again what role does television serve in the society - how will their reaction affect their story? What kind of people are they - would they be fascinated, disinterested, scared, depends on their personality. My crow person loves watching TV - my sparrow people can't sit still long enough and it has no interest for them.
Again it will depend on their character - things that would scare a child from the sea might intrigue or interest another, maybe attract them. Is your child inquisitive, nervy, fun loving, maybe a bit of a toerag, good as gold etc
not really no - unless they are really dumb. They will need help to find clothing or steal it presumably it would be an outfit. Are they complete thickos or quite intelligent ? Why do they feel they need to wear clothing ? Who helps them understand it ? These are all questions only your characters and story can answer for you - they know themselves and the plot better than us. How about writing a few paragraphs ?
They wandered on to a reasonably secluded beach, somone spotted them and "Said hey get some clothes on you kid's".
Well they get "adopted" (read tag along with) a man who chooses to be homeless and wander the country out of some philosphey. He's probably in his late twenties, finds them naked, confused, trying to hunt domestic pets.
I don't think that be answered out of context from the story - again it depends on who they are and how their telepathic abilities manifest.
It would definitely be strange to them to buy food that's already dead, and they wouldn't have any money. One way, I guess, would be hunting or something along those lines. Or if they meet the philosopher, he could help them by showing his ways of the world, because he would need food, too.
I bet they are good at catching fish with their hands. I bet they could find a river and do this pretty easily.
So would anything be affected if they could switch between mer and human shapes? As opposed with just having legs adapted to swiming all the time.
I don't think they should switch forms. If you've read a lot of literature about merpeople, they're skin tends to shrivel and look old when they're out of the water for too long. If you want a different take on them, you should read up on the Elai in Canavan's Age of Five series. And the fact that one of the POVs is from a young Elai female should certainly help. Another thing is merpeople tend to be a bit androgynous, since they all have broad shoulders (just like human athletic swimmers, because of all that swimming) & get narrower from there on. Also, does the colour of their hair or scales change from clan(family) to clan. If they're mostly underwater in salt water, they probably have fair hair and are pale. So humans different colours, forms & sizes would come as a bit of a revelation to them. Also, walking would be at the top of the list of things that would confuse them. After all, why walk when you can swim, right? Especially considering all the things that could pierce your skin & hurt you as you walk barefoot almost anywhere.
You know, the way a character looks usually defines some part of their personality. I think you should figure that one out on your own, since I'm sure you don't want anyone else's ideas to impinge on the way you define your characters. I'd suggest looking through a few books on Marine Biology, to see the different kinds of mutations deep sea creatures have undergone to adapt to their environment. Quite fascinating material!
My MC is human and able to breath underwater because is the offspring of a human male and an alien female from a water planet were everyone there is able to breath underwater.
