Welcome to Gaia! ::

Kicks observed the whole exchange. He was quickly getting bored. He stepped forward and walked toward the group. Scanning their minds, he adjusted the shape of his vocal chords to speak the local language."Hello, all. Might I be of assistance?"

((And Kicks' species can instinctively sense the location of non-damned life force. Unless you're all undead or unless you've all pledged your souls to the Inferno he knows exactly where you are and how best to reach you.))

Kicks paused. He'd not expected hostility. He spoke again in their own language. "I am but a wanderer, kind lady, who has heard of the predicament of the aquamythicae on this world. If I might be of assistance to you? I am skilled in many things, from combat to negotiations, and if I wish I may even cloud memories to a small degree." He worked the 'ingratiating traveler' angle perfectly. Millenniums of wheedling his way through non-life had given him a personality that was almost naturally devious and adaptive. And it was true what he'd said. He really had heard about the predicament the aquamythicae were going through, and he did want to help them. Admittedly, he didn't want to help them win, but that was a minor point.

Katalina's eyes darkened slightly. "A wanderer from where?" she inquired, still mostly confused rather than hostile. "It is hard to get in here. How did you find your way in?" His offer was intriguing, but also worried her. What would he get out of this? More to the point, what did he want to get out of it?

Adamantia looked forlorn. "Maybe," she said. "I don't really know - I think it wouldn't be very often, and probably not at all when she starts to learn to live like a human and not like one of us." When Joshua asked if he could meet Tianara, Adamantia considered for a few minutes, then turned and squeaked at Clirani, who let go of Katalina's hand and swam away at full speed. "She'll go get her," said the little girl calmly. "It'll probably be good for Tianara to meet other humans."

Adamantia shrugged. "I dunno. Probably a little older than me - she was here when I was hatched, but she was just a baby then." Then she turned around with a smile. "There she is."

Tianara came around the corner escorted by Clirani. Even if she had been a mermaid, she would have stood out - her black hair and dark blue eyes were a huge contrast to the three mermaids of this clan that Joshua had seen so far, all of whom had been grey-eyed blondes. She was very pale, too - obviously she didn't often see the sun. The only awkward note was that clearly, merfolk didn't understand the need for clothing on a human that lived among them. Otherwise, she could easily have passed for an average teenage girl.

Her eyes passed easily over Katalina and Caralei, and locked onto Joshua straight away. She swam up to him, swimming as a mermaid would - legs locked together and moving as one, like a tail. Turning her head, she bubbled at Clirani and Adamantia, who clicked and squeaked back. Then she turned to Joshua and said softly, "Hello. Clirani said you wished to meet me?"

Her voice had a strange, lilting accent to it - not quite what the mermaids had when they spoke English, but very close.

Tianara watched him blush curiously. As her eyes landed on his diving equipment and the suit, she realized abruptly what the problem must be. Smiling a little, she pulled her free-floating hair around her to form a sort of cloak that covered her - mostly, anyway - to the thighs. "Better?" she asked. When he finished stuttering out his question, she shrugged. "I have never known anything else," she stated simply. "The merfolk treat me as their own. Their power helped shape my body, my lungs, to breathe water or air the way they do." She smiled. "It is a good life. I might as well ask how you adjust to living on land." Then her smile faded, as though she had just remembered that eventually, she would have to adjust to living on land.