"I was just watching the moon," Lotus said, stretching out a bit again. "It's nice out tonight."

"It is. Nice and calm." Leto stretched briefly, dark blue scales glittering briefly. "I'm glad it's not storming. That's never fun."

"Agreed," Lotus said. She did a slight double-take when she saw his scales. They were a similar color to her own, and she admired them for a moment.

Leto noticed her admiration but didn't say anything, instead stretching out a bit. "So do you live here, or up above water?" It didn't really matter, but he was curious and he wanted to keep talking to her.

"I live above the surface," Lotus said. "It's not bad, really."

"Hmm. I haven't been above the surface that often. My impressions then were not all good." Leto shrugged. "But if you enjoy living up there it must have some redeeming qualities."

"I like it, for the most part," Lotus replied. She stretched a bit. "Although I make it a point to come back frequently."

"Well, here is most comfortable for our kind, from what I've seen." Leto shrugged. "It's home, is it not?"

"One of them," Lotus replied. "If the surface wasn't meant to be home, too, we wouldn't be able to go there."

"Hmm. I'd never thought of it that way before." Mostly because he was never allowed to go to the surface, but even so.

Lotus shrugged.

"Why would we have forms that mimic humans if we weren't meant to use them that way?"

"Perhaps to blend in easier," he said quietly. "So that we can hide when we need to." At least, that's what he'd been taught.

"It doesn't do a whole lot of good trying to blend in without any experience acting human," Lotus pointed out. "Humans have this knack for rooting out anything unusual."

Leto shrugged. "I suppose so. My parents don't much approve of the human world, so we all tend to avoid it."

"Your parents?" Lotus asked, curious.

"Yeah. My parents." Leto hesitated a few moments. "I live with my family." He shrugged. "What about you? Any family in the area?"

"Not in the area," Lotus said. "Just me. What about you? Siblings?"

"Just one brother. He's out and about here somewhere." Leto shrugged, unconcerned. "Hopefully he won't get himself into too much trouble."

Lotus nodded.

"My roommate is around here somewhere," she said.

Leto nodded. "I assume your roommate is like us?" It wasn't a huge logic leap to make, but he did want to be sure.

"Sort of," Lotus said. "I mean, she's not a mermaid, but still."

"Ah. But she knows about us. At least you don't have to worry about hiding that from your roommate." He smiled at her, floating a little ways away, clearly relaxed.

"No, I don't think I'd be able to deal with it if I couldn't tell my roommate about myself," Lotus replied. "Too big a secret to keep from someone you live with."

Leto nodded. "Yeah, I came imagine. I've never had that problem. Fortunately." He smiled a little.

Lotus smiled back just slightly.

"So," she said after a moment, "this might be a little rude, but... You're obviously not one of my kind, so... what kind are you?"