Pineapple Sunset

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves from the ocean nearby* Helloooooooooo!!

"Hey there!" He waves back enthusiastically. Since she’s in the water, he can’t tell that she’s, well, not human. "Catchin’ some waves out there?"

[leiathemermaid]

"You’re a fast swimmer?" Leia giggled. "You have no fins!" A race could be fun, though. She loved to race her sisters. Being the youngest, she would always lose. That didn’t take the fun out of it, though - she only tried harder. "I’m still recovering, but I’m still faster than any Human!"

She scanned the shore, looking for any visible. There was only sand, sand, and more sand. “How do you want to do this, um, ….” She didn’t know his name.

"Oh! Oh oh oh I forgot! I’m Leia. What’s your name?"

[summer-summerboy-blog]

"Hey, don’t underestimate a man of the sea! I know my way around the ocean better than most." The one constant in his life had been the sea, so it was natural he felt at home when he was on it.

He scanned the area with her, trying to find something they could use as a landmark. Swimming against a mermaid. It sounded kind of crazy, since more didn't believe in mermaids and if you did then why would you swim against one?? But Kai never backed down from a challenge.

"Oh, I'm Kai." He grinned. "You know, my name actually means ocean. I think we're more like than you think, Leia." He winked at her playfully.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

Lillian taps the man on the shoulder "Hello~! I don't think we've met yet! I'm Lillian!" She says while offering her hand to shake

Kai turns with a smile. “Hey there, nice to meet you.” He grabs her hand and shakes it firmly. “I’m Kai. Sailor, cook, all-around handy kind of guy.” He grins charmingly.

[reaping-the-harvest1]

Treasure || Molly & Kai

She lounged in her chair behind the table, one arm resting behind her head while the other held a bottle concealed by a brown paper bag. Her eyes were closed, causing one to theorize that it was possible the young farmer had fallen asleep. 

However, that theory was far from true, Molly popping an eye open upon hearing a voice; the question clearly directed at her. She quirked a brow, looking at the man who was just a few shades darker than herself, the look in his eye as he observed the pineapple similar to one a man would have staring at the love of his life. 

Taking a sip from her bottle before sitting up and placing it on the ground under the table, she spoke.

"That depends; how much are you willing to pay for it?"

[summer-summerboy-blog]

His eyes met hers. He could tell he had already given the game away in this but he couldn't help himself. It was a pineapple! This wasn't the city where you could buy pineapples willy nilly. But he had to play this cool.

He casually set the pineapple down.. "Well," he started, looking at her with a charming smile. "don't you think payment is a bit old fashioned? How about we spice it up? For fun. It looks to be a market day after all. How about we make a bet?" He crossed his arms. "If I win, I get the pineapple. If you win, I'll do whatever you want."

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves from the ocean nearby* Helloooooooooo!!

"Hey there!" He waves back enthusiastically. Since she’s in the water, he can’t tell that she’s, well, not human. "Catchin’ some waves out there?"

[leiathemermaid]

She giggled. “Of course there are more mermaids!” That’s be like asking if there were more Human Men with ink sewn into them - of course there isn’t just one!

"There are lots of us. Most are just better at swimming than I am, I guess, so they’re never seen." Most mermaids lived far out in the ocean. Stories say they only caught the attention of sailors, who were generally going a little crazy and needed help getting where they needed to go. Leia, however, had been washed ashore after a typhoon.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

He chuckled sheepishly. She was right. That had been rather silly to ask. 

"You seem like a great swimmer to me," he commented, laying back and letting the water hold him. He watched her out of the side of his eye. "You think you could beat me? I'm pretty good, you know, I've practically lived in the water my whole life." It was true. Growing up on islands, Kai had always been out in the water. Whenever there was a swimming contest, he had always come in first. He had even been on the swim team during high school but it hadn't been enough to hold his attention. Why swim in a pool when you can swim in the ocean?

[summer-summerboy-blog]

In A Rut || Jill & Kai

[somecallmepony]

"Sounds good to me!" The things on her to-do list were much less interesting than this. And he seemed like he could really use the help.

She slid her rucksack straps off her shoulders and but the bag on the ground.

"So where do we start?"

[summer-summerboy-blog]

"Well, first we gotta remove the rudder. Come aboard." He gestured for Jill to board his sailboat from the dock. While she did so, he turned back to the rudder and disengaged it from the backside of the boat, heaving it over to rest in the boat.

The rudder was a long, thin piece of steel that vaguely resembled the shape of an airplane wing. It looked a little worn, but otherwise good. 

"So, do you know what a rudder is," he asked, glancing up at her briefly as he crouched down to check the bolts on the rudder.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves from the ocean nearby* Helloooooooooo!!

"Hey there!" He waves back enthusiastically. Since she’s in the water, he can’t tell that she’s, well, not human. "Catchin’ some waves out there?"

[leiathemermaid]

"I learned how to cook like you do when I stayed with Daryl." Daryl, being a quirky scientist, never learned how to cook, so she took it upon herself to understand the recipe books he owned to pay back the favor of nursing her back to health. She got pretty good at making grilled fish. "Sometimes at home, though, we can prep things to dry in the sun. Like on a big rock. Only problem is the seagulls… I usually just eat sashimi."

[summer-summerboy-blog]

Daryl? Wait... he thought he knew that guy. Wasn't he that creepy scientist in Forget-Me-Not Valley? He would stop in the Valley every now and then since he had a small Snack Stand there. Surely she didn't mean him though.

"That's really inventive," he commented grinning.

"Though I gotta ask-" his train of thought was interrupted. 'At home'? 'We'?

"'We'? So there are more mermaids?" It was astounding enough to discover just one but now there were more? If he stopped to think about it this wouldn't be that surprising. After all, how did a population sustain with just one member? But Kai's logical side had kinda checked out at the moment.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves* Hello there~!! What's your name? ouo

"Hey there." He waves back with a smile. "I’m Kai. And you are?"

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves from the ocean nearby* Helloooooooooo!!

"Hey there!" He waves back enthusiastically. Since she’s in the water, he can’t tell that she’s, well, not human. "Catchin’ some waves out there?"

[leiathemermaid]

"Oh, you said that." She forgot, having trouble listening really, still rubbing the turtles on his back. There were just so many things she didn’t know! "You mean you cook, right?" She stopped rubbing, having fully discovered that the turtles did not move. She began swimming in slow circles, barely keeping her mouth above the water, spinning occasionally onto her back to look up at him. "I cook sometimes. Mostly fish."

[summer-summerboy-blog]

He watched her swim in circles, slowly following her movements with his eyes. It was amazing how at one with the water she was, although she was a mermaid so it was to be expected.

"Yeah, I cook." Was it okay to tell her that he cooked fish too? Wasn't that like... cannibalism? Half-cannibalism? But she said she cooked too.

"How do you cook in the ocean though? Fire and water don't exactly mix."

[summer-summerboy-blog]

In A Rut || Jill & Kai

[somecallmepony]

Well duh he didn’t crash. The boat wasn’t damaged visibly.

She started walking towards him, wrinkling her nose at his questions. “No, no crashing here.” She wasn’t even sure what that meant. Was it… was he getting at something? She was pretty close now and could see him, um, clearly. And now wanted a reason to stay longer. She tried to keep her eyes off his arms. She wasn’t sure if it was working.

"Do you need help or something? I mean, I don’t know anything about boats, but I’m stronger than I look." She flexed her right bicep and gave him a toothy grin. "I’m Jill, by the way."

[summer-summerboy-blog]

He grinned at her flexing skills. "Impressive, Jill. Very impressive. You put me to shame. And nice to meetcha. I'm Kai."

"I do need to get my rudder out and start checking it properly though. I think one of the rudder parts needs replacing. Or something came undone." He scratched his head through his bandana. Hopefully it was the latter. He didn't really have money to spare at the moment. "If you want, you can help me take it off and learn a thing or two about boats in the process."

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves from the ocean nearby* Helloooooooooo!!

"Hey there!" He waves back enthusiastically. Since she’s in the water, he can’t tell that she’s, well, not human. "Catchin’ some waves out there?"

[leiathemermaid]

She rubbed her fingers back and forth across his tattoo quickly, trying to rub it off. “Needle? Like to sew? They sew ink into your skin?” A needle stitching ink from a squid into someone’s skin was an odd picture, and a painful one too. The only time she has seen someone use a needle on skin was when her sister gashed her arm on a rock during a storm. Her sister had screamed. She swam around him quickly with little apparent movement, much like a fish (as one would expect). “Oh, turtles!!” She had seen those before, swam with them. She tried to rub the turtles out with her fingers too, but they didn’t smear at all. “Did you do these all yourself?”

[summer-summerboy-blog]

"That's about the gist of it," he replied. Perhaps sewing with ink wasn't the exact way to describe it, but she got the main idea.

He grinned at her enthusiasm. Even though he was still in awe at finding out mermaids were real, she was too much like a human for him to see a difference. So she had scales and could swim faster, that just made her cooler.

"Me? Nah. I'm only an artist in the kitchen. I paid someone to do these for me." He turned his head slightly to watch her, his skin shivering a little as she rubbed at his tattoos. It wasn't often that people touched them.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

In A Rut || Jill & Kai

[somecallmepony]

Jill was walking along the beach, thinking about fishing off the dock. Or maybe playing catch with her dog. The weather was finally getting nice enough for either activity.

She noticed someone bent over a sailboat, fiddling with what looked like the… rudder? Jill had never been in a sailboat before. She considered walking away without offering help; she had other things to do with her animals and crops and the frozen Goddess… but then she caught a glimpse of biceps flexing and relaxing as this stranger’s arms fiddled with the boat.

I suppose I can make time…

Jill yelled from where she was. “Hey! Did you just crash here or something?”

Dammit, Jill, you coulda thought of something better to say.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

Right, this piece went here. He remembered being shown this part. Oh maybe this part was what was out of order. If he just did this...

His train was broken by a shout from the beach. He stood up, turning to look at who had shouted. A girl?

"Crash? Nah, just trying to fix my boat here. Rudder's out." His boat was anchored in so he didn't know why she thought he had crashed. He leaned over the side of his boat, arms crossed. He had taken his jacket off earlier since he felt it had been getting in the way of his working so he only wore his brown pants and form fitting white tank.

"How about you? Did you crash?" Maybe it was a little too cheeky, and perhaps a little cheesy, but he couldn't help but throw the question back at her.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves from the ocean nearby* Helloooooooooo!!

"Hey there!" He waves back enthusiastically. Since she’s in the water, he can’t tell that she’s, well, not human. "Catchin’ some waves out there?"

[leiathemermaid]

Right. Humans are confused by mermaids.

"Yes! Yes, I’m a mermaid." She said the words quickly without looking at his face, just his tattoos.Her eyebrows pinched together. "Are you okay? What happened?" She looked up at his face now.

"Your skin is the wrong color in places. Are you sick? Do Humans get sick in their skin?" She was blurting things out, all filtering was gone. This Human Man with strange skin was one of the few to just jump in the water, and he spoke of catching waves…

Is this how Humans feel when they see me? Am I this strange? She might have smiled if she wasn’t so concerned with the markings.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

Wow, a real mermaid.

Wait, strange skin? He looked down. Oh, she meant his tattoos.

"No, no, they're just ink. Here, feel it." He grabbed her hand and brought it to his chest, letting her touch where his tattoo was across his chest. "Totally normal. It's like, uhm," he released her hand, letting her do whatever she wanted to, "an artist takes a needle and puts the design on my skin with ink. It takes a few days to heal but I've had these for awhile." He grinned proudly. "There are some turtle designs on my back if you wanna see." He gestured to his back.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves from the ocean nearby* Helloooooooooo!!

"Hey there!" He waves back enthusiastically. Since she’s in the water, he can’t tell that she’s, well, not human. "Catchin’ some waves out there?"

[leiathemermaid]

Is he… is he coming to swim? Leia saw the tattoos, which were nothing like she had ever seen on a person before. Mermaids can’t exactly tattoo themselves because they’re always in water.

"Oh my gosh, what happened to your skin? Were you poisoned?" She dove under the water and swam to him quickly, letting her tail breach the surface for a few powerful kicks. She resurfaced near him, looking at his tattoos more closely, reaching out her hands toward him but hesitating, unsure if they were wounds or not.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

Poisoned? What?

Any confusion he had was instantly wiped from his mind. Was that.. did she have... did she just...?

She resurfaced near him, her sea green hair wet with sea water along with two pink sea shells. Her top was a mixture of pearls and shells. She looked like....

"Are you a mermaid," he asked, swimming closer to her in awe. He totally forgot that she had asked about his tattoos. She was a mermaid! Who cared about tattoos?

[summer-summerboy-blog]

In A Rut || Open

It was Spring. Kai had nothing against Spring, per se, but it wasn’t Summer. Thankfully, he had his boat, Nani, and could sail pretty much anywhere. Or that would be the case if Nani sailed. She wasn’t broken, definitely not (it would break poor Kai’s heart if she was) but she wasn’t sea worthy either. There was something wrong, somewhere, and he was currently figuring it out. Nani wasn’t that big of a boat, just a simple sail boat that got him where he wanted to be, but something on the rudder had gone wrong. 

He was currently bent over the back end, fiddling with the rudder and checking it out. Kai figured he knew enough about boats to try and fix it himself. Besides, Nani was his baby. He didn’t want some strange person touching her in inappropriate ways. 

[summer-summerboy-blog]

I haven't seen you before. My name's Tony and you are sir?

"Hey, nice to meet ya." He holds out his hand to shake his. "I’m Kai."

[passionatehero-blog]

"Alright, Wallace would be glad to see a new face in the town. I’ll show you to the cafe, it’s a fairly short walk from the plaza." He and Kai started walking. "We head to the pathway that leads to Ronald’s Grocery. Then we walk up north and finally, the Sunny Garden Cafe is located to the right."

[summer-summerboy-blog]

Kai followed Tony, his hands still in his pockets as he walked. He listened to Tony's direction carefully, nodding as he stored them for later use.

"Awesome, thanks," he replied as the Sunny Garden Cafe came into view. "Do you wanna join me or do you gotta get back to work?"

[summer-summerboy-blog]

*waves from the ocean nearby* Helloooooooooo!!

"Hey there!" He waves back enthusiastically. Since she’s in the water, he can’t tell that she’s, well, not human. "Catchin’ some waves out there?"

[leiathemermaid]

"I’m not sure how one would catch a wave. How would you do that? Is that useful?" That bandana is such a lovely color!

[summer-summerboy-blog]

He laughed, thinking she was joking with him. "Definitely. I love catching some waves myself. Mind if I join you?" He didn't hesitate to started peeling off his shirt, exposing his tattoos and dark skin to the sunlight. "I've been itching to get in the water lately." He started to make his way in.

[summer-summerboy-blog]

I haven't seen you before. My name's Tony and you are sir?

"Hey, nice to meet ya." He holds out his hand to shake his. "I’m Kai."

[passionatehero-blog]

"It’s a deal Kai, I’m definitely coming over when I visit." Tony had always been curious of the shack by the beach. As he heard from his cousin that it only opens every Summer. Now that he had some time to visit, he would definitely see how the shack looked on the inside.

“In Sunny Garden Cafe, Wallace makes the best teas and wine. You should try it along with a muffin or cake. His granddaughter Katie, a baker-in-training. She actually won the cake contest using my grandma’s recipe.” He tapped his chin gently, “We don’t have sailors here. Sorry Kai.”

[summer-summerboy-blog]

"Hm, well I'm always in the mood for some wine. I guess I'll head there." He looked around, realizing he didn't the area well enough to go around on his own, and turned back to Tony. "Which way is the cafe?"