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Post by Medieval Kevin on May 27, 2016 13:04:51 GMT -8
Flying DutchmanThe ship behind the legends. The vessel of an honest Captain who still loved the sea.
Events occurring 108 years before Dark Curse |
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Post by DarkSideCookie on May 29, 2016 2:29:54 GMT -8
**Once upon a time...**
Ursula was angry. With indignant moves she has left from home. Left from those ignorant idiots calling themselves family. What were they thinking, what they do? How could they give everything to her brother, while she seemed to be treated like a burden? How could they not see how much more she was? How talented she was. With an angry snort and a casual move of her fin Ursula edged a pair of moray eels aside her swim lane. "Be more...", one of them raised its voice, as the other ended the sentence: "...careful, dear." If she wasn't as pissed off as she was, she maybe wouldn't have been so rude, maybe even would have appologized, but this was one of the worst days ever. They wanted Triton to be the king? Him? Oh, she had done so much for her family to show them how much she deserved the crown. It was like a hit in her face. The mermaid continued her way through the ocean, actually with no special destination. Away from them, that was everything which led her forward at the moment. And so she didn't noticed the suspicious waves above. Suddenly Ursula paused, looking at the other thalassians passing her in panic. She even hasn't noticed how close to the water's surface she already was. One look over her shoulder let her understand the other's panic. Something was coming closer. Ursula squinted. A big heavy looking and strange formed thingy, hanging down a long silver other thingy. Her curiosity did cost her some seconds too long and the wave, caused by the two thingys, grabbed her, threw her out of her lane. Ursula tried to escape in the surface's direction, which seemed to be the only rescue in her current position. She managed to reach the surface, but up there the danger didn't seem to be less than under it. A heavy storm was raging and swirled up the waves of the ocean. That this event could have had something to do with Ursula's anger, she would learn much later... The force of the whirl didn't let up on her, instead tossed her into something - an open circular window tight to the water, but high enough to not let the water inside. The force, with which the mermaid got hurled inside, brought a dark haze around her eyes. Or it was the ungently bounce on her head, when she backwards did cannon into something in the middle of the room... |
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Post by Medieval Kevin on May 29, 2016 21:07:11 GMT -8
The ship rocked hard to port and they were finally getting into the shallows. Not a moment too soon. The Captain stood behind the wheel and held on tight. It was getting to be too much to hold. The rudder was fighting him for every inch. The waves were battering the hull fiercely. "Haul up those sails. Drop the anchor. That shore is closer than it looks!" The men were fast to act when he put on that stern tone. It wasn't just to beat the sound of the wind. If they didn't act fast enough the sails could be torn and they could run aground. They just needed to stay put. Ride out the storm.
The anchor crashed into the sea and the ship lurched as she started losing her momentum. The Flying Dutchman was soon sitting pretty in their favorite little cove. Good a spot as any. Suddenly one of his men summoned him below. There was a crowd gathered aft and they were not securing the gun ports. "What are you looking at, get to work or we'll find ourselves foundering before long." Jones parted the men and stopped. There on the deck was the last thing he ever expected to see. A beautiful woman... mermaid. An actual mermaid!
Everyone had heard the stories but they had never seen one. People used to say they were bad omens for sailors. They'd drag you down to the depths but in these parts... In these waters people sang a different tune. And he could see with his own eyes. How could something so beautiful be such a terrible thing. Davy knelt down next to her. She was unconscious. Putting one hand beneath her head he lifted her up slightly and leaned in to listen. She was breathing. Being out of water did not seem to be affected her at least not nearly as much as the bump on her head.
"Seal us up tight bosun, I'll see to her. Nobody is going anywhere in this. Least of all her. Apparently Mermaids can have a bad day just like the rest of us. The sea is a fickle mistress." The man put his other hand beneath her tail and gingerly lifted her, making his way to his cabin. The men just stared as he walked by. No one could believe their eyes. Once he was inside and alone he lay the young creature down on his cot. Taking a seat he waited. She should recover, the bump wasn't too bad. The question was how long? And what would she do when she woke up?
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Jun 10, 2016 12:41:14 GMT -8
Ursula heard someone breathing. It was a hard breath, sounding like someone was fighting with death. Someone? No, it wasn't just someone. It was her.
Ursula managed to raise her eyelids, which felt, as they would weigh too much to handle. Through a misty shroud she saw someone sitting next to her. A man. His eyes were focused at her. Eyes with something fascinating within them. Something rough. Something, which have seen the worst whims of the sea. One following blink of her eyes made her catch the situation and in what danger she actually was. She was out of the water. Up where the human lived.
A fending hissing sound escaped her, seemed to be everything she was able to, except of the hard breathing. Her eyes were filled with fear and anger, but also with something else. A silent pleading. She needed water. The will to live was stronger than the fear of that human man. The fear every thalassian felt. The fear she should have felt. But then... why she didn't? Instead she felt... rapture. Rapture for those rough looking eyes next to her.
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Post by Medieval Kevin on Jul 9, 2016 14:50:35 GMT -8
His guest seemed to be waking. Her eyes fluttered open and she took in the surroundings faster than he anticipated. And she didn't seem to like what she found. With a hiss she locked eyes with the Captain and shrank back against the wall of his cabin. "Easy lass, you had quite a rough swim... Right into the port side of my ship."
Jones cocked his head to the side, his mouth slightly ajar as he stood up and moved slowly closer. "Can you understand me?" The mermaid looked a little dried out, parched perhaps? The storm was raging outside but it might not have been enough to sustain her. He reached for a glass on his desk but thought better of offering her the potent drink. Instead he scooped up a water skin from the corner of the bed frame and carefully uncorked it. The man held out the container to her and waited for her to take it from him.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Jul 9, 2016 16:18:19 GMT -8
"Easy lass, you had quite a rough swim... Right into the port side of my ship."
Ursula's eyes widened. This human was speaking her language. Her parents had raised her and her brother Triton with the knowledge about monsters living up in a world without water. Monsters called human. But this man in front of her, with eyes so fascinating, didn't seem like a monster at all.
As the man stood up and moved slowly closer to her, Ursula got back a little bit of her acquired distrust. Another hiss escaped her lips.
"Can you understand me?"
She could. She didn't answer though. Instead she looked at him extensively, watching every move he did. And at last watching the strange looking thingy, he suddenly held out to her. Ursula looked at him quizzical, before she decided to carefully receive the thingy and to turn it around in her hands. When drops of water came out from it, an understanding expression appeared on her face. Quickly the mermaid spilled the fluid all over her fin, but her joy ended once the thingy was empty. Questioning she looked back in the man's eyes.
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Post by Medieval Kevin on Jan 28, 2017 15:30:10 GMT -8
The mermaid didn't seem as if she would move, had she dried out and turned to stone? The captain frowned but then finally she reached out and snatched the water skin from his hand. A quick inspection and she figured it out, emptying the liquid over her fin. So that was it then, she needed the contact.
Jones knelt down on one knee next the the bed as she looked back at him questioningly. He kept a few jugs of water roped to the wall under the bunk. Releasing one he popped the top off and lifted it up where she could see it. Swishing it back and forth so she would know he meant no harm. He looked at the sheets and then turned it over dumping some of the water to moisten the fabric. It wasn't like the whole room wasn't damp already, there was no keeping the elements out during a squall. Righting the bottle and letting it hang at his side the man pulled the sheet slowly over the mermaid's fin to keep her cool and hydrated he hoped.
"Do you have a name miss?" Davy put the bottle down on the floor and then gestured his free hands towards her this time as he repeated himself, "Do you have a name lass?" He pulled the chair over he had been using and sat there, much closer to the young creature. She stared unwavering at him and he couldn't break that contact, her eyes held him. Either she was a witch or he just found himself infatuated with her. Or both he thought with concern...
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Jan 28, 2017 17:13:02 GMT -8
Warily and at the same time curiously Ursula watched the man knelting down next to something in the corner of the room. Then he opened something, which looked like a barrel, something she once has seen aboard one of those sunken ships her parents had warned her about. Yes, there had been a warning, but sometimes curiosity was stronger.
Ursula didn't know what the man actually was doing, but watched him fascinated even so. When he swished the barrel back and forth so that she could see it, Ursula threw a look inside. It was filled with water. A smile appeared on her face. Just as she wanted to reach out for it, the man took it away from her and instead turned it over something which looked like a blanket. Her face expression became once more puzzled.
With the blanket in his hands the man suddenly approached her. Ursula felt fear rising up inside her again, but wasn't able to move this time. No, he was no monster. She knew it was true. And before she could have thought about it any longer, the cold wet blanket was laying around her fin. Gosh, this was feeling good. It was nothing compared to be in the water, but it seemed to give her enough breath to calm down a little.
"Do you have a name miss?" Ursula looked up again. "Do you have a name lass?", the man repeated, as she didn't give an answer. He had to think that she wasn't able to understand him. Or that she wasn't able to speak. But the truth was she never talked to a human before. Not till today.
"I am...", Ursula began, as she suddenly saw a high wave breaking at one of the ship's portholes. "The sea...", she whispered quite but clearly. It didn't mean the end of her started answer, but one might think so. Absent-minded her eyes went from the outside view to the man sitting right in front of her. He was as beautiful as the sea. Maybe even more beautiful. His eyes and the depth within them made her forget his question. In her sudden fascination Ursula's hand reached out to him, reached out to his coarse looking skin. Inwardly he heard her parents' warnings, but was a child able to pass a gingerbread house, when it was standing right in front of it?
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Post by Medieval Kevin on May 13, 2017 17:26:19 GMT -8
It seemed like an eternity but finally she muttered in hushed words, "I am...", there was a pause and her eyes went to the porthole on the starboard side, "The sea..." Could it be true? His eyes followed hers to the waves beyond.
Jones had heard tales all his life. The sea, she was a fickle mistress... and here during this very storm, a young mermaid flies right onto his ship. Was this a test? What was the name...? "Calypso..." Davy muttered out loud, unaware he had spoken until the words passed his lips. Turning his head slowly the captain looked to see if his recollections brought out any reaction on her delicate features.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Jun 11, 2017 3:36:56 GMT -8
"Calypso..."
Ursula's eyes met again with the man's, as he slowly turned his head, just like he was searching for something on her features. She smiled. Actually she had no idea what Calypso supposed to mean, but she liked the sound of it. Was it one of this human words like the fork? It must be so. Could it be a human word for her being? For a mermaid? Or even for herself specifically? Ursula liked that thought, which let her smile grow a little more.
Eventually Ursula realized her hand still remaining on its way to the man's face. She let off her sudden rigidity and slowly drew it back, when her features became a little bit stricter and her breath once more harder again. The moisture on her fin was pleasant, but the lack of the sea was getting debilitating more and more.
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Post by Medieval Kevin on Dec 17, 2017 20:05:48 GMT -8
She was reaching towards the captains face and suddenly she stopped, withdrew. Her features hardened. Had he done something wrong? She had smiled when he called her Calypso. It must be so. It was her. She was the sea. But then had he been a disappointment? "Please don't mistake me, my queen. I am sorry if I be too forward. I have just never seen the likes of ye before."
Was it his beard, had she made contact? The rough texture foreign and unpleasent. As her hand went to settle down again he quickly reached out and took her fingers in his hand. Something to dispell the notion that all men were prickly and harsh. His hands were not the epitome of comfort but it was certainly an improvement. Before her eyes darted back to him he saw she was looking at her fin again, and at the sea beyond his window. "Must ye leave so soon?"
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Jan 10, 2018 4:57:18 GMT -8
"Please don't mistake me, my queen. I am sorry if I be too forward. I have just never seen the likes of ye before."
Something in his words made her face him with intensity all of a sudden. With fascination once again. My Queen. This human really believed her to be a queen? Well, she could be one. She dreamed to be one. And she actually would become one, if there hasn't been her brother Triton being entitled to claim the throne in the first place.
When his hand quickly reached out to her lowered one, taking her fingers in his, the mermaid could have sworn to hear her heart. Or was it his? Ursula was proverbially melting away in this man's looks and touches until he suddenly spoke up again.
"Must ye leave so soon?"
The mermaid's lips raised to a smile. "I wish I wouldn't have to.", she finally replied with one sad look at her fin, before she drew her attention fully back at him. "But a queen has to return to her kingdom, doesn't she?" This indeed was sounding more like a question than a declaration. If there was any possibility for her to stay, she would. Because the sad truth was another. The kingdom back where she had come from, down there under the sea... did not want to get reigned by her.
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Post by Medieval Kevin on Feb 10, 2018 22:53:23 GMT -8
"I wish I wouldn't have to." She spoke to him! And her's was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard in all his days. "But a queen has to return to her kingdom, doesn't she?" The words meaning rang sadly in his ears however.
He had interpreted her looks correctly. "I'd be a sad sailor indeed if I would keep you from your realm. And risk the lives of myself and my ship. Not for fear of my mortal soul but if my ship were dashed in your fury I would never again be able to hear that melodious song that escapes your lips." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Please promise me you'll grace me with your presence again. I could not bear it if I never were to see thee again." He gave a look back towards a door out onto the stern galley of the ship. It would be the fastest access to the open sea. He awaited her command.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Feb 23, 2018 11:26:26 GMT -8
"I'd be a sad sailor indeed if I would keep you from your realm. And risk the lives of myself and my ship. Not for fear of my mortal soul but if my ship were dashed in your fury I would never again be able to hear that melodious song that escapes your lips."
These words. Never had anyone spoken to her in the way he did. All she got down that place she had called her kingdom just now, had been regulations. Lots of them. And none of them she was actually sticking to. Not today.
So right here in the sweet of his words, sounding like a poem (something she once had heard of in human's stories), Ursula was wishing for time. But time wasn't plentiful up here when you had a fin instead of legs. When you were a fish instead of a human.
"Please promise me you'll grace me with your presence again. I could not bear it if I never were to see thee again."
"We'll meet again, my captain of the sea. I can't say when that will be, but I promise.", she said with a sad smile on her lips, as her other hand reached out to his hairy face, stroking along the man's splendorous beard.
Ursula had noticed his look towards the door behind and assumed that would be the fastest access back home. No, not home. Back to durance. But she was ready to go back there if it meant to eventually break free from it. Until then, she would have to search for a way.
Ursula moved her head with a slight nod.
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Post by Medieval Kevin on Mar 10, 2018 21:14:00 GMT -8
With a nod from her, the captain slowly slipped his hands beneath her and lifted her so that one of her arms was behind his head for added support. "Allow me my queen." As he stood to his full height her body pressed against his as he leaned backwards and walked towards the exit.
He was able to release the latch with his hip and stepped sideways out onto the balcony. Looking below the waters had not calmed. But this was her element. He had to do this, she had commanded it. Even if he wanted to bring her back inside. The howl of the wind made it hard to speak so he kept his goodbye brief, "I will wait for ye. Your promise is worth more to me then all the gold the sea's hide in their depths."
Lowering her over the rail he held her by just her hands, reducing the distance she had to cover. As their eyes locked one final time he smiled. "Goodbye, Calypso." As she slipped from his fingers she made the drop with an impossible grace and broke the surface of the turbulent waves with not a splash to be seen. Indeed, what could the sea do to one such as her. From the deck above the captain heard a cry of dismay. Many of the crew had gathered there and no doubt thought his decision a poor one. But they soon understood their folly as the sea calmed and the clouds began to disperse.
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Post by DarkSideCookie on Mar 11, 2018 8:56:54 GMT -8
"Allow me my queen."
With a satisfied smile, she did allow him to support her on the way towards the exit. Satisfied that was for only the moment of their walk. With every further step he did, she wanted to make him stop. Everything inside of her screamed to stay, but then there were these other voices quietly whispering she couldn't. A queen would be able to do whatever she wishes, but she was none. Down there under the sea, she was no one. Anger mixed up with the regret of having to leave this world to the world underneath. Of having to leave him.
Ursula watched him releasing the latch, her arms around him to find support. She could already hear the howl of the wind and the waves of the sea, calling her back. Don't send me back, was it standing in her eyes, as she felt their farewell being close.
"I will wait for ye. Your promise is worth more to me than all the gold the sea's hide in their depths."
Hearing his words and once again feeling enamored by them, Ursula knew it was on time. And so with his help, she approached the rail, sending one last look back at him, before she would leave for an indefinite period of time.
"Goodbye, Calypso."
"Goodbye, my captain of the sea.", she spoke again, one single tear dripping down her lips.
And with these last words, Ursula let off his hand and herself plunge into the water, her fin the last this man would see for a long while.
***Ursula exits to the open sea***
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Post by Medieval Kevin on Apr 28, 2018 9:29:21 GMT -8
Jones watched her break the surface of the water and disappear. Then her fin came up one last time and slapped the water before that last glimpse of her was gone beneath the stormy seas. He sighed as the water sprayed up at him. The wind blew his coat and hat about him. Still he kept watching where she had decended. His well oiled garments even began to absorb the rain that beat down on him.
Finally he walked back into his cabin and shut the door behind him. He took a seat at his table and removed his hat, it poured salt water from its brim as it came to rest. His hands went to the arm rests beside him and he let out a sigh. A mermaid. It had all happened so fast but it felt like an eternity. He would endeavour to wait for her with all the patience he could muster.
There was a place though, where those of near equal beauty were said to gather. An island of mermaids. The one place they would visit from the world above. If things got bad enough he could find it. The stories always said sailors went there and never returned... An ominous tale for sure, but not to him now. And if his Calypso was there... It was worth the risk.
**Jones falls asleep in his chair**
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