"Can we eat it?"
"I don't know, but we're at the point where even our shoes look tasty.."
"We have to ask the captain, idiot!"
The crewmates' chatter was interrupted by a thundering voice.
"What must you ask of me?" the captain, a fierce woman by the name of Alice Kirkland exclaimed, having just come up from her cabin. She had been resting, as the boat was anchored for the day.
"Captain!" The men replied quickly, saluting her and straightening where they stood. "We were fishing and we caught something very out of the usual, m'am!"
"Hmm," murmured Alice, frowning as she went over to inspect.
Within the tangles of the net lay a.. a person? That's what Alice thought, at first. Tanned and smooth skin was visible beneath the thinner black ties of the net, and she reached down to touch it. Doing so apparently woke whatever was resting within, as the net began to flip and shake suddenly. Before Alice could even order her men to hold down the rampant contents of the net, said net was flipped away, and the creature became untangled.
That it was, a creature. The top half appeared to be that of a naked woman, whereas the bottom half was that of a fish, with blue scales leading up her belly. She had a long and matted clump of blonde hair, too, that looked in desperate need of some combing. But most importantly, she was still moving about aggressively, trying to hide from the terribly confused pirates around her.
"A mermaid.." mumbled Alice, staring down at the being with curiosity in her lime green eyes. Well, eye. One of them was covered with an eyepatch. "I've only read about them in old lore books.."
"Surely this can't be-" one of the crewmembers whimpered, backing away in fright. "It's a siren of the sea! Quick, we must get rid of it!"
"You shall do no such thing, you hear me?" Alice snarled, turning to face her inferior with fire in her expression. "The poor creature is more scared of us than we are of her."
The mermaid seemed to vaguely understand, and lamely nodded her head, tail flapping aimlessly against the wood of the deck. Alice crouched in front of her, frowning.
"Will you dry out if you are up here for too long?" she asked quietly, resting her elbows on her knees. The mermaid nodded. "Right then. Men, fetch me a rowboat!"
She had to admit, this mermaid was actually quite beautiful. Then again, the legends had said that all mermaids were spectacular and gorgeous creatures, thin with long flowing hair and pale alabaster skin. This one was quite stout, darker tanned skin and a knotted mane. Perhaps the legends weren't accurate at all.
Using all of her strength, Alice scooped up the chubby mermaid, and carried her across the deck to where a few crewmembers were readying a rowboat for her, as ordered. In her arms, the creature was making weak bubbling noises and clinging on for dear life. She sat in the boat as the men lowered it, having placed the strange creature down as well. When the mermaid rolled over a little and her hair shifted, Alice noted a small set of gills on either side of her throat. Ah, it made sense now.
As the boat touched down in the water, Alice tried to usher the mermaid into the water. "Come on, you would dry out should you stay upon my ship. Off you hop." The mermaid hesitated, just staring down at the water with longing blue eyes. "You can clearly swim, so off you get." insisted Alice.
As if trying to explain, the creature flipped her tail a little more, and pet at it with one chubby hand. Alice leant forward, and examined. One of the mermaid's fins was torn at the tip, and it looked rather nasty.
"You can't swim with that injury, can you?" murmured Alice, frowning. "Would you be able to float if something was holding you up?" The mermaid looked up in thought for a moment, before nodding. And so, she offered her hands.
The mermaid stared at them for a moment, tilting her head. "You put your hands in mine, alright?" Alice sighed, flexing her fingers a little to show. The creature slowly did as instructed. "Okay, I'm going to help you into the water for now." Being very careful, Alice moved her hands to the side and gently aided the mermaid's tail into the water, and then the rest of her body. She made sure to hold on tightly.
"Now, don't let go of my hands, alright?" Alice sighed quietly. "Can you talk? You seem to understand what I'm saying."
"Yup!"
It was an accent like Alice had never heard before, and she was very shocked to hear the mermaid speak at all. "O-oh, that's good. What's your name? I'm Captain Alice Kirkland of the Blue Unicorn."
"Amelia," she said quietly, puffing out her cheeks. "Hello Captain-Alice-Kirkland-of-the-Blue-Unicorn."
"Just call me Alice." she laughed. "The Blue Unicorn's my ship. I must say, I've been very intrigued in the concept of mermaids since I was just a little girl."
"I'm not very interested in humans," retorted Amelia, blunt and unknowingly offensive.
"Fair enough," Alice nodded weakly. "So, what happened to your fin?.."
"Human," the mermaid muttered sourly, trying to flick it beneath the water, and frowning; it did not kick like it used to. "A pirate, not a nice one like you." Alice raised one of her thick brows. Amelia thought she was nice? Not many people would ever associate such a word with Alice Kirkland. Then again, Amelia had not seen her in battle.
"How awful." Alice sighed quietly, looking down to the bobbing mermaid. "Do you know his name?"
"No," pouted Amelia. "He kept me locked up, smelled funny, and tried to touch me in places."
"I think I may know who you're talking about." Alice sighed quietly.
Amelia nodded lamely. "And I tried to escape his ship, and one of his underhumans threw a sharp stick at me."
"It would be a spear or harpoon," mumbled Alice, rubbing the top of Amelia's hand with her thumb. "And the man in question is probably Francis Bonnefoy. He does not deserve the title of 'captain'."
"Yeah.." Amelia mumbled, looking down and frowning.
"You don't have anywhere to go, do you?.." Alice sighed quietly, looking to the mermaid with a pitiful gaze. "If you wish, you can stay aboard my ship until your fin has healed." Seemingly shy, Amelia lowered herself in the water a touch, hiding her mouth and blowing bubbles in the water. She acted like a child.
Alice frowned. "I can understand if you resent pirates, but I assure you, I am nothing like Bonnefoy." Amelia meekly nodded, and pulled herself up so that she could talk.
"How'd I be able to stay on board?.. I'd dry out and get sick.."
"A washtub can be put aside for you and filled with seawater. You would be able to soak and whatnot. And the water could be changed whenever we're anchored or going slow." Alice said after a moment of thought.
"Okay, that sounds good," Amelia dipped her head slightly. "Can we sort that out now?"
"Of course. Here, hold on tight." Alice squeezed Amelia's hands in her own, and tried to tug the mermaid back onto the rowboat. It seemed that their hands, as they had been close to the water, had become wet and slippery, and Amelia escaped Alice's grasp for a moment, dropping into the ocean below.
Panicking, Alice leant forward, throwing her head underwater and managing to grab Amelia from beneath the arms, and tried to lift with all she had. Amelia was too bloody heavy for Alice to lift back up, and she had not exactly readied herself for this. On that note, she could not swim. Alice vaguely heard splashes in the water around her before blacking out.
HELLO AND YES I KNOW I SHOULD BE WORKING ON SPARKS FLY. BUT IM NOT. HERE I AM. MERMAID FIC AHAHAh. i fucking love fem!usuk. not like nyotalia. femtalia. like canary's on tumblr. that one. this was mainly inspired by a picture canary drew of these guys as captain and mermaid and honestly im in love with the au. holy balls. anyway uhh let the mermaidy goodness begin!
