I Am The Sea || Choi San

dance

The clothes fit beautifully. The vest is tight over the white shirt and supports Theodora's body in all the right places, but its comfortable and soft, allowing her to move around any way she wants to, and the skirt ends just above her knees in the front and mid-calf in the back. It sways with every step Theo takes, just like her gowns and dresses used to, though it's not half as heavy or restricting. Theo chose to pull on the tight pants beneath the skirt, tugging the ends of the legs into the boots. For a moment, Theo stands in her room, with her arms outstretched, and spins around herself, watching the skirt flare around her. With a surge of confidence, she opens her long braid and lets her hai fall openly down her back and around her face like a curtain.

She has never felt more beautiful. More comfortable in her body. More like herself.

Then she folds the clothes she had borrowed from Hongjoong and Wooyoung, and places them in a neat stack on her bed, before she steps out of her room again, making her way back to the main deck.

The crew is already eating, when Theo joins them. Most of the men are residing towards the back, but Hongjoong and his main men have decided to sit by the front. Jongho is tugging at the strings of a guitar, Wooyoung is whistling away at his small flute, Yunho humming along to his tune. Theo tugs at her sleeves and smoothes over the pleads of her skirt one last time before she approaches them.

Yunho is the first to notice her, and he sits up straight when he lays eyes on her figure. He nudges  Wooyoung, who sits beside him, and taps Hongjoong's knee across from him. The music halts as Jongho lays eyes on Theo, but the girl's eyes curiously wander to San.

San is holding a bowl of soup, and he was watching Wooyoung play his flute with a gentle smile on his face. Theo knew that look on him very well, has watched him watch his crew mates with the utmost love and appreciation in his eyes so many times before. Never directed at Theo, though.

Now, however, the smile on his face does not disappear like it usually does. It's gentle and easy, but not enough to make his eyes crinkle. His eyes glance away for a moment, before they meet Theo's straight on, and she notices a glint in them she hasn't seen before.

"Theo," Wooyoung says into the moment of silence and tears Theo's eyes from San, "You look wonderful!"

Yunho nods agreeing, even Jongho and Mingi hold up their thumbs towards her. Heat rushes to her cheeks and she curtsies, playing with the ruffles of her skirt.

"Thank you, Woo," she answers and Seonghwa waves her over to sit next to him in their circle.

He pats the top of a barrel situated between him and Wooyoung, and presses a bowl of soup into Theo's hands when she sits. Theo starts eating, pulling one leg up to her chest. Jongho resumes playing his tune, and Yunho nudges Theo's foot with his own.

"Have you heard of the Captain's plan yet?"

Theo narrows her eyes and looks at her Captain, slowly shaking her head. She's been waiting for this moment, having only ever heard of pirates and the dangerous treasure hunts they'd go on. Attacking other ships, fighting other crews, stealing, plundering, raiding. Though Theo does have to admit, that Captain Hongjoong's crew does seem milder, less aggressive and dangerous than the pirate crews from the stories she's heard before. She has never seen them fight, has never even heard of them plundering or raiding a village or other ships.

"The crew and I agree," Hongjoong announces for Theo, "That we want to find the legendary Ocean's pearl."

Theo swallows her spoonful of soup. "A pearl. That's it?"

Wooyoung laughs and shakes his head.

He explains, "It's not just any old pearl, Theo. It's the pearl from the Legend of Tha'xiao! The one that allows you to tame the seven seas and bend the ocean to your will?"