The Pearled Seas - AU - Locked to seaweed_writes

[ihadabadday]

For years he had heard tales of the two fins who swan on the surface. They were... Odd. At least that was what he heard. But they still fascinated him. How did they swim? What did they eat? How did they live?

That was how he found himself on the surface, watching... He wasn't sure what it was. It was large and wooden? There were lights and white things. He curled up a bit further on the rock he had perched himself on. He was always worried the brilliant blue of his scales would make the two finners see him. But they only seemed to see what they wanted.

He gasped when the weather started to change, quickly, violently. The wooden... thing... was in shallow water, it wouldn't survive. Especially if it slammed against the rocks. He swallowed and then dove into the water, even as the waves started to grow violent, battering the wooden thing about.

He heard the wood breaking and two finners and things falling into the water.

That's when he saw him. He felt an odd pull towards the two finner. As if it was right.

There was an old tale at home, of soulmates. He had scoffed at it. Ridiculous. But, the pull he was feeling...

He swam towards the two finner, reaching out to grab the man as he was sinking deep into the water.

Comments

[seaweed_writes]

Despite everything screaming at him to the contrary, Sherlock found that he did trust this fishman. The.. whatever it.. he.. was, had saved him. Why would he kill him now? It made no sense.

Sherlock got up on shaky legs and took a few steps into the ocean, almost to the rock but not quite. The water was a little warmer than the air outside in the cave (Sherlock could only hope that if he got out into the sun, it would be warmer there).

"I... can't breathe underwater." He said, making gasping noises. "I'll drown." He almost had once already today.

[ihadabadday]

"Trust me?" He asked slowly even as he took Sherlock's hand.

The two finner was so warm. He wanted to see what else these two finners were like.

But that could wait until another day.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock had expected his hand to be cold and clammy, when he saw the fishman reaching out for him. His instinct was to draw back, but he didn't, and when the fishman touched his hand, Sherlock drew in a quick breath. He was wet of course, but surprisingly soft and warm, not as warm as a human, but still not cold like a fish.

He couldn't speak, but he nodded softly. He had no idea why, but he did trust him.

[ihadabadday]

Freedazz bit his lip and then moved to press their lips together. But instead of it being intimate or anything similar, he blew air into the two finner's mouth and lungs. After a moment he pulled back. "That should get you to the surface."

He smiled slightly and then swam back further, tugging Sherlock with him.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock froze.. He hadn't expected that, a press of lips. But there was nothing gentle or tender about it, it was calculated and no nonsense. His eyes went wide, and despite his brain telling him to move away, he didn't.

He stepped forward as the fishman.. as.. Freedazz swam back, keeping their hands connected. After a few steps, it was too deep to stand, and he made a little noise of surprise, then started to kick his feet a bit to keep afloat.

[ihadabadday]

He guided him down into the water and still holding onto his hand, he swam towards an entrance that lead into the ocean itself.

He had promised he would get Sherlock back safely. And he would.

Glancing back to make sure the two finner was alright every so often, he continued swimming.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock was a fairly good swimmer, but he wasn't nearly as fast as the fishman, who was built for swimming. He had to admit that Freedazz was built for this, there was no extra effort needed, he was moving with little effort from the huge, heavily muscled tail.

He was glad, at least for now, that they were till on the surface, but the water was getting deeper underneath him, and they were getting closer and closer to the edge of the cave. He knew that they were going to have to go underwater soon.

And he was afraid. He could admit that. He was afraid. He always thought that his lot in life was to die in the sea, but he'd hoped that he'd be a little older when it happened.

He'd never even kissed anyone. He didn't count what the fishman had done just a few moments before.

[ihadabadday]

Freedazz brought him back to the surface, only stopping to give him more air a couple of times.

"Are we close?" He asked Sherlock. For a two finner, he did swim rather well. Even for the cloth on him.

[seaweed_writes]

It was a scary ride, going under the water and through a cave. There were a couple of times that he was about to run out of breath, before the fishman put their lips together, and suddenly he had a little more air in his lungs.

Finally, he could see the surface coming up, and he swam hard to it, gasping in lungs full of air and looking up at the sky. It was still stormy and choppy, which only served to remind him that he had just lost every single other person on his ship. He had considered them friends, though most of them he only knew their names and not much about them, but still, they were, for the most part, good men.

He looked around. There was nothing but sea around them, other than the tall, volcanic island they came out from. But it looked tall an craggy. He didn't see any beaches that he could swim up to.

And worse, he saw no trees or anything that could construed as food.

His heart sank.

"Are we close to what?" He asked the fishman. "Right now it looks like I cam close to nothing but my doom." he was only going to be able to tread water for so long.

[ihadabadday]

"Not your home?" He asked, looking disappointed. Freedazz didn't mean to let the man down. And he knew these two finners weren't meant for long swims.

"Where are you from?" He asked. He had an idea. And hopefully it would work.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock had had to let go of Freedazz's hand so he could use all 4 of his limbs to keep afloat.

"No. I was on a ship, already far from my home. Sherlock said, sadness creeping into his voice.

But I am very, very far from my true home. There is a place, which takes months to get to by ship. It's called England. That is where I am really fun. But for now, I was living on an island called Trinidad, in the Caribbean." He spread one arm out for a moment before going back to treading water.

"This is all the Caribbean, this ocean, and all the islands that are in it. "

"But I have to find some land. That island in front of us, does it have any beach? " He wasn't sure if the fishman understood that word. I need a place with sand and trees and animals. I need food to eat and a shelter to sleep in. "

[ihadabadday]

"Stay." He ordered before diving back down into the dark water with a splash of his tail.

It wasn't long, maybe five minutes before he returned, with what was probably a juvenile sperm whale.

"Get on, we go home." Freedazz meant Trinidad. He was smiling at the two finner.

[seaweed_writes]

"Stay. What the hell else am I going to do?" He grumbled, after the fish man had splashed him and swam away.

He was starting to get tired. Sherlock was thinking about swimming towards the island, maybe there would be somewhere he could rest before he drowned- again.

Sherlock had just started to swim towards the island, his muscles were aching and he wasn't even sure he could make it now. When all of a sudden there was a gigantic whale surfacing next to him with a puff of water and air from its blowhole.

And beside it was the fishman.

For a moment, Sherlock just stared at them both. How was he supposed to get on a whale and hold on? It didn't have a saddle.

"Umm..." he said, looking from the whale and back to the fishman. "I don't know which way my home is. And I don't think you know which island I am from. I'm sure you have different names for them than we do."

[ihadabadday]

"He knows the way." Freedazz promised, "Been many times."

The merman grinned at Sherlock and swam over to him. "Need help?"

[seaweed_writes]

He was going to need held very soon, he was starting to get exhausted. "It knows what Trinidad is?" Sherlock said, skeptically. "How does it know? It can't just swim into port, it'll beach itself."

"And besides, how are we supposed to hold onto it?"

[ihadabadday]

"He knows..." Freedazz patted the waters, "Better than I. Knows the places two finners go."

The merman swam closer and put an arm around the two finner's waist. The juvenile whale sunk down a bit and the merman manhandled him up onto the creature's back.

[seaweed_writes]

"Two finners?" Sherlock was confused for a moment, until he realized that that was what the fish men must call humans. "Oh." He said, softly. He'd never thought of it before, but they must know about humans- obviously, and they would have given humans a name.

Two finners. He chuckled, It was weird, but he supposed that it fit, sort of.

Sherlock was being lifted up on the whale, whose skin was actually rougher than he thought it would have been, but it was still slick, and he slid around, trying to find purchase.

The only thing that he could do was to cling desperately onto a couple of barnacles. He could grab on now, but there was no way he'd be cable to stay clinging on for long, especially if the whale was moving fast.

"I... don't think this is going to work. I can't hold on. "

[ihadabadday]

He nodded. "It will. I will be here." Freedazz promised.

He seemed to say something to the whale before diving back into the water to get some seaweed for the two finner to hold onto.

"Let's go." He said before the whale started to move.

[seaweed_writes]

The fishman wrapped some seaweed around the whale a couple of time.. And he was supposed to hold onto it and hoped it didn't break.

Well, what other choice did he have right now? He was at the mercy of both the fishman, and the whale. He sighed, sent up a little prayer to a God that he had never really believed in to at least get him back to land alive, and held on for dear life, screaming in terror as the whale started to move.

[ihadabadday]

Freedazz swam and chatted with the whale. It was a friend and had been for some time.

He smiled when he saw land approaching. Hopefully this was the two finner's home.

[seaweed_writes]

If Sherlock hadn't been holding onto the seaweed for dear fucking life, he would have been shock to hear the fishman talking to the whale in whatever kind of moans and howls that whales do, and the whale was responding.

They were.... talking to each other?

He had to be dead. He just had to be. There was no way that he could be alive. This just couldn't happen. It wasn't possible. Fishmen? And Whales? And they can communicate?

It was totally preposterous.

One good thing was that the whale as faster than a big ship meant for long distances, not speed. As the hours passed- Sherlock's limb were aching and he was sure that he was going to fall off due to exhaustion- the sea calmed and the sun fell.

If he hadn't been inmortal danger of falling off the whale and drowning, he'd had thought that the sunset was rather beautiful.

His heart lept as land started to come into view, but it was quite obvious that it was not the thriving port of Tortuga. It was just a small, what looked to be deserted island.

and his heart sunk again.

[ihadabadday]

Freebazz looked at the two finner. "Home?" He asked. He wasn't sure. All the land looked the same to him. He studied the expression on the... Sherlock's face.

"No?"

His shoulders dropped. "But food?" He offered, "Also water."

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock shook his head. "No. It isn't home." He said, sadly. He knew it was a long shot, that he would actually be able to see his home again, but he had sewn just a little seed of hope.

And now it was gone.

He was going to stuck on this island until something killed him, either an animal, or eating or drinking something poisionous, or hurting himself doing something while hunting and gathering.

Sherock sighed. He resigned himself to the fact and put on a brave face. There was a stream that flowed into the ocean. It was small, but it would be hopefully fresh water, and not brackish. There were large palms, which meant coconuts, if he could figure out how to obtain them.

The jungle was thick and dense, so there might be animals in it (he had to explore to make sure there were no predators around). And of course there were fish, if he could figure a way to make a spear or net.

Maybe, just maybe there would be enough to survive for a short time.

"I;m not sure about food and water yet, but it looks promising." Was all he could offer to the fishman.

[ihadabadday]

He nodded and swam over, offering his hand to the.. Sherlock.

"Sorry." He supplied, looking forlorn that he didn't bring the two finner back to his home. He knew home was important for all creatures. And this two finner seemed especially fond of his home.

[seaweed_writes]

His clothes had managed to.. somewhat dry over the hours. They hadn't truly totally dried because of the spray that the whale kicked up. But it had been nice to not be wet and salty.

Instead, he was now dry and crackled and salty, and feeling a bit hot an woozy from the amount of sun he got, the treading water he'd had to do, and the hours of holdig onto seaweed on the back of a whale for hours.

He wanted to sleep, and possibly never wake up.

It was close to night time now, and he really needed to figure out some way to make a leanto or something to protect him at least a little as he slept. But he wasn't even sure he had the energy too.

He tried to get down off the whale, lost his balance, and tumbled into the sea again. Well. So much for being dry.

He started to swim towards the shore, the whale couldn't come in too close or else it would beach itself.

Oddly enough, it was the same for the fishman in a way.

"I have to get to shore. I need to sleep." He had no idea if fishmen even slept.