Though I may be all wrong for a guy, I'm good for a laugh

Adella Araxie Triton. 27. Should have known from the jump That you always get dumped So dust off your f me pumps

[alana-the-brilliant]

Adella Araxie Triton 

If you want me, it takes more than a wink, And more than a drink and more than you think. If you want me you’re gonna’ have to break the bank, tonight. Cause some don’t have the patience, some call me high-maintenance But you pay the bill, cause, that’s the deal.

@adella-the-idyllic

[rhianewinter]

I love sign language, but the course I did didn’t have particularly clear diagrams, so I decided to make my own BSL alphabet! It’s also a good way to practice drawing hands. :)

You are free to use this chart for any classes or personal use, but keep my name on the sheet. Thank you!

[joyfulsongbird]

I JUST LEARNED THAT BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE AND AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE ARE DIFFERENT AND I WANT TO JUMP OFF A BRIDGE- I- THEYRE BOTH ENGLISH?????? EXCUSE ME????

[flightlessartist]

couldn’t get this concept out of my brain since like february so here she is finally!

[kisen95]

The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning

[princessesfanarts]

By いぼ

[thinfatfit]

instagram.com/taralynn

[thinfatfit]

Tara Lynn

[thinfatfit]

instagram.com/taralynn

[adella-the-idyllic]

Before You Go | QDella

aquata-the-champ​:

-

Aquata lit up at that, honestly kind of touched that Adella had thought of the exact kind of thing she’d be into. Out of her sisters, Aquata had never really been the closest with Adella. She just never thought that they understood each other. But maybe they understood more than they thought.

Of course she would stupidly realize this just as Adella was leaving. Of course. 

She swallowed down the lump that began to form in her throat and furrowed her eyebrows. “Yeah, for sure,” she said, because if she said much else more, this was going to get mushy and Aquata was not about that. She paused, then hugged Adella, quickly but tightly. “I’ll, er, I’ll let you get back to it then.” Aquata nodded. “Good luck and everything.”

Adella knew that there was so much more to Aquata’s ‘yeah, for sure’ than anybody not a Triton would understand. It may as well have been ‘I love you’ and her hug was like ‘I’m with you all the way.’

Neptune, she was going to miss her sisters, but it was like she said. It wasn’t as if she’d be gone forever. She’d visit, they’d visit, she was only going to be in a different place on this planet, not gone.

“I’ll knock LA dead, promise. Yeah. See ya ‘round.”

[adella-the-idyllic]

Before You Go | QDella

aquata-the-champ​:

So it was LA. Aquata had still been secretly holding out for London, hoping that Adella might go for the closer option. She didn’t really understand why Adella wanted to go and be in American movies or whatever when there were probably plenty of opportunities two hours away, but of course, Aquata didn’t actually really know anything about the film industry. 

And this wasn’t about her. It was about Adella. Aquata swallowed down the comment and forced a nonchalant smile.

“I mean, that’s quite the plane ride…” Aquata said, picking at a hangnail. “But I guess, yeah, it’s warm out there, innit? Would be nice to get a beach day in or something while we’re there.”

“We could even take a weekend trip to San Francisco and swim out to Alcatraz, pretend to be real badasses.” Adella said, laughing at the idea of going full mermaid to play at Alcatraz.

They wouldn’t. Except maybe under the cover of darkness. It was too risky otherwise, but it was a fun thought.

“Yeah, there’s plenty of beaches around LA. Maybe I’ll finally get a tan.”

[adella-the-idyllic]

Before You Go | QDella

aquata-the-champ​:

-

Aquata had planned on just standing there and laying it all out there, like ripping a band-aid off, but… sure. Now that Adella said it, it wasn’t a bad idea. Be a little more casual about this. She sat down on the bed.

“Er… yeah, so basically I just wanted to say that I, like, totally support whatever you end up doing. With this acting thing. Or modeling. Or whatever. You’re, er, going to be brilliant.” Aquata patted Adella awkwardly. Neptune, she thought, why was she so bad at this? “I think the distance sort of freaked me out, but I’m over it now, and I’m here to be supportive, so, like, don’t think that I’m… not. Here to be supportive. You know?”

`

The thing with having six sisters was that you learned to take dropping a subject as at least passive support. Did Adella think before now that Aquata was entirely behind this decision? No. Did she think Aquata was wholly against it still? Also no.

Of her sisters, Q was the least likely to hold her tongue. She’d have told Adella by now if she still thought it was a terrible idea.

That didn’t make hearing it mean any less to her. Honestly, it meant more because Aquata was not just letting it flow under the bridge without some sort of acknowledgement.

“Oh, Q. The distance absolutely is going to be hard on me. I love you all dearly, and I’m so, so proud of you for taking up Daddy’s mantle on the Board...I’m a bit sad I’ll have to hear about how brilliant you are secondhand.” She smiled. “And thank you. Thank you for saying that, and thank you for supporting me. I’m glad I’m not moving to LA on weird terms with you. After all, you’re going to visit for my first big premiere, right?”

[adella-the-idyllic]

Before You Go | QDella

aquata-the-champ​:

-

Aquata didn’t expect Adella to ask about Board. She had come in with such a specific purpose, a specific mindset, that she hadn’t even accounted for that. But she assumed Adella was just making small talk.

“It is, yeah. Everything’s going good. I have a really cool initiative I’m working on.” Aquata tried to keep the edge out of her voice. She was here to be supportive and make up, not guilt trip Adella for leaving right as Board stuff was ramping up. Aquata hated that shit. Passive-aggressive guilt tripping. It was cowardly and stupid.

If she had something to say to Adella, she should just say it. “Listen, Dells, I wanna talk to you.”

`

Adella blinked as if she was surprised but considering this was Aquata they were talking about, she shouldn’t have been surprised. Of her sisters, Q was always the most straightforward. Sometimes that was a good thing. Sometimes not so much.

“Oh? Yeah, em, hop up on my bed, make yourself cozy. What’s...what’s on your mind?”

[adella-the-idyllic]

Before You Go | QDella

aquata-the-champ​:

-

“You might,” Aquata argued instinctively, without really even knowing why that was important. It really wasn’t. Just an impulse she had. Reel it in, Aquata reminded herself. Focus on what’s important.

Family was important. And maybe they didn’t all need to be in the same place at the same time. They just needed to be there for one another when it counted. And Aquata realized that if she continued on like this, Adella wouldn’t be the one to fracture the family. Aquata would.

It was with all of this in mind she shook her head, dropping the topic, and asked, “Can I come in?”

Adella paused putting her things in boxes long enough to look up and meet her sister’s eye. Aquata wanted to talk? What this a guilt trip coming on? Whatever, her mind was made up anyway, so she could say her piece.

“Yeah, of course.” She said. “How’s the Board going? I’m glad a Triton is back in charge.”

[adella-the-idyllic]

How To Tell Your Family You’re Moving According To Mermaids

@attina-the-responsible @arista-the-musical @alana-the-badbitch @aquata-the-champ @ariel-the-rebel​ @melody-the-unwritten​

Date: January 15th, 2021

Adella Triton

 Adella Triton was sure of precisely three things: 1. She was leaving Swynlake for the second time and hopefully last. 2. Alana was happy for her. 3. Jury was out on everyone else. Daddy would be happy for her in time; he gave her his blessing in that sad dad way, but she knew it was only because he'd miss her.

 She should have left a long, long time ago. Andrina was right in way. Their family could be a little...suffocating.

 Not that Adella felt that way right now, but two years ago? Yeah. 

 Dinner was going well-- and right when everyone was getting seconds, Adella looked over at her father to make eye contact, and nodded to let him know she was ready.

 "Hey, um. I actually have something to tell everyone." Adella said, and she turned up her hearing aids for the conversation that was about to happen.  "So, Daddy knows, I told him earlier today. But I have a brilliant work opportunity."

 Aquata Triton

 Aquata kept twirling spaghetti on her fork but looked up at Adella quizzically. Was this about the acting thing? Because, after a few weeks had passed since her conversation with Adella in the kitchen, she had assumed the thing hadn't panned out. Which was fine with her. Kind of a bummer, of course, but Aquata had been right.

 So this was unexpected. "Hm?" she said, thinking she probably knew what was coming but not entirely sure. Either way, it was weird.

 Adella Triton

 "Right! So, one of my roommates from London, Rowan, referred me to his agency. They have offices in New York, London, and LA." Adella let that hang in the air for a moment as she nervously shuffled her food about on her plate.

 Maybe she should lie and say 'they rejected me, haha!' That might be best.

 But, no. Adella had earned this. She was nearly thirty-- she needed to follow her career goals.

 "And I sent them my acting reel and my modeling portfolio a few weeks ago. And..." she set her fork down and smiled -- this was good news. She was happy! "They want to take me on a client. They're sending me a script tomorrow to record an audition for by next Wednesday, and we'll see if that goes anywhere. I have an agency now. For acting. They believe in me, a real actual talent agency!"

 Alana Triton

 Alana was keeping an eye on everyone's reactions -- she just wanted this to go as smoothly as possible, though she was under no illusions that it would. 

 She just -- she missed Andrina. It was a missing she knew would never be filled, because she wasn't actually missing Andrina: she was missing a nebulous before time, when they all were under the same roof and it seemed like it would be that way forever. She'd wanted out of it then, but now that it had somehow slipped from her fingers, it seemed swathed in gold in her memory.

 But Alana knew better than anyone that that wasn't the case. That she was gone from under this roof, technically. That they were all going to leave eventually. 

 So she smiled -- she knew the news, of course, but she figured it'd be best for everyone to pretend she was finding out with them.

 "Oh my god, Della!" she chimed. "That's brilliant!"

 Aquata Triton

 Aquata didn't try to hide her surprise, jaw dropping. Because even if Adella had told her that this was coming, she didn't really think it was. Or maybe she had convinced herself otherwise. But Adella had made the deal. 

 She composed herself, not wanting to look too ruffled. "Well, duh, you're really talented," she said, trying to look unbothered. She was not going to freak out. Or maybe she was, but very deep on the inside. On the outside, she was calm, cool, and collected. "So I guess you're gonna have to take the train into London a couple of times?"

 Was she being obtuse? Yeah, a little. A lot, maybe. But maybe she could salvage some sense of everyone being in the same place.

 Ariel Triton

 Ariel was genuinely surprised. When Adella had stood and spoken, she'd been picking at her food, exhausted from her day and ready to go to bed. But that all went away as she kept talking. She blinked once, twice - taking in the words as her mind shifted slowly from the groggy state it was currently in.

 "Wait...seriously?" 

 Okay, she didn't mean for it to come out that bluntly. Honestly, it was just shock. And out of the blue. Not that she didn't know Adella was working towards something like this, but it still surprised her.

 She glanced around the table once herself, catching Alana's eyes momentarily then looking back to Adella and giving an easy smile. "Sounds cool. Can I come visit you on set?"

 Arista Triton

 Arista had of course noticed a change in Adella’s mood and general routine. They shared a room, it wasn’t entirely hard to keep track of someone’s habits and daily routine but Arista had figured if it was some kind of momentous thing she’d be told about it eventually. So she hadn’t pressed and instead waited patiently to find out if it was a boy or modeling or acting or maybe everything in one that could cause Adella to look so pleased in the moments that she thought Arista wasn’t watching. Adella was her older sister by just a year but often times their roles reversed themselves. The singular blonde was a middle child but she took that more to mean that she’d wear both hats rather than none. 

 At this news, Arista just grinned, sitting up more in her seat excitedly, “How absolutely lovely, Dells! I’m certainly not surprised they finally saw your talent.” Now some would think that since they were so close in age and both on the road to a career in entertainment that Arista would harbor some kind of jealousy, but she didn’t. She thought it was absolutely wonderful that Adella got this shot. She worked incredibly hard and as she told Arista in the past, she wasn’t happy in Swynlake. And all Arista ever wanted was for her sisters to be happy. Even if that meant they left or she saw less of them. 

 She glanced around the table at her sisters, their numbers were starting to dwindle. One by one they budded off and found their own places to nest with partners and careers and here she was still at home, still single. Part of it did make her sad, but it was truly hard to be sad when her sisters were so happy

Melody Oceana

 The announcement felt jarring to Melody. Things were just getting quieter again, calmer, softer. Melody could breath again and while this opportunity sounded wonderful Melody wonder just how much would change.

 Continue to change.

 But as always Melody was just the cousin, it was the others that would be losing a sister. Hopefully it wouldn't be as distant as Andrina. "Congrats Adella, that's wonderful and a great opportunity."

 Adella Triton

 Did this hurt her?

 She'd be lying if she said it didn't; not because she didn't want this, but because she did love her family. She only just got to get close to Mel these last few years. Attina was getting married.

 She'd miss out on so much of the preparation.

 But like Ariel said when Andrina left -- they had to stop pausing their lives for everyone else.

 "Of course you can visit Ariel! You may have to get Daddy to let you fly to LA...I'm still not positive if it'll be LA or London but. I'd love you to visit."

 She looked up at Arista and her heart lurched painfully in her chest. Of her sisters, Arista was the one that outsiders looking in would call her favorite. Adella would say that wasn't true. She would say she did not have a favorite, and that was true, but Ris was the sister she was closest to.

 Like Nina and Andy used to be.

 Maybe Andy could visit her on set too.

 "It means a lot to me that you all-" she looked pointedly at Aquata before looking back to Daddy. "-support me in this. It wasn't an easy decision -- in fact, I was close to giving up entirely. But this opportunity fell into my lap and it would not be fair to myself to ... not try. I should give it one more good go. I kept thinking about how Mum would be disappointed if I didn't actually give my dreams a proper shake. 'We left the ocean for your to give up? I don't think so.' You know?"

 Aquata Triton

 Aquata had several things to say about what "Mum would have wanted," namely that she didn't think any of them were allowed to invoke her name for just anything, and also that maybe there were several other reasons they left the ocean, but after seeing the look on Adella's face, she stopped herself. Aquata didn't want to go down that road. So instead she just nodded.

 "Well, try for London. Apparently the smog in LA is horrible," Aquata said simply. "And London's closer to home. But I guess you'll keep us posted."

 Alana Triton

 Lana also bristled slightly at the mention of their mum. She wasn't sure what it was -- the fact she sometimes felt guilty that she didn't have as many memories of Athena as the rest of them, the fact that they didn't talk about their mum often, the fact that when they did it was always like... this.

 But she smiled.

 "Well, you're gonna wanna be close by for the wedding stuff at least," she teased.

 Adella Triton

 “Like I wouldn’t fly in all the way from China for that if I had to!” Adella laughed, playfully giving Lana’s foot a love smack with her own under the table. 

 A beat, then she nodded to Q,  her sister was taking a less hostile tone than she expected so she would acknowledge that. 

 “You’re right about that though. You’d think they’d spread out the industry if the hub was so polluted.” 

 Aquata was giving a little, Adella would respond in kind. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t hope to go LA — it would be something new and exciting! — but if she got offered a job in London then of course she’d take it. 

 “Thank you, Daddy.” She said, finally to her father. “For being behind me on this.”

[aquata-the-champ]

Before You Go | QDella

Aquata didn’t like the way things had been left at dinner. She was still upset at Adella, but she felt guilty, too, a little bit. Everyone else had been so supportive. Even Alana, who didn’t usually mince words, and Attina, who had been so crushed when Andrina had left…  

Maybe this was different. Andy had basically disappeared into thin air, while Adella was promising to keep in touch, even inviting people to come visit her. And everyone had had a little more warning. Aquata still felt blindsided, but if she was being honest with herself, she had been in denial for a long time.

She could hear Adella packing her things down the hall, and when Aquata found a Pride U Theatre sweatshirt in the closet that had to be Adella’s, she decided maybe it was time to go talk to her. 

Aquata knocked on Adella’s door and waited for her to open it. “I don’t know how this ended up in my room,” she said plainly, holding the sweatshirt out. “I think it’s yours, though.”

@adella-the-idyllic​

[adella-the-idyllic]

Adella had been sent two small scripts to prepare video auditions for the roles -- one was a signing role, where she’d need to use ASL (her fifth language, excuse you) -- and the other, a speaking role where she was expected to put on a posher version of her natural spoken accent. She was cast in the signing role, and they wanted an in person callback audition for the spoken role.

In LA. 

Adella Triton was going to LA, Adella Triton was going to LA, Adella! Triton! Was going! To LA!

The fact it only took weeks after first announcing that it might be happening made it all feel too good to be true, but it helped knowing that Rowan would be one of her roommates. At least his presence would keep her from getting too caught up in the fairytale scenario this felt like.

There was a knock on her door that she only heard because she’d forgotten to take out her hearing aids and swung it open to see Aquata awkwardly holding out a sweatshirt that was much too large to be her own.

“Oh, em. Thanks.” Adella said, not meaning to be so curt but what else was there to say to that? “Maybe I should make a t-shirt quilt out of all my Pride U hoodies...not going to have much use for hoodies in Los Angeles.”

[adella-the-idyllic]

you did what || Qdella

aquata-the-champ​:

-

“Maybe take you on as a client,” Aquata repeated, staring at Adella skeptically. She looked happy. Excited. And it made Aquata angry. Which was horrible, obviously. What kind of sister shot her sister down when she found something to celebrate?

But there was a creeping, nasty voice in Aquata’s head reminding her that this was just yet another sister leaving. Yet another sister abandoning the family to selfishly pursue a pipe dream. And yes, maybe that was something Aquata would have done if her own pipe dream had worked out. But it hadn’t. 

Mermaids weren’t supposed to leave their families, anyway. They were supposed to stay together, right?

She crossed her arms. “So you’re gonna move to London on the off chance this agency decides to take you on. Quit your day job and everything. Are you sure you aren’t being scammed? People do that to aspiring actors all the time. You have to be careful.”

`

Adella wrinkled her nose at her sister, surprised, but then again not sure why. Aquata was the definition of peaked at sixteen. Of all her sisters besides maybe Attina, she was the least likely to ever leave Swynlake.

A part of Adella wished she was like that too. She loved her sisters, she loved her father, and she eventually grew to love the town itself, but the big wide somewhere was calling her. She thought Q wouldn’t fault her for that; but maybe she was expecting too much from her sister.

“Of course I’m not moving unless they do take me on. It’s not a scam, one of my roommates from London is a client. He has a recurring gig on a BBC drama right now.” She folded her arms over her chest and stared at her sister. “I appreciate your concern, I do. But can you like...be excited for me?”