Marine Iguana
Title: Marine Iguana
Author: Sparrbecuecook
Pairing: PotC x Master&Commander
Rating: PG to R
Spoilers: none (AU, pre-CotBP-ish)
Summary: Out of control drabble on Galapagos island inhabitants, inspired by a gorgeous picture created by
justawench.
Disclaimer:
Ragetti: Well I say it was divine providence what distracted the mouse.
Pintel: And I say... it was the authoress disclaiming. Ain't that right, poochie?
Ragetti: Well how'dya know it weren't divine providence what inspired her to disclaim? Anyways, she ain't makin' no money.
Pintel: She ain't stealin'. She's savaging! And since when did you care?
Ragetti: Since fanfiction's immoral no more. We gotta take care of our piratey roles.
Pintel: You know she can't write.
Ragetti: It's PotC. You get credit for trying.
Marine Iguana
The little, arm-long iguanas jumped boldly into the water and slithered out towards their feeding grounds of algae on the rocks, tails twitching, fore- and hindlegs pressed in streamline to the body. Others remained sitting on the shore of dark volcanic rock, warming up after a numbing coldwater swim. They did not flee, not even move out of the way, when Dr Maturin carefully stepped over them, although they'd scamper for the nearest crevice any time a buzzard would be flying overhead, as quickly as their cooled-down bodies would allow. The buzzards in turn would perch upon a rock and allow the human naturalist to approach to nearly arm's length before so much as sparing him a glance. These guileless creatures obviously did not know that humans posed a threat. Stephen hadn't yet made up his mind about Lamarck's theory of inheritable adaptation, but it was obvious to him that these islands' inhabitants were somehow akin to those of the mainland, while differring slightly or sometimes considerably in feeding patterns, behaviour, or built. Or all of those. Closely examining crabs and mussels, the doctor rounded a largish boulder, when suddenly he saw the most extraordinary sight he could ever have imagined, which could well promote him onto the board of the Royal Society if he'd collect it and bring it to Britain. The creature's upper body was human-like, with long dark hair streaming down the back, held back by a sort of bandana of faded red dulse, partly braided, and intervoven with all kinds of shells. The lower half however was more like a fish-tail, shiny, scaly and sleek. The creature was standing propped up on its tail, supporting itself whith human-like arms on a boulder and looking out to sea, where captain Norrington's ship, the Intrepid lay, waiting for the meeting with Aubrey and the Surprise. When Groves, walking behind him, uttered "That must be the most beautiful creature I have ever seen", the being in question looked over its shoulder towards them and graced them with a charming smile of pearly teeth.
"You will remove that from my deck immediately." Captain Norrington wore his stonemost face again while addressing Dr Maturin. The 'it' in question had meanwhile extricated itself from the net they had used to haul it aboard, was grinning happily at sailors giving cat-calls, and taking in its new surroundings with outright curiosity. It was young, Dr Maturin estimated from the beardless face. "It's bad luck having merfolk on board, mark my words" uttered able seaman Gibbs somewhere in the background, nervously glancing around if any more of the sort would pop up. "One kiss she gives you, and you follow her into your watery grave." "Mr Gibbs, that's enough." Norrington snapped, while most of the sailors retreated a step or two, muttering uneasily. "Captain, Sir, I believe it is male." the doctor observed drily, for, while practically crawling into a prettily blushing lieutenant Groves' breeches, the merperson showed definitely male signs of arousal in its nether regions. "That is, of course, if they have clearly distinct genders at all and are not hermaphrodites like many gastropods." Being met with blank looks, he explained: "That would be slugs." Wiping his glasses, the doctor added: "I should very much like to investiga...", stopping dead when he saw that the captain had drawn his sword and was pointing it at the precious creature. "Hands off there! On your feet... tail."
The merperson smiled like a child that had been handed a new toy, poking the shiny sword with a fingertip, yelping when blood welled up and sticking the cut fingertip into its mouth. It seemed to be pouting. Groves gasped. Captain Norrington genuinely melted.
Two days later the doctor was sitting in his cabin, drawing the newly discovered species from his memory. "Our first and foremost goal is hunting pirates - French pirates -, not taking in odd and weird creatures that may cause unease amongst the crew. This specimen will leave at dawn." Hell yes, and all night, the captain had 'investigated' said specimen, aided only by lieutenant Groves and noone else. The moans ... If only Aubrey were here. Mostly lost in thought, shuffling paper, the doctor noticed that his earlier sketches were missing, including those of "the captain and the merman" he had drawn during the night to take his mind off the background noises from the great cabin and the racket of that little monkey, Hector, which he'd picked up in the Caribbean, and which that night had discovered his stored coca leaves. Or whoever else might have opened the leather pouch with the stimulating drug.
On the beach, one sleek and scaled creature was frantically trying to preserve the unscrolled drawings, but its well-meant dousings of sea-water, brushings, and artificial respiration did not help at all. When the ink had run and the paper was dissolving, he decided to try algae for eye-green, coral-chalk for whig-white, octopus-ink for the coat. He became quite good at it. What he really would have loved was that the newly-drift-ins would return.