#ww-no.4

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.

Alrighty and moving on to part 4 of this little story for @amonthofwhump‘s may challenge. Here we go.

Content Warnings: uhh not much this time, but slight entanglement, a bit of manhandling.

- - -

“That’s definitely not a baby orca.”

The boy cried out through the net. “Please, I’m, I’m kinda stuck. Can you help- please” 

The men stared, dumbfounded at the species of fish they had just caught. For one, it was not a fish, it was a boy. 

The gruff voice began to speak again. “Look men, in all my years in this business, I have never once caught a boy.” 

He felt the ropes tangled around him begin to loosen as the net was untangled and his limbs began to feel free. He could breathe more easily and got a better look at the men surrounding him now. The gruff voice had a thick beard. It wasn’t long, but was bushy around his face and made his head look larger. Somehow, it was clear that he was the captain. The second man picked up the harpoon, untangling it from the net. He was larger, and looked incredibly strong. Like he could throw you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carry you up a mountain. And the third, had crouched down to peer into the boys face, on his hands on knees. He was rather on the shorter side, but looked incredibly intelligent. In a way that would be absolutely terrifying.

“I don’t think it’s a boy.” The shorter man said. “He’s at least eighteen.”

Nineteen. The boy thought. Nineteen, almost twenty. But he couldn’t blame them, he did look kind of young sometimes. He sat there, his back up against the side of the deck, the net now removed, as the three men stared at him. He sighed deeply, bones rattling in his chest as he tried to clear his head from the pain.

“Stand up boy.” The captain ordered.

He immediately obliged and stumbled to his feet.

“Explain yourself.”

“I- I- was trying to-” he didn’t get much further before he started coughing up the sea that he had inhaled, pushing it out of his lungs. In hindsight was a good thing, as he had no idea how he was going to explain himself.

“Cap’n look at him.” The shorter guy stated. He glanced towards the other man that was holding the harpoon. “The harpoon’s got lots of blood on it, but there’s barely a scratch on him. We caught him with the harpoon though, so how do you explain that?” 

Uh oh. He was beginning to think he shouldn’t have healed himself. But in the middle of that pain it was all he could think about doing.

The captain looked at the harpoon, and then back to the boy. He only looked slightly shook up, and was breathing kind of heavy. Anyone of these strong men would have drowned in that same situation. To be dragged across the ocean and shot with a harpoon most likely would have killed any normal person. Dion didn’t like to admit that he was a superstitious sailor, but he was. Twenty years in the poaching business, and you learned to be cautious about a few things. And besides, there was something fishy about this. 

“Sweeney, grab the thing.” He motioned to the boy.

“Yes Captain.” Sweeney, the larger man came and grabbed the kid by his arms, pulling him away from the edge of the boat and holding him firm.