My second attempt at Sea Devil, my precious babies! I apologize for any mistakes, it's really bad to edit when you're falling asleep every few paragraphs, but I promised to get this up tonight no matter what. Thank you ninathewriter from tumblr for the prompt! I hope I did them justice for you.
Ursula trailed behind a tall cloud of black and white fur, desperate to pretend it was anything other than a dead animal currently draped across her extravagant friend. She hated to admit that she was used to the sight by now, no longer affected by the implications or the fact that it almost became an endearing extension of Cruella's being.
They passed though the doorway into a poorly lit room. She could see Cruella eyeing up the outdoor smoking area policy that she would surely ignore later on. In her search for a drink, Cruella had earlier discovered a place called The Rabbit Hole.
Ursula wrinkled her nose in disgust as they made their way inside.
Her companion never faltered a step, but Ursula was tempted to turn around nearly immediately. She knew her own taste was not exactly diamonds and thousand dollar bottles of wine, but she felt she deserved a little better than this mix of sweaty men and half-dressed young girls she was sure didn't meet the legal age to be there.
Surely there had to be a liquor store nearby where she could purchase Cruella all the gin she could drink, and they could take it back to their shared room at the cabin for a nice quiet evening of catching up. Ursula found her mind drifting to the thought of how snuggly Cruella could become when she had her gin, and she was again tempted by the idea of going where they could be alone and she could allow herself to enjoy every offered touch.
But of course, if it didn't bother Cruella, she could not let on that it bothered her.
As an added thought to her own puzzling fantasies, Ursula decided it made no sense for her to want her friend touching her at all, and quickly shook the thought from her mind altogether.
"You really can't make it through the day without your gin, can you?" Ursula rolled her eyes as she spoke, but did little to cover her knowing grin over how predictable her friend could be in everyday situations.
"Dahling, you know I wouldn't be the same without it. It's tragic enough I had to wait until we found this dingy little hole in the wall. I nearly felt myself starting to grow sober," Cruella drawled, eyes twinkling with mirth.
It was a bit of a joke between them that Cruella loved her liquor a tad too much. She wasn't truly drunk all the time—though, Ursula suspected that she wished she could be. She just preferred a little indulging in her life.
Sometimes a lot of indulging.
Definitely more indulging than Ursula had any interest in experiencing.
"Come on, then. Let's get you to the bar before I have to carry you there because your gin-powered energy has gotten too low," she teased.
Cruella managed to find two open seats at the bar, which considering the sparsity of the crowd sans for a slightly larger group congregating around a pool table, was only a slightly impressive feat. Both sat down, Cruella lowering her coat past her shoulders to counteract the heat of the cramped establishment, though she never removed it completely.
Ursula barely batted an eye when Cruella took the liberty of ordering for them both. She knew the older woman always liked to be in control of things between them, and she had no objections to the choices made. Maleficent had always been at the helm of them, in a way, acting as the one who had to make the final call when an agreement couldn't be met. Tonight, though she was back, she was off with Regina doing things she definitely did not want to even think about. This left them free to do as they pleased, which was really doing as Cruella pleased, given Ursula's weakness for appeasing her every whim.
Sometimes she wondered if it was really just Cruella using her powers of control on her to make her go along with things, but the other woman swore she had no intentions of ever doing so. Still, there had to be some explanation for her constant need to please her companion.
She was sure she could figure it out if she put her mind to it, but it didn't seem necessary as the bartender set one of Cruella's favorite dry martinis down in front of her and she felt herself reaching out to take a sip.
Ursula ignored the fact that she wasn't even fond of gin.
Cruella believed she loved it, as Ursula never wanted to crush the other woman's fascination with the beverage, to the point where sometimes she forgot she had any distaste for it at all herself.
"What do you think Mal has gotten up to with Regina this evening?" Cruella asked after emptying half her glass, not even trying to hide the suggestion from her tone.
"Given the way she was eyeing her up all last night, I'm sure you'll want to be getting your car cleaned tomorrow."
"How delightful." Cruella grimaced.
Ursula snorted and took another sip of the drink she forgot she disliked, watching Cruella all the while.
The other woman was glancing around the bar, drink in hand, with her face wrinkled in distaste as she finally noticed the company they were in. Ursula was well aware of the kind of standards Cruella held herself to, and this was most certainly not within that realm.
The black and white haired lady swiveled in her seat to better face Ursula and sighed. She tried not to watch as Cruella raised one tightly leather-clad leg and crossed it over the other. She knew she wasn't very successful at diverting her eyes, but was hopeful Cruella hadn't noticed.
"See something you like?"
Apparently she had noticed. Ursula blushed.
"Just wondering how you plan to get those legs of yours out of those pants tonight," she countered quickly, desperate to recover.
Ursula wasn't sure what was coming over her tonight—she had never been so flustered over Cruella before, had she? There had been a great deal of time since they last saw each other, but if anything, that should have made things seem more distant between them. Instead, all she felt was an urge to be closer than ever before.
"I assume, dahling, that I will have some help," Cruella drawled in that deep raspy voice that resembled gravel slowed down by a steady flow of honey.
Ursula said nothing if she felt a pang in her chest at the words.
"Scoping for men already? Really, Cru, are you even divorced yet?"
Cruella eyed her curiously for a moment, almost as if she was trying to figure something out in that oddly secretive head of hers. Finally she spoke, as if saying any other off handed comment and not discussing her current marriage, "Please, husband number four is as good as dead to me. You saw those animals drag him and my money away. Storybrooke may not be Long Island, but surely there are a few rich bachelors still within my reach."
"In a place like this?"
"Ursula dahling, this is precisely the kind of place you find a man desperate enough to toss you his money."
Ursula couldn't stifle her snort this time. "You would know."
"I don't understand why you haven't tried it. Your life would be so much easier. I'm sure there are many men who would be aching to appease someone of your beauty." Again, Cruella gave her a strange look that she didn't quite grasp the meaning behind.
Again, she opted to ignore it.
"Unlike you, I prefer to work for what I earn," Ursula retorted.
To any prying ears, it may have appeared that they were quarreling, throwing deep blows at one another and taking swipes, but to them it was just another round of friendly banter. Both women were very different, and though they had opinions on what the best way to survive may be, they respected their differing views.
"You think appeasing abhorrent old men is not hard work? I'll have you know, it can be quite exhausting."
"I think I prefer to be exhausted from a hard day of work over a long day of dealing with a not-so-hard penis, Cru."
The older woman's chest rumbled with a deep throaty laughter at that, mirth dancing in her eyes. Ursula felt herself drawn to how free she looked, face all alit and red lips parted in a smile. It was rare for Cruella to let go so freely in public, though to others she was sure her companion still looked unabashedly poised.
"You've got me there," she whispered, holding the eye contact for a moment longer.
Ursula was sad when it ended, but before she could speak up to try and prolong their moment of complete joy, they were interrupted by the sound of a throat being cleared.
At first, Ursula saw no one nearby and was confused by the sound. Leaning slightly away from the bar, she found a short and stout man in desperate need of a shave standing beside Cruella with his chest puffed out.
"I couldn't help noticing you were alone," he began, speaking directly to Cruella. There was a notable slur to his words, though they were still clear enough for Ursula to make out.
"She's not alone," Ursula butted in, annoyed at having been overlooked. She knew Cruella was stunning in her own unique way, but she wasn't exactly invisible next to her.
He looked startled by the interruption, his greasy mouth cringing into a crooked grimace for a moment before returning to what he probably thought was a neutral look. She just found it unattractive, and the amount of sweat on his face was indicative enough to her of all the reasons he shouldn't be allowed any closer.
"What I mean is, you aren't here with a date as far as I can tell," he tried again, looking back at Cruella with the same sly grin as though Ursula had never even spoken up at all.
Ursula felt herself growing annoyed. Why did this man care if Cruella was here on a date? He couldn't possibly think that she would be interested in him, could he?
Ursula found herself troubled by the thought, and she subconsciously scooted closer on her bar stool.
"I'm Leroy." The disgusting man held his sweaty hand out to Cruella. "Can I buy you a drink?"
Ursula expected Cruella to flat out reject him, which is why she nearly fell from her barstool when she heard the other woman agreeing.
It was only because Cruella hated to turn down a free drink, of course. That had to be it.
Ursula felt her heart race when he took the barstool to Cruella's left and sat facing her. She was supposed to be the one getting the other woman's snuggly drunk attention, not him.
"I haven't seen you around here before," he began, still slurring his speech in an unbecoming way that she imagined he used quite frequently. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you came from outside the town."
Cruella laughed to herself but said nothing, apparently intent on keeping that part a secret to avoid any unnecessary suspicion. Rather than commending her friend for the effort, Ursula just wanted to make her laughter stop until it was directed somewhere more worthy.
Ursula tried to continue listening to the conversation, but she was interrupted by a man at her other side, suddenly clearing his throat loudly to evidently get her attention. Annoyed, she turned to face him. He was more attractive than Leroy, even a bit taller, but her interest could not be further from having a conversation with him if she tried.
"I'm not interested," Ursula insisted before he could even greet her. She almost felt bad for the squirrely man, but her attention was meant to be dedicated to Cruella, and she disliked the distraction she was being forced into.
By the time he was gone—which mainly consisted of a defeated look and a painfully slow walk back to the pool table to a bunch of taunting friends—Ursula found she no longer knew what was happening with Cruella. Leroy was speaking to her about himself while slowly reaching out an arm. At the last second, it caught Ursula's attention that he was about to rest it on Cruella's knee.
Overcome all at once, Ursula didn't even need to think as she sprung into action. Two tentacles reached out and wrapped tightly around his waist, not resting until he was ripped from the top of the bar stool and thrown back into a wall with the wind knocked from his lungs.
Silence filled the bar as everyone, including Cruella, began to stare at her in shock. Embarassed with herself, Ursula released the man and turned back to the bar. She finished the drink she disliked in one swift motion, unable to face Cruella.
"What was that?" the other woman finally asked. She was the first one to speak and break the silence, but it seemed to shatter around them and fill with chatter the moment she became the one brave enough to tackle it.
"I didn't like that he was about to touch you." Ursula sniffed.
She peeked over and again, Cruella was giving her that look.
"You know I appreciate that dahling, but I'm more than capable of controlling animals like him myself," Cruella pointed out.
Ursula huffed, unsure who she was most annoyed at in the moment. "That doesn't mean you have to. But fine, next time I'll let some sloppy man run his hands all over you."
Long fingers wrapped over her own and tugged at Ursula's hand. When she looked over, Cruella was standing, and a light tug told her she was intended to follow suit.
"Come with me," was all the explanation Cruella provided.
Despite her embarrassment at attacking the man, Ursula found herself eagerly following Cruella. They went through a back door and stopped outside under a light that flickered every few moments. She could see moths fluttering around it in hypnotized patterns.
Without hesitation, Cruella pulled a cigarette from some hidden compartment of her coat and lit it. Ursula was surprised she had bothered to leave for such a trivial reason until Cruella turned to her and began to speak.
"You are jealous," she stated, point blank.
The admission caught Ursula off guard, and quickly her mind began to work to come up with a defense to such a serious accusation. Only, she found as she searched for the right words to say, that Cruella wasn't exactly wrong.
Was she jealous?
All she had wanted the entire evening was to have Cruella to herself; she wanted to hold her and spend the night curled up on their bed, whispering of the past and all they hoped to accomplish with their ongoing mission. She wanted them to spend the time together, interrupted by no one else for as long as possible.
"Shit, maybe I am," she admitted, dumbfounded by the observation.
Cruella blew out of puff of smoke and grinned at her, Cheshire in design as she pounced. Ursula stood still as Cruella closed in on her, ruby red lips parted in mirth. That familiar look from earlier was back, only now it made sense. Cruella had known she was jealous all evening, and apparently, she enjoyed it.
Slowly, Cruella dropped her cigarette to the ground and stepped the rest of the way in, stopping only when her lips were just inches away from Ursula's. The scent of gin and tobacco mingled in her senses; something she would normally find so repulsive was like a perfume to Cruella, and for that reason she found herself addicted.
Ursula pushed herself the rest of the way, and their lips met in a kiss that made her mind explode with realizations of what she had wanted all along but never even realized she was missing. She reached out her tentacles to pull Cruella closer against her, indulging herself in the feel of the other woman's body as she slid her tentacles up and down in appraisal.
Cruella pulled back and smirked against her mouth. "Yes, dahling, I would say you were definitely jealous. Though really, you have no reason to be. I've wanted nothing more than to kiss you all night."
As if propelled by the admission, Ursula pulled her into a kiss once more.
She could deal with her confusion over everything she was experiencing later on. For now, she was holding Cruella, kissing her, and taking every ounce of her in that she could.
For now, everything just felt right and she had no interest in taking that feeling away.