[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/220123/ef9467db7eb7ad3665c9e993970f3a40.png[/img][/center]
[hr][center]The [i]Sharkfin[/i], Lower Decks | South Seas Ocean[/center][hr]
[indent][indent][indent]Tella looked quickly down at her feet as Marina entered the diving chamber with her typical flair for the dramatic. 

She hadn't been too fond of Marina for longer than she cared to think. Being neck deep in devotion and propaganda to the Imperial cause had the lovely little side effect of her deeming anybody that had left as a 'coward' and a 'deserter' and 'unfit to lick the Emperor's boots.' Of course, she thought different now; she'd gained a great deal of perspective recently, after all, or she certainly wouldn't be preparing to drop from a Diver vessel.

But still. The pure embarrassment over her former steaming, simmering resentment had her looking at the floor whenever the fellow 'Imperial' was around, and very pointedly avoiding most contact with her. Still...she'd been looking back on her days in the Academies more often recently, at the people that she'd known and the bridges she'd burned, and she found herself profoundly missing Marina. It had been years since they'd known each other. Eight since they'd talked? She remembered them being fairly good friends once upon a time.

But then again, she thought bitterly, she was a very different person back then. The Tella of today was a shattered shell of her old confidence, especially in her headstrong adolescence.

Still. As silly as it was, as burnt out the embers of that ancient friendship were, Tella missed her. And hearing her again, recognizing that same cadence even now, only made her miss Marina more. And so, as she made one last check of everything, she raised her eyes shyly from the floor. Her voice trembled slightly when she started, but as she continued, it steadied out: 

"[color=82A837]If the sea really was sick of us, then we'd have all sunk to the bottom long ago, no?[/color]" A deep breath, and she finally brought her eyes up to Marina's soft violet ones. Not entirely sure what to say, she fumbled some over her words, but kept speaking. "[color=82A837]The tides may bring terror, but they—Mother Ocean also brings hope too, right? And joy. And...forgiveness as well. And we should thank her for that.[/color]"

Contradicting Marina in that particular way would probably get her labeled as a wet blanket, which was...well, certainly not conducive to rekindling any faint embers of the friendship that she remembered.

But she'd at least talked to her. And that was a start, right?[/indent][/indent][/indent]