[whim]

What does your kalon trade the mermaids to get the spare parts?

Iris seemed to have come to a roadblock. She was unable to retrieve the parts she needed, of which were at the hands of four dangerous-looking merkalons, of which wouldn't give them up without something in return. Iris didn't have much on her... Well, it was time to test how great her manipulation skills were.

Holding her fist behind her back, she remained confident, viewing her opponents in an amused fashion. "Oh... I suppose I do have something, but I'm not sure if you all could handle it..."

One of the kalons narrowed their eyes. "What do you mean? Don't you just have money or something normal?" They asked wearily.

Iris brought her palm in front of her, peeking into her hand, feigning a glare towards the kalon who attempted to get a peek. "Money? Oh, no, money couldn't possibly buy this... It's funny, an old witch gave this to me and ever since I've been feeling a strange... I don't know how to put it, power?"

The kalons perked up, looking at each other in silent communication. "We can take it off your hands." One of them spoke up, a devious grin on their face. "And you can have your parts or whatever they were."

"I don't know..."

"And we'll throw in these! They're made by the paws of a merkalon themselves." Another kalon reached out, placing a necklace of brilliant pearls around Iris' neck.

"Well... Alright. It's a deal. But, please be careful with it, I wouldn't want this getting in the wrong hands."

One of the kalons nodded eagerly, reaching out to retrieve the contents her hands held.

"Ah, ah. Parts first." Iris requested.

They complied, handing her what she had needed in the first place. She took the paw of one of the merkals, dropping the small item in their hands, and tucking their fingers over it so it was sealed. "It was a pleasure doing business with you all."

Iris remained cautious as she turned away, listening to the others. She let out a sigh of relief when she heard them gawking over the object, picking up her pace in swimming to return to the surface. Had they really never seen a paperclip before?

[Yuroshi]

Sal
Squid

Making a trade

Sal’s eyes lit up at the idea of having to barter with the beautiful merkals, and he immediately bounced back to his feet again.
“Oh, I have something that maybe I could trade for the parts! Just wait right here, I’ll be back, okay? I left it in my room!”
Without waiting for a response, he immediately took off running towards where he knew his bag was, giving only a wave to the now perplexed merkals before he was out of sight. By the time he reached the cavern after he’d gotten his bag and headed back with the added weight, he was incredibly winded. The merkals seemed amused as he flopped onto the ground in front of them so that he could look them more in the eye.
“Sorry... that took so long! ... but I have it here now, if you would like to see?” he questioned, statement broken slightly by his pauses for breath as he recovered. He watched them for a moment as they turned away to confer with one another, before they looked at him as one and Ares gave a distrusting nod. With a brilliant smile, Sal began rummaging through his bag, mumbling to himself until he found what he was looking for.
“Here it is!” he exclaimed as he drew out a tiny sculpture of a lioness, carved with careful detail and with inlaid glass eyes. It was created from stainless steel, each piece fitting in with another, and was set up so that she was proudly standing, front paw lifted. Sal blushed shyly at the merkals as he offered it to them. “Is this okay? It’s a lion! I made it myself...”
They happily exchanged the parts for the statue of what was, to them, a strange creature, chittering amongst themselves as Sal gathered up the parts.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have to go now so I can return the parts to the captain. But.. here,” he said as he pulled out a tiny lion cub and offered it to the merkals as well, “it wouldn’t be right to separate the baby from its mum. Take good care of them, okay? And maybe I can come back later and tell you about them? I hope you have a wonderful day!”
With a shy smile, Sal handed them the sculpture and began to head back to give the parts back to the rightful owners. The merkals remained staring at his back for a moment, wondering if his kindness, or maybe foolishness, to give up such pretty trinkets for nothing, and thought maybe, just maybe, this one wasn’t so bad.

[Lepid]

Fawkes anxiously waited on the beach for the mermaids to come. He was very excited to see if they were real since he had heard from many humans that they were in fact not real. He picked up a few of their scales and held them up against the sun. They shone beautifully and his heart just fluttered as he looked at them. He had never seen something so wonderful in his entire life. He picked up several that all had a rainbow-like reflection on them and put them in a zip-loc bag which in return was put safely into his bag that he put on his back.

Fawkes gasped when he saw the mermaids and was full of questions about them. Where did they come from? Do they have a civilization? Why do they hide from humans now? But the mermaids weren't very amused with Fawkes's child-like behavior and got down to business. They pointed out that they really liked his flowers that grew on him. They remarked that they were quite shiny and they had never seen anything like it before. Fawkes explained that he was actually an alien and tried to explain that the flowers were a part of him but they were only more fascinated in the alien-flower. They demanded he give them each 1 in exchange for 1 ship part each. Fawkes was very, very hesitant but finally caved and plucked a few off of him and exchanged them for the ship parts.

As soon as the exchange was done, the mermaids left. Fawkes looked sad as he rubbed his now flowerless areas that were sore. He didn't even get a chance to say goodbye, but at least he got the parts that they needed.

(290)

[fangsnfluff]

What does your kalon trade the mermaids to get the spare parts?(223/200)
As a god of luck, Cherry has always been... well, lucky. He had a habit of stumbling upon four-leaf clovers, coins, anything of the sort. Of course, he’d never really had much use for these. But the moment he saw these mermaids, surrounded by their glittering bottles and shiny scales, he knew. This was his chance. He reached a hand to his side for his coin purse and... nothing.
Ah yes, of course, he thought. It’s on my other side.
It was not.
Cherry spent the next several moments patting his pockets, checking his sleeves, everything he could think of in hopes of finding the coin pouch. He thought back to this morning, trying to remember how the day had started. He’d woken up, gotten ready, and left the ship all in a bit of a rush, so it was possibly he’d just left the coins in his cabin. Regardless, he had to decide on something, and fast. He dug around the few bushes he could see and found nothing of value. Maybe back in the forest?
He turned and hurried back into the tree line, grabbing the only remotely sparkly thing he could see: a beetle. Gross, but shiny. It would have to do for now.
He hurried back to the lagoon, beetle in hand, in desperate hope these Kalons would approve.

[fuiuki]

Prompt Eight: What does your kalon trade the mermaids to get the spare parts?

Oh, these mer-dudes wanted to trade for something shiny huh? Allison scratched her head, thinking hard. Did she have something shiny to trade away?

Certainly, she owned many shiny things. She owned many metal-studded armbands and earrings, and other such items, but she doubted the mermaids would like that very much... They were shiny, but not very SPARKLY or PRETTY. Besides, she didn't bring most of her collection with her anyway, so she couldn't trade those even if she wanted to... did she have anything else?

Scratching her chin this time, she thought about her brother Jackston. He might have something shiny or sparkly to trade off, but trying to get her brother to give anything of his up would be quite the challenge... He DID have his guitar which was quite colourful and flashy, but the chance of him giving THAT up was close to none, unless there was absolutely no other way to get those spare parts. Hmm...

Maybe she could... make or find something? Now that she thought about it, she HAD seen something shiny and sparkly recently... She could go back into the forest and try to find that tiny, shiny deer that had played a mean prank on her. She really did want to get her mitts on the mischievous scamp after all.

Her mind was set, and she ventured back into the collection of trees once more. This time, she wouldn't be tripped up by some magic critter and its illusions... or so she thought to herself. It didn't take long for her to notice a collection of glowing flames, just floating in mid-air. Confidently, she walked towards the flames, only to once again trip on a root and fall face first into more spiders. This time, they were real it seemed. Allison yelled.

An hour and a whole bunch of pranks later, Allison was practically steaming with anger and frustration. The tiny deer had showed its shiny face a few times just to tempt her, but always staying out of reach. The joke was on it however, as Allison had noticed a pattern in its pranking and movement. It couldn't stray far from the illusions it created, it seemed, though it could disguise itself as a bush or a plant while it performed its tricks. It took a few tries, but eventually, Allison managed to find the disguised prankster.

Struggling and shrieking like a glass singing and being shattered at the same time, the little creature was very upset at getting caught. Allison held firm however, resisting the temptation to squeeze just a tad too hard. She wasn't cruel after all, she didn't want to permanently injure the creature... After a minute or two of struggling, the critter seemed to realise the game was over, and hung its head in defeat. Like a clear bell singing in her head, Allison heard a voice speak.

"You have caught me, and I must admit defeat... For winning in this game of pranks, I will bestow upon you a prize, for you to let me go free in exchange," the voice rang. Allison had hoped for this; fey creatures often bestowed rewards to those who manage to outsmart them.

Allison made her request: something shiny and sparkly... like the antlers on the creature's head. The creature did not seem happy at this, protectively clutching its beautiful antlers, before realising that it would not get out of the situation intact. Bitterly, it handed over the antlers, and Allison let the tiny creature go.

Now she had something that the mermaids would hopefully enjoy, and trade her the spare parts for.

[trans]

❝ what does your kalon trade the mermaids ... ? ❞ - day 8 - team octopi - sign up
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[ ❧ ] at first, you have no idea what to offer the mermaids... most kalons, you think, would offer them coins and jewelry and the like, so they might be bored by something like that... but you dont really know what else you could gove them. surely they've already got anything they could desire already in their possession, so what could you possibly offer them that they would want?

you start looking around from where you are, hoping something around here might give you inspiration or an idea, or anything at all really... you look back up at the mermaids, and inspect them closely... and then you get an idea.

you slide off your watch from your wrist, and hold it firmly in your hands. not fancy by any means, but it's new, and that's the goal. you start shuffling through your pockets, and in one you find a rusty quarter that definitely looks like it's seen better days, but your reason for looking for it wasnt that it was pristine, it's that it's old.

you rifle through your backpack next, and after a minute or so, you carefully pull out a vibrantly colored coral piece from the depths of your bag. it's edges have been smoothed so that it can be held without hurting, and it's a brilliant blue color, almost the same color of the water itself, and... it was a parting gift from that kit with the treehouse... you hope they'll understand why you have to give it away, you think with a guilty glance towards the beach.

one last thing...- aha! you spot a feather, all kinds of colors and dazzling in the small ray of sunlight that manages to catch it, lying tucked away under some leaves, hidden almost completely from view. you carefully pick it up and inspect it, and then nod, and quietly thank whatever bird left this here. you hope they dont mind if u borrow it. er- permanently... (is it rlly borrowing then?)

okay... you approach the mermaids again slowly, and hold the items out in your hands. "for you, something old, and for you, something new..." you hold out the quarter to ellie, and the watch to torii. "for you, something borrowed, and for you, something blue." you then offer ellys the feather, and ares the piece of coral. the mermaids stare blankly at you for a moment...

and then they swim aways a bit, fan their tails out n hide themselves behind them as they form a circle and chatter amongst themselves, whispering so quiet that you cant possibly hear. it feels like hours (it was really only a couple of minutes, dont be dramatic), before they reveal themselves again and swim closer, while one of them stays behind and dives below the surface.

"we accept," they say unamimously, and ellys carefully takes all the gifts into her hands. right as she takes the last one from you, ares pops back up, the items in their hands. they hold out the things shark had asked you to retrieve to you, and you take them gratefully, and thank them quietly, before heading on your way.

as you leave the cove and the jungle surrounding it, you find you cant quite remember why you came out here, or where your watch went, but you shrug it off and head back to shark. he'll be glad you got the parts, at least. (you wonder how you got them though the whole way back.)

[sicknasty]

What does your kalon trade the mermaids to get the spare parts?

"... think they'll want a used tissue and a stick of gum?"

[Marsh]

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Prompt Eight - What does your kalon trade the mermaids to get the spare parts?

Kalon - Oxford xxxxxx Team - Octopi xxxxxx Word Count - 587 xxxxxx Sign Up - x

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“We want something in exchange, something shiny would do just fine.” the merkal had demanded at Oxford’s request for the spare parts that had floated on the tides into their lagoon.

“Or anything will do!” the nice one who had introduced herself as Ellys replied. At least Oxford knew one of their names, there would likely be a lot of bargaining ahead of him.

From Oxford’s knowledge, limited though it was, mermaids were territorial. Anything that they came upon in their waters instantly became theirs to do with as they wished, and in this case their inclination was to withhold the vital machine parts for the kruiseship. They were also notorious tricksters. Perhaps it was a game to them? A way of entertaining themselves by meddling with the new people they had discovered. Oxford knew Shark would not be pleased, however, if he returned without the components he had been sent for, so Oxford began to dig through his pockets to see what he could trade.

In front of him, he amassed a small pile of pocket bits including two coins, a safety pin, three guitar plectrums and plenty of lint, but nothing that the mermaids would be interested in. They would want something worth exchanging the parts for and pocket lint certainly wouldn’t cut it. Oxford could only think of one more thing that he could offer the mermaids but it required a trip back to the main section of the island.

“I’ll be right back!” he told them and then set off at a jog towards where he had been sleeping at night.

When Oxford returned, out of breath and a little bit sweaty, he carried with him an old guitar he had borrowed from one of his kruise neighbours.

“I offer my song in exchange for the metal parts. Mermaids of your greatness appreciate the art of music, right? Surely this is a worthy exchange?” Oxford proposed with a hint of flattery thrown in just in case they didn’t jump at the offer. He didn’t have to worry though because a smile graced the faces of even the grumpiest one - with some convincing from Ellys - and they all voiced their agreement on the trade.

So Oxford sang, his fingers strumming chords in rhythm along to his words. It was not a song of his invention, just one of the many he had committed to memory to sing for his friends, Desmond in particular: a simplified version of an Eagles song. It had fantastic chords that he embellished with fingerstyle picking as they echoed around the lagoon and carefree lyrics that reminded him of many a good road trip. When he had finished, the mermaids were briefly silent for a moment or two until the one named Ellys started clapping and the others nodded their approval.

“Fine,” said the first merkal, “we grant you the components you need. Thank you for imparting your song with us, Oxford.”

They held out the pieces but Oxford paused for a moment while he contemplated how on earth it could know his name despite him not sharing it, but he chose not to dwell on it and instead delayed no more time in bundling up all of the parts in his arms and leaving swiftly to return them to Shark following a series of farewells. Maybe, finally, Shark would be able to repair the boat... Oxford wasn’t complaining, though. He loved it here and would definitely be returning to the lagoon to learn more about the mermaids.

[☆ star child]

su | octopi

What does your kalon trade the mermaids to get the spare parts?

When first meeting the merkals, Antheia was unhappy. Angry, rude. even threatening - they weren't exactly the type she'd want to be dealing with, let alone trading with.
Now though they've perked her interest. It took a while to realise it but after a few hours of standing on the rocks and staring down at the clear waters where they flashed by every so often, she's realised that she cannot feel their love.
She doubts it's that they can't love at all. Maybe some, but she doesn't think that's it. It's not an absence, more of a physical blockage. It intrigues her - she's never met something that she cannot feel the love or heartbreak of. the prospect of dealing with them more, trading, talking, perhaps finding a reason, is too much for her to resist now.
So she sits for a while thinking and when she's decided, she carefully climbs down to the shore. Just out of reach of the merkals but close enough to have their attention where they stare at her angrily.
"I want those scales."
She gestures vaguely, gets snorts and disbelieving laughs in return. She doesn't bother frowning at it, just squats down to meet their eyes properly. "I can give you something nobody else can."
Obviously, they don't believe her, but she continues anyway.
"I can make you love anything. Make anything love you. Make you fall in love with seaweed, bring it to life as a merkal for you. Or make someone else stop loving you, if you want - tell you if someone loves you. Tell you if someone doesn't love you. If it's to do with love, you name it, I can do it. All I want is some scales. Can we do that?"
She gets some stares, perhaps considering, perhaps scornful. She can't really read their faces, but she stares back blankly anyway. This is something she can offer - that's all that matters.
[321/200]

[Meduz]

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▹ username: Meduz
▹ kalon : Tris
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