RP:You Can't Swim With Us!
Part of the Two If By Sea Arc
Summary: Aptera finds herself in Zirael's queenly presence and graced with a task by the Regina George of the sea. Aptera complains about how the mermaid warning siren is forcing many of their kind into starvation, as they cannot get close enough to prey without the siren being alerted. Zirael schemes on how to be rid of it, setting Aptera with a task to see it broken through deception...
Strange Shipwreck
Aptera found herself gazing at the speckled sky of another calm night at sea, perched quietly in the waters near the shipwreck. Since that idiot paladin and his more attractive friend had built the sirens on the shores...finding human food was becoming more of a chore. She huffs audibly at the thought. A swipe of her claws sooner and that pretty boy or his elven companion would be her dinner! It was so depressing...Strands of her coral locks swayed back and forth with the tide, giving the dead aboard the vessel the false illusion of life. "One day, I'll drag that gutted sailor down her by his dorsal fin..."
Zirael considered herself to be the Siren Queen and lady of these waters so it stood to reason that she just ‘knew’ about another mermaid in these waters. Truthfully, though, she had been watching for a meal she might be able to steal from another – maybe weaker – mermaid or seaborn. Got to look out for yourself, after all! A glimmer of light and a ripple of water heralds her movement towards Aptera, “Sister,” she purred at the mermaid, long fingers gently pushing back her own white-gold hair as she stared at Aptera. It was that long stare of ‘in what ways am I infinitely better than you’ hidden behind a sort of popular-girl sly smile. Think Mean Girls’ Regina George. Zirael is the Regina George of the sea.
Aptera would happily argue that -she- was superior to anything else in the water but...she was admittedly tired from the dwindling food supply and still more than a little peeved at Sargaso. It was the perfect storm to form a friendship with another mermaid in. Normally...not her bag of tea. It's hard to be friends with other women when you are just so darn attractive! Zirael's words catch her off guard, and her face spins around faster than the rest of her, leading her to get tangled in her own mess of hair. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Aptera sounds a little standoffish (but that was normal, right?) while she discretely tries to fish rebels hair strings from her mouth and out of her eyes. Otherwise, her hair was FLAWless. Sparkle, sparkle. Radiance. "If you're on your way to the shore, don't bother." She offers this sage advice on the off chance this new mermaid didn't know about the sirens but of course she would. Everyone knew what a pain they were.
Zirael gave that little smile and head tilt that was girl code for ‘I know, honey, I’m not stupid’. “No point in going to shore with that blasted siren,” she pouted as if to emphasise just how annoying that siren was and how it was ruining her life practically! “When did you last eat a fresh meal from the shore?” Zirael asked, her voice shifting from pouty-sadness to a commanding question. There was no doubt that this mermaid was a powerful siren, that many a man and woman had fallen under her thrall.
Aptera had been on the verge of a rage induced breakdown but this new face was stirring all kinds of emotions in her. There was a power to her that made Aptera want to burst into tears and ask her for help while simultaneously suggesting she go anywhere else with one of those human gestures. Something involving a strange pelvic motion? Or was that the one where they extended an odd number of fingers in any given direction? Did it matter? "Months!" she shouted, dramatically. "I nearly had this male not too long ago but...everyone is all 'aware of mermaids' and 'have special enchantments' now." She sighed, knowing this was admitting a sign of weakness. But really, who was she trying to fool here? "What about you?" Aptera asked, approaching the other mermaid to get a better look at her. Zirael -was- pretty, but there was something else about her. "Who are you?"
Zirael’s eyebrows knitted together and rose up in some twisted angelic sympathy as Aptera spoke of not having consumed human flesh in months! Oh what a poor little soul. In the oceanic depths of Zirael’s dark heart there was a genuine twinge of sympathy. Maybe sleeping with that land-dweller had given her some human feelings… ew. Emotional herpes. But while she was sympathetic, she was also proud. Of herself, of course, she doesn’t do pride with other people. “Days ago, darling,” she had a feline grin to her, positively oozing sensuality and dominion over all. “I am Zirael. Some idiots on land have called me the Siren Queen in the hopes that I would spare them. But… answer me, is it the siren that is preventing you from feeding?”
Aptera quirked her brow, letting her mouth hang slightly agape. Days? Wench!! I want to claw your eyes out and then...not even eat them. Because...they are that terrible. Looking, your eyes. While Aptera thought at this in a spiteful fashion, the other mermaid introduced herself like a stuck up goddess. Since when did the opinions or compliments of food ever mean anything? Really. "It's true. Those sirens are making things more difficult. Hardly a cute morsel for leagues." Aptera was giving Zirael the shifty eyes, unsure if she wanted to continue this conversation with such a prissy fishy. "I'm Aptera." She offered, 'in case you were wondering,' came her snarky inner dialogue, knowing Zireal did not in fact care.
Zirael laughed coquettishly upon hearing Aptera’s name. “Oh, my dear, you should be Aptera the Terror! Not Aptera the Starved,” had they been mortal women, it is likely that Zirael would have shoved Aptera’s shoulder in a ‘playful’ manner. “I know where that siren is,” she tells Aptera with a sly smile, like the spider who knows the fly will soon land in her web, “I seduced this idiot mortal,” and the man who set up the siren in the first place, “and had him show me where it is. It’s near some shack that reeks of waste,” and looked like a pile of it too. “Tell me, sweet one… Do you have any special talents? I know some of our sisters and brothers are born with talents beyond our song.”
Aptera narrowed her eyes while Zirael spoke. Didn't everyone know...where the sirens were? Maybe not. Zirael's expression led her to believe there was something more important in the knowing than she'd been previously aware. This "Queen of the Siren's" was making her feel down right low. Special powers besides a siren song and alluring beauty? Heck no! Despite all her boiling rage, Aptera was still compelled to tell her. "No, I have no special skills to speak of. Flawless skin, enchanting voice, slammin' body..." Her tone peters out, filling the water with a 'what more could a girl want' impression. "I do know that boy that's out on the beach sometimes...Hudson? He claims to be the walker of some...Fairfax. Mermaid. Does she run with you? He's always fixing the sirens so...I think I could lure him to the waters and get him out of the way if you...have some sort of plan for the sirens?"
Zirael had heard the name Fairfax, but hadn’t yet had the pleasure of swimming by her. The siren smiled that feline smile when Aptera claimed she had no special skills beyond what every mermaid had in their arsenal, “Oh, well, that’s okay, you’re still useful,” she cooed. “He fixes them does he? And does he… trust you? Or could he come to trust you?”
Aptera smirked with a kindred wickidness. "Oh, he could come to."
Zirael tittered at that wicked remark, how salacious! “Make him trust you, Aptera my dear… Use your pretty looks,” she would never call anyone else beautiful for only she was the most beautiful around, “and your voice.” The voice was a powerful tool. “But do not use it much. Just… lace your words, my dear. Make him trust you and make a mistake when fixing the siren so it fails to work.”
Aptera nodded, wearing her own malicious grin. "As you wish, My Queen." With that, Aptera gives Zirael a low bow, rising with a head swimming with ideas and heart of malcontent.