ARIEL TRITON.

Ariel hadn't been walking towards him, per se, but more in his general direction. Still, a friendly face was always a welcome sight in a town that was full of decidedly unfriendly faces. "Hi. Sheriff Pride, right?" Ariel was still trying to get a handle on all the faces and corresponding names.

"You know who I am, Blue." It wasn't like there were many sirens in Walt's Landing. "And I've been looking for you." After a moment's hesitation, Ariel climbed onto one of the barstools to sit beside Blue.

"I know." Nico responded impatiently as he rolled his eyes and looked at the girl up and down. "I can smell it all over you. Though, I am curious.." Pausing, he took a step forward and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you lingering around here? My workers can be a teensy bit territorial."

The smell was new. The potions Ariel had been (unknowingly) fed for the majority of her life had dulled it. Now, it was on full display. Erik claimed to like the smell of salt, but Ariel figured he was just being nice. She opened and closed her mouth, unable to admit why she came. Just the thought of feeding turned her stomach, but she had debated it. "I'm looking for someone," she finally lied. "A siren who hangs around here drinking. Blue is her name."

Nico paused to wipe some leftover blood off of the corner of his mouth before raising his eyebrows at the younger girl. It took everything in him not to upturn his nose at her smell as he just shrugged. "I hope you're not about to jump on a high horse about feeding."

"I'm a siren." It was still weird to vocalize the truth after years of believing otherwise. A siren, not a caster. She knew why her father had lied, but it was a tough pill to swallow. "I can't judge about feeding. I mean, I shouldn't. It's complicated."

"They're beautiful." There was a layer of awe in Ariel's voice as she reached out to take the flower. They had plants and vegetation under the waves, but she was still repeatedly impressed by the colors on the surface. This time, however, she knew not to put it in her mouth. "You're a caster?"

"You're making something beautiful. That should be respected." All artistic expression should be. Ariel had never had much luck with art herself outside of music, but she had never really put much effort into it either. One hand rose to tug at a blonde and red twisted loc. "Thank you. Look at your hair. It's so long. I can't imagine how heavy it'd be in the water."

"I don't think it's that simple. Nothing is."

It took Ariel a moment to realize she was being spoken to. She had been greedily gulping down a mouthful of salt water from the bottle she carried with her at all times, and once she realized she winced. Rectifying her error, she screwed the lid back on. "There's an entire park and I had to stop directly in front of you. Sorry about that. Hopefully it doesn't happen too often."

Could she? Ariel wasn't entirely sure. At this point, however, she was willing to take a few risks as long as it wasn't going to actively make things worse. After everything with Ursula, the siren considered herself far less naïve. "You're Zoey Spencer," the words came out slowly before a pause. "We haven't had a chance to meet yet. My name is Ariel, and I — well, it's a long story. I think you may be able to help me, though."

I don't know when, I don't know how, but there's something starting right now. Watch and you'll see, Someday I'll be Part of your world

"This?" Ariel glanced down at the book before lifting it up. Her canteen bottle sat next to her, filled to the brim with salt water. "The Unnatural History of the Sea by Callum Roberts." The goal had been to see if it mentioned sirens, but she had been wading through the four hundred pages without any luck.

As a rule of thumb, Ariel avoided bars. They certainly weren't anywhere that her father would let her go; even though Ariel was an adult and had moved away, his voice was in her mind as she pushed into the warm space. "I was looking for you." The remark was directed at Blue. "Coral and Marina didn't know where you were." Why are you here? she wanted to ask. The answer was likely feeding, so she let the query go unspoken. "Do you need a refill or can we get out of here?"

THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023)

Nico had no desire to feed on her. He wasn't particularly hungry, and sirens didn't taste as good as humans. But he couldn't help to tease her as he glanced around the alleyway they were standing in. "What's a siren doing so far away from the docks?"

"I'm not one of those sirens," Ariel said quickly. Then, she felt bad. Shouldn't she try to be more accepting of her kin? It wasn't their fault that Ariel had been raised removed and without a pod. "What I mean is, I don't associate with the Lost Boys." The other sirens did.