[MINGLE] PLOT: Siren's Call

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: Anywhere
WHEN: August 25-26
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Mental manipulation, drowning, death
NOTES: Details here. This post is for EVERYONE, not just the affected. Please make sure and note if your thread is locked for plot purposes.

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It began slowly.

A wisp of song or familiar sound on the breeze swept in from the lake. No source to be found, only the uneasy feeling it had been heard before as it coiled itself steadily inside the minds of the chosen. The sound was a mantra, pulsing soft at first and then louder, growing over days until it seemed to fill the skull, relentless. Come here, the lake whispered, cajoled, shouted. It is cool and quiet beneath the waves.

Come here, it presses now in time with the melody until there is nothing but to blindly follow. The water is calling.

Comments

[pharmakis]

She didn't wait for Kat to gather her bearings. Instead, Circe kept hold on her arm and steered her back towards the village. Once they were safely away, she pulled the plugs from her ears. There was singing in the distance, but not enough to draw her back in that direction.

"I don't know. I have never seen them in person before. Their song might vary in potency." Or some might be more magically resistant. It was a theory, but not one she wanted to explore. Sirens weren't creatures to ignore or underestimate.

"How do you feel now?" She asked, rubbing her ears until her hearing returned to normal.

[mediumhoodie]

Kat moved like a rag doll as Circe pulled her from the water and away from the shore.

The wind rising off the lake made her shiver and wrap her arms protectively around her torso. It wasn't just the wet or the cold but something deeper that shook Kat to her core. She glanced back at the vast expanse of water. The song was softer now though she felt the impulse to follow it coursing through her limbs. She resisted, finding it easier knowing that Circe was there to pull her back.

"I've been spending a lot of time by the lake this week." She admitted this in a very soft voice. "I've been taking notes on the while life and the tides." It might have been exposer. It wasn't the first time that she'd heard the song though it was the first time that the song had taken control of her senses.

Like a switch being flicked, the song suddenly stopped. "I'm fine." Kat turned back towards the lake. "I don't hear it anymore." She heard others who were likely near the lake but the song was gone.

"Something has happened." Only, Kat didn't know what that something was.

[pharmakis]

It would be cruel for her to say what that something was. She had enough experience with the creatures of her world to know that life and death passed quickly among mortals. If the sirens were singing, they likely had found a victim. It wasn't Kat this time, but possibly someone else.

Circe looked over her shoulder, uncertain if it would be wise to go back to the shore. "If someone has gone into the water," as it seemed given the crowd along the lake shore, "there isn't very much we can do." They had already lost one villager to death. It seemed likely another had just been taken.

But she doubted Kat would want to stand idly by. She reached into her bag and pulled out two small balls of moss. "Put these in your ears. They are not singing now, but they could again. Better to hear nothing than to put yourself at risk again."

[mediumhoodie]

It was as if Circe could read her thoughts. "Thank you." She offered the woman a sad smile as she pressed the green moss into her ears. It didn't completely silent the world around them but it deafened it enough that she was sure she could resist the songs affects.

With those in place she nodded trowads Circe and headed down towards the shore. She didn't know if Circe would chance following her or what they'd find but she wanted to believe in the best possible out come.

It turned out that Circe was right. Someone had died and there was nothing that they could do.

[pharmakis]

She followed Kat at a distance, watching for other threats to emerge around them. But the moment they reached the lake, it was forgotten. Others were gathered around the water, a few crying and the rest in obvious shock. She didn't need to ask what had happened to understand. They had only recently lost someone and now it seemed there was another name to the list.

The sirens were merciless creatures and their song was powerful. She had never heard of someone actually resisting it before. Perhaps she should have arrived sooner? She might have at least spared the others this loss? Maybe she could have saved whoever went into the water.

"Did you know her?" She asked Kat, finally having heard the name. "Elena?"