Taewoo would recognise merfolk from miles away, the stench of the sea never left those, no matter how long they’ve been walking among the human kind. There was no mistake, the lunatic male smiling brightly at him while offering him one of the smoothies he was holding was definitely a merman. His nose scrunched up in pure disgust but he still took the drink he was being offered. “Not to spoil your fun but generally people would consider that creepy.” could he, for the sake of God, stop smiling? “You don’t just walk over to a stranger and tell them they have angelic voice.” Not to mention, he found the comment hurtful.
inyoung woke up with a headache and when he got that to subside to level where he could get out of bed without wanting to throw up violently, he was left with a stuffy nose and a sore throat. it’s obvious he’s under the weather. the flora around his apartment could feel it too and some vines creeped down from their hanging pots to brush against his face, comforting him in their own way. as he prepared to leave the apartment to open the cafe for the day, they warned against it. rest, don’t go, no. inyoung stood at the door and assured them that he felt better, that he’d return if he feels too sick. your magic, witch, don’t go. he understood their concerns; his magic goes a little out of wack when he’s under the weather after all. ❝ it’ll be alright. ❞ inyoung says and believes it. three hours into running the cafe, inyoung realises in horror that it’s not alright. he’d been sneezing all the day and the little bursts of uncontrollable magic cause some of the flora in the shop to shoot up or a small sprout to grow. it’s still manageable though so inyoung doesn’t pay it much mind but then he has a particularly loud and horrible one as just the front door chimes open. all the flora in the quaint little cafe bloom, flowers and vines spilling everywhere in front of their customer. inyoung holds his face in his hands as he stares wide eyed at them. oh god, he’d just used magic in front of them.
“I don’t know.” A pause. Something odd washed over him, it felt like being wedged in between two brick walls, unable to either climb up or fall down. Inhyeong didn’t know how to handle the phone and was not sure what to do in current situation either. He slouched, as if that could make him smaller and as a consequence less exposed. “It was a present and they told me everyone changes cellphones whenever a new model--” he’s looking for the exact words his friend used. “hits the--- market? Something like that. If it’s that much of a trouble, I can ask someone else. It’s just, you told me I should come over if I didn’t understand something, right?” Truthfully, there’s one more thing he wanted to ask but for now he was stalling -- after all. his friends told him he should focus at one thing at the time and that’s what he’s trying to do. Solve the cellphone problem, then you can move on.
Palette gathers his robes into his arms, fabric spilling over his wrists as he enters the room, barefoot and graceful. He faces the man, his own glittery face STOIC and professional. ❛ You’ve requested A PRIVATE DANCE? Is there a specific style or dancer you would like to request as well? ❜ Palette asks. They have a MULTITUDE of dancers at their disposal, all eager and practiced to show off their specialties and performance FOR ANYONE who wandered by their theatre.
He hated them these humans, they were as good as the vermin in Erilea yet he was stuck here, he was stuck to make money to make do. The only way to do it, to gather the money he needed for survival, for his search was renting the set of skills he had. Human jobs where impossible for him as he did not understand it, technologie, even the shooter thingies his client had confused him, where were the bows and arrows. Where were the horses the boats. He couldn’t twist his mind about it but he slowly learned how to accept it. The rent was easy enough. he got a face and a place he were to kill it. Simple. His daggers strapped to his legs and waist hidden from the human eye his boy strapped on his back as he leaped from roof to roof.
One arrow, shot by a fae through the heart, through the head should do the trick. He had been trailing the man for a while now. He was not normally one to ask questions. Kill it get paid and get done with it as he had done for the past centuries. He let out a breath before falling back, he had seen enough for the night. Sitting back on the roof taking out the jeweled dagger and playing with it as he looked up at the sky scanning the stars. Everything was different here. It made him wonder if he would ever see home again or if he would be stuck here for all eternity. With these humans around him dying.
He looked over the edge once more and swore under his breath. He was gone. His target had disappeared.
The pirate lord felt her eye twitch a little at the anger in the male’s voice. Of course, what else could she expect from the king of the sea. Boy she had really done it this time. Then again, she had often had nightmares about this particular moment in her life. Only thanks to certain extreme measures she had taken days before…..this nightmare would soon be over. If all went according to plan. Which…..how often did that happen?
Trial. She was standing trial for finally getting caught by his father. Him. God that was the hardest part in all of this. Jaden’s father was going to make his son watch the whole thing. Red wasn’t stupid, the king called this a trial but everyone there knew this was really the day the pirate lord would be executed. In one of the most ugliest ways possible.
“You’ve been deceiving me and my kingdom for far too long. Bewitching my son into believing that you…..humans are good people. Confusing him into thinking he wants to be one of you. Disgusting! Outrageous! Absurd! And something I refuse to sit back and let come to pass! You, Captain, will die for your crimes. Right here. Right now!”
She stared up at the king with a somewhat stony face before slowly looking over at her….well…..Jaden was so much more to the pirate lord than an acquaintance. He was one of the best friends she had ever met in her time on this earth. He meant so much to her. Heck, so much so, that she named her ship after him. Well sort of. Jade. Close enough without getting too creepy and naming it Jaden. His face. He looked so scared and devastated. She tried to give him a reassuring smile with warmth in her eyes.
“Don’t you dare look at my son that way! You’ve already done enough damage. It’s time to die, pirate.”
“Father, no! Please!”
But it was too late. Deep down in the blue sea, the trial of a century was taking place. For a pirate had gotten her hands on a treasure truly magnificent. A ring that could turn humans into merpeople and merpeople into humans. Truly remarkable. But it was this very ring that had caused so much chaos in the king’s heart. A filthy human had wormed her way into his waters undetected for months. But now the time had come where she finally got caught.
Her death sentence? Death by drowning.
“Congratulations, Captain Red, you get to die at sea. You can decompose and become one with the thing you love the most. How fortunate for you. You must be overjoyed.”
And just as two of the king’s men held the sobbing blonde merman back from stopping his father, said king took hold of the pirate’s hand and took the ring right off her finger. She stayed stone faced while staring up at the king; waiting for him to figure out what she already knew. And as she waited, silenced murmurs filled the small arena where her trial was taking place in the kingdom under the sea.
“Why—-Why are you not changing back? What is this witchery?! Explain yourself, pirate! This instant!”
“Isn’t it obvious, your majesty? I’m here to stay.”
“Over my dead body! How are you still a mermaid!?”
“Let’s just say…..”
She paused long enough to turn her head towards her friend. Jaden. Watching as his sobbing managed to come to almost a complete stop thanks to his shock and surprise. Not to mention confusion. Yes. She would have a lot of explaining to do later. If he’d want to still hear her out.
“I made a deal with a fish.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. Per say. It was a deal and it did involve a fish. A fish who wanted to be human. So she took the fish and hunted down the woman who gave her the ring in the first place. And the deal was struck. There was no turning back. This was her life now. And she would live with any consequences.
“Why?! Why do this?! What could you possibly have to gain by remaining a mermaid!?”
“Because……I…..”
Wow. This was a lot harder than she thought. Now that the time finally came to say it out loud, she had no idea that it would be this nerve-wracking. She had never been good at expressing her feelings. Standing on a soapbox, sure. But not really getting all mushy gooey. But after gathering up some courage, she looked from the king, to at his son and said softly but still loud enough for everyone to hear,
“Because once upon a time, the sea was my greatest love. There was nothing I loved more than sailing the open sea. Watching the horizon at the helm. Enjoying rum on a nice sandy beach watching the waters. But……I found a new greatest love.”
She paused and gathered up a bit more courage. This was it. Her eyes bored into the blonde’s as she said almost soundlessly,
“I’m in love with your son……And I just want to be part of his world…….If he’ll have me….”
