Mermaids and Mayhem

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Maktow turned around, looking guiltily at the water before him. "You can not leave," he said quietly. He wished they could, and yet a small part of him was glad they wild stay with him. Them.

[Raven301]

"I figured as much." Ever said quietly still gazing out across the vast expanse of water, "You can't have people know that you exist." Looking back at Maktow she asked, "How long will you stay here?" she asked gesturing to the island and the shallow water he was laying in.

[senyi]

Thank you for saying that you won't hurt us, Eden remarked. You better not, though. He slid off of the rock, and swam closer to Natalia.

 

"So...age?" he questioned.

[shadow_claw]

I don't know, about five I believe. Namina answered. She turned around, and swam back to shore. Once again, she pulled herself onto the land, and lay down on her stomach. even when a good five feet from the shore, her tail still reached the water. Her tail was built much like an eel's instead of a fish's, which meant her whole tail was purely muscle. It also meant resting on land was awkward.

 

"Wait, we can't go home? How are we going to live when we're suck here? We'll starve!" Matthew asked crossly. He turned in the general direction of Maktow and Ever and scowled. It always seemed like Matthew was in a bad mood. Nobody could really blame him, though. He was going blind after years of being able to see, and wasn't taking the transition well.

[pudding]

Grantaire studied the beach for a moment before he turned and stared at the man that had been rescued. The human girl he had rescued was communicating with a different merman but this human looked agitated. Ignoring the fact his tail had already been rubbed a bit raw from being dragged through the sand, he pulled himself onto the beach and moved closer to the man. "Heh... heh... hello," he said, making a face as he struggled to pronounce the H.

[shadow_claw]

Matthew turned his head only when the merman spoke. He squinted in response, trying to clarify the more than blurry image of Grantiare. This fruitless attempt did nothing but give him a headache. The young man's dark eyebrows knitted together in frustration. "Hello." Matthew grumbled afterwards.

[pudding]

Grantaire tried to think of every human word he knew but nothing seemed to work after the introduction. "Umm..." he muttered, trying to figure out what to say next. "Name?" he asked after a moment of trying to figure out what to say.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Natalia looked down at Eden, more than a little surprised. She had gotten distracted when the female creature decreed that they would all stay there. Just fantastic. "What? Oh, I'm 20," she replied with a frustrated huff , sitting down and crossing her arms. "She can't just keep us here. People will come looking."

 

Maktow lifted his head, then looked away again, shoulders sagging. "Until humans die. M'rillit say we have to take care of you. Never leave until humans gone," he said quietly, looking out over the ocean sadly. He wouldn't be able to travel five miles without the thing chasing him down.

[shadow_claw]

"Matthew. My name is Matthew." The man answered. His same cross expression never left as he silently cursed himself and his poor eyesight. He sighed, and extended a hand to where he thought the merman was. "Nice to meet you."

[pudding]

Grantaire stared at the outstretched hand, his head tilted to the side. Suddenly, his expression lit up. He knew this one! He took the hand gently, mindful of his sharp claws and the patches of scales on his hands then kissed the top of the hand presented to him. He had seen humans do that kind of greeting before and although it seemed quite strange, it seemed normal amongst humans.

[Raven301]

"Wow." Ever said after a moment, "Never leave. For 40 or 50 years." I'll be the last one here. Ever thought suddenly, unless I die by some animal or starvation or starve. Mentally scolding herself for thinking like that Ever looked back at Maktow, "What do you eat?" she asked, curious.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Maktow glanced up again, trying his best to look cheerful. With the prospect of never roaming he was feeling rather homesick, but that wasn't fair of him. These humans were stuck on the island forever. "Fish," he replied, pantomiming a fish swimming with his hand.

[shadow_claw]

Matthew turned a bright red right away, and jerked his hand away. How embarrassing! "It's a handshake. Kissing someone's hand's what a gentlemen does for a lady. As far as I know, I'm no lady." He corrected the merman. "Men shake each others' hand strongly, because it shows respect for one another. Or something like that."

[pudding]

"Oh," Grantaire mumbled in response. He hadn't understood a word of that. But apparently it was wrong. He adjusted himself slightly on the sand, his tail flicking back and forth. "Do not understand," he declared with a shake of his head. "Gentleman?"

[shadow_claw]

"A Male adult. Like myself." Matthew explained. "A male who is respectable, mainly. It's, uh, human culture." It was hard to understand, wasn't it? All these social norms Matthew was so accustomed to must have sounded like utter nonsense to Grantiare. "Men shake hands like...like this." The young man fumbled around until he located Grantiare's hand, and then shook it firmly. "See? Handshake."

[pudding]

Grantaire stared as his hand was shook, trying to understand it. But it was just too weird. "Ok," he said, quickly pulling his hand back. He curled his hair around a finger in thought. "Grantaire," he said suddenly as he gestured to himself. He had forgotten to introduce himself!

[Raven301]

"Mmmmm, fish are good." Ever said thinking of all the different kinds of fish she had eaten over the years. Looking up Ever quickly found the sun and saw it was about noon. "Lunchtime." she said distractedly while getting to her feet, "How hard is it to catch them?"

[shadow_claw]

"A pleasure to meet you, Grantiare." Even though Matthew was pissed for a number of reasons, he still had the decency to use proper manners. He set his hand back down at his side, and stared blankly into space. "Must be nice, not having to worry about anything but food. Humans don't have that luxury." He commented.

[pudding]

Grantaire tilted his head slightly to the side, regarding the human quietly. "Luxury?" he asked, the word completely foreign. But he was getting better at pronouncing things, at least. "Don't understand."

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Maktow sat up a little straighter. Oh, fish would make her happy! "Not hard, not hard! Females better catchers and protectors, but Maktow is fast!" He replied eagerly, and began wriggling towards the water again.

[Raven301]

"Could you catch us a few?" Ever asked, "I'll let you try a cooked fish." she commented wondering if he had ever eaten one cooked over a fire.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

"What is cooked?" Maktow asked, pausing to give her a confused look. Was that a kind of fish? He'd never heard of it before.. maybe she meant it was from another place? Well, he couldn't go and get it..

[Raven301]

"Catch a fish and I will show you." Ever said pointing to the bright flashes of light in deeper water, "Any fish."

[Sweet_Wyvern]

"Oh-kay!" Maktow chirruped, making it to the water and disappearing in a flash of black and red scales. Then he was off, propelling himself through the water after a school of fish. He would get so many!

[Raven301]

As Maktow swam off Ever laughed ad walked over to the trees. Quickly collecting some stick and branches. Walking back to the beach Ever piled them up near the others and tried to start a fire. Groaning each time it went out. As it finally started Ever walked back over tone ocean looking for Maktow. Edited October 12, 2013 by Raven301