1071/Sea this sculpture

Sea this sculpture
Date of Scene:	01 February 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Yuuto comes to Coco's dorm room to fulfill something he had intended to do: sculpt a statue of her. As a mermaid.
Cast of Characters:	Yuuto Shiraishi, Coco Kiumi

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Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Out of all the dates that Yuuto and Coco have been on so far, this one probably has made him the most nervous. What had started off as a suggestion he had thought she would decline has borne fruit. It blossomed a relationship and now, it's finally time to face the music as it were.

But more nervously? It's the fact that he is visiting Coco's /room/ that has made him nervous. The closest he's ever come to a girl's room was his sister, and she was only five years old. That makes this uncharted territory. But he looks down at his phone, having gotten a visitor's pass and is being escorted by one of the RAs to Coco and Cho's room.

She turns and gives him a stare, noticing that he's dressed in a set of clothes that he can work easily in, carrying a large block of clay that is set in a bag on his side and carrying a small box of chocolate covered strawberries for Coco. "You have to be out by light's out. And if you don't check out, we will know and find you and then there will be so much trouble. So behave, Romeo." she warns lightly as she gestures to the door.

Yuuto blinks a few times, cheeks darkening. "Oh! Yes. Right." he manages with a swallow and nods his head. "Light's out, got it!" And once he's alone, he draws in a breath and knocks upon Coco's door.

Then waits.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco had spent the time waiting for Yuuto's arrival making the communal space of her and Cho's dorm room a lot more suitable for sculpting a statue.

First she assumed the more natural light there would have been the better, so she made sure the windows would let in as much of it as possible.

Secondly, she thought it probably takes a lot of space, so she starts pushing the central table against the wardrobes and lastly she takes away all chairs but 2, that she collocated in front of each other with a distance sufficient to let Yuuto work (she didn't know if he did so standing or sitting, but in the former case, they could just remove the extra chair).

Lastly she freshened herself up for his arrival, and when the three knocks are heard, she opens the door with a smile, hugging Yuuto after seeing it is indeed her boyfriend. "Hi, Yuuto, thanks for coming! Come in."

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Yuuto waits patiently for the door to be opened, and when he does, his smile for his girlfriend is fond. "Hello, Coco-chan!" he greets, adding the honorific of affection to her name now that they are officially dating. "I'm still learning about what you like and not..." Stepping in only when invited, he presses an affectionate little kiss to the corner of her mouth.

The box of chocolate is offered to her. Four strawberries covered in dark-chocolate with a little swirl of white chocolate across them. "These are for you." he offers to her. Is he going to show up to every date with a gift?

Probably. At least until she tells him to stop.

As he looks around the room, he ohs softly. "This is nice, not much different than mine." he probably totally expected that Coco would have a pool or something similar for a bed. She is a mermaid after all. Doesn't she have to return to water sometime and recharge?

He's got a lot to learn.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco certainly isn't going to ask Yuuto to stop. Rather, it's far more likely she would start bringing her own gifts after seeing how Yuuto wants dates to be. No way she could tell him to stop being kind.

For the time being, though, she takes the box with a kiss at his cheek and tells her boyfriend "Thank you, they look great. We can eat them together later." For now they are placed onto the table she has pushed aside.

"I imagine they followed the same structure everywhere", she comments with a nod. She is not an architect, but she wouldn't imagine there is any need for a school to customise students rooms. Or classrooms, for that matter. And she certainly wouldn't add a pool to her own, even if Yuuto isn't totally wrong (there isn't a physical need for water, but a mental one there sure is, on the level of letting go of a day's stress, but for that she can sneak out and fly to the beach).

"So, how do you want to do this?", the mermaid asks, approaching her designated chair.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Discussion of what to bring on future dates tabled for now, Yuuto grins as she sets the box of strawberries aside. Though, in a moment of bravery, when she takes a cheekkiss, he turns his head and places a warm kiss firmly to her lips. "Aim better next time." he teases softly, flirting at her for a change. "My lips are here." A tap on them with his finger as he pulls back, cheeks hot with his forwardness. Somewhere Tinker is cheering him on.

Sitting down in the chair she had set aside for him, he pulls over a small table to take out the large blob of clay and starts to unwrap it so he can work it into a maleable state. "I just didn't know if you needed a special accomodation because you're a mermaid, is all." he manages to respond as he sits back. "You wanted to start off as a mermaid right?" comes his question as he sits up and regards her. "Should I turn away or something while you change?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Daring today, are we?" Coco grins as he remarks she should aim better. She brings her arms around his neck as she looks at his emerald eyes. "It's a good thing I like having aiming practice", she smiles as she brings his face closer to hers, giving Yuuto a lingering kiss on his lips before pulling back. "Better than the chocolates."

The chair she has prepared is actually all accomodation she needs, somewhere to sit down before transforming (her face meeting the floor is not the kind of face contact she is into, to say the least). "I will just have a seat there", Coco replies pointing to the chair she prepared. "Don't want to bruise myself falling. And the transformation is basically instantaneous, so you don't need to turn around."

Concluded the explanations, she sits down and lets her human form fade, returning to being a mermaid.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
When she brings him back close, Yuuto's green eyes meet the golden ones of Coco's own. "Only when making sure the Princess knows she's adored." he responds, before responding to the lingering kiss with one of his own. So much promise for later there, before she comments on how it's better than chocolates. "You haven't even tried the chocolates yet." comes his response, his cheeks still bright with color.

And even if she had prepared carefully for it, he does prepare to move to catch her should she slip out of the chair as she transforms into her mermaid princess shape. He draws in his breath, and she can see that little slip of his eyes over her, totally trying not to fall for her all over again.

"S-so!" he manages, "We should chatter while I work on this. I mean. It's a good chance to know more about each other. Like... I'm in the track and field club. My speciality is long distance running." A smirk. "My legs are /amazing/."

And as he talks, his fingers are working the clay, glancing up at her as he starts to pull the material apart to seperate it into what he needs, his focus intent.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
He got her there, but even so, she whispers teasingly to him. "If I am wrong, I will feed them to you. Directly", she says what she bets will be an enticing offer to Yuuto. "If I am right, however, you do the same for me." Yuuto may note that in the end it doesn't change who wins or loses, and of course, that's by design.

Coco notices the extra regard he pays to her when she returns to be a mermaid. Is she lucky to have stumbled on such an attentive boyfriend? Very much so. Add to that how energising it is that she can straight up see him be in love with her "I just love you", she candidly tells him after a moment of introspection.

"You will have plenty of occasions to show off your legs when I come to your track meetings", she winks. "And we are comparing our physical fitness..." she playfully replies with a glint in her eyes. "It should be no surprise when I say I swim a lot. That's how I am always so in shape, and I know you noticed that. How much do you think a mermaid swims?" she asks rethorically with a smile. "I am equally proud of my tail as you are of your legs." Though, her case is slightly cheating since magic keeps her level of fitness the same between human and mermaid form, so she just gets to exercise with something she loves doing.

Coco pays attention as he works, following the intricacies of Yuuto's movements as he works the clay, admiring the skill he is showing her.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
The talk of sharing strawberries keeps Yuuto off-balance. Coco is a mistress of the flirt and Yuuto really does not stand a chance against her as he draws in a breath. That's why, in the quiet, when she passes those words of her affections to him so easily, he's caught flat-footed. He's not sure what to say. There's so many feelings there. "You do?" he asks her.

His fingers stop their work on the clay, instead, emerald eyes are intent on her. "I'm just some guy that's out of his league." he murmurs, that wallflower suddenly in full bloom as he looks down at the clay.

And that's where he keeps his eyes as he talks. "I feel really strongly about you, Coco. I mean, when I'm with you, I feel like I can do more than I could do before, and I've always wanted everyone around me to do better. And you just... you increase that by a level of ten. I've never felt like this before. But I want to be around you and with you. I said all that though."

He works on a piece of clay, starting to shape it, before he pauses again. "Coco? What's life like with you? You showed me that you came from a pearl. What does that mean if I fall in love with you too?"

They'll come back to complimenting each other on their physiques, but he feels that they have hit on something important and wants to see exactly where they are. "We've known each other a week. We're not moving too fast, are we?" Nothing he's said so far as said he wants to /stop/. Teenage hearts are weird like that.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco doesn't mind repeating herself. "Yes, I do", she nods. "There is nothing that I am sure of as much as this. Everything you do is special, and what we have done so far... If some people are a ray of sunshine, you are the full sun."

She wants to reach over to him, but that's not a good idea as of now. "You are passionate, attentive, handsome, friendly, kind, and we both want to help to help people against those that want to harm or exploit them. This is happening quite fast in a sense, but when I look inside myself, I don't think that." How much of it is teenage impulsivity? Maybe she shouldn't have used such an important word so early, but it won't matter in the long term.

Of course, she understands her pace is not his and she doesn't want to put pressures on his boundaries. "If you want to take it slow, that's fine, and I am willing to wait it out. Don't count on my feelings to change though, they won't."

And he asks what their life will be like if he falls in love with her too. "That's for the both of us to decide. The only sure thing is you will become a noble by association, but that doesn't mean you have to live underwater unless you want to. You know I can teleport in and out when I am needed."

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
There's a little laugh. "It's not a matter of going slow, Coco." Yuuto offers. "This is just..." he looks up at her, green eyes meeting gold again. "If you had told me at the beginning of this semester that I would have fallen in love with a mermaid princess, I'd laughed so hard." he admits to her.

It is a heavy word, and one he is trying to feel out as he works on the clay. Finally, he just sets the material aside for a moment. "I'm not going to even be able to start unless we clear this up." He moves to be next to her, his hand settling in hers.

"So if I confess to you, Coco-chan..." he was already using the honorific for someone closer than a friend. "...we're already officially dating, right? What about at your home? Would I be welcomed there? Or would I be someone that they see as trying to steal their princess away? What does it mean to be your Prince, Coco? Because you already know I can't carry a tune in a bucket." A small smile at that.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"It was a pretty unbelievable series of events", she laughs in agreement. "But I am glad it actually happened. I wouldn't be able to take it if I wake up and it has been all a cruel dream."

What started as a lighthearted statue making session has turned into a deep reflection into their future, most specifically what concerns the relationship between humans and Coco's subjects.

"Nobody is going to see you as stealing me away, Yuuto.There is going to be some pushback against me because we aren't supposed to love humans, but it won't be significant enough to actually matter", she declares, joining her palm with his.

"It's already quite significant that you know of us, and nothing has happened. That already will help win over many of the opposition. And the fact you too are magic and fighting against demons? They will respect you, Yuuto."

She gives him a light kiss on his lips, a brief brush as gold and emerald pools reflect into each other before continuing. "Singing is something we like doing, not something we pretend from others. If you yourself are unsatisfied by that, I can help you, but otherwise you don't have to change yourself any. We can be happy just being a family."

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Once they get this settled, he may be able to get back to sculpting. With their hands joined, his fingers slip between hers. Yuuto considers her words, weighing them in his mind. "My parents are so not going to be thrilled." he admits with a small laugh. "Not because you're a mermaid or a princess." The smile on his face for her is affectionate. "But because I do love you too, Princess Coco."

Sharing that confession with her as she kisses him, he returns the kiss with affection as he holds onto her hand. "I really wanted to wait for Valentine's Day to tell you that." He sighs, not in a bad way but the 'now I need to think of something new' way as he brushes his nose against her cheek for another light kiss on her skin. "I should get back to work." he manages.

"But before I do..." his hand moves from her, towards the scaling at her hip. "May I? I mean, it will help me understand the texture when I'm working on it and not at all meant to be... okay, yeah, I might just want to touch your side a little." A light blush and a wink at her.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Hearing him tell her he loves her back is enough to make her outright beam with happiness again, those words alone incredibly precious to her. "Thank you, Yuuto, I am so glad, you make me so happy."

She takes the hand Yuuto is holding out with hers, letting the silence of that contact pass as she lets the moment stay as it is. Nothing else needs to happen for now, let their silence speak for itself. When he says he is getting back to work, Coco blinks, getting out of the trance that she had moved herself into and letting go. Was it eternity, or just too short of a fraction of a second? Both, in a way.

"Of course, got kinda lost there, sorry", she smiles in love. And he asks her for permission to touch where her human half and fish half meet, and Coco doesn't hesitate in allowing him to carry out both his intents. "Of course, touch for as long as you need", her tone completely deprived of any tease.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Yuuto could have sat with her like that... at least for a few more hours. At least until Cho walked in on them and wondered what the heck was going on. His cheeks are warm, but he feels more confident. As if a weight has been lifted off his shoulders at his confession. Their hands untangle though, and it's not as if a spell was broken - but more, he knows he has something - someone to work towards.

"So, what were your thinking about? When you were lost." Yuuto asks curiously. But when she gives her permission, he moves, sitting up on his knees. And his hand lightly touches the hybrid skin of her hip, learning what she feels like between the warm flesh and the mermaid part of her, he closes his eyes, commiting it to memory as much as the smile in the eyes, the way his hand feels in hers, and the way her breath tickles his lips when they kiss.

After several seconds, he pulls back a little. "Even if I can't sing, I will be in the front row when you do." he promises her as he returns to his table, settling at it and starts to work on the clay anew. Now he has ideas, and a beautiful model - and a muse he loves. They can make good headway today.

"Okay, lighter fare... I imagine your diet before you came to the surface was pretty fish heavy. What foods have you discovered here that you like?" he asks her. "I found that I have a good fondness for Hamburg steaks smothered in gravy."

Coco Kiumi has posed:
As expected from someone that is used to work on such fragile material, Yuuto's touch is delicate as it dances across her skin, the prodding of his fingers having the abating quality of a massage in their own right, at least if she was any stressed, but right now it couldn't be more peaceful.

"I was just enjoying that moment", the mermaid starts answering Yuuto. "It felt so harmonious, you know. We didn't need any words or additional gestures to be close to each other, we could have just continued like that."

"And I want to be there when you work on your statues, I will" be there, that's a promise", she replies back to Yuuto. Seeing him work for the first time was enough to give her appreciation for both the skill and care he puts into his work, watching a featureless block gain so many unique details.

"Yes, we caught and cooked a lot of fish", she confirms, "but we have ways to imitate some of the things you have up here, like bread. It's mostly a work of magic." And they certainly couldn't imitate actual land animals. There are too many things going into the balance of life on land to be able to imitate it.

"Something I like from here... That's probably beef, even better if braised. I also like mashed potatoes with oil and vinegar."

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
His fingers work on folding and moulding the clay. She may be able to tell that he is starting with her tail - it's both the most complicated part with the curves and bends in it - the shape - with it's vague hints at humanity and feminity while being entirely different.

"So, if I were to become your Prince Consort and we married, would I remain a human, or would I eventually be able to transform as well? Would that work considering that I'm also a Steam Sentinel?" he asks thoughtfully as he works on the clay, bending it around into a soft hook shape that mirrors her fins at the bottom of her tail. "What would our family be like? I mean, have a human and a mermaid princess married before?" he finds himself asking.

"Oh. We will definetly go out for that, then. I also like Omurice." More clay is pulled to work on and shape.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco can't just understand how Yuuto's parents refuse to support him. She doubts he deals with creating statues of mermaids on the regular (on the contrary, she assumes this is probably his first time), and yet here he is, steadily giving form to the uniqueness of her anatomy despite the unprecedent challenges it must entail (pun not intended).

The answers to Yuuto's questions are all simple - if there has been a mermaid that set a trend of going to the land above and finding love, that was probably centuries ago at the minimum. "Marriage itself wouldn't turn you into a merman", she starts explaining, "but there are ways to let you do that. Magic is a resourceful force. The dreamseer stone for example is a stone that grows on the seafloor and it can transform dreams at night into reality. Though, learning lucid dreaming is recommended first to avoid making a mess of things."

And then comes the subject of their potential children, which gives Coco a small smile. He wouldn't ask if he weren't seriously considering the idea of one day starting a family with her, right? "The first few generations of a family like ours would be functionally merfolk - with the children subject to the same rules as me for changing between human and mermaid form - but it would start getting impossible soon after, at most keeping better skills for swimming."

Since he is working on the tail, Coco takes a moment to adjust how the thin membranes of her fin have appeared on the floor, to give them a better look. "That all sounds nice. Can't wait to give a try to your omurice and hamburg steaks too", she smiles.

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
It's easy. Just buck your parents' plans and ideas for you, and you too can find yourself with the weight of disapproval. Ask Yuuto how in three easy lessons! Though if/when he brings home the pretty blonde to introduce to the parents, it could be a whole other level there. 'You're marrying a what?'

He'll wait a little longer on that, thanks. As Coco makes a note to show him her fins, he pauses. Setting aside the clay for a moment, he takes out the notepad that she bought him and opens it, taking out a pencil so that he may make a reference sketch of it for later.

"You will have little problem convincing me that magic exists. So would it be a lucid dream that we share in, or one to have myself?" he asks her after a moment's thought, to try to grasp that idea better. Then she goes into what their potential children would be like years down the road. "I would hope we would raise them between our worlds, Princess, so that they could decide on their own mates." he teases her playfully.

Closing the notebook to go back to the clay, her comment about trying /his/ cooking makes him laugh. "Oh no, my Coco-chan, you do not want my cooking. I'm a whiz at reheating food and some very basic things and that's about it. It'd totally be a restaurant meal. What about you. What foods would you want to introduce me to?"

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco stops messing with her fin once she is convinced it's orderly enough for Yuuto to add to his sculpture, only to stop with a curious look once she finds out he has been sketching it while she was focusing on it. "I hope I didn't get in the way there", she grins awkwardly, nervous due to possibly having bothered him while he was working on the rest of her tail. "I was just fixing it a bit."

"It would be a lucid dream by yourself", she replies while she calms down. "The dream isn't magic, but the stone is. Lucid dreaming is recommended because you don't want it to turn a dream where you walk upside down - or worse, one of your nightmares - into reality. Once you have mastered control of your dreams, you can turn yourself into a merman in the dream and the stone will do the same in reality."

And he has a recommendation to give her over their children's futures, one that frankly should have been the case well before her, if you ask Coco. "I agree, that's the right thing to do. I don't want them to have to deal with that annoying rule too. We have a way around the danger anyway."

She nods at his clarification, not really minding that he is suggesting eating outside. That's a rather common activity as well, and she imagines having food served to you every once in a while is good too for him. Granted, to her it was the vast majority of times, but it didn't stop her from learning how to in case she ever left for the surface. She just didn't expect it happening due to her kingdom having been destroyed years back.

"That works great", she smiles at him in reassurance. "As for our cuisine, one dish I recommend is shark meat, slowly cooked, then served with a side of kombu."

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
When Coco seems concerned that he had switched mediums, Yuuto glances up. "Oh! No, no you did fine, Coco-chan!" he offers quickly to her as he turns the book so she may see the page. It's a sketch to detail out of the fin and the intricate designs within. "Thank you, I was able to capture these because you did that." he admits with a small blush.

Setting the book back to the side, he goes back to the clay. "I know it's going to take more than one session to do this." comes his admission. "Which is not a line to get to spend more time alone with you in your room..." Becuase he doesn't want tails to start wagging on what he and Coco are doing alone in her room. "...so I'm concentrating on your tail to get as much detail as I can on it." He snickers, his cheeks dark. "I suppose it's okay if I stare at your tail now."

With that, he's back into his work as he works on the shape of her tail and the flares of her fins along her hips. "I see. So I need to start imaginging what I would look like as a merman." he comments as he shapes some of the clay around the back of... oh. "Coco, you mind if you turn to your side for a moment? I need to see your back." Try not to reach into that, even if he is giving her prime flirting and matchmaking material. "It sounds challenging." Which means it may take a while for him to be ready.

"How large of a family are you wanting?" he thinks to ask, because he hasn't considered that. "I mean, I figured we'd finish high school before we start... you know." A nervous little laugh at the idea, and a clearing of his throat. "Plenty of time for us to get to know everything about the other, right?"

"I... you know, I never even tried shark fin soup, much less prepared shark meat. I'd be willing to try it with you." her smile returned, his eyes move between her and the clay.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
"Oh, so that's what it was", Coco replies with a relieved sigh. That's a good thing, it would be actually awkward if she had indeed wasted his time. While she is at it, she gazes at the sketch he had made of her fin. It did turn out quite well. "I am glad it was helpful then", she smiles widely.

She probably should have guessed it would have taken much more than a single session, especially with the curfew imposed on him. "Don't sweat it, take your time. I don't mind if you visit my room a lot, and if people are so bored they start talking, well, they really wouldn't have waited much to find something else to jump on." That's her opinion, anyway.

Since time is of the essence, she is keeping the teasing to a minimum to let him do his work. The only problem is. this chair has a back, so even if she turned it around with small jumps, Yuuto wouldn't have a clear view of it. And she doesn't have any stools either. "I better get off this chair then", she comments as she grabs the chair's sides and starts lowering herself to the ground. And then she actually turns around. "Everything good there?" she asks, gathering her hair in the front, so it doesn't get in his way. Her mermaid form has A LOT of hair, way more than her human one.

"You know, you don't have to worry about it right now. I like that you are being serious about us, but you don't have to start feel pressured, either. So, if you want to finish college, I can wait until then." What they really can't postpone is turning Yuuto into a magical being so the Fade doesn't take his memories of all magic when he becomes an adult. "Yes, we have a lot of time ahead of us, but, as long as you don't feel forced, 3 sounds like a good number of number of children to have, so we'd be a family of 5."

"And I want to introduce you to Aqua Regina and the other mermaid princesses sometime in the future", she proposes, adding the last part, so he doesn't feel the need to do it now. "That will be awesome, even if we might have to move around a bit for that, but I can send a messenger first. Do you like the prospect?"

Yuuto Shiraishi has posed:
Yuuto's not in a rush. At least not when it comes to the sculpting. He wants Coco to be proud of it and see his feelings in his work. He listens to her opinion about gossipers and he chuckles. "It will probably be obvious soon we're dating anyway." Especially if she has plans for Valentine's Day that he will need to find a response to by White Day.

And well, he does get a nice view of her back and there's a momentary pause before he blushes and gets to work on what she's showing. The clay moves around in his hands, shaping it and curving it gently as he gets a couple of small tools to tend to the clay with to carve and shape.

"I mean." Yuuto gives it thought. "If we're serious about this and you really want to... Princesses can be engaged for a while?" Which will help with hastening him to becoming magical and not becoming someone that becomes an adult and comes across Coco one day and only sees a pretty blonde, not the mermaid Princess that has taken root in his heart.

"It's not a matter of being pressured, Coco-chan." he offers to her quietly as he works on the clay, not stopping now that he has a good groove on. "My parents have spent their whole lives trying to make me into a salaryman like them. I... you... you are giving me something I never experienced before, Coco." he admits to her quietly.

"When you are ready to introduce me to your court, I will be ready." he decides. "I just... I want to make sure that you have me prepared, I do not want to embarass you." he murmurs, that momentary self-depreciation rearing it's head again. Never towards anyone else - always aimed at himself.

Coco Kiumi has posed:
Coco starts playing with her hair while she waits for Yuuto to finish, not like she has much else to do, sitting here on the ground like this. This is starting to turn into a challenge of persistence, but it's one she is determined to win. Yuuto is putting in most of the work anyway.

"Well, yes, I am serious, and I totally can announce our engagement, but weren't you worried about your school prospects? There really is no coming back from becoming my consort if we never call off the engagement, you know?" Coco warns him. As much as she loves him, she doesn't want to see him turn regretful over the years. She wants him to be a satisfied and accomplished person.

"You are giving me something really special too", Coco agrees with him. "I really feel there can only be one of you, you know? I don't think you can embarass me, not the way you have been up to now. So, just be the fun, talented and happy person you have always been around me, and everything will go swimmingly", she grins, adding a pun to defuse the tension she feels he is building up.