Rainy Days *Evra/Open*

[rayne4]

Marina listened to the steady fall of rain outside her tent, everything was soaked, if she even took a step out of hers, she'd get her tail in an instant. So, she decided to stay inside, in the comfort of her tank, lazily staring around. She had nothing better to do. She couldn't walk over to another tent to talk to others, and she didn't know anyone very well yet either. She was somewhat of an outcast still, but that was okay with her, she was one of the newest members, if she wasn't the newest.

Days like this always ended up with Marina sleeping the day away, simply because she couldn't go outside or do things normal people could. She ended up being the girl who has a problem with the rain, even though it looked so tempting through the watery perception she she had of it. Her wavy blonde and aquamarine hair floated about her freely, the water was relatively still, as the only movement was of her hands or the occasional flip of her tail. She twisted over onto her stomach and flipped her tail about, playing with the smooth marbles she had dumped at the bottom of her tank. She thought they were amusing, and many resembled fish eggs, which reminded her of home.

"I wish the rain would stop, it's so boring being in here all alone, wasting my youth away."[/b] She muttered, watching the bubbles float out of her mouth and to the surface. Marina wanted to read, but books didn't really survive water. So she had to settle for what her dealings were: a tank filled with marbles and a few shells. She glanced out of the glass at the small brown chest sitting by the grey couch at the window. Inside was a picture of her mother and father, and a string of pearls that once belonged to her mother. If she could bring anything back, it would be her parents.

She sighed again and went back to running her hands along the smooth texture of the marbles, waiting for something interesting to happen.

[evra]

By the steady patter of rain on the tent canvas it looked like today would be a day spent inside with little to do. At least everyone would have nothing to do so they could talk. Evra pushed open the tent flap and walked outside, the water soaking his hair but sliding smoothly off his scales. It didn't bother him very much. He walked down the line of tents and paused beside the one belonging to the new girl.

As far as he knew she never came out of her tent when it rained, and by the silence there was nobody else inside it with her. Well, that wouldn't do. The snake-boy didn't know if that meant she wouldn't want to talk but there was only one way to find out. He always tried to talk to everyone and make people feel welcome, since it wasn't very long ago at all that he was in her shoes. They were the same age and he was always curious about people and trying to make new friends. Reaching out a scaled hand he attempted to knock. "Hello?" he called out after a pause and stuck his head inside.

[rayne4]

Marina continued with tapping on the marbles, her head resting on her other hand. It was her normal bored look-tail swishing and silent. But she couldn't help it, it was either stay in the comfort of her tank, or risk the embarrassment of trying to go outside. Besides, trying to get back to her tank with a huge fish tail isn't very easy. The gills behind her ears, now visible as her hair was floating above her head, twitched slightly as she took a deep breath.

He heard somewhat of a voice, but it was hard to distinguish under water. Her tail twitched side to side before looking up from the marbles scattered across the bottom of her tank. Surely someone wasn't in there with her, no one came inside her tent, and it was normally for the best. She was always a fish girl in the comfort of her little tent. Marina was brought up with the knowledge that land walkers didn't associate with the ocean swimmers, it simply wasn't done. But that was what she got for coming from an aristocratic fish family.

She looked to the entrance of her tent. Through the water and the glass of the tank she could make out a greenish colored hand. She squinted to get a closer view, but underwater that was hard. Marina swam to the top of her tank and rested at the top. She inhaled through her mouth and blinked. "Uh, come in?"[/b] She replied, feeling slightly foolish.

[evra]

At the voice from inside the snake-boy walked the rest of the way inside. The first thing he noticed was the large tank of water and the fish tail on the girl inside, covered in scales not too unlike his own. Evra smiled. "Nice tail." He looked around, feeling a bit foolish himself. He hadn't wanted to interrupt her or anything and was still a bit awkward around people sometimes. "It sounded like you were alone, so I just thought I'd visit." he tried to explain, and walked over to the tank. He didn't think they'd properly met yet. "I'm Evra." he introduced himself, looking at the fish-girl and waiting. Evra had hoped to get to know her but would leave if she would rather be by herself.

[rayne4]

She watched as the green-skinned boy walked into her tent. The first thing she noticed was the way he looked at her tail, she still wasn't used to people looking at it, where she was from it was so normal, nobody cared to acknowledge it was there. She swished it about, feeling slightly awkward. She rubbed her soaked shoulder and shrugged. "Thanks."[/b] She replied, quite meekly.

He was definitely right about it sounding like she was alone. Not only was she alone, but it could sound like no one was in her tent at all, the only sound that anyone could actually hear from outside the tent was the gentle splash of water as it hit the sides of her tank.

When he walked closer to her tank, she noticed that it wasn't simply skin, it was scales. That was new, she hadn't met a land walker with scales. She ran her hand across her tail, scratching at it slightly, it had the tendency to itch when it was exposed to air. She pushed herself under the water a bit, diving under for a moment to catch her breath, it was hard transitioning from water to the air. She took his hand and shook it, hers slightly slippery. "I'm Marina."[/b] She smiled, accidentally slipping out mid-handshake a d her grip on the side of the tank slipping too, falling completely under the water and smacking her tail against the glass facing Evra trying to get back to the air.

She raised up and coughed up a bit of water she unexpectedly inhaled. "Sorry, I'm a fish out of water."[/b] She replied, quite embarrassed.

[evra]

Evra nodded, taking Marina's hand to shake it as well. When she slipped he let it be pulled a little to touch the water; he would've helped her up. But before he could she was hitting the glass underwater. The snake-boy didn't really have the bad parts of a snake's personality. He would never laugh at anyone in a mean way, but couldn't resist a harmless giggle at the sight. However it was gone by the time she came back up. "It's alright." he said with a grin. "Though you look more like a fish in water." he looked over the deep tank she was in and the general wetness of the place. Evra knew what she meant though. She wasn't used to living like this.

[rayne4]

Marina nodded sheepishly. She never really had the opportunity to grip the edges of the tank, as she never had to come up to the surface. But she couldn't complain, it was nice to have company.

She swished her tail around in the water, grazing the marbles. Her hair was a log blonde and aquamarine mass floating around her. But that was the trouble of having long hair. Truth was, she wasn't supposed to cut it, so it would eventually grow so long she would have to go back to into the ocean and claim her dead mother's title, or cut it and never return. Either way had complications.

"So, what brings you here Evra? It's raining, I thought everyone would be inside."[/b] She said, listening to the gentle patter of the rain overhead.

[evra]

Well, wet as her tent was he was inside now. Evra hadn't been outside for very long, but he didn't see the rain as a reason to stay in one tent. He shrugged. "Nothing really. I don't mind the rain." The snake-boy had just gone out to find someone to talk to or something to do and stopped by Marina's tent. He'd wanted to get acquainted with the new girl but other than that it was completely random. The snake-boy didn't know what else to say at this point, so didn't. He was good at understanding people and such and being willing to talk but did not happen to be one of the few who were gifted in the art of starting conversations.

[rayne4]

Marina laughed. If only she could run around in the rain, it seemed fun in those moving pictures, people running and kissing and fighting, all in the rain. Land walkers must have really liked rain. She had to fear it, there were alot of things she had to fear. But she didn't really want her fears to always be a block for her, there were more important things.

She leaned on her tank and looked out the tent. "Evra? What's it like to be out in the rain?"[/b] That might have seemed like a stupid question to a land walker, but she never got to experience it, and if they liked it as much as they did, obviously there was something special about it.

[evra]

What kind of a question was that? Evra blinked, not sure how to answer, then felt a bit sorry for her as it meant she could never do something so ordinary as ever feel the rain. It wasn't something he had ever thought about before, so it required some thought now. He searched for something to compare it to that she would understand. Taking a shower? No, she wouldn't even be able to do that. "Nothing special really, or people wouldn't always avoid it. It's like getting splashed, only the water comes from above and doesn't stop. You get completely soaked and its hard to see." Maybe it was a stupid answer and not a stupid question, but he didn't know what else to say about it.

[rayne4]

Marina rested her head on her hands as she listened. It wasn't really the answer she had hoped for, but she had a tendency to get her hopes sometimes. She sank back in her tank and looked at him. "But, what about in the moving pictures?[/b] Marina asked, half-heartedly.

She sank under the water and looked at the ripples on the surface. She hugged herself and smiled at the surface, imagining rain splashing on the smooth ocean. "All my life, I've imagined what it would be like, just to stand on the ground and get soaked by the rain without turning into a fish."[/b] She said, watching the air bubbles float onto the surface. She tugged at a strand of aquamarine hair and laughed underwater.

[evra]

Evra got the sense that she was disappointed but didn't know what else to add. Why would she want to hear that rain was wonderful if she couldn't experience it? He thought saying it wasn't would make her feel better. "I think the moving pictures make everything look better than it is." Or so that's what he had heard. That life wasn't like the movies. Was it bad that he practically hadn't seen any? The Cirque Du Freak couldn't carry around a TV. And before that, well, he'd never had a normal life. Being here was the closest it got.

He wasn't sure what to say to what she said next. What happened to her seemed like more of a curse than any of the others the way she said it. But it was true in a sense for him as well. Evra was happy at the Cirque Du Freak and now liked how he was. But that couldn't stop him from wondering what life might have been like if he had only looked like a normal person. He would have had a family and gone to school and lived in a house, growing up like a child and not attracting stares, not having these scars. Eh. 'Normal' people suck. It might have been so much better but then he wouldn't have found his way here.

There was that saying, the grass was always greener on the other side. "Me too.. well, not that, but being normal." He stared off into the space between them for a moment.

[rayne4]

She laughed at what he said, it was, in a way, quite funny. She came back up to the surface and hung her arms over the tank, tapping in the glass with her naturally blue, hard, scale nails. "Would you believe, that just a little over a month ago I was normal? Well at least I was normal in the ocean."[/b] Marina paused to peer over and try to look at his neck. "Do you have gills, Evra? You'd fit in just fine in the Mediterranean. There's alot of guys there with scales like you, all over their body. My cousin does, but his legs are fins instead of land walker legs."[/b] She continued with a light chuckle. She pulled back and hung her tail off the side of the tank, reclining much like a human would in a lawn chair.

She flipped her fin back and forth for a moment, sharing the silence. It wasn't exactly an awkward silence, rather a very peaceful silence, except for the splash of the water against the tank walls. Marina began to wonder what it was like to be like Evra, what if he wasn't accepted as a child? She couldn't imagine what her life would be like if she never had the feeling of truly belonging somewhere. She looked over to him again, the scales and all. At least he seemed happy here.

[evra]

Evra hadn't meant to say anything funny this time, but oh well. He listened to Marina with interest. She used to be normal? That meant there were more people like her. He didn't know until now that there was a community of real merpeople living in the ocean. "Oh." The next question took him a bit by surprise. "Gills?" he laughed. "Nope." Nothing fishy about him as far as he knew. He didn't even know how to swim. The idea of fish-people that he resembled enough to pass for was intriguing, but there was no way he would ever join them. Unless he fell off a boat and drowned someday. What a thought.

[rayne4]

She listened, and shrugged slightly. In a way it was a pity, she was nearly certain his scales would shimmer in the water. That's what Marina missed about the ocean, the way everything seemed to glisten and sparkle. With a shrug she slipped free of her reclining position and swung her fin over the edge, dangling onto floor, watching the specks of water hit the floor.

"Sadly I'm not as fantastical when I've got my land walker legs. Nothing really special then, but it's convenient."[/b] Marina said with a slight chuckle, imagining herself trying to get around on land with simply her fin. She prodded at the area where the smooth skin met the slippery texture of the scales. "Sometimes I wonder why I got the qualities of a fish and a girl, why couldn't they just choose? Fish? Or girl? It isn't that complicated, and it would make my life so much easier."[/b] She muttered, pulling herself back into the tank and sitting sideways under the surface.