Red Robin Encounters a Ruler of Merfolk

The sand makes those weird grunting sounds under Red's shoes as he crosses the beach.
Beyond the long beach grass ....
It's like the beach has a bloody gash rent TKT in it.
Red comes to edge of the edge of the grass ....
On the beach lies an honest to god merperson.
They have casually curly black hair with streaks of red and a pale arm, emergent from chiffony red film, thrown up over their eyes. >TKT draped in?<
Their tail, an uncomfortable dark red, and longer and more slender than he expected, sprawls from a human torso (a very well defined human torso, he might add) juuust out of reach from the lapping sea, and it as well as the torso are swathed in diaphanous, gauzy red membranes streaked with gold that're also unfurled across the sand. >I can be more poetic, I swear<
Some of the gold drapery crisscrosses their tail and torso like decorative links or Indian wedding jewellery. 
The merperson says, "I can hear you standing there."
Red replies, "Wasn't sure if I was intruding."
"Nah," they croak. "Just resting."
Red Robin crosses through the grass, onto the beach, and, careful of the membranes, sits on the sand. "What happened, if I may ask?"
"You may." The merperson inhales and lets their breath whoosh out. "Challenger to the throne; customary trial by depth. I got through the cold water barrier, they did not."
"The cold - you're -?"
The arm rocks higher up on the merperson's forehead; gold eyes twinkle at Red and the merperson gives him a toothy grin. "Ruler of the people below the sea."
Red says, "Wow", but it doesn't actually catch his voice so he probably just gapes.
The mer ruler's grin grows, and their arm falls back over their eyes.
"Uh, here." Red digs a spare domino from his belt, lowers the whiteouts and the shades, and offers it.
"Hm?" The arm rocks up again.
"For your eyes."
"Oh, thank you." The other arm flops across their chest, the membrane sparkling in the sun but surprisingly not casting red tinted sunbeams; the merperson huffs, and their other arm flops onto the sand towards Red.
There's still a good seven feet of sand (and membrane) between them.
The merperson frowns.
"Here." Red leans over ... Red rolls onto his knees and, very careful of the membranes, shuffles just to their edge, and tosses the domino onto the merperson’s chest.
They pluck it with two fingers, bring it into their view, and study it.
"Are you okay?" asks Red.
The merperson figures out the domino and fits it over their eyes. "Oh." They adjust it. "This is very nice." Their arms drop to their front. 
"Thank you."
"No problem."
"I am fine," says the merperson. "Just cold." The arm closer to Red flops onto the sand. "Come."
Red ....
The membranes spill from the merperson and across the sand for at least four feet around them; five feet at their widest, about level with the merperson's shoulders.
"Mm, true." A ripple goes through the merperson, and they sit up, dragging membranes behind them like a cape, a shawl, a blanket octopus, and dripping sand from long spines springing free from their back, like those of a TKT
Red is suddenly very aware that he's in close proximity to an apex predator.
"Okay." The merperson beckons.
Red gets to his feet and follows a wide vector around and behind the merperson—
They snag his sleeve and tug him down, and drag a hand up his arm and to his neck—
Red contains his flinch.
—pulls him close.
The merperson's hand is ... it's so cold Red can feel his skin burning.
"You smell like hydrocarbons," says the merperson. They drop their hand.
"I have some heating pads," Red stammers.
The merperson drops their hand. "Mm?" The lie back down.
Red shuffles back on his knees, straightens, and digs through his belt. "I also have--" Unfurls a shock blanket, stands, and floats the blanket down over the merperson.
They grunt and make a face and they seem to be dismissing it--
"Sorry!" Red yanks it away, balls it up, throws it behind him.
"Like the sun," says the merperson.
"Very understandable." Red gets to digging heating pads from his belt. "Where would you like these?"
"Mm." The merperson ... "Just toss 'em." Vaguely gestures to their front.
Red chucks them onto the merperson one by one.
The merperson hugs some of them closer to their chest, pushes others under the folds of the membranes.
Red sits back down and takes a weirdly shaky breath.
The merperson sighs happily.
The waves chuckle to themselves.
"Do forgive my manners," says the merperson. "Not a good host just now."
Red shakes his head. "No hard feelings whatsoever," he assures. "I wouldn't be a very good guest." Grins. "I'm still getting over the fact you exist."
The merperson hums.
"Just how deep can you go?" asks Red.
"About ...." The merperson grumbles. "Not as deep as the trench. Not what you would call 'close' to the trench, either." Makes a face. "Still cold, not deep enough to be warm from the vents."
"It's /warm?"
"Mm. Not warm. There's .... It's water temperature, then it gets very cold, then allegedly it gets closer to water temperature."
"Huh." Red looks back out over the ocean, makes a note to google how things have been going about exploring Challenger Deep. "That's cool."
The merperson snickers.
To Do
* try to have them introduce themselves
* remember that the streaks in Liu's hair extend down their back, maybe there's a hint of a tiara on their crown?
* maybe Liu offers to show Tim what all the crests and stuff look like, so they go underwater?
* possibly have the triplets and Typhoon make cameos?
* Tim can ask how exactly one swims down to the thermocline
Research: grass that grows in sand (Zoysia grass), rend a gash, gauzy fabric -> gauzy synonym -> diaphanous, blanket octopus -> wikipedia, chiffron -> images, is challenger deep warm -> Challenger Deep -> wikipedia, https://www.infoplease.com/askeds/temperature-mariana-trench, indian jewellery -> images -> indian wedding jewellery -> indian wedding jewellery -pinterest
Category:Merfolk!AU
Category:Work in Progress
Category:Ficlet
Category:Liu
Category:Liu (ficlet)
Category:Red Robin (comic)
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Category:Mer!AUs