A Sea of Discord (open to all)

[HIKARU MINAMINO]

“Can you repeat that?” asked Hikaru, chuckling softly, “I thought you said that you weren't wearing any...” Suddenly, the peachy tone to his face was a bright, blistering red. He was...he was sitting next to a naked woman? And not just any woman, but a naked princess of the sea? “OHMYGOSH.”

Hikaru lunged for his cane and was standing up in a matter of seconds, awkwardly skirting away from the girl. “Y-y-yes,” he gulped, “You should be wearing clothes.” He'd been so close to her all this time – there'd barely been less than two centimeters of space between their bodies when he'd been trying to 'see' her face! The young man's thoughts whizzed in panic, embarrassment, and...

Something warm trickled from his nose. Blood? Wasn't that an old wive's tale?! Hikaru tentatively pressed the back of his hand against his nose, as if it would stop his nosebleed. Honestly, he'd always thought a reaction like that was torn out of a cartoon or comic book.

“I-I'm not a pervert!” groaned, his face still flushing. The way he wrung his hands, paced in a small circle, and fretted over something so simple should've clued Tallulah in on the magical world of humans – no, the magical world of teenage boys and young men. “A-are you going to put something on?” he asked, “Th-this is so inappropriate!”

Now he held his head in his hands. Perhaps what made things worse was that he'd been totally clueless about Tallulah being naked. "So inappropriate..."

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[TALLULAH SAMARAS]

What was going on?! With Hikaru's sudden outburst Tallulah jumped in confusion. What was wrong? She didn't wear clothes... That was wrong because...? Her species didn't posses- er, 'special parts'. Female sirens appeared physically more sleek and curvy; and were more silver than gold/copper. Male sirens were considerably more muscular and more gold/copper than silver. So, Tallulah really had nothing to hide.

Still, a sense of shameful confusion came to her once Hikaru stated that she wasn't following basic human conduct. She wasn't embarrassed, but... Disappointed with herself that she hadn't gotten the memo quicker. "Oh... I..." She muttered, looking at herself with newfound regret. She needed to study some fashion books later. And raid the costume boutique. Yeah. Lesson learned! "M'kay Hikaru! I'll wear clothes, cuz humans do!

Well, it was clear she needed to do it sooner than later.

She second glanced to Hikaru before she did a double take to see that Hikaru's nose was... Tallulah gasped. "Hikaru! Y-you're... You're bleeding!" She 'd seen enough humans at the hospital to know that bleeding=bad. What was she going to do?! Not knowing that it was from... Well, what it usually was from, Tallulah switched into princess-protect-her-people mode.

"It's going to be alright Hikaru, don't panic!" The dilemma of her nudity was all too gone when she rushed to find something to fix Hikaru. She wasn't quite aware about the lack of severity attributed to nosebleeds when in terms of blood loss, but she was highly concerned none the less. With a klutzy leap over the counter she searched the general store inventory to find something to help him. Hm. Fortunately from the corner of her eye she soon spotted a small stack of cloths. Handkerchiefs... They looked soft. And absorbent. That would do.

In less than a second she plopped herself back over the counter; barrel rolled over to him and gracefully ended up sitting on her shins to face him. "Here... Shh, don't worry..." With a persona-contradicting tender demeanor she dabbed Hikaru's face lightly from the blood. It was almost as if she were an artist taking light strokes to a delicate painting. Her left 'hand' had gingerly cupped his cheek while the right did all the work. Though, after a minute or so Tallulah figured that Hikaru was able enough to take care of himself... Plus, he apparently wanted to be nowhere near the naked woman

With serene poise she delicately placed the clean side of the handkerchief in his free hand. "Here... I've never seen a human bleed from their nose before... I don't want to help you wrong." She whispered before standing up. "I uh... I'll go find something to wear... I'll leave, if you want me to. Sorry for causing your nose to bleed!... You're not hurt, are you?" There was a hint of guilt in her voice as she looked to the ground. She began to back up slightly.

"I should have done more research before coming here..."

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[HIKARU MINAMINO]

Not being able to see meant that every detail of what a naked, semi-aquatic siren princess looked like was up to Hikaru's imagination. Had nobody noticed a naked girl walking out of the ocean, across several states, and into a candy store in Wyoming but himself? “It's not your fault,” he said quickly, “It must be the weather – or the time of year! I have summer allergies, so it must have been all the pollen in the air!”

The blush in Hikaru's cheeks didn't die down, not even when Tallulah backed away. She'd been standing so close! She'd been close enough for him to become flustered under her breath! Quickly, the young man shirked off his jacket and held it out. “H-h-here,” he stammered, “You can, um, cover yourself with this. It's just a springtime jacket, so it's not very warm but...”

Even though he couldn't see through his bandages, Hikaru moved his head in a direction other than where Tallulah was standing. In his mind, there was no way that he'd allow her to think of him as a pervert! “I'm really okay!” he said quickly, “Go? Where would you go? Here, I know a place that's bound to have extra clothes. Just, um...cover yourself with that jacket and I'll take you to Circo.”

The jacket itself was one of those 'varsity style' jackets, with a navy front and white sleeves. Hikaru had liked it because of the comfortable, snug material used to make it. Otherwise, it wasn't really his style. The white button-down shirt underneath the jacket was more of his usual dress, as was his classy, black suit pants. It was classy, yet relaxed; he left the top few buttons over his chest open, revealing a small, metallic necklace.

“It's really alright!” he said, trying to reassure the siren, “This kind of nosebleed just means that, um, it's due to allergies. It actually has nothing to do with you.” Hikaru smiled, even though his cheeks were still an alarming shade of red. He pressed the napkin to his nose in embarrassment, reassured himself that the time of year had weakened the capillaries in his nose and that sheer coincidence caused one of them to rupture when he blushed, and began tapping his way to the door.

“Don't worry about me,” he said, “Besides...aren't you cold without any clothes on?”

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[TALLULAH SAMARAS]

"Well, okay... Just... Please tell me if I ever do anything to hurt or upset you. I'll try to fix it! And make it up to you! Hm, I wonder if I can learn how to bake lemon cake..."The sense of guilt began to quickly fade from Tallulah as Hikaru swore that he wasn't somehow hurt by her. Tallulah always did manage to at least get somewhat antsy when she felt negativity from people around her. Especially when she herself started to feel it. But now, that was all and done with. She just needed to analyze the situation in order to keep herself from being depressed. Hikaru was okay. Tallulah was okay. She just needed to get clothes. And that would be easy. Everything was going to be okay.

Naturally, the clearing of this uncertainty as well as the unexpected gift brought her usual shark-toothed grin back. Wow... She had never been allowed to borrow anything from a human before. At least not personally, anyway. She took the jacket with eager gentleness, and emitted a soft inhuman squeal at the act of kindness. "Thank you sooooo much Hikaru!" She beamed giddily. She slid on the jacket carefully as to not damage it or herself. Instantly, she felt warmer. She did have to maneuver her arm fins quite a bit to allow them to fit easily inside of the jacket, but, other than that, the light clothing did make a difference in how she felt. And at least the fact that she was indeed an alien species would cover up the additional information of her partial nudity, in all probability.

With the borrowed jacket and newfound confidence Tallulah stood up. She zipped up the article of clothing after trying to figure it out for a few minutes. Before she bounced after Hikaru she reached into her mass of tentacle-hair to pull out a wallet one of the guys she had escaped from threw at her so she didn't harm them. She opened it up to dump half of the bills out, each worth 100 in USD currency. With her small concept of money, she ended up giving seven hundred dollars (and a few dimes) to the man she had knocked out and 'borrowed' candy from. A satisfied smile touched her face as she went to catch up to Hikaru, who was already at the door.

"Those allergies sure sound not fun... I hope they clear up for you!" Tallulah of course was too naive to be any the wiser. Maybe it was better that way. It kept her innocence strong and her happiness up. Ignorance was bliss, after all. "Well, like I've said I used to live at the bottom of the ocean. There, it was only a few degrees above freezing so it was safe to say that it was always super duper cold!" Suddenly, she shivered as they left through the door. "Though I have to admit, air cold is a lot more different than water cold..."

Once the two left the shop Tallulah turned to walk backwards so that she could face Hikaru to talk. "So Hikaru, what's the best part about being a human?" What an odd question. Yet, it had been one that had been pestering her the moment she surfaced. She wanted to ask everybody the same open-ended puzzle. Wether it be their favorite activity, the aspects of life itself, or something simple like having thumbs; Tallulah wanted to know it all. "Hehe, sorry if it's hard to answer! I'm just curious... You can ask me the same too! Except I'm a siren and all..." Even if she had no idea where the man was taking her, she had ought to have had fun while being led blindly.

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[HIKARU MINAMINO]

“Y-you're welcome,” he said. Hikaru couldn't help but feel overwhelmed at just how enthusiastic and grateful Tallulah was for a simple, kinda-dirty jacket. Internally, he couldn't stop fretting over the patch of raspberry jam he'd spilled on one of the sleeves during breakfast. He was too busy regretting his decision to loan something dirty to a stranger – no matter how necessary – to hear most of what Tallulah was saying. Something about non-existent allergies and the cold. And being human. Wait, what?

“Hn? Um, it wouldn't really be accurate if I answered that,” said Hikaru, “I don't have anything to compare it to, you know? I've always been, uh, human.” The young man faltered slightly, finding it uncomfortable to refer to himself as a species. He'd never really thought about his humanity in depth before. And here he was, being asked questions about humanity whilst leading a totally inhuman girl on a journey to find clothes.

Why was his life always so weird?

He felt his cane pass over a rough, bump in the sidewalk. The young man tapped it, recognized it to be a tree root, and worked with Clifford so he could safely step over the obstacle without missing a beat. Hikaru was so accustomed to feeling his way through the world, that he barely had to think twice about it. While some people may have thought his daily life to be cumbersome, Hikaru didn't find it much harder than living with sight. He felt that there wasn't anything he could do that a seeing person couldn't. Whether it was an art project, research at the library, surfing the web, or putting together a color coordinated outfit, he refused to let the curse of his 'gift' interfere with his life.

“I don't really like other humans too much, but I guess we're alright,” he said, “The species that invented the Playstation can't be too bad.” Hikaru laughed softly and kept tapping his way in the direction of Circo. “I think...I think video games are the best part about being human!” he laughed, “There's nothing cooler than technology! I like – Hey! Careful! You're going to walk into an intersection!”

Even though the young man couldn't see the intersection behind Tallulah, he could hear the familiar crossing of cars. Not to mention, Clifford had stopped at the crosswalk and was intently staring down the cars down the road. While he wasn't sure if Tallulah had seen the intersection or not. She'd still been walking backwards, so he didn't want to take any chances. What would he do if his naked, fish princess was scrambled into sushi by an oncoming truck? No! He couldn't let that happen!

Hikaru pressed the 'walk' button on the crossing light and slumped against the pole with a sigh. “Can you not walk in front of me? You're making me nervous,” he said, “I'm afraid you'll get hit by a car or something."

The walking light beeped, which made Hikaru's life much easier. In the suburbs, there'd been crosswalks where the walk signals changed silently. It always made the boy nervous to rely on Clifford to tell him when to walk, and to hope his own, human hearing was keen enough to pick up on which cars were moving and which had stopped.

"Um, why don't you tell me about yourself? What's the best part of being a siren?” he asked. Hikaru turned his head to where he thought Tallulah was and smiled.

He was totally unaware of a car speeding through the red light.

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[TALLULAH SAMARAS]

Luckily for the duo, the rickety general store was in the middle of nowhere. The intersection was the last in a few dozen miles, which was a good indicator that the circus would be somewhat nearby. A small, practically deserted town scattered itself around the intersection, fortunately abandoned for the most part due to how run down it was. The few cars that did pass in front of the duo did stop for strange looks. Not because they thought they saw an actual sea monster, but because they thought it wasn't any time near Halloween. Which meant the siren didn't have a whole lot to worry about.

Nevertheless, there was a tiny feeling of apprehension within her. She didn't want to get caught again, and knew that humans were naturally science/knowledge oriented beings. If they got excited for the announcement of a new species of moth, they sure were going to have a blast with Tallulah. Shaking off that unpleasant feeling the siren allowed a curious look to sprawl across her face. "Video games?" She asked while trying to sound out the word. Video games... Hadn't she heard that somewhere? Her anthropology knowledge was a bit flimsy with the few decades leading to the present. Pop culture had fascinated her, sure, but keeping up with the recent ultra-fast times proved to be extremely difficult. "Playstation...? Hm... I don't think I've heard of that before... But it has the word 'play' in it! So it must be good!" She clapped giddily as she put two and two together. "I wanna play video games too!"

The energy from making yet another discovery about humans had sent her pep up a notch. That pep, as it tended to do, inhibited her judgement abilities. She forgot all about her first experience with cars for a brief moment, as she skipped about mere feet from the massive machines. She was snapped out of her little bout of bliss once Hikaru alerted her once more of the dangers of the road. "Oh!" She gasped, stopping dead in her tracks. She quickly realized what she was doing and ducked behind Hikaru obediently. "Okay, sorry Hikaru!" She nodded her head once to signify that she was ready to take orders. With the traffic light beeping, and Hikaru moving, she trusted herself to follow the blind man and do as he did.

"The best part of being a siren?" Ooh, what a hard question, but a fun one none the less. She hadn't really thought of the answer even when she was the one to mention it. "I guess having the ability to sing really well. I haven't ever sung to a human before, but from what my mother told me my voice could do a lot of wonderful things! Make someone fall asleep, make them forget their worries, and lure people in if I really wanted too! But hm, I'm not entirely sure though... I know one thing- I wish I could change my lifespan! I mean, I'm already four hundred twenty-three in human years old and I'm not even really mature yet! Though it's nice to be able to see humanity change and develop... Ooh, I don't know! Hikaru, if you could live for a really long time, would you?... Hikaru?"

Tallulah turned to notice that the red light had worked on every single car except one. It was not only speeding, but had run through the stop light. Her black eyes widened as she had only a few seconds to think. "Hikaru watch out!" In a split second, she leaped forward and grasped the man's torso before pulling both him and Clifford from the speeding car's line of travel. Her fin tipped elbows were firmly around him as she protectively guarded the blind boy. The car, honking boisterously, sped not even centimeters beside the two. Tallulah had saved him by a hair.

Quickly, she let go, after realizing what she was doing. "Oh! Hikaru I know I'm not supposed to touch you or get ahead of you but that car was going to hurt you! Mean car! A-are you alright?" A concerned, serious look filled her alien face. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

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