Check-in! (Check fin?)

[thornsofmalkav]

Okay. Uh. Wow. I did not expect to be Investigating as a mermaid. Selkie. Finvestigating. You know.

I also did not expect to get all kinds of shiny mermaid knowledge dumped in my head the moment I ended up in the water, but that seems to have happened anyway. So if anyone wants to know anything about that shit, please do ask me. The most important thing is that the Thalassian Mermaid Queen, the Dread Empress or whatever, is as scary as fuck and our cover story should probably be that we ran away from her empire because we didn’t want to become cannibal berserkers. Which are a thing. Oh my god.

Anyway, it looks like we’re in the world with the Labyrinthine Shoals? Like, that’s evidently where we are. We’re in the Shoals. And I guess we’re mermaids? Some of us? Can anyone chime in to tell me if there’s anyone around who’s not a mermaid.

Actually, maybe we should make this a general check-in with, like, name and species. I’ll go first: this is Thorne and it looks like I’m a California sea lion selkie.

Comments

[venetianprince]

Oh! Dio, I'm glad I'm not the only one!

This is Feli and I think I'm some sort of betta? I can't really tell, but I look pretty! Ah, but I stick out like a sore thumb in dark water...

So we should say we ran away from the queen? But I don't know a thing about this world, so anything at all helps...! What else is there to know about the kingdom we're running from?

[thornsofmalkav]

Hokay. So. The mermaid kingdom is called Thalassa. It's ruled by the Dread Empress. She either has a shitton of magical powers or she's just able to talk to sea monsters and make them do her bidding. Either way she's scary.

Thalassa covers most of the ocean floor but not all of it. It's matriarchal and territorial and has a caste system of sorts. The only mobility I can see is becoming a Siren or a Warrior.

You know that Singing Alcuin does sometimes? That's a Siren thing.

[awitchdidit]

I'm Beatrice and I'm still a witch with the usual number of legs. I am on a ship, though...

[thornsofmalkav]

... that wouldn't happen to be the ship they put me by, would it? With the figurehead with the horns?

Later (private and protected x2)

[thornsofmalkav]

Hey, do you think you can help me with disguising Matthew? He really doesn't need people mistaking him for Masshuu when we get to the island.

[goestoextremes]

... Is there any way we can tell if someone is a cannibal before they try to... you know, eat us?

Hi. This is Korra checking in and I wish I had something else than legs here. I'll probably still end up spending a lot of time underwater and just generally in the water with and without my waterbending abilities, so there's that.

[thornsofmalkav]

Uh, no. The cannibal ones--they're called Stricken-- look like normal mermaids until the rage and hunger comes upon them and their eyes turn red and they start moving like predators.

[awfullyironic]

I know fuck all about fish. I got like finwings all over the place. Like legit wings on my back and ass.

Okay so not actually my ass but close enough.

[thornsofmalkav]

Bro never take you to an aquarium?

Maybe you're a flying fish. Ha ha.

[whydoyoushine]

It's not just the world with the Shoals.

I'm Kotei of the Sentai Clan like I was in the Bando, only I'm still myself. It's really weird--and I don't think anyone's on to me yet.

Mr. Sparkles is a monkey, though. It's pretty great.

[thornsofmalkav]

Oh my god. Is he still named Mr. Sparkles?

You must be doing the thing Daneel does sometimes. Okay. Well. Are you with the Infiltrators? What are they doing?

[chalicejoker]

Hajime here.

I'm some kind of barracuda thing. This sucks.

[thornsofmalkav]

You're gonna burn, burn, burn it to the wick.

Okay, no, this is not the time to quote Heart.

[photonicfighter]

This is Dakki Sigal and I'm... I'm on a boat?

And, and human! Holy light, am I understanding this properly? Are half of us part fish, now?!

[awitchdidit]

Half-human, half-aquatic creature hybrids are a common tale among human seafaring cultures - usually the stories are of beautiful women seeing as the vast majority of professional sailors are male. It's not terribly surprising there's a world where they openly have their own society.

[someonetocarry]

Another kind of cannibal berserker. Wonderful.

This is Zoe. I am also a... mermaid? Merperson? Can I be a merwoman? I sure as hell ain't no maid.

Rose is the same. And enjoyin' herself a lot more than I am.

[There's a childlike voice that butts in here:]

Swimming! So fun!

[Rose apparently wanted to check in, her own self.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Mermaid is the general term. Even for guy mermaids and older women. I guess I'm a mermaid too even though back home we call mythological sea people 'selkies.'

Hi, Rosie! Swimming is lots of fun! Let's have lots of fun swimming together!

[naturaltwohands]

I'm human adolescent. My father Zaknafein and my stepmother Elphaba are not answering me. Guenhwyvar is a large house cat instead of a panther.

[Someone sounds incredibly unhappy, perhaps even angry.]

[thornsofmalkav]

Hey, at least you have your legs. And presumably a shirt.

You're basically a sailor, right? Maybe you can help people with the ship.

[claudiometer]

Okay not a four-week picnic. [Not that that'll make sense to anyone but Kanji, if he's available to comment, but.]

This is Claudia. Looks like I'm investi...sealing? Hell if I know what kind of seal, though, marine life is nnnnnnnot so much my area of expertise. Not surprised I'm not on the Bando boat, though. Chiyo won't be leaving the Temple behind until she's dead, and really, probably not even then.

[thornsofmalkav]

Yeah. And I wasn't even here last time. I was busy being Mrs Leo in Brooklyn.

[seestheworld]

This is Minako. Still myself, still with legs.

You wouldn't happen to have gotten any knowledge of where our ship's supposedly from, would you? That's... probably something we're gonna need to know before we make landfall.

[fruitknife]

There's some nice spears downstairs. You might wanna grab one, just in case.

[fruitknife]

This is Shinji. I can help some with this stupid boat if someone tells me what to do.

How are we for food? Does anybody know?

[chalicejoker]

If you need help with the food, there are plenty of fish down here. Get me a net and I can probably manage something.

[shiroganeheir]

This is Naoto Shirogane, checking in. I am currently on the top of the rigging looking around. I seem to have retained my usual form, but as far as I can tell, everyone else from Inaba is Infiltrating.

If no one else is capable of steering the boat, I can use Constructive Enlightenment to get us to shore. Also if someone can find a captain's quarters, there might be a book on seamanship.

[naturaltwohands]

I believe I can steer if no one else can. I know the general idea of it. The captain quarters is separate from the others.

[theflyingone]

I am myself. With legs. I am aboard a ship called the Cornu. [ Yes, he climbed the outside of the ship to get a look at its name, don't judge him. ] It is small and feels swift. There are not enough supplies for a long voyage. I suspect the Arcana wish us to dock at some point. We should head for the nearest settlement regardless. We do not know how to sail, let alone if a storm hits. I can help, if told what to do. Likely I will be most useful climbing the masts or for sighting.

[ A pause, and then: ]

Malik is not answering me.

[claudiometer]

Helena's not answering either. I'll keep an eye out for Malik if you look for her? I have no idea how scattered we are right now, but it'll cover our bases better if we're both on the lookout.

CALLING ALL FINVESTIGATORS

[thornsofmalkav]

Hey guys? Eventually we're going to meet up with the Infiltrators and Finfiltrators and we're gonna need a cover story. I know I said earlier that we should claim to be from the Thalassan Empire but Claudia helped me with a newer, better idea:

Basically, we're from a mermaid school whose territory was outside the Thalassan borders. The Dread Empress sent her Warriors, regular and Stricken--those are the poor guys who got turned into cannibal berserkers--and we ran the fuck away because we didn't want to be part of her empire. Then we hooked up with a ship that lost half its crew--that's the Investigators--and made a deal for protection if we guided them through the shoals to the island.

How does that sound to everyone? This way if we fuck up on the details we can just claim that we don't do things that way in our mer-territory.

Guys on the boat, ask Zed what he knows about the geography of the land parts of this place.

[whydoyoushine]

You say that like Kotei paid any attention to the geography.

[comebewe]

...We aren't a fish.

[What is his life, that that is even a thing that he needs to clarify in the first place]

[thornsofmalkav]

Okay, cool. Do either of you know how to sail the boat?

[set_your_watches_for_fun]

Hallo, darling, it's Colonel Tick-Tock, apparently I'm some sort of eel person. Possibly conger.

But I say, a selkie? Does that mean you haven't a human upper half at all? How dreadfully inconvenient!

[thornsofmalkav]

Okay, technically not a selkie and just an aquatic mammal mermaid, then. Whatever.

Also, just as a note? I know it's a verbal tic, dude, but I'd rather you didn't call me darling.

[papacerberus]

This is Lupa. I'm myself, although I have just changed.

I'm on the ship, and I will need new clothing. My armor won't blend in at all, and the other clothing I had stored in Vishuddha won't fit me currently.

What do you know about these berserkers? My own experiences might help in dealing with them.

[thornsofmalkav]

Basically, they're normal mermaids who got forcibly infected with a disease that causes them to go berserk and try to eat people's faces when there's blood in the water or somewhere they can see or smell it.

And because of that they're now forced to eat sentient beings like humans or dolphins to survive.

Basically? They're a lot like you Junkyard guys. And just as much victims of circumstances.

[teamsad]

I'm Jessica Drew, and I appear to still be mostly human. And like the rest of us who still have legs, I'm on a ship.

This is my first time doing this as myself, so if anyone has any tips or warnings, now's the time for that.

[thornsofmalkav]

Hey, Jessica. The important thing is trying to blend in. Bad shit happens when we get caught as otherworldly visitors.

Actually, what might help is if you got one of the legs people who've done this a couple times to buddy up with you for this? Just so you can see how it's done.

Anybody want to be Jessica's buddy?

[summerorange]

Um...

Natsumi here, and...I appear to be part koi. Or at least, a koi-based mermaid.

Thorne-san, wasn't it? Does...Does the knowledge tell you anything about...Mermaid fashion? N-Not that I'm being vain or anything! It's for...P-practical reasons.

[thornsofmalkav]

Um. They don't necessarily wear clothing? It is far from mandatory. Warriors wear armor, often sharkskin, of ones they personally defeated when possible. Wealthier mermaids wear a lot of jewelry. Little sharkskin vests if you can make them or afford to trade them?

[tobegood]

This is Imriel. I'm... human?

What's a mermaid?

[thornsofmalkav]

It's a person that's half human and half aquatic animal. That's what I am right now. See?

[And she'll livestream looking down at herself, so he can see her sea lion tail.]