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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 13:55:44 GMT -5
general plot ;;
when a pirate crew manages to capture a feral mermaid, they're sort of at a loss as to what they want to do next. though they have a tank to keep it in, they don't know if it speaks their language and they're torn between selling it or keeping it aboard the ship for good luck. loads of worldbuilding stuff. hell yes.
characters ;;
aristaeus (ari) // 30 years // revali
from days spent nearer the surface than the rest of his feral kin, aristaeus has mid-brown skin that slowly blends down into a darker tone of grey at his tail, which is reminiscent of a black tip reef shark's body, including the black tip on his dorsal fin. his canines are notably long and sharp - the top ones tend to poke out from his mouth from time to time, and his light grey eyes have catlike slits for pupils. when dried, his hair is tousled and somewhat curly, black in colour. he has a scar over the middle of his lower lip and a few more over his torso - some are bite marks, clearly from other sea creatures, but some look like he's been snagged by fishing hooks before, and others look like claws. he has thin webbing between four of his fingers, though his thumb and index fingers are not connected by webbing, and his ears are slightly pointed. his gills are located just underneath his ribs. he has freckles over the bridge of his nose and his shoulders. in total length, he comes to about 5ft long, perhaps a little more; just around average for his shark counterpart's size.
levy hatchenson // 20 years // honeybadger
ghostly. there is a reason leesh Romani are called the corpse people, levy is walking evidence of this claim. almost sickly looking, with skin so pale you can make out the blue tracery of veins splayed beneath her skin. though long and tangled, her hair is in a similar state of phantom-colored, a shade of blonde bordering on white. her eyes stand out as dark drops of ink in this bloodless landscape of snow, framed in clumsy glasses of throw-together glass and wire. bruise-purple shadows stain the space beneath her eyes, testimony to the litany of sleepless nights levy's endured. she stands at about 5'5" and usually keeps her wild hair tamed into a ponytail.
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 13:59:03 GMT -5
{ gimme a sec to work on my character~
so i think we've figured out all the mermaid stuff
but what about the rest of the world? i imagine culture and stuff varies from place to place and the setting is fictional so we could make up just about anything! }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 14:04:28 GMT -5
( yell heah !!
and yeah 0: tbh, i think we could make up various things as we go, considering the world is fictional; various superstitions based on places, army/navies, possible war gossip, that sort of stuff!! and if it comes to naming those places well then there are handy dandy fantasy generators that i live from LULS im so bad at name stuff
but tbh, i imagine things are super different depending on continent and the like!! )
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 15:20:34 GMT -5
levy hatchenson // 20 years // honeybadger
ghostly. there is a reason leesh Romani are called the corpse people, levy is walking evidence of this claim. almost sickly looking, with skin so pale you can make out the blue tracery of veins splayed beneath her skin. though long and tangled, her hair is in a similar state of phantom-colored, a shade of blonde bordering on white. her eyes stand out as dark drops of ink in this bloodless landscape of snow, framed in clumsy glasses of throw-together glass and wire. bruise-purple shadows stain the space beneath her eyes, testimony to the litany of sleepless nights levy's endured. she stands at about 5'5" and usually keeps her wild hair tamed into a ponytail.
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 15:23:00 GMT -5
{ agreed. the only limit here is our imagination!
oh! but about the rest of the pirate crew. i was thinking of just whipping together some npcs to toss in whenever/wherever necessary. what do you think? }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 15:23:12 GMT -5
( naisu naisu. is there anything else we need to go over before we start off?
npcs are good!! i was thinking abt side characters as a whole; they're great to have & tbqh it would be hard to do just one (1) whole character when there's an entire ship, and it makes interactions easier. the main muses r, ofc, our characters; but side characters are fun to have! )
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 15:30:29 GMT -5
{ hmmm. i don't think so? i think we've covered the basics and anything else can just be made up on the spot u-u
yes! side characters! do you wanna make some side characters before we start? i know i'll probably want to jot down a few short descriptions to keep track of. like the captain and such }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 15:34:09 GMT -5
( ayyy improv (':
i'm honestly gonna wing it probably because i'm terrible & i might jot them down later LULS
do you want me to start? )
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 15:38:10 GMT -5
{ go for it~
let's get this show on the road! }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 15:39:43 GMT -5
( yell heah!! i'll get to work on a starter that should be up soon...ish? depending on how much i procrastinate luls )
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 15:42:08 GMT -5
{ take your time~
i got some stuff to do so don't worry about having it up immediately >w< }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 16:25:18 GMT -5
There had, at one point, been a time where Aristaeus was a more cautious mermaid. Where he had made a conscious effort to duck down into the depths when he spotted a ship, where he had made a point of dodging fishing nets. Sure, sometimes he got pushed or shoved by the boat itself, or nicked by a fishing hook from someone aiming to catch a single thing, but as it was, he had never been caught. He'd poke his black-tipped dorsal fin above the surface of the water just to mess with passing humans, sure, but...it wasn't the same as being seen entirely by them.
Perhaps he hadn't been cautious enough. He'd been dozing idly near some rocks when the net had snagged his tail, and when it had been jerked back he had been awoken, and his struggle only proved to tangle him more (though it did free a fair amount of fish). When the net had been pulled up, he'd made an effort to switch from his gills to his lungs, had panicked only momentarily before he'd finally settled into a rhythm of breathing air. The humans had not realised what they'd caught until one of them had grabbed his tail, until he'd smacked them away with more violence than necessary; the human whom had touched him ended up with a rather nasty-looking red mark which would most certainly bruise. He'd glared and bared his fangs, had struggled against them - but it hadn't been enough. He'd known that they were pirates when he'd seen the water-filled tank on deck; it wasn't exactly brand-new, but the water, at least, had been fresh. It was larger than he'd expected; large enough for a mermaid twice his size plus some room, like they had been expecting to catch something like him. Perhaps he was underwhelming.
Now, Aristaeus had been on the ship for three days. He knew this because he'd seen the sun rise three times so far; it was rather high in the sky with a heat that warmed the surface of the water in the tank. The humans had not given him food; instead, some of them lingered nearby, watching him as if to see if he could move. He didn't. He found himself settled at the bottom, curled in on himself with his arms resting over his tail. It was a comfortable position, all things considered, but he was not happy. Did not enjoy the fact that there was nowhere to hide in his tank, didn't enjoy that he had nothing to eat and nothing to clean himself with.
They seemed to think that he either couldn't hear them or didn't speak their language - but some domestic mermaids had lingered around for some time, had taught a local pod some languages and in passing, he'd learned it, too. It wasn't perfect, but he supposed he was fluent, at least.
"Do you think it eats?" a man who was likely equivalent to Ari's age asked, poking at the glass of the tank. Ari watched through half-closed eyes, pale grey eyes appearing like they lacked pupils due to how thin they were, "like. They hunt in pods, right? The shark ones? Y'think it's pod is looking for it?"
"Haven't tried yet, I don't think," the next man who spoke was the spitting image to the man previous. Twins? Probably. "It doesn't move, though, so what's the point? It just sits there and stares."
Whatever conversation that continued from there passed through Ari's ears but did not process through his mind. Instead, he let his mind drift to what he could have been doing had he not been caught. He could've eaten by now, he could've gone exploring, he could've gone deeper to Eon, whom he hadn't seen for years. It would've been a nice surprise, considering Ari had been off exploring the world. He was young and supposed to be free - and yet here he was, stuck in a goddamn tank. Once the two men lost interest and wandered away to do their work (he assumed), he shifted his weight and turned his head to watch seagulls fly overhead. They did not pause nor glance down, did not stop to settle anywhere on the ship - they just flew onward, calling back and forth as they did so. He watched with mild interest before he pushed himself up and shook himself out. His muscles ached from lack of movement, so he began to swim in a slow, steady circle. It began to loosen his shoulders and back, removed the ache from his tail. Ari drifted closer to the surface of the water in the tank and let his dorsal fin break the surface. It didn't take him long to realise he couldn't see much of the working deck from inside the tank.
It took him a few long moments of debate, but he eventually shifted himself so that he could break the surface and rest his arms over the edge of the tank, and he found that he was appreciating how large the thing was. It was somewhat lowered into the deck itself - he'd already found out that it lowered into one of the areas below, and he'd seen people there considering they often observed from below deck - but he hadn't really paid much attention to above deck.
There were definitely more people here than below; if he averted his attention from the seagulls then he saw there was an area up high where a human seemed to be, and another one was at a place he knew was to steer the ship. He knew vague things, had vague knowledge that could pass as hugely knowledgeable to lesser mermaids; but he'd learned it from older, larger mermaids, some of whom could've told him the terms but they didn't, because mermaids and humans were not supposed to intermingle. All ferals said that, all of them would push it, too. Domestic-types were not supposed to exist, they said. They were just human playthings.
Ari was a human plaything, now. The tank was large and accommodating, but extremely bare. His stomach growled, too. In a show of annoyance, he began to gnaw absently at the edge of the opening of the top of the tank, grimacing at the taste of the material. Nevermind, he told himself, and stopped that. He lashed his tail back and forth, pushed a hand through his hair to remove it from his face. In the heat, it was beginning to dry and curl quickly, but he didn't pay much attention to that.
He exhaled slowly through his nose (his gills flared too), and rested his chin as he watched people go about their daily business. Maybe he could grab someone's attention to get food. Preferably live food, too. He was starving and, he noted, they seemed to have brought up another net - this time lacking one mermaid and instead full of live(ly) fish. Again, his stomach growled and he half-bared his teeth, lashing his tail some more. And yet it seemed that he'd become less interesting than he'd been when he'd first been brought in, because nothing seemed to happen from his little show of agitation. Maybe he was just an animal to them.
[ god im so sorry this is super short ]
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 16:50:42 GMT -5
{ psshaw~ it's lovely <3 quality over quantity
i'll get to work on a reply now! i'll try to have it done soon, i promise }
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 19:27:57 GMT -5
“Have you seen it yet?” It was Seth who asked her first. He’d been there when they hauled it aboard, making sure to retell the event in vivid detail. So vivid, in fact, Levy felt she didn’t have to go see the mermaid to know what she would find. Instead, she merely shook her head and went back to doing something━ anything to get Seth off her back. Seth, on the other hand, took her disinterest as the challenge it wasn’t meant to be.
“Oh, man! You’re missing out, Levy! You should see it!” She stopped listening as he launched into describing the catch in copious detail. Levy’d heard the story enough to last her a lifetime, she’d as good as lived it herself. She could feel the sun baking her skin as they pulled up the net. Feel the spray of the salt. The cry of the gulls looking for an easy meal. Then the hooting and hollering that went up from the crew when the ropes were pulled aside and the sleek gray tail was revealed.
Well, the last part she actually had lived through. Somewhat. She’d definitely heard the moment when the mermaid was discovered. The rest of it were details picked up vicariously after sitting through multiple retellings.
“Ah, there’s our ghost.”
Lightning fizzed through Levy’s nerves. She whipped around, nearly toppling the stack of books crammed onto the desk behind her. Captain Hawke sauntered into the room, shooing Seth away with a flick of his wrist. The young man skittered off, muttering something about cleaning something or other.
“Cap’n,” Levy dipped her head, feeling the room was suddenly very cramped. Captain Hawke didn’t notice, or care, his attention fell to the stack of books that teetered precariously close to the edge. He tapped the stack thoughtfully, “Anything here on merfolk?” She should have known that’s why he’d be here. That’s all anyone came to see her about these days. Mermaids this and mermaids that. Maybe they hoped she’d be a fresh pair of ears to hear their thoughts on the creature. After all, it was rare that Levy ventured above deck.
Without even a glance, she plucked a book from the stack and offered it to her Captain. “This one’s all we’ve got,” she apologized. “It’s um… It’s more of an anthology. Just a collection of myths and legends. Stories. Sorry, Cap’n.” He quirked an eyebrow, taking the book from her and thumbing through it. Detailed ink renderings winked at her as he flicked through. She’d seen them all. Her least favorite was a squid mermaid the size of a mountain splitting a ship in two.
Breathing a weighty sigh, Hawke snapped the book shut and scrubbed a hand over his face. The lines in his forehead looked deeper. The shadows beneath his eyes were darker. Jewel-bright eyes captured hers, snapping her up like snare in the snow. He’d caught her staring. Idiot! Levy spun away, pretending to arrange the books by color.
“You can’t stay down here forever, ghost,” the heavy thud of boots followed the remark.
The room felt empty. Drained. Levy slumped against the desk. The ship rocked. Something touched her arm. Tales Of The Deep glared up at her, scrawled in embossed gold on red leather. He’d left the book. Heaving a defeated sigh, Levy lifted the cover, flipping to a random page. A mermaid perched atop a tumble of rocks, hair tangled in an invisible wind, staring wistfully out over the open sea.
She closed the book and straightened her glasses. No one was going to leave her alone about that godforsaken mermaid until she saw it for herself. Then they’d leave her in peace. Summoning her courage, Levy abandoned her quiet, dark little room and made her way for the steps that would take her topside.
One step. And then another. Then another. Another. And another.
The sky opened above her, open and empty. The sun burned overhead, a lump of white that wavered in its own heat haze. The deck buzzed with activity like a stirred wasp nest. Someone bustled past her, hauling rope over his shoulder, nearly knocking Levy off her feet. She wove through the crew, making a beeline for the tank.
One look. Just one look and then I’m done.
Heat draped over her, smothering every inch. She could already feel the sunburn frying up her flesh. One minute. That’s all I need. Just one minute. Any longer and Levy feared she’d be turned to bacon. Where was that━ There! Sunlight dazzled on the water of the open tank. Relief squeezed Levy’s lungs, wheezing out in the form of a sigh between her teeth.
“Levy!” A familiar voice barreled against her ears, halting her progress. Seth.
“Finally! You’re gonna love this thing,” he hooted, throwing his arm around her shoulders, “And you’re in for a real treat. Look!” He threw his hand up in an arc, gesturing at the pool of water.
Levy froze in place. The mermaid was up. The mermaid was up above the water. It’s━ his? ━hair was beginning to dry, the sun exposing the slight curl to it. It━ he? ━was smaller than she’d imagined him to be. Seth said ‘shark’ and Levy had pictured fifteen feet of scars and teeth. Instead she got five feet of… Freckles?
“Okay, great!” She clapped her hands together, trying to wriggle free from Seth’s hold on her, “I’ve seen it, now I can go.” Except she couldn’t. Not because Seth wouldn’t let her go free, but because Captain Hawke was coming sauntering over to the tank. He had a finger to his lips, his brows pinched together in thought as crystal-colored eyes examined the mermaid.
Those eyes flicked to her briefly, flashing with amusement, “I see our ghost has paid a visit. What do you think of it?”
“I━ Me, Cap’n?” Levy stuttered, eyes wide. Did it matter what she thought of the creature?
Captain Hawke nodded, slow and deliberate as though his thoughts were already somewhere else. Levy glanced back at the mermaid, purposely avoiding its gaze. “I… I think he’s━ it's?… Small?” Seth doubled over, bellowing with laughter. A few more joined in, though lacking Seth’s theatrics. Hawke smiled, eyebrows rising to his gray-flecked hairline. Levy managed a tiny smile, feeling she’d accomplished her goal.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 21:17:17 GMT -5
ahaaaaa i was playing games (': that's a very nice post!! i'll start working on a response soon <:
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 21:33:01 GMT -5
{ take your time~
ooooh what games? }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 21:41:35 GMT -5
i take 600 years because i need to watch 5000 vines first
overwatch! i was doing competitive
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 21:45:06 GMT -5
{ same here. except with youtube videos instead of vines >-<
oh overwatch! i've never played it but it looks like a lot of fun! }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 21:57:44 GMT -5
im terrible & im shirking responsibilities but what can u do
ayy comp is super fun but quickplay bores me nowadays ): feels bad luls
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 22:25:06 GMT -5
{ it's not our fault!
it's so hard to focus with the internet at your fingertips! }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 22:34:11 GMT -5
one day i'll work on writing but like
laziness? videos? food? all of those appeal to me more sometimes luls im bad
im like "oh i wanna rp" [two posts in] "gimme five seconds" [two days later] "it'S FINE"
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 23:05:41 GMT -5
{ i always try to reply to posts on the same day
but sometimes i just zone out and get lost. it's too easy. all too easy
and you'll find me crawling back a week later not even remembering my own name }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 23:17:17 GMT -5
(weakly) water...i need...water...
forreal, i tend to reply either the same day or a day after. depends on how busy i am or lazy i am luls
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 20, 2017 23:28:59 GMT -5
{ saaaame
but sometimes i just can't help it u-u }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2017 23:36:22 GMT -5
sometimes im like 'WOW I CAN WRITE FOREVER' but usually im just 'wow look at the time its procrastination hour'
tbf i have like a bajillion things to write rn
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 21, 2017 0:03:06 GMT -5
{ omg i love those moods where i'm like "i'll write anything and everything! nothing can stop me!" it's great!
i feel ya man. i mean, not at the moment since this is the only thing i'm writing for. i don't like joining more than one rp at a time because i get overwhelmed ;-; }
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2017 6:59:59 GMT -5
i'll also write when i have nothing better to do
or when i want to distract myself
like now!
im working on a response for here
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2017 7:30:29 GMT -5
The sun was warm on his face, the contrast the heat in the air and the coolness of the water was pleasant; if he had been under any other circumstances, this would've been pleasant. He could've basked, but he had nowhere to rest aside from the edge of the tank - which wasn't particularly comfortable. From the corner of his eye he saw a ghostly human approach, but did not pay them much mind. Many of the pirates came along to ogle, as if he were the most interesting thing. Maybe he was! Maybe they hadn't encountered a feral mermaid before - which wouldn't surprise him. No-one really had. It was heard of for them to be captured in Ari's experience, but never did they come back to say what happened afterwards. Maybe they were killed and eaten, or something.
A seagull drifted down, a little too close. He stretched himself out a little to see if he could reach it, but it flapped and cawed when his fingers brushed it, so he dropped back down again. No free meal for him. The birds were becoming more confident, realising that he was trapped - it wasn't something he liked. Gulls and other seabirds were a nice treat from the fish, aside from their feathers - but a quick plucking would render that easily solved. Hell, they were probably some sort of delicacy for mermaids. When a good diet consisted of seaweed and fish, things got boring. And hell, when he was this hungry, he'd probably even go for some of the smaller fish. They weren't as tasty, but a lot of them could be filling.
Humanspeak was not as fluid as mer. He couldn't name the language spoken, was just blessed enough that it was something he understood. The sounds were different, only understandable if spoken through the air and never underwater; where mer was a series of clicks and whistles, most human tongues were rougher and had too many sounds to keep track of. He'd spoken to himself in it, before. It had been something. Being taught it was something he was glad to have had the privilege of - languages were fun and interesting. He'd even learned the body language of various types of sharks, though most tended to dodge him or hunt him. Whichever one worked for them. He was, after all, based from a reef species, or something like that.
These people - they didn't have much of a concept of politeness, it seemed. Backtracking on he and referring to him as it, he wrinkled his nose and finally turned his head to watch them, pupils dilating slightly as he looked away from the sun. He parted his lips to show his fangs, watched them for a moment and listened idly to the conversation. Small. Small. They were right, of course; he was rather small, even if compared to his domestic counterpart, but still. He couldn't help but be offended.
"It's small," he mimicked, his voice soft. His pronunciation of words was not perfect, either, but Ari could make it work. "It looks like it doesn't see the sunlight. Doesn't look like a real pirate."
He eyed the human with something like amusement. The whiter one, the ghostlier one - he thought they were female, perhaps, but he couldn't quite be sure. He didn't want to assume. Assuming made an a** of people, as these ones had proved. Ari let his gaze drifted over the humans lazily, before he looked past them to the pirates struggling with their catch. It wasn't a large one by any means, their nets had holes too wide, but he decided not to say anything about that.
"It's a he," maybe he was more than offended. Maybe he was pissed off. He wasn't too sure, really. "And this," he patted the glass of the tank, "could not hold anything bigger than me. This ship could not hold anything bigger than me."
Ari had spoken too much already - so he quietened himself down and watched through narrowed eyes.
"It speaks," mused one of the twins from before, crossing his arms. Ari was rather sure he'd heard a name tied to this one - Kasper, perhaps. That sounded about right. He was a little taller than his counterpart, had slightly shorter hair. Minor differences that Ari could pick up now that he wasn't looking through the hazy glass. He stared down at Kasper until the young man raised his hands and backed up, as if admitting defeat to the quiet glare. "I hate to speak out of turn or anything, Captain, but have we actually fed this thing? Jasper was asking earlier."
Jasper and Kasper. Humans were bad at names.
"You haven't fed this thing," Ari stated blandly. He didn't miss the way Kasper shifted uncomfortably, or the way the man looked almost sheepish. Maybe he was the cook, or something. Pirates had cooks, right? Maybe he was wrong. Ari had very little knowledge on the inner workings of a ship. Knew plenty about the outside. Knew that not many of them cleaned often enough. He hadn't seen the underneath of this ship, though - he was sort of busy being inside it.
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 21, 2017 12:24:38 GMT -5
{ i love ari <33 omg he's so great
i'm working on a reply now. i might poof though because the eclipse is today! woot! }
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Post by 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗒𝖻𝖺𝖽𝗀𝖾𝗋 on Aug 21, 2017 15:59:25 GMT -5
It spoke.
He spoke.
Inky fear seeped down into Levy’s limbs, crawling through her veins. Icewater slithered beneath her skin. Numb to the sun. To the sway of the ship. Cry of the gulls. Salt spray. The world rocked under her. Fell away. It could talk. He talked. He. He. Him.
To her.
“━evy.” A voice dripped in. Filling up the cracks, the fissures. Her senses pooled in. A trickle. A cascade. Levy blinked. Seth’s face crowded her vision, all brown skin and broken nose. “There you are. Jeez, don’t do that again! It’s creepy. It’s like you died standing up.”
All Levy can manage is a tight-lipped nod. Around her, the rest of the crew didn’t seem to care as much. Kasper was taken aback, but that was as far as the ripple of shock reached. Shaking off the fog, Levy turned to Captain Hawke just as he rolled his shoulders, addressing Kasper. “I’d like to refrain from feeding it as much as possible until we can figure out a course of action,” he explained, raking a hand through his hair. “I don’t need it━” bright eyes cut to the mermaid pointedly “━having enough energy to get aggressive. If you’re worried about starving the thing to death then maybe you should consider an occupation change. We’re pirates, not zookeepers.”
With that, Hawke strode across the main deck, disappearing into his cabin. A catch some of the men had been struggling to haul up finally slammed onto the deck. A wriggling mass of silver fish slapped against the wood, seeking water where there was only air.
Levy threw a quick glance at the mermaid━ merman? She imagined his hunger, remembering her own. The empty twist of her gut is only a memory now. Ghosts left behind by a different Levy. Hawke was right. They weren’t zookeepers. They were pirates, synonymous with ruthless and heartless. They took, they didn’t give and they didn’t care what happened to creatures like mermaids. But the hungry ghost had dug its claws in, sinking into her ribs.
Nobody made a move to feed him. Such blatant disobedience wouldn’t end with just a scolding.
With a new task underway, Levy slipped below deck in the midst of the work. The belly of the ship was quiet, dark, and cool. She tucked herself into her room, seeking solace in the books and jars and trinkets that took up residence alongside her. Seth hadn’t followed her, a small mercy for the time being.
Even so, she wasn’t alone. The mermaid’s voice echoed clear as bell in her skull. “It’s small,” she heard it say, “it looks like it doesn’t see the sunlight. Doesn’t look like a real pirate.” Why was she surprised? She’d heard stories of domestics talking━ singing even! But not ferals. They were animals. They weren’t supposed to… Be like that.
↠ ✦ ↞
The sun was gone.
Velvet dark cradled the sliver of moon, spangled with diamond dust stars. Ten billion eyes.
Levy peeked out onto the deck, finding it deserted. The strap of her bag dug painfully into her shoulder, reeking of raw fish. The stench made her stomach cartwheel, but she endured it. This was her shift, the time when she swapped places with the rest of the crew, taking their place above while they took hers below.
The lantern swayed in her grip, casting a wide yellow glow around her, like a miniature sun. At this moment, even Hawke would be fast asleep, entrusting Levy Hatchenson with the night.
There was no noise. No shouting. No stomp of boots. No cry of seagulls. Only the hushed creaking of the ship and rhythmic slap of water against the bow. Finding her courage, Levy crept close to the tank. Some small part of her hoped the mermaid would be sleeping. Another part wondered if they slept at all. She wouldn’t know, having purposely avoided the tank the past few nights.
She stopped a few feet away, finding herself unable to take the last few steps that would bring her right up the edge of the tank. There was no expelling the drop of fear that had remained since earlier in the day. It stuck in her chest like splinter. Just under the skin. Ever present.
Swallowing, Levy reached into the bag, harvesting a glassy-eyed fish from its depths. Unceremoniously and without warning, she chucked the fish into the tank, wincing at the splash. A bomb might as well have gone off. She stiffened, preparing for the clatter of boots and shouting that would follow her treason.
Hushed creaking. Rhythmic water. Silence.
The tension eased from her shoulders only enough to allow her to move again. Which she did. Far away from the tank. She made her way to the railing, dropping the bag at her feet as she relished in the cool night breeze and sorted her thoughts out. Her brain was a tangled mess, had been since the mermaid had first appeared. The knots had only grown when he’d spoken. When he’d gotten angry. Had that been anger? Offense maybe? Did mermaids possess the same spectrum of emotions as humans?
Levy sighed, slumping against the railing and letting the exhaustion grow heavier in her limbs. If her mother could see her now what would she say? She tried to picture her mother’s face, but the memory was blurred and warped. Twelve years would do that, she supposed.
Would her mother be happy for her? Probably not. At least, not bursting with the same joy she might have been if Levy had found a husband, had a baby, sang and danced and cooked just as her mother did. But Levy had something not many of her people did anymore: freedom.
Propping her chin in her hand, Levy stared out over the waves, their ripples hemmed in silver moonlight. “He’s right,” she grumbled, thoughts trailing back to the mermaid, “I don’t see the sunlight. But the moon’s prettier anyway.”
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