— closed

[dilettante]

( perched up on a rock with her long eel tail curled around it for stability, reira began her usual morning routine. she lifted her hands through the wavy strands of her hair and looked out towards the sky as the sun began to rise. it was no secret she was an attractive creature, with a mixture of soft blue and pink scales on her tail that radiated in the sunlight, but the one thing she kept a secret was her talents. out of sheer desire to preserve that gift for herself, but also out of sadness over her own love life. the man she had been in love with for so long viewed her voice as a safe haven, something to comfort him during difficult times but it wasn't enough to make him hers. it was a sadness she carried with her for so long that she swore she wouldn't sing for anyone but herself again— and it was only in a place like this, on an abandoned island with nothing but the sea creatures looming around and the occasional wild animal that she could do just that. it had become a habit and a way to escape the presence of others and wallow in the sadness that came with such a useless talent at least in her eyes.

as she began to sing, she started off by whistling a bit at first, before she began to say the first few lines of her song. although there was sadness in her heart, her song was actually a joyous love song, each phrase promising endless devotion and adoration for the other person in her little story. each word was spoken eloquently, flowing as if there were actual instruments playing alongside her singing.

while humans weren't something she saw very often, she knew enough of them given the other merfolk would occasionally either be caught by them or willingly had children with them when they came to the ripe age where their legs grew in. what she hadn't been expecting was an actual audience to watch her sing, and while it took her some time to notice and make the connection [broken ship parts floating to shore after a storm probably meant someone got washed up as well], when she finally noticed a set of fierce eyes on her, she turned to face the direction it came from.

at first the figure in the distance looked like a black blur, seeming to wave and jump around, but as it began to come closer and her own sight stabilized, she could see it was a human running towards her, that was until he fell. )

Hey—

( she managed to say, and as he fell down from the unstable terrain of the sand, she immediately jumped off from the rock and into the water before her, diving down as low as possible to swim underneath and come up by a tide pool he happened to land near.

when she finally came up from the water, she pulled herself up and out of it, coming onto the land by dragging her body towards sanji. )

Hey wake up—

( it was through sheer luck that he happened to stumble near the tide pool, allowing reira to swim underneath the rock barriers surrounding it and pull sanji's unconscious body closer to her. she lifted his head up partially, allowing it to rest against her arm as she looked down at him with a concerned, yet curious expression. as the wetness from her body began to drip down against him and he slowly began to come to, she remained holding him close. perhaps a bit too closely. )

Are you alright? That looked like quite the fall, so I hope you didn't get hurt since I don't really have anything with me to help you.

( her voice was soft, nearly purring as her lips pouted and her brows furrowed in worry. whatever she could do to help him she would, but even as she remained at his side, she couldn't help but worry he might have ulterior motives in mind, not realizing he had been swept in from the storm the day before. )

Comments

slides back in late

[mouton]

[ gradually, he finds the strength returning to him in small doses, the blazing sun overhead doing nothing to defer him, even as he needs to squint against its light to try to focus better on the features of her face, how the soft appearance of her cheeks seem to complement that pinker tone that spreads across them. ]

Oh, please, madam— [ with her suggestion, he begins to try to hurry himself towards sitting up. ] You shouldn't go out to swim at a time like this. I mean, there was that storm earlier that crash landed me here. It's pretty dangerous out—

[ holding out his arm to gesture out to the ocean, his eyes finally stray from her face for that split second to cross over the rest of her body, to the length of her tail and continuing on to the stretch of the sea before—

wait. wait, wait.

his eyes draw back, trailing back his gaze until he lands back at her tail, eyes widening with a gaping of his mouth. ]

You're ... you're ...

[ he turns to her, shock across the whole of his face, his eyes suddenly brightening. ]

It can't be, you're ... [ he reaches for one of her hands, holding it within both of his own. ] You're my dream come true. My All Blue.

[dilettante]

( although she should be moving back, giving him the space he needs to sit up and pull away from her, there's something about him that made her want to linger in his embrace and remain close to him. be it a combination of still worrying about him or being mildly flattered from his kind words, the answer was unclear to reira. the only thing she knew was she lingered far too long before pulling from him. as he turned to gesture to the sea, she flipped the end of her tail up to coat herself with a bit of water, an effort to cool her skin from the hot glare of the rising sun.

it wasn't until he turned around and reached for her hand that she paused briefly. there was a stunned look to her face, almost immediately replaced by an embarrassed blush—

yet there she remained, allowing him to hold her hand so tenderly and with his eyes full of brightness. if she hadn't been the one to come to his aid after falling, she wouldn't be sure if he had been hurt at all or not given how much energy and enthusiasm seemed to be radiating from him. )

Your dream come true? All blue? I don't understand, I haven't even helped you yet.

( naturally she had no idea he was stunned by her appearance. instead she began to move back a bit, using her other hand to place it above his own, guiding him a bit. )

Listen, let me go back into the water and see if I can find anything to give you. You must be starving or at the very least thirsty for fresh water?