From Beneath the Waves

Funny looks. That was okay, he thought. He was used to standing out, really, even if he hadn't quite known why until now. As he'd grown, he'd thought it was just because his scales were a different color than everyone else's, that he stood out and drew the attention of predators by being different. A few strange looks would be tolerable.

Olivia's attempt to reassure him didn't go unnoticed. Korin gave her a small smile, something soft and appreciative in his eyes. "Thank you," he said softly, thinking of the way she held his hand when he couldn't even manage to get up. "I'm sorry for being so much trouble but . . . I feel better, being by your side."
 
She'd given up on trying to stop him for thanking her for what she saw as basic kindness, she knew it would just confuse him and she did find it sweet.

It did feel nice to be so appreciated, she just didn't want him to feel like a burden or like he shouldn't expect basic kindness and respect. He deserved to be treated well, just like anyone but especially after he'd been treated so poorly.

She knew he'd learn that in time, so for now she smiled back. "Korrin you're no trouble at all, you're my friend and i love spending time with you."
 
Life was a little crazy, Korin thought, but with Olivia by his side it felt a little less terrifying than it could have been. He could have just stayed under the water, true, isolating himself more than he had already been living, but it was better to have someone next to him. Something about having a gentle voice and a smiling face in his proximity, and someone that knew what had happened to him and could help him learn about himself, made him feel so much more at ease.

"I love spending time with you, too," he said back with a sunny little smile, something warm settled in his chest as he focused a bit more on eating the breakfast she'd so kindly made for him. "I wish there was something I could do for you, too." He said, though he was sure she would tell him not to worry about it. "Maybe . . . Maybe the reef. I could pull you there, in your little boat. . . I don't know how much you can see from near the surface, but if you wanted to go. . ."
 
She was glad to hear it, not that she couldn't tell, she thought she was getting pretty good at reading him, but it was still nice for him to say it.

She took a few more bites of breakfast, while he talked. She smiled and nodded, "sure that could be fun, there's a few small islands I've noticed, maybe we could make a day of it and go exploring sometime?"

"Plus I haven't had a lot of time to get the stuff I need to dive yet, but I have been practising at holding my breath and I can snorkel, so maybe I can see a little."
 
"Won't that take a while?" Korin asked, trying to picture how far the closet island was. "If you don't mind being in the boat that long, I can do it." He might have to go underwater to hide from boats, but he could still nudge her along with his magic until it was clear again. Who beneath the water was going to spot him? Part of him thought it didn't even matter anymore. What could they say he was doing except speaking to his own kind?

"Ah - snorkel!" He repeated suddenly, sitting up a bit straight as if she'd jolted it out of him, and made as if to frame his eyes with his hands. "That's the word! The big glasses, and the breathing tube. I've seen them before. People drop a lot of them." He'd collected a few of them before he'd actually seen someone using them, given if he was close enough to see the humans snorkeling they could see him if he wasn't careful. "I've never explored the land on the islands," he added with a thoughtful hum, "at least, not very far." If she brought him a towel and clothes, now he could just change back and forth and follow her on foot.
 
"I'm not sure to be honest." She said with a small shrug, "we don't have to see them all in one day, or at all if it's too far." She wasn't sure how far away they were, and she didn't want him to go to any trouble.

She looked a little startled at his outburst, but she was smiling, enjoying his enthusiasm. "Yeah I've been practising, so maybe we could go swimming together."

"So long as you promise to help me keep an eye out for sharks." She teased playfully, though she was a bit wary about encountering any.
 
Korin gave a soft, affirmative hum in agreement with her idea not to see more than one island a day. They were probably rather similar anyway. "Maybe I can make the trip out myself some time and see how long it takes me. I don't think it's too long." Not for him, anyway. He wasn't sure if she would get bored or if the boat would be uncomfortable.

He thought maybe she was joking about sharks, but nodded firmly in response anyway, as if it had been a serious request. "Of course. Sharks don't usually come too close if they smell me, but if there's lots of fish around sometimes I have to fight them off. I try not to hurt them too badly. . ." A quick smack to the face generally did the trick, so long as there wasn't anything wrong with them. Most sharks weren't very aggressive if their territory or food wasn't being threatened.
 
She nodded a little, "Alright that sounds good to me." Even though she had been joking about the sharks, it was still reassuring to know they didn't bother him much and when they did, he could handle himself against them.

"Well I'm glad to know they don't bother you much." She smiled a little in amusement, "the day we met, when you saved me, I thought you were a shark at first."
 
"If I don't bother them, they don't bother me," Korin said with a little shrug and smile, thinking that was true of most creatures. Some got scared if he came too close and had their own defensive strategies, but most things didn't mind if he simply swam by and paid them no attention.

When she spoke about how they'd met he straightened up in his seat a little, surprise going across his face and quickly followed by a somewhat guilty but amused chuckle. "Really? You thought I was a shark? I didn't mean to scare you. I was just trying to swim fast. The waves were very strong. . ." He'd known he needed to hurry, and he'd spoken when he'd gotten his head above water. Maybe it had just been his blue scales that had made her think he looked like a shark.
 
She shook her head a little, "no you didn't scare me, I felt oddly calm.." She felt a little embrassed to tell him the truth, about how she'd really thought she was going to due.

"I couldn't see very well under the water so all I saw was a blurry shape coming at me incredibly fast, so yeah I thought I was shark bait at first." She laughed a little, "I'm very glad I was wrong."

"You were risking a lot by helping me that day weren't you?" She asked softly, knowing what she did now, she wondered if the other merpeople had to follow the same rule or if Minamet hadn't wanted him to discover the truth.
 
Korin's expression was surprised as she spoke, only shifting into something softer, almost sheepish as she went on. Calm. Maybe she had just accepted drowning, or maybe he had helped her to feel okay as the disaster happened. If it was the latter, he wasn't sure how to feel about it. Could he had such an effect on someone?

"Oh, um . . ." His eyes drifted away, overcome by something shy, by a lingering sense of shame for breaking rules he wasn't sure applied to in anymore. "I wasn't . . . I'm not supposed to let anyone see me. . ." He admitted, shoulders hunched and eyes on where his wrung his hands nervously in his lap. "Letting anyone know that merfolk exist is . . . the most important rule. I could have put everyone in danger." If he had been found out, he would likely have been hurt, imprisoned, or exiled. Maybe a mix of the three. Even if he wasn't adored by those in his pod, he didn't want to bring danger to them.
 
She frowned a little, feeling guilty she'd inadvertently upset him again. "I'm sorry Korrin, I wasn't trying to upset you, I just.." She smiled a little, "I want you to know I'm sorry that it put you at risk but that I'm really grateful that you took that risk anyway to help me."

"You did an incredibly selfless thing Korrin, and you should be proud of that."
 
Korin shook his head a little, a bit despondent still at the thought of all the rules he had broken and torn in wondering if they even mattered anymore, but not wanting her to feel bad. It wasn't her fault that he had done what he had, not really. He had made the choice to help her even though it was forbidden.

"It was selfish." He said with his eyes downcast still, though he grimaced a bit afterwards. "If you had been someone else . . . and if other humans had come to investigate after . . . I could have put the whole pod in danger." Their whole species, even. Being a secret kept them safe. Even now, as hidden as they were, they often had to seek deeper and deeper waters, or else employ merfolk who were adept in the type of magics that could hide them, to avoid being found.

He closed his eyes for a moment, at war with the morality of it even still, and did his best to unclench the fists that had formed beneath the table. "But I couldn't just let you drown." He wasn't ruthless. He couldn't have lived with himself if she had died when he could have saved her. Anyone would have told him that one human wasn't worth the safety of all sea dwellers, but he would rather have faced retribution than watch as she drowned.
 
She looked uncertain for a moment, unsure what to say. "Even if i was a different person and i had told someone, it's extremely unlikely anyone would have believed me."

"Merpeople are considered myths, just characters in fairytale, so I doubt anyone would have gone looking for you." "People would think I was lying or I hallucinated, or I was just crazy."

She was trying to be reassuring, but she understood there wasn't much she could do. "But I know that it doesn't really change anything, and I know that I can't really understand, not to mention I'm obviously biased."

"I'm grateful for what you did for me, but I'm truly sorry that i put you in that position."
 
Korin drew his eyes up from the table as Olivia spoke, worried still but beginning to brighten just slightly at the reassurance. His whole life it had been made to sound as if any slight sighting would expose every last mer in the seas - Korin could see why telling anyone that 'a little' bit of exposure wouldn't hurt could be a bad thing, but if human society thought they were only myths, it was comforting to think he hadn't screwed everything up so horribly as he'd thought.

"No, no, it isn't your fault," he said with a shake of his head, not wanting her to feel any sort of guilt. "I made the decision myself. . . You didn't know you were in danger." She could hardly be blamed for being caught out in the storm. It wasn't as if she'd known he would be there to help her, or what was at stake if he did. The responsibility was his alone.

"I'm sorry, I've said some upsetting things." Korin took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh, trying to shake himself out of it and picking up the fork to poke at the last bites of food on his plate. "Thank you for listening."
 
She decided they'd have to agree to disagree on that, as she shrugged a little. "No, but I still should have been better prepared and not put myself in that position to begin with."

She shook her head a little, "still I guess we can't change it now, and i wouldn't want to anyway." She smiled warmly at him, "I got to meet you after all."

"No it's okay, sharing your problems and trying to solve them together is just what friends do."
 
There was something sad and strained still clinging to the set of his shoulders, to the shadows beneath his eyes, but Korin managed to find a smile regardless. Despite all his recently found troubles, he had also found Olivia. Her gentle care for him, and the simple pleasure of having her company for the last couple of weeks of his life was something he didn't think he would ever regret.

"I'm glad I met you," he said, though he knew he had said as much the night before, thinking warmly of the way she would sit with him, of the sound of her voice and her laughter. "No matter what happens, I'm glad we're together." He feared being a burden to her, but at the same time was grateful to have her to lean on as he learned more of what it meant to be human. At least now he could come further onto land without fear of being seen and spend as much time with her as he wanted.

After a moment, he moved to pick up his empty plate, hesitant about where to get up and put it. "These . . . need to be washed?" He would help, if he could. He would do anything he was capable of to try and give back all the things she'd given him.
 
She hated to see him still looking so distraught, but she knew there wasn't anything she could really do. She could only be there to support him through it, which she was determined to do.

She was confident he would get through it and be okay, her belief only strengthened by his smile. "Me too." She said softly, smiling back.

Getting to her feet, she picked up her own plate and nodded a little. "They do but I've got it, don't worry." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "but if you want to help you can, it's fine either way."

Though it was ingrained in her that guests were waited on, she realised he might be feeling uncomfortable and would rather help. Besides he might just be wanting to learn, depending on what his plans were, he might need to learn a lot of human skills.
 
Korin was beginning to think it would feel strange, just sitting and waiting as she cleaned up, and somewhat visibly perked up at the suggestion of helping. The way his colors and fins reacted to how he felt when he had scales had made it rather impossible to hide what he was feeling, so he had never really gotten into the habit of trying, or even thinking that he should try.

"If you show me," he said even as he got to his feet, picking up his plate and silverware to follow after her, "I'm sure I can wash my own. It's only cleaning." It wasn't that he had never had to scrub anything clean, just that being in the ocean had made it largely unnecessary for most parts of his life. He wasn't sure how much time he was going to spend with her in her home, but he wanted to at least be somewhat useful while he was there.
 
She'd obviously made the right decision, judging by the way he perked up at her offer. He really does wear his heart on his sleeve, she thought to herself with a smile. "Okay I'll show you then."

She tidied the table, putting everything away before bringing the rest of the dirty dishes to the sink. "Okay so you can wash and I'll dry, or vice versa, whatever you prefer."

She gave him a simple explanation on how to wash, rinse and dry the dishes, walking him through each step and showing him how. Her tone was calm and patient, but never condescending.

She explained things to him the same way she would to her friends when they wanted to help on the farm, or her brothers when she helped them with concepts they didn't understand in their homework.
 
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