no hesitation

Alexander felt calm in the wake of the little stunt he had pulled by the pier; the man’s whining and groveling about respecting the merpeople had gotten on his last fucking nerve. He didn’t understand those who appreciated the deceiving creatures of the sea; didn’t people understand that the merpeople had no genuine interest in befriending or allying with the humans? Pirates or law-abiders alike, for that matter. The merpeople, and their bitch queen under the sea in particular, held little regard for the lives of humans. If anything, Alexander was confident they were repulsed by humanity above all else.

So perhaps that’s where the heretic belonged; to the ocean, where the ferocious little critters could choose to do to him what they willed. He heard the sound of splashing and the man screaming, likely in a fit that he had ruined the cloak he’d been donning while he’d been perched on the pier, but the sounds abruptly cut off. Alex paused for a moment, waiting to hear sounds that indicated the man had sunk or swam, and frowned slightly when neither became immediate to him.

He paused, glancing up at the entrance of the pier as none other than Taika Min, the true thorn in his side, came stalking towards him. Alex narrowed his eyes, cocking his head and tightening his grip on his dagger as she moved towards him. The mermaid was truly a menace; an evil he couldn’t bother to shake, no matter how hard he tried. Alex watched as Taika moved, graceful as a panther, clearly irritated with the pirate lord for throwing that man off the side of the pier. 

“His loss in the end; it’s only a matter of time before the sea devils betray him,” Alex said with a slight shrug of his shoulder, flipping his dagger from one hand to the other as he studied Taika closely. “For someone who seems to loathe my existence, Min, you seem to find quite a few excuses to come around.”

Something about Alexander Barrett drove her absolutely crazy. There were many moments that she wished she really hadn’t saved him the night of the wedding. Damn her feelings for feeling things just a little too much. She would never understand why there was still that part of her that cared. Taika absolutely despised pirates with her whole being, so why was this ruthless lord someone who had made his way onto her list of exceptions. In no way was he worthy of being spared and he continuously proved to her again and again that he was the kind of pirate she loathed the most. She had built her whole life on the assumption that she was going to show no mercy and yet with him she had. The only thing Taika could chalk it up to was that intense need to win whenever she was around him.

“The only devil in the sea currently is you leading your halfwitted crew into a war they have to stake in. All to be what? The king of the oceans?” Her voice was condescending before her brows raised at the insinuation. “Circumstance has not been so kind to me, I must admit,” a defeated shrug fell from her shoulders followed by a slight huff. “Though maybe it has been, seems whenever I turn up you’re causing problems that someone must deal with,” she pointed out, eyes following the dagger he was carelessly tossing between his hands. 

A sylphlike train of gold silk glides across white marble floors as she floats through the gilded grand hall. She’s picturesque, like an aureate rose born of beauty and pure energy. It’s a part of the necessary image she carries; always appearing as stately as possible no matter what the circumstances may be. It’s important that she maintains a certain level of decorum, especially when meeting outsiders. She’s making her way to the parlor room to meet a guest she’s been quite curious about; a representative of the Mercourt. She’s heard things, nothing that she can prove, but she’s heards things. Had Giselle been on friendly terms with the Mer-Queen, she might have organized an official meeting between the two of them, but given how unfamiliar Giselle is with her, she would have to settle for the Noble Chancellor.

The first thing that is to be understood is that Giselle wants no parts of this war. She wants no part in it, and yet somehow she’s found herself uncomfortably nestled between the two warring factions. This one wants what that one has, and that one wants to eliminate this one. It’s all rather pathetic and she’s eager to permanently remove herself from this equation. If it were up to Gabriel, he would have already launched a fleet of her ships to attack Acrine, but thankfully he is not. Humans, wolves, vampires, they are all of little interest to her. They could all tear each other apart on the grounds below if that’s what they want. So long as no more Faerie lives are harmed, Giselle couldn’t care less about the extinction of the other species.

She’s been given word that the Chancellor of the Merfolk has made it safely to her floating isles and is currently awaiting her presence in one of the palace’s many parlor rooms. It is with a double door entrance that Giselle comes fluttering into the room; instantly taking note of the woman’s appearance. Her curtsy is rehearsed to perfection which was likely due to working so closely with the monarchy under the sea. Her voice is lush and plays on the eardrum quite nicely and her beauty is easily noticeable. A slight dip of Giselle’s head is enough for her to acknowledge the woman as she gestures towards the seating area just a few steps beside them. “I am pleased to see that you have arrived safely to my court, Chancellor.” She starts, never breaking eye contact with the woman as she sinks elegantly into the cushioned seat behind her. The Chancellor gets right down to business, something that Giselle can appreciate. “Well, as you must know, there is unrest in parts of Candoris.” Unrest is a pretty way of saying that beasts are baying for the blood of other beasts. “Unfortunately, I was not afforded the opportunity to speak with either your Queen or the Princess about these matters at the Beaumont wedding. I’ve invited you here so that I might see what the Merfolk make of this…war.”

The moment the High Queen stepped into the room, she felt a bit of her breath escape from her lungs. There was something alarmingly beautiful about her, whether it was how she had carried herself or just simply the way she looked. Were all royal fae blessed with that same ethereal beauty, or was it simply because she had been the High Queen that the beauty felt it was amplified by a thousand? Taika did her best to keep her composure cool and collected. There was no sense in her fawning over the beauty of a High Queen that had only made time for her to speak of the war. She supposed that she should have expected something like this to happen. She was a chancellor after all, and while initially it had been the quickest route to get her inside the throne room of the Mer Queen, Taika quickly realized that perhaps she had a true calling for it. While her motives were ill-directed toward Liling, she truly believed she held a high enough position within the mer court to have a strong enough hand for change in the kingdom.

She took a seat following the queen, remembering to keep her shoulder’s rolled back and her chest high even as she is sitting in perhaps the most comfortable chair she’s sat in her life. Taika felt the eyes of the High Queen still burn into her as she sat there. There was something awfully intimidating about her that she made a mental note not to cross the queen given the chance. She was incredibly strong and smart enough to not get herself killed, but she was merely mortal and she had no doubts that the High Queen of all people would crush her if she ever gave her any moment of doubt. “Unrest is hardly the correct word for it all,” she stated blatantly. She paused, folding her lips into her mouth as she thought of the best way to approach this situation. She shouldn’t give away her disinterest with the mer queen to the High Queen, it likely wouldn’t give her an upper hand or really benefit her in any way. “The mer queen has been terribly busy with her own affairs, I am sure she sends her regards and I will let her know that you wish to have some sort of reconciliation with her if you would like me to,” her smile was brief enough to show that she hoped the High Queen didn’t choose to make an alliance with Liling.

taika min &&. alexander barrett // a moodboard

Greyson had been guarding the royal family for a very long time. He had encountered all styles of assailants. Clearly he had won very encounter since he proudly stood in front of her. He watched as she took down a bird. He knew what she was doing. Was he impressed of course, but he wasn’t going to give the mermaid that satisfaction. He yawned and rubbed his eyes. “Is that it? You have good aim.” He teased. “Aim is good but strength is better.” He said as he walked up to a tree. He placed a massive legs against the base of the tree and began to push. Slowly the tree began to tip over until it landed with a large thud. 

He turned back to face the mermaid with a large grin. “Blades are cute but can be lost and knocked away. My weapons will always remain with me.” He said with a shrug. Even though at that moment Taikia had the upper man hand in a real combat situation her blades would do nothing against his armor. But luckily they weren’t foe, he hoped they could be friends. It was lonely on land. 

It was amusing watching the strong man knock down a tree with just his leg. She had to admit, if they weren’t on the same side, he would have frightened her. “True.” He had been right, strength was better than aim. And if he ever got on her bad side, she would just have to be faster than him. As long as he couldn’t get his hands on her, she would have the advantage. “Was that supposed to impress me?” Stated almost as a challenge, she folded her arms across her chest, acting as if she was hardly bothered by what he had just done— barley flinching as the thud of the tree blew up leaves and created a gust of wind in the still air.

( &&. @taikamin )

“You know,” Alex began, hopping off the post he’d been situated on by the pier in favor of turning towards the water’s edge. He’d sneaked away from The Renegade in favor of a bit of alone time–all things considered, it was a rarity these days. Ever since the disruption at the vampire-faerie alliance wedding, Alexander couldn’t recall a single day he’d gone without being prodded or pestered by anyone. Not the vampires he was meant to be allied with nor the other pirates docked in port. It was getting fucking irritating, to be sure.

“I’m not sure it counts as a gospel if you’re preaching to a bunch of men who sold their souls to the seas long ago,” he continued, approaching a young man who was screaming and rioting about respecting the merfolk as the last remaining descendants of gods and goddesses of the seas. When the young man turned his angry, reddened face on Alex from where he was perched atop a bench on the pier, hands outstretched as he implored Alex to see that he was disrespecting his betters with such blasphemy, Alex leaned against the side of the pier, appearing to groom his nails with the sharpened blade of his dagger. With a fell swoop, he reached his arm behind the little bastard’s legs, knocking him backwards and over the pier. He paused, straining his ears until he heard the screams stop and the telltale splash as the man met with the water below.

“Oops.”

The turmoil since the wedding really did make everything seem more grave. And the tension in the waters had only gotten worse. Every mermaid she interacted with seemed more and more on edge as the pirates drew closer and closer to their territories. They had no right to infringe on their space, the ocean didn’t belong to them. No matter how convoluted and egotistical they were, there was nothing that could seem to convince them otherwise. It wasn’t that the sea even belonged to the mermaids. It was this massive force of nature that couldn’t be controlled by anyone besides Neptune himself. It truly had irked her beyond belief.

It wasn’t anything like her to be caught up in the likes of saving humans that had fallen into the sea, or anyone for that matter. But she had made exceptions in the past. And watching this poor man struggle when he fell in the water from the pier felt strange enough, and it was only when she peered up through the water to see his distorted figure rippling in the waves that she would have to save this man simply out of spite for the pirate who pushed him off. Letting out a huff, she gripped the man and pulled him to shore along with her and rested him on the beach as her tail turned into seafood that was dragged back into the ocean. She turned her her head back to Alexander, eyes thinning before she made her way over to him.

“If the princess would have me, I would be more than willing to be her Consort. However; I do believe her and Henry are a better match.”

“Stop running, he's gonna love you.”

The merfolk had always intrigued her. Ailsa was so caught up in the world of the fae, their gossip, their perils, sometimes she wished for an out, even just for a day. Collect her thoughts and return to the lion’s den. She was well equipped to deal with them, she always had been, some said that she was born for a life in court, and if she weren’t quite so good at it, she was certain that she would despise every second – and every last one of them. She wondered about the court of the merfolk, their intrigues, their plots. She imagined them to be vicious, vindictive. They spurred her interest far more than she would let on.

Ailsa lowered her eyes, the sound of her name upon the mermaid’s tongue pleased her more than she could admit. A sliver of a smile played upon her lips before it passed as a shadow would, no proof of its existance but the memory of her lips upturning automatically. “I am not little.” Amusement glimmered in her gaze, her red head shaking. “I imagine I’m much older than you.” She noted, eyeing the young woman warily. In the grand scheme of her immortal life, Ailsa was but a blip on the radar of time, however, she often felt ancient. Unchanging and unmovable. Swallowing, the faerie’s gaze dashed from the mermaid, her wings fluttered in her embarrassment. Black as night and glimmering with crimson, they were the source of all pride for Ailsa. “I did not come here with an excuse to see you. I simply wanted to thank you.”

There was something about the girl that was fascinating to Taika. Be it her pitch black wings with the sun reflecting glints of deep scarlet that matched the hair upon her head, or the way she sat so poised on the shore, or how she fought the smile begging to be spread across her features. Ailsa, the only fae she had ever saved. Something about her made Taika want to always be there to save her. Perhaps all fae had this effect on mortals. Risking their short lives for the sake of ensuring their immortal counterparts the fate they had always been promised. Though, maybe it was just Ailsa that had the affect on Taika. She wouldn’t truly know until she had associated herself with more of their kind, but as far as she was concerned she would never get to that point. 

Soft chuckles fell effortlessly from her lips. “True, you may be older than me. But I assure you, I have lived plenty long enough to know that the amount of time you are alive is not comparable to the things you have done.” Her shoulders rose for a moment. “A girl could be young and still have experienced more in her twenty years than someone who has been alive for longer. I like to think I had lived many lifetimes by the time I was twenty,” she explained. Taika was being honest, it was what she had done with her time that mattered more than how old she actually was. “Mortals don’t have the luxury of taking their time, you know,” she nudged the Lady softly before pulling away. “So I think I’ll still call you little red. And you can call me Taika, if the Lady pleases,” she mused, a dangerously gentle smile rested across her features. 

She didn’t know if she would actually come, not really. She had hoped, sitting there with that little box in her hands. Though she was many years older than the mermaid who had saved her, Ailsa felt foolish young thing, a pale cheeked little girl waiting on the rocks all straight backed and poised. Did it matter out here? She couldn’t help wondering, for there was no one around to see her slouch or cross one leg over the other. Not that she ever would, she was too disciplined. Well trained like a pup. 

Slowly, the other woman’s presence dawned on Ailsa like the gentle light of a new day. Her head lifted to meet the gaze of the woman whose name she felt herself to be hungry for. Her cheeks began to heat when she felt the other’s arm across her shoulders, when she spoke gentle poetry into the chilled breeze. Swallowing, Ailsa stood and fought her instincts to bow her head in respect. She felt rigid as she always was, however in front of such a woman as her saviour, it all felt like too much. Stiff as a board, that was Ailsa. “My name is actually Ailsa.” She arched an eyebrow, the ghost of a smile flickered upon her lips before dying out. ‘I don’t have much love for the ocean, no… however, I did come with a thank you gift. It may be several months late but… well I simply couldn’t stop thinking about my behaviour that day. You must think I’m unhinged.”

It was not often that Taika found herself in the likes of beings other than mermaids. She would rather not associate with species that weren’t her kind. Of course there had been some exceptions since the war had started like Mia and Celine. Even Viktor if she were to think about it. The red head was the first faerie she had come in contact with until the High Queen herself called upon her. She felt slightly disappointed that it had never crossed her mind to interact with the fae, the two she had run into seemed to be more beautiful than any being she had laid her eyes on. Mermaids of course held a certain beauty that humans just didn’t, their supernatural qualities giving them a slight advantage. But fae were on a whole other level, emanating a sort of ethereal beauty that was mortals were undeserving. 

At first Greyson couldn’t tell who it was. His mind was still a haze from yesterday. His mind was fog and it was only just becoming clear. He knew the face but couldn’t just place it until she spoke. Suddenly everything snapped in order. It was an old friend. Without hesitation Greyson laid down his weapon. There was no danger. 

Greyson walked up to the mermaid with a large grin on his face. “Fear has paralyzed me.” He teased trying to keep a straight face. He didn’t think she would shoot him. The man had pissed off many off but not Taika. He hoped at least. Then Greyson began to laugh, he easily towered over by a foot and weigh more than three of her. “I didn’t take you to be a jester.”  

Greyson was quite large man, but she had the distinct advantage of being quicker and smarter she thought. Thankfully, he wasn’t a face she had any ill feelings toward, if anything it was refreshing seeing someone she knew out in these woods. And while he may have been mostly serious and intimidating, Taika was glad she was never on the receiving end of that. He had a lovely smile, one she thought he must have not shown to many people but his teasing her caused her brows to furrow slightly before she spoke. 

Greyson felt odd, had been for a long time. But finally he felt like himself. Recently something had happen but couldn’t place his finger on. But that day he finally felt like himself. Despite of the wishes of his superiors, Greyson found himself  in Wilde Wood. Why? It had the best fishing spots. Greyson was one of the merfolk that consumed other fishes. His bloodline ran closely to great whites. He had tried going without prey but couldn’t. That need to hunt was still thrilling in him. It wasn’t long before he started pulling fish after fish. The merman was mindful not to take too many, just enough to fill. It was perfect day of complete isolation until he heard footsteps. 

Greyson instinct was to grab his axe. Without thinking the muscular took his axe and turned his attention to the uninvited guest. Anyone could be in the woods, he kept that in mind. He didn’t speak until the were within a few feet of each other. Greyson had been trained and taught to show everyone respect. He slowly nodded showing he meant for harm and wasn’t looking for a fight. “Is there anything I can help you with?” He asked.

That morning, Taika had woken up somewhere in the Wilde Wood with a serious headache pulsing. She thought it was odd that she ended up there, and couldn’t quite recall what she had done the night before to end up there in the first place. In any case, she started weaving through the woods to go back to the ocean, it felt like she hadn’t been there in days, but she remembered being there just yesterday. In any case she had to make it back to her home and out of these woods. Normally she would be well aware of her surroundings, knowing who was at her peripherals at all times. Her attention only turned toward the man standing to her left.