from @fatepowered. hua cheng rests on his stomach, chin resting against the palm of his hand. the warmth of the sun on his bare back is fair and friendly, much like the soft ebb and flow of the ocean as it pulls at his fingers. he spends much of his time like this, trapped as he is here on this island, but he doesn't mind it at all. right now, he is is simply waiting.
he doesn't wait long - the light blues of the water darken, as though the sea warns of a storm to come, but hua cheng does not fear it. a face, pale and cold as death, with eyes that steal the light from above, appears from under his hand. a normal person would have been terrified by the appearance of such a creature, but hua cheng shows affection rather than fear.
"black water sinking ships," he says with a playful smile, dipping his fingers into the water, where they brush over thin lips and sharp teeth. a risky move, but they've been in far more precarious positions. "how was my offering? did you find it acceptable, today?"
he arrives as if summoned directly from the darkening waters to hua cheng's waiting palm, wet hair like an inkspill around his pale form as he rises just enough that his piercing eyes are all that breaches the surface. he is greeted by a playful smirk, a single familiar eye glittering in the sun, and long fingers against his temple, his cheek, brushing against his lips and dipping past to make contact with teeth made to rip flesh. but he xuan does not bite down. he inhales deeply, taking a mouthful of salty water to be filtered through the gills at his neck as his eyelids flutter.
he narrows his eyes, though, into a voidlike glare. he has only just arrived, and hua cheng sees fit to immediately set a specific mood. by rights, the dreaded thing that commands the deep seas should sate his endless, cursed hunger by devouring this mere castaway arrogant enough to stick his fingers in such a dangerous mouth. but it is awfully lonely in the icy, dark depths of the ocean. none from his old life remain, and the one girl who has shown him kindness is out of his reach. hua cheng's gentle touch is all he now knows ( and the touches that aren't so gentle are just as welcome ), and he starves for it just the same as he starves for whatever food he can get his clawed hands on.
webbed, darkened fingers wrap tightly around hua cheng's wrist, and a long tongue caresses the fingers pressing against it. he could haul himself out of the water now, or he could pull hua cheng into the shallow waves with him — instead, he pulls off of the fingers, refusing to give him the satisfaction of having him under his thumb very first thing.
" it was fine. " he responds flatly. " good enough that i will not drown you today. "