[M]y Jolly Sailor Bold

[PendragonXeno94]

As Maria floated in the stray waves, she stared up at the darkening sky while her short, violet hair danced in the water. Her multicolored tail stayed still while she began to count the clouds that rolled by and the stars that came into view. Even as she put a tanned hand on the bite marks on the side of her tail, her sapphire eyes never looked away from the sky.

This isn't the end, she thought. With the pool of crimson enveloping her, she took a deep breath, seeing the large fin stick out of the water. Turning her body, she darted through the water as the fin followed closely behind. She dove under the surface and swam deeper into the depths until the watery world around her began to turn black. She stopped, glancing up to the the silhouette of her attacker circling around before finally going in the opposite direction. As she made her way to the surface, she saw the shark whip its head in her direction and charged towards her. Maria swam as fast as her fins could take her, breaking the water's surface and leaping out toward the rocky outcrop with the shark jumping after her.

She grabbed onto the rocks, clenching her teeth as the rocks scraped against her skin and scales before pulling herself up and rolled into an opening. Her fins began to pull itself apart, turning into two bloodied legs. Moving to her side, she looked out at the sea, the fin still going back and forth as she closed her eyes and sighed. She had beat the odds, once again.

[readlliea]

"Well ain't that just bloody brilliant." the rough voice of one of his companions grumbled out. "How are suppose to find one now with them sharks lurking?"

Sirius couldn't help but give a irritated sigh. This again...honestly why where they asking the obvious out loud? They could all swim and in that one form, swim far better than they could. Course that sort of did make them go more..brainless you could say and would forget about the entire reason they were out here. The small row boat had been tied up, rocking gently side to side with the waves and the large ship that they had come from was sailing further out. Searching the deeper waters you could say. Now Sirius was a odd sight amongst these rougher and older men.

He was a young lad, twenty or so in age. A young face that was free of a beard or scars. Strange though, that his hair already had a grey look to it. One could tell their hair used to be black but now, bits of white and grey dotted it. Turning it more into a grey color than the black it once was. His hazel eyes looked toward thew water, noticing the shark that was swimming awfully nearby. Perhaps it had found prey of it's own? When his heightened sense of smell picked up on a iron like smell, he felt this was confirmed. The salty sea air mixed with it, making it a odd combination. Still he found himself being lured to the area he was thinking it was coming for.

"Hey doc, what you doing?" one of the pirates questioned, causing him to pause on a ledge near the outcove.

"I thought...." Sirius started though he paused, not sure if it was a wise idea to remark about it out loud.

"What? The bloody smell? Probably just fish."

[PendragonXeno94]

She looked over the odd bits she had stored in the outcrop: a few ornate compasses, an oversized yet torn quilt, and a string of pearls. She would have had a golden brush to add to her collection if the shark hadn't found her while she was searching the shipwreck. But as it was, she knew the risks of being in that area. IT would be another few days before her wounds would heal completely with minimal scarring, if any.

Hearing a few voices in the distance, Maria crawled toward the mouth of the crevice and spotted a small row boat out in the open water. Letting out soft, labored breaths, she inched closer to the edge. Instead of just slipping into the water with the shark nearby, she slowly rose to her feet as she did her best to cover herself with the quilt and muster enough strength to call out while gripping one of the rocks to keep herself from falling. "Help. Hurt."  She slowly walked around the edge as she balanced herself. "Help... Hurt," she called again. It didn't help her that she hardly spoke. There was no need as she was never around anyone... she nearly felt as though she was losing her voice because she had barely spoken her entire life. She didn't get a good look at the group, but if they could aid her in some way...

[readlliea]

Truthfully, Sirius hoped he was wrong. That no one was here and it was just the blood of fish he was smelling. However the ship surgeon's  stiffened slightly as he stood there. Hearing a voice that caused him to start looking around before his eyes landed on her. A woman? What was....his mind wanted to ask questions but very swiftly, his medical brain took over. He started over toward her, at first approaching quickly to try and get to her in time as he knew not how severe her injuries were. Course, he started to slow down to try and not scare her.

"Hey! Where you going doc?!" One of the men called.

Sirius ignored em, coming to a halt a few steps away from her. Holding his hands up to show he had nothing in them and he meant no harm. However he couldn't believe what he saw. Her hair...it was violet! A lovely shade of purple that shimmered in the light due to it being wet. No normal human had violet hair...was she a mermaid? There was a spark of hope in his chest at long last. Although he couldn't just say that right away.

"Here, i'm a doctor. Please sit down so I can look at the wounds. can you tell me what happened?" Sirius asked.

[PendragonXeno94]

Maria almost lost her grip from her entire body jolting from the sound of a man's voice. She looked at his hands before she glanced at the water below. She began to move towards him until she could step off safely. She wasn't exactly sure what he meant when he said he was a doctor, but he seemed safe enough to be around. Finding a spot on the ground to sit down, she plopped down, clinging the quilt tightly to her body.

"I swim," she started, stretching her legs out. Slowly, she moved the quilt to show her wounds that the shark gave her. "Shark..." The gashes on her side looked deep and the scrapes on her legs looked no better. "I jump. Legs cut." She gestured at her scraped legs and she drew in her bottom lip. "It... hurts."

Looking up, she saw that his hair was oddly colored. Her hand reached up and caressed his hair somewhat. "White," she said. Why would a young human have white hair? Perhaps he was part merman or nymph. But still, she thought his hair would be more vibrant than it was.

[readlliea]

The wounds from a shark was always grim, how large teh wound could be. How much flesh could be missing and so on. Thankfully she just had bite marks and he couldn't help but give a sigh of relief. Siting down on his knees, he pulled his bag over and set it down.  Flipping it open so that he could get the items needed in order to tend to her wounds. Still though...a mermaid already? Were they that lucky? But...the horrible thing that would happen....he could feel it already squeezing his chest as he disliked the idea. It was the captain's fault that they were all in this mess....if he had just listened to them, then none of this curse would've happened.

As her hand touched his hair, she'd find it soft. A look of confusion on his face as this was something new for him. People would stare at him confused for his white hair but...never reach out and touch it.

"Ah....y...yeah, it is. But your's is violet, it's a lot more pretty." Sirius said, trying to get the focus off of himself. "Okay, this will help with preventing the wounds from infection. Although I'll need to sew up those gashes before bandaging you up. Is that okay?"

[PendragonXeno94]

Maria continued to touch his hair, still perplexed over why his hair was white. It was soft like hers, nonetheless. When he mentioned that her hair was prettier, she shook her head and gently pulled some of his hair up. "Pretty." She let him tend to her wounds, though she didn't see the need for him to do so as they would heal quickly on their own. But when he asked if he could sew up her gashes, she paused. With her hand in his hair, she continued to stroke it until she nodded at him.

Though she couldn't speak that well, she was able to comprehend what was said and what went on. Now that she removed her hand from his hair, she began to trace his cheekbones and nose with one finger. "Pretty," she told him. It was enough that she was the naive woman card, but it could only last for so long. Her finger went down to his neck to trace his Adam's apple and collar bone.

Now, she knew he wasn't alone as she heard someone yell for him earlier; she hoped that they would just continue on their way rather than insist that she'd go with them.

[readlliea]

She kept remarking about it...feeling his hair and eventually...her hand trailed down to his face. It was certainly a strange sensation. Feeling another hand on his checks and soon that hand went further down to his neck. Truthfully, he did his best to ignore it. Working on her legs as he applied the medicine to them. Setting the bottle down, he reached for the needle and thread. Preparing them as he heard her speak again. The few words she said..it made it clearer to him. She either wasn't used to speaking or the chances of her being a mermaid were higher. Couldn't blame her for being wary or just not having other words to say.

"I....I guess huh?" Sirius stammered out.

"Sirius! There you are!" A voice yelled, causing the man to jerk slightly as he knew how the others would react upon seeing her. "What are yo.....oooh..."

The whole plan for why they were out here looking....the end goal. As much as Sirius wanted to be free of the curse, he couldn't do this. A hand landed on his shoulder, making him shudder slightly. One of the crew members who were higher up looked down to the girl, a smile on their face.

"What a horrible doctor you are Sirius, treating a patient on the ground rather than in the safety of our captain's ship." The man remarked. "Come Miss, let's get you somewhere safer than out in the open to let our friend do his work."

[PendragonXeno94]

Maria nodded before she brought her eyes up. Sighing at the other man, she became more wary as the man tried to coax her to get up and have her go to the ship. "No." She pointed at the gashes that Sirius was tending to. "Fix. Now." Hopefully, it was enough to try to make it clear that she didn't exactly want to leave at that moment. Letting Sirius do his work, she twirled a strand of her hair around her finger, doing her best to keep her eyes on him rather than his companion.

"Sirius." She repeated his name in her head over and over until she felt that she could remember it. She pulled her hand from him, letting him concentrate on sewing her wounds closed and bandage them.

[readlliea]

"It's very ill advised to be moving her du...." Sirius started as he finished threading the needle.

However he could feel the tightened grip on his shoulder as he sat there. He didn't want to do things this way. All he wanted was to figure out a different method to break the curse but...he knew nothing of these matters. His good nature getting in the way and of course...the pirates weren't that dumb to not notice. The other man moved forward, attempting to grab Maria. If this worked, he'd swing her onto his shoulder to carry her.

"I Insist. The good captain would love to meet you." the pirate would smirk.

"Benson put....." Sirius started as he dropped the needle and thread though he was grabbed by one of the other crew mates who held a look of caution on their face.

[PendragonXeno94]

As she was about to let Sirius give her stitches, Maria saw the man approach her and attempt to grab her. "No!" she shouted, kicking him in the thigh and scrambling to get up. Sirius couldn't have lured her to get taken away. She was about to run when she noticed another man hold Sirius in place. She started toward the outcrop, leaping and grabbing the ledge as she tried to move to the other side.

She panted as she weaved her way around the rocks, though she clenched her teeth from the rocks cutting into her feet. She could sense the man trying to come after her, so she perched herself on the ledge and held a large stone in her hand. "Stop!" she shouted again. But instead of throwing it at him, she threw it at the man that had grabbed Sirius. She didn't care if she got his foot or his head, she picked up another stone and threw it at him before sending a barrage of rocks at the man who tried to pick her up. As she continued to throw, she felt herself losing her balance and grabbed onto the rocky wall.

"I jump," she threatened, glaring at her would be captor.

[readlliea]

Benson gave a annoyed growl as they gritted their teeth before giving chase. The kick to his thigh wasn't really much in his mind, still there was a prize to gain. And this girl was going to be the thing that they needed.  As he rushed after her, Sirius gave a sigh. Shaking his head at this entire affira.

"You can let go ya know..." Sirius muttered.

"Sorry Doc, we do need her and...I don't want Benson to tell the captain we lost her thanks to...you..." The crew mate muttered lowly.

Soon enough though Sirius ducked as he saw a rock sailing through the air. It smacked into the crew mate that stood behind him and they gave a pained yelp. Standing back up, Sirius rushed after Benson. Meanwhile, Benson was perched on a ledge of the rocks. Holding up a arm so that the rocks would land against his arm rather than his face. Though he was still smiling as they stood there, getting ready to strike. He just needed the small opening.

"With what you are my dear, you'll just swim away. And frankly, our captain needs yer help with a little something." Benson growled out.

Sirius got up to a small rock ledge that was on the other side, with Benson so fixated on the hunt. They didn't notice the good doctor taking a deep breathe to steady himself before leaping across the short gap and slamming into Benson. A very angry and almost feral snarl left Benson as the two tumbled down, sharp rocks ripping the fabric that would get snagged and inflicting small cuts.

"YOU!!" Benson snarled when the two hit the ground, only for the larger man to easily throw Sirius off of em.

[PendragonXeno94]

Maria began to back up toward the edge as Benson said that the captain needed her for something. Rather than saying anything, she kept her deadly gaze on him, holding onto the ledge and letting her foot be halfway off. As she was getting ready to jump, she watched in horror as Sirius grabbed Benson and rolled down the ledge.

"No!" she screamed, quickly climbing down to the bottom. She rushed to Sirius and picked up some rocks, throwing them at Benson as quickly as she could. "Stop! Leave!" She wrapped the quilt around him and pressed herself against him. She didn't know why they were so keen on taking her back with them, but if she had to fight her way out, so be it.

[readlliea]

Benson was more easily influenced by his other side, the more feral nature easily surging to the front as claws formed at the fingertips and easily he sung a clawed hand down across Sirius's chest. Causing a pained cry to leave the surgeon as he fell backwards. Pressing a hand against his bleeding chest, he could feel his own heart racing as he stood there. Though feeling the sensation of something wrapping around him, he cringed as he ended up on his knees. Not wanting to fall to the instincts of his other side, he could feel it's aggression starting to rise.

Although Benson was rather surprised at the odd gesture that Maria was doing. His eyes flashed a brown color as he growled towards her.

"There's no taking orders from you." Benson growled as he pulled out his pistol, having it aimed towards the shape of Benson in the quilt. "I personally have no issue shooting the doc and if i shoot you in the leg at the same time well, just ensures that you'll be coming with us."

[PendragonXeno94]

Maria clutched her hand on Sirius's chest as she felt the blood spilling over her hand. Her eyes widened as she watched Benson point his pistol at them. "No..." Hanging her head, she knew that there was no point in fighting back any longer. Helping Sirius up, she kept her hand on his chest and pondered over why they changed like this. It had to be some curse... perhaps a stray sea witch did this to them because of something that happened.

"I..." she sighed. "I go." Without waiting for Benson to turn his back to them, her hand began to glow slightly and the wound on Sirius's chest began to heal. Once she was sure that his chest would heal the rest of way without her hand pressing on it, she pulled it away and stepped back from her. The quilt remained tightly around her body.