The Song of the Siren (Accepting :: OPEN)

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Tianara followed him into the water without too much hesitation. She reached out for Katalina, calling to her. "Sorry? Sorry, I need to talk to you."

"What is it?"

As Tianara detailed the happenings of their excursion, she felt Katalina's distress mount. "I should come back," the mermaid said. "We shouldn't have left you two--"

"No," said Tianara firmly. "Definitely not. You stay there. Pass this on, though, would you? Make sure the merfolk know, so they can pass it on to their ocean children."

Sensing Katalina's reluctant acquiescence, Tianara pulled back long enough to smile briefly at Joshua. "Anything you want me to tell her?" she asked. "I'm just passing on what happened, and asking her to tell everyone - so if you have anything to add, now's the time."  

[Lucky_Tiger]

I wanna be the very best

To catch them is my real test

Like no one ever was

To train them is my cause

Joshua thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Not that I can think of. Just make sure she tells the others. And don't let her come back." He added, knowing Katalina well enough to know she would want to. "There's nothing she can do about it. We can handle it." He said firmly. They couldn't rely on the merfolk for everything. Somethings had to be dealt with themselves. Besides, Tianara had said it felt like a land creature.

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[SilentShadowDreamer]

Tianara smiled a little bit. "You really do know her well, don't you?" she muttered to herself, before returning to Katalina. "We think it's a land-based creature anyway, so don't worry about it too much - we'll be all right. Talk to you as soon as we know more. Make sure to spread it around."

Katalina's response was dryly amused. "All right, darling. I'll talk to you later. Don't be too hard on Joshua."

Tianara blinked and began to ask what she meant by that, but Katalina had already severed the connection.

Frowning a little bit, she turned back to Joshua. "Well. Now what?"

They had to find another way up into the cliffs, but Tianara was quite content to give that a few minutes. What else did they have to do?  

[Lucky_Tiger]

I wanna be the very best

To catch them is my real test

Like no one ever was

To train them is my cause

Joshua blinked at her words. Of course he knew Katalina well. Why wouldn't he? She was one of his closest friend and a constant source of amazement to him. He shook it off, focusing back on the task at hand. "Do we know when any of the ocean children are coming? Because we need to have that cliff sorted out by then, but I'm honestly not in a hurry to run back there right away."

Beyond that though, he had a hard task ahead of him. He'd seen the way Adrian was playing with Tianara and it would be best to n** it in the bud before anything came of it. He certainly didn't relish the idea of telling her though, suspecting from Katalina's words that the girl might have a bit of a crush. "If none of them are going to be here within the next couple hours or so, I say we take a break, calm down, and....I need to talk to you." He finished quietly.

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[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: O.O! ...I can't wait to see this. >3))

Tianara shook her head. "They won't be coming for at least another day - the ones in town are mostly busy finding hiding places for their children and families. We have plenty of time." She brushed her hair aside. "I know we need to find another way in, but that can wait for a few hours."

Privately, she was curious about what he had to say that would take so long. She was trying to remember any conversation they'd had about any one thing that had taken hours.

She sat back in the water, looking at him with open curiosity. Another thing she couldn't remember was Joshua ever approaching a question this tentatively, with this much uncertainty. Was this something she really wanted to hear?

Cautiously, she shifted back from him. "I don't know what was on the cliffs," she said, figuring that had to be it. What else was there to talk about? "I could probably try to find it again...it might have gotten less cautious."  

[Lucky_Tiger]

I wanna be the very best

To catch them is my real test

Like no one ever was

To train them is my cause

((You are so mean to your characters. xD And it had to happen sooner or later. lol ))

Joshua shook his head, moving to sit in the shallows of the water. He rested his hand on the surface, letting it rise and fall with the waves. "It's not that." He said softly. "Though we will have to figure that out sooner or later." He paused, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself.

"It's about Adrian." He decided to just come out and say it. "Adrian is a good friend and I would be lost without him, but there's some things you need to know about him." He paused there, to see her reaction. His head was bowed slightly as he watched Tianara through his bangs.

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[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: I am insulted. I most certainly am not. I am a just and mostly benevolent goddess in that I have only killed off about ten of them. >.> The others got to have a happy ending! Mostly. razz ))

Tianara frowned. "Well then, what is it abou--" And then Joshua interrupted her with his very bizarre statement.

Only a blind man could have missed the slow blush that came into her face when he mentioned Adrian. But her eyes stayed on his face - cooler now, and a little suspicious.

No doubt about it, this was going to be an extremely awkward conversation.

"What things?" she inquired, in the tone of voice that suggested none of these things would be important, she didn't care, and if Joshua wanted to piss her off he should just keep right on talking.

She was on edge already from what had been happening on the cliffs. The last thing she needed was to deal with...whatever was going on here.  

[Lucky_Tiger]

I wanna be the very best

To catch them is my real test

Like no one ever was

To train them is my cause

(( xD Riiiiight.....I'm sure that's true. Ten out of how many? Twelve? Fourteen? razz ))

Joshua sighed, seeing her blush. Her tone just confirmed what he suspected. She had a crush and didn't want to hear anything bad. He was tempted to just drop it right then and there, but she had a right to know what she was getting into. He played with the waves as they splashed around him gently.

Finally, he sighed and spoke. "Look. I don't mean any disrespect to Adrian. He's one of my best friends. But he.....has a few bad habits. Mostly about women. He's what's called a player. He pretends to be true and such but really, he just plays with girls. He doesn't mean any of it. And he never is true to just one. He always has several girlfriends." He knew that part would probably annoy Tianara, having grown up mostly around the monogamous merfolk. Though, then again, she did know the sirens who were polygamous.

He gave up trying to predict her reaction and just continued. "Adrian is not the kind of person you're looking for." He said softly. "It would be better if you didn't think of him as anything other than a friend. Nothing more."

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[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: It IS true! D8 I just put every character in this RP through mental, physical and emotional hell - why won't you believe me now? rofl ))

Tianara's eyes flashed briefly - though whether it was in reaction to what he was saying or the fact that he was saying it was hard to tell. She gave him the favour of hearing him out, and then she got quietly to her feet again. "I appreciate your concern, Joshua," she said, her voice saying just as clearly that no, she did not. At all. "But what I feel about anything really isn't any of your business, and I don't need you to tell me what I'm looking for."

She left the water and walked up the beach, heading into the forest. Her steps were measured - she wasn't going to run away from him. But she was walking fast, and once she was well within the cover of the treeline - she'd gone so far she was almost halfway to town by the time she'd walked off her mad - she glanced back once, her eyes full of hurt and anger.

Why would he say something like that?

Because it's true? whispered that one little corner of her brain that always had the distressing tendency to point out the truth, instead of what she wanted to think.

She shook it off. After a moment, she went still.

The forest had taken on a sense of foreboding, a kind of dreadful expectation that made her feel icy cold inside.

Something was coming.

Her reaction would normally have been to run to Joshua and get them both either into the water or safely undercover, and she had even taken a few steps back towards the cove before her rational mind kicked in. She'd gone too far out. She'd never make it back before whatever it was got here.

Instead, she turned and ran flat-out towards the end of the forest, not stopping or even slowing until she was long past the other end of the woods.

Which left her right on the edge of town, with no one there to help her and no idea how she was supposed to get back to the cove - the cliffs were closed to her and there was something in the forest. A little lost, and a lot scared, she kept going into town, because there was no way to head back.

She wanted to reach Joshua, to let him know that something was happening, but she was still so angry - and yes, still hurt - that the effort she put in was not as strong as it might have been. The attempt to speak to him mind-to-mind was so fuzzy that it was unlikely he even heard her. And besides, what could he do? Go running into the forest to catch up with her and get caught right in the middle of the...whatever?

No.

She kept walking, trying to look like she had some idea of what she was doing and where she was going.  

[Lucky_Tiger]

((Oh I don't know....Maybe all the various levels of hell I've seen you introduce? xD ))

Joshua sighed, watching her walk away, hurt by her words. He didn't try to stop her though, knowing it would be useless. He watched until she was out of sight, then turned to stare out at the water morosely. Who was he to wreck her happiness, a nasty corner of his mind wondered. He wasn't her, he didn't know exactly what she was looking for. He sighed. The rational part of his mind argued that he knew she didn't want someone like Adrian though. He'd rather she hear it from him than from someone who passed on gossip.

After awhile, he reached out with his mind. "Katalina?" His voice was soft, disappointed. "I don't know how far you can reach or if you can even hear me. I don't know how far I can reach. But if you can, I talked to Tianara. I told her about Adrian. I don't think she's going to talk to me for a long while. If you can, can you check in with her occasionally? Just....Just to make sure she's okay? She's not at the cove any more. I don't know where she went."

Joshua wasn't sure if Katalina could even hear him, but he felt a little bit better to pretend she did. So caught up with trying to reach Katalina, he didn't feel Tianara's attempt to reach him.  

[Lucky_Tiger]

I wanna be the very best

To catch them is my real test

Like no one ever was

To train them is my cause

Adrian, out walking his dog, caught sight of Tianara. He smiled and waved to her. "Yo, Tia! Hey!" Jogging closer, he caught sight of her expression. He frowned slightly, reaching out to touch her arm lightly. "Hey....Are you alright? What's wrong?" Shally, recognizing Tianara, tried to jump up to lick her face. Adrian caught her collar though, pulling her down. "No! Shally, I've told you before, no jumping!"

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[SilentShadowDreamer]

There was no response to Joshua for a long time. When at last Katalina heard him, his words were so garbled and confused that she wasn't sure what he was saying. She listened as hard as she could, but there just wasn't enough to hear him.

So she stretched back. What? Joshua, what?

But the cloud of coldness that had descended across the cove and the town itself would garble her response right back - it was unlikely that Joshua would get anything out of it.

~

Tianara looked up at her nickname being called out. She saw Adrian and part of her wanted to smile, happy to see him. But another part of her was still too scared of whatever she'd felt on its way, and longing to just run back to the cove. She had never been in town without a safety net before.

"I..." She shivered a little, feeling miserably cold and nervous, and still afraid. "There was something..." Straightening her shoulders, she tried a smile. "I just had a bit of an argument with Joshua. I went on a walk to clear my head, and I guess I got spooked being in the forest alone," she lied.

If she said that there had been something in the forest, would Adrian go check it out? He might. She couldn't take the risk. She didn't want him to get hurt.

She petted the overexcited Shally, trying to soothe both the dog and herself.  

[Lucky_Tiger]

Joshua cocked his head to the side, frowning as he tried to listen. What was she saying? He'd swear he was hearing Katalina but he couldn't make out what she said. He sighed, staring out at the water. Ah well. Hopefully she'd at least gotten part of his message. If not....There wasn't much he could do, he realized. He couldn't go after Tianara. In fact, he suspected that doing so would actually drive her farther away. He would just have to wait. So wait he did, sitting crosslegged in the water, his mind open and listening for anything he could possibly hear. He didn't realize or care how vulnerable he was leaving himself.....

-------------------

Adrian put his arm around her shoulder. "The forest can be scary at times..." He agreed sympathetically. "Come on. You can hang out at my place for now." He started leading her towards his home, Shally bouncing around them excitedly. "What were you two fighting about? I thought you guys were really close." He asked gently, probing to see what he could find out.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Tianara felt the warmth and the weight of his arm. She smiled a little, almost shyly, but then looked uncomfortable again at his question. "We...are, yes," she agreed at last. "He's just worried about me, I suppose."

She evaded the question. It wasn't as though she could directly tell Adrian that they'd been arguing about him, after all. Instead, she smiled and shrugged. "He wanted to help me make a decision on something that I thought wasn't really his business. So we argued a bit. Then I left."

That it embarrassed her a little now was unquestionable. But she wasn't about to back down from her stance. It hadn't been his business. It hadn't been his business, and she wasn't going to change her mind.

~

Joshua was lucky, in this case, that he was human.

The creature in the forest smelled the ocean and the children's magic on him. It turned its massive head slowly towards the cove, sniffed again.

But underneath it all he was unmistakably human, and they didn't taste nearly so good.

It was disappointed. It had been hoping for a feast. But the children of the water had all vanished from this area. And their half-human brood had gone, as well. It would have to continue looking.

It continued, slowly, on Its way, and Joshua might or might not have the sense that just for a second, he'd been in the centre of some great and terrible eye.  

[Lucky_Tiger]

I wanna be the very best

To catch them is my real test

Like no one ever was

To train them is my cause

Joshua shuddered, drawn out of his thoughts. He felt like something had been looking at him. Inexplicably, he thought of the movie Lord of the Rings and the eye that watched Frodo. Then he dismissed it. He was just as quick to change his mind about dismissing it though. Was this maybe was Tianara had sensed earlier? He automatically went to ask her, then realized she was gone. Her absence struck him deeper than he'd thought it would.

Resolutely, he forced himself past it. He didn't need her. He could do this himself. He didn't always have to rely on everyone else. Slowly, carefully, he began probing the area, seeking the presence he'd felt. He tied to feel what it was, find any clue to it's identity.

-----------------------

"Ah....Well, I've known Joshua a long time. Sometimes he gets a little carried away with things he shouldn't." Adrian said smoothly, his tone belying the fact that he was practically insulting his friend. He squeezed her comfortingly in a one armed hug. Letting go of her, he held the door open to the store. "Come on. You can relax here. Don't worry about anything." He told her with a warm smile.

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