Main

Shallow Waters

She was a fine creature, to say the least. Her hair was of a dark gray, her skin an odd shade of orange, with several yellow spots, and her eyes were a bright red. She had a long powerful gray tail, that ended in a flurry of bright yellows and pinks that had a ghostly appearance to them. Her ears, and hands were webbed, and lastly she had a pair of fins on her back. They were not like a usual set you would see on the back of a mermaid, merman, fish, or other underwater creature, the webbing was made of an unusually substance. It was the exact same substance and color of the tail fin. Plasma. Something only she could control among all of her peers.

Sibylle was one of a kind now, and possibly always. Not like that bothered her anyway. Today, and while before today, she had a mission. To find a place where she could live comfortably.

This was something that was rather difficult when you were confined to the water, it made Sibylle wish she could walk sometimes, but she knew perfectly well she could not.

She had used streams and other forms of transportation to get her from lake to lake. IT was difficult though, sticking to freshwater only. She could have tried to live in salt water, but she valued her hair a bit too much.

She paused as she came close to the surface of the water, it was bright out today, and there were bound to be a few creatures near the lake edge. She needed to check though, she had promised to meet a friend today.

Her head slowly broke through the waves. She squinted a bit to protect her eyes from the sun's glare. She was greeted by the figures of trees, and various plants on the shoreline.

"Good," she spoke aloud. She was both capable of speaking mentally and physically. She very much preferred the former of the two, but sometimes needed to hear her own voice. "Now where exactly am I?"

"You would be in the right place," said a voice, that had a rather strange edge to it. It was feminine and terribly familiar.

The mermaid swiveled about to eventually lay eyes on a tiger. Not a normal tiger of course. One that stood on its hind legs, wore baggie clothing, sported a lovely bit of hair on top of her head, and had hands of a human. She gave a fluttering bow to the mermaid, who snorted in response. "It's nice to see you again Zephyrine."

The tiger anthromorph waved her hand dismissively, "I'm happy to see you made it to Caster all right. I was worried for a moment that you would not make it."

"Is there something you want from me?"

Zephyrine snapped her fingers, "You caught me."

That was unusually fast for Zephyrine. She normally danced around verbally for a while before she got to business. It must have been a grave matter. As if reading her mind the tiger continued.

"I will now quote Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet to prove the weight of this manner. 'Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man'" Her tail made a loud thud as it hit the ground. She was giving her friend a rather desperate look, and all things playful had vanished.

"What do I have to do for you this time? Find some magical treasure or find you enough money so you can pay off your numerous tabs." Sybille tilted her head. She was willing to listen, but she may not have been willing to help. Zephy was perfectly capable of getting herself out of trouble.

"Well, you see... there are these humans. I made a deal with them. If I find the jewel of a Diamond mermaid they would give me all of their spell books. If I lost... well I won't bore you with that detail." She grinned, "I know you have one stashed somewhere."

"How many spell books do they have?"

"Enough to keep me studying for seven years, and the cost would be over a million in pure gold."

The mermaid was still quite skeptical, but she could not go with the anthro to confirm the story. "Fine, but you owe me."

You have thousands of storage places and yet you have no decent place to live. Then again, it's not like anyone owns this lake. Sibylle thought to herself as she rummaged through a pile of gemstones she had collected over time. She honestly did not think she owned any of it, since it was really fair game to all those who came around in the lake. However, since the population of mermaids (and especially mermen) were waning there was not much chance of things being taken for the random collections of bits and pieces.

She stopped when she found a rather brightly colored jewel the color of the evening sky after a thunderstorm. A smile crossed her face as she grabbed it and carelessly hid the rest of the stash. With the greatest speed she could muster she swam up to Zephy.

"I said I would have it soon! My friend is bringing it!" Zephyrine's fur was standing on end. Three men, humans, were surrounding her and almost putting her in a corner. She was part tiger, and being so she did not enjoy being in tight spaces.

"I somehow doubt you have it. The others were right, you're just a no good half breed."

Zephyrine hissed in response, but was ignored and pushed back by another boy.

You know boys if you play with fire you get burnt, If you play with a tiger you get bitten, and if you play with an angry mermaid you get fried.

All three men snapped to attention. Confused, like the idiots they are, looked around. The center one's eyes fell on Zephyrine. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Hardly. Unless you count the bit where you think you can push around a half breed. Honestly. Men these days are lacking in more than one area aren't they.

In a flash of pale orange and pink light one of the boys fell to the ground. It took a few moments before the two others realized that the young man was severely burnt and smelt of melting hair.

The youngest of the three rushed to the fallen's side and gave a panicked look to the other. "What was that for?" he almost shrieked at the young tiger anthro.

Pswh. Sibylle's head emerged from under the placid lake. She had a lovely scowl on her face as she spoke aloud. "Maybe if you apologize to the white magic wielding Zephyrine your friend will be better in a flash, and maybe if you apologize to me you can prevent yourselves from being fried."

There was a long awkward silence before the two boys gave in. Zephyrine, who at this point was reluctant to give any help, healed the young man nicely. When the order was restored Sibylle tossed the youngest, who was apparently the one in charge, the stone she had been asked to get. "Now boy, keep your end of the deal."

He hesitated. "We will... it's just... w-what are you?"

Sibylle would have been shocked if she was not asked that question every time she met someone new. "I'm a hybrid."

The boy, did not bother to move as the others left in a hurry. Even Zephyrine was not willing to stay near someone who could easily melt anything living or inanimate. There was a long silence as Sibylle simply had a staring contest with the boy until he made a move to speak.

"Could my brother come here to speak with you. He's been researching people like you... and... it would..." the boy trailed off and looked to his feet.

"Only if Zephyrine brings him here. Now go away." She slipped back under the water before the boy could respond.

He was older than Sibylle, but not by much. He had a very plain appearance, brown hair and eyes, and a clammy sort of skin tone. He came of as terribly cute on a first glance, and cuter on the second. The young man wore a tailed jacket, various ribbons and battered pants. To add to his disheveled appearance his hair was hastily tied back into a short pony tail.

Sibylle blushed when he sat on the lakes edge. She was told, thankfully, by Zephy ahead of time that the young man Karekin was blind, and preferred to meet a person by touching their face. It sounded like the most logical thing to do, so Sibylle let him do as he wished.

She was just very surprised to hear his flattering comment, "You're a very beautiful woman."

"I-I'm sorry, what?"

"You're a very beautiful woman," he gave her a warm hearted smile. "I don't have to see to tell." With a grin Karen, as he like to be called, took a few steps back. "I must be the luckiest man in the world to find something so amazing in shallow waters like the ones we have now."

Sibylle's face a radiant shade of crimson, as she spoke. "You can find plenty of amazing things in shallow water if you try."