Chapter Text
Murky waters rippled across the shore, it was difficult to see past its fog. It was a gray day due to the clouds, it could rain anytime soon. The docks were empty today, but that was to change. A siren stuck his head out of the water, taking his hand and moving hair out his eyes' way. He reached down for a bag that was attached to a makeshift belt and opened it. What was inside was a small necklace. You see, that necklace was magical, as it could make any siren that wore it into a human. The siren wrapped it around his neck and waited for its magic to start. What was a tail soon became legs, and what were scales became human skin. The necklace also conjured up clothes for him, rather stylish clothes indeed. After the transformation he climbed onto the hard wood. He knew he probably should've put it on after climbing on the dock as he was soaking wet, but it was best to not be caught.
This boy was known to both humans and sirens as Little Mac, as he was puny compared to others. Mac had always hated the life style of a siren, only wishing that he could live amongst humans peacefully, he knew that it would be difficult, but possible. For now he waited for a human. Not too long later the human eventually arrived for him. That human was blond, pretty fit, and just a tad bit taller than Little Mac by a couple inches. See, this human's name was Birdie, an energetic and strong boy he was.
"Heya Mac! Sorry for being late mate! Haha, that rhymed." Birdie ran up to sit down with his best friend. He patted his back to then be taken back by how damp he felt. "Woah dude! You're sopping wet! What happened?" He shook the water off his hand. "Yeah... I...I got pushed by some dude." Mac responded. He knew that no matter what he said, as long as Birdie didn't have any hearing protection on, that he would believe him, which didn't seem like a win in his book. Little Mac wished that people believed him in a genuine way, without siren magic he just can't control. "Damn, that sucks... anyways, uh, lemme get a towel for ya." He stood up from the hard wood, looking for something to dry off his buddy.
A couple minutes later, Birdie returned with the towel he promised to bring, he then wrapped it around Mac. "That good?" Birdie hoped. "Yeah...thanks dude" Mac responded as he traced his fingers along the soft fabric. Some more awkward minutes of silence later, Birdie quickly remembered what he came here for. "Right! Uh... I actually wanted to meet up with you for something really important." He turned his head towards Mac. "Hm? What is it?" He cocked his head in confusion. "I want to invite you for sailing this week! I know you get a bit lonely during my trips so I think it'd be nice if you came along you know? So, whatdya think?" He extended his hand. Mac's heart sunk a little, it would be extremely risky for him to join them, especially regarding that crew's history with sirens, but he didn't want to make him feel bad either.
"...Sure, that...that'd be nice" Mac nodded, he knew this wasn't the best idea but at least he gets to see Birdie's eyes light up from his answer. "Yay! Happy to have you on the crew now!" He checked his pocket watch to find they're supposed to report to the ship in about 20 something minutes. "Ah biscuits, we should get going." Birdie grabbed Mac's arm as he pulled both him and Mac up from the crooked wooden floor.
Soon enough the two arrived at the ship, twas quite a large ship, Mac was a bit intimidated by it. At the ship's entrance stood an older man who had a fairly impressive mustache. He eyed the two approaching and turned towards them. "There you are Birdie, you're right on time, and- who is this?!" The older man was quite baffled by the boy's presence, almost even suspicious of him. "Ah, this is my friend Little Mac! Mac, this is Von Kaiser, second in command of our captain" Birdie shifted his gaze towards the shorter one, who was sweating from nervousness. "Hah... He's not much of a talker" Birdie shrugged playfully as Little Mac waved hello. Von Kaiser squinted at him, not sure what to make of this. "I got my eye on you, winzig" Kaiser then did the following gesture that usually went along with the saying. Mac nodded in response as they all entered the ship.
The boat ever so subtly rocked side to side as waves gently hit it, and the arrival of three people just made it rock a tiny bit more. Mac looked around to find a small group of people spread out across the ship, strange, he thought there'd be more people due to the sheer size of the ship. Birdie tugged at Mac's arm to get his attention. "Come on! I want ya to meet the crew!" Before he could say anything in response, the short boy found himself being lead by the blondie around the boat. Birdie pointed at the one other red head that was on the ship, who was having a smoke. "That guy's Joey, we call him Glass Joe cause of how meek he is. He watches out for sirens!" He waved at Joey, not exactly expecting him to wave back as he was distracted. The two then treaded the other way. The blond boy then pointed at a pair of bald men, one of them was chugging down what seemed like vodka. "That dude is Soda Popinski, and the other guy is Bald Bull, I don't exactly remember their actual names, but I'm sure they don't mind that they're eternally known as that." Birdie joked once more. Little Mac laughed along with him, but not too loudly.
Mac noticed Von Kaiser was having a conversation with another man, who was an unfamiliar face, well, they were all unfamiliar faces to Mac. "Who's that guy?" He pointed at the man in the distance, who was quite taller than Kaiser. "Ah! That's Mr. Sandman! Third in command!" Strange, this crew technically has three leaders huh? "What's this guy's gimmick?" Mac questioned him. "Oh you see, this guy's the toughest of the bunch. He can really put a siren to sleep, if you know what I mean!" Birdie winked at him, not noticing his clear sense of nervousness peaking through. "Ahaha... that's cool... Wait so like, who's the captain?"
"Well-"
The door to the Captain's quarters flung open, catching the attention from everyone on board. Out came a stylish yet reserved woman, she was clearly the captain of this ship. "Hola mis amigos! Good to see you all again" Her attention immediately went to the two young boys on board, she didn't recognize that short one. She approached them, specifically eyeing Little Mac. "Aye, who must you be niño?" She asked in a rather serious yet calm tone. "I'm Mac...Little Mac..." He shyly waved. She waved back in a friendly manner. "I'm Captain Carmen, a pleasure to meet you Mac!" The two shook hands as she eyed Birdie for a moment. "Ah, give me a second, I must speak with your friend." Carmen approached Birdie and leaned in for a whisper.
"I see you brought someone new huh?"
"Mhm, mhm."
"Well, you know that it probably would've been a good idea had you at least a conversation with me about it first"
"Yup"
"I'm glad that you brought him just, please don't make that mistake again si?"
She gave him a smile to reassure that she wasn't mad at him for this. "I understand, Captain" He nodded. "Gracias!"
The captain gathered all of the crew members into one small audience. She had Von Kaiser and Mr. Sandman stand beside her as they were her second and third in command of course. "Hola! I hope you're prepared for this trip everyone, I'm sure most of you are. Although for the newbie, I will be having Kaiser show you the ropes". Mac didn't expect her to acknowledge him but it didn't really matter as of now. "Anyways, this trip will last a month at least, not our longest trip around the gauntlet that is the sea, we've had longer". As she continued to explain Mac glared at Birdie. "You said it was going to be a week" He whispered, mildly annoyed. "Sorry man, I guess I got the times mixed up. Did you have something important this month?" "...no."
Captain Carmen, after a couple minutes, soon finished her short speech. "Muy bien, hombres, let us leave this town as we shall explore the vast ocean once more! Vamos!" The crew spread out as the ship departed the docks.
Little Mac was left alone as all the other crew mates did their own chores. Von Kaiser soon approached the boy, glaring at him. "Hallo, winzig." The older man hissed, what is this guy's problem? "...hey." Mac looked away, to be honest, that man was quite intimidating. "Captain Carmen has ordered me to 'show you the ropes' eh? Well I'll tell you something." He squatted down so he could be at the boy's eye level. "BEWARE OF SIRENS, BOY, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE." The German man shouted, startling Little Mac. "THEY COULD EVEN BE ON THIS SHIP, EVEN YOU MIGHT BE A SIREN, IF YOU ARE I WILL-" Kaiser's mouth was soon covered by Mr. Sandman as the German man got shoved away.
"Ignore him, he's a nutjob, most of the people here are. I'm surprised that the Captain hasn't lost her mind from this idiots yet." Sandman sighed. "Uhm...nice meet you...Mr. Sandman right?" Mac extended his hand. "Yes, that's correct, you must be that boy Birdie talks about." He shook his hand. "Oh, I... I didn't know he talks about me to you guys." Mac scratched the back of his head. "All the time, he's really fond of ya." The two soon let go of each other's hands. "Wow I didn't know he thought of me like that..." Mac shyly looked away.
"Right, I gotta teach you about some stuff about sailing, since it's your first time and all."
"Not exactly...but thank you."