From Beneath the Waves

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A life spent alone was hard, Korrin agreed, but he had yet to find anything wonderful about it other than the freedom to do whatever he wished. Even that wasn't very glorious, some days. It was difficult to think about working so very hard to find someone that might end up meaning a great deal more to him than he imagined, only to have them reject him outright.

When Olivia took his hand Korrin felt something inside him relax, if only a little, something in his expression softening with gratitude even through some of the struggle as his fingers curled around hers. It would be okay. Even if it took a long time, eventually he would be okay. He was trying his best to remember that.

"Thank you," he said softly, even though he words felt empty, like they could never be enough. He gave her hand a squeeze, fighting back a swell of emotion that threatened at the back of his throat. "I don't know what I'll do, but . . . maybe we could try to find them."

It was a start. Asking Minamet what she knew would be somewhere to begin in figuring out his new life, even if it was hard. He couldn't run from the things that scared him forever.

"We -" he gave his head a little shake, tried to smile for her even though it felt a bit sad, and gave her hand a tug. "We came here to explore. Let's take a look around. I think I could use the walk." Focusing on his body and what it was doing was easier than all the troubles in his head.
 
She squeezed his hand back softly, hoping he knew that she really meant it. If he did decide to try and find them, she'd do everything in her power to help him.

She'd be there to support him if it didn't work out, and if he decided not to look for them, she'd still be there. Whatever he decided to do, she wouldn't let him be lonely again.

She was a little surprised that he'd kept hold of her hand, but it was nice. She smiled and nodded as she walked along beside him, "sounds good to me."
 
It felt good to have someone by his side. Korrin, without quite meaning to, kept hold of Olivia's hand for a little while, until he needed both of his to get them through a couple of plants so neither would get smacked in the face. It was comforting, having the warmth of her hand in his, like a quiet whisper reassuring him he wasn't alone. Even though it felt silly, he missed it a little when it was gone.

"Over this way there are some little tide pools to look at," he said with a smile once they were free of the thicker brush he'd hidden the figurehead behind, pointing off ahead of them. "Different kinds of crabs like to hide there. They're too little for eating, but they're pretty to look at." Sometimes it was just empty carapace left behind after birds or something else had picked them clean, but those were interesting to study sometimes, too. He'd found ones that were purple on the inside before.
 
She kept hold of his hand as they walked, happy to offer what ever comfort she could, no matter how small. She had to admit though, it was a nice feeling for her too, perhaps for more reasons than she thought.

"Oh really?" She asked curiously, smiling a little as she followed his lead. "They sound pretty cute." It was nice seeing him in his own element, he was much more confident.

"I'm excited to see all the little things like that, I'd never been to the ocean before I came here so getting to see all this stuff in person is exciting."
 
"Never?" Korrin repeated, with not some small amount of shock in his voice as they walked, glancing back at her as long as he could until he had to check his footing so he wouldn't fall. It was less of a concern when he had a tail and was practically lying down to travel. "Are there lots of people that have never seen it? I guess I'd never been to the mainland before now either."

At least, not that he remembered. He'd pulled himself up onto nearby islands and explored far from shore in the deeper waters, but land wasn't something he visited often despite his own curiosity. If there was as much land as there was ocean, he supposed it made some sense that there were people who hadn't touched the sea.
 
"Nope, that's why I really shouldn't have been in that boat in the first place." She said with a sheepish little smile, "I mean I've been swimming before but lakes and rivers aren't the same thing."

She nodded a little, "I'd say it depends on what country the person is from but yeah, there are places people live that are so far away from the ocean that they've never seen it, in person anyway."
 
Korrin's expression went a little goggle-eyed, not having put two and two together until she said it herself. "Oh, no, you went out in a tiny boat thinking it would be like a lake?"

Lake's barely moved, if they ever did, and they weren't prone to quick shifts in whether as far as he knew. Of course, he'd never been to one, but he had learned about them. It was a wonder she had survived long enough for him to find her.

"It feels strange, since I spent so much time in it," he said thoughtfully, and had the grace to at least chuckle a little at himself. "But I've never been there either, so I guess it sounds the same from both sides. At least now you've seen both." He paused for a moment, thinking, and looked at her as they walked. "What do you think of the ocean? Do you like it? Hate it?"

He wasn't going to take it personally if she hated everything about it or was afraid to be near it by herself now. It was his home, but it was also just a force of nature.
 
She felt her cheeks grow hot with embarrassment, as his almost comical expression of sheer bewilderment made it clear how much danger she'd put herself in during her impromptu boat ride.

"Yes, I mean I knew it could be dangerous, all water is." She said with a little nod, "but I didn't realise how strong the rips and waves could be, and how the ocean can change in an instant."

When he asked what she thought of it, she smiled a little. "I love it actually, it's beautiful for a start and the sound of it can be really soothing."

She looked a little uncomfortable, "I won't deny that I'm a little afraid of it, I mean if you hadn't been there to help me.." She shook her head a little, "but I'd like to get more comfortable with it."

"There's a lot I want to see after all." "I thought maybe we could go for a swim later if it's calm?" She smiled at him, "if you're happy to be my shark bodyguard." She joked with a soft laugh.
 
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She should have died. If Korrin hadn't happened to be around, if he hadn't had the bad habit of looking for boats and people when he should have stayed away, she would have been killed by the waves. It almost made his stomach feel a bit sick to think about, how close she'd come to dying. What if he had been a few minutes later than he had? He didn't want to consider it.

Her fear only made him hold her hand a little tighter, remembering the moment with distaste, if not as visceral a fear as she did. Her smile, at least, reassured him that she would be okay and that he hadn't terrified her by bringing her out in her boat again. As long as he was with her, he would keep her safe.

"Of course," he said with a small smile of his own, endeared somehow by her bravery. "I'd gladly fight sharks for you." Sharks were not as predatory as people seemed to think, but still. If there was danger, he would be there to protect her.

"I'm stronger than I look, you know." He added with a little chuckle, not really trying to praise himself but knowing many of the times she had seen him he'd been scared or nervous. "My tail is strong, and I haven't met anything that can swim faster." Having to make all of his movements with water dragging against him, and to fight and forage for his own survival, he was sure he was probably capable of more than she thought he was. There were many things that made him feel weak or anxious, but at least physically he was strong.
 
She smiled a little when he squeezed her hand, grateful for the comfort. She felt okay about it now, but she couldn't deny how scary that moment had been.

She knew she'd been this close to drowning, and she was afraid of the water now but she refused to let that stop her. Besides having Korrin with her, it helped more than he might realise.

She laughed a little, "well hopefully you don't have to gight them, just keep them at a safe distance."

"I know you are." She agreed with a smile, "I remember how fast you were in the water, and how you flipped the boat over."
 
It was easier to smile when it felt like Olivia was beginning to feel a bit better. He was glad, at least, that her experience with the ocean hadn't scared her away entirely. He would've hated to think he could never show her some of the things he'd come to love a out his home.

"Most sharks don't actually want to fight," he informed with a soft chuckle. "They're very curious, and often not very bright, but they don't usually fight very hard unless they feel threatened."

He knew they bit people sometimes, but he was certain they didn't really mean to. People fought back too hard to be good for any sort of food, and they were smart enough to realize that it wasn't something that was healthy for them to eat anyway.

"Ah, I used a little magic to help," he said a bit sheepishly, not one to really praise himself. "More than I intended, I think. I wasn't really supposed to end up in the boat with you." But of course, in the end he was glad he had.
 
"I suppose I've been watching too many shark horror movies." She said with a slightly embrassed laugh, "I guess I'm just worried that their curious bite would do the same amount of damage as their I'm hungry bite."

She smiled and shrugged a little, "still impressive, and im really glad you did." "I'm really curious about your magic actually, is it just controlling the water?"
 
Korrin nodded a little, though he frowned at the thought of people being so afraid they apparently made whole films about sharks - he assumed eating people was the scary part. "Their teeth are dangerous, and people are slow in water, so I understand why they might be scary. . ."

He didn't think most of them were so bad, though they weren't creatures he would spent a great deal of time around unless he knew they were all right with him being there. He was not, particularly, shaped like their food, nor smelled like it, so he was usually left alone as a fellow predator.

"Magic is . . . hard to explain," he continued, pushing through the last bit of foliage before the plants opened up more onto rockier land, where they would find a few tide pools to look at before the tide was too high. "We live in water, so a lot of it is based in that, but not all of it. Minamet knows much more than I do, but I picked up some of her tricks here and there. Illusions are much harder than just moving water around, but I know enough to hide myself for a little while, or to make myself a light if I need it."

It helped when he swam too deep to see very well, or when the sun had simply gone down and he was still out and about. He wasn't sure if it would work the same on dry land, since he didn't often have a need for it and didn't want to draw attention to himself, but in a pinch he was sure it would do all right.
 
She nodded a little, "they are a pretty common fear." "Considering how slow and vulnerable people are in the water, a super fast, strong apex predator is pretty scary." "And yeah the movies don't help, in fact one of the most famous movies of all time is about a killer shark." She followed him out onto the rockier soil, glad to be out of the scrub where alongside branches waiting to scratch, there may be venomous snakes lurking. She glanced around at the tidepools with interest, excited to get a closer look.

Her attention was drawn back to him as he spoke of his magic, her curiosity piqued hearing that it wasn't limited to water manipulation. "Really?" "That sounds pretty useful, did Minamet teach you?" "Or did you just pick it up yourself watching her use it?"
 
"Why is it so famous if it frightens people?" Korrin asked aloud, though he wasn't sure there would be an answer. Even he had seen it in merfolk before, the strange desire to scare oneself for some form of entertainment. He had never been the type to do so, but then he had been in his own a lot and that was scary enough by itself.

He made a thoughtful sound as she started to ask questions, a small smile on his face as he remembered sticking closely to Minamet's side as a child, learning anything and everything she would teach him. "Magic is hard to learn on your own, but she taught me a lot. Not only magic, but how to take care of myself, too - what things to eat or not eat, how to avoid human divers and how to interact with sharks and whales. When I was little, I thought there was nothing she didn't know. I don't think I'll ever know as much magic as she does."

She had made him, after all. It took a great deal of magical strength and a lot of know-how to physically change his whole body.
 
She shrugged a little, "I don't know, I mean it's a really well done movie and the score is great." "I guess some people like being scared sometimes, in a safe way anyway." "It's never really been my thing."

It was sweet seeing his smile as he talked about Minamet, she could see the admiration and love he had for her. With all she had taught him, she sounded like she was a great mentor and parent to him.

"She sounds amazing." She said with a smile, hoping he was doing okay being apart from her.
 
'Scared in a safe way' made a strange kind of sense, Korrin supposed, but he didn't truly claim to understand it all. Maybe if they watched this strange shark movie together it would mean more, but he wasn't truly sure he wanted to. As much experience as he had with sharks, he wasn't sure it would really be scary.

"I don't think she ever wanted to be a mother," he said with an almost wistful tone, crouching down to point out a little crab inside a small tide pool near their feet where it drifted around looking for food or shelter, "but she took good care of me. She taught me all the things I needed to know, even when it was hard. . . Some of it makes more sense now than it did then."

Some of the things she'd spoken of had seemed so strange before learning his true nature. Where everyone had always cautioned against being anywhere humans could see or endanger him, she'd had a tendency to explain to him what to do if he was close, as if it were a given he would be one day. Even then when it had seemed strange, she had been guiding him back towards his place on land. He wondered if she had known then the full extent of her own spell. Maybe it had been her aim all along to send him back 'home'.
 
She bent down to study the crab he pointed out, curious about it, though most of her attention was on him as he told her more of Minamet. Even if she hadn't ever wanted or planned to be a mother, it sounded like she'd acted like a pretty good one for him. She knew his life had been hard and lonely, but she was glad he'd at least had someone to care for him and teach him how to survive. "It sounds like she was really good to you." She said with a small smile, "I guess a lot of things you're told as a kid don't make sense until you grow up."

She looked at him curiously, "did she ever give you a hint or clue that you were human?" She asked gently, judging by how shocked he'd been that night she doubted it, but maybe as he said, they didn't make sense then but they did now.
 
Korrin gave a soft, affirmative hum, watching the little crab scuttle around but not really seeing much at all. Thinking back on all the years he had spent with Minamet, he wasn't sure how long it had taken before she started to feel anything maternal towards him, but as a child she had been everything to him. Even if she wasn't his mother, he had always wanted to please her most.

"Sometimes I wonder. . ." He said softly, settling his arms over his knees and resting crouched for a moment as he thought. "She would tell me things about humans that made it sound like she thought I would interact with them some day. What kind of currency system people use on land, some of the words they used that we didn't really have a need for. I always thought it was just that she knew a lot of things, like a scholar, and I wanted to know what she knew."

There were other things too, a general knowledge of boats and how they functioned, how to accomplish tasks that would usually require two or more people all on his own. She had always known he would end up solitary as he grew, he supposed. He was never meant to be part of the pod.
 
"It sounds like she was preparing you, in case you found your way back to the surface." She agreed softly, "though I wonder why she didn't..." She trailed off, realising that would be a question that had no real answer and would only serve to upset him. She had been going to wonder why Minamet hadn't returned him the human world, since it seemed like she expected him to find his way back there one day anyway. Though maybe she hadn't known if her spell would wear off, he wouldn't exactly have a good life if he sprouted fins anytime he went for a swim.

She also wouldn't have known what happened to him, and maybe she was just attached to him, even if she didn't think of herself as his mother at first, or at all. Whatever the reason, she had done her best to get him ready for a life on land, and he was here now, there was no point dwelling on the why. "I'm glad she was there for you."
 
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