bsumone | ❝ Live in the sunshine ❞

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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( phone tag )

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