Archive of Our Own

Humans adapt.

This was a fact of life Highmore knew very well.

Humans, like Seaborn and all living things, changed to fit the world around them. Some grow thicker coats of fur, for colder climes. Some grow more slowly, to account for less food. Highmore turned into a Seaborn, then back, and now was a horrific mishmash of both.

Not all adaptations were good, but they still happened.

And that led to the second part.

Humans discover.

This, on the other hand, was entirely a human concept. 

If a seaborn found food by the roadside, it would consume it without a second thought. But if a human found food by the roadside, it would wonder. How could it keep finding the exact same food in the exact same places? Was there some trick it might use to keep finding more food or making sure food kept appearing? And, later on, once it had eaten it's fill, it would then ask why there was food there at all.

After all, Humans didn't just find answers. They actively looked for them.

And Mizuki, unfortunately, was human too.

"What is love?"

The question drifted out one fine morning, as the sun floated up above the sky. Maybe, if this was their first meeting or close to it, Highmore would have startled or been thrown off-guard by such a strange question. But months in his presence had taught her a very simple fact: Mizuki barely fit the criteria of "Person" in Strange Person, but made up for that with far too much strangeness. 

"What brought on the question?"

"Well, I was just thinking." Twisting back further into his beanbag, Mizuki looks back at her, face upside down as he lounged catlike. "Falling in love is like games or food- it's a happiness thing. But I can get some food and play a game, but I can't just fall in love. Why is that, and what is it?"

Well, Highmore was once human, while Mizuki arguably never was. She could answer this much for him. "Love is just another lie of humanity. It's nothing but a convenient excuse for people to promise things, then leave."

Flipping himself upright on the beanbag, Mizuki props his head up, swaying his feet behind him like a teenage girl. "How do you know that? Have you ever tried it before?"

Something wrenches at her heart, and instinctively, she feels cold clammy skin on her fingertips. If she was a failure as a human, that only doubled now. Love was a human instinct, and the mark on her arm proved she had already abandoned that. Of course she had never felt it befo-

"Can you tell me what it's like? Who was it? What did they do? How did-"

But this was just Mizuki- of course he meant it completely genuinely. Shaking her head gently, she waves away his flood of questions. "No. I've never experienced it before."

"Well, that's a shame." His face falls for a moment, before brightening up again as he lifted himself off the beanbag. "Well, we can always try it first, right?"

A small warmth blossoms across her face. "Like..."

"I'll fall in love, then I'll teach you how so you can fall in love too!" He states this very plainly and obviously, as if you could go to the grocery and pick up some love, right across from the butter.

Oh, of course. She forgot she was dealing with Mizuki, of all people. Trying to force down an amused smile, Highmore shook her head. "What do you plan on doing? How are you going to find something people have spent their entire lives chasing?"

"The same way I always do. Drift and drift, until I find a current." Mizuki chuckles, shifting his stance on the beanbag to something more relaxed.

Silently, across the entirety of the landship and every single person she has ever met in her life, she tries to imagine someone falling in love with Mizuki- with all his maddening mannerisms. Whichever poor fool fell for his charms would have to be as strange as him. Highmore would have to keep a watch on him, just to be safe.

Mizuki was a born drifter- Of that, there was no doubt. He was always on the fringes of multiple people's lives, always known but never close. He played games with Kirara and sent messages on U-official's fangroups, but occasionally spoke with Ch'en and sometimes dropped into the kitchens with Gummy and Matterhorn. 

As a consequence, whenever he turned up anywhere, nobody really questioned it. He was just Mizuki- sometimes here, sometimes not. Never quite having his own "group" with anyone else, but never being excluded from most groups either.

That, as Highmore would soon learn, came with it's own set of advantages.

"And remind me, Bagpipe, how do you know him again?" The question was asked by a tall blonde Voivure lady, giving a confused stare towards her compatriot.

Said compatriot was about as tall as her, sporting an infectious smile and hair so orange it could wave around as a flag. "Aye, Sai, we had a biggun braw 'bout auld tatties. This idjit havered on baut 'freshness' like a bletherin crow last time."

"All food deserves to be eaten fresh!" Mizuki tilts his chin, angling his head upwards to glare at Bagpipe, despite the size difference. "You can't just stack potatoes in a room and pretend they'll be fine months later!"

It was a bit of a funny thought, Highmore admits, but with how young Mizuki looked compared to the two Victorians, it looked awfully like a little brother trying to confront his big sister over something trivial. Evidently, Bagpipe thought so too, judging from the amused smile on her face.

"Yer a canny lad, but ye dinnae ken ever'thin."  Bagpipe, master of all things Potato, quickly dismisses him with a wave of her hand. "But och, ye ain't here ta blather on bout tatties, now are ye? 

'Here' was their dorm. Whether it was Saileach's or Bagpipe's, Highmore couldn't tell, but the entire thing was filled with flags, maps, and bookshelves. The entire thing was a strange mishmash between the barracks of a soldier and the lounge of a Victorian noble.

"I guess not..." Mizuki reluctantly backs off, as much as he desperately wanted to fight for freshness' sake. "We came to ask a question. Miss Saileach can answer too, if she'd like."

Having heard herself being called, Saileach quickly shuts her book before motioning for him to continue. "Do go on, then. Whatever question you two have, we'll answer to the best of our ability."

"What is love?"

The sound of crickets quickly fill the room- Especially impressive, considering they were in a mobile landship.

Her chattering mouth goes silent as Bagpipe takes a few minutes to process that question, before suddenly bursting into very hearty laughter. "I dinnae ken if yer' canny or daft, lad! But aye, you'd be that age to be askin' those questions!"

Saileach, on the other hand, had grown a sudden blush, which she hid by rapidly flipping through the pages of- was that a romance novel?! Catching a passage, she blushes again, then shuts it back to look at the two short Aegir. "Wait, how old are you two again?"

Mizuki frowns, does some figuring with his hands, then throws them up in a shrug. "I... didn't really count."

"Neither did I." Highmore closes her eyes, content to let that be the end of questioning.

"Well, um..."

"Don' ye trust Janie with Love! She'll be talkin' yer ear off 'til the cows come home." Slapping Saileach straight on the back affectionately, she dives into her own explanation. "Love ain't 'at 'ard. It's a fresh cuppa milk when tah works ull done, some hay bales fer a wee nap, or a braw faire when ye cannae move a wee bit mair." 

"Mhm, mhm, got it!" Excitedly noting everything down in his mind, Mizuki turned to his partner. "Say, Highmore. Where do we find some fresh milk, a stack of hay bales, and a roaring campfire?"

"Hay is dying plants, and a campfire is just the final destination of those weeds." Highmore answers in monotone, no light in her eyes. "We can rip out all the grass in the Convalescent Gardens, then put them in a pile and wait for them to die."

"... Dry?"

"Die."

Partly to salvage the idea of love, but mostly because she didn't want to hear about the garden being torn to shreds over an experiment, Saileach stepped in with her own less literal definition. "Love's not as superficial as just that! Love is a feeling of belonging. Love is that warding light that chases away all imperfections, seeing the beauty in the flaws. Love is waking up next to someone and deciding you'll love them as they are, not as what they should have been. Love is finding the beauty beneath their skin and growing together."

"I see." Highmore grips her shoulder, a bitter look forming on her face as she looks away. "Love is a convenient lie, then."

Seeing the unhealthy arm, Bagpipe winces, then pokes Saileach about it. Almost instantly, she immediately sinks into a flurry of apologies. "No- that's not- I'm sure it's-"

"Well, that's no good." Mizuki absentmindedly interrupts Saileach's speech, immediately snatching Highmore's attention. "Highmore, can you think really hard about some flaws of mine?"

"Why you? I am clearly the obvious choice here."

"Your arm...? It's coralbound. It's pretty. It's a part of you you won't surrender." Each point is listed off carelessly, as if they were just random facts of life. "It's not a flaw at all, so it doesn't work."

Unfortunately, Highmore didn't think similarly, judging from the way her face's temperature rose with every point he made. Slightly panicking, she motions for him to stop. "Okay, Okay, I understand... Just let me think..."

She sinks into a deep trance, recalling every single strange and unusual memory they had shared in the months they had known each other.

"Well, you're blunt."

She awakens, beaten, battered, broken in all meanings. Exhausted eyes slowly pull themselves open, only to be greeted by a "You're awake?"

"You have no taste at all."

He rips off one of the tentacles of her previous body's carcass, before sticking it over an open fire...

"You ask questions everyone should already know the answer to."

He stares at the sizzling meat of her past corpse, the juices still bubbling on it. "Are you sure you don't want any?"

"And you can hardly read anyone at all."

He nods at her refusal, before taking a bite that sends phantom shivers down her entire body. Interpreting this as her being cold, he stokes the fire with some more flotsam, which cooked the rest of the meat and filled her's nose with the smell of her own cooking flesh.

"I suppose that... anyone sane would have left you by now..." She chokes out that confession by pure force, silently wondering WHY she had chosen to tag around him in the first place. Was this all some strange joke fate was playing on her? Maybe he was... earnest, in a strange, inhuman way. But who was she to judge inhumanity, when she herself tried to chase for it?

While Highmore was pondering all these things to himself, Mizuki was waiting, watching for some internal change in himself. He clenches and unclenches his hands, kicks his feet a bit, and even tries waggling his ears for good measure. No luck, unfortunately. "I guess I... don't feel all that different." He slowly admits. "How about you?"

"Och, she's grinnin!"

Suddenly feeling her face burning up again, Highmore wipes the smile on her face, throwing out her usual frown instead. "No, I'm not. I was only speaking truth. The truth isn't pleasant."

It was funny looking back now, but that was all that was.

"Drat." Mizuki frowns, before instantly perking up again. "Well, thank you, ma'ams, but we need to find another way. See you later!"

And with that, they run off, leaving the two behind in a surprisingly quiet dorm again.

"Yer a mite romantic, innit?"

"You've already seen my collection." Saileach admits. "But those two... They're, um... well-matched."

"They're daft idjits, mate. Blessem fer 'at."

Ambriel considered herself to be a very normal person.

She paid her taxes, she kept her gun in order, and she didn't detonate anything indoors. And while she wasn't a Saint (and thank goodness for that), she didn't give anyone any problems, as Saints should. She lived her life as a Sankta... Well, not quite as a Sankta should, but as a normal, average person should.

So, in the name of Law and Order, what gods had she angered that they had brought THEM here?!

"And how do you know her?" Highmore asks. She, alongside Mizuki, were standing outside the doorway of Ambriel's dorm, trapping her inside.

"...I don't know...?" Mizuki scratches his head. He knew a lot of people, but knowing a lot of people WELL was a different thing. "I think I heard her voice once, and now here we are!"

"Do you have any idea what he's talking about, Miss?" Highmore tilts her head at Ambriel, her eyes giving a tired apology for his behavior.

"Nope, not a clue, he's crazy." The Sankta lies through her teeth, thanking the high heavens that the emphatic link didn't extend to them, too.

"I've been called that before!" Mizuki's grin immediately confirms the statement, as if any part of him wouldn't have done that before. "Anyways, we have a question for you."

Ambriel very reluctantly nods her head, pushing the gaslighting guilt into a corner of her mind she'd deal with later. She could answer a simple question- that'd be her quick atonement for this entire situation!

"What is love?"

Nevermind- should have never opened the door in the first place. "Why are you asking me?!"

"Because you seem like you know about love?"

"And what gave you that idea?!"

"Your hair's pink."

"So are a lot of other people's!" Ambriel retorts, hoping against hope that a pink-haired person would pass by behind them. No such luck, unfortunately. "Have you tried asking the hairdresser?"

Mizuki shivers, his eyes distant. "We... did." 

"Best not to speak on it." Highmore rubs her hand on her shoulder, nervously looking away.

"Well, um..." Slowly backing away and feeling a grasp on the handle, Ambriel chuckled nervously. "If she doesn't know, then I guess I don't, so I'll just be-"

SLA-Squisshh...

She tries to slam the door shut and vault out the window, but some sort of tentacle thing had wedged itself between the doorway and the frame. Peeking through the frame, Mizuki was giving her his biggest puppy-dog impression.

"Please help us? Any answer would do..."

It was an especially effective tactic, considering his eyes were twice the size of everyone else's.

Mentally considering leaping out the window anyways and hoping her wings actually functioned as wings, Ambriel instead chose the worse option. "Well, I've got a few DVDs you can watch-"

"Thanks!"

The tentacles pushed the doorway wide open, letting Mizuki waltz his way straight inside, one arm tugging an awkward Highmore in with him. Taking over one of the beanbags, he turns to Ambriel expectantly, waiting.

"... I'll just go set it up."

Truth be told, Ambriel didn't actually know if she had those kinds of DvDs. She was just kind of hoping that she could pawn off one of the discs and get them to leave before they actually took a closer look. But, hey, the big stack next to the TV had to have SOMETHING, right?

"Wrankwood Cinematic Universe, Niannening IV, Dying Harder..." All the glorious explosion filled, arts-blasting movies she'd piled up just within arm's reach, all useless. She could just pull up an action movie with a vague romance in there, but something told her that they'd take the entire thing literally and blow themselves up. That only left one unfortunate option: The glurgy high-school romance Utage forced them all to watch during her turn at movie night.

So watch it they did.

Well, watch was a strong word for what they did.

Mizuki analyzed the movie, piecing together each individual detail with wide eyes. Highmore mostly followed his lead, humming along and nodding at his observations. She was a very passive person to her core, without much purpose in her movements. Some part of Ambriel wondered if she was even interested in answering the question, as opposed to just tagging along for the "fun" of it. And, speaking of- Ambriel simply just watched the bar at the bottom of the screen, hoping to the law that it would push it faster than it was already going.

Thankfully, it wasn't a particularly long film. As the end credits rolled, Mizuki hummed to himself. "There was singing whenever something important happened... So if music is the thing that makes people fall in love..."

"I can sing." Highmore volunteers, before slowly warbling into a hum. 

Ambriel shrugs, nods in approval, before taking a big yawn as she slouched back on her couch. Maybe watching Highmore sing would wake something in hi-

"Wait, why are you looking at me?"

Mizuki was staring at her with way too much intensity for her to feel comfortable. "I'm waiting to fall in love."

Incredulous, Ambriel points at Highmore. "I thought you'd be falling in love with her?"

"I can't. She's the one singing the song."

Highmore stops singing, before tilting her head. "The person singing the song wasn't in the movie. You were studying the movie as well, no?"

"But-"

"Highmore, it won't work if you stop singing!"

"Sorry." Highmore coughs into her human hand for a second before resuming the background music.

Mizuki promptly returned to dramatically staring at her. Ambriel, for the sake of science, tried to stare back. 

So, here I am, Ambriel thinks. Trying to fall on love with some weird blue Aegir. Well, if Blue Poison was any indication, then pink-haired snipers falling in love with weird blue aegir was an inevitability.

Blinking away that thought, she tried to focus. Mizuki was... cute. She guessed. He was cute in that innocent puppy-dog sense, not the human sense, but maybe she could look past that? 

"Is it working yet?"

"... No?" Mm, no, not really. He was a bit too intense for her liking. "Maybe try copying the actors?"

Mizuki nods, before slipping into a headtilt, face plastered with a confident smile. He had the eyebrow flick, the smirk, even the tiny bit of teeth peeking through his lips. "How about now?" He asks, in a gravelly, rich tone.

"Still no."

Ambriel had standards.

"Darn." Having given approximately five seconds for love to bloom, Mizuki promptly gives up. "Highmore, I don't think it's going to work."

"Okay." She deflates a little. "Maybe... Maybe my singing wasn't-"

"No, don't say that! You did wonderfully!" But the fact still remained- the plan didn't work. 

"Maybe we need to swap the people falling in love?" Ambriel points towards Highmore, who jolts slightly at the attention.

"Yeah... Yeah! You're a genius, Ambriel!" Grinning, Mizuki gets up, leaps towards Highmore, and... takes her position in the background. "I'll do the singing, and you do the falling in love!"

"But I'm not-" Highmore begins to protest, but falters at the look on Mizuki's face. "Okay. I'll try."

Well, where was AMBRIEL'S say in all of this?! She didn't sign up to be matchmade to a grumpy looking Aegir with a purple arm! But- no, now Highmore was looking at her instead! She liked being single- why was the law punishing her so?!

Highmore settles down in front of Ambriel. Truth be told, Ambriel didn't have much of an opinion on her- she kind of just pegged her as a waif from the way she drifted away from people. She was pretty as well, she supposed, in the same way that ghost ladies or spirits were pretty. The purplish tone of her arm was a creative piece, Ambriel thinks. A nice splash of purple for a person who was otherwise so pale, it felt like they would dissolve at a touch.

Still- not quite her type. Tugging at her collar, Ambriel looks askance. "So, um..."

Highmore hesitates, one arm clutching the other. "I... don't think this is going to work." 

"Hah, that's a relief, me neither." Ambriel breathes a sigh of relief, before instantly regretting those words. "Wait, I mean-"

"I understand." The tone in her voice was difficult to place. Not quite disappointment at rejection, but more like... a dull sort of depressed acceptance, like something she long feared turned true. She glances away, taking a shaky breath.

Ambriel stumbles over a hurried apology. "Whoa, hey, you're still-" 

"Highmore...?" Stopping his song immediately, Mizuki bounced straight over to her. "What's wrong?"

"We shouldn't have swapped. You're much more suited for this than I am."

"Hey, don't give up just yet." He protests, face saddening. "We haven't figured this out yet- that doesn't mean we never will!"

Resentment creeps into Highmore's voice, eyes hardening and eroding away the little confidence they had. "Easy for you to say. You're whole."

Mizuki's eyes widen, and for once, he doesn't have anything to say. Highmore grips on to her arm, tight, too tight to be comfortable, as if wishing she could just rip the entire thing off and throw it into the sea.

Ambriel speaks up. "I didn't notice. I thought it was decorations, you know? Like... bodypaint." She hated to interrupt a conversation like this, but what else could she do? Leave her like this? "You're still pretty, you know? I'm just... not looking for anything right now."

Highmore didn't seem convinced.

Mizuki kneels down, taking her infected arm into his hands. "You aren't unloveable- I'm sure of it. You're strong, have a powerful mind, and you aren't a bad person. Across all the games I've played and stories I've read, those things are what people always want to be. The fact that you're here now, instead of being lost to the sea- that's proof of what I'm saying, right?" He looks up, catching a teary-eyed gaze in his own. "Once I learn to fall in love, I'll teach you too. Then you'll see that you're more than you think- that you can be loved. Do you hear me?"  

Wiping the tears from her face, Highmore nods.

"Now, c'mon! There's still so much to figure out!" Getting up off the ground, Mizuki pulls Highmore back up to a stand, before waving at Ambriel. "Thanks for the help, Miss Ambriel!"

And they left.

That... That...

Wasn't that basically a confession already?!

Why were they still going?!

Faster then the eye could see, Ambriel flicks a painkiller into her mouth, chugs a glass of water, and flumphs straight down to bed.

Scavenger's not one for delusions.

Her world's a world of hard knocks and aching scars. It's not a place that lets sappy dreams float around, or happy endings where people get to waltz off into the sunset. Her world's one of hurt, but that's fine. Hurting just means she's got nerves left to feel the hurt.

And if the world's going to break down all fantasies, she's going to break it back just as hard.

Staring down the two newcomers, Scavenger regards them with a click of her tongue and an annoyed tch. "Love. And you're asking me this sappy question."

"Yep!" Mizuki asks. Scavenger knows him and Highmore well- they were both on the threat list S.W.E.E.P was keeping an eye on.

"Fine. Want me to show you?" She cracks her knuckles, then jabs her thumb behind her. "Both of you, on the training mat, now."

They dutifully file on the training mat, signing their own warrants for a beatdown. 

The boy seemed like an airhead, eyes wandering around the place instead on her. No doubt he thought the training mat was just a nice place to stand. The girl, on the other hand, was plenty tense. She wasn't taking her eyes off Scavenger, like a cornered animal ready to lunge.

Wouldn't help her, but hey, at least she had the instinct.

Scavenger swings.

The girl flings her arms up to her face, but the punch never lands. Instead, a murky blur slams into Scavenger's flank, flinging her halfway across the room and into the wall. 

Highmore lowers her arms, catching a glimpse of Mizuki's face.

His eyes were wide open, but the light in them had slipped away. Replacing it was an animalistic emotionlessness, steady, watching, ready to pounce and strike at the slightest movement.

And out of the dusty shroud, a silhouette walks out.

"Not a bad hit..." Scavenger grits her teeth appreciatively, dusting off her shoulders. Out of the corner of her eyes, she catches a glimpse of a crystal-clear tentacle, retracting into the boy's body. Four more were visibly out now, swaying ominously behind him. But if that was meant to intimidate her, then he'd need far more than that.

Scavenger takes another step forward, and the tentacles turn more visible, a menacing deep blue, like the depths of the ocean. She calls out, before they both decide to attack her. "THAT is Love. A measure of how willing you're ready to hurt. The more you love someone, the more you're willing to hurt for it."

The expression on Mizuki's face shifted from cold anger to blatant confusion, before quickly settling back into his usual serene cheeriness again.

"Oh, I see! For a second there, I thought you were a bad guy! That's a really easy test, then."

He retracts all his tentacles, either coloring them transparently or keeping them inside him. Then, without any sense of self-preservation, he lines his face up for a very easy shot.

"Try me next!"

Scavenger lowers her fists, which coincidentally was the exact opposite of what Highmore's blood pressure was doing. Loosening her posture, Scavenger quickly doublechecks that she wasn't hearing things. "I, uh... You sure? I don't want the medic team to yank my ear because some idiot wanted a good smack."

"I'll tell them I fell down a flight of stairs!" Mizuki grins. Highmore, coincidentally, looked like she was about to throw Scavenger down a flight of stairs instead.

Was the kid really just going to stand there and eat a blow to the face? Scavenger winds her fist back, and notices the complete lack of a flinch or brace.

Okay, a punch should do, straight on the forehead. She didn't want to catch another case with Kal'tsit, not to mention the weird Aegir girl glaring holes into her skull. Just a solid tap to the forehead should do-

"Hey, Scavenger!" Provence's voice cheerfully flits through the open doorway. "I heard you were training and-" 

Highmore lunges.

She immediately goes straight for the newcomer, forcing Scavenger to immediately drop the attack and tackle her to the ground. They promptly dissolve into a very inelegant array of instinctive punching and kicking, the sort that would usually be covered by a dust cloud.

Momentarily forgetting about being punched in the face, Mizuki drifted over to the newcomer. "Hello, Miss Provence! What brings you here today?"

"Well, I just came back from a mission and-"

"THE HELL- ARE YOU- DOING?!"

"Those smell good, don't they? What's inside?"

"I just wanted- to see- if your test-"

"Some Cystybeast Milk from an operation..." Provence awkwardly trails off, seeing the no holds barred beatdown behind Mizuki. "Are they going to be ok?"

"I'M GOING TO- MAKE TOOTHPICKS- OUT OF THOSE CORA-"

"Yeah!" Mizuki smiles cheerfully, not really paying attention to the fighting behind him. "And once they're done, Miss Scavenger is going to punch me in the face!"

"No path- to- evade-"

"You really shouldn't let her do that." 

"STOP SQUIRMING AND-"

"It's for a test!"

"I'm going to- turn you- into seafoa-"

"I don't think that's a good reason...?"

"Get- Off!" Scavenger grunts, managing to fling the Aegir off her. Highmore flies through the air for a brief second before two tentacles catch her fall, lifting her above for a few seconds before slowly letting her down. Momentarily forgetting about ethereality and wisdom, she takes the opportunity to stick her tongue out at Scavenger. "I was winning."

"In your dreams."

"You're both winners, ok? Now get off the ground before you scuff your hair even more." Provence sets the basket down before striding straight between them, holding out her hands for them to stop. "The same goes for you, Miss Highmore."

They both reluctantly stand down.

"Good, that's good. Now let's enjoy a bit of a break, ok?" She raises an eyebrow at Scavenger, who was busy interpreting the very interesting pattern on the floormat. "I want to hear about the 'punching someone in the face' test."

Scavenger shrinks.

Provence's snacks were simple gifts from her mission- some apples, buns of bread, and chilled milk. Just whatever spares the villages she warned could give back as thanks. She'd only meant to pass on a few for Scavenger before leaving, but seeing as there were four people here, she decided to just split it between all of them.

"So what did you tell them?"

Scavenger purposely stuffs her mouth with bread, then muffles her words through it. "mfmmm, mghmm, mffhmhm."

"Swallow your food, Scavenger. Don't down it all at once!" Provence smiles, instantly tripling Scavenger's guilt.

Slowly chewing her food, Scavenger looked like she wanted to swallow her words along side it. After a while, she chokes out her answer. "Love's how much you're willing to hurt to protect someone."

"That's... " Emotions flash through Provence's face, one after the other, before settling on a muted pity. "I don't think she's wrong, but that's not just it... Love is just how much you're willing to do for someone."

Mizuki frowns. "How does that work?"

"Well, if you love someone, you want to see them happy, right? You don't want to see them hurting." She softened her gaze, tail fluffing behind her. "You can't say you love someone if you don't do anything for them. You do things, just to see them smile- that's what love is!"

Something twists in Highmore's chest at that statement. 

"That's not true. That can't be true." 

She breathes, and can't hear anything beyond the pounding in her ears.

"Love is a falsehood. Love is supposedly the ultimate people strive for. So how can it be something that ISN'T human?!" She points at herself, doubt and anger roiling inside her like a churning tide. "Humans are selfish. I failed my transformation because I am far too HUMAN, and yet you tell me love, the most human emotion, is supposed to be selfless?"

Nobody answers, for what would be their answer? She had the proof- she WAS the proof! The mark on her arm was proof enough that this was all she would ever be: A selfish little human, who couldn't transcend her own failures. How was that love, that she had failed to let go of herself? How was that-

"That's right. It's human. That's because WE'RE human!" Scavenger slams her foot down with an equal amount of fervor, eyes wide open with a furious conviction. "I've only loved because I was a selfish little ass! You love because you WANT, because you see something that's worth keeping. You LOVE, and that means throwing yourself in danger, time and time again, because it's just worth it! Not because of nobility or logic or any crap like that- because you see someone, and you refuse to let the world take HER, too!"

All eyes were on Scavenger now. She hated this sort of attention, being the center of the crowd. When everyone was staring at you, because you weren't acting like them, because you weren't LIKE them. Crossing her arms, the tiny bits of fur on her ears bristled, she retells a story to the open air.

"There's a girl in my old village. Or, was, doesn't matter now. Sweetest girl you've ever met, soft hands and a sharp tongue. She was the kind who didn't take shit, but didn't give back any either. Whatever she saw in a junkyard rat like me, I've no idea, but she... tolerated me. Said she didn't mind me."

Slowly, her pinned ears unflatten, her eyes turning to a spot on the floor away from everyone.

"Then I got infected. They told me to go, I went. I was too angry to think, too hotheaded to realize what'd happen if I'd follow their orders like a good little sheep." Her expression tightens again, tail flicking about like the lash of a whip. "THAT'S your selflessness right there. 'The good of the many'... Screw the many. If I could turn back time, fight them all just to see her, I would've. I would."

"Scavenger..." Provence begins, only to get interrupted by a wave of Scavenger's hand.

"I don't want your pity. Not an apology from the kid, either. I'm just telling you the truth. Love's selfish, love's stupid." She jabs a finger in Highmore's direction, eyes blazing. "You'll get hurt, you'll hurt others. If that's selfish, then send me straight down to hell, because that's the point, isn't it? You're fighting so your own little bright spot doesn't get dragged down into the dirt like the rest of the world. You're fighting so..."

You don't end up like me.

A somber silence wraps around everyone in the room. Provence gives her a gentle pat on the back...

Launching Scavenger straight across the room like an overwound jack-in-the-box. 

She soars very ungracefully through the air, before making a face-first landing onto the training mats. She dazedly blinks for a few moments before shaking herself off, then roaring back out of embarassment. "Give me a warning next time! You damn near gave me a heart attack! It felt like a damn ghost had floated up from her grave and-"

"... Ghost?"

"Gah! Nevermind! Just forget everything I just said!"

"But it seems very important to you?!"

This awkward exchange went on and on, even as it slipped into the background. Watching it all unfold from a distance, Mizuki turned to Highmore. "What are you thinking about?"

"We might have more in common than I initially believed." Highmore looks away towards the floor, then the very interesting conversation half a room away, anywhere but into his gaze. "I am not the only one to have regrets. Sometimes... that is difficult to remember."

Something curls around her arm, feeling the corrupted leather. Without looking at Mizuki's tentacle, Highmore gently pushes the feeler away.

"Never mind me. For today, I've spent enough time sulking." She takes a shaky breath, before giving the question back to him. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

That was a difficult question. Frowning, Mizuki scratches his head, slightly tilting the cap to the right. "No, not this time. There were too many strange answers to make sense of it all. Love is music and feelings and sensations... But does that mean that if I lie in some hay with someone, they'll protect me? Or if I sing really well, people will want to do things for me? And all those things Scavenger said about Love being hurting and being hurt and helping... Do you get it, Highmore...?"

Her hand instinctively goes for her arm again. But this time, it's a bit smoother to the touch. Looking back, she sees broken pieces of coral littering the training mats behind them, snapped off from the infection. "It's hard to explain... But I think you won't find your answer today."

"But I'm closer now than I was before. And if you fall in love first, you can just tell me how it goes!" Mizuki casually declares, then picks out another apple from the basket. 

"You don't want it?"

"You came with me all this way, so you deserve something too." He rolls the apple in his hands playfully, before stretching it back towards her. "And besides. It would be a shame if I was the only one to taste it, right?"

She accepts. Using both hands, Highmore splits the apple apart, then hands Mizuki one of the halves with her human arm. Grazing her fingers, Mizuki takes it, only to bounce back an unsaid question.

But of course- the infected arm was holding the second half. She looks down it's revulsing purple, then back into his eyes.

They're the same purple, weren't they?

She takes a breath, then bites into the apple. It tasted just as sweet from either hand.

Adaptation and discovery. Maybe, in this way, the humans and the seaborn really weren't all too different.

Watching this entire scene from a distance, Provence looks at Scavenger.

"So, are they..."

Scavenger shakes her head. "Hell if I know."