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[Stormowalf]

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Username: Stormowalf

Name: Valerian

Gender: Female
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[Stormowalf]

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I once swam free in the wild oceans,
So young and so carefree,
My great tail powering me forward,
Against the currents of the sea,

I once sang in tune with the sirens,
Humming along with their enchanting tunes,
Long before those cruel things came
And split my home in two...

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The sailors murmured nervously among themselves as they got closer to the dumping grounds, a patch in the ocean where humans had been tossing their mountains of rubbish and rivers of chemical oils into the ocean for as long as any of them could remember.
The grounds had been peaceful and the ideal place for them to rid of all the unwanted junk for decades, but no longer could they venture out so easily... Terrible things had been happening. If a boat left the dock, none would come back. The ship was usually left stranded at sea, in pieces and the crew all missing.
The trembling sailors continued to dart their eyes around, jumping at every wave and bump that rocked the boat.

"Lower the anchor! We've arrived," the gruff looking captain yelled.
The sailors wobbled up one by one as they looked around.
There were many ships floating on the surface, some were untouched, but some were practically torn to shreds.
They whimpered. How could they be sure their boat wasn't going to be next?
So the stories were true, they all thought to themselves, but how about that... Monster?

The monster.
The urban legend.
The myth that haunted every sailor's dreams.
People said that a large shark-like creature was the one causing all the trouble. Others argued that it was a large mer-dog. But none could confirm the tales, for none that had seen it up close lived to tell the tale.

"What are yer' doing lads!" The captain growled, "let us quickly be done with our business, we don't have all day,"
One of the crew members piped up in protest,
"B-But... Uh.. Sir.. Captain, h-how about the... Uh monster?"
"Blasted nonsense I tell yer! You lot have been clouding yer minds wit all this Tom foolery! Knock some sense into yer, lads! Prolly just some scumbag that's tippin boats and takin people to scare wimps like you," he grumbled, "now get on wit it!"
The crew whispered among themselves again as they sluggishly began working away, dumping all the sludge into the murky waters.

All was quite and calm, until a sailor began frantically screaming in horror.

"Drip... Drip... Tap... Tap..."

The crew didn't have to see to know what the man was screaming about. The sailors began saying their prayers as they slowly made their way to the end of the boat.
They peered into the dark waters
And a pair of murky pink eyes stared back.

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It had been 30 years...

The young queen's eyes glazed over as she slumped hopelessly on her throne. The intense vitality that once coursed through her impressive frame was practically missing, washed away like the footprints on the sand. Valerian's home - the deep sea palace was eerily silent, apart from the occasional swish of a sorrowful merkal's tail.
Her mind couldn't help but dwell on how lively the palace once was, bustling with fish and mer-kalons from different corners of the ocean, chatting and dining and dancing along to the luxurious symphony that the court band played. Valerian's tired eyes softened as she got up from her cracked throne, swaying along to a song that once echoed through the empty halls. Her artificial laughter briefly brightened up the scene, but a pale, lonely spotlight quickly melted away the pitiful facade. She let out a loud wail as she wept at the foot of her throne, she had let down her people.

"I wish I could have saved you all, please forgive me" She wept hopelessly.

But what else could the young queen do?
It was simply not her fault.
The humans, those two-legged demons living by the seaside were the ones to blame.

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The humans and the sea dwellers had lived in peace once. Neither had bothered the other and tended to their own businesses in their respective habitats.
But as time passed, the humans grew more curious, they began meddling in the vast ocean, the beautiful home of the various sea dwellers.
The kalons and creatures of the sea did not pay much attention to the measly humans back then, they had still stayed on the surface and as far as they were concerned, the kalons could not be reached.
And more time had passed.
Humans spent more and more time on the waters, it wasn't long before they had first begun dumping their trash into the seas.
Valerian was only a new Queen of the Kingdom when the sea creatures started choking and when the kalons came back drenched in a liquid they could not wash off.
No one in the kingdom knew what to do, all they could do was to rely on Valerian's queenly ability to slowly purify the water.
Eventually, even that grew useless. The humans were polluting the seas at the rate she simply couldn't keep up with. The Queen could not do anything to stop it, all she could do was watch her people suffer and one by one, leave her side.

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She didn't want to live on like this. She was a queen without a kingdom, a ruler without her subjects and what she would give to be able to change all that. Valerian had already lost hope, each day she spent rotting in the throne room, weeping foolishly of the things that she should have done.

"Drip... Drip... Knock... Knock.."

Valerian lazily looked up from her daze. The palace had been quiet for years, not one kalon or sea creature even came near the throne room, who dared to come now? Why today?
She mindlessly dragged herself towards the unfamiliar rhythmic sound but she couldn't shake off a certain ominous bad feeling.

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A dark murky paw stuck out from behind the door, its monstrous claws reaching out as if to grab her. Valerian slowly backed away from the door, she trembled in fear, feeling her muscles slowly freeze up. She couldn't help but suck in a jagged breath when the dark inky creature lurched forward from the shadows.
The creature had a sleek body of a weathered mer-kal, it's scales glinting in a sickly shade of gray. Foul-smelling sludge poured from the base of its neck where its head was supposed to rest. It was simply a mass of oil but she could make out figures of fish and paws of various kalons among the sea of the unknown that seemed all too familiar... It somehow managed to speak through all that... oil. It spoke in a raspy scream. Its head, its paws, even its fur leaked the same foul-smelling oil that killed all her companions.

"Val.. erian.. Queen of the s..eas... Listen... List...en to your people..." It crawled towards her, its oily pawprints staining the immaculate floor, "Can you hear their cries...? Can yo..u hear their... pleas..?"
The oily creature writhed around on the floor in pain, screaming and yelling as it reached out further toward the trembling queen,
"Valer..ian... Look at us now... Lo...ok at what we've become... a chrysalis... nothin..g like befo..re.. brok...en a...part.."

"Please... There hasn't been a day that hasn't gone by that I haven't thought about you all, please, there's so much I should have done..."
"Revenge on the ones that did this to us... the only way! Free us... free yourself... join us... become our queen once more!"
Valerian bit her lip at the suggestion, her vibrant eyes darting from side to side as she considered the offer.
All that she ever thought of day by day was avenging her friends, her people. They were wrongly taken from their homes, wrongly mashed together in the oily substance and wrongly turned into this... creature.
She knew that there would be consequences, becoming a part of a creature like this was indescribably wrong... But it seemed like the only possible way she could make things right.

"Do it," she cried out in sorrow, "I can live like this no longer, unite me with my people once more!"

The creature screamed in joy as it writhed some more. Its oily body began to slowly rise from the floor and a face peeked through the mass that sat on the creature's neck, a face that mirrored her own.
Oil-encased paws were grabbing her everywhere and the oil on the creature had slowly begun to seep into her pristine paws. Valerian looked down at her body one last time... before she was looking down at paws that simply weren't her own.

Tears welled at Valerian's eyes as the lonely blue spotlight on her faded away. She heard thousands and millions of voices calling to her, cheering as they welcomed the queen back into her eternal kingdom.

"Friends... It has been too long..."

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Now they were one again.
The kingdom, its people, its Queen. They were whole once more.
The creature flexed its paws as it slowly began to open its eyes.
The hoard never had had a body before, this was a new experience for all of them.
This body was strong, powerful, it was enough to hold all the souls of those apart of the hoard in quite a miraculous way.
The creature smirked as it swished its new, oily tail.

They need a name, they decided.
The hoard never had come to an official agreement on what to collectively call themselves.
It had felt right to do it now. Considering the circumstances.

Valerian? A powerful name, strength, health. But it was not fitting.
There was no "I" anymore, no individuals, only one, only one being to stop those that had first meddled with them.

...

Meddle? Yes, they thought, Meddle... It had a certain ring to it, did it not? Yes... Yes..

The hoard, now Meddle looked at their new form once more. They smiled as they felt the power course through their muscles. It was something they had never felt before, it had made them appreciate Valerian's addition to the hoard even more.

Honk... Honk..

Meddle yelled as it floated slowly to the floor, writhing in pain.
That horn, that blasted horn... It hurt them so much to hear it, for all of them knew that it meant more trash, more corruption was being poured into their home... And for many of them, that was the last thing they heard before...

Honk... Honk...

Meddle screamed in anger as it crashed through the door. They made their way outside into the vast water as they flapped their huge tail that propelled them upwards.
It was another dumping boat. Meddle could vaguely make out the figure of humans holding giant cylinders of oil and boxes of junk, tipping them both into the ocean.
Meddle quickly made their way to the surface. Their anger bubbled and boiled inside of them, this was their chance to fight back.

Meddle tapped gently on the side of the boat. They raised their head from the water as their eyes darkened in anger.

They floated menacingly on the surface of the water as tendrils of oil gripped onto their slippery scales.

"Foolish," Meddle's voice boomed, "You... You humans don't know when to stop..." They gritted their teeth.

The humans looked up at Meddle in fear, typical of humans... They are quick to fear the unknown... To roll over and show their bellies once they feel even the slightest amount of hostility.
The humans begged for forgiveness, they murmured empty words of promise and apology as they lowered their heads in a certain kind of remorse that only a human could fake.
It was sickening to watch such vile creatures lie just so they could live another day.

"Meddling in the business of the ocean... Throwing all of your junk in the ocean... Foolish, foolish mistake," Meddle listed their gaze, "Look upon me now sailors, for this will be the last mistake you shall ever make."

And so, the hoard, the kingdom landed their first strike.
Why don't they just talk it out with the humans you ask? There must be an easier way to cope, you say.
Coping? There was simply not even a possibility for them to "cope" with their situation, they were already leagues past talking with the humans and forgiveness.

For some only learn through punishment.
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[Stormowalf]

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As a person living in a sub-tropical climate, air conditioning is really important to help keep anyone cool. Everyone living here is used to use the air con a lot and in an effort to reduce the amount of energy I use, I've been using the air con less and less. I'm using the fan more often now since it uses a lot less energy than the air con C:
Besides, I've also developed the habit of using a towel to wipe my hands even when I'm outside so I use less tissues + paper towels.
I've also had the habit of reusing all my plastic bags, whether it be for storing little things inside my bag or when I go out shopping, I try to bring a bag (plastic or not plastic, I tend to bring both) so I don't get another plastic bag.
Though I feel like I'm not doing enough for the environment sometimes, I feel like every little thing counts into protecting the environment and I truly hope the ones around me will also develop that mindset as well!

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Thank you so much for reading my form, no matter who wins, I thoroughly enjoyed writing and had a blast developing a special character for this gorgeous kal. Good luck everyone 💕

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