Tessa turns her face up to the clouds in the sky and shakes her head back and forth as she hoots and hollers "WHoooOOooooooo. Now we're talking! Yeah! I like it! Sounds like a plan to me, you're on!"
Marisan throws back her head and laughs heartily. Any semblance of keeping things quiet between she and Tessa has been lost.
Tessa laughs along with Marisan as they walk back in search of the others who are likely discussing more serious matters than sleeping in the captain's bed. As they round the corner and see Polli, Azadi, and the others all gathered around, she lets go of Marisan's waist and moves ahead of her to join the conversation.
She looks at Azadi and waits for the Thank you saving me from more lashes this morning. Thank you for helping Samms and I out of the water. Thank you again for trying to stand up and free me from the brig, but sighs and says instead "I'm glad to see you're out and that you're okay. I feared they would try to make sure you wouldn't get free at all."
She lowers her voice and says "We need a plan on how we're going to deal with this to make sure don't get screwed over by a few select members of the crew again."
"Yes, I do not wish to have to sleep on a hatch again, if I can help it. Ending them would be the most prudent and efficient, but I am at a loss on how to accomplish that without it ending in our own deaths." Polli answers quietly but in a tone like she is talking about making dinner.
"Hmmm.... if that stumpy troll of a man just lost his tongue, and not his life, the repercussions would be mitigated some. He'd no longer be able to do his job of yelling at us all the time, but would be able to do something, like wax the captains ---... either way, someone else would have to be put in his position and no one would be killed so no one would be breaking the captain precious rules." Polli continues to think out loud.
"Or we could just castrate him, usually that ends a man''s will to live. Done well enough he'd even be too ashamed to admit what happened, and jump into the sea."
"We could drill a little hole in the back of his head, a small one" she mimics the motion with her finger "Deep enough to his brain, destroying just enough of it to make him a simpleton like owlbear, our cleric friend can heal him enough to save his life, and than problem solved."
Tessa turns to face Polli, surprised by the sylph's suggestion "My, oh my. You've thought a little about this already I see!"
Making sure the coast is clear, she shakes her head "I was thinking a little more than loss of tongue and balls, Polli. Something a little more permanent. Aretta can also disappear for all that I care. If we can two for one, I'm in favor."
”You slept on the hatch?” Azadi asks, evidently touched by the revelation, ”Thank you, Polli.”
”As for Plugg...” he offers, lowering his voice to a whisper, ”we could kill him as long as we made sure someone else would get blamed... if killed Syl or Aretta too and sent them off in the lifeboat they’d get blamed for it...”
Tessa shakes her head "No, no, no. Syl is fine. She made a mistake, she doesn't die for that Azadi."
Polli waves her hand at the thanks, like it makes her uncomfortable "They lumped us together so staying lumped gives us strength." making it sound like the only reason was tactical, though the slyph is not great a lying at all.
"Getting two alone and out of the way without eyes and ear catching wind complicated matters... hmmm..."
"Pushing blame is a good idea" Polli acknowledges Azadi's suggestion "If we are not close enough to a landmass would escaping in a dingy appear too suicidal?"
Tessa nods "Yes. We're going to need a distraction of some kind perhaps?"
Turning to face Polli, she asks "Your gifts. Do you have anything you could use to help us out here?"
”Are you sh!tting me?!?” Azadi asks Tessa, ”I just spent the day in the brig waiting for a keelhauling she tried to lay on me, and now we’re just gonna let that slide and be friends?!?”
"Azadi, we are talking about killing crew members here, so if you woulnd't MIND please keep your voice DOWN! That hapless scud Sly admitted to being wrong, while we could kill her for her stupidity, taking out three at once without noise is probably out of our scope of our personal survival." pushing her glasses back up her nose, she looks back to Tessa's question "If by 'gifts', you are referring the abilities I spent years upon years of study on, yes, I can put them to sleep, but there is no certainty their mind will take to it."
Tessa turns to step in front of Azadi, her jaw tightening and nealry cutting off Polli "AZADI! Keep you voice down!" she hisses, putting her pointer finger in his face and accentuating each of the next three words "Let. It. Go."
She blows out a quick breath before lowering her hand and continuing "I know you got the short end of the stick, but it all worked out. Syl wasn't to blame and you need to let your anger go before it hurts someone. She admitted she was wrong. She's not one of problems here and we need to focus on the ones that are an issue."
She pauses and looks Azadi in the eye "We good?" she asks, her head slightly tilted. She waits to see if Azadi relents before turning back to Polli.
Marisan stands beside Tessa with arms crossed, glaring at Azadi.
”Get your finger out of my face, Tessa,” Azadi replies calmly but clearly annoyed. ”Who exactly did she tell she was wrong? You? And what good did that do, aside from earning your friendship? Did she tell Plugg she was wrong? Cause from the look of Samms’ back that detail must have slipped her mind. I’m not going to do anything stupid, and Polli’s right, three is too many, but I’ll ‘let it go’ when she makes this right with Samms.”
Polli raises an eyebrow at the guardian gargoyle behind the strawberry "Sly's a foul ill tempered harpy who smells like piss and sprays out sewage every time she opens her mouth." she states, sitting not minding her own business in the least. She'll nod at Azadi's agreement to wait though.
Tessa pulls her finger back when Azadi requests her too. "She told Marisan." she answers, her brow furrowing. She does her best to keep her words tempered and patience, but it's obvious her patience is start to be tested "Look, I know you're pissed, rightfully so. But I've done nothing but try to help you here, Azadi. I'd appreciate a little less of your agitation going my way, alright?"
If she could break gaze with Azadi, she'd shoot Polli a You're not helping look, but he requires her full attention at the moment.
”My agitation?” Azadi answers, earnestly surprised, ”I’m not the one jamming fingers in people’s faces. Maybe we should continue this conversation after you’ve calmed down.”
All Tess wanted was a sincere show of gratitude for what she'd done for him and the more the green-haired undine danced around it, oblivious to what she wanted, the more frustrated she becomes. She speaks quickly, her voice going up an octave. "Me? Oh, I'm calm. I'm calm. I'm fine. You're the one talking so damn loud. All I'm saying is lower your voice and drop the issue with Syl, alright?"
"Alright. You already have some history with her, so just let it go and we'll take care of that part. She didn't do this to Samms anymore then you did, so you just need to make sure you're thinking clearly before any thoughts of revenge are misplaced. We have a few others that are worthy of our attention there, so let's turn our focus back to that matter. Quietly."
Shivikah smiles at Marisan. "I think we will be very good friends," she says. "And even better friends if you would be so good to share your red-headed friend with me," she adds with a grin.
~~~~~
Jape simply shrugs in response to Tessa's overture.
~~~~~
”My agitation?” Azadi answers, earnestly surprised, ”I’m not the one jamming fingers in people’s faces. Maybe we should continue this conversation after you’ve calmed down.”
"Yes, maybe you should," Sandara says announcing her presence. "And perhaps you should be picking a different topic," she continues in a quieter voice. "Most of the ears on this ship are friendly, but the important ones are decidedly not and your voices carry."
Tessa's voice goes quiet when Sandara enters the discussion, turning quickly to face the newcomer as her hand moves instinctively to the hilt of her blade. She breathes a sigh of relief and changes the subject "Good evening Sandara, we were just finishing our discussion. Maybe you'd like to take a walk with me and I can fill you in on the particulars? Azadi needs some air, anyway."
"That sounds like something you could all use," she whispers back. "Yes, let's walk," she says in a normal tone.
After the fun with whipping and talks of delightful maiming and murder, Polli has to go to work on mending sails, a task she shares with the mute Jape. Neither of them talk, Polli already having her fill, and Jape, well unable to. But they seem to work in harmony, passing pieces, cooling drinking water, pointing to things they need, and having a very nice afternoon without the constant jabbers of berries or the crossing of arms of goyles.
Tessa is glad to leave the crowd behind and turns to walk away with Sandara. She closes her eyes and tries to clear her mind for the first few steps. "Thanks for coming to my rescue. So. How was your day?" she laughs, knowing exactly how her day has gone. "So tell me something about yourself Sandara? I'd like to know a little more about the second hottest redhead on this ship."
Tessa finds Maheem once again, continuing her discussion from the previous day. "So, it's been a few days since we chatted. Have come up with anything you need help with? Also, I was wondering if you could tell me a little about The Kingdom of Man. I know little of where you are from?"
Sandara looks sideways at Tessa as she casually asks about her day with ready flirtation.
"My day has been stressful, wondering if a new friend was going to die. And then seeing another friend brutally beaten," she says and then shrugs. "Not my best day at sea." She stops and look at Tessa. "Be very careful, Miss Steele. You and your friends may be able to deal with Mister Plugg and his cronies, but Captain Harrigan is not someone you can cross and walk away unmarred from - if alive. Make no mistake; He is a very dangerous man."
Harmony abandons any thought of performance and goes to bed early. As she lies there sleeping the arguments that she witnessed without contributing to run around and around in her head.
They're talking about murder. Actually killing two people. They do deserve it, or Plugg does at least - he's a sadist of the highest order but... murder!
It's a good thing she's gone to bed so early as the teenager tosses and turns for hours until she sinks into a deep, if not entirely restful, sleep.
The next day Harmony helps Fishguts quietly in the galley before asking him a question that's been preying on her mind for much of the night. "Ambrose. Does anyone on the ship have... 'other' spices? Something like oil of taggit for example?"
Regardless of the answer she takes a break while dishing out biscuit and other hard tack for the swabs meal to speak briefly with 'Narwahl' Tate.
"Mr Tate, I'm very sorry for our conversation the other day in the fishing boat. I was trying to be cheerful, but I can see now I was assuming a lot and being insensitive. We don't often get to choose our nicknames and it was very rude of me to quiz you on yours. I am truly sorry. Please forgive me." She offers a smile and snags an extra shot of grog from Marisan to sweeten the apology.
Tessa sighs. She had been hoping for a topic less serious than more discussion on Plugg and Harrigan. She ditches the smile and replaces it with a grim expression "So it seems. I am not going to shy away from what's right just because a dangerous man stands in way. I know I appear oblivious to the dangers on the ship Sandara, but I assure you that is not the case. We're taking this very slowly one step at a time. Trying to do something with half of the crew against you is foolish. Slowly building their trust and enlisting them into your cause is a much safer course of action."
"I appreciate the cautionary words and looking out for everyone's best interest. I'm doing my best to try and keep everyone as safe as I can, but it's proving more difficult than I thought it would." She fakes a smile and nods "Thanks for the gesture." before turning to the railing and places her elbows in it, dropping her head into it as she looks out over the rough waters outside the ship.
"Samms, thank you. Now you've saved me too," he offers gently placing his hand on her elbow. "Donomsail has healing magic, from the Wind and Waves, she can help you."
The rigger continues to sit on her knees, shaking as Donomsail touches her shoulder and invokes a blessing of healing. The wounds close most of the way and, her arms still shaking, Samms pulls her loose blouse back over her head, covering herself.
Once she's done so, she puts her arms around Azadi, giving him a tight squeeze. "I hope Badger Baggy ... Badger, appreciates the man she's getting," Samms says and gives the undine a quick peck on the cheek.
~~~~~
Jape seems to enjoy Polli's quiet stoicism and the two seem to work well together.
~~~~~
"Ambrose. Does anyone on the ship have... 'other' spices? Something like oil of taggit for example?"
"I wouldn't be surprised at all if Master Scourge didn't have a ready supply," the large man says back with a wink.
~~~~~
"We don't often get to choose our nicknames and it was very rude of me to quiz you on yours. I am truly sorry. Please forgive me."
Tam blows out a rush of air from his namesake nose and considers the young woman for a moment. "Aye, fine. Whatever. On yer way, Big T~+@," he says with a wry grin.
~~~~~
She fakes a smile and nods "Thanks for the gesture," before turning to the railing and places her elbows in it, dropping her head into it as she looks out over the rough waters outside the ship.
Sandara steps up to the rail as well and places and hand on Tessa's shoulder. "I'm glad you're taking this seriously," she says. A smile slips on to her face. "I'm also glad that you found someone. You and Marisan look good together." At Tessa's surprised look, Sandara rolls her eyes. "You don't really think you can keep secrets on a ship like this, do you? Everyone knows where you've been sleeping." She looks out over the water. "And I saw you kissing earlier. Just be careful. She looks like she could break you in half if you break her heart."
Tessa looks over at Sandara and laughs. "Marisan and I have an agreement. She keeps me safe, I make her warm and happy." She reaches out touches Sandara's lower lip. "But Sandy, you can play coy all you want, you know who it is that I want."
Azadi frowns at the ongoing misunderstanding that his dalliance with Badger was anything more than meaningless sex, but he doesn’t dare try to correct his friend after how things went last time.
”Samms...” he replies with half a smile, ”I’ll always have your back, no matter what. Thank you for having mine.”
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Tessa looks over at Sandara and laughs. "Marisan and I have an agreement. She keeps me safe, I make her warm and happy." She reaches out touches Sandara's lower lip. "You know who it is that I want."
Sandara pulls back as Tessa reaches her hand out to touch her.
"You sleep with her. You kiss her. Yet you want me to believe that it's me that you want?" she says with a frown. She reaches up to take Tessa's hand and put it back on the railing. "I'm not sure if you understand what a relationship is meant to involve. I'm not a prize to be obtained, Tessa. I'm a person. Maybe Marisan will teach you what it means to care for someone." She turns and moves back across the deck to return to her work.
~~~~~
Later that day as Harmony is preparing to assist Ambrose in bringing up the evening's rum ration, Sandara appears in the galley to offer another hand. As the three of them carry the buckets up the stairs, the red-head steadies the girl as she stumbles a little.
"I heard your friends talking earlier," Sandara says. "I'm pretty sure Tessa called you Harmony. Everyone else calls you Vi and I know that woman is horrible with names, but it struck me that Harmony seems to fit you much more that Vi. So is Violet your real name?"
~~~~~
”Samms...” he replies with half a smile, ”I’ll always have your back, no matter what. Thank you for having mine.”
"Aye," she responds. "That's what friends are for."
Tessa's stunned by Sandara's response, her mouth falling open as she gets rejected. After standing there for what seems like an eternity and watching the redhead disappear, she turns back to the railing, dejected. Slumping down on the railing, she ponders on what a terrible f*!%ing trip this is.
Polli will spend another day with Jape, not chatting, but being generally nice.
Later that day as Harmony is preparing to assist Ambrose in bringing up the evening's rum ration, Sandara appears in the galley to offer another hand. As the three of them carry the buckets up the stairs, the red-head steadies the girl as she stumbles a little.
"I heard your friends talking earlier," Sandara says. "I'm pretty sure Tessa called you Harmony. Everyone else calls you Vi and I know that woman is horrible with names, but it struck me that Harmony seems to fit you much more that Vi. So is Violet your real name?"
Harmony glances at the red head briefly, and then again more closely, trying to decide whether she can trust the red-headed woman.
"Why do you say 'Harmony' fits me better?" She asks, deflecting a question with a question. "And... let's say you are right, just for fun. Why do you think someone might choose to give a false name if they've been kidnapped by pirates? What possible reason could they have to do such a thing?"
Content that things have mostly been smoothed over with Samms, and concerned that he could still mess it up again, Azadi gives her arm a gentle squeeze before bidding her goodnight.
”And, thanks for your help, Donomsail.”
Azadi is grateful to receive lookout duty and happily scampers up into the crows nest for a day of peace and quiet.
Sandara gives Harmony a vague smile. "Let's just say that I can't imagine someone naming their daughter with beautiful eyes like yours, 'Violet'. But your history and your name are your own, to share or not." She smiles at the girl. "Like a lover's kiss, things like that are worth so much more when they're given freely. And I hope you'll see that I'm a worthy recipient."
She continues to walk along.
"There are a couple of reasons why someone wouldn't want to give their real identity to pirates who have taken them on as a member of the crew. Perhaps the Pirate King has put a bounty on their head? Perhaps they're the child of very wealthy nobles and don't want a ransom?" She raises an eyebrow and her eyes twinkle for just a moment. She then looks away and shrugs. "Many reasons."
When Tessa slinks back into the hammock that night, her sadness is apparent. "It looks like Sandara said something you did not like," she observes.
***
Marisan assists Harmony in getting Narwhal to open up. She turns in early that night to get some extra rest.
Sandara gives Harmony a vague smile. "Let's just say that I can't imagine someone naming their daughter with beautiful eyes like yours, 'Violet'. But your history and your name are your own, to share or not." She smiles at the girl. "Like a lover's kiss, things like that are worth so much more when they're given freely. And I hope you'll see that I'm a worthy recipient."
She continues to walk along.
"There are a couple of reasons why someone wouldn't want to give their real identity to pirates who have taken them on as a member of the crew. Perhaps the Pirate King has put a bounty on their head? Perhaps they're the child of very wealthy nobles and don't want a ransom?" She raises an eyebrow and her eyes twinkle for just a moment. She then looks away and shrugs. "Many reasons."
"You're rather bold aren't you?" Harmony replies, keeping to the light tone of the conversation. "Anyone would think you were propositioning me!" She tries to hide the slight flush that rises in her cheeks, but her parentage does her no favors in that regard, thankfully in the shifting light as they emerge onto the deck its just possible Sandara won't have noticed.
"Don't think that that's going to get you more grog." She adds as Fishguts plonks his burdens down. "Everyone talks about my chest all the time. No grog for them, so you don't get any either. Unless its a really good one." She adds sotto voce with a wink.
Tessa is indeed quite bummed and is either unable to hide her feelings or isn't trying very hard. She foregoes her night activities and stays out on the deck looking out at the stars until she knows she's up past her bedtime. Finally able to deal with the yawning, she sulks quietly pads back below.
Without her usual energy, she climbs into the hammock as quietly as she can doing her best not to wake anyone. When Marisan inevtiably wakes up, she says softly in a whisper "Sorry I woke you. Yes, it did not go well. She said since I am sleeping with you and kissing you that I don't know what a relationship is supposed to involve. Or something like that. She didn't let me touch her and then she walked away. I messed up somehow. I don't know. I messed things up with Azadi and I don't understand why I seem to think about things differently than everyone else." She snuggles closer to Marisan, putting her mouth right next to the Mwangi's woman ear so she can talk in a very low whisper. She says "I don't like to sleep alone, I never have. It makes me feel vulnerable, I don't know why it just does. I always try to find someone to lay with. That doesn't mean I'm giving my body up to all of these people. I think she thinks I'm a whore just like all of the other men."
Tessa sighs and presses her cold nose into Marisan's neck. "You're warm."
The next day Tessa is super grumpy. She isn't making jokes, smiling, smirking or trying to be witty. Instead she's short-tempered and grumpy. When it's time to follow her usual routine of being friendly with the crew, she tells Harmony "I don't feel like it tonight, you do it." After prodding, she stands and says "Fine."
She walks over to Jape and says "Vi says you tell funny jokes. What's that? Oh. You can't talk. Right. Hilarious." before stomping off and heading to her hammock, crawling into a ball and pouting the rest of the night. When Marisan comes to bed, she moves into her hammock but isn't chatty and stays silent.
"Shh... You do not have to explain yourself to me, Tessa. I like you just the way you are." Marisan holds the swashbuckler close.
Tessa sighs and snuggles, drifting off to sleep.
Eventually.
After dinner Azadi spots Tessa struggling in her conversation with Jape. He forces a bit of a smile and walks past them. ”you know... “ he interrupts as Tessa is nearly finished, ”for all her rough edges, Tessa really is a good friend and a loyal ally... you’d do well to give her the benefit of the doubt, Jape...”
Tessa looks over at Azadi when he saves he floundering with Jape. She studies him silently for a few seconds, working something out in her head. She gives him two small nods with a blank expression on her face and whispers "Thank, Azadi." before reaching out and patting him twice on the shoulder, heading out of the room in search of her hammock.
Polli's night is spent wandering around the ship, looking for decent out of sight places to murder someone. Despite being shortsighted and mostly oblivious she can see in the dark, one of the gifts from her mother.
"You're rather bold aren't you?" Harmony replies, keeping to the light tone of the conversation. "Anyone would think you were propositioning me!" She tries to hide the slight flush that rises in her cheeks, but her parentage does her no favors in that regard, thankfully in the shifting light as they emerge onto the deck its just possible Sandara won't have noticed.
"Of course not, 'Vi'. But if I were to do such a thing, would you be offended?" Sandara responds playfully.
"Don't think that that's going to get you more grog." She adds as Fishguts plonks his burdens down. "Everyone talks about my chest all the time. No grog for them, so you don't get any either. Unless its a really good one." She adds sotto voce with a wink.
Sandara blinks a few times before the bard's ploy becomes clear. "But how else am I to get more rum if not by complimenting your bountiful breasts?" she asks in mock confusion. "Perhaps with a good word about your poem-inspiring bottom?" The woman laughs before moving away.
~~~~~
Jape just rolls his eyes in response to Tessa and Azadi's overtures, but there's a trace of smile of there for just a moment.
~~~~~
For all of Polli's exploration, she doesn't find too many places for totally secret activities aboard the Wrymwood. With the exception of the Bilges, sailors move through the public places with surprising regularity. The only other place would be the Captain's cabin (if one could find a time when the Captain himself wasn't there).
This day passes as normal, but you notice that you can see a coastline off in the far distance and it's clear that the waters here are shallower.
After awaking and arising to the dawn bell, you attend roll call as normal. But after getting your morning bisuit, the six of you are pulled aside by Mister Plugg, who's standing next to six crab pots.
"Captain Harrigan has requested crab for supper tonight," he says with a grin. He points out over the water and you can see large reefs about 200' off to the north of the ship. "Take these pots, swim over there, fill them with crabs and swim back." His instructions completed, he turns away to address Syl's perceived laziness in the rigging.
Approaching the pristine reef, you can see that crabs are easily accessible here as the reef is between five and thirty feet below the surface of the blue water.
Azadi nods and waits for Plugg to walk away, then whispers ”he said to fill all these pots, he didn’t actually say we all had to swim over there... anyone who’s worried about the swim can just drop into the water and hang on to a rope—you probably don’t want to be caught standing around on deck—but I’ll swim over with each pot, fill them, and swim back to trade with you for an empty.”
After explaining his plan, he reaches for his foot and remembers its already bare. ”Oh, by the way, does anyone know what happened to my boots? I left them behind a barrel before I got in trouble and haven’t seen them since...”
After getting responses, he dives in and waits to help the poor swimmers get situated with a rope before swimming off for his first pot.