"Well for starters you can start by trying to hit the mast as if it were a person. With a quarter-staff you want to hold it about a quarter of the way to one end, hence the name, and hit with the longer part. Keep doing that while I go get my armor on."
Jimmy jogs back to the ladder and up to his shelf where he hastily dons his armor before making his way back into the hold
As Gwenhwyfar comes back down with her staff, Destinée follows her, jumps on one of the barrels and sits down to watch Jimmy and Gwenhwyfar announcing her presence with a "Meow"
But as more talking seems to be afoot she starts cleaning herself, applying her tongue to her fur.
Gwenhwafar starts hitting the mast as if beating the dust out of a carpet.
At first holding back a bit
But building up more and more courage
She finally manages to even get a dent in the mast.
The captain shouts from above, und you notice, that it's not followed by his usual jolly 'Hahaha'.
"I think its time you start having a go at me instead" Jimmy says with a grimace as the captain shouts down to them. "Sorry captain! I didn't expect her to be able to hit it that hard" He shouts up through the grating
She blushes again, being embarrassed to be scolded by the captain and as Jimmy calls back she can't even deny it any more, that it was her.
She turns to Jimmy trying to hide her embarrassment, but to no avail and asks "Shoud I hit you just like the mast?" and after another tought adds "Should I hit you hard, or rather not so hard?"
Tauriell chuckles as she sees Gwen hit that mast like an old lady would hit a thief with her walking stick. But what she lacks in technique she compensates in vigor. That purse-snatcher would get the beating of his life.
"Well, we still have a few days on the boat so try not to dent my skull." Jimmy enters a defensive posture, "Lets see what you can do" he motions for her to attack him
Gwenhwyfar measures the distance to Jimmy, comes a few steps closer, and then one sep back again, until she feels the distance is right. Standing with her feet close togeter. She then again raises the quarterstaff in one hand and starts dusting Jimmy out, aiming for his shield.
Loosing the grip on her staff she throws the staff at Jimmy where it bounces off somewhere into the room.
Startled she covers hermauth with her hand. "Ooops. Sorry 'bout that."
Destinée is also startled and with a protesting "Meooow!" flees up the stairs back to the safe bunk bed.
"Its no problem, try standing with your feet further apart, it will give you better balance and allow you to put more force into your blows." He goes to fetch the quarterstaff and hands it back to her. "Gimme all you got Gwen" Jimmy urges as he enters a defensive posture,
Gwenhwyfar corrects her standing as told by Jimmy takes her staff in both hands this time and starts battering his shield again.
After hitting a few times, she asks "Was that better?"
You hear the Captain shouting from the upper deck again. And with that he seems to be back to his jolly self.
"Your last few strikes were weaker than the ones before, but i think you may just be getting tired." Jimmy says with a smile "But all in all you are surprisingly good"
She smiles at Jimmy for his compliment "So what now?" she asks as no further advice for improvement was given.
"Now what we do is up to you, we can spar or continue with our day
"Ooops. It's noon already and I haven't started with lunch yet. I better get going. I don't want to upset the Captain with a late meal, after I beat up his ship." a little smirk on her face. "Maybe we can continue with that another time?"
"Sounds good to me, Tauriell wants to talk to me anyway." Jimmy makes his way back up to the bunks where he takes off his armor, checking it thoroughly and checking his shield for any damage, pleased to not find any.
He then goes off to find Tauriell
Jimmy finds Tauriell standing at the rail of the ship watching a school of dolphins in quite some distance. "I see she did spare you. Did you two have fun?"
"Fun, not so much, she hits bloody hard for a small girl" Jimmy shakes his shield arm.
"What did you want to talk to me about?"
Looking at Jimmy, her face a more serious expression, she starts "You tried to get to know me, and I brushed you off rather harsh. I won't pretend that I didn't mean it, but you deserve an explanation."
Standing beside you and gazing over the sea she starts "You meet someone, you get introduced, you make a mental note what they are called and what they look like. It's like planting a seed. And then you watch what they do, whom they meet, what decisions they take. Sometimes that little plant gets trampled, or uprooted and moved elsewhere. But some stay close in place and in mindset and that little plant grows up to become a tree. It's roots entangling with yours, it's branches sharing space with yours. You stabilize each other in the storms to come. It doesn't take much. I have literal trees as friends. But it takes time."
"Humans are so fickle. Today they are your friend, tomorrow they might be your enemy, there is no constancy. And if you find that one in hundred, that is worth your friendship..." She points to the shore where you can see the skyline of a forest. "See these trees. They've been there a hundred years ago, and they propably will be there in another hundred years." and pausing for a moment adding "As I was, and will be. But if you find a human to be a worthy friend, then he's most likely already on his deathbed."
Turning her head to look directly at you she continues "And you Mr. Jimmy Fiddle," to convey, that she made that mental note about you, "you are a fool. You make promises you can't keep. That shark? You went all in at fate's poker table and were lucky life didn't call your bluff. But you will not always win. Consider that when you set your stake."
Turning her gaze back over the sea she speaks "Don't get me wrong, I don't pass judgement on you. The decisions are your's to make and the consequences your burden to carry. And it's up to you or your god to tell if your decisions were good or ill advised. Your intentions I deem good. That makes you a kind-hearted fool, but nevertheless a fool. As of now I have a hard time imagining you, dying of old age."
Listening how her words linger she pauses for a moment, then adresses you again "But if you insist on us getting to know each other, just stay around a few decades and we'll see how it's growing." a deep melancholy in her eyes and her voice.
"I honestly don't know what to say to that Tauriell. But you are right, I am a fool. But I am happy with how I am living my life. I make promises not because I will always be able to keep them, but because making the promise forces me to behave in a certain way, it pushes me to be a better person." Jimmy stands at the railing next to Tauriell, looking over the sea, staying quiet for a long time. "I hope to die in my old age, but the life I lead is not conducive to that. I take risks that I probably shouldn't. I go "all in" as you put it. But I don't do it for myself. I'll take risks when it is for someone else, when someone else's life is in the balance I will risk mine to save theirs... Thinking about it, I don't know why I act the way I do."
Jimmy gets quiet again. turning around and leaning against the balustrade, looking up to the sky. "I hope to still be around in a few decades time, and I like to get to know all my traveling companions... He smiles a half smile at her.
Tauriel just watches the sea again waiting for Jimmy to process what he heard. One could notice that time is no pressing matter for her.
As Jimmy explains himself she turns to face him with a genuine smile. As he is finished she gives him some more time to be sure he said all he wanted to say.
"Thank you for sharing your motivations with me." Turning back to the sea she adds "I'll be there, and if you manage to survive these intentions you might even become one of those few."
"I think I might look forward to that." He says sincerely. "Thank you for explaining your actions to me as well. I know more about you now than I did before. So that is good in my books. Thank you" With that Jimmy walks back into the cabin and climbs onto his bunk, closing his eyes and thinking. He dozes off for a while with the rocking of the boat.
Gwenhwyfar notices Jimmy laying down in the bed in the middle of the day seemingly lost in deep thought. As she finishes the preparations for lunch she decides to check on him. Kneeling down beside his bunk she asks "Are you ok Jimmy?"
"Mostly, Tuariell just said some things that have made me think. Nothing bad. Just made me think... What do we have for lunch today?" Jimmy's tone changes from a rather distracted serious tone to a more cheerful one as he asks his question
"Ok then, if lunch brightens you up I can save my charm." she says with a coy smile. "It's vegetable stew today, but it's still half an hour 'til it's ready"
"Your charm, I'm sure that would cheer me up much better" Jimmy laughs in a friendly, nervous manner. "But stew sounds delicious aswell"
pushing forward her lower lip she makes a sulking face, returning to the kitchen and over her shoulder calls "I'll see to it, Mr. Fiddle, that you get your stew as soon as possible", disappearing in the kitchen and closing the door behind her.
Gwenhwyfar holds her mouth shut with her hands triying to supress any sound, but a chuckle can be heard in the floor.
The sulking was obviously put on to tease you
Jimmy is at a total loss as to why Gwen is upset. He sits there wide eyed as Gwen sulks away. He can't fathom what he has done that might have upset her so. After a few minutes he walks to the kitchen and tries to listen through the door as to what he can hear.
As she calms enough to no longer be in danger of directly bursting out in laughter she listens at the door what Jimmy does.
Noticing him on the other side of the door she pulls the door open shouting at him "Ha, gotcha" and with that she bursts into laughter falling back on the floor holding her belly. "You should have seen your face. Bwahahahahaha. " After another two minutes she is down to a continuous giggling and is able to respond again.
"Ummm... Well that went well. Did I upset you earlier Gwen? You seemed very upset? What did i do?"
Wiping her laughing tears off her cheeks and catching her breath she becomes more serious in an instant hearing Jimmy's words "Oh, Jimmy. I'm sorry" supressing another laugh she adds "I'm really sorry. I only pretended to be upset. I teased you and your response about my charm being better but my stew would also do, wasn't half bad, just a bit clumsy, but I couldn't resist." Shaking her head and pressing her lips together to prevent another outburst. "You did nothing wrong, you just swallowed my bait hook, line and sinker. I thought we'd both get a laugh out of it. I didn't expect my show to be so convincing."
She again tries to straighten up to get her giggling under control, with a concentrated exhale, and watching Jimmy, hoping his confusion will make way for some amusement.
Jimmy's frown slowly turns into a grin. He burts out with laughter at his stupidity and his inability to read the situation properly. "My people skills have never been the greatest so I thought I had properly put my foot in it. I'm glad i didn't upset you though."
Jimmy laughs for a while longer before becoming nervous and somewhat shy, "I wanted to double check something with you, and this whill be showing my poor people skills once more, but when you said your "charm" what exactly did you mean? Like magical charm? Or..."
Chuckling again a little bit she sets on her brightest smile looks into his eyes and explains "A lot of people in need of help in the temple thanked me, and told me that just me being around made them feel better. So if you had decided to choose the charm over the stew, I would have just smiled at you like I do now until you brighten up." her smile getting still brighter if that's even possible.
"Well I'm glad I didn't say I wanted the charm instead of the stew, as it seems I'm getting both now" Jimmy smiles back at Gwen. "Your smile has definitely made me more cheerful, thanks Gwen" He steps into the kitchen and sits down
"Quite on the contrary Jimmy. Had you asked for the charm you would have gotten it without showing off your 'great peoples skills', and everyone on this boat will get the stew anyway."
Thinking again she retracts that saying " On second thought, you made the right decision. I wouldn't have gotten to laugh that much otherwise. So thank you for that."
"It's a pleasure Gwen, an absolute pleasure." Jimmy says smiling at her, "How are you dealing with being away from home Gwen? You were so nervous and shy, you are opening up a lot. It's nice."
Abomentolor gets out of his bunk as the back and forth from the kitchen to the storage and back up again gets too much. If he can get no sleep, then lying around will do him no good at all. And so he decides to visit the Captain.
He takes a seat beside him intend on starting some smalltalk. "Good morning Captain"
shaking his head,
From there it goes straight down, deteriorating to some serious spinning of seaman's yarn. As the shark already grew to gargantuan, they start comparing the biggest and strangest sea creatures the captain has seen or catched so far like , omitting the fact, that this mermaid gave him the beating of his life for pulling her out of the sea.
That gets countered by stories of goblin killing culminating in Abomentolors greatest deed so far killing over a dozen goblins all on his own. That being the one that earned Abomentolor the title 'Goblinburner'. Not telling, that most of them found their fiery death in the inferno he caused setting the barn full of straw on fire.
Both of them giving the due respect and admiration to each others deeds completely ignoring the fact that all of that could at best be half true and having some really good time. The Captains jolly booming and the higher pitched laugh of the Gnome being the background noise on the ship for quite some time.
With Jimmy's comment Gwenhwyfar's eyes wander of in thought and she replies "It's not bad. You do a pretty good job distracting me." she adds smiling at you. "I miss my mum, especially when I have my prayer time in the morning." and gesturing around the kitchen ahe adds "And so far this adventure world is rather overseeable. It also helps, that I'm not the apprentice here. No one is looking through me to talk to the 'important' people."
"Overseeable" Jimmy says with mock seriousness as he bursts out laughing again. Once he calms down again "I'm glad you are managing okay. And you are the 'important people' on this boat, you are kind of the only one here who could save any of our lives if things go badly. I know I for one am very glad you decided to come along, and not just because you are a healer."
Jim Hawkins comes in from the deck, sticking his head into the kitchen. "Is lunch ready? The Captain is hungry. And there will be some sailor training on deck afterwards. So do I get a plate for me and the Captain already?"
Not very nice interrupting you like that, but at least no sleazy comments, like you would have gotten from the captain for sitting in the kitchen as it is.
Startled Gwenhwyfar jumps up, blushes again stuttering "Eh, sure.... One moment please." and nervously fumbling around with two bowls she manages to hand Jim the food and gets him out of the kitchen again.
There she is again. The shy Gwenhwyfar, who is in over her head. But it takes only a few moments for her to catch herself.
"I'll better see to handing out meals. Wanna help?"
She then fills the other four bowls and puts them, where Jimmy could take them if he wants.
Jimmy grabs two of the bowls and is off to find Tauriell and Abomentolor. He hands them the food with a "Courtesy of the cook" and a smile. He then makes his way back into the kitchen to his own bowl where he sits and waits for Gwen to take her seat and start her meal
As Jimmy is off with two bowls there is nothing more to do for her, so she places the other two bowls at her and Jimmy's sitting place and as Jimmy returns enjoys her meal together with him. "I think I slowly get a grip on this cooking."