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gamegem92 · 1 year ago

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What Lies Deep (Jelly Jamm AU)

(Made this for mermay, and I might make it a full AU!)

(Your prompt: Bello is a merperson who gets injured and washed up on the shore of a beach unconscious, and is found by Goomo.) Soooo, trigger warnings for injuries, and of course, slight platonic Goomello/Honey-Cinnamon-Tea. Also, the language Bello originally speaks in is mermish, but he learns English/Jammbonian along the way!

~~~~~~~

He didn’t think it was real.

The very few times that Goomo went to the beach, he found a couple of shells or coastal dodo species, but he didn’t expect to find someone washed up on the shore, much less a kid his age.

The young boy had a complexion of red with matching hair that smelled like sea salt, a missing tooth on one side, and odd glowing marks across his body. There was one thing that bugged him, however: he didn’t have any legs, just a long tail with a heart-shaped fin at the end, and there were more fins across his body.

He didn’t expect to find the odd creature, per se, for it was actually Rita, who he was taking on a trip there, who found the strange boy on the beach. They immediately brought it back to the castle and informed the Queen about the boy with a tail, and she told the other kids to help while Goomo kept the boy at home with him. Ongo patched up his injuries, and Mina was building an enclosure for the boy from the water.

Rita usually came over to check on him and his damp friend, which she called “Ruby” because of his ruby red scales. Mina usually came over to study the odd creature while it was unconscious, and found out that it was scarred and wounded. Ongo… well, he knew something about it that could help, but none of the other kids could understand what he tried to say.

Now was an eventful day; the water boy was finally waking up! What do I say, what do I say?! “Hi, I thought you were dead!” No, no, no, he’ll think I’m trying to kill him! Maybe, “Welcome to the neighborhood”? He probably doesn’t know what that is! I know! I’ll ask if he’s okay! What can go wrong? The other boy’s eyes slowly opened up, a similar ruby red to his scales, and fins flaying outward as if he was trying to stretch.

“Excuse me, are you…” but before he could finish the sentence, he was lost in its gaze, stumbling over each syllable in awe. The creature was curious, and its markings lit up. The markings included, but weren’t limited to, a stripe across the chest patterned with gold scales in a lightning bolt shape, rings and stripes around his arms in a silvery white and a deep blue, and scales of the different colors dotting his tail and making odd little patterns.

It stared in confusion before trying to get closer, only to be stopped by the walls of his tank. “Y-you… you’re beautiful…” After hearing this, the water-dwelling boy pouted. “I-I-I’m so sorry! I just… never saw anything like you, a-and-“ it seemed to laugh a little, before answering in a language unknown to him. All he could hear was “Dal em setanim…”

“So… I found you on the beach, and you were unconscious, so I thought I’d keep you here, is that okay?” He said nothing, but his scales did light up. The smile on the odd water-dwelling boy’s face was enough of an answer for Goomo. “Great! So, do you have a name? I, uh, don’t want to call you ‘it’ all the time…” “…Name?” “Y-Yeah, what do you call yourself? For instance, my name is Goomo! And… you are?”

“B-Bello.”

~~~~~~~

Bello was adjusting nicely to his tank, but he got bored easily. Mina brought some books for him to read- or rather, for him to have Goomo read them- and tried teaching them how to speak each other’s language.

Rita began to accept that the odd fishy boy was part of the neighborhood now, and even helped him adjust, even if she still called him “Ruby” sometimes. Ongo sort of spoke to Bello too, even understanding what he said. But Goomo still felt like a stranger to the ocean dweller.

Bello has learned how to speak Jammbonian as well, but he could only parrot little phrases and words here and there. Whether he knew what they meant or not was another story altogether. Even so, they had little talks in order to understand each other.

Today, it was Mina’s turn to visit them, and the boys were genuinely interested in hearing a story today! “What’s the book about today?” “What? What?” “This,” she opened the book to a page with a picture of a young woman with a long coat and a sword, “is the journal of Lady Kazamira.” She read them tales of seafaring adventures and daring sword fights, but then one story peaked Bello’s interest.

It was about something that Kazamira called “merpeople,” and Bello immediately spoke up after hearing some depictions. “Ffuegane! Dat… is mee!” Mina and Goomo looked up at him as he said this. “Wh-what did he say?” Mina thought for a moment, and then she began to realize and speak up, increasingly energetic. “Ffuegane is how they say merpeople in second order Mermish! Of course! His tail, a-and his need for constant hydration or contact with water, the markings… your roommate is a young merperson!”

Goomo couldn’t believe it. They were real. Kazamira’s stories were based on something true. “Y-You’re a-“ Bello emitted a quick grunt before realizing that the others couldn’t understand, and tried speaking their language again. “…eeas. I am!” “That’s so cool! C’mon! Let’s hear more stories about merpeople!”

“If you like this book so much, you can keep it. There’s even a translator in there!”

~~~~~~~

The few days that went by, Goomo learned how to speak Mermish and how to care for and maintain his merman roommate. Bello learned a little, too- he learned some of his own kind’s history! Meanwhile, the enclosure was almost complete! Maybe I should enjoy a little fly-by and check on the progress?

Carefully placing a blanket over Bello’s tank, he started up the flight function and began to plink away on the built-in piano keys. “Looks great so far…” The tune he played was nothing too fancy, just a little song that flowed like water and could easily be hummed to… but then… he heard something.

Was that… singing?

Before he turned around, he engaged autopilot and looked for the source. It was Bello singing! Goomo could NOT believe it. “Y-You’re a great singer!” “Krrr?” The young merman hid under the blanket yet again. “No, no, no! It’s okay! You’re really good at singing, too!” “…thank you.” It was obvious that Bello was not used to having others hear him sing.

“You know…” Goomo walked up to the tank. “I’m a little shy about my piano skills… what do you say? It can be our little secret!” “See-crit?” Oh, right… he doesn’t understand certain words… “I won’t tell anyone about your singing, and you don’t tell anyone about my ability to play piano, okay?” “…Truth.” What was the young merman saying? Tell the truth? But he was so scared!

“I-I can’t do that! What if they laugh at me?!” Bello didn’t change his response at all, restating “truth” in a much more firm tone. “…You’re right. But what if-“ “They laugh… their problem!” After hearing that, he felt a little better. As he turned off autopilot, he safely landed his home and began to head for the door- “Mrrrrrr!”

Bello seemed to be making lots of sounds, as if he wanted him to stay for a little longer. The words that he were focused on were “Oowii” and “Hhu-hng,” meaning that he wanted his attention, and something about the heart… “What is it? What are you trying to say?” “…Why I was… hurt…”

He explained to Goomo that in the beginning, he was hunting for a bit, and he was considered the oddball of his own little schooling, but he ran- er, swam- away, trying to find a place of his own where he was the leader. Unfortunately, he couldn’t exactly stay on task, and he got distracted by the surface easily.

As a result, hunters easily spotted and captured him aboard their ship. He managed to escape, but not without scars from the sharp sticks they held and bruises from his attempts to swim after his tail became weak from the lack of water. “I’m sorry you had to go through that… I promise, with all my heart, that you will never have to go through that again as long as I am here!”

Bello seemed to smile after hearing that. “So, what are we waiting for? Let’s go check on your new home!” “New home!” Goomo picked up Bello’s tank of water and placed it on top of a rolling cart that he was provided, dragging it over to the exact area where Mina said the tank was.

Gently eyeing the handiwork, it was perfect. There was an area for everyone to walk in and see the charming little merman swim around, and steps to walk up and interact with him. The actual tank part had a water filter to keep it fresh and a bed of sand with aquatic plants and small prey creatures to simulate Bello’s hunting and foraging instincts, and the best part: he could see all his new friends, including his best friend.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Mina added, “but I assure you, soon enough, it’s going be perfect!” “What do you mean? It’s already perfect! And Bello really seems to like it, too!” “But there needs to be waterways so he can travel Jammbo and visit you! It-“ Bello immediately tried climbing into the special containment zone for him, and immediately loved it. “…alright, I guess we could do the waterways together for now.” “Where should we start?”

Bello immediately traced a line from his containment to Goomo’s house.

“I think Bello has a good idea.”

#jelly jamm #jelly jamm au #Bello #honey cinnamon tea #goomo #mina #rita #ongo #mermay au #mer au #mermay #feel free to draw Bello’s mer design #Just as long as you credit me #It’s mostly platonic but they do trust each other more at the end

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enteringdullsville · 2 years ago

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J. Razbry, the Blue Drewman

Be Strange

Rank: A+ (Main Protagonist)

Aesthetic: Creepy

Visual Inspirations

Other Character Bases

Eternal Enigma

J. and Rudy are brothers; J. being the younger of the two. He’s pretty meek and Rudy tends to do most of the talking for him, so don’t be too surprised or offended if he seems to go out of their way to avoid you at first. J.’s just incredibly shy and self conscious around new people. To be fair, many people find his blank expression, monotone voice, and vaguely corpse-like body language kinda creepy in return.

However, around familiar faces like the rest of ICT, J. quickly becomes eccentric, wisecracking, and exceptionally trollish. If he’s sporting his signature broad grin and twinkling eye, he’s probably already played a prank on you.

On second thought, maybe you’d be smart to find them creepy.

Fun Facts

J.’s first name is an obvious play on “blue jay”.

J. and Rudy weren’t initially designed as stepbrothers. Peony (formerly Rosie) was Rudy’s sister instead, J. (Lou) being an only child.

J.’s ethnic background is a mystery to everyone.

J., along with Angie, changed the most from his first prototype design. Aside from looking almost completely different, he was far more demure, sensitive, and polite. By Rough Sketch, he shifted into a familiar characterization, but was instead more wild than usual.

J., Noah, and Chloe underwent the most name changes of any character, the former initially being named Art, then Lou and Lars before settling on their current name.

J. consistently and bizarrely glowed in dark in Rough Sketch, even when others were realistically shaded. This was scrapped for It’s Color Theory.

J.’s distinct “glowing eye” effect is usually only applied to his left eye. If both his eyes start glowing, turn around and run.

J.’s one floating hair at the top of his head is actually attached to their body, and he can be pulled around by it if needed.

J.’s surname is derived from blue raspberry flavor. This contrasts with Rudy’s red color scheme.

Due to the Primary Characters’ initial spotlight episodes being in rainbow order and the first episode doubling as a spotlight episode for Violet, J. is the last one to get his own.

J.’s name is spelled in varying ways by the others’ dialogue. Rudy, introductory subtitles, and most out-of-universe writing spell it as “J.” Most other members of ICT refer to him as “J”, dropping the period at the end. Several background characters and, for some reason, Angie and Clarence refer to him as “Jay”.

J.’s fluent in several languages, as well as English.

J.’s given several people completely different answers as to what his name stands for. This has caused Violet no end of legal trouble.

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