That day Leo brought back strange food that Elliot had never seen before, it looked like no fish Elliot had ever seen, with many long strands of flesh, that wrapped around him as he held it. Leo insisted that he try it, to which the avian did. Surprisingly, the mer was right. The strange thing was delicious, and Elliot ate all of it without another comment. It was slimy going down, not like a lot of meat he'd had before, but it was delicious, so Elliot didn't care.
They listened to the music box after that, Leo all but forcing Elliot to wind it up, stating that his hands were too big, and that if he did it, the thing would probably break. It occurred to Elliot at that point, that the mer had probably never heard the music box before that, and that was a nice thought. Leo's thorough inspection of the little thing when it started playing, seemed to confirm his theory. They listened to it several times, talking about what the song sounded like to both of them, and Leo related how he'd found it. He'd been brought to it by the music, almost spellbound by it. Though after he'd found it, he'd never figured out how to make it do it again. He'd always suspected the metal wind-up on the back had something to do with it, but was to worried about breaking it to really experiment. In response to the story, Elliot wound up the music box again, and watched Leo glow at the sound it made.
Later, when Elliot had gotten back to his writing, Leo returned with more normal looking fish, of which Elliot had one before saying something about being over fed, to which Leo teased him, but it wasn't mean, and Elliot found that even though he got a little heated about it, he didn't get angry.
Next on their agendas was water, and this time around, Elliot requested two pots full. The first one, he drank while Leo waited. Then he sent up the pot again for Leo to scavenge some more snow. The second pot, he took a few sips out of, then placed it down, mostly full, on the cave floor for later.
Leo came back to return the rope, but then quickly left. When he did come back, it was starting to get darker, and the oranges of sunset where illuminated on the back of the cave wall, shining through the hole at the top. Perhaps more importantly, Elliot had finished his writing, and was surveying his work when Leo returned. The two of them spent what was left of the evening, with the story. Elliot got it started, making sure to check his notes often, and found that telling it wasn't nearly as hard as he had anticipated. Leo was a good audience, but also an inquisitive one. When something didn't make sense, or Leo had general questions, he'd stop Elliot to ask them. This set off Elliot's rhythm some, and he got a little irritated by it, but he found that the more questions he answered, and the more minor points they argued about, that the more normal it felt to interact with the mer.
Elliot turned in with the sun, but before he did, Leo had him wind-up the music box once more. Drowsy already, Elliot agreed to it, but fell asleep before the song had completed. He remembered hearing some sort of splash before entirely drifting off, but in the morning, it seemed more like a figment of his imagination than anything else.
-\|/-
Short chapter. Next one will be longer.
To Raq: Thank you so much for your continued support! I'm glad they still feel in character, it's something I'm trying hard to maintain! And your English is quite good, don't worry~