Fantasy Storms in the Sea | Stone & Sound

[StoneWolf18]

“Captain! Captian!” Atmora heard the sharp cry, jumping in her chair. Blinking a few times she saw the young cabin boy standing before her desk. Adjusting her hat which had slid down on her head, she sat up with a groan, the exhausting looking woman casting the boy an annoyed look. “What is it? I told you all to knock before barging in here.”

The boy paled, averting her gaze. “I did, Captain, but you didn’t answer.”

With a sigh, Atmora’s face would soften somewhat, crossing her arms across her chest. “Go on then. What’s so important that you had to wake me?”

“Its in the net! When Talon was tossin’ in out to catch more fish ‘or Chef, he caught something else.” The boy seemed excited about whatever it was. And so with a sigh, Atmora would stand and move out from behind her desk, her back sore from falling asleep in a stiff-backed chair for what felt like the fifth day in a row. Ever since she had raided that temple, she had been too anxious to sleep. The recent storms hadn’t felt natural even though most of her crew dismissed her worries.

Hopefully the goddess wouldn’t come looking to collect.

Squinting as they walked out onto the deck, the cloudless sky allowing for the sunlight to be rather blinding, she followed the cabin boy to where Talon normally tried to fish. And instead of a turtle or a squid, which would cause quite the stir, something else was tangled up in the net on the deck.

“Would you believe it?” Talon chuckled, giving his captain a nod as she approached. The aging man gestured to the woman-fish hybrid that lay terrified between them.

“I wouldn’t have if you simply told me.” Atmora commented. “I didn’t think they existed.”

“I didn’t either.” Talon said, proudly shifting her tail with his foot. “She didn’t even struggle as I pulled her up.”

“So?” The captain asked. “What are you intending to do with her?”

“Ah, we have an empty basin below deck.” Talon mused, Atmora’s expression darkening somewhat. If this sea goddess was out for revenge, this wasn’t going to make their situation any better.

As the two pirates discussed, the merwoman was murmuring worriedly beneath her breath. “Mother Estia please save me…”

Melpomene

 

[Melpomene]

It was not usual for Estia to feel the need to watch over one boat so closely.

Usually, if one were to call upon her and ask so wantonly for her gentle caressing touch of help, she would give it unto then in the gentle form of a wave. Or lack thereof, and then turn her eye away to matters that could be said to be more important than this.

But this particular ship was one that could not be ignored. For it was not some simple maiden that had grown lost and was in need of a gentle push in the right direction.

No, this was a boat of Heretics to the worst degree, daring to defile her sacred temple for their own greed. She had felt them enter, assumed they had come to worship and was about to prepare something to show her good graces.

But instead they destroyed, making the idle pleasures of her days cease as their heathen hands knocked down the sacred treasures, took the offerings that had been brought by those that knew the true glory of her.

Perhaps it would have only been the storms. It would have only been her tearing through them as they had torn through her temple.

But now they had a child of the sea within their mitts, taken her unto their boat and daring to take more from their goddess.

Such was far from forgivable.

She peeked up from the water, her hair flowing about the gentle waves as she slowly lifted herself further to look upon the boat in person, her lips pressed together in a frown as her eyes turned to the mermaid that laid helplessly between the humans.

"Do not worry, my child. " She murmured before she lifted her hand to cause a wave that would tilt the boat on its side, enough so that her child could slip from their grasps and back into the sea... And perhaps a few that were not her children could do the same.

 

[StoneWolf18]

They were so busy speaking that they didn’t notice the goddess looking up from the water and giving the ship a rough shove. It was enough for the mermaid to be freed from the net and slip through the railing back into the sea, but also for a bit more.

Atmora had been caught off guard by the sudden rocking. With her life being lived more on a boat then land, she was more than accustomed to dealing with the restlessness of the sea. However since the water had been rather calm, this powerful of a shove had been unexpected. Talon opened his mouth to crack a joke at her inability to keep her footing, but it caught in his throat when he saw her tumbling over the railing.

“Atmora!” He cried, looking to various nearby crew members. “She went overboard, get me ropes!” He commanded, the men rushing around to try and meet his demands.

The captain’s face had paled as she hit the ocean’s surface, it feeling as if she had dived into solid earth. Then she began to sink, her inability to swim not helping her floundering as terror consumed her. Thoughts rushed through her mind, mostly centering on how this was going to be her death at the hands of the very sea she had made her home for far too long.

 

[Melpomene]

A small smirk made its way to the face of Estia. If only because she had gotten exactly who she was aiming for. The captain that thought so highly of herself as to take out the goddess of the sea that she so wantonly spread herself over, and the dear child that had been caught in that web.

Her fingers clung to the net first, pulling it from the poor child as she came back into the embrace of the sea, her home.

"There you are, my darling." She murmured as the young merwoman flickd the last of the net off of her tail and then turned to look back the goddess, her eyes shining with a certain gratitude.

But Estia could not wait to offer her good will, for she did not plan on letting the Captain back into the that boat. She turned her eye, her legs moving so that her finger could grip unto the fabric of the Captain's shirt.

"Do not worry captain..." She murmured as she readied the curse to be laid in her mind. "You won't drown..." No... Far from it... A merwoman could never drown in the sea.

 

[StoneWolf18]

Atmora felt her descent abrupt a stop as her shirt was caught. Her eyes widened as she saw who had a hold on her, no introduction needed as she murmured that she wouldn’t drown.

Horrified, she couldn’t do much as whatever the goddess had planned took hold, making the woman feel nauseous, pain tearing down her spine.

The captain was in a daze as her lower body went numb. Her trousers and boots tore, the fabric and leather falling away as her legs fuzed, bronze scales pushing their way out of her skin while gills formed in her sides beneath what remained of her clothing.

After it finished, Atmora would only notice that the pressure of the water and the suffocating feeling in her chest had vanished. Blinking a few times, she’d force out a few words, not entirely sure what had happened to her yet.

“What did you do to me?” Her voice was distant as she tried to shake the fog from her mind, but still trying to hold an authoritative tone and failing quite miserably.

 

[Melpomene]

A smile slipped on to Estia's lips as she watched the transformation take place and the new form of the captain settled. She shook off the feeling of exhaustion that had implemented itself into her, not letting it touch the features of her face.

Ever since her domain had been so wantonly invaded, things had become harder for her. She was goddess, and her power would always run through her veins and slip through her very being.

But now, even something as small as cursing a human that had wronged her, in her own domain, was beginning to prove to take at least a bit of a toll on her form.

"I feel that what I did was rather obvious." She said as she swam away a few feet flipping in the water before floating in front of the woman.

"I promised you wouldn't drown, didn't I? It was the best way I knew how to keep my promise."

The sound of her men up above pierced the water, but she did not feel the need to bother herself worrying about it.

"Don't worry... Swimming should be tad bit easier now."

 

[StoneWolf18]

After some awkward maneuvering, Atmora finally was able to get a look at her new appendage. A torrent of curses and other such foul words rushed into her mind, wanting to spit them at the Goddess that floated before her. But her throat had tightened to the point where no sound could escape.

She had been cursed...

Despite this having entirely been her fault, as she had raided the temple, the wide-eyed speechless woman tried to swim past Estia and back towards the surface of the water and her ship.

On board Talon had finally organized various men to assist in him trying to retrieve their captain, although assuming her to already have been lost until her voice sounded from below.

"Where the bloody hell is that rope?!" Atmora cried, clinging to the bottom of the ship as best she could. She wasn't even considering the thoughts of her crew at the moment, only that she needed to try and distance herself from the being that she had wronged.

"Throw it!" Talon roared, the men quickly tossing a thick rope with a loop in the side overboard and towards the captain, it landing near her. Slipping it around herself, she would've gave a rough tug on the end.

Glancing back towards Estia, she wouldn't be able to ignore her racing heart. Was this, perhaps, what fear felt like?

 

[Melpomene]

Estia actually let out a small laugh as the woman frantically swam for the surface as though simply being above in the air would separate her from the curse. Or separate her from the goddess that floated with her in general. It was actually adorable to watch, all things considered.

Estia flowed through the water easily, her head once again breaking the surface and allowing her hair to take on the look of seafoam atop the water as her eyes peeked up at the woman yet again.

She pulled herself to the surface, flipping a piece of hair behind her shoulder as she reached for the rope and gave it a gentle tug, flinging to it with her own slim fingers.

"I don't believe this will help you." She murmured and then clicked her tongue as she tugged at it once more.

"Being a fish out of water is never a good idea..."

She could not deny the bit of fun she was having. Perhaps such was why she had always gotten along so well with the God of Mischief and allowed him to do many of his biddings in her own domain.

"I recommend you stay in the water, or you may not like the results."

 

[StoneWolf18]

As the rope was tossed to her, Atmora was hesitant, but still slipped an arm through the loop and gave it a tug.

“Pull you whoresons.” Talon commanded, the men beginning to lift their captain out of the water.

As soon as her gills were exposed to open air, she began to suffocate.

It seems as if trying to draw air in only made it worse, she being forced to let go and resumerge herself.

Was this really happening?

Running a hand through her hair she would’ve faced the goddess, her distress clearly present.

“What? Should I repent? Return the riches I stole from your temple?”

Even though she asked this, Atmora couldn’t suppress a horrifying thought that she wasn’t going to be able to get out of this that easily.

 

[Melpomene]

Estia hummed as she came to settle herself in front of the woman once more. He crew were likely panicked by now, seeing as their captain was no coming up and back into her own boat after the tumble.

But what was truly amusing was that she seemed to think that pushing Estia to the lengths that she felt the need to curse he would be fixed by something as simple as repenting.

"Repent? Give back my treasures... Oh yes, I would find both of those things to be quite lovely." She murmured, tapping her cheek.

"But I don't know if they would make me forgive you... I believe you should stay like this for a bit longer... Until I find it within myself to forgive you..." She flowed the water with ease, tilting her head.

"Although... My thoughts may change faster if you learn to follow my biddings."

 

[StoneWolf18]

Atmora fell silent for awhile. A mixed expression upon her face as her eyes drifted down to look upon the fin that had replaced her legs.

She was the captain of her ship, one of the most feared pirates of the sea. But here she was being forced into servitude by a being she thought to be nothing more than a fairy tale.

Seeing as there was no other way to rid herself of the curse and return to her ship on her own, the woman looked towards Estia with a grimace. She was going to have to do as she asked.

“Fine then. But... before you begin to order me around, the least you could do is inform my crew of my - temporary - leave of absence.” Saying this she would cross her arms across her chest, waiting for a response.

 

[Melpomene]

Estia curled her hand into a gentle fist, pressing it beneath her chin as she hummed in a gentle thought, then she offered a simple nod of her head. They might as well know where their captain was.

And she had no qualms with showing what happened when on chose to disrespect her standings among them for their own personal gain.

"Very well. They shall know the fate of their captain. I think it would do them well to know." she murmured before she turned her head away and then began to lift herself up the surface, placing a hand on to the rope that was still hanging in the water. She tugged once more, looping it about her arm.

"Up again! Pull you whoresons! Pull!" and she let them pull her. Though there was certainly a shock upon seeing the pale-haired woman in place of their captain.

She sat precariously upon the rail as she offered them all a smile.

"I am afraid that your captain shall not be rejoining you all." she murmured as she braced herself against the railing.

"What did you do to her, you-?!"

"I would be careful what you say. Consider yourselves lucky that you remain untouched. You all helped pillage my temple." she said before she began to push herself back into the water to return to the captain.

 

[StoneWolf18]

She would wait for Estia to return to the ocean, Atmora following without any hesitation as she began to lead them away in then opposite direction they had come from.

It was slow going at first, the pirate struggling to figure out how her new tail worked. But eventually she managed to get going a bit awkwardly, the motion still foreign and uncomfortable for her.

They would swim for what felt like hours, Atmora eventually lagging behind. She was physically fit but not underwater. But not only was she appearing exhausted, the silence between them was deafening.

“Are... we going stop any time soon?” She would grunt, barely able to feel anything below her waist.

 

[Melpomene]

Estia had spent the first part of the little travel in silence. It was a familiar feeling for her, drifting through the water from one place to the next. In fact it was her favorite feeling, even when she had a very displeased captain flowing through the water next to her.

However, she may have gotten where she meant to go much faster had she not had that captain swimming next to her and attempting to get used to the new body that she had been adorned with.

Estia would have used a bit of her power had she not thought it better to conserve the little bit that she still had within her.

"I think you know where we are going quite well." Estia murmured. "You did pillage it, after all. If we stop, the longer it will take for us to reach it. I think it best if we continue on, don't you?"

 

[StoneWolf18]

Atmora was silent. The temple... what did she have in mind, exactly? That she’s was going to have to help rebuild what she broke? Replace the riches by hand? Apologize to the followers there for the ruckus she had caused?

“Right...” she’d mutter, forcing her jaw shut as she ignored the pain tearing through her abdomen and the numbness of her tail. She was going to feel awful whenever they did decide to stop and rest... if they ever did.