A boy at a Halloween party needs a bit more of a

Nudge.

They land in a bathroom, or perhaps a bathing-room.  Luxurious, the size of a small pool or a very large hot tub.  On opposite sides, one in the water and one out.

This water is so much warmer than the water she was in just a second ago!!  Which is good because that was starting to get to her.  And it's so bright in here!!!!  She can see all of her new body even though her eyes are so much worse for seeing in the dark.  She leans against the wall of the pool (with its straight straight smooth surface!!) and tries to pick up a foot to get a closer look at it.  She falls over.

. . . he's too drunk for this.  Where the hell is he.  How did he end up here without anyone else except a naked girl.  - A really young-looking girl, Jesus.

She gets a bunch of water up her nose.  It's not pleasant.

But she can exhale it back out and then ✧look at her feet.✧

Is she drowning?  She doesn't really look like she's drowning.

Her feet are very cool but even knowing humans need to breathe air she finds herself needing it sooner than she expected.  She didn't have to dip back under the water that often as a mermaid.  It's fine, she can swim to the surface, and gasp, and - okay, she's not really sure how to stand back up - this smooth smooth wall is very slippery and she can't grab onto it well enough to support her weight -

Okay yeah looks like it's time to go lend a helping hand.  Won't do either of them any good if he falls in, though, so he walks around the edge of the water rather than running.  He lies, belly-down, on the floor, and grabs at her arms until his grip is solid enough to set her on her feet.

She blinks at him.

"You alright?"

Blink.

. . . He blinks back.

"Do you want out of the pool?"

She pulls at his arms.

"Dude.  Is that a yes or a - ow -"

(Cyllene tugs hard at the 'yes'.)

". . . Kay.  Hup."  And he lifts her out, with considerable difficulty which is not helped by the fact that she's naked and also looks fifteen and he's going to get in so much legal trouble for the rest of his life if anyone sees this.

She sits on the edge of the pool and smiles at him, grabbing at her toes.

Thank fucking god there's a stack of towels over there.  He unfolds one out and drops it over her, and then adds another one around her shoulders.

She is delighted by the towels.

Weirdo.  It's cute but there's way too much going on for him to appreciate it.

"So what's your deal, kid?"

Blink.

". . . You talk?"

"Ahuh.  Uh, but you can hear, right - do you sign?"  He fingerspells out 'd-o y-o-u s-i-g-n' quite clumsily and with several mistakes.

She excitedly tries to mimic some of the letters but does an even worse job.

"Okay so that's a no . . .  Do you - let's see if we can find you some paper."

". . . Well come on then."

She wiggles on the floor in his direction, swimming-like.

Can she also not walk.  Ughhh.  - Wait.  Fuck.  "You got a name, kid?  Uh, that you can . . . convey?"

She mouths 'Cyllene'.

He didn't catch that but it wasn't Ariel, at least.  "Cool.  Uh, if you stay here, I'll?  Go look for some paper?"

She mouths yeah.

"Cool."  And off he heads.

Cyllene investigates her towels (soft!!) and her toes (stubby!) and her hands (unwebbed! unclawed!) while she waits.

The guy who enters the bathing-room next is not the guy who left her!

". . . Hello, I didn't know we were expecting anyone new."

Slightly nervous silent giggle.

"When did you get here?'

". . . What's your name?"

Ssss-aiiiii-llllllll-eeeee-nnnnn.

"Didn't quite catch that."  He drapes his bathrobe over a nearby chair and wades down the bath's steps.

- Steps??  Oh, steps!  Probably those will mean she can get back out easily enough if she goes watering again.  She scoots over to a nearby chair and mirrors the draping with her towels and then slides in.

One wall of the bath has a bench ledge; he sits on it.

Clever!!  Cyllene follows, but not very close to him (mmm warm).

Mmm, warm.

"My name's Silas," he notes after a bit.

- Oh right yes Cyllene will go back and forth with him until he pronounces her name correctly.

"Cyllene!  Pretty.  Where are you from?"

. . . She sort of pat-tickles the surface of the water.

"Fair enough.  I'll ask someone later.  Have you always not had a voice or did you lose it doing something cool?"

"Nice."  It turns out the bath has jets; he flicks them on and starts to sudsing up.

For a moment she's startled but then she discovers that this is approximately the best thing ever.  Sure, she'll copy the sudsing up; she has a little trouble with the parts involving standing but does manage it.

Meanwhile, the first guy is wandering around looking for paper.

Someone else finds him first, but she mostly ignores him.

Is he still at the costume party.  Where did everyone else go, then?  And how the hell did he get here; is there an entire secret wing of this house.

"Uh, 'scuse me - "

Does no one here talk.

"There's this like, minor girl, in like a pool, and she can't talk I guess, so I was looking for some paper?

"What's your name."

"Uh.  Ariel."

"And last?"

"X."

"I see."  She reaches into a nearby cupboard and pulls out a notebook - on second inspection a strange one; it's bound up the longer edge and the lines run parallel to that.  She doesn't hand it to "Ariel" but starts walking in the direction he came.

That's fine; he'll follow.

Cyllene was not a fan of the way shampoo made her hair feel but now after the conditioner it is SO SMOOTH.  Her hair has never felt as smooth and soft and good as this.  These people are definitely onto something.

Ariel enters, turns towards a wall, throws a hand over his eyes, and points flamboyantly behind him.  "That's her."

"You wanted me to bring her paper in the bath?"

"She wasn't in the bath earlier.  Or she was but she wanted out."

"Sam, this is Cyllene, do you know where she's from?"

"I don't remember a Cyllene being mentioned . . ."

"Oh.  Who are you?  With the tattoos."

"Ariel."

"Oh, are you a New Year's Eve?"

". . . I was at a Halloween party . . ."

"A what?"

"A Halloween party??  Y'know, with costumes?  I'm Ariel."

"The Little Mermaid?"

Cyllene whips around to look at him, splashing as she does.

He still has his eyes closed so he doesn't really notice, or at least not that it's about him.

"Do you know what he means?"

She points back and forth between him - Ariel - and herself.

"And she doesn't talk and doesn't walk and - hey are you doing some kind of high-concept metaphorical nude little mermaid costume and if so can you like cut it out for a second.  It's a good bit but it really only works if you have somebody else around to explain it."

Cyllene continues gesturing very emphatically but completely illegibly.

"What is The Little Mermaid?"

"Oh come on.  It's - " Ariel wrestles his phone out of his pocket and opens his eyes to start a search.

The results don't immediately load.

"What is that."

". . . What, my wallpaper?"  It was only up for a second -

"No, that - the whole thing - "

"My phone?"

Silas dunks under the water to rinse off and then exits the bath, donning his bathrobe again.

Cyllene follows!  - Rather, Cyllene tries to follow!  She bruises her knees and shin on the steps.

Silas grabs her a bathrobe and helps her up.

A bathrobe is a very simple article of clothing and she just saw someone put it on.  Nonetheless, she puts her arms in the wrong sleeves and ends with it upside-down.

Sure, he can help her with that too.

"I suppose!!  Where did you get it?"

"The Verizon store.  Is - this prank is going way over my head and I'm tapping out, I'm not getting any of this."

"I could say the same to you."

He rolls his eyes.  "It's not loading - I guess I have the movie downloaded . . ."

Silas comes over to take a look.

- Cyllene grabs onto him before he can get very far.

"Mm?"

She attempts to walk that way too, but in a way that involves an awful lot of leaning on and clutching at him.

He adjusts his grip to better help her along.

Here on this cuboid is the animated image of a fish falling above the surface of the water and then diving down into it.  Ariel taps the screen a bunch of times on one side until it displays a redheaded girl with a fish tail, then taps the center twice and the side once again.  He displays the paused video to everyone else (briefly flinching away from the sight of Cyllene but relaxing once he sees she's dressed).

Point point point point point!!  At the screen and then at herself!

The adults are mostly ignoring her in favor of being enthralled with the touchscreen.