Okay, so I wrote a Mermaid!Jim and Pirate!Claire au thing for the Daylight December stuff on Tumblr, but I couldn't get the idea out of my head.
So I decided to write thing instead of doing anything else with my free time :) lol
I want to state though that this was inspired by an artist on Tumblr that drew this AU a little while ago, and if I can find them, I'll tag them. But I wanted to make that clear. This is not my original idea. What I write around it is, but the concept itself is not.
I hope you guys enjoy this! I'm really tempted to start writing a story about this idea so let me know if I should! I've been feeling a little uninspired with a few of my stories so maybe something knew to spark my fire might help. I'll leave that up to you guys though.
Much love, mates!
All my life, I felt like a wolf in sheep clothing. An outcast among outcasts in the port city of Acadia Oaks.
I shouldn't feel like such when I have good company, but I had my reasonings.
I swallowed dryly before leaning against the table. The loud tavern was raging with excitement as my best friend Toby was sitting across from me.
I honestly shouldn't be here. Not on a Saturday night when all the trappers and sailers come through and have their pints before setting sail once more.
My leg jittered anxiously under the table as I heard the familiar wails and calls of drunken sailors behind me.
"Jim." I snapped my head up as Toby just gave me a soft look. "You need to relax."
"Relax?" I nearly snapped toward my friend as I glanced around the tavern. "How am I suppose to relax if these fuckers are near?" I whispered out the question as I grabbed my cup with both hands and gave the rim of it my full attention.
"Just calm down. They can't tell anything about you anyway. Well. As long as no one pours water on you." I gave him a glare as I tightened my grip on the cup before me.
"Please don't say that out loud."
"What? No one is gonna understand me. Even then, I don't think they've ever heard of a halfling." Toby whispered out his reply as he gave me a cheeky grin. "Even then, Darci told me she's got a friend coming into town that she wanting us to meet." Toby's smile softened as he grabbed his cup and raised it to his lips. "Just gotta talk with her a little and then you can high tail it out of here as soon as you want."
"Do you even know anything about this person?"
"Besides the fact that she's one of Darci's oldest friends? Not much really. But you know Darci. She wouldn't put you in danger."
"She wouldn't put you in danger. She made that very clear to me." I grumbled a little as my state went sour about my friend's girlfriend.
"You really don't care for her, do you?"
"I don't quite care for anyone that holds a knife to my neck with a net in hand."
"We've been over this, Jim. She thought you were a siren."
"Well, she might have been half right. Didn't mean the lady deserved the right to hold a god damn knife to my neck."
"You're just jealous I got a girl and you don't." I rolled my eyes at his childish tone as he brought his cup to his lips once more. "How are ya on that front anyway? Anyone catch your eye yet? Doctor Lake must be on the edge of her seat waiting for you to bring something home to her." I blushed at the thought before drumming my thumbs on the sides of the cup as my nerves were somehow even more on edge than ever before.
"No." I mumbled the simple word before bringing my cup to my lips to take a nervous sip from the cup. The alcohol within the wooden cup burning my throat as I prayed for it to calm my anxious nerves.
"Ya telling me no one has caught your eye? Absolutely no one?" I swallowed dryly as I knew my human friend was shocked at the idea.
"Well, one has always tainted my mind." I gave him a nervous smile as he just looked at me like I was insane.
"Jim, you didn't even know that girl's name and she was the daughter of a trapper. Unless your desperate to be someone's Romeo, I suggest putting that childhood crush of yours aside." I grabbed the small mug before more and brought it up to my lips as my mind went amuck.
I fell in love with a girl that freed me from her own family's trapping vessel when I was only seven years old. I could still remember her soft hazel eyes with little purple flakes that danced within them as well as her soft voice that could be compared to a siren's song.
I never got her name, true, but no one I have ever met since could compare to the beauty my tanned and dark-haired savior from all those years ago.
But I guess that's what I get for being something, was as people called it within Arcadia, went against the laws of nature. Only naturally I would be attached to someone that I would possibly only meet again in another lifetime.
"Welcome to the tavern, miss. May I ask to see your hands."
"Certainly." I turned my head when I heard a hardened but somehow angelic voice behind me. The woman pulling her purple clothed gloves off her hands was stunning to say the very least. The lantern lights somehow giving the woman justice as it shined against her dark hair and seemingly naturally tan skin. It was obvious by her attire though, that she was no normal patron. The dark leather captain's hat upon her head and the faded white tunic blouse that was tucked into a pair of dark britches were enough for me alone to know she was a pirate of some sorts. That wasn't tied in at least the long sword scaffold tied tight around her waist as well as the pistol that was kept tight against her right thigh.
But I knew she was even more unique than before as the tavern keep's eyes widen at the sight of her palms.
"You're marked." He said it in disbelief as she just simply slipped her gloved back onto her hands. "You're a witch!" She held her hands up as glanced around to see that she was gathering even more than just my attention from the other patrons within the tavern.
"I mean you no harm. I will even give you my gun and sword if you want me to. That is," She gave the tavern keep a cheeky smile as she kept her hands up defensively. "If give me your word you'll give 'em back to me."
"What are you here for, witch."
"Just a drink and a talk. That's all. My crew and I are just passing through anyway. Gathering supplies and leaving toward our next adventure before you can even gather a pyre." She laughed a little to herself as I felt my jaw nearly dropped at her confidence.
This woman has the gall to enter a human tavern and say that of all things to the keeper of it? She truly has no fear, does she?
The bar keep gave her a once over before pulling out a cup from under the counter and giving a skeptical look.
"What's your poison then, ma'am?"
"Gin and tonic. Just half though. Like I said. I don't plan on staying long." The keep did her order as she asked before passing it to her. "How much?"
"Six gold pieces." I could tell that the man was haggling with her since it was twice as much as I heard anyone pay for such a drink, but she didn't seem to want to fight with the man. She simply pulled out a small number of pieces of gold and dropped it on the counter before grabbing her cup.
"Thank ya very much, mate." She turned and scoped out the room before I heard Toby mutter something across the table toward me.
"That's her." I turned my head toward him as he just gave me a large smile in return. "She's really something, right? Darci told me she was a force to be reckoned with, but I didn't know she meant that her friend was a god damn witch pirate." He chuckled to himself as I heard a small sound of footsteps appear beside me. I turned toward the sound to be greeted with the witch standing beside our table with a lopsided grin that caused my stomach to nearly drop at the sight.
Sweet lord Posideon, she's beautiful.
Her high cheekbones and sloppy smile made the woman seem as if she was a siren on two feet. Her hazel eyes shining in the lantern lighting with small flakes of purple and gold swirling within them.
But she also had this eerie feeling to her. As if I knew her from somewhere before.
If I had ever seen her before though.
I swallowed dryly as I felt a blush take over the top of my cheeks.
I'm pretty sure I would remember it.
"You two must be Tobias and James, right? Darci told me to look out for a young man with red hair hanging around another decked out in blue and white."
"That would be us! I'm Tobias. I go by Toby though." I kept my eyes on the woman as she took my friend's extended hand as her smile only grew. "Nice to meet ya."
"Nice to meet ya as well. The name's Claire Maria. Second Captain of the Skathe-Hrün." My eyes widened at the familiar name.
"You mean-." She turned her attention toward me as her smile nearly reached her eyes at this point.
"That answers my next question." She brought her cup that was resting in her hand up to her mouth and took a quick swig of it. "Nice to meet you, James."
"Nice to meet you." My voice nearly cracked as my heart nearly stopped at the smile she gave me after.
"Mind if I take the seat next to ya? It's been a while since I've sat down on solid land." Without giving her an actual answer, I scooted over before she took the seat beside me with a small thank you. "Darci told me you were," She hesitated for a moment as she placed her cup onto the table. "Special, to say the least."
"That's the nicest way I heard it be said." She laughed a little at that as I kept my chest tightened.
"You know, I like you already." I smiled toward her as she gave me a smile in reply.
"What brings you to Arcadia? Are you really just gathering supplies and heading out?" She turned her attention toward Toby as a smirk graced her face.
"Not exactly, no." She pulled the glove off her right and placed the back of her hand onto the table so that Toby and I could see a branding scar on her palm. One that I was all too familiar with since I have heard the tales of the mythical Le Fay crew as a young child. "I'm apart of the Le Fay. Morgana has sent me here to destroy a trapper ring that hasn't been just trapping lobsters and crabs if you know what I meant." I swallowed dryly as she turned her attention toward me. "Sorry for being a little less than sensitive on that. Must be hell to hear aloud."
"I'm used to it, honestly."
"Yeah. Jim's been a little too close to them if you know what we meant." She gave me a saddened look as she pulled her hand back and slipped the glove back on without a second thought.
"And that's exactly why I don't mind the discrimination I get from my branding." Her right hand curled into a fist before she placed it in her lap. "Bastards that do such a thing to such creatures deserve the hell and fear I bring them, honestly." She pulled her eyes away from me and reached out to grasp her cup. "Don't feel any remorse for them. Not even the slightest."
"You said you were the Second Captain? That means you work under the lady herself, right?" A cocky smirk took over the woman's face as all traces of anger seemed to disappear from her features.
"As her apprentice, you would think so." She laughed a little once more as Toby just looked at her like she was some kind of powerful god sitting before us.
Which honestly, the man wasn't wrong if that's true.
"When Darci said you were one to be reckoned with-."
"You didn't think it would be the Second Captain of the Skathe-Hrün, huh?" She brought her cup to her lips and took down the rest of her drink as if she had done so a million times before. "I'm sorry to cut this short, mates." She rose to her feet as she brought her cup with her. "But I did make a promise that I wouldn't be here long." She moved to step away from the table, but I found myself stopping her be grabbing her right wrist.
"Wait," She snapped her attention toward me as I only swallowed dryly in reply. "I-I wanted to say that if you need anything while you're here, I'll happily help." I dropped my hand from her wrist as she just gave me a soft smile. "I owe my life to someone like you. It's only fair that I lend a hand."
"Where can I reach you then?"
"My mom's the local doctor. I live with her in her shop in the heart of town."
"I'll be sure to stop by then." She stepped away from the chair and was about to turn to leave, but she gave me a quick wink as she spoke once more. "Even if I don't think I'll need it." I watched as she turned and made her way to the tavern keep and placed her cup on the counter. "Thanks for the drink." She grabbed another gold piece from her pocket before placing it on the counter with a cheeky grin. "I'll be sure to tell my crew about this place. They'll love a drink before we set sail again." With that, she made her leave out of the tavern as the man gawked at her. Her confidence only oozing off the witch as she pushed open the tavern doors and turned toward the direction of the docks.
"You know," I snapped my head toward Toby only to see my dear friend sporting a large smirk as he crossed his arms over his chest. "When I said that you needed to move on from that girl, I didn't expect you to move on so quickly." I blushed at his comment as I just grabbed my cup and took a giant gulp of the alcohol that resided within it.
Neither was I, Toby.
I placed the cup back down onto the table before turning my head toward the tavern doors as if the woman would magically reappear there.
Neither was I.