Camellia Makes A Friend

Scarl— Ah, sorry, Camellia racked her brain to think of an excuse. Knowing nothing about the new world she was in, she didn’t have much to go on. Unless… Well, she did have some experience in a related field, you might say.

Camellia looked up. “Research.” Better than trying to make up something fantastical.

Damos raised an eyebrow. “Research? Dressed like that?” He gestured to Camellia’s chest.

Hey, keep those leering eyes off of her, creep.

Camellia looked down. She definitely felt different in this world, more of her view blocked by her chest. But there was no time to worry about that. Having forgotten the fact that she awoke in practically rags and nothing else, she quickly covered herself with her arms.

Damos’ gaze lingered on her exposed skin — pervert — causing Camellia to scoff.

“Real subtle, are you? Sorry, but I’m not into men,” she spat. Good defense.

The perverted creep snapped back to attention and shook his head. “No- I’m not- It’s not-” he stammered, waving his arms in a panic. “I didn’t mean to! I just haven’t-”

“Leave it,” Camellia interrupted him. She sighed. “You did just save my life. I’ll let that one slide. Don’t do it again.”

The forgiven pervert blushed. “Sorry. A-Anyways, what I was getting at was, how were you possibly doing research without any… what do you call them, ‘instruments?’ I’m not sure what the academy people do. Oh, wait, is that where you work? I’ve always wanted to check the place out. Maybe you could show me around. Well, I’m not much of a scholar myself, I guess, haha!” He certainly had a fast mouth.

Scar— sorry, Camellia — this is hard, huh? — felt dizzy. Damos had just fired off a school of questionfish at her, and she didn’t feel like making anything up about a fantasy academy she’d never been to, lest she be proven wrong in the meantime. She had a feeling she would be spending a fair bit of time with this guy, one way or another. They were in the middle of nowhere, underwater. Camellia would need to stick by him to survive.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she groaned. One line repeated in her mind: ugh, what a pain. She racked her brain trying to figure out a path out of the predicament.

Candor had served her… okay, not well in her previous life, but it was all Camellia knew. With no better options, she decided to just admit, “Sorry, I lied. I wasn’t doing research.” She stood up, then dryly added, “I have no idea what’s going on, or where we are.”

Damos stepped back in shock — go on, fall into the fire, you creep — “Whoa, really? Wait, like you’ve got amnesia or something? I guess you did like, decide on a name just now, huh?”

It was Camellia’s turn to be surprised. He was sharper than he looked, picking up on her spur-of-the-moment name change like that.

Realizing that it would be easier to say she had no memories than to start talking about a crazy, different world (where you couldn’t even breathe underwater!), she replied, “Uh, yeah. Amnesia. That. Yeah.”

“We oughta get you back to The Bed then. I’ve got some friends there who might be able to help. They’re smarter than me, anyway!” He laughed, a hearty, lively chortle that almost echoed on the fossil-studded walls of the stone hideaway-gazebo-cave.

Camellia squinted. “I just woke up, I don’t need to go back to bed, man.”

“No, not like sleep. The Bed, you know, the- Ohhh, right, you have amnesia, you wouldn’t know. Or remember it.” Damos scratched his head. “Uh, where do I start? The Bed is one half of all known civilization. It’s the big city that houses everyone under Tethys’ protection, those who live in the sea.”

Camellia slapped her forehead. “Oh. Like, seabed. Okay. Should’ve guessed that.”

“Is that what it comes from?! Whoa. You’re smart, too! You’ll love Phoebe and Lynn.”

…Perhaps he was not as sharp as I thought.

Camellia stared at him, realizing the same. Assuming that those two were his friends, she moved on. “So, how do we get to The Bed?”

Damos moved to an opening, resting a hand on the side of the cave and gazing at the wall of stone in the distance. “Well, first we gotta highfin it out of the Crags, pronto, before any other leviathans show up.”

Is everything in this world just called “the (Name)”? Camellia thought as she rolled her eyes behind Damos’ back.

He continued, “Then, there’s a passage up through the cliffside that I use. We walk a ways more, then we’re back in town.”

“Simple enough,” Camellia replied. “So, we just make a break for it or...?”

With a grin, Damos looked back over his shoulder at her. “Bingo.”

Moments later, Camellia found herself wondering how her new body had so much stamina and agility, running across the sand behind Damos towards the cliff wall. Without true imminent danger bearing down upon her, she had time to process her new reality in more depth. Come to think of it, I don’t know what I look like. Am I the same? No, I can’t be, because — A peculiar new sensation stood out to her as she ran: My chest feels bigger, at least, so that’s… Nice. Or it would be, if I had a damn bra.

Oh, Camellia, I’m so sorry. That scrap of cloth certainly isn’t enough support when sprinting like that, hm?

Hey, you, Obbie. Eyes off.

That’s probably why Damos was staring earlier, huh. God, that’s embarrassing. I’ll take the increased athletic ability, though. I wonder what I look like now.

The excitement of discovering her new face propelled Camellia further.

Upon arriving at the cliff face, Damos traced a snaky line up the rock wall with his finger, pointing out the path he knew to his new acquaintance — let’s not say “friends” quite yet. Mountain climbing was perhaps the furthest thing from Camellia’s skillset that she could think of, but the dash across the plains filled her with confidence. Her new body felt toned, useful, capable. She hungered for the challenge.

In reality, however, the path up the cliff was rather tame — instead of climbing up, rock by rock, holding on by just her fingers, Camellia found herself inside of a safe, albeit steep, tunnel. Exposed to the open air (water), the path made her feel like a little critter in a terrarium, climbing up a cross-section of a display.

After an almost leisurely hike upwards, the pair arrived at the top. Camellia looked behind her, down at where she had awoken. The field seemed much more intimidating from above, an expanse of barren, dead, greyish sand littered with tiny stones here and there. Of course, she knew those sharp stones to be quite gargantuan up close, which made the distance she had come feel all the more satisfying.

Damos pulled her attention away. “Hey, don’t be looking back down, now. You can’t tell me you want to go back into the Crags with your amnesia?”

Camellia spun around to face him, turning her back on the leviathan breeding ground. “No, no, just admiring the view is all. What’s next?”

Without a word, he beamed back at her, and gestured in front of him. “A leisurely stroll across the plains, and we’re back home!”

“After you, then.”

And so the two set off.