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~One Summer in Italy~ Mira&Koraru
Plot: A group of environmentalist heads out to the Mediterranean Sea, in search of a rare species of Angel fish. Little did they expect to discover much, much more... Will they use their discovery for fame and profit? Or will they be able to save it from the civilized world?
Scientists: Karissa Toledo Age: 24 Graduate Student, in charge of molecular and genetic part of the experiment, and of the dives Christian Vicenti Age: 27 Post-Doctoral Fellow, usually the ship's driver and in charge of analisis of test results, and of making sure Karissa does her job Dante Morini Age: 31 Principal investigator, everyone reports to him |
~Merpeople~:
Léandre Skelter Age: Appears Nineteen, but may be older... Nomadic merman, has a past shrouded in mystery, speaks only simple English, likes to make jewelry in his spare time |
Standing before your boss and graduate mentor was never easy, much less when telling telling them your research wasn't going as it was supposed to. Although he had just recently finished with his second PhD Dante Morini was quite the marine life expert and prodigy on his field. While being handsome, young and brilliant, he also had quite the weakness as a teacher: he didn't know struggle because of how easy it all came to her. This made it all the more difficult for the recent grad student Karissa Toledo to explain that she had yet to find the school of angelfish she needed to study.
"So, you see professor, we haven't found any schools near the areas of reported sightings..."she barely managed to say, barely managing to keep her voice from trembling. Although young, hard-working and bright, Karissa wasn't the most lucky of students. While others discover new species, she was the type to miss them completely, just because of timing. "Then why are you here instead of in the boat?" her professor responded, not particularly interested. His cat-like yellow eyes scanned the hundreds of emails that kept piling up, deeming them a lot more important than the failures of a grad student. "I expect good news next time you come around, Toledo. Don't let me down." "Yes, sir!" she said, almost raising her arm too military-like. Exiting her mentor's office with a sigh, she now leaned on her wall, her hand clenched over her chest. She felt her lifespan suffered every time she entered that office. Waiting for her was her senior at work, Christian Vicenti, who wasn't the least bit thrilled at her performance either. "Happy now?" He asked, his tone derogatory of the younger woman. He had a cigarette to his mouth, his way of dealing with the stressing life of a student researcher. "I told you, mentors only care about results, never about how hard you're working. That excuse only works as an undergraduate. Now, the ship's already refilled with the necessities, we can stay at sea for about a week. And don't get all 'Oh, but I'm a man, you're a woman' with me, because I'm not interested in sleeping with you." Although she was a bit taken aback by her senior, she nodded her head, thankful for his frankness. She knew he enjoyed the work, and that he was willing to do anything to complete it. She just wasn't sure how to. "Don't be an idiot, we're adults, I can handle myself just fine," she said, trying to convince herself more than him. "But I've looked everywhere, I don't know where else to look! I went to the professor to advice and he didn't even give me a second look!" "Don't whine about it, you're in the big leagues now" he said, scoffing. Graduate students, thew were still so raw to the world. "Didn't you point out last time we were out that the water temperature in the hotspots was warmer than the ones reported in the Benedetti papers? Maybe they migrated to deeper waters to compensate, like you suggested with the reefs." Thinking about it, it made sense. With hopes renewed, Karissa soon was back on the sea, diving into deeper waters than before. But searching in the deep waters for fish, she never expected to see something like this... |
The ocean, no matter how much it was explored, always seemed to hold troves and troves of new discoveries to be found. Recently, the competition between many different scientists to identify new life forms and capture rare ones for study and displaying purposes had become fierce. As such, the wildlife in the Mediterranean around this time of year tended to be sparse unless someone were to explore the nearby mini-coral reefs.
The closest coral reef to where the female human had dove into the water was just visible. It was deeper out into the ocean, slightly obscured by the sheer mass of plankton that hung around it. The sea itself was oddly teeming with life today...around this time of year, such numbers in wildlife were rare. There was an odd sound coming from the reef. It wasn't easily distinguishable from a distance, but it was certainly not something that would normally be heard underwater. It was not the cries of dolphins or whales. No, it sounded...almost human. The best way to describe it... ...would be as singing. It was a sweet, tenor-level croon that vibrated throughout the water. It was oddly soothing. To humans, the sound had almost a hypnotizing effect and drew them closer. It was a song of legend, which few people had heard and lived to talk about. |
The hypnotizing melody reached Karissa, her scientific and romantic soul responding a bit too much to it. Her scientific soul was attracted to the knowledge, the possibility of transmitting voices long distances over the sea, about what could do it, for what purpose? The challenge of finding out was the thrill every scientist couldn't stop seeking. Her romantic soul, however, couldn't help but dream this was destiny, an adventure waiting to happen, a beauty seen by none that would only be seen by her.
With her heart racing and her mind visualizing infinite possibilities, Karissa dived deeper, bubbles escaping her gear every time she exhaled. She alternated her flippers as she turned the light on her mask a bit brighter, hoping to see the source of the light. She kept going deeper, deeper each time. Her cobalt blue eyes walked over the barely visible coral reefs, but the plankton made it almost impossible to see too far ahead. Faster, deeper, closer to that voice she went. How she wanted to solve this Mediterranean mystery. She wanted to know why this spot, why this season brimmed with life, why uncountable fishes never swam away as she got near, seeming almost used to human contact in this protected seas. She must know, she must, she wanted, she needed. Soon, all that mattered was getting closer to the song. |
The majority of the wildlife appeared to be flocking around the central part of the reef, where many different shades and shapes of coral converged. There was a clearing as well, and it was packed with various different kinds of wildlife was hanging around.
In the middle of the clearing was the source of that beautiful, musical voice. There was a creature there...a strange-looking creature. Its upper half was that of a pale, slender male human who had icy arctic blue eyes and slightly curly white-blonde hair. Its bottom half...was that of a fish. He had a tail that split into two thin, curly fins at the bottom. There were similar but smaller fins halfway down his tail, and even smaller but still similar fins on the sides of his head. A merman. A siren. A creature of legend... He did not notice the human approaching him in the distance. He was too busy singing for the wildlife--in particular to a group of cheerful dolphins that were hanging around above him. They were circling upside-down, looking blissfully content with his singing. |
Now getting closer to the source of the sound, she could see the life swirling towards it, attracted to it just like she was. She saw dolphins playing, but the most amazing thing she saw seemed completely from out of this world, straight from Greek mythology and sailor's tales. Her eyes widened, her swimming almost coming to a halt. "No way..." she whispered into her mouthpiece, bubbles overflowing from it.
She tried to imitate the movements of the schools of fishes around her, the same twirl, the same dance to that wonderful melody. She was getting closer, ever closer, so close she could almost reach him, almost touch him. This was no myth, no legend... This was history in the making. Her hands trembling a bit in excitement, Karissa finally reached out and grabbed him softly, her fingers wrapped around his biceps, the pressure she could feel in her fingers indicating how real it was. "You are real..." |
The moment the human laid her fingers on him, the beautiful melody came to a screeching, abrupt halt...the movements of all the wildlife in the area seemed to still as well. He had finally noticed that she was there, and he was staring at her with what appeared to be a mixture of shock and fear.
There was a long moment of silence. The wildlife joined in this silence. Then the creature betrayed nearly all the legends spoken of his kind's friendliness and peaceful nature--his upper lip raised up over his teeth, which were sharp and pointed, and he let loose a low, loud, rumbling growl from deep within his chest. He reared up a little bit, to make himself look bigger than she was. He was getting territorial, and he still held a hint of fear in his expression. Obviously, he did not care for humans. That, or he had never seen one before. He looked like he was going to lunge forward and strike if she didn't back off. With that impressive set of choppers in his mouth that was dangerous. There were sharks roaming around nearby...attracted by the merman's song. The first hint of blood in the water would mean instant death. His growling continued, and the fins on the sides of his head flared out as a warning. |
Now that the singing had stopped, Karissa returned to the cruel reality around her, her hand immediately letting go, and swimming backwards, her eyes and body never turning from him, not daring to give her back to him. Forcing herself to remain calm, she stayed about two meters away from him, her arms outstretched on either side of her body, her palms toward him, indicating she was not a threat. How she considered getting rid of the mouthpiece, to try to comunicate, but she wondered if the sudden expulsion of air would attract any animal, or maybe make her seem as more hostile, and it definitely wasn't a move that could give her any guarantees.
Her eyes tried to stay fixed on him, wondering if he would attack. She certainly didn't like her chances in this scenario, and definitely couldn't afford for Christian to come here and make a mess of things for her sake. Only blood would come out of it, most likely hers and his. With that look on his face, of fear, shock, confusion,anger... He'd probably never seen a human before... maybe that made him so hostile. She probably didn't look even human, with an oxygen tank at her back, flippers over her bare feet and that huge mask that made her eyes look ten times as big. Would getting rid of them help? It was worth a shot. Still keeping one hand visible, Karissa hid her other hand behing her back, attempting to get rid of those false flippers. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold her breath for too long, so she probably shouldn't get rid of her oxygen tank or mouthpiece, but she did get rid of the mask that hid her face. Being an envieronment-obsessed eco-friendly scientist, she kept each of these things in her hand, not wanting to trouble the eco-system with human trash. She looked, as much as she could because of the salty water stinging her eyes and blurring her vision, for any reaction from the creature before her. |
The merman continued his low, deep growling and arched himself up a little more, still keeping the threat of a possible attack in the air if this new creature before him tried anything funny. He was startled when she started removing parts of her own body--he expected to see blood...but then he got a good look at her face and realized what she was.
He had never physically seen a human before, not with his own eyes. He had studied humankind in school and heard many stories...and he had also had a dear family member whisked away by their careless actions. But no, he had never held a human with his own gaze, not in all his life. His shoulders were up to his chin and his eyes were blazing with that same mystified fury. He was not letting his guard down...but, at the very least, his growling dwindled away. He was completely silent, the fins at the end of his split tail swishing back and forth uncertainly. He didn't know what was going to happen. He didn't understand what a human was doing here, or how she was able to breathe underwater. He vaguely remembered being taught in school to stay away from coral reefs during the daytime, but he didn't remember being taught anything about humans being able to breathe underneath the water...it was completely confusing for him. |
No attack yet, that was definitely a good sign. The growling had stopped, too, which was a comforting change. Apparently her plan had worked, she now seemed like less of a threat. Keeping her hands visible on either side, she narrowed her eyes in the water, working hard to distinguish the figure in front of her.
How she wish she'd gotten a better look of him before, at least she thought it was a him. She could barely distinguish that there was someone in front of her, if only for the fact that his light whitish colors contrasted with the reds and greens of the reef. She kinda regretted taking off her goggles, but there was no going back on that move. Slowly, she edged forward, trying to get a better view. Would he let her near? Although you couldn't tell about it because she was submerged, Karissa almost swore she was sweating, her urge to remove her body suit great, but not something she could afford: her oxygen tank was attached. She wanted him to trust her, she wanted to get closer. Her curiosity and wonder was now overwhelming, too much to handle. Oh, how she wished to just feel his skin. |
The merman hissed defensively when she started to make her way forward, backing up to compensate for the distance. He briefly bared those sharp teeth at her again, as a warning to keep her distance for now. Those teeth betrayed more legends about his kind. Those were not the teeth of a plant-eater...those were the jaws of a carnivore.
He was just about to start up growling again when he heard something in the distance and went still. His confusion quickly turned to pure, unmasked horror and he dove downwards, disappearing towards the seafloor. Something had seriously spooked him. The sounds were faint, but it seemed like a boat was approaching the area they were in. Merpeople were terrified of boats. |
Not really sure what was happening, the legendary blur in front of her disappeared from her sight. At first impression, she thought he was only backing away, but she did wonder why he suddenly turned away and ran off. Surely, she hadn't moved that much... had she really scared him off?
It took Karissa longer to notice the upcoming boat, unaccustomed as she was to the ocean bed, but eventually she heard the motor's humming in the distance. Thankfully, sound waves travel faster in water, so she dived a bit deeper just in time to watch the boat speed by above her, cursing in her head. As soon as it seemed far enough, she began her raise to the surface, slowly so the pressure wouldn't make her heart explode or something. Removing the mask and turning off the oxygen, she laid on the water's surface for quite a while, reflecting on the world. Should she tell her senior and her professor about her discovery, or should she just keep it to herself until she had any proof? Either ways, it was about time she returned to her own ship, which she thought she visualized in the distance, but this discovery would haunt her until morning. |
There were no surprise appearances from the merman all throughout the early night. The sounds of a boat so close by appeared to have been enough to scare him off for the time being...enough so that there wasn't an odd-sounding peep from out in the ocean...
...until the wee hours of the morning. It was just near sunrise, perhaps an hour or so away, when a tune that would seem familiar to whomever had heard it before began to echo out from the water. It was soft, incredibly soft. But it was an odd sound to hear late at night by the oceanside...so it was sure to garner some attention. This merman was not used to people being in this particular area of the Mediterranean. Frankly, the rest of the wildlife wasn't, either--it wasn't a big tourist spot because of all the reported shark activity in the waters. It was probably why he was not being more careful with his singing. The singing was accompanied by the playful chirping sounds of dolphins. They had most likely come out to play the moment the merman began to sing again. His song was still as hypnotizing as ever--a soft, tenor-like croon. He wasn't even forming words with his singing--at least, not words in any discernible human language anyway... |
In the ship, Christian stirred in the night. He'd argued with Karissa about the state he'd found her in and her inability to answer about anything, but with this song he understood why; it seemed so surreal. His mind a lot more trained for research than Karissa's, he quickly began turning on equipment, ways to record this unusual phenomenon.
As he tried to focus, record this sound of unknown origin, Karissa herself was jumping into the water, a smaller pair of goggles covering her eyes and a smaller mask, that could convert water into oxygen for a short time, was held tightly between her teeth. This singing was now like a drug to her, this merman her new obsession. She dived, slowly but surely, trying to get to the source of the voice as soon as possible, all while keeping her pressure regulated as best she could. The water got colder as she dived, something she hadn't previously noted before due to her suit. But now she had no tank over her back, and no thick suit to protect her skin: just a mere one piece covering her body. How she wished she'd thought this through, as she shiverd slightly in her search for the underwater dweller. |
The merman was back in the reef--the very same reef that Karissa had first sighted him in. Once again wildlife had flocked around him in generous troves, attracted by the sweet melody that he sang. The dolphins appeared to be the most ecstatic about his return--perhaps they got along best with his kind.
Unfortunately, he had also attracted a great number of sharks, who were more active during the nighttime hours than during the day. They stayed lower than him, leering at the many different species of fish that were hanging around near him. He was more watchful than before, and this time he noticed when Karissa approached from the distance. He did not stop singing this time, however. He continued to sing, keeping the wildlife as docile as distracted as he had been before. He watched her apprehensively out of the corner of his eye. |
At a distance, where all the wildlife seemed to be drawn to, Karissa saw the merman. He hadn't stopped singing, but with the help of her goggles, she could tell he'd noticed her. Something swimming a little father down also caught her attention: those sharks that were visiting earlier. This time, the hypnotic spell wasn't as strong as last time on her, she could actually reason behind this maddening obsession. She wasn't about to risk her life for singing.
A head start would do her no good, but at least it gave her some piece of mind. She wasn't going to do last time's mistake, get too close and scare him. She swam in place, partly because of the sharks, partly to keep herself from going numb from the cold. The fact that it was nighttime didn't help at all either. Shivering, she kept her gaze looking at this merman, letting him know she had no intention to hurt him, no intention to do anything besides listening to his concert in the depths. |
The merman sang for a little while longer, entertaining the fish. When he finally grew tired of singing, he finished with a small flurry of notes and then stretched his tail out slightly, yawning. Most of the smaller fish immediately dispersed. Merpeople were carnivores...smaller species of fish usually only came out when they sang.
The dolphins stayed, however. They circled around him playfully and in a protective sort of way. The merman stayed afloat a while longer and then he sank down a bit, settling down for a short rest on one of the tall stacks of coral. |
Although Karissa did get closer, swimming forward enough to keep him clearly in sight, she didn't dare wander too far off. Right now, she wished she'd had the foresight to bring the camera, but apparently just observing him would have to do for now. She had noticed the teeth before, sharper and longer than any she'd seen on any human, so she supposed him to be carnivorous. Did he eat fish, she wondered, since they flocked to him so readily?
Everything in the reef seemed to have a place, a relation with everything. The dolphins seemed to always be close to the merman, which made her wonder if they were some type of symbionts. He was quite beautiful, quite human... What kind of song was that, she wondered..? Was he protecting his territory? Calling for a mate? Did this mean there were more of his kind? |
The merman kept an eye on her at all times. He wasn't happy about having her in his territory--that much was for sure. He appeared to live in this reef, or perhaps nearby. But...was he living here all alone? Didn't he have a mate or a family with him?
He did have one family member, an identical twin brother. His brother was less territorial and more timid, and therefore he did better in a group setting. He lived on the other side of the Mediterranean with a small pack of merpeople and the two often visited each other. But no, this merman did not have a mate. Merpeople could mate and have children with the opposite sex or even the same sex--males could bear children and females could create children. It worked in both ways, and therefore mating was not wholly heterosexual for them. It had always been that way. He hummed slightly under his breath, his tail flicking back and forth absently. He had eaten earlier, after he'd run away. So he had a full belly and not much else to do. |
Oblivious to pretty much everything about him and the merpeople and how they worked. Her lips twitched around the mouthpiece between her teeth. It seemed a bit ridiculous, but it was better than doing nothing. She turned off the filter in her mouth, taking it with one hand and keeping it away from her body. With her other hand, she pointed at herself.
"Kari" A flutter of bubbles came out of her mouth, carrying her word away. She could hear the slight echo of her voice, but wasn't sure she imagined it. One way or another, it was a bad idea: she'd gotten a mouthful of water as she spoke. Gagging a bit, she put the mouthpiece back on, swallowing bitter saltiness. |
The merman seemed startled when he heard the slightest echoes of someone else's voice, and his gaze settled on the human just a little ways away from him. He wasn't aware that humans could speak underwater...but then he saw her struggling to breathe and tossing that odd mask back on her face, looking a little queasy. Ah...so that mask was the key to how she breathed underwater?
He knew...just a bit of English. Basic English, and his sentence structure was way off...but his limited English was enough for him to realize what she was trying to indicate. Kari...her name, perhaps? He lifted his head lazily, still gazing in her direction. He didn't seem too enthused. "...Léandre." He had a musical voice, a watery one of course. Other than those two qualities it was eerily human. |
Upon hearing Léandre's voice, Karissa immediately perked up, her eyes staring straight at him in disbelief. Did he really understand him? He seemed uninterested and unamused, maybe this wasn't his first time dealing with humans? Did he speak any language? Judging from her past try, she definitely couldn't say much, at least not like this. If she wore a helmet, she could probably speak longer, but she wasn't sure she could be heard by him. After all, she didn't know of a single helmet built to comunicate with fish. She'd have to look into that...
She would now try the next best thing: suggesting they go into her environment. She pointed upwards with one hand, removing her mask with the other hand once more, saying: "Can you...?" She wanted to ask if he could breathe normal air, but once more her mouth was flooded by sea water. Did he understand what she meant? |
Léan stared at her for a few moments as if she'd suddenly grown a second head. It took him a little bit to figure out what she really wanted--the biggest hint was her second struggle with the salty water.
...She was trying so hard to communicate with him, and was struggling to try and speak underwater. But, he knew damn well that humans could speak well enough above water. Did...she want him to surface? She had pointed up, towards the surface...with a boat so close by, he wasn't sure if he wanted to risk it. Finally giving into the slightly curious temptation working its way through his mind, the merman budged up from his place on the coral and began to drift farther out to sea, beckoning to her. He wanted to be as far away from that boat as possible before he dared to break the surface of the water. |
Karissa was surprised to see Léandre drifting further away from her, but calling out to her. There was no point in thinking this could be a trap, since this was a good a place as any to turn her into smithereens and he hadn't yet, so she was hoping she could trust him. Putting her mouthpiece back between her teeth and swallowing water before turning it back on, she began kicking her way towards him.
Did he understand her? He was probably a lot smarter than most animals, maybe even more than the average human if legends were correct. How she hoped he understood English, or maybe Spanish, her native tongue. She wasn't too good with most languages, no matter how hard she tried to learn Italian and French at the University of Toledo. Hopefully, he'd be better than her learning a new tongue. She could probably learn so much from him, and hopfully teach him even more. Keeping a safe distance from him as she swam, she couldn't help but admire those blonde curls dancing in the ocean water and icy blue eyes from a distance. He was so different from a normal human, with fins everywhere, and the sharpest teeth she'd ever seen, but she had to admit he was one of the most beautiful humanoids she'd ever seen. ((Sorry for the delay, I am currently without internet at home!)) |
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