mers oh my

[shikosuki]

Merchoro PSL

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[karappo]

Thank you.

[...]

If...you do not mind, I...a-also may stay here...for a while.

[He doesn't have to search the ocean for Choromatsu anymore...and he doesn't want to face his remaining children yet.]

[matteimasu]

Oh! Y-Yes of course! You... [ ...he's starting to get desperate. Or at least, he's self conscious that he might seem desperate. ] ...You can stay as long as you'd like.

[karappo]

[...that's a relief. For some reason he had a feeling he'd have overstayed his welcome eventually, coming only to demand news about his son...

At least the rain has completely stopped now, though, leaving a thoroughly wet island and a pair of gods perched on the beach of it.]

This...really is a rather nice island, you have. Much nicer than the shore. Very clean...

[matteimasu]

Oh... [ the goddess looks back towards the undergrowth, feeling a little awkward ] Well, I do my best to take care of it... since I'm the only one here now.

...It used to be nicer.

[karappo]

Really? I...do apologize, when I came here before it was for such a short time...I must not be able to recognize any difference.

[matteimasu]

Well... there wouldn't have been much difference between now and 20 years ago anyway. Had you come over 100 years ago, it would have looked very different! Much more lively... [ he pauses ] Though... anything less than 100 years and it... [ ... ] I've... done what I can. To restore what was destroyed...

[karappo]

[....oh.]

Destroyed?

...what happened here?

[matteimasu]

[ The goddess is quiet for a long moment, before deciding that he should be sitting for this and taking a seat on the wet sand, knees drawn up close to his chest. ] There was... a higher god, one like you, that wished to court me. For a while he came here often, trying to win my affection with jewels and gold. I had no interest in such things though, and explained to him again and again each time I turned him down that I was not in a position to leave my island. I am bound to this place and unable to leave, and most of all the people here needed me. Even if I were somehow to leave, that would mean the island's death. [ And then Megami goes quiet, hanging his head. The memory is painful. ] ...One day he finally had enough, and grew angry. [ He raises an arm without raising his head, and points in the direction of the island's lone mountain. ] That mountain is a volcano that laid dormant for centuries. He made it erupt. It destroyed more than half the island including the entire village.

[karappo]

[That...is sadly not an uncommon occurrence. He knows how greedy and self righteous gods can be, especially those who believe they have a right to everything simply because they command it. The thought of Megami and his people having to suffer because of that makes Poseidon's blood boil on his behalf, his tail twisting through the shallows.

He looks up to the mountain, not having a hard time imagining what it must have been like with the lava flowing down, rocks and ashes falling over the citizens who had nowhere to escape...]

I am so sorry, Megami. I had no idea.

[He wants to ask who this god was, but that would be insensitive. Needless to say, he'd like to have a chat with them someday, if he ever knew them.]

You should have the freedom to live in your domain in peace...same as the rest of us.

[matteimasu]

Thank you... it means a lot to hear that for a change.

[ Because boy do most other gods have very little sympathy for him, either because they don't care for humans or because a god born without a name isn't worth the time of day to them unless they can have sex wit it. ]

Others have... told me it's what I deserve. For being so close to humans in the first place and giving so much of myself to them. Being alone and trapped here as the island dies... I wonder if they're right sometimes.

[karappo]

Wh...of course you do not deserve this!

[He responds, sounding absolutely appalled by the notion. And a little lowkey disgusted in his fellow gods, honestly. Maybe he's just too soft, but he doesn't care. Megami might be a lesser god, but that doesn't make him worthless.]

Though I cannot say I would have ever gotten as close to humans as you have...what you have done for them in the past is admirable, not shameful.

[matteimasu]

[ That... takes the goddess aback ] You... You really think so?

[karappo]

Of course I do.

[That's said without a lick of sarcasm.]

You are my friend, as well as colleague. You deserve the same respect and reverence that the other gods do.

[matteimasu]

[ Megami is quiet for a while after that, staring at Poseidon still with that caught off guard look... until finally he smiles and blushes. ] Thank you... [ And then he's looking away, back at his knees, that blush getting redder ] You know... it's a little funny. There was actually another reason I kept turning him down. One that was... a little more selfish I suppose. The truth was, my feelings were also elsewhere at the time...

[karappo]

Elsewhere, you say?

[Poseidon ponders that a moment. What other gods does Megami know?

...or. He guesses he...knows humans.

......demigods are people too........]

[matteimasu]

Yes... though it's a bit silly... You see... despite my land form, I am a water god. My home is within my lake... but a lake can be a very confined space, especially mine. So because of that, I always uh... w-well I... [ his blush is getting more pronounced ] I always... admired the ocean... idolized how free and grand it was. I'd leave my lake to watch it, take comfort in listening to it at night before I went to sleep... it always felt there for me. And over time, well... [ okay now he's getting embarrassed he stops himself ]

[karappo]

[It's easy to forget how many similarities he and Megami share. Poseidon is king of the sea, sure...but Megami is just as much king of his lake as it is his home, and the same goes for Poseidon with his ocean.

Though, to hear him talk about the ocean specifically...he had no idea that he paid it so close attention. And if Poseidon's mind were more in the present, he might start to understand a bit of what Megami is getting at.]

Over time...?

runs straight into full gay

[matteimasu]

[ His face is thoroughly red and Poseidon will probably be reminded once again of Choromatsu, as the similarities between the two become even more obvious with the ways Megami is trying to deal with his embarrassment. Oh god why did he start talking about this why why why why he just wants to crawl in a hole and die instead of say this ] A-A-Ah, w-w-well I just... i-it's silly b-b-but I... [ he repeating himself and he knows it. his voice starts to get quieter ] I... o-over time... I-I started... t-to think about wh-what... ...wh-what the one who r-ruled the ocean w-was l-like...

eyes emoji

[karappo]

[It's very noticeable indeed. It's rather charming to say the least, as much as his heart hurts to see it since it reminds him of his still very much lost son...

But he has other things to focus on, because when Megami starts to mumble, his fins perk up a little.]

Y-you...mean me?

[No, he's talking about Zeus.]

[matteimasu]

Y-Yes... [ TIME TO DIE INSIDE ]

[karappo]

[...]

I see...

[He looks down at his hands for a moment, abruptly unsure what to do with them. Now usually, he'd be taking this opportunity to let his ego swell and go on about how of cooourse Megami thought about him, who wouldn't be curious about the great and mighty ruler of the sea?

...but he doesn't. He just sits there, consumed with a lack of words for the longest time. He's...very flattered, actually.]

What did you, ah...imagine me to be like?

[matteimasu]

[ MISTAKES WERE MADE MISTAKES WERE MADE but he can't go back now so time to just EMBARRASS HIMSELF FURTHER ] W-Well I... I knew you were a higher god l-like those who live a-above... but I'd never seen you or heard of your exploits unlike them [ because yes, of course Zeus had been here too at one point to try and get laid ] s-so I imagined you were m-more dutiful than they were... I... imagined you were... strong and invincible... b-but also kind and gentle. Yet I'd seen the way the waves would sometimes crash and I thought you were still capable of great anger like anyone else... I-I... believed you to be just like the ocean itself... [ he pauses ] ...S-See, it's silly, r-right? Thinking about someone you'd never m-met...

1/2

[karappo]

[karappo]

[He's so cute what the hell?? Never mind all of...what he's actually saying, he's so flustered that he can barely actually say it all, and that just makes matters even worse. With every compliment Megami pays Poseidon, the sea starts rocking back into life in a more gentle way than it had been when he'd been frothed into a rage before. It isn't long before Poseidon's completely surrounded in a foot of water that may as well be a puddle for him, and Megami will find that the water comes just up to where he's sitting before it stops.]

I...I...

[He sputters, again at a loss for words, an unusual situation for Poseidon of all people to be in. He lifts a hand and pulls a lock of his hair back over his shoulder while his tail curls restlessly beside him.]

That...I do not think that is silly at all. I had no idea you had been thinking of me...at all...

[Or, what he imagined he'd be like.

There's a pause, then, but somewhat shorter of one than the rest.]

Now that you have...met me, do I...meet all of those expectations?

[matteimasu]

[ ...... ] ...That's what's so funny about this now, you know? Here I am, telling you about the horrible thing that happened to my island in part because of the way I felt about an emotionless body of water and a person I'd never met. And you respond to me with nothing but sympathy and kindness. [ he finally forces himself to look back up at Poseidon now, smiling ] You're just like I had thought. Or at least almost.