"My condolences" Lhinneth states simply. "And... err... congratulations I guess?" she adds once it appears the Captain's newfound widow status also brought a ship with it.
The sweat and puke covered barbarian, smooths his hair with his hand, in an attempt to make him more presentable to this powerful woman, but only manages to smear the orange and brown contents of his stomach through his locks. He moves over to the captain, smiling he breathes the vapour of grog and bile into the face of the woman, "Cap'n, will be a pleasure to earn a fair share of treasure and to protect such a pretty one, 'specially as you have no man to look after yourself any more." He grins, hoping to impress her with his enthusiasm to work for her.
The effort of appearing sober, takes its toll and he stands, sways moving back from the table. "Ah don't shee why he would pull a gun on sssussch a fine lady, unlesssh you wasshh a very naughteeee lady." he winks in an over emphatic way.
"And I have ssuchhhh loverlee ladiesh with me in thish crew." he looks happily at Lilleth and Serrena, beaming a great smile to both of them..
Arven leaves a mark, smudged though it is, before taking one further drink and staggering to his room and collapsing into a deep slumber.
"Duly noted" Lhinneth replies to Captain Lanteri's statement. She's not particularly troubled by the revelation: marriages in the Shackles are often a short, tumultuous matter of passion and convenience, and like every alliance, prone to come to an abrupt and bitter end once horizons are crossed or weapons drawn.
"So where is it you want us to report in? I take your ship is among those anchored in the cove?" she eventually inquires, trying her best to avert her gaze from Arven's smile and the rotting pieces of half-digested food coming out of his mouth – a mouth she can't help but recall she kissed but a couple of hours ago.
Serenna slips into a chair next to Lhinneth, letting her friend examine the contract whilst leaning back and watching the captain and the Bosun. After Lhinneth signs, Serenna leans in and adds her own signature in neat well-formed letters.
Salty smiles showing his tusks.
"Back to sea, finally."
Lhinneth bids her goodbyes to the Captain and casts a long glance at the fighting pit downstairs. She has half a mind to look for someone to arrange her a match, as she and Jakuuri used to to put together some easy gold, but her swollen cheekbone and the pain in her ribs suggests her to just call this a day.
No sooner has she entered the room she shares with Serenna than she's slipped out of her boots and bodice and thrown herself at the nearest bed. Sleeps comes late, and without the soothing motion of the waves to lull her, it is a light and broken matter. Dawn finds her already by the piers, waiting for the Captain and her crew to show. When they do, she regards the two boats with a perplexed look.
"I have to say, I had pictured this Magpie Princess of yours to be a little more... majestic?" she quips.
A smiling but cleaner Arven arrives by following Lhinneth along the still and quiet streets. His quick stop in a horse trough, got rid of most of the sweat and cloying debris from yesterday's fun drinking tournament, but left the trough in an unfit state for any horse to drink.
Arriving at the dock whistling he looks around for a mighty ship, one suitable to find treasure on the high seas. He blinks, a puzzled look, "A ship?" is uttered from his lips, as he stares at the two small boats. "Just how do we protect these, put one on each foot and run!!!"
Salty shakes his head, smiling. He is home.
"Hmm, well if we're gonna be working for you." Arven winks at Iulia, "I can see it being a fruitful voyage, that is of course once we get on the real ship. Where is it by the way?" He stops and picks a large bit of pink chewed meat from his teeth, before flicking it to the floor. "And the figurehead, what would the captain like, does she want me to pose for the figurehead, a fine strong figure of a man at the front of the ship? Or would she like her own image to command all in front of the bows? Any preferences?" Arven stands, his chest bared and bronzed, his arms muscled and strong, he flicks his long locks as though he is the finest stallion in all of Golarion.
The scene is disrupted by Arven making a load belch and expelling the mixed up air of stale ale and a fresh breakfast of eggs, bacon and strong onion. The cloud wafts over Iulia, "Beg pardon." This is followed by another expulsion of tainted air from his behind, accompanied by a loud vibrating sound, its smell worse worse than the belch. Arven stands, sniffs and smiles as this cloud seems to hang around him.
"A bit of both, really. The call of the sea makes my sleep light and my waking hours restless" Lhinneth flashes a smile at the comely sailor. And what does a handsome boy like you do on a pirate ship, mmh? Mayhap our grieving widow's bed didn't stay cold for too long? Should that be the case, she decides it wouldn't be wise to step on the Captain's toes so early in their voyage, so she tries her best to dissimulate any outward sign of how pleasing the young man appears to her eyes. No promises about Serenna, though.
Iulia, on the other hand, proves to be a problem of the completely opposite sort. F&+%ing Chelish b%#*! on a power trip she mutters under her breath. Lhinneth has always chafed at disciplinarian quartermasters, and this one being both Chelish and another woman isn't going to make things any easier.
"No, Ma'am. I mean, yes Ma'am. I said crows and crowns seem all the rage around here, am I right?" she lies through her teeth as she moves in an upwind position with respect to Arven.
"Well, your ship being called the Magpie Princess surely helped, and then there's... those" she points at the marks on the two boats. "Still, it was mostly my f*#%ing self. I'm just smart like that" she nonchalantly asserts, very obviously feigning ingenuity. She winks at the crew still busy horsing around. "Hey, I'll need to get one of these too, then!" she says, referring to the tattoos. "Aaand... shutting up."
Arven looks around to see where any stench might be coming from, seeing nothing he shrugs his shoulders and beams a broad smile looking at scene in front of him. "Aye, Aye me shipmates!" he calls, the sound of those words resonate in his ears, it has been a while since such good words left his lips. Indeed time to get some gold and adventure, some sweat and hard work. Oh to be a sailor on the high seas and take what gold comes your way.
He turns back to Llinneth, wondering why she's making eyes at the young sailor, when she could have had him, Like so many lasses I've known, they always seem to prefer some other meat. You can only trust the one's you pay for. He lets out a sigh, but it doesn't dissuade him from having a cheerful demeanour this fine day. "Llinneth, where's your lovely sister? Hope she didn't drink too much yesterday. Oh well, I could go give her some encouragement to rise, as she gives me a reason to rise too." He winks, and lowering his voice continues, don't want ol' grumpy pants there to notice her absence.. In a loud voice he continues, "Wonder what a Tengu's gotta do with us getting a new figurehead? Bloody strange it you ask me." He looks a little perplexed as his brow furrows and he looks questioningly at Llinneth.
Lhinneth chuckles at Arven's quip. Yeah, that's a condition Serenna's known to elicit. "You can try if you wish, but she's always been a sound sleeper. Old habits die hard, I suppose" she muses, cryptically referring to her friend's pampered upbringing – the little merchant princess. Once more, her gaze slips to the charming piper before turning back to the bare-chested man beside her.
"Don't take it personally, Arven" she says, feeling like she owes him an explanation. After all, but a couple of hours ago she and Serenna were actually competing over him – even though he himself probably has no hint of that and wasn't but the last in a long line of excuses for the two women's friendly rivalry to burst out. "I simply prefer my flings not to follow me into the open seas, 'tis all. Did it once, worked out terribly" she states with a hint of sadness in her eyes. "We're crewmates now, and f$@$ing your crewmates is a sure recipe for drama. I mean, that's why Besmara created ports right? So that Calistria would have some place to put her temples" she recites with a mischievous smile.
"And no, I'm not looking forward to hooking up with pretty boy over there either. Besides, he's probably Captain Lanteri's property already" she adds. "As for Tengus" she shrugs "should we stumble into a particularly troublesome one, we can always stuff him after we kill him and get a new figurehead for free. The proverbial two birds with one stone. Or... man-bird, in that case. And it'd still be just one, I guess. Still. You know what I mean."
Salty follows, not knowing around, and not very good asking for directions.
Lhinneth spends a couple of hours asking questions and interacting with the locals, but her usual charm seems a bit off today as most people seem to act skittish around her. Well, I didn't leave the best of impressions at yesterday's drinking contest, that's for sure. Or maybe it's the whole brawl thing.
She swears she can hear her aunts' voices chastising her for being so unladylike, as they always did when she used to come back to the temple covered in bruises. Just another reasons I've never taken my vows.
Serenna can't for some resason manage to pull herself out of bed come the morning, possibly as the result of the splitting headache that threatens to drive her brain through her very ears. Lhinneth's cheery disposition does nothing to help, and it is with great reluctance that she finally emerges, looking more than a bit bedraggled and without her usual cheeky grin, she remains silent, following the others through the streets and grimacing at the town's many ear-peircing noises.
Caylean's Keg... Lhinneth's stomach turns a little at the name's mention. Still, she can't help but tease her obviously sick friend a little as their ragtag crew walks through in on their way to Hartha's. "Round 2, Crusilva? This time though, it's your turn to kiss Valaravans."
Valaravans shows a big smile.
Arven raises his eyebrows as Valaravans smiles, before nudging Lhinneth in the ribs with the pointy end of his elbow. He whispers in her ear, "She's been sick once, don't you thin that's pushing it." Then realizing its only in jest he starts laughing, "She could be right Serenna, looks like our friend is ready for your advances." Not watching where he's going Arven almost trips and staggers forward, which only makes him laugh the more.
"So this place we're going too, how much is it gonna cost for a figurehead do ya think? Could we perhaps make a bit of a profit from the deal?" the laughing has stopped, but a huge smile beams from his face.
"No idea" Lhinneth replies with a shrug. "Doesn't mean I won't try though" she adds with a grin.
"The only sickness I give finishes in 9 months."
The half-orc grins an unpleasant smile.
"A valiant masthead, which stood gallantly as a symbol of pride and bravery until it was dragged to an untimely demise down at the bottom of Besmara's locket" Lhinneth recites melodramatically.
"At least, I like to think that's how it went down" she shrugs. "We were just asked to acquire a replacement, basically. Something related to crows. And crowns – a dwarf said you could help."
Serenna shoots a nasty glance at Lhinneth. "Don't know how you bloody do it. Why do you never end up feeling like this?" she says, doing her best to ignore the half-orc's lewd suggestions.
Arven ignores the old dwarven woman, instead he sidles up to Serenna, "You know if your head hurts, a young temple woman taught me some massaging techniques that would help alleviate your discomfort and make your body tingle with life? If it would help, I could try it on you?" the muscles on Arven's chest flex as if in readiness for the commencement of the massage.
Lhinneth snickers at Valaravan's crude jape, finding it humorous despite the unsettling mental image of tusked green babies gathering around her legs it conjures. "Serenna dearest, I was raised in the House of Stolen Kisses in Quent. I might not be very good at avoiding the wages of debauchery, but I know every trick in the book about how to deal with them" she replies with a subtle smile.
"And I see some of those tricks have managed to trickle their way out of the temples" she muses in response to Arven's offer. The amused expression on her face betrays her reserves about the muscular man's big, calloused hands being able to replicate techniques the most delicate elven handmaidens need years to master.
Serenna edges away from the barbarian, doing her best to breathe through her mouth rather than have the smell of his onion-laced breath bring up whatever is left in her stomach after the previous night. "I think I'll manage," she replies to his offer "Lhinneth may enjoy keeping her secrets of how to avoid feeling like this all to herself, but once you've had one of her massages nothing else quite suffices, she knows more than a few tricks in that regard too, as she isn't shy about showing them off. Perhaps you should ask her to demonstrate them to you?"
With that she turns to the old woman. How about clutching it in its claws, or maybe perched on it?"
Arven, shrugs off Serenna's words, but looks at Lhinneth with a new found admiration. Later, when she's in the mood. He smiles at the dwarven woman, trying to remember what the small masthead was like on the captain's boat. He smiles at the thought of captain Lanteri, before shaking his head, Must think of mastheads, woah great! Now was there a masthead on them little boats and what did it look like? the bare chested man wonders to himself.
His eyes open wide at the woman's demand and his jaw drops, "Um...". He looks at his two women companions and cupping his mouth behind his hand he whispers to Lhinneth, "Do ya reckon you can knock price down by half, suppose I could help her as a labourer to get it done quicker. Don't want to disappoint the new Captain" The big guy seems genuinely stumped by the Hartha's price.
After the brief interlude, Lhinneth turns her attention back to the old woman. "Clutching in its claws, mmh? Magpies are thieves, so perhaps this particular one became a princess by stealing her crown..." She looks as if lost in though for a moment.
The boats are marked with the visage of a ...
;)
Mentally picturing the effigy adorning the two smallboats, she realizes she's probably overthinking it. "Perched on its head will do, I think. Let's keep it simple. Something elegant and finely-wrought, mind you – nothing too baroque."
A frown appears on her forehead when the final price is revealed – and not only because of the stench accompanying Arven's whisper. She nods at her companion's suggestion nonetheless, and goes on the offensive.
"500 gold and two weeks?" she replies, feigning outrage. "We don't have the money, and we sure as the Abyss don't have the time. Are you sure you can't postpone some of your other projects? The dead tend to be a patient bunch, but our ship is sailing in a few days." She exhales loudly, as if ready to suggest a big compromise. "Look, we're a resourceful bunch. We're the ones who won that race yesterday, and we're the ones who made short work of that Huldren thug and his cronies. Name a task, and we can pay you in kind. Arven here can help you as a labourer if that helps us scrape off a few gold – and days. Let's say... 250 gold and 3 days, top?"
"And I have ways to help you work better and faster. Damn, I should be able to do it better and faster."
Arven flexes his muscles, showing his strength, "I can help, just tell me what to do."
"Easy enough! Let's go people..."
Valaravans starts going south.
"Where were they when they were attacked?" If they have to find the proverbial needle in the haystack, or a bunch of baby dragons in a jungle as the case might be, a starting point is still better than nothing.
Salty starts to stretch.
"Time to make me some dragonskin boots."