Sometimes you just gotta draw a hug, so here’s Ray and Floyd having a moment together! I used my sketching brush for the entire picture here and I’m really digging the softer look it gave. 

However... there’s always room for angst. Modified version under the cut, but content warning for scrapes and bloodstains!

Day 20: Needing to swim/can’t swim

For @amonthofwhump‘s Water Whump May, where I write a part of this story every day according to the prompt. Hm, so I thought this would have conversation between Llyr. Then he was tired and wanted a nap. Ugh. Guess that can wait whatever dude just go be delirious because of pain and exhausion. Deep exasperated sighhh.

Tag list: @spiffythespook, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @insanitywishes, @whumpingonarainyday, @burtlederp

Content warnings: for the first time in a while, nothing noteworthy to mention here!

His leg was on fire and the rest of him was slowly freezing and there was nobody there to save him. He screamed and screamed into the forest until his voice went hoarse. 

Ray and Hugh had been walking through the forest for a few minutes before they heard the screams.

“Are you sure he would have gone towards town? I’m just saying, that kid seems to really like the ocean,” Hugh sighed, trudging through mud, shiny new boots from Gawain’s crew already getting coated in grime.

“Listen, just because we found him drowning twice doesn’t mean he’d go there when running away from seafaring people. He’s smart. He’ll head inland towards a village,” Ray said. His feet were bare, but he was used to navigating difficult terrain without shoes, unlike Llyr when he’d passed through earlier. He had relatively less trouble than Hugh, too, who slipped and nearly fell at his words.

“Smart? He literally dove into the ocean, from our ship, during a storm. How fucking smart does that sound to you?”

“I would’ve done the same thing, had I been facing cruel torture,” he suggested lightly. If Hugh didn’t know Ray, he may have been inclined to think he was kidding. 

Their walk fell silent then for a few minutes, no sounds to be heard except for those of pouring rain and squelching mud.

“Do you really think he’s gonna-”

“Hugh, please, we went over this already. I don’t want to think about it any more than you do.” 

“Hm, that’s a low bar to set, Raymond,” he laughed, “because I’ve been thinking about just how angry he’s gonna be since we started walking.”

Ray couldn’t deny he’d been thinking about the same thing, but certainly more out of apprehension than excitement. Mere hours after he’d sacrificed himself for Llyr’s safety, here he was preparing to lure him back home with what must have been his most prized possession.

Ray readjusted the seal skin cloak around his shoulders, almost regretting having chosen to wear it. He just wanted to be able to protect some part of Llyr from Hugh, but it felt so wrong on his own body. It should have been around Llyr’s shoulders where it fit like it was made for him, and where it would keep that panic of losing it at bay. 

They trudged on as the rain picked up, soaking them once again. It was then that they heard something in the distance.

It was a shrill noise that he couldn’t quite place, yet upset him somewhere deep down.

Ray heard it again, and it was louder that time. Emotional and desperate, a scream for help from far, far away.

“Did you-?” Hugh started, but he cut him off and grabbed his wrist as he changed directions towards the noise.

“This way,” he said. “Either make a trail or figure this out with the compass so we don’t get lost. Come on.” Ray sped his pace to a jog, feeling Hugh strain to keep up behind him as he fiddled with a compass, reading angles and making sure they knew how to get back once they’d found Llyr. 

The run was much longer than he anticipated, the scream a constant in the distance as they splashed through puddles and underbrush, but only growing weaker as they drew closer to its source. By the time they drew within visible range, the screams had diminished to choked shouts and whimpers, calling out, “...help! I can’t die here I can’t, don’t leave me to die I’m gonna die I’m gonna die...”

They heard the words trail off just as they spotted him, a figure half buried in the mud, laying flat on his back.

“Llyr, Llyr! What happened?” Ray knelt down in the mud--his legs were already soaked anyway; there was no reason to be cautious now--and the boy blinked faintly up at him.

“Animal trap, it looks like,” Hugh tried and failed to hide a smile. “Serves him right.”

“Stop that,” Ray hissed, turning back to Llyr. “Talk to me, buddy. You’re gonna be okay, we’ll get you out of that and we’ll-” he swallowed reflexively, “we’ll take you back and help you get better.

He tried to say the words as gently as possible, but Llyr’s eyes widened all the same, expression dropping into fear as he tried to scramble backwards, only jostling his leg more. He cried at the pain as he tried to crawl away, and Ray heard Hugh mutter a curse behind him before crouching above Llyr’s shoulders, holding forcibly in place.

“Stop, stop no no!” he thrashed, and Ray shot Hugh a look of disdain.

“Well? I got him still,” he grinned, propping the boy up in his lap and holding him there with a bruising grip on his upper arms. “You do the honors.” Ray followed his gaze to the animal trap, the sharp metal teeth disappearing underneath skin and the puddle of blood mixing in with the mud below. 

He glanced back at Llyr’s pained face cautiously before crawling down to his leg where the trap had latched on. It dug in deep, especially in the fleshier part of his leg, and Ray grimaced at the sight. He’d need to stand to get enough leverage to even dream of forcing this thing open.

Carefully, he stood and placed his bare foot on the bottom part of the trap, between two of the teeth and near the end. Taking the top jaw in hand, he grunted and pulled as hard as he could, straining against the surprising resilience. It really shouldn’t have been so surprising, considering these were meant to hold bears in place, but the thought really didn’t help Ray in the moment.

To make matters worse, every time he pulled, shaking arms shifting Llyr’s leg back and forth in the trap, the boy whimpered and whined with pain, seemingly too delirious with it to talk now.

“Hugh, is he alright? Is he even still conscious?” 

“I dunno. Probably not, by the look of him.”

Despite what the captain and his ex-shipmate believed, Llyr was very much still awake, but far too exhausted to pay any more attention to them. Thoughts were running so slowly through his head as if they too were buried in mud.

He should have been panicking and worrying about them taking him back, but all he could think about was the grime nearly covering his entire body now. It felt like a cocoon, a cage, a vice on his entire being that wouldn’t let go. The rain wasn’t powerful enough to wash it away, and suddenly it was unbearable to be out of the ocean. 

All at once, he was so exhausted from dealing with this human form. He longed for the comfort of the sea, of his skin forming around him just as it was always meant to be, but stupid, stupid him had left that behind for a foolish, horribly timed escape. Weakly, he squirmed under Hugh’s hold and he could have sworn the pressure of its stomach against his back rippled in a laugh as he muttered over and over about water, water, water…

The pain didn’t register in his brain when the trap finally came off of his leg, and neither did the sensation of open bleeding, but he did feel the vertigo as he was lifted from the ground and placed up on his feet. 

It didn’t even register to him that they were trying to force him back with them until he took his first step.

Day 16: Marooned

For @amonthofwhump‘s Water Whump May, where I write a part of this story every day according to the prompt. Looking forward to the next part I’m about to write because, unlike the past days, I will not be stretching the prompt to actually make it work lol.

Tag list: @spiffythespook, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @insanitywishes, @whumpingonarainyday Content warnings: suspension over water, dislocated joint

Slowly and carefully, so as not to injure himself, he started working the rope between his hands back up, leaning against the figurehead and trying his best to make an escape.

It was bearable at first. But what kind of slow, agonizing torture wasn’t?

The small ledge that Ray’s feet were balanced on gave him leverage to push up, trying to reach far enough to dislodge the rope. He figured it should have been easier, considering how smoothly and painlessly it had slipped over when Gawain put him here, but then again his feet hadn’t been tied back at that point. 

After the first few attempts, he felt the strain burning in his core, his wrists sore and chafed from every time he lifted his weight, only to fall right back down, the rope pulling on his wrists and nestling in that notch that seemed made just for it.

The more Ray tried, the more exhausted he became, and every muscle in his body burned from how tense he’d been. It wasn’t working. He hadn’t even gotten close to getting it off, and he was doubting escape was even possible at this point. He rocked back and forth in his bindings, shifting and trying to ease the pressure on each wrist and keep the blood flowing. The last thing he needed right now was for the circulation to get cut off.

It was when he was moving the rope from side to side, though, that he noticed something. When he leaned to the left and rocked forward at just the right angle, he felt a pressure at the middle of the rope, and the sound of fibers tearing. He did it again a few times just to make sure he wasn’t going insane already, but he knew he was right.

It was tearing through the fibers of the rope. With renewed vigor, Ray rubbed at the rope and sawed as quickly as he could. The sun was already coming up, and he wasn’t sure how long he’d have before other people woke up for the day. It was a long, arduous process and he felt his muscles shaking and less precise the longer he went at it. He switched between propelling with his feet, then with his torso, then with his arms, and all the way back down again. Rinse and repeat. 

He couldn’t have guessed how long it took, but the sun was already rising in the sky as his shaking, aching muscles gave out. He fell, his weight held entirely by his wrists and feet, and he wondered if this was what Llyr had felt like earlier. Or when Hugh had tormented him just hours before that. The poor kid couldn’t get a  break, but he hoped that he was alright now. Ray had made a deal. He had to be okay.

-----------------------------

Llyr didn’t sleep for the rest of the night. He knew he should have. He knew Ray had given itself up for him to have this opportunity. He knew he was so, so tired. 

But his arm was still out of place and it hurt so badly no matter which way he laid on it. He needed to fix it. He couldn’t let it stay out like that.

He tried to remember what Ray had done the first time but he’d been so scared and so much had happened since then that he couldn’t get the movements right, only succeeding in hurting his arm further the more he messed with it. His hands were kept too close to the ground and there wasn’t enough room to move his arm around the right way anyway.

He didn’t know how long it had been since he’d given up on trying to fix it. Everything was a dull haze of pain, and he occasionally slipped down into darkness only to resurface what felt like seconds later. But eventually, the door clicked open and he blinked, pushing himself up to see who it was.

Gawain bent by his side, a small key in hand which it used to unlock a shackle around his wrist. It was the reverse motion from when he’d been put down there, now threading the chain back through and locking it so Llyr could leave the small loop on the floor. 

“My arm, please i can’t, it hurts please fix my arm-!” he said, breathless as he was pulled swiftly to his feet.

“Not now. We’re going to visit your friend, now. I wonder how he fared through the rest of the night…” it said, starting the walk back out and down the hallway. 

Those words shouldn’t have sent such a pang through Llyr’s chest. What did it mean? How bad had that punishment been? Ray had volunteered: he should be blaming it for that, but at the same time… it had been for him, right? It would be his fault that someone else got hurt.

But Ray was just some human. He didn’t need to care about its well being because it shouldn’t mean anything to him. Didn’t mean anything to him.

They emerged onto the deck and Gawain herded him up stairs to the bow of the ship, but when they reached the top, there was nobody there. He could see just a barely perceptible flash of anger in the man’s eyes, and watched as it leaned over the edge to examine the figurehead, then the water below.

“He’s gone,” it mumbled, and Llyr didn’t hear much else after that. He heard everything that was happening, mostly just Gawain shouting furiously, trying to round up a group to search for the missing captive and figure out how in the hell it had made it out without anyone noticing. But he could only think of one thing.

It abandoned me.

It wasn’t Ray’s duty to stay with him and he didn’t even trust it with his life, but he suddenly felt so alone. The ship was filled with people who followed Gawain, and Gawain wanted to hurt him, so the people wouldn’t hesitate to either. Even Hugh would be eager to hurt him again, he was sure. 

He’d been abandoned, marooned on this island far too populated with cruel humans, and he couldn’t bear to think about what would happen now.

Day 3: Caught in a Net

For @amonthofwhump‘s Water Whump May, where I write a part of this story every day according to the prompt. Got done earlier today, woo!

Tag list: @spiffythespook and @castielamigos-whump-side-blog

Content Warnings: derogatory language and cursing, nonsexual nudity, unable to move/trapped

“Of course. Now let’s go get you cleaned up.” It offered its hand and, tentatively, Llyr took it.

He allowed the human--Ray, the other had said?--to pull him up but didn’t dare rely on its strength after that. Llyr loosened his grip on Ray’s hand and was relieved when it did the same in return. It was a small comfort in such an frightening situation.

They walked together, him with unsteady, shambling steps, the human with large, confident strides. As they passed the woman he shied away, putting Ray’s body between him and it. The harpoon still lay on the ground next to it, but he figured the human would have killed him on sight if it knew what he really was. 

Llyr wasn’t safe by any means, but he was still alive. He’d just use these humans for as long as he needed before he could repair his skin, and then he’d leave. 

As they walked, he felt the skin, now his makeshift cloak, shifting and rubbing foreignly against his skin, the edges of the torn hole wrapped around his shoulder. It was soaking wet like the rest of himself, but at least it felt warm. Though the warm sun beat down, the water was cooling against his skin. A light wind blew from across the water and he shivered.

As they approached the boat, there were other humans around talking and doing various tasks. One of them, whom Ray called out to, stood out from the others with pale, heavily freckled skin and a fiery red mop of hair. It turned around, looking first at Ray and then settling on him. “Oh, hello! Who are you?” It had a puzzled look on its face, and it looked much less intimidating than Ray. It was much thinner and less muscular, even if it was taller than him, and Llyr figured that even he could stand a chance against it in a fight.

He stayed silent instead of answering it, choosing instead to look the new human up and down for weapons. There was a sword strapped to his side, sheathed, but it didn’t seem to be armed otherwise. Llyr shuffled away from it, but he found himself doubting this human would even want to use it if given the chance.

“Floyd,” Ray said, realizing Llyr probably wasn’t going to speak, “could you go ahead and grab us some towels? I’m going to help him get settled in Hugh’s spare bed.” 

“Oh, sure! Got it.” It flashed a small smile before hurrying up the ladder on the side of the boat. 

Ray gestured for Llyr to go ahead of him and follow after Floyd, but just the sight of the ladder made dread settle in his gut. To any normal person it probably would have looked fine, but with his non-existent coordination and strength, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to haul himself up the rungs. Behind him, Ray seemed to notice his hesitation.

“Here, you seem really tired out, so let me help. I’ll lift you up, and you just have to grab onto the top, okay?” It placed calloused hands on either side of his waist after it spoke, obviously expecting him to accept. What other choice did he really have?

Llyr nodded, muscles tensing as the grip tightened and he was hoisted off the ground. He flailed helplessly for a second before he was high enough to grab the top rung, wrapping both hands around and clinging like his life depended on it. His feet quickly found rungs further down, and he swung them up over the side of the boat with a grunt.

He meant to hop down to the deck from there, but somewhere off the edge of the railing he slipped, falling hard on his side and rolling with the momentum. He shouted as ropes wrapped all around his body, constricting and stopping his frantic struggles and yelps as he rolled and tangled in them. A net of some kind wound around his body and he pulled blindly against it, whining and crying out wordlessly in a panic when it didn’t come loose.

Footsteps approached but he couldn’t see where they were coming from, or whose they were. He strained and raised his head, peering out through a hole with wide, pleading eyes, ready to beg for help from Ray, but saw a new pair of legs instead.

“The hell? What’re you doing on our ship, kid? Tryna steal? Huh?” A deep, gruff voice sounded above him, and a boot covered toe rolled him over further into the net until he was flat on his back, staring up at a leathery, tanned face framed by curling facial hair. 

He didn’t even try to correct the human, instead focusing on rolling back over to get the net off of his body. He managed to flip back on his stomach before a boot was on his back, heel pressed to the small of it and digging in hard.

“No you don’t, you lil’ shit. Dirty thieves like you deserve punishment. Can’t even have the decency to join a proper organization...” it growled, and Llyr cried out at the sharp pressure right on his spine. It restricted his breathing all over again, and he tried to take deep, smooth breaths through the panic and constriction.

“Can’t even have the decency to put on some fuckin’ clothes to rob a bunch’a pirates, huh? Or you just that damn poor, huh? You want us to pity you so bad we send you out with a fuckin’ fortune?!” It drew back its foot and slammed it into his side, sending him rolling up further in the net with a yelp. Llyr’s head spun and he couldn’t tell which way was up, where he was, couldn’t move an inch in the thick ropes. 

Before he could steel himself, the boot came forward and kicked him hard in the head, sparks flying around his spinning world. Another kick flew into his side, hitting right over the sluggishly bleeding wound and he screamed when the white hot burst of pain rocketed up his torso.

“Hugh! What’s gotten into you?!” Ray’s voice sounded from far away and Llyr felt pounding feet against the deck, shaking it harder with each step. Thankfully, the kicks stopped

“Stupid kid was about to rob us,” it said casually, almost proudly.

“No, this kid was hurt and drowning at the shoreline and I’m bringing him in to help him. Why was this net out in the first place?!”

“Fishing,” Hugh grunted, “and he still looks like a dumbass brute to me.”

“Well, he’s gonna be staying with you for a few days at least, so please learn to like him.”

Hugh groaned in response, and Llyr questioned his decision to come with the pirates at all.

Day 14: Tied to a Figurehead 

(okay, the figurehead actually didn’t make it into the part because it got too long. I was able to imply, but this will happen in tomorrow’s piece along with escape attempt. Sorry!!)

For @amonthofwhump‘s Water Whump May, where I write a part of this story every day according to the prompt. 1500 words and we didn’t even get to the point, y’all. This is what my life has come to since the beginning of the month when my goal was <1000 each day.

Tag list: @spiffythespook, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @insanitywishes, @whumpingonarainyday

Content warnings: sinking in quicksand, dislocated joint (again oops)

Llyr glanced around himself, feeling the sand shift and squish below his feet. It took him a few more seconds to realize he was sinking alarmingly quickly into it, but the panic only set in when he realized-

He couldn’t pull his feet out.

He started with trying to lift his feet to calmly and carefully step up, but the thin layer of sand they were trapped under was more akin to a brick. The sand was up to his ankles now, and he struggled against its grip, jumping and wiggling back and forth only to sink further and faster. Whining in terror, he tried to move with as much force as possible, whatever it would take to get out of whatever this was supposed to be.

“Llyr! Don’t struggle, please, just calm down,” Ray said, but it was so far away and his problem was right here because he was still sliding down as the sand sucked him in like a gaping hole. It was cold underneath the surface, and it only seemed to harden more securely around his legs the longer he was under. “It’s quicksand! The more you struggle, the faster you sink!”

That caught his attention, and he looked up to see Ray across from him, waving frantically with his bound arms.

“You gotta get out of there. Lean back, Llyr, that’ll help I promise.” It strained against the arms holding it back, obviously wanting to help. Under the surface thoughts of sheer terror and panic, Llyr wondered what it could have even done to help him. If it had stepped forward, they would have been stuck in the patch together, which was even worse.

He did try to lean back like Ray said, figuring it had to be better than nothing, and it nearly worked when he felt his feet shifting the sand up, but a hand pushed him back up straight.

“None of that. You’re staying right where you are,” Gawain said, “unless you’d like to see him hurt as well.”

Day 18: Forced to Hunt/Sing/Perform

For @amonthofwhump‘s Water Whump May, where I write a part of this story every day according to the prompt. I think Hugh and Gawain are constantly trying to one-up each other because whenever one bastard does a bad thing, the other one does something worse and I can’t stop them helppp.

Tag list: @spiffythespook, @castielamigos-whump-side-blog, @insanitywishes, @whumpingonarainyday 

Content warnings: noncon kiss(ish? she’s just doing cpr so that’s why), threats of death

no editing we die like fools.

Even as he went still, as he let out a breath, as his eyes rolled into the back of his head…

The singing never stopped.

He woke to lips pressing against his own, stale breath forced down his throat, and hands repeatedly pounding down on his chest. He couldn’t breathe right under the weight and he tried to bat the hands off, choking and coughing on wet breaths.

“Stah… stop it, gotta- gotta breathe…” he slurred, pushing weakly against hands that immediately let go, to his relief. 

“Finally! I was starting to think you died for good. Captain woulda been fuckin’ pissed,” a female voice said, and he looked up to see a woman kneeling above him. She was part of Gawain’s crew, no doubt, but he didn’t know why she was there, or why he was there for that matter.

Where had he been before this? Gawain tied him to the front of the ship, he remembered that much. Then… he’d broken free, hadn’t he? He’d broken free and swam away with those other people: the ones who looked like they had tails and held him down under the water until he couldn’t stay conscious any longer. 

Who were they? Why were they there? Nobody dared go for a swim that far out in the ocean, for fear of what vicious creatures lived there below the surface. Were these people some of those vicious creatures?

He banished the thought from his head. He’d been so incoherent by that time that some of his memory had to be imagined or exaggerated. Though that still didn’t explain how in the world he survived. Ray turned back to the woman still leaning over him.

“How did y-you-” he started, but a coughing fit overtook him. Water and spit dripped from the corner of his mouth when he spoke again, weakly. “How’d you find me?”

“You were floating in the water right over here. How could I not find you?” she chuckled, grabbing at his arm. “Now get up. Captain wants you back safe and sound, and it’s not like I brought anyone else to carry you back.” True to her word, there really was nobody else around the small cove he’d ended up in. How he’d ended up there, he had no idea, but the ship was nowhere in sight. She leaned down to pull Ray more firmly, hoisting him to his unsteady feet before he could protest further. It was only then that the full extent of the situation struck him.

They were isolated. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew which direction the lady was walking. If he kept going on his own, he was bound to find the ship eventually. And Llyr was still there; what was happening to him now that Ray had run off? 

He curled his hand into a fist before he even knew what he was doing, and launched a punch at her temple from behind. She crumpled to the ground with a shout, and she was out cold. Well. That worked out, he supposed. The adrenaline was still coursing through Ray’s veins as he continued on trembling legs, walking across rocky sand with larger chunks that dug into his feet, already sore from the night before. 

The sun, rising higher in the sky, heated everything around him and forced him to sweat out water he didn’t think his body even had in its dehydrated state. But eventually, after not all too long, he made it back to the ship where there were plenty more sailors milling around. 

Most seemed to be patrolling the edges of the beach, and he pressed back up against the rocky cliff, the shade it provided just enough to hide him from plain sight. Ray continued along there, watching everyone warily, and finally made it to the point where he was aligned with the back entrance point of the ship. The ground there was littered with splintered wood, along with the rocks.

There was one more person he could see, milling around in a barely visible room, but they soon disappeared up a set of stairs and he took his chance. Ray slunk into the ship, all carefully silent footfalls and owlish wide eyes, looking around in the relative darkness to find any sign of where they’d kept Llyr. Each room he checked was devoid of other people, and he grew tense with the fear that Gawain had already woken him and hurt him even more for no reason before Ray had the chance to save him.

Then there was a cold point of metal at the small of his back, a hand on his shoulder, and he couldn’t think. 

“Don’t move,” a voice said, and he recognized it. “Hugh? Oh thank god, it’s you I-” “I said don’t move!” he hissed, pressing the blade in hard enough to draw blood. Ray went stiff and turned back around to face forward. He kept his breathing steady. He wouldn’t let his heart race, and he wouldn’t let himself panic. This was a misunderstanding, or- or something, he didn’t fucking know right now.

“...what’s up?” Ray asked, throat tightening around the words, forcing them out higher than he’d intended. 

“You ran,” Hugh stated simply.

“I was gonna help you, and we were gonna get out before anyone else woke up. No harm done. You know...”

“Do you know how much trouble you got me in?” he snapped, jerking Ray’s shoulder back and forcing his body against the blade. “You wanna know what happened after you set such a great fucking example?!”

“I’m-” he tried to speak, but Hugh was dead set on saying what he had planned. Knowing him, he’d been rehearsing the coming speech in his head since whatever incident had occurred.

“The little fucking thief ran off,” he growled, “and I’m taking the blame for his disappearance. First you, then him, and the captain’s gonna have my head soon if I don’t fix this shit. He’s got plans for you, ya know.”

Llyr had run. That was all that mattered. He’d gotten out of there, away from Gawain and Hugh, and he was safer wherever he was now.

“Good for him. Let him go, Hugh, and we’ll get out of here ourselves.”

“Get out of here? You’re making that sound like a good thing, Ray. I think we’ll be just fine here. Captain’s the first sensible guy I’ve met in years, really.”

“I’m your captain, Hugh: not that freak. We’re leaving and finding wherever the rest of the crew sailed off to, and that’s final.”

“I don’t take orders from you anymore, Raymond!” Hugh all but shouted in his ear. “I’m tired of you and your happy, peaceful little rules! If I gotta join up with some law abiding folks to have some decent fun, then goddammit that’s what I’m gonna do!”

Ray was silent for a moment, and the words hung in the air like an awful stench. Perhaps he should have seen that coming. 

“Listen up. You and I are gonna take a nice walk down the beach and find that boy, and when we do, we’re gonna bring him right back here. If you refuse to help,” he paused, trailing the blade up his back with a feather light touch, “I’ll end you right here, right now.”

“Wait, don’t, I- won’t Gawain kill you, then? If you- if you kill me?”

“He’ll kill me anyway if I don’t find Llyr, and the stupid brat would never come with me if I didn’t have help. Now are you helping, or am I gonna have to explain why I got blood all over these new, clean clothes before he spills mine as well?”

Ray breathed out a wavering sigh and closed his eyes.

“...okay. I’ll help.”

Day 4: Low Tide

For @amonthofwhump‘s Water Whump May, where I write a part of this story every day according to the prompt. On video call with my friend but still getting this up woo.

Tag list: @spiffythespook and @castielamigos-whump-side-blog

Content Warnings: uhhhh nothing I think? Painful wound cleaning and still nonsexual nudity

Hugh groaned in response, and Llyr questioned his decision to come with the pirates at all.

Hugh left quickly after that, and Ray crouched down by his side, taking the loose end of the net in hand and looking it over.

“Hey, buddy, I’m sorry about him. I promise he didn’t mean it, okay? Hugh’s a nice guy, he just gets a little scared sometimes. We all do,” it said, the same spark of pity and concern in its eyes as earlier. He couldn’t reply, still breathing hard and shallow and trapped in the net. Llyr squirmed again, shifting his weight and only able to rock slightly back and forth, and looked back up to meet the human’s eyes.

“Right! Uh, alright, so I’m gonna have to roll you back over to get you out. I’ll be as careful as I can…” It trailed off, and he nodded shallowly around the net. Slowly, Ray took hold of his body and rolled him to his stomach, then on to his back, then to his stomach again. He groaned at the pressure on his new injuries, but with each roll there was less and less of the net wrapped around him.

Finally, it rolled him onto his back one last time, and pulled the rest of the net off, freeing him. Llyr was grateful to finally be able to move his arms, and went to push himself off the ground.

“Do you need help? Can you stand, bud?” It reached out a hand which he gladly accepted, and shakily used the leverage to get to his feet. When he wobbled, Ray wrapped an arm around his torso to keep him up.

They walked together in silence inside the ship and to the cabins. Ray opened the door to one and waved him inside first, where he saw the redhead from earlier was already waiting, milling around the room. It was a quaint size for a human, two beds on opposite walls with a desk along the other one, but it felt so enclosed compared to the vast expanse of the sea.

“You took a while, did something-” Floyd stopped himself, eyes going wider at the sight of Llyr’s face. The hits must have left marks. “...happen?” The human finished its sentence, but it was more of an afterthought at that point.

“Hugh thought he was a thief kid and roughed him up a little before I could stop him.” Ray said, and Llyr fiddled with the edges of his cloak at the memory of that man’s glare. He couldn’t imagine it was nearly as nice as his rescuer said it was, with eyes so dark and cold like that.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Floyd looked at Llyr when it said that, like it had some fault in this matter. “He… that’s still wrong of him. If that was me… you know…” It trailed off, looking at Ray with a sad, conflicted expression.

“I know, I know,” it responded, and the two seemed to understand each other. Llyr looked on, confusion written across his face.

“Well, let me help at least. You had that cut that needs bandaged up, so just take a seat right on that bed.” Floyd gestured and Llyr sat, eyes trained more on the floor than anything else. “What’s your name, friend?”

Llyr’s gaze raised when Floyd called him its friend, and he felt a pang somewhere inside him. It hurt, but it was warm and comforting at the same time. 

“I’m- my name is Llyr,” he said, eyes still trained on Floyd, who had turned around to grab something. When he turned back, Llyr looked away towards the wall instead.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you then, Llyr,” Floyd smiled, kneeling in front of him with a bucket of water and a cloth. “Ray, can you please get him some clothes? I think there’s some back in my dresser.” 

“Yeah, of course,” Ray spoke for the first time since introducing him, standing up from where it leaned against the doorway and heading back through the hall. The room fell silent then as Floyd dipped its cloth into the water, wringing the extra out above the bucket.

“I’m gonna clean off your side with this, but it’s gonna sting. Try to stay still if you can,” it warns before pressing the wet cloth to his cut. The pressure against the wound hurts, and the cool water helps for a moment before it stings too. He winces, but only lets out a groan as he breathes steadily and carefully.

Floyd takes the cloth off his side and rinses it in the water again before bringing it back up. As it presses it to his cut, though, the ship gives a sudden lurch and the floor tilts just enough to the side that the human loses its balance. It falls, and in trying to steady itself, lands its hand on Llyr’s side. He shrieks at the sudden pressure, falling sideways as well and just catching himself on the bed.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Llyr, I really didn’t mean to… the tide must be coming in again.” 

Llyr got what he meant there, at least. It had been low tide when he arrived, and the waves always got stronger when it was rising. He never considered how it would affect a vessel at sea.

“I think it’s pretty clean anyway, now. I’ll just bandage it up before these waves hit us any harder, alright?”

Llyr nodded, hands once again fidgeting with the sealskin cloak.

Tumblr was fighting me on the reblog, so I just made a new post. Thank you so much to @spookyboywhump for tagging me in that picrew chain; I went a little overboard and had a lot of fun!

In order, these are Percival, Floyd, Llyr, Hugh, Ray, and Mabel all from my pirate universe. I’m going to go into a bit more detail under a cut because of course I am, you guys know me, so open that up if you want some excited appearance rambles!