searchfortrees (searchfortrees) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-01-01 17:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-06-28, charlene |
Morning Reconnaissance
Who: Imogene and Charlene
When: About 9 AM
Where: At the river
Being out in the open again so soon after the attack was nerve-wracking, and more than once Imogene caught herself glancing nervously back towards Dog-Ink. Even worse, she was on the ground, instead of up high where it was safe. This is only a short trip she told herself, and then I go right back. It hadn't even occurred to the were-bear to question whether she was up to the trip. While the smaller cuts were hardly a bother anymore, her side still screamed every time she jostled the broken rib, and the deep slash across her ribcage still wasn't closing, as sorely in need of stitches as it was. But she'd fortified herself with painkillers and sucked it up - her bag was out there, along with all of her worldly possessions. And god-dammit, she wanted them back!
It wasn't too hard to trace her way back to where she'd faced the fire-eyed man - she remembered their meeting in gruesome detail - but it was slow when every step she took was stiff and unsteady. Her nose alerted her that she had made it first. The three days had left the bloody, nearly-decapitated body rather ripe and swollen where she left it. Imogene hesitated next to a tree, staring at it and forcing down the bile that rose in her throat. It's not getting up. You killed it. No matter how much she repeated those thoughts, they never seemed reassuring. And where was her bag? She'd dropped it when the fight began. Covering her nose, she began circling the body and peering about - everything appeared undisturbed, so she doubted it'd been stolen.
And then she spotted it. Her eyes widened with disgust as she realized the monster-man had fallen on top of it. She would have to move the body if she wanted it back. With a sigh, Imogene picked up a sizable stick and began queasily prodding the corpse.
Charlene had been content to float in the river, smiling up at the sun and enjoying how it felt as it beat down, not even caring that she knew what was going to happen the minute Nixie got a hold of her. She had told her sister exactly where she was going the night before and, well, that never went well. Ah well, the mermaid thought, not like... Her thoughts were interrupted by a smell that made her bolt upright, one hand flying up to cover her nose, trying to ward the scent off. It was absolutely terrible, chasing away all of the pleasant thoughts that she had been holding onto so well. She could not see the source from where she was and she was not about to just go on and not find out what it was... glancing around she made sure that there was no one around and lifted herself out of the river. Luckily she had been so tired that she did not even bother taking her shirt off the night before so at least she had that cover - running across a human naked seemed like a bad idea.
As she started into the forest, Charlene heard the sounds of someone and slowed, stopping behind a tree to peer out and find... Imogene. That made her smile, but then she saw what she was poking and knew instantly that that was where the scent was coming from. Wrinkling her nose, she stepped out from her cover and clapped a hand over her nose before motioning at the body and gagging.
Imogene actually jumped when Charlene stepped out of the woods, head snapping around to stare at her like a scared rabbit. The movement was more than out of character from what Charlene had seen of the girl. But when she processed who it was, Imogene let out a relieved sigh and winced. "Your scared the everloving shit out of me, 'Lene." Her voice came out rather more snappish than she'd intended, and she looked like hell. Paler than last time they'd met, for sure, and rather drawn and unsteady. "This bastard -" She aimed a kick at the demon, but lost her balance and fell to one knee, yelping a string of expletives "-cocksucking fucking goddamned cunt fuck! He tried to fucking kill me the other day." Her rib was not appreciating all this moving about. "Just... just came back for my - fuck - bag."
Surprised that Imogene had jumped, Charlene took a step closer and actually looked at the girl, noticing that she looked quite a bit worse than she had before. In fact, she looked worst than most of the humans that Charlene had had any sort of contact with. And then she was tempted to clamp her hands over her ears because Imogene was using words that she was very unfamiliar with and they sounded quite harsh, like what sailors might have shouted at supposed mermaids. But she was more concerned with the fact that Imogene had fallen, she looked like she was hurt. Tilting her head, Charlene let out a click before looking around for something to move the thing with. If Imogene wanted the bag then it would not be so hard to get it, the thing could not weigh that much to someone like her. She motioned Imogene back and used the thick branch she had found to lever the body off, gagging again at the stench that assailed her senses. Maybe that thing should be buried before it attracted all sorts of undesirable things. Like more of them.
"Thanks..." Imogene pulled herself up and braced herself against a nearby tree, panting a little as she watched Charlene move the body. "I could've managed on my own, but... it's still a pain. Thanks." If there was one thing she hated, it was admitting she needed help with something. Once the body was off, she ducked down carefully and snatched the bag, wrinkling her nose a little. The food, extra clothing, and bag itself would have to go, but she could salvage some of her survival gear, money, and ID. That was something. "I... I killed it. Don't know what the hell it was, even." She was thankful she had a strong stomach, but even that was threatening to rebel on her. "You should be careful if you're out here alone all the time." Imogene might consider herself tough-as-nails, but the way she was looking at the body betrayed how shook up she was. And, after all, she was just a kid who'd never actually killed anything before.
Charlene shrugged, recognizing the dislike for needing help. She saw it often enough in her own kind to notice it in humans, though she was doubting even more now that Imogene was that. Looking at the wounds on this thing made her see that this was not something a human could have done, even with a weapon. And Imogene had just said that she killed it... so what was she? Charlene forgot about the corpse, almost not seeing that Imogene looked so shaken - she did have that problem discerning others emotions - and focused on Imogene before picking up another stick, using her bare foot to scoff a smooth spot in the earth. 'You're not human.' She wrote it simply, her eyes going back to Imogene the moment she was done. The comment about being careful bounced right off of her. She was a mermaid, she could take care of herself.
Imogene sighed as she watched Charlene scratch out the question, glancing over to the corpse and it's chewed-through neck. "No. If I were, I'd be dead right now. As is, I'm lucky to be walking around and all." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I'm a were, 'Lene. Bear. And that... thing nearly took me out, even with the teeth and claws and all. You ever seen anything like it?" She got the impression that the older woman was a bit more experienced with strange critter than she was, and hoped that someone had the answer. "Its eyes were on fire. Ren - my boss - he thinks I'm crazy. But it's damned eyes were burning, and it was covered in... smoke or something. It ain't natural." She shuddered and resisted the urge to kick the thing again. Her body was too sore as was, and she still needed to get back to the shop.
A were, well, that explained it. Charlene's eyes lit up at the knowledge that she had come across another one. And a bear? Truly fascinating. Maybe Imogene would show her her other form! Roxy had been willing enough... and there it went, a silly smile broke out on Charlene's face at the thought of Roxy and it took a minute for her to focus back on the situation. Whatever Imogene had come across had been dangerous. Like what I did. Only it looked different... I wonder what they are. Like sharks, perhaps, they did not have to look the same to be the same and predators were always dangerous no matter what they looked like. 'I came across something in the water... looked like a merman, wasn't, tried to kill me.' Tried being the operative word, Charlene was still very confident that she could have taken care of it without K-lee's help. 'You're not crazy, clear as day that it's right there and you fought it. And were badly hurt.'
That smile made Imogene raise an eyebrow. She wasn't exactly familiar with romance, and found the whole fiasco to be a royal waste of time, so the significance was quite lost on her. But the writing made her re-focus her thoughts on the trouble at hand. "There's more, then. Fuck me. And if we both ran into them, I'd be willing to bet we're not the only ones. Remind me to check the news." Maybe that would show Ren she wasn't a nutcase, if more people were being attacked by these bastards. "I tend to be a bit out of the loop... you're all right?" She squinted her eyes at Charlene. Now that was curious. If they were remotely the same thing, the creatures were strong, and 'Lene didn't look hurt in the slightest. "Do I get to know what you are, now? And..." Her hand went to where the bandages lay under her shirt, "I'll be fine. He surprised me. I won't be causing much trouble for a while, but I'll live."
Charlene did not even notice the raised eyebrow, she tended to ignore expressions on other people unless she thought that they might matter. She might have to get over that some day soon... Imogene's words caused her to frown a little, tapping her stick on the ground. Had Roxy mentioned something about that? She would have to check and see, the were was a paramedic or something and she had said it dealt with medical things. 'I am alright, just some scabbing.' They had been loosened the previous night and hurt a little now since she was out of the water, but Charlene was more concerned with the question about what she was. If Imogene was a were, and the dead body seemed to attest to that, then she was surely not likely to go and say anything to anyone or hurt her. Smiling, she shrugged her shoulders a little. 'I'm a mermaid, of course. and I am... glad that you're alright.' And she was. She had come to consider Imogene as a friend after causing trouble with her those times and her prolonged absence would have made her quite sad.
Imogene grunted in a mostly satisfied manner when Charlene mentioned she was all right. Good. Besides people at work, who could hardly be called 'friends' at this point, despite all Ren had done to help her, Charlene was really the only person she both liked and respected in this town. And the fact that the woman had gotten out of a fight with one of those creatures with only a few scabs gained her quite a bit more respect in Imogene's eyes. She was the kind of girl who respected strength. Her eyes followed the stick as Charlene continued scribbling, squinting and reading the line twice to make sure she'd read it right. "Mermaid?" Her instinct was to say something snarky about Disney princesses, but held her tongue. It wasn't wise to provoke a person who could take out a monster and come away quite fine when you'd ended up with a broken rib. "That's... new. Erf... cool, I guess?" How do you respond to that? She hardly noticed the last comment, since she was still trying to fit Charlene into a category with a redheaded little twit that thought crabs were better company than they were dinner.
And there it was, that note of surprise that Charlene had also heard from Roxy, only not quite the same. So the second were she actually told she was a mermaid was as surprised as the first, if in a completely different way. Though she was amused at the statement about it being new. She was quite certain that her kind had been around for at least as long as any other, and she herself had definitely been around longer than Roxy. 'Not new,' she could not help but scratch out with a grin. 'I'm 131 so I think I've got you beat by a fair few years. Maybe if you lived to be this old you'd be able to fight something without getting damaged.' Her smile was almost meant to take some of the sting out of that statement, she knew how fragile pride could be. Charlene had most definitely witnessed her sister's being damaged, usually by her. It was never a good idea. 'Though you did good... for a landwalker.'
"Well, new to me!" She glanced back down at the scribbles and choked, eyes widening. "A hundred and... you can't be serious! You..." She looked up at Charlene. As much as it baffled her, the mermaid wasn't joking in the slightest, that was easy to tell. The information was still quite a shock. "How long do you folk live, anyway? You don't look like you're even middle-aged left." Thankfully, Imogene's curiosity and confusion distracted her from getting too huffy over the insinuation that it'd take her over a century to learn how to fight. Besides, she simply didn't have the energy to be indignant. "And of course I did good. There's not much that can handle a couple hundred pounds of bear-monster. That I've met, anyway." She made a note to never pick a fight with Charlene. Or any other merperson, for that matter.
Now Charlene was even more amused, and if she could have laughed then she would have at the disbelief she saw and heard in Imogene. Humans were always so surprised when they learned that there were things that lived longer than they did. Well, other than the undying vampires. But Charlene did not count them, vampires were just more creatures on the land. 'Oldest known was around 500, I think. Hard to tell, we don't really keep records of our kind.' That would have been hard for the mostly nomadic merfolk, whose pods shrunk and grew without precedence or censor. They did not have a ruler, nothing bound them together except the fact that they lived in water unlike all the things which did not. 'I'm glad that you can take care of yourself, the world is getting dangerous and things that want to make more than trouble are going to make it worse.' Pausing, Charlene gave Imogene a regretful look. 'You probably can't show me what you look like as a bear when you're injured, can you?'
Imogene let out a low whistle at the number and shook her head. Good grief. She wasn't sure she'd even want to live that long - wouldn't things get stale? She lived hard and enjoyed every minute of it, not caring that it'd probably lead her to an early grave. It was better than playing it safe and never getting to do anything interesting. "The worlds been dangerous ever since they made us come out. It was a damn stupid move, you know, things were better when no one knew." But what could they do, now? "I... well, I could change. It's uncomfortable as hell, but it ain't gonna make the injuries any worse. Hadta change a couple times to get into town without collapsing after it happened." Showing off to people wasn't her thing, really. "But... yeah, could we maybe do that away from... that?" She pointed at the corpse. "My nose gets better when I change."
There was something Charlene could definitely agree with, the revelation of the supernatural world was something better left undone. What right did vampires and humans have to make the decision for all of them? Charlene knew no merfolk that would have wanted to share their world with those who walked on land, and was still grateful that merfolk had not been made common knowledge. Life might turn difficult if that happened... and it could already be that way with Nixie constantly there. But her face brightened and she even went up on her toes. 'We could go back by the river.' Her suggestion given, Charlene turned and headed right back for it, unerringly choosing the quickest path away from the stench of the course, further upriver from where she had been when she first scented it. She turned back towards Imogene and gave an expectant click. seeing two weres in their animal form... she was excited.
Things did make a lot more sense now. Like why Charlene smelled like sushi, the weird clicks, and just her whole... manner. Imogene supposed she must be a bit odd too, to normal folk, but nobody had ever looked twice until they'd been given reason to think she was weird because she wasn't human. Now she had to be twice as careful, and people still found her out. So far, she'd been lucky, since neither Charlene nor Ren were about to go spreading her secret or burning her at the stake, but sooner or later... she shook her head and pushed the thoughts aside as she followed Charlene. It was easier to focus on positive things once they got away from that stench. "All right. Um." She set the bag aside and began stripping. No way in hell was she losing more clothes to a change, and besides, they were Ren's. As much as he'd undoubtedly enjoy oogling her naked on his doorstep again, he'd probably kill her for ruining his clothes, just because he could. Her abdomen was a mess of healing cuts and impressively colorful bruises. Imogene had never had much of a sense of decency, so the nudity didn't bother her in the slightest.
It was not that Charlene minded nudity, in fact it was more natural to her than clothes, part of the reason why all she had on was a shirt without a thought given to it. It was more that she was starting to realize it usually mattered more to humans and those like humans than it ever did to a mermaid. So she averted her eyes as she waited for Imogene to change. A part of her mind challenged that the reason she looked away was not the actual nudity, but the fact that the last time she had seen someone naked it had been Roxy and there had been... stop that, pay attention and you'll get to see a bear. Now that was exciting and Charlene began to fidget as she waited, trying not to stare at all of the cuts and bruises that covered Imogene's body. Looked like she was the one who needed first-aid or whatever Roxy had termed it.
Once it'd been pointed out, Imogene even looked a little bear-like in her human form. Her build was quite stocky, with a broad ribcage and quite a bit of muscle, though at the moment her ribs poked out a bit more than they ought to. She piled the clothes at the base of a tree and took a moment to collect herself. When the pain from undressing ebbed to a manageable level, she slid into her animal form as easily as breathing.
Spectacled bears are really not terribly impressive as far as Ursines go. Gene was hardly taller in this form, and not much bulkier, either. But she sported rich, blackish-brown fur all over, with honey-yellow forming 'spectacles' around her eyes and covering her muzzle and bib. She fell forward with a soft grunt and snorted, spreading her impressively long and wickedly curved claws. Of course, they were supposed to be for climbing trees, but the wounds on the corpse they'd left behind showed that they were equally effective as weapons.
Eyes wide, Charlene watched as Imogene changed form, her mouth dropping open a little. She had only ever seen bears in a picture book once, and then another from the water when it was on shore. She had not expected imogene to be the same size as her, much less with claws that looked like they could tear right through her. If she could catch me, if she wanted to hurt me, Charlene amended, knowing that neither was true. But Imogene definitely looked more dangerous than Roxy in her penguin form, probably because she was. Smiling brightly, Charlene clapped her hands together like she had seen humans do when they were impressed. The claws deserved special attention... they were definitely bigger than her own, when she had them.
At least now she was the one impressing Charlene, and not the other way around. She sat back and opened her mouth in a silent grin, letting out a rumbling chuckle. Her rib almost seemed less sore now, but that was probably just because her bear form tended to have a higher pain tolerance, for whatever reason. Survival instincts? Imogene sure as hell didn't know. She reached over and scratched at the ground, squinting as she wrote, 'Glad you like it.' She liked to feel impressive, even though she knew she was a small bear.
It was a switch of roles for Charlene to read what someone else wrote instead of being the one to write. 'Yes, you're quite furry,' Charlene smiled. As a mermaid she was not very used to things like that, having grown up with scales and smooth skin instead, the only hair being on merfolk. Land was quite a bit different. She bit her lip, tempted to reach out and see what fur felt like. 'Can I pet you? I've never felt fur before and it looks comfy.' If it had been a week ago, she would not have thought to ask, but Charlene had learned that touching was not always appropriate.
Imogene eyed Charlene for a moment, hunching her shoulders as she thought about it. Then she let out air in a soft 'whuff' and nodded, lumbering over to poke Charlene's hand with her short, moist nose. As long as the woman didn't start treating her like a goddamned dog, she was fine with touching. Most people she knew never really got to see this form - anyone who knew anything about the local fauna would be able to pick out right away that she wasn't native, and probably a were. She couldn't risk that. Back home, only her mother, her mother's friends, and Alo ever got to see her like this, and even then it was mostly on full moons. But she was still as comfortable in this skin as if she'd been born in it.
The noise that Imogene the bear made, a whuff, was new to Charlene and she smiled happily as she ran her fingers through the dark fur. It felt quite nice, actually, almost as nice as regular hair. People on land can do such interesting things. Idly, Charlene wondered if there were any people here who could change into things that flew. That could be fun to watch. After a few minutes, the mermaid removed her hand and stepped back. Imogene had showed her what she looked like as an animal and the river was right there... would it not be a fair trade? 'Want to see what I really look like?' For that was how Charlene always thought of herself, how she looked as a mermaid, her natural self.
The were-bear tolerated the petting, stepping back when Charlene was done. She shook herself gentle, sliding back into human form with hardly any effort. "Sure, I'd like to see that. My eyes aren't very good as a bear, though, and I doubt you'll smell much different one way or the other. Lemme put on my clothes." She turned, and the bandage taped to her side fell off. "Aw, damned. Fur musta loosened it." She grumbled and poked at the wound, but for once it didn't seem to be threatening to ooze everywhere. As a matter of fact, she felt almost... refreshed by her time in bear-form. Without bothering to replace the bandage, she pulled on her borrowed shirt and pants before turning back to Charlene.
Charlene nodded as Imogene shifted, walking over to the river while she pulled her clothes on, not noticing that Imogene did not fix her bandage. She waited until the were had joined her before smiling and walking in, diving under the moment she felt the water reach her knees and the change begin. A moment later she resurfaced and floated as near to shore as she could get, grinning as she held up her hands to show off her own claws, flicking water at Imogene with her silvered tail. She did love the way that the sun glinted off her skin when she was like this. "See," she said, forming the words easier than she had the first time she spoke. "Mermaids are real."
The speech made Imogene do a double-take more than the change. "Oh! You can only talk in water." Like the movie, really, except without a cursed necklace from an octopus-witch. "I can certainly see why the demon didn't get the better of you." The scales and claws and above all the grace with which Charlene moved in the water... it all told of a dangerous predator. She felt better about her mostly-vegetarian bear self not living up to this. "Pretty. I like real mermaids better than the wussy movie kind, for sure." By 'like' she meant 'respect', but since she had yet to meet any other merfolk, she simply assumed that Charlene was the norm.
"Yes," Charlene responded with a laugh. It was much nicer to be able to laugh instead of just wanting to. Even if the reason why the thing - demon? - did not get the better of her was K-lee. Charlene did not feel the need to share that, she did not like the witch, even less after last night and talking about her would be unpleasant. "Movie kind?" she repeated curiously. From the few flicks she had glanced of the movie last night she had seen nothing resembling mermaids... oh, there were different kinds of movies, of course. "They are... weak?" Her voice was halted, she was still not used to actually speaking English and some words did not come out so well.
"Ugh." Imogene sat on the bank and snorted, rolling her eyes. "Disney made some crap called 'The Little Mermaid' about this twit princess mermaid who liked to giggle and have adventures and sing songs with her fish friends. Then she fell in love with this completely shallow bastard of a human prince and gave up being a mermaid to be with him. It was all romantic drivel. I guess her dad was pretty powerful, and Ursula, the sea-witch," Ursula had always been her favorite - she'd been so mad when she died, "but she's more of an octopus-lady than a mermaid, I guess."
Charlene listened with fascination at the explanation, even though she did not quite understand why there would be a mermaid princess, royalty among merfolk would never have a chance of working. Apparently humans knew as little about them as her mother always claimed... well, that was a relief. Though Charlene's smile faded a little at the thought of someone giving up being a mermaid, even if it was a human idea. How utterly wrong the thought was to her, to be forever trapped with legs and no tail, unable to sing or talk, humans really were clueless. "We do sing," Charlene conceded, not remarking at all on falling in love with a human. She had not done that. Were's don't count. "Enchants your kind." She smirked a little at the thought, it was always fun to see what happened when she sang.
"Huh. I guess they got that part right, if not all the shit with crabs and fish and turtles and whatnot joining in. And don't you dare try!" She caught Charlene's smirk and glowered at her. She would absolutely not appreciate losing control of her own mind right now, especially so close to where she'd been attacked. "I'll totally chase you up a tree. Or something." She wasn't up to chasing anyone anywhere, of course, but that had never stopped her from making empty threats before. She was just naturally inclined to threaten people or insult them, and her mouth didn't have much in the way of a filter.
Just the thought of sea animals singing along made Charlene roll her eyes. The only ones that did that were the dolphins sometimes, but mostly the whales. And they did not sing along so much as allow merfolk to sing with them, one of Charlene's favorite things to do. She felt a slight pang at that thought, knowing that she could not go and find a whale to sing with anytime soon. The thought flitted off at Imogene's threat and Charlene laughed, flicking water at the girl. "I won't," she promised. Singing was something that she preferred to use when she had to... or wanted to; her cheeks heated slightly at that. "Not that you... could... tree me." No one could mess with her when she was in the water, of that she was supremely certain.
"Good." She grumbled a bit, then sighed. "Nah, guess I couldn't. Haven't had much practice swimming in bear form, anyway." She was sure she could, given the chance, but to swim and intimidate anyone at the same time? No way. Imogene was, of course, entirely oblivious to Charlene's reflections on whale songs. She didn't have a romantic bone in her body, and sometimes that meant she simply couldn't appreciate the more beautiful things in life. Perhaps when she was older, they'd hold more meaning.
"Bear swim?" Charlene asked, curious. She was always curious, but when there was new information right there for her to learn about she could not even think to pass it up. It probably was no better than human swimming, a laughable thing on a good day, but she had had no idea that it was even possible. Had she journeyed far enough north to see polar bears that might have been different, but Charlene had never had a desire to visit the North sea. "Least you're not afraid." And suddenly that seemed like a thing that was not so good, causing a frown to crease Charlene's face. "Should be. Most merfolk eat people." She was thinking of Nixie, who was doubtlessly growing hungry for human flesh again. And Charlene had no doubts that her sister would indulge when she had a chance.
"'course we do. Not my kind, very much, but grizzlies and polars... people? You folk eat people? Shit, woman! That's just... nasty." She made a face, finding it hard to believe that most humans even tasted good at all. "And weres are included in that? Damn, guess it's a good thing there's so little water back home." One less thing that she had to worry about going after her mother. "I can take care of myself, thanks, but yech." She wondered if she should warn Ren, but he wasn't likely to be in danger. What pathetic sort of predator would settle for eating his scrawny, greasy ass?
Different kinds of bears... huh, so it was not just sharks and whales that had different species within them. But the reaction Imogene had was partially what Charlene had expected. "Yes." Humans actually tasted quite good, so Charlene believed, but she had not taken a bite out of one in a very long time. And she had not actually killed one for longer, a point of pride for her and disgust for her sister, but not something she thought Imogene should know about. "Just stay out of the water." It was not just the few merfolk Charlene was concerned about, it was the thing that looked like one of her people but was not. She had a feeling that if it got something into the water it was not going to come back out again. And there was something else, a worry that was mostly Nixie's, but Charlene could share it occasionally. "Just... do not tell... people."
"Hunters." Imogene grumbled, but nodded. "Yeah. I won't tell anyone. At least I can hit Ren up for a shower, instead of risking the river. Are there a lot of you around, then?" Sure, the Great Lakes were nearby, but Imogene wouldn't have pegged Michigan as prime mermaid territory, even if she had known mermaids were real before now. "And on top of that there's monsters like what you and I ran into... no, I think I'm staying indoors for a while longer, thanks." She grimaced and shuddered. "Fucking creepy shit's going down, and I really don't like it, 'Lene."
Hunters, that was a word Charlene did not like at all. "No, only few." Her and her sister and that Wynne, maybe there were signs of another... but Charlene did not think more than four were around, doubted that the river could support too many of them. "Stay in the ocean mostly." Her sister was not secretive about her desires to return, and to take Charlene with her on the way. Merfolk were made for the open waters of the ocean, not these confining ones where fish did not grow overly large. Though the humans... not a food supply... for me. For the others, well, that was a different story. Imogene's shudder did not go unnoticed, and the mermaid felt the slightest flicker of concern for her, an unusual thing. "It will be better," she said confidently. She had lived this long without anything too bad happening, these creatures were just another thing to deal with before they passed. "Don't worry too much."
"I guess so." She sighed and shrugged. "They just... don't feel natural, you know? If they were some sort of vampire or something, I think I could handle it, but there was... nothing. It was like it was from another world." She grimaced and shook her head. "But I'll stay inside and keep an eye on the news, until this passes, I guess. I wonder what other people are doing about this, if there have been more attacks?" She really should have thought of picking up a paper sooner, but for all she knew, she'd been an isolated incident. "I don't like feeling hunted. I'm not a predator the same way a wolf is. Or you, really. But that doesn't mean I'm used to being prey."
Feel natural. A lot of things had not felt natural to Charlene but were beginning to, maybe these things were the same. Or maybe Imogene was right, Charlene could not dismiss that possibility. But nor could she really be concerned about it, that was not her nature. Charlene did not really know how to worry about things that might hurt her, she was not concerned about the thing from the other day for example, had forgotten to look around before she left her ship even. But she did feel a twinge of what might be worry for Roxy, and Imogene. "If you still need a safe place, I have..." the mermaid paused, struggling for the word and gave up, swimming into the shallows to sketch out the shed she kept all of her things in. "That, by my space." For someone like her, she could think of nowhere safer than by the river, away from the cluster of humanity. And she, unlike Imogene, was fully a predator.
"Yeah... you've said before I could stay there." Imogene sighed. "But I think I'm sticking it out at work for now. I'm in no shape to be foraging for myself yet, and at least I'm already working for Ren to repay his help." She wasn't a girl who much cared for a lot of people around herself, but it felt better to be behind four strong walls, with a chance of being heard if she had to yell. There was strength in numbers, even if it wasn't in her nature to form any sort of family group. These creatures had her well-spooked. "And, like I said, running water's a big plus."
Oh, had she? Charlene forgot things like those unless there was a reason for them to stick out. Oh well, all the better that she did not have to worry about someone being so close to Nixie. Explaining that would not be worth the trouble, or the marks. "That's good," Charlene said with a nod, letting herself back into the deeper water where she was more comfortable. She knew that she would not have been happy away from running water either; having no idea that the words meant something different to Imogene than they did to her. "Still, by there, you can find me if you look by that place." She nodded to the drawing in the sand, a rather good imitation of the shed she kept her things in despite having only her hands to use. Artistic talent was not limited by a lack of materials. "When you are... better."
She contemplated the drawing for a moment. "Yeah, all right. I can find this, for sure. And it shouldn't take much longer. I took a beating, but we heal fast, y'know?" But fast healing or no, broken bones were no joke. "I should be getting back, though. Ren won't worry, but he might decide to hire someone else if I take too long, the ass." She snorted and stood slowly, gathering her things. "Hey, uh, thanks for helping me get the bag back. There's things in there I'd hate to lose." Like her ID. That'd be important once she passed 18, since she could prove that she was a legal adult that way.
Charlene nodded. She could go and do something artistic for a change instead of wandering into the city to see what she could, knowing that she would probably just look around for Roxy. "It was nothing," she trilled. "And I hope you heal soon." This Ren would hopefully take good care of her, otherwise Charlene would be displeased and an unhappy mermaid was not a good thing at all. Especially with how strong they were. "Bye, Imogene." She raised one of her hands to wave before turning and diving under the water.