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April still hasn't made up her mind about this place.

That everyone is so open about the use of their magic, about being sirens is still something she's coming to terms with after an entire life of hiding who and what she is. Her meeting with Lara had confused her only because she's never been somewhere like this, where there are rules and expectations of her simply because of what she is and that alone is unsettling to her. She's never been very good at following anyone's rules but her own and now she feels, in some ways, as if someone is always watching, just waiting for her to screw up.

So far she hasn't had any real reason to use her powers. She'd sung to Bach, but only to make him feel better. She's hesitant to do what she might normally, she's reluctant to hum a soft tune just to get a man to do what she wants, and she doesn't like that feeling. On the other hand, living somewhere with people who haven't turned away from her simply due to learning what she is has given her a strange sense of belonging she's not used to. It's not something she's sure she likes very much.

She swims daily, but often tries to be done before sunrise. If she misses it, she'll go after sunset, when it's less likely someone will see her. There's probably not need, but she does it anyway, wanting to be back to herself and dressed again before the sun fully comes up.

Today, though, she's late.

As she drifts back toward shore, she realizes the sun is peaking over the tops of the buildings, that the first rays of light of stretching across the sand and people are out. Some are walking along the beach, others are jogging and there are more still on the boardwalk. She's made the effort to find a private place to swim, but even so, as she stands up in the water, her scales are visible, glistening and black, and she doesn't know whether or not she'll be seen.

[Timed to Tuesday morning. Catch her at any stage of her transformation or after she's returned to her human form and has gotten dressed again. >:D]

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April is used to people looking at her and used to them stopping in their tracks, but there are so few people who have turned the other way that she has to laugh. She retrievers her towel, drying off before she dresses, pulling on a loose t-shirt and a pair of cut-off shorts before she wanders along the sand, toward the other young woman who finally glances over her shoulder.

"Should I apologize?" she asks with an arched brow when she's close enough to be heard.

"I don't think so. I can't remember anything about nudity being illegal on this beach."

She swallows again. "You just surprised me."

April laughs, strangely delighted by that response, though she's not sure if that's true or not. Most beaches have some sort of law as to whether or not people are allowed to be undressed on them, but she also knows there are plenty of people who don't follow those rules.

"I'm sorry for surprising you," she answers, running the towel over her hair. "Were you planning on going for a swim? The water really is lovely."

"I don't swim n- I don't swim. But I'm sure the water is. It always is, especially for some people."

The woman shouldn't bear the grunt of her insomnia. "I come here when I can't sleep."

"Especially for some people," April agrees with a smirk as she squeezes water out of her hair, turning to appraise the other woman. She's young, pretty, seems a little nervous, though it's not like that's the first time April has encountered such a reaction. It's always a little more fun to play when she makes a person at least a little uncomfortable.

"So you can't sleep this morning?" she asks. "Looking for company?"

"You mean, like being in the same room so I can sleep? Don't sell yourself short, I'm sure you're not boring enough to put anyone to sleep."

If Aoife was correct, she had picked up on some scales, which means this lady was a siren. And sirens always expected everyone to fall at their feet straight away. Which made her hackles rise, especially because she was probably put down as an easy target.

"I think it's my bed that's the problem anyway, not me."

April laughs and shakes her head. "No, I simply meant... looking for some company? When I can't sleep I either go for a swim or find someone to spend some time with." It's a vague way to explain what she does when she can't sleep, she knows that spending time with a person can mean almost anything, but she also doesn't exclusively mean sex. Sometimes, on rare occasions, simply talking to a person can be enough.

"What's wrong with your bed?" she asks.

She opens her mouth, closes it again.

"I don't know. About the company, not the bed. The bed's in the wrong location right now. Family business. It's nothing big, of course."

April doesn't know anything about family business, having never had much of a family to speak of, but she nods as she knows exactly what the other woman is talking about. "Well, if you don't know about the company, why don't we try this like people who haven't just met while one was more or less naked," she suggests, then offers her hand. "I'm April."

Maybe she wasn't out for making a joke of Aoife's sleep deprivedness.

Aoife takes her hand, presses it softly. "Another A in my life, how fitting. My name's Aoife. Which you may not believe, but really starts with an A."

April nods, though she's really only heard the name once before. "It's Irish, isn't it?" she asks, remembering the young woman she'd met with that name in London. They'd gotten up to all sorts of awfully wicked things together before she'd had to go back to Ireland and April had returned to North America, and she smiles at the memory.

"It is. I'm not. Remotely, anyway. As far as I know. I should have gone with my second name, it's less of a hassle to explain. Cassandra", she adds. "Although some people will bring up the myths."

"No, it's pretty," April says, his smile curving a little wider. "Both names are, actually, but I like Aoife. It's far more original than April." She's never known why her parents picked that name or which one of them is responsible. It's possible neither of them had had the foresight to choose a name before she was born, entirely possible a nurse at the hospital named her so there would be something to put on her birth certificate. She's sure they'd been aware of how awfully fucked up both her parents had been,

It's a wonder she'd spent two years in that home, that they hadn't simply taken her away at birth.

"Thank you. No-one will ever ask you how you spell that, though. At least I don't think so."

She licks her front teeth in thought about what else they can talk about before she can escape to Apples and Eve. "Do you always have a morning swim?"

"Every morning right around this time," April says, her gaze flicking over Aoife still with that same smile. "If you ever can't sleep and decide you want a swimming lesson." She'd said she doesn't swim, not that she can't, but April has often that found they mean the same thing.

"Swimming is for the -"

She tilts her head. "Screw that." It's completely refreshing to not feel rebellious or bad about cursing, about denying her mother. Aoife knows this won't get back to her anyway.

"Maybe I will. As soon as I buy a bikini or onepiece."

April has a feeling Aoife doesn't often speak like that, that maybe she doesn't often do things she's not supposed to, and she laughs brightly, pleased. Leading someone a little bit astray has always been fun, especially when they want it.

"I could go shopping with you," she offers, not going quite so far as to suggest Aoife swim like she does. "I'll even put a top on for you while we swim, but you'll have to forgive the scales."

"You always offer to go shopping with strangers you meet on the beach, in need of swim wear?"

Aoife blushes. "I can forgive the scales. Seen it all before, I think."

"Just the ones I think might need or appreciate a hand," April answers with a sweet smile and she enjoys that blush. The pink tinge is awfully pretty on Aoife and although she has absolutely no idea what she's doing in Siren Cove, what she's trying to feel out with Les or even Bach, if either of them are truly something she even wants to explore, she can't help herself here. She can't keep herself from flirting a little, not when Aoife is so pretty, when she flushes so well.

"You spend time with many sirens?" she asks.

"You do that for a living, dress people? Or are the stories true and is it usually only undressing what happens around you? If I can ask such a blatant question."

The blush, nor the nervous bubbling in her stomach, refuses to leave. "No, definitely not these days. When we were all children. Away from the water."

"Right now I don't do much of anything for a living," April answers with a laugh, appreciative of Aoife's comment. "I think people are perfectly capable of staying dressed around me when they want to. The question is whether or not they want to."

"No influence whatsoever? Really? So what part of the stories about your ki- you are true then?"

"Can I influence people to do the things I want them to?" April asks, stepping a little closer to Aoife, a smile curving her lips. "Maybe. But if I tell you that I can, you'll always wonder if you're doing things around me because you want to or because I want you to."

She takes a very deep breath to keep her head from exploding. "I'm not a completely ditzy virgin. I carry some pr- protection. Magical ones, not sexy ones."

April laughs again, reaching up with one hand to comb her fingers through her wet hair, untangling the knots as the strands slide against her shoulders. "Well, I'm not doing anything to you now anyway," she says. "You don't have to be so nervous."