Penny felt her chest clench seeing the now full expense of the wound. She’d only seen the aftermath of the large gouge in the mers beautiful tail-  the large rivulets of blood streaming to spatter the deck of her boat, staining the beautiful scales that she’d seen glimmer and shift in hue in the depths of the water beneath his entrapment.  Shaky out of nervousness for the no-doubt rarely shared honor of having a wound exposed to her, Penny took deep breaths to clear her mind and shake her nerves.

Working quickly, she kept her hands gentle and her touch light as she could to work efficiently and quickly to keep from startling him or causing any more unease or possible pain from a miss placed touch. “I’m, I’m really sorry you’re hurting. Especially after you saved me-” Quietly clearing her throat there was a brief pause.

She could feel his eyes on her- the strangeness of a gaze unknown but accompanied by the puzzlement Penny knew he was directing towards her and the care she was showing in taking precautions to bandage his wound correctly and protectively. His voice didn’t catch her as off guard as it had the last time he’d spoken since this time Penny was in fact watching him. But she did smile at him, leaning back as to not over crowd him.

“Thank you.” It was said slowly, trying to take care to say it in an understandable way for the both of them- a comforting motion for Penny as the slower syllables made her focus and ignore the nerves tingling at the back of her neck at being exposed to a mer like this in such close quarters when not rescuing one from the traps- and possibly for him at being able to actually understand what she was saying to him. Still it was a brief respite from the tension of pureworry that had been building without Penny even being aware of it, and she was relieved to be able to return to patching up the laceration through his scales. She wanted to relate them to something- the only mineral coming to mind being opal, the shifts of hue and how the colors seemed to dance along the smooth surface almost mystical in their ways. Maybe she was getting a little too into how actually pretty his tail was under the sky- but she wasn’t wrong.

Distracted as she was by returning to the work literally at hand, the smile dawning Penny’s lips stretched wider at feeling the scales be pressed further into her hands. Only human and unaware of the seas customs, she wasn’t sure whether or not this was a sign or trust or good faith, but this little sea fairing human was absolutely going to take it as such, especially since it put him at a much closer length and made her job easier.

However this time she did flinch, albeit unwillingly, when a very large hand caught the seawater drenched curls dangling before her eyes and very carefully tucked it behind her ear. Keeping perfectly still- there was only a small amount of apprehension as Penny looked up at his face, to be met with a gentle countenance that melted away the worry she’d momentarily felt. Tension bled out of her shoulders and the small woman gave him a relaxed smile of her own, softening as he spoke and the gravity of his sentiments weighed on her. This was huge.

Bigger than huge really- and if there was a word to describe Penny’s feelings in that moment-

Honored. Elated? Grateful was definitely in there as well, a tumultuous mixture of all of these swam in her eyes as her hands stilled from their gentle bandaging. It was only fair to return and honor his words.

“I trust you too…” Thumbs softly caressed the untainted scales peeking out from the wrappings. “I promise this will help…and thank you for saving me.” She wasn’t sure if he’d understood that, neither could she remember if she’d already thanked him or not but she blamed that on nearly drowning.

so often did predetermined truths come from the mouths of the sceptical, lithe hands that traverse incandescent scales with only tentative concern speak wreathed tales of humanity he knew not of.  To speak with such unadulterated sincerity, he cannot help but wonder if those below those swirling tides saw the sight before him now, could they cast even slivers of doubt upon her, upon her intentions.  " It is as any would have done." cascading curls find liberation from his grasp, now settled in repose amongst other dampened tresses. momentary reminiscence flourishes beneath his chest, for how it did remind him of the wild and untamed flora that thrived amongst sandy dunes, how beautiful they were, how very much like them she was.

then should Jonathan's gaze leisurely drift across the cavorting waves, colliding with one another, swirling into beauteous artistry despite that incarceration still haunts his memory. if humans could be as she was, then to whom should he blame for those grating iron bars and the suffocating anxiety that had scraped away at his throat; how dreadful should those responsible be as they were christened by his ancestors.  " are all as you are ?" an inquiry that oscillates, as if their tongue still feels unusual to the merman.  it was a contrasting thing, these ideals of humanity, of the foreboding tales of warning to that which he saw with his own two eyes, to perceive which reality was his own proved difficult, depicted in the furrowing of soft dark brows.  

                                        " ... are humans not dangerous."

it proved more of a statement this time as if the apprehension he'd felt before had melted away in her presence, baring that which whirled through his mind was not something to be hindered by such notions of peril -- something about her differed from those expectations.

𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝.                𝐈'𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐮𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐧𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 &. 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝.