From Beneath the Waves

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Korin had a pleased, content little smile on his face feeling warm inside at the idea of her going to so much trouble for him. "Well, thank you." He said brightly, idly reaching out with one hand to poke at her lantern though it wasn't the first time he'd seen one. He'd have opened the cooler if it were close enough, and if he'd felt like pulling himself so far out of the water.

After a pause, he did lower himself a little further into the water, one hand touching the dock to keep himself up high enough to speak to her. "Can I . . . come up next to you?" He asked softly, some nerves leaking into his voice at the idea of fully leaving the sea, even if he would only be a slight push away from getting himself back in. She had already seen most of his scales and fins, so he hoped there wasn't still a risk that she would be afraid of him, or want to poke at him. ". . . I might splash."
 
She blinked a little in surprise, with how jumpy he was she didn't think he'd want to leave the water and sit so close to her, she wasn't even sure how long he could be out of water.

Still she was happy, it was a nice feeling to know she'd begun to earn his trust, even a little bit. "Oh yeah of course!" Smiling warmly, she moved everything off to the side so he'd have plenty of room to climb up and sit with her. "Do you need a hand?"
 
Olivia's smile was reassuring, though Korin was still nervous. He settled back a bit as she moved things out of the way, shaking his head at her offer of help. "Oh, no, no, I'll be okay. I'm much too heavy." He was sure that if she tried to pull his weight up she would only fall in. He didn't think she really knew how long his tail was, or how heavy he could be. "Maybe . . . Lift your feet?" He didn't want to splash her clothes.

When she was sufficiently tucked up a bit out of the way, he ducked down in the water a little to try and avoid kicking up too much at the surface, and surged up all at once. With a roll of his tail in the water and a bit of help from his magic, using the water to help push him up, he put his hands on the dock as he pushed himself up, guiding his weight up and twisting in the same motion so he ended up facing out towards the sea. For a moment his weight balanced mostly on his hands, then he finally lowered himself to perch his weight on the base of his tail, 'sitting' like Olivia despite not having legs like she did. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but it would make using his hands easier than if he were to lay back and put his weight on his elbow.

As he settled, a bit shy and hesitant, he gave her a small smile. "Did I get you wet?" He hoped he had contained it well enough, but splashes weren't so easy to keep track of when he was trying to push himself up at the same time.
 
She was stronger than she looked, but based on what she remembered of the brief look she'd gotten at his tail, she probably wouldn't be able to do much to help, no doubt she'd only succeed at falling in and embarrassing herself.

Scooching back a little, she made sure to stay out of his way, though she couldn't help leaning forward a little to watch curiously. She was impressed by his speed and strength, his movements were quite graceful.

Though she was determined not to stare, her gaze was drawn to his tail, the way it reflected the lantern light was captivating, she felt she could watch its shimmery beauty for hours.

Drawing her gaze away, not without some effort, she shook her head as she smiled warmly at him. "Nah, I'm fine." "Are you hungry yet?" "I'm keeping some things hot, they should last a while yet, I just dont want them to get cold."
 
Korin glanced down at where his own tail fins rested in the water as he settled in, thinking it would be easy enough to just fall forward if he needed a quick getaway for any reason. Her lantern was very bright, but with the twilight slowly beginning to fade to night he thought it would be ok if someone caught a glimpse of him from behind before he disappeared. There wouldn't be a lot to see in that time besides a bit of color and some reflections of the light.

He turned finally to look at Olivia just in time to catch her staring, and though his head fins pressed down a bit and flat against his head with a shy tuck of his chin towards his shoulder he didn't say anything about it. He looked strange to her, he was sure. It was expected that she would stare, even if he still found it a bit embarrassing.

"Something hot?" He questioned rather than say anything about it, quick to be distracted with the prospect of good things to eat. "Well, I don't want it to get cold, if you worked so hard on it." He hadn't thought she would cook things for him, only bring him different things to try. It was nice of her to go through such effort.

"Oh!" With a little start he turned and pulled his back around in front of him to untangle the strands of leather-like material keeping it closed and reached in to pull out the seaweed wrapped clam. "Your pearls. You can look at them, if you want to. I cleaned a shell to put them in so they wouldn't get lost." It was easy to drop things when swimming. If she wanted to look, he would just tie it back up when she was done so they didn't roll away on the dock and get lost in the darkness.
 
"Oh no, it was no trouble really." Her tone was modest as she shifted the cooler closer, so she could get everything ready. "I actually really love cooking, it's fun and what I made tonight was pretty simple."

She reached in but before she could grab anything, he was holding something out to her. "Oh right." She'd almost forgotten he was bringing them, "Thank you!"

She accepted the shell, her fingers grazing his as she gently took it. Though she was eager to see them, she placed it carefully in her lap.

"Let me get your food, then I'll have a look." She rummaged around for a moment then handed him a small hand towel, "here, so you can dry your hands, you don't want your food to get soggy."

Whilst he was doing that, she brought out a large covered plate, and a tall metal smoothie cup with a lid and metal straw.
 
Korin's smile was sunny and pleased, glad that she had liked cooking food and that she had taken the pearls from him. He pushed his bag out of the way, the long strap still over his shoulder and across his chest for safekeeping. When she handed him a towel he blinked at it in surprise, then nodded along and carefully dried his hands. It would feel strange, sitting out of the water for long enough for his scales to begin to dry, but he was having fun already.

When Olivia brought the dishes out he scooched over just a bit so they could be set on the dock between them, a curious look on his face when he gave the cup a poke. "Oh, is it liquid inside? How interesting." He lived in the water, so he didn't necessarily drink things, but it wasn't that he didn't know how. "What are these?" The lid made everything feel like more of a fun surprise.
 
She smiled a little at the inquisitive way he poked at the cup, wondering if his question meant he'd never drunk anything before. Obviously it would be difficult to do underwater, she had thought they might spend some time above water to do so, that perhaps they had underwater caves with air pockets.

Focusing her attention on his question, she removed the plate lid with a dramatic little flourish. "Voila monsieur! Your à la carte dinner is served!" Her phony, exaggerated, French accent was playfully goofy.

"Okay but for real, this is a bbq bacon cheeseburger, fries and some fried chicken." She gestured to the cup, "and this is a vanilla malt milkshake."

She was an experienced cook so she'd taken care to present it nicely on the large plate, which was quite full. "It's nothing fancy but it's a favourite meal amongst people, not super healthy but delicious."
 
Korin had no idea what the words Olivia was using meant, but her tone made him laugh, the strange accent to her words ones he had only heard once or twice and so wasn't very familiar with. She was so playful, and he liked her friendly smile. It seemed impossible, in that moment, that anyone could find her some sort of threat.

"Oooh," he blinked at all the different things on the plate as she revealed them, reaching out to touch the burger and see that it was still warm but also wondering how he was supposed to eat it, for a moment. "So many things! Do they have bones?" He didn't think the 'fries' did, given how small they were, but fish always had bones so he wanted to be sure before he just bit anything.
 
She shook her head a little, "no don't worry, there are bones in the chicken but they're not like fish bones." "They're big so you can't accidentally swallow them."

She liked the sound of his laugh, and she was glad he'd understood she was making a joke, even if he didn't understand it.

That was something else she could show him, though obviously he'd need some more experience with human stuff first, otherwise it wouldn't be that funny.

"I hope you like it, but if you don't be honest ok?" "You won't hurt my feelings or anything."
 
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Korin nodded along, listening intently to what she said even as he picked up a fry and broke it carefully in half with his hands to see what the texture was like. When she told him to be honest he ducked his head a little, shy at the prospect of telling her it was bad, but did eventually acquiesce with a nod.

"Okay. . ." He said slowly, clearly reluctant but going along with it anyway. He started with the fry first, taking a little bite and considering it quietly, a bit uncomfortable with being observed but wanting to try things. It was oddly soft inside, with a crunchier shell, a new texture like he suspected all the human foods would be, and yet vaguely familiar. He couldn't decide what it felt like, but it was similar to something he'd had before, he was sure of it.

"I like these," he reassured with a happy little smile once he'd finished it, reaching for the burger next but just tearing off small pieces of each part of it to eat by itself first, separating bits of the bread, the toppings and finally the meat itself to try. When he'd had them all separately, he picked it up a bit awkwardly, turning it a little in his hands and unsure how to start, jumping a little and laughing at himself when it dripped sauce onto the pier. "Do you just. . . bite the whole thing?" It seemed like a mouthful, but the bread squished down a bit, at least.
 
She wasn't convinced he'd be a hundred percent honest, but it seemed like he'd try and that was enough. Besides he was fairly easy to read so she'd probably be able to tell if he thought it was terrible.

Doing her best not to stare at him, she looked past him at the ocean whilst he was eating, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

When he smiled after trying the fries, she smiled back brightly. If he didn't like anything tonight, she wouldn't have bet on it being the fries, as she couldn't really think of a more universally loved food.

She joined in with his laughter, nodding a little. "Yup so hold it with your hands tightly, so it doesn't all fall out, then just take a big bite so you get all the flavours together."
 
"This seems overly complicated," Korin said with a little shake of his head, but endeavored to do as told. Careful not to completely crush the thing, he did his best to hold it together and took a bite as best he could, wanting to be able to taste it all together but not get so much of it in his mouth he couldn't chew. When he'd managed, he set it carefully down and wiped his mouth on the back of a hand as he chewed.

"Messy," he murmured with some amusement when he'd swallowed enough for it, trying not to laugh until he'd fully finished the bite. "It's . . . a lot." He said thoughtfully, when he could. "It isn't bad! I'm just not used to things that taste or feel like that. But I think I like it." It was harder to tell than the fries, since the burger was more complicated and had more and stronger flavors. The meat was much more dense than the things he usually ate, but he didn't think he disliked it. "I think . . . too many flavors at once. Maybe something simpler?"

Even just one of the things combined into the burger was something he had never tried before. Maybe the chicken would be easier to handle.
 
She seemed amused by his comments, she'd never thought of a burger as complicated before. Laughing a little at his messy complaint, nodding as she handed him a napkin.

"Yeah they can be a bit messy, sorry about that." Listening to his feedback closely, she nodded seriously. "Okay, I'll make you something with a simpler flavour next time." An amused smile on her face, she added, "something you can eat with a fork so no mess."

Not that this meal was complicated, but it did have a lot of strong flavours in one. She had to remember he hadn't tried anything like this before, she had to start mild.
 
Korin blinked at the papery cloth she handed him for a moment, but did get the hint that it was meant to clean his hands with and wiped them off rather than call up water to his hands to rinse them off. He didn't want to scare her with magic so soon.

"I eat things underwater," he said in his own defense, laughing a little but pleased inside at her listening and wanting to accommodate him. "Everything washes away." Even if hunting or eating still made mess, it always washed away or diluted into the water.

He ate another fry to get rid of some of the burger's flavors, and just because he liked them, and poked at the chicken next, pulling off a bit of the outside layer of it and looking at it curiously. "Is this skin . . . or some sort of coating?" He thought it might be both, on closer inspection, but wasn't sure. Was he meant to eat it, or just peel it off? Maybe it only cooked that way and wasn't meant to be eaten.
 
"I know, I know." She said with a playful smile, hoping he knew she was just teasing him in a friendly way. "I'm really curious how it works actually."

She said sincerely, "I mean can you still taste stuff the same?" "And how do you not just swallow a mouthful of water?" She hoped these weren't stupid questions, she was just very curious.

Turning her attention back to his question, "it's both, the skin is cooked with the chicken and seasoned so you end up with a nice crispy coating."
 
Korin shrugged, thoughtful with something almost like a frown on his face as he considered it. He'd never thought too hard about just how he ate things before. "I guess. . . I do swallow water, too, but it doesn't hurt me. I guess it makes things taste salty?" He had never given it much thought, he just did it. "Sometimes I eat above water, too, but not as often." It was easier to just eat wherever he caught things, though sometimes it was safer to retreat to his cave.

Curious, he gave the bit of food in his hand a look over again, then just popped it into his mouth and made an inquisitive face at how it crunched. He poked at the actual chicken afterwards, pulling off a small piece of meat from where he'd exposed it and inspecting the texture of it before eating that, too. "Hmm, I think I like this one better. You said there are bones in it?" He could see what he thought was part of the bone already, but wasn't sure what it was shaped like. He supposed he could just bite carefully, or keep pulling off pieces by hand.
 
She looked thoughtful herself at his answer, she couldn't imagine how insanely salty everything would taste. Though she guessed it wouldn't matter much if he ate it under the water or not, most stuff he was eating probably tasted super salty anyway.

"Yeah so when you hold it you can feel where the bone is, and you just take little bites to get the chicken off." She blushed a little, a small shy smile on her face. "Uh does that make sense?" "I've never had to explain this kind of stuff before, I'm worried I'm just being confusing."
 
Curious, Korin did pick up the chicken and fiddle with the part of the bone he could see, thinking by the shape of it that it went all the way through in a relatively straight line. Her apparent embarassment at having to explain to him just what he should be doing had him feeling a little shy himself, but he did his best to just smile and press on anyway. It wasn't as if he could help his lack of knowledge.

"It probably feels strange, explaining something that comes naturally to you," he agreed, chuckling a little to himself. "I've never seen these things before, so I don't mind." Any instruction was helpful, given how little he knew. With her suggestions in mind, he took a very careful bite of the meat and crunchy coating at once and looked at where it had exposed the bone as he ate it, humming a soft, pleased note. It was strange and very different from most sea creatures, but he liked it.
 
She nodded a little, "yeah it is a little bit." "I guess it's just not something I've had to think about before, I just.. know how." She was glad he seemed to understand her, at least for the most part.

His clear enjoyment of it made her smile, glad he at least liked two things so far. "What do you think?" She wanted to know if there was anything in particular about it he liked, that way she'd hopefully be able to narrow down what to make him next time.
 
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