|Ā @empathetic-botanist
He knew of water; knew the way it passed between his fingers as he waded still in a deep pool, knew the way the crimson of Elisaās dress swirled within its currents like blood, knew its healing waves and whispers and the solidity he felt when upon its surface he lingered. Water was all he had ever known. But when he searched the depths now he could find no sign of Elisa amongst the darkness, found no comfort in its mystifying warmth. Oftentimes even searching upon what land he could find was fruitless; but sometimes, he found things. Peculiar things. Big hunks of machinery he did not recognise that groaned and moaned and he did not like them very much, so after several inquisitive prods, he had opted to stay away from those great beasts. Wooden chests which held within them no treasures he could steal away.
And sometimes, people.
But he liked some of them more than others.
It was during another endless night of clawing hopelessly into the muddy ground of his waters that again the chuffing sound of a generator penetrated his ears, muffled by the trickling of its breezeless waves. He attempted initially to ignore it, digging with a rising agitation before his curiosity pulled him upwards and through his glassy eyes he saw something shift and move.
He followed it.
A person. A woman. For a hopeful moment he thought that perhaps he had found Elisa in this perplexing new world, but when the plastic moon caught on her skin he recognised with great disappointment that her skin was too dark, her clothes all wrong. But none the less as she pulled open the heavy lid of one of those chests he approached, for maybe this stranger was a kind stranger, like the dark-skinned woman Elisa had sometimes visited him with, been ushered swiftly away by. Maybe she knew them. Maybe she knew him. Tentatively, slowly, the creature breached the surface of the water to peer across its murky surface, and when she silhouette of the stranger did not immediately seem to notice him, he shifted forwards until, with sharp claws, he could pull his way up and onto dry land.
