Here's a fun plot idea:
I was playing 'part of your world' song from The little mermaid, when the idea came to mind.
The plot's about obviously a mermaid who falls in love with a Hunter, and that hunter is just continuing the family business because he had a guardian/parental figure who was a hunter as well but died at sea. This guardian/parental figure is a notorious hunter of mermaids who collects their scales/tails like trophies, he kills mermaids for fun, not for survival, but for Fun. Now, that is where our mermaid comes in, she is the one that killed the guardian/parental figure of the Hunter for survival, because if she didn't stop him then she and her entire family would've been wiped out and displayed as trophies.
But, both of them does not know that the other is kinda related to that mermaid killer or that the other is the one that killed their parent figure, so this is the part where the wicked witch comes in, the mermaid gets curious of the upper world and heard rumours of a witch that can grant any wish a creature could want. Her family warns her of the dangers that could do but she ignores them, like her curiosity got the better of her, she wants to know why, why do humans hunt them down when there are fish for food, do they not have their own food supply?
So she goes to the witch to grant this wish of hers, the witch grants it but it has a catch, she has to make a person fall in love with her if she wants to live before the blue moon (which is 4 months away), if not she would turn into sea foam (Same one from the original little mermaid) so she goes to land and sees how chaotic it is, and she emerges from the sea all naked, like same with ariel, but she has no fish, crab, or seagull friend to help her, because in her world those are food. So she just hides under the docks all naked and cold and doesn't know what to do.
Thankfully, there is a kind woman who sees her under the docks, because people are starting to talk about a girl that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and is eating raw crab and fish and just crawls around, so this woman just takes her in and is a owner of a small inn at the port, and this inn is where the Hunter requently visits, so this is where they meet, since he is a regular and is kinda close with the owner, she introduces them them eachother, first it was kinda platonic, but then the mermaid gets an idea that she could make him fall for her so that she could live, so she starts to court him the mermaid way, like giving him prettiest seashells she could find and gives him the biggest catch.
At first he found it weird and kinda cute? But he starts to fall as well, and boom, they hit it off. He shows her around the port and introduces her to his crew. They returned to the inn where they have a fun night, and start to talk to eachother about themselves, recalling their pasts to eachother and just opening up. But then she mentions about a hunter that used to haunt them and just kills off her kind and collects one of their precious items, she doesn't say what, and he starts to get more curious about her past, like he wants to know more.
But the mermaid forgets a crucial part of the contract, every full moon when the light of the moon shines on her, she would have parts pf her body revert back into her marmaid form, like when the moon light hits her arm her scales and claws would start to show, like she forgets that very crucial part. And that night was a full moon, some of the light kinda shined on her face and it revealed the scales on her face, not her full face but some parts like around her forehead or temple, but didn't put to mind thinking he was just seeing things.
A few days after that, the Hunter asked her if she wanted to see something and wanted to show her what he does for a living, he shows her his parent figures collection, his parent figures 'trophies' as he says, the mermaid gets scared as she realizes that He is related to that hunter she killed many years ago, she plays it safe, but is nervous as she is surrounded by dead carcasses of her kind. The Hunter explained that he hunted them down because of how beautiful their scales are, the mermaid asked not for food? The Hunter replied no, they have livestock for that or fish.
That's when the mermaid realized that he is also the same as his parent figure, cruel and cold hearted, they never see mermaids as living beings, but as things that can be turned into a thing for display. So she starts to panic and thinks of going back to the sea, but she can't tell him that she is leaving or her new found mother. So she leaves quietly, the Hunter searched for her for days, until her found her near the beach in the next town from the port looking helpless as she doesn't know what to do because she can't go back to the sea. He asks her why she left, she couldn't asnwer him, they began to have a confrontation, then she falls down because the moonlight shined on her turning her back to full on mermaid form.
The Hunter is shocked then everything in his mind connected, from that night, her way of showing love, how she looked so pale and scared when he showed her his parent figures collection and ran away. He asked her why she didn't tell him, that he would've accepted her. She answered 'Would it stop you from hunting my kind?' He didn't answer. She couldn't help but sob. Then the Hunter remembered her saying about a hunter that she encountered, he asked her about the hunter. It was her turn to stay silent. He understood that it was his parent figure that she killed.
Disbelief, Shock, and Anger consumed him and grabbed his pistol from his belt and pointed at her, but didn't fire his gun. 'I didn't have a choice!' She pleaded him. 'I would allow you to escape, consider yourself lucky, but if you cross paths with me again, I would not hesitate to turn your beautiful treasure into a display.' Then he fired his gun to the sand near her tail scaring her, she quickly crawls to the sea and disappears in the waves. His words were filled with hate, but his eyes were filled with tears of despair not for his parent figure, but for her because he lost her. He couldn't kill her because his love for her was greater, so he let her go, because if she didn't then one of his men that he saw near the edge of the beach would have killed her.
He knew that he was being trailed so to protect her, he lied and let her go.
So, that's the plot came into my mind and just wanted to share. If you like to write it into a one-shot or a series please tag me, I would love to read it. Thank you!
