{"id":3516,"date":"2018-01-06T18:04:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-06T18:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/martinemussies.nl\/web\/?p=3516"},"modified":"2023-06-20T18:13:29","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T18:13:29","slug":"untitled-by-falcon-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/martinemussies.nl\/web\/untitled-by-falcon-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"[untitled] by Falcon (2018)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The untitled mermaid story by Falcon<\/a> follows the journey of a mermaid who is initially feared by a pirate crew but eventually becomes a cherished member of their family. As she grows, her power and influence increase, and she protects the crew from threats. The story explores themes of acceptance, love, and empowerment, challenging traditional gender roles and emphasizing the importance of chosen family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

otherwindow<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

otherwindow<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how the golden age of piracy ended.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"image\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first mermaid to get tattoos \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwe didn\u2019t know any better,\u201d the crewman says, and swallows, presenting the chest to the captain. \u201cwhat do we do now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201ckill it,\u201d the captain says, but the ice is melting in his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwe can\u2019t,\u201d the first mate says desperately, praying she won\u2019t have to fight her captain on this. \u201cwe can\u2019t. we – i won\u2019t. we won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201ci know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cdaddy,\u201d she says, floating in a tub of seawater in the hold, \u201cdaddy, la-la, la-la-la.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

her voice rings like bells. her accent is strange; her mouth isn\u2019t made for human words. it mesmerises even the hardiest amongst them and she wasn\u2019t even trying. the crew has taken to diving for shellfish near the shorelines for her; she loves them, splitting the shells apart with strength seen in no human toddler, slurping down the slimy molluscs inside and laughing, all plump brown cheeks and needle-sharp teeth. she sometimes splashes them for fun with her smooth, rubbery brown tail. even when they get soaked they laugh. they love her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cdaddy,\u201d she calls again, and he can hear the worry in her voice. the storm rocking the ship is harsh and uncaring, and if they go down, she would be the only survivor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cdon\u2019t worry,\u201d he says, and goes over, sitting next to the tub. the first mate, leaning against the wall, pretends not to notice as he quietly begins to sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cfather,\u201d she says, one day, as she leans on the edge of the dock and the captain sits next to her, \u201cwhy am I here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cyour mother abandoned you,\u201d he says, as he always has. \u201cwe found you adrift, and couldn\u2019t bear to leave you there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she picks at the salt-soaked boards, uncertain. her hair is pulled back in a fluffy black puff, the white linen holding it slipping almost over one of her dark eyes. one of her first tattoos, a many-limbed kraken, curls over her right shoulder and down her arm, delicate tendrils wrapped around her calloused fingertips. \u201calright,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwhy am I really here?\u201d she asks the first mate, watching the sun set over the water in streaks of liquid metal that pooled in the troughs of the waves and glittered on the seafoam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwe didn\u2019t know any better,\u201d the first mate says, staring into the water. \u201cwe didn\u2019t know- we didn\u2019t know anything. we didn\u2019t understand why she fought so viciously to guard her treasure. we could not know she protected something a thousand times more precious than the purest gold.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she wants to be furious, but she can\u2019t. she already knew the answer, from reading the guilt in her father\u2019s eyes and the empty space in her own history. and she can\u2019t hate her family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cit\u2019s alright,\u201d she says. \u201ci do have a family, anyways. i don\u2019t think i would have liked my other life near as much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

her kraken grows, spreading its tendrils over her torso and arms. she grows too, too large to come on board the ship without being hauled up in a boat from the water. she sings when the storms come and swims before the ship to guide it to safety. she fights off more than one beast of the seas, and gathers a set of scars across her back that she bears with pride. \u201ci don\u2019t mind,\u201d she says, when the captain fusses over her, \u201cnow i match all of you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the first time their ship is threatened, really threatened, is by another fleet. a friend turned enemy of the first mate. \u201cwe shouldn\u2019t fight him,\u201d she says, peering through the spyglass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwhy not?\u201d the mermaid asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201che\u2019ll win,\u201d the first mate says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the mermaid tips her head sideways. Her eyes, dark as the deep waters, gleam in the noon light. \u201care you sure?\u201d she asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the enemy fleet surrenders after the flagship is sunk in the night, the anchor ripped off the ship and the planks torn off the hull. the surviving crew, wild-eyed and delirious, whimper and say a sea serpent came from the water and attacked them, say it was longer than the boat and crushed it in its coils. the first mate hears this and has to hide her laughter. the captain apologizes to his daughter for doubting her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cdon\u2019t worry,\u201d she says, with a bright laugh, \u201cit was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the second time, they are pushed by a storm into a royal fleet. they can\u2019t possibly fight them, and they don\u2019t have the time to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201clet me up,\u201d the mermaid urges, surfacing starboard and shouting to the crew. \u201cbring me up, quickly, quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

they lower the boat and she piles her sinous form into it, and uses her claws to help the crew pull her up. once on the deck she flops out of the boat and makes her way over to the bow. the crew tries to help but she\u2019s so heavy they can barely lift parts of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she crawls up out in front of the rail and wraps her long webbed tail around the prow. the figurehead has served them well so far but they need more right now. she wraps herself around the figurehead and raises her body up into the wind takes a breath of the stinging salt air and sings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the storm carries her voice on its front to the royal navy. they are enchanted, so stunned by her song that they drop the rigging ropes and let the tillers drift. the pirates sail through the center of the fleet, trailing the storm behind them, and by the time the fleet has managed to regain its senses they are buried in wind and rain and the pirates are gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she declines guns. instead she carries a harpoon and its launcher, and uses them to board enemy ships, hauling her massive form out of the water to coil on the deck and dispatch enemies with ruthless efficiency. her family is feared across all the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cyou know we are dying,\u201d the captain says, looking down at her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she floats next to the ship, so massive she could hold it in her arms. her eyes are wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201ci know,\u201d she says, \u201ci can feel it coming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the first mate stands next to the captain. she never had a lover or a child, and neither did he, but to the mermaid they are her parents. she will always love her daughter. the tattoos are graven in dark swirls across the mermaid\u2019s deep brown skin and the flesh of her tail, even spiraling onto the spiked webbing on her spine and face. her hair is still tied back, this time with a sail that could not be patched one last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwe love you,\u201d the first mate says simply, looking down. her own tightly coiled black hair falls in to her face; she shakes the locs out of the way and smiles through her tears. the captain pretends he isnt crying either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201ci love you too,\u201d the mermaid says, and reached up to pull the ship down just a bit, just to hold them one last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cguard the ship,\u201d the captain says. \u201cyou always have but you know they\u2019re lost without you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cwithout you,\u201d the mermaid corrects, with a shrug that makes waves. \u201cwhat will we do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201ci don\u2019t know,\u201d the captain says. \u201cbut you\u2019ll help them, won\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cof course i will,\u201d she scoffs, rolling her eyes. \u201ci will always protect my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

x<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the captain and the first mate are gone. the ship has a new captain, young and fearless – of the things she can afford to disregard. she fears and loves the ocean, as all captains do. she does not fear the royal fleet. and she does not fear the mermaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cyou know, i heard stories about you when i was a little girl,\u201d she says, trailing her fingers in the water next to the dock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the mermaid stares at her with one eye the size of a dinner table. \u201cis that so?\u201d she hums, smirking with teeth sharper than the swords of the entire navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cthey said you could sink an entire fleet and that you had skin tougher than dragon scales,\u201d the new captain says, grinning right back at the monster who could eat her without a moment\u2019s hesitation. \u201ci always thought they were telling tall tales.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cand now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cthey were right,\u201d the new captain says. \u201chow did they ever befriend you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the mermaid smiles, fully this time, her dark eyes gleaming under the white linen sail. \u201cthey didn\u2019t know any better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(via suave-eddboy<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n