behind the sea

Freezing. Summer had treated Leonardo kindly, the waters had been warm and the sun had warmed his skin every time he'd bobbed up above the surface for a look around at his surroundings. But now the sky was grey, and the waters mirrored it, the sun was no where to be seen and instead had been blanketed over by a large, grey cloud that looked like a storm was drawing close. A soft splash sounded as the creature vanished beneath the surface of the water once more, and re-surfacing about fifteen meters off, huddled underneath a wooden jetty with barnacles stuck up the legs, little dark clusters of them that glistened softly in the dull light of the morning. A seagull screeched overhead, bombarding the fishing boats drawing in their catch from the wee hours.

Leo shivered visibly, craning his neck back to look up at the wooden surface of the jetty above him, an arm snaking it's self around one of the thick, water-soaked legs. His ears pricked as he heard movement above his head, and large, blue eyes settled on the section of wood it was coming from. Frowning softly, and sinking down below the water again, a stream of bubbles left the boy's mouth, popping at the surface and causing a small ripple to branch out across the water. The docks were busy this time of the morning, still clinging to the heavy set leg of the jetty, Leo wondered if now was a good time to clear off, humans weren't generally accustomed to seeing a creature such as himself, even in a place like this, Leo had not met even one of his own kind.

The boy had spent the night curled up in a sea cave he'd found just off the coast of the island, though it wasn't much warmer in there and his night had been disturbed by a curious Harbour Seal that had swam in looking for fish, scowling at the thought, Leo supposed the creature had found one, hadn't it? Though perhaps not the right kind it had been hoping for. Ducking his head down and pushing himself out to hide underneath a small fishing boat docked close by, the fish boy could get an eye of whoever had been making all that noise above his head.​

All in a moment something landed on Leonardo's head and he barely had time to duck beneath the water before he was more or less crushed. Letting out a loud squeak that ended up only being a stream of bubbles that burst at the surface, a loud splash sounded as his tail flicked up from the water trying to get away, and he ended up about a meter or two from the boat, head popping above the surface to glare at whoever had just squashed him. The boy hissed at him softly, a tall man, fair of form and even fairer of face. Leo knew his kind well, pirates, savage men who'd do anything for money and even more for women. Perhaps it was best he clear off.

But oh he was so pretty, staring for a moment later, Leo could feel his skin prickling from where the cold was biting at him, he was so used to the balmy waters of a tropical sea by now that this was a shock to him. Perhaps he could find one of those things humans used that spat out hot water all of the time. There was something unsettling about that blue-eyed gaze, though it was probably safe for the stranger to assume that Leonardo was more or less completely harmless, the worst he could do was tip him out of his boat, but what was a pirate if they couldn't even swim? Another soft little hiss sounded from somewhere in Leo's throat, and a growl emanated from him shortly after, before he disappeared beneath the surface with a soft plop, only to reappear about three meters to the left.​

Leo started as the man yelled, twitching and flicking his tail to push himself just that little further away. That was a word he recognized, however. Leo had awful trouble with the English language, he'd been around few who could speak it, and so had only really picked up the odd word or two. He could speak in single word sentences, and that was about it. The word that meant mermaid was spewed, and Leonardo scowled. He was not a maid. Shaking his head vigerously at the man, he sucked a mouthful of salty water into his mouth a spat a jet in his direction. "Eu sou um menino!" He snapped. I'm a boy.

He shrunk away again as a hand went into the water, gazing warily at it and debating whether to approach or not. Humans were bad. He'd learned that from square one, though so far, this one hadn't brandished a harpoon at him, or any weapon, come to think of it. Eyes narrowing ever so slightly, the merboy's brow furrowed. "Por quê?" Why should he go over there? What was going to happen if he did? This was a strange situation to him. Letting out another soft growl, Leo opted to keep his distance.​

Staring for a moment longer, Leo was beginning to let his guard down just a little. Perhaps this human was just curious, some humans were merely curious, and others wanted to kill him. The next sentence that dropped from the pirate's lips made the merboy blush visibly, and duck his head mostly underwater again. He wasn't used to recieving compliments, letalone being interacted with. Most just gawked, or hurled their harpoons at him. A hand lifted it's self, and came hard into contact with the surface with a loud slap, spraying water all over Emilio as best as Leo could get him. He couldn't help but nod at the next question he was asked, of course he was cold, he was freezing. "Sim."

Pausing for a moment, Leo's tail flicked and pushed himself just a little closer to the boat, within touching distance. He was a little confused to meet someone that spoke his tongue, as well, and frankly he was glad of it. English was an awfully confusing language to learn, especially when you were already sixteen years old and well past the point of finding it easy to learn languages. "No English?" He asked, tilting his head to one side.​

A soft giggle sounded from the boy as Emilio squeaked, and a timid little smile crossed his features. This was funny, humans were awfully strange, and Leo was far too easily lead on. "No.. Bad.." He echoed softly, still staring wide eyed at Emilio. He had absolutely no clue of the man's intentions, of course he didn't, the front the pirate was putting on was awfully convincing for someone as clueless as poor little Leonardo. Cute boy. He scowled softly at that word, cute. Why was he being called cute? He had a rough idea of what that meant, but... He edged just that little bit closer, still a tad wary.

He was cold, and the promise of warmth... That was awfully tempting to someone that had spent the last three weeks in this freezing little harbour, ducking in and out of boats trying to hide from humans. Sure, he could take on their form, but he was still very much a merboy, with his gills and little fins, and that pretty white-blue shade of his skin. "Warm...?" He asked, "you... Make me warm?" The dark skinned man had extended a hand to him, and tentatively, Leonardo took it.​