towerofanimus | I've heard the mermaids singing each to each

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.]

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I don't know. A girl I didn't know. There might have been someone else... I don't want to hurt anyone else.

[That's the last thing he'd wanted to do. Violence isn't beyond him, but he only wants to harm those who deserve it, who've done monstrous things.

In distress, he moves again weakly, his tail uncurling and lying flat along the shore.]

I see. Then you wish to die? Lying here won't stop that killing instinct.

I just want to stop.

I can't do anything from here. If I stay here, it'll be all right. [In spite of his entire body drying up and dying. He studies Vergil. He's not so far gone yet that he's incapable of curiosity.]

Who are you? [There's something vaguely familiar about the voice, but he's not sure if he knows this man.]

Vergil. You were friendly with my mother.

[It's not at all surprising someone as withered as Kariya would forget, especially with their brief interaction. But if he can't even remember if he killed anyone recently, Vergil has to wonder if he'll be able to remember Eva.]

Eva's boy. I remember.

[His tone brightens, as much as it can considering his circumstances. He'd enjoyed sharing stories about children with Eva. He can't clearly remember what he's done here in this lagoon, but his memories of his friends are more vivid.]

I miss your mother. She's a kind person. I haven't seen her in so long.

She's gone, unfortunately.

[Despite himself - there's no reason to show anything like kindness when his mother isn't around to know of it - he feels some pity for Kariya. If only for Eva's sake, knowing she was so fond of him.]

If I can do anything.

[well, he'll just leave it at that.]

I know. I saw the grave.

[He'd gone there and left some flowers from the meadow, even though he didn't believe it was a real grave.]

But I know she must have gone home. I hope she's happy there.

You could tell me a story about your mother. [Part of him still wants to pull Vergil down into the water, but he's far too weak now to do anything of the kind. Still, he doesn't want Vergil to leave, even though he hates to be seen like this.] What were things like, when you were a child?

[The grave - he had forgotten there was a gravesite, it's something he would have to check later.]

She was killed protecting us, I'm sure everything up until then was just the same. ...She was strong for a human, although she was troubled, burdened and in danger, she cared for us as if we were her only concern.

She died... saving you? She didn't tell me that. That must be why she understood.

That's what a parent should do. She's a good person, Eva. [She'd been one of the first people he'd made friends with here. He won't refer to her in the past tense. He wishes he could see her again, someday.]

You're lucky to have her for your mother. [He's glad to have this conversation. It distracts him from the pain. He almost manages to smile up at Vergil.]

She was better than any of us deserved.

[Especially his father, but he'll keep that to himself.]

She may as well have been a living saint.

I don't think she thought that. She always spoke so highly of you. She seemed like that. A saint. She was so good to me, and for no real reason.

[Like Aoi.

He pauses, lets out a breath like a sigh. He thought he was a good person, once, if not a saint. He's stopped thinking that, since the War. But he'd liked to think he wasn't a terrible one.]

I've never killed someone before. [He's been wanting to kill Tokiomi, but he hasn't managed to do that yet.]

Most people have killed in some way, and this was the doing of the tower. You won't be held responsible for it.

I haven't. Not before now.

[His family always despised him for his gentleness, calling him weak. If anything, he might have effectively killed himself, but that was different, in his eyes.]

And I killed a girl. I'm sure I did. I pulled her down with my own hands. I'll always remember... doing that.

[Kariya? Not blame himself?]

My mother would have forgiven you. Nothing can be done about it. If you dwell, you only harm yourself.

Do you think she really would? I don't know if I deserve that. [He'd like to think that, that Eva would forgive him. He's sorry to have lost such a good friend.]

But how can I forget? I can't stop seeing it. Her face...

[But Kariya's so good at harming himself.]

[He isn't one for forgiveness himself. He doesn't think anyone really deserves it, but the point is someone like Eva would have given it easily - although mainly that he himself wouldn't feel guilty in the first place, so Kariya shouldn't either.]

Seek the girl out when you've recovered, but for now, you can do nothing about it.

You're right. I'll try to find her. To ask her to forgive me.

I feel like I'm becoming someone else.

[He doesn't only mean today, this transformation. Becoming a merman is only a more dramatic version of an another, possibly permanent transformation, more subtle but real enough. Even when he's himself, he's not the man he used to be.]

I don't want to be that person.

Then don't. If you can prevent it, do it. If not, there's a reason for it, embrace it.

[He knows how it is to become someone else all too well. It might have been frightening at first, but then, he was a child then, and 'knows' the change was much better.]

I don't think I can stop it. I can only slow it down.

[Just like the worms, with the healers. It can be staved off, but it's an inevitable end.

He's becoming the kind of person who isn't gentle or kind, the kind of person who has nothing to live for, not even himself.]

The reason for it... It's to make things better for someone else.

If that is your goal, why regret it?

I've heard the mermaids singing each to each

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stop being so nice, Kariya

He can't help it, he loves good mothers

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