Praying For Bling

Blink was not a particularly pious mermaid. To be honest, gods played almost no role in his day-to day life, and his parents never spoke about them. Sometimes he would find pretty artwork on the sunken ships depicting one deity or another, though, the religious meaning under these pieces of art went completely over the octopus boy's head. They were just pretty pictures to hoard for him.

Recently, though, he had a visitor in his cave. Part crab mermaid that was interested in a particular pink, luminiscent flower he grew in his garden. As they talked they noticed Blik's collection and fervently demanded that he would return the art pieces to the old shrine relatively near his cave. The young man saw it as a stupid idea at first. They were his shinies that the air-breathers had left behind. He found them, he cleaned them, and no invisible presence should have the right to claim his precious treasure.

A day later, though, he had a change of heart after thinking through what the crustacean had said. He did mention that sometimes, if the gods were pleased with your offering, they would gift a person with something in return. Maybe more shinies? Blik really hoped so.

Such, now he, in front of the weathered, placed one of the prettiest golden plates he had. It showed two people with legs embracing each other, both, skulls and butterflies surrounding the pair. Whenever light would reflect it, the boy would have a full teeth grin at how pretty it looked.

The octopus mermaid placed the plate down at the status feet, speaking to the statue as if it was a real person.
"I am giving this back, but if you are taking my special shiny it would be only polite if you gave some other shiny in return." Yes, he did pout towards the algae-covered stone.

ludo

"Gurgle, gurgle," says Ludo, from over Blik's shoulder. And should the octopus mermaid look into his pretty golden plate, he will see reflected a white, porcelain mask, and rags billowing out in the water all around like spilled ink. "That," it remarks, "is quite a pretty shiny. It is not my kind of shiny, because it does not do anything. But it is pretty."

They are in agreement about that, at least. A tendril worms its way through the depths to stroke across the plate, the mask nestled almost against Blik's shoulder as the deity considers the offering. "I am the shiny you get in return, though. Those are the rules."

There was no arguing, Blik was pretty surprised by the appearance of the robed figure in the water. It probably was not as great as any reasonable person would have, but the octopus never was too aware of the gods to begin with. He feared sharks hunting for blood, scaled lizards the size of small boats, and large crowds. But he had never met a god, such, the surprise was not as great.

As such, he jumped upon his appearance, but gathered himself pretty quickly as the shade spoke. A spark lit up in the eyes of the young octopus and a wide smile crossed his face.
"New friends are always better than shinies! Much better!"

ludo

"Oh, yes. Always," Ludo agrees, though it would likely have agreed with anything that the young Mer said while it's lifting the shiny plate out from the shrine to sequester it away within rags.

"Do new friends like to play games?" it wonders, gliding over Blik's shoulder to wrap itself about the shrine; a mass of floating rags and a porcelain mask bobbing in the deep.

"Games are more fun with friends. More fun than shinies. And maybe more fun than shinies that do things. Would you like to play?" The mask tilts, as if the deity within is cocking its head to the side.