What more are you looking for? Who: Charlene and Roxy Where: Charlene's shed When: Directly following this (Early evening)
Charlene had never really thought about her mortality before. For one, it seemed a silly thing to be concerned about since she still had a few centuries left unless she came out the wrong end of a hunter (which she had already nearly done this year, so she was very nearly certain it could not happen again). For two, it just did not matter. She was going to live for as long as she was going to live because of what she had been born as. There was nothing wrong with that and nothing to really think about. There were some races that she would outlive and others that would carry on long after her bones had been picked clean and lay forgotten at the bottom of the ocean, river or lake that was her last home. Before now she had never paid a terrible amount of attention even to how old she was, the number she had given Roxy was a guess more than anything else. But now? Now as she sat in her shed, playing with her collection of jewelry, she started to wonder if it did matter. It seemed that it matter to Roxy…
The mermaid remembered the look of surprise on the were-penguin’s face on her birthday when she had told her how many candles short she was. That had been a good night and Charlene had not given any more thought to how she had surprised the pink-haired girl. Until a multitude of days had passed without really hearing from her. Or seeing her. Charlene had taken matters into her own hands when she had gone to find Roxy, and it had seemed alright! Then more time had passed without anything until today. Normally, Roxy would come visit her a few times a week without fail, but these past few weeks? She had been too busy. Had Charlene been some sort of landwalker then she would have understood what was happening much better. As it stood she failed to realize how important what had happened at the high school was, or why Roxy was so necessary there.
Sighing, Charlene rolled over onto her back, tugging the fuzzy blanket that was her covering over her as she went. A few rings glittered on her fingers as she studied them in the light, wondering if she should actually wear them or if they might warn fish that she was coming. She was still trying to decide when the door to her shed swung open. Her eyes flicked up, took in the sight of Roxy, and she reached for her notebook. ’Do you think that the glittering from the rings would warn fish I was coming? I think I want to wear them.’ When she turned it around for the penguin to read her face was still and her eyes were calm, as though she had not just been thinking about whether or not her age was going to be too much for the penguin after all. Being a mermaid might not be, but being a mermaid who would live centuries after she died….