seas_open | Entries tagged with open

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.]

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~]

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]

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]

While the event out at the Siren Cove Lodge and Resort hadn't been a bad way to start off in a new town, April hadn't bothered trying to get a room, instead opting to return to her apartment in town. She supposes she might have been able to find someone willing to share, but she's not quite prepared to jump into such arrangements, instead choosing to watch those around her, interacting with them to test the waters and see what they might be able to do for her.

Today she's doing a bit of exploring. She walks the boardwalk, looking into store windows as she goes -- a few of them are closed, their owners out at the Lodge, she expects -- and then through town. She passes the library, a police station, several cafes and small restaurants. Thus far she isn't sure what to make of Siren Cove, if the name has anything to do with what she might find or if she's just killing more time before she has to move on again. There's a part of her that wants to find nothing except a little bit of fun, but there's another, quiet part of her looking for something more. Some explanation as to what she is, where she's come from.

She's wearing a cute summer dress and a pair of strappy heels and she's dressed this way with intention. It's a sweet, approachable look and yet the heels are just unstable enough for it to look genuine when she trips, one ankle twisting as she reaches out for the nearest passerby.

"Oh, god, I'm sorry," she says, laughing at herself, looking faintly embarrassed. "It's these shoes. Are you alright?"