Watchful Mimics

Fanfic for "Pangorio"

"Slobber and Teeth"

The Slobbernaught carries more than teeth and claws, it carries eyes. Among the strangest of its living tools are the Watchful Mimics, spyglasses that are never only glass. They peer back at the sailor who dares raise them, their lenses blinking with a wet gleam. At times they show true sails or coastline, other times they paint phantoms on the sea. The crew whisper that to look through one is to be looked into, and none hold it long without feeling marked.

Squint Marr the Lookout clings to the rigging with a Watchful under his arm. Salt has burned his vision, but the mimic fills the gaps with shifting truths. He mutters of sails that vanish like smoke and reefs that crawl across the waves. The crew say Marr has stared too long, for even without the glass his eyes dart at every shadow.

Chartgut the Navigator trusts the Watchful more than the stars. His maps are stitched together from hide and wax, inked with lines whispered by the mimic. Some paths it shows lead to fat merchant lanes, but others end at wrecks or shoals that grind ships to splinters. Chartgut shrugs at the risk, claiming the Watchful sees farther than any man alive.

Brinehook the Captain’s Mate uses the Watchful when judgment is needed. If the crew swear they have seen prey or storm, he lifts the mimic to confirm. Yet each time he does, it hums in his ear, feeding doubt and hunger. Brinehook is loyal to the captain, but the glass whispers questions he never asked before, questions of who leads and who follows.

Slip Jack the Scout relies on the Watchful before a raid. Through it he spies weaknesses on enemy decks, hatches left loose, doors unbarred. The mimic guides him to strike first, but sometimes it shows paths that end in locked gates or traps. Jack laughs even then, grinning with cutlass in hand, as if the Watchful’s tricks are part of the sport.