Wanderrific

Who: Seph and Melia, then Seph and Syn
When: middayish
Where: Lower Harbor Park

The breeze coming off of the lake was nice in the heat, even though it was blowing Seph's dirty-blonde hair to hell and back. Not that he cared. His hands were tucked into his pockets and he was just ... out walking and thinking. Which, when done in tandem, usually landed him someplace random and far away from home. Such as the park on the lakeshore. Syn was still being mentally quiet. It was strange; he would've thought that Doc's super-fantastic revelation to them would make her more vocal. She was either shutting him out, or upset about something else. He hadn't cornered her yet to demand to know what was wrong, because she was still acting mostly normal, just ... yeah. Quiet.

His sneakers scuffed through the scrubby spot where grass met sand as he wandered along the edge of the water. It would be ass-fucking cold soon enough, he supposed in a dim way that he should enjoy this shit while he could. ... which meant he took a second to squint out at the water, then looked at his feet again.

Melia was bored, which seemed to be a chronic condition of hers since she'd decided to take this little extended vacation from the sea. She hadn't seen Caleb in forever, or any of the other interesting people she'd met here. She also hadn't had a bite of human in weeks, and it was making her feel rather cranky. So she'd decided to take matters into her own hands - which was why she was skulking around the park eyeing the human male walking along the lakeshore. He looked like he had enough meat on his bones for a decent meal or two.

Unaware that he was being skulked after and eyed like a prime rib, Seph just kept on walking. He had his pistol tucked into the back of his jeans as always, because paranoia was healthy sometimes. He didn't feel weird carrying it around after what he'd done to Eli's mother -- it wasn't like the thing was registered anyway. Teddybear always had them covered there. Including a fake license to carry concealed, in case he got hassled about it. His mind was dwelling on Syn, turning itself in circles some more on what it was she wasn't telling him. Because there was obviously something.

Melia could move silently in the water without a thought, but she was decidedly less stealthy on the ground. A twig cracked beneath her foot and she scowled at it momentarily before turning her attention out to the lake, trying to look like an innocent walker in case her prey got suspicious and ran. She'd have to move fast; grab him and immobilize him until she could get into the water and calm his likely struggles with her voice.

Seph turned and looked over his shoulder briefly. He saw just ... a woman looking at the water. He hadn't been aware of her a minute ago, and he chided himself internally for it. The fine hair on the back of his neck stood up after a few seconds of looking at her. She carried some bad karma. But that wasn't so unusual to see, so he returned his visual attention to where he was going. He was aware of her now, though.

Melia liked to finesse these things; fear and adrenaline made the meat more tender when she finally got to eat, and dragging out the catch and devour game was only to her benefit. So after holding still a moment longer to make sure his attention had shifted from her, she resumed her slow, almost leisurely stalk towards the human.

It was pretty easy to be quiet in grassy sand, but now that Seph had a bead on her with his extra senses, he could feel her getting closer. Maybe it was paranoid -- it probably was, in fact -- but after the weird shit with the girl on the street a few nights ago and everything else going on ... Seph thought that paranoia was probably justified. He knew painfully well that innocent-looking women could be just as deadly as big burly dudes with scars. Think I'm being followed, he said internally, reaching out with his mind across town to where his sister was. It was good policy for them to make each other aware of such things, just in case.

Synnove had been up in the attic, going through old prints and being in her old dark room when she heard that. She frowned, then looked up, setting her prints down. Okaaaay. Followed by who? Or what? Where are you?

Melia could sense he was wary of her, which made her slightly annoyed; she shoved it to the back, though, instead stopping to slide off the sandals she wore and dig her toes into the sand. She was careful to stay away from the water, though; the last thing she needed was a tail. She glanced up as if noticing him again, waiting for eye contact before offering a small smile and tiny wave - as if shy but trying to make an effort anyway.

Brunette, kinda tallish, Lower Harbor Park. She just waved ... but she's got bad vibes. Syn would know what that meant. Though it wasn't always an indication of overtly bad intentions, it wasn't the best of signs. Not wanting to invite any trouble if he could help it -- god knew he had enough already -- Seph smiled very faintly back and gave her a nod. He'd stopped walking, fingers tucked into his pockets, and he looked back at the water, keeping her in his peripheral.

I'll be there in about five minutes. Syn answered him, immediately dropping everything to go find him. She flew down the steps from the attic, grabbing the keys to the van on her way out the door. Sure, things might be nothing, but Syn wasn't ever the type who wanted to blow something off and regret it later. That kinda happened when one's parent was a hunter.

Melia grew bored of dragging things out. She was hungry and he was close. She bent, as if looking at something interesting, and waited a moment until he seemed less attentive. She used that moment to approach swiftly, reaching out for her intended prey. She was wearing a skirt, so she could drag him straight to the water without worrying about tearing any of her stolen human clothes. The time for playing was over; she was ready to eat.

Seph wasn't looking at her, nor was he expecting her to really move on him like that, so his reaction time was a bit delayed. He jerked as he caught the movement out of the corner of his eyes, and felt her hands connect with him. Seph twisted and tried to jerk away from her. "The fuck?!" he demanded, hoping maybe some noise would scare her off. Come faster, he sent to Syn.

Oh shit. That wasn't good. Hold on. she told him, and she tore out of the drive and ruptured part of the law, dinging their mailbox as well as she floored it. Thank fucking christ Marquette was small. But it had better be small enough, she had no desire to find anything but her brother fully fucking intact.

Melia countered his struggles the best she could, obviously much stronger than a woman of her appearance should be. Teeth bared in a fiercely amused grin, she yanked her chosen dinner along towards the lakeshore. It was cute now, but the struggling would get old fast, and she wanted him complacent while she ate.

He was stupidly surprised that he wasn't getting out of her grasp. So not just a psychopath, something Else. As she started to drag him toward the water -- somewhere he emphatically didn't want to go -- Seph struggled harder, managing to get an arm around to his back. He yanked his pistol free and jammed it against the first part of her he could flail to and squeezed the trigger. Unfortunately it wasn't anything terribly important, as the bullet tore through the meat of her thigh.

Synnove less heard the gunshot outside than heard it echo from Seph's ears. Fuck fuck fuck. Why couldn't this stupid fucking van go any faster? Why didn't she have her mother's ability to teleport? Come the fuck on. She didn't call for him, because if there was gunshots going on, he needed to concentrate, but she did barely miss a head on collision around the sharp turn of Lakeshore where it would take her down to Lower Harbor.

Fire in her human leg, almost enough to force a change back to her tail. Melia's mouth opened in a silent scream, but of course no sound escaped while she still wore legs. It did, however, infuriate her. It was time for her voice. Her grip had slackened with the pain, but she recovered enough to rip through his shirt, sinking her teeth into the thick muscle of his upper arm and taking a large, retaliatory bite.

Pushing him away, hard, Melia stumbled for the water, ripping off her human clothes as she did, entirely heedless of the damage that caused to them. She made it in calf-deep before the change overtook her; legs changed to a tail - a tail with a hole in it that he would pay dearly for - fingers grew clawed, her neck gained gills. Pushing herself slowly back into deeper waters, Melia opened her mouth to let free the siren song to draw him under her compulsion. She wasn't going to give the human a quick death.

Seph bellowed in pain as she fucking took a chunk out of his arm, and began to flail to get away again. Which only made her push all the more effective, and he fell right on his ass. He scrambled, having dropped the gun in absolute agony. His eyes darted up to where she'd gone and he couldn't help but freeze. Because holy fucking god what the fuck?!? That was about as far as his thought process got before she started to sing.

His mind went from raging pain to ... oddly and quietly compelled. The pain in his arm didn't seem important in the least. In fact, he thought that maybe the water would make it feel a hell of a lot better ... ... goin' swimming ... was as quietly coherent as he could be as he stood up and started to walk unsteadily toward the water.

The thoughts, feelings and general disastrous horror coming from her brother suddenly snapping down to serene didn't do anything for Syn's peace of mind. Nor did the thought he gave her. What the fuck? Seph, what the fuck are you talking about? You stay right the fuck where you are and I'll be there inside three minutes. And that was giving herself generous time. And if she didn't flip the fucking van as she barreled down the road.

Melia's song faltered momentarily as she realized that the human tasted horrible. Sub-quality human, when he should have been delicious instead of leaving a nasty taste in her mouth. She certainly didn't want to eat him now. Gods, didn't that just ruin her entire day? Rinsing her mouth with water quickly, Melia's eyes narrowed as she resumed her song. Fine, so she didn't get to have her treat, but now she was upset, and killing him would do a lot to make her feel better. Stupid humans.

She was deep enough by now that she was floating freely rather than pushing herself along with her hands, blood staining the lake's water despite the palm she had pressed to her tail. Thankfully he'd missed any of her major arteries, but she'd need to go somewhere she could lick her wounds in private. Once he was dead, that was.

Seph stopped walking as Melia stopped singing and Syn told him not to move at almost the same time. He frowned and looked down at his arm, thoughts kind of confused and disjointed. She'd fucked him up pretty good. Wait, who? He looked out at the water again, to ... whatever it was that had fucked him up. She didn't look that much different, though he wasn't too clear on how she'd gotten in the water--

He wanted to go in the water. It was nice and cool and ... nice. But ... Syn? he asked, sounding highly confused. He wanted to go, but Syn said stay, and he had to do what Syn said, right?

That was when the van hit the parking long, and she tore across it, stopping only when she hit one of the medians, and she killed the engine, got out and was running towards where she could sense him. I'm here. she sent, seeing him up ahead.

Melia was still singing, urging the human into the water where she could get her claws into him and see if perhaps a day of marinating in the lake (conveniently letting her calm down) would make him more palatable. She was getting frustrated, though, as she wanted to leave but he was resisting.

She bites, he informed his sister calmly, attention drawn back out to the water. He shuffled forward a couple more steps, the toes of his sneakers hitting the water. His mind caught up in a slow way to realize that he'd heard the van actually hit something a handful of seconds ago and looked around again. Was she okay?

It was moments later that she was there, and her arms were around him and dragging him back. "Seph, what--" she started, though she was startled by the blood. God there was a lot of blood. She'd seen a lot of blood before, but she didn't see it on Seph like this, no no no that was wrong and bad and entirely unacceptable, and fuck fuck fuck. She immediately pulled her zip up hoodie off and tied one of the arms around his wound, still keeping damn good hold of him. Look at me.

Melia hissed as the other human came to the aid of the first; the hole in her tail was hurting and weakening her, and she didn't think she could compel two humans at once in her current state. She kept her song focused on the one she'd bitten, trying and trying to draw him out to her.

He looked down at what she was doing, initially, because it hurt. He was mildly surprised by how there was blood pouring down his arm, but in a distant way still. You hit something, he told his twin unecessarily. Odd how this fuzzy out-of-brain-be-back-in-ten feeling was so familiar. His blue eyes ticked back out to the bobbing head and shoulders that was Melia before coming back to his sister. Want to swim?

NO. Syn insisted, and she tried dragging her brother back again, both arms around him as she attempted to bodily drag him. The trouble, of course, was the fact that he was bigger than her. Bigger and stronger. We have to go now.

Melia was contemplating trying to catch the human female as well; one human was dinner for a few days, but two humans could be dinner for at least a week or more. And the human female was preventing her from catching the male. But she was weaker when splitting her song between two people, so she kept her voice focused on the human male for a moment longer. If he didn't break, she'd change tactics.

"But--" he said aloud, and went to lift his arm to point at the woman in the water. The screaming flash of agony along with the mental echo of Syn's command combined nicely to get more of his attention, and he frowned again. She was pulling him, and under no circumstances did he hurt Syn, so he had no choice but stumble along where she was dragging him. "I think she shot me," he said, even though that made next to no sense. But then again, neither did her biting a chunk out of his arm.

He hadn't been shot, but she was damn well going to put a bullet out there of her own. She pulled her revolver, and took a shot out at the water, towards whatever the fuck had hold of her brother. Bullet between the shoulderblades would be good. Might not be fatal immediately, could survive it long enough for her to get out of range of feeling the death. Though at this point she didn't give a shit, she just wanted to get Seph to the hospital. She kept pulling on him. In the van, NOW, we're leaving.

Something slammed into the waves dangerously close to Melia, who jolted sideways as the same sound that had led to the hole in her tail echoed out over the water. It was obviously time to drop the hunt, since both humans had those loud weapons. Melia stopped singing in favor of shouting an insult in mermish that called the human female's parentage and genetic heritage into account, as well as several suggestions that were anatomically impossible. She topped that all off with a very human gesture she'd picked up; raising a hand, she very firmly extended her middle finger. Deciding she'd gotten her point across, Melia turned and dove, tail flashing above the water for an instant. Doing her best to ignore the pain, she wasted no time heading for the deep waters in the middle of the lake.

Once the singing stopped, the pain came slamming back. Seph was fairly confused, but that was entirely overshadowed by the fucking hell, ow of it all. He went where Syn was trying to pull him more easily. The van was a very good idea. Then somewhere with a bath full of disinfectant, because he'd been bitten. He saw the sun gleam off of metal and bent to snag up his gun with his good arm, tucking it away and glancing back toward the water. Nothing. Seph kept walking, as briskly as she wanted him to. He looked at Syn, face tight. What the hell? he asked.

I have no idea, I just want to get you to the hospital. Syn said, worried as all fucking hell. We'll figure it out later. You were here, and you said there was someone tailing you, and fuck, we'll discuss it later. Hospital. She was slamming all of her insane worry down, trying to think past it because she had to. She could freak out later. After he was in the ER.

The hospital sounded like a good plan. Seph obediently got into the van on the passenger side, his free hand moving to press over the bloody hoodie she'd tied to his arm. It hurt, that whole side of his body hurt. But they were going to the hospital, which was good. So he shut up and sat back and let her drive without him pestering her with questions.

Syn drove fast, though not as recklessly as she had on the way there. Wouldn't help to crash the van on the way to the hospital now would it? But again--lucky for them Marquette was small, and the hospital wasn't that far a drive. It only took a couple minutes to get them there, and she parked outside the trauma center and started around to his side to open the door then help him out. Come on. I've got you.

Seph took her help, good arm around her. He knew he needed medical attention, and Doc probably wasn't home to give it, so the hospital was a necessary thing, but ... he had no idea what to tell them. Some crazy shit happened with some woman on the shoreline that he doesn't remember well? But she bit the shit out of him? "Oh hell," he muttered, stopping and letting her go to pull his gun out and tuck it under the seat of the van. I dunno what to tell them, he admitted to his sister as they started heading back inside.

Tell them you were attacked and bitten. It's pretty obviously were bit. Just don't fill in the blank of what until they ask. I don't know if it looks like a human bite or not, so if it doesn't, we can claim animal attack. If not, just go with you were out walking, were attacked, and give as good a description as you can. Syn said. Even if she could feel that things were fuzzy, and she hadn't gotten a look at all, really. Damnit.