One morning while I was out of the house, Kal quickly got ready before walking out into the great room of the penthouse as the air rippled and salt started pouring out the air like a cracked fish tank. As the salt pouring crack in reality spread, two figures actually stepped out of it.
“Benevia…Shelly” Kal said with a soft nod as the two stepped out of the portal that Benevia obviously opened because of the pouring salt, Kal’s never met someone who’s magic was so consistent about manifesting as salt, he’s seen magics that turn people into salt along with similar other effects or magic that appears as glowing dust or other styles of motes, but as actual salt, very, very rarely. Benevia brushed off her dark green robe like clothing, embroidered with sewn in shells, pearls, sea glass and other similar aspects, her long black hair still softly dripping sea water onto the marble as she breathed out heavily through her gills as she shifted to air breathing. Shelly, however, is not what someone would expect for that name: Shelly is a fishfolk/merfolk hybrid, similar to the octopi bodied mermaids, but instead Shelly, he has the lower body of a massive Japanese snow crab with hyper extended legs: he is tall purely because his humanoid upper body starts where someone’s waist would be in terms of distance off the ground, human upper body deeply tanned morphing into the body of a massive crab with skittering legs encased in jewelry, gold, jewels and all sorts of other things stacked high up on his back, long dark brown hair to his humanoid waist filled with jewelry, body adorned with just as much jewelry as actual fabric which was golden yellow in tone morphing to a belted panel to protect his modesty, piercing orange eyes that can move independently giving him a bit of a wall eyed expression, long sharp nails on his human hands, but off his waist was a second pair of arms that instead of human were the segmented shelled limbs of a crab including claws.
“Your highness” Benevia said with a hand on her chest as she bowed deeply, her other arm occupied by holding a small chest close to her person.
“Your majesty” Shelly said at the same time, his front crab limbs deeply bowing in a vaguely curtsy like motion as he held his arms out with a jangle of thousands of bangles, chain and trinkets, Kal sighed internally as a handful of doubloons and a chalice cascaded off his shell which his lower arms quickly went to pick up and move them back into his back held glittery hoard.
“May I, your highness” Benevia asked
“Go ahead” Kal said, she nodded before setting the chest down and opening it, she just rose her hand before water seemed to bubble and pool out of the chest as it erupted upwards in a geyser like fashion before collecting into a sentient glowing sphere of light magic and water before she flicked her hand and it hit Kal squarely in the chest, but as the water washed over him and fell away into magic, his regular clothing was gone and replaced with the clothing of his people. “You do work quickly” he said as he looked down towards him, now dressed in wide legged deep navy silken trousers, pristinely pleated with a long matching navy kimono like upper robe with a metallic ivory white lining, the edges widely embroidered with white with sewn in studded pearls, pieces of sea glass and shells carved of platinum, pearl or other sea harvested precious stones and metals. The upper body of the robe morphed into a high Mandarin style collar adorned with more embroidery, ivory spike shaped buttons down the front of his body, framed in embroidery framing the spikes with the shapes of scallop shells. The upper body had a secondary piece that was shaped like a triangle in much stiffer fabric with boned pieces giving it its shape as it was closed over his chest morphing into seemly swept out shoulder pads then fell down his back in a longer, thinner point in the same navy fabric, edged in hanging tear drop shaped pearls, edged in matching embroidery of sea harvest materials. The second over piece is fully attached to the robe, so the straight slightly wide sleeves nearly looked detached because of the height difference between Kal’s actual should and the top portion of the over-piece. The sleeves were adorned with the same embroidery down the backs of his arms in swirly aquatic like shapes of scrollwork and filigree in the same manner, formed into sea stars over the elbows before morphing to encase the forearm, far tighter than the upper arm, ending in slight cuffs at his wrists. An ivory sash wrapped and wound its way around Kal’s waist properly folding and knotting to hang down his left leg, the hanging pieces embroidered with the same navy tone with added pieces, drop shaped pearls hanging off the bottom ends, thinner navy and silvery bands twisted and mixed about the sash around his waist as the knot was finished with a sea serpent ring it was fitted through. Down his back fell floor touching wide vaults of navy fabric embroidered with ivory sea serpents that were vertically spread along the fabric with the same added elements, but instead of pearls, instead was ended in hanging cone shells of sculpted clear sea glass, an ornately knotted white cord fell between the trails down his back with tapered sphere shape stones from the back of his shoulders down to his waist, the smallest being about grape sized to the largest being ping-pong ball sized, the white cord in macramé style knots and patterns around cobalt stones with clear beads of sea glass and pearls between them and along the cord before it ended in a massive tassel at the back of Kal’s waist where it hung down his back. A wide shawl like vault of silk wrapped around his back to nestle into the crooks of his elbows, matching navy, but embroidered with a single sea serpent almost entirely made of pearls with tasseled ends.
There were no feathers or flowers in the clothing of their people because there are no birds that exist in their world and flowers are very rarely found in their sea. They have always used what they have around them: shells, sea glass, pearls, the skeletons of aquatic life, volcanic stones and lots of their own formed glass work from the sand harvest from the various zones of the seas along with the various shipwreck detritus they can find.
Kal held his arms in front of him as the water swirled and wrapped around his forearms forming matching macrame like pieces with stones and crystals down the outside of his arms adorned with matching tassels like a vaguely fin like shape of the ivory cording, the bracer like pieces went from wrist to near elbow. Kal moved his foot as the water followed and ivory fabric wrapped around his calves before a pair of slightly curl toed navy slippers formed on his feet adorned with matching embroidery and pearly soles, the fabric moving to wrap snugly around the tops of his feet through the loop at the back of his heel.
“Been so long sense I’ve worn shoes like this” Kal said with a soft laugh as he looked down towards how he was dressed.
“Well, its not often we get to make something so formal for you, your majesty” Shelly said, claws nervously trying to keep a chest on his back hidden from Kal, but he already knew that what was in it was for Kal and he needed to hand it over.
“Does everything fit alright?” Benevia asked
“Perfectly fine, same as always with things you’ve made.”
“Well, I didn’t get my job through not being good at what I do” Benevia said with a soft shrug and a rather cocky tone as she motioned to herself.
“You are as humble as a peacock shrimp and as prickly as a sea urchin as usual” Kal joked making Shelly laugh.
“Your highness” Benevia said with not a scold, but a not surprised kind of tone to her voice, everyone in the palace staff knew Benevia had a very heavy handed sin over the aspects of vanity.
“Thank you, though for getting this to me as quickly as you did” Kal said as he looked down towards his arms. Benevia nodded before pulling her hand back and all of the clothing dissolved into water floating under her hand before she shot it back into the chest which snapped closed before she handed the small chest, which was no larger than a standard jewelry box size, over.
“Shelly” Benevia said slamming her elbow into Shelly’s side who sighed deeply as he tried to keep hiding the chest before Benevia pulled the chest off Shelly’s back, sending a trickling waterfall of gold coins to cascade off his back distracting Shelly with picking them back up as the slightly larger jewelry box sized chest was handed over to Kal. “We should be returning home, air is not good at for us”
“Of course” Kal said as the salt pile on the floor swirled before returning to a thick line in the air and the line ripped open revealing the portal, a few thin trickles of sea water fell from the top of the rendering rip as the two disappeared back through it which fell back away into a pile of salt which melted away into magic as Kal stood there, watching the salt swirl and disappear.
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