The sailor and the siren

[Countess Elaina Moorwood]

Avalon is a lovely coastal kingdom, magic is mostly healing and parlor tricks save for the vampiric royal family that is. Still it's a cheary sea side kingdom with high rocky cliffs and shores and many. Shining ship in it's harbor. While magic is controlled and regulated where there is seas....... There be sirens.

[Nicholas Beaumont]

Nicholas sneered at the faces that betrayed him. The crew muttered and joked among themselves at his expense. His facade was slowly breaking.

"Let me guess, this is the part where you push me overboard and cheer," he mocked. "And here I thought you humans were beyond that."  Nicholas ignored the seawater and wind whipping against his neck. He also ignored the grief growing in his stomach.

Nicholas was met with more jeers and more garbage thrown at him. He sighed inwardly and cursed himself for being so careless with them. For trusting them while he was weak. For believing them when they said, "we are with you." Nicholas simply counted the seconds before he met the icy deep. 

One of the crewmates, a man called Ferguson, began some impassioned speech about the haves and the have-nots and that finally, their time had come. Nicholas tuned them out and continued counting, wondering if he swallowed enough seawater would that actually kill him. It was worth thinking ab-

Pow!

A sharp pain ripped through his chest and he felt himself tilt backward.  He gritted his teeth as the water shocked his senses.  His pulse, mostly out of habit, thrummed in his ears as he continued to sink deeper. Nicholas closed his eyes and hoped that the world would turn to black.

[Kiarie]

The ocean is a dangerous place and so most sirens live on pods. Family groups mostly though some had multiple families... kiarie was odd. He swam alone on deeper waters.... He preferred the cool quite middle depths to the bustling tidal hunting grounds of the pods.

It was a silent evening like many others hunting anything he could catch. A seal hear a fish there to swim alone was a hungry exsitance but a far better one than trying to fit into a pod...

The scent of blood calls I'm off his course easy pray is better than no pray at all. He turns elegantly lithe body sliding through the water.

is that? No! A human? This far down? he looks around to see if anyone is chasing their kill. But there's no one. He smirks and races too grab the corpse when it opens it's eyes....

[Nicholas Beaumont]

It was cold. That's all his mind could register. Nicholas heard nothing but the deep currents of the ocean, occasionally feeling...things flutter by him. His stomach churned a bit as he felt something brush against the side of his neck. His eyes flung open and he was met with a..man? Nicholas involuntarily opened his mouth to scream only to inhale an unhealthy amount of seawater. 

Well, that didn't kill him. How disappointing.

He gagged and in turn inhaled more seawater. The man, well mermaid now that he looked closer, seemed to take pity on him and gently wrapped his arms around his torso and swam upward.

[Kiarie]

He opens his mouth to scream and I see fangs. a vampire... I think to myself.   Still he's pretty and won't tase good. I wrap my arms around him and for the first time on years swim up.

I pull him into a grotto and gently place him there on the rocks. My parents pod had once held a treaty with his kind so in their honor I place him with the small treasures I keep here

Torn bits of sail, shiny bits of round metal, rope, and all the other odd things surface dwellers carry to sea.

He lays there stiff as the stones around him and I wonder if he has infact died. Still one way to know for certain. .  .

" My heart is pierced by cupid I distain all glittering gold" I sing my mother's old song hoping he will wake to it

[Nicholas Beaumont]

This is it, he thought. I feel death's icy fingers! How wonderf-

"My heart is pierced by cupid. I disdain all glittering gold..." 

A siren's song. He's been picked up by a siren. Nicholas fought to keep his eyes closed and laid stiffly as he could. If he were going to die, it would be on his terms, damn it!

[Kiarie]

Oh he's frightened! the realization hits me as I see him stiffin.  I finish my song and retreat I must hunt if he is to recover and we will both die if I don't catch something. I sigh gently taking one last look at my pretty new pet before diving down int the deeps again. My pale skin and dark scales glitter in the moonlight as I quickly sink from veiw.....

[Nicholas Beaumont]

The singing stopped as quickly as it began. Nicholas heard a soft sigh before it went quiet again. He slowly opened one eye and looked around. Seeing that the coast was clear, he sat up and promptly coughed up the remainder of the seawater in his lungs.  Wincing, he cleared his throat and took in his surroundings. It was a...grotto. He noticed the bits and pieces of different ships arranged neatly. Nicholas felt as though he was brought somewhere sacred.

He thought of the siren that brought him here. What did he want with him if he weren't going to kill him? Nicholas shook his head deciding that wasn't important at the moment. He was the victim of a coup. It wouldn't be long before they tried to take over his faction of Avalon. That's if his family couldn't fight them off. He cursed to himself before getting up and pacing. How could he get back home? Could he get back home?

He muttered angrily to himself as he paced. Nicholas had to figure out how to stop them from taking over his kingdom. He had to figure out how to get out of there.

"Oh. He lives."  a soft voice interrupted his thoughts.


Nicholas stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned and saw the siren staring at him intently. He cleared his throat.

"H-how long have you been there?" Nicholas spluttered.

[Kiarie]

It had been a surprisingly easy hunt. A school of salmon plump and full of row ready to swim in land. The difficulty had been bringing some back alive. I had been planning to toss them at him to wake him when I found my new pet walking around.

"Alive!" I rasped. My voice not used to speaking in human words. I raise my arm from the water and toss three large fish at his feet before sinking slowly back down so only my nose and eyes are poking our of the water. "eat pet eat' I urge as he hesitates.

[Nicholas Beaumont]

Nicholas looked at the siren incredulously.  Did he just bring him food and call him...his pet? The siren looked at him expectantly from the water.  Nicholas took a deep breath to gather his thoughts.
]
"You want me to eat?" He deadpanned.

The siren nodded. Nicoholas grimaced at the fish before bending down to it.  "I guess this is where my training comes in..." He hesitantly grabbed one and nearly gagged as it wiggled in his hand. He swore the siren was silently laughing at him. Nicholas then looked for his pocket knife before cutting off its head. Nicholas saw the siren staring inquisitively  at him.

"What? I have to filet it."

[Kiarie]

"drink?" I tilt my head slightly swinging a little closer. It's difficult to swim upright given my large size but I manage not to splash him.

[Nicholas Beaumont]

"Oh....um...not from fish. I'm...okay on blood." I continued to gut and clean the salmon surprised that I even remembered how. I look back over at the siren.

"...Thanks...for saving me."

[Kiarie]

I nod " treaty intact" I day my voice still rough from lack of use. this is t working. I only know some of his tung and it's old at that we're getting no where I sigh and come closer to the edge of the water before hauling part of myself out of the water to sit next to him. It's a swift motion bit I grab his face and kiss it quickly before letting him go and sliding back into the water

"That's better" I day smiling. "I am Kiarie guardian of the mid waters your people and the surface pods have a treaty I have kept it. You may stay here as you heal and when ready I can return you to the shore"

[Nicholas Beaumont]

I blushed instantly. He kissed me, after all.  I snap out of it before looking back at Kiarie.

"Kiarie...thank you. I wasn't aware that my people and yours had a treaty...not that they tell me anything anymore." I mumbled the last part to myself. "What I'm saying is...I appreciate you saving me."

[Kiarie]

I nod " should I return you to them or would you like to stay here with my other treasures?" I ask hoping he will stay.