Plot Picture Challenge 47

Greenie

Follow the Strange Trails
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. Slow As Molasses
Writing Levels
  1. Beginner
  2. Elementary
  3. Intermediate
  4. Adept
  5. Advanced
  6. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Male
  2. Female
  3. Primarily Prefer Female
Genres
Fantasy, Supernatural, Horror
A picture is worth a thousand words, as is often quoted.

How does the picture below speak to you? Perhaps as a poem? Perhaps a roleplay idea? Maybe a story?

Whatever comes to your mind, write those words down! All is well and welcome, whether a couple of sentences or more!

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From the murky shadows of her hideaway, she was careful to not make a sound in fear the lovely pair might realize she long watched them. Although time mattered very little to the slightly humanoid creature, at the start of sunrise she swam through her favorite spot stumbling upon the lovers.

At first bewildered to see humans so close to the entrance of the Usko, gradually the beautiful creature came to bask in the warmth of the couple. It was clear the way they looked at each other they loved one another. Love, the little mermaid with long flowing golden hair was not unfamiliar to the word. Her kind felt a strong hatred toward it and any association with a human. They believed humans used the word too often and their actions proved otherwise yet before the amethyst eyes of the watchful mermaid it was all too real that the union was in love.

The way they embraced one another or expressed gentle words between each other. She felt as if these intimate moments they shared were not easy to come by or perhaps it was a manner of saying goodbye. The conversation did not reach her ears, however, her oval-shaped eyes focused in on the human female.

Tears filled her once hopeful eyes trailing along her cheeks, this caused the mermaid to lower in the water still very watchful and trying to understand. For a long while, the human male whispered words to his companion. It did not stop the flow of tears, in fact, she cried harder and he could do nothing to make the situation better aside from walking away. The mermaid's own heart trembled at what she had witnessed. Knowing she should return home, the human woman's tears compelled her to stay to try to ease the anguish of what happened.

Swimming between bushes and lily pads, the mermaid made her way to the crying woman. The male had long left by now up the grassy hill to ramparts unknown. Where the woman stood at the edge of the water, the mermaid looked up. She even spared a friendly smile tilting her head some. The woman, in her grief, opened her eyes. She found herself staring at amethyst and a soothing smile she did not think she would ever see again.
 
Idyllic lovers recline, entwine

Amorous, adoring - ecstatic bliss
Much akin to the greatest there is.

And I? Here I hide.
Lone amidst the marshes
One amongst the reeds.
Not knowing if I
Ever will know that joy.
 
Eneshari stared, transfixed by the object gently circling in the air above her. All her life, she'd imagined that the ocean was not only home, but freedom - the freedom to go as far as she could ever imagine, to always be at home no matter where she ventured.

But she'd been wrong.

The land had never held any allure for her - so hard, so concrete, so limiting, even though she could choose to explore it on a whim, and the sky - the sky had always been unattainable. Or, so she had thought until today. Now, she realized that there was one place which she could never tread that others could. Somehow, the knowledge that the sky was forever beyond her reach made the world feel immeasurably larger and strangely unfamiliar.
 
This was her favorite place to be. She would sit in the water, surrounded by flowers and their petals floating across the surface and listen to the frogs croak or watch the waterfowl pitter patter by, always in a straight line, never breaking their ranks. It was peaceful, it was calm, and it was serene. But none of that was why she loved this spot so much. The reason she coveted this spot was not because of its beauty and tranquility but because of what she could see, and how what she saw made her feel.

On this day, at this time and without fail, a human couple would show up just a few feet away from her spot for a picnic, a date. They would laugh, cry and, as they were doing now, they would kiss. They seemed genuinely happy. To be in love was such a sweet and beautiful thing.

And she hated it.

Oh, how she hated it.

She despised their happiness, abhorred their laughter and detested their shared tears and sadness. Everything they shared infuriated her, sickened her and filled her with disdain. But she couldn’t stop herself from watching. Despite the anger she felt, she never missed a date. To anyone else, it would seem bizarre, but to her it made sense.

She was not envious, she did not desire that for herself so much that it was the cause for her contempt. No, the answer was far simpler than even that. She didn’t enjoy their happiness, she didn’t want them to be happy.

It was such an ugly desire for a creature as beautiful as herself, but it was what she felt.

Why should they be happy? Why did they get to be happy? It wasn’t like she was miserable herself. She enjoyed her life, she woke up most mornings with a smile on her face. This was the only thing that soured her mood, and she let it do so willingly. Nobody made her watch these humans, she chose to come and see this, to let her day be ruined, to let her beautiful face become corrupted by a scowl.

Their love was beautiful, there was no denying that. But she hated that it was.

And it was that hatred that made her ugly.
 
Strange. Definitely strange. Surface dwellers had always been strange, with their customs and treatments of others. But they were just that and not the danger that her people claimed them to be. Aurora knew this better than anyone else, as everyday she sat at the edge of the same pond, watching a particular pair of humans. She had learned so much by watching them and the more she did, the more she felt closer to them. Aurora laughed with them, cried with, and got upset with them, all from a distance. Her time spent with them was a part of her daily life, often, the mean old hawk who lived in the parts would tease her feeling attached to humans who had no idea about her existence. This had never bothered, Aurora, she had always laughed it off.

However, today was different. The humans were doing something so odd she was at a lost. Their mouths ... their mouths were touching. Why would they do such a thing? Did they not only use their mouths for eating? What about the germs they could get into the others hole? It was very weird and a bit unnerving but at the same time, even from the distance, she could feel the affection of it, the love that came from it.

For once, Audra let the feeling sink in. She was not a part of their world and she never would be. There was no room for her, yet, she came to watch them every single day, longing to be with them, letting the desire and loneliness sink in. The mean old hawk had been right, though she hated to think it.

Still, watching from afar, she wanted to meet them. She wanted to be with them, and she wanted to share the mouth to mouth connection. If so, would she be able to be in their world and have their love? That was all she wanted.
 
Neylee watched as her sister danced with her prince charming. The scratches on her back stung as the cool night air hit them and reminded her what this dance had cost her. there was nothing she would not do to see her sister happy, including the bargain she'd made with the master of the dark water. She had only a few moments before she would have to pay the price, but she was determined to stay as long as possible and watch the couple dance and hear her sister's joyful laughter echoing on the misty breeze.

She felt the magic of the spell cling to her and she was pulled beneath the surface of the water and down to the cave of the master of the dark waters. His eerie red eyes glowed from within the blackness of the cave as she was drawn ever closer to him. She did not resist but paid as agreed. His long spindly fingers began to run along the scales of her tail. "I expected you to run..." he said honestly as a pointy nail lifted one of the scales and tugged it off. She remained stoic as he continued, but after he had removed several rows she was bleeding and the salty water was burning the open wounds. Tears were not something that mermaids produced but she cried out in pain as he continued. "Now now...they will grow back in time....if you survive." He removed every single shimmering scale from her body before the full price of her wish was paid.

Once the last of them was gone her body was forcibly pushed from the realm of the dark water and back to her own familiar part of the enchanted lake. Somehow she managed to crawl to her shell and shut herself inside as pain washed over her in ruthless waves. The shell protected her and helped her heal, but it was a long slow process. Many months later, her scales still had not regrown as she'd been told they would. Without her scales, she was in constant danger from parasites and carnivorous creatures. Still, she would swim to the surface though it was painful and difficult to watch her sister and speak with her. The happiness in her sister's eyes and voice were proof enough to her that her sacrifice had been worthwhile.