[Yuroshi]

Sal
Squid

Flora? Fauna? Trip?

Sal would always try to be respectful of nature, and never would dream of purposefully disrespecting someone for no reason... but going to a mermaid cove seemed like the best sort of adventure. With a bounce in his step and a smile on his face, he skipped off into the woods on his way over to his destination. He didn’t really know what the plants he saw were called, but he stopped to admire them none the less! There was a multitude of different smaller bushes and shrubs, each it’s own unique shade of green, some even with flowers! There were hanging and climbing vines as well, sticking their tendrils of new life every which way for new things to latch onto. But his favorite plants? They were, of course, the trees. The trees were massive, reaching sizes tall and dense enough that he couldn’t see anywhere close to the top of the towering behemoths. Their bark was think and hardy, and their leaves the deepest jade. All in all, he loved it. Especially with all the creatures he saw! Most were insects, but Sal didn’t mind that one bit! He loved the way the dragonflies zipped through the spaces between branches, and how more stationary creatures blended with their environment. But he especially loved the butterflies- in this tropical land they could likely stay for all of, and their magnificent colors and sizes priced that they flourished.
All in all? Sal ADORED his trip through the forest, so much so that he said they even if he could never reach the cove, this was more than worth it... how could anyone not love it?

[Zailune]

Zailune | Octopi | Cosona


Cosona is feeling one with nature. Maybe she'd get further along in her trip if she didn't stop every time she saw an interesting specimen.

[FluffyBirdie]

FluffyBirdie | Team Squid | Sign up | Kalon/s present: Alania | 232 words
Prompt 7: How is the hike, and what sorts of flora and fauna do they encounter?

After hearing that they would be hiking through the forest to look for the mermaids, Alania was over the moon. The people here had warned her against wandering inside alone, and although she was quite certain that she would never be lost inside a forest, nor would she be defenseless against any predators or dangers within, she didn't want to antagonize her new friends. Plus, there was plenty of other trees and new plants to discover. So she had held off running into the forest and learning about this new environment. So having been given permission, Alania excitedly started the hike, and determinedly went alone, splitting away from the other kalons on the cruise in order to explore this new place alone. She had memorized the map and the direction she had to head in. And her internal compass had never been wrong before.
So the eager girl looked at every tree and flower, every bush and fern, not knowing their names but learning their 'faces', their appearances and texture. Expectedly, but also disappointedly, she couldn't approach any insects or animals, and if she had more time, she would be more than happy to sit and wait with some food for the shy creatures to come near her. But she was also curious to see these mermaids, having heard of them before, spoken as legendary creatures. She would love to see that.

[apprentice_]

rainichi / octopus / sign up / ruka
ft finn | mika | hira | reuben | atashi
To get to Mermaid Cove, first your kalon has to trek through the island's forest.
prompt 07: How is the hike, and what sorts of flora and fauna do they encounter?
( full response )
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“finn, for god’s sake, remind me not to go on trips with you anymore.” they’ve
been walking for thirty minutes and reuben is grumpy— but he always is, so it
isn’t truly saying anything of the situation.

“aww!” finn whines. “you hang out with lis so much and you don’t complain!”

“because lis doesn’t take me on cruises that break down in the middle of the
ocean and then make me hike through the woods.”

finn waves him off. “you’re having fun.”

“oh, hira!” mika drags his significant other by the arm, catches the attention of
the group. “look how pretty this flower is!”

“be careful, that plant is highly poisonous.” probably atashi’s first words all day.

“hm.” mika turns away and everyone collectively moves on.
hira checks mika’s hands, asks are you okay? despite mika insisting he hadn’t
touched the flower.

they all banter between each other while they walk— or ruka, finn, and mika
banter. atashi and hira hardly have a presence, and reuben never talks much in a
group. listening is enough for him, as it is for the other two, though atashi might
be lost in thought more than they are listening to anyone.

the forest is something a little different than any of them have seen before. in
finn’s hometown, and where ruka grew up, there’s a beach to one side, a forest
not too far off beside it, and the city in the opposite direction. finn and ruka
spent a lot of time in that forest as kids, and finn had dragged reuben off to it
occasionally in their adulthood. mika and hira traveled a lot, so who knows
where’d they’d been, and atashi had never actually been in a proper forest.

regardless of forest experiences, none of them had ever had one similar to this.
there were two things that made this hike interesting: one, that this was an awful
group of people. they were all very different, and before this had never all met.
there were really four groups here: ruka and atashi; ruka, mika, and hira (minus
their friend nora, who had opted out of the trip because “the ship is definitely
going to sink with a price that low” — who knew she’d be right); ruka and finn;
and finn and reuben. not as problematic as it could have been, because had nora
been here, she and reuben would have either argued to no end or alternatively
pulled a heist together.

secondly, this forest was. funky. nothing immediately off, maybe, but those flowers
are consuming each other, and that tree has a face just barely too distinct to be
just a tree, and oh! atashi spots a deer, but, is it a deer? they don’t say anything,
so when the group criticizes the hike it isn’t because the forest watches them but
because mika wore flats and the rock covered ground is hurting his feet, or because
ruka keeps tripping over tree trunks.

“actually,” ruka starts.

“actually?”

“where did mika and hira go?”

reuben halfheartedly shrugs. “they turned back. mika said he was thirsty. hira
carried him on his back.” very necessary detail.

“and when he said thirsty, he meant like…?” finn asks a forbidden question.

ruka shushes him, and promptly moves on. “y’all, i hate to be the foolish leader
character who leads everyone on an expedition only to get them all lost, but like.
i’ve no idea where we are. i’ve been hoping someone would say something for the
last ten minutes.”

“hey lil cousin bro.”

“mhm?”

“it’s all good!” the energy shifts dramatically. felt hostile for a good second. finn had
them in the first half. “you tried your best! that’s what matters, and not the fact
we’re lost in the forest and for no good reason because i haven’t even spotted a single
cryptid!” the tone remains friendly, but the words do not.

atashi still does not mention the deer.

“oh, good lord,” reuben’s eyes are rolling into the fourth dimension, “we’re going to
die in here.”

ruka objects and takes an anticipation filled step towards— nothing in particular,
seemingly. “no, if anyone was going to die here, it’d be you because you’re the only
one with a bad attitude!”

finn’s arm flies across reuben’s chest as a good friend does when their best bud is about
to start a fistfight.

“but yes, i genuinely have no idea where we are, this map probably isn’t professionally
made. that or i just can’t follow maps, but either is equally possible, so regardless, the
question remains: where are we?”

“we’re about 2.4 kilometers due east of the cove.” atashi speaks up twice in one day.
a miracle. everyone’s attention turns toward them.

finn blinks. “it really is easy to forget you’re here. anyhow, for one, heck yea, you’re the
best! and also, we’re all american, what does that mean?”

“that’s like, a mile and a half,” ruka answers. they get an inquisitive look in response,
and they continue, “atashi always answers in like, non american measurements. the rest
of the world measurements. i don’t know, and i don’t know why they do so, but i’ve
learned how to translate. more importantly, i’m the one holding the map, so. how do you
know that, atashi?”

reuben mumbles, “more importantly, we’re not going to die.” either no one hears him,
or everyone ignores him, which would be entirely fair and even he thinks to himself that’d
he’d ignore him too.

atashi points ahead. “i can see the shore.”

ruka nods. “ah, so what you’re saying is that we’re all blind.”

“yes, precisely, though only metaphorically. i’m sure all of you have perfectly working
eyes given your lack of medical eyewear.”

“i wear contacts and finn’s eyes suck but he refuses to go to the eye doctor.”

“i see. i’ll remember that.”

ruka refrained from their usual calling atashi a robot.

a moment of silence for their collective stupidity. ruka points them toward the cove,
marches forward, speaks up again. “well let’s go guys, gals, and nonbinary pals— ignore
that there are no gals here i just really wanted to say that, but we gotta go go go! if we
wanna get there before sundown! which is in about. . .” they check their phone.

“well, let’s just get there.”

__________________

 [ 1048 ]

[magpie!]

username: magpie!
prompt: To get to Mermaid Cove, first your kalon has to trek through the island's forest.
How is the hike, and what sorts of flora and fauna do they encounter?
sign up: here
team: squid

[Ethulai]

Prompt # 7 "Iꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴɴᴀ sᴇᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ sᴏ ʙᴀᴅ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ, ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ sᴀʏ I ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀʀɴ ʏᴏᴜ.
Mᴀʏʙᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ꜰɪsʜsᴛɪᴄᴋ Tᴏʀɪɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ʜᴀᴠᴇ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴡᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ᴜsᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴏᴀᴛ."
To get to Mermaid Cove, first your kalon has to trek through the island's forest.
How is the hike, and what sorts of flora and fauna do they encounter?

Not the kind of boobies he was hoping for...

[lovestruck]

looks like the plant life isn’t so friendly

[sobble]

gengar.
Team squid
Prompt #7:
Leave it to fawkes to get stuck somewhere

[sentimental]

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Syrilli hated this.

The ornery white haired kalon didn't hate much, but one thing was for sure-
he hated this. With a damn passion. The heat, the ache in his calves, the
swampy humidity of the forest- the damn Shark that sent him on yet
another errand on his stupid summer vacation.

He was so upset, he wanted to cry. Not only was he trudging through a
mini rain forest alone, he was also having to swat at bugs and chase the
sweat from his brows.

And for what?

For mermaids. He was doing all this to talk to some mermaids about ship
parts. Shivering in disgust as another bug flew remarkably close by his
mouth, he began to wonder if these mermaids would even want to talk.

While he wasn't remarkably surprised to find out they existed, (He and Lucien
were weird enough to warrant consideration for the supernatural) Syrilli also
had a very, very distinct feeling the mers did not want to interact with vacationing
cruise refugees if they didn't try to interact with the islanders.

Damn, was it hot. More than hot, actually. It was sweltering- Syrilli could not
remember the last time he had sweat to this extent.

He hated this, he hated hiking.

Sobbing angrily to himself, he began to whine internally.

He wanted Luci- where was Luci.

[223 words]

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sign - up || team octopodes ♡

[lovage]

fernmoon | sharkbait | team octopi | 201 words

the trees were alive with the sounds of birds chirping in the early morning. from how it sounded, the hike would be hard and long. sharkbait started her hike before dawn, causing a sleep deprived sharkbait. even in the early morning hours, she was still quite impressed by how alive the forest felt to her. the forest was quite dense with its undergrowth. the path that she was on was obviously one from an animal due to how it looked. the sun would be visible by that point in her hike; however, when sharkbait tried to face it, it wasn’t there.

something about the forest didn’t feel right for sharkbait. taking a look around, it seemed too quiet with everything in it was once alive. a huge shadowy figure stood in the way of the sun. it screeched with wings up in the air. it swooped down to harm her. sharkbait ran while it chased her. the bird screeched one last time before deciding to stop the chase then flying off. sharkbait kept on running to avoid any of those scary and territorial birds. hopefully, the cove would be worth the horrible parts like the long hike and chasing territorial birds.