Btw after the horrific aquarium scene and the sharks and the tears in my few hours of sleep I dreamed of merman Sherlock and it was beautiful and cleansing.
Oh hell, this was cute. I've never done a merman thing before, thank you, stranger! Not sure why you d/ced though... Sorry for whatever I did wrong? Anyways, this was nice and sweet, a bit of merman johnlock rp for your troubles.
Stranger: He was in trouble here. He should have noticed the signs, like the distant sound of thunder from the surface. But he was too preoccupied with the wonderful treasures he was finding in the sunken structure beneath the ocean..a ship, he believed it was called. The merman loved collecting trinkets and items from the surface world. Such fascinating things those human creatures crafted! He was intrigued by them and their alien ways, alien to him. As a rule amongst his people, it was prohibited to interact with these beings. Their world was of no concern to the merfolk, and this merman would often be reprimanded for meddling in human affairs. Ah, but what did he care for such rules? He loved to learn, wanted to know everything there was to possibly know. And the human world proved to be most interesting. But this exploration was far too distracting for the curious merman to realise that a storm was brewing in the heavens above. Before he knew it, the currents turned violent, carrying him away and making him drop his loot. Mentally cursing himself for getting so carried away to not swim to a safer area before the storm touched down, he fought as hard as he could, but even his strong muscled tail couldn’t save him now. He broke the surface and saw a dark cloudy sky above, the water falling from the sky, and the strong wind, all combining to make a dangerous, choppy sea. Just then, a huge wave came overhead. His eyes widened fearfully as it crashed down, lifting him out of the water and carrying him far from sea. Before he could recover, another wave came down, washing him closer to the bank. He cried out as he was slung even farther, landing hard on the sandy surface. It was enough knock him unconscious. When he awoke, he was very sore and tired, barely able to move. He looked around with groggy eyes, discovering that he had been washed very far ashore, too far to be able make it back on his own even if he wasn’t injured. He figure he must have been out for a while, because the sky was now clear and sunny. Yes, he was definitely in trouble, for although he could surive on land, it was only for a short period of time. He was all alone on the beach, in the hot sun, and he wouldn’t last for long. After many hours, he was sure that this was the end. So resigned was he to his fate, that he didn’t notice the blonde figure strolling his way..
You: Living on the coast was... Well, John would admit that it was lonely. But after the war and his injury, it was just what he needed. Day in and day out, he roamed his little plot of beach or retired to his little house at the edge of it. It was nice land, and he was thankful for it. It was days like this that he liked best, the hot sun beating down on the beach, reflecting off the ocean and the sand, the cool air flowing in from over the water. It created a picturesque atmosphere, one that he never would have expected to see again. He took every day as it came. Today, it seemed, was going to be one of the strangest of all. He was walking --well, limping, but somehow his limp seemed better on the beach, and he felt strong enough sometimes to not use his cane-- along the shore when he caught sight of a man lying on the beach ahead of him. It wouldn't have been a problem, except... This man had a tail. And... What the hell? Was he even a man? John had heard tales of merpeople, but he'd always brushed them off as fairytales. Apparently not. Unless he was hallucinating. He hesitated before approaching the man --fish?-- slowly. He never could resist anything that would be qualified as dangerous. "Um...Excuse me?" he said as he got closer, his steps measured, careful, slow. "Are you... Are you alright?"
Stranger: ((sorry, i'm trying to finish my cereal before ot gets soggy lol one sec))
You: ((it's all good, take your time haha.))
Stranger: Groaning, the merman thought he heard a voice..he craned his neck to see through his foggy gaze. Was that a..a human? So the beach was so deserted after all. He raised a webbed hand shakily and tried to speak, but he was so exhausted that nothing came out but a wheezing groan, gills fluttering uselessly on his neck. He couldn't even move his long black tail, he was so dry and weakened.
Stranger: *wasn't
You: Okay. So he had a tail, and gills and... Were those webbed fingers? John rubbed his eyes, and when he'd opened them again and realised that he was still there, decided that it was real. Properly real, he wasn't hallucinating. This was insane. "Do you need help?" he asked slowly, gaze roaming shamlessly over his body, still trying to figure him out. "Or... Can you not talk? Can you understand me?" He knelt down beside him, his voice calm, as if he was talking to a frightened animal. As far as he knew, that's what he was doing. He reached out a hand slowly, to touch him, to see if he would react or not if he tried.
Stranger: He did his best to glare at the stranger, as if to say 'Obviously, what does it look like?!'. He swallowed the tiny amount of saliva he had. "Of course I can understand you." he croaked in a scatchy voice, "You think me to be some brainless codfish?". He panted after that, it took a lot of energy he barely had.
You: John jumped in surprise at the deep, scratchy voice, and he tried to get his heart rate back under control, breathing shaky. So this... Merperson could talk. And understand him. Good to know. "No... But I've never seen a... um... fish-man before. How am I supposed to know if you understand me or not?" He laid his hand lightly on the creature's shoulder. "Do you need help?" he repeated.
Stranger: He flinched away from the touch. Even though he found humans utterly fascinating, he wasn't stupid. He knew that humans were notoriously violent creatures, and how they tended to act toward strange and unusual things.
You: "Hey, hey, calm down." John pulled his hand back again slowly. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help. You look like you're in a fair bit of trouble..." He glanced towards the ocean, and then back at the merman. "How did you even get here? You don't look like you could have very well walked..." He shook his head, trying to figure it out, and suddenly remembered the crashing waves from the night before, the storm that had hit and had had John curled up under multiple blankets, reading a book until he fell asleep to the sound of the sea and the wind and the rain. "It was the storm, wasn't it? And you can't get back. I can help you... I won't hurt you, I promise."
Stranger: He was still hesitant, unsure if he should trust this stranger. He'd heard the stories and had even seen the remains(some of which he had collected to use for dissection and experiments, much to the other merfolk's disgust). The last thing he wanted was to be killed or captured. "You're not going to hurt me? Or maybe show me off to other humans so I can be gawked at?".
You: "What?" John looked surprised, both at the words, and at the way that he'd seemed to muster up enough courage and energy to speak. "No, of course not. I wouldn't hurt you... Not unless you were dangerous and attacked me first. You look pretty distraught... I figured you weren't in much of an attacking mode at the moment. You need to get back to the ocean... I can help you with that." He paused, and looked around before focusing back on him. "And there's not really anyone else around here, so there's not much of a chance of me showing you off to anyone. Not that I'd want to, but... Just so you know. I'm pretty alone out here." He was talking to a merman. This was insane. He was insane. God, what had he had for breakfast? "Do you want my help?"
Stranger: He flopped in defeat. As weary as he was, the human was right. "Fine.", he croaked losing strength by the minute, "Water..I need the w-water.". He held out a hand. "I'm afriad you will have to carry me." he panted between sentences,"as I do not have the advantage of two spindly tails like you." He knew that they weren't actually fish tails, but the sun and lack of water had made his brain fuzzy. Damn, what was the word for them again?
You: A soft snort of amusement slipped through John's lips, and he nodded. "Legs. You don't have legs," he supplied lightly, shifting in position so that he was crouching instead of kneeling. He didn't even give a thought to his leg and the pain it usually would have been in with such a position change, and he knew that his shoulder would be able to stand the weight of the merman in his arms. "I'm going to pick you up now... Okay? Just hang on, and I'll get you to the water." He got his arms slowly and carefully around the merman, and lifted him up as securely as he could.
Stranger: He weakly wrapped his arms around the stranger's neck, and as he was toted down to the water, an odd feeling came over him. He felt somehow comfortable in the man's arms. He quickly shook it off, chalking it up to the exhaustion.
You: It was less than a minute later that John was kneeling again at the water, the merman still in his arms. "Go on, you can let go now," he said quietly, when he showed no sign of moving away from him, or pulling his arms from around his neck. "Unless you need to be further in the water?" He thought he was being remarkably pleasant about the whole matter... It probably would sink in later, what an insane situation this was. Then he could freak out a bit more. He winced as he shifted, his shoulder tinging uncomfortably, and nudged the merman lightly to try and get his attention.
Stranger: He breathed deeply as his tail dipped into the cool refreshing water, gills fluttering and fins flexing, feeling his strength coming back. Smiling, he looked into the man's eyes and couldn't help but linger. "What is your name, human? What are you called?"
You: Making sure that the merman was settled and less in-pain than he'd seemed before, he withdrew his own arms and slowly returned the smile that had slid suddenly onto his face. "John. I'm John," he said after a moment, standing up again slowly. "Do... you have a name, then? What are you called?"
Stranger: He reluctantly slid away from the human - John - and slithered into the water. "John." he tested the name on his lips, then looked up at the man again. "You wouldn't be able to pronounce my name. Not in your human tongue.". Having noticed how John slightly winced when he was holding him, he asked, "What's wrong with your shoulder?"
You: "There has to be something I can call you, then. A nickname, maybe?" John absently touched his shoulder when the merman asked about it, and shook his head. "I'm fine. It's an old injury... It likes to act up sometimes, but I'm alright." He dropped his hand again, having been massaging his shoulder lightly.
