P.N.S. Narcissus

"This is really kind of beautiful," Silva remarked to a nearby sailor as he stared up at the clear moon. "beautiful, my ass." the sailor muttered. He stood up and pointed at a small ridge in the water, little more than a tiny dimple. “ya see that?” Silva did. “See ‘em all over the water’s surface? Those are reefs. Put themselves in the perfect spot if they want to fish for ships too. They’ll tear the bottoms out of the best ships. These isles are a nightmare…we’re lucky we even have charts to get through this area…” the sailor spat overboard. Kid, remember this when you grow up. Don’t be a sailor. Better a landlubber than a swimmer.” Silva nodded, not especially interested as he continued to sketch. Here and there, Profundum marines patrolled the deck, crossbows at the ready. The sailor looked at them derisively. “Not much good them crossbow’s going to do about them sea-dragons. A marine looked at the sailor. “Too much grog tonight? Don’t be misleadin’ them young ones with your stories, sailor.” “I ain’t lying! There are sea-dragons, kraken, sirens…” Silva looked up. “What’s a siren?” The marine immediately jumped in. “It’s nothing that a sensible person should know—” “Like hell, it’s nothing a landlubber like you would know, practicing swimming in your kiddie pools.” The marine puffed up in anger, just in time for the sailor to talk. “Sirens, they be a type of mermaid. Mermaids are a’ight, you see them in the water once in a while, a few morons jump in, that’s about it—but it’s the Sirens that get you. They entrance you with their song, and then they drive you into the rocks—” “Boy, that’s one of those legends these sailors make up—” “—up yours, ya bastard, what do you know? Have YOU sailed to the ends of all Terra?” The two immediately broke into an argument as Silva resumed drawing—and then stopped. “Ya hear something?” The Marine was halfway through an insult. “—your mothe…” and then he, too stopped. Silva strained his ears too at the sound. It was singing—distant, just enough to be heard—but even from here, it sounded beautiful. The sailor’s careworn face was now in a content smile. “Skipper, ya hear that?” but Skipper on the forecastle didn’t respond. He, too, was now entranced. And suddenly Silva wanted to leap into the water. Something in the back of his head caused him to blink for a moment, a vague memory of a warning forming in his head—but now the song was louder than ever, and all he wanted to do was get closer to the sound. And then, without warning, there was a crash that threw Silva to his knees—just as several marines rushed up, crossbows out. “There’s something out there!” Taking out a small wad of cloth, the marines stuffed the ears of the sailors and marines already on deck. “We’re being boarded, you bastards!” Silva, though, had not stuffed his ears. Even through the yells of the marines, he could still hear a hint of the song—just enough to be tangible, but tantalizingly dim. Slowly, he crawled and walked over to the edge of the P.N.S. Nautilus—and then suddenly, he was in the water, the dim lanterns of the ship shining through the water. For a moment, he was tempted to swim to the surface—but then the song reached him, clearer than ever, and he allowed his eyes to close as he sunk into the murky deep.

"What do you mean Ysabel? I don't sense anything!" I lash out at her. I'm on guard duty with Ysabel...just because she is a year older then me she thinks she's all that. I'm a fucking higher rank then her! She's nothing but a regular mermaid...I'm like the only one amongst the sirens. It was night time...well, not completely, but more of a light evening, it was getting darker. The moon hung up into the sky...full. The moon god was a good mood today...and that meant the Sea god was in a good mood today, the waves churned greatly against the shore. Yeah. She was basically screaming her head off at seeing a ship...but I definitely didn't see a ship...the bitch is delusional. Combing my soft brown hair, I looked around. I'm dressed in a light pink, very faint, bikini top and white short shorts.

I'm barefoot...no need for feet in the pleasant sands of our lands. I tie my hair up into a bun...damn, she was right. A ship. Taking my position, I jumped into the water and put my feet immediately together and began moving with the motions of the waves. I went towards the boat and I felt my feet tighten up for a second, before returning to their original motion. That was the transformation...short, harmless and to the point. I moved my way towards the ship and I went upon a rock. I had my tail in the water and my torso rested upon the sand, my elbows deep in the sand. We hadn't have much humans lately...tonight was going to be a great feast. No? I prepare to sing...naturally, I have a high soprano voice which crescendos with ease. I take a nice, deepening breath before I sing the hymn.

Spoiler:

Perfect. I viewed as the marines screamed and tried to cover their ears...honestly, it was no use. We were taking them down...well, I was taking them down. They all jumped out of the water...but there was this one guy that jumped out last that was noticeable. Easily, I call out to the girls. "Mine," I swim towards him while the rest of the mermaids, who were there for the kill, went to get the other humans for a feast tonight. There was something about this one guy...so I kept moving on through until I got his body before it went too much under. I cradled him with my arms and groaned...he was kinda heavy. Well not heavy, heavy...but I usually dragged them, this one I could carry. I slung him over my back...he was unconscious, wasn't he? I swam towards shore, him along my back, the other mermaids obviously waiting for me. I couldn't let them know that I seemed interested in him, so I call out. "Girls, take the humans back. I'm taking a search on this one, he seems suspicious. Then I'm taking a double check on the sunken ship," they nodded and headed off.

I brought him onto shore and smiled, and I crossed my hands and pressed it to his chest. "Be...alive," I said softly, gazing into his eyes. I still remained in my mermaid appearance...but I felt my tail getting weaker and limbs growing inside and surely enough, my legs grew. They took a while to get used to after the change. It felt pretty natural after walking on them for a while and I grab him, continuing to push on his chest while a stream of water shoots out. I gasp and smile, finally! His color...it seems to be coming back. I knew what to do..but was it worth it? I bent my head and pressed my soft lips to his. Hehe. How I wanted to do that...but this was the save him. I parted my lips and tried to give him mouth-to-mouth now, and I released again. Kneeling in the sand, I waited.

(I think I put it badly, but the Marines actually stopped up their ears, it's just Silva who didn't get his ears plugged, and he's the only one who fell overboard.)

"...my son, why is it that you seem to live to exasperate me?!" In a fit of anger, Imrahil Míriel, Captain of the Rangers paced around the hearth of the family home. "Father, I cannot fit your mantle!" "My mantle is that of your grandfather, and your great grandfather, on to the first stewards of the White City! It is not your decision to simply throw aside the heritage of the Míriel family simply for your own devotions! For your own interests, you selfishly choose to abandon our family's duty! Just when the White Forest needs you most!" "The White Forest may need me, but not as a Ranger!" "My god, boy, stop being so selfish!" "Selfish? You know what's selfish? You, in your pride as the Captain of the Rangers, insisting that I be a slave to your own pride and ambition just so that you can keep your bloody pride!" "As your superior officer and Captain of the Rangers, I order you to stand down." Despite the calmness of Imrahil's voice, the captain's voice suggested an obvious threat. "...in that case, I resign my commission as a Ranger." For a moment, there was silence as Silva realized that perhaps he had gone a bit too far. His father was stone-faced for a moment. Finally, he spoke. "Go, then. You leave as your own man. Let not your failure damage the pride of this house." "Fine." "Go then." "I will."

Silva gasped into wakefulness--a horrible mistake considering the water that at the moment saturated his lungs. Immediately, he began coughing madly. Finally, as he calmed down, he noticed that he was no longer on the ship. Where am I? The last thing he remembered was listening to the marine and the sailor argue. Oh yeah…I fell…I guess. He felt limp, and his clothes, saturated by the water, hardly helped. Where am I? He turned--to see a darkish figure kneeling next to him. As the clouds cleared, the moonlight illuminated a girl--wearing shorts and nothing above that with a bra. Immediately, Silva coughed up any water he had left in his lungs as he leapt up like a cat on a hot plate. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, i didn't mean to see that--"

(Ack sorry e.e just ignore them doing that and let them just say I went in for whatever they had left already.)

I stared down at him for a moment and tried to recognize his facial features. I looked upwards...it was very dark and the clouds were shrouding over the two of us. I took my soft brown hair and clutched into my hands, only this guy had fell overboard, and our land forces will probably interrogate him before he was probably put to death. I threw my hair up into my head and tied it upwards into a bun, tying it together with a ribbon. I smacked my lips together and licked them slightly...I continued to look at him. He seemed like he was possibly getting better. Maybe I can say he lost his memory...and that we'll lodge and feed him for a while. Fiddling with some leftovers that didn't get tied up into my bun, I looked down as his opened his eyes.

I smiled...he had a sweet smile and nice, green eyes. I looked down at him and his came back to consciousness and I continued to look onwards...smiling. He was wet...his clothes were wet, he needed nurturing. 'I wonder what he was doing travel in our waters,' I began to wonder. The ship had barely crashed...the others luckily got to cover their ears and narrowly escaped, maybe the Mermaids of the Northern End of the island got to them, it was a possibility. He noticed me...and the clouds cleared up. The sun shone upon me...as if I was an angel. "See what?" I spoke softly, now shifting the position that I was sitting in. "I'm Antonella...call me Antonella or Anto."

"Errrm...That," Silva stammered as he pointed at the girl's bra. It occurred to him that in the lost isles, the long robes and dresses of the White Forest would probably be somewhat unwieldy. ...Whatever the White forest was. Wherever did that thought come from? ...what was I doing on a ship in the first place? Maybe he hadn't been on a boat. Maybe he had just been swimming...or something. With a hint of panic, he realized that he wasn't sure exactly what he was doing on the island. Something was insistently nagging at the back of his head, but he couldn't quite recall what it was. But the girl had introduced herself, and it was rude (or at least Silva was pretty sure it was rude) not to respond. "I'm Silva...glad to make your acquaintance, milady." As soon as that response came out of his mouth, Silva realized that sounded extremely prudish. Wherever did i learn that from? "Errmmm...scratch that." At that point, Silva realized he had no idea what he could say instead, and so in lieu of changing the conversation, he looked around at the trees behind him. "Errmm...where am I?"