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Oliver didn't reply right away. He remained fixated on the water, net at ready. Suddenly another dark shape emerged from the rocks, long, hooked tendrils shooting out to snarl the unusual fish, and that was when Oliver lunged. He shoved the net into the water with a splash, reaching deep towards the black body beyond the scattering fish.

Without so much as a squeak the usually timid kid scooped the 'specimen' out of the water and dumped it straight into a waiting bucket. Then he abandoned the net and nearly upset the canoe as he lunged at the bucket with the lid at ready. Tendrils tried to escape, but he put all his weight on the lid until one by one they slithered back into the bucket.

"I think, um... I got them both..." He muttered, waiting until things were still before sliding the bucket forwards and under Claude's seat where the lid had no room to lift.

Oliver finally sat back, pulled out the bag of chips and offered Claude some more like nothing particularly remarkable had just happened.

"I thought so too," Oliver replied, misinterpreting the source of Claude's surprise. "Uh... maybe I was more scared though, Lex kinda threw me into the ocean... That was the first time I saw some of the creepy things that live out here."

He held out the bag of chips for another second or two just to be sure she didn't want any more. They weren't exactly the best chips in the world, which made them perfect for bait alongside his casual snacking.

He blinked, and then leaned over the side of the boat. "You mean um, lobsters and things? I saw a giant crab once that had one huge claw and six little ones, but I didn't have anything to catch it with."

Oliver gave Claude a surprised look. "Me? Wh-what, why? I'm just... um..." The self-conscious anxiety slid right back into place, and the kid needlessly fussed with the bag of chips, the paddle tucked beside his knee, the zipper on his backpack, any excuse to not quite meet Claude's eyes. "Uh, I d-don't think... ah..."

What he meant to say was he had never been able to find too many of those creatures, many preferred deeper waters than where the waves hit the rocks. This would actually be his first opportunity to see some of those things that clung below the tideline.

"B-but then you would get wet..." he finally squeaked out.

Oliver saw her take off her shirt, and despite the clothes underneath, that was his cue to look the other way. Quickly. He had learned that Harley could strip down to her underwear for less reason than this, and it had been enough to undermine his delicate sense of security when it came to other people and the limits of modesty.

When it appeared she was not planning on stripping down further, Oliver peeked just long enough to accept the earrings without actually realizing what they were. That gave him another excuse to mind his own business, examining the gold jewelry before carefully tucking it into a pocket in his coat.

"Um... I-I guess i-it's at least a good time to go in... I think we scared the swimming things away..." Oliver leaned over the gunwale again, there were no fish in sight.

From his safe perch inside the boat, Oliver leaned over to watch Claude dive. The waves blurred her form, but he could see her checking the rocks here and there, getting so much closer to those dark crevasses than he ever would have dared.

Oliver was not a strong swimmer. Living on the Moose River meant his parents had given him enough lessons to keep his head above water should he fall into it's currents, but for most of the year it was too cold to swim in. And for the rest of the year, it was too cold for Oliver to swim in. He had no layer of strong muscle to keep him warm, nor had his metabolism allowed him to process his junk food diet into a decent layer of protective fat.

So when Claude was under for longer than he thought necessary, he leaned over further, trying to see more clearly what she was doing down there. Had she gotten grabbed by something? Was she safe? He wouldn't have thought it possible for anyone to hold their breath that long, except he saw no bubbles rising to the surface in a way that would indicate panic.

Oliver leaned over until the canoe was at an angle and his face was mere inches away from the water.

What greeted him suddenly was not Claude, but a multitude of eyes in an inhuman face. The boy yelped and jerked back so hard he nearly dumped himself backwards out of the canoe. The whole thing rocked violently, and when he reappeared to take the creature both his coat sleeves were soaked up to the elbow along with parts of his hair and shoulders. At least the water in the bottom of the boat would be completely unremarkable once Claude got back in.

Oliver deposited the unusual creature in the second bucket with much more care than he had taken with the first. Peaceful things needed a gentle approach, himself included.

"Oh, that one is... wow," he replied once Claude had pulled herself back in, and turned to show him the starfish. "How did you get that one stuck to you?"

The kid leaned forward and began to slowly remove the creature from it's new perch. It might have been a mostly stationary animal, but it had more going for it than a mere seven arms. Oliver had to poke it several times before it released Claude's shirt from what appeared to be a rasping, beak-like mouth. Starfish weren't supposed to have beaks, but this one most certainly did.

Oliver resolved to think twice before poking anything that could possibly have a mouth near it's mouth ever again.

He held it up to show Claude, his expression wary, but oddly enough, not scared. "I don't think I want to know how it grew a squid beak..."

"Yeah, these are good! I'll have enough even if the tentacle thing eats the fish thing in the first bucket." He gently put the starfish in the same bucket as the conch, which had it's multitude of eyes peering out once again. "More than enough, I only really needed a couple."

He settled back into a secure position on his knees in the canoe, and slid the paddle out.

"Oh, your earrings!" Suddenly remembering the jewelry he had pocketed for safe keeping, Oliver wiped his damp hands on his pants and pulled them out of his pockets. "Here!"