Steve: The Siren Hunter


[ ] represent Siren vocalisation

The camera pans from the breaking surf to Steve, striding along in his trademark khakis to the entrance of a sea cave
"G'day, on today's adventure we're going to be taking a look at one of the most dayngerous and allurin’ creatures of the sea, Sirens"
Steve gestures into the inky darkness of the cave
"Now only a little is known about Sirens at this time, so we’ll have to be extra cautious in their lair here”
As Steve carefully picks his way over the rocks and slips into the first chamber of the cave, a form stirs in the darkness and opens an eye to watch in idle interest
[Must be daydreaming, that or lunch just walked in the front door]
Steve freezes and looks back at the camera
“Hear that, that low murmur, sounds like we’ve already disturbed one taking a nap in the first chamber”
"Now one thing we do know about siren lairs, is that they seek out large cave systems, makes it easy to hide from eager eyes"
[Who is he talking to too?]
"We need to keep our wits about us as we go in, wouldn't want to accidentally get cornered in the caves by a siren now"
[Heh, time to go get the others]
The violet form shifts and slides off further into the cave system
"Wow, did you all hear that, must've spooked her, let's see if we can find her and get a proper look"
Scrambling over the loose sand and rock of the cave Steve follows the noise down further into the dark
Only a small cone of light from his torch lighting the way
Further down Steve comes to a halt outside the next chamber
"crikey, I think we’ve stumbled upon the main nest itself, keep your eyes open, they might be lying in wait for us”
Beyond the dim light of Steve's torch dark shapes move in the cave rearing up and approaching, the sound of hide barely rasping against stone

[Hah, you weren't lying, Aria, I guess we've got ourselves a meal after all]
[Yay, lunchtime!]
"Listen to that! There’s a couple of them in here, you can here them singing out to each other"
"Now then, let’s see if they’ll pop over for a chat, let’s see if they’re interested in this little lure I prepared earlier”
Edging forwards Steve pulls out a package, untying it retrieving a large chunk of raw meat from within
[Wait, what's that?]
Steve tosses the meat forward a few metres into the chamber and draws back as the sound of sniffing echoes softly out of the dark
"Now I’ve just put out a nice piece of shark meat? Let’s see if their interested"
Steve crouches down behind the edge of the entrance the camera hovering just over his shoulder, barely catching the movement of shapes beyond the beam of light
[Is that shark I smell?]
[Sonata, don't you dare!]
[It’s a trap Sonata!]
out of the darkness a serpent like creature slithers forth towards the meat, bringing up a pair of forelegs to stop at the lure
"Now get a look at that, what a beauty!"
The siren’s head pauses, hovering of the meat
[Is he talking about me?]
[Sonata, get back here]
"Oh, look how she watches to make sure it’s safe to feed, she's a cautious one, best try not to startle her"
The siren dips there head back down again snaps up the shark meat in one bite, chewing and gulping it hurriedly
"See that, it's no wonder the siren has no natural predators, now we’ll get in for a closer look if we can”
As Steve edges his way out and closer to the cerulean siren, there is the sound of movement off camera
[Stay away from her!]
A larger siren, golden in colouration lunges forward and brings its cloven hooves down on Steve

Luckily Steve deftly dodges at the last moment, scampering back
"Whoa! That was a close one, strewth! If I hadn't been careful I would’ve been squashed flat under those hooves"
Steve careful circles away from the blue siren carefully balanced to dodge another assault
"Now sirens normally form small groups called choirs, this gold one must be their matron, or den mother”
[What? I’m no matron]
[What’s a matron?]
[It means Adagio is the mommy, Sonata]
[Aria, shut it]
"Hoo-boy they're all a bit worked up now, just listen to that chatter"
"Now a siren's voice is important for more than just communication, it's also a big part of how they hunt for food"
"A siren choir will sing and lure their prey, be it sea life or ships into an ambush, where the sirens can easily rip them apart"
[You seem to know a bit about our singing human, how about we give you a little song then…]
A string of soothing notes sound forth from the sirens maws, swirling and echoing around the room, lingering in the air
Steve ducks down for a moment fiddling with something from his belt before standing up again, unfazed by the chorus
The sirens pause before singing a few more notes before stopping
[What! How is he resisting our voices?!]
"Crikey, now that there was a real treat, if I hadn't taken the precaution of bringing along some heavy duty hearing protection, I’d be in real trouble now"
The golden siren lunges at Steve again who ducks around behind a boulder
"And she does not like that one bit"
[You’re going to die human!]
Steve ducks out from behind the boulder and slips under another lunge from the siren
"Yikes, best not play around with this one, we need to bring her down as quickly as possible"
[Enough human, now die!]
Again the siren smashes at the cave floor missing Steve as he ducks and dodges the renewed attempt on his life

Off to the side the other two sirens have stopped alongside each other
Their heads following the action as the larger siren struggles to try and pin Steve down, one of them heaving in what might be laughter
[Having fun, Adagio?]
[Shut up!]
[So you don't need a hand?]
[I said shut up!]
[Alright, we'll just stay here then]
[SHUT UP!]
Breathing heavily the siren begins to slow as it tries for Steve again
"Looks like she's nearly worn out, then we can get a proper look at this magnificent creature"
[Why won't you just die, human...]
Having spent close to half an hour feverishly trying to squash Steve the siren relents and collapses to the cave floor
The other sirens recoil as the golden siren gives up
[Wow, Dagi actually lost, she's never loses]
[Yeah, and to a human no less]
As Steve moves in again towards the downed siren he retrieves more meat throwing it off across the cavernous space
[Hey, we get lunch and get to watch Adagio suffer, I’m okay with this]
"Right that should keep the other sirens back while we take a poke around"
[If I wasn't so tired I would kill each and every one of you]
Steve closes in on the siren and gives a whistle
"Would you look at this beauty, with golden scales like this I’m not surprised she's their matron”
“Maybe thirty feet from snout to tip of her tail, just all raw power, just look at the muscles running from the hip down the tail itself"
"I wouldn't be surprised if she could smash a boat in half, with just one swing"
[P-please get away from me human]
"Easy girl, easy, I ain't gonna hurt you"
Steve moves up along the sirens back gently lifting and showing the fins towards the camera
"Now aren't these just gorgeous!"
"These fins may look fragile but they’re just as tough as the rest of a siren, and if rumour can be believed they even help sirens glide over the oceans surface"

[How lewd, Adagio, letting a human play with your fins, and while Sonata’s watching too, you’ll affect her]
[When this is over, you're dead, Aria]
"Now let's see if the other two will let us have a look at them"
[Huh...]
[Fuck, I’m out of here]
The purple sirens leaps and scrambles away further into the caves leaving the blue one looking about seemingly confused
[Aria? where'd you go?]
"Well, there goes one of them, let’s try with the earlier one
Steve slowly approaches the blue siren taking out another package of meat
[Ooh, more snacks]
"That’s a good girl, now she's a lot more approachable, very intelligent creatures, sirens”
the camera approaches and zooms in as the siren rips up the chunk of meat and devours it
"Just look at those teeth, could rip the flesh from a shark with little to no effort, absolutely amayzing"
[Your not too bad, you got any more food]
"She looks to be the youngest one here, as you can see from looking at the scales an hide, though she could still be well over a thousand years old"
[Who’s counting anyway, more food please]
Steve throws more food out for the siren, slowly backing away with each throw
The siren on the cave floor begins to shift and turn their head, watching Steve
"Now, I think it’s high time for us to leave and give them their space, you can see the matron siren is starting to collect herself"
[You’re not going anywhere human]
The siren shifts further and starts to move towards Steve
"Crikey, here she comes, looks like it's time to hit the road"
Steve throws down another smattering of meat and skips back into the cave tunnel avoiding the golden siren
Calmly Steve retreats up the slope of the tunnel
The sirens head pokes into the tunnel giving a long hiss
[You got lucky this once human, next time I’ll destroy you]
[Adagio, come on, come eat, before Aria gets back]
The siren’s pointed snout ducks away
Returning to the cave entrance, Steve points up the higher end of the cave were dim light shines on the hide of the purple siren
"She must've taken another tunnel around from the nest, we'll leave where she is though
[Good, stay away you creepy little human]
"Sirens, truly gorgeous creatures" Steve grins waving the way back out of the cave