❖ mermaid lagoon。

@☼ codex rose There was something about this other person who just boils Lance's blood, his attitude? the way he speaks? perhaps his gesture? he couldn't quite pinpoint as to what it was but it just makes him.. "what??" he blurted out in annoyance "you're the one who suddenly appeared out of nowhere!" he added this time glaring at him intensely whilst securing the sketch pad with his left hand. And as soon as he notices the other aiming for his pad, he quickly turned his whole body defensively, followed with a 'shoo' gesture.

"wow, okay, with the way you're so fired up it's like I killed your mom or something!" and perhaps it was a low blow for someone he knew nothing about, but considering how tactless and smug Lance was it was kind of called for. "Illegal you say? what are you gonna do about it? call the police and report a heinous crime of 'littering'" the senior scoffed and cackled mockingly noting how unreasonably angry the latter was at him. "how about you go and do your stuff and leave me alone?"

@☼ samuel tink meena hears them before she sees them -- a multitude of soft titterings coming out of the water below. at first, she simply dismisses it, choosing to continue sketching upon the thick material of her parchment; one shaky lines at a time - she desperately needs to finish this assignment if she even has the slightest hope of passing miss rapunzel's class.

then the splashes come, along with the flick of silvery tails disappearing into the murky water and more giggling. her eyes narrow, but the female makes no other movement other than dabbing the droplets of water from her work-in-progress. the merfolks are generally not that bad, per se. they just tend to be curious and even a little mischievous at times. most of the time, meena tolerates them -- but three splashes and one thieving attempt later, meena is seriously considering to take jab at their vanity and turn their glittery scales into an ugly brown color.

breathes in. breathes out. patience, meena. you have no time to be dealing with the petty menace right now, go back to your ske-- a splash. more giggles. and meena watches with gradually widening eyes as the lake water seeps into the pages of her sketchbook.

thats. it.

fingertips buzzing with crackles of magic, meena jumps up from her crosslegged position, ready to let out a hex. unfortunately, in the haze of her annoyance, the female forgets two important things. one, she is currently standing on a large outcropping of rocks, which makes for an extremely unstable footing in itself. two, the continuous splashes of water has wetted the rocky floor and thus making it extra slippery.

as she loses her balance and topples headfirst into the water below, meena suddenly remembers another super important thing: she can't swim. crap.

@☾ lancelot legume Dex nearly barked out a laugh when asked about being a stalker. "If I was one, why the hell would I reveal myself this easily? Regardless-- no. No, I'm not a stalker, nor would I ever want to be associated with one." He scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. "That's a very interesting question to start with. Do you ask everyone you meet if they're stalking you? How strange."

His eyes fell to the book-looking thing that the other male was holding on to for dear life. "My /deal/ is that you're carelessly ripping up pieces of paper from that--" he jabbed a finger towards the sketchpad, "and hurling them on the ground. It's as if you don't know, or don't care, that that's considered to be littering. It's illegal, too, by the way." Wasn't caring for the Earth something that was taught in younger years? Then again, Dex didn't know anything about how this seemingly odd person was brought up and raised. Dex's own parents practically etched certain ideals and morals into his mind when he was a small child. Maybe this guy didn't have that experience.

@☼ codex rose As Lance was about to finish his work— finally perfecting it, an angry yelling came out of nowhere which had startled him for the second time around; why were people fond of creeping around him. "huhh?" was the only thing Lance uttered from trying to protect the piece he so-struggled to accomplish. He hurriedly flipped his sketch pad - afraid for it to bet damage and too shy to let people his works - and guarded it with his dominant hand resting on top of it. It would piss the hell out of him if something ruined his sketch.

"are you a stalker?" the senior asked mistaking him for this other male that seemed to appear everywhere that Lance goes— for Lance grew a hategroup of certain people that had loathed him for all the chaos and ruckus he brought about around the campus just right after he stepped within the premise of the academy.

"what's your big deal man??" ending his query with an exclaimed one, Lance stood up, picking up his bag and securing the pad against his chest. The latter looked shorter than him by he guessed 2 inches, it was like a useless talent as he was very insecure of his height - eyes browsing the other male's features and physique.

@☾ lancelot legume Working at the library when he wasn’t buried with classes wasn’t always a simple cup of tea. Dex absolutely loved to read, without question. That wasn’t the issue. No, when people would return books that were long overdue, when they’d acquire fines that would require more than one dollar bills to cover the cost, or when he’d find gum stuck to the inside front cover of a hardback novel while he was checking said book in— that was the issue.

So, as he trekked along the pathway he frequented often on his daily walk in the evening, Dex was visibly fuming. Curses and profanities that his mother would never, ever approve of fell from his lips, his fists were clenched, and his eyes held a certain fire that wasn’t to be messed with. He was angry enough to fight a bull, he was sure of it.

But if his pet peeves at work weren’t enough to fuel his flamed mood, what he spotted as soon as he stepped out into the clearing near the lagoon definitely was.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?!” Dex asked in a growl, approaching the male who had just tossed what looked like his fourth piece of paper onto the ground. “The world is in no way your garbage can!”

@☼ codex rose Lance had arrived at the mermaid lagoon in with a very optimistic spirit, a certain excitement singing through his blood that he had not felt for a very long time. It was nice to have someplace to go that was not school or dorm. He didn't hate the whole education system perse — just that sometimes he couldn't grasp the importance of the other subjects he is taking aside from that painting class he so loves, really, when his mother or father would tutor him before, he didn’t… enjoy it, but that was because Lance needed his lessons to be very hands-on, or he got antsy at the kitchen table and started doodling fun shapes instead.

Further into sketching, Lance made a mistake with the object's eyes "what the actual " he hissed under his breath as he tossed his 4th revision of the portrait he's been trying to finish ever since he sat in the bench just near the lagoon. The frustrated artist (lolokno) just couldn't get that other eye right; another crumpled paper landed on the ground, this time the lips just looked so... unnatural.