“Alright,” Sandra sighed. Show & tell time again. She stood and pulled off the sweater he’d given her, dropping it to the deck.
This wasn’t the part that bothered her so much. She didn’t care much either way about being seen naked in her human form. But for some reason, showing people her other body - her real body? - made her feel much more exposed.
Still, it was all she had. Explaining it wasn’t quite the same.
Sandra closed her eyes, feeling the gentle rocking of the boat in the water, listening to the waves lapping against the side. She thought back to earlier when she’d been gliding through the water. Soaring. There really wasn’t any other word for it. It had come so naturally, almost more so than walking. Like it was what she was meant to do.
Her skin blossomed into a luminous blue, spreading outward from the center of her chest. When it reached her hair, the individual strands seemed to meld together into thicker blue tendrils. Gills flexed open on the sides of her neck. Her fingers and toes became webbed and clawed. When she opened her eyes, they were black.
“I can do more if I get in the water,” she said, revealing her pointed teeth. Her voice had a strange, alluring quality to it now. “Weren’t you about to go for a swim?”
For a second, nothing seemed to be happening. Maybe she was full of shit, here to fuck with his head, make him think he might find a trace more familiarity on this planet (he didn’t deserve it—the reefs had been more than he’d bet on, the trenches more that he should have had). But then, there she was, an eerily familiar sight, so much so he felt himself rise to his feet. She was like him, more than he’d expected she might, there wasn’t really human heritage there, was there…?
The awe, and the spell cast on him, lasted until she spoke. Her voice drew him in as much as he pushed himself away. She wasn’t Abyssal, she was—fuck, thought they’d died out—
“Not swimming near you.” His shoulders had hunched and glamoured nails dug into the rail he’d backed into. “Fuckin’ selkie.”
