Water Thing to Happen

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Laggy Lagiacrus

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Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

He didn't know how it had happened, but Peter Johnson had been pulled down deeper than was possibly allowed for him. His diving partner hadn't been able to save him, and releasing the weights didn't seem to be an option, unless he wanted a ruptured lung. But, at that point in time, oxygen seemed to be a more critical matter. More specifically speaking, he was running out of it. The temperature at the depth he was at, combined with the pressure, essentially spelled "disaster" in big flashing neon letters. And Peter couldn't even think straight.

And then, the abrupt halt that meets a diver when they run out of air, and try to breathe. That one horrifying moment, where all hope was lost, and drowning seemed to be all he had to look forward to. Except Peter was making an –obviously desperate and futile – break for the surface. Considering his condition, and the surrounding area, it was a miracle he was still alive. However, if he didn't get protection against the cold, and some oxygen in his lungs, that wouldn't be true for much longer. Slowly, blackness began to settle in, with Peter falling further and further with every second.
 
It was a dark, yet still night out in the ocean. The underwater people were dormant and sleeping in the deep reefs that none of the humans knew of. Their civilization was hidden away from the human eye to protect those who dwell there. One of these mermaids was Kieara.

She was a beautiful mermaid. She had long navy hair with a pearly colored seashell comb in it to hold her hair out of her eyes. It was straight looking in the water, but when she sat on the rocks it was curly after it dried. She had bright aquamarine colored eyes. She had fair skin and a birthmark of a crescent moon on her right palm. Seashells covered her breasts and some of her upper stomach in a type of tube top like wrap, and a necklace that had a shark tooth on it hung from
her neck. Around either wrist were golden bracelets and on her arm a gold band.

Her tail fin was a bright baby blue. It stood out vibrantly in the water. It was beautiful, and at the tip of her fin the tail was tipped silver. This was an unusual color for a mermaid, and was dangerous. It made her stand out easily, and easily hunted.

Kieara saw a man. he was sinking. She couldn't just let him drown. She swam over as quickly as her tail would take her and caught him. She knew mermaid kisses were special. Even called the breath of life. She kissed his lips and his body warmed to the water the pressure released and he gained the ability to breathe underwater. She swam down to the silty sea floor laying him on his back waiting on him to wake.
 
It took a minute or two, but Peter began to come to. At first, he was confused – if his eyes were open, then why was everything so dark? Was he in hell? He shook his head, attempting to make some sense of the situation. It was then that he noticed something, however – he was still underwater. He began breathing heavily, purely because he panicked, but to his surprise, he didn't drown. In fact, he felt he was breathing perfectly well. And, while he couldn't see very far, the water temperature was far warmer than he remembered, and he no longer felt the pressure of the depths pressing down on him.

Not quite confident enough to take his mask off of his eyes, Peter instead pulled his hood back, allowing his mid-length black hair to move about freely in the water. Though it wasn't particularly easy to underwater and in fins, he stood, and looked about him. He needed to assess the situation – the circumstances were odd, and by all logic, he should have been dead. But, there he was, breathing water, and looking for any signs of what had happened. He then wondered – what if he was dead, and his body had been carried away? He had never believed in ghosts and the like, but at this point, he was willing to believe a lot of things.
 
Kieara had watched him from a small cove to see if he would come to. She swam out a little bit in caution. She feared humans but she'd just saved one.

She came forward a bit more so that she was in front of him and tilted her head curiously.
 
Naturally, given that little – if any – light reached as far as Peter was below the surface, Kieara appeared more to be some sort of aquatic predator, as opposed to an intelligent being. Naturally, he remained still, hoping he would not be spotted. It was worth noting that he thought the attempt futile – after all, what good would staying still do against a creature that likely didn't even rely on vision in the first place? However, what little he could make out of Kieara as she swam closer indicated that she wasn't actually an animal. The humanoid figure in the water made Peter shrink back in fear, though he still remained, intrigued and terrified at the same time.
If anything, it was likely that peter feared Kieara more than she had ever feared humans.
 
Kieara could tell he was frightened. Her eyes seemed to glow in the dark and did give her some degree of vision help in the dark depths. She placed a cool hand on the goggles removing them and placed her hand on his eyes. There should have been a tingling sensation, then he would be able to see as she did. She wanted to help, but was too scared to speak.
 
At first, having his mask removed made Peter rather uneasy, given that he was unaccustomed to looking around underwater without anything veering his eyes. While he could be excused for this in the sea, he wasn't even able to do it in a pool. He even began to thrash, when Kieara placed her hands over his eyes – understandable, when seen from his point of view. Out of his natural habitat, alone with a stranger, the sudden ability to breathe underwater – it was a recipe for disaster. He did manage to calm himself enough to open his eyes when Kieara was done, but the sight of a mermaid only served to terrify him further. He stood, petrified, for a good few seconds, before he was able to speak.

"H-hello?" he whimpered, not sure if she would understand English. He didn't bother getting his hopes up.
 
Kieara jerked away when he began to thrash and hid behind a large rock. All that could be seen was her eyes and her hair. She watched him for a long moment as he stood and she slowly came out again. "Hello...." She repeated. Her voice was soft and melodious and she kept a good distance from him. She understood him, but the atlantians knew many languages.
 
Though astounded that Kieara knew English, he stood in place for a minute, in awe. However, that did not nullify the fact that he wished he could just up and leave at any time. However, his legs would not move, much less allow him to swim. He did manage to shuffle forward eventually, though. He held out his hand, trembling s it was, attempting to show that he meant no harm. Were it up to him, he would have swam away at the first chance he got. Deep brown eyes wide with terror, he spoke again.

"Th… Thank y-you…" he managed to stammer out, assuming that she was the one who had saved him.
 
Kieara observed his hand. She thought she knew the gesture. shaking hands humans called it? She grabbed his hand with her opposite one mocing it a little. "You're welcome...." She was in awe of him as much as he was of her. Seeing his terror she moved closer and pulled his arm over her shoulders starting to swim him to the surface. It wasn't extremely fast, but far faster than a human could swim.
 
What Kieara didn't seem to understand, was one of the first things a diver is taught never to do – ascend too fast. Ascend slowly, in fact, unless it was an emergency. If the air in his lungs expanded too fast, he would suffer a ruptured lung – never a particularly good thing. He couldn't blame Kieara for not knowing human biology, though, so he instead focussed on expelling any air in his lungs as he ascended with her. Luckily, she was going slowly enough for him to do so, and as he could breathe underwater now, there was little risk of him running out of it too soon. He clung tightly to her, just wanting to get back to land.
 
Kieara came to just below the surface and paused unsure. More humans could be up there waiting for her. But he needed help. Little did he know her little trick was forever. She came up and breached the surface holding him up and looked around. She seemed to be nervous afraid she'd get harpooned or worse. Netted up and experimented on.
 
The moments between the pair and everyone else were tense at best. After a few seconds that seemed like a good few hours, murmurs started to spread through them like wildfire. The water wasn't the clearest around, but it was enough to show that Kieara wasn't exactly human. Peter wasn't able to speak – he was more concerned about what was actually going to happen to them – his eyes widened, and he looked around, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
 
He would still be able to breathe like a normal human as she was. She watched them wearily. She swam towards them slowly to try to return the boy to where he rightfully belonged. She was afraid of being grabbed and harmed though. She made it over and floated still raising him up.
 
Luckily for Kieara, though they could likely get a tidy sum for capturing her, their main priority seemed to have been searching for and retrieving Peter. They were a search party, after all. One moved in closer, and held out his hand to get Peter onto the boat. Still shaken, he accepted the hand up, and got into the boat, taking one last look at Kieara. He hoped she would leave – the net wouldn't take long to prepare, and he'd never forgive himself if she got caught.
 
Once he was up she backed up still staring in awe at them. They didn't appear to be wanting to hurt her. She backed up a little further then turned to start her voyage back down. Something was stopping her though and she hovered just below the surface. They were so similar to her yet so different....Why couldn't they get along? She was so curious and wanted to know more. Alas she didn't figure she would and started a slow decent.
 
"Was that a... A mermaid?"
"I don't know, just... just let me rest."
Peter put his head in his hands, wanting to just gather his thoughts. He had no doubt that he had seen a mermaid, but whether she was real or not was a different matter. If she was, this was a prime opportunity for interspecies diplomacy - he could learn much from her and her people. But what of the people who wanted to capture and experiment on her? He decided not to think about it, and just rest for a while.
 
Kieara stayed deep enough to see the boat but so that they couldn't see her. She wanted to learn more. It may get her killed, but her way of life to her was boring. There was no excitement and no spark. So she stayed low and followed it.
 
While Peter wasn't much inclined to capture Kieara, the men on the boat weren't of the same mindset.
"Hey!" One shouted, having kept the net open, "The mermaid's following us!"
While the man beside him was incredulous at first, the shape in the water was undeniable. it was humanoid, at the very least. They threw the net out, hoping to entangle her within it, and pull her up onto the boat. They'd turn a tidy profit if she got given to some scientists - maybe more, if they found the right collectors.
 
Kieara saw something coming at her. A net! She gasped and started trying to swim the other way. She wound up tangled in it anyway. She squirmed and leaned up to try to free her tail. She was scared and before she knew it she was hauled up upside down since just her tail had been ensnared. She squirmed and pulled at the ropes.
 
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