askerian | Mermaids IN SPACE~

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Mermaids IN SPACE~

It was almost noon when Lìadan saw the Great Dragon cross the sea-above. It soared over her, the blinding white trail of its tail cutting the blue in two. She would have expected a deafening roar, had she expected to ever witness such an impossible thing at all; there was just a strangely faint, faraway purr.

She was petrified, at first. She sank until only half her face showed over the dancing waters, long gray hair plastered on her skin and floating all around like she was only an insignificant little wavelet, only some dead seaweed; but just like the Great Dragons from the depths below, the Great Dragon from the sea-above didn't even take notice of such an insignificant being as she. She watched it, breathtakingly slow in its descent toward the sea. When it disappeared, she arched up on her tail to see -- and perhaps there were waves there, white foam tipping huge ripples that eventually smoothed down into the normal ebb and flow of the ocean.

Lìadan would have doubted her own senses had the tail of the Dragon not floated up there, like foam along the edge of a breaker. And if she belonged to any of the Four Aspects, it was to the Matron; not the Girl-Child. Her mothers had all agreed many times over that, of all the pod's children, she was the most practical and reasonable. She wasn't prone to wild flights of fancy. She didn't see what would have prompted the Girl-Child to touch her.

Besides, there was something else that confused her. The Dragon had moved with purpose -- with momentum. She thought she had seen fins, but the Dragon hadn't used them, hadn't been undulating in the currents; it had been unmoving as one holding a position in mid-leap.

Lìadan had never heard of a Great Dragon who didn't dwell exclusively in the deepest, darkest chasms. But here was one who seemed to think he was a flying fish. She couldn't help but smile as the thought briefly tempered her awe.

The Dragon had been majestic anyway. She wondered how long it would take before it disappeared down below once again...

She would probably never again get an occasion like this -- perhaps she was too far away and had already missed it. She dived for the faster currents anyway, and swam and swam, ignoring the chill of the deep water.

+

There was no Dragon in sight. No frightened schools of fish, no torn seaweed drifting in the currents. Lìadan thought she could feel some mix of warm-from-sun and warm-from-lava and cold-from-the-depths on her skin, but maybe it was her imagination.

There was a strange aftertaste to the water, though, and she wasn't imagining it. She surfaced to breathe, and then she dove again. The reefs were shallow, sometimes too shallow to let her swim over -- some of them even brushed the surface. She could have jumped, but she didn't want to splash around too much. She didn't want to disturb the Dragon, if it was still around. Besides, it wasn't safe to float in the middle of open water -- too many directions for danger to come from.

The maze of reefs and coral didn't hold any beast bigger than herself; only a few eels and clouds of small fry that made shadows dapple and dance over her skin.

And then there was the big shadow -- shark? Devilfish ? -- and she tensed, let herself sink to the bottom like a dead thing, her hand clenched on her short spear.

At first she thought that she had found some bizarre sort of asymmetrical, deformed, giant starfish. It was floating at the surface, limbs akimbo, between her and the sun. Its body seemed black like the abysses, but for the tips; the shortest tip covered in red cress, small leaves drifting with the waves...

And then suddenly it made sense, and she couldn't help a smile of amusement at herself. It was hair, hair as short as a child's, and the other limbs were arms and that strange split tail that her mothers had described to her and the other daughters of mating age so many times. It looked like it should have been painful, like the poor creature had been cut in two from fluke to groin, or even quartered. Lìadan checked her surroundings, and then she swam up, tapping her knuckles against the shell tied to her waist in greeting.

The two-tails didn't turn around; it didn't even react, as if it hadn't heard. She frowned -- it couldn't be dead; dead mer floated with their back up, limbs dragging around bonelessly. Perhaps it was asleep, but what was the silly thing doing, sleeping right there in the middle of the sea, instead of staying safely on its island?

She tapped again; no reaction, so in the end she poked it -- he, it was male, she recognized the width of its shoulders now -- with the blunt end of her spear.

It twisted to face her so fast, she immediately whirled the spear around point first and bristled.

She stared at it -- him -- in wary confusion. There was a strange black thing strapped to his head, covering his forehead, but she had seen stranger adornment amongst the pods. But she had never seen a mer with colors so mismatched. His whole body was black, but his hands and face were the light, tanned brown of a surface dweller, and his short hair was the dark copper-red of the pods of the Pasagas sea.

And then, pointing at her wildly, he opened his mouth wide enough to match his eyes... And breathed in water. Lìadan watched him struggle and break the surface, bewildered. What sort of idiot tried to talk underwater? Perhaps he was touched by the Girl-Child as well as being so grossly deformed.

She surfaced as well, keeping a cautious distance between her and the two-tails. Perhaps he couldn't swim, but his arms looked just as strong as any man's.

She couldn't understand one word of what he was saying, but the series of short, aggressive words made her draw back a little more anyway. It wasn't too hard to recognize swearing. She didn't think he was really aggressive, but it was hard to read his body language when he kept gesturing wildly and staring at her as if she were some mer-shaped fluorescent jellyfish.

He slipped under, a couple of times, and Lìadan imitated him warily, but he only stared some more and resurfaced, only to swear again. She wanted to swim back and forth nervously; she held still, waiting for him to calm down.

He didn't calm down, so she rolled her eyes and whistled sharply. "Stop. Be quiet."

His mouth closed with an audible snap, and she allowed her eyebrows to return to a less forbidding expression.

"What are you doing here?" She looked around; no island in sight, nothing more than a few tiny reefs here and there. "How did you even get here?"

He shrugged, grimaced strangely at her, and spewed out some gibberish. At least his tone was calmer, but she couldn't understand the first word; she didn't even recognize the melody of his accent. There were too many rolling sounds and clacking consonants.

She sighed and pointed at herself. "Lìadan." She pointed at him, arched an eyebrow.

He grinned; she relaxed. His grin was friendly and amused, and not all that touched in the head, finally. "Arun."

He pronounced it weird, with a r that came from the back of his throat like a growl. Ah-Rroun. She copied him, tilting her head in question -- a lopsided smile, a nod. Good enough.

... Now what was she supposed to do with him?

"Where do you come from?" she asked slowly, as she looked around with open confusion.

Arun the two-tails opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it again. She frowned, suspicious. His dark eyes wouldn't meet hers. Now he was shrugging sheepishly, as if to say "I don't know" or "I forgot." She really wasn't convinced.

"Are you lost? You don't seem very worried," she commented softly. When he made a grimace of incomprehension, she shrugged it off, and dived to circle him curiously. His two tails were moving stiffly, and not even in unison. It made her shudder to see them jerk around; it was strangely reminiscent of the fits one of her youngest brothers regularly went through. If Arun's eyes rolled in their orbits and he started going so stiff he couldn't stay afloat, she didn't know what she would do. Could she support a thrashing grown man long enough to prevent him from drowning?

He asked a question when she resurfaced; presumably wondering what she was doing. She waved it off and sighed, watching him. Perhaps if she found him a reef that wouldn't cut his hands open...

And the Great Dragon was probably long gone by now. She couldn't help but regret the lost opportunity -- but then it might have eaten her, anyway.

She wondered briefly if perhaps the Dragon had only come to guide her -- or someone, anyone -- to him... But the idea that a Two-Tails could have any sort of notable impact in her life or the pods' was just too unlikely for her to consider it long.

Arun babbled at her again, grinning -- he seemed faintly nervous, as if he didn't have any more of a clue about the whole situation than she did. She wondered, bewildered, if perhaps he wasn't lost at all; but short of leaving and stalking him at a distance, she wasn't sure how to go about finding that out.

She was still pondering what to do next when the water currents surged at her back. She rolled around, lifting her spear -- just in time to see a dark gray bolt narrowly missing her. She bristled in alarm -- big, fast -- the two-tails?! It had been aiming at the...

The two-tails was currently chiding the beast. And laughing.

Lìadan breathed out slowly and tried to calm down her racing heart. The adrenalin didn't help much, but eventually, she brought it back to a more manageable rate. She surfaced to breathe back in, and stared at the two-tail and his strange beast. Now Arun was holding onto its flipper and letting it drag him around on the waves.

... Well. Perhaps it only ate seaweed. Arun didn't seem too worried that it would bite him. And when she hissed and moved away from an inquisitive beak, he smiled at her like she was a silly child scared of a striped-seal cub.

"... Is this yours?" she asked, pointing at the animal as it circled her and chirped. It was surprisingly noisy.

Arun winced, patted the beast's nose when it surfaced in a clear 'there, there, this is not a monster, see?' way, and spat out another string of gibberish.

Except that in the middle there was a word that sounded almost like... 'dohfeen?' She jumped in surprise, stared at him. The accent was horrible, but -- "Dolphin?" she repeated slowly.

Arun blinked at her, and then nodded emphatically. "Dol-pheen."

Oh. Good. Common words. She had been wondering how far he had come from. "That's not a dolphin," she protested, shaking her head. Dolphins were smaller, not even as big as a mermaid -- and maybe there was some resemblance in the head, and especially the... beak, but dolphins didn't have a tail like a mer; they had many fins along the spine, that were soft and tickled when you petted them. And sometimes when they thought you were their mother, they licked you.

That sleek, streamlined thing wasn't a dolphin. It was too muscular, too fast, and maneuvered too easily. And big, had she mentioned that it was big? Perhaps as massive as two mermen.

Arun didn't seem scared at all. In fact, he was petting it, with broad, confident strokes.

"Hmm?"

"That," she repeated, slowly, sternly. "No dolphin."

Arun snorted at her, and caught the upper fin of the strange beast as it surfaced at his side.

"Yes, Dolphin."

Well, she presumed it was a yes, at least, since he was nodding and seemed all too amused about contradicting her. At least the not-dolphin seemed tame enough, and if it wasn't, well, its beak was too small to swallow her whole, and she still had her knife.

"... Fine. Dolphin."

It circled her, nosed at her fins; Lìadan twitched and rolled out of reach. The beast chirped happily and moved to poke her again.

"Stop. Stop -- Arun, stop it."

... Silly two-tails was laughing so hard he ended up breathing water and choking. At least the dolphin-thing left her alone when it went to hold him afloat; she couldn't help but sigh and shake her head despairingly.

"Hmm?"

Now he was staring at her expectantly. She shrugged, glared briefly at the beast. Arun chuckled, rueful, and turned to the dolphin to give him, she presumed, a stern order. She hoped it was an order to leave her alone and not an order to bug her whenever possible, because he seemed silly enough to do so.

It was so strange, that he would be so playful. He was alone in the middle of the ocean, but he didn't seem worried. And if two-tails grew as mermen did, he was old enough to have at least one mate already, or at least to start seriously thinking about finding one. Instead, he behaved like a drifter.

"Arun?"

"Nhh?"

She looked around pointedly, and then looked at him again, gesturing at the sea. "Where are you going?"

He blinked. Lìadan sighed, and made swimming-fish motions with her hand, and then pointed at him. She finished with a wide circular gesture sweeping across the horizon. If he still didn't get it, she didn't know what she would do.

"Oh!"

Well, good.

"Uhh."

... Not so good. She considered his guilty grin doubtfully. Why didn't he want to tell her where he was from or where he was going? Did he think she would lead a pod to his island and destroy it from the sea?

Sighing -- he incited this reaction a lot, apparently -- she contemplated her options. She could try to mime more questions, but apparently he felt like playing stupid. She could try to teach him her words, or learn his own, and then ask her questions, but it would take time. Or she could just grab him and drag him to an island, but the closest island big enough to sustain a colony of two-tails was several days away and the dolphin-thing might object anyway. Besides, she didn't want to come in reach of a male, friendly or not, even one so malformed.

Arun seemed as much at a loss as she did. Perhaps if there hadn't been the dolphin, they would have kept staring at each other in undecided confusion; as it was, the creature demanded attention just as insistently as one of the dolphins Lìadan knew best. It nosed her side, chirping and clicking strangely. It didn't seem to want to bite, so she pet it warily. There was a strange hole over its head, that opened under her eyes and blew out a fine mist of droplets and air. How strange.

The two-tails called to her before her hand could rub it way up to the hole, and shook his head, grimacing briefly. Bad idea, then. She pet the dolphin's side instead, giving Arun a curious look. He touched his nose, took a noisy inspiration, and then pointed at the strange hole. Lìadan touched her own nose as confirmation. "It breathes from there?" It made no sense, it was like having a nose on the nape of your neck. But Arun probably knew the beast better than she did. She touched her mouth, arched her eyebrows in question. This time he mimed eating his own hand, and then rubbed his stomach with such a silly air of satiety that she couldn't help but chuckle.

"So you eat from the front and breathe from the back," she asked the dolphin for confirmation. It nosed her and shoved itself harder against her hand. Fine, she could take a hint.

Strange creatures. Both of them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm not going to offer any critiques, because this is the wrong stage of the game for that. But I do like the fullness (can't think of a better world) for Liadan's perspective, seeing any new thing and automatically comparing it to what she already knows, which is pretty much how we interpret the world, but would tell anyone listening in our thoughts exactly what we do know. Make sense?

A lot of questions, otherwise, but I do like the fact that I share those questions with the POV protag. Looking forward to more!

hah, yeah, I know. XD The beginning is alright, but after that it starts to drag on and on and doesn't say much, and the voice goes kinda flat. Arun is so much easier to write, but alas! for now his POV is restricted to letters and stuff for as long as he doesn't speak her language. XD; I'll fix it and everything else you spotted that I didn't later.

yup, makes sense. ^___^

Her name is Lyadan. Ley-adan. Something like that. Unless that's mermese for 'woman' or 'mer-person' or 'union representative' or whatever. She possesses an articulated language -- I'll bring out my recorder next time, wasn't able to identify it. Hey, I'm a marine biologist, not an anthropologist. Seafood isn't supposed to talk back. (though you could make a case for those Earth cephalopods, I guess. I bet you the second someone figures out a common alphabet, they'll be asking for the best place to buy a nice Chianti. Brr.)

u.u;;;

Oh, interesting! I want to know what happens next, and more about these Great Dragons and variant dolphins and so on. Also, the mer-people's social structure sounds really intriguing.

*uses oceany icon*

*^______^* thank you~

The social structure. OMG. I have NINE PAGES of notes on their structure. *rolls* Maybe I should figure out what kinda culture Arun comes from, too. XD I know the basics, but the details, not so much.

*paws at pretty icon*

... I need a mermaidy icon.

Best of luck to you in your nanoendeavors! I'm doing it too! And sucking at it, but that's a topic for a later date.

Thank you! Good luck to you too. (I know I won't last a week, but oh well. It's still fun.)

ahh yes! So is this the first chapter then?

The beginning was enrapturing! The odd creatures this world must have, at least by account of Liadan's thoughts. great dragons, dolphins that are not as they are here on Earth; But apparently still exist. Great use of mer-language. especially how she found Arun and discribed him as a 'distorted starfish' and with 'two fins'.

The religion thing that got stuck in there threw me for a second, but afterwards I liked it. I can't wait to hear more about that, to see you fill out the mer-people's religion. I think I like the Girl-Child that [as I percieved it] makes people touched in the head.

How serious Liadan is through the encounter and yet Arun not being as such was very amusing and shows the contrast of peoples.

Love it, great job!
+J+

Chapter, chunk, I don't know how I'll cut-and-post yet. Probably as I go... XD;;

I had so much fun with the religion. U.U it's more superstition and animism than anything monotheistic and that's kinda neat to play with. ^^

The Girl-Child mostly makes people the kind of gentle, childish crazy, à la eternal kid. Her gift is feeling, and they feel so much that they can't think so good anymore. XD

Thank you, lovely~

Ooo slick! I have a question, though. Why did you have the mer-girl breathe air? any reason? (reminds me of a comic i have called "Sea Princess Azuri". she's on Deviant Art as Solipherous.)

I like her personality, being cautious yet curious as to the nature of the flying Sea Dragon(wtf is it? aiiie must know.) and the way some words overlap the languages...can't wait!

*snerk* Yeah, a very big reason. It will come clear in the next installment, I hope.

Well, this beginning is actually quite gripping. I look forward to reading more, because I want to know what is going on and understand the nature of the world.

I have trouble visualizing the not-dolphin. More description of it would be nice.

Thanks ^__^

Yeah, I know. I'd describe it in more details, but Liadan has no reason to, because she already knows. In her point of view, it's our dolphin that's wrong and needs its differences pointed out. XD Eventually will get more detail on it, but that's going to have to wait for Arun's POV.

"Cool" just seems too blase, and "very interesting" not enthusiastic enough.
I'm guessing that the population centers are around islands, and there is another *bipedal* species on the planet. Diet is small fish (and seaweed)? Spear means that either they hunt, wage war, or have to defend themselves from larger predators (Great Dragons?). The knife is utilitarian (presumably), but could be used to defend with (as a last resort)or to prepare food. Spear is short, so it's less likely to be used for hunting. She was concerned about animals larger than she was as she entered the reef area, so defense is likely. Where did she get the materials? Doubt that it is wood, doesn't seem to last long in water. Shark=natural predator? Devilfish, whatever that is,had her worried too. Dolphins as pets, dolphins defend against sharks. Stayed near the surface, didn't try to talk underwater.
Sorry. This is my thought patterns when I'm entering a new 'verse.

#^________^# ♥

Huhuhu. I would answer, but it would probably spoil so heh. (the spear isn't wood, no. It's bone from some big beastie ^^)

That makes sense. Easy to come by, easily shaped/sharpened, one piece makes it stronger. Any particular beastie? I doubt it matters, unless there is a natural marrow-borne poison in a 50-ft long cuttlefish or something.
That was just me thinking aloud. I'm not asking for spoilers. Happy to take them though!

Hmm. Not a particular one, no. *ponders* (... XDDDD)

I BE WRITIN MOAR NOW~

Is this original fiction, or fanfiction of some book or anime I don't know?

Either way, it looks good - I'd be interested in reading more of it.

-- Guile

Original ^^ Thank you ^__^

Your title.

Just. MACBETH IN SPACE. If you have no idea what I'm talking about uh. All blame goes to my friend as she says it in her quote-ish way every time I mention I'm reading Macbeth.

BUT ANY WAY.

I'm participating in NaNoWriMo too. (Aha who isn't. Besides the ones that... aren't. Oi.) I like the idea of your story; I used to be very interested in dragons back in Middle School so it's nice to read about them, ish again. *is shot*

Do you mind if I friend you? @.@

ahaha. XD

Alas, the story isn't really about dragons. But it is about mermaids! in space. Eventually. u.u

woohoo! *does yay!friended dance*~

I was looking around through all the Nano entries, and your "Mermaids in Space" title demanded a look. Great beginning, between the refrences to the religion and social structure of mers and the sort-of conversation between Liadan and Arun, I'm hooked.

Just a question; do the mermaids of your story look like the traditional mermaids (totally human top and fish bottom) or are more "fishy"?

Ohohoho. Thank you~

Yes, the mermaids look traditional (to the touch, it's a little different -- no scales), though I'm wondering if I shouldn't make their ears a little different... but I would need to figure out what I need to change to make their hearing better in water. I have no clue where to start researching that. XD

ohhh, pretty

looking forward to reading more of this :)

thankee~

Ooh, so much depth! I love all the detail and thought you've put into the background information, and I can't wait to hear more of it.
Lìadan has a very interesting perspective; I can't say much about Arun, but he sounds like he could be fun. I'm wanting to pin him as a quirky field-scientist type person, but I don't want to be leaping to conclusions so soon. I am also hooked.

~#^____^# thankeee~

I think I'm in love, so many details on your story's language, culture and sea critters without using bucket loads of words. Liadan is realistic and cute, she's curious but cautious, and the way she thinks. Mmmm~ ♥

D: Finally got a chance to read it. I love how Lìadan is all like, you're weird, but intriguing, so I'm going to hang around. :D I like all the background information. Is Arun going to have a big part in this? I keep attempting to finish off the story myself in my mind, even though I know it's a REALLY stupid thing to attempt. D: I just really want to know what happens!

Good job!

Question: Is the Great Dragon from the sea-above an airplane?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mermaids IN SPACE~

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Much better than the other mermaid story I read.

Re: Much better than the other mermaid story I read.

Re: Much better than the other mermaid story I read.

Re: Much better than the other mermaid story I read.

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