"Alrighty human boy, ready to go?"

L was smart enough to know that even if he was floating ON the water, he'd still be getting a bit wet. So he made sure his bag was inside another, plastic bag to keep it dry.

"It's not too far is it?" L asked, handing you the old surfboard he'd fished from the storage closet.

"I can swim around the whole river in a single day, this is nothing" you replied, holding the board still for him.

"What's the town called by the way?" L asked, taking his slippers off and putting them in his bag.

Even sitting on a surfboard his legs would still get wet and so rather than his usual jeans he broke out the one pair of shorts he had. He forgot how pale his legs were under those jeans sometimes.

"The names Bottlebrush Bay. There's more towns that side of the river but the one you can see is Bottlebrush, like the plant" you explained, as he stepped into the water and climbed onto the surfboard.

This was definitely not the most practical way to get across the river, but without a boat he didn't really have another way. So floating across using you as a motor was the best option, rather than swim and get all his stuff wet.

"By the way, you said that it'd be best to hide that I'm human for the time being right?" He asked, feeling the water slosh around his legs as you gently pushed the surfboard as you swum.

"Yeah, unless you want a thousand questions"

"I've got a good for now but would it work if I disguised myself as a magic creature? Is there any creature I can?"

"Hmmm... if you can get some super realistic fox ears you might be able to pass as a yokai"

"Hm. I'll keep that in mind"

The water was warm, and he enjoyed the feeling of it on his legs as slowly the lights form the village got closer and closer. You'd only met once before, and you were already acting like close friends. Maybe it was his fascination but he felt somehow connected to you already.

"Care for a sea shanty for the trip?" You asked.

"Anything to hear you sing again" he replied, craving the sound of the sirens voice.

"As you wish, land dweller"

Thinking for a second you decided on a song, and made sure not to accidentally make it a lure song that's end in him submerged in water this time.

"Oh well I bid farewell to the port and the land.
And I paddle away from brave Englands white sands.
To search for a long ago forgotten friends.
To search for the place I hear all sailors end"

Instead of a sad love story, this time it was a song about searching for your lost crew. It made L wonder how many shipwrecks you sirens come across, so much of the worlds forgotten treasures are under the water so deep humans can't reach it. But a siren could, there's probably a whole lost world under there only you'd seen.

"As the souls of the dead fill the space of my mind.
I'll search without sleeping till peace I can find.
I fear not the weather, I fear not the sea.
I remember the fallen, do they think of me?
When their bones in the ocean forever will be"

He wanted to learn everything about this magic land, and especially about you and your kind. Being in a magic land itself was incredibly and very different, but what was it like underwater? Humans don't even know what's in their OWN oceans let alone the ones of a magic land.

If sirens exist, then what else does? Nymphs? The lady of the lake? Kappas? The Kraken?

"Alrighty, shallow enough to get up now" you said, pushing the surfboard toward the shore.

"You know a lot of songs don't you?" L said, standing up off the board and wading though the water the rest of the way.

"Yeah, we steal sea shanties off sailors and have a rich history of traditional lure songs. Music is rooted in siren magic"

Interesting, so music was a form of magic here? Everything was so new and exiting.

Pulling yourself onto the shore dragging your long tail behind you, you squeezed out your hair into the sand. If you were going to be on land for the time being it's probably best not to drip everywhere.

"Alright, I'll show you around. But I'll need your shirt"

The last part caught him off guard, slightly confused and a little flustered at the idea.

"Huh? Why?" He asked.

"Sirens don't exactly wear clothes in the water. And since I never go on land I don't really have any clothes. All I need is a shirt, I know a little trick to make it into a dress" you explained.

Ah, of course. When you were in your true form you had a tail and scales over your chest that censored everything, but when you took a land form obviously the tail would be replaced with legs and everything else. Kinda need to cover that up.

"O-oh, yeah right. I have my hood anyway" he replied, pulling the hooded cloak from his bag and taking off his shirt to give to you.

"Thanks, no peeking!" You replied.

Turing around, still a little flustered he instead put his focus on putting his cloak and hood on. From behind him there was a bit of a flash of light and a twinkling sound, followed by movement in the sand. That of course was you taking on your land form and standing up for the first time in a while, pulling the shirt over your head and using the sleeves as straps over your shoulders and neck to make it into a dress.

"Ok, covered in sand but covered up now" you stated.

L was actually pretty impressed with the creativity of the dress trick, he was unaware his shirt was capable of such a style. You brushed the sand off your legs that were lined with patches of scales and two fins in each shin. Like your tail hasn't completely vanished just split into two legs. You were still clearly a siren, and had the fish like characteristics.

"How did you even do that?" He asked.

"Tied up the sleeves into straps, simple trick" you replied.

Simple? He couldn't do that. He didn't even think of it. Then again, he'd never needed to use a shirt as a dress. But he'd keep it in mind in case one day he for some reason had to.

"Alright keep your hood up, no one will steal the board this village has almost zero crime rates so we can leave it here. Follow me" you said.

You didn't have to ask him twice, he followed you off the shore and onto the grass that lead up to the village, lit up by lanterns and lights from cottages. It was surprisingly busy for so late at night, and the closer you got to it, the more L could see the non-human features of people passing by.

Elf ears, animal ears and tails, wings, elaborate skin markings, multiple eyes or limbs, super tall people and super tiny people. It was like walking into a story book. Well... he had essentially. This was the world that fairytales spoke of.

Looking around in amazement, there was so much to take in at once. All the magic items around him, the creatures he'd never seen before, even the architecture of the buildings was different.

"HEY! DREAMCATCHER GET BACK HERE!"

The shouting snapped him from his daze of amazement and right in front of him he found out what that roar he heard before was.

A dragon run straight past him, followed by someone with elf life ears carrying a saddle.

"YOU STUPID REPTILE STAY STILL!" They laughed.

He just saw a dragon, a real dragon.

"There's dragons here?" He whispered yelled to you.

"Yeah, they're pets. You can fly them. Clearly that one is still getting some training done" you replied.

"They don't like... eat you?"

"Nah, wayyyy back in Viking times some kid learnt to fly them and now they're common pets. They're only dangerous if you hurt them, otherwise they're like big kittens"

He had to fly a dragon now. It was on his bucket list.

"What else is a common pet around here? Talking cats?" He joked.

"I know you're joking but there's actually spells for that"

This just kept getting better! He had so much to learn and his burn out was being thrown out the window at this point. He felt like he'd just gotten a jackpot if evidence or something. The same feeling of wonder he got when he found a super hard and crazy case washed over him.

As long as he had access to this land, there's no way he'd ever be burnt out again. There was so much to see, so much to do, so much to learn here.

"Oh my god I just realised you've never had ghost brew" you spoke up.

"Ghost what?"

"It's this drink made from the sap from ghost gum trees and ambrosia shots, it's the best thing you'll ever taste. Come on let's go have some!"

He had no idea what any of that was, but he'd gladly try it if you said it was THAT good. Before he could protest, you grabbed his arm making his heart skip a beat and pulled him along through the village off to properly a shop or bar of some kind.

Running through a magic village being dragged along by a siren was definitely not how he imagined his break back at wammys would be going, but he sure as hell wasn't complaining.