The mermaids were all off in the bay where the ships had dropped anchor for the night. Ugh, the mermaids! It was always
them
who got to the be center of attention, with sailors clamoring to spend just one night with one of the fishy bitches. Everyone was always
so
excited to see
their
shiny tails, but who wanted the girl with the bottom half of an octopus.
Nobody
, Abby thought, slapping the water hard with one of her tentacles. She sighed and pushed off the cliffside towards the murky depths where she usually spent these lonely nights, but a scream and a splash nearby caught her attention before she'd gone too far out. There was a young human flailing in the water nearby, the rip current pulling her under.
Without thinking, Abby dove into action, propelling herself gracefully through the water towards the drowning woman. The human was kicking furiously to stay up, but the strength of the current and the disorienting effect of the lightless ocean were too much for her. Within seconds of hitting the water she had disappeared beneath the waves. Fortunately this was Abby's natural environment. There was nowhere more comfortable for her than the water, as evidenced by the speed with which she shot under after the unfortunate soul, wrestling her from the tide's grip and dragging her up to the night air.
Still, for all Abby's efforts, the young woman wasn't breathing. Trying desperately to remember what went wrong when humans tried to breathe water, Abby carried her to the beach, depositing her on a patch of dry sand.
It's not the arms
, she thought, running through the possible afflictions that this woman could be suffering.
It's not the head, it's not the stomach... Oh, I remember! The lungs are in the chest!
With no time to spare she slid on top of the human and pressed both hands hard onto her chest. A fountain of seawater spilled out, starting a fit of coughs that rid her lungs of the remaining liquid. The human remained still, but she began to breath steadily, sending a wave of relief through Abby.
Part of her knew that her work was done and it was time to slip back into the sea, but Abby had never been this close to a human. Eager to explore that which she had only observed at a careful distance, she brushed a lock of wet brown hair out of the way and cupped the woman's face with a tentacle, getting to know its texture and its warmth. On the whole, it wasn't much different from her own face.
Other parts, though...
Abby began to move her tentacle downwards, brushing away a soggy white garment, but the human took in a sharp breath, her eyes wide open.
For a moment their gazes locked, then the young woman spoke. "I was drowning, but- but you saved me, right? Thank you." Then her eyes began to drift lower towards the slippery mass that was seated atop her hips.
"Oh," she said simply. "You're beautiful."
Abby blushed, having never received such a compliment before. "Oh sorry! Let me just get off of you." She rolled her lower body to the side and quickly tried to turn the conversation elsewhere. "Hey! What were you doing out there anyway if you can't swim?!"