Sonoma had to rest for a brief moment in the shoal before responding to Mel. "I'm not picky on what you will get me. Anything would beat starving. As for whether or not I eat raw or cooked fish..." He led the question as if he knew what raw and cooked meant to him, but he had no idea what she was talking about. "You mean that there are other ways to eat fish? What's this 'cooked' method you speak of? Generally I eat fish as is but every now and again I stuff a larger fish with some... vegetables to add onto it." He looked at her shoes before looking at her now bare feet. Wait... how can she do that? Oh... it must be part of the clothing that humans wear. But, her... what was it called? Feet, that's it, her feet look fine so why would she need to wear something over it? He left his inner monologue to look around the shoal before looking back at Mel. "Do you not like the water? I assure you that there's nothing wrong with it, for obvious reasons, of course." He said, lying against one side towards her.

Melfi brought her hand up to her face and face palmed. That was a really dumb question. Resting her chin on knees, she tried to think of how to describe cooking. "Cooking is heating a food item really hot. Sometimes it's just for fun, but most of the time the food has to be cooked or it can make us sick. There's multiple forms of cooking something too." Maybe she could make a fire and cook some fish later on. Let him experience something from her world. Her entire body went rigid when he asked his next question. She really hasn't been expecting him to ask that. Melfi's eyes looked anywhere but him until she took a deep breath and answered him. "Water and I don't exactly have the best relationship. I used to love it but-" Her voice trailed off as she looked out at the open waters. "But not anymore," she looked at him and forced a smile befor asking a question of her own. "Do you have any games or activities you play in the water?"

Hide and seak must be very interesting and fun to play underwater. There could be so many hiding spots, the possibilities endless. Melfi chuckled and let her body ease out into a more relaxed sitting position. "There are so many sports, I can't even list them all. It's just too many ways to wear yourself out by running in my lazy opinion." Soccer had been part of her life for quite a while, that was until she discovered the art of thrifting and reading. Boats? I'm not sure how many still went boating or fishing here. "There might be the occasional yacht or a little fishing boat. This is a pretty fancy area though, so I'm not sure how many of these rich people would want to be out on the water. There might be a kayak or boat in the shed, I could let it sick in the water and if anyone came by you could hide in it." Scoffing ruefully to herself, Melfi crossed her arms over her chest. "Though I'm not sure how many people would actually stop by. It's not like I have friends. Oh, do you have any friends or family that would be worried about your disappearance?" She should have asked that sooner. Melfi knew what it felt like to worry over someone without the knowledge of how they were.

"I do actually have a few friends, although they probably wouldn't worry about me if I don't see them for a few days or so. We aren't great friends who hang around with each other every day, but we check up on each other every now and again just to make sure we aren't floating somewhere in the sea dead." He made the comment light hearted, trying to convey to her that he wasn't serious about the latter half of that sentence. "I like the idea you have, but at the same time boats always have humans in them, so wouldn't it be out of place if someone wasn't obviously there to control and use it?" He was about to talk more however a part of what she said snagged his attention. "It's not like I have friends." The sentence rang out in his head, and he knew that the statement was true to him as well. His group of "friends" merely tolerated him and would use him for various things, so were they actual friends? I guess merfolk and humans have the same troubles in that regard. His friends were refered to as sirens, which was a general label for the more evil or wicked merfolk out in the water, but he didn't really find them to be mean, although they weren't exactly a goody two shoes either, but that made them a bit more authentic to Sonoma.

Sounds like an interesting group of friends. She could hear the lighthearted tone in his voice, but it was still an interesting choice of words. "Instead of having to always be putting away the boat to keep it safe, sometimes people will leave them on the water anchored to the beach. Or a dock if there is one. There's no dock here, but that would have been a good hiding place too for you." Melfi sighed as she stood up, picking up her shoes and socks as well. "I'm going to go get some different shoes and check the shed for a boat. I'll be right back." She gave him a little smile before walking back up to the house. What a crazy day it was so far. Shaking her head at the thoughts rolling around, she tossed her things in the laundry room before grabbing a pair of flip flops and heading out to the shed. Walking inside, Melfi couldn't stop the flood of memories that sparked at the sight of everything in there. Old floaties, Pool noodles, shells and rocks found after a storm, everything but a boat. Slamming the door as she walked out, Melfi made her way back to Sonoma in a hurry. "So, turns out there's no more boat in the shed. Guess I'll have to think of something else. Sorry."

A sigh of disappointment escaped his lips when he was told that she didn't have a boat for him to hide in, but Sonoma was still thinking about a possible solution for the potential problem. "Well... thanks anyway for the effort." He looked around once again as his mind racked once again for a cover for him. "Making the shoal deeper to for me to submerge myself would be too much work and I'm in no condition to dig the sand out from the bottom. If you can't think of another option then I guess I'll just have to hope that no one finds me." He wasn't satisfied with that idea, however he nothing nothing else to think about in order to hide himself. "Hopefully no one bothers to come around here." He added on.

"It's most likely no one will, but it's always best to be prepared in any way either way. Maybe some seaweed will wash up. You could always hide under that." Melfi tried to look around for some, but it seemed like the storm had brought everything to the beach but seaweed. Maybe she could find some big groups of it later if she went on a walk. "Let me know when you start to get hungry. I'll have to run to the store at some point today anyway to get my own food."

really short this time, so sorry! I'm trying to fight pain and writers block at the same time and it's not working))

"Seaweed doesn't sound like a bad idea for a cover, actually. We should definitely keep that in mind for later on if it's available." Sonoma moved his tail a little bit to make sure the full pain would still flare up and sure enough, it did. After he caught his breath, Sonoma checked himself over once again before turning back to her. "I really must thank you for all of this and your willingness to help me out when we have just met. Maybe it has something to do with your sudden realization of a mythical creature being real, but that's neither here nor there. And I think I will be fine in regards to food until the sun goes down." He pointed to the sun before pointing to her. "Do you live in somewhere near the shore? I'm interested in what you are living in."

"You're welcome, and really I just did it because I'd want the same done for me if I was in a situation like this," she explained with a shrug. It was just common sense to her to help someone in need. Melfi always strived to do the right thing, even if she was in a tight situation herself. "Oh yeah, I live a bit farther up the beach. There's a path up there I follow to my house. Well, technically it's not my house, I'm only borrowing it for the next few months or so." Describing the house would be too complicated, so while she talked Melfi drew a simple lookalike of the house in the sand using her finger. "It's a beach house, so it's a little fancier than most normal houses."