Roleplay

Kassian was having as much difficulty as Avery in making out the blurry figures at the base of the boat. The fog wasn't helping things - stirred up by Reef's singing, most likely - and casted the whole scene in a haze of white. The princeling had to lean forward slightly off the crow's nest to get a better look.

"It... it looks like her," he tried to confirm, gripping the lip of the crow's nest with both hands. The pressure dyed his knuckles white. "I can't figure Sebastian or Zane sounding like that." Even the notes Reef had been singing were too high-pitched for either of the boys. They wouldn't be awake at this time, either. I could hear them snoring when we came up.



Reef was somewhat beside himself. It was one thing to have his suspicions confirmed, and another to have Sadie changing on the boat. It caused a multitude of problems the siren wasn't equipped to handle.

"No! N-no, not cursed, but- changing-!" Reef attempted to soothe, moving forward as fast as he could to stabilize her. Sadie's tail was starting to come in and it would make her loose her sense of balance. "Need water." The siren continued to supply. It was hard to adjust to air when you were in a fish-form.

(hEyyyyy how’s it goinnn agh I’m sorry depression is the worst. I recently lost a loved one, my grandpas brother passed away on the 10th, and his funeral was today. Still mourning, and there been a lot going on. I’m sorry for the lack of response-)

“Hahaaaa you’re joking…” Avery's voice trailed off as she peered down at the deck. There was no way Sadie was a siren… why hadn’t she told either of them? Maybe she didn’t know… but how could someone simply not know they were a siren?

“She’s a siren? I-I- now that I think about it, she looks like one, sort of, but I didn’t think of it like that… Did Reef make her sing or something? Should we go down there?” She stepped away from the side of the railing, searching for the ladder, unsure as to what she should do, or if it was wise to go down there or not.


Sadie gasped as she swayed sideways, her eyes widening as she began to panic. “A-Are you crazy?! N-No, no water. Water. No. I can’t do it.” She stammered, and tried to move away. “I don’t know how to swim. I can’t be a siren, p-people would hate me, and I’m ugly now…. I can’t live like this for the rest of my life, I feel stupid… what if the others hate me for it? Why-Why did I not know I was like this…”

She choked as she spoke, her words a little slurred. “Why can’t I be human… d-do you still want me?”

Kassian gingerly grabbed Avery's arm before she could start propelling down from the crow's nest. "N-no! No, I don't- I don't think we should. Not yet at least." They still had no idea what was going on on the deck. While Kass himself had a sharp curiosity about the whole thing, his need to protect Avery overrode it. "Just give it a second." At least until the singing stopped.



Reef, meanwhile, was attempting to wrangle the situation back into coherency. He was at a loss for what to do, but still attempted to calm Sadie down regardless. "Not ugly! And no hate," the siren reassured. His gills were still apparent on the side of his neck - no doubt they'd linger for awhile after singing. It was making it difficult to speak and breathe pure air. "But need water. Will not breathe without it."

As if to persuade her, Reef moved slightly toward the edge of the railing. The ocean below was peaceful, lapping softly at the sides of the vessel as if to invite her under the surface. Reef turned slightly, still helping Sadie balance. "...Please. Just... just trust. Trust me."

(oh, god, i'm so sorry man! And you're perfectly okay, I haven't been responding in timely fashions lately either, lol. Take all the time you need <3)

“I mean I suppose you’re right, sirens are dangerous… I don’t exactly want one of us to get hurt, or die for some sort of stupid reason..” Avery hesitated for a moment before she nodded and stepped away from the side of the deck, realizing her words made more sense then she thought. “However, I don’t exactly feel any different from the sirens singing… maybe it’s because we know Sadie and Reef and we’re used to them?”

Sadie was terrified, and slightly horrified with herself. She felt like a monster, and genuinely felt as if she looked like one, too. “A-Are you crazy? I don’t know how to swim, how do I shift back?!” Despite her shaky, slurred words, she made her way towards the ladder, which led its way down to the water.

It was awkward, having legs and tails, or a tail, whatever it was. It was as f her body couldn’t decide if she wanted to shift or not. It was her first time, so who knew what would happen. After taking a few seconds on attempting to calm herself down, she lowered herself down into the water, her eyes squeezed shut as she grasp the side of the ladder. There was no way in Triton’s name that she was letting go of it anytime soon.

“Why-Why am I like this?” She choked out, still utterly shocked.

(Haha thanks. It’s alright, I’ll work through it. Just the process of losing a loved one, Ifykyk I HAVE BEEN SO TIRED lately oh my gosh it’s been awful. I’m genuinely about to pass out as I’m typing this golly *sobs hysterically*)

Reef was... attempting to weigh his options. He had to be careful not to scare Sadie further out of her wits than she already was, but until she got into the water itself and submerged, they were only going to have more problems. It wasn't wise to linger up here in partial view of anyone unfortunate enough to wander this part of the docks. Their voices were too loud, too easy to garner attention to.

With a soft frown - Reef was still gripping the ladder himself, due to the fact his legs had fused into a full, Prussian blue tail with angled fins at that point - the siren finally made up his mind. "S-sorry," he said, only once, before carefully letting go of the ladder. His weight took Sadie down with him, past the rungs and splashing into the sea.

It was nice to be back in the water. For Reef, at least. The cool sting of salt on his skin eventually numbed out into a soothing, indistinguishable current. The pressure around him was a comforting feeling he'd sorely missed the last several days. Still, there were more pressing matters - mostly the fact that Sadie probably didn't know how to swim yet. He glanced around to locate her. Can't talk down here... Before gesturing in a sort of 'move your arms' kind of way once he'd found her.



Kassian, meanwhile, nodded slightly. Avery had a point. Being familiar with a siren had shown to mute their voices somewhat in the past, and it kept pods of them from singing eachother to their demises. Still, the fact that there were now two of them among the ship's crew was more than a little unnerving. "Yeah.. I guess so-"

Before he could attempt to converse more, the loud splash from below caught him off-guard. Kass finally lost his reservations about staying put and began to move to the crow's nest ladder. "I think they just fell in-!"

(REALLLL ON GOD!!! it's also been hella cold over here the past week or so, and we got into the negative 25's last night LMAO. my knees bro, they're screamin')

Sadie was practically hyperventilating. Under water. Flailing her arms about, she looked about, having a little bit of a hard time seeing in the darkened waters of the nighttime. Inhaling sharply, she tried to open her mouth to speak, but she was met with a sort of suffocating sensation in the back of her throat.

Running a hand over her throat, she almost passed out at the sensation of gills on her neck. How in the world was she breathing, still alive, but completely underwater? Her tail shimmered in the dull moonlight, more of a sky blue, with flecks of silver and white. Desperately trying to speak, she tried to move her mouth in some sort of motion, one that gestured to more of a HELP ME type of saying. The water pressure was odd, it almost pushed her in from side to side, and she wasn’t sure if she liked that.

“Kassian.” A deadpanned expression came across Avery’s face. “They’re sirens. They can both swim. Er, well I don’t know about Sadie, but Reef was born a fish. He’ll be fine. She’ll be fine. In fact, he’ll probably teach her how to swim. They’ll be back in no time. Let’s get some sleep, yes?” She smiled and shook her head before piling up the blankets and pillows that were stored nearby in a little cabinet in the side of the rail.

“We’ll be able to sleep in a little bit tomorrow. Gods know Sadie and Reef will probably need it.”

It was... odd, watching something that should've been able to function properly flail around like it was drowning. Even more odd if you'd been raised around it. Reef seemed to pause for a few moments, caught between genuine surprise and the urge to help. Still, he gathered himself together, swimming forward enough to grasp Sadie by the forearms and lift her toward the surface of the water.

By the time they surfaced, the waves had somewhat calmed down. The fog from the pair's earlier serenade was already clearing off the water. "Quiet," the siren warned. His voice was hoarse from attempting to speak around his gills. "Not... not going to drown. Breathe like- breathe like you would above." There was some loose gesture at nothing in particular, as if Reef were attempting to motion at air.




Kassian, meanwhile, paused half-way onto the ladder of the crow's nest. A hot flare of embarrassment dyed his cheeks a pale red. "Y-yeah, you- you may have a point there."

Carefully, the princeling extracted himself, sitting back down in the nest of blankets Avery had tossed on the planks. It was a welcome change from laying on hard wooden boards for the last half-hour.

"Always one for sleep, aren't you?" He questioned, looking up at Avery's back as she fished out pillows for the both of them. "Can't say I'm disagreeing, though." As if to make a show of it, Kassian's mouth split open into a pronounced yawn. The exhaustion clinging to his mind was barreling back in in full-force as he settled against the blankets.

(hello!! so, things have NOT been great the last few days, so I will give a fair warning- there may be a period here soon where i'm not on much, if at all, and i'm not sure how long it's gonna last

my grandma's in heart-failure currently (or at least border-line on it), and when she passes, the house i'm living in (her house) is gonna be sold, whether or not i'm in it, lol. so i'm having to organize a job and housing as soon as i can incase that happens, which means writing may take a back-seat to other stuff i can cram into my free-time :') )

“How in the name of seastars am I alive?” Sadie gasped as she awkwardly tried to tread water, not realizing she didn’t need to. The few books she had read about swimming were coming in handy at the moment. At least she thought it was helping her keep afloat. “C-Can you fix me? Why am I like this?” She whispered, trying to keep in mind she needed to be quiet, and panic at the same time. It slightly horrified hee for what she was.

How did I not know what I was before? Is this a some sort of curse? How in the world did I become a siren? Did Reef enchant me or something? And I like this for the rest of my life? Will I ever be human again…

Clearing her throat, she shook her head in a meager attempt to hide her worries and fears. She was pretty darn close to crying again. “I-I feel like I look ridiculous… Is this some sort of curse?”

Avery grinned, immensely enjoying his reaction. “Of course I have a point darling, it’s common sense. Well who wouldn’t… for someone who’s usually up early, time tired most of the time. And, my sleep schedule is all screwed up from shifting from living on the land, to the water, and vice versa.” She shrugged, and proceeded to burrow underneath the blankets.

“Well. Is it nice not having to put up an all of pillows now?” She snickered, and playfully stuck her tongue out at them. “Not like a pillow wall would do any good, you always breached it sooner or later. Never could keep your hands to yourself eh?”

(Oh my goodness! No I totally understand. Honestly life gets crazy, and it’s alright. Whenever you’re free, I’ll be here. I’ve been checking on here on and off, so I get it. And I’m sorry for the late response, (took me a freaking week to respond,) but I’m here haha. I’m so sorry about your grandma, I’ve lost both my grandpa and grandma on my mom’s side in 2020 and 2021 so I get it. You’ll get through it. I know life sucks but I’m here for ya if you need me!)

Kassian's face went red. Let the man who was engaged and knew his partner for nearly three years still flush with embarrassment at how he'd acted at the start of it. "I- o-okay, but it was hot, and you always run kind of cold," the princeling said in defense, jabbing Avery in the side with a finger as he settled in with her. "Sorry for trying to self-regulate, thank you very much."

Still, he couldn't help but remember things like that with fondness. Things were so much simpler. Definitely didn't have two sirens arguing in hushed voices a few dozen feet down and to his left, that was for sure. Still, Kassian tried to dismiss the thought, tugging a few more blankets up to his chin. It could wait until the morning. Most things can. Sleep was always better than trying to plan ahead.




Reef stared at Sadie for a moment, as if at a loss for words. It was... hard, to describe what he was feeling right now. There was certainly as much anxiety as the newly-made siren currently harbored, but Reef utterly lacked the vocabulary to phrase it properly.

The only thing he could muster was deflective panic.

"I- no, no! Beautiful, ab-absolutely beautiful." Reef reassured. He swam slightly closer, cupping Sadie's face in his hands. There were bits of scale on his palms and webbing between his fingers. "Meant to be half-fish. Much better this way." He seemed genuine enough. Hard to lie when you weren't quite aware what it was in the first place.


(you're good on the time reply bro!! i've honestly been mostly job hunting the last week or so, but i think i finally managed to get one! god knows i need to start putting away money to repair my car as soon as possible, lmao. and im so sorry about your grandparents :( )

Avery giggled as she settled down, trying to wrap a blanket around herself, much like a caterpillar wrapped in a cocoon. “I’ll remember that. But that’s a pro. You’re warm, and I’m cool. We cancel each other out. That makes comfort.” She shrugged, and curled up against his back, the nighttime air a bit bitey, just warm enough for the two of them to be outside.

“Well, I suppose something, or someone will probably wake us up in the morning. I don’t mind letting the others sleep, the boys seem especially exhausted. I think the traveling is getting to Zane, a little more then he cares to admit.” She muttered, and gently poked and prodded at Kassian’s back, waiting to hear some sort of complaint when she reached his old, injured shoulder. “How’s your shoulder feel? Are you able to lift with it?”

Sadie, still incredibly overwhelmed, seemed to relax slightly as he came near. Her eyes met his for forty seconds before she glanced behind him towards the darker water, who knew what was floating or swimming around down there, sharks could easily be nearby you know. “B-Beautiful? Reef, I’m a fish. I’m better like this? How am I supposed to change my diet to fish… I can’t do this.”

She held up a hand, smaller, sort of similar to Reef’s, with light blue, silver scales patched across it. “Y-You think this? Is beautiful?” An incredulous expression came across her face as her eyes met his once more, almost in some sort of silent staring contest. “I-I don’t know what to think… or say. Or do.”

(Ah that’s awesomeeee man job hunting is stressful. Where I’m at there’s quite a few places hiring. But finding the right one is a task within itself, that’s for sure. No for real though, cars are so expensive. Insurance, and all the care that comes with it is wild. Ah thanks. I loved my grandparents, they were great people!)