#tuz_teaser

Caroline sat down at her desk, sorting through files and forms. She heard the door shut, but didn't notice anyone enter.

“I walked Percy out,” Ryan said from behind her. She frowned for a moment, surely she'd have heard him walk over? “Do you ever think you baby him a bit too much? He is eighteen now, I don’t think he needs constant supervision.”

“No. I don't want to argue about him, Ryan.”

“Of course not,” he perched on the edge of her desk and smiled his vague, childish smile, then grew serious, “I do think he'll be just fine on his own, though. But we don't have to talk about him, or anything if you prefer not to.”

“Well you obviously want to talk about something,” Caroline smiled too – it didn't matter that he wouldn't see it.

“Not really, just thought I'd drop by.”

“Well, you – you've been grinning almost constantly this week, something must be up!” Caroline laughed.

They stood side by side in the breakers, watching the water crash onto itself.

“Stranger,” she said, “Why have you come? Every time we land here, I see you. Even when we were small.”

“My father told me once that there is a ship out there, that docks here once in a blue moon, and on that ship is a girl courted by the ocean itself. I wanted to see her, because if the ocean itself courted her, she must be like an angel.” he shrugged, “I know it's just an old story, but its become a habit.”

“Courted by the ocean itself?”

“Silly, isn't it?”

She smiled.

“Stranger,” she said softly, stealing a glance at him through her eyelashes, “Your years don't show very much, yet I know you are older than I.”

“On the contrary, I'm much younger than you,” he smiled a bit, “I'm seven years old. It's old for my kind, but barely a child to you. You aged those seven years, as did I, but not externally.”

“What are you, stranger?” she asked bluntly, “I don't wish to judge, simply to know.”

“I am a robot, nothing more and nothing less.”

“A seven year old robot.... Do you have a name?”

“Victor Liev. My father tells me it means 'the victorious heir', he's already got one of those but he wanted to leave a legacy in the world of circuits and metal.”

“I'll just call you Victor.”