єllчѕ' undєrwαtєr muѕєum - wínnєrѕ pg. 6

[Kyar]

username; Kyar
sign up post; Twig approaches with his hands carefully cupped together.
team; Octopi
what do you bring Ellys?
The waves washed over his ankles as Twig carefully approached Elly, each step placed firmly before he dared take another.

It took him some time to think of something to bring, something new and exciting, worthy of a museum... something that would really represent his world.

To be honest, he hadn't packed much from his world. This island, this beach, this magical mermaid cove... it was the surface, but it was so different from the life he knew.

When she'd first asked him, he thought of sea shells. Silly. Of course she already had them, in the sea. A coconut was nothing special, and even the candies from the island shop he'd loved so much would never keep. Plus, who would want to only look at a candy? You'd want to eat it!

Evenings had come and passed as he collapsed in his luxurious cruise liner bedroom, but each night his head hit the pillow empty for ideas. Why was this so hard?

It wasn't until now, the last morning here, as the ship began to run again, smoke billowing up into the sweet tropical skyline, that he'd realized. He did have something.

What he held in his hands had traveled with him on every one of his journeys. Family vacations, school field trips, any time he left town, he always brought a little piece of home, too. The tiny glass case was simple, and smudged from the years of fingerprint grease and backpack sludge rubbing up against it. It was sturdy, but he had to admit, the sharp rocks here might be enough to break it with a bad enough fall.

The case was simple for a reason. Inside, a perfect specimen rested pinned to a white paperboard, and a handwritten label alongside. "Monarch Butterfly." The handwriting, scrawled, messy, childish. But then again, he'd been a kid when he wrote it.

Delicate wings forever stilled, they'd found the lovely little thing lifeless on the front step before he left for his very first day of elementary school. He was so excited that he nearly missed the bus, running back inside to save the project for the end of the school day. That was all he talked about, his perfect butterfly.

Dad had been the one who had the idea to put it in a case, but Mom actually picked one out and helped him put it together. The little trophy didn't mean much on its own, but he'd always loved it. Even if now it spent more time shoved at the bottom of his bag than anywhere else. It really was a bit of a miracle it hadn't already been destroyed.

He stood for a moment, clearing his throat. "I thought this would be perfect," he began, "because it's from my house at home and it even has a label already. It's called a monarch butterfly." Gently, he passed the case over, and as he let it leave his hands, his heart felt a little pang of sadness. "I've kept it for a really long time, but I think it belongs here," he explained. "The thing about it is you have to be careful, because it could break. And you have to leave it in the box, especially underwater. Mom and Dad told me not to get it wet."

He could tell Elly knew he was parting with something special, because the way she smiled was nicer than those other trickster mermaids he'd been playing with before.

"It'll be safe," she promised.

"Thanks. I hope everyone likes it, who comes to see."

"I'm sure they will, Twig."

He knew it too.

[ 602 words ]

[✦ nemuri]

username; .kaede
sign up post; xx
team; squid
what do you bring Ellys?


there were a lot of things that the underwater world didn't have that the human world did, but conveniently, nikolai's brain decided to take a big fart and fly off for vacation. which was totally wonderful in its own way! it was good that at least his brain knows how to practice self-love and self-care! his brain is certainly doing a better job that he ever did! but it was just ... a tad ... inconvenient that his brain went up up and away when he really needed it most.

so really, it wasn't all that convenient.

nikolai couldn't pretend to not know what ellys had asked of him (it would've been rude to do so, seeing how he was literally standing in front of her as she prattled his ear off), and he definitely couldn't show up empty-handed either. what could he bring? he already traded off some of his talismans to some other mermaids for the materials that shark needed earlier on, so that was already out of the book. although ... perhaps ...




"you're saying that this is red wine? a drink that is commonly consumed during special occasions?" ellys repeated, staring rather dubiously at the bottle that nikolai held in his hands. there was no doubt that she had seen better things from the other kruisers, but hey, he was really trying his best here. "i vaguely remember seeing bottles of this nature in shipwrecks, but i don't believe i've ever tasted red wine before. the bottle in its original state looks a little dinky, not gonna lie, but sea glass is beautiful. maybe we can shatter the bottle?"

"okay, no, we are not doing that. red wine is made to be drunk! i don't really care what you do with the bottle afterwards. are you of age? if so, you could taste it to see how you like it. they're made from fermented grapes, which is something i highly doubt you have," nikolai shot back, cradling the bottle even more tightly after ellys had made her suggestion. ellys frowned thoughtfully for a few moments, before shrugging her shoulders.

"that works with me, i guess. after the opening of the museum, if anyone wants to try this elusive red wine, we'll hold a party! that counts as a special occasion, right?"


[ 381 words ]

[Marsh]

username; Marsh
sign up post; here
team; Octopi
what do you bring Ellys?

It had taken Oxford a while to find something worthy of donating to Ellys’ underwater museum but he eventually found it sitting on a trashcan at the back of one of the houses of the locals.

He had been walking past on his way back from hanging out at the lagoon when he spotted it, alone and palely loitering so the poem goes. It was a well-worn lion stuffed animal sporting a lovely, burnt orange mane with fraying at the ends and a very fine set of charcoal button eyes, but it was starting to show signs of its age. On it’s right arm, a heart-shaped patch patterned with flowers had been loving stitched on to cover up the heavily worn patch from where it had been tightly grasped by a young toddler, dragging it around all day long. When you squeezed his foot, a slightly garbled tune would ring from within that sang:

“Oh I am a lion, the king of the jungle, and everybody hears me when I roar - RAWR!”

Once loved dearly, the stuffed toy had now been abandoned as someone’s rubbish, but it had so much character and charm that Oxford couldn’t bear to leave it behind. He had always had a certain urge to collect old, well-loved objects which had brought him to his chosen profession as a recordshop owner.

Oxford turned around and began to walk back to the lagoon. He remembered that Ellys mentioned she was looking for more items to add to her collection in her museum and Oxford knew this would make a fine specimen.

“I found this for your museum!” Oxford presented Ellys with the toy and she beamed at him.

“Thank you so much Oxford - I know just the place for it!” she replied, and them scurried off to add it to her exhibits.

[ 308 words ]

[symmetra]

username; symmetra
sign up post; here
team; squids
what do you bring Ellys?


"Here," he smiled, bringing a small golden circlet from his pack. "I know it might not be the biggest, flashiest thing out there, but this was one of the first things I've ever found during my travels, and I think it'd be a great addition to your museum!"

"A long time ago, these circlets were worm as a common fashion piece for noble kalons in my country. It's hard to find them in pristine condition, considering most of them are buried in crypts or under the dirt, but I've spent a good amount of hours on that one. Tried to restore it to the best of my abilities. Apparently the green gems on them are also said to be pretty lucky, and the purple ones are to symbolise wealth, so maybe it'll even help boost business!"

[Radiation King]

username; NCC-1701-D
sign up post; here
team; octopi
what do you bring Ellys?

Cesar gave the merkal a look because he really didn’t want to try and find something sentimental on earth to give this kalon for their museum but at the same time, Cesar liked the idea of getting paid to simply give this kalon an item from the land. He chuckled and left the place while pondering what it is that he should give this kalon. He quickly made up his mind and decided to go looking around the beach. Yeah the merkal clearly stated that they didn’t want anything from the beach in their museum but that wasn’t what Cesar was looking for. He encountered many lost items there. A keychain, goggles, even some towels and an umbrella. These items were something he could easily take and just give but they didn’t satisfy him. Cesar was suddenly wanting to give this kalon something that would stand apart from every other item in the museum. He wanted kalons to walk in and immediately stare at HIS contribution at the museum and talk about how wondrous it was. Cesar got a smug look on his face as he looked out into the ocean and thought about everyone seeing his name attached to the main attraction of the museum. Yeah, it was something small compared to all of the things that he could be known for but Cesar liked a challenge. He spent the entirety of the day going through the entire island. Every shop, home, even bags! Cesar didn’t mind taking something if he was getting paid for it anyway and the kalon never specified HOW he had to get the item. He couldn’t find anything though and was starting to grumble. Suddenly he grinned as an idea popped into his head. He went and found the biggest egg on the island and painted it gold. He made sure that it was painted really well too before handing it to the merkal. He smirked proudly as he watched it get put up and saw how amazed everyone was at the golden egg. “Heheh. I’ll be taking my scales now.” He remarked as he took the bag full of scales and left with his head held high.

[364 words]

[ThatPinkThing]

username; ThatPinkThing
sign up post; here
team; squids!
what do you bring Ellys? Something Eleanor had and loved as a kit herself: an iDog! [886 words]

Eleanor had pondered Ellys' request carefully, unsure of what a mermaid would want. Something shiny, perhaps, seeing as the creatures adored their own scales and the ocean's pearls. Something that held characteristics of things only found on land. Something that, in Eleanor's opinion, could do something, too. Whenever she visited museums, she most enjoyed and remembered the exhibits with interactive aspects. However, getting something to work underwater would be the trickiest part of all of this, no doubt. Whatever she brought to Ellys needed to be special.

After digging through several shops, Eleanor was about to give up. Every moving thing she'd found would need to be charged, and every sparkly thing would corrode in seawater. In the kitchen section of all areas, she thought she might have found her solution.

A large, glass flour jar reflected Eleanor's curious expression back at her. The reflection almost seemed to ask her if she was thinking if it was. And she thought that perhaps she may be. She snatched the jar off the shelf and returned to the electronics section, holding up her find in front of a selection of speakers and seeing if any of the options would be able to fit inside the jar. Only one little option did, and not only was it a speaker, it also resembled a land animal.

Her find was an iDog.

She dug around for a long time to find also a small, screenless iPod and a cord to connect the two. She purchased the materials and rushed to Shark's shop. She knew she was going to make this work, but she would require his help. When she burst in uninvited with her electronics in a large jar, Shark looked her up and down, one eyebrow rising slowly. "You uh... ya good, kid?" He asked suspiciously.

"Yes. Great even! I've come up with a design, but I need your help on a couple things to make it a reality. Can you help?"

"Can I? Yeah. Will I? Probably not."

Eleanor huffed. "Look, I really need this to work, okay? Ellys asked for something from the surface to put in her museum to show the mermaids, and I want it to be perfect."

Shark paused his work on an engine, glancing over his shoulder at Eleanor. "For the mermaids, huh?" He sighed when Eleanor nodded enthusiastically. "Alright, alright. I'll take a look. What is it you want to make, kid?"

Eleanor spread out her supplies, explaining the contraption in detail. She would need Shark to help her drill small holes into the jar at the bottom and fit them with diving glove fingers, giving access to push the buttons on the iPod which would be inside. The second part that she needed Shark's help on was fitting a solar charging panel to the top of the jar. With the complicated parts secured, Eleanor thanked Shark profusely and headed back to her room on the cruise ship to finish.

She loaded songs from recent decades and a few classical songs onto the little iPod, testing that it and the iDog worked on the desk in her room. The little dog's head tilted and wiggled its ears to the beat, and colorful dots lit up in time with the song. Happy that it would work, she placed the dog and iPod into the jar, sealed it shut with the rubber ring and clasps at the top, and made sure all the parts were secured. With one final deep breath, Eleanor tucked the jar into her bag and headed for the beach.

She paddled out on her surfboard to where she had met Ellys before. Once again, the kind mermaid waved and smiled in greeting.

"Hi Eleanor! Did you find something for me?"

"Better. I made something." Eleanor pulled the large jar from her backpack, presenting it to Ellys, who tilted her head and examined it.

"What is it?" She asked, unsure of what to think.

"It's an iDog! Well, that little robot in there is," Eleanor pointed to the teal blue dog that sat inside the jar like a well-trained pet. She then pointed to the tiny iPod. "And this is a music player. I had Shark help me secure them in here with a way to charge them with sunlight so you can bring them down underwater and have them still work!" Eleanor beamed, and Ellys' eyes widened.

"You mean it will play music?" She asked in awe, peering closer at the jar. Eleanor nodded and shifted on her board so that she could dip her upperbody underwater. Ellys ducked below the surface too, and watched as Eleanor put her fingers in the glove sleeves, pressing a couple buttons on the little square music player. In response, the dog lit up and wiggled its ears before it began to play the selected song and show off its lights. The music was a little muffled through the glass and underwater, but to both kalons' delight, the contraption worked!

Both broke the surface again, Eleanor cheering to herself as she handed the jar to Ellys.

"Thank you so much!" Ellys gushed as she accepted the surface artifact.

"You're very welcome," Eleanor replied with a smile, more than satisfied with her endeavor's results.

[sobble]

username; Gengar.
sign up post;
team; Squid
what do you bring Ellys?


Fawkes took a second to think, soon coming upon the realization that they had never heard any sounds underwater. save for the ambient current, the vast tides began to feel lonely... scary, even, to a stranger. Fawkes that that perhaps Ellys could use some company, not literally speaking, but a song never failed to cheer Fawkes up.

They had soon set out to find something to share with Ellys, though nothing seemed quite fitting... For a museum, it had to be something with histoiry, something loved and yet to be lost. Something that carried a fond memory of times gone, but held its tune for ears anew... Perhaps Fawkes had enjoyed Ellys's sweet demeanor, they thought that she deserved something mesmerizing. Simple, yet beautiful, just as Fawkes had thought of Ellys and her charming museum. The modge-podge of trinkets, picked carefully by hand and upkept with a loving hand, touched Fawkes. Though they were a collector of different sorts, Fawkes enjoyed seeing the love that went into each item, and to speculate as to it's past, and what sentiment it may still hold.

This very reason had set Fawkes on their current course, back into the ship and into their cabin. Though it hurt them to part with, they knew the small, unassuming box would fit perfectly among Ellys's museum, and be handled and worn with love of more than just Fawkes. They recovered the music box - not without a scolding from Shark - and made a beeline for the shore. Their excitement drowned out the grumpy yelling of the merfolk that patrolled the shores, scaring away most tourists.

Fawkes enclosed the music box in Ellys's hands, smiling warmly, a rare sight for most. Ellys's inquisitive look soon prompted Fawkes's hand, gently winding the tarnished key, as the tune rang out clear even underwater. The old brass box, worn in the places Fawkes's weary fingers had found solace in, began to slow, the quiet tune of La Vie En Rose whispered in the small space. Both were left with a residual grin, Fawkes insisting that the small box was best in Ellys's hands.

[pallis]

username; Pallis
sign up post; here
team; octopus
what do you bring Ellys?




An octeapot and tea crabs!!

[Werecat]

[list]username; .secretsociety.
sign up post; here
team; octopi
what do you bring Ellys?
tiny pip,,

[tigressa]

username; tigressa
sign up post; boop
team; squid
what do you bring Ellys? A fancy glass from the bar (with bonus milkshake)

“Listen I had to do a lot of convincing to get Brandy to make this. It’s a once in a lifetime drink!! And you can keep the cup.” (Winks)