Lapis Lazuli smiled and approached the edge again, observing Peridot's reaction. To be truthful, it was the first time that she had ever met a human. She had heard so many bad things about them from her family, her friends, and the rest of their colony. But this girl seemed nice. She hadn't attacked her, hadn't forcefully pulled her out of the water, hadn't run.. Yet. And really, she seemed just as lonely as she did.
"This isn't a joke... Is it?" she double checked with the girl in the water. Was there a group of girls laughing at her right now? Was this just some really well prepared prank? Lapis shook her head with her sweet smile. "But... H-how?" She mumbled. This went against everything she knew, there was proof they were just a myth. Mermaids scientifically couldn't exist. "Are there... Many of you?"
"In my colony? We're about fifty. I heard there are a few colonies around the world. I've never met them though," She rested her arms on the rock, looking up at Peridot who stared back at her with a slight blush. "We stay away from humans, though. Humans haven't been too kind to us."
"So why are you here talking to me?"
"You looked like you could use some company," the other girl frowned slightly. Did she look like she needed company? She scoffed. She didn't need anyone, she was just fine on her own. "Besides, you're not as bad as they make you out to be."
"You've seen nothing. Humans are terrible, we judge each other by appearances, beliefs and sexual orientations and we spread war for money and power over others."
"But you're not."
Peridot paused. Was that a compliment? Was a mermaid complimenting her of all people? She concluded that her kind must have low expectations. It was the only way she could ever receive a compliment. "I might not be terrible, but I'm not nice." The other girl's face straightened and looked at her with utter seriousness.
"You are nice. You haven't done anything bad to me."
"Fft maybe not to you, but from other people's input I'm not that pleasant to be around." She grumbled. "They call me pretentious, grumpy and antisocial. Which is utter nonsense, I'm just confident in my knowledge, and selective with my relationships." She gestured as she explained. What others saw as her flaws, were to her, her qualities.
"In my colony, they believe that intelligence and the separation from others are important for one's true potential to be reached. So, everything that I'm hearing about you is good Peridot." Peridot felt butterflies in her belly as she heard her name roll off the other girl's tongue. She made it sound so nice. She wondered how such a thing was possible, it was just a name. She'd already heard her name pronounced different ways by many people, so why would her's make her feel like this? She shrugged it off and disregarded her remark. It was probably nothing anyway.
"Well, it sounds like a nice place, but electronics don't function in water so I wouldn't fit in there either." She raised a brow and laughed a bit "I don't fit in anywhere it seems." Lapis smiled sadly at her. She reached for her hand, but Peridot moved it away from her reach. Lapis took it badly and moved hers back, she was only trying to be compassionate. Maybe humans weren't like that?
"Well, that makes two of us then. I don't quite fit in at home either. They're a bit too set on their traditions."
Peridot pulled her feet out of the water and sat cross legged, getting her shorts a little wet. She other girl looked at her with a smile before pushing away from the edge "Give me a moment." She sunk slightly before using her tail to propel herself up so that she could dive under. Peridot watched as the slender body submerged itself, revealing her light blue tail fins. After a few seconds, she could no longer see her silhouette beneath the water, and she let herself calm down a bit, releasing the tension that had built up in her shoulders.
This experience was intellectually weird to her. She still had trouble believing that this Lapis Lazuli was a Mermaid, and that there were more like her. Science had proven that they couldn't possibly exist, for example, that human type bodies couldn't live in the freezing temperatures of the deep sea. But maybe it was something the government was hiding from them ? No, conspiracies weren't her thing.
After a few minutes, Lapis Lazuli returned to the surface with a bright smile. "Here, it's for you," she brought her hands out from under the water, revealing a large ribbed cantharus seashell. Peridot timidly took it from her, returning the smile, though not as wide as hers. "In our colony, giving someone a seashell is a symbol of friendship and trust." Peridot gulped.
"You want to be friends... With me?" she asked. It was rare that people tried being friends with her, really rare. No one ever found her likable enough to consistently hang around with her. She had one or two, but they were people that either she knew since she was a child, or who just sort of... Happened. In any case, those weren't exactly voluntary friendships from the other party.
"Of course I do, you've been good to me." Lapis gave her a light nod to accentuate her words. Her own people weren't exactly the nicest to her, and she was glad that she found someone that was kind to her. Even if she was someone on land. She'd risk visiting her every day if she had to. Peridot looked at her red faced. Someone genuinely wanted to be friends with her, she was at a loss of words.
"I, uhh, I-" she stuttered "I need to go home," She turned slightly to grab her shoes and slipped them back onto her feet. "I've been out too long, my parents are probably worried." She lied. She knew that her mother would of probably forgotten she even went out. She stood up and gave her a forced smile.
"I'll come by tomorrow at the same time."
"Y-yeah" She turned around and took a step, stumbling on a rock, she nervously laughed and continued her march towards her holiday home. As she reached the sandy part of the beach, she turned to see her new friend gone. She turned around and nodded to herself. There was a slight chance that she had gone crazy.
