(open)

[seas_open]

The envelope arrives on her doorstep through registered mail as April is on her way out and she signs for the thick envelope with a frown. She can't imagine who would be mailing anything to her, not when she's kept herself so distanced from nearly everyone she has ever met. Her name is on the front, however, and her address in Siren Cove is neatly printed on a white sticker, though under that she can see there are at least three other stickers. Her guess is that each sticker has a previous address written on it and she has to wonder who has been keeping such close tabs on her that they've been able to track her through her last three locations.

She's wanted on charges in at least two states and she makes herself difficult to find for that reason alone. The charges are minor, she doubts she'll ever be interesting enough for any police to follow her across state lines or really pursue her, but she's still done her best to make sure she stays out of jail for that little bit of money she's convinced people to give her. It's not stealing, she thinks, if the person in question wants her to have the cash.

But if the police haven't bothered to find her, she's not sure who has and it isn't until she reaches the boardwalk that she opens the envelope. The return address is a law office in Canada and she wonders if it has something to do with the foster homes as she slips her nail under the flap and opens it.

The contents don't make sense at first. Several legal documents mention Melanie Ross, a name she doesn't recognize, and there's a copy of the woman's will folded carefully around a letter. Whoever she is, she's clearly dead, and April imagines she must be some distant relative, someone she's never even heard of until she opens the letter and sees her name written across the top in a slanting, delicate scrawl.

The letter is from her mother.

Her dead mother.

April scans the will quickly, catches sight of her name, and she feels her stomach turn. There's nothing in the world she wants from this woman with her addictions and her inability to care for her children. The letter makes no mention of the sister April knows she has, the woman somewhere out there in the world who is only a year older than she is, the only decent memory she has of the very brief time she spent in her mother's care. There are other names, though. The names of other women, other places her father had visited.

It reads like some kind of tell-all and the more April reads, the more disgusted she feels until she reaches a familiar name and she feels like her heart stops in her chest. Flynn. Another woman in the long line of women her father had been with, another woman her own mother had apparently kept track of and April shakes her head, torn between fascination at this revelation and disgust at her mother's obsession with the things her philandering father had done.

If this is true, it means part of the family she's told herself she's not looking for is right here in Siren Cove.

April stands up abruptly from the bench and walks down the beach until she's at the guest house on Corrine's property. She doesn't know what she's doing, if she wants to see Corrine or Les and she stands there on the beach for a moment, indecisive in a way she usually isn't. Then she turns abruptly, yanking her sundress over her head as she walks straight into the ocean. She needs to swim. She needs to really be herself for a little while.

[The swimming part is mostly for Les to catch April in her siren form, so everyone else can catch her on the boardwalk with the envelope she doesn't know what to make of. :D]

Comments

[lesparker]

With Corry off rehearsing for her latest project, Les has been left in charge of the house. Mostly he's kept himself confined to the guesthouse, but all his belongings from his old apartment are sitting in boxes in Corry's living room, waiting to moved downtown to his new building. There are just a few more arrangements and leases to be signed before everything is finalized. Really it should be only a couple more days. Until then he is attempting not to go crazy. The mansion was fine with Corry around to keep him company, with her gone it's just lots and lots and lots of oversized rooms and too much stuff. That's why he's actually getting dressed to leave, needing some fresh air, when the call comes over the intercom. It's one of the house attendants, one Les likes actually because she always gives him pickles.

"Miss April is here," she informs him. April hasn't been over that many times, but it's their job to know who is coming and going on the property with all the attention surrounding Corry. Les buzzes back he's got it, and he heads outside enthused at the idea of having someone else around. He tugs on his shirt as he goes quickly out the door. He and April haven't made any arrangements to meet up, and he's curious as to what she could be doing here. Not that it matters. They never really make plans.

Once he gets outside, she's no where to be found. He wanders for a few minutes around the guesthouse, near the pool and the tennis courts before finally heading down to the beach. He walks for awhile, enjoying the breeze coming off the water. Without any sign of April, eventually he decides to head back to the house and starts making the long trek back down the beach shore.

[seas_open]

She can feel him before she sees him and that makes her angrier for a moment. Everyone's energy is different, she responds to that, bends herself to be what they want in order to get what she might want from them, but she doesn't do that with Les. She can simply feel his energy vibrating across the water to where she's submerged and she pushes off in his direction before realizing what she's doing. She cuts cleanly through the water with little effort, lifting her head only for air before flicking her tail and heading toward shore faster.

It doesn't matter. Siren Cove is destroying her. It's giving her family she's never wanted -- or maybe she has, she doesn't know anymore, she can't decide what she's feeling -- and it's introduced her to this man she doesn't understand. It doesn't matter if he sees her like this because this is the form that scares them away in the end.

When she's close enough to shore, she finds a rock and drags herself into a sitting position on it, but makes no attempt to change her appearance. This is who she is, black shining scales, black eyes, sharp teeth. She's never once used her influence on Les, but she reaches out now, gently, delicately, because she wants him to see her. He'll leave, probably, but she'd rather know that now.

[lesparker]

Her influence washes over Les as just a simple itch at the back of his neck, a quick tick that makes him halt his steps and turn round, thinking he's heard something, like someone's called his name. His eyes scan the sands even though he knows there hadn't been a voice. There aren't any people out here, not on this side of the beach. He sees nothing, and he is already moving to go back, his neck still itching at the curious occurrence. But, as he turns, a figure catches his attention in the corner of his eye, and his immediate thought is: danger.

Quickly, he snaps his head to get a look, the dark figure already heightening his attention, making power zip down to his fingers, ready to defend himself should the situation call for it. He doesn't like being caught off-guard...

When he has a proper look though, Les realizes this isn't what he thinks. It's....it's April. Once he sees it's her, it's a relief, but the rising beat in his chest doesn't slow exactly. "Jesus christ. You scared me," he tells her, deflating some, his powers subsiding as he unclenches his fists. He didn't realize it until just now that perhaps some of the things that have been happening around town---the cruise, the beach party, the mist---maybe he's more worried about the evil that's going around than he realized.

He takes a few cautious steps closer once he gathers himself. Even though the threat might be there, he can still feel the tension as he draws near, in the way she's looking back at him, studying his face. He realizes that the itch he felt had been April calling him, revealing herself. She's fully transformed as a siren, nothing but black glistening scales and her teeth and eyes and sharp nails. He sees why he had initially thought the wrong thing as he draws near. She looks a little...well...scary.

[seas_open]

It doesn't surprise her that he says she's scared him, but then he doesn't leave and that does surprise her. She watches him with slightly narrowed eyes, her lips parted over the sharpened, razor-like teeth, but she tips her head and her wet hair drags across her shoulder and still he doesn't go anywhere. In fact, he comes closer and April slaps her tail against the rock, though she doesn't know why. It isn't a warning, she's no more likely to hurt him like this than she normally is and even then she's not sure she's capable of hurting Les. There's something about him, something she wants to keep for herself and that isn't fair, but it's there all the same.

She should change back and walk to him, she knows she should. She can see her dress lying on the beach just beyond him, but she doesn't make any effort to cover herself. Maybe he isn't afraid of her. Maybe there's one person who might not run.

"This is it," she tells him and when she's like this she can't help the slight change in her voice, the more melodic pitch. It just happens, but she puts no effort into it, no suggestion. She doesn't want Les to stay here because she forces him to, she wants him to stay -- and she does -- because he isn't afraid. "This what people have run from."

[lesparker]

After another step or so, he is only a mere couple feet from the rock where she's perched staring at him, following his movements so closely, like she's waiting for him to do something. He may have his powers and he can no doubt defend, but Les has also seen Corry's rage when she had taken down that sea urchin back on the island. He doesn't have any reason to test April's strength. Instead, he gets closer, and he's just as fascinated by the changes in her form as he had been swept up when Corry transformed in front of his eyes. Except now he can see the full transformation up close, her sharp teeth and black eyes like slits, no longer anything close to human. She's something Les could only conjure up with a spell, and even then it wouldn't be this perfectly done. April could become this completely different, powerful being, anytime she wants too. And it's just...it's brilliant.

Her voice is different when she speaks, and he draws a little closer wondering if she minds if he touches her when she's like this because he's definitely curious, definitely wants to do that. "If I run, are you gonna chase me?" he asks with a grin because he thinks he wouldn't mind if she did. He circles around the rock, not actually meaning to treat her like an object put on display, but Les is slightly obsessed with mermaids in general. And April right now has a fish tail.

"How is it with the tail? Does it feel like just...one big leg?" he asks.

[seas_open]

"Only if you run straight into the water. I'm not much use like this on land," she says, still watching him with just a hint of wariness in her gaze. He's not going to run, she can tell already and there's a heavy beating of her heart in response that she doesn't know what to make of. There's a part of her that just wants him to run because it would make sense, it would make things easier. She wouldn't have to think about how she feels about him and she wouldn't have to worry, to try and pick apart how it is he makes her want to let down some of her defences when she hasn't had anyone like that in so long. If he were to just run, he would fix everything.

But he doesn't.

She slips down the rock a little, sliding closer to him and she's never been this close to anyone in this form. All her life she's kept it mostly hidden and she's nervous to have Les looking at her so closely, but she doesn't change back. Not yet.

"It..." But no one has ever asked her that before and she glances down at her tail, at the shimmering scales. "It's different. A different mechanism, different muscles. It's powerful." She can propel herself through the water at a speed she knows is unnatural to humans, even to most fish.

[lesparker]

Les watches the way she moves on the rock, wondering how it must feel to be as comfortable in this form as she is standing on two legs. How she's probably more comfortable this way because she's told him as much, numerous times even. She loves the water, and he can see why. She's stronger, more powerful this way, and Les gets that. He likes his own magic, likes to know he can do things others can't. He smiles when she says what he's thinking, that her tail is powerful, and he nods turning to look out at the water behind her for a brief second.

"Yeah. I seem to recall you saying that you could swim circles around me," he says teasingly. He gestures at the water. "We're already here. You should show me." Not that he thinks he would have any chances at beating her in the water, he experienced for himself how fast a siren could move in the water, especially when challenged, and April looks like she knows what she's doing.

That's part of the reason he is curious to see.

[gemmadorsey]

Gemma almost walks right by her. Actually, she does walk right by her, bopping along to Sia, then processes what she's seeing and pauses, turns around, and pulls the earbuds out of her ears, letting them dangle from her fingers for a moment.

"You all right?" she says.

Not to be intrusive. Just in case she's having a stroke or something.

[seas_open]

April looks up, startled, and she lifts one hand to brush some hair back from her face. She isn't used to feeling this way and she doesn't like it. There's a distinct lack of control she feels and she fumbles with the envelope for a moment before forcing a smile to her face. Normally she's so good at faking everything, at being exactly who the person in front of her needs her to be, but she doesn't have enough energy to reach out and see who this woman might want. She can't do it now.

"Yes," she says, then smiles faintly. "And no. Have you ever had a moment like that?"

[gemmadorsey]

"So, so many times," says Gemma fervently. "For a while, I'm pretty sure it was my natural state." She reaches into her pocket and rummages around, coming out with a hair elastic, two nails, and half a candy bar. It's not much, but it's something. "Will a Snickers make it better?"

[seas_open]

April actually laughs at that, surprised by her own response, and it isn't like her, it isn't within her strict rules of control to be sitting on a bench talking to a near stranger about the envelope she's just received. It isn't like her to accept comfort or chocolate from someone she doesn't know, but she feels so ruffled, so completely unlike herself that she isn't sure what else to do.

"You know, it might," she says.

[gemmadorsey]

She tosses it over, and wishes she had more pockets to check for something better but she isn't exactly layered up when it's hot out and she's out for a walk.

"It always works for me," she says. "Well, not always, but it helps. Sugar rush. Endorphins. Something."

[seas_open]

"Thank you," April says, unwrapping the chocolate bar and looking down at it for a moment, a faintly amused smile. "Chocolate always does seem to help, doesn't it?"

She glances at the envelope, then says, "It's nothing. My mother's will. I haven't seen her since I was two years old, it shouldn't matter." And it's not her death that matters. It's the revelation that she's not alone.

[bachjones]

"Ladybug, I can already tell this is not going to be my favorite look of you."

Bach circles her. "I miss lights in your eyes and a smile on your lips. Something wrong?"

[seas_open]

She isn't sure how to answer that and she looks up at Bach, forcing a smile before she shakes her head. "I don't know," she admits, tapping the letter gently with one fingernail. "My mother died," she says, which is really nothing to be sad about, she hadn't known the woman at all. It's the information that has accompanied her death that has April reeling, something she isn't sure what to do with.

She wants to talk to Corrine and yet at the same time she doesn't. She's never had family before, the idea of having one now isn't something she's sure she likes very much.

[bachjones]

"Want mine to take her place?"

He gently puts an arm around her shoulders. "Ignore that, I wouldn't wish that woman on anyone. Okay, someone, but we're not talking about me right now. Was she the last part of your roots connecting you to a family? Want to talk about it, even?"

[seas_open]

"No, I didn't even know her," April says honestly. "I was taken away from her when I was two. She was a drug addict, she couldn't care for me or my sister. My father was a fuck-up, but..." She shrugs, then hands Bach the letter, the one that makes it fairly clear Corrine Flynn is her half-sister.

"I don't know why she kept track of him or why she kept track of me, but she did. And now she's dead and I get this. Some bullshit legacy of a family I've never known and never wanted." But that isn't entirely true. She has been looking, although subtly and without much effort.

[bachjones]

It takes Bach a while to get through the letter because his reading isn't that good and frankly his body is more distracted by how close it is to April with her allowing it.

But the good feeling drops when he connects the dots and doesn't like the picture at all. He removes his arm and takes a step away from her. "So ignore it. If you don't want it, if you don't know about it, if it's nothing you need in your life - ignore it."

[seas_open]

"Ignore it," April echoes and she wishes it could be that easy. It would be, she knows, if she could just leave town and another town, another time, she would have done exactly that. There's nothing that should be keeping her here, but there is. There's Bach and there's Les and the knowledge that she's been looking for family, even if she's been pretending she hasn't been.

"Corrine is my half-sister," she says and she notices that he backs away from her, but that stings in a way she doesn't want to think about and so she says nothing about it. "It's hard to ignore something like that at the best of times, but she and Les are best friends and Les and I are... doing whatever the hell it is we're doing. That makes it hard to ignore, doesn't it?"

[asharpertongue]

Lara's been swimming for a while now, stretching out her like she hasn't done for months. Her ribs ache a little but she's too busy enjoying herself to pay attention to that.

She feels the other siren in the water before she sees them. There's movement off to her left as a dark shape zips through the water. Lara hovers in the deep water, eyes glowing gold white, teeth and scales sharp, talons winnowing the water as she watched the other siren swim. She hums a note that carries through the water. It's just a general sound to make sure the other siren doesn't get a fright if they come upon a fully shifted matriarch.

[seas_open]

The sound startles April and she comes to an abrupt stop, hovering in the water before she turns. There are always other things in the water, but they generally leave her alone and she realizes several seconds before she gets closer that she isn't the only siren in the water. Not only that, but this is something more than what she's seen before and she realizes it's Lara.

Since meeting her at the music festival, April hasn't made any attempt to contact her, still uncertain of how she feels about following rules, but she's kept herself in line, too. So now she swims closer, her head cocked curiously, her hair streaming out behind her and for the first time, she doesn't worry about what someone might think of her black eyes and sharpened teeth. She hasn't spent much time around other sirens, but there in the water, barely an arm's length from Lara, she's suddenly realizing such a thing might not be so bad.

[asharpertongue]

Lara is surprised when she recognises Aprils power. She swims over to the woman and does a slow circle around her, admiring her form. Lara's form was very different in water. On land her scales harden to armour, raised and sharp. In the water they grow thick and smooth, still with the sharp edges but flattened for speed. Phosphorescent patches flowed in lines down either side of her thick tail, along her spiked fins and along the tentacles that replace her hair in long tails down her back. She was built for the deep murky oceans off the Irish coast so she stood out starkly in the clearer water here. The light from her eyes caught Aprils features and she smiled. She's never seen a siren look the way April does and it's really quite beautiful, all dark lines, sleek and elegant.

Brushing her power along Aprils, Lara encouraged the woman to follow her to shallower waters.

[seas_open]

She hesitates, but only for a moment before she follows Lara closer toward the shore, her tail pushing her quickly through the water and it's only when she can sense the sand coming up beneath them, closer and closer, than she lifts her head above the waves. They're still far enough away from shore that no one will really be able to see them, but she's begun to wonder how many people in Siren Cove would really be bothered.

She reaches up, pushing some of her wet hair back from her face before she lets herself relax a little. It feels like she's always on guard, but right now, she doesn't have the energy. Not with the things she's learned.

"My father is Corrine Flynn's father," she says simply, because she knows what that means about Corrine and she knows Lara will know what it means, too.

[asharpertongue]

Lara would say she was surprised to hear that but considering Corry's father she found she couldn't be. "I see the news hasn't exactly gone over well." Lara said, drily. She lifted her chin. "How do you feel about suddenly having a half sister?"

[seas_open]

April honestly isn't sure what she thinks of it. Though she doesn't know Corrine well, she'd enjoyed their conversation and she knows Les cares for her a great deal. Somewhere along the line, what Les thinks of people have become a good measure of them and that speaks well for Corrine.

It's the idea of family that grates on her a little.

"It's strange," she settles on saying. "I've been without a family for a very long time."