( there's always something out there // always accepting )
SERENITY [ @ohtides ] WROTE: ...Is something watching you from the waves, William? // hii!!
IT WAS ONLY A WHISPER in the back of his mind, barely louder than the sandpaper smoothing the whale tooth in his hands. Call it an instinct, a warning, a threat — He paused half a moment before continuing. There was a time he'd thought the greatest threat on the seas was pirate's cutlass, but he'd long since been disabused of that. The greatest threats lurked beneath the waves; by the time they surfaced, they could not be fled. So he leaned on the taffrail and glanced only briefly over the water. If something was watching him, it wouldn't be so easy to spot.
Instead, he timed the swipe of sandpaper to the lapping of the current against the Flying Dutchman, and he let that harmony lull him into the back corner of his mind from which the whisper had come. That was where the curse lived. Where he was bound to this ship, this crew, this undying duty. Where souls lost to the sea cried mercy. It was a corner of his mind he'd sooner forget, yet only by dipping into it could he perceive the world of the waves as if it was him. And if he pulled back quickly, he wouldn't drown in it.
— A siren, if he was any judge. He'd learned fast they weren't always friends to the Dutchman. Best not to assume her intentions.
He tucked the piece of sandpaper into his pocket and pulled out a needle. Though he kept his eyes on the whale tooth, his hands etched a pattern into it of their own accord while all his mind remained on that siren. ❝This needn't end badly. My crew and I have a duty. We've no quarrel with you — as long as you don't interfere.❞
