Fantasy Pirates {Main Thread}

[Vrai]

Sitting glumly on the floor in one of the stock rooms, in a little alley between barrels, Yeka held her knees to her chest and fixed her eyes on the floorboards directly in front of her. They were still in the middle of the storm, and when it went on for hours, the swaying and groaning of the ship still had the power to make her a bit ill. Normally, when they were in danger, she would be called to station herself near the top deck, on-hand. But with the number of sailors the new captain had brought aboard, it seemed somebody was manning every post on the ship already. Nobody had specifically asked her to do anything, and her regular cleaning shift wasn't until afternoon, so she had stowed herself on one of the lower decks to wait out the storm and mope.

Wait - there, near the wall, a movement. Yeka snapped into focus as goosebumps rose on her arms. She crawled out from her little hiding divot, eyes trained on the spot on the floor near the doorway where she had seen the movement. A rat? No, it had been lighter-colored, and bigger. A bird stuck due to the storm. Or maybe even -

She saw the movement again, and this time her eyes caught on to it. It was something filmy and nonliving attached to the wall. Peeking around the open doorway, she saw that there was a scrap of very thin parchment - not writing-level, but the kind they kept salted meats in - floating around on the floor. She picked up the parchment and crumpled it up, then took it back to the barrels and stuffed it through the tiny hole on the top of one that already smelled like salted meat. Then she slumped back to the ground again.

There were a lot of people on the ship, but they had already lost the other ship with part of the "new crew" still onboard. Yeka figured it served them right, although when she thought about it, there was a good chance they had turned around and escaped the storm already. She was mulling over whether she would have rather braved her chances with them when the ship jolted, and suddenly started to lurch at a dramatic angle. Yeka scrambled away from the barrels, and watched as the ones that had been to her left slowly slid to join the others, filling in the gap where she had been sitting. None had broken for now, but the ship was still leaning. There are people on the deck, she thought, panicking. Jerome - she hadn't seen him today. What if he was on the ropes right now?

Quickly, she made her way out of the stock room and to the top deck. It was not long before she heard screaming, and a deep, foreign groan. The sound of it made her think of a bear, but it wasn't like anything she had heard at all. As she dashed up the stairs to the open air, she looked around the ship, trying to make sense of the huge black shapes surrounding them. They were - snakes? No. Tentacles.

A particular voice yelling caught Yeka's attention. It was one of the men from the old crew, having lost his balance near the pinrail, now rolling helplessly down the deck. Yeka got down on all fours and, with the claws on both her fingers and her toes sinking into the wood, was able to reach him in time to help him brace himself against the cabin in the middle of the deck. The Captain - the old captain, that was - had said that she shouldn't mess up the wood too much, but this was definitely an exceptional situation.

If Yeka strained her head to look behind her as she clung to the deck, she could see Hat Woman (Captain Woman now? Maybe Hat Captain - yes, that sounded right) attacking one of the tentacles, beneath the monstrous head of the beast. And if she craned her neck up, she could see another one of the tentacles scraping at the sails. The end of the tentacle bit into the cloth of one sail, and it started to tear a long gash.

Still on all fours, Yeka ran to the shrouds and started to climb up the shaking ropes. She couldn't fight this creature directly, but she had to keep it from destroying the ship. Yet, as she made her way upwards, the tentacle left the sail and slapped the rope she was climbing where it was attached to the mast. It snapped, and she started to fall with a scream.​

 

[GreedyBoy]

Jerome was in the lower desks, rum bottle in hand. He had yet to drink from it, however. He was sitting there, debating in his head. The storm rocked the ship, lulling his mind. On one hand, he could feel that sweet numbness and joy that drinking brought him. On the other hand, he would most likely be called for duties sooner rather than later. But on the third hand, he wanted to annoy Scarlet. But on the fourth hand- he then realised that he was slowly sliding down across the wooded floor. The ship was tilting dangerously far. He dropped the bottle and cursed as it spun out of reach. He shakily managed to get up and that's when his brain caught up and he heard the yells. The ship tremored as it was hit again and again. Cannonballs? No. It was from above. Almost like great trees collapsing from the heavens.

The rat somehow managed to slide over to the ladder and crawl up, tying his bandana around his head to keep his hair from his eyes. Chaos. Tentacles. Huge ones. Tossing grown sailors from the ship as if they were dolls. Jerome scrambled up, the rain hitting him in sheets. The rain was nothing he hadn't dealt with before. But that thing...

He heard a familiar scream.

Jerome's head snapped up and he ran across the deck and held out his arms, catching his friend before she hit the ground, "I'm sorry but I don't trust you to land on your feet." He said with a shaky smile. Looking up at the creature, he squinted. The large monster had reared its head above the waves, to the shouts of fear and alarm from the crew. Jerome's eyes widened, "Eyes." He blurted out.

The boy looked up to the rigging, his second home, his world and probably the most dangerous place he could be right now. He looked at Yeka, "Catch me if I fall, yeah?" Trying to keep it lighthearted as he did something that could get him killed.

The rat gripped the ropes and climbed up. His footing was unstable and slippy but he still held on, climbing high enough for some kind of vantage point. He slowly turned around, stomach flipping as he saw the creature below in all its terrible glory, dragging men to their watery graves. He kissed his blade, "By the luck of the sea, please god find your mark." before throwing it toward the creature's slitted pupil. The blade tore through its eye, lodging itself firmly in. The creature let out a roar, its tentacles flailing. It was by no means dead but it was wounded at least. Jerome didn't bask in his accomplishment for too long as the creature sunk its head beneath the waves, leaving its tentacles to swat at the men and women on deck as if they were pests. The boy grabbed another blade and slit the rope tying the broken ratline he was holding onto to the mast. He swung down. It was too dangerous to be up there until the creature was immobilised. He needed to cut their losses.

The rigger ran up to Scarlet, panting and desperately trying to catch his breath, "The eyes, Cap'n. I got one of em but I think that's its- hah- weak spot." He yelled as best he could, trying to have his voice carry over the yells of the crew on deck and the thundering storm. A man was clutching onto the mast beside him and was swiftly torn off and thrown, yowling, into the sea. Jerome didn't tear his eyes away from Scarlet. It wasn't anyone he cared about.

Interactions: MarieK | Vrai ​

 

[Mikotsuhime]

The antidote to the poison had taken a while to take effect. Captain had spent most of the night locked up in the brig, tied so tightly he could hardly move. He could barely feel his hands by this point, but the loss of circulation was the last thing on his mind.

The storm was taking its toll.

He had assumed that Scarlet would end up biting off more than she could chew. He hadn't quite expected her to run head-on into danger, though. There was seeking adventure, and then there was being stubborn. This was leaning too far onto the edge of stubborn.

The ship creaked, and he closed his eyes with a low groan.

He could feel the damage, chipping away bit by bit like it was hitting his very soul. He was certain that the ship would not be permanently sunk while he was still alive, but it couldn't take this much of a beating for so long. Keeping the hull in tact and the ship afloat took a great deal of strength.

The kraken was the last straw. He threw his head back against the wall with a pained grunt, feeling the damage take its toll. Keeping the ship afloat took all his concentration. He couldn't move, nor could he see or hear anything. His senses were the ship itself, and that ship was under attack. He had not wanted to tip his hand this soon, but they could not stay this path.

He focused on the feel of the tentacles sliding along the ship, gooseflesh prickling his skin. He was sweating again. He wanted so badly for a wet cloth to wipe himself down, but the second he registered the thought he dismissed it. He couldn't allow any distractions. Focus only on the beast, and--

The kraken reared back. One of the pirates must have injured it. He would be proud of them later.

The wheel suddenly turned with a life of its own, spinning as the ship took a hard turn to the left. It was a risky maneuver, but it was enough to dislodge them, for the time being. The beast would grab them again soon, though, if they didn't get out of its territory.

The sails were torn, and he wasn't entirely sure he could rely on them. He bit down hard on his tongue, his jaw aching as he forced the ship to obey his commands.

Go east.

It would give them just enough distance to launch a proper attack, if the crew were smart about this. He trusted them to be, because they were his crew.

Most of them, anyways.


(Interactions: none directly.)

 

[Key of Stars]

Darin stood in the middle of the deck, a manic and somewhat deranged smile plastered on his face. This was what he was talking about, the thrill and danger of a fight with a creature many times the size of a human, that was an adventure, much unlike the only fights they had before against the sailors of transport ships who looked like they didn't want to fight and would give up before Darin could have even the slightest bit of a fun challenge.

The wild and erratic movements of the ship didn't bother him, he ran across the deck much the same he would when the ship was docked, blade shining with a substance Darin could only assume was the blood of the creature and scales glistening in the rain. He slashed at a tentacle and immediately hopped back to dodge a swipe from another tentacle aimed at him landing on the deck right foot first. He immediately threw his weight from his right to his left foot and spun around, driving his scale-covered fist into the tentacle with as much force as he could muster.

Around him, several of the men Scarlet had brought with her to take over control of the ship were snatched up and dragged into the depths. Darin didn't extend as much as a hand to help them, they had helped his captain take control of the ship and helped him in taking a step closer to his dream but as far as he was concerned now that Scarlet had control of the ship they weren't necessary anymore.

The familiar scream caught his attention and for a split second his attention turned from the tentacle before him to where Yeka was falling, Rat immediately moved to catch her so Darin turned his attention back to his current fight. "Shit!" He managed to barely raise his arms in time but the tentacle struck him hard, sending him crashing into the main mast of the ship. The scales had absorbed some of the blow and prevented any broken bones but it still hurt like hell. Darin pushed himself up with a grunt, spitting some blood out of his mouth before charging the tentacle again.

He stepped to the left, dodging the tentacle's wild strike and slashed at it with his sabre followed by a hard punch with his left. The tentacle retreated, scooping up one of the new crew members and dragging them underwater. He made his way over to Scarlet, slashing and striking at every tentacle he came across on the way. He arrived at almost the same time as Jerome and overheard his suggestion. "How sure are you about that?" He yelled over the storm, he could only hope Jerome would communicate with him instead of being petty but Darin was reasonably confident he would seeing as he had also come to Scarlet to report.

He picked up a long loose piece of rope off the deck and tied it around his ankle with a secure knot. "Here," He threw the other end of the rope over to Jerome. "Work with me here, will ya?" He turned to Scarlet. "Say the word and I'll jump in there and take care of it captain." He unsheathed both of the poisoned daggers and stabbed one into the deck together with his sabre to avoid losing it while he put the other one between his teeth. He grabbed one of the vials of antidote from his ankle and quickly downed it, the amount of poison he ingested by putting the dagger between his teeth was minimal but he would rather be on the safe side.

"That thing is not going to show its head again and I'm probably the only one who stands a chance at swimming with the sea like this and that creature down there." He yelled, walking over to the side of the ship. He was taking a risk letting Jerome take care of the rope but it was mostly an extra layer of safety anyway, if things didn't go horribly wrong he could probably do without, he looked back over his shoulder at his captain, waiting for her orders.

MarieK GreedyBoy

 

[MarieK]

Interacts with: Darin, Jerome, and Elijah

Her movements grew monotonous as she slashed and pivoted only to slash again. The monster's arms kept coming as the storm raged on.

Adventure. This is what you asked for.

But not the numerous deaths.

Each guttural cry rang in her ears long after they were abruptly cut off. The beast was one of legend, possibly the reason why it had never been said that any pirate and managed to cross the Edge of the World and lived to tell the tale. Their crew was large in number and talented in combat skills. They would make it, she could feel it.

Scarlet had just hacked away at a tentacle when something caught her eye.

From across the deck, Doc was busy trying to fend off the monster, unaware of Samuel sneaking up on him from behind with his sword in hand. Foreboding scraped the vertebrae of her spine, sending a wave of ice crashing through her veins. She scrambled to her feet only to waver as her boots slipped on the wet surface below.

She fought to regain her footing, watching in horror as Samuel raised his blade to stab Doc in the back. Her throat constricted with the sudden rush of emotion, stifling the strangled cry that begged for release. With no other choice, she grabbed a knife and threw it, praying it would find its intended target instead of the innocent man that was a few inches away.

The knife hit Samuel dead-on, finding his spine and crippling him.

Relief swelled within her, but it was short-lived.

The creature loosed an agonizing scream of torment, thrashing its legs as its head dropped back into the sea. Dodging a wild tentacle, she collapsed onto the deck, narrowly avoiding being swept away and thrown into the sea as so many others had. In her haste, the sword in her hand had been angled inward instead of out, cutting her cheek in the process. In her adrenaline-induced state, the pain did not register, merely the pressure of the blade sinking into her flesh.

Feet finding purchase on the slick surface, she stood just as Rat approached her.

"Good job, man," she said, smiling through the blood and rain that marred her visage. "If only the monster was the only threat."

Though she did not dare say more lest one of the men on deck overhear, she gave Rat a meaningful look filled with warning. The new crew could not be trusted. She would have to figure out how to explain Samuel's death to them once the monster was dealt with. But she feared they were already plotting some kind of rebellion to take over their ship to replace the one they had lost.

Then the wheel turned.

Scarlet's expression darkened as she pressed her lips into a tight line at the sight of the wheel coming to life and the ship altering its course. Glancing up into the distance she could see nothing but turbulent waters, but she knew if they tried to escape the monster, they could very well go back into the storm. Defeating the monster then getting back on course was their only chance.

More arms appeared and latched onto the sides of the ship in a desperate attempt to keep from losing its lunch as they abruptly changed course.

They had to find a way to hit another of creature's weak spot and quickly.

As if hearing her thoughts, Darin ran up, handing Rat the rope.

"Say the word and I'll jump in there and take care of it captain."

He spoke the statement casually, as if the command was not sending him to his demise. There had to be another way.

Scarlet gestured for them to wait a moment and ran back to the captain's cabin. A moment later, she had reappeared, stripped of her coat, leaving the thin layer of fabric that her shirt consisted of to protect her from the rain. In her hands were two items: a musket and a crossbow. With her cost wrapped around the musket as she handed it to Darin.

"I need you to climb the main mast and shoot at the creature from there. The gun will not work if the powder gets wet, so hurry and keep it covered until its time to fire."

Scarlet turned to Rat. "Tie the end of that rope to the mast below him, so if he falls while trying to balance himself to take aim, the rope will catch him."

With the crossbow, the woman ran around them, heading to the bowsprit and shouting something over her shoulders that sounded like, "don't miss," but the howling gusts of wind swallowed it up.

Dodging tentacles, she reached the bowsprit. Excitement tangled with sheer terror as she climbed on top of the bowsprit then got on all fours, awkwardly holding the crossbow beneath her arm as she did, and crawled as far as she could manage without falling. Straddling the bowsprit with her legs, she readied the weapon and took aim. The same time her finger tapped the trigger, a tentacle hit the bowsprit in front of her, breaking off the end of it.

The arrow missed and she lost the crossbow when she was forced to grab hold of the bowsprit to keep herself upright. A curse emitted from her lips.

Their only hope now was that Darin and Rat would succeed or the other pirates were able to ward off the creature by damaging enough of its tentacles. ​

 

[Vrai]

She barely had any time to realize that point at the beginning of the fall at which one realizes, Oh, I'm actually falling.

Yeka plummeted through the air, hands scrabbling for nearby ropes and missing - and then, to her surprise, she landed. Her entire body was not smarting from having landed flat on the deck. Looking straight up into the rain, she saw Jerome smiling hesitantly, having caught her before she hit the boards.

"Jerome -" she managed, still stunned, before his gaze snapped back up to the monster and he quickly put her down. Yeka took to her feet. He had a plan to do something. She nodded confidently as he asked if she would spot him.

The events of the mutiny last night had shaken her. Yeka didn't know what she could trust Jerome to do between the new captain and the old one, and whether his allegiance might find him opposed to other people in the crew she considered friends. But he had caught her, and she wanted, at least, to be able to trust him with her life. And that went both ways.

As Jerome scaled the ropes, Yeka tied herself to a post and kept her eye trained on his shrinking figure through the rain. The ropes were shaking too much for her to be able to climb behind him. She would be better able to catch him if she were able to move on the deck. Jerome stopped, and she ran to cover the space below him. The creature roared; she hadn't seen exactly what Jerome had done. To her mixed relief - for the creature was still thrashing its tentacles - Jerome swung back down to the deck, and she helped him catch his balance before he suddenly ran at full speed towards the mast.

"What do we need to do?" Yeka called after him, but her voice was drowned out in the rain. She tried to follow him to the mast where Hat Captain was fending off other tentacles of the beast. She forgot about the rope she had used to secure herself, which was now tangled up in the rigging. As the ship shook again, Yeka debated holding still. One of the tentacles swept the deck, and she jumped aside at the last moment to avoid being knocked down. Somebody else was less lucky, and Yeka knew from the way the yell ended that she couldn't help this one.

She tore at the rope around her waist with her claws until it frayed and finally broke. Then, using her claws, she crept her way towards the mast, where Hat Captain had just given Jerome and Poison Man some kind of bundle. Now Hat Captain was sitting on the bowsprit, trying to attack the creature with - a gun? No, a crossbow. Something.

Yeka saw something glint in the boards nearby. A tall saber, and next to it, what looked like one of Darin's daggers. He had already run off. She paused, feeling the rain drip off her soak-slicked hair and down the sides of her face. Carefully, she approached the weapons. With one good pull she removed the dagger. The strange tint to the metal, as well as the little channel carved into the blade, told her that it was one of the poison ones.

Yeka reached into the pouch on her belt and threw out the ribbons inside (which was less painful than it could have been, since her favorites were tied around her wrists). Then, hoping that the poison wouldn't leak out, she stashed the dagger there.

There was another woman up against the pinrail on the port side of the ship, crouching below the top of the railing, holding on for her life. The sea monster's tentacle reached over the rail as though it sensed her farther inward on the deck, but the creature could not get purchase and seemed unable to understand why. Yeka crawled to another spot on the rail near the woman, and knelt down as well. Then she stuck her arm out through the railing, waving it to-and-fro.

The woman, somebody from the new crew with a mess of black hair, stared at her. Yeka saw her mouth form the words Are you crazy? Yeka had no time to answer. She fully expected the creature, with this provocation, to poke one of its tentacles through the rail trying to get her, where it would hopefully become stuck. Then she could at least try to wound it. But instead, when Yeka beckoned, the creature's large central mass rose out of the water, and Yeka was staring at one of its huge, waxy eyes through the gap in the railing.

She wanted to scream. But she had been prepared to catch her bearings. Yeka pulled out the poison dagger and stabbed the creature in the eye, missing the center but hitting a good portion of the yellow-white. The monster made a great bellow as it continued to rise up out of the waves, and Yeka was still holding the knife.

Interactions: GreedyBoy (and Key of Stars 's weapons)​

 

[ressie]

It all happened so fast. There was a shuffle of feet. A glimmer of something sharp and shiny, and Nokky felt his life flash before him. But the blade never cut, and the blood never spilled. The boy made naught a sound. Frozen in something just as pitiful as it was primal, Nokky's entire body went numb.

The boy felt a dull pain in his knees as they collapsed to the wooden deck. It was enough for him to look up and around and realize that absolutely every ounce of tension that was in the air was completely gone. Shakily, the boy began to lift himself from the ground once more... He fell? When did he get up? He must have... How was he... What happened?

The quiet of the night loomed on around him, and what was once a peaceful ambiance suddenly felt more threatening than death itself. He felt something touch his hand and flinched, but looked up to see Jerome standing above him, who had Edel beside him in a similar caring manner.

Without a second thought, the scrawny child took his hand and followed. With each step he took as his elder led him back below deck, an inkling of the events that just unfolded zapped itself into his brain. Scarlet. Had she saved him?! No... No, that couldn't be right... Why... why would she do such a thing? Why would Darin- had he attacked him?!... but before the boy could come up with an answer, he was tucked in bed, and at that point, too exhausted to think any further.

- - - - - - - -

The ship reared and moaned as the kraken released its grip on the ship. Nokky found himself stumbling, but instinctively made a grab for the back of Jerome's shirt to steady himself.

He had been trailing the elder boy- the Rat, as the crew called him -since the battle between tentacled-beast and ship had begun. Of course, he didn't follow the young scoundrel as he swung about the rigging above, no no no... Nokky was not meant for heights. But as soon as the Rat landed, Nokky was beside him. Something about the events that had happened last night, and something about the older boy's actions made Nokky feel indebted. The Rat had no incentive to show even the slightest bit of compassion to him. And yet Nokky watched on in bewilderment as the elder boy caught the falling Yeka, who granted, should have never taken such a risky maneuver in the first place. It was as if saving the foolish was just "the thing to do". Now she would never learn the err in her ways. What was this??

Nokky met the cat-girl's eyes for just a little too long, as if searching for some sort of explanation from the girl, but broke away when the ship lurched again. He didn't particularly want to be there, thrashing about atop their little wooden lifeline. You would have to be insane. Like their new "Captain". No, no Nokky had to be there. He didn't know how, but he had to help the Rat in any way he could.

Interactions: GreedyBoy , Vrai
Mentions: Key of Stars MarieK

((sorry my weekends are kinda busy this time of year- i'm back tho!!))​

 

[GreedyBoy]

Jerome lashed the rope around his forearm as Darin prepared to jump. It would be tactically idiotic to not help Darin at this point. But he was somewhat relieved when Scarlet suggested a new plan that had minimal chance of Jerome being pulled over board by the fool. He wasn't as great of a swimmer. The rigger tended to doggy paddle everywhere.

He nodded as the Captain gave her orders. Okay. Okay, he could do this. Juuust had to figure out the right knot... Ah shit there was no time for that. He climbed up the mast a ways and wrapped the rope around the mast. Constrictor knot. Yeah why not? Knot...not...knot. Fuck! Stop getting distracted! He tightened it and looked to Darin, nodding, before slipping down. That should hold him.

Jerome pulled out his knife and was prepared to defend the rope from tentacles as he turned...and saw Yeka rising up along with the beast, clinging onto something lodged in its eyes. The rigger smacked a palm to his forehead. Jesus Christ, this girl didn't make it easy for him. His head whipped from the rope to Yeka. The rigger's head was racing. His friend had already damaged that blasted thing's eye so... There was no competition there. But still, the rope...

He looked down to the small boy beside him and outwardly sighed. Jerome bent down, picking up Nokky and holding him on his hip so he knew the younger boy could hear him, "Nokky, I need you to listen to me." His brows were furrowed in concern, "I need you to take one of my knives and fend off any tentacles that may come near this rope. The fool might not slip but just in case, he needs this rope to stay knotted." He kept his voice calm but his eyes were somewhat frantic, flicking from Nokky to Yeka. He didn't want to order the younger boy around. He didn't like giving out orders. Especially not to Nokky. The rat put the younger boy down and held his face, "If you get overwhelmed or disarmed, save yourself. There's no guarantee Darin will even fall but still." Jerome pressed one of his thicker knives into the small boy's hands. He reasoned that this wouldn't take long. The rat would be back for him in two seconds. He pulled away from Nokky with great difficulty. The rigger felt somewhat responsible for the younger boy. He felt responsible for the younger ones. But he needed to help Yeka.

The rat snapped his head up to gaze into the ratlines, some barely holding on and some severed entirely. He ran to the side of the ship just as it began to tilt with the waves once more. Sliding across the deck, he hit the railing and climbed up the ropes. His mind echoed with the same desperate thoughts. Don't slip. Don't let Yeka die. You can't lose her. Not now, not ever. The wind whipped his coat and white hair into his eyes. The rain came down hard upon him, willing him to fall down into the water depths, the fate of many a sailor before him. Jerome gripped the ropes tightly. His eyes were watering from the wind blowing in his eyes, or maybe it was the thought of losing Yeka. Urgh he was so soppy.

He looked behind him and reached the full height of the beast and was now staring directly in its hideous eye, which Yeka was now hanging off of by...was that one of Darin's blades? It was poisoned right? And there was this cool channel for the poison. Nice. He shook his head. Focus, you fucking idiot. He wrapped his forearm around one of ropes. He'd get nasty ropeburn, the enemy of Riggers, but that was a price he'd be willing to pay if it meant he and Yeka wouldn't plummet to their deaths. Jerome held out hand to Yeka, yelling, "Let go and grab my hand!" He desperately reached as far as he could. Please please please please. Not you. I can't lose you.

Interactions: MarieK | Key of Stars | Vrai | ressie ​

 

[Key of Stars]

Darin took the knife out of his mouth with a frown when his captain ran off, muttering something about wasting his antidote and grumbling about the time it would take to make new doses of antidote. He quickly stopped complaining, putting the dagger back in its sheath at his hip. He felt annoyingly underarmed having placed his sabre and his second dagger on the deck to avoid losing them in the stormy water but now that his captain had a different plan that didn't involve him jumping into the cold and dark he felt stupid for having done so.

He took the musket wrapped in his captain's coat and heard out the order before responding with a nod. "Aye captain, I won't let you down." The captain ran off and Darin's eyes trailed after her for just a moment before he nodded to Jerome and headed for the mast. "You better hold this thing off, I'm not planning on dying to some oversized seafood ya hear me?" He shouted to Jerome while ducking under a tentacle lashing out at him and countering with a hard punch of his scale clad fist.

One slippery and exhausting climb later, Darin finally made it to the crow's nest, or at least what was left of the crow's nest which was just barely enough for him to stand on. He shrugged the large gun off his shoulder where he had strapped it in and tried to assume a shooting position, careful not to remove the coat until he was confident in being able to make the shot. Finding a steady shooting position was proving to be a lot harder than Darin had expected, he tried resting the barrel of the musket on the last remaining bit of railing in the crow's nest but with the ship shaking violently on the waves and under the kraken's relentless assault it provided little to no stability. The rope was getting in Darin's way constantly as he shifted his legs into several positions, so much so that, even if it was his only safety net, he seriously considered cutting it.

Eventually, he found a position that allowed him to keep the gun reasonably steady, his back pressed against the railing of the crow's nest, one of his legs dangling off the edge and the other folded in a V shape with the gun resting on his knee, the rope was awkwardly folded around both of his legs and he would have to be careful while standing up to not trip over it but he had ultimately decided against cutting it. For the first time since climbing up, Darin looked down at the creature he was going to shoot and cursed loudly.

Against his expectations, the creature had poked its head out of the water again but instead of providing him with a clear shot like it should have it had made his life way harder because Yeka was now dangling from the creature's face by what he assumed was some kind of knife. If he was still down there he would have been able to run up and shoot the creature from point-blank range but he knew there wouldn't be enough time to get back down, the creature might have already gone back underwater by that time.

He noticed Jerome running over and for a moment he was annoyed the boy had abandoned his position defending him but he quickly pushed the thought aside, he was relatively safely secured, it was better for Jerome to go and safe Yeka. Darin looked down with renewed determination, pulling the coat off the musket and resting it on his knee. He lined up the barrel with the creature's eye only about a hair away from where Yeka was dangling and pulled the lock to full cock.

He couldn't afford to wait until Jerome had gotten Yeka out of there, all he could do was shoot to the best of his abilities, hope he didn't hit her and trust Jerome would be able to catch her afterwards. After muttering something that sounded a lot more like a string of some very original curses than a prayer he took a final deep breath before pulling the trigger. The sharp ear-piercing wail told him he had hit his mark but his victory was short-lived as he felt the rope tighten around his ankle, he bit out one final curse before he was pulled off the platform.

Interactions: GreedyBoy MarieK Mentions: Vrai

 

[ressie]

The Rat stuck something in his hand, and Nokky immediately wished he hadn’t. The dagger felt cold and artificial in his grip, like an icy parasite that didn’t belong anywhere near him. But Nokky took it. He stood where the elder boy said, and locked his eyes on the edge of the ship naught 10 feet away from him.

The screams of crew members and gurgling of the monster beneath them sent chills down Nokky’s spine. Gripping the blade between his fragile fingers for dear life, Nokky felt painfully alone. With nothing but a dagger in his hand, and a rope tied several feet above him, he was alone.

Nokky winced when Darin plunged the poison dagger into the creature’s eye earlier, and did so again when the same attack came from Yeka. He felt for the creature. As savage, and certainly terrifying as it was, Nokky couldn’t help but admire it for its will, and sympathize for its pain. Such an immense display of power deserved to be respected. Enemy or not

As the boy watched on, something about the monster’s movements stuck out to him. The way it reacted, Nokky noticed, wasn’t in a way of panic or defense. They were aggressive, and calculated. The ship and crew weren’t simply trespassers in a beast’s territory. They weren’t being fended off. They were being hunted.

Before he could react, the monstrous tentacle crashed onto the deck of the ship, shattering the section of railing in front of Nokky into a confetti of splinters. Shards exploded in all directions, some of them grazing the boy’s cheek as he turned away just in time to avoid a life of blindness.

The tentacle, even at its thinnest point, was thicker than Nokky’s own torso, and in an instant the boy’s face ran pale. A knife suddenly seemed very, very pitiful.

Nokky wasn’t quite sure what happened next. Thinking back on it, he would probably guess that he died, right then and there. Crushed. Bashed to a bloody pulp into the mast behind him….

…Or at least he should have been…

The tentacle before Nokky coiled back, and in a flash threw itself with all its momentum toward the ship’s mast and the small boy who stood before it. The knife in his hand trembled with his fear, but for a split second, something more powerful than fear took its place, and Nokky’s eyes went cold.

“We are not prey...”

The words echoed in the boy’s mind, clear as day, but what actually came from his lips was something much more sinister, and almost demonic-sounding. Something that wasn’t English.

As if time itself stopped, the tentacle froze. Mere inches from Nokky’s face, the ghastly appendage hovered there, dripping with seawater, sludge, and the blood of the crew it had massacred. And after what could have been as short as a second or a long as eternity, the tentacle slowly recoiled, sliding back off the side of the ship. Nokky watched it go, and if his mind didn’t know better, he would have almost called it a thing of beauty.

But then a crack broke the air.

And throughout all of Nokky’s years on this earth, he had never heard a scream so anguished.

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[Vrai]

Yeka fought for hold on the dagger; determined, now that she had struck it, to not let the creature off easily. Instead of letting go as the monster's eye lurched above the railing, she slipped through the slat - which was possible, given her size - and continued to hang on.

So long as it doesn't pull me too high, I can jump back down to the ship. This she told herself, with what she thought was clarity finally cutting through the panic. She tried to move, to twist the dagger or extend the gash, but it was lodged firmly in the monster's eye. She was about to claw into its flesh to get more leverage when she heard Jerome behind her. "Let go and grab my hand!"

Yeka turned. They were nearly at the top of the ropes, and Jerome's hand reached through the rain towards her, too far for her to grab. She had allowed herself to be pulled farther away from the ship than she realized. Yeka looked to the deck, then to the knife that was still stuck in the beast, then back to Jerome. She nodded.

She let go of the dagger, and sprung herself off the monster using her feet. The wind howled, and she feared she would be knocked off-course in the air. Stretching her hand as far as she could, she finally latched on to warm fingers, and exhaled with a noise that was more like a sob.

Before she could catch her bearings on the ropes, there was the sound of an explosion, and Yeka felt a force behind her. She was pushed forward, falling onto the rigging, still clinging to Jerome's hand. The great tentacle beast screamed, a true sound of pain, and Yeka thought this continued for an impossibly long time before she realized that what she thought was still the scream was actually her ears ringing.

Yeka steadied herself. She made sure that she and Jerome both were secure on the ropes. And then she cautioned a look back towards the beast. Poison Man's dagger was nowhere to be seen; instead, half of its eye was now a mess of gore. She saw the clear eyelid, like that of a fish, hanging loose, unable to close. Her meager breakfast started to rise in her throat, and she turned away.

On the deck, there was Ghost Boy, who had arrived so recently that Yeka hadn't actually memorized his name. He had been tailing Jerome, and had given her a funny look earlier, but she hadn't had time to think about it. Had it been terror? The boy now stood solidly on deck, also looking out towards the beast.

Yeka suddenly felt the hairs on her neck rise. She had a sense of something. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she knew it was there, like when she had been certain that part of the forest near her farm was haunted but her parents hadn't believed her. There was something else hanging around the ship, and she couldn't tell whether it was coming from Ghost Boy's direction, or from the entire vessel itself.

And then - with another awful lurch, she noticed a body swinging from the mast. No - not a body, she thought; the figure was attached by the ankle. As for the person dangling from the end - was that Darin?

Interactions: GreedyBoy Mentions: Key of Stars ressie​

 

[MarieK]

Interacts with: Key of Stars and Mikotsuhime

Mentions: GreedyBoy Vrai Joytex

Scarlet watched as the scene before her unfolded as if in slow motion with jagged pieces that fit awkwardly to form a gut-wrenching present. Jerome abandoned orders, racing over to save Yeka. Fortunately, he had reached her in time, but it had left Darin alone to fend for himself.

Having reached the deck just as the rope around his ankle tightened and yanked him off his feet, Scarlet fixed her eyes on the mast and bolted over to it, picking up a second rope along the way. Placing an unsheathed dagger in her mouth, she shrugged the rope over her shoulder, and scaled the mast. Her muscles burned with exhaustion. Fighting the storm and the monster had taken its toll. But adrenaline subdued the pain and her limbs obeyed, albeit a bit more sluggishly than before.

Once high enough, she handed the rope to the man then tied the other end securely to the mast as soon as he had captured it in his hands.

"Tie it around your waist and hold on to it," she called out, her throat raw from having to yell over the storm all night. "I'll cut the other."

Once the rope had been cut and Darin was safely on the deck again, Scarlet released a breath.

As if the storm was somehow tied to the monster, it died down considerably. A drizzle was all that was left of the hurricane-like storm. Withdrawing the compasses from her pocket, she went to the wheel and righted its course. They were back on course.

But something dark had settled within her expression.

Scarlet faced her crew, or what was left of it, and placed one hand on the hilt of her blade while letting the other hang off the wheel.

"You've done it! You defeated the monster of legend, the very one that has sent numerous ships to the bottom of the sea and has sent countless souls to their demise. There is no turning back now. We will stay our course and reap the riches our bravery has earned us."

Her words were colored with the pride and gratitude she felt for her crew.

Scarlet let her words dangle in the air as the darkness returned, intensifying the blue in her eyes. She had a plan, but it could very well backfire. If it was going to work, she would need Cook's help, but first she needed to have a talk with the old captain.

-

The deck was littered with the aftermath of the battle, but Scarlet had more pressing matters to attend to before she could think to start the cleanup. Taking the stairs two at a time, she was below deck and standing in front of the door to the room where Captain was being held, in no time. The one guard remaining gave her a disgruntled look for having disturbed his slumber. How any man could have slept through such an event was beyond her, but she ignored the man and stepped around him to open the door.

Or at least she tried.

His hand caught her wrist. "Ye need to remain on deck, Captain."

He spat her title as if it were coated with bile. If she hadn't been sure the new crew had something up their sleeve, she was now.

The man's eyes rounded then narrowed at the feel of her dagger's point digging into his lower abdomen.

"Go help clean the deck. We'll discuss your future on this ship later." She kept her voice low and even, but she wanted nothing more than take care of the swine right then.

No. She had to be cautious.

He grumbled something incoherent as he went, but it didn't sound like he was complimenting her on her defensive skills.

Without bothering to knock, she went inside the room and found Captain tied up- something she had instructed the men not to do.

Tears came unbidden, but she didn't move to dispose of them. Instead, she swallowed and looked to the wall behind him.

The brave, ambitious Scarlet's shoulders shook with the effort to restrain the bitter sob that rose up in chest. A pathetic, muffled cry followed in her wake as she shut the door behind her and walked over to a barrel. Splaying her fingers out against the top, she leaned forward and allowed the emotion to subside.

When it had, she cleared her throat. Keeping her back to him, she murmured, "It-it was awful. So much senseless death. I-I didn't mean to... I didn't know..."

Pathetic. The word churned her stomach and permeated her thoughts. She sounded pathetic.

The breadth of her shoulders tensed. She had never felt so silly, but then he had seen her break once before when he had rescued her. The memory was bitter-sweet. Nothing could repair their broken relationship, now.

Unless she could make him proud...

And she would. She promised herself that she would find the staff and make him realize she was capable of great things.

Fingers clutched the side of the barrel, her knuckles whitening at the tightness of their desperate hold, as if holding onto it allowed her to cling to the last shred of sanity and hope that remained.

The sob rose up again, choking her. "So much death."

She released a shaky breath and forced herself to rein in her emotions. When she turned to him, residue from the tears stained her flushed cheeks, but they had ceased falling. Rubbing her arms, a vacancy clouded her gaze as she recalled the events.

"The monster tossed the men around like apples, tentacles the color of evil slicing the air, nearly invisible in the storm. I tried. I tried. Nothing seemed to work. Then the ship's wheel seemed to turn on its own. It saved us. It was as if it knew what to do and acted on its own accord."

She shook her head, wet tendrils of hair flinging rain as she did. "I'm not able to keep the crew safe. I can't do it. I nearly led them to their deaths tonight, Captain. If it hadn't been for the ship..."

Scarlet could hear the madness of her words. The ship. Moving by itself. Saving them.

It sounded impossible. Yet, she had a feeling he would understand, that he know what had happened and assure her that she wasn't crazy.​

 

[GreedyBoy]

Fuck off if he was not getting drunk tonight. Jerome panted. His arm ached badly, the rope digging into his skin, "Fuck." He leaned his head back against the ropes, eyes closed as he clung onto Yeka's hand still. He didn't need to, but he needed to know that she was still there. His contentment lasted for a moment before the rigger snapped back to reality, hearing the new captain's congratulations. The sense of pride was short lived as dread started to sink in. He didn't know who had been thrown off. Jerome was ashamed to say that he didn't care for Scarlet's new crew. He felt a hint of guilt but still, the idea of any of his family being tossed over the side made him feel sick.

The boy looked down to Yeka with a shaky smile, "You owe me one." He let her hand go and they finally made their desent down the ropes.

Jerome hit the hard floor of the deck and fell flat on his stomach, kissing the solid wood, "Sweet, sweet solid ground." He didn't care much for the taste nor the filth that was ingrained in the wood from the boots desperately running around. He may be a rigger and in the heights may be his home, but even he was glad to be steady on his feet. The storm had faded away and Jerome rolled on his back, closing his eyes and feeling the pleasant drizzle kissing his eyelids. Letting out one last, "fuck!" For good measure, he got to his feet and looked up at the ratlines. Now the wind wasn't as unforgiving and the clouds were parting to allow rays of light, he could see the mess of the ropes. Jerome rolled his shoulders, anticipating the work ahead. No-one said being a pirate was easy.

It wasn't like other people couldn't climb the ratlines or handle the ropes, or else Jerome would never get a moment of rest, but he knew he would be the one to do the majority of the repairs up high. Balance and a lack of fear of heights came naturally to him unlike most. He could stay up there for hours on end and open did. But when the ship was going through hurricane-like winds and being attacked by a creature of mythical infamy and power, no-one could blame him for wanting a little time on deck.

Surely, the captain would give them all a bit of a breather, tend to their wounds and regroup. The damage to the ropes wasn't all too bad. A sail needed to be sown up and ratlines repaired but it wasn't like they couldn't steer the ship. They just had to take it easy.

Jerome began peeling off the bandages on his hands. They were loose and ruined from the rain and he hadn't noticed the blood beforehand. There were places on his palm where the rope had rubbed away the skin. He flexed his fingers with a wince.

It was then something dawned on him. Nokky.

His head shot up and amber eyes scanned the deck. He caught sight of the small pale boy and ran towards him, "Oh god." Without hesitation and despite his aching arms, he swept up Nokky into his embrace, hugging him tight, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I needed to go help Yeka, I'm sorry for leaving you alone."

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Mentions: MarieK ​

 

[Mikotsuhime]

When the kraken retreated, it felt like the danger had passed. Captain wasn't entirely sure it was gone for good, but for now, at least, he could rest.

He felt boneless. Every muscle hurt, and even blinking took effort. But the ship was in one piece. Once he had a rest and got something to eat, he might be able to work on reinforcing it, fixing some of the less obvious damage. The ship itself was known for being incredibly hardy, but keeping it that way took strength.

He had very, very little strength now.

He looked up when Scarlet entered, and politely looked away from her show of emotion. He wanted to comfort her, but between the ropes and the lack of strength, he could do nothing but let her have her moment.

"You made a mistake," he said finally, his voice rough and scratchy. His throat was hoarse from the night before, and he sighed out a soft breath as he tried to shift position.

He closed his eyes when it felt like the world was tilting. When it righted itself, he opened them again. He'd managed to wiggle so he was sitting up rather than slumped over.

"You didn't realize your limits. We've paid the price for that, and there's nothing I can do to take that pain away."

He would if he could. He hadn't asked if they'd lost any of his crew. He was terrified to, the words sticking in his throat every time they tried to come out.

"But you're still alive. The ship is still sailing, and there are enough people left to keep her afloat. It doesn't feel good, but that itself is a victory."

He looked her over, taking in her wretched figure. She was so very, very young. Perhaps he had just lived so long that loss and failure no longer affected him as strongly, but she looked much the way she had when she was a child. It hurt his heart, to see her brought so low.

He wondered if he should hate her for what she had done. He supposed a part of him should. She had risked everything, and it had taken so much of his strength to keep things from falling apart.

But that was part of being a captain. He had learned it after living on the sea for a few years. She would learn it too, if she wanted to keep captaining the ship.

When she mentioned the wheel, the corner of his mouth quirked up. Hm. He should have known that, even in the midst of all the chaos, she would notice.

"Well, this here ship is a bit mysterious sometimes," he said with a hoarse chuckle. "It takes care of its own. You might think it strange or crazy, but it's not something you should worry about."

He supposed he should explain, but really, he didn't want her to think that he had saved her. It would hurt her confidence far more to hear those words than any admonishment he could think of.

"Now, if you need to cry, get it all done in here. You've made a mistake, and all you can do is learn from it. You're the captain now, and the crew is going to look to you. You need to put on a brave face for them, if nothing else. You've set your goal, and I know you're far too stubborn to abandon it, so you need to see it through. I can't lie and say I'm too pleased about being taken prisoner, or the poison thing, but it is what it is."

He wasn't entirely sure he was making sense. His throat was hurting, and once again, he really wished he knew better the words of comfort that humans needed to hear. This was where you were supposed to give your daughter a hug, right? Or would the poisoning and the mutiny have negated that? He didn't remember his own mother, but he had a feeling that if he'd poisoned her, she would have just been proud.

He was beginning to think he really didn't understand the concept of family as well as he thought.

"The fact that you made it through last night means that the ship has acknowledged you, however you wish to interpret that. I can't quite explain it in a way that makes sense. Consider it the ravings of a mad old man if you want. All things considered, you're still here. You've done well enough with that alone."

 

[Tetro]

"You've done it! You defeated the monster of legend, the very one that has sent numerous ships to the bottom of the sea and has sent countless souls to their demise. There is no turning back now. We will stay our course and reap the riches our bravery has earned us."

Elijah stared up at Adelaide, beaten, bruised, and bloody, listening to her words of praise. While they provided no comfort, a part of him knew she at least meant in on some level. She saved him from Samuel afterall, but whether she did it because she cared or because Elijah's death meant losing the only doctor on board, he didn't know for sure. Elijah let out a sigh, sheathing his dagger and cutlass before going to work assisting everyone who was wounded.

-

Elijah had heard stories of the beast before but never thought he'd live to see it for himself, let alone fight it. Being the only doctor on board, he knew he had to take care of everyone else first before he could worry about himself, including the man who had tried to kill him. After Adelaide had crippled Samuel, Elijah removed the blade from his back and seared the wound shut with the heat of his cutlass. Once the fighting was over, Elijah had taken Samuel to his part of the ship, leaving him in one of the beds before going back to help everyone else.

The remaining crew members didn't need much attention from what he could tell, with the exception of putting a few dislocated limbs back into place and making sure those who were severely wounded weren't on death's door. And while Elijah had seen the Fool dangling from his ankle earlier, he knew the boy wouldn't die from such a thing and let someone else take care of it. The Fool deserved a little punishment anyhow. Most of his attention was on the little one, Nokky, and Jerome, who was holding the lad. Elijah walked up to the two, keeping his voice low, "Hey, you two, let's get below deck. You need new bandages," he referred to Jerome, "and this one needs a quiet place." He put either hand on Jerome and Nokky's back, "come on." He lead them both away, keeping himself close as the three made their way below deck.

Mentions: MarieK Key of Stars
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[ressie]

Nokky's heart was pounding. As soon as the great being of the sea slipped cold and lifeless beneath the surface, his hands resumed their trembling, not that he noticed them stop or even start in the first place. The boy looked down, and as if the dagger itself had bit him, dropped the wretched thing immediately. No sooner had it clattered to the deck than did the boy get scooped up by a very animated Jerome.

Sorry??

Nokky puzzled over the word as the elder boy held him tight. Sorry for what?? The Rat didn't owe him anything. If anything, Nokky was indebted to him for leading him away from the fray and back to the cabin last night when he was utterly useless.

Pathetic...A grimace crossed Nokky's face, though there really was no indication what for.

As the boy sat there, hovering above the deck and aloft more or less helplessly in the Rat's arms, Nokky felt something warm slide down his forearm.

"B-...Bleeding..." the boy muttered.

He couldn't remember the last time he spoke to a crew-mate that wasn't the Captain. Come to think of it- had he ever?? It wasn't that Nokky had a particular dislike for anyone onboard the ship. They were all capable to some degree or another, and none of them seemed to have a vendetta against him directly... well, maybe Darin did... but the majority of the crew treated him with what he amounted to respect, and that respect he returned in full. But this was something different. There was something strange in the Rat's voice. Something elusive, yet glaringly evident that Nokky couldn't quite pin down.

And oh how it would irk him.

Suddenly, a flash of panic overtook Nokky. His eyes grew wide, and the subdued, confused little boy started to squirm and groan with annoyance. He had to see to the Captain.
He had to.

He had a duty. And that duty was to serve and tend to the needs of the head of this ship.

Interactions: GreedyBoy and Tetro by association
Mentions: Key of Stars and Mikotsuhime .....or is it MarieK ?? oohh, suspenseful...​

 

[GreedyBoy]

Jerome's bright eyes widened.

Did Nokky just...talk? To him?! Shit, he really should hug people more often. The rigger had never heard the boy speak. Sure a few sounds but never words. Elijah's words snapped him out of his stupor and he let out a rather unintentionally loud, "hm?!" Before his brain finally caught up and he realised the Doctor was leading him to re-dress his bandages. But Nokky was putting up a fuss. The white haired boy clicked his tongue,

"Come on, Noks, you can't just stay up here." He let go of the small boy and let Elijah usher him downstairs.

Jerome cautiously opened his palms wide once more and winced, "Ouch, fuck!" Clenching them, moving his fingers. It all fucking hurt. Great. He rolled up his sleeve to get a proper look at his forearm. Red and rubbed raw. Sure, his hands were strong, of course they were. But the strength and resistance he gained from working the ropes was sometimes overtaken by the cruel lashings he recieved from those devilish lines.

As much as he hated to admit it, Jerome was barely a man. He sure didn't act like one but then again, that depended on one's definition of a man. But he had turned nineteen not three months prior. And yet he felt no change. In fact, he still kept his childish antics and carefree immaturity. Recent events had been somewhat of a reality check for him and...he didn't like it.

With Jerome's young hands, they should be in their prime. And yet, he couldn't stop his fingers from shaking. Why couldn't he stop them shaking? He wasn't scared. He wasn't... The boy clenched his hands together with a soft curse of pain. That seemed to subdue the tremors for now. He gently let them go.

It was fine. He was overreacting. He was just in shock that was all it was. Nothing he hadn't dealt with before. No-one could walk away from that battle unscathed mentally or physically. The boy could already feel the mental toll setting in. Not so much what had been but what could have been. Yeka falling to her death. Darin missing his shot. Jerome making a fatal error in leaving Nokky alone. The ropes he had known for so long letting him down. Falling...falling with the knowledge that nothing would break his fall. No rope would tighten. Just...falling. Jerome wasn't scared of falling so much as he was scared of the rather messy conclusion. The rat falling to death from the ratlines. Irony in the first degree.

Jerome allowed his mind to wander more as to what would happen if he exhausted his usefulness on this ship. Would he just be tossed out at the next docking? Alone in the streets again. No purpose. No family. Just a scared little orphan again. This time he didn't like his chances on picking a pocket that led to a life like this.

The rat violently shook his head. Overthinking wasn't nice. Drinking stopped overthinking. God, when he finally had some time alone, he would made like some of Scarlet's crew and drown in it.

Too early?

Nah.

"Hey Doc, uh, how long do you think my hands have left before they...y'know." He didn't have to elaborate.

Interactions: ressie | Tetro ​

 

[MarieK]

Interacts with: Mikotsuhime

"You made a mistake."

The words richocheted inside the caverns of her mind, testing the stability of the hardened walls only to leave behind a few cracks in her ever crumbling composure. A scream inched up her throat. It stemmed from denial and a sense of rejection that a rough childhood had long left behind. Try as the man might, he could have never uprooted it. Some would have called the woman a hopeless cause, but whatever she was, it wasn't stable.

Scarlet noticed the quirk of his mouth because she had been watching for it. It gave her the answer she had come for.

He had lied.

No. Not really. He had only said she could have the ship if she could handle it. Captain had never turned ownership over to her.

Raw rage filled her bones and clouded her judgment as her facade fell away and tears turned to lava in her eyes.

If she were honest with herself, the reason she was so angry was not because he did not believe in her, but because he had withheld some form of power from her. Scarlet could have just asked him for the truth, instead of putting on such a pitiful performance, but she hadn't wanted to risk him concealing the knowledge from her. Now that she knew, there was no turning back.

He had sealed his fate. He had sealed all their fates.

Turning a dagger over in her hand, her tongue pressed against her cheek as she debated on her next move. This man whom she once thought as a father, deserved the plank. His continued existence would only threaten her chances of obtaining the artifact.

But she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not yet.

Using the dagger in her hand, she cut the ropes that held him. As she did, she kept an eye open for whatever tricks he might think to pull. He might have been in a weakened state, but she wasn't so foolish as to believe he wouldn't try to overtake her.

Once all the ropes had been cut, she stepped out of his reach and stood upright.

"I've done more than well," she commented, her tone low and icy. "Because of me, we've beaten an unbeatable monster and have gotten that much closer to treasure that will forever alter our legacies. Whatever you're hiding, whatever influence you have over this vessel, it will not stand in my way. Because if it does, I'll make you wish we'd all been drowned and eaten by that beast."

She shifted to leave, but hesitated, looking off at something unseen in a distant corner. Confusion registered in her eyes, but she blinked and it was gone just as quickly. Scarlet looked back to Captain, an indecipherable emotion reflected in her eyes before she shuttered it and stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

Outside the door, she glanced down at trembling hands and fisted them to stop the shaking. After a few deep breaths, the quivering receded, leaving her tired.

Two weeks. Only two more weeks...​

 

[Vrai]

Yeka did her best to help Jerome down from the ropes, which mostly meant keeping herself from stumbling, even though her legs and hands were shaking. When he embraced the deck and finally rolled over on his back, Yeka sat down beside him, savoring the feeling of being at rest.

"Fuck!" he exclaimed, as he stood up to inspect the lines as though he'd forgotten about them.

Yeka, too, glanced over the damage. Then she willfully closed her eyes as the sun started to brighten. "I don't want to care about it right now."

The new captain had tried to praise them in a voice that seemed too cheerful and with words that sounded fake. Like they were children passing some kind of test. But Hat Captain had seemed as desperate as the rest of them during the battle. Surely she was being tested as well?

She thought over the gore of the monster and the screams of those pulled overboard. She thought about the woman from the new crew with black hair, who she could no longer see on the deck. They were pirates, sure. They defended themselves and lifted wealth off those who weren't strong enough to keep a hold of it. But something like this -? Well - she supposed that they had acted in self-defense, and also that the kraken hadn't been strong enough to keep a hold on something (its territory) that they wanted. So this fit in with the general things they said they did.

It still felt wrong. She wasn't supposed to be here. They were supposed to be waiting for that salt merchant ship from Hynes, and then once they looted it they would repackage the salt and sell it right back in the city. There would be enough money for a couple meals of good food, and in between Yeka would sit on the big steps in the plaza of the city and watch all the rich people go by, admiring all the embroidery on their clothes, especially the pieces with shiny metallic thread that caught the light. And one day Yeka would have enough money stashed away to buy metallic thread, or even better, they would find it on a ship one day. One day. But that day now seemed unreachable, since she was pretty sure there were no rich people with fancy thread where they were going.

Jerome made a sound again and ran to go after Ghost Boy. Yeka got up and followed him, awkwardly standing to the back. She still didn't know the boy's name. And then when Doctor came along to look at the crew, she showed him that she had no injuries and pointed him towards the pair. Jerome's hands were messed up, but as for Ghost Boy...he was probably stunned. She felt like she was inexperienced in the world; this had to be a lot for a child.

When they departed, Yeka's eyes searched the deck until she found Hat Captain. She didn't like what the woman had said earlier. And she debated going up and asking her about it, in some way that wouldn't get her thrown offboard, when Scarlet started to walk with intent towards the staircase that went below deck.

Yeka turned to see if anybody was looking at her. Everybody was busy doing something to clean up the deck. With that, she quietly headed for the staircase, trying to seem inconspicuous.

She saw the brim of the hat just as it turned a corner. Yeka carefully trailed the new captain, hanging behind out of sight. At first she tried to pick up on Scarlet's scent, but her faculties were barely better than those of a normal girl and the air smelled too much like rain. So she closed her eyes and focused on the sound of footsteps just ahead of her. Most people were up on deck by this point, and besides, she could pick out Hat Captain's boots. Scarlet seemed to be walking too quickly to pay attention to anybody behind her.

Yeka was about to make another turn when one of the new crew members came in the opposite direction, a man with a surly expression. He pushed her to the side as they passed each other in the narrow hallway.

"Hey -" Yeka started, then immediately regretted it.

She looked behind her. The man made a dismissive motion with his hand. So he was just upset, nothing personal. She squared her shoulders and, moving as stealthily as possible, continued to go further.

She was left staring at a door at the end of the hall. And from the inside, she heard voices. The new captain and the old one both. From her distance, she couldn't make out most of the words, and she was afraid to go any closer. It sounded like Scarlet was...crying?

Yeka thought back to Hat Captain's nervousness after the monster. The poison that had come and gone quickly. It had looked painful, but...what if the old captain had been pretending? What if he had put Scarlet up to all of this?

The new captain spoke again, sounding cold. Yeka didn't know what to think. She stood silent, straining to hear, until she realized that there were footsteps again on the other side of the door. Yeka scrambled backwards, ducking down another passage and hiding behind a crate just as she heard the door crash open and then slam shut.

But she noticed that, instead of continuing away from the room, the footsteps had stopped.


Interactions: GreedyBoy Tetro MarieK (indirectly?)
Mentions: ressie Mikotsuhime​

 

[Key of Stars]

Darin was glad to be back on deck, he was a bit sore but thanks to Scarlet's quick rescue he didn't sustain any actual injuries that would require a visit to the ship's doctor. He picked up the coat from where he had accidentally dropped it during his fall and handed it to his captain along with the musket that he had been able to hold on to even while falling. "Thanks for the save captain, this is already proving to be one hell of an adventure." He said with a grin.

He listened to her speech with little interest, taking glances at the people around him instead. He was glad to see that no one from the original crew was missing. He had definitely been having fun fighting the creature, it might be odd considering the number of people who died but as far as Darin was concerned none of those people were important. He didn't trust the new crew in the slightest, at least now if they wanted to riot they would have to be careful after losing this many fighters.

After Scarlet's speech he made his way to where he had plunged his sabre and dagger into the deck. He let out a slight sigh of relief when he noticed his sabre still standing from far away but the closer he got the more that relief got replaced with anger. "Which one of you bastards took my dagger?!" He shouted across the ship while pulling his sabre out from the deck, voice booming above the storm. "Do you know how much fuckin time it takes to make one of those?"

He loudly cursed, he didn't expect anyone to own up to taking his dagger and he definitely wasn't getting it back. He was planning on resting and making another dose of antidote but now he was going to have to spend the better part of today slaving away making a new dagger.

He sat down against a part of the ship railing that was still intact and pulled out the new dagger he had taken from the ship's storeroom. He had always used standard daggers as the base of his poisoned daggers to make them reasonably easy to replace but that didn't mean it wasn't a major pain in the ass to do. He took out a small handmade tool and put it on the blade of the new dagger, carving a small channel into it with fast and precise movements all the while grumbling about having to waste his day working on a new dagger instead of doing something more useful and exciting.

MarieK

 

[Tetro]

Elijah worked quietly, letting Nokky and Jerome sit beside one another on the only other available bed. Only, Elijah tied Nokky to it by the ankle from all the fussing that the lad was doing, but he did give him a blanket to stay warm and comfortable. He moved his chair so he'd be sat in front of Jerome, putting on his glasses to get a better look at Jerome's hands and forearms. "Hmmm," he thought to himself, gently poking and pressing certain spots and listening and watching for the boy's reactions. "You did a real number on yourself out there." He stood up and walked over to one of his crates, opening and sifting through it. Elijah took out a few rolls of bandages and a large bottle filled with water, crushed-up plants, and a few rocks. When Jerome asked Elijah the question he thought for a second, sitting back down in his chair. "If you keep handling rope, you'll lose all feeling in a week. Now bite this," he put a clean cloth in Jerome's mouth then dumped most of the liquid on Jerome's hands and forearms.

Elijah set the bottle down and used another cloth to pat the red areas dry before bandaging both of Jerome's hands all the way up to his elbows. "I doubt Adelaide plans on stopping anywhere to resupply, so keep these bandages clean and dry as best you can for the next few days. If anyone tries making you do any work, tell me and I'll set them straight. I don't have much left to treat an infection." Elijah turned his attention to Nokky. "Hey, you doing alright?" He knew the boy was in shock but didn't know what kind yet. Some people stopped speaking, some people didn't stop speaking, and some people didn't speak right ever again. But Nokky wasn't an adult, and Elijah hadn't had as many children trauma patients as adults. This wasn't unfamiliar territory, but it was new enough that he wanted to be careful. "How are you feeling?"

GreedyBoy ressie