Hyperfixation Central

But you’ve proven yourself to be an asset to the crew. There’s no one as quick-thinking and efficient as you when the weather takes a turn for the worse and you’re the most skilled harpooner and fisherwoman anyone on board has ever seen. Your backstory might be filled with holes and spotted with a few inconsistencies but you’ve proven yourself to be an asset to the crew in terms of navigation and keeping up food rations when the crew is between raiding ships all along the east coast. Your utility and friendly, curious nature have stopped anyone from speaking up against your suspiciously incomplete backstory and ignorance. 

Whenever there’s extra food or coin to be needed, there you are, throwing out nets and pulling them back on board as though you’d called the fish to you like a pack of loyal dogs. The crew could rest assured that they’d never starve so long as you had a net and they weren’t too fired of the same food day in and day out. 

Your utility often glosses over your curiosity but Ratonhnhaké:ton is a man who leaves no loose threads and no rock unturned. He walks a path with many enemies along its way and so he can leave no room for surprise. Time and time again has he tried to find out where you come from and each investigation of his has turned out fruitless. 

The more he came out empty handed, the more his suspicions of you grew. The only explanation for this could be that you had gone to the effort to hide your identity. But why? Were you running from something or were you an enemy hiding in plain sight? 

One late evening while the ship is docked in a port and the crew are out to enjoy their night with drinks and women, Connor decides to follow you. You have not joined the rest of the crew at the tavern and have instead opted to walk along the beach. Your trousers are rolled up your legs and you carry your boots and socks in one hand, the waves lapping against your ankles as you walk barefoot across the sand. 

The moon is waning and does not illuminate the land quite enough for the sort of walk that you’ve decided to take yourself on at this late hour. The stars twinkle above you and the silvery lights of the sky dance upon the crests of the waves as they crash in a foam upon the shore. 

Ratonhnhaké:ton has experience in tailing people without being seen and that’s what he does now, sticking to the foliage on the treeline of the beach, hiding amongst shadows as he follows your every step. His suspicions of you are only raised by the fact that you don’t pause to take in the scenery or the feeling of the waves lapping at your feet. You seem to be moving with purpose, with a destination. But where could you be going? One of the things that makes you stick out is how disconnected from the world you seem so who could you be meeting or where could you be heading that Connor doesn’t know about? It doesn’t make any sense and so he continues to follow you with conviction. 

You head towards the base of a rocky cliffside and Connor uses the surrounding rocks to hide from your line of sight, cursing mentally when he has to steadily set his boots into rock pools in order to avoid making any noise and alerting you of his presence. 

He watches as you push back a curtain of ivy to reveal a natural doorway behind and you disappear into it. Connor is now more suspicious than ever. What is this secret place? He waits only a minute and then follows you. He does not enter as you did but instead pushes the curtain of leaves aside just enough to peer inside. You’ve lit a torch that’s set up on a stand by a large natural pool in this cavern that opens up to the sea. You’re stripping off the last pieces of your clothes, neatly folding them up and setting them down upon a rock. 

Ratonhnhaké:ton feels his face flush with heat. Were you perhaps waiting for a secret lover of yours? His worries are dispelled by this thought for all of a moment. A lover could still be his enemy. 

But you instead step into the pool of water. Connor watches in curiosity as the place where you submerged yourself beneath the surface then bubbles up as though the water were boiling. It’s enough to make him finally enter the cavern and get a closer look. 

That’s when Connor sees a large fluke-like tail smack against the surface. It’s a silvery colour and it then vanishes beneath the bubbles as they dissipate. Only moments later, you resurface, a shiny object clutched in your hand. Connor watches as you clambour out of the water to place it down beside your folded clothes. It’s one of your rings, you must have dropped it while changing. 

But what really captures Connor’s attention is the thick cover of scales that descend from your waist. That fluke sways just beneath the surface, glittering in the faint torchlight and everything clicks into place. You’re one of those mermaids of legend. That’s why you know so little of the world, why your past is shrouded in mystery. The legends say that mermaids sing sailors to their deaths and yet you’ve been disguising yourself as one all this time. 

Ratonhnhaké:ton decides to keep your secret for now. His questions have been answered and yet now a whole new range of them have been unlocked. 

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