adelphoi | (no subject)

[ the surface is a perilous place, forbidden by her peoples, and not without reason. theirs is an ancient colony, hunted near to extinction and so to preserve the whole they must take care. it has been many generations since last they interacted with the land creatures in any formal capacity, commerce and communion with mankind strictly forbidden since time immemorial. so much time has passed that more than like they have become myth to any who do not know the secret of their existence, and that is just as they prefer it. long lived as they are, new births are rare and come slowly; it will be millennia yet still to replenish their numbers to what they once were.

but alisaie has ever had a taste for the forbidden, a curiosity for the unknown, and a fierce wanderlust. she loves her peoples and her home but it is not enough, it shall never be enough, and as she grows and comes of age she is more and more dissatisfied.

they cannot stop her visiting the surface. theirs are a free people, and the sea is vast, parties of hunters and workers always coming and going. no one tracks her, and she says nothing of her visits above, of how she peers at passing ships and lays on warm rocks beneath the sun to watch the waves roll over the shoreline. she does not fear mankind perhaps as she should, and the more she quietly, secretly observes them, the more assured she becomes of their goodness. their behavior is not so different from her own, from what little she can glean from the lives of the sailors she watches - they laugh and love and suffer and work together, and they build such strange, incredible things..

she has watched this ship for several days, following its path, blending with pods of dolphins to swim near the surface during the day, risking more under cover of dark, when she peers through the portholes and listens to their voices on deck. their language is foreign to her, but the tones of their words speak plenty, their expressions easy to read. it's a small group of men, few, but perhaps they are brothers, for how fondly they seem to behave toward one another, laughing and sharing food, roughhousing playfully, the small, fair-haired one especially, who seems always to be smiling about something.

storms at sea are common and set in quickly, often with little warning. it's late in the night when it hits, stirring alisaie from her doze nearby, the crack and groan of wood cutting sharply through the water, the shouts of human voices muffled, but discernible to her keen ears.

alisaie is off like a shot, darting through the waters toward the source, but there is little enough to be done - the ship is split asunder before she can even reach it, and her heart sinks for those on board; the sea is no place for man, who braves much to sail her waters. they have paid the price. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ the effect of her threats grow lesser by the day, the researchers hardly so much as flinch when she charges the glass, but their flippancy will not deter her. she will fight to the very end if she must, cannot allow complacency to set in.

but seeing his face is a shock.

alisaie had.. not expected that she would see him again, but now, she supposes that she should have. if it was he who led them to her, of course it stands to reason that he would show his face eventually, once she was subdued, unable to strangle the life from him for this terrible repayment of his debt, and his presence here at all seems only to lend credence to his guilt. why else would he be here?

still, it hurts to look upon his face, one she has grown fond of while she watched beneath the waters. she had thought him so gentle, and kind..

the fight drains from her, her fury replaced instead with a deep, despairing betrayal that shines clear in her eyes. how could you do this to me? she had saved his life, and this is how she has been reimbursed. she should have listened to his father. how could she have ever thought such cold, selfish creatures to be good? the shock is clear on his face, but alisaie does not know why he should be surprised - just what is it that he had expected? with her heart twisting in her throat, alisaie jerks her gaze from his face and turns away from him and his offered hand, retreating to the back of the tank and away. this is simple insult to injury. ]

[ She turns away from him, and that tells him all he needs to know. Whether or not he is truly responsible for the events that brought her to this lab, she thinks he is. Why else would she turn away from him? After looking so completely, utterly betrayed?

Would that he could plead with her, to make his case and promise her he'll get her out of here and beg for her forgiveness, but of course, he cannot, if she can even understand his language. Gods, what had he been thinking, visiting the beach as often as he had? Leaving gifts for her and drawing her near to a world she was meant to be separate from? He had been so selfish, thinking he was bridging the gap between them, trying to show his gratitude with his stupid favors. What a fool he had been, what an utter fool.

Tears rise, hot and stinging to his eyes as his hand drops away. Keeping his head bowed, Prompto stoops to pick up his camera from where it had crashed to the floor. The lens has shattered.

The lens has shattered...

In a moment, his resolve grows, blinking away those tears while his face remains hidden. He knows what he must do. There is only one choice for him to make now. If this is the cause of his actions, then he must be the cause if its undoing as well. Though she is strong and fierce, he sees no way she can get out of her on her own, guarded and subdued as she is. But perhaps, with a little help from the outside...

I'll come back for you.

And then he returns to form, springing up, a mask sliding into place. There is steely determination behind his actions, and that's the only reason he doesn't flinch, doesn't hesitate. He laughs, cites his shock and his clumsiness for his dropped camera. He'll have to replace the lens, but if they will pleeeeease let him come back later and take pictures, they will get the best story the paper has to offer. Headlines, great publicity, and little about the mermaid. Nonspecifics. These photos will be for his personal collection only.

He is, of course, in no place to make such a bargain. He'll figure that part out later. All that matters is that the researchers reluctantly agree, and then begin to lead Prompto out of the facility.

He maps it out as they go. Nice thing about having a photographic memory... ]