She moved quietly, more agile and sure-footed than most, steps a whispered layer beneath the waves. He startled, a barely subdued shudder ran down his spine at her voice as he squeezed his eyes shut. It was hard to bite back knee-jerk reactions; he was not a violent man or at least he did not want to be. But the world had made him into a lot of things he didn't want to be, bent him out of shape like rusted twisted metal. His hackles stood up on end, rising between his shoulders and the dip of his back, disapproval dripped from his voice. If she couldn't figure out why he was miffed that was on her, it was pretty self-explanatory as far as he was concerned. Didn't think it was unreasonable to not want to be snuck up on.
"Not that I've noticed." Nor had he ever really tried his paw at fishing. Where he came from the water was heavily polluted, whatever survived in those waters wasn't good eating.
Ronan side eyed her then. Back home he'd never seen the stars, they were nothing but grainy dots in the distance, obscured by smog and whatever other poisons had been thrown up into the sky by those who came before. Seeing those countless galaxies and bright colours smeared across the horizon- it made him feel small. Tiny. She reminded him of that; unfamiliar but beautiful in a way that made his guts twist. That the very circumstances of his birth had denied him of so many things, but that's how life was right? Unfair.
![[Image: PzMsxDx.png]](https://i.imgur.com/PzMsxDx.png)
