142 » like a wolf in the dark of the night

[ironwind]

art commissioned from cw9sq.
part one.

[It takes Kaeya's crew three days to sail towards the southern islet where Aether thought there might be treasure — either from some long-lost civilization, or more recently left behind by another pirate crew attempting to avoid detection, but that hardly matters as long as Kaeya's the one laying claim to it in the end.

Huffman says it's been smooth sailing — preternaturally so. He swears there was a rough and stormy night where he thought he might have to call Lawrence down from the crow's nest for safety's sake — but, strangely, their ship seemed to glide through the choppy waters, unbuoyed by the wrath of the sea and unbothered by the howling gale. Aside from being wet and cold, Lawrence was just fine.

In that time, it seems, their captive mermaid has made himself quite comfortable in the captain's suite. The bit about needing to be returned to the water was all a lie, of course, and since then, he hasn't asked to return to the ocean; instead, he's taken delight in attempting to learn how to read, and he requested paper and pen to do so, though rather than practice his letters, it seems he's only attempted to draw the objects around him as he spends most of his time snuggled up to Kaeya's pillows. Bizarrely, the mermaid seems to have become shy around the members of the crew, and has thus far declined to leave Kaeya's room — it might simply be that he doesn't wish to be seen slithering about like a snake, but when asked, he said something rather odd: Why would I need to meet other men?

(He's become — it's fair to say this — mildly pushy about sex. He's asked for Kaeya's time every night, three out of three days; he always emerges from their lovemaking in a much better mood, and so much more affectionate, prone to humming quietly while he works his hands through Kaeya's hair and threads little braids through it before drifting off to sleep.)

Today, too, they've woken up tangled up in each other again. Aether's warm, even through his fishy tail; he stirs when he feels Kaeya stirring, as he's learned to do, and then blinks blearily up at him, ethereally pretty and strangely radiant where most humans, even the beautiful ones, tend to look a little undone first thing in the morning.]

Good morning.

[He says this quietly, in his sweet, melodic voice, but it's hard not to hear the eager delight in it; it's how he's greeted Kaeya every day thus far. It's sort of puppyish: Good morning! Good morning! What are we doing today?]

Did you sleep well?