Name: Dalea
Race: Fairy
Age: 19 (human years)

Name: Jasper
Age: 20
Race: Merman
Appearance:


Note: Jasper can take on a 'land-friendly' form, and has a cottage on the beach so he can live his 'dual life.'

Dalea smiled and walked along the beach with a happy smile. She loved the sea, the wind was her favorite part. The air was always whipping around, especially in the tropics! She twirled with the wind, almost like she was part of it. Her hair fluffed one second and was flat against her head the next. She played with the wind and danced to it. There wasn't anyone around to see her, so she was having at it. She wouldn't dare reveal her wings. Her small skirt of her short flipped around rampant. She had no idea there was even a cottage down the beach or that anyone would find her.

If there was one thing that Jasper enjoyed, it was sunbathing. The cool sea breeze playing over his skin and scales, the warm sand beneath his back, the ocean washing gently over his fins... Instead of sunbathing, though, he was wading in the shallow water, trying to split his concentration between maintaining his bipedal form and trying to change the sand from the bottom of the small fish tank he usually kept inside. Carefully, Jasper put sand and small rocks in the bottom of the tank, trying to make sure to spread them evenly. Once he got it back inside, he would refill it with water and put the fish back into it. It was soothing to him, in a way, to keep a fish tank. It reminded him of home.

Dalea was blown down the by the wind. She just rode along it, feet drifting over the ground. She was a very light creature to begin with. She'd never been able to go outside the kingdom. Now she could do what she wanted. At the moment, this was it. She kept on until she was about 100 feet from a cottage. She'd have seen it far off, but she'd paid not an ounce of attention. She stopped and the wind settled back to its normal flow. She looked around, naturally curious and found there was a man in the water. She crept closer and peaked over a large rock.

Jasper didn't notice her. Quickly, he took the tank inside again and worked on filling it with fresh water. He had pet fish that needed to get back into good water. It only took maybe ten minutes to get his pets safely back into the tank. Once he did, he got ready to go back outside. It was time to sunbathe, darn it. Undressing in his bedroom, he wrapped a towel around his waist and then went back outside.

He walked straight to a rock that was half-sunk into the water, a few feet into the surf. He took off the towel, folded it on the rock, and dove forward into the water, letting his bipedal form melt into his true form. He broke the surface again a moment later and drifted backwards towards the shore again. Stretching himself out, he settled down on the sand so that his shoulders and head were above water, and the rest of him was beneath the surface. The water was perfectly clear, though, so the sunlight could still filter down to his shimmering scales.

Dalea stayed where she was. She was too curious for her own good sometimes. She picked at her hair and thought about leaving before he came back out. She hid again when he returned. She watched him, blushing a little when he stripped. Then watched him lay on the sand. She was going to leave after a few minutes, now bored. She slipped on the rock and squeaked as she fell onto her side in the sand. She then covered her mouth and prayed that she didn't hear her.

Jasper jumped bolted into deeper water when he heard the sound. It was an instant reaction; he never expected anyone to be on his private beach for exactly that reason: it was private. It was the one place where he could literally be himself without being caught. After a moment, he surfaced again and looked around the large rock for the source of the noise.

Dalea curled up when she heard him. She'd looked like a small child scared of the dark. She didn't dare breathe. It was a little childish thinking she wouldn't be seen, but she'd paniced.

Jasper blinked when he saw her huddled on the ground. She was what had startled him? She barely looked threatening enough to scare off a fiddler crab.

"Who are you?" he asked after a moment, pulling himself up onto the rock. He had to use just his arms, but it wasn't that difficult. He draped himself over the rock, the tips of his tailfins still in the water. "Better yet, what are you?" He spoke in Common, the language that most creatures knew how to speak. It was his best bet for communicating with the strange girl. He highly doubted she would know Oceanic, at least.

Dalea cursed softly and slowly peaked out. She saw him on the rock and sighed. She sat up slowly, but didn't get up higher. When you were in trouble, stay lower than the other person. "Umm...I'm sorry....I didn't mean to sneak up on you. I was just walking along the beach and saw your cottage. I figured I'd hide and leave when you went inside."

"That doesn't answer my question, though," Jasper said. He wasn't trying to be threatening or anything, he just wanted to know who and what she was. Well, he also wanted to know how she stumbled upon his cottage, but that could come later. She clearly wasn't a human, so he wasn't necessarily worried about being 'exposed.'

Dalea bit her lip softly. This certainly didn't help her any. "Well...I am a fey. My name is Dali." She didn't lie. It really was her name...well, nickname. He didn't ask a specific question.

Fey? That was different. Rumor said that the fey never left their dimension, their world. And they certainly never deigned to come to the mortal world. So what was this one doing on his beach?

"I am called Jasper," he replied. It was only polite to introduce himself in return. "And clearly, I am a Child of the Ocean." He flicked his tailfins up so she could see them. He could see how timid she still was. "Really, I'm not going to hurt you. Just curious, is all."

Dalea looked at him with wide eyes. She'd never seen a Child of the Ocean before. She hadn't seen anything but her people and the humans. Ok, one vampire...that wasn't a pretty experience. She perked up only a little with his reassurence. "I just....I have to speak truely...Jasper. I was curious. At first I wanted to keep along the beach, but I saw you in the water and wondered what you were doing." She motioned to the large rock. "I hid here so you wouldn't see me. When I was about to leave, I fell." She looked ashamed. Only from being caught, not from spying on him.

"I was just sunbathing," Jasper replied. "It's nice, on warm days like this. The sun keeps the shallow water warm." Carefully, he slid down from the rock again and back into the water. The breeze off the ocean was starting to dry his scales, and they itched and flaked if he didn't rinse off properly in fresh water before drying them. Absently, he pulled a few sea shells from the water and put them up on the rock. They had been poking him where he was laying on the sand.

Dalea nodded slightly. "I love the beach. The wind is always blowing here. Save for storms." She smiled a little as she watched him. Something about the way he was so cool headed made her want to come closer. Like she was welcome or soemthing.

"There's a coral reef not far out that I like to visit," Jasper commented. He liked the reef. It was relaxing and colorful at the same time, and it was practically like a free-snack bar. "Although I was born on a beach similar to this one." It was what made him settle here in the first place. It felt enough like home that he could live right on the edge of the sea, between two worlds.

Dalea slowly stood and sat on the rock again. She was tempted to fly away. This man didn't mean her any harm. He didn't even know who she was. She smiled kindly and looked out into the water. "I wonder what it'd be like." Truth be told, she couldn't swim. She was forbidden to at home. Having been told that she'd be eaten alive by the 'sea monsters' because with her wings wet she couldn't fly away.

"What, being in the ocean?" Jasper asked. Absently, his tailfins swayed gently with the waves. "It's..." He trailed off. It was hard to explain. "It's like being free." He turned a bit and looked out over the water. The sea was starting to get a bit choppy as the wind started to pick up, and dark clouds seemed to be forming and growing out over the ocean. Slowly, Jasper took a deep breath of air through his mouth and nose, tasting the wind. "Storm rolling in," he said. Instinctively, he hunkered down a bit in the water, although he knew intellectually that he should probably take his land form again and go inside. He hesitated, though, reluctant to get rid of his tail again.

Dalea smiled happily now. "I no the taste of freedom." She said happily without thinking, then frowned. When he said that a storm was rolling in, she pouted a little. "What do I do?"

Jasper shrugged.

"I don't know, where do you go during a storm?" he asked. "Can't you just go home?" Wherever home was for her. Besides, she said she was fey, couldn't she just fly away or something?

Dalea looked nervous. She nodded slightly. "I guess I should. It was nice meeting you." She got up and started walking back down the beach. She'd noticed a cave a little ways down and would stay there.

Jasper noticed that she looked nervous. She'd mentioned storms before, so she had to know what they were like, maybe that's what made her nervous?

"Is something wrong?" he asked. The storm was rolling in, but it wasn't there quite yet. Still, he wanted to get inside to wait it out.

Dalea stopped and looked back at him. "Hm? Oh. Nothing really. Just a little bummed. I just got out of my home and now I've got to go back." She knew she wouldn't be able to come back here for at least a day. It would cause suspicion.