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Jaskier was one to listen to the waves, while the others stayed away from the surface of the lake he lived to see fishermen and swimmers. Lake life wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, being a lake mer was boring on occasion.
So Jaskier had begun to rise to the surface whenever he could manage it. They all called him crazy, told him he was asking to be kidnapped or eaten. He didn’t believe it, he never believed anyone would take him away.
What would anyone do with a creature that lived in a lake anyway?
There was no one he knew of that even knew that creatures with tails like fish and the upper body of a human lived within the lake.
At least that was what he believed, until one day he came across a large ship on the surface of the lake. He made his way up to examine it. He placed hand on the wood his webbed fingers shining in the light protruding through the surface of the lake.
That was when he heard a sound of distress from the opposite side of the boat, he swam under it to find a fishing net with a young mer within. He swam down and grabbed a sharp rock and began to cut the net pulling the girl free. She swam off quickly.
He sighed in relief only to panic, the net began to move but as he went to go up his tail got stuck within the ropes.
He wiggled back and forth within the binds, he attempted to cut the rope only to loose the sharp rock. It plummeted to the depths of the lake as the net brought him up and out of the water.
He cried out in panic as he was pulled from the lake and into the open air. He flayed about in fear. The eyes of the crew members were wide with interest. “Captain! We found one!”
A dark haired man stepped forward smiling wide as he looked over the flailing merman. “Well not a lady of the lake, but a man of it.” He laughed with pleasure as he continued to panic and wiggle side to side.
Water cascaded off his scales, his hair dropped as he hung upside down. “Shall we bring him on deck?”
“Course!” The captain shouted as they moved the net and fearful mer onto the deck.
“No please!” Jaskier cried out as he was dropped on the deck. The net covering his body. The lower parts of it wrapped tight enough to draw blood.
He wriggled on the deck, his tail flopping in pain as the captain grabbed a first full of his hair and forced the merman’s blue eyes to look into his own dark ones. “Well it seems we found ourselves something worth while in the lake.” Jaskier shivered feeling his hand travel down his chest. “Yes I do believe we found something worth my time.”
Jaskier cried out as as the man’s hand stopped over his scales. The blue green tail shimmered in the light as water dripped off it. He removed his hand from his hair and messed with the mesh and small shimmering rocks that hung from his neck like a necklace.
“Pretty thing.” The captain smiled, Jaskier was very away he was not referring to his necklace. Jaskier pulled away only to feel the ropes tug at his tail. He hissed in pain as more blood dripped from the wound.
“Men, my knife.” He called out. Someone scrambled to retrieve the knife for him. He cut away the rope and Jaskier calmed down despite seeing the stain of crimson on the deck below his tail.
“Captain Rience. Now that we have what you were looking for shall we take him to your home?”
“I think he will do nicely as a staple of my collection.”
Jaskier’s blue eyes grew wide. “No no please don’t! I like my home here.”
“Ah pretty thing. I’m a collector, I collect creatures from all around the globe. You shall be my most prized however, because you and I can do more than stare at one another. I can speak to you, touch you without fear of being torn apart. And well, do more to you if I desire.” Rience smirked sliding his hand close to Jaskier’s slit. Jaskier’s eyes grew dark and he barred his hardly sharp teeth as Rience pulled his hand away from his most sensitive spot. “It’s not uncommon for man to desire the kind of creature you are minnow.”
“My name is Jaskier.” He seethed as he moved back once more only to hit the side of the deck. He looked between the crew and his new capturer. “Do not touch me!”
Rience smirked amused by his attempts to be brave and strong. “Sorry but you belong to me now. I captured you, plucked you from this lake and you will now live behind a glass tank for my entertainment. I don’t just give my prizes up so easily. My home is full of creatures big and small but non capable of human speech such as yourself. None so capable of entertaining me as you.”
Jaskier took a deep breath before he tried to hit Rience with his tail. Rience grabbed the base of it before he could hit him with his fins. Jaskier’s eyes grew wide in pure terror as he was slammed against the deck. “Seems we need to tie the little fish up.” Rience declared standing upright and stomping towards the rope. Jaksier attempted to drag himself across the deck only to have his wet strands of hair grabbed by the pirate captain. His wrists were pulled back behind him roughly as he screamed out.
Rience tried the rope around his neck first before tying his wrists behind his back forcing him to stop struggling or else the possibility of choking himself.
His tail was the tied to his wrists. Jaskier continued to struggle until he blacked out.
When he woke he was in water, his surroundings looked much like home. He sighed, it was just a nightmare.
He was swimming around looking for his friends when he hit glass and he realized then it wasn’t a nightmare but a terrible reality.
He was no longer free, he was now a prize for a human collector.