The Wild and the Kind
*The Hunger Games (not mine)
The first time seventeen year old Katniss Everdeen ever saw one of them, she was out fishing in the tiny cove beyond the borders of her town. It had been low tide and she had taken her nets out as far and deep as possible. The type of fishing she had been doing was neither an easy task alone or exactly legal in her area, what with the King's laws, but desperation drove people to do a lot of inadvisable things.
The tide was rushing in like a frightened school, fast as ever, but even next to the drop off, perched on the rocky shelf that would soon be under water, she was not worried. This was something she did frequently just to keep her mother and younger sister from starving so she knew enough to bring her tiny, patched boat along and tie it up beside her.
Nothing was out of the ordinary. The day was a very normal one. Her tattered jeans were normal; the raincoat not so new but still fully functional was more so; her dark hair kept out of her way in her usual braid down her back was more than common; when she turned to check the shoreline everything stopped seeming normal.
Actually, nothing had ever been normal again.
The first thing she noticed, eyes wide in disbelief, was was a swimmer that had somehow sneaked up on her; it was unusual for anyone to get so close without alerting her keen senses. Furthermore, it was clear right away that he was not normal. The long and sharp looking spines sticking up along gray skin of the man's back and into the waves. Second she noticed long teeth, a double row in a mouth unnaturally large, splitting around half his streamline face and clearly inhuman. Those were like a shark but not as broad, more like a barracuda. And finally she noticed he had the rope to her boat clenched in his jaws, webbed hands pulling on it like a dog might with a toy. She also noticed he only had slits for a nose but her interest in that was minor.
It took her a long moment of staring at him to even develop a cognitive estimation of what was happening, but when the rope snapped and he pushed it away to focus round, beady black eyes hungrily on her, she started to work it out.
A monster was in the gap between her and safety and it had plans.
With the tide moving fast, her rock was surrounded even if her nets were in reach. Having just lost her boat she would have to swim to get to shore - with him flicking a long, bony tail and beginning to claw up her rock, it seemed impossibly far even if it was only a few yards. There would also be a climb up the rocky face to contend with and she was not fool enough to think it could not jump. Even with no boat to hide in the little cave it would take her far too long to climb away from reach.
Backing away to the edge of her rock was all she could do aside from rambling madly at him, out of breath and gasping like she had been swimming for miles, "You can have the fish in the net! However many I caught, they are yours! I have a family! They need me, I'm the only one that can do this!" He paid that no mind, hissing at her like a snake with sand caked in its mouth while he struggled to pull himself higher.
It would not be long before the water helped him with that struggle and then her corner of security would be gone. That drove her to kick desperately at the hairless head with her meager rain boots. The growling hiss he offered was a frightening sound she would hear when the lights went off for weeks on end. The claws of one of his hands snapped around the foot and she could feel them pricing her skin even through the ripping rubber. Her screams were probably very loud as she kicked and failed her foot to free it, slipping it from the ruined boot in a raw panic.
Honestly, she had never been one to scream easily when startled but there was something about facing a monster for the first time that seemed to bring it out of her quite violently; her throat already felt raw. Though the kicking had made the thing slide down a little, claws making loud scraping sounds as it slid, so she would take what she could get.
Her breaths were coming in quick, hyper bursts, heart beating a quick drum rhythm against her ribs. There were things that frightened her in life but she was skilled at shoving them aside and bringing her mind into a focus to reason out the actions she should take, but with the tide rushing, her rock sinking, the shore blocked by a toothy monster from old fishing stories no one believed, and panic was attaching itself quite well into her mind to make a home there.
"Oh God, oh God, please God!" It left her lips in a long litany, a prayer with very limited coherency but more than enough conviction and insistence to get the message across just in case God was listening, because she hoped he was.
Being drowned or eaten alive violently was not on her list of wishes. Actually, if she died where she was, her family would never know what happened or where it happened. No one would find her if there was anything to find after it finished. She would go missing and they would never know why. Some people might say she ran away and that might be better than the truth but her sister would never believe it, her sister would know that only death could keep her older sister from coming back; her mother would know too but she would hope for the former, never one to accept unpleasant reality easily if there were other options.
The water licked at her already clammy fingers and the splash ran up her back, soaking into her hair to let her know the water was moving to hasten her untimely demise. Consequently, the monster was moving as well, making progress up its side of the rock, ready to pull itself up with her any moment. She would kick again when she thought it might be off balance but that would cost her the other boot, leaving her next time with only skin to be ripped but that would not stop her. If there was one thing she knew it was that she would go down fighting and fighting hard; if she died she would hurt him for it.
So luck would have it, she did not have to kick at him because he was falling in a massive splash of his own thrashing tail and the addition of a second. Katniss frowned at the water, leaning up quickly on her knees to see, not exactly believe she could have seen a secondmonster launched from the waves, one with big muscles, and healthier looking arms to clamp round the gray one's neck. The water churned and thrashed with their motion like the end of the falls in the Capitol, and once again it took her a moment of focus to understand the battle she was witnessing. Against her better instinct she leaned farther forward, balancing on her hands to better watch as they struggled and rolled about in the water like wild, ravings beats.
Unfortunately, realization dawned almost instantly that she was the meal they were battling over. Perhaps one was a rogue intruding on the territory of the other's hunting grounds, which would make sense. A distant, analytical part of her brought forth how slim and bony the first sea monster had been; the second, though she could not see it well in the churning water, looked decidedly more fit and even had better color of stark white spots and rich, smooth black over thick muscle she could actually see working in the tail. While the first was strong looking with obvious power, it was not healthy.
The winner was an obvious choice even before the battle was put to a close with the gray scaled fish? diving away and shooting beneath the depths where she could no longer see. The second one must have been able to watch much farther than she judging by the way his shocking, electric blue eyes remained fixed and his dark tail lashed at the tips like an angry cat. When he finally looked at her, meeting her frightened grey eyes, she thought his might have been an even more vivid hue than she first thought.
A little shock ran up her spine when he smiled at her, not an entirely good feeling, though it did force her too look at more than just his eyes and tail. They were perfect teeth, white and straight, pointed at the ends but much more human than the first. Her eyes refocused a little, allowing her to take in more than one item at a time and he obligingly stayed still for her to do so rather than attacking right away. This one looked much more human. His face and a good portion of his upper half were a peachy shade, though it faded to white and black the lower her eyes traced until the black and white speckles were rampant. This one even had hair, damp but something she guessed was ash blonde, or perhaps lighter when dry; it was pushed back and relatively neat for someone that had been engaged in a dramatic fight. Come to think of it, she remembered him pushing it out of his face earlier when he surfaced to watch the other fish-thing flee, not that it actually mattered in the slightest.
Katniss jumped, gripping frantically at the rocks, heart in her throat when he spoke; "Hello" in a rich, soft baritone she instantly understood was part of his allure. One word, only one and she felt enticed and soothed all at once. If he continued long enough in that voice she felt sure he would be able to make her forget her fears and cajole her right into the water. This is a Siren, her mind informed her, and that was how many met unfortunate ends. It was horrifying to know in her heart of hearts that he could undoubtedly bring her to him without a struggle, using that sweet, gentle tone that struck such a cord with her.
This was a Siren. What had the other been?
Her body stiffened impossibly just to counteract whatever he was doing to her. She was Katniss Everdeen and she was not that easy to kill! She had always been a fighter, a rebel, and a hard worker. This might be as inevitable a death as her first encounter, but again, she did not plan to make it easy. Her plump lips had thinned to a near line, one she hoped spoke volumes of defiance she did not have the ability to speak in real words.
His body shifted just slightly, rippling the waves in tiny streams to frame him like a moving picture, "Are you alright?" He spoke slowly and so very softly, enough so that he made her tongue loosen on its own.
"Yes, thank you." It was a little humiliating how quietly and pitifully those few words had left her lips; also that she thanked the monster that was about to chew her flesh from her bones.
Maybe she thanked him because he just looked so gentle and harmless, like the kind of person you would find living down the street, or maybe as a neighbor you could see yourself liking. His sturdy jaw seemed made for nothing more than to support and frame smiles like the first one he had offered in greeting. This handsome face was not the face of a monster but she supposed that was how a Siren could do what they did.
He shifted again, closer now and with clear intent of entering her space, and that made her knees jerk right up to her chin to instinctively protect vital organs and make her a smaller target. Her response gave him pause, causing him to move with that much more care and measured slowness as he placed both hands on her rock. The action displayed the webbing between his fingers, the black speckles dotting his hands like freckles, and also his claws. Those nails were nothing like the long, thin, grotesque things from the first creature, but they were far from blunt.
"My name is Peeta." He informed her gently, softly, like he was entreating her.
She knew he was engaging her, trying to draw her out but all she could manage was a very quiet, "Oh."
He was not deterred but patiently asked, "What is your name?"
Before she thought to lie lest he spin some sort of magic against her using the information, the word was rolling from her tongue, "Katniss."
A smile lit his face like the sun in spring, adding warmth she had not been expecting to see where his expression had been wary before, "Well, hello, Katniss."
She said nothing, only stared at him and his sweet, boyish smile. He would look human if you did not study him too closely, though it was obvious how little he was in the sun when compared to her own tan skin. Being under water made what would have been his human aspect of color nearly white like parts of his tail. The merchants were also much lighter in skin color as opposed to the men and women out in the sun for days on end. He could have passes for a merchant's child without the fins swaying around in the water to hold him stationary.
The water again crashed up her back but this time it also lapped over her legs and lingered, letting her know it was almost over. The rock was under water and her perch was leaving her to his mercy. There was very little if anything she could do after her safe place was taken away but the water did not offer kindness, it only did what it was meant to without feeling.
"I have a family." She blurted out for the second time, not believing it would help but still hopeful that it might.
"I know." He said softly, touching her bare and cold toes with a surprisingly warm hand, "I heard you before... but that is why you should hurry before they come back."
Katniss frowned at him in confusion, "Who? The other one?"
He nodded, "Marvel." As if that told her anything whatsoever, "But Cato was in these waters as well so we must hurry!"
"What is Kato? Hurry where?" Her fear had been replaced with a lot of questions, but she remembered it when he took hold of her other foot and promptly jerked her from the rock.
She crashed into the freezing water with a cry of alarm and a second for the way he tugged her to his chest. Struggling was automatic, her body thrashing in as close to a snakes wriggling as she could manage but his grip did not falter. He easily held her as he spun onto his back, acting a bit like a capsized boat she could cling to that also happened to be alive and moving; not that she needed it for she was a very capable swimmer but he was remarkably fast. The rocky cliffs were within reach before she had a chance to fight him in his new position. Peeta shifted back up, thick, fleshy fins at his hips moving in firm stokes at her side to give him that balance he needed as he shoved her onto a ledge.
It seemed like her mind was moving sluggishly, uncomprehending what was happening to her. Katniss only stared at him, unmoving and unable to think clearly and she lost her sense in his blue eyes.
"Katniss, go!" He urged her, motioning up the cliff.
"But my nets..." She mumbled, looking out at the water, "And my boat... I need those."
Peeta shook his head emphatically, "Later, now you need to leave."
Her grey eyes met with his blue again in bewilderment, "I don't understand... Why? Are you just going to let me go?"
"Go on, go back to your home and worry after you are away." And suddenly he dropped beneath the waves like a stone, making her gasp and lean after him, eyes searching the dark depths.
He broke the surface where her rock had been in only seconds, "Quickly!" He urged her again, and this time she was able to snap herself from her daze to obey.
Katniss scaled the wall, ignoring with effort the lack of one boot, and ran for the tiny house she shared with her mother and sister, legs pumping so hard and fast she thought she might dry her clothing with the wind before she could even arrive home. As he suggested she put thoughts aside of how to find a boat again when attaining that one had been such a struggle; she shoved aside worry over material for a new set of nets and the loss of a days catch in favor of being glad she seemed to have survived. The mercy of a beautiful Siren with a gentle smile had saved her but none would ever believe her if she said as much so she would not say.
She found herself wishing she might one day see him again, if only to thank him in a clearer frame of mind. Perhaps she would always watch the splashes of long tails with greater interest after this, she thought.
Note: Not sure I'll continue it or not but I needed to get this idea out of my head a little! I needed siren!Peeta in my life, though he's a good siren! Peeta would be a mix of Whale shark and minke whale