~portum Arcanum

Walking through the streets, Tristan sees something of value. A ring, with a big diamond on it. Tristan smiles, he goes into the store and walks straight to the counter.
"Hello my name Alphonse."
The lade looks at Tristan and smiles
"What do you need?"
Tristan smiles 'lets get this started'.
"I saw a very interesting diamond at the front, but it never said what the price was."
"May i please hear what price it is."
"Sure."
The lady exits her counter and goes to the front, she opens the glass door and takes out the ring. She comes back to the counter and looks at her computer, she looks back and sighs. She puts the ring down and knocks the counter twice. Tristan swiped the counter and knocked at the end. The lady sighs
"You sound a little different from when you were on the phone."
Tristan widens his eyes, 'She just said different from the phone, so he already called. This makes it much easier.'
"Yes, all my friends say I sound different when Im in the house."
"Is that so?"
"Yes it is."
The lady pulls out a piece of paper from under her counter, she looks at it. She sighs and looks at Tristan.
"Says here you have to give me the money."
"Ah yes the money, may I pay by credit?"
The lady looks at the paper again, she shakes her head.
"No, you HAVE to pay by cash."
"Okay."
Tristan grabs out a pink purse, he opens it and gives the lady $3520 dollars. The lady accepts it and gives the diamond ring to Tristan.
"Thanks for buying at our store."
Tristan smiles
"No, thank you."
Tristan takes the ring, he goes to the door and opens it. Before he exits he turns back to see the lady
"Oh yes, very nice handwriting, it kinda reminds me of mine."
With that Tristan exits. He looks into the pink wallet and smiles
"Also thank you for letting me borrow your wallet, for a little bit."
He puts the wallet on the floor in front of the glass window at the shop.
"I just spent $3520 of your money, and the $3520 I was suppose to pay. Is safe with me."
Tristan smiles
"Now thats what i call, Profit."

 

Actaeon sat down and promptly got straight up again, went into the shop, and came out with the cheapest sandwich available, ham on brown bread. He sat down opposite her again, taking very small and delicate bites, determined to make it last. The pavement tickled his bare feet - he'd long worn through his shoes - and his clothes were verging on threadbare. He knew he had to look an absolute vagabond, but heck, it had been literally months since he'd eaten a sandwich, and he was using the last of his financial reserves while he could still make the trip this year - it would be too cold and too... hostile if he made it later.
Her question registered, and he struggled to make it sound like he actually still talked to people everyday who weren't himself or imaginary. "Er, yes. Not far. I mean, not, too, far, away." He had to force himself to put the commas in. "Just walked here... from... the beach."
He kicked himself. "Sorry. Don't talk to people often." He decided to change topic. "You?"

 

Perhaps it was the occasion, or the fact that women were a major weakness for him, or the use of the word "families" which incited so much memory it hurt, but a fatalism stole over him.
"All I got," he answered honestly. "Nice to meet you Nerissa. Actaeon," he said, as a way of telling her his name. "Some people got work and families. Some got one or the other. I got neither. Can't say I'm better off for it. You?"

 

Spoiler: semi-nsfw

Name: Calliope
Age: 20
Mermaid, Lionfish type
Special Ability: Siren

Calliope rested against the coral reef, watching the schools of fish swim in the distance. No one was ever around this particular area of the ocean at this time of day. It was good to be alone and away from the other merpeople. Ever since her accident she caused three years ago, Calliope stopped talking to the others. She was self conscious about her voice. Yes, it had no effect on the other merpeople, but, she never wanted to be reminded that it was her voice and her songs that lured a sailor and his crew that she fell in love with to their deaths. It was almost as if she thought that if another word slipped from her lips it would catch the attention of another innocent sailor again. Her fear of speaking was one of the few reasons why she never went to the surface completely. Of course she had seen it from afar while resting on a near by rock or peeking at the other humans from under the boardwalk at the beach. She was one of the very few merpeople who never walked among the humans.

Something scurried across her hand, causing a shiver to run up her spine. Startled, she looked down to see a crab making its way around to the other side of the coral bed she was sitting by. Curious, she got up and followed it, wanting to see where it went. By the time she got around to where she thought the small crab ended up, she discovered that he lost him but decided to go on and search more of the area. Calliope became bored of that idea pretty quickly, and decided to go off to the part of the shore where no one really went, the tide pools.

The shift in the water signaled to her that the tide was going out and that meant that she would be able to visit her secrets that she buried years ago, her most prized possessions.

 

"To answer your first question, about...huh, it's already been a full year now. Wow. And to answer your other question, yeah, it is kinda weird."
I let out a sigh.
"The more polite ones will just go along with it, but the stubborn ones need a little-- how should I say it-- "aggressive teaching." But they always straighten up after a nice suplex or two."
I laugh loudly, thinking back on a certain time in particular.
"You should've seen this one guy I taught! He was so pissed when he first saw me, I thought he might storm out of the building. "I'm not taking lessons from some punk kid!" It was something like that, I think."
I point towards a large, padded mat.
"So I challenged him to a little one-on-one. He was so sure he was gonna beat me up...you should've seen the look on his face when I floored him in two seconds flat with a clothesline! And guess what? He never talked back to me again. He was actually a pretty good student after that."
I start laughing again...but my laughing soon turns into a nervous chuckle. Ehh...I didn't mean to take over the conversation like that, I've barely let her get two words in since we started. I shake my head and smile.
"Ahh, but enough about me. How about you tell me some more about yourself? You said you're a commercial diver, right? That sounds like a pretty cool job."

 

"It can be. But it depends what ship you're on, what job you have." She sighed and looked away. "Not every captain or crew are receptive to having a young girl on board. I tend to be bad luck." A little laugh. "Sometimes the jobs aren't exactly what you'd consider ethical. But you do what you're asked. Then you get paid."
Her hand wrapped around the diving knife on her ankle and drew the short blade free. Holding it her hand she carefully examined the blade.
"But I couldn't stay away from it if I wanted to. The ocean... it's... it's my home. Like I said. As long as I'm out there, or down there, I feel safe."
Standing up she walked out onto the mats again, staring at the walls. The ground was stable beneath her feet. Hard, resistant, unyielding. One could become a good person standing on ground like this. But she swayed unconsciously, her body trying to balance against the rocking of waves that were no longer beneath her. It was odd, the ground seemed to be telling her to be solid, good, while the beckoning call of the restless ocean called for her to be... fluid.
"Dry land. I don't get how you can stand it." Lilly sighed and twirled the knife between her hands.
"I'm sorry for asking this so suddenly. And I'm sorry for the nature of my question. If I'm digging too deep you don't need to answer." Holding the knife in a backhand grip Lilly turned back to Azel. "This stuff you teach. Have you ever had to use it outside of this room? Where life and death are both possible a second from now?"

 

I freeze up the second I hear that question. She'd definitely not joking; I can tell from the look in her eyes and the way she's holding that knife. She looks like...someone who knows what it's like. I clench my fist as memories start coming back to me that I would've rather kept hidden. After a few moments, I look right into her eyes and reply in a dull, sullen tone.
"Actually, you are digging a little too deep. To be completely honest, it's very rude to ask a question like that to someone you just met. But..."
I blankly stare up at the ceiling, not looking at anything in particular.
"...The answer is yes. In fact, there was a time when fighting was the only thing I'd ever known. That's a big part of the reason I left and came here, actually. I wanted more out of life than just going from one fight to the next. Now, I can't imagine going back to the person I used to be."
I look back to Lilly and start to wonder what she's been through...what kind of things she's seen. She talks about how her job isn't always "ethical" and she holds that knife like she's used to having it in her hands. A shiver runs up my spine as I consider the worst --and probably unrealistic-- possibilities. Then I start wondering if...maybe we're more alike than I thought. Is this what I was like when I first started out? Not quite...there are still some differences. I never really did that much unethical work even when I was first starting out on land. But before I left my home and came here, I might have been more like her than I'd like to admit. I wonder if I had the same look in my eyes that she has right now. I wonder if...I can help her.
"I left that life far behind me. Now I use my skills to help people rather than hurt them. If you try hard enough, I'm sure you can find a way to do the same thing. And if I can help you do that somehow, just say the word."

 

Actaeon took the proffered bills, and watched her walk away. He looked down at the money in his hand, weighing it up. There was enough there to buy himself a sleeping bag, a whole bunch of necessities. Enough money to secure his survival throughout the winter.
Inside him a part of him burned at the indignity of accepting money from strangers. But another part recognized the need for the money. He couldn't just walk away though, just taking some of this woman's money with him like some kind of lowly thief. He got up, wincing as his legs protested. Then he started walking away from the restaurant, towards the local camping shop. Twenty minutes later he emerged with his essentials, then began the hour-long trudge back to his cave.

As he walked, his mind became clouded with thoughts - how did it come to this? How did he go from having his whole life ahead of him, a bright and brilliant future, to a wild criminal in a cave accepting money from strangers? A killer - NO, he reassured himself strongly. NOT a killer. The only crime he was guilty of was stealing, and that was to survive. He was innocent of the crime they accused him of. One day he might be able to go home.

As he drew up to his cave, his ears pricked and he dived into cover. A van moved along a dirt-track, and he caught a glimpse of bloodstained antlers tied to the roof.
"Poachers," he muttered. "Bloodied hoodlums."
He moved into his cave to get the only two weapons he owned - a truncheon, belonging to his grandfather, a good old-fashioned one capable of breaking bones in a swing or two, and a large slightly curved hunter's knife that he used regularly. No harm hunting to survive. But as someone falsely accused of being a criminal, he HATED lawbreakers. And having lived off this forest for so long, he felt protective of it. He would do what he could to minimize the bloodshed. Whether it be the animal's, his or theirs.

 

She made her way to the shore making sure no one saw where she was going. If anyone were to find what she had buried, she would be in a lot of trouble. There were treasure in there that were rumored to be very expensive. Once she made it to the beach, Calliope located the rock that hid the small box. Making sure she didn't get dry, she stuck her fins into the nearby tide pool so she didn't turn. Checking over her shoulder a second time, she moved the rock and scooped the wet sand out of the way unearthing the small wooden box with mother of pearl handles on the drawer. Everything was there, including the dragon's breath opal ring that was given to her as a promise to come back for her.

Running her hands over the smooth wooden surface, Calliope felt tears start to well up in her eyes. It still stung knowing that Faolan wouldn't be returning. Taking out the picture of the both of them that was taken when he surprised her for her 16th birthday. Before she knew it, she started to cry and words started to pour of her mouth, her honey sweet voice floating up over the waves that broke in the distance. "I miss you." In a feeble attempt to calm herself, she slipped the ring on her hand and felt a wave of comfort wash over her. Looking at the photo again, she became enveloped in her memories and quickly lost tabs on her surroundings, not paying attention to whether or not people were around.

 

"Maybe." Lilly said thoughtfully. "I apologize for my brashness." She sheathes her knife and turns around, taking a deep breath. Slowly her hands come up as though she were holding a rifle.
"It's only fair I guess, after asking you that." She let her hands drop back to her sides. "The first ship I went out on was a Russian freighter. I stowed away, actually. The first thing they did, after yell at me, was bring me an old mosin nagant rifle. They'd customized it to fire modern kalashnikov magazines. So they take me up to the bridge and sit me outside on a balcony. There was a target down at the bow." Her hands came up pantomiming holding a long rifle again. "They gave me a single magazine and told me I had to get at least half of the shots on the target, or they'd half a good time then chuck me over the side. Obviously I managed it, proving I was useful for something other than a night or two of entertainment." A chilling chuckle echoed through the room.
"Life can be funny at times, you know? The next day the ship was attacked by pirates. So there I am back where I'd been the day before, except instead of a target I was shooting and killing people who kill me if they had the chance. After the first few rounds hit the hull next to me, that hesitation I had vanished. Dropping the cross hairs onto this guy's chest, I have him pictured perfectly in my mind, I pulled the trigger. When I got the scope back onto the boat, the man was lyign there on the deck, a pool of blood haloing his body."
An odd pressure held her soul down. It made the future bleak, a mixture of black and crimson red. Why am I telling him this? All it'll do is scare him. Make him second guess letting me stay the night. But she couldn't stop herself.
"They got on board the ship on the other side. Killed everyone over there and worked over to where I was. Somehow, I got through it. The few of us left threw the dead overboard then made it back to shore. My next job, oddly enough, was on a pirate ship. They were looking for someone who could fire a gun, all that mattered. So that was a fun little stint before we took on a military ship by accident. I was able to swim back to shore and vanish. I signed on as a protector with the first research vessel I could find. It wasn't easy. The idea of a little girl carrying a rifle and killing people kinda broke the deal. But I managed to land some work. They put me on as a diver and I helped them explore an old wreck from world war two. There was an, accident and the ship almost sank. Thankfully I knew enough about driving ships and got myself to a shipping lane and picked up. After all this, I bounced between diving, treasure hunting and other jobs. All on the ocean or near it."
She sighed heavily again. That as all she was able to say to him. It felt good to talk about it, but it felt wrong to burden this man with her demons.
"I'm not here to kill you. So don't worry about that." Closing her eyes she groaned, she felt like crying. Dammit! Dammit! Goddammit!
Suddenly anxious Lilly looked around for an escape. Seeing the back door she rushed to the table, grabbed her bag and umbrella and bolted out into the rain. Realizing her mistake the instant she made it, Lilly collapsed onto the ground, her body having transformed already.
Idiot! You stupid idiot! She screamed mentally at herself. Hiding in the shadows she curled up infuriated with herself.

 

Tristan walks through the streets, down the dark alleys. The diamond ring in his hands. He goes outside of the dark alley and back onto the main street. People rushing by and others walking with earphones in their ears. Tristan walks across the streets and into another shop. Tristan closes the door behind him. A teenager comes to the counter, a brunette with blue eyes looks at Tristan. She sighs.
"What you want this time Tristan?"
"Food."
The girl tilts her head
"Food?"
"Yeah, Food."
"Tristan, we do not sell food."
"Really? I was thinking this was a fast food shop."
The girl twitches
"If you can't see, we sell gems."
*Sigh* "I know that Aria, but like I thought you made food for me."
Aria twitches some more
"You know, Im not here to look after you."
Tristan smiles
"I know, I know."
"Geez Tristan, I know you have money in your account."
"Hey how do you know that!?"
"Alphonse told me."
Tristan's smile fades away
"Alphonse did?"
"Yeah, I was just on the phone with him."
"Did he say anything else?"
"Yes he did, He asked for you to go to the place."
"The place? You mean the beach?"

 

I call out to Lilly as she's just about to leave.
"Wait! Where are you going?! I believe you, okay? You don't have to--"
It's too late. Just as I'm about to reach out and grab her shoulder, she's already out the door. I can't follow her. All I can do is watch from behind the open door...that's when I see the last thing I'd ever expected. I gasp and my eyes shoot open in shock and amazement.
"Her...her legs. They're...she's..."
I can hardly believe what I'm seeing. She's a mermaid...she's definitely a mermaid! My heart starts racing. I keep telling myself that what I'm seeing is real. Then I realize something. She's a mermaid...outside...in the rain. I have to get out there and help her! If I do, I'll start transforming, too...but I don't have a choice.
"Hold on, I'm coming!"
I take a deep breath and steel my resolve.
"I'll...I'll get you out of there!"
I open the door a little farther and...step out into the rain. I can't transform. I can't collapse. I keep telling myself that as I keep my legs in their human shape through sheer force of will. I take a few steps forward...she didn't get far, but my pace has slowed down to a crawl so it seems a lot farther away. Pain shoots through my entire body. The pain of not allowing nature to take its course. But I keep moving forward...step...by step...by step. I finally make it close enough to reach down and pick her up. Normally, I could carry a girl her size with no problem, but with the shape I'm in I might as well be carrying five of her. I make my way back to the house. My legs feel like they're on fire and I can already tell that scales have formed on them. I take a quick look down...they're just barely keeping the shape of human legs. But I keep walking, even though I'm gasping for air and I'm about to reach my limit. Just three more steps now...two more...one. I finally make it back to my doorstep and with one final effort, half jump and half collapse inside the house, causing Lilly and I to tumble to the ground and roll on the floor. We're safe now...knowing that, I allow my legs to transform and take on their true shape. My breathing steadies as I'm overcome with relief; I let out a content sigh as the pain quickly leaves my body, as if it was never there in the first place. I look over to Lilly and whisper to her. That's the most I can manage at the moment.
"I...I never thought I'd find...someone else like me up here."

 

"I don't wanna."
"What! Why!?"
"Because every time I go to that beach i find some random girl, standing there staring off to sea."
Aria closes her eyes. She smacks her hands together and opens her eyes.
"I see what he's doing!"
Tristan starts to twitch
"Your not going to say anything stupid are you?"
"Well it depends if you think its stupid."
Tristan closes his eyes, 'Its probably stupid, and her blue eyes are glowing, which means it IS stupid. It wouldn't hurt if i heard it, would it?' Tristan breathes in and exhales, he opens his eyes.
"Okay tell me."
Aria smiles
"How about if he's trying to get you a girlfriend?"
After those words an awkward silence between the two went on for what seemed like forever. Tristan blinked once, Aria blinked once. Tristan opened his mouth, but then closed it shut straight away. Tristan turns around and goes to the door and exits the shop. Aria about to call Tristan back, but stops. She sighs
"Come back again."
Tristan starts walking on the streets again, it starts to rain all of a sudden, 'The News did say something of rain, but why now?' Tristan starts bolting it down the street. He swings around the corner and walks a little bit ahead. He stands under a gutter, he leans back onto a metal door.
"Of all times to forget my umbrella."
Tristan reaches into his pocket and grabs out the diamond ring. 'A prize for a successful trick.' Tristan smiles, he puts the ring back into his pocket and looks up to the sky.
"Man this world is bland."

 

As the rain started to fall, Calliope scrambled to protect the photo and the rest of the contents of the box forgetting to take off the ring. She leaned back and placed the box back in its hiding spot where it had sat for the past three years. She smiled and looked up to the sky letting the rain hit her face, it was warm yet cold at the same time. Continuing to sit in the rain, Calliope looked down to the tide pool that was keeping her from turning. She ran her fingers across the surface and played with the creatures that were swimming around. Feeling calm again, Calliope looked out to the horizon and watched a storm brew in the distance. Uneasy about how fast it seemed to be moving, she was unsure about what to do. Should she stay on shore and wait it out? Or should she risk going out into the ocean again to be tossed about the churning current. In a panic, she looked around and saw the dock in the near distance. Deciding to go for it, she made her way back to the ocean to swim to the dock to take shelter under it.

Swimming against the breaking waves and current, Calliope pushed on determined to make it to the dock so she could at least cling to the post to avoid getting dragged out to sea. To her luck, there was a bunch of kelp that she was able to wrap her tail around like a seahorse. As she was preparing to wait out the storm, thunder rolled in the distance and the wind picked up. It looked to be severe.

 

Wrapping her arms around the post she noticed that she had forgotten to put something back in her box of treasures. The ring. Gasping, she immediately let go of both the post and the kelp. Rushing to get back to the shore, she swam as fast as she could, narrowly escaping being rammed into the rocks near the tide pools. How could she have forgotten the most precious thing out of that whole box? How could she have been so careless? Now wasn't the time for Calliope to be punishing herself for her absentmindedness. Instead, she had to be focusing more on getting to the beach in one piece. Trying not to be as careless as she was earlier regarding the ring, but still trying to beat the storm, Calliope moved the rock away, took out the box, placed the ring back, and put everything back where it belonged.

She exhaled a sigh of relief and sat against the rocks, trying to catch her breath. Swimming against the current on the way to the dock and swimming back to the shore as fast as she could, really took a lot out of her. She was tired and the warm rain wasn't helping. She felt herself slowly drifting off to sleep, but was brought back to reality when the thunder clapped loudly overhead. This was it, she had to face the storm out in the open with no protection overhead. But, she giggled to herself thinking about how she didn't have to risk a stiff tail the next day after holding on to the kelp for who knows how long. For a few seconds a feeling of ease washed over her again as she looked at her situation again. Once again it seemed like the good outweighed the bad; since it was raining she didn't have to worry about transforming (she was one of the few merpeople who have never used their human form) and since she was by the tide pools WITH a storm over head there wouldn't be many humans out that would see her. It seemed like there would be something that work in her favor and other hand, she had never really witnessed a storm before from the surface, maybe it was something worth while to watch. Calliope remembered hearing something from Faolan about storms being one of the more beautiful things to see, "What was it that he used to say? You can feel the electricity in the air and taste the earth with every breath..." She trailed off trying to remember the words. There wasn't much that could cause her to break her silence, in fact there was one thing that could do so and ironically it was the same reason that caused her to keep silent. Faolan.