forum home || help || search || members || calendar || rules || rp sign up || rp stories || intros || advertising || contests

[Sorcha]

Keha stifled a yawn as she closed her cabin door behind her; it had been a long day. She stretched but was mindful of the stitches across her stomach. There was nothing she wanted more than to just close her eyes and go to sleep and know that everything was in order and as it should be.

She lay on her bed awake, staring at the wooden ceiling. It was hard to believe that eighteen years ago, she couldn't have even dreamed in the night of having a sixteen year old son... let alone, aboard her ship. She was young then - young and wild and full of weakness. It was in those times she'd seen Christopher Albern as a potential romantic interest. It was then she'd thought he would not simply abandon her after two nights, especially two nights of that. It was back in those days she saw the world in a softer light, a false light. Now she had a clearer way of seeing things. Or so she thought. Her head felt scrambled after such a day... with her... child aboard... It was something she'd never even imagined possible.

The ship rocked quietly beside the dock, and she could hear the soft lapping of water against its strong build. She closed her eyes and listened to it. It was soothing and relaxing, like being cradled by her mother when she was younger, but the sea was much more than her mother had been. It was stronger and vaster and could be mastered by no one. She sighed, and relaxed further into the arms of the ocean.

She watched her reflection on the sea on the insides of her eyelids. It was all around her, the blue and salty water, swelling and sweeping around her. For a moment or two she felt at peace, until she realized she could not breath. Her lungs struggled for air, but she only swallowed salty sea, and she thrashed in the water that just seemed to drag her further down the harder she fought. 'No! No! I won't let this happen! I can get out! I will get out!' But no matter how fast she kicked, how strong a stroke she took, the water dragged her further and further down. Down, down into the black abyss at the bottom of the ocean. The water was murky and dark and she could no longer see an inch from her face.

Suddenly she felt something grab her around the waist and yank her furiously out of this eternal darkness. For a moment she was grateful, when she took her first breath of hot air above the water, but this was quickly replaced with pain as the mystery force threw her to the ground and every bone in her body broke and she began bleeding from several gashes. Her horrible scream filled the large cavern, hot cavern around her. Terrified and completely broken, she shook, on nerves alone, and started to watch a scene unfold before her.

A giant devil prowled through a flock of lambs who "bah"ed with the same fear Calypso felt, and cowered as the devil passed by each of them. The devil seemed to be looking for something specific. It stopped a few times and picked up a lamb or two and seemed to size them up before putting them back and moving on. This process went on for what felt like hours until at last the devil picked up one lamb and brought it toward Keha.

Growling, he waved his hand over her, repairing her broken bones, but leaving her bleeding and thrust the lamb into her arms. He bore his teeth at her and she knew, somehow, that she was meant to skin the thing, and her life was on the line should she not. Swallowing, she grabbed a knife from her belt and slit the throat of the innocent beast, crying uncontrollably, and began to peel the skin off of it. As she did so the lamb changed in the blink of an eye and she dropped it. It was no longer a lamb, but an infant - an infant that was looking up at her with her own eyes. This was her child. She picked up the baby and screamed as she felt her heart breaking.

There was knocking and Keha sat straight up in her bed. She was sweating and her eyes flicked around panicked. It was just a dream... Keha shook her head. It had been ages since she'd had a nightmare. She hadn't even noticed she'd fallen asleep. Running her hands over her face, she hung her legs off the bed and took several deep breaths. Again there was a knock, and she realized that someone was at her door. She cleared her throat and stood up. "Come in! This had better be good!" Not that she minded being woken from such a sleep.


((ooc: look up the symbolism for that entire horridly morbid dream and tell me what conclusion you come to! Haha!))

[Vinyaya]

Godric waited for a moment, but received no response. Was she asleep, or merely concentrating on something? Either way, being interrupted was likely not conducive to an amiable frame of mind.
"Come in! This had better be good!"
He winced. Not any kind of good mood, then. Wonderful.
He pushed open the door and stepped through it, remaining just inside the door just in case Lady Calypso was tempted to throw something.
He bowed, clasping his hands respectfully behind his back. "I have given the boy Jenkins' cabin, captain, if that is acceptable to you. I thought it would be better to have him clean it out himself.
'The boy seems obedient, in any case - I believe he is unlikely to try an escape."
He paused, considering how best to phrase his next statement.
"Captain, while I willingly accept this assignment, I have not, unfortunately, yet grasped the limits of it. Might I ask in what areas you would prefer him trained, and whether he is to be allowed weapons?"
There. Hopefully he had put in diplomatically enough not to offend her. The king of the west was notoriously prickly, and even a misplaced word could set her off.

[Sorcha]

Godric walked in the door and explained about Roldan's living conditions at the moment. Jenkins' old cabin. It should be fine. Jenkins was about his size, she thought, so he could use the old clothes if need be... and there would be need. He wouldn't be wearing his Guard uniform for long. "The boy seems obedient, in any case - I believe he is unlike to try an escape."

"Of course he's obedient," she said, rolling her eyes, "he's fresh to the Guard... He's only... nevermind. Go on." Keha was now up and pacing her cabin, one hand on the hilt of her sword, not because she felt threatened, but because it was just comfortable for her.

She noticed Cutters hesitation before he said to her, "Captain, while I willingly accept this assignment, I have not, unfortunately, yet grasped the limits of it. Might I ask in what areas you would prefer him trained, and whether he is to be allowed weapons?"

She sighed, irritated. It wasn't that she didn't want to take responsibility for Roldan... oh wait... yes it was. She wanted to leave that with Cutter and ground her teeth together, knowing she had to give him a little direction, whether she liked it or not.

Her orders were crisp and quick with a bit of bite to every command. "I want you to train him for being any other member of this crew. He will become a pirate. Teach him to sail if he does not know already. Teach him to fight with another pirate, because he obviously has no idea how to do so." Seeing as he fought one pirate and lost without putting a scratch on the man and ended up on her deck unconscious. '"Do not allow him any weapons of his own right now, because we do not know if he is to be trusted with them, and I don't doubt that he would be willing to kill someone should they provoke him." Not that she knew anything about him, but she assumed he'd have some trait like that - he was her son, after all. "Before he is given any weapons, it will have to go through me first, and I alone will decide when he is given a weapon he can keep. Teach him to fight with a sword first, then a gun, as always. I, however, want him above deck most of the time, not down with the cannons. Am I understood?" She turned her back on him, not waiting for an answer, because she already knew that she was. "Anymore questions?"

[Vinyaya]

OOC: I'm operating under the assumption that she means he can have weapons, just not to keep. You know, he has to share them. I can fix it if I've misunderstood.

"I want you to train him for being any other member of this crew. He will become a pirate. Teach him to sail if he does not know already."
Fat chance of that, Godric thought. The milksop.
"Teach him to fight with another pirate, because he obviously has no idea how to do so."
My thoughts exactly. He shook his head. He hadn't been in the raiding party, but it was obvious the boy wouldn't have lasted thirty seconds in a real fight, let alone an out-and-out battle.
'"Do not allow him any weapons of his own right now, because we do not know if he is to be trusted with them, and I don't doubt that he would be willing to kill someone should they provoke him."
If he's anything like Albern he will.
"Before he is given any weapons, it will have to go through me first, and I alone will decide when he is given a weapon he can keep. Teach him to fight with a sword first, then a gun, as always. I, however, want him above deck most of the time, not down with the cannons. Am I understood?"
She turned away from him, not waiting for an answer. "Any more questions?"
"No, Captain." He paused. "If you have no objections, I will start him on the sword tomorrow - he should learn to use his other hand. And I have told the boy he will be locked in at night." She was unlikely to object - but it was best to make sure that she didn't think he was keeping things from her. That would not be pleasant.

[Sorcha]

"If you have no objections, I will start him on the sword tomorrow - he should learn to use his other hand. And I have told the boy he will be locked in at night." Keha nodded.

"Good thinking. Even if he is unlikely to attempt an escape it should be a good safety measure... As far as the sword goes. that is all fine and well. I want you to report to me on his progress periodically. Understood? Good, now get out of my sight." At that she turned her back on him and waited till she heard the door close before she moved again.

She walked to her clothes and picked up something a little (but not much) warmer, for they'd soon be sailing out again, and she'd be behind the wheel when it was night and the air had cooled. She slipped off her belt and placed it down beside her then gently changed into a pair of brown trousers, very mindful of her stitches. She looked at herself in the mirror set up on her wall and sneered at the scar that would be there across her stomach. The thought that Christopher has scarred her further simply pissed her off and she looked away, quickly, taking off her torn and bloody shirt and kicking it to a corner as she donned a new one, after checking that her chest was still tightly bound.

She'd started binding her chest when she'd turned 17, having realized that it got in the way of her fighting and was particularly sensitive, and that by binding it, it remained still and out of her way. It was only while she slept that she unbound herself. There were days she definitely hated being a woman. Keha looked in the mirror once again, her new shirt completely covering her stitches, as she pulled her belt back on. Her hand yanked her sword out of its sheath, the cold metal ringing as it she did so, and she looked it up and down. "Old friend..." She slipped it back, having only been checking that her belt was in the right place and quickly redid her hair, throwing it into a tight ponytail. One last glance at her darkening image in the mirror and she walked out her door.

[Kaine]

Snake watched as his Captain-King left the ship headed into town and upon turning back to look at the ship was pleased to see that not a single crewman paid any attention to the direction in which their Captain went. Snake smiled, good that meant they had learnt the lesson. He contemplated making a brief trip into town himself to get a few things but shook his head, his place was here on the ship and the Captain had asked him to keep an eye on things and so he would. So he strode down to the stern of the ship and gazed out to sea, the life of a pirate was the only one he knew and the sea was the main backdrop of his life.

But there were worse lives to be had and it was not that he was unhappy with his life up to this point, to the contrary to him there was nothing better to be on the high seas, braving storms and raiding merchant ships. A life on land was no life at all, and only a pirate could understand this. In fact, he had had the opportunity to put aside his life as a pirate on several occasions but each time he had turned it down. He simply could not and would not give up the life of a pirate, such a life was so free. He was brought out of his reverie by the polite cough of a sailor from behind him, Snake turned to see a gruff looking, bearded pirate standing close by.

“What is it you want?” Snake barked.
The crewman fidgeted slightly “I was just wondering sir, should we go fer supplies now?”
Snake shook his head in annoyance “Of course ye should ye idle brained oaf, ye don't need to be told everything do ye?”
“No sir, I be on my sir,” he answered.
“And take a couple of these other louts with you, we need plenty of supplies. And remember the arrangement with the Cap'n, don't ye go bothering him.”
“Yes sir,” the hapless crewman replied.

[Vinyaya]

OOC: I'm sorry if this is disjointed at all - I've had to do it in bits whenever I can get on the computer.

"Good thinking. Even if he is unlikely to attempt an escape it should be a good safety measure... As far as the sword goes, that is all fine and well. I want you to report to me on his progress periodically. Understood? Good, now get out of my sight."
She turned away from him even as he bowed in response. Godric, quite used to this, exited the cabin quietly.
He stood in thought outside the door for a moment. How to handle the boy...
It wasn't as if he had experience with children. He could continue the way he had been, of course, but once the boy got used to him, it might chafe. Not that Godric particularly cared how his charge felt, but he would certainly like for this assignment to go as smoothly as possible. Antagonistic adolescents were not at all what he had had in mind when deciding on a life of piracy.
He turned, resigning himself to the awkward kind of diplomacy necessary when dealing with teenagers - even captive ones, and returned, quickly, to Jenkins' former cabin. He knocked once, then opened the door.

[Sorcha]

Roldan stood quickly from the bed as the knock came and the door swung open without a moment's hesitation. He stood tall, in his uniform still, and held his head high, having had time to think about his situation. At the present time, he had figured nothing more out, other than the fact that the only thing he had left was his dignity, and so he would strive to keep it.

The red-haired man moved into the cabin promptly after the door opened. Roldan growled under his breath. He didn't like this man at all. There was just something about him that made him feel a sense of betrayal and anger, along side just plain irritation in the man's presence.

He stared at him with his cold blue eyes, waiting for anything to happen, his free hand at his side and his fists tight. He would be prepared to fight, should he need to, even if he didn't.

((Sorry it's short, we're kinda stuck here where I'd have to god-mod you in order to get anywhere.))

[Vinyaya]

I second. Sorry so short.

The boy stood at attention, head high, good arm at his side. The side of Godric's mouth twisted ironically. Defiant, then. Maybe he wasn't such a milksop.
There was, he knew, a difference between bravado and real guts, real worth - he would have bet the youth didn't have that.
He was not, however, prepared to gamble his life on it.
"I suppose you were not foolish enough to steal anything? Thay do say that a dead man's belongings are cursed - unlucky. Are you a superstitous man, then?"
Really, the articles outside the room looked to be the entirety ot the former boatswain's worldly goods, but it was always better to be careful.
"Assuming you are - you haven't kept anything?
...No weapons? Of course not - you're not stupid, are you?"
He surveyed the young man's straight back and tense posture, and raised his eyebrows. "Or should I check, just in case you are?"

[Sorcha]

"I suppose you were not foolish enough to steal anything? They do say that a dead man's belongings are cursed - unlucky. Are you a superstitious man, then? Assuming you are - you haven't kept anything?...No weapons? Of course not - you're not stupid, are you? Or should I check, just in case you are?" Roldan's mind worked quickly, as he had to think fast. The red-haired pirate was scanning him, watching for any hint of a lie or hesitation. If he said the wrong thing he would be caught red handed with that pistol under the pillow. He didn't even want to think about what the man would do to him if he found it.

"I am not stupid, nor do I steal. I am one who enforces the law, not one who breaks it." He wondered if the gun he had stolen from the dead man had been acquired through theft by the dead man before... probably. "I am surprised that you would bring up superstition though, as you obviously aren't." Roldan didn't know just how much he would regret saying the rest of his thought, but he said it anyway, his tongue moving just slightly ahead of his thoughts, "I mean, if it's bad luck to have a woman aboard a ship, having a woman for a captain must be like dancing with the devil himself." He thought he saw a flash of anger in the man's eyes, but there was always the chance he had imagined it out of fear he had already built up inside himself.

[Vinyaya]

"I am not stupid, nor do I steal. I am one who enforces the law, not one who breaks it." How naive. The poor little peacekeeper.
"I am surprised that you would bring up superstition though, as you obviously aren't."
Obviously? Godric frowned slightly. It was true he had little time for the usual flights of (usually macabre) fancy indulged in by most seamen, but how in hell did the boy know that?
"I mean, if it's bad luck to have a woman aboard a ship, having a woman for a captain must be like dancing with the devil himself."
Godric's head came up, lips parted in a sneer of incredulous fury. How dare the little whelp? Did he think he could get away with saying that? Did he?
A moment later he was in control of himself – barely – again. He leaned forward, lips tightly compressed.
“Listen here, boy,” he almost hissed, voice dangerously low, “You will keep a civil tongue in your head when you speak of the captain, or suffer the consequences. And believe me, it’s very unlikely that you even want to know what those consequences are. Do I make myself clear?”