It was pretty obvious from far away that this guy was a mage. Kai and Ulysse had been searching for someone who was available for a long trip for better part of the day. They had been asking around and like usual, most mages were bound to other ships. It wasn't at all surprising why they were such wanted commodity in the islands. They were rare.
But then they came across some rumours and finally found this guy. The folks in the port town didn't speak very fondly of him. But they said that the Once Drowned was definitely the kind that they were looking for.
The guy looked like a pirate, he sat in his table in the tavern, sprawled across the chair, occasionally pouring himself another drink as he watched the people milling about. He looked like a man who had spent most of his life out on the deck of a ship, his skin was kissed with the sun, his hair frizzled from salt and heat. There were marks on his uncovered wrists that said he'd been chained, a ring that went around his neck as well. But the most disturbing feature was the dead white eye that seemed to look everything and nothing at the same time.
"We hear you're looking for a ship," Kai says as they make it to the man's table. He nudges a chair for himself and takes a seat, not bothering to ask for a permission. "I have an offer for you."
Rook watched them approach. He could tell from the way they walked that it was him they were after. He had ended his last assignment to a ship a few months ago, now he was sitting on nothing. Maybe he'd hear them out.
"What is it?" he asked roughly and his voice seemed to come from a deep, deep place within his chest.
Ulysse isn't entirely sure about this man, especially when that dead white eye fixes on him. The normally quiet spirit housed in him stirs, sensing something... familiar about the Once Drowned, but the host has long since learned to ignore the presence when he can. He's slower in taking his seat next to Kai, movements less showy and more restrained as he answers smoothly, "We've a ship in need of a mage. It seems our interests are aligned, no?"
The water they paddle in is muddy, they're all quiet as they keep going on, diving under the trees growing vault like over the narrow waterways. It's hot and the air is misty with humidity and bugs. Nothing but the occasional slosh of the oar in the water can be heard as they approach the house that was pointed at them after quite a bit of searching.
Aidan's at the oars, Grey keeps tabs of the tail end of the rowing boat. There's four of them in the boat, himself, Kai, Ulysse and Aidan, who is going to stay with the boat.
Grey doesn't like this. But he recognises that he needs it if they meant to complete their mission. The thought of his wife alone in the afterlife makes him push through his own irritation and anger.
They arrive at the shore, at the blanks that lead cross the wet ground. Kai steps out of the boat first, cursing a bit as his boots are immediately submersed under swamp waters. He presses on, making room for Ulysse and finally Grey himself. Grey puts a hand on his brother's shoulder before stepping out of the boat.
"We'll be back shortly," he promises before following the other two under the green cove that's arching above them.
There destination is a little hut tucked neatly in the jungle, built high in the trees with no visible way of accessing it from the ground. Midnight is aware of strangers approaching - the spirits are always eager to alert him of any changes, after all - but makes no move to greet them, watching for movements from his windows, hidden in the darkness of the hut.
They had docked the night before, slept in the ship and scouted the island in the morning. Despil already knew where his cousin would be at, but the crew wanted to make sure they had things wrapped up. Marco was in hiding because he had been outcast from their home.
The Sawall estate where all their family pretty much more or less lived was an extensive thing. Despil knew it probably had some magic woven right into the fabric of its being, because sometimes it didn't make sense how the layout twisted and turned. Laws of physics had little to do with it.
Marco's father was the current head of the family, the man was a powerful, respected mage. No one came or went in his house without him knowing. But Despil didn't make any announcements when they went to visit Q. Instead he lead Noel into the house through a backdoor, they entered the walled garden and threaded through the various winding and twisting paths to one of the various wings of the mansion itself.
They entered through Despil's own rooms. The garden outside was mostly rock and succulents, giant wall to wall windows showing the whole entirety of Despil's quarter's into the garden. Despil grabbed a few things before they dived right into the house itself and after some searching, they were knocking on a door that looked very much like every other door they had passed.
Noel honestly thought it was probably the most bizarre place he'd ever been in. But he had never expected anything else in the least. His father had told him a thing or two about the Sawalls and their unique ways. He needed to be extra careful in here.
"Hey, foureyes," Despil called through the door. "Come meet your favourite cousin." He shrugged at Noel who snorted and folded his arms over his chest as they stood in the hallway waiting.
Q's private quarters are more like a cross between a bookshop, chemist and workshop in one, the faint scent of smoke and gunpowder lingering in the air.
From somewhere deep in the dimly lit room, a dry, distant voice calls back, "I'm busy, Despil. If you've something to discuss, come inside and shut the door."
It's been still for a day now. The whole ocean has quieted into a pool of heat that seems to reflect back from the turquoise waters. They are practically stranded in the middle of the ocean, anchored inside an atoll full of choral reefs. Sea charts tell them that any land is several days to any direction. There's no point even trying to row the boat or exhaust the mage by producing winds. They just have to sit it out.
It doesn't make it any better that the air basically tastes of a storm. Any sailor worth his salt can tell that they're waiting for it to break over them any day now. Then they will have what they need to get out of here.
Until then, they just have to endure it.
Grey isn't exactly happy about it. It's too damn hot and humid. The crew is restless and ready to come apart at the seams.
He has Q's drawings strewn across the table in his cabin, Kai pinned them down in some kind of an order and insisted that he sees some kind of a progress there but Grey honestly can't see anything but random sea charts.
"Tell me what you see," he tells Midnight who is staring down at the pencil drawings. "Any idea of the course we should take?"
"I don't read maps, I read spirits," Midnight mutters, staring down at the maps with a slight frown puckering his brow. "... There must be some significance to these landmarks-"
He'd blame it on the heat, but really, his headache is only growing thanks to the sheer noise of the spirits that have gathered around the ship. He's pretty sure they're also responsible for the storm that's due to hit them, soon. Each time he thinks he's starting to see something in the drawings, something to follow, his headache starts pounding.
Finally he straightens up with a little annoyed noise, rubbing at his eyes and then covering his ears. "Ugh, how do you even concentrate with all this?"
The atoll is deep enough that they managed to pull the ship in it. It's also deep enough that the water turns dark int he middle, keeping its bright turquoise shade nearer to the reefs. They have lowered the little boat that usually travels in the middle of the deck down and use it for fishing and other necessary things.
Grey and Aidan have taken it over now. They have small harpoons with them and are taking off their clothes in preparations to jump overboard. There's bigger fish down in the colder waters. It's easier to feed the whole crew with those.
Grey yanks off his boot and pauses to look at the ship that is close enough that they can get back in a hurry but out of earshot, thankfully. Just having a quiet moment with his brother is the best kind of stress relief he can think of right now.
"You think we could make it by swimming if we'd decide to ditch all of those crazy assholes out here?"
The selkie looks amused, pale green eyes squinting in the sunlight as he stares over at his brother while pulling off his shirt. "I might. You couldn't, unless you learned how to sprout fins," he answers in a deadpan voice. "Even then, we wouldn't be able to find the right path without them."
Despil is laying on his stomach on the deck, his head tucked in his hands. Marco sits on one of his sides, knees pulled up to his chest and watching Q draw the map and making notes about the different pieces there is in the strange tattoo.
"I've seen this kind of work before," he says quietly as he reaches down to drag his fingers across a swirl in the tattoo. Despil grunts as a respond to his touch and Marco pinches him because he can.
"I still can't believe how we all ended up here..."
"I can't believe you got married. Or whatever it is you've done to get tied to that barbarian," Q scoffs, shaking his head and lightly swatting Marco's hand aside. "Stop making him twitch."
There's very little to do as the mage when a still like this is upon them. Rook could shift the air or the sea and get some traction going on, but to be honest it would exhaust him to a point that if they'd be caught in a storm next, he'd be useless and they'd probably sink.
Gladly the captain seems to understand these limitations. His old captain - the one that drowned - used to whip him to get him to work better under this kind of situations. It helped for a day or so. But then it just didn't hurt anymore.
The brewing storm is quite palpable in the air though, and it crawls under his skin. It tends to do that to mages. He's restless and not satisfied with any of the distractions he invents for himself.
Except maybe one.
They're under the deck, everyone else seems to prefer the deck even if the air is just as still under as it is above. Rook leans on a pillar that has taken many a hit along the years, his thumbs hooked under his belt as he watched Ulysse untangle a length of rope, admiring the lines of his body.
"This storm is going to break above us any day now, and it'll do it quickly."
Unlike most of the crew, Ulysse doesn't strip down to just his britches when it gets hot, preferring to at least keep his loose, linen shirt on to cover his back - another area he needs to get tattooed one of these days when he has the time. He's discarded most of his bracelets and necklaces, though, revealing the inked flesh as he works, gleaming in the dim light with sweat from the heat. Even his long hair is up in a bun, the little gold beads glinting faintly with each movement.
The thick rope is expertly coiled over his hand and elbow, forming a wide loop that he'll later be able to tie off neatly aside. This also means that both hands are occupied when Rook finds him, which makes Ulysse only slightly nervous. As always, though, the spirit grows restless with the mage's approach, and Ulysse can't simply ignore the man.
"At least things will cool down with it," he answers, glancing at Rook with a little quirk to his lips. He's hoping the storm hitting will also settle both Midnight and Rook - he's noticed mages tend to get a touch more restless with extreme weather changes approaching. "But how are you doing? Will you be able to handle it?"
It's blessedly cooler during evenings. The stars cast a light on the clear waters that actually feels a little bit chilly.
Kai drops to sit beside Aidan on the railing of the ship, both of their legs dangling over the edge.
"Want to go for a swim?" he asks, tilting his head to look at Aidan from the corner of his eye. The damn man knows not how beautiful he is. It's unfair to everyone else who recognises it.
Aidan is completely aware of how attractive anyone finds him, of course. It's simply been too long since he's been able to walk on land and mingle with eligible bachelors.
As it is, he's come to assume Kai's fond little stares and smiles are simply those of a man being friendly with his brother-in-law, and tells himself that's how it should be and that he shouldn't feel... disappointed, when he thinks on them.
Tonight, Aidan puts such thoughts far from his mind and instead smiles at Kai, lightly nudging the man's foot with his own as he comments quietly, "I thought you don't like swimming in the dark?"
The storm has finally broken over them. Because Rook warned them in time, they moved the ship out of the atoll and are now tossing and turning in open sea, the ship groaning and moaning as huge waves toss her about. Lights crack the dark skies every minute or so, the wind howls in the naked masts. It's madness to stay on the deck. The mage had tied himself on the first mast and told them all to get out of the way.
Most of the men are below the deck, but Grey somehow ended up ushering Midnight into his cabin, pointing out that they still have plans to make. They still don't have a heading.
The air is less humid and heavy now but there's electricity in the air, tension releasing finally. They both sway in the cabin, occasionally a flood of water washes in and rain beats against the windows. Grey lights a fire in a lantern and mounts it on the wall.
It's been a couple of really frustrating days, just waiting around, listening to the men laying with each other in various places. Grey is pretty sure he heard Midnight moaning just before the storm broke in fact, beneath the deck with whoever it was that made him sound like he was ready to plead and beg. Grey still doesn't like to think about it. It pisses him off.
Midnight certainly seems far more relaxed than he has been at any point thus far in the journey. He braces himself against the table with all the maps, legs still feeling pleasantly weak from the strain of being pushed up as he was fucked, and there's a certain casual, satisfied grace to how he combs his rain-drenched hair back from his face.
Now that the storm's broken and his body's been sated, the magical energy and spirits have died down. He finally feels like himself. Though he can't help but notice that when he looks over at Grey, there's still that prickle of annoyance, that desire to get some kind of rise out of the surly pirate.
"Can't make much of a heading in this weather," he comments, amused and flippant as he idly runs his fingers over the maps and charts laid out. "Shouldn't you be discussing this with Q, anyway?"
They've been sailing a week straight after the storm broke. Then anchored close to the last harbour town before the Pellenian archipelago. There's quite a bit of traffic in the town, being the last one before the harboring four week trip to south that most of the bigger vessels by the shoreline are looking to take on.
Half of the crew packs into the two boats they have to take a trip to shore, to stock up on food and water and other commodities they might need.
Rook finds himself with Ulysse, strolling down the street towards a shop that sells equipment for the sails. Needles, thread, fabric. The captain sent them off with a stern look and a warning not to come back with anything that will break under a little bit of storm and a promise to skin their asses to make patches if something like that would happen.
Rook is looking around the busy street with uninterested eye. He doesn't need to ask room to walk, people tend to get out of his way. His thumbs pushed under his belt, hand close to his sword.
"We'll have quite a bit to haul back to the boat once we're done with the sails shop, want to take a stroll first to see what we can find?" he asks Ulysse.
The soft-spoken man is eyeing some of the stalls as they pass them by, going through his mental checklist of things the ship needs and weighing it against the coin in his pocket.
"Kai will get most of the smaller goods on his own, anyway," he murmurs to himself, glad the silver-tongued man had agreed to handle those, since the merchants needed a good amount of haggling for those sorts of things. "I suppose we should take a look at some smithies... Some nails wouldn't go amiss..."
They all get to deal with a bit of shopping. Grey and Al go first of all to get them barrels of fresh water but after that it's quite a lot of this and that and then some. Grey leaves most of the shopping for food and every day items to Aidan and Kai who agree upon a list of items that Kai will bring back from the market place. Grey sends Ulysse off with the sea mage to find some equipment for the sails and sends the cousins to find sea charts if they can find better ones that they already have and to ask around about their travel route.
Usually Grey stays on the ship with Aidan. They play cards and fish usually. But today Kai insists that he accompany them to the market place. "You've got two healthy arms," the man says and stares him down until Grey shrugs and decides to sign up on the trip as the designed beast of burden.
They hit the market place in the dusty afternoon and Grey is quite done already by the time they've made their way through the fruit stands, Kai talks like he has three tongues and haggles with the sellers until they have the best price for whatever they're buying. Grey is currently carrying three different baskets of bananas and oranges.
Kai spots a booth that sells baked apples with a sweet sauce sprinkled on them and insists they take a break. He leans over to the booth to order four times two apples. Grey puts the baskets down onto the street so they can sit on top of them while taking their break.
Kimi had been walking around the market to do a spot of sightseeing, stopping by a fortune teller's stall just for laughs, and then comes by right as Grey's set his baskets down, whistling in greeting as he salutes the man.
"Having fun?" he asks, grinning and leaning past Grey to see what Kai's ordering.
A short distance away from them, Midnight's at a spice stall, pretending not to be aware of Grey being so closeby. The mage is all charming smiles and coy sweetness as he haggles with the shopkeeper for his herbs and spices he'll be needing for his mixtures on the ship.
Despil for one is relieved to get out of the ship for a little while. He and Noel take a moment to wander around the town, look into shops and see if there's anything interesting. It's aimless and it's rather pleasant. The rest of the crew is out there looking for items that they need, Noel and Despil have been charged with finding them a cargo to take from port to another. A little bit of coin along the way. Grey might have a ship but he isn't rich. So they have to look for some kind of income as they travel.
They haggle with a few spice sellers but those end up being too demanding, too difficult to work with and in the end they end up going with a silk trader who has enough cargo to give them a solid fee for his trip.
Despil heads back to the ship after Noel takes a detour to a whorehouse, saying something about seeing a redhead that he wanted to be friendly with. Despil had promised to grab Kimi with him before he heads out to see what the taverns and brothels have to offer.
He spots Kimi leaving the ship when he gets to the docks and walks up to him with a grin.
They set sale the moment Grey makes a stop at the boat and ushers them on the move. The sea is already restless by then and Marco feels slightly out of his comfort zone given that they're sailing a ship with just four men on board. Marco is sent up the mast to open a sail or two, and he almost drops a few times along the way. He's not used to this kind of work, but there's no one else to make it happen this time, so he'll have to deal with it.
Also both of his cousins are left behind and Marco wishes they'll make it back to pick them up. Otherwise Marco has pulled them along on a one way trip to a foreign land and then disappears at the sea after leaving them behind.
They're all soaked wet when they barely get out of the harbor, the sea suddenly roaring alive like an angry beast. But they have sails open and enough wind to propel them to deep sea, away from the shore. The rain is beating down on the deck and Marco is holding on to a railing with frozen fingers, counting the seconds between lightnings and hoping he doesn't have to step up to deal with it. There's no other mage on board but he would much rather not touch this one.
Whether Marco feels up to it or not, the storm is picking up, and soon right upon them. Aidan's ushered everyone belowd-deck while he does his best to keep the ship on course, assuring them that he at least can handle the rough weather and potentially being thrown overboard. It's not much better within the bowels of the ship, though, sending the men and anything that hasn't been tied down rolling and crashing into each other nonstop, and Al's finally turning to Marco with a grim look on his face.
Despil obviously thought Noel was going to find a whore for the night when he takes off on his own. That's a good thing. Noel isn't interested in the redhead that he pretends to smile to. She didn't bother hanging out after he told her that he wasn't going to pay for her company but that he could buy her a drink. She had work to do, Noel understands that.
He spends most of his evening by composing a letter to his father. He finds himself ghosting over details because he doesn't want to give the man a too good idea of what's actually going on but he needs to tell him enough to keep him satisfied.
It's late when he returns to the ship, well after Despil left to find Kimi for a stomping in the taverns. Noel is in a dark mood when he walks towards the docks and hopes that the ship will be quiet so he doesn't have to entertain anyone before he can just curl up in his bunk.
Its well before he's at the docks that he realizes that he doesn't see the familiar flag hanging on a mast that he's come to appreciate quite a bit. In fact the whole ship is nowhere to be seen. He speeds up his walking until he's jogging along the peer and squinting his eyes at the shape of a ship disappearing into the horizon. Wind is picking up and the waves that shit the shore are higher by the minute. What the hell is going on?
Did they leave without him?
Then he recognizes a familiar slim figure standing at the end, alone on the wind whipped peer.
"What happened?" he asks when he stops beside Q and stares out to the sea after the ship.
Q had been staring to the North, not even paying attention to the ship as it vanishes, one of his bags resting at his feet, quietly listening to the ever-present thrumming.
But then he's interrupted in his listening and he finds himself blinking rapidly, slowly turning his head towards Noel.
"Oh, you just missed them," Q comments calmly. "I imagine they could've used you onboard. Midnight's been kidnapped and Grey's gone after them, with the crew following to help in the rescue. I stayed behind to let the others know what's happened."
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perhapstomorrow2020-01-25 10:33 pm
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But then they came across some rumours and finally found this guy. The folks in the port town didn't speak very fondly of him. But they said that the Once Drowned was definitely the kind that they were looking for.
The guy looked like a pirate, he sat in his table in the tavern, sprawled across the chair, occasionally pouring himself another drink as he watched the people milling about. He looked like a man who had spent most of his life out on the deck of a ship, his skin was kissed with the sun, his hair frizzled from salt and heat. There were marks on his uncovered wrists that said he'd been chained, a ring that went around his neck as well. But the most disturbing feature was the dead white eye that seemed to look everything and nothing at the same time.
"We hear you're looking for a ship," Kai says as they make it to the man's table. He nudges a chair for himself and takes a seat, not bothering to ask for a permission. "I have an offer for you."
Rook watched them approach. He could tell from the way they walked that it was him they were after. He had ended his last assignment to a ship a few months ago, now he was sitting on nothing. Maybe he'd hear them out.
"What is it?" he asked roughly and his voice seemed to come from a deep, deep place within his chest.
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Aidan's at the oars, Grey keeps tabs of the tail end of the rowing boat. There's four of them in the boat, himself, Kai, Ulysse and Aidan, who is going to stay with the boat.
Grey doesn't like this. But he recognises that he needs it if they meant to complete their mission. The thought of his wife alone in the afterlife makes him push through his own irritation and anger.
They arrive at the shore, at the blanks that lead cross the wet ground. Kai steps out of the boat first, cursing a bit as his boots are immediately submersed under swamp waters. He presses on, making room for Ulysse and finally Grey himself. Grey puts a hand on his brother's shoulder before stepping out of the boat.
"We'll be back shortly," he promises before following the other two under the green cove that's arching above them.
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The Sawall estate where all their family pretty much more or less lived was an extensive thing. Despil knew it probably had some magic woven right into the fabric of its being, because sometimes it didn't make sense how the layout twisted and turned. Laws of physics had little to do with it.
Marco's father was the current head of the family, the man was a powerful, respected mage. No one came or went in his house without him knowing. But Despil didn't make any announcements when they went to visit Q. Instead he lead Noel into the house through a backdoor, they entered the walled garden and threaded through the various winding and twisting paths to one of the various wings of the mansion itself.
They entered through Despil's own rooms. The garden outside was mostly rock and succulents, giant wall to wall windows showing the whole entirety of Despil's quarter's into the garden. Despil grabbed a few things before they dived right into the house itself and after some searching, they were knocking on a door that looked very much like every other door they had passed.
Noel honestly thought it was probably the most bizarre place he'd ever been in. But he had never expected anything else in the least. His father had told him a thing or two about the Sawalls and their unique ways. He needed to be extra careful in here.
"Hey, foureyes," Despil called through the door. "Come meet your favourite cousin." He shrugged at Noel who snorted and folded his arms over his chest as they stood in the hallway waiting.
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From somewhere deep in the dimly lit room, a dry, distant voice calls back, "I'm busy, Despil. If you've something to discuss, come inside and shut the door."
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It doesn't make it any better that the air basically tastes of a storm. Any sailor worth his salt can tell that they're waiting for it to break over them any day now. Then they will have what they need to get out of here.
Until then, they just have to endure it.
Grey isn't exactly happy about it. It's too damn hot and humid. The crew is restless and ready to come apart at the seams.
He has Q's drawings strewn across the table in his cabin, Kai pinned them down in some kind of an order and insisted that he sees some kind of a progress there but Grey honestly can't see anything but random sea charts.
"Tell me what you see," he tells Midnight who is staring down at the pencil drawings. "Any idea of the course we should take?"
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He'd blame it on the heat, but really, his headache is only growing thanks to the sheer noise of the spirits that have gathered around the ship. He's pretty sure they're also responsible for the storm that's due to hit them, soon. Each time he thinks he's starting to see something in the drawings, something to follow, his headache starts pounding.
Finally he straightens up with a little annoyed noise, rubbing at his eyes and then covering his ears. "Ugh, how do you even concentrate with all this?"
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Grey and Aidan have taken it over now. They have small harpoons with them and are taking off their clothes in preparations to jump overboard. There's bigger fish down in the colder waters. It's easier to feed the whole crew with those.
Grey yanks off his boot and pauses to look at the ship that is close enough that they can get back in a hurry but out of earshot, thankfully. Just having a quiet moment with his brother is the best kind of stress relief he can think of right now.
"You think we could make it by swimming if we'd decide to ditch all of those crazy assholes out here?"
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"I've seen this kind of work before," he says quietly as he reaches down to drag his fingers across a swirl in the tattoo. Despil grunts as a respond to his touch and Marco pinches him because he can.
"I still can't believe how we all ended up here..."
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Gladly the captain seems to understand these limitations. His old captain - the one that drowned - used to whip him to get him to work better under this kind of situations. It helped for a day or so. But then it just didn't hurt anymore.
The brewing storm is quite palpable in the air though, and it crawls under his skin. It tends to do that to mages. He's restless and not satisfied with any of the distractions he invents for himself.
Except maybe one.
They're under the deck, everyone else seems to prefer the deck even if the air is just as still under as it is above. Rook leans on a pillar that has taken many a hit along the years, his thumbs hooked under his belt as he watched Ulysse untangle a length of rope, admiring the lines of his body.
"This storm is going to break above us any day now, and it'll do it quickly."
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The thick rope is expertly coiled over his hand and elbow, forming a wide loop that he'll later be able to tie off neatly aside. This also means that both hands are occupied when Rook finds him, which makes Ulysse only slightly nervous. As always, though, the spirit grows restless with the mage's approach, and Ulysse can't simply ignore the man.
"At least things will cool down with it," he answers, glancing at Rook with a little quirk to his lips. He's hoping the storm hitting will also settle both Midnight and Rook - he's noticed mages tend to get a touch more restless with extreme weather changes approaching. "But how are you doing? Will you be able to handle it?"
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Kai drops to sit beside Aidan on the railing of the ship, both of their legs dangling over the edge.
"Want to go for a swim?" he asks, tilting his head to look at Aidan from the corner of his eye. The damn man knows not how beautiful he is. It's unfair to everyone else who recognises it.
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As it is, he's come to assume Kai's fond little stares and smiles are simply those of a man being friendly with his brother-in-law, and tells himself that's how it should be and that he shouldn't feel... disappointed, when he thinks on them.
Tonight, Aidan puts such thoughts far from his mind and instead smiles at Kai, lightly nudging the man's foot with his own as he comments quietly, "I thought you don't like swimming in the dark?"
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Most of the men are below the deck, but Grey somehow ended up ushering Midnight into his cabin, pointing out that they still have plans to make. They still don't have a heading.
The air is less humid and heavy now but there's electricity in the air, tension releasing finally. They both sway in the cabin, occasionally a flood of water washes in and rain beats against the windows. Grey lights a fire in a lantern and mounts it on the wall.
It's been a couple of really frustrating days, just waiting around, listening to the men laying with each other in various places. Grey is pretty sure he heard Midnight moaning just before the storm broke in fact, beneath the deck with whoever it was that made him sound like he was ready to plead and beg. Grey still doesn't like to think about it. It pisses him off.
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Now that the storm's broken and his body's been sated, the magical energy and spirits have died down. He finally feels like himself. Though he can't help but notice that when he looks over at Grey, there's still that prickle of annoyance, that desire to get some kind of rise out of the surly pirate.
"Can't make much of a heading in this weather," he comments, amused and flippant as he idly runs his fingers over the maps and charts laid out. "Shouldn't you be discussing this with Q, anyway?"
randomly naming places here...
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Half of the crew packs into the two boats they have to take a trip to shore, to stock up on food and water and other commodities they might need.
Rook finds himself with Ulysse, strolling down the street towards a shop that sells equipment for the sails. Needles, thread, fabric. The captain sent them off with a stern look and a warning not to come back with anything that will break under a little bit of storm and a promise to skin their asses to make patches if something like that would happen.
Rook is looking around the busy street with uninterested eye. He doesn't need to ask room to walk, people tend to get out of his way. His thumbs pushed under his belt, hand close to his sword.
"We'll have quite a bit to haul back to the boat once we're done with the sails shop, want to take a stroll first to see what we can find?" he asks Ulysse.
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The soft-spoken man is eyeing some of the stalls as they pass them by, going through his mental checklist of things the ship needs and weighing it against the coin in his pocket.
"Kai will get most of the smaller goods on his own, anyway," he murmurs to himself, glad the silver-tongued man had agreed to handle those, since the merchants needed a good amount of haggling for those sorts of things. "I suppose we should take a look at some smithies... Some nails wouldn't go amiss..."
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Usually Grey stays on the ship with Aidan. They play cards and fish usually. But today Kai insists that he accompany them to the market place. "You've got two healthy arms," the man says and stares him down until Grey shrugs and decides to sign up on the trip as the designed beast of burden.
They hit the market place in the dusty afternoon and Grey is quite done already by the time they've made their way through the fruit stands, Kai talks like he has three tongues and haggles with the sellers until they have the best price for whatever they're buying. Grey is currently carrying three different baskets of bananas and oranges.
Kai spots a booth that sells baked apples with a sweet sauce sprinkled on them and insists they take a break. He leans over to the booth to order four times two apples. Grey puts the baskets down onto the street so they can sit on top of them while taking their break.
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"Having fun?" he asks, grinning and leaning past Grey to see what Kai's ordering.
A short distance away from them, Midnight's at a spice stall, pretending not to be aware of Grey being so closeby. The mage is all charming smiles and coy sweetness as he haggles with the shopkeeper for his herbs and spices he'll be needing for his mixtures on the ship.
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They haggle with a few spice sellers but those end up being too demanding, too difficult to work with and in the end they end up going with a silk trader who has enough cargo to give them a solid fee for his trip.
Despil heads back to the ship after Noel takes a detour to a whorehouse, saying something about seeing a redhead that he wanted to be friendly with. Despil had promised to grab Kimi with him before he heads out to see what the taverns and brothels have to offer.
He spots Kimi leaving the ship when he gets to the docks and walks up to him with a grin.
"All ready?"
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Not that he minds Noel not being there. Kimi and Despil together manage to get into more than enough trouble and fun on their own.
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Also both of his cousins are left behind and Marco wishes they'll make it back to pick them up. Otherwise Marco has pulled them along on a one way trip to a foreign land and then disappears at the sea after leaving them behind.
They're all soaked wet when they barely get out of the harbor, the sea suddenly roaring alive like an angry beast. But they have sails open and enough wind to propel them to deep sea, away from the shore. The rain is beating down on the deck and Marco is holding on to a railing with frozen fingers, counting the seconds between lightnings and hoping he doesn't have to step up to deal with it. There's no other mage on board but he would much rather not touch this one.
It feels... ravenous.
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"I think we're gonna need you to try your magic."
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He spends most of his evening by composing a letter to his father. He finds himself ghosting over details because he doesn't want to give the man a too good idea of what's actually going on but he needs to tell him enough to keep him satisfied.
It's late when he returns to the ship, well after Despil left to find Kimi for a stomping in the taverns. Noel is in a dark mood when he walks towards the docks and hopes that the ship will be quiet so he doesn't have to entertain anyone before he can just curl up in his bunk.
Its well before he's at the docks that he realizes that he doesn't see the familiar flag hanging on a mast that he's come to appreciate quite a bit. In fact the whole ship is nowhere to be seen. He speeds up his walking until he's jogging along the peer and squinting his eyes at the shape of a ship disappearing into the horizon. Wind is picking up and the waves that shit the shore are higher by the minute. What the hell is going on?
Did they leave without him?
Then he recognizes a familiar slim figure standing at the end, alone on the wind whipped peer.
"What happened?" he asks when he stops beside Q and stares out to the sea after the ship.
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But then he's interrupted in his listening and he finds himself blinking rapidly, slowly turning his head towards Noel.
"Oh, you just missed them," Q comments calmly. "I imagine they could've used you onboard. Midnight's been kidnapped and Grey's gone after them, with the crew following to help in the rescue. I stayed behind to let the others know what's happened."
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