Cerulean Cape siren song

@Huā

She had slumbered beneath the stars reflected on the ocean waves whose crash she could hear even in her dreams. Bed of sand beneath her, driftwood stretching overhead. Something about the beach had captured her -- or perhaps it had been the fae she found at the beach who had entranced her. Whatever it had been, she found herself looking to the waves, blinking sleep from her eyes. Sand had found its way into her pelt, the grain against her skin. Snow drifted lazily from the sky, sunlight filtering through cataracts of clouds. She crawled from beneath the driftwood she had used as shelter, wandering towards the cold water, feeling its chill against her wrists as she stepped into the waves.

Grapevining charcoal paws along the shore, Huā wanders. Rusalka was alright- but not her home. Not yet, and she was not sure that she could ever call it home. But for now it was the best place to house her and her dearest sisters. She wouldn't let that hold her back, though. She'd still find herself upon the beach, suddenly realizing where she was as if she'd sleepwalked. Not even aware she'd been stealing away. 

Here she finds a dark figure ahead, a russet and familiar sylph woven of fire and ash. "Hey," she calls hesitantly, coming closer. Seaglass eyes squint and then widen as she fully recognizes the girl. Gentle smile touching the siren's face, Huā's tail wags slowly. "I know you! You never tell me your name," She comments eagerly.

Firebrand is lost among the waves, watching as they lap against her paws, sand shifting beneath. It is not until she hears her bark that she notices the other femme approaching. Brine on the air, legs soaked through. She whirls 'round and can't help the smile that stretches wide across charcoal maw. "You never told me your's, either," she pointed out, humor in her tone. 

Andromaque withdrew from the sea and wagged darkened tail, taking a few steps closer. "It's Andromaque," she said, nearly tripping over a piece of driftwood that seemed to have suddenly appeared beneath her -- in truth, she was just not paying attention. Andromaque took a shy step backwards, embarrassed by her almost-tumble.

"Andromaque," humming thoughtfully, the unusual name rolling off her tongue with a twinge of her accent to it. Huā giggles when the girl stumbles- not meanly, but playfully. As the girl shyly steps backwards, Huā steps forward again, shortening the distance between them. "Now I tell you- my name is Huā. How are you?" She murmurs, as foamy gaze casually traces over the girl's figure, unusual for Huā.

Ocean drummed behind her and she listened to the way her own named rolled of Hua's tongue, drawn in by her accent, her voice, the way she giggled when Andromaque nearly tripped. She laughed too, nervousness subsiding for a moment as she stepped over the piece of driftwood, drawing nearer to the fae. "I've been alright," she answered. Courtfall had been treating her well, but she didn't take the time to mention it. "What about you?" she asked, pausing for a moment before speaking again. "Want to walk with me?" she asked, nodding down the beach.

The fiery wolf lets out a laugh of her own, drawing nearer to Huā like a reflection of her own actions. Andromaque, that is, tells her she's been alright. Rather vague for Huā's liking, but it was okay. As her companion asks her of how she's fared too, Huā nods at her invitation and begins to pace slowly down the beach with her, side by side. 

"I been okay. I find my sisters, but because it winter, we have to join pack. I don't like pack... Not by the ocean. And sometimes is lonely." She sighs, black lashes blinking heavy curtains over shining eyes. Thinking she could use a friend at a time like this. She loved her sisters, but they couldn't comfort her the way some others could, and one was too logical and the other too stubborn. She needed a little break from their personalities. Her gaze moves back to Andromaque's darkened face, tentative.

There is something about the tranquility of it all that has begun to drive her mad -- not truly mad, perhaps, but the waves have been drumming and the smell of brine has been swirling 'round her and her breath left lips like smoke and curled around charcoal maw and disappeared into the air and she paused for a moment. They had begun to walk and she was stopped once Hua's words had left her. "I'm in a pack, too," she started, perhaps she had already said this upon their first meeting but she could not remember. "There's something about it... I don't know if I like this life." Part of her had become lost, and she remembered the fire that ravaged her old home. It had been a long time since she had thought of it, had remembered the flames, the heat against her skin and the light so vibrant that she had become entranced and almost swallowed whole but had escaped with her skin and fur like flames itself. "The peace of it all," the she-wolf clarified. Her old home had been war-trodden, scorched earth, she misses it -- the fighting, the feeling of her teeth sinking into someone else's flesh and cracking someone else's bones.

And then there's something about Hua that draws her back in, the beauty of her, sparkling against the seafoam. "I like this, though, walking with you." She speaks shyly, lowering her head, cheeks flushing underneath darkened face -- it's because they're friends now that she likes it, this, isn't it? Andromaque decided that it was foolish to say such things but the words had already been brought to life with her breath and she can't take them back now.

Andromaque tells her again of her pack, and Huā giggles quietly, almost ready to remind her she had mentioned it before. But instead her expression turns blue as the girl explains she doesn't like it. And Huā almost thinks they experience the same feelings- a longing for familiarity, a distaste for the new people. But instead the girl tells her she doesn't like the peace? Huā couldn't understand. If the sandy mermaid was a still and gentle sea, then the russet sylph was a burning fire, untamed and ambitious. The siren could only desire peace. There was no part of her which longed for the thrill of battle, no, to her joy was floating underwater, resting on the beach, everything quiet and alone.

And even as part of her tells her that wanting chaos is wrong- immoral, even- the next comment draws her back in. I like this, though, walking with you. And suddenly she doesn't care about whether the girl beside her was chaos or peace, calm or fire. Blushing beneath plush charcoal fur, seaglass eyes are cast downward shyly. And then back up... to Andromaque's eyes... to her dark lips. And then flitting back to her gaze, as if that's where she'd been looking all along. "I like this too," She breathes softly. "We should meet more often..." her voice trails off awkwardly.

The fae's eyes flicker like flames and she watches as they move and for a moment, Andromaque worried that she had said something wrong, had turned the sea dweller away with her preaching of wanting chaos, something to sink her teeth into, blood to taste and then -- "I like this too." Andromaque breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at her, a quiet, shy smile, not something to expect from a dragon but still pulling at charcoal lips nonetheless. "I'll come to the sea more," Andromaque told her, tail wagging behind her as she walked. 

And then she looked to the sea and remembered when they went swimming and suddenly Andromaque is walking towards the water, prancing, even, a jubilant hop in her step as she goes. "Come on!" she called to Hua, almost dancing in the water, kicking up cold spray with her paws, carefree -- and everything was wonderful.

A little smile touches the dragon's lips, as she promises she'll come to the coast more. It hits her, the realization that she has no idea how far the girl's realm is. Whether Courtfall was near or far, she did not know- all she knew was that she hoped Andromaque would be willing to make that journey as she promised. 

And before she knew it, her companion was springing down towards the waves. Huā laughs, music ringing out over the emptiness of air. Andromaque wouldn't have to tell her twice. She made her way down, mimicking the same little prance that her friend had used. As charcoal paws meet the sparkling blue, she continues onward, till the water hit her calves, then her chest. She shivered slightly at the cold, but it wasn't such a bother that she would leave. Instead she turns blackened head back behind her, to check if Maq had followed the same distance.

The siren eagerly followed her and Andromaque smiled when she heard her laugh ring through the brine-filled air. She followed her into the water, shivering as her paws met the water, waves lapping at darkened fur, her body shivering as the chill seeped into her bones. She turned to Hua and with a quick move of her paw splashed her with the salty water and then laughed, tail wagging behind her.

I always have fun when I'm with you. She wanted to say it, but the words caught in her throat. She couldn't force them out. "You convinced me to like the water," she said instead -- all of it, the smell of salt, the wind, the water. Hua. "You said your pack isn't by the water, though. What's it called? Where is it?" She hoped she wasn't prying too much but Andromaque didn't know much about the other packs and wanted desperately to learn.

100th for you<3

Andromaque splashes her with water, which elicits another giggle to rise up from within her. Eyes clenched tightly to avoid the salty sting, she waits for excess water to drip away before lashes parted themselves once again. The companion tells her how she convinced her to like the water. Huā's heart swells- did she have that power? If she could make one wolf like the water, maybe she could convince the whole world of its peace and vibrance. Or maybe Andromaque was just special. 

And now she asks about Huā's pack, and seaglass eyes flit in its direction just temporarily, before back to the girl. "Yes, it's not. It called Rusalka, I think. It just past the forest, in that..." She struggles for the word plateau, unsure if she's even learned it. "...In that tall place. The one that go up." Huā sighs. And though she's never cared to sharpen her common language, something about this girl made her wish she could communicate more clearly.

The girls talk and swim together a little while longer. She can feel a strange swelling in her heart, like it would burst and flutter out of her chest. Huā hadn't felt this way. Every second was ecstasy, but it wouldn't last forever. Their depart had her tearing herself away, knowing she had to go back to Rusalka. Even if she wanted to stay longer. They said their farewells- Huā prayed it wouldn't be their last- and she made her way back to Rusalka, heart still beating with the samba of adoration.