Dolly Mixtures Musebox

This...is not what she'd been expecting. At all. Yes, she has legs. Yes, she's on the beach because yes, her friends helped her to the surface. But she was really, really expecting to be at least near Eric's castle. She has no idea where she is and there's no castle to be seen. All Ariel can see is a group of humans goofing off on the sand several yards down the beach.

Well. Maybe they can help her.

Ariel pushes herself to her feet with determination and feels victorious...for the first few seconds before her new legs wobble a little too much beneath her and she topples over with a silent yelp of surprise, crashing back into the ocean. Splashing her arms, Ariel looks frustrated. Okay, legs cannot be that difficult! Look at how easy a time those humans are having! She can do this. She's not a child, she can walk. She can totally human.

With a soundless grunt, her face pulled with indignation, Ariel tries again, this time spreading her feet a little bit apart to help keep her balance and she rises back up again. It seems like it'll be more successful, she thinks, and Ariel sticks her arms out at her sides to help keep herself upright. Her long, red hair is clinging to her face, shoulders, and bare chest and she only belatedly notices that the humans have a lot more...stuff on. Maybe they can help with that, too.

Confident that she has her balance, at least for the moment, Ariel starts to wave her arms around to try to get their attention, since she hasn't got the voice to shout — this seemed like such a good idea at the time...what was she thinking trading her voice away? — and she thinks she's seen one of them look over, except that she doesn't have a lot of time to dwell on it before she feels her legs wobbling heavily beneath her again and before she can manage to stop herself, down she goes again, with a crash into the knee-high ocean water beneath herself again.

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keepsmeawake

"Well, you are, I mean, I'd say you're the best breather I know," Stiles complimented, tone faux-serious like he was giving her the highest praise he could muster. While he was mostly joking, it didn't actually take all that effort, he had to admit (to himself) he was really quite smitten with Isabel, he probably would compliment her breathing, and just about everything else about her. Even though he couldn't make heads or tails of her at times, he still couldn't quite believe someone as amazing as her agreed to spend time with him.

"It's definitely a plan for the future worth keeping on the table," he nodded. It was also a relatively safe plan, it was nice to think they might get to spend their future safe behind a desk writing academic studies rather than running headfirst into danger. Though, knowing them and their friends, they'd probably still find a way to cause trouble.

He leaned slightly into the touch, unable to stop himself, enjoying the feel of her hand just resting there. It was gentle and domestic and he couldn't help but wish they had this all the time.

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Lydia has an eye for fresh meat. It's better when they're not freshmen, admittedly, but either way, it's like she has a radar for them. When a new person enters Beacon Hills High School she can pick them out before most of her friends even notice their existence. He looks like someone she wants in her life, she decides. Even Lydia isn't really sure what it is about him just yet that draws her, but all the same, she's drawn. He's not really her type, as far as looks go, but that doesn't really mean anything. Neither was Deputy Parrish — although, that didn't really work out for her, but...that's neither here nor there. — and that started out just fine.

In spite of the fact that she's very firmly promised herself that she's through with high school boys, maybe one more won't hurt.

As if she owns the whole school again, she sashays down the hall with her head high and her hair bobbing against her back in her wake, from her locker to his own where he's hidden ever so slightly behind the open door of it as he's either gathering or putting away his books before lunch period. Lydia leans casually against the locker beside it and when he closes the door so that she comes into view, she gives him a confident smile. "How's your first day so far?" she asks casually. "Is BHHS treating you well so far?"

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virginscotch

"Well, once you're done with that one just let me know and I'll mix you up another. Unless it's terrible, in which case I will not do that." he grinned. He took an experimental sip of his own drink, the strength of it making him cough slightly (oh, very smooth Tony, good going). While he was embarrassed at his own reaction, he didn't want to make himself look worse by adding more mixer, so instead he took another sip, this time fighting back the cough.

"Yea? Would've thought a pretty girl like you would have had a great time at high school." he said conversationally.

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decayratealgorithm

"You know, that's a great idea," Peter glanced at her, surprised. It was such a sweet thought, and it made him feel a big swell of affection for her, to make such a kind, thoughtful suggestion. "We should totally do that."

"Oh my god he is!? I dunno man, he seems like kind of a dork... I mean, all that red and blue spandex, who does that?" he grinned, though his cheeks were a little pink at the compliment "I mean, he's not as cool as you or anything."

"Well then, that's where we'll start!" he declared cheerfully, dragging her towards the sweets in question. He wanted to show her a good time, so he'd make sure she got everything she wanted.

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virginscotch

"Fixing it sounds good," Tony returned with more confidence than he felt.

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Dick is jumpy enough in this new place that he catches the sound of her footsteps heading towards him without looking up from his locker. Manages to pick out her scent too, and it's interesting, it's easy to pick out, and sure Bruce has trained him well (trained all his pack well) but that's not quite enough of an explanation to really cut it. There's something different about her scent, something that makes it easier to differentiate from all the hundreds of other new and unfamiliar human smells around her.

He closes the door of his locker and gets a good look at her. She looks perfectly normal - pretty, redhead, the kind of girl who wouldn't have looked twice at the weird orphaned circus kid at his old school, but here... well here he's just like any other new kid. Better, maybe, since Bruce has bought one of the biggest houses in Beacon Hills, and a huge plot of land to go with it.

"Going great, thanks," he answers easily, offering her a friendly smile "Feeling very welcome."

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Dick is enjoying the opportunity to kick back and relax with his friends, no supervisory heroes, no world-threatening villains, no missions or training at all, just a nice day at the beach while the weather was still good. Sure, he still has to wear his sunglasses because Batman would kill him for taking them off, but when the sun is shining it's a small price to pay for a little more freedom than their used to.

Still, when he catches sight of the girl waving for help and then falling back into the shallows, he doesn't hesitate for a moment, day off or not. He takes off running across the beach towards her, hoping she hasn't fallen so badly she's in danger of drowning, or is otherwise badly injured. He can't see any injuries as he gets closer, and he's pretty sure all the red he can see is her hair and not any blood and - oh god she isn't wearing any clothes. He blushes and tries to politely avert his gaze, focusing very firmly on her face.

"Um..hi, are you okay? You looked a little distressed there... do you need help?"

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Ariel is pouting to herself as she pushes her soaked hair off her face and over her head. Why is this so hard? Ursula didn't mention the fact that it was going to be freaking impossible to walk. This is a nightmare. This is not what she signed up for. Not at all.

As needy as she is for help from someone because she can't just sit in the ocean all day — not when she's got legs to walk and dance and run on! — she still reflexively startles when one of them breaks away from the group and approaches her. She can't really see what he looks like all that well, given the...things on his face...but she's at least confident that he's a he and he's asking her if she needs help.

Looking pathetically back up at him, her face drawn down in apology, Ariel nods. Yeah, she definitely needs help, she just doesn't really know where to begin with telling him what with. And, for that matter, how to tell him. She sighs heavily, her shoulders rising slowly with the intake of breath and dropping with the exhale.

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Lydia's head tilts slightly as he answers and she smiles back. He's cute. He's not gorgeous; he's not Jackson-hot but...he's definitely cute. She can work with cute.

"Glad to hear it," she says. "I'm Lydia Martin," she adds and resists the urge to tack on something arrogant like she would've said back when she'd been a sophomore. Something like but you probably already know that by now. He probably doesn't. Her fall from grace was pretty rough. She went from teen royalty to the weird girl no one wants to talk to. Now she knows what it feels like to be at the bottom of the social ladder. It isn't good.

A bell rings to alert students of the new period beginning, but Lydia doesn't have any more classes today and it's lunch for her, anyhow, so she makes no attempt to move from the spot. "What do you have now? Tell me you have a lunch period," she says in a velvety voice that works only because of the natural rasp of vocal fry she already has.

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Dick is a little confused when she doesn't respond verbally, but even if she hadn't nodded at his question it was still pretty obvious that the answer was yes, so he didn't worry too much about the lack of response right away. He steps a little closer, holding out a hand towards her to help her up.

"Well then, let's get you tressed again, yea? Can you stand? We should get you a towel or something... Did something happen?" he asks gently. Distressed women stumbling along with no clothes on certainly conjures up some unpleasant ideas about how she ended up in that state, and he's definitely ready to leap into action if it turns out something terrible has happened - as soon as he's made sure she's alright, of course.

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When he offers his hand, Ariel reaches up to take it. She nods to answer his question about whether she can stand. Standing isn't really the hard part. Staying that was is the problem...

He's being so kind and she appreciates that, especially since she's scared and alone here. The boy pulls her to her feet again and her knees wobble a little beneath herself, but Ariel thinks maybe if he doesn't let go, she might be all right. Frowning, she nods a little at his question of whether something happened and she looks over her shoulder reflexively. Her knees wobble a little more and her free hand shoots out to grab his shoulder as she turns back to look at him again, because it feels like she's going to fall all over again and maybe hanging onto him will help her keep her balance.

Ariel's brow creases. This is impossible, she realizes way too late. That's why the price was her voice, she realizes that now; because it's impossible to communicate. Eric would never have kissed her in three days when she has no idea how to tell him — or anyone, at this point, except that there's that pesky caveat that they have to fall in love with her first — how she feels. Her chin wobbles a little at the thought and Ariel presses her lips together. She's not going to cry. She's made this mess for herself and she's not going to cry. Absolutely not.

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"Nice to meet you Lydia, I'm Dick Grayson," though his expression remains casual, he's watching her carefully for her reaction. They were a long way from Gotham here but Bruce was still pretty well known and this seemed like the kind of town that would have spread the gossip about a rich, handsome bachelor and his small army of (mostly) adopted sons moving in. He was hopeful that said probable gossip hadn't been detailed enough to cover the full names and stories of him and his brothers, and he could flourish in at least a little bit of anonymity for a while, but he wanted to be forewarned if some well-meaning (read: nosy) citizen had already dug up the news story of his high-profile adoption seven years earlier (his brothers had been a little luckier, Jason had been another, smaller scandal, and by the time Tim came along Bruce Wayne adopting orphans was practically old news). Not to mention, his father had mentioned that there was supposed to be another pack in this town, and while she didn't smell like a wolf, he didn't want to go stumbling into a territory fight on his first day.

"I..." he grabs his schedule from his locker and takes a minute to decipher it "Do have lunch right now, conveniently," he grins at her.

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Are you married to being called Dick? she wonders, but has the social grace not to ask aloud. She can still work with that. Probably. Either way, the name doesn't ring a bell. A couple of years ago, she would already have known everything interesting and readily available that there was to know about this guy before he even stepped foot in Beacon Hills High, but that was then. Now, her life is too hectic to be bothered with that level of gossip these days. It seems like a lot of things that she used to live and breathe for don't feel anywhere near as important. Not all of them; fashion? Still totally important. But some of them.

Her eyebrows lift and she grins when he says he has lunch now. "Perfect, so do I," she tells him.

"Lydia."

She looks around Dick, over his shoulder to see Malia, Stiles and Scott waving for her to go with them. She gives a dismissive wave of one hand and crinkles her nose. She can hear Malia complaining about not understanding what's up and Stiles is trying to smooth that over as they head down the hall without her. "Anyway," she says, giving Dick her full attention again. "So...lunch," she goes on with a coy smile. "You wanna get out of here? There's a Taco Bell like a five minute drive from here."

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As awkward as he feels with her completely unclothed and still damp from the water, he's also not one to shy away from helping somebody in trouble, so when she gets particularly wobbly again and seems on the verge of falling, he moves in even closer, trying badly not to blush, and wraps an arm around her waist to give her more support. His t-shirt was getting soaked, but he was at the beach so really it was only a matter of time anyway.

He can't tell from her response exactly what's happened, but the lack of words a second time makes him more curious about the why, especially when she begins to look increasingly upset and he just doesn't know what's causing it or what to do about it.

"...Can you talk?" he asks after a moment, not wanting to be rude about it but knowing that it's going to be a lot easier to deal with if he just asks directly "If you come over to where my friends are, we've got towels and things," they weren't too far from the base, it wouldn't be difficult to get her some clothes or anything else she might need (he'd send Wally, it'd be here in minutes).

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Feeling him move a supportive arm around her, Ariel takes that as permission to cling to his side because that way, he can make sure she doesn't fall over again. She'll get used to these legs, it just might take a minute. Or a day. He's offering to get her a towel — is that what the humans wear? She doesn't know what it's called — and she can't help thinking to herself I told you so, Daddy. They're not barbarians. This one isn't, at least, that's for sure.

At his question, Ariel looks up with big blue eyes and, looking apologetic for the added difficulty he's facing by not being able to get actual answers to the important questions he probably has, she shakes her head. No, she can't talk. She can barely walk.

This was such a stupid idea, what was she thinking...?

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Dick turns his head automatically at the sound of Lydia's name being called, shoulders slumping slightly because for a second there he thought he was going to make a new friend and now she'd probably disappear with her actual friends and he'd get to eat lunch on his own, great. As soon as he sees the group, however, the thought disappears and he freezes. They're still a little far away and this place is busy enough and scent-filled enough that most people wouldn't be able to pick up enough of a scent to be certain, but he's trained by Bruce and he's learnt to trust his instincts. He might be uncertain about who or what exactly Lydia is, but at least one person in that group is a wolf.

He stares after them for a moment as they turn to walk away, not immediately hearing what Lydia is saying, until they're almost out of sight and he snaps back to reality and quickly turns back to her.

"Sorry, what? Lunch? Yes. Oh, I mean, taco bell. Sounds great." he agrees cheerfully, hoping she didn't notice him zoning out.

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Right, that actually makes it a little easier to deal with, at least knowing she can't talk he can make sure he's tailoring his questions to be yes/no answers, it might make it a little lengthier but he'll figure it out. Maybe she can write, he'll ask her later, but for right now he wants to get her warm and dry and comfortable. He leads her over to where the team had been hanging out, most of them have noticed by now what he's up to, and M'gann is already waiting with a towel.

The martian girl helps him drape the towel around Ariel's shoulders and Kaldur'ahm brings over a deck chair for her after sending Wally back to base to grab some clothes for her, although after that they all back off to let Dick handle it, not wanting to crowd her.

"Are you hungry?" he asks, wanting to make sure she's comfortable before getting into the more complicated questions.

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Ariel looks admittedly surprised by the fact that one of the humans is brown and another is green. She's only ever seen humans with skin that looks like her own and she's grinning excitably all of a sudden because they're so fascinating just like she always knew that they would be! She looks between the other two before beaming up at the one who's been helping her all along, her bottom lip caught between her teeth, like she isn't sure she's supposed to be excited, but she is and she can't help the way it's sort of showing.

But then he asks if she's hungry and her eyes widen a little as she nods. Ariel can't remember whether she had breakfast but she knows she didn't have lunch before stalking off to the sea witch like the headstrong, stubborn teenager she is.

She wants to know their names and she wants to know everything about them. Where they got their towels — she's decided that the term just means something to hide inside of — and why theirs look so different than the one she's wrapped up in. She wants to know why one girl is green and one boy is brown and the others are white like she is and whether they chose to be that way and how they did it, if so. She wants to know what all of the little things they have strewn around their little section of the beach are, most especially the big white and red striped bubble she sees abandoned in the sand behind them. They have bubbles on land, too?!

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Tilting her head a little, Lydia smiles. She's not a mind reader or anything, but Lydia's willing to wager a bet that he's gotten a little distracted, given the way he's looking after her friends before looking back at her. Reflex says that he's hopeful he won't have to spend a lunch period by himself, but intuition wonders if there's more to it. She does have a type, after all.

"Lunch, yes," she confirms with a smirk. Lydia pushes herself off the locker beside his and nods toward the door, already picking through her purse for her car keys. "Let's go then. Lucky for you, I'm allowed to leave campus on free periods and my mom works here, plus everyone on staff like loves me, so I can get you out of any trouble I'm about to get you in by taking you with me," she comments, sounding amused.

As she leads the way out, she looks over at him. "So where are you from, Dick Grayson? You're new, that much I know."

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