The truck shuddered to a halt, they were at where they were suppose to be now. The others in the truck seemed to be chatting with each other; Admittedly Harry wasn't really paying too much attention to anyone else, they had earphones in as they listened quietly to the lo-fi beat to get through the entire 4 hour trip within a cramped vehicle.

As soon as the trunk door opened, Harry quickly scrambled out into the world again. Their feet hit sand and instantly caused them to slip and crash into the ground underneath them, a couple of the other scientists laughed before one helped them up.
"Careful kid." The older scientist said to Harry calmly, "You can't just scramble like that all the time." They said before they offered some stuff into Harry's arms as they started to get more things from the truck. "You gonna be alright to help with assembling with the tent?"
Harry nodded at his words, before easily carrying the armful of stuff over to the place others had already marked out.

Sure, they had scouted out this place for months, getting the go ahead to set up camp here for a few months to study the ecological things of the beach. There were a couple of rumours of things living within this coastal area.
Harry, of course, was the first to offer to help with this assignment, never having been to the ocean. The older Scientist, Talon, had made sure Harry had learnt how to swim before he accepted the Elf into the assignment.
"Surely the rumors are wrong." A female scientist spoke to another beside her, both of them moving to attach pole pieces together. "Probably just a manatee or a shark that people saw." The second scientist gave a shrug as she was struggling to attach her pieces together.

Harry placed his things down before moving over to help her, offering his arms out to take the poles. It never really clicked to Harry that some of the fellow scientists didn't see him as an equal, and some of them were still uncomfortable with the fact that he worked along side them.

---

It took a few hours but the large circus-like tent was put up, Harry even offering some vines from the forest to keep the tops from tumbling over in the wind.
The other scientists were enjoying a few drinks in the tent once everything was finished. Harry on the other hand was sitting in the sand out by the sea, looking to the horizon with a neutral expression. He wasn't bored, he had just zoned out, thinking deeply.

He was startled by a seagull squawking loudly at him as it waddled up to him.
"I have nothing for you!" He called to the gull, who fluffed its' body an kept making noise before Harry moved to grab it, slipping and falling into the sand again as the gull flapped into the air with another squawk. "Yeah yeah, laugh at the oddball." Harry grumbled softly.

Chalakon drifted through the busy afternoon market circle, eyeing jewelry and trinkets on display in the afternoon. Most of the craftsfolk he'd known as far back as he could remember. A few shops had been passed from master to apprentice, but nothing had really changed.

"Hello Chal, my pearl." The wizened jeweler waved Chal over with a smile, clasping hands with the young mer. Chal grinned and gently squeezed the old woman's hands, noting the faintest tremor.

"Good tides, Gran Cora. How's the family?"

"Oh, they're just fine. Aline is expecting, you know! Finally. I knew they were worried after the second year past the wedding..."

Chal listened politely, though this was a bit more information than he really wanted to hear. But most elders liked to chat, and Gran Cora had always been kind to him.

"Listen, pearl. I will be moving on very soon."

"Wait, what?" Chal was yanked harshly back to the moment, as if he'd gotten his tailfin caught in a ripcurrent. "You can't!"

"I can, and I will." The woman's voice was firm. "My hands can't work the metal like they used to. And with the grandchild on the way, things are changing. It is time." She reached up and patted Chal's cheek, as if he were a grandchild of hers already.

Then she plucked up a work from the display case and held it against Chal's skin. "Hmm. No. White coral washes out your tone." She set it aside and eyed the selections on the table."Perhaps... Ah! Hold still."

"But-"

"Hush now. And hold your hair."

"Yes, Gran."

Gran Cora wrapped a delicate, expertly woven choker around Chal's neck and tied the clasp. Then she swum up a bit to press a maternal kiss to his forehead. "Lovely. That's a gift from me, no trade needed."

Chal touched the choker and smiled, feeling burning tears threatening. "Thank you, Gran. It's beautiful. Um. Just remembered I've got a lunch date, so..."

"Ah, young love. Don't let me keep you, then. Off you go!" Gran waved and Chal rose up and up, leaving the market behind.

-

By the time he reached his favorite sandbar on the surface, Chal's eyes were sore from crying. He wasn't sure what it was even about. Changes like that hurt him at the core, some days.

An odd noise caught his attention, and on instinct he rolled and slipped off the bank and under the waves. When nothing dangerous approached, he swam toward the noise. He found two strange creatures on the beach. One gray and fat and loud. The other was almost human, but the ears were wrong, and- was that a tail? Since when did humans have those? He watched from beneath the water, as close as he dared.
-

Meanwhile, one of Harry's earbuds starts to fizzle with static.

Harry pulled himself up from the sand with a grumble, spitting out a bit more of the sand, watching the Seagull hop towards him once again, letting out more squawks.
Harry's left ear, the one still attached to his ear, fizzled slightly. "Huh?" He asked himself, moving to pull his music player out to check the connection.

He found the connection was fine and the music player wasn't damaged at all, he moved the earbud from his ear and looked at it, trying to see if that was broken as well. The seagull moved quickly, grabbing the cable of the headphones while Harry was distracted and moved to try and fly away, causing Harry to stand up and grab the music player before it could fall from the cable.

Harry's ears twitched as he heard a splash into the water but was too focused on getting their stuff back from a taunting gull. "Give." He tugged, "It." He pulled again, narrowing his eyes, "Back!" He pulled once last time, his headphones breaking in half before the gull flew off with the top half as Harry tumbled back into the sand and slid back towards the water.

Harry felt tears ebb at the edges of his eyes as he realized his soft music was gone, but the soft sound of the waves made him feel slightly better. He stifled a sob as he sat up towards the sea, watching the waves carefully.

There was the faintest sound, just hidden under the rhythmic splash of the waves. It would have gone completely unheard by a human. And in fact, it had been, every time Chal had made their way up to the surface. That was probably why the Aquapon felt comfortable enough to express such mirth so close to land.

Unfortunately, they weren't aware that the tall, green haired one with the long ears was not just a different sort of human. They had no idea he'd be able to hear them laughing with amusement at the animated struggle, between him and the seagull. But it would die down once the tears appeared, replaced by the intense sensation of being watched.

Like someone reading a book over your shoulder, or the eyes of a predator stalking prey, it would give Henry a deep feeling of discomfort.

Harry hesitated as he felt like he heard something in the water, he lifted his head up from his knees before he looked out over the water.
His ears twitched at the faint sound of laughter before the silence reappeared, the waves splashing quietly. Harry was definitely uncomfortable by the feeling of something watching him, he had felt the feeling back home whenever he was forced out to be one of the hunting party members.

The elf moved slowly, something was watching him; either from the water or from the edge behind him. He wasn't going to do anything rash at this point, so he simply pushed himself onto his knees to straighten himself up to look into the waves more.
He didn't move quickly in case whatever was watching him would get spooked and attack, but he was showing his size to allow whatever was watching would see he was unarmed.

He hesitated on the mere idea of calling out into the waves, or making any sort of sound; but his body wouldn't allow him.

The feeling of being watched intensified greatly. But then, the water rippled, and there was a series of splashes as something surfaced from the water.

"You noticed me. You can't be human. I've been watching humans for years and they never see me." Chalakon leaned on a sizable boulder jutting out of the water, brown upper body dripping water. Curious blue eyes stared the elf down. "Hm. I thought you were human with funny ears, but no. Your senses actually work. What are you?"

Harry watched the water before their ears pricked up at the splashing sounds before Chalakon appeared on the boulder by the water; causing the Elf to move to almost stand up, before the humanoid spoke.

"Hi! What are you? You're good at hiding-" They started before they cleared their throat slightly. "Sorry, You asked questions first." They continued, "I'm Harry, I'm a Wood Elf." They almost babbled, their ears twitching and pricking up slightly, "I'm sorry if I disturbed you in any way." He glanced back to the tent as another cheer from their coworkers as they looked away with their ears drooping slightly.

Chal smiled politely, purple eyes gleaming with curiousity. "Harry. Wood elf. Woooow!" That did it for the politeness. With a bursting splash, she pulled completely free of the ocean. Instead of legs, a soft yellow tailfin completed the rest of her body. However, one of the ending fins was smaller than the other, clearly malformed in some way.

"I am Chalakon, clan Ankorr. I am an Aquapon!" She inclined her head with a formal nod, pink braids dripping seawater. "And I have never met a wood elf! Or any elf." The cheer sounded, and Chal startled. But when no one else appeared, she relaxed.

"Is that your clan? They seem... lively."

Harry flinched when Chal pulled themselves out from the water, their eyes slowly trailing over her body in curiosity and a surprise.
They were about to speak before Chal spoke again, turning their head back to Chal with a small smile. "I've never met an Aquapon." They said with a soft smile.

The mention of the scientist group being their clan caused their ears to droop down slightly.
"I... Uh." Harry started, trying to think of the words to say, "I wouldn't exactly say they're... My clan." They continued, a twinge of sadness in their voice, "They're my workmates, yes. But I haven't seen my... Blood Clan for, years." They cleared their throat slightly and shook their head. "We're looking into the life in the area."
Harry paused before they seemed to startled themselves, "Of course, In a positive way. We're trying to see if there's any pollution here and any new species that we don't know about."

"Oh, that is nice for you." Chal would prefer not to lie to this kind elf stranger. But even she could see that he seemed bothered. But they had only just met, it was not her place to delve. Perhaps he missed his family.

"I do not know the word you said. Poll-u-tion. What is that, please? I will help you find it, if you want." She really wanted to know exactly what they were seeking new species for. Harry was talking, but there was a tingling at the back of her neck. An instinct that overrode politeness and curiousity, to alert her. *On guard. You are hunted.*

Harry glanced to Chal as she mentioned she didn't know what Pollution is. They hesitated as they thought about what they would say to explain it properly. "Uh." They started quietly, "Pollution is like... Waste, bad chemicals, waste products. Dangerous stuff that harms the land." They continued quietly, "I'm unsure how you can help really, the others are... very specific on who does work for them."

The camera's on the tent had started to zone in on where Harry and Chal was, there were scientists watching the camera's quietly, chatting amongst each other. Words of 'Maybe Harry is useful for something after all?' and things along that line.