Mermaids (but not like in the same verse as the first one)etothepiiJune 12 2011, 10:32:20 UTC
holy shit i just watched pirates and it has mermaids in it and like yeah. so i guess it's sort of set in like whatever too since idk i felt like it and mythological creatures are way scarier when you don't have things like radar and motors and stuff. also, then pirates. so, 1650's to 1730's according to wikipedia
They are on their tenth night at sea, running escort for a merchant vessel, when the winds die. Not die down, not slow, not fade: die, as if strangled and drowned by Poseidon himself, leaving the three ships (one merchant, and two belonging to the Royal Navy) still in the water.
John is barely twenty-four and this is his first journey across the seas, and that is his only excuse when he sees his crewmates start to cross themselves, and he only asks, "What? What is it?"
But no one has to answer, because suddenly there's a scream -- a high, feminine, panicked scream, shouting for help. John throws himself at the railing, and --
With only the stars and light of a crescent moon to see by, John can't do much more than barely make out the figure of the woman, flailing in the water near the bow of the merchant ship. "There's a girl! A girl in the water! She must have fallen overboard!"
He turns to grab a rope -- or to lower the dinghy -- when the first mate halts him with a slap to the chest.
"This isn't the coast, boy," the man says. "And that's no girl."
Which is ridiculous, which is nonsense, because there's a girl drowning in the water and someone has to help her and if no one else will do it, then he will dive into the ocean and do it himself.
He says as much, and gets a cuff across the head for his troubles.
"Just watch," the first mate says grimly, nodded at the girl, because the merchant ship has already sent a dinghy, manned by a handful of men, and it's approaching her now. "They belong to the sea, now."
The boat reaches the girl, blocking her from John's sight, and one of the men reaches into the water to help her into the boat. John jumps when the man falls in and he hears his crewmates start to pray, edging towards the center of their ship, as far from the edges as possible.
He realizes why when he catches a glimpse, just barely, of arms and pale skin and a flash of light reflected into his eyes, before the rest of the men get pulled beneath the ocean as well, leaving only an empty boat bobbing on the surface of the still, still water.
"Like I said," the first mate says, and claps John on the shoulder. "That's no girl. They're already here," he continues, "So there's no more harm in talking about them."
"What are they?" John asks.
The wind picks up, eventually, when the sun rises and John has learned in the dark of night the whispered tales about mermaids, about sirens, about the things that hunt in the oceans and how they are the prey.
Re: Mermaids (but not like in the same verse as the first one)etothepiiJune 12 2011, 11:04:42 UTC
John proves himself in combat when their vessel is attacked by pirates and he, with the rest of the crew, manage to drive them off despite being outgunned and outnumbered, and soon he finds himself serving the crown by chasing pirates, rather than deterring them.
It is much more dangerous than protecting even the fattest of merchant ships. He loves it.
"Be careful," his old captain says, when John tells him of his reassignment. "Where you're going, the ocean's as perilous as the pirates." More so, possibly, because pirates have only ever tried to shoot him. "A sacrifice helps. Give it some blood before it take it from you."
"I'll try my best," John promises.
-- More so, possibly, because pirates have only ever tried to shoot him. They are chasing pirates, a ship flying the pirate flag, when a fog rolls in and the wind stops, reminding John abruptly of the last time he'd been on a ship in the dead of night with nary a breeze against his skin.
But he's older now, older and (he likes to think) wiser, and when the breeze starts again -- weak, nudging their ship towards that of the pirates (he can hear their shouting as they prepare for combat), and the captain shouts, "prepare for combat!", John snatches up his gun and prepares to be boarded.
They win, though John gets a nasty gash in his forearm from a man with a sword.
"Get ready to board the pirate ship," the captain says, gleeful in their victory. They'd had no casualties, and a half-dozen captured prisoners to return to England for trial.
But the fog hasn't lifted, and the wind hasn't started, and something about it makes John frightened, so he says, "Wait. There's something out there."
They'd dumped the dead overboard but freshly-killed bodies sink and there are figures in the water, nearly a dozen of them, circling the pirate ship, spiralling closer and closer to it.
The captain curses when he sees what John sees and turns on one of their captives. "What did you do? What did you do?" he demands, pointing a sword at the man's throat.
"Nothing!" the man says, eyes wide with terror, but John pays barely any attention to their conversation.
There are a dozen people in the water -- ten beautiful women, wearing no clothes, with long, luxurious hair that flows down their backs, and two men, equally beautiful. One of them touches his palm to the hull of the pirate ship and it makes a great snapping noise, one that doesn't stop but instead repeats itself, over and over, as if a dozen things were being broken in two. The remaining pirates on the ship begin shouting.
"You'd better tell us," John says aloud. "Because that's your ship right there, and I don't think it's doing so well."
Re: Mermaids (but not like in the same verse as the first one)etothepiiJune 12 2011, 11:40:05 UTC
The pirates are smugglers, and it turns out their cargo is mermaid hide, the thick, scaled hide from their tails that guarantee its wearer Poseidon's favor and good fortune in the sea.
Real mermaid hide. John had always thought it was the skin of some other reptile, sold to the gullible. Apparently not.
The pirate ship is half-sunk, and the mermaids wait in a circle around it patiently, reminding John of vultures waiting for their prey to die. Or, in this case, to touch the water.
"They're not letting us leave," one of John's crewmates says, when the ship has gone and the mermaids have moved, instead, to circle around their ship. He gives a tuneless whistle, then laughs nervously.
"What do they want?" John asks, but he has a sinking feeling he already knows.
"The captives," the captain says, confirming his feelings. "They want everyone on that ship. We must sacrifice them."
"We can't!" John protests. "We're not murderers."
"I'd rather be a murderer than a dead man," someone mutters, and the crew rumbles assent.
"Look," John says desperately, moving between the rest of the crew and the captives. "They haven't attacked us yet, so there has to be more to it than just wanting to kill us."
"He still has their hide!" A captive shouts behind him, looking at one of the other pirates. "He's hoarding it!"
A search (a violent search, conducted by twenty panicking men) turns up the square of the hide in question, as well as an amulet with bones, worn under his clothes (they look like fish bones, but no one can be sure).
In the ensuing chaos, the pirate is thrown overboard, necklace and all. John throws the square of mermaid hide into the ocean after him.
"It didn't work," the captain says, when they have waited several minutes and the ship remains still. "Give them the rest of the pirates."
"Wait! No, wait, stop!" John shouts. "It's working, it's working! There were eight around us before! There's only six now! Search the rest of them first!"
They search and find four more pieces -- scraps of hide, ornaments made of bone, a handful of scales that are dull in John's hand but become iridescent with color once he dips them in water. He is the one least afraid of touching them, and it was his idea, so he is the one tasked with returning the items to the ocean.
He throws each thing over the edge of the ship, and with each item, one of the mermaids ducks beneath the surface of the water and doesn't come up again, until there is only one left, the dark-haired merman that had capsized the pirates' vessel, watching him solemnly.
"What do you want?" John asks softly, because that had been all they'd found. There was nothing left.
There is a shout from behind him, an ecstatic shout. "The wind! The wind's coming back!"
Cheers break out amongst the rest of the crew as the fog begins to clear and the sails begin to fill, and John remembers, Give it some blood before it take it from you.
He slices into the palm of his right hand, letting the blood well up, and tips a handful of drops over the water. The wind blows it away from the ship.
"Thank you," John says into the wind as the merman disappears beneath the water.
There NEEDS to be more of this story, because this is amazing and it deserves to have like a hundred more chapters written about it. Then I would read it like crazy and be all joyful and giddy about it. I now also have Jolly Sailor Bold stuck in my head, but that's alright, it's a good song. thank you for writing this awesome stuff!
They are on their tenth night at sea, running escort for a merchant vessel, when the winds die. Not die down, not slow, not fade: die, as if strangled and drowned by Poseidon himself, leaving the three ships (one merchant, and two belonging to the Royal Navy) still in the water.
John is barely twenty-four and this is his first journey across the seas, and that is his only excuse when he sees his crewmates start to cross themselves, and he only asks, "What? What is it?"
But no one has to answer, because suddenly there's a scream -- a high, feminine, panicked scream, shouting for help. John throws himself at the railing, and --
With only the stars and light of a crescent moon to see by, John can't do much more than barely make out the figure of the woman, flailing in the water near the bow of the merchant ship. "There's a girl! A girl in the water! She must have fallen overboard!"
He turns to grab a rope -- or to lower the dinghy -- when the first mate halts him with a slap to the chest.
"This isn't the coast, boy," the man says. "And that's no girl."
Which is ridiculous, which is nonsense, because there's a girl drowning in the water and someone has to help her and if no one else will do it, then he will dive into the ocean and do it himself.
He says as much, and gets a cuff across the head for his troubles.
"Just watch," the first mate says grimly, nodded at the girl, because the merchant ship has already sent a dinghy, manned by a handful of men, and it's approaching her now. "They belong to the sea, now."
The boat reaches the girl, blocking her from John's sight, and one of the men reaches into the water to help her into the boat. John jumps when the man falls in and he hears his crewmates start to pray, edging towards the center of their ship, as far from the edges as possible.
He realizes why when he catches a glimpse, just barely, of arms and pale skin and a flash of light reflected into his eyes, before the rest of the men get pulled beneath the ocean as well, leaving only an empty boat bobbing on the surface of the still, still water.
"Like I said," the first mate says, and claps John on the shoulder. "That's no girl. They're already here," he continues, "So there's no more harm in talking about them."
"What are they?" John asks.
The wind picks up, eventually, when the sun rises and John has learned in the dark of night the whispered tales about mermaids, about sirens, about the things that hunt in the oceans and how they are the prey.
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It is much more dangerous than protecting even the fattest of merchant ships. He loves it.
"Be careful," his old captain says, when John tells him of his reassignment. "Where you're going, the ocean's as perilous as the pirates." More so, possibly, because pirates have only ever tried to shoot him. "A sacrifice helps. Give it some blood before it take it from you."
"I'll try my best," John promises.
--
More so, possibly, because pirates have only ever tried to shoot him.
They are chasing pirates, a ship flying the pirate flag, when a fog rolls in and the wind stops, reminding John abruptly of the last time he'd been on a ship in the dead of night with nary a breeze against his skin.
But he's older now, older and (he likes to think) wiser, and when the breeze starts again -- weak, nudging their ship towards that of the pirates (he can hear their shouting as they prepare for combat), and the captain shouts, "prepare for combat!", John snatches up his gun and prepares to be boarded.
They win, though John gets a nasty gash in his forearm from a man with a sword.
"Get ready to board the pirate ship," the captain says, gleeful in their victory. They'd had no casualties, and a half-dozen captured prisoners to return to England for trial.
But the fog hasn't lifted, and the wind hasn't started, and something about it makes John frightened, so he says, "Wait. There's something out there."
They'd dumped the dead overboard but freshly-killed bodies sink and there are figures in the water, nearly a dozen of them, circling the pirate ship, spiralling closer and closer to it.
The captain curses when he sees what John sees and turns on one of their captives. "What did you do? What did you do?" he demands, pointing a sword at the man's throat.
"Nothing!" the man says, eyes wide with terror, but John pays barely any attention to their conversation.
There are a dozen people in the water -- ten beautiful women, wearing no clothes, with long, luxurious hair that flows down their backs, and two men, equally beautiful. One of them touches his palm to the hull of the pirate ship and it makes a great snapping noise, one that doesn't stop but instead repeats itself, over and over, as if a dozen things were being broken in two. The remaining pirates on the ship begin shouting.
"You'd better tell us," John says aloud. "Because that's your ship right there, and I don't think it's doing so well."
Reply
Real mermaid hide. John had always thought it was the skin of some other reptile, sold to the gullible. Apparently not.
The pirate ship is half-sunk, and the mermaids wait in a circle around it patiently, reminding John of vultures waiting for their prey to die. Or, in this case, to touch the water.
"They're not letting us leave," one of John's crewmates says, when the ship has gone and the mermaids have moved, instead, to circle around their ship. He gives a tuneless whistle, then laughs nervously.
"What do they want?" John asks, but he has a sinking feeling he already knows.
"The captives," the captain says, confirming his feelings. "They want everyone on that ship. We must sacrifice them."
"We can't!" John protests. "We're not murderers."
"I'd rather be a murderer than a dead man," someone mutters, and the crew rumbles assent.
"Look," John says desperately, moving between the rest of the crew and the captives. "They haven't attacked us yet, so there has to be more to it than just wanting to kill us."
"He still has their hide!" A captive shouts behind him, looking at one of the other pirates. "He's hoarding it!"
A search (a violent search, conducted by twenty panicking men) turns up the square of the hide in question, as well as an amulet with bones, worn under his clothes (they look like fish bones, but no one can be sure).
In the ensuing chaos, the pirate is thrown overboard, necklace and all. John throws the square of mermaid hide into the ocean after him.
"It didn't work," the captain says, when they have waited several minutes and the ship remains still. "Give them the rest of the pirates."
"Wait! No, wait, stop!" John shouts. "It's working, it's working! There were eight around us before! There's only six now! Search the rest of them first!"
They search and find four more pieces -- scraps of hide, ornaments made of bone, a handful of scales that are dull in John's hand but become iridescent with color once he dips them in water. He is the one least afraid of touching them, and it was his idea, so he is the one tasked with returning the items to the ocean.
He throws each thing over the edge of the ship, and with each item, one of the mermaids ducks beneath the surface of the water and doesn't come up again, until there is only one left, the dark-haired merman that had capsized the pirates' vessel, watching him solemnly.
"What do you want?" John asks softly, because that had been all they'd found. There was nothing left.
There is a shout from behind him, an ecstatic shout. "The wind! The wind's coming back!"
Cheers break out amongst the rest of the crew as the fog begins to clear and the sails begin to fill, and John remembers, Give it some blood before it take it from you.
He slices into the palm of his right hand, letting the blood well up, and tips a handful of drops over the water. The wind blows it away from the ship.
"Thank you," John says into the wind as the merman disappears beneath the water.
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oh my god
candle
STOP BEING SO AWESOME JESUS FUCKING CHRIST OKAY
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That? Was awesome! Sherlock is fucking perfect as a scary merman!
Now the next part where John falls into the water and THINGS HAPPEN :DD!
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