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donnetellotheturtle · 4 months

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Siren

Chapter 2

In the early morning, Hugo was woken up by the feeling of the ship moving. People talking loud and footsteps above him. He groaned and pulled his pillow over his head. The sun wasn’t even up yet.

Hugo really was more of a night person. The Kaldur gang worked by the light of the moon. Easier to lure sailors when they can’t see your sharp teeth afterall.

But it seemed like captain Rapunzel was a morning person.

Hugo dragged himself out of bed. Looking out the porthole he could see they were moving. He wondered how. Ships usually relied on wind as far as he knew. This one didn’t seem to. He hummed to himself.

As soon as he opened the door, he heard a new noise. One of work being done. Down the hall and down a few steps there was a door. He went and opened it.

Varian was sitting there, obviously so deep in whatever he was doing to notice Hugo coming in. He was building something.

Hugo leaned over Varian. “what ya making goggles?”

Varian screeched, nearly jumping out of his skin. Hugo couldn’t help but cackle.

“I-You-where did you- what time is it!?” Varian stuttered out.

“Early.” Hugo didn’t know how to tell time. At least, not the human way of it. “my question still stands though. What are you doing?”

Varian sighed, handing what was in his hand to him. “try these.”

Hugo took them, raising an eyebrow. A pair of frames with glass. They were big and round. Hed seen sailors wear them before.

He put them on closest to the way he remembered and blinked. The world was so clear.

“What do you think?” Varian asked nervously.

Hugo was at a loss for words. No one had ever done something so nice for him before. What was the catch?

“Okay what do you want?” Hugo demanded.

“huh?”

“For these? What do you want?”

Varian just kept that stupid confused face. “I don’t want anything? I just did it cause you were fucking blind.”

“There has to be something.”

Varian shook his head. “Just being nice. Has no one ever done a nice thing because they can before?”

Hugo paused, biting his cheek. “…Most don’t.”

His blue eyes stared at him with sorrow. Hugo didn’t like that look.

“If I except these will you stop looking at me like that?”

Varian chuckled. “Fine. You’re welcome by the way.” He then stood and stretched. Hugo was horrified to hear the popping that came from Varian’s bones. He didn’t know they did that. His bones didn’t do that right?

Varian raised an eyebrow at Hugo. “What?”

Hugo cleared his throat. “Nothing. We should get to work.”

He could practically feel Varian’s confused expression as he turned away and to the door.

Varian couldn’t figure Hugo out. Yesterday, he was smarmy and constantly crossing his boundaries. But today he was a bit more reserved.

The day had started well enough. Varian showed Hugo the main engine room and how to work it. Varian was surprised he picked it up so quickly. Like a second nature.

He threw Hugo a pair of goggles and showed him how to maintain the balancer of the flynnolium.

“so what is it?” Hugo asked. “the flynnolium I mean.”

Varian smiled. “It’s a chemical compound of my own design! It’s an effective way to travel without having to rely on coal which can run out very quickly!”

For once, Hugo looked impressed. “that’s amazing…”

Needless to say Varian was surprised by the compliment. He hated how it made his cheeks turn pink. “thanks.”

Then that smarmy smile came back. “Didn’t know you were so smart goggles.”

Varian rolled his eyes and went back to work, content to ignore Hugo.

If only Hugo did the same.

“So, Flynnolium. What’s it made out of?”

Varian grumbled. “None of your business. You’re just here to help maintain it and the engines.”

“Oh come on. Please?”

“No.” Varian glared.

Hugo huffed. “Fine. Keep your secrets.”

“I will.”

The two shared a glare. Then the door opened. Eugene came in.

“hey guys. Rapunzel wants everyone on deck. We’re having a quick meeting.”

Varian nodded, glad to not be alone with Hugo anymore. He headed out of the room, not caring if Hugo followed.

Up on deck, the full crew was there. More people than last night, as most of them had been out exploring for the short time they were on land. Hugo looked surprised as he climbed on deck which made Varian smirk.

Rapunzel herself in her full sailors uniform smiled. “alright everyone! First day of our voyage to Rosas! There’s a few things I wanted to go through. Number 1, we have a new crew mate on board. Everyone say hello to Hugo.”

Everyone gave half hearted hellos and waves. Hugo obviously felt awkward as hell, his cheeks burning up. So he could be embarrassed. Good to know.

“Hes the new secondary engineer. So everyone that had a shift either covering or with Varian can come to me for schedules assignments during those times. Secondly…”

Varian tuned her out. He loved his sister, he really did, but she had a habit of rambling when she was excited. Which she always was when they were headed to a new destination. Nothing Varian hadn’t heard before though.

He looked out to the waves, seeing dolphin and other wildlife swimming on then. Then the flash of a pure white tail. He could quite tell…it wasn’t a dolphin. More like a big fish.

…Sirens?

“Goggles?” Hugo put a hand on his shoulder.

Varian snapped to attention, looking at Hugo. “Hm?”

“Meetings over.”

Varian looked around. Everyone was headed to their stations. How long had he been zoned out?

“Oh.” Varian cleared his throat. “let’s get back to work then.”

“You were fully checked out there for a second.” Hugo said.

“Yeah Rapunzel has a habit of rambling.” Varian chuckled. “We should get back to work.”

Hugo shrugged and headed off. Varian paused, looking out on the waves. He could have sworn he saw something.

Nothing but the waves now. If it was a siren, it moved on. Odd.

He shook his head and followed Hugo back down.

Now that they’d gotten into a rhythm, it was a bit easier to work together. Hugo was not super familiar with everything but Varian saw how quickly he picked it up. Reminded him of how his brain worked. Varian helped Hugo with the first things and then Hugo took it from there.

It was quiet in the room. Varian was working on one of the motors when he looked over to Hugo.

The blonde was partly covered in oil and dirt. His eyes were so focused on the task at hand that he’d let his asshole mask slip. Varian saw the edges of his lips move up and down as he talked himself through a problem he was having, then sweet talking the machine itself.

“Come on girl. You can do it. You’ve got this…” Hugo muttered. He grinned widely. A real grin. Not the one that was used to piss Varian off.

Varian chuckled as softly as he could. Maybe, just maybe, Hugo wasn’t that bad to be around.

Varian went back to his own work.

Hugo was exhausted. Day one had been amazing. The machines on this vessel, though different than the ones he worked with under the sea, were extremely interesting. They worked with steam and chemicals as opposed to potions and magic. The idea of them were still the same though.

Hugo got back to his room, flopping onto the bed.

He wondered about that flynnolium. Was that what was keeping the ship safe from sirens? He wouldn’t know until he’d gained Varians full trust. He needed to know the recipe.

For now, the list on who to take out when they got closer to the waters was captain Rapunzel. She acted all bubbly and innocent so she had to be hiding something. Then Varian.

Hell he’d even drag Varian and the entire ship down there himself at this rate. He just wanted to go home. Being on the sea but not in it was really messing with his head.

He laid there for hours, trying to sleep. Until no one but the skeleton night crew were awake.

He got up, putting his glasses on his pillow. He knew this was a bad decision, but he couldn’t help it anymore. He needed to be in the water. In his bed clothes, he headed up to the deck of the ship. No one was there, thank God. It seemed they mostly relied on the waves at night to get them where they needed to go. He assumed the navigators were in the very front of the ship, making sure that was the case.

Hugo climbed up onto the rail, looked down at the water, and jumped.

The moment the water engulfed him, he felt free. His feet turned to green fins, sparkling in the full moonlight. The gills on the side of his neck opened and he took a deep breath through them.

He swam down as fast as he could. He was like a bullet, smiling as the relief hit him. The Absolutely colossal coral reefs below were alive with activity, acting as an underwater city. He didn’t recognize it, but headed in anyway. Merpeople didn’t give him a second glance as he followed the crowds inside.

Music reverberated through the channels and small merchildren swam around their parents.

Unfamiliar but familiar. There’s no reason he couldn’t have some fun in the little time he had.

Swimming forward, he lifted a couple coins from some guys making bets on crab races. He held it close to his chest and dissipated into the crowd.

As soon as he was far enough that he couldn’t even hear the guys yell, he looked through it. Nothing much, a few sand dollars, a few shells, and a picture of the guy and his wife. Gross.

He took the shells and sand dollars and swam out to the nearest stand. He needed some fresh seaweed.

He found a stand for it quickly. Not that he expected it to take long. A mermaid wearing a frilly top had some freshly pulled. He paid quickly with the shells and had his snack.

Looking at how bright the lamps were, he figured it was about time to get back to the ship before anyone figured out he was gone. Oh well, this had been a nice little break. He shoved his food in his mouth.

He swam up through the holes of the coral and swam in the general direction of the sundrop.

It didn’t take longer than a few minutes to find it again. When he reached it, he pulled himself up onto a small side boat-he wondered why they had them- and dried himself off. He frowned as he watched his fins turn back into his feet.

As he pulled himself back up onto the ship proper, he sighed, yawning. At least now his head was a bit more clear. He might actually be able to get some sleep.

Thankfully there was still no one up on the deck. This might have to be a nightly routine.

Yawning, he headed down to his bunk.

—

Varian had fallen asleep in his lab. When he woke up his back was hurting from bending over it.

He got up and stretched. It was late. Maybe 4 in the morning if he had to guess. He sighed and exited the lab.

He paused at seeing Hugo, hair soaked, walking into his room in nightclothes that were damp with no glasses. He clearly didn’t see Varian.

That was odd.

Half of Varian wanted to knock on his door, ask what was going on and why he was wet.

The other half of Varian was tired and wanted to go to bed. Needless to say, that half won out pretty quickly. He yawned and went into his room.

—

It had been a few days since Varian saw this. Varian didn’t bring it up at first, not wanting to make Hugo suspicious. But there hadn’t been much conversation in the meantime.

“So goggles…” Hugo started just before the end of the day. “I notice you’ve been pretty quiet around me. What’s up with that?” He leaned on Varians desk next to where he was sitting. “I mean, I thought we had something.”

Varian rolled his eyes. “We don’t have anything.”

Hugo just laughed. “Yeah but seriously. The fuck is wrong?”

Varian weighed his options. Either tell him and face those consequences, or wait it out and see if that happened again and then tell rapunzel. Rapunzel wasn’t the best bet. Shed make excuses for him. Varian wanted to get it straight from the horses mouth.

“Okay…the other day, I was leaving my lab. It was really late. And I saw you. Everything was damp.”

Hugo blinked. “…you saw that huh…”

“Yeah. What was that about?”

Varian could see the cogs moving in Hugos head. He was thinking of something. Obviously not the truth.

“I took a bath.”

“In your clothes?”

“I was a bit drunk.” Hugo smiled.

“Where’d you get the liquor?”

“I brought my own.”

“No you didn’t.”

“It was in my bag.”

Varian glared. “Fine, lie. Whatever.” He huffed.