Gempearleo again because the Gempearleo tag is still too small (it's just Gem and Cleo at first, Pearl will show up in a bit)
Gem loved the ocean. She loved the peace and quiet of being the only human being for miles, she loved the soft sound of waves crashing against her boat, and she loved the gentle swaying of her ship as she sat and fished in silence.
So of course she begs the love of her life to join her every chance she gets.
Cleo would love to go out with Gem, but she's just too busy! They've got sculptures to work on, and a base to build! But she can only hold back the excitable fox hybrid for so long.
Gem is ecstatic that Cleo finally agreed. She's planned out a whole day of just being together on the ocean, the perfect date.
Pearl was bored out of her mind. There's only so many times one can stare at the same piece of coral before running out of places to look. She's finally left the other merfolk to be on her own without their silly rules, and it's even more boring than before! Maybe they would take her back if she returned, at least then she'd have someone to talk to. That's when she hears something above her, she looks up and immediately darts behind a rock in fear. It's a boat. Growing up she was always taught that boats had the most dangerous creatures in the world on them.
Then again, the merfolk were wrong about everything else...
It's been a few hours of Gem and Cleo just chatting and staring out on the ocean, they finally stop the boat a little bit away from a coral reef. They're sitting by the edge of the boat and laughing together.
"Thank you for finally coming out here with me" Gem breaks the silence
"Well you've been begging for weeks, it's the least I could do." Cleo laughs
Gem is about to say something else when she notices a large dark figure in the water swimming towards them. She starts to mention it to Cleo when she feels a hand on her leg, and gets pulled into the sea.
Pearl stares up at the supposed "dangerous creatures" sitting on the edge of the boat. They don't seem to be doing anything, maybe she could get a closer look? She starts swimming closer. Pearl finds it odd that they haven't come into the water, why would they come all this way if not to look at the reef? Maybe they just didn't know it was down here. She could show them! Maybe they were nice, and would appreciate being shown the pretty coral, and then Pearl wouldn't be alone!
Looking back, the loneliness may have been getting to her more than she thought. The merfolk would've called her mad.
She grabs the smaller one's leg and helps her into the water.
Gem tries to swim up but something keeps pulling her down, she's panicking and running out of air. She glances down and gasps, letting out more precious oxygen. She stares at the stunning girl in front of her with a glittering reddish orange fish tail and long flowing brown hair. The merling seems excited to see Gem, and then confused as to why she's clawing at her throat. She doesn't know that Gem can't breathe.
Cleo stares in shock at the place her girlfriend was moments ago, and quickly dived in after her. Cleo was already dead, so she didn't need air quite as much as Gem did. (They would still become a drowned if she stayed under too long, but that would have to be a later problem.) She looks around and sees Gem being dragged deeper by...something? They swim down as fast as they can and grab Gem's arm, but Gem seems to have stopped struggling against whatever it is. Cleo glances over to see a merling swimming circles around her unconscious girlfriend curiously.
Pearl is disappointed, why did her new friend fall asleep? It doesn't make sense. Then she feels something grab at the girl and looks to see her friend from the boat pulling her back to the surface.
"Hey! Wait, I wanted to show you something!"
The green one says something in a language Pearl doesn't quite understand, but they seem upset. Pearl understands that they want to get the girl back to the surface very badly. She's not sure why, but maybe they'll want to be friends if Pearl helps! Both of the people here are...gorgeous, so maybe after a while they could be something more?
That's thinking too far ahead Pearl, get it together.
She helps pulls the sleepy girl back up the boat and watches as both of the land dwellers gets out. The one with green skin starts pushing on the girls chest repeatedly. Pearl watches curiously and hops up onto the deck. She's never been on land before, it's an interesting experience to say the least. Her tail slowly shifts into legs like the other two have. She stares in awe at herself for a moment until she hears coughing behind her.
Gem wakes up to Cleo doing CPR on her. She coughs up water and tries to get her bearings.
"What...happened?" She manages to cough out
"This one doesn't seem to understand that you need air to live." Cleo gestures at Pearl, who is watching in fascination.
Gem inches closer. "Hi, I'm Gem, who're you?"
The girl respond in a clicking sound that Gem doesn't understand.
"Um, sorry? I don't...uh..." She's cut off when Pearl kisses her without warning.
Pearl had heard that merfolk could use magic, but wasn't sure if it was true. Supposedly, a kiss could work as a translation spell.
"Can you understand me now?" Pearl asks her hopefully
"...WHY DID YOU KISS ME?!"
As far as first meetings, Cleo has had worse. Much worse, honestly, being undead tends to do that.
Pearl is delighted she can use magic, Gem is confused with the entire thing. Cleo sits back, pleased that their date just got so much more interesting. Would Pearl be willing to pose for some sculptures, she'd look gorgeous.
