"I see," Tristan said. He looked at the seals. They were chatty little things, it turned out, and they seemed to like it when the girl listened to them. "Gossip mongers," he murmured as he watched them.

Elea slanted a glance towards him but stayed quiet, just listening to the seals for a bit. Yup, all was well with them. But she decided to test the man next to her.

"Oh, I don't know," she said easily. "I can't imagine that they'd find all that much to gossip about here. If they are gossiping."

"Place like this?" Tristan replied, gesturing to the rest of the area. "I would imagine there's plenty of gossip about." He glanced at her, and decided to test a bit. He rubbed one of his arms a little. "Ugh, I think my skin's starting to peel... A little too dry, I think." And if it was true she was a selkie, she would likely react to the word 'skin' without even realizing it.

Elea shot him a look, shifting uneasily without even realizing it. "Yeah, maybe," she muttered. "It's usually too humid around here." She glanced off to the side again, quick to steer the conversation to safer topics. "Well, hopefully you'll enjoy the rest of the day at the park. I should get back to work."

"I appreciate you letting me talk to you," Tristan said. "I shouldn't take up any more of your time. I'm Tristan, by the way."

"Elea," she replied. "Enjoy the rest of your day." She nodded to him and left, heading back behind the scenes again.

Tristan watched her go. She was going to be tricky, he could already tell. But he was up for that.

Rory smirked as he watched Elea head back behind the scenes. Well, not as interesting as he'd thought, but he was fairly sure Tristan would be pouty for a few days now.

Tristan turned, and raised an eyebrow when he saw Rory.

"Having fun there?" he asked his friend.

"Of course I am." Rory grinned and glanced at Lotus. "As always, it was fun to watch you strike out."

"I haven't struck out yet," Tristan replied. "Although I'm now certain she's one of my kind. She reacted to the word 'skin' as if I had asked her where she hides hers."

Rory snorted and shook his head. "Well, there you go. A female you don't have yet."

"I'll have her," Tristan said. "Maybe not immediately, but I will."

"Uh oh... that's your determined look. That's the look you get when you have a new conquest in mind, and you're going to drag me along at least part of the time, aren't you?" He groaned.

"Most likely," Tristan replied. He glanced at his friend. "So what were you up to while I was busy?"

"Talking to her friend." Rory grinned. "I'm fairly sure she's not human, but I'm not sure what she is. She's pretty, though." He glanced off to the side, since Lotus had vanished again. "I don't think she's like you, though."

Tristan raised an eyebrow.

"What do you think she is, then?" he asked. "And I don't trust you when you say a woman is pretty, you'll hit on every woman you come across."

Rory snorted. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure she's not human. I mean, she lives with your girl, and she knows about the cove we like. Most humans wouldn't. So either she's a very adamant swimmer, or she's one of us." He shrugged.

"Seems we've found an interesting pair, then," Tristan said. He grinned.

"It does indeed." Rory smiled. He was rather looking forward to this now. Sure, Tristan had females around, but he really rather preferred females of his own kind. Although, right then, he'd try just about anything non-selkie.

Now all Tristan had to do was break it to his girls that he was pursuing another one. He doubted it would go over too well, but still.

"Come on. We should go look around some more. Unless now you're planning on getting year tickets?" Because Rory knew that look.

"I might," Tristan replied. "I might." It wasn't a bad idea, really... Especially if it got him closer to Elea.

Rory heaved a sigh but didn't actually object. He had the money anyway, and he knew Tristan would be insufferable until he got what he wanted.

Meanwhile, Lotus was heading back home. Elea had to go back to work, and Lotus had only shown up to bother her for a while, anyways. So she would likely go for a solo swim and wait for Elea to get home again.