few will swim out here from time to time to visit us and nest. Right now, the most you'll see are seals and sealions - they're, um...eh...eheheh.

[Ochako rubs the back of her head, her scales shimmering a brighter pink as she blushes.]

Courting. For mates.

[this sounds like it’s going Looney Tunes xD]

[catinspats]

They sound really talented!

A sea… lion?

[He blinked and looked at his furry hands, unsheathing his claws, before tucking them away again and smacking his hands to his cheeks in surprise.]

You don’t think they’ll mix me up with a seal or sealion if I’m covered in seal oil, do you?! Who’s courtin’ who? The guys or the girls?

[He is totally thinking of passing himself off as a female if it’ll get less attention.]

LOL, it kinda does. also sorry for slowness, i've got a lot in my game taking up my time ;A;

[floatsaway]

They really are!! I wish I could see the much larger ones, and the bigger groups, but the waters where they gather are way, way too cold for even my kind...u-unless we bulk up a bit.

[Eating a lot to fatten up, really, since there's no other way to avoid the sheer cold of the ocean's temperatures in the arctic. Certain skins and pelts can help a little, but not much, sadly. Not enough to stay in the water for very long. But oh gosh, this little Kat is getting all kinds of flustered. Ochako holds up her hands (which are clawed and webbed, slightly), chuckling to herself.]

The males court the females, but I doubt they'd think you're a seal or sealion, ehehe...you look way too different! Besides, I can talk to them and let them know to leave you alone. They're not so bad in the water, mostly their, um...bullying happens on the shore, when they sunbathe and stuff.

[no problem, I’m a bit slow too, work tends to wipe me out too, so we’re both kept busy o/]

[catinspats]

Oh, phew! [So he could stay just as he was! That’s a relief.]

We should be fine under the sea, then, huh?

So, how will I use the oil? Do I gotta hold my breath? Does it smell funny?

[Excited, if slightly nervous, tail-flicking!]

[floatsaway]

Mm, that's right. And if you're with me, you'll be okay - I'm a really fast swimmer!!

[She raises her tailfins up to the water to wiggle them with a wink, but only for a second or two. No need to have anyone and everyone seeing there's a mermaid at the pier. As she moves closer, she reaches up and hands over her mesh rucksack, which had the oil inside a stopped vial.]

It um...i-it does kinda smell musty, but you rub it on your, um...fur? If you rub it on that, it'll repel water for the most part...at least for a few hours. But if we go diving, you'll need to hold your breath. Ehehe, most land-dwellers don't have gills like we merfolk do, after all!!

Oh, um...eh...just don't sniff the stuff after you pull the stopper. It's...r-really pungent. [Not bad, but...very oceanic and musky. Like low tide - salty, wet, muddy...not pleasant.]

[catinspats]

[Guta listened carefully, nodding at her explanation. He wondered a bit why she stammered so much, but didn’t feel like he should point it out.

He accepted the vial.]

Got it!

[He took a few, slow breaths, before one big one to hold, and pulled the stopper!

Being a cat, even without intentionally takinf a breath, the strength of the scent still irritated his nose a tiny bit, but the salty sea scent wasn’t that bad at all, or even all that unpleasant! He was used to it, so it made it much easier.]

There!

[Slick and shiny! Almost comically smooth, too, but he should be ready, huh?]