Here's the first chapter of 'La La Mermaid'. In the next few days, I will post the second chapter. Enjoy!
La La Mermaid
Chapter 1: Magical Treasures from the Sea…
“Rosalia! You can’t walk out on my water ballet now! This is to be my masterpiece! How can you turn your back on such a thing of beauty as this?!”
“Hmph! As if you know the first thing about beauty! Listen to yourself! Without a thought of anyone else’s happiness but your own! I used to think your talent glimmered brilliantly like a lustrous pearl! But now…now you are nothing but an empty shell!”
“Look who’s suddenly the poetic one! You only became the editor of your own magazine because of family connections! You’re wasting a brilliant career as a water ballerina, Rosalia!”
“Well, at least…at least I’m not blaspheming the name of art by hiding behind the public mask of a benevolent creative! You are nothing more than a slave-driving tyrant of a director! And I refuse to stand by and take part in it any longer!”
“Rosalia…you were right…I didn’t realize it then, but now I know…”
A tall man sat bent over, his wavy, tousled head lowered in despair “…What should I do?”
A middle-aged woman, who had long, rippling hair and similar facial features to the melancholic man, smiled softly at him, then looked out a window at the crashing waves of the sea. “Florian, don’t give up hope! Remember what I have told you: ‘when burst forth the cry of a broken soul…all is not lost…for the people of Stelamarinus will rise from the foam…true to their custom and to their guardian’s role…”
Clutching a teardrop-shaped pendant, he closed his eyes and uttered a prayer in his heart. “…I wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t want to come to my aid now, but…I need help! I…I believe it is not too late…!”
A shadowy silhouette of a cat and a jellyfish suddenly appeared on the sand.
The soft, musical tinkle of windchimes mingled with the distant crash of the ocean’s waves. Starfish, mermaid figurines, and a curious variety of shells displayed in a shop window glimmered in the light as the late morning sun filtered into it. Whimsical paintings of mermaids lined the wall as they leaped and twirled and swam. The fantastical paintings gave more the impression of enchanted windows than of paintings. The mermaids in them seemed to wave at the customers or, at any moment, leap out of the picture and into the shop, so vivid they looked. A middle-aged woman with long hair that rippled down her back bustled within as she straightened up the shop, organizing inventory before it opened for the day.
At that moment, however, the locked shop door mysteriously swung open. The middle-aged woman turned around, her pink sundress swishing around her. A slender, white cat with long limbs greeted her at the doorway.
“Goodness, Celeste! You make your presence known as discreetly as the merfolk!”
The strange, white cat’s pink bow at her neck rustled, and her white sailor hat bobbed as she looked up at the shop owner with a capable air, her serious, yellow eyes staring keenly into the woman’s. “We’ve come to aid the one for which you have sought help.”
The middle-aged woman’s eyes sparkled with merriment in a rare, childlike way as she gave a low chuckle. “...Oh! ‘We’?!”
Celeste, confused by the shop owner’s amused expression, followed her gaze and noticed a little, aqua-green colored jellyfish creature rummaging through a collection of glittery seashells, starfish, and other pretty, oceanic items.
“Oh! Celeste!! This shop sells seashells coated with sparkly Pearl Essence Powder! I didn’t think any store in the human world carried these!!”
Celeste, angered and embarrassed, tried to peel her partner away from the array of products. “Stella!! This is the fifth shop you’ve been distracted by! Would you focus on our mission?!”
“Aw, you’re no fun! I don’t always get a chance to shop inland! And the land people here are so surprisingly creative, I can’t help but be curious about everything they sell!”
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Celeste struggled to regain her composure and turned to the shop owner again. “Anyway…!” The white cat looked up at the woman with earnest, glowing eyes. “Please! We need the items you put on hold for us right away!”
“Of course!” The middle-aged woman walked toward a room in the back of the store, her long, wavy hair flowing behind her. When she returned, she bent down in front of Celeste and Stella and opened her clenched hand, revealing a sparkly, pink, shell-shaped compact and a matching pendant. “Here’s your order!” She winked meaningfully.
The two magical creatures stared at the shell-shaped compact and the matching, shell-shaped pendant in awe. Lustrous pearls inlaid on the front of the compact gleamed in shades of coral pink, aqua blue, and the lavender of a coastal, twilit sky. The pendant’s enamel-looking front shimmered with flecks of gold like grains of sand.
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“Wow! They’re so stylish! I just love a matching set!”
“Stella, these aren’t for you!” Celeste rolled her eyes at Stella, then took the compact in her mouth. After bowing her head in thanks to the shop owner, she swiftly ran out of the store and disappeared.
Stella’s eyes brightened as she hastily snatched the shell pendant and put it on. “Oohh, thanks for letting me wear the pendant, Celeste!” The magical jellyfish said as she struggled to keep up with her companion. The woman looked on for a moment, then cheerfully opened up her store for the day.
The next day, a rosy dawn glowed like mother-of-pearl and lit up the half-darkened sky. A teenage girl with long, wavy, turquoise-blue hair sleepily fluttered her eyelashes open. Her large eyes widened as she saw the golden rays of sunshine that floated and danced on her bedroom walls. Leaping excitedly out of her blankets, she ran to her window and pushed the frothy curtains open, staring out at the sea. It sparkled like it was full of millions of diamonds ablaze in the sun.
A small smile crept over the girl’s face. “The ocean looks so beautiful this morning!” she murmured softly. She ran out of her bedroom and, a moment later, reappeared, dressed in a crisp, white sailor top and a long, blue skirt that billowed whenever she turned. She hurriedly put on a beribboned sun hat and strappy, white sandals. Then, she hoisted a big, straw tote bag over her shoulder filled with an easel and painting supplies.
Running out the door, she excitedly thought, “Maybe I can finally paint something wonderful today!” Seagulls glided over the girl’s head as she dashed past the quaint beach cottages and gleaming, sun-drenched mansions covered in brightly colored, flowering vines. Fluffy clouds floated in the sky like puffs of whipped cream, and palm trees glistened and danced on the fresh, salty, ocean breeze.
“...An alabaster façade that brings to mind images of the whitest sands…and an elegant, tile roof that glistens like the deep, blue sea…It’s beautiful…it’s perfect…”
As the artist girl was passing the street in which a long, water canal sparkled below her perpendicular to the street, a tall man with wavy, blue hair stood on the other side of the street. He stared at the spacious, white mansion before him, which had a marine-colored roof and overlooked the waterway dotted with bobbing sailboats. “Yes, I simply must have this house…it reminds me so much of home…”
Another man beside him replied, “...Well, it’s beyond me why you would want to move to this sleepy, little, seaside town! You’d think after living in such a beautiful place as Greece all your life, Florian, a place like this would hold little artistic value for you!”
“Yes, one would think so, wouldn’t one…?” The man called Florian murmured, a sigh escaping his lips.
Just then, the two men heard the pattering sound of footsteps. They both turned around and caught a glimpse of a girlish silhouette racing by. Though the dazzling glare of the glittering canal behind her made her appear a little hazy and indistinct, in just a brief second, Florian was able to catch the sparkling glimmer in her green-blue eyes that flashed excitedly and seemed to reflect the clear water around her. Her long, turquoise hair trailed behind her and curled slightly at the ends, resembling the way a wave curls before breaking onto the shore, and her soft smile beamed like a gentle ray of sunshine through a cloud. She was such a whimsical image that Florian thought she looked like a free-spirited water nymph.
Though she didn’t notice him, he smiled at her, looking on with interest. “...Who is that girl? A resident here?”
“Her? Oh, yes, some girl who lives nearby. A bit strange. She stays shut up in her house most of the time except when she runs off to the beach to paint or something. She won’t bother you, though. Does she remind you of anyone? Probably your kid sister, right?”
“Hmm…” was all he said through a closed, smiling mouth. He looked thoughtful, so his friend took that as a ‘yes’ and a sure sign of homesickness.
After a minute, Florian spoke up. “I thank you, Sebastian, for showing me this place. I will definitely purchase it.”
“Well, it’s for purely selfish reasons, really! I’m going to do all in my power to get you to be my neighbor! You haven’t yet told me why you came here! Business? Or are you getting restless again?!”
Florian hesitated. “...Well…a little of both, I suppose…” Though he smiled, a shadow settled over his face, which his enthusiastic friend failed to notice.
Waves roared and crashed as a wet paintbrush dipped into a deep, blue pigment. It coated an ivory-colored canvas and attempted to imitate the curling motion of the ocean’s currents. A low sigh escaped the turquoise-haired girl’s lips. She cast her eyes on a somewhat stiff-looking painting of her surroundings. Illustrated on her canvas were dull ocean waves and a morning sun that refused to shower the landscape with its warm, golden rays, what should have looked like a perfectly idyllic, coastal day.
A little further from the shoreline, where the ocean began to get deep, surfers dotted the water. They bobbed on the ocean’s surface, sank down into its depths, or rode the waves like strange, new species of aquatic creatures. One girl in particular, with reddish-brown hair tinged with teal at the ends, came up to the surface with a big gasp for air. She was wearing a short, black-and-green wetsuit and swam in broad, confident strokes. She and her surfing partner, another teenage girl, swam to the shore, lying flat on their surfboards.
As they got ready to leave the beach, the auburn-haired surfer girl’s partner pointed at Crystal's painting. “Hey, look, Marina! Isn’t that the former surfing champion’s kid sister?”
Marina turned around after throwing a sporty t-shirt over her head, smirking. “Pft! Yeah, that’s her! You wouldn’t believe it if you saw the way Sean surfs, but that girl seriously cannot swim a stroke!”
Overhearing the two surfers, the painter girl blushed brightly. “‘Th-that girl’? ‘Cannot swim a stroke’? Is that how they refer to me…?”
“My name’s Crystal La Rey, but I guess most people wouldn’t know that…I’m sixteen-years-old, and what I want most in the world is to have my paintings accepted into La Mer, the boutique and art gallery here in my hometown, Sea Star Village…”
…Or, at least, I thought I wanted that…”
Crystal put down her paintbrush wearily. “...Painting the ocean sparkling in the sunlight was always my favorite thing to do…But lately, I’m just not as excited as I used to be about it…”
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“Hurry up, Stella!” At that moment, Celeste darted across the street toward the beach. She paused, waiting for her jellyfish partner, who floated behind her, worn out by her travels. “Celeste, you’re such a slave driver! We’ve been running around searching since forever! I can’t go on any longer!”
“Tch! You try running on four legs sometime and jumping fences! I’ve never known anyone to be so soft and spineless as you, Stel-!”
“Hey, Monet, why don’t you take a dip in the water to cool down? It’s crazy warm today, isn’t it?”
Celeste’s ears perked up. She turned her head toward the beach. Marina and her surfing partner stood on either side of Crystal, who sat timidly in front of her easel.
“Right! And she doesn’t mean just dipping your paintbrush into blue paint!”
Crystal’s face turned a deep shade of pink as she whimpered, embarrassed, “M-Marina…Monet was a man…! And you know I can’t swim at all!”
“Yeah, be careful what you tell her, Marina! She might just trip and fall into her painting!”
“Ha, haah!! You’re right! Don’t drown in your palette, Picasso!”
Shoulders hunched and trembling, Crystal’s eyes welled with tears as the two surfer girls walked away, the sound of their laughing fading as they went. Celeste watched the bullying indignantly. “Hmph! What did she ever do to them, anyway? It seems as though some people have nothing better to do with their time!”
Stella floated closer to look at Crystal. The magical jellyfish’s large, reddish-pink eyes glowed sadly. “And her painting is turning out so beautifully, too!”
Celeste followed her, interest piqued by the painting. “..Oh!!” She stared at the work of art and then at Crystal again, astonished.“...This painting…! Though still a little unpolished, there’s something about it…It’s like a window into her heart…!”
Stella’s expression softened, reading the same mysterious message as well. “Yes…and what a rare and beautiful one it is, too…”
Celeste agreed, then resumed her usual air of responsibility. “...But those surfer girls! Stella, it looks like we have a lot of work to do! The people of Sea Star Village need us! Come on!”
As Crystal packed up her canvas, easel, and painting supplies, she disheartenedly thought, “Why does that Marina always tease me? I guess I must look pretty stupid to her...painting at the beach every day, yet not really accomplishing anything…” She trudged away from the soft, warm sand, feeling the hard concrete of the city sidewalk under her feet once more. “If only I could be inspired again! Then maybe I could make a painting worthy of the La Mer Art Gallery!”
All of a sudden, Crystal heard the distant sound of dreamy, waltz-like music carried to her on a passing breeze. She looked up and saw a shining, open-air stage with rows of seats on either side and a domed, glass roof at the top. The stage had hardly any solid floor. Instead, it was a pool of glistening water. What was even more spellbinding, though, was the performance displayed at that moment in front of her very eyes. “...I’ve passed this stage many times…it always used to be empty…I’ve never once seen anyone perform here…” Crystal quickly stepped closer to the open stage, overcome with curiosity. Her eyes sparkled as she watched intently.
It's lovely and very well written so far, and I look forward to reading more! Your illustrations are awesome, and I like how Crystal enjoys painting the sea. Stella is funny! 
