Sick of swimming (open)

[ARIELLE ELINE ANDERSON]

The water was like a second home to the youngest Anderson daughter. Arielle was in love with the water and she always liked it, but she refused to swim for sport. It took all the fun out of it. The thing about water is that it can never really be contained, and it was free. Water always somehow came out of its container, and it can never be truly contained, which was something Ariel always envied about it.

The ocean was one of her favorite spots in the Memory area. Since Ariel had moved in all those years ago, she always liked to swim with the dolphins in the sea, but then again she enjoyed doing that at home as well. She loved those creatures and the way they swam around and had the time of their lives. It was almost magical. She always got along with the dolphins, the creatures seeming to enjoy the "princess's" presence and they would always have great fun together. Today it was early morning and Ariel's legs had already changed into her usual mermaid tail. It was the only time to be with the dolphins when the crazy people weren't out.

Since she was a baby she had loved the sea, so had her mother, Isolde. Ariel remembered very vaguely when her mother would take her out to the beach and they would play in the sand together. It seemed like it was all a dream by now, but she missed her mother truly. Flashes of the day Isolde was killed flashed through her mind and Ariel opened her eyes, seeing a dolphin floating in front of her in the water and nodding for her to surface before she collapsed, despite the fact that she could breathe underwater due to her mermaid form. The redhead nodded and broke the surface, flipping her hair back out of her face in the process, and took a deep breath. Those images always had to come when she was submerged, didn't they? The girl sighed, shaking her head as the dolphin surfaced beside her and nudged her collarbone lightly. The girl loosely wrapped her arms around its muscular, rubbery frame and hugged the creature as she felt its large head rest on her shoulder. Dolphins were incredibly intelligent creatures, that was something she'd always liked about them. One of them, Athena, was a lot like her mother in a way. Ariel suspected the female dolphin was pregnant by the way the animal mothered the redhead so much and seemed to be putting on weight, but she was not an expert on these kinds of things.

[Archibald Edwin Slight]

It was spring. It was cold. It had no business being cold during spring.

Arch had woken up that morning to a surprising bite in the air, which nipped at his bare feet when he had set them on the floor. The sun was shining with all the force it could muster, but that didn't stop the long shadows from blocking his view of it, effectively casting his room in the Tarry Estate in a gloom that immediately put him off. Arch didn't normally wake up uneasily, but this dull morning had put him a foul mood that didn't lift until he'd managed a sleepy shower and boring breakfast. Maybe it was just living on the East Coast? Back in Ohio, he'd had plenty of deceiving spring mornings like this one, but there was something about seeing the steely gray of the Atlantic Ocean just out his window that seemed unrelenting.

It was as Arch munched moodily on his toast, gazing out the window at the steady in-and-out of the ocean waves, that he got the idea to take on the Atlantic. There was hardly a cloud in sight now and people were already milling about outside at their various jobs (admittedly, some bundled in sweaters; one petite girl actually had on a hat and gloves as well, but Arch chalked that up her being entirely too skinny for any sort of weather), so Arch figured he had nothing to lose. He was just a bit of a wuss about cold. He was more the type to take to a tropical island or steamy jungle setting. Springtime in Maine was a bit too ironclad for him.

That said, Arch wiped the crumbs from his shirt and grabbed his pair of swim trunks from a dresser shoved between the wall and window in a cramped corner of the room he was told he would eventually have to share, quickly changed, and was out the door. He took a brief moment to admire Sophie's, the girl he had met only a few days ago and had opened his eyes to the true nature of people in Memory, handiwork: the flowers she had grown to line the small walk up to the estate door were as vibrant today as they were when he'd first seen her. That was a cool trick. Arch grinned at the flowers but was soon on his way, walking with an easy pace towards the beach.

It was a bit of a long walk, to be sure, but not unpleasant. Arch took his time to stop and greet some of the residents in town, many of which were new faces. A quick wave and a tolerable "morning" was really all he offered, distracted as he was by his morning-notion to take on the Atlantic and spring full force. Spring was supposed to be sunny and warm and full of lots of green things, and though admittedly not ever really warm enough to warrant a good swim, Arch reckoned he wanted to get a jump on things. He was rather the impatient sort.

Eventually he reached the beach; he kicked off his shoes and wiggled his toes into the cold, rough sand that was really mostly small rocks and broken shells than actual fine sand--a change from the beaches of man-made lakes he was used to back home. In the few months he'd been here, Arch had only ventured to the beach only once, just to see it. He'd not seen the ocean before and damn the winter, he wanted to touch the Atlantic. He did. It was not as exciting as he would have hoped.

So he didn't actually know about the mermaids that lived close to the rocky coast, or about the talking fish and crabs. Arch gazed steadily at the horizon for a long moment, unsuspecting and particularly unobservant, as there was a redhead hugging a freaking dolphin for christ's sake. All he saw was the gray/blue sky meeting the gray/blue ocean in a dark line miles away, and a grin broke onto his face at the sight of it. A horizon. He quickly doffed his shirt and was soon climbing over the breakwater to the highest rock he could find, before impulsively leaping.

Two things he didn't expect: the water was unyieldingly, resolutely, and astounding cold. And the redheaded girl was right the path of his cannon ball.

"SHIT--" Arch yelled when he spotted her, his feet having just left the breakwater. He quickly angled his body in such a way as to miss her, but with limbs akimbo and eyes wide, Arch managed to hit the rock-hard fully on his side. He missed her, but just barely; he resurfaced, shivering, spitting out disgusting saltwater, his side aching from the slap of the water. Arch wiped his eyes clear of the saltwater and looked at her, wincing, only able to manage a tiny "Owww..."

[ARIELLE ELINE ANDERSON]

The dolphin clicked in amusement as the redhead hugged her, pulling away a few moments later to dive back into the water as the boy approached. Ariel raised an eyebrow, watching the boy closely, but soon turned back to the dolphins in the surf. She'd seen people wandering along the shoreline before, this was not a rare occurrence, but who in their right mind would be out in this cold? Everyone knew that when it came to Ariel, she was never in her right mind in the water. Regardless, the redhead was about to dive in to join her dolphin friends once again when a scream cut through the air and she jumped backwards. She winced as the boy from before surfaced after hitting his side on the rock and she swam over to make sure he was alright.

"Good lord, are you okay?" she asked, her tail gracefully swaying under the water and keeping her afloat. One of the larger dolphins heard the commotion and immediately swam over, positioning herself under the boy's uninjured side to keep him above the water as Ariel submerged herself to get a better look at it. She gently ran her fingers over the abused skin, wondering if it was something she could fix or if it could heal itself, and soon she shrugged and surfaced once again.

"It doesn't seem to be anything more than a really bad bruise... I'd suggest putting some ice on it when you get home," she commented, blowing her fiery bangs from her face and soon she raised an eyebrow at the boy once again. "Anyway, what're you doing out here? Isn't it a little cold?"

Now she sounded like her father. What was she, his mother? Good lord. She was losing her mind.

"Maybe he's got a spirit that swims?"

Speaking of losing her mind... The lovely little mermaid decided to make her grand entrance in her host's mind. Yipee. Today should be interesting...

[Archibald Edwin Slight]

Arch's eyes rolled back in his head as the girl approached him, the pain in his side throbbing badly. He groaned and clutched at his side, but the redhead was already there, probing his skin with her fingers. "Hey, ow, christ--" Arch complained, watching the girl's hair billow out under the water as she examined him. He glared at her when she resurfaced, ready to tell her to back off, when spoke first. "It doesn't seem to be anything more than a really bad bruise," she started, which shocked Arch. No way in hell had his skin already begun to bruise... "I'd suggest putting some ice on it when you get home." "I think the Atlantic's plenty damn cold enough," he said irritably, shivering, and wincing when his hand smacked his side. He lifted his arm to check his skin for himself--sure enough, it wasn't bruised yet. Right now it just looked good and red from the impact, but it wasn't bleeding. Plus, with the cold water slowing his circulation, Arch figured it would be awhile til any sort of nasty mark appeared anyway. But because he wasn't gushing blood, he figured she meant a bruise would come later. He didn't doubt that.

The dolphin was a nice touch. It burrowed its way under his arm so that he could rest his weight on it, which Arch decided, what the hell. He sort of shrugged at it and slung his arm over its body, still kicking with his feet to remain afloat. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Isn't it a little cold?" The girl asked and Arch turned his attention back to her. "Could I ask you the same thing?" He offered back, surprise in his voice. He looked at her a moment, brows pulled down in confusion, until he saw it.

This girl was not human.

"Ooooh what the hell...?" He groaned, immediately letting go of the dolphin and scrambling backwards. Arch had seen a lot of oddities since moving here, but mermaids? That was a new one. Transformation wasn't a big deal here, really, but Arch wasn't as well adjusted to it as he would have liked to be. He'd have to be here a couple more months before he could easily swallow the concept of mermaids in the Atlantic Ocean. "Heh. Heh heh heh...oh god. Sorry." Arch sort of apologized, his eyes still locked on the glowing green fins of the girl in front of him, realizing he might have offended her or something. though, considering where they were, she might actually get it kind of often. Arch sputtered a bit longer, trying to get his head around the whole event (his side still ached like a little bitch), before his feet finally touched sand and he felt more grounded. He stood, the water lapping coldly at his chest as he took in a few breaths. Okay. Mermaids. No big deal.

Doing his best to ignore his side, now going numb like the rest of him in this cold, Arch looked at her fully. "So. Mermaid, then." He noted the red hair, the green fins. It only took him a moment to connect the dots, now that he knew the people of Memory weren't possessed by any normal sort of spirits--they were the spirits of Disney characters, Sophie had told him, and this girl's was pretty obvious. "You... hang out with a lot of dolphins, Ariel?"

[ARIELLE ELINE ANDERSON]

Ariel and the dolphin both gave him an amused look at his question of why she was out there, shaking her head as her tail continued to sway beneath her. When he finally looked down at it, the redhead snorted as she felt herself burst out laughing when he scrambled backwards. She got that reaction a lot. It wasn't new to her. Though, she had to admit that his reaction was probably the most amusing she'd had so far.

"You... hang out with a lot of dolphins, Ariel?"

"HOW DOES HE KNOW WHO I AM?!"

"Well princess I'd say it has to do with the fact that you chose a host that looks exactly like you."

"...good point..."

Ariel chuckled, her tail swaying beneath her once again as she soon hoisted herself onto the rock nearby and it morphed back into her legs--thankfully when she changed back she had a bathing suit or whatever she had been wearing before on. "Only in the mornings. They tend to hide when more people come down to the beach," she answered, tilting her head at the boy with a small smile. "Though, on a side note, I have to say I'm rather impressed that you figured out who my spirit was so easily. Usually it takes people awhile to put two and two together."

Glancing back at the boy, the redhead raised an eyebrow at him as she then tried to figure out who his Disney counterpart would be. It was rather hard seeing as this boy had a bit of a potty mouth, but then again everyone's host did. Hell, Ariel cursed like a sailor-pun intended. Her spirit would start to sing loudly to drown out the sounds of her host cursing up a storm, which only amused Ariel to no end when she was bored. Oh, her little mermaid. So naive. "Anyway, do you know who yours is? I feel bad not being able to figure it out."