Scar's POV
I sit on top of a rock, scanning the water below me for any kind of fish that swim by. I've been doing this for about half an hour with absolutely no luck, but I'm determined to prove to BDubs that it works.
Eventually, just when I'm about to give up, I spot the familiar beige sales of a cod. Sure, cod isn't the best fish, but it's a fish nonetheless and I'm going to catch it. So, in probably the least practical or graceful way possible, I jump into the water and grab it in my hands.
I struggle to keep a hold of it, but manage to bite down on it and stop it from escaping. I let out a 'YES!' of triumph, before realizing I'm not alone.
Xisuma stares at me in pure and utter confusion.
"Scar... what are you doing?"
"Well... I wanted to try a new way of catching fish." I admit. "They can't see me up there, so I thought it would work better."
As if on cue, BDubs swims up to me, holding at least half a dozen fish in his arms. He sees my pathetic little cod, and bursts out laughing.
"I knew my way worked better!" He teases, crossing his arms with a smug look on his face. I stick my tongue out at him, before X interrupts.
"Come on, you've been out here too long." He tells us. "The others are hungry, and there's barely enough food for everyone."
Then he sighs, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"I get that you like to do new things... but maybe just stick with what works?"
"That's what you said about using stuff from shipwrecks, but it actually-"
"Scar." My friend interrupts. "Please, just stick to doing things the way we always do them. If they work, they're good enough, and we don't need to test out anything new."
Before I can say 'but' again, he swims away, and I have no choice but to follow him. I stare at the little fish in my hand. Maybe he's right, I probably should stop trying to do new things when we have a system that works.
"See anything Wels?" Xisuma asks as he passes by another of our friends, who's keeping an eye out for ships, sharks, or anything else dangerous.
"Nope! All clear!" Wels confirms, before turning around and following us. He glances at the cod I'm holding, and smiles sympathetically.
"Bad luck?"
"Nope, just a new method of catching fish that didn't work." I admit, going a little red as I see him sigh. He still smiles though, playfully ruffling my hair.
"Never change Scar."
I glance back over at Xisuma, and I can just tell by looking that he's doing a headcount to make sure everyone is here. He frowns after a moment, and turns to me.
"Do you know where Ezra went?"
I shrug. If he doesn't know where his own brother is, I don't really know why I would either.
"I think he went up to the beach." Joe remarks, taking some of the fish from BDubs and trying to split it 9 ways. "Said something about needing personal space."
"Can you go get him?" X asks me. "He actually listens to you... just tell him we have food."
I nod, giving my sad contribution to the dinner to Joe before swimming back up and over to the large island that's above our home. Sure enough, Ezra's sitting there, legs crossed beneath him with something in his hands. He has a pile of dried seaweed pieces beside him, and looks to be making some kind of net with them.
"You ok?" I ask, turning human for convenience, before walking over and taking a seat beside him. He glances up only briefly, before going back to his work.
"Too many people." Is all he says, and to be honest I agree. We aren't a large group, but 9 people in such a small village can be a lot.
"There's food if you want it... not as much as usual, but enough for everyone."
Ezra just kind of shrugs. I know he doesn't like it in the tiny place we call our home, unable to go anywhere or do anything. To be honest, neither do I. Maybe that's why we both spend so much time up here.
"Scar?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever wanna... leave?"
I'd be lying if I said no. As much as I love my friends, there's only so much of this daily routine I can stand. Everything is always the same, and whenever I try to do something different (like the fish) it usually ends badly.
"I don't wanna leave the Hermits behind... but I guess so. Something new would be nice."
Ezra lies back, staring at the clouds as they slowly drift by.
"Where would you go?"
I think for a moment, considering not telling him the truth in case he thinks I'm crazy or something. But I'm not scared of him getting mad at me like Xisuma would, so I just answer honestly.
"A human city. They sound so amazing, so full of things and people..."
"You know you'd be in danger though, don't you?" Ezra asks, looking over at me.
"As if X doesn't remind us 20 times a day." I joke, making him laugh. Then I lie back too, a question of my own coming to mind. "Why are humans that dangerous?"
It seems like a bit of a silly question, so I elaborate.
"I know they'd capture us and use us for experiments, but why? What do they want with us?"
"Well... There's this weird myth that our scales have 'magical healing abilities that can cure any sickness or injury'." He explains, using air-quotations to emphasize his sarcasm. " I don't know how true that is, but they certainly believe it."
"So they just... catch us and take them?"
My friend nods, a grim yet almost sad expression on his face. He looks like he's about to say something else, but he stops himself and sits up.
"We should go." He decides, ending the conversation. There was definitely something else he wanted to say, and now I'm curious as to what it was. But I don't push the topic any further, and follow him into the water and back home again.
Grian's POV
"Just admit that we're lost Doc! We need to turn around!" Cleo complains.
"No! We're going the right way, I promise!" Doc argues, pacing back and forward while staring at the map in his hands. "The storm just threw us off a little, we're fine!"
"I don't even know which way is which anymore." False points out, standing at the wheel. "Everything looks the same out here!"
"There's an island over there." I remark quietly, shutting the rest of the crew up.
Doc walks over beside me, squinting a little to properly see the island in the distance. It isn't much more than a speck from here, but it's definitely something.
"False, can you try and turn that way?" He calls, pointing in the direction of the island as some of the others run over to take a look.
"Yeah, that's definitely an island!" Impulse exclaims.
"It looks like a big one too!" Iskall adds.
"There'll be loads of space for our base!" Mumbo finishes, and Doc gives Cleo a confident yet smug look.
"See? Not lost." He tells his first mate, who only rolls her eyes as she starts preparing to dock the boat. I smile, glad the issue is resolved.
We've spent the last few weeks aimlessly traveling the ocean in search of an island to set up a permanent base/home for ourselves. It's a bit of a pain to try and find a place to stay every time we need to dock the ship for repairs, so we've decided to make a place we can live whenever we need to.
It's warm and sunny on the island, and there's plenty of space for small houses to be built. Looking down into the crystal clear water, I can see a bright coral reef down below.
"Good spot Grian!" Mumbo tells me, looking around the place in awe. I notice that he makes the mistake of standing right next to the water, and grin.
"Tell me, is the water nice?" I ask him, and he frowns a little.
"I don't know... It looks nice?" He responds, sounding confused.
"How about you test it?"
Mumbo's eyes widen with shock as he realizes what I mean, and he yelps as I push him in. He immediately sits up, spitting seawater out of his mouth, before grabbing my ankle and pulling me in on top of him. I laugh as I push him back down again, pinning him down this time.
"Admit it, you were totally asking for that." I point out, letting Mumbo regain his breath as I stand up. I then help him to his feet, the two of us laughing again before a sarcastic remark cuts us off.
"C'mon, dorking around in the water isn't gonna do anything." Hels sighs, carrying at least 20 wood planks in his arms.
"Jeez, leave it to Hels to be the wet blanket." I joke, and he smirks, looking the two of us up and down.
"I wouldn't call myself the wet one right now, but if you two lovebirds wanna keep being useless I guess I won't stop you."
I don't find the 'lovebirds' thing embarrassing anymore, and Hels knows that. The same way he knows the two of us are only friends, and the same way I know that he says it as a joke. Mumbo, on the other hand, goes red in the face every time.
"Come on, he isn't being serious." I remind my friend, before going back over to the ship to help get materials. "Come on, we might be on this island for a while, might as well make the most of it."
Screw introductions, I'm getting right into this book. I also love the rhyming thing I did with the title for some reason.
Feel free to ask question about some of the things that have changed from the original throughout this book by the way, I'm gonna try my best to incorporate explanations for them into the dialogue, but you can ask anyway.
Hope you enjoy the re-write!
- Xan