Ocean Adventures (ZeRoyalChaos)

The beginning (?)

Ze hummed to himself, examining a partially broken seashell that was rather intriguing. It spiralled a lot, and was rather colorful and shimmery. He decided it was worth being a part of his collection, and carefully placed the shell in his seaweed bag with the other shells he’s collected. His deep red tail disturbed the sand as he shot off in a random direction, not really caring where he went. He was far from the village, but also no where near any sharks or any other danger, so he wasn’t worried about safety and being able to hide quickly.

He just wanted one or two more shells, to put around his little home and make the place look nice. Just one or two more, and he’d go back, he promised himself.

He found an untouched stretch of sand and dove down, carefully sifting through the sand trying to find more shells. Instead, he found… rope? Frowning, the merman lifted the rope he found, seeing a strange interweaving pattern, with many knots. What was this doing down here? It looked so weird… was it a human thing? Ze ran his fingers along the rope and the knots, just thinking, but before he could come to a conclusion, more of the rope structure suddenly burst from the sand, clouding up the water, and before Ze could fully register this, he suddenly felt incredibly restricted.

Ze thrashed against the bindings, yelping at the rough scratching of the rope. Oh gods, what the hell was this!? He felt himself being pulled up to the surface, and frantically searched for a way out. His tail was bent funny, and it hurt, but he couldn’t even wriggle enough to ease the pain of that.

He still hadn’t found an escape by the time his head broke the surface. He gasped, his unused lungs tingling at the sudden air filling them. Ze hadn’t breathed pure air in a long time, and now he was suffering for it, coughing and hacking at the dry feeling in his throat and lungs. He swung in the air as he was raised, cracking open his watering eyes, to see rows and rows of planks. Oh fuck.

His fears were confirmed when he was raised over a railing, to see the rest of the pirate ship, and some crew. The thing holding him in the air looked… odd. Like nothing he had seen before. It apparently could rotate, because he was swung over the rails until he was above the deck. Fuck.

“What’d I tell ya, laddies?” The biggest, ugliest man said, a stupid grin on his face. “These merfolk are too curious for their own good. Now we just have to get to port, and we’ll all be a little richer for it!”

These words were answered by cheers, and Ze felt sick. What would happen once they got to a port…? Probably nothing good. In fact, due to the “richer” comment, Ze was probably going to be sold somehow. Fantastic. He wrapped his arms around his bag, hoping they wouldn’t take away his shells, only to hold empty air. Ze looked around frantically, upset welling in his chest and eyes. Did he drop his bag!? Really!?

“You! Go check the tank, see if it’s ready for our… guest. And you! Take him down there.” Presumably the captain was the one shouting orders, and Ze watched despondently as the crew members scurried around like little crabs in their haste to obey. “Set sail for port! I want us there as soon as possible!”

Ze zoned out a bit watching the crew dash around like mindless little fish, so he let out a startled yelp when suddenly he was on the not rough, but not smooth planks of the deck, the rope digging into his back and tail. He managed a quick glance up to see a dark young human male, who looked rather serious and stoic, before the end of the rope was grabbed up and he was being drug away. He yelped and whined at the wood and rope rubbing him harshly, leaving sore spots all over his tail and back. He was largely ignored, but when he managed to twist just right and catch a flash of the human dragging him along, he registered tense shoulders and a back before he started bumping down stairs. He didn’t seem happy, at least, so that was a small comfort for the trapped merman.