Video @splash

[soundsfishy]

[There's a lot of water drops on the camera before someone wipes it off. The amount of wet red hair that follows isn't better for visibility, but someone is definitely in water at least up to their chest.

The voice is clear, thank god.]

This place is so fascinating! Have anyone else been displaced like this in other places? How many realities does even exist?

[Another wipe of a (webbed?) hand over the camera, and there's more visibility. There's a smiling face of a man in his mid-twenties with odd scars on his cheeks and fully black eyes.]

Are there any humans here that are just humans? Or do you all know magic? Do you know about non-human beings back in your world? If so, what do you think about them? If you're a human with no magic, do you wish you had such powers? Do you have any other abilities that make you more than the average person?

If you're non-human, do you hide that at home? Or do you get along with them? Is it weird to be open with it here? Are there a lot of different non-humans or just a few? Are your vampires dead or alive? Do other weres than wolves exist? Fae? Have you ever fought humans? Do you know any divines?

Do you like the sea?

[He laughs, and the camera bobs under the surface thanks to that. He quickly pulls it up again with a 'whoops'.]

Now the most important two questions! What can you tell me about the aquarium and the hydroponics garden?

...and can I buy a bunch of portable phone chargers and plastic bags from someone in exchange for fish?

Comments

text; un: Quintessence

[generalginger]

[Focusing on one of the last questions asked--]

Have you directly contacted the institutions you mentioned?

text

[soundsfishy]

Not yet, I'm curious to know what other people know about them before I do.

[generalginger]

Do you not trust the institutions to provide the answers you are seeking, or are you more concerned with possible misconceptions?

[soundsfishy]

I'm interested in unbiased opinions, that's all.

[ text; anonymous ]

[anthropophagite]

I used to be human, but I'm not fully one anymore. I still think I am mostly human, though. And I have to hide what I am, yes. I don't think I can be open about it here, either.

What are you?

text

[soundsfishy]

How come you feel you can't be open with it here? I mean, there are vampires.

I'm a mer. Fish tail, water breathing, the whole shebang.

[anthropophagite]

Because sometimes people are so scared of something that they can't accept it. And that means someone might get hurt.

We didn't have mermaids in my world. Can you walk out of water?

[soundsfishy]

Makes sense. However, there are a lot of strange creatures here that I'm sure humans are surprised by.

Maybe you do. We like to stay hidden. <('O')> I can't walk out of water, but I can breathe on land for a while. It's mostly the tail that's an issue.

text; @a.parrish

[antietam]

Maybe you could start by answering some of your own questions. So we have a jumping off point.

What are your abilities, for example?

text

[soundsfishy]

Well, I can breathe under water and swim very quickly.

[antietam]

Where I'm from, we'd call someone like that a mermaid. Or merperson I guess.

What do you call yourself?

[soundsfishy]

Usually merpeople, or just mer.

Unless you mean my name! It's Llŷr.

/video

[toolatetochangethename]

[What is this, 20 Questions? But whatever, he's game.]

Yeah. Just human. Just with a suit and all.

I knew one guy--kinda--with magic. He was creepy. Flew through me.

[Shudder. CREEPY.]

And a girl. Uh. Woman. She was cool, though. But, yeah, magic stuff doesn't sound all that fun from what I've seen.

video

[soundsfishy]

A suit? A fancy one, I assume.

[He's imagining a business suit.]

He flew through you? Was he a ghost?

Re: video

[toolatetochangethename]

It's...yeah it's pretty fancy, I guess. All sorts of cables and wiring and stuff. [Scott: restraining himself from geeking out.]

Nah, I think he was just trying to be a dick.

[Vision: you're kind of a dick. Just sayin'. ]

[soundsfishy]

[Oh. Okay. That sounds cooler than a business suit.]

With wiring and stuff? What does it do?

[Hey at least now the fishboy is curious.]

...ghosts tend to be dicks too, but I get you.

video, un: j.k.

[aeturnus]

There's things back where I'm from called Otterboxes, tend to be marketed as waterproof. Might be a better choice than just dropping that thing in a plastic bag when you, uh, submerge?

[ Yeah, he's staring. It's mostly from curiosity but some of it is just like, what the fuck. Really???? ]

video

[soundsfishy]

I'm almost personally offended that I didn't know about such a product! I mean, not that otters are completely waterproof, but close enough to be a good product name.

This phone is fairly waterproof, I mostly have an issue with the battery dying. I used to store portable battery packs covered in plastic bags near the water back home.

[aeturnus]

Depends on where you came from, I guess. Too many places to assume they'd all have it.

But... uh, okay. Ignoring the idea of universal ports for things like that, I'm going to guess getting into town yourself to get anything like that isn't feasible?

audio; user: k atsuki

[yokunaru]

Ah, that's a lot of questions, but I can try to answer some of them.

[A pause as he considers which ones to tackle first.]

I've been in another universe before this one. From what I've heard, there's a lot of different realities--it's probably hard to say how many.

audio

[soundsfishy]

I'm a curious guy!

[He chuckles, water splashing in the background.]

You have? That's very interesting! How was it? Was it different from this and your own world?

[yokunaru]

There's nothing wrong with that. [His voice even softens a little.] I think we all have a lot of questions when we first arrive.

Mm there were a few similarities. The biggest one is that portals brought us there, and many of us were from different universes, like this one.

@dodger/audio

[smokedout]

[Well that's... that's something.]

I'm non-human, but we don't have vampires or werewolves back home. Least not in as many words. I don't hide what I am, but a lot of people do. I've gotten some human blood on my hands. There's not much of a border between humans and mutants, though, couldn't tell you a ratio.

Can't help you with finding a bartering pal, but I can probably point you toward someone that'll exchange the fish for some common currency. Or I might take them off your hands if they're anything special, I'm big on collecting curiosities.

And I like the sea, sure.

audio

[soundsfishy]

So what do you have at home, then? Mutants, you said?

[He sounds curious, trying to piece together what the man said.]

Oh, I was thinking of that earlier. I'd still need someone to go use that money for me, however, so it's easier to cut out the middle hand. As for fish... I guess they're weird if you don't have the species in your world?

[smokedout]

Mutants, yeah. Humans with a few misfiring lines of genetic code. Makes some pretty crazy results - anything from shooting fire and ice from your hands to being able to change your appearance at will, or just having horns. Humans might have an issue with us if we weren't stronger and with just as much access to guns.

[He lets out a quiet chuckle. Dodger hates humans, but he hates mutants equally.]

I'm happy to do your buying and selling for you, if you don't mind me taking out a fee for the effort - I make most of my business as a middle man. Once I can figure out how much the fish are worth on the market, we can figure out a conversion rate for fish to units. From there you can give me a shopping list whenever you need something, and I can give you the cost in fish.