Red [Ariel!]

[Ariel]

Ariel held out the dress at arm's length and studied this beautiful, simple thing that Tori had in her closet. The mermaid wasn't an idiot in some aspects and it was easy enough to figure out how to put this on. The red head let the sails fall off her body and she tugged the dress over her head followed by slipping her arms through the short sleeves. Her fingers grasped the cloth and she spun around to watch it swish around her legs—her human legs.

"It fits!"

Ariel couldn't contain her excitement. She was wearing humans clothes, looked human and was in a human home with a human! Dreams really do come true if you wish hard enough. Wait, was there a mirror to look into? Ariel had to see herself as a human!

[Ayen]

Tori peaked back into the room and then opened the door further as she saw Ariel in her blue dress. To be honest, Ariel looked much better in it than she did, much better.

“Wow, Ariel, you look…. You look amazing!”

Everything about this girl felt so magical; the hair, the eyes, the innocence and of course the dress. She was a bit concerned at how naive she was however, there were many people here who would look to take advantage of that. People preyed on innocence like vultures, maybe if she taught her everything she knew about the human race Ariel would have a better chance at not being used. But where was she going to stay? How could Tori convince her parents to let Ariel live here? Enough thinking for now, she could figure something out later.

“C’mere.”

Tori took Ariel by the hand and led her back out into the hallway where a big round mirror hung in the middle on the wall, allowing the Mermaid to see how she looked for the first time as a human.

[Ariel]

"I do?" Ariel slipped her right foot out to look at it draped in the soft, blue cloth that adorned her body. The mermaid hadn't felt this type of fabric before, having been underwater and only wearing shells as attire. It was different covering herself entirely but a welcome change if it was a normal act as human. While Tori could only think of the dangers this world held for her naive nature, she saw the good in it all. What new things will she learn? Were there other languages? Different clothes? Food? Music? She was eager to see it all!

Tori took her head, and like a child being led to a Christmas tree, she followed and giggled. "Oh my gosh. I look exactly like a human!" Ariel swept back her hair and looked at herself at angle. It wasn't vanity that took a hold of her but excitement at how close she was coming to her goal. "Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! What else do I need to know about this world?"

[Ayen]

Tori racked her brain trying to figure out how to respond to that. There were so many things that went on in just Moon Valley, let alone the entire continent of Jherra and Genesis as a whole. It was difficult to really choose where to start explaining things so Tori thought she would begin with the most obvious.

“Well for starters you may want to try to act like you’ve been a human all your life. People here really don’t take kindly to…. non-humans.”

It wasn’t a matter of believing her anymore, considering all the things Moon Valley has bore witness to, but it was a matter of not freaking out people or provoking some kind of negative response. Crystal City was a good example of that but luckily they weren’t ran by religious bigots.

“The world you’re in right now is called Genesis. We live on the Jherra continent, more specifically Moon Valley. We’re a small mountain town ran by a mayor, currently that’s Carari Grey she’s a conservative--- and you have no idea what a conservative is….”

Oh boy.

[Ariel]

"They don't? Why? What did non-humans do to them?" The level of her naive nature just keeps rising with each new conflict being discovered. Were there prejudices against her kind? Ariel was no stranger to prejudice with her father being the prime example. Humans were always savages even if they had a kind, gentle heart or had devices that could assist the merfolk. That memory lane was never a fun trip.

"I-" Ariel clasped her hands together, moved her shoulders forward, sucked her lips in and looked down at the soft ground her toes were wedged in. This was going to be more difficult to adjust to than she thought. "I have no clue what that is." The only government Ariel was accustomed to was a monarchy with her father being the ruler and her the youngest of the princesses. The mermaid never heard of any other means to rule a body of people.

"Anything else bad I should know of?"

[Ayen]

“Well we never had any experiences with mermaids before now, but there have been enough attacks by different kinds of non-humans to spoil people’s opinion of them as a whole.”

Despite them being roughly the same age Tori felt like she was talking to a child. An innocent, naive, curious little child. It made it harder for Tori to really explain the bad facts of life looking at that face. Maybe it wouldn’t kill her to focus on the more positive aspects of this world than the negative. Before she could say anything more however there was a knock at her door.

“Really. Don’t worry about it. One moment.”

Tori went over to the door and opened it to find Shinta and Nex on the other side.

“What do you guys want?”

“Hello to you too,” replied Shinta sarcastically.

“We were wondering if you were in the mood for--- Whoa! Who’s the babe?”

Tori couldn’t react fast enough as Nex had already entered the house and headed over to Ariel.

“Hello! I’m Nex, Tori’s friend. And this is my buddy Shinta. He’s gay and thus is not interested at all in women.”

Shinta grabbed Nex by the ear and then pulled him away from the girl as he started to scream.

“Settle down, sparky.”

Shinta let Nex go and Nex rubbed his ear while Tori closed her door and walked up to Ariel’s side.

“These are my friends. Guys, this is Ariel. She’s new in town.”

[Ariel]

"Uh, okay." Ariel poked her head out of Tori's room to watch her open a door to let in more humans. In Atlantica, the only doors that existed were drapes and people knew better than to walk into someone's home uninvited. At the words 'Who's the babe?', Ariel nearly doubled back from Nex's approach and smiled nervously. At least they all spoke the same language so she can communicate. The terms, on the other hand, were lost to her.

Gay? Didn't that mean happy? Why was this Shinta not into women? Did that mean he preferred to be alone while this Nex was into "babes"? That must mean women in human terms! And 'gay' must mean not being into women! So, she must be gay and a babe. "That's alright. I'm gay too." Did she use that term right? Ariel looked to Tori for assurance on this. "Ah! Nice to meet all of you. I'm from elsewhere so I'm new to a lot of things."

[Ayen]

Tori blinked to the revelation that Ariel was gay. Nex responded with a frown, once again he has been foiled by the gays. Though Tori, being aware of the girl’s ignorance, wondered if she truly understood the definition of the word. At least, the definition that it’s most commonly linked to in this day and age.

“Figures. All the good ones are either married or gay.”

Shinta patted Nex’s shoulder.

“You’ll get them next time, buddy.”

“Wait a minute…. are you wearing one of Tori’s outfits? And did you just come out of her….”

Tori’s eyes narrowed over Nex as he came up to her side and nudged her with a stupid grin on his face.

“You sly dog you!”

“It’s not like that!”

In an attempt to defuse the now awkward situation Shinta asked, “So, Ariel, where are you from?”