September 19, 1891 — Sanditon Resort Beach

My heart is pierced by Cupid
I disdain all glittering gold
There is nothing can console me
But my jolly sailor bold

Neridans days tended to pass the same way. He did his job, polished his jewels, fixed his jewelry, swam around the resort, hung out with his fellow sirens. It was a routine that he was comfortable with but he couldn't deny that he sometimes got bored. A fun hobby was singing his hypnotic songs and watching which humans were entranced by his melody.

Another hobby was spying on those that were sailing in little boats. A solo man in a boat caught the sirens attention. Neridan was bored and feeling mischievous and so he bumped the boat causing it to wobble. He allowed the human man a glimpse of him before diving back into the water with a splash of his tail. The temptation to tip the boat over so that the human man would swim with him was there but he had been lectured against doing that.

Still. That did not stop him from pretty much flirting by briefly surfacing as he sang a lovely, little love song melody. Maybe the man would take it upon himself to play with him.

---

open to an adult male

  

---

Now that the summer season was dwindling down, the short-let cottages and the boardwalk gradually seeming larger and emptier, Bram had plucked up the courage to take a boat out. Just a small one, just by himself. He had moored it a ways out, away from the guests and the main beach, and let it bob gently in place, the waves barely enough to rock it. For a while he had just sat and looked, inhaling and exhaling and watching the sun’s rays dapple every surface differently.

Then he had withdrawn his sketchbook, and set his eyes upon a patch of coastline, carefully demarcating it on the page, until –

The clifftop veered sharply into the land in a way not reflected by reality when Bram’s hand jerked at the boat’s sudden tipping. Well, not tipping exactly – he had barely breathed a sigh of relief when a face appeared out of the water. Bram stilled immediately. He had seen the merpeople before, from a distance – had stayed away from them on the mornings he went swimming – but never quite so close as this.

And he didn’t know if – were you supposed to stare at merpeople, or avert your eyes and pretend they were ordinary? This one was not like the selkies he had once or twice observed in the Black Lake. They were easier to think of as creatures, with their yellow eyes and greenish hair; this one was more like a man, decorated with pearls and an iridescent tail only visible for a split-second, and he was – singing now. Bram stared back, dumbfounded. Surely that wasn’t a bad sign – the song itself was hauntingly lovely – but Bram tightened his grip on the sketchbook almost reflexively, in case this aria was only a prelude to another attack. Hoping to ward one off if it was coming, when the merman paused Bram cleared his throat, crafting something to say against the sudden swell of silence. He didn’t speak Mermish, but – the song had been in English, so maybe he was expecting a response?

“Y–you’re a good singer,” he managed, and, all awkwardness aside, he meant it sincerely.

---

  

---

loveliness by Lady!

This human was beautiful with eyes the color of the ocean he hailed from. He laughed as the human seemed to stare at him. He was clearly awestruck by his beauty as any human should be, really. The human seemed to be clutching rather tightly to a collection of papers. What did humans call them again? Sketchbooks? So an artist? He had seen a fair few over the years, sketching the scenery, himself, the other sirens and so on.

He smiled in response to the praise. Obviously. He was even better than good, too. He stayed perched against the humans boat, reaching into his pouch and offering out one of the gems he received as payment for his services in this place.

---

  

---

Alright, well this was... there was no real escape from this situation, was there? So looking around helplessly wasn’t going to make anyone materialise and save him. So Bram’s gaze settled back on the merman, who had smiled as though he understood the compliment... and offered him something?

Bram loosened his grasp enough to extend a hand out – gingerly, but out of politeness if nothing else – and he ran his thumb over the shiny semi-precious pebble in wonder and surprise, shifting the small stone to see it catch the light.

“Thank you,” Bram said; still careful, but a little more confident. He would have handed the stone right back, but his gut instinct was that it would be rude to, and the merman might be offended. So, instead, Bram settled the little rock on his knee and glanced down at the sketchbook, the half-finished drawing, the pastels balanced on the page. None of them would be any use as a gift returned; no use underwater.

“I...” he began, opening his hands in apology, “don’t have anything to give you, for the song.”

---

  

---

loveliness by Lady!

The human seemed to like the gift which pleased Neridan greatly. He was accepting it, too. Which of course he was, those stones were very shiny and pretty. Who wouldn't want a lot of them? Or his affection, really?

Neridan smiled again when the human said he had nothing to give him for the song. He leaned up a little more and puckered up, his meaning clear. A kiss for the song.

---

The following 1 user Likes Neridan's post:1 user Likes Neridan's post
   William Blake Abrahams

---

The merman had stopped bumping the boat and sung a song instead; Bram had complimented it; the merman had given him a gemstone... and so Bram had thought this interaction was going about as well as it could, until now.

Until this. What was this? Bram’s mouth fell open in mute surprise – and he had just been awfully worried about offending the merperson, but honestly what? – was the merman joking; or was this some trick, to get him to lean over the side and drown him; or was this a true mer custom, that if they gave a gift one was expected to return it with a – with a –

Bram gripped the edge of the boat between them with both hands, perhaps a little defensively. He was sure his chest was seizing up. “Oh, I – I –” he struggled even to get out that much, but the wide-eyed terror in his look might have spelled out the rest: I couldn’t possibly. He couldn’t give back the song, though, but perhaps he could have the gemstone back, to spare him this? The last thing Bram wanted – well, besides having to kiss anybody – was to make an enemy today, though, so: “Isn’t there – s-something else...?”

---

  

---

loveliness by Lady!

The mans mouth fell open which wasn't at all idea for kissing. At least not that open anyway. He rose an eyebrow as the man gripped the edge of his boat. The man was struggling to speak and Neridan figured he must be struck speechless at the honor of being able to kiss such beauty. Understandable, really.

He shook his head and swam around the boat and resurfaced at the area of the boat where he would be closer to the male.

---

  

---

Help, Bram thought again, his eyes scanning the surrounding waters and the cove and the coastline as if to send out a pulsing mental signal P-L-E-A-S-E H-E-L-P M-E to anyone within reach.

It didn’t work, of course; the only thing he was met with was the merman resurfacing closer to him, expectantly. He supposed this was a merman – not that it altogether mattered to him, for he was sure he would have felt as equally uncomfortable at the prospect of kissing a mermaid – but he was basing this purely on the short hair and bare chest and he supposed, actually, that merpeople might not have the same constraints of gender as humans did, anyway.

And a kiss was just a kiss, he supposed, wetting his lips in something like worry all the same. He leant forwards towards the edge, giving the creature another wide-eyed, pleading look as he did, but hoping this was at least the way to avoid getting drowned today. (He still lived at the Sanditon, so he wasn’t sure how he was going to avoid the ocean forever after this, but that was – something to fret about later.)

Bram closed his eyes as he leant out, because he was never going to work up the courage otherwise. (Merlin, what if this was a trick, somehow?)

---

  

---

loveliness by Lady!

Neridan wondered what the man was looking for. Was he making sure they were alone? The thought made the sirens cheeks blush. Oh, love was such a sweet, delightful thing. As were kisses.

The man leaned forward and closed his eyes. How romantic! Neridan pushed himself up and gave the other man a solid kiss, his tongue briefly touching against the others in glee before diving back into the sea.

---

The following 1 user Likes Neridan's post:1 user Likes Neridan's post
   William Blake Abrahams

---

It’s just a kiss, Bram echoed mentally again, as if his face hadn’t come over all hot and his heart felt like a clock that had been over-wound, his pulse ticking away at an impossible pace.

But – it was happening, whether Bram liked it or not, so he gave himself over to it (out of politeness if nothing else). Gave himself over to it, at least, until he felt the brush of tongue and jerked back instinctively – Merlin – and not that it mattered, because the merman had released him anyway and fluidly returned to the water, like this was all in great fun.

As the boat rocked gently from the movement, Bram remained where he was, brow furrowed as he tried to work out what the hell had just happened. “What,” he said aloud to himself, dazed and confused... and sincerely relieved he had the whole length of the journey back to shore to let the embarrassment fade. (Why had no one in his life ever warned him about the dangers of flirtatious mermen?)

---

  

---

loveliness by Lady!