A/N: Warning: Graphic depiction of an injury and its treatment in this chapter. No worries, nothing life-threatening. Just, y'know. Gross.

Rock the Boat

3210

Taking Guppy out for a spin was the absolute best idea. Sasha had thought riding on Blue's muzzle was great, and, like, don't get her wrong, it was amazing, but, speeding through the wind, having control over which way they went? Being able to just, turn a wheel and lean hard and spin, like in some old-fashioned pirate movie?!

Fuckin' rad as hell.

Blue erupted from the water with a roar, sending Guppy up a wave and making Sasha have to quickly yank several pulleys to keep from being sent spinning, a wild laugh ripping from her throat. The Sea King crooned with glee at her as he dove back beneath the water, a beautifully demented jack-in-the-box, helping the amnesiac train her reflexes when it came to steering. Beneath her bare feet, the Guppy was warm and almost pulsing with glee as they leaped another Sea King-created wave, and Sasha could swear she heard cackling laughter in the jangling pulleys.

Two days of constantly circling Hearths Holm had taught Sasha a lot of different tricks and quirks for her awesome Boat. Like how he liked to jump waves; how he tended to lean right when heading straight into the wind. Like how he somehow went slower during sunsets because he liked to just drift along and enjoy them. How he liked to rock just enough to make her fall out of her hammock an hour after dawn, the fuckin' sociopath.

How his rigging and pulleys and creaking wood joined her songs alongside Blue when the world got just a little too quiet for her.

She wasn't sure if he was "Awake", which Jax told her meant he could form a physical body, but it didn't matter, honestly. He was as alive as she was, and Family all the same. Guppy and Blue and 420 were all her family, and, as close as she was getting to Marius, Krem, and Jax, they were firmly in the "Friend Zone" for her. And, yeah, maybe choosing a Sea King, a Boat, and a Big Ass Bird as Family over human beings was weird, but, well?

Whomst've the fuck wants to be normal in this day and age, anyways?

A wild laugh ripped from her throat as Blue sent them flying up another wave, and Sasha barely bit back the urge to just release all the ropes and pulleys and let the Sea take them wherever She willed. Guppy and Blue would probably even let her, lost in the moment as they all were.

Freedom tasted like salt and seafoam.

Days Ten & Eleven: Survived!

()()()()()

There was something wrong with Blue. She'd given him a quick check-over the day before, removing all the hooks he'd picked up again in his eyes and outer lips, and they'd made plans to start finally working on the inside of his mouth today, bright and early in the morning.

But he wasn't showing up.

She thought he might have just gotten nervous, or maybe distracted. He was still a wild animal, after all, and a relatively young Sea King from what Marius had told her, the equivalency of a twenty-year-old. And, sure, he could understand her, could respond to her, but there was obviously a difference between letting someone pull out what amounted to splinters, versus letting that same person, with no medical expertise, fuck around with the inside of your mouth. Especially for a species like Blue, which relied almost solely on its teeth to both fight and feed.

So, she gave him another day, unwilling to try and force her large friend to do something uncomfortable.

…But he still didn't show.

Finally, she got worried enough by the third day that she decided enough was enough and took the Guppy out to the deeper water offshore. The deck pulsed under her feet, sail rustling in a way that sounded worried, and Sasha stroked the sleek wood the wheel was attached to, soothing herself and Guppy both. Once they were out far enough, she dropped the anchor and moved to the front of the boat, climbing up onto the Grill-Cushion. Taking a deep breath, she cupped her hands over her mouth.

"I'm Blue, daba-dee-daba-die! If I were green, I would die! I'm Blue, daba-dee-daba-die!" Dropping her hands, she peered out at the waves, squinting in the rising sunlight as she nibbled her lip worriedly. After a few minutes, she started to lift her hands to start singing again, when the water started churning and the familiar, maned dog-shaped head rose partially out of the water. Immediately, Sasha knew something was wrong, because Blue wasn't quiet, and he sure as fuck wasn't shy, so there was no reason for him to be huddled as he was, only the top of his head poking out of the waves and his fin-ears pinned back.

"Blue?" She asked softly, worriedly, kneeling on the Grill-Cushion and leaning over the ship rail as far as she could, ignoring the way it dug into her lower stomach—And, let's face it, the pressure felt rather relieving considering she'd started her period the day before.

Blue let out a low, rumbling whine, the water bubbling around his submerged mouth.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" she asked him anxiously, stretching out to carefully press her hand to his nose. "You never came to see me…?" Immediately, the Sea King looked off to the side like a guilty child and Sasha stroked his nose gently, worriedly. "Did I do something to make you uncomfortable?" She asked him; immediately, Blue's eyes shot back to her, wide, and he whined again, shaking his head and sloshing water everywhere. Sasha released a breath she didn't know she was holding, honestly relieved. "Okay, alright, that's a relief," she murmured, stroking his nose gently. "Is it something to do with our plans to start working on the inside of your mouth?" Blue hesitated, then whined, sounding chagrined; Sasha cocked her head thoughtfully.

"Blue…" she started slowly. "Blue, did you hurt your mouth? And now you don't want me to mess with it?" Blue whined again, eyes turned guiltily away, and Sasha sighed softly, patting the Sea King's nose gently. "Silly bastard, don't you know I'd help you no matter what?" Blue glanced at her then looked away again, letting out a short, grunt-like huff out of his nose; Sasha smiled slightly. "Come on, handsome. Even if it's bad, you know I'll patch you up." Slowly, reluctantly, Blue bobbed his head, grumbling unhappily as he looked back at her, obviously embarrassed and not wanting to do it but also knowing he had to.

"Come on, then," she coaxed him, smiling faintly. "Let's see the damage, huh?" Blue whined, shaking his head, and Sasha let herself sit up, putting her hands on her hips. "Bluuuue," she dragged out, voice going firm. "Don't make me pull out the Mom Voice. I will, don't test me!' Blue huffed at her and looked away, clearly deciding to be stubborn, and Sasha got to her feet, standing tall on the Grill-Cushion, hands still firmly on her hips. "Alright then, Mister, you asked for it!" Sasha took a slow, deep breath, firmed her expression further, and called on that inner authority that pet owners and parents alike all had.

"Beautiful Blue Bastard, You Will Listen To Me Right Now, Or I Swear To GOD, I Will Ground You, Do You Understand?!" She demanded harshly, frowning severely as she projected the strict tone of Disappointed Parents everywhere. A shudder immediately went through the Sea King, eyes going huge as they shot back to her, locking on the young woman's form in shock. Immediately, a high-pitched whine escaped from the cowed Sea King, and Sasha frowned even more sternly.

"Now, Stop Sulking And Show Me What You Did," she ordered him firmly; with another whine, eyes big and teary, Blue obeyed, shamefully lifted his head fully out of the water and finally exposing his mouth fully to Sasha. Immediately, she dropped her Disappointed Parent voice and posture, eyes going wide in pained sympathy as she reached her hands forward as if to touch the Sea King.

"Oh, Blue," she said achingly, sympathy panging through her as she eyed the damage. The Sea King had obviously tried eating something with a hard shell, in the days that they'd been away, and that shell had not agreed with him. There was a massive abscess swelling on his left lower jaw, bigger than Sasha was tall. It was so swollen the skin at its widest part was more white than blue, the tiny scales pulling away from his flesh, and the weight of it pulled Blue's lower lip away from his teeth, showing off the badly broken tooth that had led to said abscess. Pieces of tooth and shell alike were embedded in the swollen, infected gums, leaving obviously painful wounds.

"Oh, baby," Sasha said mournfully as the Sea King reluctantly let her brush her fingers across the skin next to the abscess. The sheer heat radiating from the infected flesh made sweat break out on Sasha's forehead, and the young woman shook her head sadly. "Why didn't you just come and get me?" She asked with a sigh; Blue looked away, shameful, and she could only sigh and pat the Sea King gently on his cheekbone, eying the abscess with a grimace, already imagining the smell of the pus and infection it held. "Well, no matter. It's like Bear Grylls says: improvise, adapt, overcome. Go ahead and head over to the beach, okay? I'm going to have to run around in town for a bit and gather some supplies to take care of this, but we'll get you patched up in a jiffy, okay?" Blue whined at her unhappily, and Sasha shushed him, gently stroking his nose when he turned to face her properly again.

"I'm not mad, sweetie, but I am upset that you didn't come to me when this first happened. If you had, we could have prevented this mess and patched you up even sooner, but, well, you didn't, and we can't change that. I hope, however," she added, pursing her lips sternly as she set her hands on her hips, "that you know better now so if it happens again, you'll come straight to me. Right?!" Immediately, cowed, the Sea King bobbed his head in agreement, whining at her, and with a shooing motion, Sasha climbed down from the Grill-Cushion and headed to the Guppy's wheel. Blue whined one last time before disappearing under the water, a crest in the waves following behind him as he made his way towards the stretch of beach that they usually used for Hook Extraction.

Sighing as she turned the Guppy's wheel, absently tugging a few of the ropes and pulleys to make it a little smoother, she started making a mental list of what she'd need to do in town.

…Well, she did still need to thank the local doctor, so, eh. Two birds one stone!

()()()()()

Doctor Bree was a graying, middle-aged man with kind blue eyes and the graceful hands of both an artist and a surgeon. He waved away Sasha's babbled thanks for the beautifully drawn First Aid Kit books and instead packed up a big-ass case to bring to the beach with her.

"I can't say I've ever had the opportunity to deal with an abscess on a Sea King before," the Doctor told her with a bright, excited smile. "But I'm excited to at least walk you through the process if your Blue won't let me help myself! I've done this on cows and horses, as well as people, of course, and I'm pretty sure the steps are the same, just at different sizes. So, let's get to it, shall we?" And so, here they were now, standing in the sand about fifteen feet from the grumpy, obviously pained Blue, who was eying Doctor Bree with suspicion. Sasha had stripped out of her Poncho and clean clothes, and instead was clad in her blood-stained "work" clothes, gloves, and bare feet, with a large pail and a long length of rope at her side.

"So, the first thing we'll have to do is lance the abscess," Doctor Bree told her, eying the grumpy Sea King with keen interest. "You'll need to make an incision on the bottom of the swollen part, large enough for the puss to drain. It will smell absolutely horrid, there will be chunks, and you will get splashed. There's literally nothing to prevent that. If any of that is something you don't think you can handle, we'll have to try and convince your big friend to let me do it for you." Sasha grimaced but nodded determinedly.

"I can handle that," she told him firmly, accepting the large, curved filleting knife the Doctor pulled from his bag, along with a large bottle of Iodine and a rag.

"Cover the part you're going to cut with this, as well as the area surrounding it," he told her firmly. "Last thing we want is for a new bacteria to infect anything."

"Right," she agreed, nodding firmly.

"It would probably be best if we dug a sort of pit beneath Mr. Blue's jaw so that the puss can be contained," he added, observing the grumpy Sea King with consideration. "Once the initial drainage happens, you'll need to start applying pressure to force more of it out. Then we'll have to make another incision this time at the top of the abscess, in order to start pouring saline into the wound, rinsing out any more infection." Sasha nodded along, listening intently.

"The abscess sac will need to be removed, which we'll use tongs for, but this will be painful and uncomfortable for Mr. Blue, and, unlike livestock, we can't tie him in place. This is what you'll need the rope for," he told her, pointing at said rope. "He may thrash, especially when we apply antiseptic and antibacterial solutions. You'll need to attach the rope to some of his undamaged teeth, preferably a molar or one of the mid-back incisors, but do not tie it to yourself. The last thing we need is for you to accidentally snap your spine because he thrashed. The rope is there for you to hold onto, not to tie yourself to him, understand?"

"Right," Sasha agreed with a firm nod, scooping up the rope and throwing it over her shoulder. Behind them, a small crowd of locals was gathering, fascination and curiosity riding the bored off-duty Fishermen. Marius was at the Docks, preparing for an apparently-approaching Marine Ship that had been spotted on the other side of the Island. They'd no doubt come and watch the spectacle as well, if for nothing else than to reassure the newly arriving Marines that Blue wasn't some feral Sea King here to eat anyone. "I'll start the preparations for the lancing, then, if you want to start going over the plans for the tooth extraction?" the Amnesiac offered, making the Doctor bob his head agreeably.

"Of course!" He said as Sasha trotted over to Blue. Gently stroking a hand over his cheek, away from his abscess, she coaxed him to tilt his head downward slightly so she could carefully knot the sturdy rope around two of his mid-incisors. "Well, before we get to the extraction, we'll need to finish with the abscess, which, once emptied, is easy enough. We will have to place a large tube I've brought through the top incision so that it sticks partially out of both the top and bottom of the abscessed area, and stitch the wounds shut around the tube. This will allow for continued drainage over the next week, after which we will have to check the wound again and remove the tube, flush the remaining opening again, and stitch the final incision shut."

"That's so it doesn't become an abscess again, right?" She called as she hung onto the rope and had Blue raise his head, shaking his head carefully so that she swung on the rope. "That doesn't hurt, right, Blue?" She called to check; the Sea King gave a negative-sounding grunt and lowered his head to let her down again. Once her feet touched the ground, she released the rope and then coaxed him to use his muzzle to dig a deep trench where his injured jaw would rest.

"Exactly so!" Doctor Bree agreed, watching her interaction with Blue with fascination. "Once we've tubed and stitched the abscess, then the extraction can begin! Now, I've brought some topical numbing cream to help with that, but you will need to use the livestock surgery tools I've brought to help." He told her, patting his large case cheerfully. "I'll walk you through how to use each tool, but this is where I'll be helping in a more physical way as well, as you will have to use both hands on each wound, and we will need to repeatedly rinse the blood away so that you can properly see the wounds and make sure no more debris is left behind. I'll be bringing over buckets of seawater to help with that, which isn't usually something I recommend, with the number of bacteria in seawater, but as a Sea King, Mr. Blue here is exempt from that particular rule!"

"And the stitches won't mess with how he eats, right?" Sasha called as she carefully climbed up the rope and peered at the swollen, embedded bits of teeth and shell, keeping her hands away from the wounds for the moment but just giving it a quick look over. "There are also, like, eight pieces of tooth fragments, three fragments of what looks like some sort of shell, and then the remaining base of the broken tooth in here, by the way! That all has to come out, right?"

"Right!' Doctor Bree called. "And no, these are specialty-made stitches! They're made to withstand a decent amount of force and are coated with a special enzyme that won't let them start dissolving for exactly one week! They're made for bulls and mustangs, specifically, so thrashing and bucking are expected."

"Neat!" Sasha decreed, cheerfully rappelling back to the ground and pulling the Iodine and rag out of the waiting pail. "We should go ahead and get started, right?"

"Right you are, Ms. Sasha!" Doctor Bree agreed, delightedly clapping his hands together. Sasha distractedly noted that a massive ship had finally appeared off in the distance, rounding the edge of the Island and moving towards the dock, but that was all she cared to note. She remembered watching videos of Abscesses, back Before she'd lost her memory, so a lot of what the good Doc had told her felt almost like a refresher instead of new information.

Still, all the Deja Vu in the world couldn't prepare her for the fetid stench that filled the air moments after the filet knife opened a six-inch gash in the bottom of the abscess. Milky-white pus gushed out of the opening, foamy and chunky and gross, splashing onto Sasha's left foot and shin, fire-hot and fucking DISGUHSTIN. The smell was like rotting meat and spoiled milk, gag-worthy and just.

No.

Just no.

Sasha focused on breathing slowly and shallowly through her mouth, lifting her gaze to focus on the center of the abscess so she could further block out the horrifically disgusting gush of chunky, white pus. Distantly, there was the sound of curses and retching from the watching crowd, and Sasha was vaguely grateful that she had never been a sympathetic puker. Still, she just, she could not look at the gushing pus waterfall. Instead, she kept her eyes up and listened for the flow to slow down and, whenever it did, she carefully pressed on the upper half of the abscess, shuddering whenever the resulting surge of chunky grossness splashed onto her feet. She needed a scalding hot shower yesterday, but at least Blue seemed to be getting some relief, groaning lowly whenever a particularly large amount of nasty spewed out.

God this was so fucking gross, she could not be a doctor, holy shit.

"Improvise, adapt, overcome," she chanted hoarsely, shuddering as a chunk spattered against her leg, both hands pressed against the abscess. "Improvise, Adapt, Overcome, holy shit this is vile, Improvise. Adapt. Overcome…"

"That's a wonderful mantra, Ms. Sasha," Doctor Bree called cheerfully from off to the side. "Who taught you it, if you don't mind my asking?" Sasha took another shallow breath and pressed carefully on the abscess again.

"A survivalist trainer named Bear Grylls," she called. "I don't remember a lot of things he did, but his specialty was traveling to inhospitable places and teaching tricks on how to survive in them! From mountains to deserts to being, well, lost at sea, Bear Grylls taught a lot of neat skills. Especially things like how to forage and make crude weapons and how sometimes you have to eat things you normally wouldn't think about for the sake of surviving."

"Like what?" Doctor Bree asked.

"Well," Sasha started slowly, quietly realizing that the good Doctor was distracting her as yet more—and larger! —chunks of pus were forced out of Blue's wound. "Well, did you know that a lot of birds and turtles have larger ratios of water in their blood? So, if you're stranded at sea and it hasn't rained for a hot minute, you can drink their blood or eat their meat raw and regain some hydration."

"That's disgusting," the hoarse, thick voice of Marlow croaked out. He had obviously been one of the weaker-stomached watchers.

"Survival doesn't have room for weak stomachs!" Sasha declared, taking initiative and thrusting her hands against the abscess, ignoring the fever-hot liquids that now coated her legs. The abscess was half the size it had been when she started and was only getting smaller the more she pushed. "Survival requires an iron will and determination! You have to be willing to eat gross things to live, to kill animals you normally wouldn't be comfortable killing, and to be willing to withstand discomfort as long as the end result is survival!" Shoving firmly against the abscess, she grimaced as a particularly large chunk of puss clogged the opening, forcing her to cut at it to make it wider. The cat-sized chunk of pus that flew out proceeded enough liquid that she was going to have to burn the clothes she was wearing, fucking, ulp…

"He sounds like some Marines I've met," Doctor Bree mused; Sasha grunted, determinedly continuing to press on the much smaller lump.

"I don't think he was in the military, but it wouldn't surprise me if he'd at least gone to boot camp," she grunted, ignoring the fresh wave of retching behind her. Above her, Blue's eye was half-lidded with relief, and, if she thought she could grin without retching herself, Sasha would be. "You holding up all right, Blue?" The Sea King rumbled lowly, bobbing his head just slightly, and Sasha grunted as the movement forced her to put more weight against the lump, her feet slipping slightly in the pus-covered sand and forcing her to cling to the Sea King's abscess or fall into the disgusting pool of awful.

"…If I fell into that puddle of disgusting ooze," Sasha stated clearly, forcibly calm. "I would have to pause what I am doing. And go try to drown myself. Immediately."

"Understandable, dear," Doctor Bree stated cheerfully. "Understandable!"

Day Fifteen: Survived?