Sarit
I looked around the house I found myself in. There were white, beachy walls with blue accents and woven materials hanging around the home. It looked like a strange version of the coral enclaves I was familiar with.
I am not sure quite how I ended up here; I was headed to find my friend when I not only did not know the directions but also the man I was with kept following, telling me to cover up.
I had little intention of listening to the man that stirred me so, but what I knew was that a car pulled up and a man threatened me with law enforcement. Now I may be a siren, but even my kind is familiar with rules. It wouldn't do me good to be caught out here.
The man was rustling around in some storage thing for clothes that humans wore more. He turned around, handing me a towel and some clothes.
"Here, this should do for now... I don't have clothes as small as your frame..." he scanned me, looking down before looking in my eyes and gulping.
He turned away, saying, "Please go into that room there and put these on."
"Why should I listen to you?" I asked, smirking. It pleased me so that he had a reaction to me. Good, that means my siren nature hasn't completely failed me.
"Because... God, I don't know! I don't understand a thing that just happened, but I can't focus while you're like that. People like me wear clothes. This is my home, so please just... do it, okay?" he said.
I looked at him, glancing at him with my narrow eyes before trailing into the room, briefly touching across his collarbones with my fingertips.
I sat down at the kitchen table; he had helped me appropriately adjust the loose clothes I had now donned. "Here, eat something," said the man, handing me some Pla Pao. He looked at me with those pretty pearl eyes. "Why not eat me?" I asked with a smirk.
He choked on his food, sputtering for a minute. I felt my eyes twinkle a bit mischievously. Getting under his skin was all too easy... That said... he wasn't so... bad himself.
I watched him carefully, as if scanning him for danger. Humans are dangerous creatures even if under your spell. I wouldn't know if he planned to lock me up somewhere or chuck me in a tank or do some sort of scientific study on me. Even if he had none of those plans, he may end up using me or doing something dangerous.
I imagined not many people would take to kindly from being drowned. I wouldn't; why he was acting calmly was unsettling to me. Something more seemed to be happening, but whatever it was, I didn't like it.
However, I saw no danger at all. He looked like a harmless, ocean-loving doof. Someone who takes every day as they come. I wouldn't let my guard down, though.
He made no comment in response to my flirtatious statement about eating me, instead asking, "So, what exactly are you...?" he said. He looked at me with those big eyes.
"Exactly what you presume me to be, big boy," I said with a little impishness.
"My name is not 'Big boy'; my name is Chada. It would do you well to address me as that whenever you're not wolfing down my food," he said while he tried to sound all serious, but in the corners I could see him about to crack a smile.
"Well, Chada..." I said, pausing my food to sip some tea. "I won't try to kill you again if you tell me how to get to Wasan Group. I'm looking for my friend."
He lay back in his chair, locking eyes with me. I felt heat begin to rise to my cheeks, but I ignored it. "Hmmm... and how does a... siren? Like you presume to kill me here on land?" he said, slyly looking at me like a fox.
"I could sing you into the water. You fell in once," I said.
"Mmm, correct, I did fall for you. Your spell, on the other hand? Now that didn't seem so effective, did it?" he fully smirked. "Besides... I'm rather liking my catch here..."
I glared at him. "I AM NOT A FISH." He merely laughed. "Oh? Excuse my lack of avian species terminology. Would you prefer half bird?"
I grumbled. I couldn't resist finishing the meal, though. To which, once I was stuffed. He agreed to drive me over there. Although I was not sure what his motive or kindness was for. If a human tried to end me once, they would be in smithereens at the bottom of a whirlpool.
He pushed back from the table, then stood too close for a human who had claimed earlier he did not know what was happening. The air smelled faintly of salt and lemongrass. "Fine," he said, folding his arms in front of him like a doggy trying to look all serious."I'll drive you. But you owe me a full explanation when we get there."
"I owe you nothing," I replied, though my voice had gone softer. My legs twitched the large shirt, although not my tail now, still an old habit when I was annoyed. "You're oddly generous for someone who is playing with death." I said knowing I had threatened him, I just didn't expect he'd actually cave in so easily.
"Oddly generous or alarmingly nosy?" he countered. "Either way, I think you make my life more interesting," he said. He smiled then, small and genuine, and for a second the room felt warmer.
"Interest is dangerous," I said, letting a sliver of warning lace my tone. I could sense, not for the first time, that he was more than clumsy kindness. There was a firmness in the set of his jaw that did not belong to a harmless doof. "People who get too interested tend to break things."
"Like your heart?" he asked, almost teasing, almost serious.
I almost laughed. "I am not prone to heartbreak."
"Good," he said. "Because I'm terrible with fragile things."
He moved to the coat rack and picked up a battered canvas bag. When he passed it to me, our fingers brushed. It was a small thing, electric enough to make my skin prickle. I let the contact linger longer than necessary. "You know," he added, eyes not leaving mine, "if you wanted to be in the water with me you could have just asked for a swim."
"I don't recall extending an invitation," I said. He blinked, then shrugged in mock offense. "Suit yourself. We leave in five minutes."
As he turned away I watched the way his shoulders relaxed, the way he hummed under his breath. It was a human lullaby, unpolished and oddly comforting. For reasons I could not yet name, I found myself unbothered by his brashness, his company, and the idea of stepping into his car. Perhaps I was curious. Perhaps I liked the feel of danger tempered with kindness.
Either way, I was going with him.