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"You're asking me?" Glory asked. "I generally don't go much further than the reef. I don't know what else is around here."
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Archie seemed at a loss. "I guess the only thing I can think of is finding somewhere nice and sitting down to talk." Archie never went far either, though his and Damon's cave was a little ways away in deeper water.
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"Sounds alright to me," Glory said. Talking sounded good. It seemed safe enough.
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Archie turned and headed out into deeper water. He was much faster than the average merperson, and had already found a nice, cozy patch of rocks to perch on and talk by the time she had caught up with him.
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Glory followed as best she could, but he easily outpaced her.
"That's really not fair, you know," she said when she finally caught up to him. |
"I've always been fast!" Archie assured her, amused, as he settled himself down on the rocks. "Pick a random topic! And we'll go on from there."
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"Why don't you pick a topic first?" Glory suggested. That would give her time to think of something non-intrusive to ask.
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"Um..." Archie must have sat there for a good five minutes, silent. Then, his shoulders drooped. "I...I don't know..." He was still very nervous...and he knew barely anything about humans, in his mind, so...he wasn't sure what to start with.
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"Go ahead an ask anything," Glory encouraged. "Really, I promise I won't get offended."
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Archie gave up--he looked a little unhappy. "Fine, whatever...government...start with that..." He'd thrown out a topic completely random and uninteresting to him.
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"You pulled that out of left field," Glory said. She noticed he looked a bit unhappy. "Did I say something wrong?"
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"No. I just don't know what to talk about," Archie replied, arms folding across his chest. He looked rather defensive, and a lot like his brother at the moment. Perhaps it was because he was out of his element, and really had no idea what to say.
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"So we can talk about anything," Glory said. "We don't have to have a specific topic." She shrugged. "Talk about how adorable and perfect Eden is. I'll listen."
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"Eeehhh...I'd rather not...doesn't seem interesting enough--I brag about her to Léan all the time and he doesn't care..." Archie honestly seemed at a bit of a loss.
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"In case you haven't noticed," Glory pointed out, "I'm not him." She blinked. "And I think I've said the exact same thing to him in reference to you, once or twice. That's weird."
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"I guess so..." Now that the hyper had been sucked out of Archie, momentarily at least while he was trying to be serious, he seemed like a much more immature and frightful version of his brother. They were more alike than either of them would admit.
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Glory made herself comfortable on the rocks. She was trying to think of something to say that would catch his interest.
"You know, I don't think Léan wants any children," she commented after a moment. "Not that we can even really think about it until I'm out of school, but still." |
At once, Archie's interest seemed piqued. "Oh, no, that's not true. He might. Léan's not as confident as I am, sometimes, oddly enough...I'm supposed to be the cowardly one! He's afraid he'll end up like our dad, and he'll hurt any children he has."
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"He said himself that he wouldn't be able to tolerate them," Glory replied as she stretched out over the rocks a bit.
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"That's the reason why...he's afraid he'll hurt them. He knows he's a lot like our dad...more so than me...and he doesn't want to put any more innocent children in harm's way ever again," Archie explained, gently.
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"Well, like I said... I'm not even out of school, yet," Glory replied. "So it's not like it's a big deal."
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"True...but when the time comes and you're curious about it, you should sit down and have a talk with him about it..." Archie reminded her, nodding firmly.
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"We'll see," Glory replied. "I'm only eighteen, we have time." She pushed some of her hair out of the way when it started to drift into her face. She was tempted to tell him about the whole escapade with getting stuck in the aquarium, but she wasn't sure if he'd even realized that his mother was still alive, so she didn't.
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Archie had not seen her, yet. So, he didn't know. "Maybe you should tie your hair back, if it getting in your face bothers you," he offered, quietly.
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"I've been thinking about cutting it, actually," Glory said. "But I would miss it. I like it long." It was more practical to have it short, of course, but maybe she could get into the habit of braiding it.
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