Stars Align! Freedom in the Brine!

[Fox]

Astraea’s gaze was pretty much fixed on the adorable Yanmei. An amused smile curled her lips just watching her every antic. It was like she was a repository of boundless energy. She wasn’t accustomed to such people. Where she was from, people rarely wasted movement. There simply wasn’t enough food or oxygen for extraneous things like that. The Ryugu Kingdom had been a bit different, but she’d spent most of her time honing her craft and learning how to be quick and efficient with bubble coating. So, seeing someone like Yanmei almost die choking on gummy sweets was a breath of fresh air.

When Jan chided her and handed her yet another sweet, Astraea raised an eyebrow at the man. From what she understood, children enjoyed sweets more than adults. Did they mean that Jan here was a child at heart? Hm-hm. She just shook her head and waved to him when he offered one to her. A sweet every now and then was fine, but she preferred much more nutrition packed foods. A leftover from her upbringing, she supposed.

Astraea hung idly from her tank, watching as Jan went over to one of her escorts and did a funny little thing with this hand. Humans were such silly creatures, weren’t they? He was quite the smooth talker. Far more than herself. Her escort was giving him such a nasty look though. He pulled a strange little snail from his coat, and, lo, her host’s voice came out of the snail! Astraea’s eyes widened in surprise. Her host had turned into a snail?!

“Who are you? Why do you think I’d like YOU take MY mermaid? You think I’m some kind of idiot?”

He sounded grumpy! Well, Astraea supposed that made sense. She would be grumpy too if she had gotten turned into a snail. She leaned down to Yanmei, so as to not interrupt Jan and her host from talking.

“Mei, have you ever seen such a thing? He used to be human, now he’s a snail king!”

---

Astraea Alma Hadal | Dark Slate Blue (#483D8B) | Post Count: 6

[Vio]

^{Yanmei #6}

---

Once again and with almost childish glee, Zhu Yanmei accepted Jan’s offering of sugary treats. And, once again, there were little to no manners involved, such was the way she functioned. The distraction was perhaps short-lived, but certainly it was Jan himself who made the first move, approaching the suited sirs who seemed to watch over Astraea’s tank and eye them with suspicion. Mei herself was unfazed, merrily licking the lollipop with childish satisfaction.

^{“He used to be human,” Astraea uttered:
“Now he’s a snail king!”}

“Eeehhh?!” A look of honest shock on the smaller woman’s face said it all for, just like Astraea, she was somewhat naive to the ways of the world at large. The concept of Transponder Snails was not something she was familiar with, herself never having had such a luxury at her disposal, nor having any reason to pursue or interact with such an article. And so, much as the mermaid was, Yanmei’s eyes went wide. Unlike the aquatic oddity, however, the human girl was far more capable of investigating at her own discretion.

“Oi, Oi! Why are you a snail?” she asked in honesty, hopping over towards Jan and putting her face rather close to the tiny mollusc. However, previous words had not gone unheard by the jet-haired Jane, whose ideals of freedom and adventure clashed with the shelled sir’s grumpy exclamations. “And what do you mean ‘your’ mermaid? People don’t belong to other people! Uh…,” her voice trailed as annoyance shifted to confusion, prompting her to step back for a moment and whisper to Jan in the least discreet manner possible.

^{“Hey! Are snails people, too…?”}

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:}
Yanmei and Astraea are both surprised by the snail, but while Jan attempts to reason, Yanmei confronts the snail aggressively before succumbing to confusion.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{——}
_——

---

Zhu Yanmei | #301934
Jan Sela | #7851a9
Astraea Alma Hadal | #483d8b
Security Guard [NPC] | #aaaaaa

[Mr. Moon]

Jan #6 

The young writer tried his best to look as friendly and polite as possible, however he was still greeted with suspicion and disdain that was bordering with open hostility. Well he achieved at least one small victory, as the bodyguard didn´t refuse his proposition straight away, but instead reached for his Den Den Mushi to call to his boss, who was pretty rude to put it lightly.

Jan sighed.

“With all due respect sir, she...”

He wanted to point out that Astraea isn´t his property so he shouldn´t act that way towards her, but before he could finish his thought the girls behind his backs started debating about the origin of the Den Den Mushi which resulted in Yanmei jumping straight behind him with weirdest question she asked so far.

“No, snails aren´t people. They are animals, but this...”

Jan pointed on the snail.

“Isn´t Astraea´s host. It´s just Transponder Snail, that is used when you want to talk with someone over great distance.”

Trying to keep his cool, the writer explained it as politely as possible, resisting the initial urge to point out the obvious lack in Yanmei´s education, Hoping that this way the young lady won´t be acting as a small child this time, asking tons of follow up questions, because the patience he had for other people was running dangerously low already.

“Either way...”

He tried to focus back on the host.

“ As my friend pointed out, Astraea isn´t and even can not be your property. She is free living being so, if she´ll choose to go with us for a walk everything should be alright right?”

Jan asked the question, while looking on Astraea with a silent question, whatever she still wish to go with them or not. Paying almost no attention to the bodyguards or their Den Den Mushi.

[Fox]

Yanmei’s reaction was every bit as adorable as Astraea had expected it to be when her host had apparently turned into a snail. She immediately bopped over in her highly energetic way, though it was harder for Astraea to move around as freely as that, she did shift over to that side of the tank so that she could hear what was being said a little better. He did sound awfully clingy as Mei was quick to point out, but she really couldn’t fathom why aside from the money he’d set aside to take her on such an extravagant tour.

Jan explained that the snail there was not, in fact, her host, but something used for long distance communication. Hm. Astraea wondered at its uses. Something like that would be of great utility where she came from… providing it could handle the undersea pressure and limited oxygen in the Sea of Corpses. If it were a terrestrial snail, then she doubted it. Its little shell would implode.

As he turned to address the host, Astraea felt a little bit of curiosity at what his reply would be, but opened her mouth to add her two cents when Jan looked at her questioningly. She just provided a nod in answer. She wasn’t one to change her mind all willy nilly. One had to be decisive when life and death were at stake, and it sort of translated into her everyday actions and philosophies as well.

“Clearly, you and your little friend don’t understand the way the world works. Money can buy you anything. Even people. Besides, she’s not a person. She’s just a glorified fish. Would you let two strangers take one of the most expensive things in your collection for a walk? No. Get them out of here, boys.”

The snail made a weird clicking sound as the guards began to escort her newfound friends away. No, not guards… They were her jailors, weren’t they? It was beyond Astraea why anyone would seek to trap someone against their will for reasons other than consuming them for sustenance - in which case, why would he not have done that sooner - but she did not intend to stay in what she realized now was a glorified cage.

“Well, that’s news to me. Jan, Mei, I’d think I’d just as soon as flee.”

With a heave, Astraea pulled herself over the side of the tank, falling squarely atop one of the jailors. The impact sent him crashing to the ground, but her landing was cozy enough. Unfortunately from here, her mobility was quite limited, and there was a lot of ground to cover before any of them reached the water.

---

Astraea Alma Hadal | Dark Slate Blue (#483D8B) | Post Count: 7

[Vio]

^{Yanmei #7}

---

“No, snails aren’t people,” Jan answered, pointing a finger to explain the difference between Astraea’s actual host and where the voice was coming from. The concept was baffling, Zhu Yanmei’s face contorting into a mix of confusion and grimace as her more intellectually inclined company continued to try and reason with the man who wasn’t actually a snail. For a moment, Yanmei herself looked here and there, trying to search for the would-be host, but to no avail.

^{“Money can buy you anything,” the snail said:
“Even people. Besides, she’s just a glorified fish.”}

^{“Glorified isn’t a word—!”}

“Get them out of here, boys,” the ‘Transponder Snail’ clicked, the holder quickly pocketing the animal as the group advanced upon Jan and Mei. Before much else happened, however, none other than Astraea herself hauled herself over the edge of her tank, crashing down upon the last guardsman and sloshing water about. Onlookers startled by the whole ordeal backed away, but kept curious eyes upon the situation; apparently now they saw that this wasn’t just some kind of act.

^{“You heard the boss,” one of the men said:
“Move along, else we’ll have to use force.”}

“Hmph! I’m not going anywhere without Astraea,” Miss Zhu announced, holding fast to a sturdy stance — one foot forward and legs wide as she stared down the approaching muscle. None of the men looked like they were ready to reason, let alone with somebody so stubborn as she, though the squad of suited goons were at least somewhat divided by Astraea’s floundering leap for freedom.

^{“And you can’t make me…!”}

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:}
_{Yanmei stands up for her beliefs and the freedom of Astraea.}

---

Zhu Yanmei | #301934
Jan Sela | #7851a9
Astraea Alma Hadal | #483d8b
Astraea’s Host [NPC] | #e6e6fa
Miscellaneous [NPC] | #eeeeee | #bbbbbb | #888888 | #555555

[Mr. Moon]

Jan #7 

As it turned out the host Astraea talked about was no host, but rather kidnapper which was in fact wonderful! As the arrogant businessman was bragging about the power of his money he made Jan remember events that happened recently. His battle against the “Grave Diggers” and the story of Remulo Bogs, the assassin that gave up his way of life for a love to a beautiful mermaid. Mermaid that was kidnapped and held hostage by vicious crime lord. And man...who else than this one of a kind mermaind would fit the role better?

As the now appointed crime lord hang up the phone, Jan widely smiled.

“Now I understands...it was you all along, the mysterious beauty who Bogs gave his heart to.”

He said, ignoring most of the things that were happening to him, as his mind was completely lost in the story he was building right there on the spot.

With his peripheral vision, he noticed that the mermaid jumped from he tank and he also noticed that one of the guards was talking to him with rather angry voice, but what was he saying? He didn´t know.

“Well in that case, don´t worry my dear. I´ll help you to meet your boyfriend, after all, it´s the role of author to help his characters to fulfill their destiny.”

As it turned out, the guard in front of him had no understanding for his creative spirit and was already out of patience to his own misfortune.

“What the **** are you blabbering about? I said move!”

His arm reached to his belt for a baton, but Jan was faster. Stepping forward, he blocked the guardsman´s arm with his own, before sliding his hand up, hitting the guard´s chin just as his leg was hooking legs of his opponent.

“Sela Style: Heaven Trigram Palm!”

Pushing and sweeping at the same time, the young writer slammed the unfortunate guard´s head into the deck, leaving him there unconscious.

“Now”

His smile became even wider and perhaps somehow sinister as he looked to the remaining guards who were split all over the space by Astraea´s fall.

“I would like to speak with your manager please.”

[Fox]

Astraea slid her hands together at Mei’s proud declaration that she wasn’t going anywhere without her. Aw, precious. With a gentle curl of her fingers, she formed the shape of a heart with her hands and pointed it at Mei. This was how it was done she believed. To be truthful, she’d never had an opportunity to put the gesture into use since learning what it meant from her former employer. Astraea did have thoughts that the wise thing to do would be to leave her if things got incredibly dicey. It was what Astraea would do. Well, if she could walk around as humans did! Legs were funny things.

Coiling her tail around the guard that she had fallen on, Astraea lifted him to his feet fairly easily. A tail had a lot of strength if she put her mind to it. She slapped his face with the end of her tail, trying to wake him up to little avail. Hm. She didn’t think that she was that heavy. Astraea pulled him close instead and decided to reel back and smack him on the cheek hard enough to leave a delightfully humorous red handprint there.

Astraea peered at the guard curiously to see if this had done the trick, but was soon distracted by Jan spouting some… well, nonsense really. Boyfriend? Pft. She didn’t exactly swing that way. While finding a mate was good for the proliferation of the species and passing on genes to the next generation, Astraea hadn’t found any male that suited her exacting requirements. Plus, she just much preferred the company of women, though Jan seemed… nice if a little delusional. That would definitely get him killed one day.

Astraea chuckled and turned back to her prey, delighted to see that he was starting to come around. She gave him a big toothy grin, showing off her row of razor sharp teeth. He gasped and tried to scramble back, but Astraea was coiled too tightly around him. She did, however, set him on his feet once he realized that he was trapped and pulled herself up above him. It was awkward, but she had transportation now! Transportation and a hostage.

She leaned down to his neck and poised her teeth to take a bite. With her mount upright, Astraea could survey the battlefield from a nice position. Jan had taken care of one of the guards neatly. Hm! Maybe he wouldn’t die so easily then. Though, he wanted to speak to her host. She scowled and pulled her teeth away from the guard’s neck.

“Jan, what are you on about? Speaking to that lout will get you no clout. Glorious running may not be, but we should take the opportunity to flee.”

Astraea caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Several of the guards were rushing her and Mei, perhaps perceiving them to be the weaker of the lot? Foolish. Astraea couldn’t vouch for Mei, but she seemed scrappy enough. As for Astraea… she sighed, flopping backwards onto her hands. She whipped her tail, sending her transportation spinning and tumbling into the guards trying to seize her. The momentum carried her onto her back where she lay flat for a bit, the wind knocked out of her.

“How lovely it would be to be able to move on land. I could stand and be grand. Like the rest of the band.”

Astraea didn’t have very long to pout about her lack of limbs. Her efforts had only knocked over one guard headed her way. So, inevitably, two appeared on either side of her and grabbed her arms roughly. The other pinned her tail. She hissed. Oh, she definitely hated the feeling of being trapped.

---

Astraea Alma Hadal | Dark Slate Blue (#483D8B) | Post Count: 8

[Vio]

^{Yanmei #8}

---

Whatever it was Jan was on about, Zhu Yanmei did not pay it much mind. With an intense focus, she kept her eyes upon the goons approaching her and Astraea, poised to act in defiance of whatever they tried. Sure enough, it came to fruition — the result of Jan’s own actions. With one of their ranks down, it took naught but a second for the rest to spring into action, their attention divided amongst the two girls as some moved to capture Astraea, and others to apprehend the more troublesome pirate in the making.

A baton was swung.

Clang! The weapon struck something — Yanmei’s own piece of gear. A short and simple iron bar mace, which the girl had plucked from her waist in response. But perhaps most abnormally of all, even with the parry, her movements continued to flow as the assault against her was batted aside. A fist balled as she stepped in.

SPOILER: Click to show

{

^{Eightfold Returning Fist
“Bā Bèi Fǎnhuí Quán…!”}

}
_{A straight punch delivered after parrying or deflecting an opponent’s attack, channeling the user’s energies into a single, powerful, returning strike. The attack is said to be able to replicate the strength of the countered attack eight times over, though such a fact is entirely up for debate and varies according to the successfulness of the practitioner. It draws from the powers of Earth (☷) and Thunder (☳) and is supposedly the most simple technique of the style.}

Thwomp! A single blow to the attacker’s core was cleanly delivered, the suited bouncer dropping his own weapon and stumbling back a couple of steps before collapsing to the floor. Not unconscious, but definitely critically winded by the force of the strike. At the very least, he’d be out of the fight for the foreseeable future. At around the same time, another guard was sent reeling, crashing into a second and flooring them both for the time being. Another peeled off to strike at Yanmei yet again.

^Click!

^{“I already told you,” Mei chided:
“I’m not going anywhere…”}

^Thwack!

“Without Astraea!” Another direct hit, this time aimed at the second assailant’s more delicate areas. Almost comically, his eyes bulged and his lips tightened into a toothy ‘O’ as he let out a high pitched, breathy squeal. To the ground he fell, face first, Miss Zhu simply stepping around him as she searched for any other approaching challengers. It seemed the chaos had stirred the occupants of The Fountain, however, for panicked gasps and shouting from all around had started to spread.

^{“Hey! Get off her!”}

Jade eyes soon settled upon the Mermaid proper, currently inhibited by three of the goons. In what was perhaps a rather ridiculous and equally bold move, Yanmei darted for one of the suits — one of those holding down an arm — and jumped upon his back like some sort of angry koala. Legs looped around his chest and one arm holding him in a partial headlock, what followed was a bizarre amount of flailing and repeated smacking on the head.

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:}
_{Yanmei incapacitates two of the guards with her signature Bā Bèi Fǎnhuí Quán Technique, then attempts to held out Astraea by jumping on the back of one of her captors.}

---

Zhu Yanmei | #301934
Jan Sela | #7851a9
Astraea Alma Hadal | #483d8b
Astraea’s Host [NPC] | #e6e6fa
Miscellaneous [NPC] | #eeeeee | #bbbbbb | #888888 | #555555

[Mr. Moon]

Jan #8

Jan´s attempt to start aggressive negotiation with the main gangster didn´t meet with much success as Astraea asked him to flee with them and the bodyguards ignored him all together and tried to capture the ladies instead.

“Hey you cowards, aren´t you ashamed to gang up against the ladies! Fight me instead!”

Being ready to immediately step in, however he stopped, when he noticed rather strange movement from Yanmei who quickly blocked the incoming attack with her mace, only to quickly counter with powerful mid-punch.

“Whoa! Miss Yanmei, you are martial artist too?”

The writer asked with the mix of surprise and fascination in his voice. However, his lack of attention was quickly exploited by other guard who tried to sneak up on him. The young fighter noticed him only in the last possible second, turning back, only to be hit by huge fist straight in the middle of his face. The assailant was a big guy, both taller and more muscular than the rest of his group, so he was more confident with his fists than baton. He probably expected Jan to be send flying, so he didn´t pulled his fist immediately back, resulting in rather awkward moment, as the author not only didn´t fly, but he also grinned.

“Hey big guy, that was a pretty good punch, but you should follow with another!”
Realizing his mistake, the guardsman tried to return to his stance, but it was already too late, as Jan´s arm wrapped themselves around his, preventing him to escape.

“Urgh...let go you maggot!”

The giant of man cursed, raising his other fist for a strike, but it was already too late. Turning his body, Jan pulled that man´s arm over his shoulder, robbing him of his balance, before he, at the same time, tripped his legs and leaned forward, throwing the giant of man over his shoulder.

The heavy body hit the ground with enough force to knock the wind out of the guard.

“Good night!”

Still holding that man´s arm, the writer smiled as he stomped on his unprotected head. With his own nose broken, it felt somehow satisfying to send him to the land of dreams in this way.

[Fox]

Without a second thought, Yanmei came to her rescue, latching onto one of the guards’ back like a parasitic leech from her homeland. It got him to let go of her arm, which was all the help that she really needed. Astraea instantly sent a mean right hook into the other guard’s face - the one holding down her other arm - sending him reeling backward. She wasn’t especially strong, but no one liked getting punched in the face. It was enough to free her other arm, at the very least.

She sat up, using her tail to push curl herself over the third man’s head. He looked up at her with grit teeth, his eyes widened once he saw her maw agape. He yelled and fell backward, just as Astraea’s needle sharp teeth clicked together in the space where his face had just been. Just out of her reach. He scrambled backwards, crawling away from her icy black gaze. This was a matter of survival, and Astraea did not intend to roll over and die if she were cornered. Her alien eyes glinted dangerously.

This wouldn’t do. She was far too limited like this. There didn’t seem to be any available means to quickly and easily move about… She’d have to rectify that for future encounters. In the meantime, her eyes settled on her former jail, the tank. The amount of water within was great. Perhaps great enough to ride the wave into the ocean? It wasn’t a bad idea. Mei was still contending with that guard so…

“Jan, break the glass! We’ll ride the wave off of this landmass.”

Astraea pointed to the tank. As it was, Astraea couldn’t do it herself. She couldn’t move freely enough to generate the force needed to break it. Frustrating to be sure, but she had neither the time nor the inclination to dwell on that right now. If she could get into the water, then she would be able to get them all away before anyone could catch them.

---

Astraea Alma Hadal | Dark Slate Blue (#483D8B) | Post Count: 9

[Vio]

^{Yanmei #9}

---

The blur of action served only to add to the escalating chaos, Zhu Yanmei caught up in her rather vengeful assault of one of Astraea’s former guards. For a good few seconds his squirming and running around like a headless chicken simply served to further facilitate the girl’s aggression, finally coming to an end when a sixth smack on the head knocked him out cold. Indeed, the unfortunate steed very nearly fell back upon her if not for the girl’s own reflexes, affording her a chance to land free of a rough fall.

^{“Jan,” the Mermaid called:
“Break the glass…!”}

“Huh? I can try!” Mei chirped, mishearing the pronunciation of the writer’s name as an abbreviation of her own, and thus set her sights upon the tank that had formerly contained the aquatic alien. Darting forwards, she swung the mace against the glass with all of her raw might backing it. Which, to see the absolute least, was not enough. Iron struck the pane — a transparent boundary strong enough to resist the weight and inertia of the liquid that was contained within it.

She tried again.

^{Bonk… Bonk…! Bonk…!!}

^{“Hold up,” yelled a guard:
“Stop that right now—?!”}

Clank… Thwomp! Once again, a baton was thrust in her direction, but the curious commoner was quick to react just as before. A swift parry turned the strike away, forward momentum displaced, and a straight strike slammed hard into the man’s side — hard enough that he impacted the glass. Winded, he slid down and fell forwards. Where behind him there had once been impregnable glaze, now a small web of hairline fractures had been formed…

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:}
_{Yanmei knocks out a guard in time to hear Astraea’s plan; mishear it, actually. She then tries to break the glass, but fails, until she counters another guard with Bā Bèi Fǎnhuí Quán, cracking the glass a little!}

---

Zhu Yanmei | #301934
Jan Sela | #7851a9
Astraea Alma Hadal | #483d8b
Astraea’s Host [NPC] | #e6e6fa
Miscellaneous [NPC] | #eeeeee | #bbbbbb | #888888 | #555555

[Mr. Moon]

Jan #9

SMACK

Jan´s heavy boot landed on the guardsman´s face, sending the man into the land of dreams, just around the time Astraea asked him to break the tank.

“Tired of being the proverbial fish on the dry land huh?”
The writer muttered for himself with the hint of sarcasm, however still stepped forward, only to see, that Yanmei took the task upon herself, as she started slamming the large tank with her metal pipe, without much effect. The fact that one of them clearly overheard what the mermaid said aside. How tough was that glass anyway?

Unfortunately, it was Jan who was destined to learn it from the first hand as miss Zhu´s valiant effort was brought to an early end by another guardian, who tried to stop her. Quite successfully one had to add.

“Ah wonderful...”

Unsure whatever he can finish, what steel mace couldn´t Jan went towards the tank. Ignoring one of the many batons laying on the ground, he accelerated into jog and than all out sprint.

“This is the most stupid idea ever!”
Was Jan´s last thought just a second before his shoulder hit the glass panel, unbeknownst to him, right at the spot, where Yanmei put a crack into it earlier.

At first, nothing really happened, outside of the dull numbing pain what shoot from the writer´s shoulder to the rest of his arm, however two seconds later larger cracks started to run from the original one, quickly covering one whole wall of the tank.

“Yeah, definitely stupid idea...”

Yan muttered as the glass exploded, covering him with hundreds of shards, before powerful wave swept him away. With his eyes full of water he somehow managed to grab Astraea´s tail, clinging to it as if it was the only lifebuoy on a raging sea.

[Fox]

Apparently, Yanmei had heard her wrong. Astraea smiled wryly. Her go getter attitude was quite charming. The little human bounced up to the tank eagerly and slammed her mace against it, bonking it against it repeatedly. Hm. A sturdy thing glass was. Astraea made a mental note of it for later. Mei got distracted with another guard, taking him down several pegs.

Where Mei had failed, Jan took up the veritable torch. He grabbed one of the guards’ batons and rammed it into what Astraea could now see was a fracture in the glass. At first, Astraea was disappointed in Jan. But in the next moment, cracks had spread to the entire tank. Ah. Well done. She gave him one little clap to congratulate him. The rest of the applause was interrupted by the tank bursting open in a roar of water.

Astraea felt Jan grab onto her tail as a massive wave of water washed the both of them away. She lunged out and hooked an arm around Mei as they and the water crashed into her. There was really only one thing to do at this point. Swim! Or well, she would have liked to. Astraea leaned down and snatched Jan up off her trail by his jacket, tucking him and Mei both unceremoniously under her arms. She was then free to rocket off the side of the Fountain and dive into the ocean with her two new friends in tow.

SPLASH!

Once she was back in the wide open sea, Astraea felt a lot calmer. She took a moment to just enjoy that fact until the idle thought trailed into her brain. Oh. Humans couldn’t breathe underwater, could they? With a quick flick of her tail, she brought them all back up to the surface. She took care to have both of their heads above water.

“There we go. It slipped my mind that humans could drown, don’t you know?” Astraea laughed, an odd sound more like a growl than anything else, “Well, where would you like to go now? I could carry you both away, but at night you might drown and then become shark chow!”

Astraea could probably carry them a fair distance, but eventually she’d get tired and need to rest. Humans were pitiful swimmers, so she doubted that they’d be comfortable waiting eight hours while she got some shut eye just treading water. So… something like a boat? There were many docked at the other side of the Fountain. Hm-hm. Of course, if they wanted to go their own way, she understood.

---

Astraea Alma Hadal | Dark Slate Blue (#483D8B) | Post Count: 10

[Vio]

^{Yanmei #10}

---

Krr… Krr— Crash! Sometimes, reacting swiftly was easy. At others, it was impossible. This was one of those other times, as Jan’s bizarre strike finished the work that she had started. Within mere fractions of a second, tiny chips had spread into wide cracks, and water weight did the rest of the work. The mighty sound of glass breaching and the torrential tide that spilled forth from Astraea’s partial prison was deafening. The next thing Zhu Yanmei knew, she was being swept along like a jellyfish in the waves, managing to take a breath before the waters hit her with a force that threatened to knock the wind right back out again.

Wild waves swept them along, Mei’s eyes mostly closed as she adjusted to the sudden coolness of the waters. As luck would have it, something anchored her — an arm wrapping about her midsection and holding her tight. Sheer tidal forces tossed and turned, but purchase prevented her being battered, soon finding herself in more tranquil waters as she let her eyes open. Salty tang pressed against nostrils and lips as she took in the sights of what was beneath the waves, but bodily needs soon complained.

^Splosh!

“Aheck! Bleck,” the green-eyed girl spluttered, spitting out saltwater that had managed to find its way up her nose and into her mouth before finally sucking in a lung full of sea air. Much of her hair now clung about her face and neck, soaked through, with tight buns somewhat scruffed up by the turbulence. She’d managed to maintain a tight grip upon her weapon — all her mentor’s training had come in handy. All the same, she was now somewhat at the mercy of Astraea’s grip.

^{“Hmph!” Yanmei nodded with determination:
“I have no idea! But not here!”}

---

SPOILER: Click to show

{Post Synposis:}
_{Yanmei and Jan are swept away by the waters, but Astraea grabs hold of them and carries them to the safety of the ocean!}

---

Zhu Yanmei | #301934
Jan Sela | #7851a9
Astraea Alma Hadal | #483d8b
Astraea’s Host [NPC] | #e6e6fa
Miscellaneous [NPC] | #eeeeee | #bbbbbb | #888888 | #555555

[Mr. Moon]

Jan #10

Water, cold water was everywhere. Thanks to his heritage Jan had respectable endurance, but he was never a good swimmer. Actually, he avoided water, especially the salt and cold one as much as he could. So, when the tank broke and he was swept away by large wave, the writer grabbed Astraea´s tail and clung to it, like if it was the only thing between him and death. With his eyes tightly shut, he didn´t see Astraea or her hand reaching to him and so, when something grabbed his body and tried to pull him away the panic kicked in and he fought, briefly, yet aggressively, before he realized what´s going on and let the mermaind to safe his life.

“Ahem...Ahem...”

With his head safely above the surface, Jan cleared his lungs from the water that found it´s way in during their improvised escape.
“Well, that was something...ummm, miss Astraea, sorry about what I did in the water, I am...not very fond of swimming so...ahm...is your hand alright?”

The young novelist asked, trying to talk through the mix of guilt and shame, before the ladies changed the topic of their discussion towards more pressing matters. What to do now? Well he had to admit, that this question was rather urgent and so, when his companions didn´t offer any ideas, he presented his.

“Well, originally I wanted to take you both on a tour of the Fountain, but with the way we left I think it would be better to avoid that place for time being, so what about the cruiser that took me here?”

He pointed towards large ship, that was anchored at a nearby dock.

“Afraid of pirates, captain hired bunch of mercenaries as additional security so we should be safe there.”

Jan paused for a moment, letting the ladies chose for themselves, before he added one more question. Normally, he wouldn´t care, but since she technically saved him, he felt obligated to ask about her opinion.

“And by the way miss Atraea, I don´t know if I mentioned it, but I am writer, novelist to be precise, working on a story about lovesick assassin, who repented because he fell in love with a beautiful mermaid that was however kidnapped by his previous boss. I….bloggglbi pfffff...cursed water...”
He muttered as a mouthful of ocean interrupted his speech.

“Uhh, well what I am trying to say...I was agonizing for a weeks over her character since I never met real mermaid in my life, until now, so would you mind if I used you as a template for her?”