"Ahhhh! June! Best month of the year!" Rika rested her hands on her hips, grinning confidently at the beach. Her fiery orange pigtails flashed in the golden, summer sun, tips burning. "It's also Pride month in America!" she added cheerfully.
"How do you know that?!" Saori recoiled. Rika barely studied Japanese history, let alone American!
"Laura Bradley!" Rika shrugged, still beaming like the sun.
Ah. Right. How could I have forgotten? While Saori's face went deadpan, behind her, Marika and Dalia chuckled. Rika flashed back to that magical conversation, when she and Laura met up at the club.
"You guys get a whole MONTH to celebrate gayness?!" Rika's eyes lit up like the tips of her pigtails. "That's GREAT! Cuz I got three GFs back home—we're in a polyamorous polycule—and this is PERFECT!"
Laura smiled and winced. She appreciated Rika's enthusiasm, but despite its name, Pride wasn't all fun and games. It was also supposed to be a month of memory and respect, not just partying. In a nutshell, Rika was a little confused, but she had the spirit. She returned to Japan and promptly set about celebrating with the rest of her unit, and of course, one of their outings took them to the beach.
"I'm gonna get SUCH a sexy suntan!" Rika boasted as the aptly named unit—Merm4id—set up camp between the boardwalk and sea.
"You should still wear sunscreen!" Marika sing-songed, purple eyes drifting shut. Fire-wielder or not, nobody wanted skin cancer or premature wrinkles. Saori was more than happy to curl up beneath their Merm4id-branded umbrella.
"Awwww…!" Rika protested, both Dalia and Marika closing in on her, Marika wielding sunscreen. "But I have gifts! No really, I do!" She pointed to the tote they'd brought with them. Beneath the white towel at the top… were four more towels.
"Take a closer look!" Rika encouraged. "Pan for me! Bi for Marika! Demi for Dali-a! And rainbow question mark for Saori!" She handed each towel to each of her girlfriends. Saori looked mortified when Rika shouted hers, but because it was true, the purple-haired girl could do nothing but open and close her mouth like a fish out of water as she took her brand-new gay towel from Rika.
ooo
"Seeeerve… UP!" SMACK! A white ball flew over a white net, courtesy of Rika. It flew so hard and fast that a corona of fire surrounded the back of it, flickering tongues of orange and yellow dancing off the ball.
"Woah!" Saori shrieked and dissipated into a silver burst, hissing away, rematerializing half a second later on the other side of the volleyball court. Water sloshed as her body recoalesced.
"Got it! Duck, Saori!" Dalia's dark, muscled legs tensed, then she took off like a spring towards the ball while Saori ran away. "HUP!" The Earth-wielder smacked the ball as hard as she could, leaping off sand the same color as her hair.
SLAP! Dalia could hit harder than Rika, and her Earth smothered Rika's Fire.
"Woah!" Now it was Rika and Marika's turn to panic. "MARIKA!" Rika looked desperately at the purple-eyed brunette, but the model was already pushing her hands forward. Though her element was invisible, its effects certainly weren't, and the ball slowed down enough for them to hit it back.
"Come on, Saori!" Marika sing-songed. "You have to hit it back this time!" Then she and Rika locked eyes and hit the ball together.
"NO! WAIT!" Saori raised her hands again, but this time, a jet of water burst from her palms. Too late did Rika and Marika realize their mistake. Their eyes widened, then they were hit square in the face, full force, by Saori's aquatic power.
"Oh no! Did I waterlog you?!" Saori looked mortified while Dalia hid a laugh behind her hand. "Dalia! You're not helping!" the DJ whined. The dancer shook her head apologetically, but couldn't stop snickering. Rika's hair was extinguished, and the volleyball…
She didn't even manage to hit it back over the net…! It rested between Dalia and Saori. Even though Saori practically power-washed it into the net, it never actually went over, so the moment her magic ceased, the ball fell to the ground and rolled lazily away. That was why Dalia was laughing.
"Maybe it's time we do something else?" she asked delicately, raising her eyebrows as she subtly nudged the ball away with her foot.
"I was about to say," Saori sighed, shaking her head, water droplets flying from the edges.
ooo
Once the quartet was suitably dry—thanks to Marika playing the role of a human hair-and-body drier—the quartet hit the boardwalk. Rika ate her weight in food, stopping at every store and restaurant, emerging with at least a couple dishes, if not more.
"Aren't you worried about how… unhealthy that is…?" Saori cast a judgmental side-eye at the fiery redhead.
"Don't worry, Saori," Dalia chuckled lowly. "If anyone can burn her weight in calories…" And Dalia wasn't one to say such things lightly, the unit's resident fitness freak (or buff buff). She knew better than any of them how much stamina Rika had. Though the dancer could agree that the vocalist's food choices weren't… nutritious. Half protein, half sugar. Could be worse, could be better…
Marika, meanwhile, dragged them into every giftshop and antique store between the food stops. Saori was lucky to find a couple arcades, though after long enough, the noise and crowds became overwhelming, and she returned to the boardwalk to sit on a wood bench and enjoy the scent of the salty sea air on the breeze… At least until Rika joined her, loud as a seagull, arms still full of food.
"Don't you want to go bother Marika?" Saori sighed as Rika leaned against her, forcing her to scooch across the bench.
"I think she's still shopping with Dalia! But no food allowed!" Rika replied. "So I'm holding it!" She beamed proudly, holding her arms out to Saori.
"… I see that." In time, real seagulls started to visit. "Uhhhh… Rika…?"
"SOS! Save our sandwiches!" Rika howled as she shielded her food with her body. It was dumb luck that Marika and Dalia emerged from the latest giftshop a second later, and Rika's cries were carried on the breeze to their ears.
"Rika?!" Marika's purple eyes widened. The wind gave her a burst of speed while Dalia's powerful legs pushed her on.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Since Saori had no food, the seagulls pecked at her hair instead, confused by the color.
Marika frowned up at the swarm of greedy, hungry birds. "Leave them be!" A vortex slowly formed in the center of the flock, sucking them in. With only the slightest gesture, Marika moved her fingers, and the vortex carried the seagulls away, releasing them safely elsewhere.
"Whew! Saved our lives!" Rika panted, grinning, breathless, food still cradled in her arms. Beside her, Saori trembled in silent terror.
ooo
"WOOHOO!" Marika cheered as she soared through the air, hanging on a hang-glider powered by her Air currents, and Saori's Water currents. The DJ was a real mermaid now, purple tail beating through the waves as she pulled Marika's hang-glider along. Out of all of them, she could see underwater the clearest, and she saw the telltale red and gold of Rika's surfboard slicing through the waves. Saori grinned wickedly and put on a burst of speed, swimming faster. She struck the underside of Rika's board, not hard enough to throw her, but enough to shake her.
"Woah!" Rika teetered and tottered, but she managed to stay afloat.
Dalia saw the flash of purple dart beneath Rika's board and understood at once. She chuckled to herself. Ah, THAT'S the Saori we love to see!
The one who let her hair down, literally and metaphorically, like a true Merm4id.
The dancer knew the DJ wouldn't try to shake her, partly because Saori respected Dalia more than Rika, and partly because they all knew that with Dalia's rock-hard muscles, it would take nothing less than a tsunami from Saori to knock her off her board. To prove a point, the dancer was even surfing on a thin slab of stone, her strength propelling it through the sea. She subtly shifted the ocean floor to influence the waves.
Saori and Rika traded places, Marika hitching her hang-glider to a proper boat for Rika to captain. Saori, meanwhile, felt playful enough to surf. As the Water-wielder of the group, she had a wildly unfair advantage.
"WOOT, SAORI, GIT IT, GURL!" Rika fist-pumped the air as she watched the purple-haired girl try tricks even she wouldn't dare.
"Rika! Focus!" Dalia shouted from above. She wasn't scared, but she knew that if Rika didn't keep her eyes on the path ahead, they ran the increased risk of crashing into something.
Oh, Dalia, don't you worry! Marika giggled to herself, resting on her stomach on her surfboard, floating gently atop the waves. Marika will catch you all if anything happens! A gentle breeze ruffled her brown locks. Truly, there was no finer polycule anywhere. Merm4id was the embodiment of the four elements: sun, sand, sky, and sea!
AN: Even though every unit in D4DJ could be argued as a polycule, Merm4id is the one I've always felt was MOST polyamorous, and they're listed as the 4th unit in the official lineup. Also shameless self promo, read my "Floorburner and Cakekiller" D4DJ fic. Chap 2 is what inspired the Elemental AU of this anthology, LOL!