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Fish out of Water [ Missed & Dev ]

“Ah!” Enhar knew what a date was, he had simple never heard the word before. “So, a date is when you spend time with someone alone?” Interesting. They did not have a specific word for it, really. It was just deciding that they wanted some time in private, and spending it outside the sight of the clan. Or cuddling while listening to someone sing a story, perhaps – though that was more for those who were willing to show their bond in public.

“It's very common for us to find humans,” he mused. “Your people are everywhere.” Enhar had to wonder at the rate humans bred. His people could not breed in the same way if they tried. (He decided not to tell her that a siren could sing a human into having sex with them and then have them forget it too. She might find that a little shocking, and probably start worrying about him.)

But when Sera asked that question... He blushed as deep as it was possible for him to go, looking utterly mortified to have to say it. Eggs?! Humans really knew nothing of his kind. “Like dolphins,” he managed to get out eventually. “Though without all the raping dolphin males do.” That was the important point to make – they were civilised beings, after all!

This was far too embarrassing. It felt far too wrong to just show her where his penis was hidden... Just thinking about it made his face burn. It wasn't like her touching his fin and his scales at all. It was barely visible – a small slit a few inches below his bellybutton. His anus was equally obscure, further down.

“Ah... We, um. We can have sex at any time, for fun...” Well, not all species of animals did. Enhar thought that he really shouldn't assume. He was, however, starting to feel that perhaps he would like a rock to hide under, now. “But a lady is fertile every few years. It is a honour to be asked to mate at that time.” The unspoken assumption was that if a female wanted a child, she would probably not ask only one male. Paternity was always uncertain, and Enhar probably only knew who his mother was. It wasn't such a bad thing. The chances that it might be any of the several lovers she had at that time gave them all at least a little incentive to contribute towards her and her child's well-being.

“How do humans do it? I never really thought about it...” he realised. “I thought it would just be about the same...” Silly thing to think, he was now realising.


[[ohmigoshpage2!!]]
 
Sera nodded her head in confirmation at his question. "Pretty much, you spend time alone to figure out how compatible you are and whether you'll eventually be able to build a family together." That was the usual ends to most relationships that they were seeing just how well they could get married and create their own home.

"My people might be everywhere but it's not very common for us to find you. Though maybe that happens more then I think and you guys just make us forget about it." Anyone who really told tales of meeting mermaids were usually written off as being drunk off their asses and nothing more. If she went into town and started talking about how she had a merman in her bathtub no doubt she would get some very weird looks and people wondering just what asylum she had escaped from.

"Er... well that's good to know." So apparently they did have something in common in that respect. For some reason she doubted mermaids would be quite as popular if they laid eggs like normal fish in order to mate. "So a female isn't always fertile? I guess that cuts down on the offspring." Well it wasn't like merfolk had condoms so there had to be something stopping them from overpopulating the waters.

"Well, it is pretty similar I guess if you replace the tail thing with legs." Now it was Sera's turn to feel awkward as she dreaded explaining this to him. He had told her so it was only fair but for a second she considered just taking out her laptop and showing him porn to get it done with. No, that would probably scar Enhar and make him think that humanity as a whole was just sick. "Though females are fertile from adolescence up until around 40 which means we can have a lot more kids. A lot of the time it's done mostly for fun though." Green eyes shifted away from him as a small blush began to creep on her own cheeks. This was not the conversation she thought she'd be having today.

Suddenly the awkwardness in the air was interrupted by the sound of a doorbell ringing. "Son of a bitch." Sera muttered under her breath as she got up off the floor and raced downstairs. She wasn't expecting anyone so when she looked through the peephole and saw an old woman with a sensible cardigan she had to let out a groan of frustration. Of course it was just her luck that Mrs. Feeny would decide to stop by right at this moment.

"Hello Mrs. Feeny." Sera said as she opened the door to greet her elderly neighbor. They had been neighbors since Sera moved into the house and while the woman was well meaning she had a habit of sticking her nose where it didn't belong. The last thing Sera wanted to do right now was deal with having to explain a merman in her bathtub.

"Well hello dear. I saw that you hadn't anchored your boat well and there was going to be a strong wind so I didn't want it to blow away." The old woman was edging closer and no doubt wanted to be invited in for some tea and a chat. Unfortunately for her Sera didn't want to deal with risk of her finding Enhar. Thanking the woman quickly she slammed the door in her face before breathing a sigh of relief. Things could get very dangerous if anyone found out about Enhar.

[[srsly!gofishypowah!]]
 
“Huh.” He was very surprised at the length of time humans were fertile. “Doesn't that mean you have many children?” he asked, immensely baffled. “Why would you want that?” It was difficult to raise a child, after all. Many years of them being useless while learning to take care of themselves, teaching them the stories, about the world. There were many dangers as well, from larger predators. And for a female to carry a child to term too time and extra resources. No doubt that if they didn't have clear divisions between fertile/non-fertile, they would never have developed such lax attitudes to sexual pleasure.

It didn't seem very similar to him at all... Excellent, now they were both embarrassed, and the silence was horribly awkward. Explaining his people's mating habits in rather clinical terms to a human really wasn't what he wanted to do. He had never thought that it would be so different!

The doorbell made him start. What was that sound! So jarring and horrible. He watched Sera go, hearing her go down the stairs. He really couldn't resist. The bath was small, anyway, and he was curious to see to see what else was in the house. A small thump as he hauled himself over the side of the bath, placing his tail on the floor surprisingly nimbly. His people did, after all, often choose to visit empty islands and sometimes to bask on rocks or sand in the sun. They were not people only of the deep, even if humans had constrained the land that they could visit.

It certainly wasn't the most elegant of movements – a sort of floppy-floppy thing as he pushed himself towards the door, barely better than a grounded fish. However, as soon as he found things to hold onto, it was better. Door handle supported his weight, sort of, and when he went past the door, there was the banister to cling to. He held himself up, looking down the stairs at the top of Sera's head, and trying to peek down to the outside of the door.

“What was that about?” he asked Sera, leaning down a little more, so that she could actually see him. He had been wary enough to try to stay out of sight of the other human, despite his own curiosity. He was probably dripping water all down her stairs.
 
Hearing a thump coming from the upstairs, Sera craned her neck only to see Enhar practically hanging off the banister and looking down at her. Quickly her eyes shifted back to the door to make sure that Mrs. Feeny wasn't hanging around somewhere and that she hadn't seen him. Sure the woman might be Jurassic but Sera doubted she could convince her that Enhar was a figment of her imagination. Finally convinced that the woman wasn't hanging around Sera made her way over to where the stairs were and looked up at Enhar.

"That was my neighbor. I didn't tie up my boat right and she just wanted to tell me." Sera explained as she put her hands on her hips and looked up at him. "How the hell did you even get out here?" Apparently the merman was a lot more durable then she had first thought. He mentioned he could survive out of water but she didn't think he'd actually be able to move outside of it. Though he did have strong arms to pull himself with and could use the tail to flop around a bit.

This would make it a whole lot easier to get him out of the bathtub and into the pool where he'd have some actual room to move. The stairs could pose a bit of a problem but she did have a sled in her room that she used to play with when she was younger that they could probably use. Just put Enhar on the sled and have him slide down the stairs while hopefully not causing an insane amount of damage. Then if she could put a little screen to cover the side of the pool the neighbors could see they might actually be able to pull this off.

"You have to be careful not to pop out like that. You're not even supposed to be real and a lot of people would probably like to get their hands on you." No doubt there would be those who'd like to dissect him just to see how he works and other still who would want to keep him in a zoo so they could observe him. For some reason she doubted that either of those options would be very appealing to the merman.

Stretching her arms slightly she made her way up the stairs towards where he was. The carpet was wet and had a trail of water from where he had flopped to the banister. The bathroom was also soaking wet and Mika had decided to take a cat nap on the laundry. She'd definitely have to clean this mess up later but he was still easier to take care of then the cat. "So what would you like to do? Are you still hungry? Do you want to try moving to the pool and see if that would fit you better?"
 
“The person who lives in a house next to you? That is what neighbour means, right?” He had to ask, to make sure that he was understanding it right. In his world, there was only really clan or not clan, and clans one was allied with or not. Explaining clan politics to an outsider would be utterly impossible, and was difficult even to explain to a person who did not share the same clan, let alone to someone who did not share the same world.

And now, Enhar had to ask. “What is your clan, Sera?” Did humans even have clans? Enhar identified better by his clan than by his blood family. His clan wasn't even that big, maybe only a hundred members. More like an extended family.

He dropped down into a sitting position when she was back in his line of sight. Oof. That was a relief – the wood had been starting to dig into his stomach, and holding himself up like that wasn't easy. It sure wasn't incredibly dignified, but he really could move.

“I'm not supposed to be real...?” Enhar had to repeat. It seemed almost ridiculous. He could not stop himself laughing. His people still told stories about strange things, and while they did not expect to encounter them, most of the time, they knew that the world was very big and that it was never possible to know all the things that resided in it. Just because you had never seen something, definitely did not mean it wasn't real. It wasn't possible to prove non-existence. Did humans really believe that they could decide what was real and what was not? How foolish. How strange. How terribly alien... “What would they do to me?” Enhar didn't quite seem to know. He had been told many times that humans were dangerous, but he didn't really know why. His people killed for food, and sometimes there were crimes, and every so often a clan would offend another's honour...

Well, he was not particularly hungry, but... “What other food do you have?” He really couldn't stop himself asking that one, with sudden curiosity. “I would like to try more things.”

And at least this had ended their previous horrifically awkward conversation!
 
"Yeah, that's what neighbor means. She lived next door for twenty years and since she doesn't really see her own kids often I'm sort of a replacement." Sera would really have to be careful with her wording around him. How could he know what a neighbor was when his kind always moved around and didn't settle down long enough to have real neighbors.

"My clan?" What would her clan possibly be? Obviously for him clans weren't defined just by blood but instead by the community they lived in. It wasn't like she could call all the people in her city as part of her clan and as far as she could tell the closest answer would be her family. "Well, my clan would be my family I guess. My parents and siblings as well as cousins, aunts, uncles and the like. I do have a couple of friends I've known pretty much all my life so they might as well be part of the family." She hoped that would be a good enough answer for him since she wasn't sure how better to explain it.

"We.. no, not really. You're supposed to be a character in a story that a grandma would tell her grandkids to get them to go to sleep. Albeit usually it involves a female who looks a bit more human but as far as we're concerned, merfolk are just parts of our imagination." It did seem kind of ridiculous that they would just brush off an entire species just because they couldn't prove that they existed. Meeting Enhar made her wonder just what other myths might actually be real. Could the Loch ness monster really exist and was Bigfoot really roaming the forest somewhere? "They'd probably lock you up somewhere to study you. If we find something we don't understand we have a habit of keeping them caged up or dissecting them to figure out how they work. Not really something you'd find fun." Hell, if merfolk were real then maybe aliens were as well. Oh dear, being around Enhar was going to turn her into a conspiracy nut in no time soon.

"I think I have some leftover Chinese food in the fridge." Sera mumbled to herself before heading back down the stairs and examining the fridge. There was a container of orange chicken with some fried rice as well. Popping the container in the microwave for a bit she also took a slice of pizza out of the oven and put it on a plate as well. The woman had no idea just how much he could eat and he seemed pretty interested in trying new food so why not? After the microwave beeped signaling it was done she poured the Chinese food on the plate as well before grabbing a fork and heading upstairs.

"Here, try this. It's meat, rice, cheese and some bread as well." Sitting down she held the plate out to him to see what he thought. It was like having a toddler in the house except this one happened to have a tail.
 
“So your people do not have such things?” he asked, seeing her confusion when he asked about her clan. Enhar did not know how a person understood their position on society without being part of a clan. It was how he knew and understood his place, the way he knew which duties he had and which he was neglecting. (All of them, if he was here...)

“No, I suppose it wouldn't be fun...” That was the thing that merfolk did know about humans – they wanted to know everything about the world, working out how to breach worlds that were out of their physical bounds, wearing suits and diving down, or sending machines, putting metal things in animals... That would be quite horrific, to be caught by some of those humans. It was really a fundamental difference between merfolk and humanity, the ability to accept not knowing. If asked about things he knew nothing about, Enhar would probably shrug and say that everything was possible.

“You must have been very surprised,” Enhar finally realised, “When you found me... If I am only supposed to be a children's tale.” Especially if he was supposed to be such a prettified children's tale, as he had seen in that moving picture. He'd be just as shocked if he saw a kraken, he supposed.

Human food looked so... Interesting. Their own was very simple, merely cuts of meat and sea weed, sometimes presented in beautiful ways, but still, there was never as much variety of ingredients. He picked up the piece of pizza first, since it seemed fairly obvious how to eat that, and bit into it. The mixture of tastes was fascinating, and his eyebrows shot up.

“How does a person eat that...?” he asked, when he was done with the pizza. No forks for his people – at least there was one true thing in The Little Mermaid. Enhar was used to eating with only his fingers, and sometimes using a sharp edge to cut things apart. The rice seemed so complicated, and the sauce so messy, so all he could do was look at Sera with bemusement.
 
"No, not really. A long time ago we used to survive in tribes and clans but that was thousands of years ago and we don't do it anymore." Honestly now there would be no reason for them to have clans in the first place. They used to exist so you could have a group of people together to gather and hunt out food as well as provide ample protection for everyone from the dangers of the world. Yet today's world everyone was so independent that it didn't matter anymore. If she wanted food she'd just call up a restaurant and for protection she had the police.

"Ha, that's putting it lightly." Sera snorted as he mentioned her first reaction when she found him. Surprise had definitely been one of them as had confusion, panic and all other sorts of emotions. "At first I thought you were a really strange fish and then I thought you might have been a scuba diver who got caught up in an undercurrent or something. I think I didn't move for ten minutes before my brain actually began to process just what you were." Sure she'd heard stories of mermaids growing up but they had always been the kind like in the children's movies. A merman had never even crossed her mind and especially not one that looked like Enhar. "To be honest, I'm still not sure if this isn't all a dream and that I'm going to wake up in the morning." You can't just go from believe something as a myth to suddenly accepting it's existence all in the span of a couple of hours. Sure the evidence was staring her blindly in the face but human minds weren't always logical.

Sera leaned back on the carpet and let out a laugh as she watched him pick up the pizza and bite into it. It really was like a little kid who was trying it for the first time and she could see the surprise at the flavors register on his face. It was cute and an oddly innocent gesture. You sure didn't see people react that way to a simple slice of pizza and yet he seemed to be so fascinated by it.

Hm, so apparently the lack of forks thing had actually been spot on. Well, it wasn't like you'd really need a fork to eat seaweed or fish. Laughing again she grabbed the fork and stuck it in the chicken before coating it in rice. "You mix the chicken and the rice and then just eat it." A bit of sauce was dribbling down the fork as she held it out for him to try.
 
Enhar's society did not change much, and its structure was pretty much the same as it was thousands of years ago. Their longer lives and slower rhythms meant change was very gradual, and water had made fire impossible, which, in turn, made technological innovation unlikely. That things changed was unlikely, so all he did was a slightly baffled 'huh'.

He did laugh at her description of how she reacted. Sounded difficult. “I passed out.” He seemed a little embarrassed about that. “When coming up so suddenly... I wasn't feeling so well, so it's hard to change from breathing water to breathing air...” He might have been understating exactly how unwell he was. Apparently both above and below the sea men tended to try to be all 'hard' and 'manly'.

“I could hit you with my fin, see if you wake up...” he ended up teasing her. No doubt the cold of his scales would be an unpleasant hit, but it wasn't even a serious offer. At least he did not have enough difficulty believing in humans. He had seen her people all the time, from a distance. With the colour of his hair and scales, he was probably hard to spot in the ocean anyway. Some of his people were more brilliant colours, and Enhar's green and blues were positively dull in comparison. Probably lucky that she hadn't met someone flashier, she really wouldn't have been able to believe her eyes.

Her laugh was really quite charming, and he almost was embarrassed to be the cause of so much amusement. “How are these things made? With fire?” The textures were fascinating on his tongue. He took the bite off the fork without taking the implement, trying to catch all the sauce before it fell onto the carpet. So chicken was the meaty thing, and rice the little grains... “I've only seen chickens before alive,” he said. Fluffy stupid birds that he had seen humans feed and wondered why.
 
"Yeah, I figured. I kind of had to poke you a bit just to make sure you were alive." When she had first figured out just what he was it had taken a while to make sure he was still breathing and hadn't died in the struggle. Though after she had checked his pulse she figured the best thing to do would be to bring him back home and put him in the bathtub before coming up with a plan. Of course that plan hadn't included eating Chinese food with a merman but life was funny like that.

"Thanks but I think I'll pass." Sera laughed off his offer as she gently poked his tail once more. Looking down at her own legs she wondered just what it would be like to have a tail and spend all her life in the water. Sure it had to be pretty fun for a while to be able to breath under water and swim around with all the fishes and everything. She could travel the entire world that way and see all sorts of interesting sights and places. Yet she also had the feeling that after a while she'd miss being able to walk on land and feel the sand under her feet while jogging on the beach. Enhar's life might be fun for a bit but she'd start missing her own very soon. Made her wonder if he ever thought about what it would be like to have legs.

"Yep. They cut up the chicken into pieces, put spices on it and then cook it over a stove. A stove is something we use to cook which has an open fire that we can make big or small depending on what we need." She was getting better at guessing his questions and understanding that not everything she said would make perfect sense to him. "Really? I've never actually seen a live chicken." All the chicken she had seen had come from the store in prepackaged containers. The only moving chickens she'd seen had been on the tv.

"You finish up eating and I'll go fill up the pool with some fresh water. I don't want you drying out." Getting up from her spot she walked down the stairs and into the backyard where the pool was. Just a few minor adjustments in the control panel and the chlorine would stop so the pool could be filled up again. No doubt Enhar would like some more space to move in and as nice of a house guest as he was, he was really starting to cause some property damage. She could only imagine how she was going to clean up the carpet and the bathroom.

After half an hour of filling it up and time spent making some sort of canvas to cover the sides of the pool it looked like it would finally be ready for him. Now the only problem was getting him down the stairs and in the pool without causing a mess. Walking back into the house she climbed up stairs to where he was. There was also a hallway closet there where she kept most of her winter gear when she didn't need it. After rummaging around for a bit she managed to pull out an old sled that should be able to fit him.

"You feel like going for a small ride?" Sera asked with a giggle. "If you can get on here we can get you down the stairs and to the pool with little problem." She placed the smooth, plastic surface on the stairs and held it so it wouldn't slide away.
 
No doubt Sera had also seen him twitch and seem to vomit up water, until his lungs were empty and he could breathe air. It would have made it quite obvious that he was still alive, maybe a few minutes after he had surfaced, once his body was feeling starved of oxygen. Automatic response.

She had never seen a live chicken? Enhar's jaw fell open. How the hell did she get food then? It was impossible for him to ever get a single bite to eat without knowing exactly where it came from, without having once seen one of its kind alive. Someone he knew always must have hunted and prepared it. It made her life – and world – seem even stranger than it already was. To imagine that a person may merely buy food, without ever providing it oneself. Bizarre and discomforting. It implied too much disconnection from the world for Enhar's comfort. “Stove...” he mused, as if he wanted to see one.

When she left him, he did as she asked, finishing the food, holding the fork most awkwardly. A good few times the food dropped from it, and he had to try again, and he couldn't quite work out how to hold the metal thing comfortably. He sighed with frustration more than once, and ended up picking up the plate and licking it clean in the end. Much easier that way. On the other hand, he was quite sure that Sera probably had no idea what to do with an entire bluefin tuna.

Done with the food though, he realised that not only was the floor covered with water, but also with some of his blood, where wounds had reopened. Oh. Dear. In water, it always simply washed away, but here it was more complicated... Someone would actually have to clean it up. On the outside, there would be rain, but under a roof, that could not happen. How embarrassing to have caused such a mess. So when Sera came back, she found Enhar looking distinctly sheepish. He had no idea what he was doing now, no idea what she was trying to get him to do either.

“How...?” he had to ask, unable to work out exactly what she wanted him to do. Enhar did his best to place himself like she instructed, looking increasingly dubious. Oh those step things were terrifying the more he thought about them. A few were fine, two or three, he could just haul himself over them, but this many? Oh dear... Oh dear. Enhar was glad he hadn't been awake going up.

But if she needed that little room with the bath for her private time, then he did have to go somewhere else. And well, it was always rude to take other people's things. While he understood stealing, he did not quite know how to apply it to space a person owned. (Owning land or rooms was a stupid concept to a nomad.) So he just thought about it in the same way he might consider eating someone else's share of food.
 
Looking over at him he seemed distinctly uncomfortable like she had caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. He had managed to finish his food but she could see blood on his almost blue skin as his wounds reopened. No doubt all this dry air wasn't good for him and after all of this it really would be bad to have him die of blood loss. Maybe once he got in the pool it would give his wounds a better chance of healing then what was happening now. If not she would have to make a very quick trip to the pharmacy or maybe even the pet store.

Holding onto the sides so it didn't fall she watched him awkwardly try to place himself inside the sled. After he moved from his spot she could see splatters of blood as well as water on the floor. Oh yes, Sera was going to have to spend quite some time cleaning after what had happened. She could only hope she wouldn't go on some government watch list after she googled how to clean blood out of carpet.

A small mew to the side alerted her that Mika had once again decided to grace them with her presence. No doubt the kitten had heard the commotion and had decided it was worth the risk of getting wet to see just what was going on. Still, the little ball of fluff kept her distance from them as if she was expecting more water to fall down from the sky like before.

"Hold on tight, ok?" It was going to be hard getting him down those stairs while making sure that he didn't take a tumble for the worst. Getting out in front she had to push his tail out of the way before grabbing onto the edge of the sled. The woman pushed down on it so that it was tilting at a downward slope. Taking a deep breath she gently started pulling it towards her as it started sliding down the stairs.

Sera had to strain against Enhar's weight as it pushed up against her and threatened to send both of them flying down the stairway. It took quite a bit of time and a lot of huffing and puffing on her part but she finally managed to slide him downstairs without any major accidents. No doubt it was a bumpy ride but at least they were alive in the end.

Luckily the first floor was tiled so it was a lot easier grabbing onto the rope at the side and pulling him across the floor and towards the backyard. Quickly peeking her head out the door to make sure that no one was watching she finally managed to pull him across the door and towards the pool. The merman might not look it but he was pretty damn heavy and by the end of it she could feel sweat on her brow as she took another deep breath.

"Well, here you go. Here's the pool." Sera said with a smile as she got the sled to the very edge of the pool. Now all Enhar had to do was push himself off the plastic and slip into the water. After that little bit of exercise she was tempted to get into the cool water herself. Then at least she could forget about the mess upstairs for just a little while longer.
 
Oh dear gods. Going down the stairs was just as terrifying as he thought. This was definite – he was not going up the stairs again if he could help it. Humans were so terribly strange... Why build into the sky? They were not birds to fly up! Enhar was not really one for heights. He kept his eyes closed for most of the descent, knowing that this was probably courting disaster.

Enhar probably looked ridiculously relieved when they made it safely down, releasing out a long and jagged breath. As soon as he could, he hauled himself out of the sled and dropped into the water.

Sera had seen him as a weird and ungainly creature, unsuited for this landscape, the narrow rooms, probably this entire world. With water to support his body, he was elegant. His fin flared out and his scales gleamed more brightly in the sunlight, revealing hints of brighter greens and aquamarines. He dived to the bottom of the pool and swam in a tight circle, then a wider one, all the way to the edges of the pool. Enhar was surprised at how good it felt to be back under. It was a wide enough place to stay in while he healed. Better than open water, certainly, where if he was alone, any whiff of injury would attract predators.

Looking up, he remembered Sera was still there – and surfaced sharply, so that his face was on the same level as Sera's feet. He rested his hands on the edge of the pool, the webs between his fingers looking far less ridiculous now that there was a use for them.

“You look like you need a rest.” That was really the only way that he could see the pool – a little pocket of safe water. A bit like a bed. He had the most bizarre sense that he was going to hit his head on the bottom at least once though.

“Are you going to jump in? Get clean...?” he asked Sera. Her pool, so he couldn't exactly invite her into her own bit of water, but he certainly wouldn't have minded if she joined him.
 
Sera was in amazement when she watched him swim and circle around the pool. On the surface he was almost like a newborn deer who was finding it's legs but under the water he seemed to flow so seamlessly between the waves like it was nothing at all. His scales almost glittered like precious stones as they reflected the sunlight that hit the water. So that was what he could do when he was in his natural habitat.

"You can say that again." The woman said as she sat down on the edge of the pool and dipped her feet in the cool water. Splashing around a bit she mindlessly watched the surface start to relax from his little exercise. Enhar might be awkward on land but no doubt he was a master of his element in the pool. Taking a heavy breath is suddenly hit her just how tired she actually was. Before she had been running on pure curiosity and adrenaline but now that she had a chance to sit down she could feel her body being drawn to the inviting water.

"Ya know, I think I just might." Grinning, she pulled her shirt over her head revealing the bikini top under. She still had her board shorts on from before and hadn't bothered to change out of her bathing suite since she didn't really have a place to get cleaned up before anyway. Putting her hands on the side she gave a large shove before sliding into the water.

The pool was cold but it felt wonderful against her skin. For a moment she ducked under the water and swam around for a little bit so her body could get used to the temperature change. No doubt she didn't look anywhere near as graceful as Enhar had but she was having fun swimming around on her back and trailing over the water lazily.

"You might want to be careful when you're swimming around here. At it's deepest, the pool is only 13 feet." After all of this, the last thing she needed was a merman with a concision.

Lying on her back she kicked her feet slightly as she moved across the water at a slow speed. "You look different when you're in the water. Your tail looks prettier." Sera mused as her fingers hit the water with small splashes.
 
“Humans look so graceless in the water,” Enhar mused, watching her. He could break water with barely a ripple, without a sound and with certainly no splash. He was amused, circling her at least twice in the time that it took her to swim a length. It was good to stretch his muscles after the confinement of the bath.

He swam under her, flipping over to consider her back for a moment. Apart from the strips of cloth, that he now knew were for purposes of 'modesty', whatever that really meant, and apart from the legs, she really was quite good looking. How fortunate he was to have such a beautiful rescuer! Especially if the other stories of what might have happened to him were true...

“Yes, and you strange people have painted the bottom blue. So strange!” he said, when she told him about the exact depth. “That's just confusing...” Well, it was obvious that the point of painting it blue was to make it look deeper and more beautiful, but to Enhar it was almost cruelly deceptive. Still, he did not dwell on it for too long, instead diving again, under her, around her. Maybe he was showing off his tail and flashing his scales a bit now that she had flattered him.

“Last time I courted she told me I was boring,” he admitted to Sera when he surfaced again. It was hard to compete when most of his clan's scales were purple and silver. Enhar, in comparison, could blend into the background. “I have seen your people have different colours of skin... Are they all shades of brown? My people have scales in all sorts of colours...”
 
"We might look graceless but at least I can walk." Sera said as she stuck her tongue out at him. It was true though, compared to him she must seem as awkward in the water as he did on land. Obviously he was finding it amusing as he circled her over and over again in the time it took her to do one lap. Even when walking there was no way a human could move so swiftly on dray land as he could in the water.

"It's to make it look deeper as well as to add to the whole water feel." Sera tried to explain as she watched him dive back under the water and swim under her before surfacing once again. The speed at which he moved so astounding and even as she tried to twist in the water to get a glimpse of him she was having a hard time keeping up.

"Show off." Sera said with a chuckle as she watched him dive again. His tail looked amazing under the water and it seemed like he had a lot more energy now then he did before. No doubt being somewhere where he could actually stretch his fin would do wonders and allow him to heal better. Not to mention the fact she wouldn't have to worry about her floor getting wet.

"Really? I'd have to say you're the most unboring thing I've ever seen." She really couldn't understand how someone like Enhar could ever be considered boring. He had a tail dammit! Ok, so maybe if you were a mermaid who also had a tail that wouldn't be as interesting but it sure held her attention.

"Well, sort of. Most tend to be shades of brown but we also vary from pitch black to snow white. It all depends on where you live and the climate as well. What about you guys, do all merfolk look like you?" Sera swam back under the water in an attempt to swim around him but she didn't move anywhere near as quickly as he did. Sadly the woman had to resurface once again so she was next to Enhar.
 
“Why would I want to walk?” he asked her, grinning. “I'm not like that silly girl in that story...” Sure, Enhar was interested in how humans lived, but he was not obsessed with it, or in love with any princes. He didn't want to be human. He just wanted to know a little more than his clan did, maybe add a story or two to the clan history. Being able to add to clan lore was just as much of an achievement as being a good hunter. Enhar did want to become the clan storyteller one day, though he was still far too young to really be in the running. Maybe when he hit a hundred or so he'd have enough wisdom and experience... A very long term goal!

“Well, she just wasn't very impressed with me,” he said, with a tiny little snort. Maybe, just maybe, that rejection had wounded his pride a little. “She liked my brother much better. He looks almost exactly like me, he's just a smoother talker...”

“No, they don't,” Enhar replied. How to explain? “My clan, we are not so pretty, we are made for arctic waters, yes? Cold does not bother us, but... Maybe we are not so flashy. There are some who are bright colours, and then those who have different shaped fins...” Skin colour tended to match scale colour, but he didn't realise he should actually say this. “I always liked the Mediterranean girls. The ones with red scales and hair.” He sighed, as if he'd never had much luck with them. “We say that their ancestors are the ones who liked to lure human sailors to their doom...” Maybe some of the story of Odysseus was actually true?

He let Sera swim under him, unable not to be amused at how she moved her arms and legs. So much flailing! So inefficient! But then, he had been terrible on the ground. They had their own strengths. He did not quite know how to behave with her. He did not know exactly how different it was from his own kind, but he did realise that he was very curious about the hollow between her legs... Was that where humans had their...? Ugh, he should not think about this now!
 
Sera couldn't help but laugh at what he said though the laughter soon dissolved into coughs as she breathed in some water on accident. Enhar might be able to breath under water no problem but it would end badly for her. Still, she could see how he wouldn't want to be able to walk any more then she would want to grow a tail. Sure the other world was fascinating but there was so much about her own world that she loved and would miss far too much. Besides, she couldn't fathom never eating some of her favorite food ever again and having to survive on a mostly fish diet.

"Her loss." Sera said as she managed to regain herself after the small coughing fit. "You're impressive to me and smooth talkers aren't all they're hyped up to be." If they were anything like their human equivalent then she didn't want to meet one of the merman smooth talkers. She gently patted his shoulder as if to reassure him of the whole thing somehow. No matter what your species was, having an older sibling picked over you hurt like hell.

"Not pretty? I don't know about that. If you were wearing a seashell bra when I first found you I could have easily mistaken you for a very flat mermaid." She was teasing him now but there was no doubt that Enhar was built a lot more slender and had softer features then most of the men she knew. The long hair didn't help much either and she felt her hand reach out and gently run through it. Sera didn't know if merfolk had a concept of personal space but at this moment she was invading Enhar's. Hey, how often would she have the opportunity to be swimming with a merman? Might as well take the chance when it was presented.

"Ah. Now those sound like the sirens we usually hear about." Beautiful temptresses who lured innocent sailors to death with their siren song. Too bad it didn't sound like they had the same level of appreciation for Enhar as he did for them. Figures, human or mermaid there would always be broken hearts and wanting someone you can't have.

In a rash moment she leaned in and placed a small kiss on his cheek before grinning once again. His skin was wet and cold under her lips and he felt different then a human would. "Cheer up. I'm sure you'll find someone. Especially when you meet up with your clan and tell them about the crazy human who captured you and fed you strange food." That story had to at least give him some sort of edge.
 
Enhar's face wore a look of utter horror for a brief second when she told him that she could have easily mistaken him for a girl. He had to splutter at the teasing, unable to come up with a coherent response at all.

Her touch through his hair no doubt found more knots than fairy-tales led a person to expect. Disney did give highly unrealistic expectations about hair. Enhar probably didn't even know what a comb was. He was more likely to take care of his scales than of his hair – after all, there was more problems with shedding and scale rot down there than with his hair. That was just... Occasionally chopped off when it got too troublesome.

“I'm not terribly appealing when it comes to... You know.” Serious relationships, that was. “I like to travel too much.” Most liked to stay with their clan, but Enhar knew deep down that he needed the times that he liked to disappear into the open waters. Maybe he'd be a decent choice as an interesting and a bit flaky second partner, not a first choice at all. Maybe one day he'd find someone who liked to travel as much as he did, who would want to join him.

Her touch was making him embarrassed though, and he had no idea what to do with it – he coloured yet again when Sera gave him the kiss on the cheek. This was... Argh! He was behaving like a girl who had just come into her womanhood. How... Horrible! But Sera was human, and he did not know at all what to do with humans... Being touched by one felt very odd indeed. Maybe he should take it as an invitation to indulge his curiosity? Enhar ran his fingers through her hair, pondering at it's smoothness.

“I, ah...” He trailed off, realising that what he wanted to say had fallen entirely out of his head. Okay, he had to admit it, despite the legs, she was immensely attractive.
 
Sera tried to stifle a giggle as she saw just how flustered he got from her little comment. Apparently merman didn't like being called girls any more then human men did which only made her laugh harder. Enhar might not like to admit it but that blushing and stuttering didn't help with her thoughts of him being girly.

"I don't see what's so horrible about traveling. I think it would be boring to stay in one place for very long when there's a whole world out there to experience." She had to admit that was one thing she was envious about. Enhar could travel the whole world without having to worry about planes or cars or hotels. He simply had to choose a direction and go with it while letting the current carry him where it may. When you could do something like that why would you ever want to stay in only one place?

He was blushing now and she couldn't help but smirk slightly at his embarrassment. Maybe merfolk weren't quite as touchy as humans were. Well, female humans anyway. The blushing, the stuttering and the obvious embarrassment, she really couldn't pass up a chance like this now could she? With a mischievous smile on her face Sera inched closer as she felt his fingers in her hair.

"Hm, what's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" The girl had to try her hardest to keep from laughing right now. He was like a little kid and she was having far too much fun embarrassing him and pushing his buttons. Admittedly, putting him in this kind of situation was a bit cruel but he looked damned near adorable when he was flustered.

"Don't merfolk get this close to each other? Humans do." Well, that last part wasn't entirely true but she wanted to have some fun. Sera was now mere inches away from him and see could feel his tail moving beneath her feet as she made small movements to keep herself afloat. Her hand was on his chest now as she leaned in closer so their noses were barely touching. If he had blushed from a simple kiss she couldn't wait to see what he'd do next.
 
A clan travelled slowly, using sea currents and following migrations of fish and the changes of season. Enhar liked to take diversions, seeing landscapes that he found interesting, discovering the most fantastic pieces of natural architecture, and narrowly escaping getting killed by things bigger than he was. His people were social beings. They did not want to travel quite so alone, and Enhar was, at least a little, a bit of a weirdo. So he only smiled a little at her words that travelling could not be so horrible. It was the degrees of it. And to travel was hard work – maybe like her deciding one day to walk to Chile. Well, not quite. He could swim far faster than she could walk, and sometimes there were favourable currents.

He was not really familiar with the phrase 'cat got your tongue', but he got the sense of what it was she meant. Oh dear. Her smile was making him worried. As if she was a predator... And she was, in a way, it had been her net that had caught him. He was indeed flustered and uncomfortable. Was there a way to feel comfortable in this situation?

“Well, uh, yes.” Sometimes. Just before they would entwine their tails or wind themselves close. Being this close to someone unfamiliar was strange. He had only met her today, and not under the best of circumstances.

“But you are human.” Enhar pulled back a little, but the edge of the pool was against his back. What else was he supposed to say? “I do not know what-” What humans did? What a human would want? He twitched very visibly when she put a hand on his chest, and her nose so close to his... He could smell her, a bit of salt, warmth and sun and something else entirely.

He could easily sink under her and retreat to the bottom of the pool, where she could not follow him with this horribly awkward conversation, but that would just be horribly rude. A person did not run away from someone who was talking to them.
 
If at all possible he had become even more flustered then he was before. He was backing away from her like she was some sort of shark who had caught sight of her next tasty meal. Enhar was obviously uncomfortable with this whole situation and didn't know how to deal with it. Maybe if she was a mermaid he would have had some idea but his knowledge of humans was limited and that included their social interactions. Maybe she should have just stopped right then and given him some space before died of embarrassment. Yet the blushing and stammering was just too tempting to walk away from.

"Mhm, I am human. Now what is it you don't know?" She had him pressed up against the edge of the pool now and there really was nowhere for the poor merman to go. Her hand was still on his chest and her lips brushed against his just the tiniest bit as she spoke. Right now she was eyeing him like a cat might a small fish that would soon become dinner.

Of course that moment couldn't last and the more nervous he became the more she had to choke back the laughter until Sera couldn't hold it in anymore and finally dissolved into a fit of giggles. The girl pushed away from him finally giving him some space as she clutched her sides still laughing at what had just happened. Enhar looked like he would have like to run away from her and not look back.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help it." Sera said as she finally managed to catch her breath after her little giggle fit. "You kept blushing and it was too cute to resist." The girl snickered slightly as she swam toward the edge and leaned back against it with mirth still evident in her eyes.
 
If Sera was a mermaid, he would probably have kissed her and pulled her under. Getting that close implied pretty clear things. But she was human, and what was he meant to do with a human? He certainly did not want to do the wrong thing and to offend his host. He really did want to die of embarrassment, especially when he could feel her lips just brush against his... Her feet were touching his tail too, and her hand felt like fire. Oh gods. Oh gods!

And then her laughter. Sera was toying with him? Enjoying his awkwardness. How utterly mortifying! He sank into the water until just his eyes were above it and his hair floating around him. Maybe he was trying to hide his blush now, because he was feeling self-conscious too. Cute? How could she call him cute? It was disappointing.

… What a woman.

One had to admire a woman that knew her own mind and that seemed to have no fear. He was almost smitten. Felt like a whale had whacked him over the head with its tail. One of those massive ones that ate krill, docile but unaware of lesser creatures. Cruel not because they wanted to be, but because their nature did not note smaller beings.

He pulled himself out of the water enough to reply to her. “I am glad to be of amusement,” Enhar said, a little disappointed perhaps. “I must do my best to, ah, change your opinion of me.” He had to realise now that he did look rather useless and incompetent. That he had not done the best in givign a good picture of himself to her. Why did he always do this? Whine about the bad things to someone he might want to impress?
 
Sera winced slightly as she saw Enhar dip under the water looking more flustered the before. Maybe her little joke hadn't gone as well as she had expected it to. She was treating Enhar like she would a human and ignoring the fact that he most definitely wasn't one. Maybe getting that close to a merman that she had just met was a taboo in his culture. Maybe they had an even greater sense of personal space and by invading his she had somehow insulted him. He was easy to talk to and she kept forgetting that under that water he had a tail instead of legs.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." The girl held her hands up in a show of defeat as she smiled sheepishly. Not only had she captured him and taken him away from his home but she had also teased him mercilessly. By now she wouldn't fault the merman for plotting his escape as soon as possible.

"If it makes you feel any better then you're not cute, you're..." Terrifying? Pft, not likely. He was about as scary as Mika when she woke up from her nap. Adorable? Yes but she didn't think he'd like that any better then cute. "Interesting." Sera said finally. "You're the most interesting person I've ever talked to."

She was going to protest what he said but she would be lying if she didn't find this amusing. He reacted in such strange ways that she couldn't help but test his limits just to see what he would do. Part of her actually wanted to see what would happen if she kissed him on the lips but then the other part was wondering just how much more the poor merman could take before he finally exploded.

"You don't have to change my opinion. I like you, why else would I be talking with you?" Oh dear, now she'd gone and done it. The girl could never really tell when to stop and had a habit of pushing people's boundaries to their breaking point. Well, she had gotten this far so why not push her luck once more?

With a deep breath she swam forward quickly until she was once more just a few centimeters from him before leaning forward and kissing him softly on the lips. Now she'd just have to hope Enhar didn't faint and run to the bottom of the pool and never come up.
 
“You haven't hurt my feelings-” Enhar stopped, exhaled sharply. Sera thinking she'd hurt his feelings was almost more embarrassing than he could possibly have thought. He hadn't felt this awkward since he hit puberty and got hard in front of his mother.

“You are just not...” Sera was of different species, not just different clan or had different enough fins that people might wonder how weird the children might look. It was a different sort of thing entirely here. How did a person behave with a sentient of being of another species entirely? What was right and wrong here? Did they even have the same morals and habits? The same traditions? Same assumptions about life? Probably not. Enhar made a vague gesture of confusion with his hands under the water.

And then she kissed him.

Was this another joke of hers or...? Never mind that – he kissed her back. It was easy to pull her close, the movements of his tail keeping them both above water. Pulling her under, as tempting as it might be, was simply not an option here. He had never kissed anyone above water before, oddly enough. She had certainly pushed his boundaries here pretty damn far, and he wasn't even sure that this, here, had anything to do with what was right. Curiosity or desire... Why was he doing this? He couldn't actually tell.

The heat of her lips was strange to him, and the hand he had placed around her waist tightened a little. His tongue flicked out to taste her – he could not resist, now that he had the opportunity. So different and new! Sera's starting this surely meant that she allowed him to do this...

Suddenly realising what he was doing, he stopped, pulling away, but only by a few millimetres, and licked his lips. “So strange,” he muttered.

Oh gods, he would totally need a wank when he was alone.
 
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