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Sol adjusted her jacket nervously, looking around. Was she standing too awkwardly? Someone was going to think she was loitering. What was she going to say if someone asked her to leave? Oh, sorry, I’m just waiting for my d—
Sol cringed. It wasn’t a date. That much had been obvious. He shook his head slightly, trying to clear the anxiety from it. If someone bothered him, he could just tell the truth. They couldn’t get mad at him for being honest.
But what if they think I’m lying? The panic rose in Sol’s chest again. He bounced on his heels slightly, worrying. Sol had been standing out here for far too long, it was starting to get awkward. He jumped at the sound of a car door slamming, looking out at the small parking lot in a panic, hoping to see a mass of blue hair.
She didn’t. Instead, a tall blond woman approached, wearing a jacket that had the sanctuary’s logo embroidered onto it. Sol’s throat closed up, excuses for standing outside of the snail sanctuary building up in her mind, but hardly able to breathe. The woman’s heels clicked against the pavement, and then she paused, seeing Sol outside the door.
“Hi,” Sol said weakly, all of the excuses he had had for standing outside like this leaving his brain as soon as the woman fixed him with her gaze. It was gentle, but it was still a stare that Sol practically melted under. Sol bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to seem like he was being suspicious.
She smiled at Sol, and pulled out her keys. “You’re Hayte’s friend, I take it?” she asked. She picked a key, and then unlocked the door. “You’re here nice and early.”
Sol’s throat unstuck, although she was still taking shallow breaths. “Hayte told me to be here at nine.”
The woman laughed, pushing the door open and gesturing for Sol to follow. Sol did, rubbing his sweaty palms on his sweater vest.
He stepped inside, into a small front hall area, with a counter to pay for admission, and then another set of doors afterwards, leading into the rest of building. The woman took her jacket off, and Sol watched as she put her name tag on. She wore a simple blue shirt, also embroidered with the sanctuary’s logo on the right, and a pocket on her left. She tucked a pen into her pocket, and Sol smiled slightly at the snail pen topper.
“Eirdis,” the woman said, gesturing. “And you must be Sol.”
Sol blinked, and then nodded. Eirdis pushed open the second set of doors.
“How— Did Hayte—” Sol started, and then blushed slightly. Eirdis smiled at her.
“Hayte checked you in already at the front desk. I read your name just now. I’m surprised it told you to be here at nine, you know,” Eirdis continued, her tone light. She seemed to float into the next room, with Sol at her heels. “We open at nine, but Hayte doesn’t usually finish its morning tasks until 9:30.”
Sol nodded along, barely taking in the gift shop they had stepped into. Eirdis led Sol past a couple of short rows of snail-themed merchandise and into a small room filled with fish tanks.
“Hayte?” Eirdis called, and then frowned. “Wait here, Sol. Feel free to look around, of course.”
Eirdis floated to the back of the room, and then she disappeared into another door, this time labeled “STAFF”.
Sol ran a hand through her hair, catching on her curls. She took a deep breath, and then looked around at the room.
It was dimly lit, with several fish tanks on the walls. There was a touch pool, with some small urchins and starfish, and Sol peered in cautiously. There was a small sign that read “Please do not touch without an employee present”, so Sol quickly moved on.
In the next tank, there was a large cluster of very tiny snails, and a sign next to them that told Sol that this tank was for breeding snails, and at this moment was being used for mystery snails. He watched the baby snails inch along the glass for a little bit, before moving on.
In the next tank, there was a gorgeous betta fish, a bright blue, with red streaks on his fins. There was a sign describing the different kinds of betta fish, which she used to identify this betta as a veil tail. A section on the sign explained that while betta fish didn’t like other bettas, they did get lonely if they didn’t have any sort of stimulation from their owners. Thus, a school of about 20 guppies had been added. There was a large snail in with the betta fish, as well as several plants, all identified by another sign.
The door swung open again, and Sol jumped slightly. Eirdis returned, Hayte behind her. Sol glanced at his watch, wondering how long he had been left along. Five minutes, apparently. Eirdis smiled at Sol, a hint of an apology in her eyes. She placed her hands on Hayte’s shoulders, much like an adult telling their child to remember their manners.
“You two have fun now, won’t you?” Eirdis nodded, and then reached down for the bucket in Hayte’s hand. Hayte pulled it away slightly, and Eirdis frowned. “Come on, now, Hayte. You’ve made Sol wait long enough. Take your gloves off, too.”
Hayte took its gloves off and tossed them on the side of the bucket. Eirdis took the bucket and straightened up. She gave Hayte a gentle pat and turned back to the door, leaving Hayte and Sol alone in the fish tank room.
“Hello,” Sol said, waving a bit. She felt incredibly awkward again, the slight calm she had gotten from being alone in the room taken away.
“Hello.” Sol tried not to cringe at how loud it was, with its already loud voice bouncing off of the glass and hard walls. Hayte looked at Sol, and Sol looked back, unsure of what to say or do. After a moment, Hayte turned and went over to the touch pool. “Guests usually start here.”
Sol blinked. “Oh, okay!” He bounced over to the pool and looked inside again. Hayte reached in and brushed one of the starfish, and then out of its pocket, it pulled a small plastic baggy. It opened it up and pulled out… something, and offered that to the starfish.
“What’s that?” Sol asked, tilting her head slightly to watch the starfish take a hold of it. It moved over the object, covering it up completely, so that Sol and Hayte couldn’t see it anymore.
“Food.” Hayte said. It pulled the starfish up so that Sol could see it bring the food to its mouth. “It’s going to expel its stomach and enclose the food, and then bring the stomach back into its body.”
Sol stared. “Really? Woah. That’s so cool.”
Hayte pried the starfish off of its finger and set it back down. Hayte looked at Sol.
Sol stared at the starfish, aware of Hayte’s eyes on her, wondering if she was supposed to do something now.
“It’s a touch pool,” Hayte said after a moment.
“Oh!” Sol reached into the cool water and brushed the back of the starfish. It had a weird texture. He smiled at Hayte, who showed him some of the other animals in the tank, letting Sol touch them briefly. Sol was very gentle with the creatures, thinking about how strange it would be to be suddenly poked and prodded by someone fifty times your size. He wondered if they ever had someone be too rough with them. I guess that’s why there has to be an employee present.
When Hayte was done with that, it walked over to the final tank in the room, the only one that Sol hadn’t had a chance to look at yet. By far the biggest fish tank in the room, it had several different snails in it, as well as a couple of large schools of fish. Hayte started explaining how it was hard to pick fish that could co-exist with the snails, as so many of the different fish species feasted on the shelled creatures.
Sol listened, thoroughly enjoying Hayte’s mini-rambles. She stood next to Hayte as it watched the fish, making one of its blank expressions. Sol wished it would emote, even a little bit, so she could tell if it was having any fun at all.
They stood next to the fish tank in silence for a minute, just watching the fish swim. Hayte seemed to be waiting for something, and after a moment, a hatch opened in the very top, barely visible because of the distortions of the water’s surface, and food was dumped in. The fish all swarmed to the top, pecking at the flakes that now coated the surface. A few green wafers were dropped in as well, sinking to the bottom immediately.
Hayte frowned. “She was a minute early.”
Sol blinked. “What?”
Hayte looked at Sol and scrunched its nose. An emote, at least, although I have no idea what it means. “Eirdis fed them, just now. A minute early.”
“Oh.” Sol thought. “Does it— does it matter that much?”
Hayte scrunched its nose again. “Yes.”
“Oh. Well, if it only happens once, maybe it’ll be okay?”
“Maybe.”
Hayte turned away from the fish tank, and stepped back towards the gift shop. Sol followed, suppressing a small smile at Hayte’s concern.
Hayte led Sol back through the gift shop, all the way to a secondary door that read “SNAIL SANCTUARY” on it. Sol smiled, ready to see the snails.
Hayte pushed open the door and flapped its hand a bit, and Sol smiled at that, too. The door led to a tiny anteroom with a sink, a mini-fridge and some cupboards in it. Hayte showed Sol the list of rules to follow, such as “Watch for snails at all times!” and “Don’t poke at snails!”
Hayte pointed to the sink and said, “Wash your hands first. No soap, just water.”
Sol did, and Hayte did as well. Hayte bent down and opened up the fridge, pulling out some pre-sliced fruits. It handed Sol a few, and then hummed, apparently satisfied.
It pushed open the next door with its shoulder, and Sol, once again, followed. They stepped into a small greenhouse-looking place. There was a brick path circling around a center gazebo, and it was filled to the brim with plants. Sunlight streamed in, giving it a very warm and cozy feel, despite the outside’s brisk temperature.
Hayte led Sol along, pointing out some of the more hidden snails, and showing Sol where to leave the fruit. Eventually, the path branched off, one leading back around to the front of the room, and the other leading to the gazebo. Hayte turned down the gazebo path, and Sol followed, expecting it to sit in one of the benches.
It stopped halfway, though, and bent down. It lifted a leaf, and then another, looking for something.
Sol stooped down, as well. “What are you looking for?”
“A snail. She’s usually around here. This is her favorite plant.”
“She?” Sol asked.
Hayte glanced at Sol. “Most snails don’t have genders. Or names. She’s different, though.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know.”
Sol smiled again, watching Hayte’s face as it lifted different leaves. Its nose scrunched a couple of times, and Sol felt his stomach flip.
Sol’s eyes caught on a flash of gold, and she looked up. “Oh!” she said, pointing. “Sorry to distract you, but—”
Hayte looked up, nose scrunched tight. It looked where he was pointing, and its nose smoothed out immediately. It reached for the golden snail, who felt its hand with her antennae for a moment, before sliding onto Hayte’s hand gently.
“There you are,” Hayte said, with a softer voice that Sol had heard it use thus far.
Hayte stepped into the gazebo, and Sol followed. They sat together, and Hayte showed Sol the giant snail.
“She’s the oldest snail here. The first snail Eirdis got for the sanctuary.”
“Oh, wow,” Sol said, remembering suddenly that one of the signs had said that this sanctuary had been here for almost 7 years.
“She’s impossible to identify as a single species. Her gold color combined with the dark brown is unusual.”
“Ooh,” Sol said, paying attention now to the spots along the snails back, and what almost looked like freckles on her face.
“We may never know.”
“That’s crazy,” Sol said. She reached to pet the back of the snail’s shell, like Hayte had shown her earlier.
“Do you want to hold her?”
“Can I?”
“Of course.” Hayte passed the snail over, cupping Sol’s hand as the snail slowly moved off of Hayte’s.
Sol’s stomach flipped again as her brain shouted with excitement. Hayte had seemed so… well, off-putting that Sol had assumed it didn’t want to be touched. This was the first it had initiated any touch, and whenever Sol did, she kept it light and to a minimum.
Hayte’s hand lingered for a just a moment, making sure Sol had the snail, before dropping. Sol’s eyes dropped, slightly disappointed, but now too focused on the snail in his hands to mind. Sol smiled slightly at the texture and movement of the snail crawling across his hand— the snail’s foot, as Hayte had told him.
She looked up, expecting to see Hayte watching the snail, and instead startled to see Hayte staring directly at her. She flushed slightly, trying not to let on just how unnerving its stare could be. She dropped its gaze, looking back at the snail, trying to push away the heat in her cheeks.
Eventually, after a long few moments of silence, Hayte picked the snail up from Sol. “She likes you.” It said it so factually, like there was no question about whether or not the snail could experience large enough emotions to like Sol. It held the snail up to Sol’s eye line, so that Sol was practically making eye contact with her.
“Look. This is Sol. My friend.”