This is for iEve and Mira-Charma13 Only~~

Name: Léandre Skelter

Age: Appears seventeen, but is older in the years of humans.

Gender: Male

Species: Merman

Appearance:

Name: Darren Marcellus
Age:18
Gender: Male
Species: Human
Appearance:

((Okay, then...where should we start this? Before the tidal wave, or after, when he wakes up out at sea somewhere...?))

((If you want, I can make the intro post of the tidal wave and him waking up :3))

((That'd be perfect, thank you! :D I wasn't sure how to bring my boy in right away...D: ))

((:3 Well I don't mind first posts))

It is common sense not to go onto the beach while the wind is howling and news stations are screaming all sorts of alerts of heading to basements or far away. But apparently Darren didn't have common sense that day. The moment there was word of a future hurricane, he had ran out of his small beach house with a camera in his hand and hopes to get good shots of the chaotic ocean. It didn't go as planned.

Darren inched his way closer to the shore line, his camera pressed against his face and slowly panning along the horizon. The wind was brutal and he almost had to plant his feet into the sand. Soon, rain had greeted him and made matters worse. He stood outside for a total of only a few minutes before giving up and turning his back. First bad mistake. He only got a few steps towards his destination before he heard a loud noise. It was hard to make out what it was, but he didn't really have time to contemplate. He was suddenly overcome by a strong tidal wave, knocking him to the sandy ground and dragging him back into the ocean. He was in a state of panic, thrashing about and unable to see. His only goal was to get to the surface. He needed to breath. Yet, all he could really do was swallow bitter salt water and struggle against the power of the storm. In his battle, his head slammed against something hard. The world around him went black.

Darren woken up who knows how later. The waters were calm, and his chest was propped against a flat piece of unknown debris. He was in a daze, everything he tried to look at was a blur. "Wha..." trying to talk suddenly made his head scream. He groaned and clung to the floating object. It took him a full minute to be able to see and comprehend where he was. No buildings in the distance. No sand. Just calm open ocean. He was in the middle of nowhere. At this point, panic was slowly rising in his body for the second time. He was conscious of everything that was in pain. His head was pounding just as hard as his heart, and it clouded his confused thoughts. His nose, eyes, and mouth were burning by the salt water. He was also shivering violently. He wasn't sure if it was from the adrenaline or the cold. He did the only thing he could do in hopes he could be saved from this state, yell. "Hello???? Anyone?!?!"

((I definitely could have done better, but I'm getting rushed off~ I'm sorry if its bad))

((It's fine!))

Of course, there were no resounding yells to greet him. The waters of the Pacific Ocean were eerily calm and devoid of life near the surface due to quite a lot of plastic pollution, courtesy of humans.

There was a small splash a few feet ahead of the stranded human--something had been above water poking around at the debris and the loud yell had startled it back underwater. It had moved so quickly that its form couldn't be properly distinguished.

Beneath surface, the strange creature dove deeper and deeper until he was sure he wouldn't be seen. He'd thought the human clinging to the wooden debris was just a corpse, but apparently, he'd been wrong. He swam beneath the human, noticing his wildly kicking legs. He was in a state of panic...had he been washed out here against his will?

Darren quieted down due to protests of his burning throat. He sighed and looked around once more. Surely the shore wasn't far from here. He heard splashing and spun around in the water, looking around. At first, he thought maybe someone else was in his same situation. This was a stupid thought. He was alone in the middle of the ocean. He gave up on the search for the source of splashing and demoted it as a fish of some sort.

He placed his fingertips against his head and could feel dried blood clinging to his hair. The gash located on the left side of his head was still fresh from his initial fall, and just touching it made him flinch.

He squinted his eyes at the horizon, but all he saw was more open ocean. "Maybe if I start swimming..." He mumbled to himself. Gingerly, he let go of the debris that was holding him afloat. Feeling abnormally heavy, his head went right underwater. There was a bit of thrashing and struggling before he resurfaced and grabbed onto the piece of wood. The salt water made his injuries sting and he cried out in frustration and pain. His mind was clouded with one thought. He was stuck here, and unless someone found him, he was probably not making out of this alive.

Seeing his struggle, and quite startled when he suddenly sunk underwater, the creature beneath him cringed away, at first. ...Surely if he left this human here, no one would blame him for it. Surely he wouldn't get punished for it--humans were not well-liked beneath the water.

...And yet...

The creature languidly cruised a few feet away from the human, and then a few feet away, on a small outcropping of rock that breached the surface, the merman pulled himself up out of the water.

As legends suggested, he was beautiful, with soft, milky pale skin, arctic blue eyes, and semi-curly platinum blonde hair. He had fins on the sides of his head, behind his ears--they flicked a bit to toss excess water off of his ears. Traveling downwards, he was toned but not overly-buff...much smaller than the average male, in that sense. Where his stomach met his waist, the skin disappeared and was replaced with sleek bluish scales, which sparkled in the sun and provided him with a glowing look. Halfway down his tail were fins bigger than the ones behind his ears and had the same silky translucent skin--veins were visible. Farther down his tail split into two large fins.

He curled his tail slightly around himself, watching the human from a distance. He had revealed himself. Now he had to decide if he really was going to save him...

Darren closed his eyes and started to count his breaths. One...two...three It was how the man usually calmed down. He brought down his breathing just a bit, but the sick feeling of dread that controlled most of his body wouldn't go away.

He heard the faint sound of swimming, just a few splashes breaching the surface, and he turned towards the noise. What he saw climbing onto the rock was completely unbelievable at first. The top half looked like a male, but as Darren's weary eyes moved down he noticed.. a scaly tail? It took him lingering moments to put into place what he was seeing.

"I definitely hit my head too hard.." He whispered, squinting his eyes closed and opening them again. This couldn't be a mermaid...merman actually... right in front of him. Where hallucinations part of the package of a potential concussion? Using the floating wood as a flotation device, he scooted through the water and closer to the rock. All he had to do was get close enough to see if this was real or not. He was determined to prove that the mythical creature in front of him was just an illusion.

He stopped a couple feet away from the rock, his eyes never leaving the illusion. He cupped his hand and splashed at the rock. If this was fake, water would just hit the rock. The illusion would leave, right?

The merman almost turned tail and ran when the human's eyes rested upon him. He had been seen by humans just once before. It had not gone well...they had been on a fishing vessel and had attempt to chase him down, to capture him in their net. He escaped.

His heat thudded in his chest when the human began to push through the water towards him, clinging to the debris for dear life. Couldn't he swim? Or was he just feeling weak?

His English was rusty. He had studied it in school, since a few human languages were offered. But...that was a long time ago...he could just barely understand what the human said--something about hitting his head a bit too hard. Did he think he was seeing things? Hm...a natural reaction, he supposed, to seeing a mythical creature before him.

He blinked as water rocketed towards him. It splashed against his chest, running down it in small beads. Felt nice, actually...but, erm...what had brought the splashing on? It seemed a little weird to him...

Darren watched for the water to prove his point, but it just hit the creature in the chest. His eyes widened in surprise and he rubbed the back of his neck. "No.. way.." He felt dizzy, and extremely tired. Maybe the new shock of folklore coming to life right in front of him had taken a toll on his already weak body and mind. The next emotion was short to follow, fear.

He tried to swim backwards but the moment he moved his arms and legs, he lost grip on the board and felt that heavy feeling push him underwater again. He pushed up with his arms and legs to try to resurface once more. He was screaming at himself to swim, feeling stupid that he just couldn't get his head above water this time. Maybe he was tired, or maybe he was on the brink of unconsciousness.

Panic, fear, and confusion were not good mix of emotions, and all of this combined with lack of energy kept his head below water.

The merman hesitated, unsure of himself for a moment or two. Then he slid off of the rock and back into the water, smoothly. He ducked under the human and pushed him up above the surface, back onto the debris he had previously been clinging to.

His skin was soft, smooth, and kind of chilly to the touch. The moment he saw that the man was steady, he quickly backed off a few feet, his head and part of his neck still above water. He looked wary, as if he though that the human would lash out and strike him for what he'd done.

He was frightened. That was clear in his expression. Humans were not the kindest of creatures, after all...

Darren could feel someone hoist him up. The skin was cold, almost colder than the water. He grabbed onto the debris and watched as the creature who helped him had backed away. At first, Darren wondered if the thing planned on attacking him. Like a shark maybe. Yet, he started to notice how frightened he looked. He shifted so he was facing the merman-creature and forced a small, weak smile.

"Thanks." He wasn't sure if he could understand him, so he picked his words carefully and slow. "I wont harm you.." It was weird that his demeanor went from scared, to cautious but convincing. If this was the closest thing to human contact and maybe safety, he needed to establish some sort of trust. All he had to do was push past the fact that he was talking to something half human and half fish.

The merman regarded him with haggard, uncertain eyes. He had always been frightened of humankind. And for good reason...humans typically didn't like the fact that other sentient beings roamed the planet. They liked to think they were the most superior creatures in existence. That arrogance irritated the merman, and was the basis for why humans imprisoned and processed other animals without even a simple regard for their feelings.

He struggled to understand English most of the time, but this was simple English...so he was able to comprehend. Instead of giving indication that he understood, he simply stared at the human across from him, doubt clouding his features.

Darren felt like the creature wasn't really believing him. He rested his head on the floating lifeline and sighed a bit. How was he going to get through to him? Finally, he just decided to be honest. He kept his words slow, just in case there was actual understanding between the two. "I got swept out here because of a tidal wave. My head hit something. I can't hurt you even if I wanted to."

Darren shifted slightly, and soon he started to shiver again. The water was cold and at first he was getting use to it. Now it felt like he was surrounded by ice. He closed his light colored eyes and draped his arms on the wood.Should he ask the creature for help? He wasn't sure.

The merman's tail flicked back and forth thoughtfully underwater. So he claimed he wouldn't hurt him? Well...he could smell blood, though the bleeding had stopped by now, coming from a wound on his head. He was injured, and literally out of his element. So...was it safe to believe him?

He was silent, in thought, for a few moments before giving a firm, curt nod. He didn't know what else to do right now. The human seemed tired, like he was going to pass out. Sure, the water temperature here was cooler than in most places. But this merman, who had spent years living in the Arctic Ocean by himself and had just recently migrated to the Pacific, was used to cool water.

Darren smiled sheepishly at the nod. He relaxed and shifted just a bit against the wood. "Is there anywhere I can get out of the water?" He would ask for a shore line, but he couldn't see any over the horizon and he definitely didn't have the energy to swim far lengths. Hopefully there was some sort of land somewhere. Maybe he could just try to climb on that rock a few feet from him. Did he have the strength?

He peered at the merman with new found curiosity. Even though he was still in shock that he was even looking at the creature, he started to notice the beauty. He blinked to keep from staring and looked out towards the calm water. Hopefully, this was all just some extreme dream and once his sleep was over, he would wake up in a warm bed.

The merman frowned a bit, processing his words slowly in his mind. Then, he nodded, slow once more. There was a place...but it wasn't all that suitable for human life. It was a tiny island, tropical. It had just a bit of forest on it, and nothing more. It was a hotspot for aquatic birds.

He could take him there, but...he had to see if the human was willing first. So, he fixed him with a curious gaze.

The nod made relief course through his shivering body. "Thank you.." He said, his voice full of grateful tones. He noticed the merman was watching him, as if waiting for something. He wasn't sure what, so he decided to be polite. "Could you take me there please?"

Darren wasn't positive how to get to where ever the creature was referring to. So he tested kicking his legs and clinging to the wood. He moved towards the rock then stopped. It worked well, enough, but he already felt weak from it. He looked from the rock he had inched to back to the merman and shifted in the water to him. Another question popped into his head. The merman could understand english, proven by the nods Darren was given. But could he speak it? "Can you speak?" He suddenly asked.

The merman watched the human move cautiously, and noted with some semblance of relief that the male could not move very far or very quickly without having his energy sapped from him. Useful to know, in case he changed his mind about being polite and decided to attack.

He nibbled on his bottom lip for a few moments, regarding his last question. His English was super rusty--he hadn't had to speak it since he'd been in school.

"...Little," he replied, finally. He had a musical voice and an indecipherable accent.

A smile formed on Darren's face. His voice was rather...soothing and it made him feel a bit at ease, which was odd because it was only one word. He nodded and rested his chin on the piece of wood once more. He looked at his finger tips, almost chuckling naively when he noticed his finger tips looked like raisins. He was trying hard to keep calm and ignore the situation, dream or not, but it was really hard to.

He spoke up after a few moments of silence, repeating an earlier question. "Can you take me to land please? This water is really cold." He didn't need to prove how cold, since the shivering of his muscles were almost permanent at this point

((Sorry if my posts seem to be sucking, and btw I love your character :3 Mermaids are very pretty~))

((Haha, it's fine! And yes, they are. X3))

The merman made a few soft grumbling noises in his throat while he contemplated what he was about to do. Was it really safe? His eyes darted across the human's face, and then down to his trembling body. It seemed a harmless enough feat.

He drifted lazily over to the human, tail swishing back and forth underwater with the effort. He ducked down below water and pushed himself up underneath the human, hoisting him up onto his back. After he let go of the floating piece of debris, the merman, half in and half out of water, swam off towards the southwest with the human firmly on his back. He hoped he wouldn't fall off and would hold onto him, even though that was rather awkward.

Darren watched the merman close, waiting for a hint that he accepted to help him. Soon the hint was granted as the water creature swam towards him. He forced back protests as he was hoisted onto the cold back. To keep from slipping off, he wrapped his arms gently around his neck. It definitely felt weird to be riding on a merman's back, but this just added on to the lists of shocks replaying in his head over and over.

The closer he got to some sort of safety, the more relaxed he felt. Yet, now he was realizing just how tired he was. His bright eyes became slits of hidden pupils and he was almost ready to pass out right there. He did all he could to keep a grip on his saver.