RP Pirates of the Hard Nox 2

There wasn't a hint of acknowledgement that confirmed Alys' suspicions about Juniper and their true self. The fae didn't feel the need to force her friend to confirm nor deny, so she remained ignorant, tucking that knowledge away for another day. If it ever even came. A large part of her hoped it would; there was such freedom in sharing and being accepted - as she'd recently been forced to find out. But if Juniper chose to keep it from her, well, that was ultimately their decision.

Running a hand down her face, Alys quietly groaned as well. "I know...I-," -can't help it, she wanted to say.

"He was always Sky to me. I think he'll follow because he's curious - fucking nosy bastard. He's not any more dangerous than the rest of us, but it's been five years." Who knew what he was capable of now.

"You're right though, we need to spread the word. I'll get a couple of the crew to stay behind all day. Make sure they screen whoever comes on board." Gods forbid he managed to get on, see how well they'd done in the Ice Lands, and lead his own raid on the ship... Shit - how was she supposed to go to the ball now? She supposed the ship was always at risk, but it felt different when you were partially responsible for it.

Rising somewhat abruptly, Alys strode towards Juniper, meeting them by the door. "If you could... just explain to everyone you see, that'd be a big help." It wouldn't take much to get the word out; the crew liked to gossip as if they were all prim ladies at tea.

"I haven't gotten a chance it ask - how's the shoulder?"
 
It did not take long before someone noticed Rielle, which was exactly as it should be. Why, she was extremely noticeable! This was all quite fitting. If it had been anyone else, she would have questioned the lack of security, but why wouldn’t people want her around? She was a professional adventurer! That was almost like being a hero, except she wasn’t contractually restricted from having fun. Ha! Sorry for them, right?

She quickly hopped over to the rather grouchy looking man who’d called for her to come make herself useful. That would be easy! Rielle was most excellent at being useful!

”Certainly, my good sir or madam or respected personage! Best not to assume, right? Anyhow, I am here to render assistance! What would you like skewered today?”
 
Heading her way then, by the sound of it. They were tall, that was clear enough once they came closer, though they didn’t have that smell of a killer. That was… like a touch of blood lingering in a scabbard, musty and dense. This one though, perhaps simply needed a bath. Winter stepped to the side to allow the man to pass, though he slowed to a stop instead. Winter raised her head with a tilt to show she was receptive to listening. It helped, she felt, to let people know she was aware. This one’s request however caught her a touch by surprise.

He didn’t have the smell of a sailor, not of one by the sea at the least, salt was a hard scent to miss, but of one by sky?

“To the sea? It would be that way my good fellow.” Winter lifted her cane and pointed it to her left, tapping the end lightly against the side of the building. Not enough for a clear face, but it helped. Worry had its own sound about it.

“If you wouldn’t mind the company, I can take you, I have my own business to attend to there.” She said, with a smile. “And a pair of eyes would help put me at ease in a city like this.”
 
”You know what, Lucien?” Somehow he made the vampire’s name sound more insulting than calling him a stray. A quick glance toward his shield, a casual resting of his palm against the hilt of his dull blade, and Leo’s smile turned wolfish. ”I think you are a liar.”

”First you tell me that you could, and would, slaughter the entire crew if you wanted. You made it a point that we were ants beneath your boot.” Leo turned his back to Lucien then, returning to the corner where he had set his shield. ”And yet, the only ones who have lost their lives have been to their fellow ants, or to this other vampire’s friends and desires. Sure, maybe you didn’t want to kill us,” Leo turned back with the shield in hand, sardonic grin still twisting his features.

”Then you tell me I am too weak to fight against your kind; ants and boots again. You say you aren’t afraid, that you aren’t hesitating…” the grin fell. ” You say that you and the Bone Witch were planning to take care of Naveen, and yet its your Captain that has fallen while you are still sitting in your cabin telling everyone how terrifying you are.” Leo spat on the floor, a pointed gesture made all the more potent for the fact that these floors were his to clean.

”Now you tell me that I don’t stand a chance against a vampire, and in the same breath suggest, what did you call it? ’Practical experience?’” As he spoke Leo began threading his rope through and around the shield to tie it to his back. ”I am done falling for your games, Lucien. I think you’re scared; scared of something though I couldn’t possibly imagine what. Whatever it is I hope it was worth losing Sinead over.” Leo wrenched the door open, the effort in the motion derivative of the effort to ignore the vampire’s bait.

”I also hope you can overcome that fear before anyone else falls prey to your hesitance.”

Leo walked through the door before he could falter, before Lucien could retort and the knotting in his stomach drew him back into the verbal fray. Lucien had vexed him so long already with his venomous words and haughty threats. Despite the adrenaline that caused his heart to beat wildly Leo was done letting those words affect him. Let the vampire do whatever pleased him; Leo would be sure to do the same.
 
As Naveen called Emer cute, the baron's hand was already cocking back with an instinctual response-- and it was before the vampire even finished speaking that his closed fist moved to slam into the man's uncovered cheek, right upon the jawbone.

His right foot stepped close, directly beside Naveen's left. Shifting his weight in a more rooted stance in case there was retaliation. His attention was decidedly unfocused upon the woman in the alleyway, though it registered in the back of his mind; dimly, he registered the coincidence with a growing horror, but restrained himself from further anger lest he beat this man into the ground. Emryk had not reached that point. Yet.

"Answer... the question, you degenerate." He growled, his grip shifting northward to wrap around the vampire's throat and push him back into the wall. "Or, earth help me, you are going to be lapping up blood from a bowl like a mutt after I've knocked your damned teeth from your skull."
 
"My, oh my, what a wonderful surprise."

Julian had suspected that Captain Caleb meant to bring back the old crone, though he'd left before the chef could properly tell him off. Now, they were both here, tracking mud into his restaurant. All to talk with that Gods-damned fortune-teller in the corner. He was beginning to regret letting her sink her little talons into that table-- though if he threw them out now, it'd probably earn him twice the damned squawking. Lovely.

His gaze fell upon Emer with no small amount of judgement, though it was paired alongside a mirthful smile like a fine vintage. Pumpernickel was in his hands, purring idly as he stroked her from neck to tail. The circumstances of his departure from the Hard Nox had been less than amicable, but it had been ten years! Surely, it had been far too long to hold a grudge. It was a decade ago, after all. A blink of an eye in the life of a brunaidh.

"Why don't you two have a bite to eat while you wait? You look like you could use a hearty meal. Baggy clothes can only do so much to hide a gaunt face, Caleb." His gaze shifted to Emer, next, his smile dropping somewhat as he looked her over. "Maybe a salad for you, though."
 
The screechy lady only listened to one command - one of two. Tirras wasn't a mathematician but those certainly weren't good numbers. Perhaps she was half deaf? That would make sense, wouldn't it? One command for each functioning ear?

His yellow eyes tracked every inch of her as she approached. She was quite nice to look at, wasn't she? They were in desperate need of new women, with the loss of their former captain and that mousy-looking girl. But this one opened her mouth and ruined it all. Half deaf and half blind? Surely she could see the tall man, almost every inch of his off-grey skin covered in black ink. Surely she could see the sides of his shaved head, the thick braids that were woven down from the top of his head, the elongated canines that stuck out between his lips. More man than orc, but still very clearly man.

Tirras snarled at her, and jutted his chin towards one of the bales of hay. "Come wi' me." A single command for her one ear. Grabbing two other bales, one in each of hand, he began to descend below the deck.
 
'Do you know where I can find the sea' was a stupid question considering they were on an island, Ronan knew that, but it was the only way he could identify where the ship was. Asking a blind lady for directions wasn't his brightest moment either, but he spoke before thinking as he often did and didn't want to offend her by asking if she was sure, instead opting to offer his arm as walked towards the sea.

"Thank you! Someone stole my diamonds and coins, we were chasing after them and I got lost. I should get back to the Hard Nox and ask Emryk for a new bag. They have a lot of it, so maybe he won't mind..." He was mostly thinking out loud, something Ronan often did when he was with his moles in the galleries. Perhaps it was because she was like them that she made him more comfortable. "I didn't introduce myself, how rude of me! I'm Ronan, from the Ice Lands."

***

Emryk's fist would meet a thick block of ice that just as quickly as it appeared broke into pieces from the impact, leaving the pretty side of Naveen's jawline untouched. He was no longer smiling.

"Let go of me." He said with his back against the wall, and the knife he'd found on the ice lands held up to touch the lizard's neck. He pressed it lightly, as if to test how thick his scales were and how deep he'd have to go to draw blood. One swift motion and he'd be bathed in it. "I didn't touch a feather out of that bird and the only thing you're achieving here is making her sound more appetizing. Step back, I don't want stains on my cloak."
 
To tell the truth Alexander wasn't interested in fate. He did what he did and what happened happened. He did, however, not much like when someone else tried to usurp his place in any line. So when a man came up shouting about his fortune Alexander changed the action he planned on taking. He slid a hand into his pocket, bypassed the cheaper coins, and selected three of his best instead. He held them up so they'd catch the light and slid them across the table. "I was curious if I might find transport and a place to work," he said by way of conversation. "I like this city, but I think it time I put my sailing skills to good use somewhere." He smiled, shifting his hat on the table. "No need to rush anything." If the guy was going to be shouty about it.
 
For a moment, just a moment, her customer was forgotten as someone else stepped into the restaurant.

Sirideán did not have to move her eyes away from him to look behind him. To see the woman who stepped through, a woman with a soft face and thick shawls and blue plumage. A woman who was Folk. Folk who smiled at her, not knowing what she really was, what she had become, and suddenly-- suddenly the world was tight, the pull of gravity too strong. She had Kin here. She was not Sirideán's kin, but she was, because they were all kin. And she smiled because she did not know that Sirideán had abandoned her kin as a stupid girl and had not looked to return to Folk and Sky as a stupid woman--

The woman looked away. It had been less than a moment, as if the world had not spiraled out beyond the careful control that Ruby songbird had created. She did not even have the chance to nod in reply to the woman, for out came Zadari, and in came who else but the pirate Captain Caleb. He had told her the truth. She did not have time to let her tongue grow sharp before Zadari intercepted, maybe not on her behalf but to save her nonetheless. She would thank him, later, not with words perhaps but maybe by ordering more food and complimenting him directly to give him an excuse to strut about like the peacocks they kept in the gardens here. She hoped that would make up for the unhappiness she had inadvertently brought, instead of trusting the pirate captain.

Something brought her focus in again, and she stopped looking over Alexander's shoulder to meet his eyes with more clarity. He had pulled out coins. Three coins. All three gold. And then told her he was looking for work. Immediately, she was able to distract herself. It was a response, she knew, a reply to either her hesitation, which made him desperate, or to the bold interruption of Captain Caleb and the Aos Gaotha with him, which was more likely. She could breathe again, although unless one was watching the ruby at her breast for the ebb and flow of breath one would have missed that she had stopped.

Maybe fate did work, in a sense. Leimor was boring, and he wanted to sail. And who had walked in behind him but a pirate captain?

But she did not make her fortune to draw attention to the obvious. Or, what was obvious to her. Instead, she nodded gravely, slid the coins across the table to herself, and moved the cards aside. She hummed softly in a low, deep croon as she began to move her hands around the crystal ball, eyes closed as if calling up power and not listening intently to the conversation near the front doors, to see if Captain Caleb the Pirate was open for hiring.
 
Zadari's comment was an offense to the muscles Caleb had grown over the years, surely as intended. He ignored him like he'd told Emer to and turned to the man sitting on his chair, who turned out to be a sailor looking for work. What a coincidence.

"I'll give you work, all you have to do is let my friend talk to her kin. Deal?" He asked, using a term he'd heard Emer use countless times. "Do you happen to have respect for private property, Mister... ?"

***

Things hadn't been easy for an honest man like Baron Rufus, not since Fen Manor. His house was forcibly taken over by Lord Fen and used as a recovery center for the survivors of the fire, burnt victims that Rufus didn't fancy being around. So he decided to go away, up north to Leimor, and it had been the best decision he had made in a while, for there he met them.

The people in white cloaks. It'd be his third meeting, and he was excited for it, so excited in fact, that he bought a white cloak of his own. He met with the group at their usual spot and followed them to where the meeting would be held that afternoon.
 
Polish an emerald right and set its lines just so and the stones in the light always brought to mind the seas to the west just off the island reefs. Nessa was pleased with the stones and the craftsmen’s vision for what sort of earrings he would make, so all that remained was the waiting. She never cared much for just waiting around, though what she would do with her time was a different matter. A bath would do her good, but it was something to do closer to the time of the dance so the smell of lilac and roses could remain fresh.

Food was another thought, though she had eaten not too long ago. It was like filling one's belly with water in a way, that edge always remained with her. It wasn’t like before, when the hunger came first as a whisper and then a roar but more like — like a hole. It demanded nothing of her but her attention, and she could turn her eye away from that.

So, she didn’t care much for just waiting around, and, Goddess bless, something interesting caught her eye while she was deliberating on what to do; a large man in a white robe with a face that jogged a faint memory of the master gunner’s ale. Fen Manor was it? And ahead others in robes. Nessa clicked her tongue, white was King’s uniform too, wasn’t it?

Nessa fell into step behind the group, from a distance she felt comfortable with. White was easy enough to follow, so she was content to hang back and make herself just another figure drifting down the street as she trailed behind them.

——

”Goodness, that sounds dreadful, small blessings they didn’t harm you.” Five preserve any fool enough to try a physical tussle with this mountain of a man — save that — did he truly say Nox? Was that wheeling terror truly in port; fresh and fat with plunder from parts unknown, or well known enough to whatever little town they set anchor she supposed. Winter’s brow knit beneath the cloth wrapping, a tick perhaps and gone such as quick. It didn’t touch her smile at least, small fortunes passing by.

She reached up to place a hand on the offered arm, a brush of cloth announced its offering, and her fingers brushed to find the man’s wrist. As thick around as her own arm but a fine enough place for a hand to rest. “Pleasure, Ronan, I’m Winter myself, though I’ve come from the East.” Ah, it might have been better to say she was from here, wouldn’t it? No matter. “You’ve come from the Ice Lands? Tell, what brings you down here? Seems like it might make for quite a good story.”

Winter tapped her cane twice to the ground, before with a gentle tug she led the giant out into the street, and angled them portward.
 
"Sky. That's something, at least. Can drop it in to conversations, give him a scare, see if it'll catch him off guard." Gods knew it would for them. "If he's as serious as you say, it probably won't matter. But it might, and that's all you can hope for really." This was all so close to them, in a way they were uncomfortable with. It was better to pretend they were a half-elf, or whatever lie they'd fed Alys in Allegria. Half-fae, that was it. Or quarter? It... well, it did matter now, actually. She was on the lookout for a changeling, and every detail would matter.

Better to not think on it. "I'll spread it as much as I can, and do my best to keep him off. I... no, that was a lie. I'm going to head into town and shop, a bath and maybe something for the ball. But I'll tell everyone else what to look out for! That's all I can promise."

Then, a more personal question, but not about what they'd just been talking about. "Stiff, and sore. I can move it, but not super well yet. The arrow's out, though, so it should heal, I hope," they said, subconsciously placing a hand over the mentioned area. It ached quite a bit, actually, but they'd been so wrapped up in the staff, and now this, it was the last thing on their mind. Easy enough to ignore, until it got better.
 
"I do not deny myself comforts," Emer replied cooly, though she did somewhat self-consciously rest her hand on her abdomen. "Life is too short to suffer from worry - or hatred."

Still, she took Caleb's advice, if only because it was good advice to take. There was no use quibbling with a man she'd long-since settled her grievances with, as oddly fortuitous as it was for them to end up inside his shop. Ah, well, perhaps Caleb had been simply paying him a visit, and happening upon her folk was the happenstance instead.

Sliding out one of the empty chairs at the table, Emer settled down beside the man, giving him a quick nod of greeting before glancing at the fledgling. The poor thing seemed uncomfortable. Aos gaotha were rare in cities like this, so perhaps she was simply unused to being around folk. Perhaps, even, Emer came across as a country bumpkin of sorts, dressed as she was, acting as she was, speaking as she did.

In the end, though, different as their upbringings may be, they still watched the same sky.

"Is é seo do bheo? A insint do na strainséirí rud ar bith sásta?"

This is how you survive, then? To tell the strangers happy nothings?

The words were rusty, the cadence faltering, a language she hadn't had to speak much in many, many years. Emer smiled warmly.

"Ní féidir leis an spéir tú a fheiceáil trí na scamaill, iníon, nó d'fhéadfadh do sheanóirí caoineadh!"

The sky cannot see you here, daughter, or your grandparents might cry!

Still, it was a joke, lighthearted, and the wisewoman bobbed her head slightly to show it as such.
 
There was genuine concern behind the question; after all, Juniper had taken an arrow meant for her. But it also served other purposes, thankfully confirming that the person in front of her was exactly who they said they were. "Good, good, I'm glad to hear it," Alys replied, opening the door and gesturing for Juniper to walk through. A pause filled the air as they filed into the corridor. "I am sorry - that you were hit." There hadn't been a chance to talk, not with the pressure of her new role and the demand for payment over the last couple of days. As they climbed the stairs back up to the deck, she continued. "Mind if I join you in the bathhouse later? I have a couple errands to run first, but I feel like we haven't properly talked since Allegria."
 
Juniper hesitated, again, when Alys apologized. They didn't need to, not really, they'd been the one not paying attention, sure she'd been the one antagonizing everyone, and Beck had shot at her, but if they'd been a bit more aware, they could've gotten out of the way and maybe helped a bit more in the fighting but instead- Besides, they'd already told off Beck, before she left, over it, Alys really didn't need to...

A wave of emotion, something like relief, washed over the sorceress. If they weren't so on guard to not let the illusion of being not a changeling slip, they might've cried a little. After a week of not talking, getting a sincere moment, and an apology no less, was much needed. "I'm-... it's fine. Especially since Emer took a look at it."

Another pause. Last time they'd gone to the baths together, Juniper had almost let it slip, what they were. Doing that again... gods dammit, spending time with Alys was just too tempting. She was their closest friend, at least aboard the Nox currently, how could they refuse? "I'd love to, actually. I'll meet you there- just have a few things to pick up, I think. Sound good?"
 
The pirate grabbed a couple bales of hay and headed downward. Rielle followed, wondering what pirates could possibly use hay for. Some sort of magic trick to spin it to gold? That was traditionally straw, wasn't it, but maybe hay was close enough - or maybe it could be spun into something else, like... oh, copper. Copper was green, wasn't it, after you left it out a while?

Or perhaps it was to feed something? Did minotaurs eat hay? Rielle couldn't say she'd ever asked. She was fairly sure the stories she'd heard had them feasting on flesh, but the teeth would be all wrong for it, wouldn't they? Hay would balance the diet, and perhaps it was more of an opportunistic carnivore situation, where they only ate people if they were readily available. Rielle considered this information, descending the staircase behind the bearer of hay.

"So, how many minotaurs have you got down here?"
 
Alexander watched her, but not so closely as to ignore the rest of the room. He didn't know the good captain of course, or anyone else here. He observed, took note of some few details, but that was all he could do. He hated to part with three gold coins, but sometimes these things were necessary. She focused on something past his shoulder but he didn't turn to look. First, it would have been rude, and second he was pretty sure she was looking at the man who'd interrupted. It stood to reason anyway. He crossed one leg over the other, brushing at his hat a little. He didn't stare at the ball. He never liked it when people stared at him while he worked and he didn't see reason to make someone else just as uncomfortable. He didn't say anything to her either, not while she was working. Again, rude.

He finally glanced at the ball, looking more at the reflection that whatever the glass ball may or may not be doing. It was possible the man behind him was important some how. Maybe he was a Captain even. It was probably good he didn't say anything and simply provided the coins. She had closed her eyes, intently focused on whatever it was she was doing to make the glass sphere work. It then he was spoken to. He smiled a little and stood. "I would not want to interrupt an important conversation between kin," he said, pulling the chair out for the indicated woman. Alexander turned his attention to the ship captain. "If you have a ship, you have a deal sir."
 
"I hope that includes a mask. We need to look the part, don't we?" Alys said, turning back to grin at Juniper just as she swung open the door to the top deck. "It isn't every day that we get to dress up-," the fae paused, noticing the lone figure that stood within sight. "-And to dance!" She lifted a hand up slightly, as if gripping the shoulder of an imaginary suitor, while dropping her other arm towards the ground, holding the skirt of her invisible gown. Spinning around once, twice, mimicking the dance she hoped would happen in her very near future.

And how could she forget about the opportunity to get her hands on even more treasure.

Clearly, despite the anxiety of having Sky around, of having him on the ship and potentially causing trouble, the excitement was undeniable.

Alys settled quickly though, dropping her stance as the pair moved towards Ciaran. Her bright smile lessened and she cast Juniper a sidelong glance.

"Oi! I'd have thought you'd be out in town trying to get your hands on some of that dvergr ale!"

---

One heavy step after the other, Tirras slowly descended deeper into the bowels of the Nox. The screechy lady's steps were not nearly as loud, but he still kept an ear out for them, in case she wandered. "None," he replied gruffly, shutting down her question right there and then. Minotaurs. What in the bloody hell were minotaurs?

He huffed, turning down the corridor to stop in front of the sealed door. Tossing one of the bales down carelessly, he peered at Rielle before swinging the door open. The sounds of bleats and clucks filled the air, causing the man to cringe visibly. Loud and fucking screechy...

Tirras stepped into the room and instantly found himself gravitating towards the goats. "This is Jasmine," he said, the palm of his hand patting the side of one of the goats with surprising gentleness.
 
They walked into a narrower street and Rufus followed the group to one of the houses, where a cloaked figure stood by the stairs to the basement. Another elf. Most of them were elves, but Rufus wasn't the only human. He smiled and waved at some familiar faces on his way down, admired to see how many people were there, almost fifty if he had to guess. When he first joined there were only fifteen.

Slowly, people started filling the seats arranged in something resembling a circle. Rufus liked to sit by the door, just in case fairies decided to show up and he had to make a run for it.

***

Winter was a pretty name. Ronan didn't know what was at East, but he was overwhelmed enough with Leimor to ask about it, at least for now.

"Stupidity and curiosity. Maybe it's the same thing, I don't know." Ronan answered with a chuckle. "I met these pirates and they let me come with them to see the world, but so far the world hasn't been so kind to me. Maybe I should've stayed home…" As Ronan finished talking he realized Winter had brought him back to the exact place he'd been mugged at. His eyes lit up in relief to see the Nox far in the distance. "There she is!" Ronan smiled, expecting a reaction until he remembered she couldn't see. "The ship, it's right there. Thank you for bringing me here."
 
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