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Uma watches the purple haired girl. She thinks they’re like opposites but the same. The skies and the seas, and they’re both stuck on land. Maybe this is how Ariel felt, the foolish mermaid her mother tricked and won against until she’d lost. Ursula, the once notorious sea witch, now a restaurant owner.
Mal is twirling a sword, though her handling of it is awkward like she’s just learning. Perks of being around the pirates, Uma’s had a sword in hand since she could walk. Usually the docks and Hook’s crew’s got a monopoly on them, but ever since Jafar’s scamp got to running around, they’ve started to be redistributed. Or at least, that’s what Uma’s been told.
She pushes away from the shadow of the awning she’d been crouching in, steps out into Mal’s line of vision, buckles along Harriet’s old boots clacking together. They’re still a little big for her, rubbing blisters into her feet, but they look sick as hell so Uma puts up with them. “You’re holding it wrong,” she informs.
Mal’s thin face contorts into an ugly scowl. She looks like she’s made of shards of glass, “who are you?”
It stings that Uma has heard of this girl and not the other way around. Perks of being the daughter of the Isle’s unofficial leader, though, is that she doesn’t need to be as aware of anyone else if she doesn’t want to be. Uma side steps the swipe of the blade. “When’d you start fighting?”
“None of your business,” Mal’s eyes flick over her and then cast away dismissively. She doesn’t see Uma as a threat, and the sting strengthens into something a little more biting.
“Well you’re holding it wrong,” Uma scorns, “come on, I can show you a better way.”
“I don’t need your help.”
She shrugs, “suit yourself I guess. But I could get you an exclusive around the ships out by the docks.”
Mal looks at her properly for the first time, desaturated pale eyes harsh, “oh, you’re Ursula’s.”
Uma’s lips press, “so?”
Mal stares right at her, mouth quirking meanly. “I heard the docks make you smell like shrimp.”
Whatever mix of envy and admiration that had been sitting in Uma’s stomach is flooded with embarrassment and she turns on her heel and storms away.