#of course i sourced some free cheap-ass second hand frames

[theninjazebra]

Shit photo, but I'm so ridiculously pleased with myself about the frames.

[theoverlyenthusiasticwriter]

Music

Welcome to my poorly written siren au after binge watching Pirates of the Caribbean.  Feel free to like, comment, and reblog. Feedback feed my weary soul.

After getting in trouble with their captain, Cassian and his brothers get their punishment in the form of a small, lonely boat trailing after their ship. Hours pass and day turns to night. When Rhys and Azriel are sound asleep, Cassian is greeted by a beauty in the waves with such a lovely voice.

Next Chapter

Cassian listened to the gentle song of the waves, lying on his back to watch the stars up ahead. The boat beneath him rocked gently, tethered to the ship, Velaris, so they wouldn’t be lost at sea.

He and his brothers had pissed off the captain, Amren, for the third time this week, earning them all a toss overboard. Amren liked them enough, however, to also let down one of the boats used to take them to land. Cassian didn’t mind. It was quieter down here. The only thing he wished for now was a bit of rum and a lady in his lap.

His brothers, however, clearly did not have the same opinion.

Rhys kicked the bench Cassian was lying on. “We’ve been stuck out here for hours.”

At the stern, Azriel rolled his eyes. “She’ll reel us back some time.”

“You were the one that got us into this mess,” Rhys snarled at Cassian, who was pretending not to listen.

Indeed, it had been Cassian’s idea to change course while the captain slept, which had brought them within a hundred miles of the British navy. Then, when they pulled starboard to a smaller ship, it had also been Cassian’s idea to leap over the rail and onto the deck. He and his brothers had brought back rum, rather than gold or prisoners. It was only when the British ship was driftwood beneath the waves that Amren noticed the overly flushed faces of her three favorite, yet least favorite, pirates.

Then, like a good drunk lad, Cassian had spilled the reason they’d run into a British ship in the first place.

The alcohol had worn off with his dastardly plunge into the sea before he heaved himself onto the boat to find his brothers glaring at him.

“Man,” Rhys said, slumping down on another bench, “I’d kill to have Feyre with me right now.”

This time, both Az and Cassian rolled their eyes.

Feyre was the girl he’d left at the last port. Cassian had always thought she was a little out there after learning she thought sirens existed. It was the whole reason she and her older sister, Elain, refused to join the crew.

Cassian stood, going to sit at the opposite end from Azriel so he could peer into the dark water. “If Feyre were here, we’d all have to deal with even more creaky hammocks, which is something I can live without.”

“I don’t know, Elain wasn’t bad looking. Maybe you could make some creaking of your own.” He could hear the grin in Rhys’s voice.

Azriel snarled softly. It was no mistake that if Rhysand was in love, Az was so smitten with Elain he wasn’t too far off. 

Cassian faced his brothers, leaning against the bow behind him. “You both can stick with your cheap romances. I’m a pirate, through and through, and now pretty ankle is going to tie me down.”

“What about a pretty thigh?” Az teased.

“Or, help us all, a pretty breast?” Rhys laughed. 

Cassian threw his brothers a middle finger. “You’ll both be laughing when your stuck on land with three kids each to boot and I’m captaining the Velaris.”

“In your dreams, jackass.” 

“You think Amren will outlive me?”

“Oh, I know Amren will outlive you,” Rhys purred.

“Either way, you two will be playing Daddy and not in the fun way.”

Rhys threw a boot at him.

It landed in the water with a splash. Cassian cursed. “Those are expensive, dumbass.” He leaned over the rail, snatching up the boot before it could get swallowed by the sea, and paused. In the water, there was a glimmer of gold. Just a flash.

He blinked and it was gone, likely nothing more than a trick of the light.

More hours passed, the rocking of the waves gently lulling his brothers to sleep.

Cassian hummed out a tune, leaning against the bow to watch the stars above. He closed his eyes and the sea breeze brushed his face.

Then he heard it.

Softly, no more than wind against the waves, came a voice, singing the same song he had been.

He blinked at the sky, trying to decide if he was hallucinating or caught in a dream he hadn’t known he’d slipped into.

But… there. It was louder, coming closer.

He sat up so quickly the boat rocked. His brothers grumbled but neither awoke fully.

The singing… Oh, gods and ocean and sky, it was beautiful. High and sweet, the voice turned a rowdy sailor’s song into something too good for this world.

He scanned the horizon looking for the source. Dark waves greeted him.

The singing stopped, making him nearly sob at the silence. 

It began again right beside him, making him start. He whipped his head around and found himself face-to-face with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

She had her pale arms propped on the rail and was laying her head on them. Framed  by dry, golden brown locks, her face was stunning, perfectly arched brows, high cheekbones, steely blue eyes, and full lips parted in song.

She paused again, lifting herself onto braced arms. “Do you like it?”

With her lifted like that, he could very clearly see that she wore no clothes, her breasts peaked and magnificent.

His pants suddenly became tight. “Yeah. I like it. Please, never stop.”

She smiled a dazzling grin, pushing up even more to sit on the rail. Her legs were long and creamy, the product of every fantasy he’d ever had. 

He must of been drooling as he looked upon the gem between them. She was naked and gorgeous and so… so close.

She stroked his arm, leaning closer and letting out a soft, musical laugh. “What’s your name, sailor?”

“Pirate.”

“What’s your name pirate?”

“Cass--Cassian.” He reached out as if in a daze, putting a hand atop one of those breasts. Gods, it was so soft, fitting perfectly into his palm. Gaping, he squeezed slightly, rubbing a pink nipple.

She laughed again and it was the most harmonic sound he’d ever heard. “I’m a little cold, Cassian, maybe you could warm me up?” He scrambled to strip of his jacket but she stopped him, putting a hand on his chest. “Not like that, silly.”

“Will you sing again?”

“I don’t think I have to,” she whispered, that hand on his chest pulling him towards her.

He shuddered. “Please. Oh gods, I’d kill to hear it.”

She sighed and let go of him. 

He cried out as she slipped back into the water, latching onto her hands. “What--what are you doing? Come back here.”

“Why don’t you swim with me? We can sing together.”

He stood, stripping off his jacket, shirt, and boots faster than he ever had before. With no hesitation, he dived into the water, wrapping his arms around her. “Sing. Sing again.” The water was frozen and she wasn’t much warmer, but he didn’t mind at all.

She smiled and opened her mouth.

Cassian fell into a daze, ignoring the feeling of something wrapping around his legs, binding them together. He leaned in, kissing her throat to feel the vibrations of her voice through his lips. His hand went back to her breast, the other snaking down her back. Soft scales met his fingers where her ass should be, surprising him, but she kept singing, drawing him from his thoughts.

Her nails scratched lightly through his hair as he sucked on her neck, tasting salt water. She tugged his hair lightly, bidding him to pull back.

When he did, her eyes were brighter than the stars, hair fanned around her. She’d closed her mouth but the song was still going, leaving him heavy-lidded with lust.

“Kiss me,” she said over the music.

He leaned in, feeling the muscle binding his legs together contract, keeping him from kicking himself afloat. He didn’t mind, though, as his lips closed over hers--

“Cassian!” someone roared and he was yanked away.

He hadn’t even realized he’d gone under until air hit his face as his brothers grabbed at his shoulders, his hair.

The girl screamed, such a wrenching and ugly sound that it snapped him from his daze. He dared a glance down, finding a golden tail wrapped around his legs.

He thrashed, sputtering as he tried to free himself.

Around them, more sirens were screaming.

The one in front of him smashed his mouth into hers and he felt razor sharp teeth but thoughts flew from his mind at her kiss. He sank beneath the waves.

Another second and he was back up again, Rhysand’s saber cleaving into the flesh of the siren’s arm, while Azriel, appearing in the water beside him, waved a torch to fend off the others.

The siren snarled, her nails--claws--digging into Cassian’s arm. He ripped her hand off him and snatched the saber from Rhys. He plunged it beneath the waves, sinking it deep into her tail.

She unwound herself with a cry and disappeared.

“Get in the boat,” Rhys snarled, helping Az back up. 

Cassian scrambled in after him, panting hard through his teeth. He lay on the deck and tried to shake away the feeling that tasted something like betrayal.

“What,” Az said softly, “the fuck was that?”

Cassian looked down at his chest, finding claw marks where she’d touched him. He cursed vividly. “I thought she was a woman, I swear. She had legs.”

“It was an illusion,” Rhys snapped, dropping his head into his hands. “Shit, I should have believed Feyre.”

Cassian, shaken and soaked, silently agreed.

*****

Tags:

@sannelovesreading @ribhinnog @awesomelena555 @azriel-archeronn @imlumpingamazingstuff @nestaarxheron @gendryaforthemasses @just-me-too @catita09 @wanderlustlastsforever @samuelcasera-blog @pixelatedpebble @h-a-p-p-i-e-s @sarahjmaasslave @feyrheart @dotmccarthy @ourbooksuniverse

[inevertookwriterscraft]

“What’ve you got?” Raoul asked. With a carefully crafted hairstyle, dressed in a tailored blazer and slacks, Raoul was anything but the Council’s dirty, disheveled and emotionless caricature of EM addicts. They were, however, his only suitable clothes for meeting another human being.

“I’ve got snake, I’ve got spark, and the batch of lucid I got recently is fucking quality. People are getting real good at making that shit,” Wu beamed. A plump second-generation immigrant from the Eastern Coalition.

Wu had always been like that. A jokester. A class clown, before he dropped out of high school to become a drug runner. Raoul had been a customer for over four years - and didn’t touch anything but EMs.

“Cut the shit, Wu,” Raoul spat. Wu held his hands up, replacing Raoul’s annoyance with amusement. He’s carrying the gun, not me.

“Just a joke, man.”

“Sorry. Been a little worked up lately. Clients haven’t been so nice.” Raoul nodded his head at Wu’s backpack. “Any new EMs?”

“Shit. Sorry to hear that. And just a few,” he said, digging into his backpack. He pulled out three see-through plastic cases from his backpack. Each one was palm-sized, and protected a square chip. They were labelled “SNUFF”, “PORN”, and “USED” in black marker. Very discreet. Wu placed them on Raoul’s kitchen table.

“Shit’s been hard to find lately. The Council has been cracking down on the EM cartels. One of them’s a snuff,” he said.

“I know that’s not your thing. Got another but it’s been used once, so I can’t vouch for the quality. The last one might be good, though. Source says it’s a sexy one.”

“Wu, you’ve had porn chips for the last two months. That’s not exactly what I’ve been looking for.”

“I mean, you never really explained what exactly it is you are looking for. Like, I’m not complaining - you’ve bought my shit all the same. But it’s hard to keep a lookout for something I don’t know, you get me?”

“I know. It’s hard to explain. I told you about the first time I chipped, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. Something about you and your mom, right?”

Raoul sighed, wrangling a chair from the table. He stared at the trio of cases on the surface, and spoke.

“It was so long ago - just a few months after they started to come on the market. Before they started saying making them were a human rights violation. There was the big fuss about revolutionizing the RM industry, don’t you remember?”

“Of course I do. I remember the first time, I chipped for three days straight. My dick never felt so sore in my life!” Wu laughed. Raoul scowled, and Wu’s laughs dissipated.

“Sorry. Go on.”

“You were kind of right. There were only two people in it. Me and a woman. I think I was just a kid. Maybe the woman was my mother. I’m not really sure. But we were in a park or something, and I was lying down on her lap - looking up at the sky. Listening to the wind rustle the trees. Taking in the fresh air. The woman’s boobs were so big they covered a third of my view. I remember wanting to reach out and grab them, but I knew that would be inappropriate. So I settled for pulling the grass instead. She was stroking my hair with her hands. And that was it. That was the whole EM.”

Wu scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.

“So you want like... regular life events? I’m not really sure what you’re trying to tell me.”

Raoul cast his gaze to the barren walls.

“I understand. There was just a very specific feeling in that moment. One that I had never felt before - one I didn’t even know I could feel. It’s hard to say what it even was because I’m not even sure I totally get it myself. It’s alright - don’t think too much about it. What you’ve brought me has been good enough. I’ll take the sexy one, and you can be on your way.”

“Sure. Good man,” he said, his smile returning. Being a good jokester meant a man also had to be good at reading the mood. “It’ll be 1.3.”

Raoul’s eyes widened.

“1.3? Jeez, man. Last month they were 1.1.”

Wu shrugged. He was sympathetic, but business was business. “These chips would normally go for 1.4. Most people are making lucid nowadays. EMs are basically a dying industry. Why experience someone else’s memories when you can do whatever you want in your dreams? ”

Raoul shook his head. 1.3 grand was almost half his monthly income. But Wu was right. EMs had few advantages over lucid. They were difficult to make, and were restricted to what could actually happen in the real world. He decided to take on a few more clients.

“Yeah, I get it. It’s fine. I’ll take it.” He pulled his credstick from my pocket, and began to punch in the amount.

“Hey, wait,” Wu said, suddenly. “How about I throw in the used chip for an extra hundred?”

Used chips were a crapshoot. Most of the time they were still viewable, data degradation meant it was hard to get immersed. Sometimes they were corrupted so badly that all was left was a jungle of sensory overload. But on rare occasions, chips were marked as used when they were actually still fresh. A hundred was dirt cheap, even for a used EM.

“Alright, let’s do both.”

Raoul transferred him the credits. Wu left the two chips on the table, and returned the third to the backpack. He left with the same closer.

“Enjoy. See you again! I’ll see if I can find anything matches your...”, he paused. “Descriptions.”

“See you next month, Wu.” Raoul swung the door closed after him.

A condom was leaking onto Raoul’s sheets. Shit. I thought I finished cleaning up. He tied it up and tossed it out, and moved the comforter to cover the stain. He was having another client over in a few hours. Hopefully they wouldn’t notice.

From his nightstand, he pulled out a homemade neural implant extension he had carefully crafted from the contents of elecshop dumpsters around the city. It had taken an entire year to build one - partially because the parts were hard to find, and partially because the Council actually did a half-decent job of censoring Horizon Lab’s research papers. It looked like trash - that’s what it was - but it worked.

A flashing light on his work comm pulled Raoul’s attention, and he opened up the message a potential had left behind.

how much whats on the menu free tomorrow 3pm

It was usually simple to tell the type of person a client would be by the first message they sent. Straight and to the point. No bullshit. Devoid of punctuation so they couldn’t get hooked by blackmail bots that trawled comm lines for syntactic markers of bureaucrats and politicians. Sounded good. He replied with the usual rate.

150/hh. 280/h. Covered play only, fetishes extra. 3 tomorrow works. Send an escrow receipt if you want to book.

A few minutes later, a receipt appeared for 280 credits, to be transferred once the appointment had completed. A second confirmation message appeared on the comm.

standard service fine

With work out of the way, Raoul plugged the neural implant extension into the port behind his ear. The porn chip, he’d save for later. I’m gonna get my ass plowed in a few hours anyway. What interested him was the supposedly used EM.

He plugged in the chip, and his world faded into someone else’s.

“Hi dad. Happy birthday.”

Eleanor stood slightly behind the door frame, sporting a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt of mine that was six years too large for her. Her face was barren as the words exited her mouth.

Not a huge surprise, given the situation.

“Thanks, El,” I said. A half-hearted response to a wasted wish.

“I brought some people to see you.”

“More doctors? I’m not sure what more they can do.”

“It’s Joe and Mars.”

I sat up slightly. I hadn’t seen them in person in years. She looked at someone past the frame’s boundary and the pair walked in.

Joe and Mars were cousins - and my best friends since we attended summer camp together in third grade. That was twenty-three years ago. They co-founded a solar energy company right out of university that exploded to billions in valuation just after a few years. Today, they were the third-largest energy company in the world. Joe led the engineering team out of New York. Mars led the business, circumnavigating the world to broker deals and lobby governments. They’d been working hard every day of their lives since they started.

For cousins, they were nothing alike. Joe was muscular for his height. Olive-skinned, with hair that always seemed just out of control. Mars was fair and lanky, and wore a pair of small, rectangular glasses. Mars held a small envelope in his hand.

“Eleanor, could you give us a moment alone?”

She nodded, and disappeared behind the closing door. The cousins pulled a set of chairs right up to the side of the bed, and sat down.

Mars spoke first, eyes glossy.

“Hey, Ivan. Happy birthday. I just wanted to say we are so sorry. Things have been - “

I cut him off, waving his apology away with my hand. “Guys. It’s okay. You’ve done so much for me, too. There’s no need to apologize.”

“We got you a small present,” Joe said.

“A present?” I smiled. “You didn’t have to, you’ve done so much for me already.” I was blessed enough to have friends like them. They footed my medical bills, brought top doctors from around the world to determine what in the world was wrong with me. But the only thing they managed to confirm was that I only had a few months to go.

“Just open it,” Mars said, smiling. He passed me the envelope. It was one of those fancy cards, the kind that comes with an envelope bundled in the package and a sticker to seal the contents.

I pulled open the envelope flap. The card stock was heavy, and featured a black and white cat painted in a style that reminded me of Japanese watercolour. It looked handmade.

“Did one of you guys paint this?” I asked. “I didn’t think any of you were into painting.”

“It was Mike. He said to ignore the feet, he didn’t like how those turned out,” Mars answered.

“It’s beautiful. A bit of a shame I only got to meet Mike once,” I said. The feet looked perfectly fine to me. I opened up the card.

It was filled. Messages from our old friends at camp. Remember when we Sam taught us the entirety of Blazing Arrow? I still remember the first few lines now. From our friends in high school. Hey dude! I still have those sign language gloves we made for the grade eleven science fair! Messages from teachers at Eleanor’s elementary school. I cannot fathom the difficulty you must have encountered as a single father, but if Eleanor is any indication, you have been an excellent parent. Even from my coworkers and management at the construction company I used to work at. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone so dedicated. Wish you could’ve worked with us longer.

“Holy shit. How did you find all these people?” I asked. “I haven’t talked to some of these people in over a decade.”

But when I looked up, Joe was staring down at his lap, hands were clasped together on his lap, knuckles white. He was shaking, like he was nervous. But why? I was the one headed to the grave, not him. He spoke, but it came out as a barely audible mumble.

“You told us you were sick more than three months ago. January 13th. That’s when you told us. And it’s taken until now for us to come and see you. I took my work more seriously than I did our friendship. And I’m sorry.”

“Joe, come on…” I said.

“Wait, let me finish,” he said, managing to stabilize his voice.  “You’ve had it the hardest out of all of us. You and Nicole had Eleanor when you were just eighteen. And Nicole died in that fucking accident just six years later. Now, this. I thought you’d be fine! I really thought everything work out once we found some better doctors. I thought we could just throw some money your way and it’d be all okay. But you know what? I was naive. I’m thirty-one years old and I really thought something as simple as money would fix things.”

He finally looked up at me, tears rolling down his face. “If I had known - “

“What would you have done?” I asked. “Come to visit me earlier? That wouldn’t have changed anything, man.”

Joe raised his voice. “I don’t know! At least we could’ve spent more time with you. Maybe we could’ve done one of those stupid bucket list things. We could’ve done something. But for some reason I thought work was more important - ”

“What would that have done?” I laughed. A frustrated, shriek of a laugh. I clenched my hands into fists. “You think anyone expects to wake up in a hospital and be told they’ve got three or four months left? And that every doctor you meet says there’s nothing they can do for you? I get it - I get it. The stuff you do is helping the entire world. Why would you visit some deadbeat single dad? I wasn’t unlucky. I messed up my entire goddamn life -- coming to visit me wouldn’t have changed one damn thing.”

I slouched back down in the bed, and folded my arms across my chest.

“Guys, please. Let’s not argue now. We’ve been there for each other, as best we could, for our entire lives. Can’t we just be there for each other now?” Mars, ever the mediator.

I continued despite his words.

“You know, I actually thought I was happy. When we were at camp together. When I met Nicole. When we had Eleanor. Even when I got my first job emptying water out of ditches on construction sites. ”

I narrowed my eyes at the pair. Mars looked softly back. Joe had reverted to staring down at his lap.

“But this whole thing? It made me realize. As you’ve said, I’ve done nothing with my life. Nothing! I’ve thrown the whole thing away. When I look at you two and all you’ve done, how could I be proud of anything?”

“Ivan...” Mars spoke. “You shouldn’t compare your achievements against anyone else’s. You’ve managed to raise a strong, independent daughter all on your own. Isn’t that - “

“Don’t patronize me!” I snapped. “You wouldn’t understand. If I didn’t meet Nicole, she’d still be alive today. Our first date sentenced her to her death. And now her daughter has to deal with life in this broken family. Now, I can’t even see her to adulthood. You guys have done more for more people than I could ever dream of doing. How could you ever see things from my view?”

Neither of them would look me in the eye. I took a deep breath, and did my best to calm myself down.

“Look. I’m sorry about that. Dying is a frustrating thing.”

Joe began to say something that felt like ‘I know’ but stopped. “It’s fine. This whole thing is pretty fucked up.”

“I don’t take it back though. I didn’t do anything worth anything. I helped some corp make money. I did my best to raise a kid by working hard. But you two have done so much more than that. So I don’t want your apologies. I have a request to make. Something I can only ask of people who have achieved so much.”

Joe wiped his eyes. “Ask away.”

Mars nodded in agreement.

“I want one of you to be Eleanor’s guardian. Teach her to love the world like you do. Teach her that helping people is worthwhile. Don’t let her have regrets like I do. There’s so much more to the world than pouring concrete and pumping ditches.”

“I can do it. I’ll adopt her,” Mars said. “Mike and I have wanted a child for some time now.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate that. One last thing. It’s fine if Eleanor forgets about me. She doesn’t need someone like me to look up to. But you two - especially you two - don’t forget about me. I never managed to do anything worthwhile, but please. Don’t -”

The EM ended abruptly. Empty. Nothing.

That wasn’t it, either.

Raoul unplugged himself from the neural interface. He wiped something from his eyes. It was almost time for work.

I’m pretty happy with this one.