#merman!

[catladychronicles]

🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♂️ cue part of your world 🎶

[gentlepyrate]

one merboy for @izzyhnds​   //   FIRST MATE HANDS

It's storming. It's gotten to the point where Stede has abandoned his beloved library and left hisbooks to fend for themselves, and he's out with the rest, doing his best to help, which admittedly isn't much. He doesn't have much expertise, but he is an extra pair of hands, and occasionally there is a rope he can pull, a something he can hold in place.

Everyone is soaked to the bone and exhausted, but Stede hasn't had as much work to do - perhaps that's why he sees it out of the corner through his eye when everyone else doesn’t, squinting through the rain as the first mate falls against the side of the railing, looking immensely unsteady, and as the ship abruptly jerks under the force of a wave, tumbles over the edge.

He doesn't even think. Doesn't stop to consider that most of his crew knows nothing about his secret, doesn't think about the fact that Israel Hands certainly doesn't, doesn't pause to consider if he's worth saving or if Stede wants to. He knows the answer instictively. Of course he does. Even if he's a terrible, no-good, awful sort of man, Stede isn't going to let him die when he has the means to save him.

Stede tears off his shirt - already soaked through, useless - doesn't even bother with his pants - they'll tear, they're already ruined, it's fine - grabs a lifeline, and dives over.

He's never swam in a storm. It's always felt like he belongs in the sea, the ocean cutting past his tail like air when he transforms, but now he feels pushed around, resisted by the water, and the shadow of Israel's Hands body is near impossible to find in in the mess.

He does find him, though. A streak of blue, white, and yellow scales darts through the water, pulling him into his arms and breaking the surface.

He has an armful of a hacking, half-conscious, incredibly pale-looking Izzy Hands. The man looks like he should have gone below decks hours ago, but help was desperately needed above, so he probably stayed because of his relentless loyalty to Edward. It’s hard to think him stupid for it. But with Izzy in his arms, Stede can’t pull them up, so he has to wait for someone else to start pulling the line to bring them in.

He'd been hoping that somehow, Izzy wouldn't notice the tail, but he'd forgotten about the gills on the sides of his neck, catching the man stare at them like they're . . . well, inhuman.

" Ah. You're hallucinating, "   Stede offers instinctively, fairly confident that Izzy won't believe him and not trying particularly hard to convince him. A wave crashes over the both of them, and Stede pulls him in tighter, not wanting to lose him to the sea again. It doesn’t affect him all that much, but he imagines it must be cold and difficult to breathe through for Izzy.    " What you're seeing is absolutely ridiculous and couldn't possibly be true. "

[mrsmess]

Right before I went to sleep last night ^this popped into my head. And what the heck, Mermay is a thing.

[gentlepyrate]

merman stede who was washed ashore as a baby, found by a human family and adopted, doesn't know he's a merman until the first time he decides to take a swim in the ocean as a boy, and after years of pretending to be 'normal' decides to finally leave it all behind and go back to the sea where he belongs

[gentlepyrate]

𝐂 𝐋 𝐎 𝐒 𝐄 𝐃   𝐒 𝐓 𝐀 𝐑 𝐓 𝐄 𝐑     for     @fearthekraken   //   𝐄𝐃

" I'd like to show you something. "   It's the same sort of nervous, yet excited energy he had about him when he'd first shown Ed his auxiliary closet, though this time, it is clear that perhaps the nerves are overtaking the excitement a little bit, though he clearly has high hopes.

He's never shown anyone on purpose before. It's barely even been a week, but he and Edward have become fast friends, and . . . Stede thinks he can trust him with this.

" It's . . . erm. It's quite a lot. And it is a secret. So I would like it if you . . . perhaps, didn't make a lot of noise about it. "

[gentlepyrate]

[gentlepyrate]

𝐄𝐃  &  𝐈𝐒𝐑𝐀𝐄𝐋   //   @smokedanced​

He's not really worried. Though perhaps he should be. He doesn't quite like that these strangers know what he is, have seen him in his mer form and are keeping him that way. He doesn't like that he's been kidnapped. He definitely doesn't like this tank. It's barely big enough for the average man, and his tail is quite a bit longer than his legs, so he's all folded in, with no space to move. Packed in like a sardine.

It's uncomfortable. Stede hates it, but he isn't scared. He's content to look into the eyes of every man and woman who dare to touch him, who drag him around. Every single one of those eyes will be blank - dead - as soon as Ed and Izzy find him. 

And he's content with that.

That don't want him dead, no. They want him on display. He is in a room of oddities - a skeleton, there, of an inhuman creature. Stede hopes that one isn't real. A particularly vicious looking sword there. He's in a museum.

The first inkling of true discomfort comes with the first group of purveyors.

It's a small group, maybe five or six guests with four of the sailors who had kidnapped him. But they look at him. They see his face and poke at the glass. No one knows what he is, outside of his crew. And now they do. He feels like something is being stolen from him - his privacy, his - his humanity.

Stede hisses at them, and they all gasp and clap. He feels a righteous sort of anger, then, but also quite wants to cry. In the end, he simply turns his head away. He won't be here for long. His lovers will find him, and Stede is going to join them in slitting every throat that trapped him in here. To make sure no one else ever gets trapped like this, if nothing else.

It's dark, when he hears it. Night, he assumes, though there are no windows here - there's that sort of feeling in the air. The quiet. Until he hears a grunt, from the door that leads out. And then a thump.

Stede perks up - he wants to call out, but he can't risk being heard. He needs to do something, so his hands go to the top of the tank, trying to open it, though he'd already tried before. There's more than one padlock on the outside, keeping him in. He tries to push it open with his shoulder, but it does nothing, of course. He's useless.