This is Ethan Landry
He was an average 20-year old boy living in the elemental spirit world of the Caspian Sea. His family the Baileys had been royalty since the kingdom was built since his mother Mira's ancestors had built the kingdom for the water spirits too live in no matter how far they were, and they had grown up in these seas.
Neither his father nor mother could have given him a better life: His homeland was a patchwork of towering cliffs, breaking waves, dense forests, and rolling plains located on the most secluded part of the sea and mountains of Bali.
The kingdom's coral-and-clam gateway to the surface was shrouded by enormous boulders that guarded it from any eyes that didn't belong there. Since no humans or divers or hikers dared investigate such an isolated location, there was little danger to worry about—at least until recently. Ethan had always had an interest in the human world; as a child, he had questions about many things.
Beneath the calm waves, surrounded by the teeming life of the ocean, a solitary figure sat in silence upon a large rock. The sun danced upon his webbed fingers, clawed toes curling into the coarse sand. He took long breaths and exhaled them slowly as he watched humans play in the surf and along the tide-line. They chattered to each other and smiled, their laughter bubbling up from them like children.
There was so much he wanted to learn about these creatures. Their culture fascinated him, but it was also different than what he had grown up with.
Every day before The Sun Spirits made the sun set and the Moon Spirits rose over the water he would sit here and watch them go about their business. Humans did human things; walking, swimming, talking, eating until it became night time and they went back into their caverns beneath the sand or drifted off on those bizarre floating contraptions that bobbed on top of the water overnight.
In these moments he felt truly alone yet content with who he was because there was something he could not understand. There was no way for him to reach out to these creatures right next to him.
They were beyond his reach though they were always there playing in front of him like mischievous children cavorting in an endless summer day. That was how life used to be for Ethan until one day.
One day when the sea breeze caressed his scales, he saw a man on the beach. The soft, salty mist made him shiver as he slithered out of the water to bask in the sun's warmth and watch for shipwrecks. The man had beautiful tan skin, deep eyes, a razor-sharp jawline, and full lips. Ethan was mesmerized by the sight, but his visual hypnosis was broken as someone pulled him into the water.
"Ethan! What the hell are you doing!?" his older brother roared at him with obvious concern. "Ethan seriously again? I know Dad doesn't want you up there." His sister shook her head while she swam beside him. He knew they meant well, but how could he tell them that he didn't do anything? He just looked at the humans--especially that one man who captivated him completely.
"That's how you get captured." Richie pointed out the obvious. "Rich, Quinine," he sighed. "You never let me have fun!"
"You can always have fun with us," Quinn said sweetly.
There was one time where he'd been caught peering over humans' fences and walls trying to see if anyone would notice him sitting there. But he did not want to be caged like an animal because they found out about him a friend even lost their tail because of it.
"Quinine I wanna do things on my own I just turned 20,000 two weeks ago don't you think that I should...you know, have the space to explore?" "Absolutely not Ethan you know what might happen to you!? You could be turned into a fillet, or mounted on a wall or or" "Yeah Yeah " Ethan wanted to desperately stop Richie's rambling at that point Ethan's mood had been killed and he just kinda wanted to go home and probably go to sleep or at least have a nap but something in his brain made him think of the man at the beach questions running about him
What's his name?
What does he like to eat?
Does he eat seaweed like him?
He just really wanted to meet him speaking of a meeting he had to meet up with Anika
Ethan hummed a little tune as he ran his hands over the clay rocks, which he had painted with white paint. The rocks were scattered around him in the familiar rocky area where the lush jungle met the beach. Anika stood near him, but out of his reach and watched him dance about from rock to rock.
Each one was topped with a layer of white paper that curled away from it like a thin tree branch. Ethan reached for the mannequin head perched on top of one of the rocks and dusted its cheek with his hand.
She handed him a small cellular device and Ethan looked up at her with inquiring eyes. "What is this?" he said. "I've seen some of the humans talking and tapping on it," she responded, wringing her hands in front of her bright yellow pants.
He turned his attention back to the object and somehow managed to turn it on. His face lit up with joy when he saw a man staring out at him from the glowing screen; a look of calm grace resting across his eyes. This was who he longed to be near, to touch, to know.
"It's him," whispered Ethan into the night air, or perhaps into Anika's mind, for it was there that she saw his vision too: a muscular body tanned by the sun with abundance of rich black hair flowing down from his crown to end just above his high cheekbones.
Ethan couldn't believe it. Anika was willing to help him meet the human man he had been so curious about. He felt a rush of excitement and nervousness all at once. What would he say? How would he introduce himself? Would the man even want to talk to him?
As they waited for the sun to rise, Ethan's mind raced with thoughts. Anika tried to keep him calm, reminding him that they were just going to talk to the man, nothing more. They weren't going to do anything crazy or dangerous.
When the sun was finally up, Anika took Ethan by the hand and led him to the surface. They swam quietly to the shoreline, hiding behind rocks and seaweed to avoid being seen by any humans. Finally, they saw him.
The man was walking along the beach, shirtless and carrying a surfboard. He looked so free and happy, and Ethan felt a pang of envy. He wished he could experience that kind of freedom.
Another guy showed up with blonde hair "Hey dude sorry about your phone yesterday" Phone? What are they talking about? The guy shrugged his shoulders "It's alright I can always get another" His calm and relaxed attitude made Ethan perplexed if Richie or Quinn had lost something they would be freaking out
"Are you sure Chad? I feel kinda bad since you had a lot of pictures on that phone" Another girl with pale skin and long dark jet black hair said with a sympathetic expression written on her face
"Nah it's alright Amb, you guys still wanna go on that tour hike or what?" Tour hike? Ugh humans and their odd activities Ethan swam a little closer to where the group was but was blocked off by the dock that they were standing on.
The group began to walk off to exit the beach, leaving Ethan in utter despair. His heart clenched as he watched them leave. He started to slowly retreat back to the spot where he and Anika would meet. As he swam away, his tail felt like it was dragging along the bottom of ocean floor, dragging him deeper into sadness.
His mind was racing as he realized he had taken the longest way to get to their spot. Even more devastatingly, he had lost the love of his life! "Great...this is gonna take all damn morning" in frustration and sorrow Ethan clenched the beach guys glowing block and continued to sluggishly move forward towards his destination.
Words: 1448
Chapters done: 1/10
I'd like to shout out Sudowrite for helping me push my idea further because holy hell was I struggling for a bit with this 😭
Date/Time updated: Thu, Aug 3 2023 1:06 am (1:16 am since update #1)
Update schedule for this story: Sundays at 8:00pm
Today's headcanon!
Ethan doesn't like his middle name