[DNP] a journey through life ; just over the horizon

[chunkypeanutbutter]

THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE FOUND THERE .

my post readoption


by the lovely cherrydoge !

well , now that we're here... let's explore


delmonte - he / him - form : chunkypeanutbutter - art : credits page

[chunkypeanutbutter]

[chunkypeanutbutter]

a

just off the sunny coast of Isla
Vera Terra, my home. That old
quaint piece of the world, unk

own to the general public and my own private slice of heaven. But it might be an
annoying place to grow up, if you don't like being all by yourself save for a few li
ttle animals here and there. It's very quiet out on the open ocean, save for little
seagulls flying overhead. Personally, I really have always enjoyed spending the si
lence by myself, but it's certainly not for everyone. Anyways, no matter how you
grew up in childhood -- I can guarantee it wasn't as weird and turbulent as mine.

before I woke up alone, parentless, mermaid-ified... there was a great storm gro
wing up above. I might have been on a cruise, or some type of party boat -- all I
remember, though, was that deep gaze staring into my soul as I fell off the boat
and sunk into the deep ocean, as if whoever it was trying to pull me back with s
-heer will power alone. Or perhaps, it was just pure shock. Either way, those int
-ense dark eyes haunt me even to this day. I have no idea why I feel this way...

[chunkypeanutbutter]

If I'm completely honest with you...I'm not completely sure, myself. I just kind of..woke up and there
it was. All I know is, I woke up one day in the middle of the ocean on a crate of oranges, and
something about me felt very different. I forgot how to read. I forgot my own name, and I ha
d to start all out from scratch about who I was. If I used to be good, or evil, I couldn't tell you
anything about that. All I know is I'm Delmonte, I woke up in the ocean one day mysteriously
with a mermaid tail, and I've been floundering for answers pretty much my whole life.

I'm not sure exactly how we got separated, but it must have been related to the storm. I had no full
recollection of my memory prior to that, and I didn't even know what my first name was. In the end, I
just adopted the name on the box I drifted in on as my own ... 'Delmonte'. "

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I'll start from the very beginning. When I first woke up on the ocean, I was a bit confused and shocked. The single
piece of driftwood I clung to held me floating just above the water's surface, only a few small waves flowing over
me as I gently bobbed in the water. Although the ocean seemed calm, and it was a bright sunny morning, I remem
ber the intense rush of fear as I looked all around me and saw nothing but horizon -- no land formations anywhere
in sight. I panicked for half an hour, desperately trying to paddle in one direction trying to get a glimpse of an isla
nd or some kind of solid land I could get some footing on. While this box kept me out of the water for now, it wou
ldn't be long for me to eventually tire and sink. I-I can't breathe underwater, after all ... I kept thinking to myself.

The doggy paddling I realized wasn't going to work out too well for me, and calming down after the initial shock, I
realized I could probably just...try moving my legs in a way that will actually get me somewhere. And that was wh
en I realized...I didn't have legs. I had...one weird, leg...wait, did I lose a leg?? Why can't i separate my legs?! The
panic returned and I floundered around hopelessly kicking around, wildly. I fell off the box and sunk into the wate
r, ocean water filling my lungs. I coughed for a moment and realized I could still breathe. It sent my head into a w
ild whirlwind, wondering what the hell even had happened to me. The sudden realization that something was just
not right left a nagging feeling in the back of my head, but I couldn't for the life of me remember anything about
myself. The box sagged pathetically in the water, the plastic covering finally tearing down against the constant fr
iction of waves. A bright orange text flashed in a language I no longer knew how to speak, but i tugged it along w
ith the last usable bits of wood, and swam myself along the current to look for somewhere to put my mind back t
ogether. That night, I ended up sleeping on a coral reef bed not too far from the surface -- I was still terrified th
at I might wake up and have to breathe air again, just as quickly as I had been transformed.

I followed along the current that next morning, tiredly trudging through the water looking for land. Even if I'd ne
ver be able to set foot on sand again, there was still something I felt comforting about it. The ocean was fun, but
it was starting to really make me nervous as time went on. A few dolphins chittered around me, nudging me arou
nd annoyingly and trying to get me to play games with them...I wasn't having it, and continued along my journey.
After a few hours, I spotted it -- a little green gem bobbing up against the water. I didn't know her name yet, but
there lay Isla Vera Terra, a beautifully lush island populated with the world's most colorful and dramatic wildlife.

I circled around the island for a moment, until finally coming upon a little cove nestled in the cliffside. A bright,
tattered sunshade lay almost waiting there for me as I breathed a sigh of relief. I laid down into the soft, white
sand, and fell asleep with the waves lapping over my back.

As I slowly stirred from my midday nap, I sleepily looked around at my new surroundings and felt a sudden pang
of terror in my heart. No one's around...oh my god, no one knows I'm here. Does anyone know I'm even missing?
Will anyone ever come here, looking for me? ... When was the last time I had something to eat? As these words
came into my mind, I suddenly felt a deep growl in the pit of my stomach. The adrenaline had carried me all th
e way out here, but now I was starting to feel weak with hunger. How am I supposed to make myself something
to eat? Am I going to have to...hunt and eat raw fish? Looking around the cove, I didn't see anything left behind
that I could possibly use to cook myself some food. Well, I guess I'm going to have to give this a shot anyways...

I instinctively took a deep breath of air before I plunged myself back into the water, and clumsily swam around l-
ooking for an easy target. Suffice to say, I wasn't exactly the most skilled hunter. I spent a good few hours trying
to hunt down the slippery fish, but I was a terrible swimmer and they could see my dark body flashing colorful pi
nk scales in the water, hiding before I even got a chance. Eventually I had scared off all the fish in my general ar
ea, and I was still really hungry. Tired, I sunk down and rested on a reef bed in defeat. I sighed a few bubbles of
disappointment and wallowed for a moment, before I saw a quick flash of orange. A big goldfish darted around,
almost tauntingly, swimming in and out of the reef. I tried barking at it, and strangely it tried to bark back. We

stared in stunned silence at each other for a moment, and suddenly the fish charged right at me and scared the
living hell out of me. I swam out of the reef, and the little goldfish circled around me excitedly like a weird sca
-ly dog. It blinked at me a little, slowly, and I felt as though it wanted to be friends with me. I led the little guy
back to my cove and gave him a little bed of anemone and seaweed to rest in. I decided to name him Pish, and
he would be my only companion in the years to come. Over time, he taught me how to hunt for fish the right wa
y, where they liked to hide, and how to sneak up on them without giving myself away. I learned that deepsea hu
nting was the way to go for me with my dark scales. We grew very close, and he kept me from insanity at times.

I got very used to swimming around the island, taking in all the sights. There wasn't much to see after a while,
and despite the beautiful scenery I lived in, there wasn't a lot of variation. The birds' singing grew to be a grea
t annoyance. The sea churned with discontent, and on my 19th birthday -- the one I had been attributing onto
the day I woke up in the ocean -- the sea gave me a message, and it was clear. The sky turned an inky black in
a few hours and I soon found myself facing a bad storm slurring the water. It was a hurricane, and it was mad.

I buckled down with all my might and swam to the deepest part of the cove that I possibly could. I gripped on
-to a rock for stability and pulled myself close to it. The cove had been layered with a greenish moss that cov
ered most of the cliffside, so my paws slipped around desperate to find a good hold. I felt the wind blowing w
ater off my back as the sea churned restlessly, the tide being pulled back further and further as the storm app
roached the little island. I felt a sickening feeling in my stomach as I remembered Pish, and reluctantly let go
of my hold on the rock to see if he was okay. I found him huddling under a reef a few meters out, and joined h
im under some fallen driftwood on the reef. The storm was a powerful enemy and rippled the waves around us
so violently that I realized there would be no choice but to be pulled out further into the ocean. Scooping up
Pish between my paws, I swam deeper and deeper out into the open ocean to get away from the storm and pr-
otect ourselves. A rough tide threw me deeper and deeper into the ocean, pulling into the blackness of ocean.

I found myself blinded by the dark. My eyes were having a bad time adjusting, and I realized I could see neither
the surface nor the bottom of the ocean. There were no coral reefs down here, mostly only...darkness. I shiver-
ed in the cold of the dark water, and looked around to see if I could recognize anything about where I was now.
I blinked several times and looked aimlessly for hours, to no avail. Surely the storm should be over by now, but
here I was more lost than ever. Pish swam circles around me, worried about my sudden change in mood. The de
-ep ocean belched from below as a few massive air bubbles floated up around us. I took one and shoved Pish in-
side to keep him contained, and continued along our way to get back home. This was starting to get scary...

I felt a familiar presence lurking around, somewhere. Not quite able to put my mind to it. The image from the
clouds of the skull face lingered in the back of my mind, reaching for answers to my questions. Is this just pure
chance, or does it seem more like...I was summoned here? How far away even am I from home? Will I ever get
out of this weird place? ...Wait, where's Pish..? He was...here a moment ago..." The feeling of panic settled in
again as I realized he'd been lost again. I still couldn't see very well in the dark yet and it was so hard to make
my way around here. I looked under every rock and cranny -- no signs of a little orange fish, though. My heart
raced faster and faster as I felt the loneliness coming back to me. My little fish...gone...a battleship I'd never
seen before loomed ahead. I wondered if he'd gone to explore over there...what a weird spot to leave a boat.

There was another deep belch from the ocean floor, and many hot bubbles raced past me as I swam closer to
the boat. They almost stung a bit on my skin and I yelped a little in pain as a big one passed through me and
trapped me inside. The strangely hot air made me nauseous, but I bounced it forward until I reached the hull
of the ship and popped it on a sharp jutting piece of wood. It was a weirdly thick membrane and made me w
-orry about what kind of creature would produce bubbles like that. I didn't have much time to worry, though,
as a dark figure rushed at me from inside the ship. I felt myself pinned against a rock, suddenly hearing a de-
ep grinding voice mutter, "...Oh...you're not the...Sorry, sir, mistook you for someone else." He swam back a
bit, and I gasped when I got a good look at his face. I had forgotten how to speak, though I thought ..."He lo-
oks exactly like the vision I've been having!" My mind spun wildly. The merkal gave me a confused look.

"What do you mean, 'I look like your vision'?" He finally said. "I think you're the one who looks like me. Are we
related?" It was my turn to give him a confused look. "...You haven't seen yourself yet, have you?" I shook my
head no. What does he mean? It's not possible for someone to look at themselves...this merkal was so weird.

He sighed and led me around to the inside of the ship. There, he pointed at a reflective piece of glass and
told me to look at it. I floated over and was shocked to see a kalon was trapped inside! I grabbed a big piece
of coral and lobbed it at the glass, and the mysterious merkal just yelled at me angrily. "What'd you do that for,
ya big lug?? That's my only mirror! Gaaaah!" He put his paws onto his face. "That...that's not a kalon in there.
That's you, ya big goofball. You look like me. I think..we're related, somehow. Don't know how you're here, but.."

He hastily waved me over and told he to come with him deeper into the wreck. "Oh...my name is Bath, by the
way." he grumbled. "...it's short for Balthemis, but, ugh, that's such a handful and...I'm not even sure if you're
smart enough to properly pronounce it anyways." I thought to myself, wow, this guy is just kind of rude. He on
ly snorted back to say, "Yeah, well. Sorry I'm not the most friendly to kals who break things in stranger's houses."

He...seems to have some sort of power here. I feel his aura radiating with something that stirred bad feelings
deep in my gut, and Bath, seemingly able to guess his thoughts, continued on to blab on about his discomfort
with his job. "It's...it's not easy being the prince of the abyss...everyone expects so much of you. But it's hard
to really get a grasp on who I am, you know? It's so lonely out here in the ocean. I don't have that many friends.
I guess...something did summon you here for a reason. Or maybe I was just bored building hurricanes with all
my free time. ...You, you didn't see too much of that, right? I'm not supposed to be sending storms out without
telling anyone first. My magic isn't even strong enough to make one without fizzling immediately, anyways.

I decided not to tell him about the storm I was in. Well, not like I remembered how to, anyways.

"Oh...it worked?" He sat up giddily in the dilapidated throne he had been moping around in. "Ah...that means
I'm going to get in a lot of trouble, I bet." he tapped one claw on the armrest with unease. "I'm glad you're ok."

I don't really know what's happening anymore. Does this guy think he knows me or something? Bath was looking
him up and down every few minutes, perhaps trying to determine if they were really related as he said before.
"I think you definitely look familar. There's really only one way to know for sure, though...come with me."

He led me to the other side of the boat, to a strangely dark room and pointed to the floor. As I turned around,
I noticed there was a massive cave jutting up from under the boat. Years of decay had formed the boat on top
of a rocky hill that sunk even deeper into the ocean floor. It was completely pitch black, and almost seemed t
o emanate darkness, spilling out into the room around it. I took a deep breath, and slowly tried to back out of
the room, but Bath grabbed my arm and kept me from moving any further. Something I sensed was dark energy
in there, and I didn't want any part of it, but he looked me deep in my eyes. "You need to stare into the cave."

Wh...what's that supposed to do to me? The sickening feeling grew even more. It felt like I had a physical lump
in my stomach. "Just...trust me. It'll help you see better in the dark, too, so you might as well. You only have to
do it once. I don't want to do it at all! I cried out silently. He shook his head at me. "If you don't do it, I'll have to
assume you're here to spy on royal procedures, or to assassinate me. I gotta know if we're actually related some-
how. This is the only way to test it." I stepped closer around the hill, my eyes fastened shut. "Oh, one thing, um.
If we're not actually related, you'll...go blind. Sorry. But, I don't think that'll happen...heh..."

My eyes snapped open out of fear and I caught a glimpse into the cave. I felt it pulling me deeper and I suddenly
couldn't help but stare into it. A thousand whispery voices spun around me, crinkling like dry autumn leaves tell-
ing me all the dark secrets the ocean has, and probably ever will, see. I stood there gazing deep in the cave, my
own face peering back at me with wide, whitish eyes piercing my soul. Everything I had ever known came crashi
ng back to me and I fell to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably, and I felt Bath's cold paws pulling me back into the
other room. "I--I--I--", I whispered, surprised by the soft pitch of my own voice, "what..what was..why did you.."

"See? I told you you'd be fine." Bath chuckled quietly to himself. My face...my eyes...felt different. I could sudd
enly see in the dark, and in that moment I knew here was where I was meant to be. My brother stood staring at
me with pride, and finally he knew this would be his last night alone in the deep ocean. It was Balthemis, and his
younger brother Prudentia, the heirs to the abyss. Fates were reuniting us together for some reason, but I felt a
little uneasy about this life we were supposed to be destined to live. I could feel his gaze soften as he read what
I was about to say. "But...this is a lonely lifestyle. I don't feel comfortable being royalty. I think I want to live my
life as humbly as I did before." I could feel his heart sink. "But..we're brothers. We have so much to catch up on!"

"Yes, that's all well and good, but..." I sighed. "Haven't you ever been to the surface, before? Have you seen the
land before? It's beautiful out there. Down here, there isn't much to see. I wish I could tell you what I know..."

Bath sighed wistfully. "No, they...they don't let me leave here very much. I have only heard stories. I...collect a
few earthly treasures that sink down here, for my collection, but...I don't get to see what's out there much."

"Would you like to come see it with me?" I said, nudging him gently. "I know a beautiful, small island we can go
see. No one has to know, and besides," I said, looking down at my faithful Pish. "We have a little guard dog here."

"Um...if you...say so??" he blinked in confusion. "Will you, uh...promise no one touches my plastic spork collection?"
Pish bubbled in agreement, and nestled himself on the pile, making small bark-like chirps to prove his loyalty.
"By the way...did you ever figure out your real name?" Bath looked at me, hopefully. "Uh..." I thought for a moment.
"It's...it's Delmonte." Screw my real name, I thought. I've been going by that for 18 years, and I'm definitely not
planning on ever stopping. Bath and I skirted gracefully to the surface, talking and laughing about new memories
and old, and I could soon feel the sun on my skin again. The beautiful white sands of Isla Vera Terra stood out in
front of us. I was finally starting to feel at home again, and hopefully I wouldn't ever feel alone again.

I was at home here, and always will be my first love -- the land.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[chunkypeanutbutter]

end credit sequence plays

for all the lovely ppl who helped me <3

x by cherrydoge
x by missing x
x by bookbite
x by hellyboo
x lineart by chaoszebra

balthemis owned by neondisaster

all other art by chunkypeanutbutter

♪ Ocean man, take me by the hand, lead me to the land that you understand
Ocean man, the voyage to the corner of the globe is a real trip
Ocean man, the crust of a tan man imbibed by the sand
Soaking up the thirst of the land
Ocean man, can you see through the wonder of amazement at the oberman
Ocean man, the crust is elusive when it casts forth to the childlike man
Ocean man, the sequence of a life form braised in the sand
Soaking up the thirst of the land
Ocean man, ocean man
Ocean man ♫

♪ ♫ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♪ ♫ ♩

♩ Ocean man, take me by the hand, lead me to the land that you understand
Ocean man, the voyage to the corner of the globe is a real trip
Ocean man, the crust of a tan man imbibed by the sand
Soaking up the thirst of the land
Ocean man, can you see through the wonder of amazement at the oberman
Ocean man, the crust is elusive when it casts forth to the childlike man
Ocean man, the sequence of a life form braised in the sand
Soaking up the thirst of the land
Ocean man ♪

took some inspo from ;
- the little mermaid
- castaway
- the lyrics of ocean man h h