Glory hesitated when he came a bit closer. She wasn't sure if she wanted to get a closer look herself, or if she wanted to get out of the water. Half of her even wished that he would break the surface, while her logical mind howled at her that none of this should even be happening. Absently, she burrowed her toes into the sandy bottom and watched as the action stirred up a tiny cloud of sand.

"Gloriana?"

Glory jumped at her grandmother's call from the cottage and twisted around. Nana Sue was standing in the doorway, though Glory was sure she couldn't see much from even that small distance.

"Gloriana, what are you doing?"

"I'm just taking a swim, Nana!" Glory called back. "I'm alright. Go on back inside, alright?" She sighed in relief when her grandmother nodded and closed the door again.

Léan recoiled at the sound of the elderly human female's voice, backing up a bit into neck-high water with his eyes narrowed. The curious innocence on his face had completely vanished, and it was replaced with a very hollow dislike.

He returned to normal as soon as she made her way back into the cottage, however, and came slightly closer again, swimming around in little circles and swishing his tail around, making little ripples in the water above him.

Glory watched carefully as he moved closer. Something seemed to have startled him, but she couldn't figure out what. She kept an eye on him, not wanting to look away and have him vanish again. The logical part of her mind had finally given up trying to convince the rest of her that what she was seeing wasn't real, so now she was just trying to wrap her brain around it. Now that she really looked, he was kind of pretty...

Léan finally got within an arms' length away, popping his head and upper half out of the water and laying on his stomach, swishing his tail some more.

He half-laid there and faced her, still ready to bolt at a moment's notice. This was the closest he'd probably ever been to a nonviolent human in his life.

Glory watched as he propped himself up in the shallows. Now that the water wasn't warping his image, he really was kind of pretty. And Glory didn't have to be looking to know he was pretty nicely built.

'So he can breathe air...?' Without her even consciously trying, the thought crossed the back of her mind.

"I guess that answers that question, then..." she said softly, mostly to herself.

Léan watched her intently and contemplated speaking. Due to years of observation, he had indeed learned human language. He knew English and Spanish.

"...What question?" he muttered, somewhat bluntly. "Can I breathe air? Yes, I can."

He swished his tail some more, still looking a bit tense.

By this point, Glory was feeling a bit to numb to be surprised by anything anymore. He could understand her. Great. Her day was weird enough as it was. Absently, she wiggled her toes into the sand.

"Then I guess first things first..." she replied. "My name is Glory. Well," she amended, "Gloriana. I'd rather be called Glory."

Léan eyed her warily. It seemed his dislike of humans was still a big issue of his.

"...Léandre. Call me Léan."

"So..." Glory said softly, "now that I know I'm not going insane... As far as I know... I don't think this is what they had in mind when they wanted me to live with Nana in the cottage. Stupid system..." she added under her breath.

Léan stretched a bit, still being wary of her.

"Insane? Not as far as I can tell," he mumbled, tail swishing back and forth quickly. The quick pace of this showed his tension...

"For all I know I could be hallucinating from hitting my head on the rocks," Glory replied reasonably. Reaching back, she tugged the tie from her hair and shook her hair out to let it start to dry. "It could be worse, I guess... It's not the recurring nightmare from when I was a child. Though I still don't know how I could be so terrified of a hot air balloon and gears from a clock."

Léan's brow furrowed a bit, and his tail stilled. He straightened himself a bit more, arctic eyes glinting.

"Hot air balloon?" he repeated, completely nonplussed. He'd never heard of a hot air balloon before...he knew what balloons were, though. Were these any different?

"Yeah, it's a giant bag, pretty much, and it's filled with hot air so it floats," Glory replied absently. There was no harm in explaining things to a hallucination... Her logical mind had taken over, and it was firmy asserting the belief that she was just seeing things.

Léan cocked an eyebrow. That sounded rather strange...what would humans need a giant floating bag full of hot air for?

As he mused, he noticed that she still didn't seem to believe he existed. His usual mischievous nature took over. "You still think I'm a hallucination, don't you?" he asked smugly, tail beginning to swish once more. "Well? Prove how logical that is. Touch me. If you are correct, your hand should go through me, no?"

Glory blinked. He was right. Whether or not she would do it was a totally different thing. After all, you didn't just reach out and touch someone, mythical fish-person or not. Finally, curiosity and a bit of self-encouragement won out and she hesitantly reached out and tapped him on the shoulder.

Great. She wasn't hallucinating. Which meant that her life just got that much weirder.

Léan watched her retract her arm triumphantly, tail still swishing around. He felt like he'd won some sort of battle with her subconscious over whether or not she was hallucinating. The smug look on his face told that whole story, showing that he...really wasn't used to reining in his emotions before they reached his face.

He hadn't spoken with anyone in a long time. Most of the other mermaids and mermen spent their time deep underwater, far away from humans. It was...sort of nice to talk to someone else, though he'd never been one for socializing.

"Okay, not hallucinating..." Glory said, mostly to herself. "What next, unicorns? I really don't think this is what they had planned when they told me a change of scene would be a good thing..." Playing with a bit of her hair, she mentally shook herself and looked at Léan. "Okay, then, so I'm betting you were behind the mind games last night. But what brought you back today?"

"Mind games?" Léan chimed. "Me? Never..."

He pondered that. "I like this spot. That little cavern is a favorite spot of mine. And I wanted a quiet place to eat."

"I guess that makes sense..." Glory mused. A cool breeze blew off of the sea and she shivered a little. It was starting to get cold... The clouds out over the sea looked like a storm rolling in. Drawing her legs up to her chest, she looked around for where she left her clothes.

Léan swam back out into the water, feeling his tail scales getting a little dry, eyes following her every move. He kept his head above water, though it was a slight challenge to swim like that for him.

He'd already sensed that a storm was rolling its way in. The cool air felt quite nice.

Shivering again, Glory carefully stood up and went to get her clothes. Putting them back on, she went back over and made herself comfortable on one of the rocks. Now she'd be warm enough, as long as it didn't start raining on her...

"Much better," she said to herself.

Léan watched her, tail flicking underwater repeatedly. Why hadn't she run away yet? It mystified him.

He swam a bit closer, still keeping a slight distance. He didn't want to get so close that he couldn't make a quick getaway if needed...

"Why are you so twitchy?" Glory asked finally, watching him swim back and forth. "Don't you ever get tired of spazzing all the time?"

(sorry it's so short...)

Léan pondered that, never staying completely still.

"I don't like your kind," he admitted, quite bluntly. "I never have. In fact, you are the first human I've revealed myself to who hasn't tried to run from or attack me. So, understandably, I am nervous."

"That makes sense, I guess..." Glory agreed slowly. "You know, not that I could swim very fast or anything." The wind started blowing again and she tried to cover her arms. "Alright, now it's getting cold. I should probably go inside, I should help Nana unpack anyways."