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(This is a private RP between YCRM, Djnn, and whichever betas they decide to involve. Right now on my part, that includes Aeryna)

It started with Aeryna keeping to herself, as it always did. Why the nitemare beta felt a need to antagonize the poor girl no one knew, and Manny often chose to do so when one of the other males in the tanks weren't around, knowing that they'd come to her rescue and ruin her fun. So today he had rigged a large octopus ink sac over the entrance to her section of the tank, tilted in such a way that the motion of her approach through the water would cause it to tip, ideally over her head.

Of course, not all plans went as they should, and this particular time the sac tipped early, Aeryna's movements having caused it to stir before she actually came upon it, causing it to disgorge its inky black contents into a swirling mass, where it spread as if reaching for the girl. Any sane person has only one reaction to what appears to be a strange shadow-beast attempting to capture them: Turn fin and swim away!

What she lacked in courage she made up for in speed, swiftly cutting through the water and out of the tanks. Heart beating furiously in her ears, Aeryna didn't think to stop at the outskirts of where she lived with the rest of YCRM's group, simply propelled herself further and faster than she ever had before. It wasn't until she ran headlong into an outcropping of coral that she finally stopped, realizing that this wasn't at all some place she knew.

Her eyes widen, and she looks around herself cautiously. As certain as she can be, she realizes that she is good and lost.

A chill crawled over Aeryna's skin and she shivered, then moved her hands up to rub at her arms. While looking about apprehensively, her eye caught movement from the rocks. When she made out the figure of the other girl, her first instinct was to flee again, find somewhere to hide, but fortunately her common sense thought better of that idea. After all, if Aeryna was lost, how else would she find her way back if not with the help of someone else?

Cautiously she approached the girl on the rocks, eyes taking in the sight of the flower in the other one's hand. It was a good sign that she wasn't tearing the petals off, as Lana often did, right? Aeryna's voice at first was soft, hesitant, and could probably have been easily missed if there had been any other noise going on. "Er, miss...?"

"Erm, y-yes..." The sudden question, when Aeryna had just been gearing up for one of her own, threw her off guard for a moment. At the other girl's smile, however, she managed a shy one of her own. This isn't so bad... "Yes, it's very... pretty..." This girl, while resembling both herself and Lana, seemed neither overly hesitant nor painfully promiscuous.

She couldn't quite bring herself to ask that ever important question, though. It seemed too much a bother right now. Besides, if she found out where to go, wouldn't that mean having to leave this girl, and be alone again, heading back through who knew what to get to YCRM's tanks?

It seemed so different when she heard it put that way. Taking another look around her, Aeryna tried to see the world through the other girl's eyes, as a place of beauty and wonder so amazing that even when totally lost, one could take a moment to enjoy it, and not be terrified at the thought of being so far from home.

And then she remembered that she had been asked a question, and one that she had no answer for at that. With a solemn shake of her head, Aeryna replied, "No... I swam here so quickly that I did not see which way I came..." Then came the startled realization that she was here, talking to a complete stranger, and not feeling the slightest bit afraid. Of the stranger, at least. What was it about this girl that made her feel safer than when she was at home?

Her shy smile returned again, and this time she offered a bit of conversation without prompting. "I think... Josh might like this place."

"There was something..." The thought of that se black thing, whatever it was, was enough to give Aeryna chills all over again, and she swam closer to the other girl, a nervous glance over her shoulder. As she settled onto a rock, not quite beside Patience, but close, Aeryna let herself think of one of the newer males in the tank.

"Josh is... My brother? No..." She paused, then continued. "He is a tank-mate. He usually looks out for me." Patience's pulling of the petals made her think of Lana again, but it wasn't at all the same way the green-eyed female would do it, yanking them off viciously and all that. "He tells me that I shouldn't be so afraid of things..."

Aeryna looked in both directions that Patience had just looked, but really couldn't figure out which one looked familiar. She gnawed thoughtfully at her lower lip, then remarked, "Maybe you? You were wandering, I was fleeing..." She wasn't certain how to continue that train of thought.

Oh, how she wished Josh were here! He would never get lost like this. Even Maniel would probably know how to find his way home. The thought of the nitemare beta caused a tiny furrow to appear, right between Aeryna's eyebrows.

"...Love?" It took her a moment to comprehend the question; since she had been thinking about Maniel, positive emotions were the furthest from her mind. A slight smile, shy and amused, when she finally replied, "He is like my brother, and he... He's waiting for someone, he says."

She didn't seem to be disappointed at this. "Do you... Love someone?" It felt strange asking something so personal of a beta she had only just met, but Aeryna felt like it would be all right to do so.

"I am Aeryna." She thought a moment, then added, as Patience had, "Sometimes Mem calls me Ry, so I guess that's okay..." One of her hands strayed over to the flower, touching it gently where the petals were missing.

"You seem to be very much like your name." Almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Aeryna blushed; it didn't seem like it was the sort of thing you just went around saying to someone.