And it's my whole heart, deemed and delivered a crime. [Open]

[chasingtwisters]

The closer she gets to her due date, the more obviously uncomfortable Marina becomes. Currently, she's roughly the size of a yoga ball around her stomach; she waddles like a duck whenever she has to walk anywhere, and staying upright on her own two feet feels like a task out of Greek mythology. The summer heat doesn't help, of course; it bears down on her like God's own judgement, making her skin crawl with unease and sweat both. The fear increases, too. She doesn't know how to be anyone's mother; she doesn't even know if her life is what she's thought it to be this whole time.

She doesn't like admitting that the people in this town who apparently recognize her have caused doubt to creep inside her mind. But gathered like insects, all sorts of doubts crowd in her thoughts, adding to the chaos of her overly pregnant body. She couldn't even stay in the Quill, with all of the buzzing in her head.

So she's hear on the beach, near the water. The water calls to her, like a long lost relative. She feels an unspoken pull towards it, as though she were part of the tide itself. She doesn't question it; she meanders across the shore, letting her bare feet savor the cool, salt water licking against it. Even in spite of her pregnancy and worries, she feels calmer. Less prone to bucking away from Siren Cove like a skittish colt.

She smiles, lifting her arms up to the sky in a moment of relief when she feels a sudden splash of coldness across herself. She blinks, and looks down to find that she's gotten water on herself. But how?

That's when she catches sight of her hands, and the cerulean sparks flying from them.

"What the actual fuck?" She gapes, nearly stumbling over her own to feet as she tries to make sense of what she's seeing.

[OOC: Find Moira at the edge of the water, freaking the hell out over her own magic, which she's just beginning to discover again. Her memory still isn't back yet, but she's beginning to realize that her memory is not what it ought to be. Not a bad time to meet her, actually. Open to all!]

Comments

[jamesthorn]

For someone that lives in a coastal town, James isn't a big fan of the water. It's dangerous. There was too much of it. Too much to watch. Too much to control. Things happened out in the water that made him nervous. Because around here, in Siren Cove, they all had to wander what lived out there.

It's a quiet morning with barely anyone else around. This allows him to spot Moira nearly right away. She is pregnant and hard to miss. He shakes his head, watching from his hidden vantage point behind her. It's isn't as though he and Moira were friends, but there was something odd about knowing a person for as long as he's known Moira and have them look at you like a stranger.

He sees her stumble backwards and that's when he decides to show himself. "Are you okay?" James asks about to step off the dock but then he sees her hands and jerks to a stop. Davin is one thing. But this is Moira, and James doesn't trust her nearly as much. Even after that whole thing in the labyrinth which she doesn't even remember. Especially not when she looks as freaked out as she does now. "Moira?"

[chasingtwisters]

Marina nearly jumps at the sound of another voice behind her; her hands keep sparking, and the water swirls around her like cream in coffee. She turns, slow and ungainly, thanks to her globe-stomach, to find herself looking at a man who seems familiar and strange to her all at once. Like so many people in this town, she thinks, sadly.

She's too spooked and tired to even argue that her name isn't Moira. "Well, I guess that depends on how you define okay," she says, trying to keep her hands steady, curled into her sides. She has no intentions of hurting anyone like this. "Does the water here always cause people to start sparking or?"

[jamesthorn]

James is still staring at her hands wearily, not sure if he is still seeing the blue sparks from a moment ago or just imagining them now. He looks up at her and sees the confusion on her face. She has no idea what's going on, and that's strange. This whole thing with Moira's memory is strange. "It's not the water. It's you," he tells her. But that's about the extent of what he knows about Moira's powers. He has seen them in action. She saved him more than once with them, but he doesn't know how to explain.

[chasingtwisters]

Marina tries to get the sparks to fade by thinking about them doing so; to her complete surprise, that actually seems to work. She blinks, recalling her hands to herself as she tries to make sense of what she's just seen herself do. If she possessed magical abilities, why wouldn't she know that? The thought unnerves her, for all it seems to cement others' insistence that she is in fact Moira Coombs. "And you know that for certain?" She asks. "Are you one of the people who think I'm Moira Coombs?"

[jamesthorn]

"I know you are Moira Coombs," James says decidedly. "We----I know you."

It's difficult to explain their relationship with a version of Moira that doesn't have her memories. Because...it's complicated. They aren't friends, but they aren't exactly enemies either. They just, sort of, are. Two people caught up in histories they didn't make. He finds himself concerned about why she doesn't remember who she is.

He looks at her hands. "It's not good that you don't know how to control yourself," he says.

[chasingtwisters]

"Jesus," she says, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "It's going to be one of those days, isn't it."

The fact that he says he knows her only unnerves her when she feels that she does know him. She finds herself wondering why and how she knows him; she gets the sense even just being near him that they have a complicated relationship. Which is, of course, exactly what she needs as she's trying to figure out who the hell she really is.

"Well, I didn't know I had magical powers until just now," she snaps. It feels second-nature to do so around him, and that worries her more than she wants to say.

[jamesthorn]

James opens his mouth then snaps it shut, letting the annoyance and mild anger wash over him. It's second nature with Moira, and he finds it hard not to lash out at her. Instead, he sighs wondering how she doesn't even know him and yet manages to be a pain in the ass. "You are definitely Moira," he tells her, finally stepping off the decks and heading over. He looks at her, at her stomach and confused expression. "What happened to you?" He asks genuinely concerned.

[chasingtwisters]

She watches him open his mouth and then shut it again; her first instinct is to laugh at him. Something about his grumpiness speaks to a part of her that is slowly, bit by bit, beginning to emerge, the more time she spends time in this town. She arches an eyebrow as he glances over at her, and she answers with a sarcasm that feels only right with him, for some reason. "I had sex and got pregnant," she replies. "Luckily, contrary to Mean Girls' advice, I didn't die."

[jamesthorn]

"Yeah..." He rolls his eyes at her. "I know where babies come from. Thanks. I meant where were you before coming back here?" he asks. He also wanted to ask who the hell got her pregnant. When she left town, she left by herself. Now she's come back home the same way except now she looks ready to give birth any second. There's a lot he could say about Moira, but he never would've called her irresponsible.

[ameliecoombs]

Amelie had heard that her sister was back in town, although pretending not to be her sister. She hadn't gone to see her. It's not the first time Moira has run off, and last time she had, she'd torn the family apart. Amelie has had enough fighting with Aoife over the past couple months to last her a lifetime; the last thing she wanted to do was go and get into a fight with her other sister as well. Amelie's always been good at avoiding things, at not letting anything that wasn't perfect affect her. It's a trait she learned from Violet, one she hasn't been particularly keen on getting rid of.

Still, things with Aoife now are mostly okay, even if she's never going to accept Daniel, and she does miss Moira. They haven't felt like a family in forever.

Moira is down by the sea when Amelie finds her, and she can feel herself smiling. Maybe she's already decided to forget about this Marina nonsense and be their sister again. She's watching her as she heads down the beach, the wind whipping her hair around. Amelie sees the spark of magic, feels her heart leap - this is Moira, she's back - until suddenly Moira's face turns dark and confused and all of Amelie's hopes dash.

"It's magic," she says when she reaches her sister, bluntly. "Welcome home."

[chasingtwisters]

"Let me guess," Marina says, turning her hands over, slowly, as though that might rid them of the sparks flying from them. Beneath her, the water laps at her ankles, like an overly eager dog. She frowns, though she also can't deny that she enjoys this. A sense of calm flows through her, the more she makes the water move around her. "This is part of who I am too? I've always had magic?"

She turns to find herself facing a woman whose face strikes her instantly; like Aoife before her, there is a familiarity to this woman Marina can't shake. She supposes she must be another, supposed sister.

"So which one are you?" She says, looking her over. "Alice, maybe? You look like an Alice."

Even as she says it, she knows its wrong. Her frown deepens. Flashes of images burst throughout her thoughts. She's seen her before. She knows it.

[ameliecoombs]

Even when she apparently has no idea who she is, the control that Moira has over the water, over the magic, is perfect. She's always been a natural, a million times moreso than Amelie, and she can't help but stare at the way the magic moves so gracefully and easily through Moira's touch.

"You've always been good at it," she says, and it comes out maybe a bit more envious than she wanted it to, so she covers it up with a smile. "Mom and Dad were always so proud." The fact that Moira doesn't even start with the insistence that she doesn't know Amelie means she's been through this lots of times before. Amelie is willing to guess she's had to play this charade with half the town by now, and she's glad they can cut straight to the chase.

"I know you don't know who I am," she starts with a shrug, kicking off her sandals so that she can dig her toes into the soft sand. She does her best to pull her magic forward, responding to the sparks flowing around Moira, and when she calls her Alice she looks up with a grin. "Amelie. When we were kids you used to try to teach me how to use magic properly." She flicks her fingers, feels a rush of relief when a small spark of her own joins her sister's.

[chasingtwisters]

She keeps moving her hands around her in circles, unsure if she's trying to rid herself of whatever spell seems to be spilling forth from her hands or encouraging the magic running through her. The movement of the water encircling her is proving as soothing as a cup of tea.

She raises an eyebrow at the other woman's tone. "I'm supposed to be a witchy scholar, then?" She asks, her own tone amused at the thought. She's always been just good enough at what she can remember of her life in Boston. She frowns; if she thinks too much on it, she really can't recall her life in Boston. She tries to ignore the implications of that. "Sounds like the title of some melodramatic genre novel."

"Amelie," Marina repeats, almost starting when she sees the sparks flying from the other woman's fingers. She watches as the sparks join together, a strange sensation unfolding within her. She knows this woman. She doesn't know what she's supposed to feel. "I...wow. Not something you see everyday, then."

[ameliecoombs]

"No, no, the melodramatic parts are saved for me and Aoife. You're much more reasonable." This feels so wrong, trying to explain to her sister that she is her sister, trying to explain the family dynamics. She shoves her hands into her pockets and immediately feels the magic die off. Moira's hands are still covered in tiny sparks and she wonders whether she knows how to turn it off, whether she has any control now at all.

"Have you considered..." she's walking on dangerous ground here, and she chooses her words carefully. She doesn't want her to run. "If everyone in this town is telling you you're someone you don't remember, isn't it possible that maybe we're not all lying? If magic did this to you... Magic could undo it." Not Amelie, this is out of her league by far. But maybe Aoife, maybe Alodia.

[chasingtwisters]

"I don't know," Marina says, a teasing smile playing at her lips. It feels all too easy to fall into banter with this woman, which both proves reassuring and unnerves her. All of these sensations swirling around inside her, like the water around her; it's enough to nearly drag her under. "These past few weeks have taught me that I've got a penchant for the drama, or something like that."

She sighs at the woman's words, though she knows she means well. They just happen to mirror her exact thoughts, and rather than assure Marina, they only raise more doubts and questions in her head.

"I've thought about it," she says after a moment in thought. "I can't say I'm fond of the idea of my life being a lie."

[ameliecoombs]

She's smiling, so that's a good sign. She doesn't look like she's going to call the cops on Amelie any time soon. Although, if they did, she's pretty sure James Thornton would be on her side for the first time in their lives. "Well, sometimes. You did run off to Europe, after all."

Amelie swings her sandals in her fingers, feeling the water rush over her feet and feeling strangely relaxed in the face of everything. Moira has always had a calming effect on her, a way of making her stop and listen, and she supposes that hasn't changed even when Moira doesn't remember it. "Mmm," she muses, nodding, "that's fair. But isn't it better to know, one way or the other?"

[chasingtwisters]

Marina wouldn't call the cops on this woman, she realizes abruptly. The more time she spends in her presence, the more familiar she becomes with this woman who calls herself Amelie and her sister. It's a thought as comforting as it is frightening. "I was in Europe for business. I didn't run off," she says, her voice flat. Even in spite of her tone, there's an obvious uncertainty to her words.

"Is there a way to know for sure?" She asks, suddenly tempted by the very notion. She knows she can't expect every answer to every single question that she has, but if she could at least figure out some part of herself, well. That would be a start.

[aoife_coombs]

You're keeping me from leaving, Aoife wants to say. I couldn't keep you from moving on, but you're holding me here. The thoughts are accompanied by anger, and she keeps her distance, letting the wind touch the sparks coming from her sister's hands.

It's rude, entwining one's magic with your own, but if Moira doesn't know, she can't be angry about it. And if she becomes angry, so what. Aoife is angry as well, almost all the time now. Maybe they can find each other in anger, where they once only collided in every emotion that wasn't soft and cutesy.

Because Aoife still so desperately wants to be acknowledged by her oldest sister.

[chasingtwisters]

Marina doesn't notice, the nudging of her own spinning of the water. She's trying to figure out what having magic means; she's caught in the crossroads of who she is, who she was, and who she may yet be, and dealing with magic on top of all of that is enough to make her head spin.

But then the wind picks up, and the hair raises on the front of her arms. Marina raises an eyebrow before spinning, finding Aoife, the woman claiming to be her sister, standing on the beach.

"You just going to stand there or do you feel like joining me? The water's nice," she says, speaking the words that seem to come from a deep part within her. Something in her recognizes the other girl. That same something feels the need to antagonize her in her own way.

[aoife_coombs]

There were two sides to the relationship of Aoife and Moira. Always anger, and always the possibility to defuse Aoife and make her feel worth anyone's time. It's the second side now, but Aoife doesn't want it. No-one is giving her a chance to be angry at all the things going on in her life right now.

"Of course the water is nice, like I don't know that." The wind folds itself over her shoulders, playing with her long skirt. "Careful you don't tip over. Careful you don't blow anything up, or did you think you have firework attached to your fingers?"

[chasingtwisters]

The more Aoife speaks, the more Marina gets the sense that a storm brews within the younger woman. She holds herself like one of the statues she'd seen back in Rome, proud and carrying a burden beyond her young age. Oddly, something in Marina stirs, as though she might be responsible for that burden. She tries to shake the feeling off, the way she tries to shake everything off these days.

"I'm pretty aware these aren't fireworks," she says, keeping her hands pointed towards the ground regardless. "Your loss, though. The water's especially nice today."

Again, the feeling that she has no reason to press the other woman and yet she does it anyway.

[aoife_coombs]

"No shi-" It's not easy to snap at someone that doesn't have the history to return the favor. It would be like snapping at Thor, three hours after he did something bad. It would only confuse him. "I come here every day, especially since I got a dog. I can do without touching the water for one day."

"Does that mean someone told you about magic? About witches?"

[chasingtwisters]

"You have a dog?" Marina asks, both delighted and confused by that fact. She would have thought Aoife a cat person, if anything. There's something wonderful and youthful about imagining this woman with a canine companion. "And a beach dog, at that? Nice."

"I kind of figured, with all of the talk of magic about town," she answers with a shrug.

[aoife_coombs]

"A pup, still. A white shepherd, my great grandmother's sister gave him to me. Through a local ghost whisperer." Aoife never had to keep the magic side of life out of any conversation with her sister, so why would she with this person fully existing because of it? Be ause this had to be a spell, she refused to believe otherwise. "His name is Thor, probably linking to my talents. All very corny."

"He loves the water, almost as much as I do. Likes to chase the waves, like I do. We make games out of it, you kn-"

[chasingtwisters]

"He sounds beautiful," Marina says, honestly. And to receive a gift like that from a relative seems especially special, she thinks. Even though she blinks at the last part of that sentence, caught off guard by it. "I'm sorry, did you say ghost whisperer? Like that Jennifer Love Hewitt show?"

"Thor," she repeats with a smile. "Nice name."