Chapter Text
Jabber did not mind the ocean waves. In fact, the loud and violent crashing against the wooden hull usually inspired a sort of “state of mind” that mixed well with developing his alchemy or even hummed him into a pleasant mirage during lasting nights. The thickness of the sea foam and spritz of salty rain showered him with a refreshment he found rarely in the many years spent abroad on Zodyl’s haggard ship.
The longer Jabber had spent upon the The Raider, the more intimate he had become with the mildly disturbing yet intriguing audio of wind pulsing through slanted cracks and a tide that never seemed to stop battering the ship. So when a storm rolled inward with the promise of a strong tide’s phonics being replaced with close-quartered bashing below deck, Jabber could not resist the curiosity that followed.
An eerie smile was plastered on his face as he meandered his way down the halls with the prospect of something to catch his interest when a tremor of footsteps erupted from ahead.
“That way. Hurry up. Who was in charge of sedating it?” A blunt tone cut through the heightening panic as he neared.
The rumbling of colliding voices and consistent sloshing fed Jabber’s growing intrigue as he turned out onto the starboard deck.
A sticky sort of sludge coated dark wooden floors. Above it, a large, azure cloth was thrown in poor aim to conceal what Jabber could only assume was a prominent cylindrical tank. Water overflowed with every rigorous movement and thrash from inside the vivarium, forming a pool in the wooden cracks below.
“That has gotta’ cause some nasty water damage.” He provides the insightful spur.
Cthoni hauls another foremast man by the scruff of his collar before shooting Jabber an unimpressed look.
“Lurking again, I see.” She shrugged off her dampened coat, plucking her handkerchief out to wipe her dribbling chin; droplets littered the wood behind her.
“Good ta’ see you too Cthoni! I can never seem to catch ya off guard.”
“This is not yours, Jabber.” Another wave of water rushed out from the tank with a clamorous thump. The thrust was directed and hostile, out for the kill.
If Jabber did not know any better, he would have guessed its aggression was directed at him. Cthoni gave it a bellicose shove back.
“So it is some kind of specimen.” Jabber beamed.
“It is for the captain.”
“Even if I say pretty please?”
She motioned towards the trail from where the tank was dragged; what once appeared as a trail of overflowed seawater, was now oozing out from and cracking the ancient wooden oak of the boat’s southern quarters. “We have hunted this one for a long while now.”
Now they’ll have to scavenge for wood repairs in the next village. What a pain.
Jabber smiles gleefully, resting a jewelled hand on his hips, clinking against his belt and dagger holster. The grandeur of this specimen must be truly exceptional for Zodyl to seek it out for longer than a week.
“Ya sure? It looks like a whole lot’ta fun.”
“Perhaps he’ll call on you for toxin control.”
“Yer really think so?”
“One in a million chance.” The tank was already being dragged across the deck, taut ropes strewn haphazardly around the tarp.
Cthoni’s eye twitched as she watched the foremast men, before stalking away from Jabber after a further foreboding conclusion. “Do not interfere. It is not your job.”
He reached up to smooth out his bandana that lay slick against his forehead - courtesy of their boatswain, Bundus. They had played their hand with lady luck in stealing the royal garment from an aristocratic city on the Mediterranean coast years back. Its flashy purple linen hard to find outside of the exotic waters, expensive too.
Jabber eyed the specimen’s temporary lodgings before it and its escorts disappeared out of view, chewing at his lip until a bead of salty blood formed. A habit he had picked up upon boarding the ship.
The creak of wood drew his attention for a moment. Glancing beneath him, under his boot, splayed an icky substance. It was thick, yet watery and smooth, seemingly transparent if not for a slight blue tinge. It seeped into the cracks and bubbled up again through the wood with a brilliant sparkle, like the flash of a dazzling scale from a leaping fish.
Slowly dissipating out, leaving a splintering effect on the oak wood spirals.
It’s highly acidic, how intriguing.
A part of him felt compelled, drawn, to extend his twitching hands out and touch it, run the substance through his fingertips. Would it burn? Cause a stabbing pain? Jabber felt his soul blazing to investigate.
Feeling his mouth water ever so slightly at the anticipation of finding the source of such a corrosive acid, he stopped himself just short of crouching down.
Perhaps he would be able to obtain a couple of undisclosed test samples.
Lingering for a moment to ensure his environment was clear of nosy onlookers, he skipped back up to the east quarters.
Jabber identified further cells, measuring and pinning numerous flora and fauna underneath layered spectacles, comparing them to the elaborate samples collected over the years. He continued to file away another boring exponential coral analysis brought in this morning. Unfortunately, the marine life’s anatomical identification lay in Jabber’s surprisingly capable claws.
With a snap, Jabber adjusted his gloves and scooted forward with an eager grin, creaking open a rusty chest and withdrawing several vials. They pronounced colour remarkably; pink, green and blue hues swirled with a radioactive tint only found within the bottomless sea’s bioluminescent organisms - the fruits of his labour in bribing Noerde’s expedition late yesterday afternoon.
With an extensive and sophisticated knowledge of alchemy, Jabber had discovered a position of enjoyment with his time on The Raider. Discovering and creating hazardous and nuclear chemicals had always been a notion of splendour and enjoyment for himself.
On top of it all, Zodyl seemed to turn a blind eye whenever gas trickles from beneath his door in result of a failed decomposition reaction or yet another noise complaint due to a poorly adapted combustion with resounding pressure waves.
Sometimes Jabber wonders if he was recruited specially for the captain’s entertainment.
Jabber’s rings, embellishing his fingers, chime against the glass as he carefully taps at the liquid before gingerly distributing the algae into a small dish and squeezing oil of vitriol, actively terminating the microscopic dinoflagellates.
He hummed cheerily to his own melody, continuing his derogatory experiments. Tap after tap of metal on glass, formulating a rhythm to drown out dispersing footsteps from the specimen room below.
The night had grown long and silent before Jabber’s intrigue ultimately settled into his bones and finally consumed him from within.
The sound of metal clunked softly behind him as the door creaked under the strain of a slanted push.
Another successfully picked lock.
Jabber slips inside with ease, pocketing the acid-burnt lock and praying to Poseidon that it would not cause further burn damage to his durable but odly blemished trousers. He’ll craft a new lock later - assuming he has not been caught by then.
The wind outside thundered against the heavy wood in an enraged storm, but the ground beneath Jabber remained steady for now.
Soft shadows fell like feathers and reappeared just as quickly amongst the hidden walls behind continuous lines of shelved aquariums. Each new specimen caused Jabber to stop and dwell in its company for just a moment, captivated by its glowering, colourful scales or toxic spines.
He had never ventured past the locked cabins in the specimen rooms before. Jabber was always quite content with the samples sent his way. The captain knew him well. Alongside the ship’s perpetual difficulties and maintenance that kept Jabber occupied in exploring other areas to his advantage of course.
Remaining hypervigilant, his descent downward towards the basement floors grew uneasy. How did they even manage to haul such a large vivarium down here?
Each creak on the wooden floorboard caused a pause in his venture so as not to disturb those sleeping on the floors above, lest he get caught and thrown overboard for trespassing.
Flippant forms are cast across his face, overlapping and intertwining with one another before settling like sediment once again, tired from their stroll, circling the tank.
Pretty things, Jabber sighed, although he would not summon any sympathy for their weak beings.
Specimens of the marine are just another structure of cells left for Jabber and the crew to identify, experiment with and recall. Who in their right mind would get attached to a fish, of all things?
Teetering underneath draped curtains, flashes of fluorescent algae light transformed into cerulean, bouncing along the floorboards in a unified dance.
A sudden burst of excitement burst through Jabber. “Bingo.”
Pushing past the drapes led him to the secluded territory. The large tank that had haunted his subconscious for the better part of a few hours of the evening lay central, taunting and spectral. The cylinder itself extended to the majority of the walls, its height and width unmatched by the few discarded, empty tanks that settled untouched in the foreground. Muck-rimmed cloth concealed the being inside, wound tight with thick, knotted rope.
Jabber thoughtlessly flicked out his hand at a forty-five-degree angle, a small blade appearing hidden from within his metallic ring. He approached the tank soundlessly.
Holding up a steady hand, he sliced the ropes effortlessly, dropping them with a thump.
The damp cloth swayed with the invisible breeze, yet the tank remained deafly mute. His twitching fingertips caressed the edge of the cloth gently and hesitantly before yanking it off.
Jabber’s eyes widened, inhaling sharply. “Holy fuckin’ shit.”
The creature phosphoresced in a gleaming Caribbean blue hue, scales flitting from a glamorous, vibrant, deep sea turquoise, back to a divine, azure tone.
Pushing past the protruding glare of illumination, Jabber’s eyes focused on the floating form curled neatly in on itself. His breath seized in his throat as he caught sight of silky blonde strands.
The creature appeared to be an allegorical myth, a legend - a famous ancient sailor’s tale to entice young men into joining their crew.
Cascading iridescent scales retracted upward into saxe-tinted, but otherwise pale, flesh, complete with pink undertones. The small withdrawal of scales dotted upon the creature’s back created the illusion of freckles, forming constellations.
Its arms were wrapped protectively around itself, hugging its tail in securely. They looked human enough, the only difference being the pale opalescent blue webbed fingers and matching wafting fins extending from the mid-forearm to the tip of the elbow.
Jabber tilted his head sideways to further peer and gape, staring unblinkingly in mild horror at it. Silver shackles in his dreadlocks reflected with the glimmering floodlight ahead.
Its ears remained webbed, also. Convexed around what would be a replica of a human helix were lustrous, spiking fins, angled upwards in a pearlescent daintiness.
The creature - the half-human, half-fish hybrid - the mermaid? Siren? Jabber did not know, but it was it was rapturous. Ethereal.
Its emanation, was it bioluminescent algae attachments? Hints of luciferin? Or even an underlying radioactivity?
Whatever created the halo of radiance, it was celestial, hypnotic, and Jabber began to lose himself ever so slightly.
Before he could grasp even a semblance of reason, he was stepping closer and closer to the tank, approaching against his will.
Pulling himself up with a calloused hand, he now perched at the lip of the tank. Scuffed boots placed with expert stability to distribute his weight in a balanced manner.
The elucidation burnt his irises, imprinting and forging a memory he would never pray to forget.
Reaching out a desirous hand, Jabber plunged it into the water. A cool juxtaposition to the influx of heat he felt racking through his body, pulsing with every stuttering breath he took.
His finger met the sedated figure. Its flesh was smooth, almost silky, to the touch and oh so captivating. His hand extended further, fingertips tracing the toned muscle of the creature’s back, circling shoulder blades and awakening a trail of goosebumps.
Jabber felt like a possessed man.
As if in a trance, unable to stop, and compelled to reverently worship and devote himself to this mythical being.
Without heed of warning, Jabber felt a freezing, clammy grip piercing his wrist, plunging deep into his tendons and stunning his nerves. Blood bubbled out with the searing pain. His whole body jerked and tensed in utter shock.
A rapid flurry of water plundered towards him at once, drenching his clothes in fitful sprays of salted water. The creature agitatedly whipped and furled, tenacious movements knocking Jabber from his perch upon the tank’s rim. Falling backwards with a harsh smack and frightful yelp.
Jabber landed on his back with a grating scrape. His wrist throbbed as it dripped velvet crimson into the oak wood below. In its haste, Jabber stared at the creature in amazement, catching a glimpse of devoid sapphire eyes that pierced his soul.
His heart shuddered.
Jabber glanced down at his wrist, the burning sensation searing his flesh, permeating around the original, bloodied wound. Upon closer inspection, the skin even seemed to sizzle and sear away close-residing flesh, slowly fizzling out before consuming the rest of his arm and hand.
Jabber’s eyes glowed in delight. So it was acidic. Hurt like a motherfucker too.
The violent splashing ceased momentarily, bubbles dissipating hesitantly with the sputtering thrashes. A vast, accumulated pool of water had gathered under the tank.
Moving to stand, his vision blurred and his body terminated movement altogether, stumbling to the floor on his knees once more.
What the hell?
He swayed around, clamping his wrist tightly to his chest. It blazed heavenly. Igniting to the touch, as if incinerating his tendons one millimetre at a time.
Ah fuck. It’s a toxin, Jabber thought before depositing himself as carefully as he could to sit propped up against the wall, chest heaving heavily in a masochistic chuckle. His ears rang with sirens loudly, and his vision whirled with specks; he could make out a distant snarl pronounced from afar.
A pair of lustrous sapphire eyes seized his lasting attention, staring intently, almost with loathing; pure detestation and abhorrence were directed at him.
Jabber’s own eyes could not hold on any longer, becoming a victim of the penetrating cerulean glare before promptly losing consciousness.