On The Shore

This creature was nothing that he, Sparky, had ever seen before. He had seen humans before, sure. But not like this. What was in front of him, he wasn't sure was human. As this person had no feathers, or fur, or any scales on their upper half of their body. Though she did have long brown hair, he thinks that's what that stuff is, that was shoulder length. She looked sort of like some of the young women who visited the beach from time to time. Aside from the seaweed wrapped around their upper chest, lack of belly button, and gills like some of the fish he regularly ate.

The bottom half of this young woman was a huge bright yellow tail.

Like she was a fish or something to that effect. Sparky wasn't entirely certain that it were real. That this thing wasn't just a human being weird. Right until he saw her gills moving like fish he ate did. Almost as if she was breathing. Or attempting to breathe. Gills weren't made to breathe air like that, right? Far as he knew, they weren't meant to.

Carefully, Sparky scooted closer to the weird woman. Trying to not get spotted immediately as he did. And trying to see what in the world this thing was up to. Soon as he was close enough, he saw what the weird fish had. A lot of shells? Ones that she was moving through with a smile on her face. Tilting his head to the side, Sparky tried to move away without being seen. Unfortunately, the strange creature noticed the movement and stared straight at him with a curious look on her face. Eyes widening as she stared straight at him.

He couldn't blame her, not everyone has ever seen a phoenix before in their lives.

So why would whatever in the world this thing was be able to? Staying still, he examined the creature's face. Then in a low voice, he asked,"Who or what in the world are you and why do you have those seashells for?"

"My name's Nixie, I'm a mermaid, and I'm collecting them because they're pretty?",she offered. Nixie? That was an adorable name for someone like her. As weird as she was to look at. The mermaid tilted her head as she asked,"Who are you? And how long have you been standing there?"

"My name's Sparky and I've been here for a little while.",Sparky answered honestly. Getting a little closer, he stared down at the seashells she had. They were kind of pretty. He could see why she would collect them for. Though, he still found it kind of odd. He continued,"I'm a phoenix in case you were curious."

"Oh...is that why you can talk?",Nixie inquired. He nodded his head at her question. It was one of the reasons that he could at all. As most birds weren't magical like himself. Some were. And others were just strange speakers in their own right. Though they weren't folks that Sparky would even like talking to. They just repeated words that he said in a strange tone.

Sort of...sort of like they didn't really understand him?

If that made any actual sense. He wasn't entirely sure. Not that it mattered in the slightest bit. Looking at Nixie, he stated,"I guess that mermaids don't normally come to the surface like this."

"Oh, a few do. Some like coming out at night rather then day.",Nixie informed. That surprised him and he motioned for her to go on about that. Curious as to why in the world she did this for. Since it seemed a little risky for whatever in the world that she's doing. She continued,"I just like being in the sun more. Night is fine but, I like the feeling of the sun on my skin."

"It's so much more warm and nice then at night.",she explained. Grinning from ear to ear at this. It made a whole lot of sense in his book. And he understood why she would prefer that. Sunshine was a lot nicer than moonlight in his opinion. He liked warming his feathers in the sun when he got a chance. Well, when humans weren't around to try and grab him for his feathers. Plopping down near her, he nodded as he asked,"It definitely is. Could you please tell me more about yourself?"

"Of course, what do you want to know?",she asked. Leaning on the warm rocks as Sparky started asking her questions. The pair were happily chatting. Unaware of the human teenager from afar that was recording. Smiling ear to ear as he did so. In a low voice, he muttered,"The internet is going to explode over this..."