"What are you?"
"A doll. A creation that was made to serve, and if I cannot serve, then it makes sense to remove me." She shook her head, still not looking at him, but at the screen in front of her. "I've never really been alive, anyway. It's hard to mourn a death when you've never actually lived."
That was... odd. And wrong.
Frowning, he turned away from his computer and shifted his tail close enough to spin her chair. She was forced to look at him, which was clearly uncomfortable for her. Her face turned red, and she stared at him with wide, insulted eyes.
"What?" she asked. "I'm working on what you asked me to work on. If you keep distracting me, then nothing will get done."
"Why do you believe you are not alive?"
"Because I am a clone."
"You are breathing, are you not? You can feel your heart beating in your chest. I watched you come back alive from that pod, and I know you had woken up before meeting me. You have existed for a very long time, woman. That does not make you less human."
She winced at his words. "But I am still a clone. Even you admit that, great sea god that you are. I am a copy of someone who once existed. Trust me, I never forget that she was here before me."
He was at a loss for words. Someone had failed this woman thoroughly. She did not understand that even if she was a copy, that didn't make her less of a person.
"You have experienced things she did not. You are not her." He frowned, knowing that he was botching this. "You deserve to live just as much as she did. You are a person all on your own, and saying that you aren't is denying the fact that you live and breathe right now."
She stared up at him, confused by what he was saying. "I hear your words, sea god. But you are wrong."
And then she tried to turn her chair back to the screen. Dismissing him.
Him.
Proteus snarled and forced her chair back toward him so quickly that her hair flew in front of her face. Those dark strands obscured his view of her flashing eyes for a brief moment before she glared up at him. "You are preventing my work from being completed," she said.
"This feels important. What kind of god would I be if I didn't remind you how mortal you are?"
He loomed above her, reaching forward with his elongated fingers to wrap them around her tiny throat. It was so easy for him to lift her out of the chair by her neck. She weighed next to nothing in his grip, although he could tell she was a solid woman who was likely not used to someone even thinking that.
"Humans are weak," he snarled, bringing her closer to the wide open maw of his mouth. "You think because you have been living only in small spurts in this world that you are not alive? If I snap your neck, you will stop breathing. If I plunge my clawsinto your chest, that racing heart of yours will no longer beat. If I tear into your flesh with my teeth, you will feel pain. Trust me when I tell you, Ellie, you are very much alive. Don't ask me to prove it to you in your final moments."
As he dropped her back onto the chair, he watched her breathing hard and grabbing her throat. He'd likely made her sore with that, although he had been trying to be at least somewhat gentle.
But then, a small smile crossed her face. It was pretty. Innocent. One that he hadn't thought she would wear on her face after he had threatened to kill her.
"Thank you for reminding me that I am perhaps alive after all." Her fingers still ghosted over her neck.
It didn't feel quite right. Yes, she was agreeing to being alive, and that was progress. But he had a feeling it was in response to pain, which wasn't healthy either. He might be a terrifying god of the sea, but he wasn't heartless. Proteus had always seen the humans as weaker than him. They were creatures to pity.
She was perhaps one of the most pitiful he had ever met.
Ellie leaned back in her chair and asked, "May I return to my work?"
"If you want to." But even that didn’t feel right. A strange voice in his head didn't want her to be forced to do anything. He needed her help, of course. She would do what he told her to do. But a part of him whispered that she was akin to him.
He had the sea to explore. Freedom whispered through the waves as they caressed through his gills and over his scales. He'd only had a few days out of his prison and already he felt better stretching his limbs. What did she have? A bigger box than the one she'd been in before.
"If you would like to be released from your work today, you can be." He cleared his throat. "I can work on something else while you are... resting."
Her face immediately paled. "You want me to return to my simulation?"
"No. I'm just saying if you want to do something other than this, you should." He waved a hand. "Do whatever you want."
The tension in her eased. "So you don't want me to go back to sleep?"
