From Beneath the Waves

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Like asking him about swallowing water when he ate, Korin mused, but didn't say it out loud in case she thought he was trying to make her feel bad. It was just an automatic comparison in his head, something amusing about how they each asked questions that would feel obvious to the other. It was going to be fun, getting to know her.

"I like this one too," he answered, though he set it back down in favor of eating a couple more fries, "but I'm not sure if I could eat the whole thing. Just little pieces for now." He held up a fry with a little grin afterwards. "I think I could eat a lot of these." They had a good texture, and they weren't made of meats that were unfamiliar to him, even if they were something else he hadn't had before. When he had eaten the couple he'd picked up, taking his time and swishing his tail fins idly where they rested in the water, he brushed his hands off on the napkin and picked up the cup next. "This is . . . milkshake? It's cold?" He was sure that was the word she'd used for whatever drink was inside. He hadn't expected it to be so cold through the metal of the cup.
 
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She nodded a little, a faint pink appeared on her cheeks for a moment as she blushed. "Oh of course, don't eat more than you feel like."

"I made way too much but i'm used to dealing with my brother's appetites and they're like bottomless pits I swear." There was a faint hint of exasperation in her tone when she spoke of her brothers, but also clear and obvious love.

"Yup i thought they might be your favourite." She said with a little laugh, "fries are pretty addictive." She nodded to his question, "yeah milkshakes are always cold, you can have milk warm but usually in something like hot chocolate."
 
Korin made a soft, thoughtful sound as he fiddled with the straw, moving it around a little to feel how the drink inside resisted. It was curiously thick, from what he could tell. "Do you have a lot of brothers?" He asked, as much curious about her as the new things she brought him, and took a careful drink while she decided how to answer. He wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't so used to straws or if it was just because the mixture was thick, but it took more effort than he'd anticipated.

"Ooh, it's very sweet," he said once he'd tried it, delighted by the new discovery. Of all the things so far, he thought he liked it best, and took another sip just to confirm. "Why is it called milke-shake? Is it shaken to make it?" He knew what 'milk' was, though he wasn't sure from what animal. Maybe it was just the cold that had made it so thick. He couldn't imagine how hard one had to shake to change it from a pure liquid to whatever it was now.
 
She shook her head and laughed a little, "no just two older ones, Logan & Dean, i don't think i could cope with anymore." "But even though they can bug the hell out of me sometimes, they're the absolute best brothers I could have asked for."

She said with a fond smile, missing them and her folks more than she thought she would, not to mention the ranch and the animals.

She grinned at his excitement, "yeah it can be pretty sweet, its got ice cream in it." "Thats exactly why, it gets all shaken in a blender, and theres so many different flavours, like chocolate or caramel."
 
Korin smiled a little at her clear affection for her family, making a soft, thoughtful sound as she described them. "I always wondered what it would be like to have siblings. . ." He mused, a bit lost in thought for a moment. He hadn't even known his own parents, though he'd had Minamet to care for him. He did love her, and she had been good to him, but she wasn't truly his mother.

Humans were so inventive with their foods. He supposed when everything wasn't surrounded by water it was easier to mix certain things together, and there was a great deal more 'cooking' up above the surface. He had made fire before and used it to change the texture of different types of fish or other sea creature, but it was nothing compared to all the things just Olivia had done that day.

"It's very good," he assured, plucking up a fry again to take a bite and clearly pleased with the contrast. It was all so different, and he hoped none of it made him feel ill, but he had a strong stomach, he thought. "Won't you have any?" Perhaps she didn't want the things he had taken bites off of, but she could at least share the pile of fries with him. It felt rude eating everything alone.
 
She was a little worried she'd upset him at first, but he just seemed to be thoughtful. "Well it's hard to describe exactly, but i guess it's like having the ultimate best friend, forever." "If you're lucky of course."

She had gotten very lucky, not just with her brothers, but her parents too. She didn't know why her birth parents had chosen to leave her, though perhaps she'd find out if she ever went through her stuff, but they couldn't have chosen a better family for her.

"I already ate, but sure I'll share some fries with you if that's OK." She wasn't super hungry, but she could understand him feeling a bit awkward eating alone.
 
"Ultimate best friend," Korin repeated, a little smile on his face and a happy little twitch to his tail at the idea. He wasn't sure he'd ever had a best friend. The other children had played with him when he was young, but as they'd gotten older they'd begun to realize he was different than them, and slowly they had stopped spending any time with him at all. He'd had to become self sufficient rather young, finding ways to entertain himself.

"Please," he said when she offered to help with the fries, eager to share, "I'll never eat it all myself." He would take a few more bites of the burger and chicken, probably, but it was too much for him otherwise. "What are they like, your family? Do you live together in a building, or in a village?" He wasn't sure she would understand quite how pods existed, living in the same area with very little separation, but there had to be some sort of comparison. Most family units lived at least very close to each other, if not in the same sleeping space.
 
He seemed to like her description, it made her wonder if he had a best friend. Based on what he'd said before, she sort of doubted it, but then again he could just be keeping it private.

She smiled at little at his enthusiasm to share, thinking she did make too much, but she didn't know how much he usually ate and she'd been raised to believe too much was better than not enough.

At home nothing went to waste, leftovers were given to the animals if it was safe, and the rest went into compost for fertiliser.

She ate a few fries while thinking over his question, "we all live in the same building, it's a huge old ranch house so there's plenty of space." "It's me, my brothers and my mum and dad."

"I've got some extended family too, but they live in their own houses in different places." When he asked what they were like, she smiled warmly. "They're the kindest, funniest, most caring, generous and loving people I've ever met."
 
Living together in the same space sounded nice, despite him being so used to solitude. There were days when he was perfectly fine with it, used to being on his own and figuring out ways to accomplish things without help. The magic his mentor had taught him was instrumental in that, at times. But there were also days he felt an almost crushing loneliness, days when the thought of being alone for the rest of time made him want to curl up in a dark place and never come out. Having a family to spend all his time with sounded like paradise.

Still, she was sharing things with him, and it was rude not to reciprocate.

"A big family sounds like fun," he said with a smile that was still cheerful, despite some lingering wistfulness in his eyes as he looked out over the water. "I always just had Minamet. She found me all alone when I was little and took me in. I guess she was kind of like my mother. She took care of me, and taught me how to take care of myself. I wonder what it would be like, living in a place so full of people. I'm sure they care about you a lot." He was happy for her, even though he longed for something he would never have in a way that felt almost familiar, like he'd lost something he knew he'd never actually had. There was no point being sad about a family he couldn't even remember, he'd decided long ago. It was good enough just to be happy for other people.
 
She nodded a little, she knew others could find it overwhelming, and yes it could be sometimes, but she loved having a big, close knit family.

He was still smiling but something about his words and body language made her suspect this topic was hard for him, she blinked a little in surprise at his story.

"That's actually what happened with me." She said quietly, before smiling a little. "Minamet sounds like a wonderful person, does she still live close by to you?"
 
Korin nodded a little, idly sipping at his milkshake as he ran over her words in his head and tried not to get too obviously stunned about it. "Not far. If I go quickly, it takes me . . . maybe a quarter of an hour." That seemed about right, though he didn't usually time it. It wasn't as if he could see the position of the sun underwater or carry a clock with him. "I go and see her once or twice a week, and she visits me sometimes." She was a busy lady, being their pods most skilled magic user, so she couldn't always come see him.

"What do you mean, that's what happened to you?" He asked finally, looking at her with clear curiosity in his eyes. "Did your mother find you as a child?" Were they really that alike? It was such a strange thing to have in common. He wondered if she, too, couldn't remember anything from before that moment.
 
She smiled a little, "that sounds really nice." She was happy that he seemed to have a good relationship with his mother at least, she got the feeling that he seemed to be alone aside from her.

She shrugged a little at his question, she wasn't bothered by it. It had always been apart of her story, "she did, my whole family did actually." "They found me abandoned on their property when i was a baby, they tried to find my birth parents but when nobody claimed me, they raised me as their own."
 
There was some concern in his expression at the idea of an infant being abandoned in wilderness, but Korin couldn't say he was unmoved by her family's kindness. "That's terrible," he murmured softly, hands fiddling idly with the lid of the milkshake cup as he imagined it. At least if she had been so small she probably didn't remember it. "How kind of them, taking care of you after. . ."

They were nice people, he had decided already, even without ever having met them. If Olivia had been raised by them, and they had cared for her despite her not being their own, how could they be anything else?

"I wasn't a baby when she found me," he said, feeling oddly compelled to share what he usually kept to himself, their similarities so striking he felt like he couldn't not tell her. "I was . . . nine, maybe ten years old." He gave a small, uncertain sort of smile, not sure if it was something that was funny or sad. "But I don't remember anything from before then, so I guess I might as well have been."
 
She smiled at little at his concern, understanding where he was coming from, others had mentioned it all her life, she'd even thought it herself a few times.

"I suppose it was, but they found me right away." "They took walks along that path every morning, I think whoever left me there must have known that." She looked a little distant for a moment, "or at least I hope they did."

Thinking of the alternative was too painful, besides it didn't seem likely with her birth mother leaving her this property. She guessed that was part of the reason why she was dragging her feet on going through her stuff, she was afraid of finding painful answers.

When he told her how he was found, she looked at him with warm concern and sympathy. "I'm sorry Korin, that must have been awful." She was a little puzzled by his lack of memories, "were you injured when Minamet found you?"
 
Korin made a soft, thoughtful sound at the idea of someone knowing she would be found. He supposed it made sense, wanting someone to pick her up before long, though he couldn't imagine why anyone would abandon their baby that way.

"A mother's instinct is to protect," he said softly, unsure If it would be seen as out of turn for him to say it. "Maybe she thought she couldn't protect you anymore. . ." How she knew someone else could was a mystery, but not one he thought either of them would ever solve.

". . . I was dying, she said," he explained with a shrug, unaffected by the knowledge since it was only ever secondhand. "Drifting in a current all by myself. . . She took me in and helped me heal, but no one ever came looking for me." It was possible his parents had died in whatever event had left him so ill or injured, but he would never know, and to avoid worrying Olivia about it he offered a small smile. "I don't remember much of it, so I don't think I was scared, or in pain, or if I was I wasn't aware of it after. It's all very fuzzy." That was good, though, he thought. Remembering having almost died was a terrible thought. Just like Olivia had been so little she didn't remember being lost in the woods, he had no recall of drifting through the ocean all on his own.
 
She didn't seem upset by his comment, but she also didnt look convinced eiether. "I suppose so, I'm hoping I might found out by looking through the things she left me, if I ever get around to it."

Even though he didn't seem too upset by it, his story still made her feel for him. It sounded like his family might have passed away, it was only through lucky chance he hadn't too.

She returned his small smile, "well I guess it's good you can't remember the pain you went through." Her smiled widened, "and we both found loving adoptive parents so I guess it worked out huh?"
 
Ah, so the house and the things she was looking at were from the woman that had birthed her, not from the one that had raised her. It was all very complicated, and he had more questions but worried about asking them. He didn't want to upset her, or overstep his bounds. People didn't usually ask such personal questions so quickly, did they? It had been so long since he'd made a new friend, he hardly knew anymore.

His smile remained when hers did, and he nodded along with her line of reasoning. He didn't think Minamet was as nurturing as other mothers were, but she had taken good care of him and prepared him for life. That was enough, he thought. "And now we met each other. It's funny, isn't it? We're from very different places, but we started out the same."
 
She nodded a little, "it really is." She never thought she'd have something in common with a merman, talking to one was surreal enough. "It's kinda nice though, we can understand each other you know?"

She ate a few more fries, then wiped the salt from her fingers and picked up her backpack. She unzipped it a little, "would you like to listen to some music now?"
 
Someone to understand him. It was such a simple thing, but it made Korin feel warm inside. They were worlds apart and should never have met, and yet Olivia was kinder to him than some he had known for most of his life. Maybe it was worth the risk after all, coming to the edge of the human world.

"You brought some with you?" He asked excitedly when she mentioned music, setting aside the mostly empty milkshake cup to twist a little and see what she was bringing out, a little splash heard from below them when his tail fins smacked the top of the water. "How? What do you play it with?" He knew that radios were a thing, and a lot of inventions just like them that he could never wrap his head around, but he hadn't seen many up close.
 
She grinned a little at his excitement, stifling a little laugh at his little tail splash. "Yeah I downloaded a fair bit, probably went overboard again."

She reached in and pulled out a pair of over the ear headphones, and a cylindrical portable speaker. "I brought headphones because I personally find it easier to hear every note, but I wasn't sure if they'd..."

She hesitated a moment, looking a bit embarrassed, "well, fit comfortably." She moved on quickly, not wanting to upset him. "So I brought my speaker too, it's got really good sound quality."
 
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