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Sea water is painfully dull to taste, as far as Sumi is concerned. So what if she's a sailor (when putting it generously) who spends her time in such close proximity to it-- it's too salty for her. If she said this out loud, her crew mates would roll their eyes and her husband back on land would give her an amused smile. But that's just fine since she isn't saying it out loud, she's saying it in her mind. And she wouldn't be able to say it out loud anyways, since she's currently underwater.
Falling asleep while in a chair held on its hind legs by one's own legs being propped against a table is usually dangerous, especially on the deck of her ship. The second a medium-side wave hit she was rudely awakened by toppling over the side of the ship. What's worse is that she took her chair with her. That was her favorite chair on board, and now it's gone!
Sumi huffs, sending air bubbles fizzling down her chin, and rights herself to swim up. Only, the distant white sky seems odd, and somehow less watery than normal. So she flails her legs to turn herself over, towards the white sky. Only, this one seems so far away, and Sumi can't imagine that she fell far enough that the other sky was actually the sea floor. And besides, the floor wouldn't look that light with how far out they are.
So, her lungs readily burning, she flails herself back over. The other other white sky-- the first sky-- is too close. It's writhing, and scaled, and grabs her like a leaf in the wind. Sumi yells, the last of her breath smearing in a slide of bubbles across the ocean plane.
When Sumi wakes up, her lips still taste like salt. Gross. She sighs and crosses her arms under her head, thinking about chocolate pudding-- Ponder's specialty. She misses him, always. She misses him most when the rations taste more of dust than anything edible.
She's so wrapped up in the memory of his cooking that she almost doesn't realize the change of scenery. She's been drug into an undersea cave, which isn't the worst place she's been brought to while unconscious, but it is a first. It's neutral enough that she lets out an audible "Huh" at the realization, sitting up and looking around. There's a brilliant pool just a few inches away from her right side, and judging by the sand, she'd guess that's where she was pushed onto this spot of land.
She looks down into the pool, seeing a familiar cloud of white. She pokes her finger into the water and gives it a swirl, wondering how best to call to something she doesn't fully understand. Before she has to ask herself too many questions about it, the blob rises.
Her face rises out of the water, a sheet of white. Her eyes open to reveal ice chips, shattered through with a black slit. "Hello." Her voice is echoed twice. Once through her gills, once against the cavernous walls.
"Hey. You're super pretty."
She smiles. "Thank you. You were encroaching on my territory."
"And you didn't let me drown. If I didn't know better, I think you'd have the hots for me."
Her smile verges to the side. "You're a flirt. Odd, considering your ring."
Sumi looks down at her wedding ring. It's boring metal, unfortunately, since Ponder got tired of replacing her ring pops after the second week. "I love my husband, and he loves me. That doesn't mean I can't flirt or love anyone else. I don't expect he's leaving our bed cold while I'm away."
She nods. "My name is Stephanie."
"Mine's Sumi. They match." Sumi nods and offers her hand.
Stephanie hesitates before taking Sumi's hand. And then she tries to bite it.
"Kinky! I like you."
"Thank you. What does that mean?"
"You'll find out when I take you to bed." Sumi turns to her legs can dangle in the water. These clothes are probably already ruined from the sheer amount of salt, what's a little more? "So, what do you like to do?"
"You know, the typical." Stephanie leans against the pool's edge. "Drowning people-- though that's more of my friend, Cora's, thing-- pillaging ships, and hiding from the sun."
"What's wrong with the sun?"
Stephanie holds up her marble arms. "It'll cook me in a minute."
"Oh, yeah, true. That's fine. We'll work around that."
Stephanie smiles, somehow sure that Sumi will work around it. Around her aversion to sunlight, and around her need for the water. Something tells her that she'll meet this woman's husband. And for some reason she can't even fathom, she lets herself listen.