Mermaid AU

[howbraveyouare]

Like she was prone to do, Karen separated herself from the rest of the mermaids and swam to the surface. She gasped as sunlight hit her face. There was something about this world above the depths of her home that fascinated her so much. Karen had learned a lot by watching pirates and sailors – mostly to fear them, but also language and how to manage with some of their tools. A lot could be learned from observation.

For now, she was alone, perched on a reef with most of her shimmering tail still submerged, her long, wet hair concealing her breasts. Karen looked out in the distance. There was a ship. Karen was not like some of her sisters who sought to drag sailors down beneath the waves to their deaths. She just wasn’t a violent creature. All she ever wanted to do was keep to herself – A lonely mermaid of sorts.

Running her fingers through the blonde tangles that ran down her breast, she began to sing a sad, melodic tune without words. Such songs had been said to have alluring power, but to Karen it was simply a song

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[ex_one_shot695]

The ship docked off shore and sent some men in a boat to explore the island. Perhaps something of value existed there. Frank doubted that, but he volunteered for the detail since it felt good to have dry land under his feet again. The only thing he had managed to find so far was some fruit. A plum was in his hand and he was eating it when he heard a sad song. Strange. He thought this island was deserted.

He was pulled toward the sound of the singing until he came upon the reef and there he spotted the woman in the water brushing her fingers through her hair. Frank stopped, hypnotized by the song and the beauty of the woman. "Uh.. hello."

[howbraveyouare]

The song was cut off as Karen turned to face the man. She didn’t know whether to dive into the water and flee or stick around out of pure curiosity. The latter seemed to be the decision she stuck with, looking him up and down. Turning at the waist kept any more of her tail from being exposed, but if he got much closer he would be able to see under the surface of the water.

“Hello,” She echoed. There was a faint, curious smile playing on her lips. Karen had been lucky to draw an individual to her as opposed to an entire shipload. He was no threat to her just as she was no threat to him.

“Are you a sailor?” Her voice was faintly melodic, almost inhuman. In truth, it wasn’t meant for communicating above the waves, but it worked just fine, anyway.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank didn't ease closer. Not yet. He didn't want to frighten the woman or make her think he was going to hurt her. The last thing he wanted was for her to leave. Slowly, he sat down on a boulder next to him, which he figured might put her at ease. He put his satchel next to him, which he had filled with some things he found on the island. Nothing of real value.

"Yeah. My ship is docked just off shore." Hadn't she seen it? "Do you live here? I thought this island was empty." Empty of people, he means.

[howbraveyouare]

“It is.” Her voice was pleasant and she said it as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Of course the island was uninhabited. Why else would she feel so at home near its shores?

“You must see a lot of different islands as a sailor.” Karen’s gaze drifted out to the sea momentarily only for her to look back to him a second later. “What do they call you?” She couldn’t seem to remember the word for name at the moment.

Her eyes looked over his satchel with keen interest. Karen had seen them before and she knew that they contained things. She couldn’t help but wonder what this one in particular carried.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank was a bit confused by her words, but she was plenty distracting so he let the matter of the island's inhabitants drop for the moment.

"Yeah. Most of them are like this. Never seen one with someone like you on it before, though." He still mistakes her for a human girl. "Oh, my name is Frank. What's your name?"

He noticed as her eyes looked to his satchel and he slipped it from his shoulder. He figures she saw him eating that plum when he walked up. Frank opens the bag and pulls another piece of fruit from it. "You want one?" If she doesn't look too skittish, he begins to slowly approach with the fruit held out.

[howbraveyouare]

"Name," She smiled, remembering the word. "My name is Karen." That was what her sisters had always called her, at least. Frank was an interesting name. Karen decided she liked it.

He started to approach her and she shied away slightly, watching him closely, ever ready to leap into the water and swim away. She decided he wasn't a threat, though, and as he stepped toward her she stopped moving away. Karen simply watched him with a wary gaze.

"What is it?" She nodded to the fruit.

[ex_one_shot695]

"Karen. That's a pretty name."

Frank kept his movement slow. She was clearly wary of him, and given that he's a stranger and a sailor, she has every right to be. Once he got close enough, but not too close, he sat down on a rock and held the fruit out to her.

"This? It's a plum." Didn't she know what a plum was? "It's sweet. Give it a try."

[howbraveyouare]

Reaching out, she took the plum in her hand. It was ripe, so it was softer than she'd expected. She turned it in her hand and held it up to her nose, inhaling the fruity fragrance. Karen didn't get to taste a lot of fruit, so when she bit into it her eyes went wide.

"It's wonderful!" She wiped at the juice dripping down from her lip. "So sweet!" Karen took another eager bite. Still chewing, she grinned happily at Frank. "Thank you!"

[ex_one_shot695]

When she smiled at him like that, it felt as though the sun was shining down upon him. Frank couldn't help but smile back at her. "You're welcome. There's plenty more." He set the bag down and opened it up. It was full of the dark fruit, so she could have as much as she wanted.

When he let his eyes wander a bit, they swept down her body but looked away again, feeling as though he shouldn't do that. Her hair still covered her chest, and she didn't seek to cover herself up any, but it still felt improper to look.

[howbraveyouare]

Karen finished off the one plum and set the pit next to her before taking another from the bag offered to her. She smiled at Frank. “You’re a very generous man.” It was a comfort to see a sailor giving so freely when all she ever heard from her sisters was that sailors were evil men who only ever stole from the sea.

She tilted her head as she looked at him. “Why do you look away?” Had she done something to offend him? His behavior puzzled her, but there was much she didn’t know about those who lived on land. Karen supposed that she could still learn.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank smiled a little when she finished off her treat and went for another one. He reached for one too but held it in his hands, turning it over with his fingers.

He was surprised by the question and glanced over at her, or made an attempt to. It still felt improper to let his eyes linger for too long. "Uh, well..." Did she have to ask that? Maybe she didn't grow up in civilized society. Not that he'd call the streets he grew up on civilized.

"You're.. very beautiful. And you're not wearing any clothes."

[howbraveyouare]

“Clothes…” She repeated, looking slightly confused. Karen had heard the word before, but the meaning escaped her. It wasn’t very often that she communicated with people who lived on land. This had to be the longest conversation she’d had with a land-dweller to date and he was a sailor! Still, it was frustrating not to know his language.

“I don’t know clothes.” Karen frowned.

Then something occurred to her and she smiled. “You think that I’m beautiful?”

[ex_one_shot695]

"Like these." Frank tugged at his shirt with his fingers to show what he meant by clothes. She must've noticed all people wore those garments. Not that she had a need for them. It was kind of funny, explaining such simple things to someone.

At the question, he laughed softly. "Well, yeah." It was hard not to think so. She had a lovely smile, skin, and hair. "Pretty sure anyone would."

[howbraveyouare]

She nodded slowly. Karen never understood the need for garments like those, but land-dwelling people seemed to be very fond of them. Smiling a little, she shook her head.

“They slow you down when you swim.” It seemed to be as sound an explanation as any. She needed to be a fast and skilled swimmer. While she was stronger than her build suggested, she still needed to outrun certain underwater predators.

“Don’t you swim?” She asked, looking a little curious. He didn’t have fins.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank laughed softly. "Well, yeah, they do. Usually you take your clothes off when you swim." Otherwise the clothes would definitely weigh a person down.

When she asks if he swims, he nods. "Sure. I can swim. A good sailor has to know that. Sometimes things happen. A person can end up in the water or a whole ship can go down." To survive that, he'd naturally need to know how to swim.

[howbraveyouare]

Karen nodded. So that was how it worked for them! She wondered to herself if he had fins when he entered the water. Maybe that was a silly thing to wonder. Biting her lip, she tried to think of a way to find out without asking out loud.

“Do you want to swim with me?” She asked almost shyly. It was easy to understand how a land-dweller might be hesitant to swim with a mermaid. Her sisters had claimed many lives, giving their kind a nasty reputation. Karen was anything but violent, but it would take knowing her personally to know that about her.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank had tried not to stare at her or the obvious tail under the water. At the question, he hesitated to respond at first, his lips pulling into a slight frown.

"I'd like to." It's not that he wouldn't want to, though he wonders about the compulsion to do it. Was it because he wanted to or because of some power mermaids had over man?

He looked at her. "Are you going to hurt me?" Might as well ask it point blank. She didn't look like she could hurt a fly, but he knows the stories. All sailors do.

[howbraveyouare]

Karen frowned, as well. Her sisters’ reputation followed her everywhere. It was something she couldn’t avoid. She sighed and shook her head. “I would never hurt you. You’ve been nothing but kind to me, Frank.”

Shifting, she pulled her tail up out of the water. The scales lining it shimmered in the sunlight as if they were jewels. Mermaids were truly beautiful creatures in and out of the water, but Frank was right to be cautious.

“If you’d rather stay out of the water, I would understand.” Her lips tugged into a small smile, but there was something sad about it. It had been something she’d wanted to share with him.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank wanted to believe her. She hadn't made any move to hurt him, and if she wanted to bewitch him and get him into the water, she probably could've done it all ready. Not that he was an expert on mermaids, but he's heard the stories. Their singing could make a man plunge himself into the water and never come up again.

Trusting her would be risky, but he couldn't stand seeing that sad look on her face. Frank exhaled slowly. He wondered if he was having his last breaths as he pulled off his boots. One by one, each article of clothing was removed until he was bare. When nothing was left, he slipped into the water.

[howbraveyouare]

Her smile brightened and she set the plum aside, diving right into the water without so much as a warning. She swam down quite a bit before surfacing once again near Frank, still with that happy smile on her face. Pushing her hair out of her face, she let out a tiny laugh.

“I forget that you breathe differently.” Tentatively, she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes locked with his darker ones.

“Can I show you something?” Karen suddenly looked mischievous, as if she had a secret, and she did. It was a relief to finally have someone to share it with who wasn’t her sister.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank was able to stand with the water up to his shoulders. He knew it got deep pretty fast, so he didn't go too far. Since Karen wasn't aware of what clothes are, he figured being naked in the water with her wasn't something to get embarrassed about, but he felt a little awkward anyway.

When she surfaced, he couldn't help but smile a little at the delight on her face. She sure was happy to have him in the water with her.

He tried to look happy, too, but part of him was still nervous about all this. Like he was just expecting something terrible to happen. "Uh, yeah. Sure."

[howbraveyouare]

In the blink of an eye, Karen slipped back beneath the surface of the water. She gestured with her hand for Frank to follow her. Swimming more slowly than usual, she tried to keep at a pace that wouldn’t be too fast for Frank. Karen only wanted to show him something beautiful – it didn’t occur to her that she was leading him closer to an area frequented by some of her sisters.

She poked her head above the surface of the water to speak with him again, allowing him time to breathe. There was a grin plastered on her face. “Wait ‘til you see it… I’ve heard your kind search for it all the time.” How it sparkled when the light cut through the waves! Her sisters had told her the sea had claimed it and it was theirs now. The land dwellers had no right to it. Still, Karen figured giving Frank a glimpse of it wouldn’t hurt.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank felt a little uncertain about following Karen into the deeper waters, but he did so. He didn't go under unless he had to so they could reach their destination. At least he was a strong swimmer and he could hold his breath for a good amount of time before coming up for air.

"Sounds like something good." He said, smiling as water dripped down his skin.

[howbraveyouare]

Karen ducked under the waves, swimming towards a reef. Soon, it became clear what she was leading Frank towards. At that hour of the day, the sun was still able to reach through the depths of the waters and hit the gold coins that spilled out of the chest. There was flora beginning to grow all over it, but sure as anything it was sunken treasure – Enough to make Frank wealthy for all his days if he should claim it.

Smiling at him underwater and looking his way to catch his reaction, Karen didn’t catch this quick flash of another fin that swam right past them. Someone else was aware that Karen had brought company to this particular nook. Swimming up to the surface, she hoped to talk to him about the treasure and see what he thought of it, the thing that sparkled even more than Karen’s tail.

[ex_one_shot695]

Frank dove under the water to follow her to the spot where the treasure rested. For a second, he was stunned. She had lead him to this? Frank didn't think mermaids were so generous. Not that he assumes it's for him. Maybe she just wanted him to look at it, so he doesn't dare touch it. Not yet. Even if that kind of money would change his life.

He smiled back at her and moved his arms to begin swimming to the surface. Before he broke, he felt something grab at his ankle and all of a sudden, he was being dragged back down. Frank let out an alarmed scream, which sent bubbles up to the surface.