#craptincold

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Behind her, Amaya calls, “Sara! Are you out of your mind? Sara, damn it-”

And part of her thinks she should shush Amaya, lest she wake the rest of them, but she opts instead to tune it out, all of it, still kneeling on the edge of the deck. “What did you say?”

The siren blinks up at her, her big, brown eyes lighting the way in the dark. “Can I have a kiss?” she repeats.

The water’s too dark for Sara to see below her chest, but she remembers well enough from earlier the flourish of scales pressed to the rough ropes of their net. “Are you trying to drown me?”

She shakes her head.

Sara leans over the edge of the deck, chewing on her tongue. “I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t have to,” she responds, splashing her tail. “It’s just a kiss.”

“They’re gonna be real pissed,” Sara says. “If you drown me.”

“I’m not going to drown you,” she says. 

“On your honor?” Sara asks.

“I don’t know what that means,” she responds.

Sara looks over her shoulder, at Amaya watching her. “Can she come up?”

“What?” Amaya says.

“Can she climb up?” Sara says. “It’ll be perfectly safe if she just sits her and dangles her tail over the edge.”

“No, Sara,” Amaya says. “That’s not perfectly safe, that’s-”

“The ladder’s on the other side of the deck,” Sara calls down. “Can you hoist yourself up?”

“You’d let me onto your ship?” the siren asks. 

“Gladly,” Sara says. 

“No!” Amaya protests. “Do not-”

“What’s the harm?” Sara asks. “She just wants a kiss. Maybe you can kiss her too.”

Amaya responds by crossing her arms, but when she looks down, she doesn’t protest.

“Come up,” Sara says. “I’ll help you.”

She considers it for a moment, content to tread water and distrupt moonlight with the motion of her tail. “Okay,” she says. “I’ll come up.”