#* convo.

     it began as a possibility.   even less so, the possibility of a possibility.   one day,   she’d remembered the beauty of grass,   or touch,   or warm smells,    and after what seemed a long slumber,    she’d awakened again with the ache of uncomfortable    clothes     and thick-toothed combs to brush her hair.     she didn’t know how long it had been,  human time always slipped right through her fingers, she’d never bothered to learn how it ticked   and ticked   in seconds and minutes and hours and days, weeks, months,    years.   the shoreline of Creation Peaks remained the same.    the salmon-like roads to reach were still the same,   though harder now without the mutual-aiding of her sisters to swim up.

     she’d lurked,  found her cave once again and noted that all her little trinkets remained there    -a surprise,   though she figured either the locals had enough urban legends about touching shiny things in the wild to scare even the biggest of non-believers, or the access to the cave was just...  too much haste.   too deep,  too dark,  too far until reaching that one pocket of   air.    for her,  it was no issue.    there was no moonlight in there,   only able to see by the grace of her still-unchanged eyes.   the cave was beautiful,  and hers alone.    amongst her things,   she found a stone that could be confused for a charcoal still intact,   and smiled. upon closer inspection, it glistened as though something within it was shining, no outer light source to reflect off on.     that,  her one necklace,   silver and long, with a heavy moonstone pendant that hung at her solar plexus.    the mermaid ventured off again into the water,    and when she emerged once again,  she did so to reach the shoreline.

       the process to dry was always long,  tedious,   but at least for the first while,   merida enjoyed it.   at some point,     she saw her scales shed,  glistening under the moonlight,  and her body take the form of the human she’d practically forgotten she could be.     forms in the dark became less detailed,   though not lost just yet,   the webs and claws that made her hands now reabsorbing and retracting to reveal the dewy skin of a maiden forgotten.    a sigh,  clear hues looked up at the moon,   then she stood.   and fell.    of course,   legs.   the cliché existed for something.    the mermaid shook her head,  puffing out her cheeks, then tried again,   her bare body barely even noticed to her as her body   remembered   how to do the    walking   once again.   

        once she’d gotten the gist of it, the mermaid turned her back to the lake and walked,   as she’d arrived to the shoreline,   a sight for   -hopefully-   no human lurker to behold and be beautifully haunted by.        just a few steps in,   of course,   lest she wanted to really venture off into town like some maker had brought her into the world   -   kind of.       the sharp stone was layered, porous,  and the water hadn’t done any favours to it,   nor had time.     putting it inbetween her hands,  she pressed until the shards of glass-like stone drew blood as they dug into her skin, then let it all drizzle down onto the sand, a mixture of blood and ancient stone.     the shadows from the pier were just a couple of steps away.             “    ze-el,   “         her voice came out in a sing-song-esque tone.

               merida was enjoying being back on dry land,   really.     after so long,   she’d forgotten how humans were actually of her liking:    with their weird,  changing habits,   and their overdramatic expressions upon daily inconveniences.     the depths were different.     in language,   in the passing of time,    in the concerns.     she changed when she was out of the water,   and it was always fun to rediscover that    person    she could be when the instinct to devour passed to a second moment in time.     fist of all,   she had to know where she stood.    the businesses in town had changed,   so she got to be a tourist and walk around with the tips money from the night before,   her lengthy hair braided back in a    -laugh all you want-    braided fishtail,   and sun glasses,  because the sun was still too harsh on her eyes.      she’d wandered into a peculiar - looking commerce,    and was skimming through the shelves without much of an idea on what she was searching for.     she could recall comics, of course, but not if she’d quite liked them or not.   eventually she’d find her way around to the local library,  or figure out the new trends.            “   any recommendations?    “         she asked distractedly,   trying to be  --  friendly to the person that was just in the corner of her panoramic view.

andy had kind of been... holed up in her room for better part of today, only really emerging for the necessities; pee breaks. what was she doing, you might ask? well, writing a bunch of articles ahead of time so she had time later this week to record a podcast episode -- and to have a day to herself after that. finally finishing with the last scheduled article, she let out a long sigh, wrapped her blanket around herself a little tighter and finally stepped foot in the living room. seeing that kal was the only one around, andy let out a grunt as a hello -- hanger was getting to her. don’t judge her.