#neoko_oc

DAY 1 — Love at First Sight

Abel is a young merman, who discovered a mermaid-shaped marble-made figurehead in the depth of the ocean. Instantly, he fell in love with the human creation. Thus, he decided to come each day and to bring presents for it: sometimes it was beautiful and shining shells, sometimes it was a crown of flowers. But whenever he came, he was always smiling, gradualy falling in love with the marble-made mermaid and its beauty.

DAY 2 — Miracle

And one day, a miracle happened: maybe it was due to a curse, maybe it was due to his prayers. The headfigure suddenly moved. The marble cracked little by little and Abel discovered a real mermaid under this shell. She was alive. As surprised as the merman, she realized that she was indeed alive and able to move, to speak, to feel ... The two creatures were equally mesmerized by their situation.

DAY 3 — Contact

Once the marble disappeared, the mermaid could not resist anymore: she had been conscious all the time of every present and every word of Abel. She was deeply grateful: indeed, thanks to his help, she was finally alive. And thus, she was finally able to touch him. They shared a warm embrace to celebrate this miracle.

DAY 4 — Surprise

As they were now able to spend time together, Abel decided to show her his favorites places. He guided her to different spots but his last surprise was the most marvellous one: a spot full of jellyfishes. The mermaid was impressed by how gracious the creatures were. Little by little, Abel discovered her personnality: she was curious, yet very calm. Spending even more time with her made him fall even deeper in love with the mermaid.

DAY 5 — Agape

Day after day, the mermaid discovered more and more the world of Abel. They finally chose her a proper name, Neoko, and he even showed her the surface. While Neoko was mesmerized by the sunset, Abel confessed to her. He cared about her, and since she had her very own personality, he came to love her even more. Deeply moved by his declaration, Neoko replied with the same feeling of pure love, bathing in the golden light of the sunset.

DAY 6 — Signs

Male naiads are rare, and set apart from the people of the sea. They are used as guards ou warriors, and closer to the surface, in order to protect the harmony and the peace for mermen and mermaids. Thus, a relationship between a naiad and a mermaid is strictly forbidden. But it doesn't afraid our little duet: as often as possible, whenever Devis, a yound naiad, is watching over a certain place, Coryn is there to keep him company. They are not especially talking, nor they are demonstrating affection. But if you're attentive ... You may see some signs.

DAY 7 — Message

Of course, seeing each other is complicated. Even talking is barely possible. But Devis is rather a clever naiad: they can still talk if they're using the right way. He decided to give a message to some fish which are used to swim around the area where Coryn is living. Small and innocent fish would never attract attention: thus, their exchanges began.

DAY 8 — Hiding place

When exchanging messages felt too boring, they decided to try to see each other, but in secret. They had to find a place where would come to see them. People of the sea are quite afraid of human, thus, a good hiding place would be a shipwreck. They planned it. And they could finally see and touch each other, sharing a warm embrace.

DAY 9 — Nap

Once they became confident in their relationship, they decided to find other spots to spend time together. Sometimes, even taking a short nap in a place close to the surface was enough for them. They didn't need much, they just wanted to keep their relationship at a good pace and even more a good state, not caring about what people may say about it.

DAY 10 — Secret

They were more than happy with their relationship. They were lovers, and they managed to find their way to spend time together. And one day, when Coryn came to Devis, to whisper something in his ear, they turned out to be even happier than they would have imagined!

DAY 26 — Hide-and-seek

Sometimes, it doesn't take too much to begin a new chapter of your life. Sometimes, it begins with a new person. Especially when this person is quite ... playful! Roan understood it at a very young age. Even though he was quite quick for a young merman, Meilys was always quicker than him: quicker to react, quicker to speak, quicker to play ... And their games turned out to be most of the time a giant hide-and-seek in the sea! Although Roan was always worried about her, he was always thankful to Meilys for playing with him whenever she felt like it!

DAY 27 — Friendship

Meilys was always lively and above all, very curious. She always wanted to see the surface but it was mostly forbidden for her, since she was way too young. Roan couldn't do it either, but he knew where to find stuffs from the surface. He brought her shells and other things. Even though it was not directly the surface, Meilys was pleased enough, and very thankful towards her precious friend!

DAY 28 — Bond

While aging, Meilys and Roan stayed very close to one another. They would spend their time together, playing or talking. Roan was very devoted to her : as Meilys was growing up, her hair became longer and longer and he would help her with it. Meilys did the same with him so that he won't be bothered with his own haircut. It was their very own way for bonding!

DAY 29 — Dance

Now that they were old enough, they could go to the surface. They had to stay hidden from humans, but they could watch them from afar. Sometimes, on the beach, humans would do curious things : they would do circles while holding each other. Meilys was very curious about it, and once they went back in the sea, she asked Roan to try it with her. She was so happy that Roan couldn't even try to refuse her. It became a sort of habit of them: once they discovered something new about humans, they would try it once they were back home.

DAY 30 — Proposal

Little by little, they learnt a lot of things about humans. Unlike humans, merfolks did not have a real wedding thing, outside of a promise of eternal love for one another. But Roan knew a very special way to do it for Meilys. He brought her at the surface, under a beautiful sunset, and he proposed to her, with a pearl. He saw humans doing it from times to times. Meilys didn't take long to understand his demand, for they loved each other for a long time.

DAY 21 — Encounter

The depths had never been a very welcoming place. The game of life is played there: eat or be eaten. In brief, the survivors were never warm or joyful, rather the opposite. And orphans people of the depths were common out there. Kaiser was one of them: no parents, only his instinct and his witness to survive. He should have never met her, but he did. While exploring some human treasure without any value, he felt looked at: Anna was here, staring at him, without any word. Such a strange encounter between people of the depths.

DAY 22 — Differences

Anna was not a common mermaid of the depths: she was cheerful and curious. Kaiser was a rather quiet and mistrustful merman. They were different but they had one trait in common: they were both orphans. Anna was amuzed by everything around her, and little by little, they had to get along together.

DAY 23 — Danger

Even though their friendship was blooming, the depths were the depths: dangerous and uncanny. Anna was the type who would explore without any second thought, and Kaiser ... Kaiser would be the one who saved her anytime, especially against the predators. But Anna was not completely air-headed: she had some cleverness to help Kaiser too!

DAY 24 — Treasure

From time to time, Kaiser was not as mistrustful as he was in general. Sometimes he had a glimpse of smile ou a pinch of irony which made him a funny character. But Anna liked him a lot: he was her savior most of the time. And of course, any relationship won its real treasure with time!

DAY 25 — Freedom

The depths became warmer and more welcoming with time. But Anna wanted more. She wanted to see the upper part of the sea. She wanted to live without any danger. She was tired of being a prey. And Kaiser was ... adventurous with time, but for different reasons. He wanted some freedom: he wanted to feel free and to live without any bother.

Baby Blue Eyes kind are particularly attuned to the tenderness, innocence, and trust. Associated with a person’s early childhood bond with the father, or other important male figures. A lack of care or true presence from the father often occurred.

The flowers of nemophila are commonly recognized as a symbol for forgiveness, mercy … Thomas had his dark moments as a young father, but he wants to redeem himself. He is aware that he would not wash his name as easily as people may imagine. But it starts with one single step: getting the forgiveness of his own daughter, years after their separation.

✿ Back in 2021, I decided to change a bit the way I drew my digital artworks. Doing lineart on digital has always been my pet peeves but I always loved doing the coloring and the rendering and everything besides lineart. THUS I decided to go lineless. AND WHAT A TWIST: I LOVE IT! Then I did a "color switch challenge" between Maria and Neoko which I still hold dearly because that's really my first lineless drawing and I love it. That's also the old design of Maria, she got a brand new one now!

DAY 31 — Bonus

Our little couple Isaak and Cheryl, our merfolk couple! Isaak is actually a male selkie with a leopard seal's skin whereas Cheryl is an hybrid mermaid. They are quite rare on their own within their own species, which is why their couple is really emblematic.

They are holding flowers of pohutukawa, a tree from New Zealand, as they have met there!

✿ Another sketch dump of a Riverdale AU made in 2020 too. This time, we genderswapped some characters: Eirlys as Jughead and Ethan as Betty. That was quite fun to do, to be honest!