Dirty Work « Thread Started on Jul 6, 2006, 8:06pm »
Harker had to admit these pirates knew how to hide their own. After three weeks without the sight of a single ship she had the Defender dock at Port Royal to release their Captain to the ruffians that held the city. Dressed as a common pirate she traded her uniform for black breeches high boots and a tan billowed shirt with a red corset. Loosing her hair from the tight braid it was normally found in she looked like a pirate.
She strapped her pistols and sword around her hips. Hiding the dagger a prize from the queen in her left boot. She had found that this dagger when held correctly split into three blades. Her majesty's little sense of humor. She swapped her hat for anothers of her crew and pounded the dock telling her first mate to come back within the week. Making her way through the unwashed masses she found the local tavern conviently named The Cutlass. Pushing opened the doors she made her way to a small table and ordered two shots of wiskey.
There Cassandra Harker Captain of the Defender sat waiting for patiently. Smoke billowed about the room and men of all types staggered in and around but none of them were the sort that Harker was looking for so she sat still as a board slouched ever so silently over her drinks. Until chance came when the door opened and silenced crossed the bar.
Mara Finch Administrator Captain of the Tahiti Sun member is offline
Joined: May 2006 Gender: Female Posts: 33 Karma: 0
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #1 on Jul 7, 2006, 8:35pm »
((runs full-speed into post))
The Tahiti Sun had docked early that morning in Port Royal. Above her was what promised to be a blistering sun, and below her was the gentle blue of ocean waves. After bribing the dock master into considering the Tahiti a merchant vessel, Captain Mara Finch set her crew in shifts to see to the Tahiti's appearance and cargo. Her well-planned shifts allowed twenty crew men at a time to go into the Port for two hours and thus found no argument with them.
Mara herself stood on the fo'c'sle, watching several hands scour the deck to its usual shine. The humid salt breeze brought a slight curl to her usually straight, if messy, brown hair, held away from her face by a long strip of dark green canvas. She took off her hat to wipe a few beads of sweat from her forehead, then clamped it back down.
Penn came about announcing the change in shifts and Mara got it in mind to go into Port herself, to a little place she knew where she had not been in ages. As she strode down the dock with the rolling gait of one used to life at sea, untied boots clumping somewhat noisily on the planks, Mara took in the activity around her.
Many other vessels were in port: navy ships, armed and fortified heavily; merchant rigs, some worse for the wear as a result of the brethren; even other pirate ships, hulls crusted in barnacles, riding low in the waters due to their hauls. She maneuvered carefully around two men rolling a barrel of what, by smell, she judged to be rotten fish.
Mara found the place she had been looking for. It was not too fancy nor too shabby of a place, but one would do best to hold firmly to one's purse when inside. She could see the Tahiti's main mast from where she stood and smiled as she undid a few of the laces on her shirt. No use paying for a drink if you didn't have to. Dune had used a similar trick often enough, and Mara had caught on to his bad habit.
Hand on sword hilt, she pushed open the door and entered. A silence gripped the place with her arrival. She saw many familiar old faces and winked, announcing to the tavern as a whole, "As you were."
This garnered laughs from those gathered, pirates and disillusioned navy men alike. Mara continued further inside, replying to the friendly calls of "Finch" with a tip of her hat or a kindly look from her steel blue eyes. Taking a seat at the bar she waved her fingers at the barkeep, rings clinking, and waited for her drink.
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #2 on Jul 8, 2006, 1:05am »
Tipping her hat back only slight Harker looked up. Her acute ears heard the name Finch and her memory reeled, a pirate captain of the ship Tahiti Sun. Squinting her eyes slightly she placed her elbows on the table and watched the pirate take a seat at the bar. In her concentration she didn't bother with the drunken man at her side.
"If ya ain't gunna be drankin' those d'you mind if I take em off yer hands?"
The drunken man, a pirate by the looks of him reached for the whiskey shots sitting between her elbows. Cassandra snarled and in one swift movement she retrieved the dagger from her boot and had it along the mans throat. She was now standing and he was as well his eyes shut and whimperings escaping him. Curling her lips in disgust she looked the man over, glancing at the drinks his clumsy hands had spilled her eyes sharpened their harsh blue radiating with an anger that only came from her Irish side.
Without her noticing the bar had gone silent again. She stood there for a moment her light brown hair had fallen around her face, one hand held her dagger to the mans throat and the other was gripping the hilt of her sword. When she spoke the whole bar heard.
"You've had enough already but you spilt my whiskey. That was not wise..."
Her hand tighten and she stepped closer to him whispering in his ear so no one eyes her. As she pulled man the man whimpered a yes. She pulled the dagger away slowly and he jumped to his feet and staggered to the door. She replaced the dagger and looked around at the bar from whom she was receiving countless looks. She turned and picked up the empty shot glasses in her hand and said to the tavern.
"He spilt my drinks, both of em."
And the noise returned as Harker headed for the bar. Counting it on her Irish luck she stepped up beside Finch and placed the glasses on the counter.
"I'll have another. Would you like one?"
She said to Finch with a nod letting her Irish accent fall heavy instead of the uptight accent she used for nobles. Pulling a bar stool off the ground she sat on it and pushed her hair behind her ears.
Mara Finch Administrator Captain of the Tahiti Sun member is offline
Joined: May 2006 Gender: Female Posts: 33 Karma: 0
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #3 on Jul 11, 2006, 4:13pm »
"I 'ent much of the whiskey type," Mara said, casually glancing at the woman next to her. So she could threaten and overpower a drunk. So could the ship's girl Mara had taken on back in Samoa. That girl ended up in Davey Jones's locker because she was too proud to hold onto the support lines in a storm.
"But I 'ent never turned down a free drink in me life. So yes mate, if you're payin'."
Mara took off her hat and set it on the bar in front of her. Dune had tried to convince her to buy a new one, but she had refused. And he learned better than to try and take it upon himself to find her a new one. She pulled her sleeves down a little further over her wrists, hiding her brand. Typically she did not care who saw it, especially in a place like this. But times change and the navy could lurk where you least suspected it.
Take this lass for example. She wasn't pirate, and if she were, she did a right job of pretending not to be. But Mara would play along. Most definitely. At least this woman was well-dressed for the part. A little too well. Yet not enough gold, to be sure. "Where's the shiny?" Mara muttered to herself.
"Spill a drink and spill some blood, I al'ays says," she said loudly enough to be heard. "'Specially if it be rum." She grinned and elbowed the woman next to her as the tavernkeep provided their drinks. Her eyes were focused on a tarnishing pot that hung behind the tavernkeep's rotund head, making quick glances behind her in the tavern. As many friendly replies she had received, she didn't have many friends, and those she did were just as likely to stab her in the back, quite literally, as her enemies.
And the woman wasn't helping any, despite Mara's apparent nonchalance. A little risk 'ent never killed no one, she told herself. Except that it, on occasion, did. "I like to know who I'm drinkin' with even if I don't remember it the next day. I be Captain Mara Finch of the lovely Tahiti Sun, may she sail on smooth waters for eternity. And what do they call you, you little hellraiser?"
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #4 on Jul 11, 2006, 9:03pm »
"Hell raiser? eh I like it. If rums your fancy I'll buy it for ye but its whiskey for me really enjoyed anything else really."
She slapped the silver coins on the bar as a mug of rum and two shots were placed before the pair. Cassandra picked up the first shot and downed it without any bitter reaction then she turned to the pirate on her left.
"Captain Finch? I've heard tales of you and your Tahiti Sun most impressive. My name is Erin Donovan former sailor of double cannoned Vendetta til it was sunk by the new navy vessel lurking in the waters. We were due to dock on the Ilsa De Lys until we met the King's Navy...terror of a ship three decks of cannons its a miracle it stays afloat in the water."
She said speaking of course of her own ship which did had three cannon decks and did sink the Vendetta but that was a month ago on the crossing from england. Picking up the other shot she raised it to Finch and said.
"You pick the toast Captain for I fear my luck is on the low tide and I wouldn't be wishing ye ill."
Dune New Member First Mate of the Tahiti Sun member is offline
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 6 Karma: 0
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #5 on Jul 12, 2006, 5:19pm »
Dune knew Mara would be at this little tavern. Mara was so predictible. Of course, he found out she was at this tavern after stopping at three others first...
The girl was still behind him and had obeyed his rules, at least. Entering The Cutlass he slowed his pace and glared suspiciously at every man in the tavern, though none paid him or his charge any mind. He saw Mara sitting next to another woman and groaned. Women were everywhere! What happened to good old pirate men? They were in short supply these days, obviously.
He took a seat next to Mara, leaving the girl to stand. "Sorry to in'errupt, cap'n, but, uh, she wanted to talk to ya."
Mara Finch Administrator Captain of the Tahiti Sun member is offline
Joined: May 2006 Gender: Female Posts: 33 Karma: 0
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #6 on Jul 12, 2006, 5:30pm »
Mara ignored Dune for the time being. She raised her own glass and toasted, "To each her own tide, low or high. To the sea, will she always keep us in her good graces." She tossed back the drink and set the glass back down in the same movement.
"Donovan, this be Dune, me first mate. Dune, Donovan," she introduced hastily, indicating each with a wave of her ringed fingers.
She returned to their previous discussion. "Three decks of cannons, you say?" Mara gave a low whistle. "How's that tub get any speed? Tahiti runs fine with her two. We hardly use 'em anyway." She was being cautious, with her suspicions of the woman's "piracy".
"Dune, back to the ship. Leave the girl here." Mara turned her back to Dune for Donovan again. "What, may I ask, is at the dear Isla de Lys?"
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #7 on Jul 15, 2006, 4:16pm »
Cassandra gave her a twisted smile and shook her head slightly. Motioning for a rum this time she took two sips before deciding how to reply she turned completely in her stool to look Finch in the face wondering if the pirate had a mind to go after the cash that was there.
"Well if I told you that Captain there would have to be something in it for me wouldn't there. And I don't fancy talkin' bout where the Vendetta made birth with that little one hangin round."
Wondering if she could swindle passage unto the Tahiti Sunshe decided that parts of the truth would do for now until she knew Finch's motives better smiling she took another long swig of the rum...it was growing on her.
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #8 on Jul 15, 2006, 7:05pm »
Elizabeth had followed Dune in obedient silence towards the inn where Mara Finch was apparently dining (or drinking, she supposed.) She did not know exactly what she planned to do next, per say; an escape attempt at this point would be foolish, particularly with the men still on board, but Lizzie did not plan to remain aboard the Tahiti Sun forever as Finch’s pawn either. She would keep her eyes open, she decided, and wait for the opportune moment.
Mara was drinking and talking quietly to another woman, presumably a pirate, although something about her seemed vaguely familiar. Mara ignored Elizabeth rather pointedly, so Lizzie was left to examine her surroundings. The inn was crowded, mostly with men but no few women, all seamen, most pirates. There was a staircase leading presumably to the rooms on the second floor, and two exits- the door she had entered, and one that led to the kitchen.
Lizzie leaned cautiously on the bar, and was surprised when the bartender set a drink in front of her with a course wink. Exploring all possible shades of red and ignoring the man’s eyes on her, she pretended to scan the crowd while listening intently to Mara and her companion.
Damien Pelham New Member The Silent Sailor member is offline
Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 5 Karma: 0
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #9 on Jul 15, 2006, 7:30pm »
Damien nodded a farewell to the captain who had so kindly plucked him out of the sea. His career on the Vengeance was over. It was time to find a new captain and crew. It would be a change, but hopefully someone would accept him.
Ducking his head, he stepped into The Cutlass, into the dimly lit, smoke filled room. It almost felt like coming home. He always attracted drunks, but that was to be expected when you were bigger then most men. He had a need for a fight anyway.
Shouldering his way up to the bar, he motioned for a drink. A whiskey slid down to him and he grinned, flipping a few pieces to the barkeep. Today was a good day.
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #10 on Jul 15, 2006, 10:14pm »
Waiting the Captains reply Harker looked closely at the girl that the man named Dune had left behind. At first glance she was just another face but looking again Harker nearly spit out the rum in her mouth. Elizabeth Harcourt the daughter on the English noble was her second duty to make sure she made the crossing safely. Apparently she did not being in the custody of a Pirate Captain...Swallowing the rum she coughed harshly and then chugged the rest down. Swearing in her mind Harker order two more shots now she had to find a way to get Miss Harcourt back on board the Defender.
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #11 on Jul 17, 2006, 5:37pm »
Elizabeth tried to avoid glancing at the pair of women, but she could hardly fail to notice that she was frequently the object of their attention. She had the strange feeling that both of them had plans for her, and she had an inkling that she would not enjoy either option.
She glanced over towards the person leaning next to her, a young fellow with a whisky. He looked towards her, too, drinking silently. Elizabeth looked away momentarily, but when she glanced back he was still looking at her.
"What," she said, "are you planning to kidnap me too? Because I have a feeling you'll have to fight those two for the honour."
Mara Finch Administrator Captain of the Tahiti Sun member is offline
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Re: Dirty Work « Reply #12 on Jul 18, 2006, 12:56pm »
"Well, if I told you that, Captain, there would have to be something in it for me, wouldn't there. And I don't fancy talkin' bout where the Vendetta made berth with that little one hangin round."
Mara shrugged in reply. "Just askin' to confirm what I already knew. No matter. The little one? Oh, yes, her. Pay her no mind."
She had noted the arrival of a strangely quiet man and it was making her disquieted for some reason. Rather than abandon her efforts on Donovan, she chose to let Elizabeth talk to him. What was the harm?
"Don't worry lass," she did pause to tell the girl. "I en't doing any fighting today, leastwise over you. 'twouldn't be much of a honour anyhow, considering what you did to me boots." Mara was still upset about that incident. A perfectly good pair of boots. She shook her head and downed more rum.
Turning back to Donovan, feeling slightly dizzy at the amount of turning she seemed to be doing, she asked, "So what's next fer ya with no ship and a mind to go the the Isla de Lys, if me assumption be correct?"
Damien Pelham New Member The Silent Sailor member is offline
Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 5 Karma: 0
Re: Dirty Work « Reply #13 on Jul 18, 2006, 8:34pm »
Damien shrugged his large bare shoulders and slid a step down the bar. He wasn't about to take a captain's hostage, no matter if the captain was a female. He just wanted a drink right now, not a fight.
Taking his shot, he raised his hand to call for another one, setting down his money by the empty glass. He listened closely to the talk of Idla de Lys. He may have foudn a crew to join.
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