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"Do you want to go and have a look?" Léan asked, curiously. "If it's a reaction to something human-made...you might be able to tell what it is, since you're more familiar with human-made substances. Or, at the very least, get information on what the symptoms mean back home."
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"We can if you want," Glory replied. She didn't know how she would be able to help, but she was willing to try if they wanted her to. "I don't know much about illnesses, though..."
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"Do you want to?" Léan asked, in return. "I do...I would like to see if we can help. I wouldn't feel right, knowing that we may be able to help, if we just left."
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"Sometimes I think you and I are too much alike," Glory said. "I wouldn't feel right doing nothing, either."
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Léan sighed. "All right. All right, I suppose we could go and see if Lleu wants us to take a look at him..." He trailed off, suddenly.
Lleu was approaching them from the odd-looking building. He'd somehow sensed their intent to help. |
"That shouldn't surprise you," Glory commented to Léan. "At this point, it really shouldn't."
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"Am I creeping you out again?" Lleu asked, apologetically. "I'm sorry. I can take you to Morty, if that's what you want. I'm not sure what's ailing him, so perhaps you would be able to help."
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"Don't worry about us," Glory replied. "We'll both get to the point where we'll just accept it and move on. Anyways, I don't know what help I'll be, but..." She trailed off.
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"You'd feel bad leaving without having a look," Lleu finished, pointedly. "I understand. Here." He turned around, and started swimming back towards the building. It seemed like it was his home. "This way."
Léan followed him, unsurely. |
Glory followed, also a little unsure, but she still wanted to help somehow.
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Lleu dipped down into one of the openings on the side of the building, leading into a dark hallway. This particular hallway was decorated with old clothing, mostly human, all along the walls. Lleu seemed to be an avid collector of old human items. He was looking for his bedroom, where his mate was stuck in bed and resting.
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Glory looked at the old clothing as they passed.
"Oh, what I wouldn't give to wear gowns like that," she murmured as she saw a lavish ball gown. "They're nowhere near practical, though..." |
Lleu glanced over at that particular ball gown with peaceful eyes. "That one is in perfect condition, unlike most of the others I have. If you'd like...you can have it. I am a collector, you see, of artifacts and objects that have been lost by humans and swallowed by the sea. I can keep things in near-perfect condition, all the time. The only things I don't have on display are paper, and documents. Those are kept in glass..."
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"Thanks for the offer," Glory said, "but I couldn't. I would have nowhere to put it, and no use for it. It's better off where it is."
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"It's better off hanging in my hallway than it is in the hands of a human who could put it to good use someday?" Lleu chuckled, softly. "I would think not. As you can see, I have no need for human clothing. Anything you see along the way you are welcome to, as long as I approve..." He started on his way again. He was heading for the end of the hallway.
Léan wasn't interested in any of the clothing, but he paid attention when they started passing some jewelry and treasure, lost in sunken ships and salvaged by Lleu. |
"That's the thing," Glory said. "It's outdated. Nobody wears such things anymore, as much as I want it to be otherwise. Believe me, if they did, I'd have more than I could ever need, in every color that would look good on me."
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Lleu paused again, and turned back to her. He looked genuinely sad, for some reason. "You would let what others wear keep you from wearing something you want to?" he asked, idly. "What does it matter if it is 'outdated' in the eyes of the general public? If you like it...it shouldn't matter."
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"And be put away because people think I'm crazy?" Glory pointed out. "No thanks. I'm not about to do anything that would make that happen. I have too much that I care about to do that. I can pass on the ball gown."
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Lleu had an odd look in his eyes. "...If there is one thing I will never understand about humans...it is why they condemn anything that is 'different,'" he stated, before turning back around and swimming towards the end of the hall again.
Léan hummed, in apparent agreement, as they started moving again. |
"Humans, as a race, are creatures that don't adapt well to what they don't understand," Glory replied softly. This was something she knew well enough. "They tend to be afraid of anything that isn't exactly like them."
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"What is there to misunderstand? If one cannot tolerate difference, they are better off living in a world of mirrors than living among a diverse and beautiful world community."
Lleu was a tad unlike Léan, in this sense. He had no bad feelings for humans. He was sad for them. |
"Not all that long ago, humans were killing each other for just looking different," Glory pointed out. "So I really don't think they're quite at that point yet." He was right, for the most part, but really, humans were slowly improving. She couldn't help but want to defend them, but she also knew that they were far from perfect.
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"I know about your wars. Your genocides. Your Holy Crusades, and mass murder. It is different here, though not by much. Our fights are well-justified. Not because of different looks, or different ways of thinking. If someone harms me or someone I care about, I have a right to confront them. That is how fighting should be. Not...'Oh, this person looks differently, or speaks differently, or thinks differently! Obviously, they're quite inferior to us because we're just that wonderful! We should enslave them, make them work for us without pay in squalor conditions! Or maybe we should kill them all!'"
Lleu shook his head, and continued on without another word. His tone was soft and calm the entire time...not defensive, like Léan got. |
"I never said they were right," Glory said softly. She didn't like being snapped at when she wasn't sure what she'd done to deserve it.
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"I'm not snapping." Lleu glanced behind his shoulder, and smiled at her. "It takes a lot to make me snap. I'm simply stating how I feel. I ramble sometimes--forgive me." He hadn't meant to hurt her feelings.
He stopped at an old archway--something stolen from one of the sunken ships, or retrieved, since no one really owned the ship anymore--at the end of the hallway. It was a large archway from the main hall of a boat, it looked like. The door to the room was handmade out of old wood salvaged from ships. "Don't let him bite you, or anything of that sort...he's lashed out randomly before in the past few days, and I don't want anyone hurt--especially if it's contagious." |
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