RP Pirates of the Hard Nox 2

It was rare for Caleb to see Pris above deck, but he noticed she had started to go there more often the past few days. He hadn’t talked to her yet about leaving the ship, and he probably wouldn’t until he’d found her a home, but if he was being honest, he’d started to not mind her presence that much. She was observant, perhaps a bit too much, but she was also quiet and useful.

“There’s no need.” He answered cooly, knowing there was nothing Emer and her medicine could do to fix that pain. As if she was able to read his mind, Pris brought up Alys. He thought about it for a second, before saying: “Get Alys, if you can find her. Tell her it’s not urgent.”

***

Summer swung in the hammock, with her prosthetic foot hanging from the side. A bed had been assigned for her, but the mattress was old and full of holes and the hammock above Nessa’s bed was always empty, so she assumed no one would mind. On her lap there was a block of wood and a small knife, and she was carving… She didn't know what she was carving yet. It was just a way of passing the time, and every once and again, a small splinter would fall from the sides.
 

He'd barely slept on the hammock. Dreams, again, and none of them good; he was at the table, again. Their table. The Lousson estate. How many years had it been, now?

Far too many for there to be remorse. Now, of all times, like fate was having a laugh at his expense. And they were en route to Goswick, too, as if it couldn't be any worse.

But he had little else he was obliged to do other than cook and stay aboard the ship. Miraculously, he could do both and avoid interacting with the crew! Lovely. Nobody came down here. He could poison the damned stew and they'd be none the wiser.

... best not to get ahead of himself, there.

 
A thin layer of sweat gathered upon her brow, a combination of exhaustion and the warmer temperature. Alys lunged forward, thrusting her sword towards her opponent, one of the gunners, who managed to block her aggression. The clang of metal rang in her ears, the sound as fleeting as her stillness.

The past ten days had been a whirlwind, though she'd quickly settled into a routine. She'd missed this time, time for recuperation; the scars at her hairline and torso had healed nicely, their colouring no longer as irate. And time to think and breathe and be. The Teller's threat always loomed in the back of her mind, but it wasn't all consuming.

Goswick - now that was a consuming thought. She'd returned once before, having been unable to flee the ship once learning about their charted course, as she'd done every other time. The fairy had refused to leave the vessel, finding comfort in the cheapest rum she'd been able to afford at the time. Now, she'd managed to push the idea of porting south of her hometown. Still, the proximity itself made her skin prickle. Hence the desire to distract herself with a longer training session.

She was getting tired though, and when she was tired, Alys became careless. A flurry of movement later, and the gunner - her third sparring partner - held his sword up to her throat. The tension in her face broke and she grinned, returning the gunner's broad smile.
 
"Yes, Mr. O'Cain!" Pris was relieved that it wasn't urgent - and more relieved that he'd agreed that she could go get Miss Alys about whatever it was. She paused a moment to look at Mr. O'Cain, as if worried that he was going to fall over somehow, but that didn't seem to be happening. She was probably okay to go.

As an afterthought, she divested herself of the skeletal hand on her shoulder, leaving it behind to babysit. "Come get me if something happens, okay?" Not that Lady Fingers would necessarily listen, but at least Pris had tried. It was the best she could do under the circumstances, and she turned back down the stairs once more, peering through the ship to try to find Miss Alys once more, and hoping that if she did, Miss Alys would have some idea what was going on - and what to do about it.

The ringing of weapons was evident, and Pris walked in to find Miss Alys with a blade to her throat - which, very fortunately, the crewman holding it lowered with a smile before Pris could become more worried about it than she had been.

"Um. Sorry, Miss Alys. Captain O'Cain was looking for you. He said I should tell you it's not urgent. So, I am telling you that he said that. Because he told me to." This was as subtle as she could be about it, really. Hopefully it got the idea across that she actually thought that Miss Alys ought to go up there in a more hurried manner than Mr. O'Cain seemed to think she should.
 
Skriik. Skriik. Skriik.

Nessa stirred beneath her sheets, a low grumble escaping her lips as she buried her head into her pillow. When that did little to silence the noise, Nessa opted to push the flat of her hands over her ears, a movement which only served to wake her up more. With another, coarser mumble of noise, Nessa pushed herself up onto her elbow, wincing at the feeling of light needling the bare skin of her neck.

Two things struck her as wrong, first that there seemed to be wood shavings on her sheets, and another that there seemed to be someone in her hammock. Which, there shouldn’t be anyone in her hammock as Yume was off delivering a letter.

“Who?” Nessa asked through a bleary tongue and a dry throat. She accentuated the question by poking a nail through the ropes of the hammock at what she was pretty sure was a hip.
 
Time was an inexhaustible, moving thing. Both the young and the old put value in it, counted its passing like misers counting their coin. Isolated among the clouds a pirate had little else but his time, and Argent had bided his patiently for more than a week. In truth it had felt almost a break, though he had busied himself with what work was asked of him.



At first the crew would spare him little more than a few words of direction, but as he had plugged away at each task he gained the barest hint of trust. It had been enough to elicit stories; tales of the ship’s bygone days from what few old salts had remained after O’Cain’s sudden promotion. Half drunk in their hammocks the pirates of the Nox would pass their recollections to Argent with the rosy tint of nostalgia. Of course little of it was taken at face value, but he found it educational nonetheless.



Argent might have taken the entire journey in that same manner were it not for his mission, set aside for a time but not forgotten as he greeted the rising sun from the railing of the top deck. The skies were clear and the sailing was fair, little work to be done for the majority of the crew. He had risen before most of the men, and spent that sunrise ruminating over his plan almost obsessively.



Hours later with the sun high a more pressing concern drew him from the bannister and back belowdecks, and it was only after relieving his need that the clash of steel broke through his thoughts and tore him from his worries. It wasn’t uncommon for crew to practice their skills, but the earliness of it sparked his curiosity. One could hardly rouse a pirate before noon on easy days such as this, and waking them to such activity was near impossible. Cinching his belt Argent followed the sounds and his interest, arriving just behind the tiny messenger he had seen and noted flitting around the ship.



Though she didn’t see him Argent’s lips cracked into a hastily tamped grin as his eyes lit upon the Nox’s second. With a blade to her throat, and a summons to be heard, Alys seemed quite busy. Argent slipped into the doorway silently as the little girl spoke her piece. Not for the first time he quickly glanced around the child in search of her companion before offering a small wave once Alys noted his presence.



”If it is unimportant, perhaps I could bend your ear along the way?” He inserted his request without catching Pris’ tone.
 
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Really, if you thought about it, ten days wasn't a whole lot of time. Just over a week, really. What made it feel so long, and part of the reason Juniper had been dreading it ever since the news broke (even moreso after The Conversation with Alys) was their current destination. Or, rather, not their destination, but their restocking pit stop along the way.

They hadn't gone back. They hadn't ever wanted to go back, and had hoped they never would. Unfortunately, that decision was well out of their hands. They'd spent the days since mostly nervously pacing about, and avoiding talking about it.

On this fine afternoon, they found theirself trying, and failing, to not think about what the place might look like, so many years later. What if their house was still there, ruined and burned? Or maybe someone else else had built on top of the ruins. They weren't sure which was worse. Someone was carving something in Nessa's hammock, which even just at face value was quite rude.

Deciding it was a worthwhile distraction, they set their attention on that, watching as the young vampire attempted to disturb whoever it was as they watched on from their own bunk.
 
Her sword wasn't yet sheathed when Pris' voice called out, capturing Alys' attention. As the girl began to speak her piece, rambling slightly, the fae turned towards her, gaze flicking over the concerned look on her face. Her eyes lingered, curious, only to be dragged away by another presence. Argent - once again lurking and listening.

She was looking back at Pris by the time she was done speaking though. "Right then. And where is he?" She asked, acknowledging Argent's wave with a slight nod. Taking a couple steps forward, she finally decided to put away the cutlass - heaven forbid she accidentally swung at and nicked their guest - assuming that the necromancer who follow. She stopped upon reaching Argent, giving him an expectant look. "Perhaps you can."
 
Summer stopped carving upon feeling something poking her ass. She knew it had to be Nessa down there, but she assumed she’d just sleep until sunset like she did most days. It was odd that she was already awake.

“Could you please stop?” She asked nicely, before cutting off another slice of wood.
 
Oh. She'd been followed.

Or maybe that was being silly. Why would anyone actually follow Pris? He had probably just been going the same way - it wasn't like the ship was that big. What was his name, anyway? The new person. Aaron? Arson? No, that was setting things on fire. Something like that, though. She would know it if she heard it again, but he'd been here long enough that she would have felt bad asking.

Whatever his name was, he wasn't very good at taking hints. She sighed, but she wasn't going to say anything about it. That wouldn't have been right. She had a feeling that Mr. O'Cain wasn't going to say anything to Miss Alys if he was there, though, so she would... have to think of something.

Maybe Lady Fingers would have a good idea.

Except that was silly, because Lady Fingers was just a construct, and they weren't really supposed to be capable of independent thought. Also, they were supposed to listen. Well, she would have a little bit to think about it, anyway.

"He was coming down the stairs from the deck," she answered Miss Alys, because that was a much easier question to think of the answer to. "I didn't go up there."
 
Nessa released a sound somewhere between an annoyed hiss and a bleary eyed ‘what’ as she swatted wood shavings away as they fell from her hammock. She squinted against the light in the room as she tried to place a face with a voice. That new girl? Nessa yawned as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. It was too early for this. Nessa yawned, before trying again.

“Why’re you whittling in my hammock?” She asked, slowly.
 
“Didn’t see your name in it.” Summer said with a roll of her eyes in response to Nessa's rudeness, before letting out a sigh and lazily climbing out of it. It was unfair that she didn’t get a bed and a hammock, but that was probably something she should complain to the quartermaster about.

“Do you know how long until we get to port?” She asked. There wasn’t a lot to do in that ship, and most people weren’t super welcoming for her to play cards with or something. A change of scenery would do her good, if only so she could buy some stuff with the money she’d made thus far.
 
As Alys addressed the little girl Argent bowed his head toward the child politely, his attention no further spared as the Nox’s second answered his request. The child spoke before he did, giving them bearing toward the Captain.



”Well,” Argent began, giving hint to the depth of thought he had put into the conversation. ”As willing as I may be to swab the decks of your ship for the duration of my time with your crew.” Argent began walking toward the stairways as he spoke, pausing with his fragmented sentence and gesturing for Alys to do the same. He cast a meaningful glance toward the little girl to communicate his intent to let her pull ahead of them.



”Our Captains have a mission, and I don’t think anyone has been particularly focused on achieving that goal.” He spoke with more subtlety than he would have otherwise, voice low in the hope that Pris wouldn’t overhear. It was best to keep such matters from youthful minds.
 
“It's over my bed.” Nessa said with a longer than necessary flash of her teeth. She slid her legs out from under the sheets, before giving them a shake to send the collected wood chips tumbling to the floor. That also wasn’t strictly necessary, but that attitude from the new girl irked her. “Whittle up on deck next time, why don’t you?” Nessa added as she stretched. It was too early for this and she needed a — right. Nessa rolled her shoulders as she eyed Summer, running her tongue across her teeth.

“Day or so, I think. Doubt we’ll be in port long, though.” Nessa said with a shrug.
 
She hadn't gone up, though that wasn't surprising. Alys glanced over her shoulder and gave Pris a knowing look, one that hopefully conveyed an acknowledgement of the conversation they'd had so many days ago, about going above deck. "Thank you, Pris," she responded, turning back to follow after Argent.

As he gestured, pausing, Alys moved past him and began to ascend the stairs. "Oh?" She uttered thoughtfully, only to stop and spin around, standing a step or two above him. "But you have though?"
 
Earlier than she thought, it was a bit of a relief.

“Where will we port?” Summer asked, laying on her bed and resuming her work. It was starting to look like a cat, so she decided that’s what it was going to be. If she managed to find where pumpernickel was hiding, perhaps she’d be able to use it as reference. “Have you seen Pumpernickel? Pspspspsps.”
 
Alys stopped a few steps above Argent, forcing him to look up at her with a shrug.



”As far as I have been able,” he replied as he fished around in his pockets for a moment. He pulled a piece of crumpled paper from within, and smoothed it out on his leg before continuing.



”I’ve spoken with what crew is left in the men’s bunks. There are surprisingly few remaining who have been aboard the ship since your raid on Fen Manor.” Argent held the paper up so she could see the list of names he had crossed out. ”They were about as helpful as your mute minstrel, if I’m honest.”



Argent folded the paper a bit more neatly and shoved it back into the pocket he pulled it from. ”Which is why I have come to you.” He stepped up, bringing himself to the same stair that Alys stood on. ”I want you to accompany me to speak with the rest of your crew. With your Captain’s permission, of course.”
 
Alys rose a brow, eyes dropping down to the paper he grasped, to the hardly legible scribbles that were, for the most part, crossed out. She listened to his plan, and when he stepped up to share the same step as her, she continued her ascent. "You're wasting your time," she called out, emerging onto the second level. "I can tell you now, no one knows anything." Hell - she hadn't even seen Sol up close, and she was one of the more informed people on board. Otherwise, for the most part, those who'd fought or been involved were those within the closest circle.

Caleb was no where to be seen, and so she stopped, turning back to face Argent. "He must be paying you well."
 
Argent followed Alys diligently, a step behind as they stepped onto the next deck. His brow furrowed slightly as she called back to him, touting his efforts as wasted.



”If it’s all the same I would wait until I’m done to make such an assessment. As an old friend of mine was fond of saying, ‘You don’t know what you don’t know.’ Even if my efforts amount to nothing…” Argent paused, looking around for the Captain without success. He let his gaze settle on Pris for the span of a few seconds, a gentle smile offered before his attention darted back to Alys and his expression returned to neutrality.



”Decently enough, I suppose. Not for a suicide mission, though.” Argent scratched the back of his head and looked away toward a random wall. ”As it stands I have half a mind to jump ship when we land. All the money in the world’s useless in a dead man’s hands.”
 
"Mr. King always thought it was pretty useful, and he's dead," Pris put in helpfully, not entirely sure she was following this conversation properly.

She wasn't quite sure about this stranger. She had noticed he seemed to try to be nice to her, but he didn't seem to try to be nice to anyone else. Not like Miss Emer, anyway. And he was always talking to people about things they didn't want to talk about. The crew said he was a spy for another ship, though, so that was probably why.

She supposed that made him a little bit like Naveen, and she did not like that at all.
 
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