April Ross

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Whatever is responsible for this, April doesn't notice when it happens.

She and Caden have been back in town for a few days now and she knows he'll need to go back again in the next little while, but she plans on staying here. Not because she hadn't enjoyed her time in California, but given how much she's banked on Coop's generosity when it comes to her job -- the first legitimate job she's ever had and currently her only source of income -- she really thinks it's a good idea she stay and actually work a little.

She's unpacked, she's settled back in her apartment, and she spends a few days just settling back into town. It's a strange thing to feel, settled in any way, but she does. And she isn't entirely sure what she thinks of it, whether she likes it or hates it, but she's allowing herself to exist in this state, to give it a chance instead of rebuffing it as soon as she feels something out of the ordinary.

Whenever she uses her powers in Siren Cove, she does it almost without thinking. There are times she uses them to get what she wants, times when she's irritated and makes someone do something for her, but none of it is truly harmful in any way. Though it seems someone disagrees.

She's in a coffee shop, she's in a hurry, and she needs to get to the front of the line quickly, so she taps the guy in front of her on the shoulder, gives him a smile and asks him in a gentle, melodic voice if he'd mind letting her go ahead of him. In response he only rolls his eyes and turns away from her.

For the rest of the day she tries it on everyone she meets. She asks people easy favours, she suggests things for them to do, and while some people help her just out of the kindness of their heart, most just ignore her suggestions, and that's never happened to her before. She has never met anyone immune to her powers.

By the end of the day she's so furious she's trembling and she stands near the boardwalk, unsure of what to do or where to go. She needs to see Caden, she needs to tell him something is wrong, but she needs to see her father, too. Maybe he'll be able to track down whoever is responsible for this.

Staring out at the ocean, her jaw clenched tight enough to hurt, April finds the only thing she wants to do is scream.

It's so easy when it comes to using her powers.

While it's been months since she's done any sort of con and while she has nothing particular on the horizon, it feels strange not to be stretching her wings, so to speak, at least once in awhile. This is what she is, it's part of her very makeup, and there's nothing about being a siren that April has ever felt the need to apologize for. Anyone who has an issue with it can take it up with her, though the truth is she's just as likely to laugh in their face as she is to listen to any concerns they may have.

This is the way she'd been born and no one had been there to teach her how to use her powers. She had discovered them on her own and she knows she's lucky that she figured out how to use them. Surviving the foster care system might not have turned out quite so easy if she'd been without and while she hadn't been able to save every single exploited kid she'd come across, being able to do the things she can do had certainly helped here and there. It's not something she talks about with anyone, the things she'd seen across the various home she'd been placed in, the way some of the foster parents had treated the kids in their care, the abuse of all kinds. She keeps it to herself, but she hasn't forgotten any of it.

Children unsettle her. She never knows what to do about them and she's always been certain she doesn't want any of her own, but she's also never been able to stand a bully. When she sees the little boy being picked on, it's easy enough to send out little pieces of her power that carry with them the influence she usually only holds over the men whose money she's trying to steal. This time, though, she sends them to the much bigger boy picking on the little one and it's only a few seconds before he's turning away, before he starts to walk, then picks up speed, and runs straight into a lamp post.

It's not enough to cause any lasting damage, but it's enough to hurt and she doesn't feel the slightest bit guilty about it. Especially not when the little boy's tears seem to dry up all at once and he stares at his bully for a moment before the bigger boy runs away.

With a grin, she turns away from the scene and continues her afternoon walk down the boardwalk.

[Find April anywhere on the boardwalk. Feel free to have seen as much or as little of the scene with the bullying boy as you like.]

It feels like it's been a long time since she's seen this town. She hadn't intended on being away for quite so long, had been planning on returning near the beginning of February, but with everything that had happened in Miami, she had agreed with Caden that maybe taking a little bit longer away in order to heal would be a good thing.

And she's been plotting, too. She's paid Caden his money back, because despite his insistence that it doesn't matter -- and she's sure it doesn't, she's positive he doesn't care at all about the money, which has been interesting for her to realize -- it does matter to her. She doesn't like owing anyone, no matter how much she's come to care about it, so she had gently insisted, promising him it would only make her feel better. Besides that, she's been considering her options.

These people want money from her dead mother. They've made it clear they'll keep coming back for more, especially now that she's linked to someone who has the money to give. They're going to go after her for as long as they can and she's fairly certain the only way to get rid of them is to find out who's in charge and get rid of them. This is where she thinks she might need to bring in her father.

For now, though, she finds she's actually just glad to be back in Siren Cove. She and Caden had arrived earlier that morning and she's with him now, looking exactly as she did when she left. The bruises are gone, she's dressed in a pair of jeans and a well tailored blouse, and she feels surprisingly good.

That may be at least partly due to how excited she is to find a way to get these assholes off her back for good.



Caden has slightly mixed feelings about returning to Siren Cove. It isn't home for him, and it never will be, but he does like it. A lot has happened here, good and bad, and it's become an important place to him. So even though he greatly enjoyed his time in San Francisco with April, there is something nice about coming back.

They hadn't done much more than relax and spend time together in California, giving April time to heal and for Caden to come to terms with the fact that he is, apparently, a witch. His powers still seem to be tied to his emotions, which is worrisome. He wants to learn more about what he is, and how to control what he can do.

He's pretty much over Les, but going to him with something so big and, in a way, intimate isn't really high on his list of things he wants to do. There's Coop, and April has suggested Joel would be a big help, and Caden has plans to seek him out soon.

For now, he strolls leisurely down the street with April at his side, the both of them looking relaxed and tan, well-rested despite what they (mostly she) went through. There isn't a scratch on her now, no evidence to show what happened to her, and the smile on her face looks completely carefree. They pass a reflective storefront and Caden has a thought about how good they look together. It makes him happy and he leans in to kiss her temple before they continue on.

There's plenty to worry about, with his blossoming powers and the threat of April's kidnappers coming back for more at the top of the list, but when he catches the scent of Quill's coffee and looks over at April, all he can do is smile.

Whatever may happen, it's good to be back.


[The return of April and Caden! Tag either or both of them. If not specified otherwise, we'll assume you want both of them. If both, order will be your pup, Caden, April.]

Hey all,

I'm really struggling with April's tags right now, so as it stands, she's left town for the time being. She'll be back eventually, but at the moment, I'm not entirely sure when. The only people she's in contact with are Caden and Robert, but if anyone texts her, she might answer. Depending on how she's feeling. XD

I know I have a bunch of stuff I just started with her, but I might have to let it all go. I honestly just sit here and stare at the computer while trying to write her at the moment, so I'm going to lean toward starting fresh when I bring her back and letting the other stuff go for now.

♥
Leah

April doesn't mope.

She doesn't drink to excess and she doesn't let herself be seen a mess unless it's going to benefit her in some way. She doesn't waste tears on what's happened when she knows she's as much to blame as anyone. This was inevitable. She had seen it coming and she'd done nothing about it and so she is as much at fault as Les, though that's not the sort of thing she'll ever admit, because being able to blame him is both satisfying and potentially useful, depending on the person she's speaking to.

How upset she lets herself be, how angry she is, how much she blames him and how much she blames Corrine will all depend on what someone is looking for out of her. April is dealing with this in the only way she knows how: she's lying her ass off to anyone who looks at her.

On January first, she's getting out of Siren Cove. At least for a little while. She's been doing her research and there's an opportunity for a short term con about six hours from here and it's something she needs. She's so restless and this town feels like it's digging into her, like its claws have gotten into her skin and she needs out. So in less than a week she'll be gone.

But for now, she's doing exactly the opposite of what people might expect of her. She's been with Caden, she's going out for coffee, she's shopping. She very visibly returned the Christmas gift she had bought for Les and this might be one time that gossip magazine actually benefits her a little, because she's making sure to be seen.

A little sad, maybe, but not a mess. A little sad, but still strong.

This is the woman Siren Cove gets until she figures out exactly how she's going to pay this place back for every last fucking curve ball it's thrown at her. And then she'll be done playing nice.

[Catch her out anywhere, getting coffee or shopping for herself at some fancy clothing store~]

April is restless.

It's an itch under her skin, the feeling she most closely associates with the times she lets herself really be free, when her scales surface and she slips into the water. That's where she goes when she feels like this. That or she disappears, but Siren Cove has done something to her and she can't just disappear into thin air.

Her father would probably find her, for one, and right now she's still at a place where she doesn't want to give him a reason to contact her. Right now she's still of the mind that as little contact as possible is best.

But she's restless and she's twitchy and she's sure Coop had sensed it all afternoon. She'd bid him a distracted goodbye before standing on the sidewalk, undecided, then turned toward Caden's. She should go see Les, he's always made her feel better, but there's still that little sting that's worked its way under her skin. Like a fish hook, a little barb that's dug into the side of her throat and is tugging, tugging every time she tries to move.

She'd come to the cave for him. He'd gone home with Corrine.

She doesn't know what she really feels, not yet, but tonight she goes to see Caden instead, arms wrapped around herself to ward off the chill in the air when she knocks on his door.

Her ankle still hurts.

That's the first thing April registers when she opens her eyes in her bed at home and she winces a little, throwing back the covers to look at it. It's still swollen and she can't put much weight on it, but she gets up anyway and limps to the bathroom where she brushes her hair, washes off the rest of last night's makeup and brushes her teeth before going to the kitchen.

It's not until after she starts her coffee maker that she realizes the power is back on. She checks her phone to find both reception and a message from Les that makes her smile. Apparently they had both needed rescuing the night before and had both been unable to come through as the hero.

She sends him a text -- I'm okay. Survived the night. Come by when you can. I'll pretend to make you breakfast by ordering something in. then settles down on the couch to drink her coffee. Her conversation with Caden from the night before is still fresh in her mind and she smiles a little. Once Les is here, she'll see how he's feeling, then maybe ask him what his thoughts on Caden are.

By the time she gets back into town, her apartment is ready for her to move into and for that she's extremely grateful. It isn't that she's had a hard time staying with Les -- she's actually enjoyed it quite a bit -- but she likes her space, too. A feeling she's sure Les shares. Since Coop's party, things have felt better, they both seem a little more at ease around each other and she likes that, but she also knows neither of them are ready to be living together.

Her belongings are fairly limited, but she has them moved into the new place and it's only once she's settled, showered and changed that she heads out into Siren Cove once more. There's money in the small safe in her new place that she needs to deposit, though it's going into an account in another town under a different name and she has plans to make that day trip on the weekend, maybe with Les along for the ride. She can convince him just to get away with her for the day, drop in at the bank, make the deposit, and then spend the rest of the day with him.

It's not something she's ever given much thought to before, but thinking about plans with Les now makes her smile. She's distracted, glancing down at her phone, preparing to text him to ask if that's something he'd like to do, when she nearly walks into someone on the sidewalk.

"Sorry," she says, still distracted, doing her best to simply step aside.

Her apartment is a disaster.

It's even worse than it had been the night she'd found Les here and as April picks her way through shattered glass and broken furniture, she realizes they'd probably spent the rest of the night searching through her things, hoping to find something they could sell in order to get their money. It makes her furious, even though she hadn't been particularly attached to any of the things they'd destroyed. Her entire life is in the bag she currently has over one shoulder, but these were still her things. They didn't belong to her mother, she hasn't even seen her mother in twenty-five years and yet she's somehow still fucking up April's life.

"Jesus," she murmurs when she walks into the bedroom and sees the state of it. Her bed has been destroyed, the mattress shredded, her pillows torn apart. She can understand looking for money there, but what she doesn't understand is the way they've completely ruined her wardrobe as well. It doesn't matter, they're only clothes, but they've been ripped to shreds. A lot of anger went into this and she knows for certain at the sight of it that this has never been about the money. Not entirely.

Even if she paid them off -- which she won't, mostly because she's too stubborn -- it wouldn't matter. These men want to hurt her mother and since her mother is dead, they'll settle for hurting her.

She's relieved she isn't here alone and though she still feels like she's treading on ground laced with landmines when it comes to Les and Corrine, she reaches for his hand anyway. She threads her fingers with his and turns to look at him and Lara. Since Les had asked Lara to help, April has felt strangely safe. She doesn't know what to make of that either, but she is glad they're both here.

"We have about ten minutes before they're supposed to meet us," she says, gently kicking aside a shredded pair of jeans with the toe of her boot. "I thought it might be enough to just have you send them away, but..." She looks at Lara. "They're dangerous. Do whatever you have to."

Because she won't put Les in danger again. She can run if it becomes necessary, but she won't let him get hurt.