RP:To Free A Kraken

Part of the Two If By Sea Arc

Summary: Zirael is left hurt and seething after Xersom cursed her to have only legs at the behest of his wife. Fortunately, Xersom enjoys mischief and this grants the mermaid the opportunity to deceive and seek information freely ashore. Zirael uses her newfound curse to convince Callamyre into abiding by her plan: to show Lysander the corpse of his friend, Eimhir, and send him into a rage that will destroy the ship and let him and his kind escape the ship.

Cove

Zirael had been left abandoned and hurt by Xersom, her tail stripped of her and the legs of mortals left to her. It was no way to exist, even for only a few days. It was a horrid existence for one of the seaborn. Her white gold hair was slick against her face and back, her bare legs drawn close up towards her equally bare chest. The mermaid did not have a concept of modesty, after all, every movement of hers was always a sheer seduction so there was never a need for clothes in her life. Yet here the mermaid lay, curled up and weeping. A sad and terrible thing to make a mermaid cry, yet it sounded so eerily beautiful.

Callamyre wandered along the very edge of the coast, her boots carrying her northward away from the harbor. Normally, she did not venture so far away from the Nautilus when she was in town, but she had this niggling feeling that there was something important to be discovered away from her usual path. Looking behind her then ahead, the hazel-eyed woman searched along the coast until the sand gave way to a rocky shoreline, along which she continued to traveled at a quicker pace now that she heard something up ahead. As she moved further into the cove, the mermaid’s cries caused her to suddenly feel very cold, and the woman hesitated, looking behind her once more. She did not fear mermaids, despite the stories she had been told, and even more so despite what she had personally seen at Hudson and Sargaso’s housewarming party. In fact, she was generally quite intrigued by them anthropologically speaking, and as she caught sight of Zirael, her reaction was no different -- at least until she realized it was not a mermaid’s cries creeping into her brain and nauseating her, it was another creature entirely. Callamyre had heard about these land-walking mermaids, but it had been some time since she’s seen them, and as such, does not make the connection that Zirael is anything other than a sad humanoid creature. Ever curious, she slowly approached the woman wherever she seemed to be, before calling out with a tentative, “Hello there.”

Zirael's body jerked up at the tentative voice, her jaw distended and wide; much like an angler fish ready to eat the little lured in fish who didn't know any better. She makes a noise that seems to be a cross between a rasp and a rattling hiss, while it is a truly terrifying sight it's clear that the mermaid has been rather upset by something. She lays there on the sand naked as the day a human is born, yet she is unabashed and unashamed. Why would she be? Nudity is nothing to her. It's only another weapon to used against these foolish walkers who revere the body and give it more power than it ought to have. "If he sent you, I will feed you your own innards!" she warns in a screech.

Callamyre’s boots sanked into the sand as she approached Zirael one cautious step at a time. “I’m sorry, if who sent me?” the woman asked, her dark brows rising in curiosity. A beat later, she added, “No one sent me … are you alright? Do you need some help?” Another beat. “Or some clothes?” Calla began to shuck off her light evening coat, then reaching out with the garment as a peace offering. “You must be so cold,” Callamyre assumed, her smile gentle as she took another slow step closer. “Here, take my jacket.”

Zirael stared at Callamyre for a long moment, watching every cautious step she took with the wary gaze of a wounded animal. Her pride had been more hurt than her physical form, but that was a damaging wound in and of itself. "The dark one," she answered. Callamyre did not seem terribly surprised or off-put by her appearance or... well, her nature. So did that mean she knew what she was? "Who are you?" she asked defensively suddenly.

Callamyre did not hesitate to flash a warm, fangless grin at the mermaid-like creature, but it faltered when Zirael mentioned ‘the dark one’. Her forehead creased with a frown, and she slowly shook her head. “I do not know about this dark one you speak of.” She paused, her smile slowly coming back as she introduced herself. “I am Callamyre.” Beat. “Doctor Callamyre na Trough.” She rolled the Rs in her name, with her surname being pronounced “nuh-TROO”. Again, she thrust the jacket toward the woman, thinking she must be cold. “Here,” she gently insisted, “before you get yourself sick.”

"Sick because of this land," the mermaid muttered unhappily. There was no worse fate in this world than to be bound to two legs and bound to land. How horrid it was to be split from the sea? But with no sign of gratitude, the mermaid took the jacket and let it drape over her and hide her naked form. Often it was nudity that put people off a decent conversation. "I've seen you before. Hanging around The Nautilus."

Callamyre arced her brows at the woman’s comment, a crinkle returning to her forehead. Rather than remarking on the woman’s potential for illness, the woman instead fixated on her other words. Zirael earned herself a curious two-second stare before Calla shrugged. “Yes, I have been there,” she said warily. “It is an …” She paused, trying to find the perfect word. “Interesting ship.” Releasing the jacket into the mermaid’s capable hands, Callamyre took a step back, giving Zirael plenty of breathing space. Still trying to figure out what was going on and what the sea creature’s story was, she went on to ask, “What were you doing out here? You were crying, are you alright?” Beat. "Did ... 'the dark one' do something to you?"

"It's a slave ship," the mermaid countered. "Do you find slavery interesting then, or are you observing the ship like I do? For a righteous purpose?" The mermaid could only hope that Callamyre sought a similar goal to hers: the freedom of the seaborn folk trapped aboard The Nautilus. "I live here," her slender arm extends out in an extravagant manner, waving briefly to show off the cove to the visiting vampire. "The dark one... he took my tail and forced these legs upon me," she wiggled her toes. "I am banished from the waters and my kin for a time... though it is already unbearable."

Callamyre frowned sharply and sighed, briefly closing her eyes. “I know,” the woman said, heavy with that fact. “It is terrible … those poor seafolk … and …” She trailed off, her curiosity renewed as she fixed it mroe fully upon the mermaid. “You mean … oh my …” It was not the first time she had witnessed such magickal force, but the vampire was nevertheless disturbed. “Who is this … dark one?” Calla paused, then added, “I would like to help those aboard that ship … the captain--” Shuddering, the woman shook her head, dark curls shifting around her face. “He is awful.” Her expression darkened, and her frown grew even more pronounced. Leaning closer slightly as if drawing the mermaid into her confidence, she tacked on, “I have been … well … I have been trying to devise a plan to help …” That frown started to fade slowly, a curious smile pulling at her lips. “What do you know about Captain Morrighan?” Beat. "Is ... is he the 'dark one' you speak of?"

While nudity was no issue to the mermaid she still shrugged the thick coat on and made a small effort to cover her bountiful body. Was she actually trying to be polite to this stranger? A two-legger? "The dark one... I don't recall his name," true or false, it was hard to tell. Either Zirael knew her name or an alias of his or she simply hadn't cared to notice until he had flexed such powerful muscles against her. "But he is old and sinister, not a captain. Tell me about the captain, tell me and I can help you help my people!" Her voice is becoming triumphant now, "You've been thinking of a plan? Tell me all, please, and I will do what I can. I have power, I promise. I have... I have an idea," she smiled ever so briefly, but it was a dark smile. Something sickly.

Callamyre stepped back a pace once Zirael had taken hold of that jacket finally, modestly averting her gaze then fixing them on the woman’s countenance. “I see,” she mused, a wrinkle of a frown forming along her brow. “I fear I do not know much about the Captain, only that he is terrible.” She shook her head. “So far what I have figured out is that … well, they fear the kraken.” Lysander. “And, I have … to somehow help him first, I think …” The woman frowned more, frustrated with her lack of information about the Seaborn and his friends. “He has selkies trapped there too -- their skins, oh gods, he has their skins.” The very thought made the vampire sick, and she shook her head again. “The kraken needs freed … but I need more time to figure out how.” Calla’s voice lowered in tone before she added, leaning forward, “We need to find a way to break his chains.” Beat. “They are … magickally enhanced.” Another beat. “If we … Hmm … if we can find a way to break his chains, and he can get into the water … then maybe he will help us free the others …”

With Callamyre's desire to aid confirmed, the mermaid only needed to supply the tools. The vampire was but another piece on the chessboard. "The kraken, yes, we know of him," she spoke with reverance and awe, "all seaborn know of the kraken. We know them all and respect them all," no hint of a lie in these words, no possible deception. "I can help you, but... it will not be kind. I have found a body, a selkie girl, in the water. She was beaten to death by the looks of things... But I hear whispers she was a good friend of this kraken. And if the kraken sees the body and goes into a rage, he will have the strength to break through his chains. If we can mellow the magic, too. Then... Then all my kindred will be free," she said the final words with a sense of awe and desire; eyes lighting up at the thought of freeing her kin! All her kin will be free and all who dwell on land left to die.

‘We know of him’. The moment the mer-creature spoke those words, a freight train’s worth of understanding slammed into her; that explains the smell. It was not an unpleasant smell, but a familiar one the vampire had as-of-yet been unable to place. It was briney and exotic, and with this information in hand, Calla’s gaze on Zirael was more intensely inquisitive - that is, until she mentioned the selkie. “Ohno--” The exclamation was breathy, Callamyre’s throat thickening with emotion. “Who? Who was it?” If it was a friend of Lysander’s, it was likely the scientist had met her; the kraken did not have many, after all. As Zirael unfolded her plans, Calla’s lips puckered into a thoughtful frown, her skin paling. “Goes into a … rage?” She knew Lysander was capable of great and terrible things just from the little she knew of his situation combined with what she had read in storybooks about krakens, but the thought of him enraged in such a way -- it felt manipulative and dangerous. It was indeed a very fine line she found herself walking on, but their end result was the same: free the kraken, save the rest. “I--” Hazel eyes slid edgewise toward Zirael, uncertainty evident on her freckled features. “I don’t know … that seems …” Extreme? Half-mad? “I would not even know how to ‘mellow’ the magick …” Of course, that was not entirely true; she had, in fact, been working on ways to neutralize and/or extract magick from inanimate objects recently, and this would prove to be just another test of her skills. With a heavy sigh, the scholar shook her head, but resignation weighed on her shoulders. “This is mad,” she at last murmured, but the tone in which she delivered this reply intimated that she would help, even if she held several reservations regarding Zirael’s methods.

"A selkie girl. Emrie? Eimier? Eimhir, that's the name," she tested every name until she found the right one. "Brown hair, the trusting seal eyes. I knew she was a friend of his, I've seen them before on the deck of the ship," all was said in a sombre voice. "It seems mad. It seems dangerous and stupid, I know, but only Lysander's strength can free my kin and end the tyranny of this Captain you speak of! And Lysander will not be as strong as we need him to be unless he has a reason to be. It is cruel, I know. But would you too not wish to avenge someone if you could? Let him avenge his friend. Let some good come out of this girl's death so it is not in vain."

Callamyre drew in a sharp breath - not only did the name Eimhir ring a bell, but she had, in fact, had the pleasure of meeting the selkie herself on more than one occasion. “Oh no -- Oh noooo.” Her breathing grew heavy, and her otherwise hazel eyes adopted a halo of gold within the irises, preternatural light coming from her gaze as she dropped it from Zirael. “This is not good.” Beat. “This is not good at all.” Looking back up at the mermaid, her expression forlorn, she said to her new companion very carefully, “Do you truly believe this is the way? To cause him pain even further than what he already undergoes at the hands of that -- that monster--” Calla shook her head vehemently, and withdrew a half-step, torn between wanting to help Lysander, and wanting to know that she was doing the right thing. The girl’s guilt complex was a mile high, and her conscience would forever hold her under if she used Eimhir’s death to further Zirael’s plans. On the other hand, Zirael’s arguments appealed to Calla’s softer nature - she did want to help, to free the kraken and other seaborn creatures, and as of yet had come up empty-handed. “Alright,” she said dejectedly, fixing the mermaid with an intense hazel-gold stare. “How do we know that her death will set him on the right path?” Another pause, then, softer, “I want to know that Lysander will be alright.”

Zirael spoke sweetly to Callamyre now, even reaching out with a hand as if to try and offer Callamyre some kind of solid comfort and reassurance that this plan was the only plan. "He is a Kraken... guardian of the sea, guradian of my kind and he does not act out of some fear of protecting my kind with his subserviance. But his friend his dead, the sweet girl was battered, raped and beaten by the looks of it. Beaten to death at the hands of those who kept her aboard their death ship. A ship full of abused beings, can you really let this go on any longer?" The mermaid watched Callamyre, waiting, waiting for her to give in and say she would assist. "Lysander will avenge Eimhir. He will destroy the ship and kill the pirates. It is cruel, I know, but they have killed countless seaborn... Their lives are forfeit for this abuse."

Callamyre lowered her lashes, closing her hazel-gold eyes and sighing. “Eimhir--” She paused, quiet a beat longer, then, “He’s your … guardian? Are you a selkie too?” The gruesomeness surrounding the other selkie’s end brought a shiver to her spine, and she breathed slowly out through her nose. Resigned to their fates, Calla at last nodded again. “Alright … but … again, how do we weaken the chains that bind him? How do you know he won’t try to kill me when this rage takes hold of him?” She had not done anything to warrant such a reaction from Lysander, but she feared he may not have much self-control when finally released from his decade-long enslavement. “No. Forget that -- Lysander must be set free.” The girl sighed again, and added bitterly, “No matter the cost.”

"The Krakens guard all the sea and all that dwell in it. I am a mermaid, our respect is only afforded to the likes of Lysander," she answered, mostly because she didn't want to be mistaken for a lowly selkie. Mermaids were proud and vain creatures, after all. "Do you have access to magic? I can get the body to the ship and I can get you aboard it. I can whisk you off to safety, too," she was promising much. "We must free him."

Callamyre had seen mermaids with legs before - had even had a friend, once … She didn’t skip a beat when Zirael revealed herself as one, and instead nodded in acceptance. “I do,” she murmured, her brow creasing into a frown. “But … I am not certain it will undo the magick attached to his chains.” That didn’t mean it wouldn’t, just that she didn’t know; it had not yet been attempted, as she was only recently starting to really explore the boundaries of her talents. “Getting aboard the ship is not difficult, I have been aboard many times already,” she confessed softly. “It will be our escape route that will be the more difficult thing to figure out.” Beat. “Or rather, my escape route …” Calla paused, then, considering what they had spoken of before. Fixing a gentle but curious stare on Zirael, the vampire tentatively asked, “You said … that the ‘dark one’ -- he took your tail? We must get it back for you, first, I think.”

"The dark one likes his mischief. He punished me for the deeds of another but made sure to tell me his punishment will fade away within days, so I will use my time wisely. Use these cursed legs of mine to wander inland and find more information, if I can," the mermaid knew this would be the ideal time to get up to her own mischief. "For now, though, I think it's time we parted. I must find information... you must test your magic against chains."

Callamyre withdrew a step, nodding absently to herself. “Alright.” She paused, thoughtful, then added, “If you cannot find me around the docks …” The scholar pulled out a slip of paper, carefully scrawling her current address on it - Frostmaw Fort, Frostmaw. “If, if you are able to send word to me if you need me, I can be found here.” Rather than written in common, the address had been printed clearly in an ancient written seaborn variation; she passed the paper to Zirael. “Be careful, alright?” Beat. “I will be back soon.”