Fish in the Sea

[Blackjack]

( Closed)

The growling in Momo’s stomach grew louder and louder with every moment of empty line that passed. Her stomach churned and whined at it’s empty state as she sat dismally on the rock lodged into the bank of the river. In her left hand was an old fishing rod she’d found tossed aside into the shrubbery, probably by some fishermen who forgot it or found a better rod. In her right hand was her chin. Yawning, Momo watched as the miserable little bait bobbed up and down near the surface of the water. Miscounting rations… it would never happen again. With a days walk into town, she had no choice but to stop. She just did not have the energy to continue, at least, not if she wanted to make it to town alive.

“….,” Momo slipped a sigh between switching rod hands. Not only was she hungry but it had been the most boring 2 hours of her entire life. She was beginning to hate that little bait who so pathetically sat there in the water unable to attracted any sort of fish, not even a boot. Maybe she could eat a boot.

A small ripple in the water just beside her line caused Momo to snap to attention and grip the rod tightly with both hands. Here it was, the big one. Oh how wonderful a juicy trout would taste after being roasted over a fire. Like a child watching Saturday morning cartoons Momo watched unblinking, unmoving, captivated by anticipation of what would come next though nothing was happening. Five minute she sat eagerly on her rock ready to leap to her feet to reel in the giant trout she knew was eyeing her bait. But then, the realization that the fish wasn’t going to bite set in on the small monk, and she went back to slouching with a little rain cloud over her head.

How much longer would she have to wait? She couldn’t take it anymore! The hunger in her stomach was eating away at her very being! She was going to starve to death before sunset. Some travelers would find her dead body still sitting on that stupid rock waiting for a stupid fish to bite the stupid bait. She wouldn’t let it end like this. If fish didn’t want to bite, she’s just snag one!

Onto her feet Momo furiously reeled in the line until the dripping bait was eye level with her. “ Now listen, I’m starving, this is it, this will get me dinner!” she said to the bait before taking a step back and throwing the rod with all her might. For her size she threw the line far. The winding sound of the line’s release was like a drum roll for Momo. Would she get something? Or would she be empty handed again?

A tug… A TUG! “ I got it!!” she shouted to no one but herself, pulling back on the rod to fight the tugging. Her brows narrowed and she wrinkled her nose as she mustered all her strength to pull back on the rod. Whatever she caught must have been huge, her feet were sliding down towards the river, even as she dug her heels in to stop herself.

“ No you don’t!!” Momo turned quickly with both hands still on the rod so her back was facing the river. She pulled the rod from over her shoulder as she leaned forward with all her weight taking step after step away from the river to pull the fish out. It seemed to be working, she was winning the tug o war.
Behind her she heard some splashes, she must have gotten the fish out of the water at least. It was over, finally she could eat! Beaming with a wide grin Momo turned with a bounce of her pigtails to lay eyes on her dinner. Her grin turned sour very quickly.

“ AHHH!!!” Momo yelped and jumped back, startled by what she saw. Her foot slipped on the slippery grass and she dropped onto her bottom. Despite her own pain her eyes remained wide and her mouth gaping. This was no dinner… this was…

[Kou Clearwater]

A Merca. And a particularly flustered one at that. Not five minutes earlier, he had been lounging around beneath the cool surface of the water, mid-day napping in a hammock of river bed sea weed, minding his own business. And mind it he would have, until sometime in the night when the rumble of his stomach would have acted as an alarm clock to send him off to quell his hunger. But mind it he didn’t, when the wake of some object trolled over his snoozing figure and reeled his consciousness back to life. It was but a half alert one when he decided it would be a good idea to investigate and see what his de facto awakener was, which meant a quick swim above water. When his ocean haired head splashed through the surface tension of the river, he found himself greeted by a trio of startled fisherman in their rickety old boat. He jested a “Boo” to the three middle aged fellows. He was thoroughly amused at his attempt at comedy. The fishermen weren’t.

Since then, they had been in hot pursuit of the sea dweller. Their eyes had never laid sight upon such a creature as Kou, thus they felt it a safe assumption to think him some sort of Siren spawn or sea monster who intended to make a meal of them. And from the way they sped off after him, jabbing their harpoons and fishing spears into the water, they made it clear that they weren’t about to let that happen.

Kou had managed to put some distance between himself and the feisty fisherman, but he had been heading towards shore, and there weren’t many other places that direction would have taken him. Long story short, he surmised that they’d be on his fins any minute, eager to lob off his head and seek reward for slaying the horrifying beast of the Dandyl River. And as far as he was considered, he liked his head right where it was, and intended to keep it there.

The blue haired boy’s escape from his hunters, however, soon found a painfully literal snag in it. A burst of bubbles escaped from his gills as he felt a strong tug tear through his fin. His momentum was instantly halted, his arms left flailing under the water in attempts to escape from whatever it was that had taken hold of his scaled flipper. He feared to look at his wound, the back of his mind telling him that it was actually worse than it felt, and half of his fin was now attached to the end of a rusty harpoon like some mini weiner on a toothpick.

He had managed to swim off a few meters, but the tug came again, and this time he began moving against the thrashes of his arms, almost as though he was being dragged through the water. Whatever it was that had him, had him good, and its determination was akin to his own. It wasn’t going to let him go. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the blood clouding the water around his propelling appendage. It wasn’t much, but it was more than enough to catch his attention. And equally enough to draw his eyes to the tear in his scales where a small, silver hook could be seen. His brow flattened as he realized the horrible irony in what had happened. He had been caught like a fish, and was being reeled in towards the shore. "Hopefully I'll live to laugh at this someday..." Submitting to his catcher’s tugs, he swiveled about face and made towards where the fisherman seemed to be.

His torso splashed out of the water while his eyes cautiously glanced over his shoulder. No sign of his pursuers. For now anyways. ”And good thing, too,” he thought. His lower stung too badly for him to continue effective evasive swimming, so perhaps taking to land wouldn’t be such a bad idea. “And who knows…maybe this fisherman can-“

“ AHHH!!!”

“…” Kou sighed painfully as he watched his pigtailed (fisherwoman, not fisherman) captor fall backwards onto her seat. He lethargically extended his arms to show that he meant no harm, and quickly climbed ashore. Once all six feet of his person had made it to the emerald grass, he plopped down on his own bottom and clutched at his fin. His left eye winced closed as the burning sensation in his fin began to inflamate in the open air. “You know, for a little one, you’ve sure got a strong tugging arm,” he mused in hopes of discarding the alarm of the girl. “Sorry, though. I didn’t mean to scare you. Name’s Kou.”

[Blackjack]

A fin. He had a fin. Half in awe and half in shock Momo slowly released her grip on the rod on the grass beside her. She suddenly felt as if she’d just been poaching some endangered species, and her hand laying on the rod was a searing red mark of her guilt. She’d never seen a creature like this. His torso was of a normal human, minus the gills, but his bottom half was… a fish, more like a dolphin really. The curiosity in her wanted to reach out and touch the fin to see if it was real, but her better judgment told her not to. If she were a fish person she wouldn’t want to be touched and poked either.

As if she couldn’t be more amazed with the biological engineering of this creature, he spoke! Not just spoke, but introduced himself, with a name. Momo’s recovering shock went right back to completely floored. During her short time out of the monastery she’d come across some interesting creatures and characters but Kou took the cake. Instantly she had a billion questions she wanted to ask, the main one being what was he.

She blinked her chocolate eyes out of her trance and closed her gapping mouth. “ I’m a Momo- I mean I’m Momo! My name is Momo.” she quickly corrected herself and shook her head to toss away the last few stutters and stares. Carefully, she stood on her feet and watched Kou from a small distance, unsure if getting any closer might be dangerous.

“ Umm, if you don’t mind me asking… ,” Momo put her hands behind her back and looked from his face to his fin. “ What are you?” Looking at his fin she noticed a small stream of red seeping out of the hole the hook made. That was her fault. With a pinch of guilt Momo winced and bit her bottom lip.

“ I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t know you were in the water,” forgetting about her reservations Momo approached Kou and knelt beside his fin, the wet grass soaking her knees. “ I wasn’t trying to go fishing for err… people, honest.”

While she spoke Momo was examining the wound. It was small since the hook wasn’t terribly big. As terrible as it might have been she felt a small swell of pride that she was able to out tug Kou. It went to show size meant nothing when it came to strength, at least that’s what Momo would believe. “ Don’t worry. I’m a monk, so I’m trained to take care of wounds like this, it’s not that bad at all.” hesitantly she hovered her hands over his fin before daring to say “ I need to touch your fin to get the hook out, so stay still, okay?”

With great precision her little hands worked quickly, pulling the hook out with the utmost care. The last thing she wanted was to cause even more pain, since this was her fault to begin with. Quickly and rather painlessly the hook was out, and all that was left was mending that troublesome little wound.

Momo’s left hand hovered above the wet fin and the bleeding wound preparing to work its magic. There were no chants involved, just precise concentration on Momo’s part. Humans and fuzzy animals were the only things she’d ever worked her healing powers on, though she didn’t see how this could be any different. Sure enough, within a few breaths Momo’s hand emitted a faint lavender light which shone down onto the wound with a warmness that felt like a mother’s touch. Soon all that remained of the wound was a small scar and some blood left over from when the hole was open.

Impressed by her own skill Momo’s smile beamed with pride. “ There, all better!” Secretly, she hoped her good deed would put her back in good graces with Kou, she didn’t want him to hold a grudge for her fishing mishap. “ Say… do you live in this river or something?” she asked hoping the answer was ‘no’, otherwise she may be accused of trying to eat his family for dinner….

[Kou Clearwater]

In wake of the metaphysical bull’s eye being painted on his posterior by the eyes of the hunter fisherman and the pint sized pig tailed girl’s silence and wide eyes, he began to wonder how the rest of the world of Althanas would receive him. Almost instantly, a cheaply drawn cartoon image of villagers with pitchforks and torches chasing him through the streets began to animate. He gulped hard, and prayed that wasn’t the case. Shaking his head acted like an etch-a-sketch, slowly tossing bits and pieces of the crayon coloured stick figures (his, of course, being the most detailed) to the winds as he sighed, and returned to reality, where the blinking brown eyes of the young woman awaited him. Despite the awkward silence, which caused Kou to clear his throat and scratch at the back of his head, the company of that particular human was a welcomed one in comparison to that of the three salt and pepper bearded fisherman turned hunters. ”Speaking of which,” Kou glanced back out to the waters. Nothing yet. Perhaps they’d lost his trail and given up. However, as time would prove, he wouldn’t be so lucky.

“I’m a Momo- I mean I’m Momo! My name is Momo.”

Relief befell the befinned boy as she reciprocated an introduction. He stifled a chuckle as her tongue tripped over her words. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Momo.” Despite this, though, he could still see the hesitancy in her eyes. He supposed it couldn’t be helped. Not many humans, or any other race for that matter, had come in contact with a member of the xenophobic Merca race. And even in a world occupied by elves, dwarves, demons, and vampires, he figured that the idea of sea-people was still something like a fairytale.

“ Umm, if you don’t mind me asking… what are you?”

A welcoming smile threaded between his sparkling fair cheeks at the question, which he assured his inquirer that he didn’t mind at all being asked.

“In Common tongue, I suppose we’re called ‘Merca’,” He said, a bit unsure of how to answer the question himself. “We’re not all that different from elves or humans…just…er….fishier?” His head cocked to the side as he noticed the girl bite her lip. He followed her gaze to his tail, where he saw the crimson smear of blood trickling down his fin. “Oh, that’s right. There’s a hole in my fin.”….. “Waaaah there’s a hole in my fin!” As if it were reflex, he instantly bent his fin against his bare chest and clutched down at the wound. In all the commotion (and mostly, lack there of) he had nearly forgotten how he had wound up there on the shore of the river talking to the short statured human.

“I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t know you were in the water. I wasn’t trying to go fishing for err… people, honest.”

What an odd girl. The corner of his lips curled up into a forgiving smirk, his head shaking in dismissal of the apology. “No worries, it happens at least once a week.” In fact, just a few days earlier, a rather large burly (and arguably brainless) man had managed to hook him, and dragged him all the way into his boat. He argued that Kou was a fair catch and should be weighed at the small village’s annual fishing competition. Needless to say, Kou was less than chipper when they agreed and plopped him into a weighing bucket along with a few trout and a bass. ”Do they do this often?” he had asked the fish. They nodded solemnly.

“ Don’t worry. I’m a monk, so I’m trained to take care of wounds like this, it’s not that bad at all. I need to touch your fin to get the hook out, so stay still, okay?” He wasn’t quite sure what exactly a ‘monk’ was, but the way she had deftly knelt beside his wound and examined it, made it seem like she knew what she was doing. He nodded trustingly, and immediately looked away. If he watched, he’d probably squirm and just make it worse. And the last thing he wanted to do was lose a whole fin rather than just a few scales.

Shortly after he felt the small metal hook slip out of his fin (which he chased with a sigh of relief), he peaked down with a single eye to see what the girl was doing. Just as he did, he spied the first flicker of the pale lavender light that engulfed the bloodied tear. “What in the seas…” When she had said that she was trained in taking care of wounds, he had immediately thought that she was something like the Shaman Merca, who were simply versed in herbal remedies, potions, and fixings to your every day scathes. However, this, which now held the unblinking attention of both of his sapphire pools, was no coral cream pain reliever and sea weed bandage. This was something else altogether. Soon, his fin began to tingle with a warming sensation, almost as though a gentle southern tide had washed up his scales. It was but a moment longer before the light disappeared along with the tear.

“There, all better!”

His astonishment to this magic was now something like hers to his fin. Could all humans do this? Or just Monks? How does it heal wounds? What makes the repairing process feel warm? What else can a Monk do? In his curiosity, he had almost forgotten to extend a thanks to the girl, which he did promptly after a strong blink and shake of his head.

“Much appreciated,” said the Merca, who looked over his fin one last time in awe that the hole he could clearly see through moments earlier had vanished.

“ Say… do you live in this river or something?”

A look of grief swept over his face. “Yes, actually. My whole family has lived in this river for generations. However, over the passed week, my brothers and sisters have been disappearing, you see. I was out swimming to look for them,” he swiftly raised his head and looked into her eyes. “You haven’t eaten them have you?!”

He waited a second for his story to sink in before flashing a smile and waving a hand in dismissal. “Just kidding. Merca actually live in the oceans near the coral reefs. There are a few angry fisherman out there looking for me, though, that’d like to make me a permanent resident.”

He hadn’t bothered to check for them again, so for all he knew they were only a few feet away getting ready to spring the trap on him.

“So…out of curiosity,” he looked back down to the small scar where the hook had been lodged. “What exactly are you?”

[Ziggy]

" I swear she said she was single!! "

Ziggy ducked just in time to miss the heavy hammer as it crashed into the best post, sending splinters in all directions. It was apparent that negotiations were out of the question. He scrambled frantically to find his pants, all the while trying to avoid the wrath of a certain husband who had caught a certain wife in a certain bed with a certain dumb letcher.

" Rrrahh!!!! "

The greasy old man swung his hammer once again, missing Ziggy by inches. The hammer crashed into the wooden floor. The old man struggled to remove it, but it seemed to be stuck. Ziggy siezed the opportunity and jumped from the bed, over the old man and out the bed room door. He ran fast as he could down the stairs, his pants and boots still in hand. Ziggy turned about and uttered one last statement.

" Thanks for a wonderful time Gloria! Look me up if your ever in Radasanth!! "

And with that he took off; out of the inn and into the streets of Scara Brae. Woman gasped and men shouted at the site of the half naked boy, but he had no time for courtesy, after all he was in the middle of yet another get away.

" Man, that's the third time this month! Can't a guy catch a break? "

Ziggy managed to slip into one of his boots as he ran; half hopping half running all the way. He slipped on the other, and then tried for his pants. Unfortunately his pants proved more difficult and he crashed to the ground. He quickly rolled onto his back and shot his legs straight up, sliding on his pants and hopping to his feet. Just as he took another step towards freedom, a hatchet whirled past him, just missing his nose and lodging itself into a barrel of grain. He cried out in shock.

" Geezus!! "

" There he is! Get em' ! "

The old man was in hot pursuit, and now he had friends. It was a greasy old black smith mob of doom, and Ziggy wanted no part in it.

" Sorry to run boys, but I got what I came here for and I think its about time I mozied along! "

Ziggy took off into the woods and ran as hard and as fast as he could, dodging branches and hopping stumps all the way. He ran for what seemed like half an hour before suddenly bursting out of the trees and into a clearing. He thought all was well and slowed his pace, but before he knew it he had crashed into someone and was in the shallows of a river. Ziggy jerked himself out of the water and looked down to see who he had hit.

" Uh...sorry about that...um...my fishy friend. "

[Blackjack]

Merca. Momo repeated this several times in her head taking in the work of art this creature truly was. Even the name had a mystical air about it. Merca. Still kneeling beside Kou she leaned forward onto her hands on either side of her knees with an interested smile. So he was a Merca.. Who lived in the river… whose family was disappearing…

Momo’s expression of wonder slowly drooped into a realization of horror. In defense she quickly drew up her hands and waved them feverishly in front of her. “ No no no no! I didn’t eat your family! I was just, just, just… umm,” the harder she thought of an excuse for her rod and hook her eyes grew wider.

“Just kidding. Merca actually live in the oceans near the coral reefs. There are a few angry fisherman out there looking for me, though, that’d like to make me a permanent resident.”

And so Momo considered throwing him back into the ocean for the fisherman to have after that prank he just pulled. Her little heart had been practically stopped when she thought it could have been his mom and dad she was looking to eat for dinner. He must have thought he was really funny. Her eyebrows flattened and the corners of her lips went straight as she pursed them.

“ So Merca have a sense of humor too, I guess,” she crossed her arms over her chest and arched a brow looking out of the corner of her eyes at Kou. “ That wasn’t funny you know, I really believed you.” Momo’s sulking didn’t last very long as harsh as it may have seemed. Her interest in this new found acquaintance was too great for her too pout much longer. Besides, it was kind of funny…. Kind of.

” So… out of curiosity… What are you?”

It seemed out of place for the boy with the fin to be asking that question, but in perspective of other races Momo could see how it could come up. Still, she was surprised he’d never seen a human before. How could she explain ‘humans’? “ Well, I’m a human… We have two legs and one heart and a brain and-…” Momo’s lightbulb flickered back on and she dropped her head to stare at some grass in embarrassment. Not what WAS she, but what was SHE? Taking in a sigh she thought it might be best to just start again.

“ But I, am a monk. We humans who come from a monastery.. Err… like a big school where they teach us how to use healing magic.” Was the best way she could describe it. If he’d never heard of magic before things may have been a lot more complicated. “ I’m just a beginner. Experts can heal all sorts of wounds, even put arms back on after they’ve been cut off,” she said with maybe a little too much excitement. “ Some of us can also use our magic to harm others…,” she said solemnly. Smiting magic- a magic she never wanted to learn. But Momo’s dark clouds moved on and her sunny disposition returned, and she chirped, “ Lucky for you, I specialize in healing.”

“ I’s hard work and a lot of patience. Right now I can only heal small cuts and bumps and bruises, but in the future I’ll be able to be a great monk who can save lives,” it seemed the young girl was diving more into a monologue than a conversation, but she seemed inspired. “ Anyways, for now I’m good to have around when you trip and fall.”

As if on cue something about the size of a human, and upon closer inspection the appearance of one too, tumbled into Kou who was still sitting on the bank of the river. Momo only blinked, trying to process what had just happened. Such a peaceful scene turned into a mess of fins and legs and arms and… well… boys.

“ Are… are you okay?” Momo winced and the pile of boy and crawled closer to them to help pull the blonde one off Kou. Was this one of the fishermen who was after the Merca? She expected to see a rod in his hand, but since Kou wasn’t exactly a trout she could see why he may need to tackle him.

[Kou Clearwater]

“Well, I’m a human… We have two legs and one heart and a brain and-…”

Kou disguised his short burst of a chuckle with a clearing of his throat. Though he hadn’t ever met a human before her, as to say he had never come to learn one’s name or speak to them long enough to say more than ‘boo’, he knew what they were. He hadn’t been as much of a Xenophobe in his ways as the rest of his kind, so he had at least observed them from a distance. He learned their language that way, as well as a few customs, like the handshake, the salute, and the slap on the bottom (which, also through observation, he learned was not to be done from a male to a female). When she began correcting herself, the Merca let his weight and balance fall back on his elbows.

“But I, am a monk. We humans who come from a monastery.. Err… like a big school where they teach us how to use healing magic.”

A big school. His mind painted an image of a bunch of humans swimming around on land, and he began to nod and stoke his chin in understanding. However…he soon remembered that humans couldn’t swim on land, and almost instantly, the figures in his mind fell to the earth and began flopping around like a fish out of water. What he did understand from what she said, though, was the term ‘magic’. Not minutes earlier, his knowledge of magic hadn’t extended beyond the rule that Merca were not to partake in the spellbinding arts, which he had often heard described as magic, but with a glance down to his fin, and a smoothing of his hand over his repaired scales, he instantly understood what magic really was.

“Some of us can also use our magic to harm others…,”

Her words and his expression were one in the same. It was for reasons like that that the Merca stayed away from the surface. Humans, elves, dwarves…all dry world walking races…they learned things that they could use to harm one another. They fought battles. And not just one another, but against their own brothers, too. And they started wars that scarred the world and turned his seas red with death. He sighed in thought of the aforementioned, knowing it was justification enough for the Xenophobia of his people. The most intense battle between two Merca had been with words, and it was solved within minutes. His expression changed with her disposition, though, his heart thankful that his first human acquaintance’s feelings on the subject were akin with his own.

“Lucky for you, I specialize in healing. It’s hard work and a lot of patience. Right now I can only heal small cuts and bumps and bruises, but in the future I’ll be able to be a great monk who can save lives,”

He nodded at her words. He liked this human. Though he really didn’t have much to compare her to, save for the angry trio who probably wanted to stuff and mount his tail end on their trophy wall, she seemed like a…good human. Someone who had a good heart. Someone selfless. She was a bit of an oddball…but he imagined he must have seemed at least odd in appearance to her. Regardless, as she went on, he hoped that this would not be his last encounter with the Monk named Momo.
“Anyways, for now I’m good to have around when you trip and fall.”

“Or get hooked in the-OOF!”

Out of nowhere, Kou felt a heavy object come blundering into his side. It was an unexpected blow, and as such, the wind found itself waving goodbye to the blue haired boy as it was successfully knocked out of his lungs. His face and been firmly planted in the soggy dirt, under the weight of whatever it was that had landed on him. He could hardly hear Momo’s inquiry as to whether he was alright or not, which he responded to with a mud muffled “Ow.”

His luck told him that it was one of the fisherman from earlier, and that he was, in fact, in his final moments of life. Defeated, he left his face in the mud and prepared to be sent on to the big fish bowl in the sky.

" Uh...sorry about that...um...my fishy friend. "

Almost with an audible pop, Kou lifted his face from the mud, arched a cerulean brow, and turned to look at the owner of this new voice. It was a human boy, seemingly around his own age (though he wasn’t quite sure that Humans and Merca shared the same aging qualities). He didn’t look like any of the three balding, bearded men that had made an attempt on his life earlier, so he breathed an exhalation of relief. His hands quickly wiped away the mud from his scaled cheeks while his head shook at the youth’s apology. “No worries. Be on the look out, though, I think Karma is out to get me.”

Three men after his life, a young woman hooking him through the fin, and a boy tackling him from his relaxed position to face first in the mud, all in the same day…surely this was payback for that time he covered his head in seaweed and pretended to be a sea monster to a handful of children in a small boat. But they had peed over his napping place, so he thought scaring the rest of it out of them was only fair.

[Ziggy]

“ Are… are you okay?” asked a rather petite voice.

" Huh? Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. I'm just a little wet is all. Heh. "

Ziggy pulled himself up out of the river water and peeled off pieces of grass and what appeared to be a few scales.

“No worries. Be on the look out, though, I think Karma is out to get me.” said the strange fish man.

" Ha ha, I hear ya. I didn't hurt ya did I? "

Ziggy rubbed the back of his damp hair with his right hand as his face turned rosy red. He was a little embarrassed by his own actions. What sort of fool runs head on into a fish man?

Ziggy shook himself back and forth violently, shaking off droplets of water from his hair and clothes. In a way he was pleased to have fallen in water. He had become somewhat over heated from his mad dash towards freedom, or at least away from trouble. Still, he didn't enjoy the feeling of wet clothes on his skin, so
Ziggy took of his shirt with little hesitation and draped it over his left shoulder. He took a moment to look over his new aquaintances.

The one he had run into appeared to be half man half fish, but not like a merman. This guy had legs and fins...and hair...and scales...and as of right now a bit of mud. merman had tails,a nd no legs. This was no merman. But what then, could he be?

The other was a young girl with brown hair and eyes. Her hair was done up in pig tails and, regardless of what ever age she might be, appeared very young. Not young enough to be a child, but not quite old enough to be a woman.

Ziggy smiled widely and placed his fists on his hips.

" Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Ziggy Pun. That's right Pun, as in no pun intended, as in don't make fun of my last name!....And you are?"

[Blackjack]

The blonde picked himself up off of the aquatic young man before Momo really had a chance to lend her aide, not that she would have been strong enough to lift Ziggy up anyways. There was a little bit of wet grass and a few of Kou’s scales still attached to Ziggy’s front, but despite his tumble the young man looked fine and full of energy. It was in the moment she could see the type of smile Ziggy had that she decided he wasn’t a fisherman. If he were a fisherman after Kou he’d probably look a lot more sinister.

~~~~

The middle aged but out of shape fisherman peered through the dense forest edge at the scoundrel he’d just chased out of the town. Normally, he wouldn’t have wasted a second hiding to spy from a distance, but his eyes laid themselves upon something far greater than giving that no good lecher the beating of his life, he saw the fish. That is to say, Kou. Just the day before his buddies and he can been in hot pursuit of that creature and in the pretty penny he’d put in their pockets. If the world wouldn’t pay them gold to see the one of a kind creature ( or so they thought) then they would sell him to some back alley freak show, someone would take him.

But how? How could he capture the fish without having him hurry off again and escape again? And how could he catch that blonde who’d… oh it made him furious just thinking about it. Perhaps if he kept watching something would come to him. The man ducked down into the shrubs to watch the trio a little longer.

~~~~

“ Nice to meet you Ziggy. I’m Momo Ame,” She bowed a slight but gracious bow. “ If you don’t mind my asking. What were you doing just now? I mean you shot out of that forest pretty fast,” she glanced down at Kou who was still on the ground. She would have helped him, if he had legs to stand on.

Momo turned her attention back to Ziggy whose hands were at his hips charismatically. She could already tell by his confident grin that he was the extroverted type. But for the life of her she couldn’t think of why he’d be bolting out of the forest like a whole village had been chasing him with pitchforks or something. Expecting to see a crowd burst out of the forest edge Momo stole a quick glance in its direction, but only saw still shrubs and solid tree trunks.

As if on cue, Momo’s stomach took the moment of silence to announce itself. Grumble .Embarrassed, Momo crossed her arms over her stomach and put out a nervous laugh choosing to look down while her cheeks flushed pink. It’d been nearly a day since she’d eaten anything and her stomach was quite tired of being empty. Inwardly she urged her stomach to settle down, though negotiations were long since over.

“ Hehe… guess I’m a little hungry,” with her index finger she scratched her temple. Hunger was what started all this anyways. Remembering her fishing rod and hooking Kou she quickly slapped both her hands upon her mouth as if to grab the words she’d just spoke and shove them back in. Great, she’d just admitted to trying to eat his friends. She needed a cover up quick otherwise Kou might see her as some sort of Merca eating monster. She’d just become friends, the last thing she wanted is Kou to have to worry about her eating him with crackers… although salmon and crackers did sound goo- No! She shook her head as if to shake out her hungry thoughts.

“ I was ummm…fishing for sea weed!” It was lame, but it was all she had.

[Kou Clearwater]

Kou assured the blonde that no serious damage had been inflicted. There was just a bald patch of scales near where his dolphin like lower half connected to the fin, but it’d only be a few days before they started growing back. Or maybe they wouldn’t grow back at all, he feared, and he’d suffer from fish pattern baldness and start getting a receding scale line. Kou sighed through upturned pursed lips at the thought. Knowing my luck…it’ll probably happen.

The sun was starting to become a half circle on the horizon, and for the better part of a day, Kou hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the three fisherman. This was good news, her surmised, and probably signified that they had given up the chase. By no means was the Merca in the mood to get chased again. He hadn’t eaten since dawn that morning, and his nap had been interrupted, and the mixture of hungry and tired was not a favourable pairing.

Rather, Kou wanted to continue his discussion with Momo about the history of ‘Monks’ and what exactly their magic could do and how could one go about learning it. However, he wasn’t entirely sure how secretive the Montiberry…no…Nomiscary…yeah, that’s it, and it’s studies were, so he figured he’d hold off until his accidental assailant had gone on his way.

" Allow me to introduce myself! My name is Ziggy Pun. That's right Pun, as in no pun intended, as in don't make fun of my last name!....And you are?"

Kou scratched the back of his blue haired head. He wasn’t sure what the word ‘pun’ meant, but from the sounds of it, it wasn’t a good term. He’d be sure not to jest at it.

“Name’s Kou,” said the Merca in reply to Ziggy’s introduction. He was partially glad the fellow had stuck around instead of running off to wherever it was he was headed. Kou was curious about the dry world…and he figured the more people he met and befriended, the more he would learn.

Kou paused. Now that he thought about it, the youth did seem to be in a bit of a rush when the two had collided. Kou bit his tongue to keep from laughing at the image of a bunch of Merca in a cart wheeling after him with fishing rods, the exact inverse of his own situation.

“ If you don’t mind my asking. What were you doing just now? I mean you shot out of that forest pretty fast,”

Momo stole the words right out of his mouth.

And managed to steal them again after chasing the grumble of her stomach and nervous laughter with “ Hehe… guess I’m a little hungry,”


“ I was ummm…fishing for sea weed!”

“Oooooh,” said Kou, nodding his head in pseudo-understanding and stroked his chin with a fair skinned hand. He hadn’t known that humans fished for seaweed, and moreover, wasn’t aware that they ate the aquatic crop. He didn’t want to seem stupid, though, so he decided it best to feign knowledge on the subject. And just as quickly, he was sure to commit the information to memory, in case he ever needed to barter for his life with a satchel of sea grass.

As if to reply to the cry of her stomach, Kou’s also gave a bit of a grumble, which caused the Merca to fall back to the flat of his back on the river side patch of land. “Baah…I need food,” he placed both hands over his stomach as his torso lurched forward so that he was sitting on his ‘bottom’. “Er…where and what exactly do humans eat? I hope it’s close…and cheap,” Kou only had a hundred pieces of gold to his name…and he wasn’t exactly sure how much that would get him in the dry world.

[Ziggy]

“ If you don’t mind my asking. What were you doing just now? I mean you shot out of that forest pretty fast,”

Ziggy chuckled a bit. He could only imagine how strange it looked to see him bolt out of the trees like a bat out of hell. But then again, if he told them the real reason he was being chased they might get the wrong idea about him. Ziggy wasn't a bad guy, he just wasn't very lucky.

" Well uh...ya see. About that...uh..."

Ziggy was interrupted by a light grumble that came from the young girl's tummy.

“ Hehe… guess I’m a little hungry,”

" Yes! Food! Let's get something to eat! "

Saved by the bell. Ziggy would try to come up with a story to go along with his obnoxious entrance while they had dinner.

“Er…where and what exactly do humans eat? I hope it’s close…and cheap,”

Ziggy couldn't very well show his face in town again for a while. After all, he had just about every guard, fisherman and blacksmith out after his hide

" Uh...let's not go into town for dinner. Uh...lousy food. Yeah that's it. Terrible food in there. We'll find something out here. "

Ziggy held his shirt by the bottom corners and shook out the wrinkles in it as well as much of the remaining moisture, the rest would have to dry on it's own. He slipped his shirt over his head and pushed each arm through it's own sleeve. Ziggy rubbed his hands vigorously with a grin.

" Alright, let's get some eats! "

Ziggy turned and peered down the shoreline of the river. He focussed hard as he could and his vision began to expand. Unbeknownst to Ziggy, his eyes began to glow a dim red as he looked further and further down the river. He smiled and turned back to the others. The red glow faded as quickly as his head turned.

" There's some kind of fruit tree about two hundred yards down the river! Let's head that way. "

[Blackjack]

“ The town has lousy food?” Momo wondered aloud placing her index finger on her chin. If she remembered correctly a traveler she’d passed told her one of the best things about the town was its food. Who knows, maybe she heard wrong. Ziggy’s enthusiastic proposal popped Momo’s thought bubble and brought her back to the situation at hand. A fruit tree? Well fruit was nature’s candy.

“ Alright,” said Momo with a nod for confirmation. Ziggy had good eyes top spot a tree 200 yards away. 200 yards… Momo thought about it for a second. She counted on her fingers while she translated the distance in her head. “ 200 yards…” feeling a bit lost she looked down at her fingers and wished she had taken arithmetic more seriously.

~~~
The spying fisherman narrowed his eyes a little harder as the sun was beginning to set now and between the trees’ boughs pockets of sunlight were piercing through like daggers into the thick forest across the river where the man hid. The way the sunlight gleamed of Kou’s smooth scales made the fisherman up the price for Kou in his mind. Indeed Kou would be worth a new house, and maybe a new wife.

Barely able to contain himself the fisherman smirked a devious grin using all his will power to hold back a cackle. However, he would have to continue watching before he could come up with a good plan to nab the both of them. And what was he going to do about the girl? She was in the way, and if she became a casualty of this then surely he would face the law. She was a cute girl anyways, hurting such an innocent creature seemed…Like a lightning strike an idea hit him. Of course, such a pretty and young lady would make a fine new wife. Well this was working out better than he had expected.

~~~

Having given up on trying to figure out 200 yards Momo designated herself as the official fruit collector, graciously offering to bring some back for everyone. She may have been small but her size had advantages. She could climb, and climb well because of her light weight stature. She would be up the tree in no time!

With a skip in her step Momo strolled towards the fruit tree which she couldn’t really see in the distance. She just followed the direction Ziggy was looking. As she grew closer she could see the first tree of what looked like a grove. An apple grove. Momo’s favorite fruit were peaches, but apples were a close second. Energetically Momo gave a broad wave back towards Kou and Ziggy. “ I FOUND IT!!!” she announced.

“ Okay, Momo, let’s get some apples!” she told herself before reaching up and grabbing hold of a low branch. Her sandals scraped against the trunk as she scrambled up onto the branch which would have broken under something like Kou or Ziggy’s weight. She reached up again and pulled herself onto a stronger branch which happened to have a clump of green leaves and sweet smelling golden and red apples. With a smile on her face Momo plucked the fruit from the tree on at a time, careful to steady herself. To store them she reached back and dropped them into the hood attached to her tunic. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Six apples, two for each. That should do it.

Slowly Momo let herself down onto the weaker branch then turned around so she could climb down backwards. She made it as far as dropping her feet off the branch and hanging by her arms when she realized…. The ground was a lot further down than she had thought. Going up wasn’t difficult because she was able to climb, but coming back down she could quite pivot off the trunk.

“ Uh oh,” Momo whimpered looking down at the grassy forest floor. Maybe she could just drop down….On the count of three she told herself. One… two…three… No she couldn’t do it. Her hands wouldn’t let themselves release. “ Ehh,” Momo tried to swing her feet over to use the trunk. No such luck, her sandaled feet came just short. “ Umm.. Help..?” Momo said trying to look over her shoulder back towards Ziggy and Kou. “ I’m stuck… I think… Help!!”

[Kou Clearwater]

Lousy. He didn’t know what that word meant either. But from the sound of things, it didn’t mean anything good. Kou moved his mouth to form the word over and over, getting used to how to say it. He felt awkward opening up his mouth so wide to make the ‘ou’ sound in lousy, but not half as awkward as he realized he probably looked. Lousy. I’ll remember this word.

At any rate, the food in the town was lousy, so it had been decided that they’d rely on nature to feed their hungry bellies. Kou’s initial thought was that they would be dining on seaweed and coral…but he figured that the aforementioned crops were a bit scarce on dry land. He began swiveling his head about, attempting to locate something that could be used for food. He assumed grass couldn’t taste all that[/b] bad, after all it had a strong resemblance to seaweed. Just…grassier. However, he decided that if grass was a human delicacy, that Ziggy and Momo wouldn’t be dealing with hunger at the moment, and would be on all fours munching at the earth.

[i]"There's some kind of fruit tree about two hundred yards down the river! Let's head that way."

Kou leaned to his right and looked in the direction Ziggy had been looking. There, down the coastline of the river, was a large clump of trees bunched together near the birth of a patch of woods. He could see that much. However…no matter how much he squinted his marble blue eyes, he couldn’t make out anything that could be considered a ‘fruit tree’. Ziggy had said it was two hundred yards away…and though Kou didn’t understand the human system of measurement, from Momo’s reaction and her finger counting, he assumed it was a fair bit longer than a few steps away. Hmm…maybe humans have better eyesight than Merca. Regardless, Momo had offered to go fetch the fruit for the three of them, and off she went down the riverbed, leaving the two young men behind.

Kou sighed as he fell to his back, throwing his hands behind his long blue locks. The sun was beginning to set on the shimmering sapphire horizon. To Kou, that meant that dusk was almost over, and the twilight would soon become night. And night meant that the men and women of the nearby town would retire and trade their fishing poles for pajamas. And that meant that there would be no more angry fishermen after his head or the price that his scaled carcass would fetch. The illusion of safety was a relieving one, and for the first time since he came on shore, Kou felt it was okay to rest his tired eyes. He had decided that as soon as Momo returned with the apples, he’d say his goodbyes and head back to the sea. He hated the idea of leaving behind his two new acquaintances, and hopefully, future friends. But if he stayed on land, or anywhere near town, he might as well paint a big bull’s eye on his forehead and stand out in front of the homes of the fishermen. He was sure that the fates would bring him back to the kind faces he had met. At least they hopefully would. They were, after all, the first humans the Merca had ever met.

“So,” Kou said aloud, peaking out of one eye at Ziggy. “if Momo is a Monk, what are you?” He figured it was a good question to ask. He hadn’t spoken much to the red eyed blonde since they bumped into one another, Pun completely intended, and hardly knew anything about him, other than he thought the food in the town was lousy. Looouuusy. Lousy. Kou clamped his mouth shut when he realized he was mouthing the word again.

I’m stuck… I think… Help!!”

Thanks to his long, keen ears, the words were as clear as though she had shouted them right next to where the two men stood. He wasn’t sure if Ziggy had heard them, since as far as he could tell, Ziggy’s ears were human ears, and thus he turned to him, “Sounds like Momo’s in trouble. I’d go…but…er…” Kou looked down to his lower torso which laid out before him like a scaled dolphin’s fin. “I have a feeling you run faster than I can flop.”

[Ziggy]

Ziggy couldn't help letting a smile creep across his face as Momo skipped along side the river bank towards the apple tree. Though she didn't appear much younger than Ziggy, her heart was, at most instances, the heart of a child. Even in the way she carried herself, she radiated innocence. It made Ziggy feel old and for a moment he was overwhelmed with sadness. He was nineteen now. In just one short year he would no longer be a teenager. He didn't feel like much of an adult when he turned eight teen, how would turning twenty effect him?

“So, if Momo is a Monk, what are you?"

That was a good question. What had Ziggy been doing with his life? Fighting in bars for scrap money? Hopping into bed with every stary-eyed girl that batted her eyes at him? Where was he going? What did he want to do? Would he have a family? Ziggy realized rather suddenly that since he had left the orphanage, he had just been wandering the land, going nowhere.

" Well, I guess...- "

"I’m stuck… I think… Help!!”

Ziggy looked down the river and focused hard. Sure enough, Momo dangled helplessly from a branch of the apple tree. She really was that far from the ground, but it must have looked much further from her point of view. Just as Ziggy turned to as Kou if he wanted to go get her or not, Kou spoke up.

“Sounds like Momo’s in trouble. I’d go…but…er…I have a feeling you run faster than I can flop.”

" Haha. Yeah I guess I can. "

With that Ziggy took off towards Momo. When he finally reached the tree he looked up at Momo.

It's a good thing she has those pants on under that...thing she's wearing.

Ziggy stretched out his arms with a smile.

" Alright just drop down! I'll catch ya! "



Sorry for the delay. I hadn't realized that Kou posted. -_-

[Blackjack]

“ Drop down?” Momo parroted with a bit of skepticism. Didn’t dropping down mean letting go? Well, it wasn’t like she could hold on much longer anyways. Feeling her grip loosen and begin to slip Momo squinted her eyes tightly preparing herself for the inevitable. “ Okay, here I go,” she took a deep breath and let go.

Like a fruit falling from a tree Momo plopped down feet first and hands up onto Ziggy. Someone her size couldn’t weigh that much but with all the apples she had stored in hat hood of hers there was an unexpected extra pound or five.

~~~

With Kou now alone and the other boy off pulling the girl from the tree the fisherman had a perfect opportunity. With a wide grin but devious eyes he revealed himself from the shrubbery lining the river’s bank. He didn’t bother to announce himself, at least not yet. His two rubber boots tramped their way over the lush riverside grass into the soppy shoreline where Kou awaited his two new comrades. By this time the squish squish sound between the grass and his goulashes was quite audible.

“ Gotcha!” he cast his own jacket over Kou to blind him as he crouched down to bind the merca’s wrists with some spare rope every fisherman should carry looped at his belt. There was very little use in struggling against this man who was approaching 40 and had been working as a fisherman for more than half of his life. H’s grown rough and tough with calloused hands and full arms from the lifting and pulling and pushing he’d done. Compared to Kou’s frail build this man was Hercules.

“ Now hold still,” he snapped as he finished looping his knot around Kou’s wrists. The Merca couldn’t have been terribly heavy; he’d caught bigger fish. But just in case his escape didn’t go as smoothly as planned he made sure to pull out his pocket knife and flash it to Kou once or twice as soon as he pulled the jacket off his head.

Getting the Merca to stand was probably the more difficult thing about this, But he managed to tug Kou up onto his fin with an arm wrapped securely around his mid section. “ If you try to escape I’ll filet you right here.” he made sure to say through clenched teeth into Kou’s ear.

~~~

“ Thank you, Ziggy,” Momo brushed herself off and began retrieving the apples from her hood for distribution. She noticed over Ziggy’s shoulder some commotion happening back where they had left Kou. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. “ Oh no! Kou!!” gasped Momo pointing in the Merca’s direction where the fisherman had taken him hostage. By the time they made it over there it would be too late.

“ HEY!!” bellowed the fisherman over the distance. “ IF YOU WANT TO SVAE YOUR FRIEND BE AT THE DOCK AT MIDNIGHT!” The whole thing seemed a little ridiculous, the way the fisherman resorted to shouting his ultimatum while holding up a fish boy. But as ridiculous as it all seemed, Kou’s life really was in danger…

“ ziggy!” Momo tugged on his arm. “we have to help him!” pleadingly she looked up at the young man hoping he’d feel the same sense of responsibility to help Kou as she did.
Meanwhile the fisherman half dragged Kou back towards the shrubbery he’d emerged from.

“ If you could grow legs this would be much easier,” grumbled the fisherman as he lugged Kou along.

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been sitting for a full year. Since no response has been made to create activity I am going to be moving this. If you would like it to be reopened please feel free to PM myself or another admin and they will be able to move it for you back to Scara Brae.