MerMarch because i said so

[blackmagicduck]

 

Types Of Mermaid:
1.Good: Everything said about merfolks is wrong. They are reclusive, but not evil. Especially not this one. Maybe they even saved you. No matter what, they love you, absolutely. And, were you to be honest, it was love at first sight on your end, too. But that doesn't mean you can be together...at least, not easily.
2. Bad: Come, jolly sailor bold. Come into the arms of a mermaid, and you will not regret it. They will hold you, and you cannot resist, even as you're dashed against the rock.
3. Wild: Good and evil cannot be applied to mermaids here, for they are like any other wild creature, more beast than man. Yet the more they're exposed to the kindness of humans or others who live on land, the more fond they grow towards it - and those who show them that kindness.
4. Ignorant: The mermaid's intentions are good, yet he or she doesn't realize what they could do to hurt their land dweller lover.
5. The Mermaid Dilemma: What can be done if someone wants to do more with a mermaid than give them kisses or sweet words? Not much, it seems. At first glance, that is, though who knows what can happen if one puts their mind to it.
6. Not What Was Expected: Beauty is always expected of a mermaid, but what if such a creature looked more like this? Who could care for such a beast? Well, there's still charm there, and with enough personality, appearances can be looked past.

Scenarios:
1 ♢ Little Mermaid
♢ Mer
♢ One of you is a mer person with something you want. The other is a powerful mage who can possibly give it to you. Can an arrangement be made...?

2 ♢ Exploration
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Whatever you are, your curiosity has gotten the best of you. Whether it's a sunken shipwreck on the bottom of the ocean or a mysterious cove hidden away along the cliffside... Venturing with a friend or running into something unexpected... What will you find?

3 ♢ Exchange
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Sometimes, territories are broached, but it's not always a bad thing. Whether you're of entirely different species, or just from different seas, you've met in peaceful circumstances- perhaps as a direct result of those! So it's time for a cultural exchange. Just ignore the fresh water mer. 

4 ♢ For Science
♢ Mer and Human
♢ This is a one in a lifetime chance.... for at least one person. Are you on an isolated island? A ship far out to sea? A highly funded aquarium? Or perhaps even a laboratory with more than questionable methods... Either way, you have the chance now to study something rarely seen before. How will it turn out for both of you?

5 ♢ Ariel's Dream
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Some say it's impossible for a mer to live on dry land... except that's been quietly proven wrong. One of you has taken to living among humans, whether for years or still learning the ropes. As for the other... Are you a concerned friend, checking in on them from the sea? Or are you a landdweller, stumbling onto a great secret?

6 ♢ Sea Life
♢ Mer and Human
♢ While they have the legs for landdwelling, some humans seem to have more saltwater in their veins than blood, and those are the kinds of humans that end up with dealing with the mysteries of the sea the most. A surfer catching waves with shark mer? A pirate bartering with sirens for safe passage? A fisherman working together with those who know fish best? There's all sorts. 

7 ♢ Stranded
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Well, carp. Good job. One way or another, you're stuck where you shouldn't be. Whether that's a human lost in the tides, or a mer trapped against the land, you need help.... So don't be picky with what you do get. 

8 ♢ Siren Song
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Sometimes, there's a good reason people fear the too wide expanse of the sea, or how deep its depths an reach... Strange songs which string through coastal towns and cause disappearances... The sound of something slipping through the water around a ship in the dead of night... Unexplained shapes which flicker outside of deep-sea vessels or submarines or installations. Do you want to know what's out there? 

9 ♢ Capture
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Sometimes, there's a good reason why people fear humans. You don't belong here, being gawked at through thick aquarium glass or trapped in a too-small freakshow tank, but what can you do? Is there anyone who cares for your plight, or are there only people responsible for it?

10 ♢ Chance Encounter
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Well, this is awkward. You didn't mean to stumble onto a mer just... there, doing whatever, on the beach or by the docks or tangled up in your fishing net, but, well. It's happened. Now what?

11 ♢ Transformation
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ For one reason or another, you want to go where you've never gone before... A mer, venturing on the land either as a rare chance or every day business? Or a human, accepting some sort of trade or just to run away from the life you have now? Either way, it might get messy.... Feel free to mix in with other scenarios. 

12 ♢ Fantasy Meets Fantasy
♢ Mer and OTHERS!
♢ Who's to say that humans are the only other creatures in the world? Maybe people living beneath the sea's waves aren't the only strange things. Maybe there are centaurs who travel along coastal roads to watch the night sky along with mer astronomers. Perhaps selkies are just distant cousins. Or who's to say that mer can't be a host of things unto themselves? The ocean's the limit. 

13 ♢ Sci-fi
♢ Mer and Human
♢ Some say astronauts are nothing more than sailors venturing off into another unexplored sea, one that's above instead of below. And, befitting those same sailors of older days, they seem to tell tails of strange melodic frequencies coming in over the radio to their ears, and strange comets that look like tails passing them by on a landed planet. Do they not know what's accompanying them in space, or is that what they're actively chasing?

14 ♢ Divinity
♢ Mer and Human
♢ There are stories told of what exactly it is that could be both human and fish... So it's not surprising that, eventually, one would land upon calling them divine entities, either gods of the sea or lakes, or just their messengers. Is that true, or just a very clever, long lasting ruse?

15 ♢ Afterlife
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Some say mer are just humans, wrongfully forced overboard by superstition or cruelty and welcomed by the sea into something more. Others say that they're the spirits, haunting a particular sea or lake town for a wrongful death. What's the truth? Time to find out. 

16 ♢ Peaceful Living
♢ Mer and/or Human
♢ Not everything has to be a dramatic mess. Sometimes, things just... work out for the best. These are better times, and mer are just another part of life. Water-side towns where everything is built around those that share the waters with them, or huge metropolises with water tubes and sprouts for mer to travel through. How will you imagine this sort of life?

17 ♢ Wildcard
♢ follow your dreams, make up whatever

Mix and Match the two, or pick one!  Pick one of my characters to play with! 

Comments

[blackmagicduck]

Ratface hesitated... but then snatched the coin, flitting away to his own private corner.

Scrooge's presence, at least, began to disturb her - she slowly began to open her eyes. Again, there was that temporary flash of blue to her eyes.

[richestduck]

That blue made him wonder if perhaps she was part fey in some way. Perhaps somewhere in her ancestry was a selkie lurking about. He didn't think shore-dweller mages could do that.

He smiled at her. "Welcome back, lass."

[blackmagicduck]

She shook her head, trying to focus on the world around them.

"Mmm... good to be back. Did you get a good haul?"

[richestduck]

"I think so."

He showed her the ten coins he hadn't given Ratface plus the brooch.

[blackmagicduck]

Magica's eyes went right to the brooch, holding it in her hands. "This is beautiful!"

[richestduck]

"I told you before: There's all sorts of sparklers down there," he said with a grin.

And they were all hers as far as he was concerned.

[blackmagicduck]

Magica's eyes went to the pearl necklace that still laid on her work table. She had debated about selling it - this brooch would also make for a lot of coin.

But... But. If the coin supply was really so endless... was it possible for her to keep these pretty things? And to one day actually wear them, when she could trust the village?

She ran her fingers over it. "Thank you," she said softly.

[richestduck]

"You're welcome."

The supply wasn't endless (even magic had its limits), but there was certainly more than enough for a few generations of De Spells.

[blackmagicduck]

She moved to place the brooch alongside the necklace. "We can go into town to check on your clothes if you'd like, or practice my magesight first."

The brooch had, for the moment, managed to make her a little cheerful.

[richestduck]

"How about we go into town?" Scrooge asked, trying to hide his excitement for her reaction and not quite succeeding. "Might as well get that out of the way so we can fully focus on training."

[blackmagicduck]

"Very well." She smoothed down her dress, pocketed a few coins, and walked with him. "I've had to learn sewing on my own, once I got too big for what I was wearing, yet not tall enough to wear mother's." It hadn't been easy, with many days of bleeding fingers and naked nights of frustration. It explained her current garment that lay neatly folded - it was her mother's dress, with shoddy stitches to keep it together.

[richestduck]

"It's more than I can do." He picked at his current tunic. "This was made for me by one of the others in the selkie colony which is the only reason it hasn't fallen apart by the seams."

[blackmagicduck]

Colony? This was the first she heard of it. She knew he had a family, but this sounded different.

"... Do you miss it?"

[richestduck]

He shook his head. He'd mentioned the colony before, but she'd likely forgotten about it.

"Not really. Too crowded. You always had someone in your personal space if not literally climbing over you to get somewhere. I only joined the colony after I was separated from my family. I was injured and too young to be on my own."

[blackmagicduck]

"So they aren't going to realize you're gone?" She glanced out at the ocean, imagining a humorous scene of a swarm of seals trying to drag Scrooge back.

[richestduck]

"They know I'm gone, but only because I loudly told the bull in charge to go violate a sand dune when he tried to order me to stay," Scrooge grumbled darkly. "Even if I wanted to go back--which I don't--I'm more or less banished from the colony for the next five years."

[blackmagicduck]

She blinked a bit, surprised at that bit of news. "Really? All because you wanted to leave?"

[richestduck]

"He's trying to consolidate selkie colonies since there aren't many of us left," Scrooge explained. "His colony's largely tucked away in the fey realms, away from shore-dweller hunters. Smart as far as defense goes, but he'd rather us all be squeezed together and constantly bumping into each other rather than swimming free as Lir intended us to."

He sighed.

"The truth is that that one selkie I swam with, Brigitta, I didn't even particularly care for her. I was paired with her and swam with her because I felt obligated to the colony who'd saved me. It was a relief when she bore no pups. I was being pressured to swim with her until we had children, essentially forcing me to become her mate, but I was tired of being crowded. If I settled down, I wanted it on my own terms. Only the alpha bull didn't particularly care for not just my 'insolence' but how my attitude on the matter was starting to get the younger selkies itchy to leave as well."

[blackmagicduck]

There was some relief to know that he only "swam" with the other woman as an obligation, not because out of desire or romantic feelings - but she tried not to let this show on her face.

"So, those of the mystic can have just as many in-home squabbles and politics as us mortals... It's almost disappointing, you're supposed to be better than us." A wry smile, partially joking.

[richestduck]

Scrooge snorted as he gave a smirk. "Please. We fey are worse as far as politics go. When you live for centuries, that means you can nurse a grudge practically forever."

[blackmagicduck]

"Sounds like you have no intention of ever returning to that neck of the water." Which did leave a troubling concern of what he'd do when she passed on - probably the same thing before he met her, and the cycle of life would go on, with her merely being a bookmark.

[richestduck]

"Not if I can help it, no," Scrooge admitted. "Maybe one day when I'm desperate to see my own kind again, but I've had more than my fill of the colony for now."

He didn't like thinking about what happened when she died. It was possible that he might journey again, but he'd always miss her. He'd probably take something of hers with him to remember her by.

[blackmagicduck]

Magica nodded, but didn't say much else. Thinking of the future was far too depressing, but fortunately they were near the village.

At the tailor, the shopkeeper was sweeping the inside of her store when the two entered. "Oh... good day to you both. His suits are ready."

"Excellent. We'll take them and go."

[richestduck]

"Thank you, lass," Scrooge said brightly. "Did you happen to get the other order finished?"

It was tipping his hand, but he didn't want Magica to run away just yet.

[blackmagicduck]

Magica stared at Scrooge. "Other order?"

"Yes..." The shopkeeper quickly pulled out several bundles, half being the suits, the other half being the dresses.

Magica's eyes widened. "Wait, I didn't order..."