☀︎ @singinghands ✭ cont. ☾
This was a test, one Issith had chosen. Having to lean so heavily on Allen and to some extent now Martin every time they left home to stock up on food and supplies they couldn't get from the waters they lived on and in wasn't permanently feasible.
He had to adjust, had to find some equilibrium and comfort around humans. So today he had asked to be taken to a small bakery that was on the way to their current closest town's grocery store and dropped off.
What Issith didn't expect was the constant noise, the in and out of unfamiliar humans that slowly but surely built up the familiar stress he had been living with ever since his not entirely legal release from the tank that had been his prison for almost too long.
Having parked himself in the corner away from the door at least he had that measure of privacy, but it meant escape was more difficult as well. With each new voice adding to the more and more difficult to parse soup of sound around him, he had been getting more and more agitated. Drumming his fingers on his covered fin, the table in front of him, the stares resulting from his fidgeting made his skin crawl even more than it already was.
He looks to the door, trying to force himself through the process of figuring out the quickest route to leave and find Allen again when one of the women who had been behind the counter suddenly appears in front of him. Reflexively Issith jerks back in his chair, teeth bared in clear warning even as she speaks. The words don't make sense, not right now, but she was close enough to block his view of the rest of the patrons. In an odd way, that helped.
Sonny plonked a huge coffee cup down on the table, so she could point at her face with both hands, “Pretty isn’t it!”
Her eye shadow was done in a pastel sunset and on her cheeks where sea shells and starfish with tiny pearl like beads glued on the corners of her eyes. Even her lips were on ocean theme, a shimmering teal-blue.
“I figured you’d appreciate it since,” Sonny winked and did the limp wrist ‘gay’ gesture, though that wasn’t really what she meant, not wanting to directly call out her fellow mer. Doing a little twirl that made her skirt flare out over her leggings, Sonny added, “Can I get you anything, by the way, or need someone to chat with? Can be really lonely, sitting here my yourself,” she tapped her chin thoughtfully, “but some people like that. Still, I wanna put a smile on that face if I can, even if that’s calling you a ride to help you home. Okay?” she smiled brighter yet, if that was possible, “So whatever you need, even if that’s just me being quiet!”