bsumone | ❝ Live in the sunshine ❞

There’s very little in life that Will doesn’t adore. New places, new people, the sun on his skin, the smells of nature around him. Sure, he’s an urban creature these days, but he still loves spending time outside the city. In parks, forests, gardens, beaches. The beach is where he found him today. Complete with a little picnic, a book, and his guitar. He planned to spend the day there, snacking on finger foods, drinking juice while enjoying the sounds of the sea.

Will’s been there a few hours when he abandons snacking and engrossing himself in fiction for music. He never required an audience. It was nice to play for others, but music only required a single person to be enjoyed. Will strummed the guitar gently, as if in time with the steady lap of the water against the sand. It wasn’t any specific song, Will made it up as he went, humming quietly along. He didn’t mind if anyone was around to hear or not. Maybe he’d just sing to the sea.

Paio wasn't one to leave the sea. Not for lack of trying though! He'd tried a couple of times to go with his colony for their surface trips but it was always just...too scary. He backed out at the last minute every single time and then was sad that he was still such a coward. This was one of those days. He'd gotten as far as the shallows and then they rolled their eyes and left him behind. Again.

Curled up on the sea floor, he miserably waited for them to come back. At least he was miserable until he heard a beautiful sound he'd never heard before. It was soothing enough to allow him to be brave enough to swim up and poke his head up. A little seal head poking out of the surface of the water.

Seeing a human, he ducked back down again and nervously swam in a circle. Until he saw a large bunch of rocks. Swimming there, Paio shed his pelt and then shyly looked around a rock to watch the human with the pretty sounds.

Will was so engrossed in stringing together the little threads of music drifting through his mind, he didn’t notice the little seal peeking up above the water. It took some time before he felt those shy eyes watching him, too. When he did notice, Will didn’t stop playing, the rhythm merely slowed.

He doesn’t even turn to try to find the one watching him. If they’re so shy, he certainly doesn’t want to scare them away. He gets the impression it may be a small child staring. He doesn’t mind one bit.

“You can come closer to listen if you want,” he offered gently.

At the words, he ducked back. He'd been caught! At this point he should run away! Only, the words had sounded...nice? Anxious but curious, he slowly poked his head back out again before creeping his way closer until he was able to sit in the sand behind the human.

Wrapping his arms around his legs, he listened to the nice sound. It wasn't anything he'd ever heard before but it was...so nice.

Will didn’t have any heightened senses, but he could sense now that Paio was closer that it wasn’t a basic human sitting behind him. That’s okay. The one sitting closer didn’t feel like a threat, either. So Will kept playing for him. Songs he made up as he went along, songs he knew well, songs with no words, songs he sang out for his little audience. Even between songs, Will continue to strum the guitar, keeping the music going.

“I have some fruit and bread here and juice to drink if you’re hungry.” Paio would have to come closer to his blanket, so Will just left the information out there. Paio wouldn’t have to feel badly about declining if he didn’t want to come even closer to Will and his little picnic.

Fruit and bread and juice? Those weren't fish he knew of. Confused, he tried to think if he could figure out what they were but finally carefully scooted himself closer until he finally was within view. Wrapping his arms around his legs again, he looked for the fish but he didn't see any fish?

Were they not fish?

Paio gave a little pout of confusion then looked back to the one making the nice sounds instead.

Oh, the poor little thing looked so sad. Will couldn’t help a little frown, too. “Do you mind if I stop playing for a sec? I can show my food?” It didn’t seem like his companion was familiar with the items Will listed off. Maybe he’s not a surface creature?

“I’ll start up again as soon as I have a little bite, alright? You can try something, too, if you want.”

Looking up as he was spoken to again, he bit his lip then nodded. He could take a break if he wanted to. Maybe then he could figure out what fish he actually had. Since none of these seemed like fish at all. But maybe it was surface fish? If so they were very strangely shaped.

Cautiously, he scooted a little closer to actually be on the blanket now. He looked like he could bolt any moment but he was at least trying to see the food first.

Will offered Paio an encouraging smile, moving slowly as he set the guitar aside. Then he reached for some of the food: a bit of French bread and a little plate with some assorted fruits and nuts and some cheeses, and a large thermos of juice. Of course, none of those would be recognizable to a creature who lives under the sea. So, Will demonstrated by tearing off a piece of bread from the loaf and then taking a drink from the thermos to wash it down. Something so dry might be hard for the selkie, so he plucked a grape from the bunch (seedless, of course!) and offered it to his shy companion.

“Would you like to try this? It’s very juicy.”

That was food? Paio blinked as he watched the human eat the food and then drink something too. Tilting his head, he wondered what it was because none of that looked like fish at all. Did humans eat things that weren't fish? Did they even eat fish? He was so confused...

At the offer, he cautiously reached out to take the offered thing. It was small and round. Almost like a rock. Only when he put it in his mouth and chewed, it wasn't hard at all. It was soft! And a flavor rushed into his mouth that he didn't recognize.

Eyes wide, he stared at the human before chewing more and swallowing it.

When Paio's eye went wide, Will leaned a fraction closer. He was ready to hold out his hand if Paio didn't like it and wanted to spit it out. Seeing that he didn't try to spit it out, Will smiled, lifting his brows curiously.

"Do you like it? There's plenty if you'd like more," he offered, gesturing to various bunches of grapes. There were black grapes and green grapes to choose from. And, of course, the bread if Paio wanted to try that, too.

"It's called a grape," he added. He still wasn't sure if Paio understood his language, but there wasn't any harm in trying. Even if he didn't know what Will said, Will was careful to keep a warm and friendly tone with him.

"...grape."

It was his first time saying something but he did repeat the word back. He could understand him, after all. Mostly he was just...very shy. Paio gave another little scoot forward and leaned over to look at the other things on display before looking at the human again.

"It's not...fish?"

"No," he affirmed with a shake of his head. "It's not fish. Do you want more?" There were plenty of grapes to be shared and Will didn't mind sharing. Everything was better with company, he thought.

Picking up the loaf of bread, he tore a small piece out and offered it to Paio. "This is called bread. Compared to the grape, it's very dry."

"Bread..."

Taking the piece, he popped it into his mouth. At first he frowned at how dry it was. But slowly his face turned to curiosity. It didn't taste bad. It had good flavor to it. But he wasn't sure if he liked the texture of it at all. It wasn't pleasant and he wasn't sure how someone could eat it really. Wouldn't that be hard to eat?

Did he just eat it wrong somehow?

"I don't have it with me, but a lot of people put other things on it to make it less dry. Spreads and such. Next time, I'll bring some for you to try." He reached over, holding the thermos out for Paio to take a drink.

"Try this."

Edited (typo) 2023-07-25 16:56 (UTC)

Taking the thermos, he quickly went to imitate how he'd seen the other drink from it earlier. And promptly didn't anticipate he should have done it slowly and spilled all over himself. Sputtering in surprise, he coughed and shook his head before looking at the thing in confusion.

Then he looked to the human with worry all over his big black eyes. "I...I broke it. I'm sorry..."

Paio really hadn't but he just didn't understand how it worked.

“Oh,” Will gasped as he reached for the linen napkin to hand to Paio.

“No, no, you didn’t do anything wrong. I should have warned you. It’s just a little spill. No big deal. You don’t have to apologize!”

He traded Paio the napkin for the thermos. After helping him mop up the little spill, Will poured some of the juice into the lid of the thermos so Paio could see the liquid.

“Here, try drinking from this.”

Paio watched the other to see what he did with the thing he'd handed to him then started to imitate him to do the same. It was his first time seeing a napkin after all. He just wanted to make sure that he was using it correctly!

Leaning forward after, he gasped when he saw liquid appear in the top of the thing. Taking it, he sniffed it carefully then took a cautious sip of it.

Right away his eyes went huge as the sweetness hit his tongue, quickly taking another sip!

After Paio took the second drink, Will smiled warmly. What a sweet creature he was, obviously so new to life on land.

"Have as much as you like. There's plenty to share." Will reached over to pop one of the red grapes into his mouth. Once he finished chewing it, he pushed it into his cheek. "I'm Will, by the way. Is there something I can call you?"

"Paio."

He had more of the drink, wiggling a little at how tasty it was. Then he looked over at Will again. He was such a nice person. Not at all as scary as he thought he was at first. Paio really liked him a lot so far. And his food was really tasty too! Maybe some humans weren't actually that scary.

"Hi, Paio. It's very nice to meet you." He finished his grape then looked from his new friend to the guitar. "Would you like to hear me play more? Do you have music where you come from?"

Those dark eyes lit up and he nodded quickly. He very much wanted to hear more of the music. Though if he had any where he came from... "The whales sing to talk to each other."

"Oh, that must sound amazing!" Will's, obviously, only ever heard recordings of whale song, but they sounded beautiful to him. It must be different when you're actually under the water to hear them.

While all this skittered through his mind, Will wiped his hands off on a napkin and then retrieved his guitar. He strummed it a few times just to let Paio hear the notes resonate in the air.

"I can sing for you, too, if you want."

He was immediately entranced. Just those notes hanging in the air had him drawn in and he forgot to be afraid as he got as close as he could. Wrapping his arms around his legs, he nodded eagerly.

Please. He very much wanted to hear him sing for him. He wanted more of the pretty music the human could make.

Was there anything more pleasant than an eager audience? Maybe, but not in this moment! Smiling over at Paio, he finally settled on a to start with. One of his own, of course, because they were always the first to pop into his head.

He was enchanted by the music, watching with rapt attention. It was like he couldn't even bring himself to blink for fear of missing something. Without even thinking about even scooted close enough that the man could have touched him if he wanted to.

So beautiful. He loved music like this. And though he couldn't understand the words that was fine. He was so happy to just listen.

When he finished, Will smiled at his enraptured audience. What a sweet thing Paio was, so obviously new to things like picnics and guitars.

"Do you sing, Paio? I can teach you a song, if you'd like."

"I've never done that before." Sung that was. Mostly he kept quiet when he was in the ocean to not draw attention to himself. To keep predators from finding him and eating him. Or humans from fishing him and eating him!

There were a lot of dangers out there.

"...Is it...okay if I learn?"

"I think it's okay. I'll be very happy to teach you if you want to learn." Will gave him a warm smile, nodding as he spoke. "Music is very important to me, so I love being able to share it with others."

❝ Live in the sunshine ❞

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