#mertroll encounter

[sohannabarberaesque]

Poetry Corner

Just imagine it's a muggy summer's sort of day down Troll County way. A somewhat weedy-looking, almost skinny even, Troll goes into his nakedness, basically wearing of himself, and heads into some spring as if going into the dive trollsperience.

Finding a modest little stone the size of his palm, our Troll prepares to make the descent into said spring with nothing in trollticular on his mind--until a mertroll comes along. Friendly sort of underwater gal, and rather fascinating to boot.

It's an old mertroll trick of sorts: greeting a diver to the effect of welcoming him into the spring, and giving what is essentially a "kiss of life" pumping air from the mertroll's lungs into the diver's such for what could be an especially prolonged dive.

And you just wonder how they accomplish as much....

*************

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[vikkirosko]

Karkat is a mertroll who gets injured and washed up on the shore of a beach unconscious, and is found by Reader.

♋️ seadweller!Karkat Vantas x Reader Oneshot Beach find ❤️

You rarely went to the beach knowing that you might encounter highbloods there, but tonight you were willing to take a chance to relax a little. The sea was calm and you enjoyed your walk. However, your walk turned out to be an unexpected find. You saw a troll lying on the shore. Coming closer, you saw that it was seadweller and he was wounded. You squatted down in front of him and checked if he was breathing. When you were convinced that he was alive, you thought. On the one hand, you could just walk away and forget about it, as if you had never seen him. But on the other hand, you didn't want anyone to die. You knew that life on Alternia was harsh and in order to survive you need to be ready to kill another, but you still had empathy that got the better of you. It took you time and a lot of effort to bring it to your hive. There you were able to calmly treat his wound and sew it up. You didn't know how he would react when he woke up, but you hoped he wouldn't decide to kill you. You've heard a lot of rumors about seadwellers, but hoped it didn't apply to everyone. You spent several hours watching him and making sure that his condition did not worsen. You've often treated your own wounds, but you've never seen seadweller so close before. You looked at his face, but you didn't dare touch him. It was at this moment that he opened his eyes. He tried to sit up abruptly, but you prevented him from doing it.

"Do not make sudden movements, otherwise your wound will open again"

He obediently lay down, looking at you carefully, as if expecting an attack from you, but you did not think to harm him. If you wanted to do that, you'd leave him on the beach to die. There was an awkward silence between you.

"My name is (Y/N)..."

He looked at you in silence for a few seconds, but then he answered you anyway.

"KARKAT VANTAS"

You smiled at him.

"Well, Karkat, then we'll have to spend some time together, I can't throw you out on the street with such a wound"

You were not sure that what you did would lead to good consequences, but you wanted to hope that your new acquaintance would not be so bad.

[escape-from-arcadia]

HI I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR TOA PIRATE AU BC I (kind of) HAVE MY OWN AND I LIKE HEARING ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE'S PIRATE AUS

[FIC] TOA Pirate AU

Hi hello yes! I won't be sharing written excerpts as this fic contains a friend's OC, but I will go over the origin, a bit of how the world works here, and a very brief premise summary. Also I technically haven't shared all of the lore yet with this friend (they know of the AU and read the first bit I wrote for it, just not all the lore). So surprise~

This AU was inspired by the song "Firecracker" by Cami-Cat, although I made it clear to my friend that the fic would not be written in a romantic sense but a familial one (give the song a listen, good content and such a vibe. She also has an acapella sea shanty video that I love listening to because she also added a few sea noises and just ??? I really love Cami's voice.)

I worked with the four cardinal elements in this AU and gave one to each of the wizards in this AU. Merlin is an earth wizard. For Douxie, I debated between water and air (I ended up giving him air). My friend's OC got fire because it was deeply ingrained in her OC already.

Trolls are nomadic ocean dwellers in this AU, mertrolls if you will. A little bit of Heartstone is in every troll, but it is essential for there to be water in it for the trolls to live. Heartstone is a bit like life sustaining sponge; if the sponge is too dry, trolls go bleh. Trolls can go on land, but only for a limited amount of time (also their lack of feet are an entire problem, so they generally steer clear of land).

Changelings are the exception. They have both human hearts and Heartstone. Their body naturally changes what it relies on based on whether they're at land or sea, and their Heartstone also drains more slowly. But they will be stuck in their human form if their Heartstone drains completely, and if they don't use their lungs for a while, they'll get stuck in their mer forms.

I didn't really think Akridions through tbh. I hadn't gotten much into 3Below at this point (but I definitely appreciate it more now and I'll look for ways to incorporate it!)

I decided this now: Akiridions are selkies, but the rest of the world doesn't know it. They live right on the water, an island kingdom with castles and villages both on the island and under the sea.

That is how the world works (that is how the world works~)

Now onto plot:

Merlin is a trader and master earth wizard. He travels the world looking for goods and trading them with other countries. He's also unofficially the diplomat for King Arthur, but he's a grouchy one at that.

On one of his ventures, Merlin finds Douxie and Archie as a wee lad and a lil familiar. Douxie smells of smoke. Merlin takes Douxie in. (After this, friend's OC is also taken in.) They live in a small cottage on a cliff above the sea, a port village below.

One day Merlin disappears along with Douxie and OC's familiars. The kids catch a glimpse of his sails as he ventures off into the oceans.

Years pass by: Douxie has become a lot more serious and determined to protect OC. OC wants to find Merlin. OC gets impatient and says "fuck it" and steals a ship during the summer solstice festival.

Now Douxie joins a sailor duo who are visiting the village (Jim and Toby) in order to find OC.

They encounter magical creatures out at sea (mermaids? trolls? mertrolls?!?!? also plenty of Odyssey and Aeneid references because I am a sucker for classical mythology).

The rest of the story jumps between OC and Douxie shenanigans as he gathers a team to find OC.

Let's talk about some of the characters:

Douxie is Bard(tm) and sings about their adventures all the time. On the ship, at dock, in taverns, in markets, while being chased by the police, while being boarded, etc. etc. Firecracker is the song he sings most.

Toby is using the wealth of his late parents to continue their trading business.

Jim is joining him to help, but he also is exploring the world for the first time since his father left him and his mother.

Blinky has an inordinate amount of knowledge about everything and is the gang's guide to the sea.

Aaarrrgghh used to be with the evil mertrolls who wanted to find a way to walk on land and wreak havoc on humanity for screwing with their ocean (led by Arcane Order).

Claire is a diplomat's daughter, and her family is trying to work things out with Aja and Krel's parents. But uh oh things get tense when Claire's fam visits the Akiridion kingdom, and now Claire, Aja, and Krel are shoved away from home.

Claire and Aja are killer queen pirates.

Krel is also a killer pirate, but he's also working on keeping the ship in tip-top shape and navigation.

Send me an ask with the title of one of these WIPS and I’ll share it.

[sohannabarberaesque]

Hardly the preferred approach mertrolls have in luring young Trolls especially into a diving session with a difference:

[sohannabarberaesque]

There's something to be said for having some "quality time" with a mertroll and learning much of Nature in a troll sort of manner.

[solidburnreturned]

Got one question, is Barb kinda like a Siren who lures Poppy in her love...? Or is she just the regular Barb that would loves Poppy so much as Poppy loves her as mertroll.

She’s just regular barb! The basic story is that she was swept away from her kingdom during a storm into a lagoon near Pop Village at a young age and grew up isolated there. Years later, Poppy gets reports of a strange and possibly dangerous creature living there, so she and branch go to investigate/try and catch her. Poppy and barb eventually meet through small chance encounters, they make a connection after poppy frees barb from one of their traps, poppy continually sabotages all capture attempts made by branch, they fall in love slowly, aaaand that’s kinda all we have so far! (:

[sukipershipper]

(Little nightmares) Riff, who is probably more nicer than the other rock trolls stops chasing Trollex the moment he sees him having a hunger pain and offers the mertroll a piece of bread to eat. While Trollex is grateful for the food, he still doesn’t believe he can trust Riff and ends up draining the rock troll with his happiness using the siren song , before taking the bread.

Riff tries to be as gentle as he can with Trollex but even when he did be as gentle as he could Trollex doesnt trust him.

However, Six’s encounter with the Janitor didn’t have her drain his life, rather chop his arms off and possibly kill him. Much more brutal a fate, but Trollex possibly just chops all his hair is ff and prevents him from ever using it again

[sohannabarberaesque]

So just picture this trollmusing(?) scenario

No less than Bogg Swampley, leader of Troll County's most infamous nuisance, the Trollchoppers motorcycle gang, going diving in troll style (as in utterly naked) in an isolated spring one aftrollnoon, perhaps with an eye towards making love with some mertroll said to be resident in said spring ... only when the mertroll spotted Swampley's presence, the two surfaced and the mertroll chewed out Swampley for being somewhat lacking in any regard for showing common respect for Troll sexuality.

[sohannabarberaesque]

So picture a few specimens of Trolldom killing a lazy, and at once warm, summer's aftrollnoon swimming and diving in these springs (perhaps even encountering a mertroll in the bargain).

[sohannabarberaesque]

Something to be expected within a young troll's Wanderjähr

There's probably nothing better than to have a group of young Trolls in their Wanderjähr trollsperiences bring along, at least for a weekend or so, two younger Trolls from local families for the sake of as much camping out and trollscovery as perhaps teaching them some rather introllesting and fascinating trollsperiences.

For the sake of example, let's take a group of four or five young Trolls in Wanderjähr mode following their Trollwakening (essentially a coming-of-age exercise), making the rounds of Southern Trolldom, finding a pair of twins and inviting such to a weekend's troll camping by some spring known to have certainly mertrollish trollventure awaiting, doubtless an ideal milieu for the Trolls in Wanderjähr to teach their young guests some diving and to discover the troll diving trollsperience (and I do MEAN trollsperience!).

The whole, essentially, in keeping with the Greater Trollsthetic about your average Troll being close to Nature all the more and recognising such a closeness in all aspects and angles of the trollsperience. Which even extends to the likes of introllducing younger Trolls in some introllesting trollventures to help them associate into the Trollsthetic, and can sometimes require wearing but themselves as one with the closeness to Nature so expected.

When it comes to the diving angle, in such instances, it's as much the Trolls in Wanderjähr as the spring's mertroll-in-residence as guide the young Troll guests into what may seem like an unlikely trollventure at their ages (generally 6-8 years as compared with the 14-15 years for Trollwakening and the ensuing Wanderjähr which expects such newly-minted Trolls to realise their place in the greater trolliverse); perhaps most trollmusing to the neophytes is where the mertroll will give a "kiss of life" as pumps oxygen into the diver's lungs for the sake of staying underwater quite the while, as such mertroll-guided dives are bound to be quite prolonged, featuring a "friendship ring" ritual at the bottom of the spring where all participants kneel on the bottom and form a circle, performing silent supplication bound to be rather fascinating (especially around the loins). And yet again, the diving trollsperience can get wonderful in a naturally Troll sort of manner, even allowing for such in Wanderjähr having some serious teaching trollsperiences for their guests in a naturally intimate, and at once obviously trollish, manner.

So what exactly could go wrong where you have a group of Trolls in Wanderjähr teaching youngish Trolls along the way a few obviously introllesting subjects in shamelessly troll fashion?

*************

@warnerbrosentertainment @tallcharlie @thebigdingle @princessgalaxy505 @archive-archives @themineralyoucrave @screamingtoosoftly @warnerbros-blog1 @iheartgod175 @theweekenddigest @xdiver71 @warnerbrosent-blog

[sohannabarberaesque]

Poetry Corner

(Obviously without The Genie, who read the poesy on The Lawrence Welk Show back in the day)

=============

Nothing could be more surprising nor more fascinating unto the experience than to picture Bon-Bon and Ding-a-Ling, while diving somewhere on vacay, managing to catch fish for the supper with their forepaws, claws out and all, and manage to bring same to shore, ready for frying up and then some.

=============

After the loving with (and among) the Hair Bear Bunch:

Moonlit night, up at the lake, moon reflecting in its waters.

Sheer satisfaction ensued of sexual release, tensions molted away.

Just a light-hearted swim in the lake's shallows, climax of the evening's pleasure.

The cool of the lake-waters in overnight primeval, refreshing yet relaxing.

=============

Weird as it must seem: How could it be possible for a Bassett hound like Whimper having aspirations on doing canine detective work alongside a more obvious breed for the work-- a bloodhound like Woofer, teaching such an unlikely pupil the finer points thereof, yet managing to have some lucky breaks in the process?

=============

Handfasting underwater. Most trollikely show of trollfection known between mertroll and your basic troll, the latter just diving in the spring to kill an aftrollnoon otherwise most muggy and humid, learning much of their troll self in the process via mertroll.

=============

Just imagine: Knock-Knock, Satchel and Scooter, rehearsing inline skating routine.

So how likest thou these short exercises in Hanna-Barberian poesy, reader? And can you top me in this arena?

*************

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[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss: Thoughts about those Trollkins at a late-night coffee-house binge

So I'm still at the same coffee house in Long Beach where, last time out, I was driven to recall at some length an encounter with a lovesick sasquatch as turned into outright mating ... which turned out feeling rather wonderful after thinking Major Minor was again after me, as seemed the case with me back in the wilds. Only now, for some reason, thoughts have turned to a certain Troll County, somewhere down South ... and certain eccentric-looking specimens of trolldom. Which, I acknowledge, I hadn’t thought much about, considering their seclusive and isolated nature.

Which is probably the way trolls are, including these types otherwise known as the Trollkins.

Particularly considering the lore connected with the whole troll thing to begin with, which has trolls being close to Nature, serving as guardian spirits even ... which seems to explain something of a frank candor about love and sex-related matters without the need for euphemisms or pornography, a candor common among troll types, for one. And, for another (heavens to Peyo!), what said closeness to Nature translates into in their leisure; I think it was a certain Pixlee Trollsom who explained once to me that trolls like herself, in and around the general area of Trolltown, somehow can't resist swimming, diving underwater, backpacking, kayaking, canoeing, trekking--in short, anything so long as it can introllconnect with their natural trollish spirits connecting into Nature.

Not to mention taking breaks in hot-spring pools, particularly when it comes to relief from whatever ailments can plague trolls--such as stiff muscles and joints, rheumatism, female complaints, or just general relaxation (or should that be "trollaxation"?). Yours truly does acknowledge spending much time in hot-spring pools, and can appreciate the sensation such can bring about.

But what was equally trollmazing (as Ms. Trollsom put it) was a fondness for swimming underwater with a mertroll alongside.

Now you may ask yourself what exactly a mertroll is ... actually, it's a troll version of the mermaids of lore (and think Weeki Wachee Springs for a moment if you want an idea of what I have in mind), who are actually rather playful themselves and have also been known to provide some valuable instruction in what we like to call "the facts of life" to such specimens of younger trolls approaching a Certain Stage of Life. Valuable instruction as is actually proactive, and is rather wonderful-feeling at that. And who wouldn't enjoy diving along with a mertroll down Trolltown way, especially on a muggy summer's aftrollnoon when things would otherwise just seem lazy and bordering on trollish versions of ennui?

Or even backpacking and camping among a few trolls in the hill country, come to think of it, experiencing sunrise in a way unlike any other?

Such, to put it mildly, is the Greater Trolltown Trollsperience--being close to Nature, yet being casual and fun-loving about it.

Only to be rudely shaken by announcement of the shop's closing time of 1:30 in the morning ... it just seems my thinking about them Trollkins was enough to send my mind drifting off big time....

[sohannabarberaesque]

Still, there could be room galore for mermaidry in Hanna-Barbera fanfiction; myself, I've incorporated mertrolls into the Trollkins backstory, noted where the Cattanooga Cats' Kitty Jo has been fond of wearing mermaid garb, and have imagined mermaid encounters with the likes of Snagglepuss and Peter Potamus while diving.

[sohannabarberaesque]

But then again, we understand mertrolls tend to have varying combinations of blue, green, bluish green or chartreuse vis-a-vis body, hair and tail.

i keep saying im gonna draw nerissa in may so here she is taking a pic of her new body for the gram

[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss: Just a few random items from the Minneapolis Aquatennial Convocation

So yours truly made it to the Minneapolis Aquatennial, and the latest Great Convocation of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, to boot!

Even to the extent of bringing along Crazy Claws, our very own Comedic Ambassador to Wisconsin Dells, which, you will recall, "came along for the ride" as part of a mission to sell Wisconsin Dells down Florida way--and boy, wouldn't you believe the company we had at turns for the ride: No less than two encounters with Scooby-Doo's crew, including one with Scrappy-Doo, otherwise much reviled ... a rather special overnight with the Cattanooga Cats at their retreat looking down on Gatlinburg and the Smokies, not to mention plenty of their legendary biscuits and gravy ... encountering Jabberjaw while snorkelling in the Florida Keys ... and that late-night run-in with Top Cat's crew in Key West, just off Duval Street, and that hole-in-the-wall bar whose conch stew, it's been said, can be pretty effective against hangover.

And our run-in with the storied Weeki Wachee Mermaids ... spiritual cousins, I understand, to certain mertrolls down Troll County way, such as are known to show certain trolls of a certain age some introllesting "facts of life" without embarrassment.

Not to mention plenty of battered shrimp and hush puppies of varying degrees of quality, as well as key lime pie besides.

So where to begin ... in the footsteps of the late Mary Tyler Moore, as in the opening titles to her show, walking along Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis on a somewhat mild overnight, walking off some rather rich turkey dinner at midnight and trying to stay awake with some fresh air such as overnights seem to afford. No fog in sight, but nonetheless, rather pleasant to be walking in. And heading back to downtown, epicenter for practically all the Aquatennial events these days, on one of the first buses of the morning from the neighbourhood. And though formally discouraged, the conversation heading into downtown Minneapolis turned out rather quixotic, as much about the Aquatennial as about the presence of so many Hanna-Barbera character types playing along, so to speak, in convocation.

*******

One particular trait said of Minnesotans is they love their coffee. And while there's a lot of debate over whether Minnesota or New Orleans consumes the most such, never let it be said that our Hospitality Rooms, situated in a disused downtown storefront which, for all the world, appeared disued to begin with, had plenty of coffee. And tea. And even rooibos, that caffeine-free South African sensation.Bottled water, even, though not that caffeinated Water Joe you've probably heard so much about. Kwickly Koala, at HIS food truck featuring Australian delights, probably topped them all with samples of Australian-grown Nerada tea, Bundaberg Ginger Beer and even prepared Coola (which is a rather popular lime-and-vanilla concoction made from a concentrate known as "cordial") alonsgide the Vegemite on SAO or Jatz, Cherry Ripe bars and TimTams.

(Just so you all know, Vegemite is brewer's yeast extract. Best taken sparingly, as the flavour is rather salty and not for the unacquainted.)

*******

Especially interesting as part of our convocations would have to be the "meet-and-greets" with fans old and new. Not just to pose for "selfies" and sign autographs, but also to engage in conversations which can get to be rather interesting. And yours truly was no exception, engaging with fans at the likes of the Minneapolis Farmers' Market early mornings (along with several others as were selected randomly for each day, mind you). And what bounty, what aromas of the earth of fresh produce and fresh-made treats as well! And who could resist the opportunity to have autographs as much as hot coffee with yours truly, or even Shaggy from Scooby-Doo's crew. Especially when coming up with ingredients for the Saturday hotdish competition, which we chose in the Minnesotan spirit after the rather successful Cincinnati Chili Cookoff back in Truth or Consequences, you may remember.

But for our two musical aggolomerations, The Banana Splits and the Cattanooga Cats, Tuesday evening began with a joint appearence of the two in concert at no less than First Avenue, as Prince and the "Minneapolis Sound" of the mid- to late 1980's made legendary. The very climax of which, by all accounts, was their jointly reworking Three Dog Night's "Let Me Serenade You" in a rather memorable appearence that really shook up the house. And yet all made it to the Opening Conclave, with especially warm welcomes by Droopy, something of an old acquaintenance of ours by way of Tom and Jerry.

*******

Speaking of said Tom and Jerry, I have it on credible authority that perhaps one of their better chases was around the dandelion fountains in Loring Park, just south of downtown, then up Hennepin Avenue towards 5th Street and the Warehouse District, itself something of a rather "hip" part of downtown of late heading into the Twins' new home, Target Field ... and when they got to the Northstar commuter-rail terminal across the way, security was powerless to stop the legendary duo from hightailing it on the right of way. Only to get stopped close to a major turn for the line by outright exhaustion on Tom's part as much as his feet being unable to take much of the ballast.

As for their cousins, Motormouse and Autocat, they were on their way to the Sturgis Rally via our convocation--but not before pulling a rather crazy chase as took them down Como Avenue in St. Paul as far as the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. And return. Only to have Autocat suffer from a serious fuel line issue which would quickly be repaired.

*******

Those Juicy Lucy burgers--eat your heart out, White Castle! Especially considering where a few of us Hanna-Barberians had some light-hearted compeititon seeing who could eat the most of those rather juicy sliders, even if such was unofficial. And as it came out in the end, Shaggy Rogers took the laurels, eating some 17 such at one sitting. To be followed by Big H with The King's crew, with 15 ... and Square Bear of the Hair Bear Bunch, who downed 14. Myself, I only availed myself of one such. And our own barbecue fan among Hanna-Barberians, the Cattanooga Cats' own Groove "himself," was not disappointed with the barbecue fare at Rudolph's Bar-B-Cue or even Market Bar-B-Que, the latter legendary for its pit-smoked ribs and sauce on the side. Enough for Scoots, also of the Cattanooga Cats, to work up a rather hilarious episode involving those crazy cousins of his from "back in the holler" who used some rotten hickory wood to smoke some hams once, and tried not to make too much of a fuss about the ensuing taste until jokes started being made among the neighbours with whom hams were shared. Leave it to Scoots to explain how all came out.

*******

And if you recall the Coach Bingo segments from the second season of The Banana Splits ... well, you'll be surprised to hear where Bingo was among the runners in the Aquatennial 5K race as preceded the Torchlight Parade ... and yet managed to join up with his fellow Splits members on their parade float. What impeccable timing! And finishing with no less than five half-litre bottles of water, besides--which, it turned out, were of Vichy Celestins from France that Mr. Jinks, for some reason, procured at an import grocery on a lark. And for some reason, Pixie and Dixie, those "meeces" with whom Jinks held grudges galore, laughed all along.

*******

All in all, many wonderful memories to be had, of which only a few exceptionally-memorable such could be put down in this space.

Meanwhile, next week, I'll likely be up among the World-Renowned and Far-Famed Ten Thousand Lakes of Minnesota, perhaps up around Brainerd--that much is all I can say as to where I'll be--and put in a few notes meditative.

[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss: Weeki Wachee, Thy Mermaids Remain Alluring

Enthused by what we pulled off in Tampa, there was going to be no stopping yours truly, and Crazy Claws, in our mission of advancing the cause of Wisconsin Dells in the heart of Florida, avoiding Orlando's overpriced and overbaked excesses for obvious reasons ... and our next stop was mainly a publicity-driven exercise. As in Weeki Wachee Springs, which was Florida for many millions of vacationers before the Orlando Theme Parks came along. But, from what I have heard, are now making something of a renewed comeback.

And in any case, we had to contain ourselves by way of an overnight stop somewhere along US 19, which is THE way to Weeki Wachee from Tampa and surrounds. We found it in Spring Hill, something of a cheesy Hell of manufactured housing tracts and predictable-looking big box stores ... and while it took some effort to find some worthwhile "old school" lodging, we were able to find ourselves a halfway-decent pizza buffet such as Scooby-Doo, my canine detective compadre, would concur with. Essentially settling between the New York-style cracker crust and the chewy Chicago deep-dish such, trying plenty of each. And, admittedly, getting stuffed rather quickly--but not before stopping at a nearby convenience store and getting ourselves some mineral water just to keep things normal even as the air conditioning in our motel cycles on and off at the risk of trying to go insane in the heat. Still, we managed to pull off some sleep, to be broken with the motel's Continental breakfast.

Meaning our next stop would be none other than the storied Spring of Live Mermaids, as has been performing underwater since 1947, the heighth of Old Florida tackiness even before Huckleberry Hound came along to steal our TV-loving hearts ... and arriving just at opening time made things a little easier to get the publicity thing squared away. Which, for the most part, would incolve posing with one of the famous Mermaids with the selfie alongside that celebrated spring ... and also enjoying one of the performances. Which, sadly, may not be as frequent as they used to be, but still attracts its share of audiences.

For some reason, the Mermaid we posed with had a certain resemblance to Pepper, the rarther curvaceous blond from Clue Club, if you still recall that Scooby-Doo wannabe. Yet I held off asking about the resemblance for some reason or another, even as she was wearing the mermaid tail as is her station of performance. What amazed this particular Mermaid was that we were "road warriors" for the most part, and that Crazy Claws was now working out of Wisconsin Dells, for the most part.

"As in all those waterslides?" the Mermaid asked.

"You got that right," Crazy Claws replied.

And the performance we attended, essentially a Demonstration such, didn't disappoint--even if we discovered that the Mermaids sucked on submerged air hoses to create the ability of being able to spend serious time underwater. Especially in a spring whose flow rate has been known to knock off a diver's mask at certain depths if they're not careful. And perhaps our ultimate moment was when this one Mermaid, having sucked on quite a lot of air, goes into a rather legendary deep-diving exercise known as "The Mountain Underwater". Diving down without air tanks to a depth of just under 120 feet below the spring's surface ... and managing to come back with the same approach as before. Haven't I heard some rumours about those Trollkins types who actually freedive in the local springs around Trolltown (wherever THAT is), and encounter the odd mertroll or two on occasion?

But still--a few more poses with some of the Mermaids, and their being shared with the good people in Wisconsin Dells bankrolling this effort. Which, come to think of it, stunned them somewhat, especially since they didn't include some water time, as would have been preferred. No matter ... and we became believers in mermaids as well. As seems to be the case with anybody who so visits.

And we take our leave of Weeki Wachee, heading towards the rather oddly-named community of Chassahowitzka (try saying that three times fast!) along US 19 ... taking lunch in a rather seedy bar of nearly-greasy burgers and passable fries. Then, a somewhat amazing shortcut to Silver Springs, via Homosassa Springs--County Rds. 490 and 491 to Florida 200 towards Ocala, the Gateway to Silver Springs ... the camping area for Silver Springs State Park being our evening's rendezvous. Still, who couldn't resist some takeout sandwiches from a convenience store just heading outside Ocala to begin with?

Anyhow, next week will see us at Silver Springs--and then some.