By the following morning, Devi had finished the game on the hardest setting. Knowing herself, she knew that if she kept at it, she would eventually bore herself with it. She had a tendency to take on tasks obsessively, turning the ‘fun’ness of it into a chore.

The music compelled her to keep going. It was unlike any she had heard before. It sent electricity into her fingers. She wanted to make music like the kind in the game and the kind Mars’ band made. For that, she would need a real instrument. 

Mars slept in late, and Devi wasn’t about to bother the nice person hosting her injured useless self. Her ankle felt better and its mobility was nearly fully restored. She was predisposed to push these things, but they were things that ought not to be pushed and she was aware of that. 

When Mars rose from the cave that was her room, she watched Devi play while munching on a cracker. Devi finished the song she was playing, so Mars hopped over the couch and picked up a second guitar. She joined the next song wordlessly and together they played on for a good hour.

“I want to learn the real guitar,” Devi said resolutely after their final song.

“I can help you if you’d like,” Mars offered, turning off the game.

Devi watched her from across the couch. In their short time together she hadn't had the opportunity to study her host. Firstly, thanks to her poor planning, but ultimately because most of their encounters had happened in tricky lighting situations.

Daylight flooded the living room nicely. It was evened out by the overcast sky brought on by the late rain. In the better, clearer light, there was no mistaking that Mars was a woman. And while her thin frame was androgynous and her hair short, her facial features were too delicate. Although they could be mistaken for boyish, it was more likely that Devi was an idiot. 

She must have been staring at her for too long, as Mars suddenly appeared uncomfortable. Devi then remembered that she never responded to her offer.

“I would like that,” she said at last. 

To that answer, Mars’ face lit up. She shot up and ran back to her room, returning with two guitars. One was the one she played at the concert, and the other was much different: blockish, made of light wood, rounder. She handed the latter to Devi.

“You play the piano. This means that you can read music right?”

Devi blinked twice, “I don’t know what that means. The piano instrument was a large scale, is this also a scale?”

Mars furrowed her brows at her comment, “Yes, instruments usually are scales. Do um- are instruments different-” she struggled to form the question fully.

“We don’t use them often, but they differ from those of mortals.” 

“Oh. Let me show you some scales then.”

The first part of their “lesson” consisted primarily of Mars speaking and Devi copying what she did with her fingers. They took a break for lunch (technically breakfast) and while Devi wasn’t hungry, she ate because it meant that she could hang around Mars a little longer.

Watching her make the dish was fascinating. While the siren had sampled many mortal dishes in the past thanks to Fantine, she had never known of the process of assembling a meal. The longer she thought about it, the less ridiculous the idea was beginning to sound. Of course mortals don’t have the means to poof food out of thin air.

“You don’t have to sleep, does this mean you don’t have to eat?” Mars thought to ask her mid-meal.

Devi shook her head and shrugged, “Yes and no…” She contemplated the amount of information appropriate to disclose. Especially since Mars was eating and the answer could be considered ‘disturbing’. “Sirens follow a different diet, yes.... But often partake in human food. It’s more of a desert for us, we enjoy it despite it having no nutritional value.”

Mars squinted at her, and Devi could tell she was going back and forth on whether or not she should ask her to elaborate. She worded the following question with caution, “Are you going to be okay eating this then?”

“Oh yeah, I’m not a siren anymore. In fact, soon I’ll need to eat regularly to survive.”

Mars bit her lip and nodded, her attention drifting back to the food in front of her. Devi knew what she truly meant to ask, but she wouldn’t. She was too polite to.