Artemis smiled. "Ok. Here comes some more fish!" she said cheerefully, dropping 2 fish in the water. He looked hungry, so she decided to feed hi a couple fish at a time. (Besides, he caught them rather fast)

Léan slipped underwater, giving chase to the fish eagerly. He captured one of them and bolted back up to the surface, nibbling on it. He looked blissfully content...

Artemis smiled. At least the other fish could enjoy life... until Lèon snapped its spine, that is. "Hey, did you know that some people eat raw fish?" she asked, trying to find something to talk about with Lèon. Silence kind of made her uneasy.

"That doesn't seem strange to me, since we don't cook our food like you do. But, I wasn't aware of that. You humans are so strange...so strange. Cooking all the juice out of fish...it doesn't make sense," Léan huffed, after he swallowed his bite of fish.

"Well, sometimes if humans eat raw seafood, they get really sick," Artemis explained. "It's called food poisoning. It can also happen with undercooked meat as well. I guess merpeople have tougher stomachs than humans," she said, laughing quietly. "Sometimes, food poisoning kills humans, though. That's why we have to cook fish, so we'll eliminate the chances of getting sick." Artemis grew quiet for a moment. Her cousin had gotten food poisoning once, and almost died. She had a small family, her mother had only 2 sisters, but her dad had grown up in a large family, with 4 girls and 3 boys including her dad. Most of her dad's family lived out of state. Only her Aunt Casey lived close by. Then a thought occured to her. "Lèon, do they have music underwater? Does anyone sing or anything?"

Léan's tail swished back and forth, in an almost wary manner. It seemed like he was contemplating something...like he was unsure about answering her question. "We sing, yes. We can sing like humans do...and there is also the Song of the Siren."

He cleared his throat. "Have you ever heard legends about sirens luring sailors to death with their songs? It really was just a siren singing, carefree, and a sailor losing control of the ship due to extreme distraction..."

Artemis nodded. "I've heard of them. I can imagine that a sailor would get distracted. Sirens must have beautiful voices." Artemis blushed, then looked at Lèon with a serious look in her eyes. "Lèon, I want to ask you something, and I want you to answer honestly, OK? Please, this is really important," she said gently.

Léan arched an eyebrow, his swishing tail falling still. "Erm..." He was never good with serious questions, since he tended to be brutally blunt about most things unless he was embarrassed. "I'll try."

Artemis smiled. "Thank you, Lèon," she told him before taking a deep breath. "Is there any way..... for a human to become a mermaid?" she asked, blushing a little. She was sick of being ridiculed and having random things thrown at her. She loved the water, it was like a second home to her....

Léan blinked. He blinked a second time. Then, he cleared his throat, going a bit pink in the face. "...To answer your question...yes. Yes, there is. It is highly forbidden, but there is indeed a way to change a human into a merperson."

Artemis blinked once. Then twice. Then three times, all rather quick. "Forbidden? Why?" she asked, tilting her head slightly to the right. Artemis always did this when she was curious, for no reason at all.

Léan was frowning, and he seemed terribly uncomfortable. "Humans are not supposed to be welcomed into our world for any reason at all. It is frowned upon by society." He seemed to be dancing around what was making him uncomfortable...the process itself.

Artemis frowned. "Why are you so uncomfortable Lèon?" she asked softly. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable... I'm just curious, that's all," she added. She was silence for a few moments. "There's more to it... isn't there?" she asked, now becoming impatient. Why won't he tell me about the actual process? she wondered.

"It's not your fault. I simply don't like explaining this, to anyone--not many of our kind know how this happens," Léan murmured, apologetically. He cleared his throat, then looked down. "To turn a human into one of my kind, a human must find a merman or mermaid, bring them on land, and...sleep with them. Our bite can change humans into one of us...but it will not work unless both the human and the merperson are at high points of passion." He paused. "I hope this explains why I was uncomfortable explaining."

ooc: No wonder Lèon's uncomfortable! That's kind of... disturbing. O3O

Artemis suddenly blushed a dark red, hiding her face in her knees. "No wonder you were so uncomfortable," she said, now slightly disturbed. She planned on dying as an old, unmarried woman since nobody liked her... but this made her wish she never asked in the first place. She was clearly embarrassed, her whole face now tomato-red. And since Lèon only likes me because I promised to bust him out and bring him fish- Oh Lord, I'm not even going to go there, she thought, blushing even more.

((I know. Poor guy--he's had to explain it in so many RPs already! X3))

Léan watched her, amused at her reaction. Then, he frowned. "...Did you want to become a mermaid?" he asked, curiously...but somewhat forebodingly. He wasn't sure how he'd react to a positive answer from her.

He'd been a loner all his life.

ooc: *hugs Lèon* I'm sorry that you had to explain it to Artemis.

Artemis sighed. "I......I do. Nobody really cares about me up here. As I said before, I'm bullied mercilessly because of my hair and my name. My mom's paid more attention to my little brother Tristan because he's so outgoing and happy. I'm the shy daughter, and I'm positive she wouldn't even notice if I leave. Sometimes, I feel like she thinks I'm only an extra mouth to feed. You said it yourself- mermaids usually have oddly colored hair. I would blend in perfectly. No teenagers have silver hair that I know of. That only happens in cartoons. Up here, everyone hates me. I don't belong up here Lèon! I belong in the water. I feel more at home in the water than anywhere else! I.......I tried to kill myself last week because I couldn't take it anymore." At this point, Artemis was crying. Her small, thin body started shaking a little as she cried. She had been hiding her sadness for so long, that explaining her reasons to become a mermaid was too much for her.

She had to let it out eventually, but she let it out in front of a merman who probably thought she was a very strange and disturbed human.

At the moment, Léan did find this quite disturbing. He rarely showed his true emotions to people, unless it was embarrassment or anger. It was a bit disorientating for him, and it took him a long while to process everything she had said. "I, erm...are you sure? If you have anyone who cares about you--your brother, perhaps--you should tell him you'll be going away for a while."

He paused. "Humans changed into merpeople can still walk on legs on land. Heavy rainfall, swimming in pools, baths, and showers will all return your tail to you."

Artemis nodded, smiling sadly. "My little brother is the only one who loves me, so I owe him that much to tell him," she said through her tears. "I am sure, Lèon. After all, you're the only person that's held a civil conversation with me.... Hopefully, I'll fit in down there. If not... well, I still hope you'll want to hang around with me." She was happy that she didn't have to give up her legs entirely- she would miss walking... and ice cream. Ice cream was the thing she couldn't live without. It would take some getting used to when she became a mermaid- it would be difficult to swim with no legs. But she was up for the challenge, as she was sick of being hurt and picked on.

Léan, seeing that she was serious, looked visibly nervous. Obviously, he was going to be the one to do this, since he was the only one of his kind above land. He was far from pure, due to a not-so-nice-past. He had only had one mate in his lifetime, who was now deceased. It had been a while since he'd attached himself to someone, in any way whatsoever. He was a loner.

Artemis was still quite red from when Lèon told her about the, uh... "process". She wasn't sure if she was ready, but... Lèon seemed to be a nice guy....fish (XD) (She wasn't sure what to call him) and... Unknown to her, she was slowly but surely falling in love with him. Right now she mistook it for a mere friendship. She never had friends, so she was supposed to feel like this.... right?? She wasn't sure if Lèon considered them friends, though. He was obviously uncomfortable from explaining and her busting into tears. Either way... this week will be pretty interesting, she thought. I wonder.... if we'll become friends...

Léan was not thinking about most of the same things. He was thinking about how his life would change. How his brother would react...and if one would be able to tell she was a human turned mermaid. He didn't want to be kicked out of every settlement he wandered into, after all.

Artemis then remembered the fish. "Ummm... Are you still hungry Lèon?" she asked, in a desperate attempt to distract both Lèon and herself from what was eventually going to happen.

Léan blinked. "...Oh. Yes, yes...more fish would be really nice," he murmured, clearing his throat. He returned his attention, easily, to the fish. He desperately wanted more food, since he was hungry.

ooc: Heehee, silly Lèan. *hugs Lèan* X3

Artemis grinned, and she got out some more fish, once again, sending 2 in.
ooc: She's almost to the trashbag fish! XD (She's fed him 6 fishies so far. LOL)
But now I have writer's block! O3O I'm gonna go to bed soon, though, so maybe I'll be able to get rid of my block while I sleep. XD