[open]

[silent_key]

Adam has been in Siren Cove for four days now and in those four days he's heard a lot of stories circulating around town about the current state of the Matriarch and the situation the sirens now find themselves in. For Adam, it works in his favour. His family has never belonged to any enclave, has never answered to any Matriarch and the problems going on now give him the opportunity to slip into town unnoticed.

It won't last, he's sure of that, but that doesn't mean he's not enjoying the chance to move into his new condo without worrying about how he's going to present himself.

Rather, he'd be enjoying himself if it didn't seem like the movers were going to drop ever second box. A year ago and Adam would have done it himself. A year ago he would have talked some friends into helping him, bugged his little brother until he agreed to drive the van, and they would have unloaded together. He would have bought beer and pizza -- or convinced someone to give him beer and pizza anyway -- and it would have been an experience, even if it hadn't been fun.

But now his brother is dead. Most of his friends don't call anymore. And Adam's scars prevent him from doing much of anything when it comes to moving boxes.

"Jesus Christ, I'm going to have a heart attack before this is over," he says loud enough for the movers to hear as they manhandle another box off the truck, nearly dropping it in the process. "Please don't kill all my things before they even make it inside."

[Adam's in front of his new condo, a lovely building near the beach. Dry run tags can be considered canon if you'd like, or if you want to start fresh, I'm okay with that, too. :D]

Comments

[lesparker]

"Uh, no. I was just out on the beach," Les says holding up his sandy shoes with a shrug. This is a nicer part of town with all the beach front properties and mansions like the one Corry owns, and it's not that he hates it. He's grown...more used to it, but it's definitely not idea of a comfortable place to live. He likes his place downtown, near the boardwalk. Even if he could afford such a nice condo as the private one it looks like Adam is currently moving into he isn't sure he'd ever take it.

"It's looks like you're new though," he says glancing at the movers. He doesn't recognize Adam, but he thinks the huge moving truck means this guy has come to Siren Cove from far away. "Where you from?"

[silent_key]

"Oh, not far, actually," Adam admits. "I grew up about an hour and a half outside of town, but I've been living in New York for the past few years. For work." New York, Los Angeles, London, Beijing, Paris, he's been living all over the place, but what he'd expected to be his permanent home had been a beautiful townhouse in New York and he misses it. He can't be there, he knows that, it had to be sold, but he still misses it.

Just the thought of facing people from his old life still makes him feel sick, though, so he's glad he's here.

"I needed a change of pace," he says with a small smile. "My parents always talked about how nice the town was, so I figured why the hell not?"

[lesparker]

Les gives that thought a hardy laugh and shrugs back at him. "Yeah. Why the hell not? It's looks like you found a pretty sweet place. The beach is good here," he says with a smile. He's never lived there himself, but he imagines the fast-paced life of New York City must be different than the slow steady weirdness of Siren Cove. He imagines Adam must be feeling a bit disjointed.

"It's not bad. You might love it, and weirdly enough people hardly ever move away." He gives the guy a grin that's not purposefully secretive, but he's amusing himself. "So don't plan on going anywhere."

[silent_key]

Not for the first time, Adam thinks about how unfair it is that everyone here is so good looking. After the accident, after Leigh had slowly but surely done everything she could to end the relationship without actually ending it, Adam's been fairly removed from people. His right side is a mess of scars, all down his torso and part of his leg, and he doesn't want anyone to see that.

But this town is just filled with ridiculously attractive people and Adam's wondering if this is some kind of cosmic joke played at his expense. A whole town of look but don't touch.

"No?" he asks when Les says no one ever really moves away. "Is it the whole magical haven thing or they just like it?" He doesn't know who knows and who doesn't, but he's never been known for his subtlety.

[lesparker]

Les smirks at Adam's question, pleased that Adam seems to have known what he was getting himself into upon moving here. "I don't know. Maybe it's the town curse. You know, like, we are all trapped here in purgatory together," he says with a laugh, and on some days it really does feel that way. That they are trapped and someone is just playing a game with them, seeing how much they can all take before things explode.

"Magical haven, huh? Is that what the tourist department said? Or what your parents told you?"

[silent_key]

His parents had never used those exact words, but they'd implied it heavily enough. Siren Cove was home to an exceptionally large magical population, both sirens and witches alike, and while strange things have been known to happen in town, he'd also decided from what his parents had said that it would be a good place to heal.

"It's sort of been implied," Adam settles on saying, thinking again how unfair it is to have moved to a town where everyone looks like that when they smile. Maybe Siren Cove was a bad idea. "Is that wrong?"

[lesparker]

Les shrugs at the question, still smiling. "I wouldn't call it wrong. Maybe just not the whole of it. I guess," he says chuckling. Haven implied that things around here couldn't get fucked up sometimes because he's almost died more times than he cares to count. He gives Adam a closer look. He kind of wishes that witches were able to sense magical abilities, the way he's sometimes seen Lara do with other sirens.

However it's impossible to tell if Adam is magic or something else. He just seems like a normal guy, good-looking, but normal. "So did you move here because you're magic? Or just here to gawk?" he asks.

[silent_key]

"Siren," Adam answers with a small shrug, looking more amused than anything. He's never really gone out of his way to hide what he is when it comes to others who at least have experience with the magical, like Les seems to. In New York he hadn't really told anyone except for an exceptionally pretty witch who had been able to sense it. That was before Leigh and he'd taken her home that night and while their relationship had been short lived, it had been fun.

But in a place like Siren Cove -- a town named after his kind -- Adam doesn't seem much point.

"But that doesn't preclude gawking, does it?" he asks with a grin.

[lesparker]

Well, Les likes this guy. He doesn't encounter many people he doesn't like, but he decides Adam has a sense of humor and finds himself smiling back at him with an amused shrug. "I dunno. I'm okay with gawking, if you're okay with it," he tells him. "And considering you're a siren, I'm going to bet you're okay with it."

Maybe sirens aren't completely narcissistic, but most of the ones he knows are drop dead gorgeous and they don't mind people looking at them, don't mind that people are attracted to their looks. Les thinks that's part of how their powers work in the first place. So Adam definitely isn't bad to look at either.

"So a siren moves to Siren Cove, that's a good start to a joke," he says.

[silent_key]

"I used to be," Adam agrees with a small smile and a shrug. "I worked as a model for a few years. I'm pretty sure I just sirened my way into it, but it's not such a terrible thing to do, so long as no one gets hurt." And he believes that entirely. He doesn't want to hurt people with what he can do, he only wants to be able to get by with what he wants and to make other people happy. Adam's cultivated his power to be something people don't walk away from feeling used and that's very important to him.

"A siren, a priest and a horse all walk into a bar..." he says, then grins. "That sort of joke? I'm not very funny, you'd probably have to fill in the blanks for me."

[lesparker]

"A siren, a witch, and a horse all walk into a bar, you mean," Les quickly corrects flashing a grin back at Adam because he figures a guy that moves into town because he heard about magic isn't going to care whether he's a witch or not. He's never one to hide who he is in the first place. Maybe Adam will care, but Les can take protect himself were it to be necessary which he seriously doubts it will be.

"But a model huh? You seriously just like snuck that one in there." He is teasing of course. Adam didn't seem to be bragging. Not the way one might assume a model would anyway. "I don't think I've ever met a model before, what's that like?"

[silent_key]

Adam shrugs again and he's still smiling, but he looks faintly sheepish. "It was just a job, it wasn't anything special." He knows he's lucky, he got to do the kinds of things some people only dream of, but he doesn't think he's any better because of it. All he is is a guy who was able to talk his way into doing something he wanted.

"I mean, it was fun, don't get me wrong, but it's a pretty ridiculous job at the end of the day." He'd literally just stood around and let people dress him and take pictures of him. Kind of like a doll.

"So a witch, huh? That's more interesting than being a model."

[lesparker]

"Well, it has its days."

For instance, that day with April and the binding spell, that had been a particularly good day to be a witch. Most days are. Les enjoys his magic, maybe more than most. It's just ever since that day every day since has seemed less...special somehow. He knows it's because something is tugging him to explore the depth of his powers. However, this is not what Adam has said and Les realizes his mind has drifted that easily...again.

"Though I'll be honest, it's more ridiculous that you're probably imagining. There's the brooms for one, and then all the Harry Potter jokes," he says grinning.

[silent_key]

"I'll try not to make too many of those," Adam promises with a grin. It's probably not a promise he's going to be able to keep for very long, not if he finds himself comfortable around Les, which he can see happening. Ever since the accident he's been a little withdrawn, but it's always been easier for some people than others to get in.

"Are there really brooms?" he asks, his head tilted slightly as he tries to imagine Les with a broom. "For riding purposes or just for general house cleaning? If it's the latter, I have one of those, too."

[lesparker]

"Good. Considering I've never read them I'm not going to get the jokes anyway," Les says amused. "I am much more open to Wizard of Oz jokes though. Gotta go with the classics when you can."

He can't help laughing at Adam's question knowing that he is teasing him, just as much as Les has quickly taken to teasing him. He shrugs back at him. "Look, I can't give away my mysterious magical secrets on day one. I have to string this along some. It keeps people interested."

[silent_key]

"Ah, I see," Adam says with a sage nod. "I understand. I have to keep my mysterious siren secrets, too, so I'm glad we're on the same page regarding these things." He doesn't really have any mysterious siren secrets, nor does he think most sirens do, but maybe Les doesn't know that.

Even if he does, Adam doesn't really see a problem with it. He's only teasing, after all.

"At least I'll know who it is if I ever see a witch flying across the moon in silhouette."

[lesparker]

"Yeah---" He nods grinning at Adam, enjoying the fact that he's stumbled across someone this morning that isn't opposed to just going along with him and his antics. "Flying across the moon? That sounds ridiculous enough to try. I'll be sure to do a fly by in case you're out on the balcony."

[silent_key]

Adam laughs, looking amused as he tilts his head up, and although it's bright and sunny, he still imagines what it might be like to see someone flying across the moon. "Well, I'll appreciate the special shout out," he says. "Maybe I'll break out the wings one day and join you."

He hasn't flown in a long time. Since before the accident. It's something he's only ever been able to do under the cover of night anyway, something private, to be hidden from the world.

[lesparker]

"Wings?" Les asked curiously, unsure whether Adam is kidding or not, but he's intrigued either way. He is good at magic, more than good, but he has no abilities to transform. He doesn't have any familiars or animal forms. It's just him. He's always a little jealous of people that can do things like that. Grow tails and fangs.

"Can you really do that?"

[silent_key]

"Oldest siren form in history," Adam says with a little smirk and a nod, though he looks more embarrassed than anything. He doesn't turn into his siren form very often and he hasn't done it once since the accident, not beyond a simple change of eye colour to drive a point home if he has to. But the wings and talons, he hasn't let those come out in a very long time.

"Back before everyone started turning into fish and sharks and seal, there was the birds," he continues and he's heard this story from his parents so many times that it's almost ridiculous. "I think my parents told me that in order to make me feel like we were lucky."

[lesparker]

Is this guy serious?

Adam looks serious is the problem, and Les makes a face at him craning his neck at his back then gives him a wide grin. "You have wings?" he asks eagerly. If the guy has wings, Les wants to see them. Of course, he wants to see them.

"Show them to me." He doesn't say it rudely. He says it the same way a kid would tell Adam he wants to see this cool thing he claimed to have because he half-way doesn't believe him in the first place. "What color are they?"

[silent_key]

Adam laughs at the same time as he flushes and he shakes his head, looking sort of flustered. "I don't... I haven't changed in a long... a long time. They're brown, sort of... hawk-like, I guess. That's probably the closest comparison."

He doesn't want to change, though, not now. He's not ready. He doesn't know if he'll ever be ready again.

[lesparker]

Les narrows his eyes trying to imagine Adam, who looks rather unassuming standing in front of him, with wings. He can't quite picture it, and he still wants to see them with his own eyes. But Adam says he hasn't changed in a long time and he doesn't really offer to try. This puzzles Les. If he could transform, he would do it all the time. Just to show off.

"Hmm. How come? Is something wrong with your powers?" he asks.

[silent_key]

"No," Adam says, realizing he's getting uncomfortably close to having to admit things he doesn't necessarily want to admit. It isn't the accident he's ashamed of, though, but the scars it's left on him. "No, it isn't... it's just that..."

The news of the accident will get around, he has no doubt of that.

"I was in a car accident about nine months ago," he says. "A bad one. The driver of the car was killed and I was injured pretty badly. Since then I just... I haven't felt comfortable changing."

[lesparker]

Les, who is actually good at reading people's body language, realizes straightaway that he pried into something he didn't actually mean to pry into when he asked the question. He gives Adam a look of apology shuffling his feet a little. He's only known this person a few minutes and now Adam is telling him something that sounds painful and rather personal.

He didn't mean to do that.

"Well." He pauses a little thinking how to backtrack off that line of questioning. "I'm just going to pretend you have huge pterodactyl wings since I can't see them."