Page 56 of Whispers of the Deep

He just glared at the droid like it was the problem. Obviously he wanted something from her. That wasn’t hard to guess. After all, he hadn’t kidnapped her because he wanted to have a human friend, even though she wouldn’t mind if that was the real story.

But she’d forgotten about it. Maybe she’d just tricked herself into thinking that he wanted her to be around him. Just because she was... Mira.

Not that anyone had ever wanted that before. It wasn’t surprising that an undine felt the same. She was just one person in a very large group of people who had been living underneath the ocean for far too long.

The flare of disappointment made her hands tingle again. Rotating her wrists to get rid of the feelings, she winced as pain flared at the movement. She’d been awfully creaky lately. Even her joints ached if she got too cold, but she wasn’t necessarily feeling like she was getting ill. She just... wasn’t herself. That was all.

Maybe it was the fear of what might happen under the ocean. She was so close to the water now, even the slightest wave made her jolt awake, certain that something was reaching for her.

They’d even swum by a giant squid who had an eye the size of a dinner plate. She refused to see one of those on her own without Arges to bare his teeth at it and watch as it slowly drifted away.

Byte noticed her movements. It clicked, shifting the box to look at her a little more clearly. “Are you feeling all right?”

Now they were both staring at her again, and god damn it. This wasn’t about her! She was fine, just a little sore from all the moving around, and they would not change the subject.

“I’m fine,” she snapped, pointing at the droid, then the undine. “You know far more than you’re letting on. And you are not telling me everything which I don’t appreciate. I should be allowed to help with these decisions! We wouldn’t even be able to see what Byte has seen without me.”

Arges said something, and that made her even more frustrated. She wanted to understand him. She didn’t want to feel like this delicate little pet he had to keep moving around the ocean because he didn’t know where she would be best suited to live.

“This is ridiculous,” she snarled. “Everything about this is ridiculous! Why don’t the two of you pick where we’re going, then? Just like always. And I’ll stand here, staring at the wall to give you privacy.”

She stomped the two steps away from them that she could, crossed her arms over her chest, and stared at the stones.

Yes, it was childish.

She knew she was overreacting, and they had every right to laugh at her antics. But for fuck’s sake, she was a grown ass woman, and she just wanted to be alone for a few seconds. But she couldn’t get away from these two for even enough time to pee by herself!

Cheeks flaming, heart racing in her chest with anxiety and anger, she bit her lip and tried very hard not to cry. This was hard. That was the thought she eventually landed on. All of this was really hard.

She was hungry. Exhausted. Needed something other than fucking fish to eat, because she was so god damned tired of fish and mussels. Her stomach constantly clenched for something fibrous, and that had made even more embarrassing moments between herself, the undine, and the droid that she couldn’t avoid.

She missed her bed, and not feeling wet all the time, and not having her fingers and toes peeling because she spent so much time in the water. She wanted a fucking hairbrush.

Anything that would remind her she wasn’t totally buried underneath the sea and that she wasn’t supposed to be here.

It just... sucked.

Everything about this sucked right now, and she was so fucking tired.

“Mira?” Byte asked. “Would this suffice?”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” she bit out, before grumbling, “Everything so far has been just fine.”

Why was she acting like this? She wanted to get ahold of herself and be better than this. Nothing was going her way, and that was okay. She would make it. She would survive this like she had survived everything else, because that was what she did. Survived. No matter what the cost.

A cold, wet hand slid around her ankle and gave it a little squeeze.

Even though she had to bite the inside of her lip hard so she didn’t cry, she still looked down at Arges.

He lifted a hand to his mouth, as if he thought she was angry because she was hungry. Wasn’t that just like a man to think food would fix her bad mood? Like it had nothing to do with him stealing her away from her home and then sticking her in cold, damp caves for weeks on end? She was going to die like this.

But she nodded, so she didn’t have to say any of that. So he wouldn’t think she was losing her mind in the darkness, like she was. And maybe a little because she wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

He sank underneath the water, and the blue light of his body disappeared out of sight. He’d taken to lighting up every time he saw her, probably so she could see him easier in the water and she knew that was for her benefit, but still it...

“Ugh,” she muttered, sinking onto her bottom and sitting on the ground finally. “This sucks.”

Byte muttered something before saying, “Please do not take this the wrong way, Miss Mira. But when was the last time you had your menstrual cycle?”

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