Chapter Text
A young painter was walking in a forest, finding the perfect scenery(or thing) for her newest project.
Soft wind blows her hair from the cracks in between trees, she was starting to get near the shore so the sudden breeze is explainable. It was also nice since it was near the beginning of summer.
She carried a bag full of her art supplies on her left, somehow a 8" x 10" canvas also fitting in there. She also carried a Camera around her neck.
Her journey came to a stop once she came across a lake, it wasnt that big yet not that small. Pretty flowers also surrounded the lake, ranging from Cardinals to Hyacinths, there were also some Lotuses in there.
There were some mountains behind the lake with trees surrounding it. You can also see the sun from this view, its a really pretty image in general.
The perfect image to paint.
She took the camera that was hanging around her neck and took a quick picture, a good reference image, she could also show it to Nightcord later..maybe they could have a picnic here sometime? well if she remembers the way..
She puts down her stuff and sets it up, proceeding to start painting afterwards.
Its been a few hours, its now 3:46pm, she started at around 1:00pm. the sun should start setting in a while, but shes about halfway done with the painting. I guess when your experienced you can finish a random small painting faster than usual.
'Okay, things have been well! thats good, i just need to finish off the trees in the back then ill start on the flowers—' her thoughts got cut off when a bird landed on her head, making her flinch.
"Gah!!!–" moving her hands on self instict, she accidentally knocks her cup of brushes down. Its surprising all of the brushes didnt fall into the lake, but after checking all the brushes just to make sure, she discovered that her favorite paintbrush is gone.
"Haa?! wheres my paintbrush?!! " she searches the grass in a panic, hoping that it just got lost in the grass, but to her luck, it fell right into the lake, now too deep to reach.
"seriously?! ughh!!" she throws her fists into the ground, aggressively hitting it multiple times before sighing.
She looks at the bird who landed on her head, for some reason it stayed with her. maybe it had some sympathy.
"you could've at least landed beside me and not on my head you know! " she angrily shouts at the bird, but knowing it wont do anything in the end, Ena sighed again in defeat. "it was the one i was about to use too! Hatsune miku what can i do now..."
she searches her cup of paintbrushes for one of the same size, there wasnt any unfortunately. looking around, there was certainly not someone around to help, like a diver or anything, imagine if there were a mermaid to help tho..
"Its starting to get late anyway, i should go back. " but before Ena could reach for her bag to get some tissues, someone called out to her. "please wait!"
"huh? " she looks up from the ground to see a person, hanging onto the edge of the lake, a bit close to where she is now.
"Uaaa?!?! " backing up on instict, she saw the scaly green-ish blue tail behind her, 'no way..did i just jinx myself?!'
"Sorry..,you dropped something into my lake and i wanted to return it..." she puts something on the grass and retracted her hand, a paintbrush lays there where her hand were before.
This came as a shock for Ena, how could there be such a nice sea creature as her? dont people usually say mermaids would steal whatever they get their webbed hands onto?
"wh-..thank you..?" Ena grabs the paintbrush the mermaid gave her, but that isnt her paintbrush...hers wasnt gold..?
"Sorry um..i dont think this is my paintbrush.." Ena reached her hand with the brush out to the mermaid, requesting that she takes it back.
The other looked at the brush, realizing that she grabbed the wrong thing! "sorry-! " she grabbed the paintbrush back and dived back into the water, soon disappearing from Ena's sight.
After a while she came back with a normal paintbrush in hand, "Is this your paintbrush? " she puts it onto the grass like before. Picking it up, Ena looks at it closely, and to her luck, it was her missing paintbrush!
"yes! it is! thank you!" Ena smiled as she thanked the mermaid before inspecting it a second time to make sure it was okay. Mizuki bought it for her from France when she was visiting her sister, so its really valuable you know?
The mermaid smiled, "your welcome.." a moment of silence followed after, despite already returning the brush, the mermaid laid on the edge of the lake.
That gave Ena some time to look at her, her greenish gray hair looks fluffy and soft despite for living in the water, she also has very pretty purple eyes. She got too distracted in admiring how the fish looks she didnt realize it asked a question.
"What are you making..?"
"huh? "
"oh! " Ena finally looked down at the painting she was working on, realizing she just drew this mermaids home without permission! "Oh uhm..its a painting of the lake..you dont mind if i painted it, right?.."
The mermaids eyes widened, someone would paint her lake? its nothing special, there are definitely other ones around here that looked better..right? but despite that, shes still grateful.
Thats when Ena got an idea, maybe she could paint the fish into the painting! thats also when she realized she never got the name of the mermaid yet.
"Hey, um..whats your name, mermaid?" the creature who was formerly playing with the grass looked up. "Oh..,its Nene.,, whats yours?"
satisfied with the answer, Ena asked Nene about her idea, also telling her name of course. "Im Ena Shinonome! say, Nene, could i paint you?" she asked with a smile.
Nene was shocked, someone would paint her? especially a someone as pretty as this artist that stumbled upon her lake? no ones ever painted or drew her before, well obviously, who could paint or draw in the sea?
"sure!!.." Nene replied with a soft smile, happy since she agreed to let Ena paint her, she let a smile grow on her face, sparkles seemingly to be shining in here eyes. "Thank you!!"
"Please if you dont mind, could to stay there like that for a moment? ill try to be quick!" the mermaid nodded and stayed in the position she were in. Then, Ena started to paint her in.
'Maybe i could give her the finished work? '
In the past hour, they've talked about their interests, favorite food, color, anything! so now they know more stuff about eachother. And after a while, Ena was done painting Nene! surprisingly the mermaid didnt get tired of sitting in the same position for about an hour, but its time to show her the piece of art!
"And..im done! " The painter flips the painting over to Nene's view, letting her get a look at the work.
It was a painting of her lake, of course. but what stood out to the fish most was her, sitting at the edge of the lake, the details were surprisingly really good..Ena even got to the small details!
"Woah...thats amazing!" Nene's eyes sparkled as Ena gave her the painting so she could look at it closer, as Nene's now sitting on the grass.
"You could keep it if you like? you know..for giving me my brush back!" Ena offered her, which made Nene look at her. "keep it..? no no, i dont need it! plus its just a paintbrush.." Nene hands out the painting back to Ena.
"No no, i insist! please, take it!" Ena pushes the painting back to Nene.
And after a few back and forths, she finally gave in. "fine..but..wait.. " The mermaid dives into the lake, returning a while later with the golden paintbrush she previously mistook as the painters paintbrush. "here!" she gives the brush to Ena. "I feel guilty if i took the painting without something to give in return..so please take it!"
Now its Ena's turn to be in shock. "thank you..? " she picks up the golden paintbrush, admiring it, before realizing...
"Wait..how are you gonna take the painting into the water? " she asked. 'i should've brought something to waterproof paint with me.. ' she looked guilty now that she realized that Nene cant even bring the painting into her home..
"Oh..dont worry about that!" Nene started talking in another language, maybe the one mermaids use? when her hands started glowing blue, making a bubble surround the painting. "This should keep it dry!"
"Woah.." Ena admired the thin bubble that surrounded her painting. "Thats so cool..!!" shes never seen a mermaid do its magic before. "Thank you.." the mermaid blushes at the compliment.
after a moment of silence, Ena looked at the sky, realizing that the sun has already started setting. "Ah..i should go back before it gets dark and i get lost..ill see you again sometime, Nene? "
Nene also just realized the time, sad that the painter had to leave, but they'll meet again soon right? so she waved her a see you later in return. "Please visit again sometime..! "
Then they both went their separate ways, Ena walking back into the woods and Nene diving back into her lake. both with a smile on their faces.
"I gotta tell Akito about this. "
"I gotta tell Rui about this. "