Fair warning ahead of time, this chapter ain't the greatest but here ya go anyway
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A week had passed.
A full week, of absolutely nothing.
George was completely and utterly bored.
The only company he had were the 3 other mer there, all having been captured before him. Quackity, he learned, had been taken from his home in northern Las Nevadas, and had been in this captivity for the longest out of everyone else.
Next, there was Hannah. She had only been caught a few days prior to George, but was pretty friendly. The merman found her taste in clothing to be a bit odd, for instead of traditional sea silk, her skirt was made of woven kelp. It wasn't that he'd never seen it used before, but rather that faded flower petals decorated both her hair and skirt. He was unsure of what type of flower, the petal shape unknown to him. Perhaps they were of human origin, though how she had gotten her hands on them he had no idea.
Lastly, Foolish. He had a bright gold horizontal tail, showing his roots to be that of a shark, rather than dolphins as most mer. His skirt of darker yellow flowed around him, noisy and extravagant in taste. George found it a bit excessive, knowing it must not be comfortable to swim in, but appreciated the merman's talent for design.
George was closest with and to Quackity, so the two had quickly become friends. He had learned the other merman was very chaotic, to say the least. Certainly a talkative person. The four of them would converse whenever a human wasn't around, but George learned how silent the others got around them. It was understandable however: he didn't have a particular willingness to share anything with his kidnappers either.
They weren't fed the greatest, but it was enough to get by with a mer's fast metabolism. Raw fish of a wide variety, some he had never tried before and some common around these parts.
The second day George had been there, Dream and some other man had come down to this deck of the ship for whatever reason, and while George was still half asleep, he remembered overhearing a few words exchanged between the two in English.
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"So they're asking for the girl?"
"Yes. As for the gold one, he seems insistent on his ability to work for us. Something about knowing how to create valuable merfolk fabric, according to the English speaker." This was the one George didn't know of, and noted how he also wore a mask- not the same kind as Dream, but rather a weirdly shaped one of dark yellow.
"Hmm, get him to translate more for the guy, see if there's any truth behind that. As for our newcomer, there's no demand for another merman at the moment, so I have a few ideas..."
"What might those be, captain?"
George's ears twitched at the mention of him, he assumed at least, and he tried his best to stay still.
Dream watched George's tank, the black smile on the white mask boring into his soul. "He's a pretty one..."
"...deep blue scales are in demand, what do you think?"
George sucked in a breath, hoping nobody heard the slight gasp coming from him. Thankfully, humans didn't have the best of hearing, so as far as he knew, Dream hadn't noticed.
The other responded, following Dream's gaze to the merman. "He looks healthy enough, should I get Wilbur to inspect them?"
"Sure, but if he puts up any trouble tell him to let me know and I'll get on it myself."
The two left shortly after that, and George hadn't seen Dream since.
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That 'Wilbur' fellow had come by just two days after that, and George had managed to put up enough of a fuss for him to give up. He was pretty satisfied with himself over that, and should the mask man follow up on his word, George planned to do the same thing.
The one thing he worried over was what could happen to him. They wanted his scales, for Merlin's sake! Whether that meant taking them or killing him all together, he didn't know. He wasn't too keen about either, for obvious reasons.
If his scales weren't up to par, would they kill him anyway? Or would he be sold like a slave? Or would they have some other use for him, supposedly like Foolish?
Suddenly a creaking could be heard, and George tuned his ears in to listen. It was Wilbur and Dream, conversing at the top of the steps.
"He's...wild one...know."
"I'll be fine...Wil...got this."
"I know I...careful, is...saying."
Wilbur left from what George could hear, but he was caught off guard as Dream appeared in front of him. Had he been lost in his thoughts for that long? Nonetheless, he shrieked, and Quackity gave him a look of sympathy.
Amidst initial shock, today one thing was new- Dream's mask only covered the majority of his face, but his chin and mouth could be seen. George wondered why he'd chosen to wear it higher up today, but then scolded himself for worrying about unimportant matters such as that.
"Woah there, calm down. I haven't even done anything yet." George cocked his head a little to the side, somehow knowing things would be easier if he listened to the man.
"I'll get to the point. You were a bit stubborn when it came to Wilbur, so I need to do this myself." The last bit seemed to be directed at no-one in particular, due to the quiet nature of his speech.
"I need one of your scales. I'd rather not do this the hard way, and I suggest you think this through before making any rash decisions, would you?"
George looked at him innocently, feigning confusion. He spoke back in harsh mermish, spitting words he knew the pirate wouldn't know.
"I'd rather marry you than give my scales up, and that's saying something." Quackity snickered, clearly listening in a bit.
Dream narrowed his eyes at George, flickering to Quackity momentarily and quickly shutting up the mer.
"Alright, don't play dumb with me. You were hunting when I caught you, so you must have an inkling of English in there somewhere. Don't think I don't know your culture's tradition."
George's mouth gaped open as he looked over at Quackity momentarily for answers. He replied in mermish, "I don't know, he did the same thing to me." George scowled, turning back to his captor.
Reluctantly, he pried his brain for the dialect he was just barely familiar with, and managed to scrape up a sentence decent enough. He stuck his head about the water to be understood, actively adjusting to his lungs at this point in time."How you do know this?"
He merely chuckled, continuing on. "There it is. Now that I've coaxed you out of that shell of yours, how about an introduction?" George shut his mouth tight, refusing to give anything in. To learn a merman's name was a privilege, and if this person believed he could simply ask, he was a fool.
"Ah, of course, of course. Oh well, I wasn't expecting much of course. These 3 haven't shared either, after all."
A smile played on his features as he continued. "Now, back to my original thoughts- shall we do this the easy or the hard way?"
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Word Count: 1228
Date: 07/05/21
WELL. That was a doozy. I didn't want inconsistency, and while normally I'm fine with between 1500 and 2000 words all my past chapters have been around 900, so I didn't wanna go overboard and didn't continue the chapter
Also researched a bit into the most common mistakes made by non native English speakers, so just know if George's phrasing is weird when he speaks, it's intentional ;)
I just played the 'Lost at Sea' album by Fin on loop forever, go check it out all 4 songs are so good 😫
Anyway, sorry for the inconsistency again, votes and comments are appreciated :)
Byeee