So, here is Scott and Water, both of them glancing at Scott’s father as he stares at them like they were a nightmare come true. Welcome to breakfast with the Rellants!
~*~
“Jesus.”
They both looked to where his father stood in the living room hall wearing a brown robe. Muttering, the man walked back into his bedroom.
Water straightened. “I will not kill him, today.”
Scott shot her a wry grin. “How charitable of you. Try and be a bit more polite, okay?”
“No.”
“Try, damn it. He’s putting his neck on the line to help us.”
She smiled. “No.”
Throwing his hands up, Scott headed for the kitchen. He’d better warn his parents about what had happened in Jeremiah’s Canyon before they jumped to awful conclusions. “I’ll fix up some breakfast with a side order of bright lights for you.”
Odd how his selective memory worked. The fridge and oven didn’t jog any recollections, but he vaguely recalled the copper skillets hanging neatly over the island. He picked a pan, watching with amusement as Water pulled open the fridge door. “Easy with the claws, okay? She’s already pissed about the table.”
“Four eggs,” Water hummed, deftly using two talons to scoop up the shells from their cups along the door.
He slid the pan toward her. “Triple it. Got two extra to feed. No, idiot, don’t try and cut the damn things…”
“They cut,” she announced, dropping the contents of a neatly halved egg in the pan. She fixed him with an accusatory expression. “You did not grease the pan, first.”
“You want to cook?”
“Yes. I will make everyone too afraid to eat anything.”
The smirk on her lips told him the Rellant family siren was working herself into a good mood. He allowed Water to finish with the eggs. At least until his mother walked in.
Maiko tightened the cloth belt around a brown robe similar to her husband’s and eased the pan out from beneath the siren’s hands. “We do not stir with our claws.”
“I no longer have his fingers,” Water pointed out, inclining her head toward Scott.
His mother set the pan on the stove. “And thank God for that. Sink’s behind you. Clean up and go back into the living room before you scratch something else. Scott, there’s fresh clothes in the bathroom for you.”
“I do not obey thieves,” Water crisply sang back in Air.
“She says good morning,” Scott hurriedly interpreted, grateful Water had the sense to be snarky in a language his mother wouldn’t understand. He shepherded his siren back into the living room.
“She was not polite,” Water huffed.
“Just have patience,” he sang in turn.
They both looked to where his father stood in the living room hall wearing a brown robe. Muttering, the man walked back into his bedroom.
Water straightened. “I will not kill him, today.”
Scott shot her a wry grin. “How charitable of you. Try and be a bit more polite, okay?”
“No.”
“Try, damn it. He’s putting his neck on the line to help us.”
She smiled. “No.”
Throwing his hands up, Scott headed for the kitchen. He’d better warn his parents about what had happened in Jeremiah’s Canyon before they jumped to awful conclusions. “I’ll fix up some breakfast with a side order of bright lights for you.”
Odd how his selective memory worked. The fridge and oven didn’t jog any recollections, but he vaguely recalled the copper skillets hanging neatly over the island. He picked a pan, watching with amusement as Water pulled open the fridge door. “Easy with the claws, okay? She’s already pissed about the table.”
“Four eggs,” Water hummed, deftly using two talons to scoop up the shells from their cups along the door.
He slid the pan toward her. “Triple it. Got two extra to feed. No, idiot, don’t try and cut the damn things…”
“They cut,” she announced, dropping the contents of a neatly halved egg in the pan. She fixed him with an accusatory expression. “You did not grease the pan, first.”
“You want to cook?”
“Yes. I will make everyone too afraid to eat anything.”
The smirk on her lips told him the Rellant family siren was working herself into a good mood. He allowed Water to finish with the eggs. At least until his mother walked in.
Maiko tightened the cloth belt around a brown robe similar to her husband’s and eased the pan out from beneath the siren’s hands. “We do not stir with our claws.”
“I no longer have his fingers,” Water pointed out, inclining her head toward Scott.
His mother set the pan on the stove. “And thank God for that. Sink’s behind you. Clean up and go back into the living room before you scratch something else. Scott, there’s fresh clothes in the bathroom for you.”
“I do not obey thieves,” Water crisply sang back in Air.
“She says good morning,” Scott hurriedly interpreted, grateful Water had the sense to be snarky in a language his mother wouldn’t understand. He shepherded his siren back into the living room.
“She was not polite,” Water huffed.
“Just have patience,” he sang in turn.
~*~
So, what was it about this scene for me that made it among my favorites? First, there was a lot of drama piled on before this scene. Especially at Water’s introduction when Scott pulled her out of a lake much to his mother’s horror. More shock and awe when his father, who had fought her kind with disastrous consequences, sees what’s curled up in back of the golf cart they’d brought her back in. I felt the readers needed a lighter moment. So this was my “writer’s reason”.
My personal reason? I mean, come on. Aquatic killing machine running around the house the next morning? Fertile ground for my particular sense of humor. Water has all of Scott’s memories due to how the two grew up together, and here we get to see the results in a way I felt would not only be a hoot, but say something about the characters. Especially Maiko, Scott’s Japanese-born mother. Like her husband, she’s a pretty tough cookie.
You would think writing this scene would be a lark, but no. By this time, I’ve established all four characters, their fears, motivations, and everything else I could toss in to make them believable independent entities. Everything you see in this short scene was a “What would <insert character> do?” There is a dance of personalities here. This is what I had to start with:
Water, our siren (she prefers “Song Guard”), is still getting used to having her own body again (long story), and her instinctual combative nature is in constant struggle with having been raised with Scott and learning human ways. She’s out to save her people, putting aside her antipathy with these “thieves” in order to gain their help. She also likes Scott a lot more now that he’s starting to see things her way for once. She wants to show herself as being “normal”, but of course that’s a really tall order.
Scott, on the other hand, has to face parents whom he hasn’t met since they had him committed for his own good. He’s more than a tad bit estranged from his parents, and has the kind of displacement one gets on going home and finding everything changed, and yet familiar. He really doesn’t know his parents now.
We only meet Scott’s father, Harry, briefly in this scene. He’s avoiding the moment for good reason. He has nightmares about his merc squad getting butchered by sirens, and now there’s one of these hideously lethal creatures in his house. Oh, and here’s his son whom he had put away for thirteen years. Guilt from both incidents puts a lot of distance between him and the rest. Yeah, he’s going to head back to the bedroom. Probably for a drink from that bottle in the closet.
Maiko hates Water. Seriously. She’s never forgotten how tortured her son was by the monster inside him. One that apparently was real. The only thing keeping the woman from trying to shoot Water is that she doesn’t have a gun, and fully understands that this…thing could wipe out everyone in the house at a whim. So Maiko, who hasn’t resolved any issues with her son, either, has armored herself with a stern politeness born out of necessity. Not that she will stand for that monstrosity trying to take over any aspect of her household routine. Being an ex-merc herself, she’s got all the nerve necessary to get in Water’s shiny little face just the same.
So, with all of these personalities and mind sets, I proceeded into this scene. Sure, it could’ve turned both dark and awful at any point, but the balancing act between entertaining readers and staying true to each character was achieved. Which makes this one of my favorite pieces of work.
KM Tolan
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Awesome work.Just wanted to drop a comment and say I am new to your blog and really like what I am reading.Thanks for the share
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