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Black Pearl swam through her normal route in the Duskgloom sea. A series of coral arches and rotted ships lined a simple path she moved along to get from one side of her territory to another. Pearl honestly had just wanted to go for a swim, maybe see if she could find something interesting to bring back to the main underwater ship yard she had made her home.
The water was a little choppy, even under all the waves. Black Pearl had to work a little harder to fight the currents. Being in her smaller form also didn’t help. She normally didn’t care in her larger size but for now she had to deal with it. It was just easier to travel through the tight passages and rock formations when she was smaller.
As she made a sharp turn around one trade ship something felt off. Black Pearl looked around the area. No ships were casting a shadow into the sea. No large school of fish had made her instincts tell her there was good prey around. No sharks taking advantage of her smaller size and lack of support. Just a sense that someone else was there.
Black Pearl moved with more caution. She had remembered a few times where she had rushed into situations like this and ended up getting caught on old rusted crab traps and fishing lines. She scanned the sunken ship the best she could.
Before Black Pearl was about to leave she saw a bit of movement from the corner of her eye. It was a bundle of tangled nets and other junk. It shifted again, like something was struggling to get out. Black Pearl growled softly as she silently moved closer.
She moved down next to the bundle and listened. As she was listening, she heard a tiny yelp. Black Pearl backed up in surprise before slowly moving back to the pile of nets and junk. The water around the bundle felt familiar but different.
Black Pearl carefully extended a claw before cutting the net quickly and backing up. “Ow!” A voice cried out in surprise. Out of the mess of human junk tumbled a small, green tailed merboy. Black Pearl couldn’t believe it.
The little merboy twisted his tail around and stretched out before looking at Black Pearl. He immediately dropped down to hide his face and the gem on his center chest. “Please don’t eat me!” He shouted, not actually realizing who had freed him.
Black Pearl was frozen in disbelief. A mercookie was in her territory, alive, alone, and without a weapon. Not to mention the kid was definitely young, around ten if Black Pearl had to guess. Most guppies that age were still glued to the tails of their parents so they don’t get lost. To find this little kid alone was unnerving.
“Umm…hello…” Black Pearl said. She didn’t really know what to say. She hadn’t been around anyone else of her species in over a decade. Part of her also wanted to keep it that way.
“H-hello?” The little merboy asked, looking up at the dark scaled mermaid. Black Pearl nervously smiled at the kid, hoping it wasn’t creepy (definitely failing in the process). “What’s a thing you doing alone?” She asked.
“I-I got tossed around in the storm. I didn’t mean to get in the way.” The kid said, swimming backwards. His tone and demeanor had shifted like he was used to this in some way. “Thank you for getting the net off of me, miss. I’ll be on my way now.” He said casually.
Black Pearl swam and cut the kid off. “Where’s your guardians?” She asked. “I don’t got any.” The merboy replied. Black Pearl froze for a second at that. “No family, no siblings, not even a small pod?” She asked. The merboy nodded, confirming that he had no one.
Black Pearl studied the kid for a moment. “What’s your name?” She asked. “My name’s Emerald! What about you?” He asked, using that innocent expression guppies used when they wanted something. “Black Pearl…” the older mermaid mumbled.
“So we know each other now. That makes you a friend.” Emerald said playfully, bumping his tail with Black Pearl. He was like a little seal pup, playful, innocent and affectionate. Black Pearl didn’t have time for this kid. Oh the Sea couldn’t give her enough strength to deal with this kid.
“I’m not your friend…” Black Pearl grumbled. “Sure you are. You told me your name and I told you mine. You also helped me out and are talking with me.” Emerald said. “How in the name of the Sea have you survived in my waters…?” Black Pearl growled.
“I don’t know really. I just keep fallowing the current like my mom said.” Emerald explained. “So you do have a parent? Where is she? No self respecting mermaid would let a guppy swim off and even then wouldn’t she be looking for you?” Black Pearl said, getting exasperated by the conversation.
“Well like I said, I don’t know where she is so I…don’t have any one…I haven’t seen them in…months…” Emerald said, his voice cracking a second like a bad memory was brought up. Black Pearl got a bit of a sinking feeling. She didn’t let it show but a part of her already knew what probably happened.
Land Cookies were never kind towards Mermaids. It wouldn’t surprise Black Pearl if Emerald had gotten separated from his pod because of that. Even a small ship of Cookies could wipe out an unprepared Mermaid pod. She knew that from experience.
The storm above the Duskgloom suddenly started to pick up, scaring Emerald and causing him to dive under Black Pearl’s fins. Black Pearl growled but Emerald just held on like a barnacle as the thunder started to get louder up above.
‘He’s just a kid! He doesn’t know any better!’ part of her said. ‘He’s fine! We don’t have to do anything!’ Another part shouted. ‘We can barely take care of ourselves! How would we care for a guppy if we let him stay?!’ A voice of reason questioned. ‘We could ask-‘ ‘oh HELL NO! I won’t suck up to that pathetic excuse of a captain and let him help with any of this!’ ‘He knows more than you do…’ Black Pearl argued with herself.
Black Pearl didn’t know what to do with the kid. On the one fin, she couldn’t handle him staying around. On the other, she didn’t really like the idea of him getting eaten by one of the much bigger predators around the area. Emerald was the perfect size for a shark to eat whole or the larger crabs to harm. She didn’t want to come back and find him injured or worse. Black Pearl softened up a bit. “I’m going to regret this…” she growled under her breath.
“Okay kid, come with me. We should get moving before the maelstrom starts up.” Black Pearl said. “Where are we going?” Emerald asked. “I know somewhere that’s a little safer than here…and someone who can…help...” Pearl grumbled, internally swallowing her pride for what she was doing.
The captain would never let her live this down.
<—————————————————————————>
The day had been going quite well in Caviar’s opinion. The Salty Shark was essentially halted for the next few days because of shipping disagreements. That left Caviar with a free weekend to catch up on some well deserved rest- “Caviar! Get you sorry ass down here!” He stood corrected.
It was hard not to know it was Black Pearl. The entire crew had been left to their own devices and were on shore in the market just having fun. Even Candy Diver and Rookie had tagged along to try and sucker someone like Blueberry Sponge into getting a sweet treat. Caviar was the only one aboard.
“Captain fucking Caviar!” The mermaid yelled. “Okay ya stupid scaled bitch!” Caviar yelled back, not caring to censor himself since the crew wasn’t there. Black Pearl had also started it, and Caviar sure as hell wasn’t going to let her finish it.
He grabbed his coat and started walking down the steps, slamming his feet a bit so maybe Black Pearl would have second thoughts about bothering him. “Of all the mermaids in the world…she’s definitely the most obnoxious.” Caviar growled.
When he got to the dock next to the ship he saw Black Pearl in the water, only her eyes and up visibly over the water. She looked like she was holding something in her mouth. “So what the hell do ya want princess?” Caviar asked, not really caring what she was about to tell him.
Black Pearl then raised her head and right in her jaws, being held by the scruff of its neck was a small, thin, green-tailed merboy. Caviar had to admit he short circuited at the sight of Black Pearl holding the kid like a cat showing off its kitten.
“Where in the bloody hell did ya get that! Put him down!” Caviar shouted. He reached out to grip Black Pearl’s hair a little and tried to get her to let the merboy go. “Fuck no!” Pearl whined as she held onto the kid tightly.
“Pearl!” Caviar yelled. Black Pearl rolled her eyes and dropped the little guppy, making him yelp and splash a little in the water. “You stupid Land Cookie!” Black Pearl shouted before biting Caviar right on the forearm. “Fuck!” Caviar cused, letting the Mermaid go.
Caviar growled and started tying a rag around his arm as he glared at Black Pearl. “Where in the sea did ya find him?!” Caviar asked as he watched Black Pearl guide the little merboy back over to the dock. “He was in my territory okay. I need your help!” Black Pearl said angrily.
Caviar turned away from his lightly bleeding arm to look at Black Pearl like she just said she wanted him to cut himself in shark filled waters. “What…?” He asked. Black Pearl snarled as she pulled the words from her mouth again. “I…need your help…”
Caviar was actually impressed. In all the years he had been around Black Pearl she never once asked for peace so she could get help. He was actually intrigued. “Alright. What do ya need my help for?” Caviar asked, skeptical about all of this.
“Obviously it’s for the kid. I’d never ask you to help me like that.” Black Pearl growled. “Hello sir!” The little guppy said happily, waving excitedly at Caviar. The captain softened up a bit and gently waved back, wanting to show the kid he wasn’t dangerous or anything.
Caviar reached out a hand and gently ruffled the kid’s hair. “So, what’s your name ya little seahorse?” Caviar asked, talking like he did with Rookie, the youngest member of the crew. “My name's Emerald! And who are you sir?” The merboy asked. “Captain Caviar, but you can just call me Caviar.” He said.
Emerald smiled happily. “Why’d ya bring him here Pearl?” Caviar asked softly as he continued fluffing the boy’s hair. “He wasn’t with a pod and he can’t stay in the Duskgloom sea.” Black Pearl said.
“Well do you know where his pod is?” Caviar asked, “I can get Candy Diver on tracking currents and mermaid sightings to find-“ Black Pearl gave Caviar a look and shook her head solemnly. “…they’re gone…” Black Pearl whispered, quite enough so Emerald didn’t hear. “…a mermaid will look for her guppy constantly if they are missing. If his pod hasn’t found Emerald yet…well…” she continued.
Caviar felt his heart break a little at Black Pearl’s words. She never got like that, quiet and serious. “How about you two get up here on the dock and I’ll get some food. We…we can’t talk more about this then.” Caviar said, turning so Emerald didn’t see how the Captain was mentally telling himself not to look upset in front of the kid.
He quickly got up and went back to the ship to grab a few things before returning. Black Pearl was fully on the dock for once as Emerald tried to nuzzle into her side. Black Pearl rolled her eyes at it but let the merboy continue snuggling into her. It was cute but couldn’t shake the feeling Caviar was getting.
“Here, these should all be fresh.” Caviar said as he placed a small basket of fish down nearby. Emerald looked up nervously before carefully moving over and snatching a fish from the basket. He quickly started eating before looking up sheepishly. “T-thank you Caviar!” Emerald said. “No problem…” Caviar said softly.
Emerald happily ate like he hadn’t eaten in a while. Caviar didn’t even want to think about that. Black Pearl grabbed a fish of her own and ate it quickly. “So what should I do with him now?” She asked, gently licking her claws clean.
“I’ll be honest with you. He has to stay.” Caviar said, “I’m not a mermaid but even I can tell that he’s too young to be alone.” Black Pearl nodded softly. “Again though, I can’t take him for the Duskgloom. It may not look like it but there’s plenty of predators bigger than Emerald. If he stayed I’d basically have to be on guard all day and all night.” She said
Caviar understood what Black Pearl was talking about. He could also see a flicker of something else, like there were other reasons for Black Pearl not wanting to keep Emeral around her. Oddly enough, the normally violent and aggressive mermaid of the Duskgloom surprisingly seemed to like Emerald.
“Then how about you both stay with me and my crew?” Caviar asked. Black Pearl looked at him like he just suggested that she doc her tail fin. “What?” She asked. “Now hear me out. If Emerald and you are close to me and my crew that means you both have protection from things like land Cookies. You also wouldn’t have to worry about predators while you rest as a lot of them avoid our ships and on top of that, maybe we can find another pod for Emerald.” Caviar said.
Emerald by this point had finished eating and was back to curling up next to Black Pearl in the sun. “I’m just saying. It would be the safest option for the kid with how-” Caviar started. “You don’t need to explain it.” Black Pearl said. “I know you're right.”
Caviar felt himself choking on air as Black Pearl said that. “I’m sorry did you just admit I’m right?!” He asked. “Yes, and I would prefer you keep that to yourself unless you wanna see my teeth up close.” Black Pearl said. Caviar chuckled.
“Well, I guess that makes you two part of the crew now.” Caviar said, standing up to stretch. Black Pearl rolled her eyes but Emerald looked up happily. “Why don’t I get you two situated on the deck in some water so you can meet the crew properly?” Caviar asked. “Oh fuck no! I’m not getting on that thing!” Black Pearl said, but it was too late.
Caviar had already lifted Black Pearl and Emerald up. “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna hurt either of you. You both deserve better than that.” Caviar said happily. Black Pearl stopped struggling at that and just let Caviar adjust his hold on Emerald and her. Caviar couldn’t help but smile more.
He knew it would be hilarious explaining this all to Staghorn or Blueberry Sponge. Rookie would just be happy to have someone around their age to play with. Emerald would also probably love Candy Diver. Caviar knew Pearl would say she hated it, but he knew that deep down she’d be just as grateful and happy.
“We’re together in this. I don’t let my crew get hurt by anything or anyone.” Caviar said firmly. Black Pearl smiled at him. “Thank you.”