deercountry | The Heart is a Bloom (Open)

Entry tags:

The Heart is a Bloom (Open)

Who: Luca and open
What: Catch all for the month
When: Throughout the month
Where: Behind the Disaster House, anywhere in the streets, the Archives

Content Warnings: Injured fish/fish gets killed for food

[Growing Pains: OTA]

It takes him a minute to decide what he wants to plant. Everything he came here with is a reminder of his past. The herding staff from when he used to live on the farm herding fish, though Luca realizes if he buries that, it's going to take a very long time to dig a hole large enough. Then there were the pictures Alberto drew, but he doesn't want to get rid of those. Alberto's not a part of his past he's ready to let go of yet, and there's always the chance he'll show up in this place. The sea monster village, however, is clearly and distinctly in his past. It's not a place he can go back to, and it's a place he was moving on from even in his own world. It's a place he's willing to let go of. He picks up his seagrass shorts, an article of clothing that's unmistakably 'sea monster', and takes them outside. He grabs a shovel and starts digging a hole behind the house.

It's not long before a flower emerges. Posidonia, a sea grass flower. Of course, that makes sense. He's fairly sure the shorts were sea grass in the first place, so what else would grow out of them?. But, of course, he knows that means he'll have to keep the plant in salt water.

"I'll have to find a tank or a vase to keep you in."

[Around Town: OTA]

Naturally, being new to this place, Luca wants to check it out. Sure, there are lamp locations and he can just teleport wherever he needs to go, but while Luca is more than happy to use them, he doesn't want to become dependent on them, which means he'll have to learn the lay of the land without them. Luckily for him, he arrived with his bike. It's incredibly rusted, but he's never had it in any other state, having gotten it the only way most sea monsters could get such a thing. By finding it in the Ligurean sea, not far from a steep cliff that dropped off into the water.

But, miraculously, despite all the rust his bike worked just fine, and he'd even been able to ride it well enough to win the biking portion of a triathlon once. Now he's riding through town, wearing the clothes he found in his bag on arrival, as well as his robes. The latter was mostly due to the weather. With all the rain, he wanted something water resistant so he wouldn't change in the middle of town. Sure, everyone who had seen him in his sea monster form so far had been fine with it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to take some precautions with how many people see him.

That's why, as the first few drops begin to fall, Luca stops his bike, putting one bare foot down so he can focus on pulling his robe over his head...only to put his foot right into a puddle.

"Gah!"

He pulled his foot (which was now green) out of the puddle, causing him to fall off his bike to the ground. Frantically, Luca pulls the robe over his head to keep his face human at least, before desperately trying to wipe the water off his foot...and now his leg as well after that fall, to try and force himself to change back.

Then, finally noticing that someone else is there, Luca looks up with a nervous laugh. "Oh, uh...hi."

[The Archaic Archives: OTA]

By the time Luca reaches the Gaze, he's given up all hope of holding onto his human form. The rain's just coming down too hard, and it's too difficult trying to keep all his skin covered and ride a bike at the same time. Eventually, he just accepts that he's going to have to be in his sea monster form for now, and that's just going to have to be okay. Still, he's on high alert the entire time, just in case someone might take issue with a sea monster biking through town.

And then he reaches his destination. The archives. Between this and the School of Mutter, it truly made the Gaze the most wonderful and happy place in the entire town in Luca's eyes.

He walks inside. Normally he'd shake himself dry, but he doesn't want to take any chances of getting even a drop of water on one of the books, so instead he waits to air dry naturally. Once that happens, his scales and fins begin slowly receding into his now human-looking skin. Now that he's dry, Luca begins to walk through the Archives, looking at the books as he passes.

"Wow, there's so much here! I wonder where I should even start."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah, I...figured it was probably better to avoid sharing my sea monster form with everyone that used the communication stuff. I mean, the people here seem pretty okay with it so far but...I don't want to take any chances."

He doesn't mind sharing it with her, but anyone could look at their conversation on the network.

"Sea monster?" She walked a bit closer, leaning over with her hands on her knees so that she could be at his eye level. Ariadne was petite, so it wasn't too much of a bend. "You don't seem like much of a monster to me."

Of course, 'monster' meant something entirely different in Valeria. It meant something mindless and violent. Without sympathy or kindness. Something that lived only to cause death and destruction.

...and some people used that word for her people.

Maybe it meant something different where he was from.

"I mean, it's what we're usually called."

But no, Luca's species wasn't really anything that would typically be called a monster. They were just people.

She raised her chin slightly. "I see."

And did she ever. If anyone knew what it was like to be mislabeled and misunderstood--at least in Valeria--it was decidedly Ariadne. And what little was left of her people.

"Well," she said, "for what it's worth, most people would usually call me and mine 'demons.' But we're not. So I understand."

"You and yours?" he asks, curious. "So you're not human, either?"

It shouldn't be a total surprise. Luca, after all, is quite familiar with non-human species being able to disguise themselves to survive. Still, there's some level of surprise and curiosity, since he had no idea.

"No," Ariadne said. The word didn't stick in her throat as much. It was taking a lot of getting used to--being open about who and what she was--but it was always a bit easier with people like her. People who were different.

People who might be thought of as monsters.

Standing up straight, she took a few steps away from Luca.

Her transformation was a little less natural than his. Her form wobbled and warbled, like heat rising off of a hot pavement. Colors swirled around. Water colors bleeding into each other. It was only a moment. And then there she was. With skin the green of the underside of a maple leaf. Hair blue as candy floss. And bright, lavender lips.

But still Ariadne, all things considered.

"Oh, wow," he practically whispers, watching the transformation. It's very different from his own, but her other form...she's clearly not a sea monster. Her hair is hair, not specialized fins, her skin has no scales, but...

"You kind of look like me."

The coloration, at least.

She let out a little laugh. Not an unkind one. And definitely not at him. But the observation was kind of right. And kind of wrong. "A little bit," she said, her voice unchanged. "Although not all of my kind have blue hair." She ran her hand along the length of her braid. "I just happen to take after my father."

Her mother had had pink hair. And Uncle Tahafra's was orange.

Ariadne looked down at her own hands, before looking up at Luca again. "My people were called 'Alastrians.' Not a lot of us left. But many humanoids used to think that we were monsters."

"We don't all have blue fins, either." Since technically it isn't hair, but rather specialized fins that move in a fashion similar to kelp, much like some fish had to better blend in when they were swimming through underwater fields. "My best friend has purple fins, and my dad has green. Not all of us are green, either."

So a lot of the similarity is probably coincidence, but it's definitely a coincidence that makes Luca feel a bit more comfortable.

"Humans don't like us much, either. There was even a reward for anyone who could kill a sea monster."

Which made things pretty dangerous.

Ariadne winced sympathetically. Luca was still young, so she decided not to tell him what became of Alastrians who were hunted down. He probably already knew. He seemed intuitive. But why spoil a lovely evening of discovery?

After all, there was much more to both of them than what Humans seemed to think.

"Do you live under the water, then?" she asked. "Does that mean you can breathe like a fish does?"

That sounded quite exciting, actually. Ariadne didn't get many opportunities to go swimming, but when she did, she was always struck by how peaceful it seemed under the surface.

"I do, yeah. Well, I did live underwater. I've been living on the surface now, but I was underwater for the first thirteen years of my life."

And the 'living on the surface' thing was very recent.

"And yeah, I can breathe through my gills. I was just coming back from gathering some seaweed to snack on."

She had to curb her immediate desire to ask about a thousand questions about underwater plants. She knew there were a lot of practical applications of seaweed, but she'd never had much of a chance to experiment. Just because you grew up near a plant, though, didn't mean you were an expert. It was incredible to her how many Elves knew nothing about orchids or roses. They were everywhere.

Still, her eyes lingered thoughtfully on the seaweed in his arms. At some point, perhaps, she'd find an opportunity to probe him for some information.

"Which do you like more?" she asked. "The surface or the water? Or are they both good in different ways?"

"I like the surface more, but that's just because I'm learning so many new things on the surface, and the surface has schools and books and telescopes and all sorts of stuff like that. I'm just constantly finding new things. But...I don't think I'd want to be completely cut off from the sea, either. It's kind of nice having something familiar nearby."

"I can understand that," she said. Probably better than he could possibly imagine. Deleo was hardly underwater, but it was definitely a far cry from what she'd come to think of as home. And took years of adjustment.

Ariadne sat down on the rocky sand, gesturing for Luca to join her, if he so desired.

She had, admittedly, interrupted him.

"School is great? Isn't it?"

"It is, yeah! I haven't been going for very long, since I only ended up starting once I came here, but I'm learning so much!"

He goes to sit by her, grabbing a handful of the seaweed and shoving it into his mouth. Once he swallows it, he goes back to talking.

"I mean, I don't know if it's the same as human school back home would have been, but there's so many classes in so many different subjects, it seems like whatever I might want to learn, there's a class for that!"

"And what do you want to learn?" she asked. He was so young. At an age when he could be just about anything. At least, that's the way it was supposed to be. When the universe was working the way it should.

He was in the multiverse, so that was a strike against him.

But that didn't mean he couldn't make the best of the situation.

"Do you have any idea about what you'd like to do with your life? A particular trade you're interested in?"

"I want to learn everything, but I especially want to learn about space. And how the world works. And how to make things."

What does he want to do with his life? Well, that's a bit harder. He's still so new to all this land stuff that it's hard to decide, but he has some ideas.

"I don't know. Being an astronaut would be really cool! But...I don't know if they have those in this place. Being an Arcane Scholar would be nice, too. Then I get to do research all the time!"

Ariadne blinked, her eyes bright as coins. It was impressive that Luca had so many answers, ready to go. She wasn't sure she could have committed quite as well at his age. If she was being honest, anyway.

She could lie like none other.

But one problem...

"What's an astronaut?"

"That's a person who goes to space."

Which the idea that someone could go to the moon is just too fascinating to Luca to ignore. He wants to see everything the universe has to offer.

She looked up, the corner of her mouth curling into a bit of a smile. "Space, huh? Well, if that's something that interests you, I have some friends you absolutely must meet. One of them is named Obi-Wan Kenobi. He's a kind of knight. And he travels to distant..." it only took her a moment to remember the word, this time, "...planets in some kind of flying ship."

Ariadne raised her hand, letting it flutter from star to star in the sky. For someone who'd never even been to sea, the idea of visiting places so far away--of places even existing out there--was truly magical.

Except, apparently, it wasn't magic at all.

"Wooow, that's so cool! I'd love to do that!"

Okay, so Luca is absolutely in no way qualified to be a knight, and if he joined Obi-Wan Kenobi on his adventures he'd just be there, being a nerd and taking note of everything and asking a million questions about how things work. Luca just isn't the type to focus on fighting, but he absolutely loves the idea of seeing new places.

"I'm not sure he has one of his star ships here," she cautioned Luca. "But at the very least, I'm sure you could ask him all about what it's like to fly. He might even be able to draw you some pictures."

She didn't know if Obi-Wan had any artistic aptitude, but she didn't want to disappoint Luca, who clearly was interested in learning.

"Oh, drawings would be great! Maybe he can show how the constellations look from other angles! I have a friend back home who loves to draw."

And if she saw what his friend back home drew, she'd likely feel confident that Obi-Wan's artistic aptitudes could meet that. Of course, Luca thinks Alberto's art is amazing, but really it's not much more than stick figures and Alberto often has to write what the things in his picture are so other people can figure it out. Still, Luca will always treasure the drawing of him and Alberton of a vespa together, and the drawing of Alberto on that giant pile of fish he caught will always remind Luca of home.

"Well, make sure you meet him, then," she said.

She considered offering to arrange the meeting, but decided that now probably wasn't the time. Obi-Wan had been through quite the ordeal on the boat. It was never easy to say goodbye, no matter how necessary.

He needed time.

And maybe she was feeling just a little protective of him.

"Yeah, I'll definitely keep an eye out for him! I have a million questions I'll want to ask!"

Because space is cool and amazing and he wants to learn everything.

The Heart is a Bloom (Open)

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The challenges of his canon not actually saying what sea monsters call themselves

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