KURTOFSKY PIRATES + KURT MERMAN ; pg
He hears singing.
It’s not the drunken, brawling and incessantly repetetive braying that his crew loves doing from morning to night, and would do so if there weren’t a ‘penalty-of-death’ that Captain Karofsky holds over their heads. Mutiny he can handle. At least with mutiny, his ears aren’t ringing.
But this is different. Dave strides over to the deck, peering out into the distance. He’s not one for superstitions and tavern stories, but since none of his crew can hold a tune, then where…
He looks down, into the water. He should’ve called Dr. Blaine on this expedition, maybe they could’ve discovered a new type of sea creature that-
Oh. Oh.
Dave’s eyes widen as a boy emerges from the water, flicking the water from his hair and looking up at him in his ship. The boy smiles, and tilts his head as if curious.
“Hello.”
Holy shit holy shit, Dave’s mind is running, as he gapes at the lad in the water did he get tossed overboard? How long has he been in the water for? He looks ok- or maybe he’s on the verge of death, oh shit!
“Do you need any help?!”
“What for?”
Dave is about to shout for some rope, but pauses, “You’re…in the water?”
“Am I not supposed to be?”
“You don’t have any clothes on! You’re freezing!”
“I don’t think so,” the boy replies airly, twirling around in the water, “it seems fine to me.” Dave sees a flash of silver peeking up from the water. No, wait, it couldn’t be…
“You’re a sea-creature?”
“Yes,” the boy sniffs, crossing his arms, “though I much prefer to be called a merman. Or Kurt.”
Dave can’t process this. “Um. There’s a school of Kurts…?”
Kurt makes a face, “What? No! I’m Kurt, and I identify as a merperson.”
“I…thought your kind didn’t exist.”
“We typically don’t come to the surface, but Mercedes doesn’t want to hear me sing anymore, so I thought I’d have a more captive audience up here.” He smiles, and Dave can see Kurt’s gills on both sides of his neck as he cranes it upward. “And it looks like I do.”
--
It didn’t take very long for the crew to crowd around their captain, peering down the water at Kurt, who was enjoying the attention, and even less time for them to prepare a tub and hoist the merman up onto deck.
So there he was, sitting in his watery throne and singing his lungs out, spurring on the crew to join in. More than the fact that there’s was goddamn singing on his ship, David was even more annoyed that he was actually liking it. He whips his head over to Azimio, who’s humming along, and giving him a shrug: “Hey, it’s pretty good.”
It wasn’t until everyone went to bed, throats sore, that Kurt started looking over the edge of the boat and sighing too theatrically.
“Wanna go home?”
Kurt whirls around, and laughs weakly, “I probably should, shouldn’t I?”
David tilts his head, “Do you…not want to?”
“I mean, well,” Kurt waves one webbed hand around, “I think your subordinates are rather taken with me, and it is rather nice to…be noticed.” He said the last part so softly that David didn’t really believe he heard it in the first place.
“Seriously? How can anyone not notice you?” David asks, rubbing his forehead. “I had to make up new death threats for my men because they were so caught up with learning your harmonies.”
Kurt laughs, and David tries not to make stupid connections with it to bells and songbirds. “That’s…sweet. Thank you.”
“Just saying the truth.” David crosses his arms, and looks out onto the sea. “So you getting out of here soon?”
A flicker of a frown dances over Kurt’s face. “Do you not want me here?”
“Stay, if you’re really willing. I don’t think sitting in a tub is really good for you in the long run, but if you get tossed overboard because we’re being ransacked by a rival ship, just make sure to know that I didn’t do it out of spite.”
A small smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
It’s not the drunken, brawling and incessantly repetetive braying that his crew loves doing from morning to night, and would do so if there weren’t a ‘penalty-of-death’ that Captain Karofsky holds over their heads. Mutiny he can handle. At least with mutiny, his ears aren’t ringing.
But this is different. Dave strides over to the deck, peering out into the distance. He’s not one for superstitions and tavern stories, but since none of his crew can hold a tune, then where…
He looks down, into the water. He should’ve called Dr. Blaine on this expedition, maybe they could’ve discovered a new type of sea creature that-
Oh. Oh.
Dave’s eyes widen as a boy emerges from the water, flicking the water from his hair and looking up at him in his ship. The boy smiles, and tilts his head as if curious.
“Hello.”
Holy shit holy shit, Dave’s mind is running, as he gapes at the lad in the water did he get tossed overboard? How long has he been in the water for? He looks ok- or maybe he’s on the verge of death, oh shit!
“Do you need any help?!”
“What for?”
Dave is about to shout for some rope, but pauses, “You’re…in the water?”
“Am I not supposed to be?”
“You don’t have any clothes on! You’re freezing!”
“I don’t think so,” the boy replies airly, twirling around in the water, “it seems fine to me.” Dave sees a flash of silver peeking up from the water. No, wait, it couldn’t be…
“You’re a sea-creature?”
“Yes,” the boy sniffs, crossing his arms, “though I much prefer to be called a merman. Or Kurt.”
Dave can’t process this. “Um. There’s a school of Kurts…?”
Kurt makes a face, “What? No! I’m Kurt, and I identify as a merperson.”
“I…thought your kind didn’t exist.”
“We typically don’t come to the surface, but Mercedes doesn’t want to hear me sing anymore, so I thought I’d have a more captive audience up here.” He smiles, and Dave can see Kurt’s gills on both sides of his neck as he cranes it upward. “And it looks like I do.”
--
It didn’t take very long for the crew to crowd around their captain, peering down the water at Kurt, who was enjoying the attention, and even less time for them to prepare a tub and hoist the merman up onto deck.
So there he was, sitting in his watery throne and singing his lungs out, spurring on the crew to join in. More than the fact that there’s was goddamn singing on his ship, David was even more annoyed that he was actually liking it. He whips his head over to Azimio, who’s humming along, and giving him a shrug: “Hey, it’s pretty good.”
It wasn’t until everyone went to bed, throats sore, that Kurt started looking over the edge of the boat and sighing too theatrically.
“Wanna go home?”
Kurt whirls around, and laughs weakly, “I probably should, shouldn’t I?”
David tilts his head, “Do you…not want to?”
“I mean, well,” Kurt waves one webbed hand around, “I think your subordinates are rather taken with me, and it is rather nice to…be noticed.” He said the last part so softly that David didn’t really believe he heard it in the first place.
“Seriously? How can anyone not notice you?” David asks, rubbing his forehead. “I had to make up new death threats for my men because they were so caught up with learning your harmonies.”
Kurt laughs, and David tries not to make stupid connections with it to bells and songbirds. “That’s…sweet. Thank you.”
“Just saying the truth.” David crosses his arms, and looks out onto the sea. “So you getting out of here soon?”
A flicker of a frown dances over Kurt’s face. “Do you not want me here?”
“Stay, if you’re really willing. I don’t think sitting in a tub is really good for you in the long run, but if you get tossed overboard because we’re being ransacked by a rival ship, just make sure to know that I didn’t do it out of spite.”
A small smile. “I’ll keep that in mind.”