Nymphlopedia

Entry 73: Coral Nymphs

Beginning AN:

Oh, speaking of "biome types" I haven't done in a while, there's underwater ones.

"Okay I got seven of these dumb coins!" Sonata said, holding up - no, it was not one of the usual currency coins, but rather an odd, larger red coin. Of course, she was saying that underwater through a Gill Potion and was moving easily through a Flipper Potion. And she was naviating through a very large coral reef. Which was where all the coins were scattered about.

Vince on the other hand had evolved beyond the need for such simple foolish potions: the Celestial Shell was where things were at for him!

He managed to find a way to toy with it so that he wouldn't look like a wolf-monster at night and wouldn't look like some man-fish thing (that, as people had remarked to him, looked 'curiously attractive.' Yeah...) whenever he so much as touched water. He still took it off before going to sleep though. Which... he had been considering moving to the day. Since most Nymphs (Dryads aside but Tania was shifting her schedule, so fuck it, all Dryads) were nocturnal anyway and his boosts being their best at night... yeah...

Anyway, "What are those?" Vince asked.

"No idea! someone must have just scattered around or dropped these fancy-looking coin things? Whatever, I like them, so I'm picking them up!"

She butted heads with a light pinkish Nymph that swam out from behind a particularly thick patch of coral on the reef. The perfect hiding spot for her. Tania swam over to the two of them, as if by instinct, and on high-alert.

"Wow you're picking them up faster than I expected." The Coral Nymph said. "You're making for a really good lab rat."

"LAB RAT?!"

"I want to be the sort of magical being that tests people with 'trials,' you know?"

Tania took offense to that. For way more than one reason, actually, but she just verbally said one: "Not magical, natural."

The Coral Nymph waved one of her hands, brushing around the coral and petting a fish with another. "Tomayto tomahto."

"No! No tomato" you know what how she pronounced that is up to your headcanon "there is a huge difference!"

"I mean," Sonata shrugged, "we can use magic so..."

"Anyone can use magic! There's a difference between using magic and being magic!"

Two lines above was Sonata's last chime-in on the topic. She got bored and let Tania and the Coral Nymph just go about, while she swam around the massive colorful reef to be next to Vince.

"Okay Vince it looks like I accidentally started another 'magic' vs 'nature' debate. So... do you wanna help me find the damn last coin?"

Vince looked around. "I guess I could, but... I wanted to talk more to Tania. I'm not as close with her as I am with you. Or you with her."

Sonata nodded. "That is fact."

Vince swam back to Tania who, by that point, was starting to turn red with frustration. "Okay, look and compare the energies and matter within us with the Pixies!"

"Aren't you killing the Pixies by getting rid of the Hallow? Not that I mind, I hate the Hallow too."

"I don't hate the Hallow I-" Tania closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Yeah, of ocean water. "Okay. Pixies are stronger versions of Fairies, which-" she seemed to notice her Human companion getting close enough. She asked the following without even looking. "Oh Vince, are you here to help?"

"Yeah... look, why don't you just call yourself a 'magic-using being' or a 'guardian of the coral.'"

"I still think what you're doing in general is kinda dickish though." Sonata said. "You want to toy with people. Even when I was donning my whole 'Helpless Lost Girl' persona, that was more of an evolutionary mechanism to get myself food. Also, can you give me a hint, where's the last coin?"

Tania answered that. "Oh, it's behind her ear. I'm not joking. She told me about it when you two swam away and thought I wouldn't tell you."

"Hahaha."

"I mostly told you because it would piss her off."

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

Coral Nymphs.

These Nymphs can blend all-too well with the lush undersea gatherings of life - you'll never know if that's ordinary coral or not until... CHOMP. Or no chomp, either way.

Preferred Environment: Coral Reef.

Environment Threat Level: Peaceful.

Environment Stats: Underwater. Usually warm. Mundane. Uncommon. Large masses of coral under the ocean.

Other Names: Reef Nymphs, "Jellyfish Nymphs."

Affinity: Water.

Color: Light Magenta.

Traditional Costume Weapon: Their accessories look somewhat like jellyfish or octopus tentacles, wrapped around from their elbows to their hands, typiclaly "dangling" down and off or floating around if underwater. In addition to the predictable water powers (including control over what's in the waters), they can also control coral and lightly suggest things to sealife.

Vince's Comment: Almost all of the Coral Nymphs I've met really care about the environment, and keep talking about how delicate underwater habitats are. (I wish Leviathan Nymphs had the same mindset...) A real easy way to get out of fights with one of them is to just take on the role of an environmentalist and say you'll help them clean up oceans and protect reefs, even if only for a little bit. Holy shit, be honest about that though.

Sonata's Comment: Please no "tentacle = hentai" jokes, okay? Seriously, this time I'm the one saying they're not funny. And that means a LOT coming from me!

Tania's Comment: Coral Nymphs.
Nymphae Corallium.
Unsurprisingly, most of the Oceans are unofficially ruled by Ocean Nymphs, however it is divided in to plenty of "sub-biomes" that have their own Nymph Variants to them. The Coral Reefs are one such biome, and the Nymphs there have a history of... not being at the usual Variant-to-Variant peace with the Ocean Nymphs. Battles have raged on over how where the borders of their territory lie, something complicated by the added third dimension that comes with being under water. The Coral Nymphs are a defensive type, with deceptively hard bodies that can leave them resilient to a great deal of damage sources, something that helped them in their conflict against the relatively squishy, if more mobile, Ocean Nymphs.
Sonata is doing an excellent job at bridging any group of Coral Nymphs she comes across with any group of Ocean Nymphs. I find her work genuinely inspiring. Better than my own mediation between Nature Spirits.
(Note from Sonata: Awww... thanks.)

Responses to Reviews:

Guest: Ehhhhh... in-universe the Oreads (and Dryads) are the "special" ones so they're "unnumbered..." out-universe though it's just kind of a way I organize "special" categories, by not numbering them normally. There will likely be some unnumbered bonus chapters as well, so it might make the not-numbering thing stick out a little less once I finally get to those.

Closing AN:

And thus begins the last week. This is a small start, but we'll get to another "odd" biome (I'm generally saving the last ones before the "special" twenty-fifth one as something a bit... "quirkier" than the rest, and yes as you'll see in RTLD, this includes Toxic Nymphs even though it doesn't look like it. Violet's sort of a "special color."), the final twenty-fifth Nymph Variant before the final day, and the beginning of the Dull Set, Part 4.