Archie frowned--there was more processing going on, evidently. He then shook his head, firmly.

"Have tail, always," he replied, a smile on his face. "Land, and home."

"Ah," Skye replied, frowning again. "Bugger."

She began to walk back and forth, still only in her underwear.

"Well, whatever we're gonna do, we can't do it with your tail in sight." she said, still pacing.

Archie made a few soft, random noises. Then, he cleared his throat. "Still, still have...parts..."

He flushed, bright pink. "...Under scales..." he managed, softly.

"Parts ? Under scales ?" Skye also flushed a deep red. "Oh ! OH !"

Sighing, Skye walked over to her soaked clothes lying in a lump on the floor. She cringed as she picked up her shirt, water still dripping from it at an alarming weight. For a moment, the only sound in the room was the drip, drip, drip of the water. The soaked girl sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her right thumb and fore-finger.

Archie watched her fetch her shirt, looking puzzled. He rested his chin on his folded arms, tail relaxed and stretched out behind him.

He wasn't quite sure what to do, or say. So, he simply watched her, a mildly curious look on his face. Humans were so strange.

Skye looked up, glancing over to Archie. He seemed so . . . fascinated. She smiled at him, poking out her tongue. A fairly childish thing to do, but hey. This guy wasn't exactly going to laugh at her . . . was he ? She dropped the soaked shirt and slid down the wall onto the floor, inches away from Archie.

Instead of laughing, Archie looked even more fascinated, and he mimicked her action, sticking his tongue out briefly at her. He wasn't quite sure what it meant, but he was curious to find out.

Skye giggled again, placing her head in her hands.

"Oh, Archie." she said. "What an odd pair we make."

Archie giggled in response to her. His giggle was a little less human--watery, and a bit echo-y. His tail swished back and forth again, like he was wagging it.

It was easy to imagine him as some sort of happy, loyal puppy.

Skye giggled with Archie and instinctively ruffled his hair. She sighed, smiling at the merman.

"Well, I s'pose we could just jump from the docks." she said, her mind imagining the possible scenario. "I don't think they'd let me carry you outta the front door."

(( I'm going away for a week so I shan't be able to post again until next Saturday evening. Sorry ! :sweat: ))

((That's okay!))

Archie shrank away when she reached for him, but quietly relaxed when he realized what she was doing. He didn't understand everything she had said, but she'd said something about jumping from docks...into the water.

He was visibly excited, and his tail swished back and forth.

(( Holy Ja-HEE-bus. Totally forgot about this. My bad. :sweat: You wanna keep going ? ;3 ♥ ))

Skye stood, beaming down at Archie as she leaned against the wall of the room to steady herself.

"Well, we'd better get moving, then." she said, softening her voice as she reached down again to stroke the merman's wet hair. "We can swim from the docks to the bay, and then you'll be free to go home . . . wherever that is."

((Sure! :D))

Archie made a soft, hesitant little purring noise in the back of his throat. It was incredibly cat-like, the sound he was making...

His tail seemed to be moving in a wagging motion, almost. He very much resembled an overly-excited puppy at the pet shop, just waiting for someone to admire his cuteness and take him home.

Skye smiled at Archie, absorbing the calming atmosphere that seemed to be rolling off his skin. His blue-purple scales shone, illuminated by the water. His soft face seemed irresistibly beautiful and for a moment, the girl stood simply staring at him. Remembering herself, she suddenly snapped back to life, walking over to the docks.

"C'mon, then." she said, gesturing with her hand for him to follow. "In you get."

Archie stared at her as she walked, tilting his head slightly. He didn't know how to move that well out of water...other than crawling. And his tail was already scraped a bit on the bottom from the tiny bit of crawling he had done earlier.

He whined softly, a pathetic, watery little noise.

Skye tilted her own head in synchronisation with Archie, frowning slightly at the adorable yet distressed sound he seemed to be making. She placed her hands on her hips, sighing.

"I take it you can't move out of water . . . ?" she asked, a flood of sympathy washing over her face. "Do you want some help ?"

Archie didn't exactly want to make her work for him...that was selfish--even he knew that. He pondered the situation silently for a moment and then glanced around for something soft...something like a blanket, perhaps. If he could pull himself onto a blanket, it would be easy for her to drag him...

Skye cocked her head to one side again, frowning slightly as she tried to work out a way to get Archie into the water. She turned her head slightly, pondering the thought, and suddenly, her eyes landed on a soft mat rolled up against the wall. It was a strange blue colour, usually used to move small sharks and such-like when they were due a health check-up. Fetching it from it's home, the girl rolled it out into the floor next to Archie, motioning for him to roll onto it.

Elated that the human had traveled along the same train of thought as he had, Archie quickly pulled himself up onto the offered mat, finding that it was soft and gentle on his aching tail. Dragging it across hard surfaces without water present was painful...it was one of the reasons why he only came up above water to sun himself out.

Skye smiled warmly at Archie as he rolled onto the mat, watching the way the dark scales of his tail caught the sunlight, illuminating himself. Impulsively, she reached a hand down to stroke the fish-like armour covering the merman's skin, her touch as gentle as the waves of the water lapping up against the docks. The scales felt firm and streamlined, a little slippery to the touch due to the water droplets rolling around over the bone-like material. The girl's amber-green eyes lit up with wonder and fascination as she ran her hand gently over the scales, stroking Archie.

Archie jumped a little when her hand reached down and her fingers ghosted over the scales on his tail. He hadn't expected the odd touch...he figured the human might have been curious about how his tail felt. The touch felt rather nice, even though he wasn't about to admit that out loud. He rested his head on the mat, regarding her with mildly curious eyes.