The Merfolk Meme

[pipefan]

The ocean is a beautiful and mysterious place. Over 95 percent of it remains unexplored. So it isn't so unbelievable that things could exist in it's depths which the world believes to be myths. The most fascinating and well-known stories of things lurking in the ocean's undiscovered depths are the merfolk. Creatures with the upper body of a human and the tail of a fish. Stories of mermaids and mermen span the globe.

Are they real?

Well, that's for you to decide.



The Prompts

(1) The Siren's Call: You're out on the ocean. Perhaps you're a pirate on a grand adventure. Perhaps you're a fisherman Perhaps you're just on vacation. You hear it on the wind. A lovely voice that seems to be calling to you. Softly lulling you. Will you answer?

(2) The Little Mermaid: You know the tale, right? A mermaid who dreams of the world above the ocean's surface. You see a prince (or princess) and fall in love. What will you do to be at their side? What will you give? Everything has a price.

(3) The Fisherman's Soul: You spot them amid the waves and instantly you are hooked! You must be with them! But they say a human cannot survive the sea with their soul intact. Do you believe this? Will you cast aside your soul for the sake of your sea-dwelling love? Or will you see another way to be with them always?

(4) Ocean Magic: You find yourself captured and set to be a side show for a traveling circus. What will you do? Try to escape? Accept your fate? Maybe you're happy to be a part of the circus!

(5) Deep Trouble: Much like the above, you've been captured. But not by a traveling circus. Scientists who wish to study you--perhaps even dissect you! Or a someone has put you up for sale to the highest bidder! In some way you have fallen into human hands and they are the ones in control of your fate! Where will you go? What will become of you?

(6) The Selkie's Tale: Well, you're not really what people think of right off the top of their heads when someone says 'mermaid'. But hey, you are what you are. A creature which lives in the form of a seal in the ocean but who can shed your skin and walk on land as a human. Just remember that if someone finds your skin, they can gain power over you! (And if they burn it you can never escape!) So hide it well! And humans beware because selkies are known to display great powers of seduction!

(7) The Merrow's Tale: Basically "The Selkie's Tale" but with what we're more accustomed to when hearing the term 'mermaids'. Rather than shedding their skin, they possess a cap which allows them to return to the sea as a mermaid.

(8) Shipwrecked and Stranded: It's a strange set of circumstances which has brought mermaid and human together. A ship has gone down during a terrible storm and left a lone passenger stranded on a deserted island. This same storm has somehow blocked a stream between the island's lake and the ocean, also stranding a mermaid or merman. As the lake is the only source of fresh water for our stranded traveler, of course the two will meet. Where will things go from there?

(9) The Thirteenth Year: You weren't always a mermaid. In fact, this whole mermaid thing is pretty new to you! You've just reached a milestone birthday (Thirteen, the transition to teenager. Sweet sixteen. Legal adult 18. Your choice really.) and suddenly you're finding scales appearing on your arms and legs at random intervals! And that's not all! You can swim super fast, talk to fish and maybe you're even starting to find yourself capable of breathing under water! Looks like you were adopted and your mom might have been a mermaid.

(10) Monster From The Deep: Maybe you're not a very nice mermaid. Maybe you're after a meal or a human soul or even just like tormenting humans. Whatever the case, this isn't going to be a happy story...

(11) Nereid: They are the sea nymphs. Daughters (and sons) of Nereus and Doris. They accompany Poseidon as he travels the ocean. Often they help lost travelers find their way and protect sailors in perilous storms. Those who treat the ocean with proper respect at least...

(12) WILDCARD: Mix and match or make up your own!

Comments

Emil Blonsky / MCU / OTA

[emilblonsky]

[Before he was a monster, Blonsky was a Marine. There's a reason for that. He loves the water more than land some days, and he's rarely far from the sea while he's human.

Alternatively, as a monster, he really does become (10), though less mermaid and more just Hulk-sized sea terror.

Open to thoughts and plotting.]

[finefeathers]

[1, 5, 8 or 10 could all be fun. 1 or 10 would both work with him as the monster side of himself, too.]

nagisa hazuki | free!

[rockhop]

01 with nagisa as the merfolk okay with you?

[ductor]

[ he's out walking when he first hears the voice.

there are probably better responses to not being able to sleep than a late-night stroll by the beach but, well, once nitori's already done his best to sneak out of his room without waking rin (easier said than done, honestly), made his way down the hall and out the door, it's a bit late for that. in his defense, he has a lot to think about right now; his performance as of late's been pretty poor, times dropping, so a certain level of stress is probably understandable. not that nitori's really in any frame of mind to be considering such things right now, of course, not when that voice, that singing is ringing loud and clear in his ears.

well, calling it 'singing' might be a stretch, considering he can't make out any actual lyrics, no matter how hard he tries, but that's the only way he can think of to describe it. the stress - the tension that's been building up in him all this time - all but melts away as he listens, his shoulders sagging, and even when he finds himself walking over to the shore, wading into the water until it comes up to his hip, he's barely aware of it. swimming at night is a terrible idea, he knows, but listening to that voice, the dangers hardly seem to matter anymore.

and so it is that nitori aiichirou, ensnared by the siren's song, starts swimming out to sea. ]

Syrena | Pirates of the Caribbean

[onejoyfultear]

[finefeathers]

[1, 7, or distant relatives hanging out?]

Callie Bell | OC | OTA

[finefeathers]

[Totally up for Callie going the mermaid side of siren lore.]

ooc;

[handwaver]

rolled a 5; interested in her being prodded at For Science?

wakasagihime | touhou project | ota

[limnetic]

[A canon mermaid! That said, I'm totally open to AUing her circumstances and exact nature to fit with various prompts.]

hakko | canaan | ota

[erysimum]

[In canon, the sound of her voice kills, so that would be easy to play around with in various prompts...]

8;i'm sorry, i had to do mer-mike; hope this is okay

[olfaction]

[It's not uncommon for the big, traveling floats of those who live above to break and sink. The storms that happen above are dangerous, and no one would choose to head into them. But those people do, all the time. He doesn't know what they're doing or where they're going, but maybe nobody does. They can't breathe underwater, and some say it's kinder to let them die. Anyone on patrol is ordered to kill them--those fragile, finless strangers are dangerous, they say, monsters, and they can't be allowed to find the settlements. They have to die. That's the law.

But they look so much like people. When the ship goes down, and Mike sees a few of them in the wreckage, swallowed by the water, he swims closer. He's supposed to make sure they die--but this is his first shipwreck, and when he swims closer, they look so much like men and women that he finds it hard to act like he's supposed to.

He can't just let them all die. He can't save them all, either, but he takes hold of one--a woman--and pulls her away. The problem is keeping her alive. He isn't very good at magic; he's a soldier, but he's able to make an air pocket in the water, shaping it around her head. He's not sure how much air she needs, and he can't keep her here long; she belongs overwater. She's not like a pet he can take home.

She's not conscious, and he's worried. He swims quickly toward the nearest land: one of a small chain of tiny reef islands, too small for any of them to really live on. He deposits her on the shore, pulling himself up onto the sand and dragging him with her to make sure she's far enough away from the water. There's nothing else he can do. He's not sure how they work. He leans down to sniff at her. She smells mostly of seawater now, but there are other, faint and unfamiliar scents clinging to her. She smells decidedly foreign.

He's putting himself in of danger, waiting here like this, but he wants to make sure she's alive. He shakes her, gently.]

[finefeathers]

[Any preferences?]

Captain Hook | Once Upon a Time | ota

[seekingcrocodile]

[He knows mermaids exist, so go for it.]

Starfire | Teen Titans

[chernobolt]

Ariel | The Little Mermaid | OTA

[partofurworld]

[m/f for shipping]

12!

[captaincrook]

Neverland was dangerous, yes. He'd learned that quite well over centuries and losing nearly every man he'd dragged here with him. It was dangerous, but in so many ways, it was quite beautiful. The skies, the few moments they were clear, littered with multiple moons and shifting constellations, as children dreamed up new ones. The sea was possibly more vicious than the residents of the island, but she was especially lovely. Clear blue-green, tempting and taunting. And the island itself was picturesque, really. Waterfalls, bright green foliage, intricate cuts of rock and cliffs.

His favorite place was possibly the most deadly, though. Mermaid Lagoon was known as such because of the dangerous sea creatures that liked to frequent it, sunning on the rocks or resting in the shallow waters still connected to the sea. Still, at night, the mermaids were always off, and Hook wasn't sure what they were doing in the dark but he probably didn't want to. Whenever he was on shore and night fell, he trudged his way there, sat in the white sand and stared at the sky and pretended it held some sort of answers.

Tonight the air was calm and almost a little cold for a tropical place, and the stars winked on the flat cast of the water. Yes, truly, it was beautiful, but beauty could be so very misleading. Hook was settled on the shore, flask propped in the sand next to him. He wasn't sure how long he'd been or how much longer he'd stay, but sadly he had nowhere else to be. Been stuck for centuries, after all, wasn't in any rush!

athne areen (oc)

[seasickened]

(12) upon the deck of athne's ship / gratuitious ocs o'clock

[tothedepths]

[ The waters are choppy tonight - heralding an oncoming storm, or perhaps a departing one, depending upon one's direction. Either way, it sends boats swaying and groaning, and the seabirds are notable for their absence. Perhaps they don't care for the energy that charges the air this night.

Either way.

When the sun set it had taken all the world's color with it, save for where moonbeams fall just right and lend everything they touch a ghostly pallor. In this case, they find crimson splatters upon seasalt-soaked wood, cutting a path from bow to center, to the nearest sheltered room that is not already occupied. If that be a dingy storage closet, then so be it.

Investigation will seem to turn up nothing, at first, but if a light is shone - something harsher and stronger than the moon's light - then the visitor will reveal themselves as a mass of blue-tipped hair beneath a tarp, with crimson accents to match: upon the floor, upon the makeshift blanket, upon the single hand that slowly draws its way out. The purpose of this movement isn't clear.

The hand could almost pass for human, if it weren't for the webbing between blood-smeared fingers. ]

Clementine | The Walking Dead (game) S2 | no shipping

[benicer]

Marth | Fire Emblem | ota

[unluckyprince]

[Did someone say fairytale prince? ...Well, here's a prince, at any rate.]

5

[followingmyheart]

[There was a lot of commotion on the marketplace this day. A very unusual ware was for sale. In a big tank of water a merman were swimming around back and fort. His hair white as his scaled fishtail and a scar decorated his face. He didn't looked to be more then a teenager and he didn't looked happy about being trapped.

Something that actually was very true. He hatted it. And all the attention made him very nervous. From time to time he cast angry glares at the steady growing crowd. He had no idea what they wanted with him. He could hear what they said outside of the glass and water. The problem was that he had no concept of buying and selling. That didn't existed in his home. So he could not know that the plan here was to earn a profit out of him.]

Julien | OC

[theacethatmatters]

 

ooc;

[lowtohigh]

3 for her trying to go back and realizing she can't oooor 4/5 for random on-land hijinks?

Elani | OC

[the_songbird]

 

8. Ish.

[adversed]

Needless to say, things had lately gone somewhat Wrong.

Being captured from the shoals had been a Bad Start. Having to crash the ship she'd been captured on had been a Terrible Middle. Becoming completely stranded on this ridiculous bit of an isle is unequivocally the Worst End.

There's comfort in seeing the familiar flick of a tail in the lake she's wandered to the edge of, but it only decreases Worst back to Terrible, really.

"Darling?"

Miuna Shiodome ☂ A Lull in the Sea ☂ ota

[beautifulsea]

( Nereid or Mermaid or Wildcard from her canon. She's a sea dweller that can breathe underwater by the 'ena', a pearl-like transparent layer covering her skin. Sea dwellers are descendants of the sea god and a sacrificial surface woman he married. )

Sherlock Holmes || Sherlock BBC || all options

[desecrated]

[[ooc: could be merman or ... whatever/younger version also available.]]

[dejah_thoris]

[Combo 3 & 7: How would you feel about Sherlock meeting a strange woman while investigating a series of thefts (or finishing up a case, either way) in a small seaside town? ]

Lily Ivory | The Witchcraft Mysteries

[vintage_magic]

[Lily is a human witch who floats like a cork and can’t swim. She’s aware a lot of things people think of as fairy tales are actually real so encountering a mermaid is something that could happen. Or she could be AU’ed into a mermaid that’s great at magic but fails at swimming. She can make love charms too and for much more reasonable payment than your voice!]

Morgan LeFlay | Tales of Monkey Island

[pirateninja]

[Morgan’s a pirate hunter so she spends a lot of time around the sea and claims she can hold her breath for five minutes. So, having her take on a job to capture a mermaid or otherwise encounter one isn’t much of a stretch! I play her from an early canon point in a game and haven’t really tried out the nicer version from later so she might be on the antagonistic side.]

Count D | Petshop of Horrors

[loveanddreams]

[A mysterious shopkeeper with a store full of exotic and sometimes dangerous pets that can take on human appearances. D canonically can talk to fish and has encountered mermaids before, even switching places with one once, so finding another wouldn’t be strange!]

haruka nanase | free! | ota

[natant]

[ this is everything he's ever wanted. open to either role! ]

8

[notfullyvampire]

[Usually Claude had a knack for knowing when a storm would hit and could hurry to safety. This time he hadn't been so lucky. The storm had hit suddenly and hard and he got pulled along by the waves, being too close to the surface when the storm hit. He had tried to fight it, to swim deeper down, but failed. In the end he got washed into a lake. Water at the very least, but the outflow had been blocked by rubble. There was no escape for him.]

Naoto Shirogane ⊗ Persona 4 ⊗ OTA

[pishirogane]

[Good with being human or the creature.]

8

[topgun_textiles]

"Thank fuckin' god, I wasn't dreamin'-"

He hadn't expected to find it, but there were too many trees and things growing here on this island, too many for there not to be some kind of fresh water somewhere. Sea water made you sick as a damn dog, and would kill you faster than anything else that could be here. He broke into a run when he saw the lake, the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen in his life right this very moment.

Kanji dropped to his knees, finally dry from his dip in the water when the ship sank this morning, but filthy from his rest in the dirt and sand when he reached the shore exhausted. He needed to eat, but more importantly, he needed to drink.

His canteen was uncapped, dipped into the water with a gurgle. It'd power him on as he explored the island some more, see if any of his shipmates made it and he could formulate a plan. Then, he would cup his hands and drink from them without a care in the world.

It was his first bit of good luck in the last 48 hours after fighting against a storm and losing. He wasn't going to squander it.

Billy Jukes | Fox's Peter Pan & the Pirates

[gunnerbrat]

[ He's a pirate. The Neverland mermaids generally aren't friendly.]

Darcy Lewis | Thor | OTA

[haveyouseenmytaser]

[bondorblood]

[ 'ey gurl, you wanna be the mermaid or human or whut? ]

Yang Xiao Long | RWBY

[bodyshots]