there ain't no sign [open]

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T his was a good day. No, in fact - a good week. Lucia was wholly pleased with herself and her progression in life since landing in May Falls only a short time ago. Sure it had sucked pretty hard finding out that she had indeed missed her pen pal. And sure she had maybe kicked their old mailbox a little too hard. But those were the only bumps! Really! Everything else was peachy freakin' keen. Of course, things were overwhelming. Really overwhelming at first. The air here was a bit different - the strong, salty scent of the ocean was mixed with the earthier aroma of the mountains and the forest, but these were background to the various smells of civilization. Oh, and the sounds! People talking and shouting, things clanking, wheels rolling, money jingling... And all the humans! All sorts of people, probably other races too, just mingling around together in big crowds. Even the air felt and tasted a bit different from the island. Truly every sense was stimulated in a thousand new ways, all at once. Lucia was almost afraid her head would explode at first. But once she settled down, slept, and wandered about in search (both around town and through her thoughts) of employment, adjustment came. The scent seemed more normal. The sounds softened slightly. She could manage to navigate crowds. And that air almost seemed to grow familiar, as if the island winds were making their way over to her. (Maybe that part was stretching it a bit.) Soon after, Lucia's luck continued and she managed to think of and land the perfect job: Delivering mail! Sure it wasn't a job of glamour and glory... yet! Lucia immediately made it her goal to become the best damn mail carrier that ever walked these streets. As she sat by the fountain in Azori Square, reflecting upon her adventures so far, her lips curled into a smile. Yes, once she got the hang of it kids would be in the streets, calling to her! Everyone would want to follow in Lucia Adastros's footsteps! Excitement bubbled up and surged within her, so suddenly and so strongly that she felt compelled to jump to her feet onto the edge of the fountain. With hands on hips, she spun around and looked triumphantly up at the women in the fountain. "I dunno who you both are, but someday I'll be important enough to be in a fountain too!" The redhead beamed, wonderfully proud and wonderfully oblivious of everything around her.  Actually -- how would she look in a fountain? Pretty good right? Merfolk belonged in water, after all, even (especially!) in statue form. Curious, Lucia kicked off her shoes and socks and hopped into the fountain. After a few seconds, a scaly pattern began to blossom over her skin from her toes to mid-calf where the water went up to. Lucia waded around the fountain, posing around the statues, laughing to herself as she half-jokingly tried to see how her one-day statue should pose.

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[ELED NASH]

”Well. This is kinda nice. Eled thought to himself lazily as he laid on his belly on a tree branch, his tail swaying back and forth slowly and without rhythm. He yawned and thought about the benefits of being a squirrel. It sure made climbing trees easy, and he could easily lie down on a small branch that would normally have snapped under his weight. Not only that, but because he was covered in fluffy fur, he didn’t feel the rough surface of the bark. Sure, it was sort of hard, but it was like laying down on carpeted floor, not the most comfortable of all things, but acceptable to sleep on. He stretched then sat up, and spotted a nearby acorn hanging from the tree.

”I’ll just take that…” Eled thought to himself, letting out a squeak before scampering along the branch. He jumped and grabbed onto the branch the acorn had been hanging off of, then clambered along the branch until he could reach the nut. After successfully snatching it off the branch, he then climbed down back to where he sat previously and began biting at it to remove some of the hard outer shell. His jaws moved as if a tiny motor installed, methodically biting pieces off until some of the softer edible flesh could be accessed. He then began quickly munching away at the insides, biting off some of the sides and tossing them away when he couldn’t reach any further in so he could continue on. It was a surreal experience to him, having animal instincts that is. He had acorns before, but only after they had been made fit for human consumption. Now though? It was downright delicious, although bitter. He normally hated bitter foods, preferring sweet fruits as a human, but somehow as a squirrel he had a taste for it.

While he ate, he glanced at the fountains, seeing an unfamiliar red-headed girl who appeared to be greatly excited by something. Maybe she also saw some acor- ”SHE’S NOT A SQUIRREL! Eled had to remind himself. Sometimes as a squirrel, his thought process was a little TOO simple, which was when his human side had to intervene and inject what little logic and critical thinking it could provide. Anyways, the girl was excited by something, yelling at what appeared to be the statue, although maybe she could see someone there that he couldn’t.

"I dunno who you both are, but someday I'll be important enough to be in a fountain too!"

Or she was just talking to the statues. He decided it might have been a better idea to stop staring and just mind his own business since the girl probably wouldn’t appreciate a random squirrel staring at her as if she was crazy, therefore it was better to just carry on and finish up the acorn. Maybe take a nap. Or leave. Out of the corner of his eye however, he noticed the girl hop into the fountain, and upon contact with the water, some of her skin changed into what appeared to be scales. ”…A Merfolk?” Eled thought to himself as he blinked several times. He knew the island had its own population just like how it had its own population of Shifters, but being a forest boy, Eled had rarely ever seen one, and he had never actually seen them change by touching water before.
Unfortunately, while he was thinking about this, an unwelcome guest had also arrived and decided to settle next to Eled. A pigeon. It was eyeing Eled in a strange manner.

”…*squeak*” A squeak escaped Eled out of nervousness as he now tried to ignore this second guest. The pigeon was, however, uncomfortably close. Eled attempted to shuffle to the side to put some distance between the two, but the pigeon simply hopped closer the moment he did so. Eled continued to eat nervously to take his mind off the pigeon, however he suddenly felt a sharp pain on the side of his head.

”SQUEAK (OW)!” Eled squeaked (yelped?) in pain. The damned pigeon had pecked him! In fact, it was STILL pecking him! ”Squeak squeak squeak (OW OW OW!)” Eled tossed away the nut and scampered down the tree to try and get away from the pigeon, but it pursued, continuing to peck the poor young Shifter. The two continued running around in circles nearby, the squirrel attempting to escape the psychotic bird and the bird continuing to peck at him.

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s omething proud? Something noble? Or maybe something humble? Lucia continued experimenting happily, her body constantly moving and shifting. She tried having her hands on her hips and her chest puffed out, and then not a moment later was a few steps to the left, with a finger pensively placed at the bottom of her chin. While all were quite fun, none of them really seemed right.  For a second, Lucia really stopped as a sincerely thoughtful expression came across her features. After a few moments of pondering, she realized what the problem was: it was hard to do something to match these ladies. She couldn't get a good feeling here, sharing the fountainspace with these two. She needed her own fountain to practice in! ... But it didn't seem like there were too many other big ones in May Falls. Oh well, when the day comes I guess. Lucia dismissed the business as quickly as it had come on, though she did not get out of the water yet. Looking down, the redhead wiggled her toes and studied her feet. Standing there held no great purpose really - she just... liked it. It was always nice being in water of any kind, after all. Anyway, she was really supposed to be out getting familiar with May Falls' layout. So after a little soak, and she'd go on her merry way. As she enjoyed the cool, gently flowing water around her legs, the young woman placed her hands on her hips and gazed around. The square was busy, now with a good number of people who glanced and stared at her as they passed. Lucia maintained blank eye contact with a few of them, wondering what the issue was. Were people maybe... not allowed to be in a fountain? But what was the point of it then? And who was around to keep track of this kind of thing? She scratched the back of her ear as she merely decided to dismiss the stares. Lucia continued to look around, her gaze moving right past anyone who seemed to be directing theirs at her. Soon, she noticed two animals dart out of a tree and start a roundabout chase nearby. Curious, she cocked her head and moved a little bit closer towards them. It seemed one of the common, funny greyish birds - landgulls to her, since she forgot their actual name - was chasing and attacking a cute little bushy-tailed thing. A squirrel, was it?  Well, while Lucia wasn't too sure of what they were she was certain that the cuter critter was being bullied! The other square-farers seemed mildly curious but conclusively indifferent about the harassment. Seeing this and the poor bushy thing's abuse quickly boiled annoyance within her and, with her emotions fuelling her actions, she jumped out of the fountain. She scampered over to the scene, barefoot and still baring the scale patterns, sternness on her brow. Once there, Lucia bent down and scooped up the squirrel (?) in her hands, holding it gently but securely against her chest.  "Go! Shoo! Go away!" She stuck out her tongue at the landgull, shooing it away with her free hand and a leg for good measure. "No one likes you! Don't make me eat you!" The mermaid did this until the pest conceded to its feebleness (though not after pecking her a little bit!) and, when it did, she looked at the tiny creature in her hand. "Hey, you okay little buddy?"

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[ELED NASH]

Having just about enough of being pecked by the pigeon, Eled was about to shift into his human form and his body for an instant emitted a faint glow, however it disappeared the moment he felt himself being lifted off the ground. "...?! ?!" Eled, unaware of who or what he was being lifted by struggled for a moment before being pressed up against something rather soft. Well, from the feeling, at least it didn't feel like the pigeon had transformed into an eagle and air lifted him to be dinner at least, so there was a start. He relaxed his body when he saw the pigeon finally leave and made an attempt to catch his breath from the excitement and running around so much.

"Hey, you okay little buddy?"

Eled blinked and looked up at the source of the voice, having recognized it. Apparently the girl who was playing in the fountain decided to help him and was currently still barefooted. Eled let out a sigh of relief, an action somewhat odd looking for a squirrel. "...? Squeak?" It took Eled a moment to realize however, what kind of position the still teenager boy/squirrel was in. He was currently being held up against a girl's chest he had never met before much like a pet. "SQUERK!" Eled then proceeded to struggle for a moment, though he found that he couldn't muster up nearly enough strength as a squirrel to squirm out of the girl's arms. He then shook his head and used both hands to point at the floor as if asking to be put down immediately. As comforting as his position was, the girl probably wouldn't be very amused to find that the squirrel wasn't quite all he seemed if he let this continue any longer.

...Well. Maybe it would have been fine for a little longer...

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w hat was she expecting, really? This thing wouldn't be able to give her an answer. She would have to see for herself if it was really okay, and so she quickly examined the small creature. It squeaked a few times and then-- "Whoa, hey!" The bushy-tailed animal suddenly began to wiggle and struggle, apparently trying to escape her grasp. Frowning slightly, Lucia mumbled to herself. "Well, I guess you're fine then from the looks of it..." Anything that had that much energy had to be doing okay, after all. Anyway, all was well then! But now that she had a new animal up close, she had to take a moment to examine it more closely. Bringing it up a little closer to her face, she looked into its big, dark eyes. But when she did, her own eyes widened in utter bewilderment. The squirrel was shaking its little head and pointing down at the ground. Wait-- was it really? Lucia blinked long and hard, and when she opened her eyes the creature was still motioning in a very human-like fashion. Her heart began to pound in her chest and her head started to spin in confusion - what was this? Was there something in that fountain water or what? Questions piled up in her mind, but the only thing she was sure of was that she probably should put the animal down. The redhead slowly crouched down to the ground and released the squirrel. Then, just as slowly, she rose to her feet. Lucia merely stood there for a moment, her eyes fixated on the creature. She was completely intrigued but at the same time she was also completely questioning her current state of mind. Were these creatures just extremely intelligent? Or was she really just hallucinating? Maybe... maybe asking would yield an answer?  Lucia cleared her throat, looking down and maintaining eye contact with the squirrel. "Tell me... what are you?"

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[ELED NASH]

Fortunately, the girl picked up on Eled's signal to be put down, judging by the look on her face at least. Seeing a squirrel behave like a human was something that tended to catch people who weren't experienced in dealing with Shifters off guard after all. He could also feel the girl's heartbeat getting faster, possibly from confusion or excitement from dealing with something new. Eled's own heartbeat was certainly quite high as well, though it was so small that the girl probably couldn't tell the difference. He cocked his head to the side at this reaction and sat still as the girl lowered him to the floor before climbing down.

Taking a few steps forwards to make some distance between them, Eled faced the girl, or rather, he attempted to. He glanced sideways with as guilty of an expression as a squirrel could muster. Out of reflex, he scratched his ear with his hind leg before looking at the girl. "Right. Do I attempt to run away so that she doesn't know and pretend the next time we meet, if we meet, we're strangers? Or do I do the right thing and apologize?" Eled thought to himself. He wasn't sure why he bothered, he was pretty aware that taking the first option would be pretty much unforgivable.

Well. One way for it then.

Eled's body began to emit a dim glow which gradually intensified until he himself wasn't visible and what could be seen was a ball of light. The ball then floated slightly above ground then expanded until it reached Eled's human height before fading, leaving a red-faced flustered looking teenager who had both squirrel ears in addition to his own and a massive fluffy tail. Eled moved his tail and held it in front of him gingerly as if to hide behind it.

"... I know there's stuff you wanna say, and that I need to thank and apologize to you, but I'll say this now: I did not have any sort of weird intentions just now." He muttered embarrassed. "So... Umm... Yeah."

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a moment passed, and Lucia quickly realized that she repeated her mistake. What good would asking another question do? If it could do more than gesture then it probably would have, right? Shaking her head, Lucia sighed. Well, that was all pretty weird, but whatever! With the critter saved, her work here was done. She gave a silent nod of good bye to the little creature, who scratched its ear in a very animal-like way, making her question what she had seen again. Maybe it's all this city air, she thought before she started to turn away. However, just as she was about to completely turn her back, she saw an odd glow in the periphery. Frowning, she paused and looked over her shoulder. "What the hell?" With brows furrowed, Lucia reset her position and watched, her knit brow slowly arching in surprise. The animal glowed brighter and brighter, and then the light seemed to move and grow for a few moments. When it finally faded, the small animal was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a boy stood in its place, blushing furiously. He was shorter than her, with messy hair and-- ears? Not just normal ears, but ones like the little animal had! And-- a tail? A really big bushy one that he sheepishly held in front of him. And then... he talked! Well, Lucia really shouldn't have been too surprised about this, but her mind was so blown by all of this that hearing his voice caught her off guard. Moreover, she was in such shock that she only barely caught any of the words that came out of his mouth. Something about an apology and a thank, but none of that mattered. "What. Are. You?!" she gasped, springing forward with her eyes huge and glimmering with fascination. She swiftly examined him just as she had when she had been checking the squirrel for injuries. He was human all right, just with the extra features. But he wasn't just a second ago was he? Were these things fake? As soon as this thought came into her head, she reached out and touched his tail. It felt really real, and it had the warmth of a living creature too! Oh, and the ears? Lucia immediately reached over and lightly touched them, quickly coming to the same conclusion that they were very real. "Ahh...!" Lucia clasped his hands in hers, her eyes shining even brighter than before. While she was still completely confused as to what this guy was or how he pulled that transformation off, she was filled with glee. This was exactly the kind of thing she came here for! She would have never met someone like this in Tipa, not in a million years. She had to probe. She had to learn! "Ooh, please tell me how you did that! You were that little thing before right? What was that anyway? Can I learn how to do it too?"

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[ELED NASH]

Eled took a step back as the girl suddenly moved uncomfortably close to him out of amazement and curiosity. “Wh-Wha-?” He was cut off as the girl proceeded to inspect him a little too thoroughly before asking what he was. Apparently the whole issue from before was just glossed over, making Eled wonder why he bothered worrying.

”Eh? I’m a Shif- HYAAA!” Eled let out an embarrassingly feminine cry as the girl very suddenly and unexpectedly touched his tail. He jumped slightly and his spine quickly straightened as a nervous reaction before quickly moving his tail behind him to get it away from the girl. ”Wh-What are you doin- GYAH!” Once again, Eled let out a surprised yelp as the girl then proceeded to touch his squirrel ears, visibly shivering as his knees nearly buckled. He quickly attempted to regain his composure as the girl apparently finally had enough of poking and prodding.

”Hah… Please… Don’t touch my tail! Or my ears!” He said as seriously as he could, visibly exasperated. Not only did the girl suddenly touch his tail, but she touched his ears too! Neither were things that he let people touch very easily and she just caught him off guard like that! He covered his ears with his hands and as if pushing them back into his head, they disappeared leaving only Eled’s normal human ears. ”Haaaaah… I want to go home. He thought to himself tiredly as the girl suddenly grabbed hold of his hands. It was rather like she read his mind and wouldn’t let him escape until he gave her a lesson on Shifters.

"Ooh, please tell me how you did that! You were that little thing before right? What was that anyway? Can I learn how to do it too?"

Eled raised an eyebrow, wondering if the girl really had never seen a Shifter before. She certainly behaved like it. ”Can you learn to- Of course not! The same way I can’t learn to become a Merfolk suddenly! And I’m not ‘A little thing’, I’m a Squirrel Shifter!” Eled exclaimed, attempting to answer all the girl’s questions at once. He buried his reddened face under his scarf attempting to hide his embarrassment and irritation from being man(woman?)-handled then poked and prodded so carelessly.

”Geeze… Am I really the first Shifter you’ve ever seen? I know there are more humans on the island than anything else, but Shifter’s aren’t all that uncommon either.” Eled said barely audibly with only a pair of wary eyes visible from behind his scarf.

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a s Lucia groped the young man's animal features, his loudly (and femininely) expressed shock was indeed noticed. However, her mind was so overwhelmed by his general existence that it didn't really register with her that she had crossed probably a dozen boundaries. Even as he quite seriously asked her not to touch those spots, the words were heard but the meaning was lost in her mess of a bewildered brain. What she did listen to were his answers to her barrage of questions. One of his eyebrows arched - it seemed she had asked some silly questions. So maybe, was it common to be able to do this? Lucia tilted her head quizzically as he spoke. Much to her dismay, it seemed she could not learn to do it, because he was a 'Squirrel Shifter'. While it was discouraging to know that she couldn't turn into a cute animal too, the other half of his reply was very intriguing! So it was a 'squirrel'! And he was a 'Shifter'? ... Hmm, that word actually did sound vaguely familiar. Her pen pal had probably mentioned it before - she had asked him some questions about the mainland to start with since the shipmen from Tipa never really cared to share much. Still, that had been so long ago, and her brain didn't usually draw on older, more insignificant memories to connect with the exciting present. (The things she remembered most from their letters were about him, anyway...) Lucia suddenly snapped out of her brief reverie as the Shifter asked his own question from the shelter of his scarf. She blinked, her mind a bit calmer now that some answers had been delivered. "Actually yeah, you are." Lucia idly twirled a strand of hair. "I guess some people I've seen walking around looked kind of off now that I think about it... But I've never been off a teeny tiny Merfolk island until about a week ago. So this is all new to me." She curled her toes against the ground, casting a brief glance down once it occurred to her that she was still barefoot. By now the scaly pattern had faded and everything as back to normal, and she supposed she should fetch her shoes to restore the usual order. So, she did. Trotting off, she slipped them back on once she reached them and swiftly returned. When she did, Lucia took more careful note of his defensive demeanour. Her mind then hazily recalled its earlier, unaddressed observations of his earlier shock and discomfort. Laughing sheepishly, she gave a lopsided, uneasy smile. "Uh, sorry about... attacking you. It was just so amazing I couldn't believe it was real! And they looked super cute." Lucia rubbed a foot back and forth on the ground, a bit anxious. She hoped he wasn't mad -- it would be really nice to make a friend, after all. So, in hopes of steering their interaction back towards something positive, she held out a hand. "I'm Lucia. If there's something I can do to make it up to you, I'll do it!"

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[ELED NASH]

”K-kind of off…?” Eled echoed somewhat uncomfortably. That generally wasn’t what he liked to hear when people were describing Shifters or any other race for that matter. He glossed over that however and listened to the reason why this girl had never seen a Shifter, or from what it sounded like, any other race besides other Merfolk and Humans. So she had come all the way from some remote island? Well, Eled supposed that would explain why so much either seemed knew or came as a shock to her.

”Can’t say I’m much better off though. I lived in a forest most of my life.” He thought to himself wryly. Although he had come into contact with larger civilizations prior to his moving out of the forest, it was still a pretty big change in lifestyle and it definitely came as a shock for a while. ”I guess I understand that feeling.” He muttered.

At this point, the girl had apparently calmed down and walked back to the fountain to grab her shoes, having been barefoot the entire time since she came to Eled’s rescue. He sat there patiently waiting until she came back looking somewhat remorseful for her behavior before. He silently listened to her apology and then shifted uncomfortably before lowering his scarf back to its usual position. She also commented on how his animal features were cute which only made Eled even more red faced. She certainly wasn’t the first to call them cute, but he had mixed feelings as a boy about them.

”Well… I wasn’t really mad or anything. I was just kinda surprised.” Eled rubbed his arm nervously, and without his notice, his squirrel ears popped out of the top of his head again, though they seemed to be drooping slightly compared to before. His tail however seemed to be wagging slightly much the way a dogs would.

”Lucia… Got it. My name is Eled Nash. Anyways, you don’t have to make up anything to me. You saved me from that pigeon in the first place, so we’ll call it square.” He accepted the handshake and shook extremely lightly. ”Just um… Give me a warning next time you feel like touching my ears or my tail. I wasn’t born with them, so it feels super weird when they’re touched. That’s why I reacted like that.” Eled’s ears drooped a bit further showing his embarrassment. He then cleared his throat slightly speaking again.

"Well, you've probably already heard this, but welcome to May Falls. Also if you're feeling sick you can come find me. I run a small Pharmacy and make medicines out of forest herbs and stuff." Now was as good a chance to drum up some business as any after all.

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t his squirrel boy was pretty... meek? Lucia wasn't exactly the best with words but she thought that word suited him. His face was rosy pink, and he rubbed his arm in a rather timid way; even his animal features (speaking of, did his ears appear back out of nowhere?) seemed rather unassuming. It kind of made her want to ruffle his hair and tell him to stand up and puff his chest out instead! ... But that probably wasn't the best way to start making a friend. Especially since she had basically groped him. Anyway, he wasn't mad so she was pretty happy about that! Lucia perked up herself, her usual energy sweeping out the sheepish, apologetic state. She was even happier as he introduced himself as Eled Nash, also assuring her that they were even after her rescuing him. When he took her hand she shook it quite firmly, even more so since his half of the shake was pretty light. Meek is definitely a good word for him, she thought to herself, but said nothing as Eled went on speaking. Ah, so it felt funny when she touched them? Lucia nodded, slapping a hand over her heart. "Got it! Permission will be sought next time," she said, her eyes wandering to his ears as they drooped... also quite cutely. The mermaid's gaze lingered on them, soaking in the sight for a second before she met his eyes again. Eled proceeded to give her a nice welcome and a nice plug for his own business in making medicines and such. "Oh! Sure thing, I'll definitely keep that in mind. Heh, but I don't get sick much so don't expect to see me too often!" Lucia beamed, a glimmer of pride twinkling in her eye. "But, if you need any delivering or get a lot of mail you'll be seeing me anyway! I'm gonna be the best mail carrier this down ever saw." She folded her arms over her chest, nodding briskly. If she was going to be the best, she had to generate some buzz to go with her position as best too! "Ah, but if you need mermaid scales or something you can ask me! Sometimes they come off, you know? Or, if you want to make it even you can touch my tail all you like if you see it. You don't really have to ask, unless you're touching my butt or something like that. Though that answer would always be no!" Lucia chuckled, mostly out of amusement at trying to picture gentle, shy-looking Eled asking to touch her butt. The smile lingered on Lucia's face. Meeting someone new was really exciting! Maybe he could teach her more about Shifters too! And about all sorts of things! If he made medicine he had to be a pretty smart cookie, after all.  But first, they needed a better place to go. Standing around talking was pretty lame. Lucia looked around for a place to sit and, while she saw many potential candidates, the fountain was her focus. Maybe it was an instinctive attraction to water, but she was drawn to it. "Here, come! Let's chat by the fountain. I want to learn more about Shifters, and you, and everything you can teach me." Lucia grinned broadly at him before turning on her heel and skipping over towards her earlier site of play.

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[ELED NASH]

— Silence is Golden. Acorns are brown (usually). Wait, ask permission? "Oh damn." Eled thought to himself. What he had actually meant to say was don't touch it at all, but instead he just blurt that out because he didn't want to disappoint her or make it seem like too big of a deal (though it sort of was). Well, he supposed that if she did ask he could at least just refuse. Having his tail or ears touched without warning at least truly was a bizarre feeling that Eled wasn't sure he enjoyed.  Eled then noticed Lucia's gaze focused somewhere slightly above his head, which was slightly odd. He glanced upwards as well and felt something that shouldn't have been there twitch slightly. "Ugh." Eled frowned and closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on making his squirrel ears disappear once again. In an instant, they dispersed into small particles of light. He then brushed his hair where his ears were to make sure they were gone before listening to Lucia proclaim that she was in good health and would therefore probably not visit very often. "Aha... Well, please by all means feel free to visit regardless. I appreciate company." He said with a small smile. Visiting only on business or because she was sick was a little depressing to think about. She then declared something rather surprising.  "Eh? You're the new mail carrier?" He asked somewhat confused. Being a mail carrier sort of required pretty detailed knowledge about addresses and directions in town, something that Eled struggled with still and Lucia had just recently moved in. He decided not to pursue the subject further though as he worried that she might take offense. What Lucia then offered next however puzzled him more. "Mermaid scales?" Eled asked confusedly. What use were Mermaid scales? Since he didn't have that much knowledge on what could be used for medicines outside of what could be foraged in the woods, Eled wasn't sure what to make of her offer. Well, it was another thing to look into later perhaps.  "No, well... I already said we were eve- *PBBBBBTH*!!!" Eled choked mid-sentence as Lucia offered for Eled to touch her tail. Her butt was of course, off limits. "O-o-o-of course not!" Eled sputtered probably a little louder than he meant. He glanced sideways and make a futile attempt to hide his embarrassment by covering his face with his hand. It was also pretty apparent that he had seriously considered it and it showed on his face what kind of thoughts he was now having. He shook his head furiously in an attempt to banish the images from his mind. While he was preoccupied, Lucia had moved over to the fountain and called him over as well. "Eh? Oh! A-alright." Eled followed Lucia rather stiffly. "Well... Feel free to ask me anything I guess? I'm not sure where you want me to start..." TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN

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e led made some comments in between her own, but she decided to address them later. You know, when they were comfy and sitting down by the water. It was nothing that couldn't wait, after all. And if she happened to forget to, well... it was probably no big deal. What she did acknowledge immediately was his reaction to her later comment about permission to butt-touch. Though all Lucia really did was chuckle and smile widely, utterly amused by his reaction. He was so easy to fluster! Some part of her thought she should be a little kinder to her first acquaintance but... it was just too fun. Irresistibly so. And had he really pictured doing it? Well, he was a guy so it was natural, wasn't it? Hell, if a girl had said that to her she'd be picturing the same thing. Shortly after this, Lucia returned to the fountain and sat down. Wanting to be partially submerged, she pulled her shoes off again and dunked her feet back in, effectively sitting backwards. When Eled caught up to her, she turned and immediately assaulted him with more conversation. "So, wait, before I ask anything really important-- you don't use mermaid scales for anything?" Lucia tilted her head. Granted, no one at home really did either except for maybe making accessories, but... Well, it just kind of seemed like something people would use. She frowned, a little disappointed that she could not produce anything useful to Eled's trade. But, it didn't mean she couldn't offer them anyway. "Well, you can have some anyway. Maybe I'll just drop them off in your mailbox." The redhead grinned, though she stored this idea away for later anyway... Looking down into the fountain water, she gently kicked her feet beneath its surface. The scaly pattern returned to her skin again, though slightly fainter this time around. With her eyes still fixated on the water, she fired the next round of conversation topics. "Speaking of, why did you seem... confused that I was the mail carrier, huh?" Lucia turned her head towards him and stuck her tongue out, her eyes glistening in a playful smile. "Think I'm not cut out for it?"

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[ELED NASH]

— Silence is Golden. Acorns are brown (usually). Eled pouted slightly at Lucia's constant poking fun at him for a moment before returning to a more neutral expression. He pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing, apparently somewhat upset that he was so easily being led by the nose, then listened to her next question. "Eh? Mermaid Scales? Well..." He rubbed his chin wondering if he didn't have any use for them. "Honestly, I'm not sure. It's true all sorts of things can be used for medicine, but my field of expertise lies within the forests, not with oceanic stuff." Eled shrugged. Eled then narrowed his eyes at Lucia when she looked a little too serious for Eled's comfort about leaving some scales in his mailbox. "Oi." He interjected, not having found the comment having been made by the mail carrier very funny. "I'll look into the scales, but I'd prefer letters and packages before then." Eled dryly before giving a sardonic smile of his own and sitting down next to Lucia, though he left a polite amount of space between the two. He leaned backwards and used his arms to support his back, relaxing a bit before glancing backwards at Lucia's feet. He soon found himself staring, although it was at the scale pattern rather than her legs themselves. "Speaking of, why did you seem... confused that I was the mail carrier, huh? Think I'm not cut out for it?" Lucia's next question brought Eled's attention back from her legs. "Weeeeeell... You did just kinda threaten to abuse your vast power as the mail carrier~." He trailed his words on somewhat lazily, clearly joking at the matter. "In seriousness though, not at all. I just thought it'd be tough on you since you might not be familiar with addresses here. Think of it as admiration for taking on a big task I guess?" Eled shrugged before glancing at Lucia's feet again, taking interest in the scaly pattern that formed upon contact with water. "...Hey Lucia, stupid question probably but what happens when it rains for you?" He asked out of curiosity. Did her entire body change or something? TEMPLATE BY SAMARECARM OF OTE + BTN

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e led explained that his expertise was in forest stuff, not ocean things. This sparked hope in the mermaid - maybe she could produce cool things after all! And then she could proudly say, 'Yep! I helped make that! You're drinking part of me'. Ooh, how great and gross that would be to say! Regardless, this bit of information did make sense. Even she caught it when he said he made medicine out of forest herbs and the like. "Well! When you figure out how to make stuff out of tail flakes, you'll know who to call."  After his response regarding apparently unwelcome mermaid scale deliveries, Lucia merely laughed. "Fiiine," she added, "I'll hold off on them until you get some more knowledge in that noggin. For now." The mermaid snickered again; she was sincere but she wasn't ready to let go of such a fun idea, especially when it had been produced only just now. As their conversation rolled on, Lucia realized that Eled wasn't just a meek little squirrel boy. As his tone shifted from serious to something playful, she glanced over with a wide grin and an arched brow. It was pleasantly surprising to know that he was a little more than what she had pegged him for! A small laugh escaped her lips as she listened, still genuinely interested in his reply. After he spoke, Lucia turned back to the water and, after a brief pause, shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, I guess it is kind of a big change. My home is a dinky place you can walk through in half an hour." Truthfully, she hadn't quite thought about that. After all, she had just landed the job. Maybe... I should go around and try to learn how things are laid out around here. It had taken her some time to memorize where she was staying, so memorizing all of the neighbourhoods would probably be an even bigger task, huh...? Before the young woman could continue much further along this train of thought, Eled's question grabbed her focus. "Eh? In the rain? Well, it's different for every merfolk but for me? Here, take a look." Lucia bent over, resting her torso on her legs as she outstretched both arms towards - but not into - the water. With her left arm straight out close to the fountain's surface, she splashed water with her right hand from a distance. A few droplets caught her stationary arm, but nothing really happened. The mermaid splashed again at the same distance, only after a pause, and her skin was unchanged. "If it's just light rain, usually I'm okay. It takes a while for anything to change at that level. But if it's raining harder..." Here, she brought her right hand closer and began to splash her left arm with more intensity and frequency. A faint pattern of scales began to form in the places that became wet, and her skin began to take on a faint sheen in the sunlight. Lucia continued to splash herself until the patches of scales began to connect. At this point she straightened up and turned to Eled, baring her arm and her right hand out, the latter of which had a similar pattern. "See? With more water I get this. I only get my tail out when I dunk my whole bottom half in water." There was a soft, very dim shine on her arms as she twisted them back and forth. As Lucia did, she spoke again. "You can feel it if you want. But tell me more about being a shifter! What's it like being a squirrel? How do you... become a squirrel in the first place?"

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