<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #4080FF">"Herschel, right..."</span> She barely had time to register that Dimitri had taken her hand before a door slammed open and then banged shut with just as much force. A wild mane of blonde hair obscured her vision for a very brief moment before she found herself being embraced by a total stranger. Alannah stiffened and involuntarily squeezed Dimitri's hand tightly, glad that he was here to ward off any other potential attacks. After a second of stunned silence, she let out a slightly nervous laugh. <span style="color: #4080FF">"I'll remember that, Mrs Midnight. My name's Alannah,"</span> she replied. She felt nowhere near comfortable enough with this woman to call her by her first name yet, but she comforted herself with the thought that it hopefully wouldn't be too long until she reached that point. Both Jill and Herschel seemed like friendly people who she wouldn't mind getting closer to - after knowing them a bit better.<br/><br/>She threw a look towards the horses' pen, at the moment obscured by something she assumed was a barn or a stable or similar. One of them whinnied. Maybe Riley? She had no idea whether horses could recognize voices or not, but she was fairly sure Dimitri could tell them apart just by their hooves. It took her a moment, during which all three members of the Midnight family were giving each other and the ground sideways glances, before she got the 'half workhorse'. <span style="color: #4080FF">"Oh, oh yeah, I know, he told me,"</span> she told them with a laugh that came from a mixture of slowly getting more comfortable, and at the weird hint they'd given her. <span style="color: #4080FF">"It's, uh, it's all good. He's not the only freak here."</span> She bit her lip. <span style="color: #4080FF">"I dunno if any of ya evah believed in mermaids 'n stuff, but that's what I am."</span> She let go of Dimitri's hand, taking a small step backwards and splaying her arms to the sides in a hopeless gesture. It suddenly struck her that these were the first people she had told, and probably also some of the only people in the world besides her own family who would believe her. <span style="color: #4080FF">"Yeah. I grow fins. And a tail. And gills. Not teeth, though, that would be gross, but pretty much everything else is there. Yup. Half a shark..."</span></div>