Part of Your Pool

[raisingdad]

Who: Alexis Castle and YOU
What: She's a mermaid! The castle has given Alexis a loss and she's turned into a mermaid who lives in the pool for a day. As you can imagine, she's completely psyched about this.
When: May 15th
Where: The Pool
Rating: Probably PG at most.


Alexis had gone to bed on the night of the 14th feeling incredibly depressed. The unicorn was gone. She had been ecstatic when a tiny horse with a horn on its head had hatched out of her egg and had spent the last few days running around the castle playing with it and generally acting like a 10 year old.

How could she not? It was a unicorn. It was hers.

But she should have known that her fun wouldn't last forever and that it was silly to get attached to something like a unicorn. It wasn't her pet and she wasn't its mom. Basically, she felt like an idiot, especially because she had cried herself to sleep two nights in a row over it.

When she woke on the 15th, she wondered if she had literally drowned herself in tears because her whole body was wet. It took her a moment to realize that probably meant that something was wrong. Alexis found herself in the pool somehow, which made no sense whatsoever. She couldn't move her legs apart and thought they were bound, though when she kicked them a great rush sent her up to the surface.

Looking down, it all became horribly clear. She was a mermaid.

There was her big blue fish tail and seashell bra, like some awful real-life version of Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Alexis swam to the side of the pool, wondering if maybe this was a dream but knowing that it felt too real to be in her mind. She folded her arms on the edge of the pool and placed her head gently down on top of them.

"Seriously?"


[OOC: Come find her in the pool! She will be a mermaid for the 15th only because I am a merciful mun. Also I'm going to handwaive her making an announcement over the journals that she's a mermaid and wtf is going on. Her journal is laying off to the side of the pool so she can't really use it too much. If you want to come mock talk to the mermaid, she'll be in the pool all day, then will wake up in her bed again on the 16th.]

Comments

[raisingdad]

"Yeah, I'd like that. You don't have to be at the clinic do you?"

She didn't want to take away from his work. People who may have actually been hurt or sick needed him more than the girl who had been cursed as a mermaid in the pool.

"How long does the castle usually do things like this for?"

[pompous_today]

"I don't for a few hours," Simon replied. "So I can stay til then, if you will have me."

He paused before answering her question, knowing that people had been stuck in other forms for up to a month, sometimes even more- but he had no wish to scare her.

"No longer than a week, usually," he replied. It was true enough. "Sometimes it lasts longer, but not often."

[raisingdad]

"A week!" she cried, then sunk under the water with a groan. When she felt that she could surface without letting off a string of profanity, she came back up and rested her arms against the cement ledge of the pool.

"Yeah," she said glumly. "I could use company if that's ok."

[pompous_today]

Simon sighed and ran a hand through his hair when she went under. He supposed he would be upset if he were in her position, however...

"A week, yes," he replied. "I figured it was best to be honest with you."

[raisingdad]

"I appreciate it, even if it wasn't what I wanted to hear. I won't shoot the messenger."

She floated on her back for a moment, staring up at the grand ceiling before speaking again.

"This place is the worst."

[pompous_today]

Simon swallowed.

"I didn't figure you would," he assured her. "... But I will agree that this place is pretty terrible. It's like... every time we begin to feel happy, it reminds us that it is in total control."

Like every time he'd gotten his sister, she had left quickly after. And like he'd gotten her back the second time and she couldn't even remember who he was. And how he'd had a friend who looked just like Kaylee, but very much wasn't her, all while remaining separate from her.

"But that may be a pretty cynical way of looking at it," he admitted. "Most of the time it's... pleasant enough."

[raisingdad]

"It's ok to be cynical right now, believe me," she replied as she drifted aimlessly across the water. "I guess I shouldn't be too bitter though. I have my dad at least. And Kate. Is there anyone here from your home?"

[pompous_today]

"I don't know, I think being upset in your situation is understandble regardless," Simon pointed out, then shook his head. "Not currently, no. My sister has come and gone three times. My friends- Mal, Wash and Zoe- have all been here and gone in the time I have been here, as well."

[raisingdad]

"Your sister? That has to hurt."

She imagined losing Castle three times and didn't like the feeling that it brought up. Simon must be worried about her.

[pompous_today]

Simon was quiet after that, his gaze growing distant. More than I can express. She's my main reason for being, my chief purpose in life, and without her, the only reason I get out of bed in the morning is work. All those are things he wanted to say, but he wouldn't say them. This conversation wasn't about him.

"...It did- still does," he said instead. "I am not used to being separated from her, and though I know time stays still back home when we are brought here, that does not stop me from worrying about her."

[raisingdad]

"Does it? Have you figured that out?"

That makes her feel a bit better about Gram and Pi. Someday Simon would have to tell her about River, though she knew today wasn't the day. She felt a bit too ridiculous to have a serious conversation.

[pompous_today]

He nodded affirmatively.

"None of my friends have ever mentioned my disappearing when they arrived here," he replied. "My sister, at least, would have said something for sure if I'd suddenly vanished for almost two years. My friend Phoebe had a similar experience- her sisters came to Paradisa from different points in her life, yet she was never gone in their time and had never mentioned Paradisa. I have no reason to believe it is different for anybody else."

[raisingdad]

"Weird... kind of like Chronicles of Narnia." She wondered if he would get that reference. "My grandma and boyfriend are back home.. it's good to think that they may not be missing my dad and I."

[pompous_today]

Simon didn't, but he could understand the next part of what she said.

"It does help endure this place," he replied. "For me, at least. My sister does not like being separated from me, and I would hate knowing I was worrying her."