RP:Before the Storm
Part of the Two If By Sea Arc
Summary: Zirael reunited with Aptera to learn of her success with the siren and in tricking Hudson to do her bidding. Though tempted to kill the mermaid who had failed her task, the mermaid decides that it's perhaps for the best. That this can be turned to their advantage. The Siren Queen plots an attack...
Strange Shipwreck
Aptera is on her way back fro Hudson's, and not feeling particularly successful in her mission. In hindsight, she could have just eaten him and then no one would fix the sirens and they could have gone ahead with whatever plan Zirael had in the first place. But no, she let him get away just because she wanted to be a flirt BEFORE she maybe ate him? Don't play with your food, she scolded herself with a scowl, patrolling the waters in search of her new found "sister" aka kind of bossy catty mermaid she was helping for the moment.
Zirael was perched upon a jagged rock in the traditional iconic mermaid pose. Tail curled around to keep her balanced and steady on the rock, long and dainty fingers running through her white-gold hair as she hummed a rather enchanting melody to no one in particular. As Aptera patrolled the waters and obviously made a noise in the water, Zirael twisted slightly on her rock to spy the mermaid in the water. “Sweet sister,” she purred delightedly, smiling so sweetly at Aptera. Every word was a friendly seduction, every smile and every look was melt in your mouth warm. As if Aptera could do no wrong. “Tell me, dearest, of your success!”
Aptera halted in the waves near the rock Zirael was so precariously perched up, rolling her eyes internally. Could she be more perfect? If there had been any blood in her stomach (from a delicious human dinner) she'd have thrown it up at how classically poised her sister was. Too much mermaid for me, though Aptera, while giving her a sweet and uncertain smile. "Well, the sirens are still broken annnd Hudson has run off somewhere after an imaginary copy of his girlfriend so...I wager that we have a...bit of time." She was trying to look confident but something about the way Zirael was perched ABOVE her made Aptera fear for her life. Did mermaids kill other mermaids? Was that a thing? These are the thoughts racing through her head as she delivers the less than perfect news. Zirael looked like the type of mermaid that didn't accept B + satisfaction levels.
Zirael’s perfectly groomed and totally on fleek white-gold eyebrow perked up at Aptera’s assessment of the situation. “Still broken? Tell me more, sweetling,” she cooed to her fellow mermaid as she turned her position on the rock so she would be laying flat on her belly, hands gripping the edge of the rock as she watched Aptera expectantly.
Aptera || If Aptera had hairs in the back of her neck, they would have been standing on end. Thankfully, she just gets an odd shiver that tells her this is a trap. Look at the way her perfectly manicured nails are digging into that rock. Yep. She's going to mer-murder me. Girl on girl...death. Why couldn't she have met Fairfax, the nice mermaid first? Maybe she could have helped. "Well, there I was, charming the pants of this land dweller, when he starts going on about his girlfriend so I sort of charm him into thinking I'm her, and he gets all handsey but then backs away, kind of confused...but the siren is still broken when he ran off. So, There's that." She nods, letting her coral tresses flutter in the faux breeze, clicking her nails together behind her back anxiously.
Zirael smiled sweetly at Aptera, moving her hands from the rock to sit under her perfectly pointed chin: perfect chin now resting on her folded hands. “That’s sweet. You nearly had a meal!” she praises, though her patience is wearing thin. “But tell me about the siren. I must know in what way it is broken… is it going to be fixed? Does it work occasionally?”
Aptera flinches inwardly. "Oh the siren, well, he left it broken and it breaks all the time anyway so if for some reason he does come back soon, I'll wager he'll try again. I don't think he's very good at maintaining it. It's broken more often than not because other sirens mess with them. Throw rocks or shells, convince human men to bust it up...the usual stuff..." She averts her gaze, trying to avoid the worst of whatever scolding Zirael can offer. So far, it is just to be a little degrading. Since when did Aptera lack backbone? Besides the whole...being a fish thing....
Zirael remained silent for a time as she considered what would be the best course of action. “And the siren… Did this landwalker talk about anyone who protects it? Anything like that at all?”
Aptera looks a little puzzled. "Other than that jerk roommate of his, I don't think anyone does. Some paladin with a vendetta against mermaids." She almost tacks on the fact that she almost ate him once, and thought better of it. Because, obviously, she had failed.
Zirael had slept with said paladin, so it was better that neither of them mentioned their little sins there. “I see… how interesting,” she remarked, trying to be nonchalant about it. You know, draw away any suspicion. “There is but one siren. If we can destroy it, they will not be able to have a pre-emptive call to run from the shore,” she reasoned thoughtfully, “making it appear faulty is but a delay. Maybe a show of power is needed.”
Aptera continued to listen to Zirael, wondering what she had in mind but not wishing to interrupt her thought process. The silence surrounds them, however, and Aptera clearly feels restless. "What would you have me do?" Where did that question come from? Maybe there was more magic at work here than she was aware of...or maybe this was her true form. Aptera may not be strong enough to be the alpha mermaid...it had never occurred to her before.
Zirael smiled that feline smile when Aptera assumed the submissive role in this working relationship. “We wait for a while, then we attack. Perhaps you can distract the boys while I destroy the siren,” she suggested. “I’ll have a proper plan soon. For now, though, we will agree to attack it together.”
Aptera nodded, that smile on Zirael's face turning her stomach even more than when she convinced there was going to be blood. Now, that still sounded true. But it was the citizens of Cenril who would bleed. People like Hudson, and the Paladin, and Hudson's mousy girlfriend. And that elf she'd almost killed. All those delicious people she'd failed to get on her own, maybe they could get them together. "Sure..." she agreed, lacking any swearing of fealty to the Queen or anything. The way Zirael was looking at her though? Aptera was sure they both knew who was in charge of what. And it wasn't Aptera.