Ravaged Seas (1x1 Cj and Started)

[cjr09]

It's to the immense relief of the crew when they finally- finally- hit the docks of Havana.

They're low on everything except gold- tracking a ship of the Royal Navy up and down the ocean did have some fantastic benefits- and despite the weariness that surely ate at every sailor's bones they unload the ship in record time, taking their shares of their latest catch and disperse to the nearest taverns.

Tetra sags against the wheel in exhaustion.

Their trip had taken twice as long as expected- they hadn't thought their prey to be a slave carrying vessel- and the Captain of the esteemed Morningswan did not deal in slaves.

They returned the majority of them back to their homelands, but a few had stayed as new sailors- owing them their lives and all that.

She shudders just thinking about it.

The battle had been costly- she'd lost a good few sailors in the fight.

She'd sailed with some of them for years.

Angrily, she shakes herself of the thought- further mourning would do neither them nor her any good.

She'd like nothing more than to sleep for about a day, but it's still mid-afternoon- her internal clock demands she be up and being productive.

Well, the sailors looking for work usually lurk around the taverns at this time of day.

She straightens her hat and stalks toward the nearest tavern- hopefully someone was drunk, stupid, or desperate enough to sign themselves over to the pirate's way of life.

(Bad starter FTW)

[Startedraining]

"Theif!" someone shouted angrily as a young man sprinted away, stuffing a loaf of bread into his dark jacket pocket. The man was tall and red haired, and tan to the bone. He lifted his arms and jumped over a barrel of salt, or wine. He didn't care.
The man was still yelling after him, but no one made a move to stop him. Trying would do no good, this boy could escape the claws of the devil himself.

He skid to a stop around a corner and breathed heavily, pulling out the bread and cast a glance about him. The doors of the alley-way were painted the colors of the shops they belonged to. The door closest to him was blue, with a fancy brass handle. He huffed in another breath and pushed it open, glancing around the kitchen it led him to.
He grabbed another apple or two, or other miscellaneous fruits, and stuffed them into a bag near the door. Turns out, it was an apron, but he tied ends together to create a pouch. Whatever suited him. He could hear chatting from another door, light was shining from under the door itself, and footsteps neared it. Panicking, the boy swiftly turned and closed the blue door behind him.

He slung the pouch over his shoulder and headed towards the docks, flicking stones at seagulls and slithering between the people in the huge crowds. A new ship was in the dock this morning, and the sun was just high over the main mast. He exhaled sharply, and stopped walking abruptly. The name of the ship was painted delicately in white along the bow. Morningswan. He stepped closer to the water and grasped the rope-tied rails that stopped small children from falling and drowning.

The ship was beautiful. Maybe this would be his chance to escape Havana.
He looked eagerly around for the captain, first mate even. He had a few questions.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flat, brownish hat and pressed it on over his head, and once more disappearing into the crowd.

[cjr09]

Tetra had almost forgotten how much she hated taverns.

They were crowded, horrible places that stank of bad rum and vomit and the people you could get into fights with were too drunk to put up a proper fight.

That didn't mean they didn't try, though.

She wipes the blood off of her sword with an old rag as she returns to her ship- no one worthy of sailing under her flag in that despicable place- thinking only of her cabin and sleep, brain be damned.

She sheaths her rapier- on her right, curiously enough- but does manage to get back to the docks without any further incident, and climbs back to her usual position at the helm of her beloved ship.

"Captain on the deck," Lyric- a friend of hers for as long as she could remember, and her navigator- calls from unseen up the masts, hidden by the sails.

Tetra ignores him completely in favor of draping herself over the wheel, muttering loudly, "You're all I need, my dear, I never need to go on land again."

She picks herself up enough to survey the decks.

"We leave for the open seas tomorrow night! Lyric, be a dear and find the rest of my crew once they've returned, and get on finding some greenhorns. We could use the extra muscle power,' She calls up to Lyric, sighing.

She could feel another migraine brewing.

She holes up in her cabin in an attempt to sleep it off, leaving the remainder of her crew to man the decks.

They could manage themselves for a few hours, right?

[Startedraining]

The mysterious young man lost his ability of grace as he looked around for the newer captain, owner of the Morningswan. He bumped into many other people, all bustling to get a glimpse of the wares the ships have come to drop off or sign up for those same ships. It occurred to him that this is what he was doing, and doing for the first time.

The whole dock seemed to be familiar faces, and many recognized him, casting out hellos and good days to him as he passed. He smiled and waved to them, earning a 'he's a good lad who went down the wrong path.'

He sighed, turning to head back to the Morningswan. The captain and his crew must still be on it. He regained his old energy and dodged around children and leapt barrels, hand clutched tightly on the makeshift pouch that was still hanging from his shoulder.

He reached the docking rope and plank bridge that allowed access to the ship. He couldn't bring himself to actually cross it and step on the ship, but he did stand there in awe for a minute, admiring the ship's neat and crisp sails, the rigging and the heavy main mast.

[cjr09]

There's a few moments of the usual chattering of the docks, then the pounding of feet on wood fills the air- before a massive blur of white bursts from below the decks of the Morningswan and into the midday sun.

A direwolf.

Utterly massive creature- it comes up to a grown man's stomach- long and lean and all power.

This one is pure white, with gleaming red eyes; and as it stretches out in the midday sun with a yawn everyone has a clear view of its massive teeth, white as its coat.

It draws itself up to full height and launches itself from the ship in one easy leap, and lands neatly on the docks, locking eyes with the boy standing at the plank bridge for a moment, before stepping close and sniffing at the bag on his shoulder with great puffs of breath.

Then sits down in front of him with a great thud, massive tail swinging from side to side and tripping and unfortunate passerby, ears perked upwards and head tilted to one side, whining softly with begging eyes.

[Startedraining]

The boy stepped back slightly from the albino dire, bracing himself against a lunge, though it wouldn't do any good. It's jaws could snap his arm in half.

He watched it poke at his bag and then sit. It thumped loudly, and it reminded the boy of a puppy. A very large puppy. He smiled and reached into his bag, tugging off a bit of the bread and extending his hand, the bread in his palm. He was still a bit nervous around it, and he thought the creature must know at some level that he was afraid.

The took the time to admire it's ears, the shape of it's head, and eyes. They were intelligent, and bright red. He had never seen an albino dire, the albenic disorder was rare in even small mammals. Who did it belong to?

[cjr09]

The dire sniffs the offered bread curiously, then snaps it up quickly, but carefully- as to not accidentally nick him with his teeth.

"Hey, Fen, what have I told you about begging from strangers you absolutely useless-" Tetra rants, striding down the plank bridge while fixing her hat upon her head- she was getting one of her inactivity headaches, how she hated those- and overseeing supplies herself was a good way to stop them.

"I'm sorry about Fenrir- he's a beggar, acts like I never feed him, though the amount of gold I spend on food for this lug says otherwise- and he tends to know which people he can win over. Thinks he's still a cute puppy, you see," She explains, finally turning to look at him.

"Ah, my apologies- My name is Tetra Swan, captain of the Morningswan. Pleasure to meet you."

[Startedraining]

(do you wanna have lebsian pirates on this ship? Sven has a sister ouo)

The boy, who would soon receive a name from an anonymouse source, straightened his back and extended a hand, "I'm Sven Port, I live here in Havana." he smiles at the woman who seemed a bit too young to belong as a captain on a ship so elegant. He said nothing of this to her, however.

"I am a fan of dires, but I have never seen an albino. Where did you acquire him?" he asked, adjusting the bag over his shoulder and smiling at the dire, "He indeed is a cute puppy. I could've given all of my bread to him had you not shown up."

[cjr09]

(Sure, if you'd like~ Or we could do a different RP, I'd still be using the same characters)

"Nice to meet you, Sven," she says, shaking his hand firmly. "A native of Havanna, you said? So you'd know about the new changes to the soldiers in our lovely cesspool of a town?" She nods behind him- a group of guards is searching a nearby vessel; a smuggler ship, specializing in weaponry and drugs, she knew- and pushes Fenrir up the plank bridge- the massive dire goes up without a fight, disappearing to the other side of the ship.

"Ah, well to put things simply I'm a pirate. I commandeered a smuggler ship and Fenrir was on it, waiting to be sold with his brothers and sisters on the black market. Fen's the runt, believe it or not," she says jokingly, but her eyes are locked on the soldiers slowly making their way towards them.

"Now, if you'd rather not get caught up in a fight with the guard, I'd suggest you leave now. This will get rather ugly very fast."

[Startedraining]

(I know you were aching for one yesterday, but it can be a minor plot for this roleplay so you can enjoy it more ^u^
besides it sounds like a great idea.)

Sven reached up to touch the rough stubble on his face, clicking his tongue once, "Not a chance, ma'am. A fight is too interesting for me to run with my tail between my legs," he smiles politely at the guards as they approach, "A pirate you say? Need another set of hands or two to help you in your journeys?"

He raises his eyebrows and casts a glance at her, but there was no time for her to reply, as the guards were now in earshot, and began to speak with long, official sounding words that basically told the two that they had the right to search the ship as it was docked to check for drugs or weapons or stolen items. All of those things could be on this ship, Sven thought, but that didn't matter to him.