Eva was on the Beach at night, laying down like she was making a sand angel and staring up at the dark sky. There were so many stars out here... Well, out there. Above her, all the lights from the tourist traps and beachfront property were blinding them out, but beyond the ocean, they were there. The moon seemed to hold them to it jealously, lest they go dark too. She sighed and settled deeper into her thick, baggy black hoodie and tried not to feel so darned homesick.
She'd never been away from her family this long, even when they were sent out to work. She missed her own bed, her own room, not having to eat vending machine treats every day and get crows to keep watch over her building. She'd planned on Ethelstane finding her eventually- they were related closely, and he knew her too well- but he was right. What was she doing here? Chasing some probably-real, maybe-imaginary cup so she could wave it in all their faces? It was just another trinket, when she got right down to it, like the bike-locks and pocket knives and necklaces and other bits of shiny trash she collected and hoarded-
Eva shuddered on the beach, and looked up at the stars a lot more plaintively. She felt lost, and so small. She didn't even hear the sound of something emerging offshore and bobbing with the surf as it watched her.
Scylla had lurked near the shoreline, staying close to an overhang nearby in deeper waters during the day and eating new species of fish, things she'd never seen before, and keeping away from the light circle in the ocean above this one. When it turned off at night, she returned to the beach and hunted the shallows, and a few times, she'd gone all the way into the next layer, where the water was so weightless-had so little pressure- so little presence- it was like it wasn't there at all. The ocean behind her broke on the sand, and she'd investigated a few things, her lights off, her too-big eyes wide and flashing around.
The white towers were made of the same kind of bone as the whales closer in to the shore had been; except... She could see some of them just sitting there in the distance, not moving at all. No sound, nothing at all. She'd gotten daring, closed in and bit one, but it wasn't flesh- just bone. It made her teeth hurt. But they weren't alive, not like her, not anymore. Neither were the tongues some of the surface-dwellers had been sitting on- she'd found them left behind on the beach, and they were like braided seaweed, not muscle. That alone had made her much less afraid to surface now and again.
She'd only met two humans while she went about her routes in the dark- a little one who'd lost his fake foot, until she gave it back to him. The other was an old one who'd first been scared before being deeply confused by being talked at by a brightly-lit squid girl in halting German. He'd been nice, he'd given her some teeny red shiny thing on a stick to eat and told her about Berlin.
Now she surged up from the surf, walking onto the beach, her tentacles trailing in the water behind her. She looked down at Eva from afar, her lights dim and murky as she studied her. Scylla didn't see herself often, since she had only a few hard-water pieces in her former home that had reflected what was in front of them, but she knew that look. It was something she could fix.
Eva was deep in thought, feeling lost and lonely before out of nowhere some weird things was leaning over her. It was all mouth and eyes, and tentacles hung from it's sides.
"CAW?!" She yelled out of reflex and surprise, jerking upright.
"Gute Nacht." Eva's eyes snapped to the girl wearing the thing like a hat, before she did a double take. Her hand fluttered away from the pocket of her jacket and her sword's hilt.
"Was ist los mit dir? Bist du hungrig?"
Eva blinked. It must've been some weird ocean-people dialect... She could almost understand the squid girl. She probably didn't speak Bird. She studied her cautiously before replying.
"Nothing. I am just taking it all in, thinking about such stuff and... And things. I am not hungry, only tired..."
Scylla blinked rapidly and tilted her head. It must've been some weird dirt-people dialect...She could kind of understand the other girl, but not that much was coming through.
"Oh... Wie shade. Ich bin." She said, before her stomach gurgled. She'd met a sea turtle today and hadn't gotten around to getting food before the Sharks came out... Sharks were bullies. They didn't like to let her eat when they were around.
"You are?" Eva asked, before she stood up and smiled confidently. "I have some rations at my room- Em and Ems, with peanuts! Fish from Sweden, one or to popped tarts... I'll gladly share! Do you dwell around here? Maybe you can help me..."
"Sie haben Fleisch?" Scylla chirped.
"Sure, most likely! Come on, I'll take you there-"
Scylla took a step back from Eva's outstretched hand and looked at her doubtfully, turning around to gaze at the ocean.
"Oh, no, all is well! I promise, I am of good heart and intentions. Here- I'll tell you my name for trust! My real name, not some fake or any tricks. I'm Eva, Eva Corvus! What's your name?
"Name? Scylla!" She said, excited from Eva's excitement, lighting up. Literally, into a pale blue.
"It's an honor to meet you, miss, now let's be off- however am I going to sneak you in? Maybe you can be my granddaughter... Does your, eh, squid helm thing come off?"
"Nope!" Scylla said, following after Eva and glancing up happily at the moon. Maybe this meant things would start going right.
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