[M]y Jolly Sailor Bold

[PendragonXeno94]

Ripper paused when Benson said Sirius almost let the girl get away. "Did he?" He looked to some of the crew that went out with them. "Is that true? Our little doc didn't want 'er to tag along?" Now, he knew better than outright punish Sirius. They still needed him should anyone become seriously injured, but if what they said about a mermaid's healing properties were true... Still, it was better to keep him intact. "But ye still killed poor Tugs. Why was that?" He cracked his whip again, not giving Benson much time to answer him.

Maria simply sat down and began to tear into the fish. She looked over, watching Sirius begin to cook his. But she was too hungry to go over and watch him do so, and so she continued to eat her fish in silence.

[readlliea]

"Considering how he remarked about needing her to stay put to fix her legs and hten he interfered when I had her cornered..." Benson replied, a pained growl leaving them, their canine ears still sticking out of their head and slanting in pain. "Cause the idiot wouldn't shut up! Kept going on and on how my bluff to shot the doctor was a bad idea to get the mermaid to quit resisting. She seemed rather fond of interfering when the doc and I were struggling, even after the two of us went into the water. Tugs just pulled all the wrong nerves and was too close to the pistol."

Letting out a sigh, he watched the fish sizzle in the pan with a small square of butter. Slowly he glanced over to Maria, trying to figure out what to do. He knew of the abilities she had but...had Benson noticed em? Hard to say when Benson was far more feral minded easier when in a tissy.

"hey Maria...I think it's best you don't tell the others about your...healing ability. They'll probably try to overuse it." Sirius said.

[PendragonXeno94]

Ripped kept striking his whip against Benson's back while his crew watched in horror. "I've warned ye about yer temper!" After a few minutes, the cracking of his whip ceased and he began to put it away. "He can get down, now." After Benson was let down, Ripper grabbed him by his shirt and curled his lips back. "I'm feeding ye to the damn sharks next time around!" He threw him back against the railing. "Let's get a move on! We got a curse to break!"

Maria had taken another bite when Sirius told her to keep her healing ability to herself. Only nodding, she gnawed at the bones until she could pull the last of the meat away. "Sirius..." she said, moving closer to him. She help up what was left of her fish. "Where go?"

"Ah, Maria," Ripper said as he approached them. "Lemme get that for ye." He delicately plucked the fish bones from her hand. "Ye know, Sirius. I think it would help 'er tremendously if she learned to speak properly. Shouldn't be a problem for 'er, she looks like a bright lass."

[readlliea]

At this point, Benson had no real strength to do anything else. Whipped and then thrust back to where he staggered and landed on his rear. The crew waited for the captain to disappear fully before anyone went to even speak to Benson. Though the man would just give them a look that clearly said to leave me alone. And with how dangerous many tempers could get due to their curse...well, it was always best to heed silent warnings.

With his own fish done, Sirius sank his teeth into it. Eating the fish rather fast, he knew it wasn't going to do much for him but it was best to just eat something over nothing. As Maria asked her question, he pulled a fish bone from his mouth. About to speak when the captain came down the stairs and took care of the matter at hand. The smell of blood was starting to reach his nose, causing a chill to go through him as he sat there.

"Progress on that will go swiftly since there's so many people aboard the ship." Sirius replied. "I'll try to speed up the process."

[PendragonXeno94]

"I see." Ripper eyed Maria for a moment. "It would, but we don't want 'er picking up on certain words."

"Damn?" teased Maria.

"Oh, an' she's got a sense o' humor! Adorable." Even though he knew that they would smell the blood, he laughed to himself and patted her head.

"Not child," she chided.

"An' a feisty spirit?" He gave her an unsettling grin, even if it was unintentional. "I think you'll fit in just fine, lass." Patting Sirius's shoulder, he pulled two fish out and began to meander to his quarters. "Best get 'er started, doc." And he slipped into his quarters, sinking his teeth into one of his fish and ravenously tearing off the meat.

[readlliea]

Sirius found himself chuckling, glad to see that Maria did have a sense of humor that was...dark. It honestly gave the ship something more positive on this bloody ship. Still the man couldn't help but worry for her. What did this entire ritual consist of? It was hard to know. The Captain kept that information to themself, only cluing em all in on needing a mermaid of some sort. 

"Yes sir. " Sirius answered, watching them leave he gave a sigh once they were gone. "Okay Maria...what else do you know? In terms of words and such."

If they got the ground work figured it, it would be easy to tell how much building they would have to do for her vocabulary. Collecting the bones from his own fish, he stood up, and headed over to discard them. The food that was still avaliable was...tempting. However he wasn't going to indulge it. There was no telling when they'd get to port again...nor if a sea hunt would be successful since everyone became more aggressive in those forms. Working together was harder...not that these damn pirates knew the meaning of those words.

[PendragonXeno94]

"Hm." Maria tapped her foot on the floor. "Floor. Ship." She got up and touched one of the walls. "Wall. Door. Window." Peering out the window, she sighed. "Sky. Stars. Sea..." She did her best to show him that she could, in fact, name several things even when she wasn't prompted. She wanted to say more than one worded sentences so much; there was never really anyone to practice with as she wanted to ensure that how she was saying it was correct.

Feeling a little playful, she walked up to Sirius and caressed his cheek. "Man. Sirius."

[readlliea]

As she listed off words, Sirius stood there and listened. It wasn't a bad a start so he was relieved there. Though the approaching and embarrassing of his cheek for sure caught him by off guard. Such a thing was well...he never really had people do that before. And ever since he got cursed thanks to these idiots, he had kept himself more so on the ship than anything else. That and the ship rarely went into port now an days too.

"uh...g...good! That's a good start..." Sirius stammered, clearing his throat as he tried to get his heart to calm down. "Alright, let's try adding more words. Okay?"

[PendragonXeno94]

Maria took a step back when he told her it was a good start. She nodded at the mention of adding more words, finding an unused barrel to sit on.

A few days passed, and Maria remained below deck the entire time. "My name... is Maria," she said slowly. She had been working with Sirius to be able to speak more. This was a first time since they started that she felt confident enough to actually try to string her words into a sentence.

[readlliea]

At first, he found himself not really enjoying the constant repeating of things that both of em had to do in order to help her speak better. Alas he did find himself growing more fond of listening to her broken sentences than trying to talk to any of the pirates that were often up above deck. So Sirius was often trying his best. Course, this didn't really lead to him doing much in his spare time. There were a couple of times he had to stitch up a few pirates; and while he had seen Benson up above deck, the man still hadn't come to him for any help. Eh oh well.

"There we go." Sirius said with a smile. "You're getting the hang of it. It's nice to meet you Maria. So do you have any questions?"

[PendragonXeno94]

Maria pursed her lips and rested her hands under her chin. "Where you from?" she asked. It wasn't perfect, but at least she had someone to help her. "Why your hair white?" Still not perfect, but she could do this. If only everyone could see how she thought.

She saw Benson and Ripper in passing, though Ripper looked like he had been in a trance this morning. He had gone on about how the pearl kept... singing to him. Either he was hallucinating or the pearl had some kind of magical property. But he had barely spoken to her since he suggested Sirius start helping her speak better.

[readlliea]

"Easy now, don't forget that some words are used to fill in the gaps in sentences." Sirius reminded kindly. "I"m from the city, a rateher large one where many people either male due in life by working on ships or by staying put in the city somewhere As for my hair it changed colors over time but the reason why it did is...due to a curse that everyone on the ship is under."

Welp he wasn't looking forward to explaining this but she honestly deserved it.  It was a fair question. Although the fact that the Captain claimed that the pearl was talking to him was..concerning.

"The entire ship is cursed to turn into these creatures called Sea Wolves. Some of us have different hair colors than we used to, our eye color changed when in that form. Just depepends on the person I guess. My hair used to be black." He added..

[PendragonXeno94]

Her nose wrinkled when he gentled corrected her, though she nodded and let him go on. When he mentioned a curse, she tilted her head slightly and reached out for his hair once more. "Why?" Honestly, something terrible must have happened if they turned into... well, now she knew what they turned into. She looked at his hair when he said it used to be black.

"Oh." She ran her fingers through it,trying her best to picture him with black hair.

She inched closer, putting both of her hands in his hair. "It... is... still pretty."

[readlliea]

"The Captain went after the Mother of all Pearls and well, he didn't pay attention to the warnings of a curse. And here we are now. The only reason I'm on this ship was due to mine getting wrecked and the Sea night ehre found me. i was just still on this ship when He brought that accursed pearl on board and I got  part of the curse." Sirius explained. "It's a mess that I hate greatly.."

Indeed, he hated it a good deal. Though going on about it wasn't going to help. Once more, she started to say it was pretty again. Making his heart quicken it's pace for a moment before he turned his gaze away from her, hunching his shoulders as he sat there.

"If you saw the other forms of this, you woldn't think that." Sirius remarked.

[PendragonXeno94]

Maria wasn't sure what he meant by the mother of all pearls, but the warnings of a curse being ignored further confirmed her suspicions that a sea witch possibly put this curse on them. It was a shame he was pulled into when he wasn't that involved to begin with.

She pulled her hands away when turned his head and hunched his shoulders. "But... you..." She had seen part of his one form; perhaps he was worried that she would run off if she saw him in his other forms. She didn't know what to say to make things better.