seas_open | [Closed - Caden, Coop, Les & Robert]

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[Closed - Caden, Coop, Les & Robert]

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.

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April has never met another siren who can control her powers and although she's never asked Lara about it, she doesn't really know what she'd be able to do either. Whether or not she'd be capable of that doesn't matter, though, not in this situation, because this isn't Lara's doing. This isn't a matriarch just controlling what April can do because she's out of control -- which she isn't -- or someone just dampening her powers. They're gone.

She can feel where they used to be, she can feel the emptiness. Something just isn't right.

"No," she says. "Robert took care of them for good." It's not entirely impossible she's pissed someone else off along the way, but she's done a fairly good job of covering her tracks and keeping her identity a secret. "I haven't even done a job in over a year."

She says it without thinking. She's so flustered over the loss of powers that her usual defenses seem to have dropped.

Les is smart, and for all his failings sometimes in expressing his emotions, he is very capable when it comes to people. He had to become that way in order to survive on his own. In all this time they've know each other he has always realized that his information about April was incomplete. When she says she hasn't done a job in over a year, he recognizes the words to be that part of her that's been secret.

He doesn't know if she meant to tell him or if she's that distracted, but she did and he takes in the words for a few seconds only to smirk and tilt his head at her. "What kind of job?" He asks though he has a very good inkling. It had to be the type of job that would make her powers useful, persuading people to do as she wanted. Give her a reason to move from place to place. It's why he thinks she has that job with Coop but it never seemed like she really needed it. "Was I a job and then you realized I was broke?"

It does not come out accusing. Instead, he laughs because it is such an easy answer. He feels kind of dumb now.

She is a con artist.

"How good are you?" Because obviously he immediately wants to know specifics.

The second she realizes she's said it, her gaze flicks quickly to Les and then away, as if she can ignore having accidentally dropped that bit of information. On a normal day, she would never give something like that away, not to anyone, but this isn't a normal day and she's flustered and angry and sometimes she thinks this goddamn town is making her soft.

She's about to continue talking about her loss of powers when Les asks if he was a job and she looks back at him, for a second even angrier still. He's making a joke, she knows he is, she knows he doesn't really think that, but for a moment she's still furious with him. "You weren't a job," she snaps, but then her expression softens slightly and she takes a deep breath, telling herself he doesn't mean anything by it. He's not trying to suggest none of what she felt was real.

Then he asks how good she is and she can't help it, she smiles just a little. "I'm good," she answers. "I'm very good."

"I'm an idiot," Les apologizes with a frown. Because when she snaps at him, he realizes how poor his joke sounded. He doesn't think that, and even if they aren't together anymore if she had said yes he was a job, he would've been hurt. Entertaining the suggestion that she had been using him really unsettles him. "I don't think that. And you never said anything, but I always knew there was something you weren't telling me. I figured it was kind of shady. You have that look you know?" He jokes smiling softly back at her hoping that she doesn't regret that he knows. "I wouldn't have cared. I mean I don't."

But he grins wider then. "Though I think you're much cooler now. A con artist. A good one?" He quirks an eyebrow at her. "Of course you're good. Remember that book you gave me for my birthday? I love that book, but I also spent a lot of time trying to work out how you got it..."

He pauses glancing away for a moment then shakes his head elbowing her playfully, snorting. "Man, it only took you an entire year to confess. I knew you a week and you were showing me your scales. Was this really so much worse?" He asks honestly curious why she never told him.

"You are an idiot," April agrees, but she looks appeased by his words and she even manages a bit of a smile. This isn't something she's used to, confessing secrets to people. Besides Les now, the only people in this town who know she isn't quite what she claims to be are her father and Coop, but he says he doesn't care and the way he's talking to her now really hasn't changed at all. She knows it's barely been a moment, that time might still change how he sees her, but for now she'll take it.

Even when she had given him the book she had known there was a chance of it giving her away. At the very least, she expected him to wonder about it, but she'd wanted to give him something special, something no one else would.

"It's not that it's bad," she says, shaking her head. "It's a secret for my protection. I've taken money from a lot of people and I don't think any of them are very happy with me, so it's best to keep that part of my life a secret from as many people as I can. It was just safer that way. For myself, for you."

"I get it, April. Why you never said anything. I'm glad I know though," he says with a smile.

There's still something about April, something he feels connected to that's different from his other relationships. He has Raleigh and Coop and Audrey. People like Lara and Riley who push him to be better. And obviously Corry, he has her. But there's something different about April. He trusts her because in the end he thinks they are made up of the same stuff, the same shades of grey and broken parts. It's why he's not angry she didn't tell him. He imagines he would have done the same. And as it stands there's still much he's never shared with her. She never asked just like he never asked, and yet they still seemed to understand one another.

"We need to get your powers back," he continues on. "I'm not saying you can't do this on your own, but if you let me help you, I will." He pauses for a moment thinking. "It might be difficult. Even once we find them. It's gonna take...bigtime magic."

Reversing another witch's spell, one that was powerful enough to take her powers in the first place, it definitely didn't sound like a cake walk.

"Yeah, well, you're lucky I trust you," she mutters, trying to make it seem as if it really isn't a big deal at all when it's maybe the most important thing she might admit to anyone. The list of people she trusts is very small and she doesn't really tell many of them she trusts them. It's not the kind of thing she has an easy time admitting to anyone and she doesn't think she's ever said it to Les.

And then he offers her help and she softens a little further, because she knows she needs it. Standing here on the boardwalk, she can't even begin to imagine who she might have pissed off to do something like this. There are so many people in her life she's screwed over, people who might be angry about this, but as far as she knows, none of the people she's ever done jobs on have ever had this sort of power. They might be able to buy it, but she doesn't know if they're even aware of this part of the world.

"I... I'll need help," she says, a little reluctant to admit it. "I don't even know where to begin."

It's strange that Les thinks he's learning more about April now than he ever had when they were actually together. But then again they had never done things in a normal way. He's just grateful that they've managed to hang on to some semblance of a friendship. That she still trusts him. He knows her well enough to understand that she never would say it if it weren't true. It makes him feel good.

Where to begin, now that is the question. He is silent for several seconds thinking through spells and charms in his arsenal. All of them would be...difficult, but he gets an idea.

"Do you know anything about scrying?" He asks glancing up at her. "It's a way to locate people. My mom...she was incredibly good at it---" Rosalie was never something he spoke about often with April but if he's going to help her she'll need to know what he's talking about for them to figure this all out. "But she taught me how. If the asshole didn't travel too far I might still be able to do the spell. Your powers are a part of you so when I did the scry I'd be trying to find you."

"It could work..."

Even having dated two witches now, even considering a witch one of her closest friends and her boss, two titles she wouldn't give to most people, April doesn't know much about what they can do. She knows their powers are varied, but she's always figured if any of them wanted to tell her about it, they would, and so she's never asked questions.

But Les is telling her now and she's willing to try just about anything, so she knows.

"Whatever it takes," she says. "Anything."

"Okay." Les nods smiling a little that she thinks enough of him to trust this plan could work. It might not. His mother's scrying powers were far more advanced this his. If the person has traveled far from the area he would not be able to track them down. "We'll need time to gather up the supplies. I should be able to get most of it from Coombs and Co."

What he couldn't get there Riley would have. She was still out of town but she might be able help. He'd call her later tonight once he was back home.

"Do you want to come by my place in a couple days? We can do the spell then," he says.

"Yeah," she says with a grateful nod and there's still a part of her that's terribly anxious, a part that feels wrong and out of place, but the idea of Les being able to help her puts her mind at ease just a little. She has no idea what might be necessary to make this right, but she'd meant what she had said. At this point, at the idea that she might be without her powers, she's willing to do absolutely anything to get them back.

"Thank you," she says, looking at him. "I appreciate that you're willing to help me."

"Of course, I am. We're friends, right?" Les gives her a softer smile. He's always going to be willing to help her. Amazingly enough, she is still letting him, and it means more to him than he could probably ever say. Their relationship isn't like that. It isn't built on confessing everything to one another, but it worked for them and he is grateful for it. She is his friend, and she is in trouble. He'd do whatever he could to help her get her powers back.

He steps away from the railing with a nod. "I'll call you when I'm ready," he says but pauses before he walks away. "Stay safe. With Caden or someone. Who knows if somebody really is coming after you."

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[Closed - Caden, Coop, Les & Robert]

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