[MillietheWarrior]

Personally, Mary didn’t think this was the best idea the school had ever had.

Trying to keep a gaggle of children from wandering off while juggling a small contingent of chaperones, all while trying desperately not to get near the ocean, and to keep the sands out of her shorts. This wasn’t one of her most favorite field trips. In fact, it was her least favorite. Mary hated the ocean. The school field trip was at the ocean. Sans, she hated the field trip. She was currently sulking beneath an umbrella on the beach as the ten or so chaperones (She thanked Yepha for so many; most were parents and watched their own kids, and all the others at the same time. It meant her job was easier) supervised the hoard of children. "Ugh,” she grumped, slathering on another layer of sunscreen and hoping to high heaven she didn’t come away as a burnt cookie. Thank goodness for the umbrella. And her robe. And the sunscreen. And the blanket. Oh, and the towel. She looked like a giant beach hermit. And she was quite happy to stay that way.

“Stupid sun…stupid ocean,” she grumped, and reflected that she wasn’t being very ‘teacherly.’ As an elementary school teacher, it was her job to provide ‘fun and entertainment’ for her gaggle of kids on the field trips, but right now, she just wanted a good soak in a warm bath. A warm bath that didn’t have sharks. Or icky fish. Or jellyfish. Or nasty slimy things that wanted to eat her. She shuddered in revulsion; ever since she’d been little, she’d had a huge aversion to the ocean. It probably stemmed from the time a fish swam around her foot and touched her skin. Ew. She shuddered again just at the thought of it. It probably wasn’t that bad of an experience, or enough to make someone hate the ocean, but she’d been very little, and it had been very traumatizing. “Miss Mary, Miss Mary!” Mary was startled out of her thoughts with a jolt, and turned to regard one of her students under the brim of her large sunhat and from behind her glasses. “Miss Mary! Over there, on the dock!” She pointed to the dock down the beach. “My shoe floated away, miss Mary! Can you get it for me?”

Mary stared incredulously at her student, though the look on her face was hidden. “Uh…uh…” she began, before the look on the little girls’ face forced her to relent. “Of course, dear. I’ll get it back for you.” As the girl cheered, Mary unbundled herself from her cocoon of safety, and threw her sunglasses down, opting to keep the hat on. “I’ll be back soon,” she assured the girl, mentally grimacing as she marched down the beach in the sun, keeping a good distance from the ocean. When she reached the dock and stepped under it, however, she realized that the shoe was caught on one of the rafters near the edge of the water. Mary grimaced; how was she supposed to get that? Searching around her, she finally caught sight of a large piece of driftwood. Hefting it up, she marched back over to the rafted, and began prodding at the shoe, trying desperately to pick it off and get it back without touching the water. “Eeep!” she yelped every time the tide pushed a wave near her.

[Jessari]

The patron god of Sa'fir Coast was not in a good mood. Considering the perfect day the beach was experiencing, one would have thought it was a sign of Kaleo's joy or happiness, or whatever fluffy feeling people associated with sunshine and waves. On many occasions, that might have been true, but not today. The forecast today had been for thunderstorms and high winds, and Kaleo had been forced to fight to keep it sunny and calm. After all, it wasn't all 'wave your hands and make the magic happen'. Weather didn't just bow down for anyone, even if the person attempting to influence it was a demigod. He was still fighting the storm, actually, deflecting the pressure of its attack around the beach and making sure no wild waves were whipped up by the winds further out.

If he'd been in his physical form, Kaleo would've sighed. It was so much easier to just relax and let Mother Nature dictate the weather for the day, but today had been a bit of an exception to the rules. Stretching his senses across the beach, he touched briefly upon each life force there, making sure all the children were enjoying themselves. Little did the chaperons know that they had another guardian in their midst keeping an eye out for the young ones. It was a good thing, too, because as a mother turned to talk to one of the other adults, a wave pushed a small jellyfish up onto the black sand at her child's feet. The boy was, typically, attracted by the tentacles and slime, and leaned down to investigate. As he reached out a hand to touch the jellyfish, Kaleo created a tentacle of his own out of water, pulling the jellyfish back into the ocean and out of reach. "Wow, mom! Did you see that?" the boy exclaimed to his mother, but she was much more interested in her friend's story than her son's imagination.

Although children's antics across his beach normally amused him, Kaleo wasn't amused today. He'd gone to a lot of work to create this picture of perfection, and the energy it had taken out of him had left him feeling drained and moody. All the humans up there were having fun, but did a single one of them think to send a mental thank you to the god who'd worked so hard to bring it all about? If they had, he certainly hadn't caught wind of it. And Kaleo wasn't the kind of person to let praise escape him. Even if he walked among them, as he most certainly could if he chose, what was he going to do? Tell the whole beach he was a demigod and watch them panic or call the television crews? Considering the number of things cell phones could do nowadays, he'd probably end up on youtube. Yeah, that would go over well with the other gods.

If only he had one person he could talk to, one person he could make appreciate his efforts...

“Miss Mary, Miss Mary!”

At the cry, his attention flicked over to the little girl near the dock. Nothing serious to be addressed, he quickly determined, only a lost shoe. His presence moved through the waves, pushing the shoe closer to the beach. Then, he caught sight of the chaperon who had been summoned to the rescue. Oh, her outfit alone was nearly enough to bring him out of the mullygrubs. Who in their right minds would come to the beach on a day like today and hole up with so much stuff that she couldn't even feel the sand beneath her feet or the sun on her face?

Kaleo watched her as she reluctantly ventured away from her own personal fortress. Somewhere beneath that robe and hat, he suspected, was a beautiful young woman, and he was a sucker for beautiful women. Especially at times like this when he felt he'd explode if he couldn't share his awesomeness with someone. A plan began to form in his mind as he sent gentle waves to splash at her toes. With each distressed 'Eeep!', his spirits lifted considerably. A part of his mind was still relegated to holding back the storm and patrolling the beach, but he could have a little fun with Miss Mary without losing too much focus.

As Mary leaned even further, stretching to her limits to reach the wayward shoe, the playful water erupted upwards, wrapping around the woman and dragging her beneath the surface. The whole thing happened so quickly that she hadn't even had time to scream.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow...?

As Mary was pulled deeper, a smooth, silky voice sounded in her head, teasingly reciting the child's rhyme. If she hadn't had a heart attack by the time drawing a breath became necessary, she'd find that, wonder of wonders, a bubble of air encircled her head, making it possible for her to breathe underwater. Tiny bubbles from below collided with the larger one, adding more oxygen even as little bubbles separated from the top, carrying away the carbon dioxide. Kaleo, although too full of himself at times, was considerate in this matter. After all, it wouldn't do to have his little distraction suffocate through neglect.

[MillietheWarrior]

Mary would’ve been happy to grab the shoe and dart back beneath her umbrella. She would’ve been happier if she could high tail it home.

Instead,  something amazing, frightening, and heart attack inducing happened all at the same time. As she leaned out to snatch the shoe up with her hand, the water burst up beneath her. She barely had time to scream; her mouth was filled with water when she opened it, her cry cut off as she was enveloped in the water’s tight, frightening embrace. For a minute, blackness swam in front of her vision as she fought the urge to pass out from fear, shock, and absolute surprise. She just managed to keep herself conscious, and barely managed to refrain from totally and irrevocably freaking out, when a  voice echoed inside her head. Mary froze, her heart thudding wildly in her chest, and opened her mouth…and screamed.

She didn’t seem to care about the bubbles, or the fact that she could breath. She was underwater. There were fish. There was slimy things. And she. Was. Under. Water. She screamed until she thought her lungs would give out, and when it felt like they did, she took a deep, calming breath…and screamed some more. “Oh my GOD! What is this?! What’s going on!? What the he- OH MY GOD! GET AWAY FROM ME!” This last sentence was directed at a particularly large fish that swam far too close for her comfort. “I’m gonna die. I’m dead. I’m dead, I fell in the water, and I died!” she sobbed, trying to claw her way to the surface, but finding that the water still held her tight.

“I’m dead, I’m dead. I died. I’ve tried to be a good person, I never did anything bad. What did I do to deserve this? Where did I go wrong? Why is this happening to me?!” She tried to move her arms, tried to kick out her legs, but to no avail. Another fish swam by, and she screeched, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Can anybody hear me? Help! Somebody help!”

[Jessari]

He'd known she wasn't exactly going to be happy, but Mary's burst of complete and utter panic stunned Kaleo. In a way, he was a little insulted. Yes, he was willing to admit that being dragged into the ocean might come as unexpected to a human, perhaps a little bit of a shocker, but it was the ocean for Zu'hai's sake! It was a whole world unto itself, filled with powerful creatures and wonderful sights. Poets, novelists, songwriters, all had found it worthy of worship and praise. Without it, the world would be derived the daring adventures of pirates or the romantic escapes of pleasure cruises. This was his whole world, and yet here was this Mary person, acting like this was the worst thing that had ever happened to her. Kaleo couldn't even begin to understand how she could think being swept out to sea was a bad thing.

Perhaps, he thought, trying to find a logical reason for her distress, perhaps it was the fact that she needed a physical form to reassure her that she wasn't alone in an unfamiliar world. Drawing on the strength of the ocean, Kaleo began to literally 'pull himself together'. Just behind the struggling Mary, shadows quietly slipped through the water, coalescing into the form of a tall, blonde man with sun-bronzed skin. He wore no shirt, just a pair of ragged-edged shorts and a brightly-colored feather that dangled from a short, gold chain attatched to his left earlobe. "Don't be afraid. No harm will come to you while I'm here." he said in his silkiest tone, holding out a hand to her as her 'personal bubble' shifted and lengthened to encircle his head as well. Breathing underwater in his human form was possible, but a distant rumble of thunder warned him that he probably shouldn't try to go against too many of nature's rules at the moment. Not while he was trying to hold off a storm of epic proportions.

[MillietheWarrior]

If Mary thought her day couldn’t get any weirder, she was wrong.

Before her eyes, a tall, bronzed man…materialized. Just…out of nowhere. Underwater. And he had no shirt. Mary’s brain was able to process that last bit with a tiny blush, even if the rest of her was in full blown panic mode. With pink cheeks, and wide eyes, her panicked struggle ceased and she stared. For a full two minutes. She didn’t reach out for him, she didn’t respond to his words. She just stared. When she finally did respond, it probably wasn’t what he was expecting. And half of Mary’s brain said it probably wasn’t the best response and he didn’t want to hear it but…she couldn’t stop herself. She shrieked. Loudly. In his face. And then proceeded to try to leap away from him, which would’ve worked if they’d been on land. Instead, she ended up floating upside down, hair waving around her, and staring up at the man.

She waved her arms almost frantically, but she still remained upside down, and try and she might, she couldn’t right herself. “Who are you?” she shouted, eyes round and panicked. “What do you mean  ‘don’t be afraid’? Are you absolutely insane?! We’re underwater, in the ocean with all the slimy things and-and the fish and no air and WE’RE UNDERWATER!” She shrieked again, trying to right herself, but was still unable to. She curled her legs towards her and tried very hard not to think about what was swimming just beneath her head.

“Help me get out of here! Please! I don’t want to be in the ocean! I don’t want to be near the ocean! I don't want to be near the fish! The sharks! Help me! I want to go back to the beach! I want to go home! Please!” If Kaleo thought she’d get over her panic-stricken state anytime soon, he had another thing coming; he was in for a day fraught with hysteria…for the most part.

[Jessari]

The demi-god's initial appearance to women had been met with mixed reactions in the past. He'd been questioned, slapped, stared at, run from, and had been engaged in some much-enjoyed snogging, but never had a woman screamed in his face. Well, there had been that one time, but that, he was convinced, had been a scream of excitement due to his charisma and overwhelming good looks.

Woman, if you scream in my face one more time... Kaleo bit the thought back as Mary managed to flip herself upside-down. "Yes,' he said patiently, as if to a small child, "we're underwater. Very observant of you." As soon as the last part left his lips, he mentally kicked himself. Sarcasm won't help calm her down, idiot! With a graceful kick, he spun himself in the water so they were again eye-to-eye. He reached out to her, hands closing gently around her shoulders to keep her from performing any more unintentional acrobatics.

"The ocean's only dark if you look down, Mary. Take a look at this," he said, directing his gaze down - er, up - towards their feet and hoping she'd do the same. The sunlight danced across the surface, turning the ripples and waves a brilliant shade of gold and blue. It almost looked as if they stood upon a gaudy dance floor. "Now, you can't honestly tell me that's not impressive."

"As for who I am...who do you want me to be?"  His form shimmered, and when his features stabilized, he looked like a Ryan Reynolds clone. His sharp eyes had caught that little blush before she'd attempted to burst his eardrums. Maybe a little distraction was all she needed to take her mind off her fears. Kaleo held this appearance for a few seconds, then shifted to a flawless imitation of Ben Barnes. Then another image, and another, like a slideshow on a screensaver. All the forms he morphed through were shirtless, of course. He had nothing to be ashamed of, after all.

Caught up in his 'wooing', Kaleo failed to notice the shark that had begun to circle above them. It meant no harm, not at the moment, but Mary's thrashing along with the powerful draw of the demi-god's physical form had attracted it. It glided about them, merely curious and unaware of the panic it would cause if Kaleo's companion caught sight of it.

[MillietheWarrior]

((reposting~))

Mary suddenly felt her shoulders being gripped, and her eyes went wide when she was almost literally face to face with a man she’d never met. And still underwater. If she wasn’t so certain she’d just been dragged under the ocean, she would have to be sure she hit her head and was having a very…handsome delusion on the beach. No, wait. Focus! She gave herself a mental kick, and tried very hard not to scream in his face again. As soon as his hands latched onto her, her own hands shot out and latched onto his shoulders, more for stability and reassurance than any type of affection.

When he directed her gaze down, er, up, Mary couldn’t help but agree that it was an impressive sight. But that didn’t change the fact that they were underwater. Under. The. Water. “But, we’re-we’re underwater! This isn’t natural! I should be dead! I should’ve drowned! I-” she cut herself off with a little yelp as he switched forms. The woman in her could most certainly appreciate the different faces and, er, shirtless chests, he was shifting into, and the blush that now darkened her cheeks to an almost tomato colored level attested to that. But her mind also screamed that she should be panicking, and that this was so unsafe, and that bad things were going to happen.

“P-please, s-stop changing,” she managed to squeak, wondering how she got herself into this. She had to have been hallucinating. She had to be. No such creature as this existed. What could he really be? “Y-you’re making me a l-little nauseous…being upside…down doesn’t help either.” She kicked her legs again, trying in vain to right both of them, but they remained firmly upside down. Her thrashing, however, drew the shark closer, and closer, and even closer until it was hovering above them like a bad dream.

“Listen,” she whimpered, trying very hard to remain calm and not shriek in his face. “Can you please get me out of here? It’s not safe and it’s-it’s impossible! I can’t be-” The shadow of the shark passed over them, and Mary looked up just in time to see the rows of razor sharp teeth and the sharp dorsal fin as they flashed past them. This time, she didn’t try to hold in the scream. Unaware of what she was doing, she glomped onto Kaleo, wrapping her arms and legs around him as she shrieked into his ear. “Oh dear God in heaven above please don’t let that thing eat me!” She crushed herself to him, squeezing like a squid as she practically tried to dissolve into him and get away from the shark.