A Land Of Sea

Cynical Ceasura

iii

Wisdom. Harmony. Unity.

Dream leaned on the railing and surveyed the glowing ship, watching as the rest of his crew wandered about amongst each other. The sound of cheers and laughter enveloped him as the Rum was brought out, and, much to Tommy's dismay, apple cider for the younger pirates.

Dream honestly wouldn't have cared much what they did, but he was under Phil's orders to make sure his sons didn't get into too much trouble, and Dream was under the agreeable opinion that Tommy, Ranboo, and Tubbo would be much easier to control when not drunk out of their minds.

And despite the lack of biological bond between Phil, Tubbo, and Ranboo, they practically were his sons by the way they acted.

Dream smiled as Tommy whined to Wilbur about the unfairness of it all, but Wil, true to older sibling code, ignored him to the best of his abilities.

Pulled out of his reverie by none other than Sapnap, Dream was forced into a role of socializing with strict words from his first mate to "get your ass in there, we're celebrating because of you!"

Dream could only roll his eyes and grab the nearest drink. When he entered the fray he got a couple claps on his back and the party only grew louder. He laughed with them, thanking the moon under this night sky for such a wonderful crew.

Under the same moon, Sam held a drink up to the stars with a toast.

"To Captain Dream! We're one step closer to saving Bad!"

A chorus of hollers rang out together across the bliss of a calm ocean.

"To Dream!"

To hope.

-

iv

Strategy. Patience. Strength.

Another morning. Another day. Another night.

George had to hand it to Dream. He really knew how to torture his prisoners: he was positively killing George with boredom.

At least now George had something to think about: How to get out of here.

He knew it wouldn't be a conventional escape, just smash some heads together and haul ship. If it were any other case, maybe he could do it, but as it was, George was a merman. With a tail. On land.

Or, as close to land as he'd ever get. Same thing.

Despite George's apparent lack of advantages, the outlines of a plan had been constructed in the late hours of last night. It wasn't a particularly great plan, but, hopefully, it would do.

The one downside is that it was much more long-term than was ideal.

Now, George wasn't a siren, nor did he think any of the other mer here was, but that didn't mean he had some magic of his own. It wasn't much, but his pod had traces of old, ancestral magic in their blood. And, being graced with some of the more arcanic gifts, it meant he could do something.

It meant he could flirt a little, flash a smile in a certain direction, and maybe, just maybe... George could seduce his kidnapper with a little bit of luck.

-

v

Creativity. Adventure. Change.

If Dream had one thing to say about L'Manberg, it would be that it was run by a bunch of power hungry humans.

If Dream had two things to say about L'Manberg, they would be that it was run by a bunch of power hungry humans, and that they had some damn good blackmail methods.