The car door is slammed shut as Althea's mother, cradling Althea tightly in her arms, ran into their perfect little home with the white picket fence and freshly mowed lawn and dropped her onto the plush cushions of their couch. Althea noticed that her mother's hair was in tangles from sliding her fingers from the top of her scalp to the back continuously on the car ride back to the house and now as she moaned in fear and muttered to herself crazily. The blanket wrapped around the bottom half of her body had twisted into uncomfortable knots to sit on and frowning in discomfort as her mother paced the room, she used her tiny hands to disentangle herself. Underneath was one long, scaly tail like that of a fish. Althea heard her mother yelp with surprise and ripping the blanket out of Althea's hands she placed it back over, though sparing her the discomfort of having it wrapped around.Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. The house grew quiet and Althea quietly watched as her mother scurried to the door and looked through the peephole to see who was calling. Every muscle in her body seemed to come undone and Althea sat up a bit straight to look more closely at her mother, afraid that she may fall to the floor her body was so relaxed at that moment. Her long, elegant fingers fumbled with the lock and throwing open the door, Althea grinned her three-year-old smile as her father walked in. His face seemed tense and forcing a smile for Althea's comfort and the sake of her frazzled mother, he walked over to the couch and lifted up the blanket. She watched his eyes close as if to force away the sight and dropped the blanket back down. "I thought I told you that Althea wasn't allowed to go to that party Cleo..." His voice was terrifying it was so low and dangerous and Althea looked to her mother, hoping that her apology would be translated through her face when her mother looked at her. "I know darling but she is also our little girl. We can't keep her locked up forever because of what she is. I brought towels to keep her dry but this mean little boy pushed her in when I wasn't looking and I-..."
"And that is exactly why we must keep her inside!" Althea's father's face became bright red and storming to the other side he had his fists clenched angrily on either side of his broad frame as if he were imitating a plank of wood. "You are beyond lucky that no one saw her because if they did, you and I would be up to our eyeballs in a media frenzy and doctors who would steal her away to experiment on her!" His voice was steadily rising and Althea felt her lower lip quiver before she finally dissolved into pitiful tears. The effect was immediate and both of her parents calmed themselves, looking in opposite directions out of personal shame. It would be like this for most of Althea's life because when she was three years old something had happened at the beach while she had played by the water and from that moment on if she got her legs wet, minus her feet, Althea would grow a long fish tail the color of what one would imagine an explosion of sapphires and emeralds would look like. Her parents were careful to keep her locked away as best they could and when she went out, Althea was forced to wear long pants and carry a towel with her at all times. The peculiar behavior scared away many potential friends but people soon became accustomed to her behavior and discovered that she had a bubbly personality and was growing into a very enchanting face and figure. As she continued to grow, her parents began to grow more relaxed as there had been few incidents since that day at the pool party when Althea was young but unbeknown to them, Althea could not keep from the water. From the day she could ride the bus on her own, Althea had been sneaking away to the very beach that had changed her and exercised her mermaid abilities...
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The sand oozed like mud between Althea's toes as she took in a deep breath of the salty air of the ocean. It was a perfect day for a swim. The clouds were few and far between and not a soul could be seen for miles around which meant that even if there was a sudden arrival of beach goers, Althea could escape with relative ease. Shimmying out of her swim shorts, Althea prepared herself to count to ten. It took around ten seconds for her body to transform and were she to be beached then it would take an impossibly long time before she could drop off into the water. A small wave lunged for her ankles, missing by the slightest lack of momentum and Althea took it as her sign to run. Her legs pumped beneath her thin frame and as each number ticked by in her mind, her heart raced faster, unsure if she was going to make it to the drop off. Just as her tongue clicked against the top of her mouth to finish the dreaded number nine though, Althea jumped and sank into the watery abyss of the ocean. The ocean embraced her like a long lost child and Althea felt her legs fuse together with a flash of heat before forming into it's glistening tail. Pushing against the wave, Althea surfaced to gain a deep breath of air and giggled to herself, celebrating her rebellious act against her parents. There was only so much they could stop her from doing and she felt her heart flutter every time she thought of her parents discovering her swimming around for all the world to see. But Althea simply could not stay away from the water. Sometimes, it felt like her true home. Not on land with false connections to others around you and cars constantly honking like geese during migration. All one really needed was themselves and the ocean. That was happiness. Althea crossed her arms into a fine point and arching her back she dived beneath the oncoming wave and waved her tail behind her, gliding through the water like a bullet, the bubbles being the only trace of where she had gone. Her arms grew tired after half an hour of being molded into one shape and relaxing them by her side she pumped her way up to the surface and began to tread water gracefully, completely unaware of the danger nearby.
((PM me to continue! I have other ideas, starters, and RPCs if you care to see or hear of them and I would love to hear from you. Have a wonderful day!))
