Hold me down in the siren lights. (Open)

[suchgoodluck]

She's been restless all day, stocking books with itching fingers and rushing to pick up extra groceries for Jasmine with a twitch to her step. She'd rushed through this day with her thoughts whirling about her mind like a hurricane. Only at dusk, alone on a near empty beach in one of the more desolate corners, has Cosette felt at liberty to stop and take a breath, inhaling the salty air with the hunger of a vagrant poet.

That had been an hour ago. Now, she's fully formed as her siren self, the naked chest of a human woman and the lower body of a seal. She weaves in and out of the water, playing with some wandering fish and dancing in the waves. For a good ten minutes, she remains beneath the surface, taking pleasure at the distorted world held behind the water as though it were made out of glass.

She breaks through the surface when she feels the urge to recreate that particular scene from The Little Mermaid, even indulging a bit in singing part of "Part of Your World." She doesn't care who hears her.

As she reaches a particularly high note, she is suddenly and abruptly drawn beneath the surface.

Cosette barely has time to scream when she feels a strong set of teeth dig into the seal part of her body; she feels rather than sees the blood seep from her. She twists and shudders as much as she can with her upper body, managing to bring her attacker above the surface with her. She turns to catch a look at it, and what she finds horrifies her. A Beisht Kione, dark and vicious with teeth like swords piercing through her skin. She screams for help even as she fights it off with all of her might, using her fists to gather the energy of the water around her and shove it in the face of the beast.

The creature proves especially determined, sinking its teeth further into her and beginning to whip her back and forth like its next meal. She's losing blood, fast, and her vision is starting to darken at the edges.

"COSETTE!" She hears Spencer approaching, confused as her energy drains from her. She never even knew him to be on the beach, but he proves otherwise as loud splashes indicate his approaching presence in the water. She wants to warn him, to tell him to turn back. All she can manage is a strained groan, however.

(OOC: Cosette has been attacked by a mythical Irish sea beast sent by her relatives (not her parents) who feel her as a threat to the lineage in her former siren community. Spencer just happens to be nearby and well. Erika and I are terrible people and wanted to hurt our characters. This post is open to any and all rescue attempts, and eventually the beast will give up and slink back into the ocean, summoned back to its master.)

Comments

[doublethepain]

Seal parts. Seal parts, his co-worker is part seal and Spencer doesn't really know what to do with that information. Selkies, he corrects himself, at least assuming he's caught up enough on mythology; but he thinks that must be watch Cosette is, a seal that can essentially shapeshift into human form once on land, and knowing that the myth is apparently not myth at all but a reality... isn't exactly surprising at this point but he certainly hadn't expected Cosette's secrets to run this deep, especially when truth be told, he comparatively doesn't have too many big ones of his own.

Still, between Cosette's immobile tail and Spencer's feeble attempts to keep kicking--though moving in general is really starting to sting now, he wonders if he'll need stitches because that would involve going to the hospital and he doesn't want to have to answer questions about what the hell had bit him--the pressure is all on Joel to get them closer to shore.

Spencer thinks maybe after this is over, he ought to extend his thanks for the fact that the other man has now saved him twice.

[just_another]

His arms and legs ache, his lungs are burning with every breath, but he can't stop. He's so completely focused on getting them to shore that he doesn't even realize when there's suddenly sand and rocks under his feet, cutting him through his socks and he stumbles, but he doesn't let go. Gasping for air, he continues to drag them along with him, splashing through the waves, clawing at the sand for leverage. A part of him wants to turn around see how close the creature is, if they're safe, but he's afraid of what he might see.

"Come on, come on," he chants, as if that will get them out of the water faster. He doesn't know how they're injured and he wants to look, but he wants to get out of the water and it feels like his mind is racing, trying to figure out where to go or what to do next. He's mentally two steps beyond the water already, it's the only way to keep himself from panicking too heavily. Panic isn't going to help anyone.

[suchgoodluck]

Cosette mutters a nearly silent prayer of thanks to whichever deity might happen to be listening when they finally reach the shore. She also realizes, through the haze in her mind, that she hasn't told either Joel or Spencer about her siren nature, a fact that is too late to remedy considering the state she is currently in.

"I'm doing my best," she says, wincing when she finally manages to feel sand beneath her desperate hands. She manages to crawl out of the water with Spencer before collapsing in a heap of pain and blood. Once she stops moving, she lacks the energy even to lift her head and check her injuries. All she knows is that it's bad.

[doublethepain]

He wants to check on Cosette because she's clearly in far worse shape than he is but once they're on shore, all he can do is try to cough up all the water that he's swallowed into his lungs before sprawling out on his back with his arm clutching his injured side. He narrows his eyes and grimaces when he sees his shirt torn to shreds from the sharp teeth of the beast, blood staining his hands and now the sand. He groans in discomfort as he shifts his weight more toward his right side because he's read about infections, he knows what could happen if he doesn't get this looked at and the same goes for Cosette.

He reaches out with his free hand, gesturing for Joel's attention, though his eyes are closed and he has no idea whether he's got it. "Hospital," he murmurs, slurring the word the slightest bit. "Gotta get her to the hospital."

[just_another]

"I have to get you both to the hospital," Joel answers, glancing between the two of them before he strips off his t-shirt and wrings the water out of it as best he can. It'll sting, but it's better than nothing, and he presses it to Spencer's side where he's bleeding, then grabs his hand and puts it over the shirt, pressing down hard. "Hold this."

Then he scrambles across the sand for his sweater, yanking his cell phone out of the pocket and dialing for an ambulance as he drags himself back to the two of them. His sweater is dry, thicker, and he looks down at Cosette for a moment, at a loss. He had no idea, but it doesn't matter now and all he can do is press his sweater to her wounds, hoping it's enough until an ambulance comes. "Someone's coming," he says when he finally lets the phone drop from where he's been holding it with his shoulder. Both his hands are busy, one holding the sweater to Cosette's wounds, the other reaching out to make sure Spencer is holding the shirt against his side. "Someone's coming, okay? It's fine... it's fine."

[suchgoodluck]

"My tail..." She croaks, more than speaks, her mind a haze as the ambulance approaches. The world around her blurs, and she can just barely distinguish the shapes of Joel and Spencer around her. Somewhere in the midst of the mess of her mind, the sensible part of her worries about what the doctors are going to make of her like this.

She feels a hand pressed against her, compressing the blood to keep it from spilling out. She wants to be useful and help, but she teeters on the edge of passing out entirely.