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Léan seemed intrigued, but didn't press the issue. "I suppose we might be able to work something out. Though, I still doubt it."
He paused, after finishing his sentence. He thought he heard something. |
Glory went quiet when he paused. She didn't hear anything, but she also didn't know what sounds were unusual and what weren't.
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A few feet away, among the small coral reef nearby, something stark white stood out from the bright colors of the reef. It was a merman, small-bodied and a deadly shade of white.
http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/o...jpg?1283745537 He looked eerily calm and peaceful. His eyes seemed to have no set color, and reflected the colors of everything around him like two tranquil mirrors. An albino. This was probably Lleu. |
Because that's not creepy or anything... Glory thought to herself. She didn't say anything aloud, though, but she moved a bit closer to Léan.
|
Léan wrapped a reassuring arm around her, knowing that they didn't have to move. Lleu would head over soon enough.
As Léan predicted, Lleu was drifting lazily in their direction in the next few minutes. He seemed to know that Glory was not a true mermaid, for he spoke in several different human languages before reaching English. "Hi." |
Glory blinked as she recognized a lot of the languages, even though she couldn't understand them.
"That was kind of impressive," she said. She didn't move from her place against Léan, though. |
"Thank you." Lleu turned his eyes on Léan, who was looking wary. "You don't seem to like me all that much. Why the unfriendliness?"
"Excuse me if I don't trust many strangers," Léan replied, simply. It wasn't meant in a hurtful way. |
"It's not just you," Glory added, cuddling a bit closer to Léan. She felt a bit easier with his arm around her.
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Something seemed to click in Lleu's expression. He had a sort of knowing look to him. "Welcome to Utzi. You can come in, if you'd like. I'll let you in--you just have to follow me."
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Glory glanced at Léan. She would follow him, if he wanted to go in.
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Something seemed very off about Lleu to Léan. Then again, Lleu, from what he'd heard, always had that sort of effect on people. It was...rather puzzling. He slowly pushed himself off from the rock. "I will go."
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"Then I will too," Glory said, staying close to Léan. She didn't want to be too far away from him in an unfamiliar place where she didn't know the rules.
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Lleu turned without another word and began to swim towards the front gate of Utzi's dome.
Léan followed, keeping an arm secured around her for safety. |
Glory stayed tucked against his side, with no desire to move away from him. She was even being quiet for once, rather than having a running commentary for the sake of breaking the silence.
|
Lleu had a discussion with two of the guards near the front gate, who happily opened the door for him but flashed warning glances at Léan and Glory, as if to say 'Don't cause trouble for him.'
Utzi looked like an old-style Rome, sort of. Everything was made out of stone and the same odd glass that the dome was made out of. There were doors and doorways on top levels of tall buildings, since normal gravity didn't apply here. |
Glory looked around as they went, trying to take in everything at once. It was kind of familiar, but not, and the combination was oddly appealing.
"Wow," she murmured. |
"Human cities are not as impressive?" Lleu piped up, suddenly. "I would assume not. Everything is more beautiful underwater. Slow and elegant, patient and graceful. On land, it is rush, rush, rush...intimidating..."
Léan was taking in the scenery, as well. Most underwater cities looked much like human cities. This one was different. He was assuming it was because Lleu was in charge. |
"Yeah, well... Gravity works differently topside," Glory said. "It kind of dictates how things are built. Air is way less dense than water, too, so that's kind of important as well."
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"I am aware of that. More aware than you would think."
It was a strange and mysterious statement, but Lleu didn't elaborate. "The human world is one I will never be used to. One I have abandoned, for now." |
"At the moment, I'm not sure I blame you," Glory said. "Then again, I'm still rather fond of the little town I live in."
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"Good small towns are hard to find," Lleu retorted, pleasantly. He was much like Léan in his slight disdain for the human world. "But architecture and cities are not the reason I don't like the human world. The reason I'm not fond of the world above the water are 99.9% of humans, themselves."
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"I can't argue with you on that one," Glory conceeded.
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"It is rare to find a turned human who agrees with me," Lleu murmured, quietly. "You are the second out of many I have met."
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"A single person can be intelligent," Glory said. "People, in sufficient numbers, are stupid." She could have tried to point out that the statistic he gave wasn't quite so high, in reality, but it was still pretty high, so it didn't really matter.
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"Most turned humans still have a great sense of pride for their species. Why, I am not certain. I've met my fair share of terrible humans. Killers. Rapists. Abusers of animals, of children, of people less fortunate than them. I've met more people I've wanted to walk away from than anything else."
There was a sad tone to Lleu's voice. "But, yes. Not all humans are bad. A very small fraction of them are kind, sensible beings. A very, very small fraction." |
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