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

[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.

[ihadabadday]

Freebazz put an arm around the... Sherlock. "Let me help you." He would risk getting hurt. He had promised to get this one home, and so far he had failed on his promise.

He would need to do all that he could to ensure that he lived to get home.

Home.

He would risk stranding himself until the tide came in for this two finner. It was odd. He didn't understand it.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock stopped when he could just barely put his feet down on the sand. Oh, it felt nice to stand again, even if the water was up to his chin and splashing against his already dried and chapped lips.

He looked to Freebazz with a confused gaze. "How can you help me? You don't have legs. You can't get out of the water. I'm guessing that it will kill you." He shouldn't care about this... fish.. man.. thing.. but h found that he really didn't want him to harm himself. If he got hurt or killed helping him, Sherlock would never forgive himself.

"It's alright. I've grown up around the ocean. We've landed on islands with no people. I know some basic skills. You need to stay in the water. I... guess you don't need to sleep then."

[ihadabadday]

"Be safe." He said, his accent closer to Sherlock's own, than the halting one he had earlier.

Freebazz swam away and then dove deeper into the water.

He had to find the... Sherlock help. But he didn't know how. He was supposed to be fearful of two finners. But Sherlock. He was nice. He was kind.

He paused during his swim, looking at the fish around him. He wished he knew how to get other two finners to this little island to rescue Sherlock.

That red light maybe? Or maybe he could lead some here. He was quicker than their wooden things.

[seaweed_writes]

It was strange, hearing this fishman trying to talk in his English accent, though even he had to admit that he'd spent the last 4 years in Trinidad (when they weren't on the sea) and his accent was tinted with just the tiniest bit of the way the locals spoke.

Sherlock was surprised at the sadness he felt with the fishman was gone. Maybe he felt more secure with him around, or at least he was someone to talk to.

Now he was utterly, utterly alone.

He sighed and waded onto the beach. The first thing he did was take off his soaked clothes, found a vine, and tied it around two trees. He hung the clothes on the vine, hoping maybe they would dry overnight.

Being stark naked meant that he had to stay on the edge of the forest and the beach, he couldn't risk going into the forest with no protection. That meant he had less to work with.

The very first thing he did was drink greedily from the water. He had no idea if it was safe, but no water at all would kill him, so he h ad to take the chance. It was hot and tasted a bit odd, but to his parched throat it was heaven.

When that was done, he found some vines and branches and leaned them against the trunk of a great palm, and used the fallen palm leaves to cover the branches and vines.

It wasn't a real shelter, it only covered his head and upper torso, but it was better than nothing. He gathered up some leaf litter (being sure to check it well for critters first) and made a makeshift pillow.

He was so exhausted that despite everything he was out within minutes, as the moon was still climbing into the sky.

[ihadabadday]

He returned to the island close to dawn. He had found, stolen, who knew, two chests from somewhere. But it was wrapped in wax, so he hoped the things inside would help Sherlock.

Freebazz made the choice and came close to the shore, pushing the chests onto the sand. He dropped next to them, stretching out to enjoy the warm sun and sand.

[seaweed_writes]

By the time wakefulness came to Sherlock, the sun was already rising in the sky. It was the heat on his skin that woke him. There was that moment of not quite wakefulness that he thought he was back on his ship, or maybe even back in his tiny little hacienda in Trinidad.

And then, reality hit him.

He was naked, under a hastily made cover that had partially fallen apart sometime at night.

Sherlock sat up, blinking, taking in his surroundings.

There were two little chests in the sand.

And next to it, a fish man, laid out in the sand.

Forgetting his nakedness for a moment, he ran down the sand towards the fishman. He wasn't moving, so Sherlock was afraid that he was dead.

"Hey! Hey!" He called out, running at full speed.

And he stopped dead in his tracks when the fishman's eyes met his.

Fuck.

[ihadabadday]

He rolled onto his belly and looked up at Sherlock. He studied him. "You look better without your clothes." He said with a nod.

He shifted to sit, almost as if he was kneeling if he had two fins.

"I brought you these. I hope they can help."

Freebazz's eyes looked over the unclothed Sherlock, noting differences. Wait. What was that short limb between his legs?

[seaweed_writes]

Immediately Sherlock's hand went down to cover his nakedness. His face turned a deep red. It was made 100 times worse by the fact that he had, as he did most mornings, woken up with a partial erection because he needed to pee. When he peed, it went down, but he'd thought that the fishman was injured, or dead, so he hadn't had a chance to yet.

And now he was staring at what Sherlock was desperately trying to cover with his two hands. "I.. Umm.. Thank you. Let me.. go use the.." well, there were no loos here. "Pee, and get my clothes on. I... don't want to sunburn." It was a lame excuse, he was already sunburnt after yesterday. But he really did have to pee.

He ran up the shore, sighing in relief as he peed into the jungle, a decent distance from his camp. He went back and found that the shirt and breeches were dry, but they were crusty with salt, and it was like trying to put on sandpaper.

He finally got them on, but tonight he was going to have to wash them in the stream and sleep naked again. He'd have to suffer through the day first.

He came back to the fishman, he'd brought a stick to try to help open the semi-sealed chests. "Time to see what's in here."

[ihadabadday]

Freebazz smiled and used a sharp rock to slice the chests open. He peeled the first layer away and then looked up when Sherlock returned.

"We could go to the stream?" He suggested as he managed to open the first chest. But he wasn't sure how he would get there. But he wanted to help Sherlock.

In this one were more of the clothes. They looked as if they might fit Sherlock.

"What was that limb?" He asked curiously.

[seaweed_writes]

Sherlock looked over to the stream, then back to Freebazz. "I'm not sure it's deep enough for you. Give me a little time to scout it, maybe there is a little pool that would be big enough."

He opened the chest and sighed with happiness. Clothes. He pulled out two shirts that looked a little big for him, but they should fit, and one pair of breeches that looked about the same. And oh, thank whomever was looking over him, a pair of shoes. He couldn't wear them long with no socks, he couldn't afford blisters that might get infected and gangrenous, but hopefully he could make short treks into the jungle in these.

He was still looking at the clothes when the question shook him back to the present moment.

"That.. what?" Sherlock was confused for a moment, until the fishman looked at his breeches. He flushed a deep red again.

"Oh. umm.. er.. that. " He stumbled around his words. "It's... used to pee, you know,, urinate? I'm sure you do that, right?" He wasn't sure if he should say more, but the fishman still looked unsure. He sighed and continued.

"And.. when.. well.. two people get together.. it can be used for.. other things. I'm sure you fishpeople have to make more fishpeople. Or.. I don't know.. maybe you squirt eggs and sperm in the water like real fish do. I have no idea."

[ihadabadday]

He looked almost insulted. "We're not fish." He huffed, almost pouting.

Freebazz ignored Sherlock and his a bit more in the water.

Two finners were odd.

He ducked under the water for a moment before popping back up and rejoining Sherlock on the beach.

"Sex?" He finally asked before moving to sit as if he was kneeling. "You have sex?"

[seaweed_writes]

"Oh. Umm.. I'm sorry." Sherlock hadn't meant it as an insult, but that was the best way he could think of to describe what this.. man.. fish... merman thing was.

"Shit." When Freebazz moved into the water, he thought that he'd insulted him and that he was swimming away and that he would be alone. But the fishman came back after a few moments, apparently he was just wetting himself again, which made sense.

"Well.. ummm.. yes. Of course we do. Humans have to make more humans."

"That's what we call ourselves, as a group. We are humans. We usually call you guys mermaids, or mermen. I'm sure you have a name for your people, right?" He asked, curious.

Of course he wanted to ask how they had sex. He wanted to ask a million questions, but he still had to find food and shelter today.

[ihadabadday]

He shook his head. No. They didn't have a collective name. Not one that he knew of.

"My name is common. Like some names of hu... mans?"

He tilted his head to the side, feeling the words out. Merpeople? Freebazz moved to lay on his back, almost like he was sunning himself.

Should he show Sherlock his penis?