Sea Lion Shores don't ask me why

she praises him and he offers her a soft smile, enjoying her praise; soaking it up, stifling the urge to preen beneath it. i'll keep practicing it. he promises. but you have to promise to correct me if i do say something wrong. he intends to hold her to it, too, should she promise. it strikes him as disrespectful to butcher her native tongue; strange as it feels as it rolls off his tongue.

what do you want to call me? atausiq asks her; having never been in a relationship before and realizing that he has no term of endearment that he can offer for her to call him. did his parents use terms of endearment? he'd never paid attention, in truth.