I've heard the mermaids singing each to each

[vermicompost]

Characters: Kariya Matou and YOU
Setting: Floor ninety (the lagoon)
Format: Prose to start, but I'll match you!
Summary: Kariya is turned into a mermaid. Merman. Merperson. A dangerous merperson. His choice is to drown others or die himself.
Warnings: Blood, possible violence, definite death (for Kariya). And worms. Always worms.


When he'd first found his way to the lagoon floor, Kariya had thought it might be a new peaceful floor where he could rest, like his favorite floor: the meadow. The sound of the falling water was soft and soothing, the water brilliantly clear. The banks were green and dotted with bright flowers. He sat down at the water's edge with a sigh. The effort of making it to this floor had taxed his strength. He was tired. He leaned forward to look into the blue water, reaching out to trail his fingers through the cool liquid.

That was when they struck. Without any warning. His wrist was gripped by a hand, strong as a vise. It hurt, but before he had time to voice a protest, he was dragged down into the water.

He should have died at once. It was the worms inside him that kept him alive. His lungs were aching, but when he opened his mouth in panic and fear, the worms, protecting their host, shot out and fought off the attackers, stinging and striking with their sharp wings and teeth. He managed to struggle to the surface. He was aware of flashing fins, fierce faces, hands pulling him back down. The worms in his lungs felt like they were choking him, but they were sustaining him with prana, life energy. He didn't drown, but his body was wracked with incredible pain. He was used to pain, but this kind was different. It felt like it was twisting his very skin and bones. He gasped, coughing up more worms into the water, along with dark blood.

It felt like it took hours, but it was probably only minutes. When the pain grew less, Kariya finally made his way back to the bank, his gasping and choking easing. He glanced down at his hands. His fingers were cool and had a greenish tinge. His legs felt strange, or rather, they were no longer legs at all. He turned to find himself changed from the torso down: he had a long, scaled greenish length of body ending in a broad, fishlike tail. He looked up. Then he saw the other mermaids clearly, watching him with their dark eyes. They seemed to be smiling at him, swimming in circles nearby but not drawing too near.

He tried to climb up out of the water, but he realized he wouldn't get far without legs. The air felt so dry on his skin. Was he trapped here? He hurt so badly, he only wanted to go back to safer, more familiar floors, and maybe find Ishtar to heal him. He couldn't. He had no way of calling for help. He was alone here, except for the mermaids with their laughing faces and cruel smiles.

Option A: (possible drowning)
There's a new merman swimming in the lagoon, one with the left side of his body veined and scarred, looking for someone, anyone, who can help him. Now and again, he calls out. "Is anyone there? I need your help."

Option B: (after beaching)
Unable to bear his existence as a mermaid, in pain and with the inescapable impulse to drown others, Kariya has made his way up onto the shore. He's lying there, breathing slowly, as his skin dries and cracks. This pain... he'll just have to endure it as he's endured everything else. He hopes it doesn't take too much longer.

[ooc: Kariya is going to be mercy-killed by Diarmuid, but feel free to encounter him before or after he's beached.]

Comments

[godheals]

Raphael, normally, did not venture far out from the infirmary. However..if was to be an Angel of healing, he would have to become familiar with all of the floors that said injured were on. His skills would be useless if he could not be aware of the dangers each floor held. Even if he did lose his powers on several of them.

So, while traveling up, he heard a voice calling out in a lagoon, and saw that the voice belonged to a man with scars on the left side of his body and..with a lower half like a fishes.

Raphael, having never seen or heard of mermaid/men, walked closer to the person, hoping to help.

"What do you need help with? And what are you?"

[vermicompost]

He's relieved when someone finally answers his call. He swims toward the sound of the voice. He looks down at himself again: his scales, his scars. It's so strange to be this way. He flexes his tail. He's aware of the other mermaids in the water, but they're not drawing near, staying under the water: watching.

"I'm trapped here. I'm-" He looks down at himself. "I'm not supposed to be like this. I'm a human. I want to leave this place, but I can't."

[godheals]

Not human..that meant that he was turned into this..creature. However, Raphael wasn't sure if he would be able to heal this man and turn him back into a normal human. He had healed regular sicknesses and revived humans before and even purged Vileness.

This was..a bit new. But he would try. He sat down in front of the man and tried to put a hand on his head.

"I am..sorry to hear that. I do not know how you were transformed or why..but I shall try to heal you. I cannot guarantee this will work though. I have never experienced it before."

Then Raphael would try to use his healing powers. If it worked, Kariya would glow green for a moment and start transforming back. If it didn't..then he would just glow green for a moment before nothing happened.

[vermicompost]

"I think it was just to be cruel. That's why things happen here," Kariya explained, but his current state hadn't put him in the best frame of mind.

"You can heal?" Another healer? Maybe this man could help him in other ways. He needed more healing than just what his current predicament put him in need of. "Please, try."

When the green glow surrounded him, his internal flesh began to heal, the tissues torn up by the worms inside him. He felt surprisingly better, but when the green glow faded, he was still a merman. That hadn't altered at all. "Thank you. It helped, but I don't think it can change me back. They did this to me." He nodded back toward the water. He was referring to the mermaids, but there were none of them in evidence now. He might as well have been referring to the Tower administrators, as they were the ones ultimately to blame for this.

He had the sudden, inexplicable urge to grab Raphael's hand and pull, but he resisted it.

[godheals]

At the effects of his healing and the mans words, Raphael sighed. He had not fully lived up to his name..he hadn't been able to help this man. And that was..terrible.

"..That is what I have been told. And you are welcome..I am sorry that I cannot help change you back. I have never faced something like this before..but who do you mean by 'they'? What's lurking under the water? More creatures?"

Raphael may have been a bit of a beginner on human empathy and body language, but he was slowly starting to figure it out. He removed his hand from the mans head as he spoke.

[worldend_dominator]

Rosa too had come into the lagoon floor to possibly relax. It looked so beautiful, so serene. It was the sort of landscape that she usually had to take a plane ride several hours long to see. She wanted to just sit by the banks and perhaps nap there.

The serenity is broken by the moans and the call for aid. As far as Rosa can see, there is no one standing on the banks but her.

In that case, the calls can only be coming from the water itself. Yet, they are too clear to the calls of a drowning person. She remains silent, seeing if anything might come out of the water.

[vermicompost]

Kariya swims as much as he can, then rests in the water, frustrated and pained, still calling out intermittently. The mermaids won't talk to him, and he's not sure how long it's going to be before someone else comes to this floor. AOnce they are here, how are they going to help him? This is something the Tower's done to him. But even someone knowing he's here would help. He wouldn't be alone in this strange state and shape.

It's with relief that he catches a glimpse of someone on the bank. It's not someone he recognizes, but he swims in closer, eagerly. "Hello. I'm here."

[worldend_dominator]

The voice is definitely coming from the lagoon. Cautiously Rosa takes one step toward the water.

"Y-yes? Are you...hurt?"

[vermicompost]

Kariya rises from the water before her. He doesn't look well, but the water has washed away most of the blood, just as it's plastered his greyed hair to his face.

"I'm trapped here. I'm glad someone finally came."

Looking up at her, he feels something that isn't gladness, something odd. There's a tightness in his chest and throat, a feeling like eagerness. She looks– tempting. An impulse starts to grow in him. It would be so easy, wouldn't it, to reach up and grab her ankle and pull her in?

He pushes away the alien thought. He can't push it far, but he tries. "I'm a human, but they changed me somehow."

Option B.

[rainscented]

Exploring the new floors is painstakingly slow, and he doesn't stay in one place for long, but when one of his mice appears beside him with a message - that one of the people he's had them monitor is in trouble, dying even - Rat makes it to the ninetieth floor in record time. He's an asshole, but he keeps promises.

The sight of Kariya, mutated and drowning on dry land, is horrifying; he has to suppress the urge to gag or run as he approaches.

"Old man," he calls, uncharacteristically soft. "Are you still awake in there?"

[vermicompost]

He aches all over. His skin hurts more than it ever has. The Crest Worms, dying along with their host, crawl out through broken flesh here and there, but they don't make it far. There are a few of them lying next to him on the bank, twitching and clicking their jaws. He thinks he hears a voice, but it sounds like it's coming from far away. Still, there's enough life in him that he can understand what's being said and open his eyes.

"I'm here," he says, his voice little more than a croak, little louder than a whisper. He strains to move his head and turn toward the voice. It's a familiar voice. "Rat... is that you?"

[rainscented]

"You're still good at this, huh. It's me." He settles down beside Kariya's head, legs folded, and absently flicks a worm husk out of the guy's hair. He's not going to last long, he can tell that much. Hell, anyone with eyes could tell that much. He almost sighs, but settles for resting a hand on a reasonably untouched section of Kariya's shoulder.

"You remember the offer I made you? I'll sing you a painless sleep."

[vermicompost]

"No one else calls me that. Old man." He would smile, but his mouth can hardly move. "I'm twenty-six." He says that as if it means something, but he knows it doesn't, really. "But you're right, I'm old..." He looks and feels old, so he might as well be.

He doesn't even wince at the touch, though his skin is sensitive. He doesn't have the energy to wince. "I remember." He lets out a long breath before speaking again. "It hurts." He's not one to admit to pain lightly, but he does hurt everywhere, inside and out. But it's better to suffer like this, he thinks, than to hurt someone else again.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid is trying to spend a lot of time on this floor after so narrowly saving Tohko earlier and hearing so many rumors about those who haven't been able to be saved. The lagoon is beautiful, but as it is with so many beautiful things, it is also deadly.

When he returns to the floor after leaving for just a short time to check on a few of the other floors, what he sees makes him realize that a lot of time is apparently not enough for in the short time that he has been gone someone close to him has fallen prey to the dangers of the lagoon.

Quick steps bring him to Kariya's side and for a moment, he thinks the other man has already passed, but no. He is still breathing, barely. At the moment, he seems to be asleep. A kindness really since from the poor shape his body is in, if Kariya were awake, Diarmuid imagines he would be in a great amount of pain.]

What can I do?

[The words slip out unbidden, silent and sad.]

[vermicompost]

[His eyelids flutter, then his eyes half-open. He's in less pain than he was before, thanks to Rat's song, but the familiarity of Diarmuid's voice is enough to awaken him from his slumber.

He hadn't thought he would awaken again, but for some reason, his body, wracked with pain as it is, won't allow him to die that easily. Maybe it's the residual magic of the worms, or maybe it's sheer stubborn endurance on his part. Enduring might not always be a positive trait. It doesn't feel like it now.]

Who is it...?

[His voice is barely audible. He can barely see through his one good eye, and though the voice is familiar, he's so far gone he can't place it immediately.]

Gah...you have some of the best Kariya icons, you know that?

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid starts to reach out to gently touch Kariya so the man knows he is there, but he stops unsure where to touch him so that it won't cause the man more pain. Part of him is ashamed that his words woke him if he is this far gone.]

It's Diarmuid, Kariya. Tell me, what can I do to help you? I have no runic skills like my roommate, but surely there is something I can do to help you.

[There has to be something. Diarmuid cannot stand the thought of just leaving him here like this to die.]

Aw, thank you! I'm glad you think so. I finally get to use my dead Kariya icons.

[vermicompost]

Diarmuid. [He says the name as if testing it in his mouth. It comes out as a croak. But he swallows and tries to speak more with his dry, cracked mouth. He's glad Diarmuid's here. His friend. At the same time, he's sorry Diarmuid has to see him like this.]

I don't know. I came out here... to die. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. That's all.

[He's been close to death for a while. It can be so hard to die.]

B

[bloodright]

[Vergil had to check all the new floors, of course. It didn't seem possible so many could have come up in the time he was gone, and yet, they did. Stepping towards the lagoon, he almost doesn't notice Kariya lying there, or rather, doesn't care. But noticing one side being so heavily scarred, it becomes quite obviously someone he recognises. Who had supposedly been a friend of Eva's. It's enough to speak to the poor, obviously dying, man.]

Is this their new pasttime?

[vermicompost]

Their new...?

[Kariya is slightly delirious in his near-death state, his tail curled up and cracking, but the rest of his body limply sprawled. He turns toward the voice, or moves toward it as well as he can, as weak as he is.]

Who?

[He might be asking who's there, or whose new pastime it is.]

[bloodright]

The administrators'. How long have you been...like this?

[He's pretty sure Kariya wasn't a merman this whole time, anyway.]

[vermicompost]

Oh. This. Not long. I lost track of time...

[He hadn't been thinking clearly.]

I think I killed someone.

[He says this with regret. He'd rather die than live harming others who'd done nothing to deserve it.]

aw yes

[angramaintsu]

[ Rin's never seen a sight like this before. She always participated with swimming in her physical education class, but when it came to visiting the beach for fun? That sort of thing wasn't permitted in the life she had before the tower.

Even though she's not here to swim, she did come to relax. Sitting with a familiar bracelet in her hand, she stares down at it intently. Maybe if she looks hard enough, the reason for receiving it will be revealed. ]

[vermicompost]

[OOC: I just thought of something to ask you: would you rather have Kariya already on the shore dying when Rin comes to see him, or still swimming in the water? I'm fine either way!]


[Someone new has entered the lagoon, and Kariya's aware of it at once, with his newly sharpened senses.

There's a soft splash, and then the smooth, liquid sound of something moving through the water. A few moments later, a head and shoulders rise from the surface of the water not far from where Rin is sitting. It's a familiar face, if slightly changed, Kariya's skin faintly greenish and his one dark eye somehow even darker, its iris larger.

He's not so changed that he doesn't recognize her. Of course he does, and his heart leaps to see her, although the other part of himself: the new, cold, instinctive part, eyes her searchingly, almost hungrily.]

Rin.

[angramaintsu]

Uncle Kariya?

[ Tucking the bracelet into the pocket of her jacket, she doesn't bother to move to get closer to him. Instead, she lifts the hand shortly after to wave. ]

Huh... what's the matter with you? I think you've been swimming for too long.

[vermicompost]

[His tail sways, his fins causing ripples across the surface of the lagoon. Of course he's glad to see Rin, and he feels his usual happiness at the sight of her, but he also feels something else, something hungrier.]

Nothing's the matter with me. The water's fine. Swimming makes me feel better. [This isn't exactly true, but he tries to ignore the fact that he's lying. He doesn't want to lie to Rin, it just feels easier to say these things. She should come closer to the water...]

Did you get my present?