"Maybe you should try being a little social again, then," Glory suggested. "I think it would do you some good. I don't mean putting yourself in the middle of a crowd or anything," she added, "I just mean actually talking to someone other than yourself."

Léan huffed, sounding almost childlike. "I do not talk to myself," he protested, folding his arms across his chest. He seemed quite amused by that assumption. "And I am attempting. I do have two new friends, now, other than my brother."

Speaking of Archie, he seemed to have returned, because there was splashing and some delighted chirps from outside the rocks.

"Which is a fantastic start," Glory acknowledged as she climbed up onto one of the rocks to see what was going on. "I hear it, but it makes no sense to me..." she muttered, mostly to herself, as she heard Archie and Damon. Then she stopped, and sat down on the rock. "And now that I think about it, I'm not sure I want to know what's going on."

Léan's expression was surprised, at first, and then it turned smug. "Arcturus has more decency than that," he teased, amused. "And it is a very difficult language to learn. Our language is called Rebenian, in case you are curious."

There was more splashing, and a few laughs. "Hey, guys!" Archie's voice called, over the rocks. "I have the medicine, if you want to come and fetch it!"

"You don't know the people I go to school with," Glory retorted dryly. "I learned real quick not to turn a corner too quickly, or to walk too quietly in the halls. Always best to give people a bit of a warning." Carefully, she climbed up to the top of the rock and peeked over. "Am I going to see something I don't want to?" she asked Archie, mostly rhetorically.

The concept of walking was a mystery to Léan, but of course, he had to navigate through hallways in his school. He just swam instead.

Archie was floating around on his back, as was Damon, and they were snuggling rather adorably. "No, we're decent," Archie chuckled. He held up the hand that wasn't around Damon. In it was a small glass bottle filled with a strangely-colored liquid. It wasn't really any singular color--it took the colors of what was around it. Almost like a chameleon.

"Here!" He held it up to the rock so she could lean down and reach it. "I'd stand on the shore to drink it, though, in case you need to run inside and get something to down it with. It's nasty stuff. I had to take it when I was born. I puked. Several times. And they had to keep giving me more until I could keep it down." He shuddered.

Glory stretched down and took the vial, ignoring the rock digging into her torso.

"I'll keep that in mind," she said, hopping down from the rock. She looked a bit more closely at the liquid in the vial. It was strangely hypnotic, and she had to make herself look away from it. "Trippy," she murmured. Shaking her head, she tucked the vial into the front band of her bikini top. "I'll be right back, then." With that, she turned and made her way back to the shore.

Once she was sitting back on the beach, she looked at the vial again.

"May as well not give myself time to talk myself out of it..." she said to herself, opening it. Before she could second-guess herself, she took the medicine like a shot glass. Immediately, her stomach rolled and she took a deep breath to try to make it stop. She didn't notice she'd closed her eyes against the nausea until she opened them slightly to make sure the beach wasn't swaying under her. A few more deep breaths later, her stomach finally settled.

"Okay... I think I'm alright now," she muttered to herself.

Léan swam out from his place in-between the rocks to watch. He had never had to take it, luckily, so he wasn't sure how bad it was. But he'd heard from Archie, and others.

"Hm...are you sure? Would you like to test its effectiveness? I've never seen a human take it before," he mumbled, swimming in a slight circle.

Carefully, Glory stood up and went over to the flat rocks.

"Only one way to find out if it worked," she agreed. She still felt a little off-balance, but she figured that would pass soon enough. Besides, she didn't need to be on her feet if she was floating in the water. Quickly, she jumped in.

As soon as she hit the water, she let out the breath she'd taken, so that she wouldn't float to the surface too quickly. Bracing herself, she opened her eyes. She'd expected it to burn like hell, but surprisingly, it didn't. What surprised her more was that everything was crystal clear, as if she was looking through air. She wasn't able to take too long of a look, though, because her lungs reminded her that they were empty. Quickly, she broke the surface to breathe.

"Wow..." she said between breaths.

Léan watched her, tail swishing back and forth. "Clear, no? Even with the particles floating in the water, it's quite clear when you can see like us." He frowned. "If only there was a way for you to breathe underwater. I could show you a mini-coral reef a few miles out. With our eyesight, coral reefs are incredible sights..."

At this, Archie suddenly clamped his hands over his mouth to hold back giggles. He seemed to have something up his sleeve...something embarrassing for them, most likely.

Glory rounded on Archie when he started giggling.

"I saw that," she said. "What are you laughing about? You're hiding something, I can tell."

"Hehehehe," Archie giggled freely, now.

"I...have a suggestion. But I'm frightened to say. Because Léan will strangle me or something. Hehe..."

Léan stared at him, raising an eyebrow. "And you call me peculiar? You're far stranger than I," he retorted dryly. "Reveal your little suggestion."

"Well," Glory said reasonably, "you've brought it up, so now you have to say what it is." Now she was curious as to what he was thinking. Though if it had anything to do with their conversation earlier...

"Um. Well...let me show you what you're getting into," he offered, grinning. He grabbed Damon's shoulders and pulled the surprised boy away, just a bit. He then whispered to him in that strange language, so both of them couldn't hear.

Immediately, Damon went pink, and he looked at Archie like he was insane. Whatever it was was obviously embarrassing.

Glory watched, an eyebrow raised.

"What do you mean, 'what I'm getting into'?" she asked. She was looking at him like he was crazy, too, and she couldn't even hear what he said to Damon. Not that she would have understood it, but still.

"Err..." Archie scratched the back of his head. "It's kinda...it's sorta...ah, well. I'll tell you. Then you'll see what I'm talking about."

As he had pulled Damon, he proceeded to drag her away, to an even more secluded area, motioning to Damon to keep Léan occupied.

Once he felt he'd pulled her away enough, he turned to her and cleared his throat.

"Well. You can't breathe underwater. But, uh...Léan can," he reminded her. "We merpeople create oxygen from water." He opened the almost impossible-to-see gills on the bottom of his neck.

"So, uh...he has a constant supply of oxygen. Which means he doesn't need to use his mouth or nose to breathe while underwater."

Archie giggled, swishing his tail back and forth.

"You could 'breathe' underwater in a sense, if Léan kept giving oxygen to you underwater, as soon as your supply ran out. So, he could give you a little oxygen, let you go until you need more, and then give you some more. You just couldn't talk while underwater. I've heard of merpeople using that technique to save drowning people." He fidgeted.

"But, uh...there's only one way to do it. Open-mouth kisses."

Glory blushed brightly as he explained. There was no way she was going to do that, not when she'd only known Léan for a few days.

"I think you've been trying to play matchmaker from the get-go," she accused. "I just don't get why."

Archie huffed a little at the accusation, as if she'd said something completely unreasonable and mean.

"I have not!" he retorted. Then, he paused. "Well...not at first," he admitted finally, scratching his head and smiling. "Like I said before! I've never seen him act like this towards a human before, save for that girl who broke his heart. After and before he'd met her, he really disliked humans."

He paused again, debating something. "He's had issues with humans from the start because a human net was what killed our mother..." he murmured. "I...it's just weird, to see him act like this towards a human. I think it's worth it for me to try and bring you together."

Glory blushed again. He really was trying to get them together.

"What happens at the end of the summer?" she asked. "I have to go back to school and find work... And I can't be in the ocean when the temperature falls again."

"I've been thinking about that," he revealed, rather brightly. "I thought about it on the way to get your medicine. I've been trying to think of a way to keep him on land...all he'd need is a way to get around without legs, a way to disguise his tail and make him keep it still--in case you want to take him out in public--and a tutorial of human life. Which is what you've kind of been giving him."

Archie nodded to himself. "I have an idea. That is...if you're willing to give this all a shot?"

"You really think that will work?" Glory asked doubtfully. She really couldn't see Léan even thinking it was a good idea, let alone agreeing to it. Especially since he didn't like humans. Briefly, the thought flitted through Glory's mind that she wouldn't mind changing for them instead of the other way around, but she squashed the thought before it had the time to properly form.

"Yeah, if everything goes correctly!" he nodded, smiling. "That is, uh...unless...you'd rather change into something like us?" He fidgeted, nervously.

"It's...it's not easy, and it's painful. And...well, you could live on both land and water. Natural-borns, like Léan, Damon, and I...we keep our tails out of water. However, changed humans, like you would be, are different. Their legs return out of water. You, um...couldn't go swimming in public...or shower in public...you'd even have to be careful when it rains. All of those things could bring the tail back on land."

"...That's kind of creepy," Glory said. "You can't, like, read minds or anything, can you?"

Once she got over the weirdness of having him speak her thoughts aloud, though, she was intrigued. "That can really happen?" she asked. It was an interesting idea... Immediately, her mind jumped to Nana Sue. She couldn't do that to her. Nana Sue had heart trouble, and Glory didn't want to put her through any more shocks, not when it could aggrivate her heart.

Archie blinked. "Um...no? That's one thing we can't do."

"Yeah...but as I said...it's really complicated...and you'd have to be careful when it rains...no swimming or showering in public...no more showers at all, actually--only baths. It wouldn't change your life in any other way, other than the ways I just mentioned."

He scratched his head sheepishly. "You might develop more of a taste and craving for fish, though."

"I'll... have to think about it," Glory replied finally. "I've got to think about Nana, too... I don't think she can handle any more shocks, not like that. Her health isn't what it used to be, after all..."