The mermaid simply...stared at him, utterly confused. "...no," she finally managed to answer, shaking her head lightly. "That is...does not happen. Here. There." Under the water.
"My sisters..." Natalia found herself saying, slowly, as if she didn't really want to share the information, because all of this was just so strange, "...my sisters...they eat their mates, after mating. Humans...are food, for them."
And comfort? What was that? "What is...'comfort'? What does it mean?"
"You're not planning to eat me, are you?" Bucky asks, giving her a cautious look. "Because I probably need to fatten up first anyway. I'd be all stringy right now and it wouldn't taste any good."
He sobers at her question, though, and nods his head. "Well, like, when you're upset, I'd hold you and stroke your hair and do anything I could to make it better. Hell, I want to do that right now. I don't want to fight with you, you know?"
He'd much rather be comforting her than fighting, that's for damn sure.
Natalia scoffed. "No. Humans are disgusting." At least, those pieces of meat her sisters had forced her to choke down. "Fish and squid taste much better, thank you."
But her brows furrowed when he answered her demand, and she shook her head, still confused. "That makes no sense. What is the point?" There wasn't much room in her world for anything like "comfort". The ocean was harsh, those who lived within it harsher still.
"You're supposed to want to breed with me," the mermaid huffed, crossing her arms again. "Not...pet me, or whatever it means."
"You know how you like kissing?" Bucky says, trying to come at it from a different angle that maybe she has reference for. "Well, if I was kissing you, I'd want to touch your cheeks and stroke your hair and stuff like that, right? When you comfort someone, you do those things but you're not kissing. You just hold each other close and make each other feel wanted and cared about when they're going through something difficult."
He doesn't know if that explains it very well.
"So that's different than sex. Sex is great, don't get me wrong, but I like the other parts too."
Oh. Well, when he put it that way... "Oh. Humans...do this a lot? It is part of your culture?" Because Poseidon knew, humans had so many strange customs. "What purpose does it serve? Does it help you to breed? Do you do it after, too?" She had so many questions.
"Wait," she added as a thought occurred. "Do humans...do they breed with these families?" Because that was just odd. "My sisters sometimes share their mates, when one doesn't perform correctly." When the mermaid failed to conceive. "Is that...is that the same thing?"
"No, it doesn't help you breed. It just feels good," Bucky says. "And if I was with you, I'd want to do it before and after we...bred, if we're going to use that word."
When she brings up families though, he shakes his head vehemently.
"Oh, God no. You just care about each other and love one another. I would only ever be with you like that. I wouldn't be with anyone else, ever. Our girls could make their own choices about who they wanted to be with and how but for me, it would only ever be you."
Natalia slowly bobbed up and down in the water, brows crinkled as she tried to assimilate all of this. So, this "comforting" didn't assist in breeding, but it was something to do before and after. And it felt good. How very odd.
The idea that he wouldn't want to breed with any of her sisters was startling, though. Although, given his oddness in general, Natalia supposed that wasn't as farfetched as she might have first thought. Granted, her sisters might try and take him from her, and Bucky would get himself killed trying to escape, but... Well, an argument for later, that.
"Show me," she suddenly demanded, swimming to the near edge and coming up out of the water, her tail and fins once more melding together to reveal smooth, pale legs and small, dainty feet.
"Show you comfort? Yeah, of course," Bucky says. He reaches for her and guides her into his lap and while he's only wearing his shorts and she's not wearing anything, he's not particularly worked up right now. It's more about being soft, he thinks, and if Natalia's never had it he wants to give it to her.
He has one arm around her waist but he takes the other to stroke the soft skin of her cheek and down the smooth, pale skin of her neck and shoulder. He doesn't go lower but, instead, makes his way back up the same path before kissing her forehead lightly.
"Is there somewhere we can go that's softer? Somewhere you planned to...breed with me at?"
It was at first a little disconcerting, and strange, but Natalia stiffly allowed Bucky to put her where he wanted. Then she felt his hands begin to stroke her skin, making little prickles stand up in his wake, and it wasn't...altogether unpleasant.
In answer to his question, she pointed over his shoulder, further inside the shelter. "In there. There's fuel for a fire, a grass pallet, and other human things, too." Although she didn't really know what was required for a human to mate, she'd done the best that she could.
Bucky looks back further in the shelter and he sees what she's talking about and that's perfect, honestly. It's better than he thought he'd get on a deserted tropical island, for sure, and he kisses her forehead again before giving her a quick nod.
"Okay, yeah. Let me light us a fire so we can see a little and then I can show you a little more about...well, you're not as upset so now it's just cuddling. I like cuddling."
The mermaid didn't object when the human moved them further into her shelter, setting her down on the pallet she'd made, the grasses still smelling fresh and fragrant. She watched without comment as Bucky started the fire, though at first she shied away from the bright and the heat of it, as she'd never really seen it so close before.
But soon enough, he returned to sit beside her, and Natalia just blinked at him, more than a little out of her depth. She knew how to kiss, of course; she'd seen her sisters do it all the time, but this "cuddling" business was something she'd never even heard about.
"Lay down with me," Bucky says, guiding her to lay down on her back so he can prop on his hip beside her. He just wants to touch right now, and kiss, because he thinks that Natalia deserves that. Besides, he's not having sex without this part so she's going to have to get used to it.
Bucky just strokes his fingertips along her skin, from neck to shoulders to breasts and back up. This is good for him, just touching her, and he hopes she likes it as much as he does.
"Tell me if there's a place that feels good, all right?"
Reclining on the pallet, Natalia flinched slightly when she felt his hands return to her skin, but relaxed right after, realizing what he was doing was only touching. It felt...nice, she supposed, and she told him so, a little curious that this was all there was to it.
It seemed only natural to reciprocate, so she slipped a hand upwards along his own arm, sensitive fingertips learning the definition of muscle beneath warm skin. "Like...this?" Natalia felt her skin begin to tingle slightly, a curious sensation, and she turned slightly, the better to face him, eyes curious but growing in interest.
"Mmmhmm," Bucky says, enjoying the touch. It feels really good to be touched because he's been in the Army for way too long and he hasn't been with a woman since he deployed. "And you can kiss, too, when you're doing this, but it's about being soft."
To that end, he leans in and kisses her forehead, then the slope of her nose, then softly against plush lips.
God, it's been so long since he's kissed anyone other than Natalia and these kisses are different.
Kisses, she could do. But she remembered him saying that this 'cuddling' didn't have anything to do with breeding, but now it was okay to kiss? Humans were so confusing. Rather than try and muddle it out, Natalia simply closed her eyes and kissed him back, parting her lips beneath his.
She knew what to do with her arms, they wound nicely around his neck, but her lower half was a different story; she very seldom went about on two legs. So she wiggled a little haphazardly, not really sure of herself, but determined to do it correctly.
Bucky shifts a little so he can work his thigh between Natalia's and since he still has his underwear on, he figures that will keep them from going too far too soon. He's got plenty of control right now and he wants to take his time kissing and touching and then seeing if it leads to something else.
"You should spend some time up here with me," he murmurs. "It's easier for me to hold you and touch you when we're up here than it is down there."
He frowns though. "Unless...it doesn't hurt you being up here for too long, does it?"
They stopped kissing and he started talking, which brought a brief frown to the mermaid's forehead, but she blinked her eyes open at what he actually said.
"I...don't know," she confessed. "I never stayed out of the water for very long." None of her sisters had. The only time they really came ashore was to set traps, or shelter, in her case, for their prospective breeders.
"It...feels strange, in the air. I feel so...heavy, out of the ocean." And she didn't really like it, either. "Sand is raspy." She glanced over his shoulder at the beach outside of the small shelter. "Storms are very scary."
"Well, if you don't feel safe at any time or you feel uncomfortable, tell me and we can stop. I just want to get to know you, all right? Do you like it when I touch you?"
Since it's new for her, maybe that's the more important thing to ask. If she doesn't like being touched the way he's touching her and it's uncomfortable because she's out of the water, he wants to know so he can stop.
"No, touching doesn't hurt." At least, not like sand across sensitive skin did. But living in a water-filled environment wasn't entirely conducive to building up resistance to minor offenses like sand. "Everything is just...bright, up here." The fire was like the sun, in the corner of her eye.
"Things are...better, below. Calm and quiet, cool and comfortable." It was her home habitat, after all. Her lashes lowered, her expression sobering, and she gently traced fingertips over his collarbone. "Sad, that you will never see it like me."
"I guess I can't, really," Bucky says. He knows he looks a bit sad when he says it, too, because they can't really ever be together except in little snatches of time. He can't actually live with her or hold her while they sleep or any of the things couples do all the time.
"Has there ever been anyone like me? Someone that's been brought down under the water the way you brought me down?"
It had been temporary but he could breathe down there just like he'd been on land and while it was weird, he could talk and think and all the things he needed to do.
Natalia shook her head; she'd never dared bring anyone beneath the waves with her, as her sisters would have berated her harshly. "No." It was a whisper. "Just you." He'd already been drowning when she first encountered him, and to keep him alive, she had to share her breath with him. But taking him down with her during the storm had been her own decision, one she now almost regretted.
"Little magic," she said then. "A rare gift, given to a human. But sometimes a necessity, when it comes to keeping them alive to breed."
"I guess so," Bucky says. He keeps moving his fingertips over her skin, just enjoying touching her and hopefully she's enjoying it too. He stays quiet for a moment before speaking again.
"So when you get pregnant, do you have to stay on land? Or only to have the baby? Sorry, I don't know anything about this. I have to know how best I can help you, you know? And if you have to be up here when you're pregnant or something, I have to make sure it's nice."
A slim bare shoulder lifted in a shrug. "Don't know," Natalia confessed, lowering her gaze. "My sisters never told me." She'd assumed that once the time came and she conceived, she'd simply know what to do. It wasn't as if there was an instruction manual for these sorts of things.
"I suppose I will know when the time comes." That was really the best she could do. "If it comes," was the hesitant amendment to that statement.
"Sometimes you have to try more than once," Bucky agrees. "And I don't know...what you have going on. But sex is enjoyable, Natalia. I promise you, you'll want to do it more than once. At least I hope you will. If you're not liking it, you probably need to let me know."
If he's going to do this (does he really have a choice? no.), he's at least going to make it romantic and pleasurable for both of them. He's not going to hurt her or make it seem like he's disinterested.
She glanced up to blink at him, then her brows furrowed quizzically. "Is...is that what you call breeding? This 'sex' word?" Her knowledge of human vocabulary was so very limited. Then she shrugged again. "It doesn't matter if I enjoy or not. I have to do it, in order to bear a daughter."
Simple fact, that. But a corner of her mind turned over and thought that her sisters must like it, because there was always a frenzy whenever humans entered the water.
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"My sisters..." Natalia found herself saying, slowly, as if she didn't really want to share the information, because all of this was just so strange, "...my sisters...they eat their mates, after mating. Humans...are food, for them."
And comfort? What was that? "What is...'comfort'? What does it mean?"
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He sobers at her question, though, and nods his head. "Well, like, when you're upset, I'd hold you and stroke your hair and do anything I could to make it better. Hell, I want to do that right now. I don't want to fight with you, you know?"
He'd much rather be comforting her than fighting, that's for damn sure.
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But her brows furrowed when he answered her demand, and she shook her head, still confused. "That makes no sense. What is the point?" There wasn't much room in her world for anything like "comfort". The ocean was harsh, those who lived within it harsher still.
"You're supposed to want to breed with me," the mermaid huffed, crossing her arms again. "Not...pet me, or whatever it means."
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He doesn't know if that explains it very well.
"So that's different than sex. Sex is great, don't get me wrong, but I like the other parts too."
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"Wait," she added as a thought occurred. "Do humans...do they breed with these families?" Because that was just odd. "My sisters sometimes share their mates, when one doesn't perform correctly." When the mermaid failed to conceive. "Is that...is that the same thing?"
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When she brings up families though, he shakes his head vehemently.
"Oh, God no. You just care about each other and love one another. I would only ever be with you like that. I wouldn't be with anyone else, ever. Our girls could make their own choices about who they wanted to be with and how but for me, it would only ever be you."
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The idea that he wouldn't want to breed with any of her sisters was startling, though. Although, given his oddness in general, Natalia supposed that wasn't as farfetched as she might have first thought. Granted, her sisters might try and take him from her, and Bucky would get himself killed trying to escape, but... Well, an argument for later, that.
"Show me," she suddenly demanded, swimming to the near edge and coming up out of the water, her tail and fins once more melding together to reveal smooth, pale legs and small, dainty feet.
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He has one arm around her waist but he takes the other to stroke the soft skin of her cheek and down the smooth, pale skin of her neck and shoulder. He doesn't go lower but, instead, makes his way back up the same path before kissing her forehead lightly.
"Is there somewhere we can go that's softer? Somewhere you planned to...breed with me at?"
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In answer to his question, she pointed over his shoulder, further inside the shelter. "In there. There's fuel for a fire, a grass pallet, and other human things, too." Although she didn't really know what was required for a human to mate, she'd done the best that she could.
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"Okay, yeah. Let me light us a fire so we can see a little and then I can show you a little more about...well, you're not as upset so now it's just cuddling. I like cuddling."
Bucky grins at her. "I love cuddling."
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But soon enough, he returned to sit beside her, and Natalia just blinked at him, more than a little out of her depth. She knew how to kiss, of course; she'd seen her sisters do it all the time, but this "cuddling" business was something she'd never even heard about.
"...now what?"
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Bucky just strokes his fingertips along her skin, from neck to shoulders to breasts and back up. This is good for him, just touching her, and he hopes she likes it as much as he does.
"Tell me if there's a place that feels good, all right?"
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It seemed only natural to reciprocate, so she slipped a hand upwards along his own arm, sensitive fingertips learning the definition of muscle beneath warm skin. "Like...this?" Natalia felt her skin begin to tingle slightly, a curious sensation, and she turned slightly, the better to face him, eyes curious but growing in interest.
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To that end, he leans in and kisses her forehead, then the slope of her nose, then softly against plush lips.
God, it's been so long since he's kissed anyone other than Natalia and these kisses are different.
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She knew what to do with her arms, they wound nicely around his neck, but her lower half was a different story; she very seldom went about on two legs. So she wiggled a little haphazardly, not really sure of herself, but determined to do it correctly.
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"You should spend some time up here with me," he murmurs. "It's easier for me to hold you and touch you when we're up here than it is down there."
He frowns though. "Unless...it doesn't hurt you being up here for too long, does it?"
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"I...don't know," she confessed. "I never stayed out of the water for very long." None of her sisters had. The only time they really came ashore was to set traps, or shelter, in her case, for their prospective breeders.
"It...feels strange, in the air. I feel so...heavy, out of the ocean." And she didn't really like it, either. "Sand is raspy." She glanced over his shoulder at the beach outside of the small shelter. "Storms are very scary."
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Since it's new for her, maybe that's the more important thing to ask. If she doesn't like being touched the way he's touching her and it's uncomfortable because she's out of the water, he wants to know so he can stop.
"Or is it uncomfortable or painful?"
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"Things are...better, below. Calm and quiet, cool and comfortable." It was her home habitat, after all. Her lashes lowered, her expression sobering, and she gently traced fingertips over his collarbone. "Sad, that you will never see it like me."
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"Has there ever been anyone like me? Someone that's been brought down under the water the way you brought me down?"
It had been temporary but he could breathe down there just like he'd been on land and while it was weird, he could talk and think and all the things he needed to do.
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"Little magic," she said then. "A rare gift, given to a human. But sometimes a necessity, when it comes to keeping them alive to breed."
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"So when you get pregnant, do you have to stay on land? Or only to have the baby? Sorry, I don't know anything about this. I have to know how best I can help you, you know? And if you have to be up here when you're pregnant or something, I have to make sure it's nice."
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"I suppose I will know when the time comes." That was really the best she could do. "If it comes," was the hesitant amendment to that statement.
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If he's going to do this (does he really have a choice? no.), he's at least going to make it romantic and pleasurable for both of them. He's not going to hurt her or make it seem like he's disinterested.
"I like sex, anyway."
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Simple fact, that. But a corner of her mind turned over and thought that her sisters must like it, because there was always a frenzy whenever humans entered the water.
"What is so likable about it?"
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