From Beneath the Waves

Korrin stumbled a little attempting not to walk into her when she turned around, surprised but not enough to hide the sudden wilt to his demeanor. An open book, the set of his shoulders, the lowering of his eyes, and the way he held the bag of clothes with both hands told a clear story that he was not feeling very upbeat anymore. He didn't want to make her worry, but that only piled guilt on top of the sadness.

Having her pinpoint the fact that he was worried so quickly made shuffle his feet, shoulders hunching in further like he could hide. If only he still had his tail and could simply put his fins between them. "Maybe you shouldn't get me so many things. . ." He said rather than just blurt out what he was thinking, voice quiet and hesitant. "I won't . . . I'll only need them until you . . . go home."

When she was gone, so too would be his connection to the human world that he hadn't touched since he was a child and couldn't remember regardless. He was better off going back to the sea once he had no one to visit anymore.
 
Though he was human now, or at least looked like one, he was no less expressive. Even without his head fins, his body language meant he couldn't hide his clear upset.

It hurt her heart to see him so down, it was made so much worse by him admitting what it was that was bothering him. She wanted to fix it, but she didn't know how.

"Korrin I..." She glanced around as she tried to find the right words, thankfully they were alone. "I don't want to lie to you, I don't really know when or if I'm going back home, just like you don't know how long you're going to stay."

"But I'm not leaving anytime soon, I'll be here for a long time yet." She looked at him seriously, "even if i do leave it might not be forever, and there's nothing saying you have to stay here, you could come with me you know."

She reached out and took his hand, squeezing it gently. "No matter what happens Korrin, we're always going to be friends, that won't ever change."
 
The fact that she would leave wasn't Olivia's fault, Korrin knew, nor was it his own that he didn't know how to function on land without her. He didn't want to make her feel bad just because he was feeling bad, and seemed to try and shrink a little more like taking up less space would make it stop.

His eyes drifted back up from the ground, finally, when she suggested he could come with her, something surprised and wary in his expression, but perhaps something hopeful too. "Come with you. . ." He didn't understand how. Spending time with her where the ocean was nearby was one thing, but going somewhere far inland was frankly a bit nerve wracking - and he would cause her trouble he was sure, but . . . part of him still wanted to consider it.

Carefully, he gave her hand a little squeeze back and tried to smile for her even if there were worries in his chest still. ". . . Promise?"

He knew he was a burden to her, having to be taught so many things everyone else already knew. But maybe it was okay to be selfish, just this once.
 
She could see he was surprised by her offer, or perhaps he didn't really believe that it was possible, or maybe he was just worried she didn't really mean it.

It would be hard, for him to adjust of course, but also just the logistics of it. He had no paperwork, or ID, not even a birth certificate, at least as far as they knew.

She thought they should look into that, but no matter what she was sure they'd find a solution and she was committed to helping him through it all.

Giving him her warmest, brightest smile, she nodded. "You could, if you wanted too, but no matter what, we'll always be friends." "I will not abandon you Korrin, I promise."
 
He wasn't sure what it would be like, going so far from the sea and so far into places he'd never seen before, and in the moment he wasn't sure he could make the decision to do it or not. But the way she smiled at him and comforted him did at least help him start to feel better. Even if they said goodbye some day, and even if they were a long way apart, it was a surprising sort of solace to think they would still be friends anyway.

With all that had happened in the last couple of days, and how isolated he had been for the adult years of his life, her words had his grip tightening around her hand and tears threatening to well up in his eyes. "Thank you," he managed softly, and after a moment to swallow and give himself a little shake managed to push back the swell of emotion in his chest, to give her a more honest sort of smile despite it still being quite small. "I'm sorry, I'll try not think so hard."
 
She shook her head a little bit, her tone gentle. "It's okay, I understand why you'd worry." Her gaze was sympathetic as she knew after everything he'd been through recently, he'd be particularly worried about being left alone.

"But you don't have too, so try not to stress yourself out alright?" "I here to talk about whatever you want though, so if you've got worries or fears just tell me so I can help you okay?"
 
"I'll try," Korrin said softly, even though he still felt tense, and tried to remember just to breathe slowly, to let things happen around him without trying to control them and to do what he could to simply move along with the way they bent and turned. The ocean had at least taught him that.

"A- And you can tell me, too," he tried to insist, giving her hand a brief squeeze though it felt like a weak attempt at reciprocation. "I don't . . . always know what to do, but. I'll listen." Even if it was all he could offer, he would always listen to anything she wanted to say. Even if he felt lost or confused, if it helped her even a little he would never try to stop her from speaking.
 
She wasn't sure if she'd take him up on that, he already had so much to deal with right now, she really didn't want to burden him with her problems too.

However that wasn't how friendships worked, or at least, not good ones. "I appreciate that Korrin, thanks." She said softly, "I will."

"Well help each other out, like friends should do yeah?" She asked with a smile, "for now, why don't we grab these shoes then go and explore some more?"
 
It was probably a silly idea, thinking he had anything to offer that would her, but it made Korrin feel better when she agreed to tell him things. Whatever he could do, even if it was just listening, he would do his best. He wanted to find some way to repay her friendship that wasn't just pearls. It had been a long time since he'd had anyone to think of as his friend.

"Okay," he said with a little nod, though the amount of choices around him was frankly daunting, and after a moment made himself let go of her hand to look around. "Where should I look? They all look the same to me. . ." Hopefully they wouldn't all be uncomfortable. The sandals she'd given him were okay, so surely something else would be as well.
 
She was glad to see that he seemed to be feeling a little bit better, hopefully he could have some fun today. They could always talk things over more back at the house.

"Hmm." She walked over to a shelf of running shoes, sneakers designed to still be comfortable after hours at a time. "I think any of these would be good, we can try a few of these and just see how they feel."
 
The amount of choices even in the small section she pointed to was still mildly overwhelming. Korrin did his best, looking over the section of 'running' shoes though he wasn't sure if he was even capable of running just yet, and eventually without any idea what other things to compare picked one simply because it had blue stripes on it that he liked.

"How do I . . ." He frowned a little, confused, and tapped lightly at the boxes of shoes beneath the ones on the wall. "What do the numbers mean? How do I know which one to choose?" The sandals she'd given him had a letter on them, not a number, so he wasn't even sure what to compare it to. Was he supposed to open every box and hold it up to his foot to guess which one was right?
 
They all looked very similar so she didn't think there was much difference between besides colour, and his choice looked pretty comfortable.

"The numbers are the size of the shoe, the bigger the number the bigger the shoe." "We can get them to measure your foot so we'll know your size." She caught the attention of a staff member, and asked him to do just that.
 
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