devil & black sheep

[kai-pak]

Kai, obviously, had no idea what an Elasmobranchii fish was. "'Course," he said anyway taking a deep drag of the cigarette in his hand. "Would be some kinda fucked irony for a pirate to die anywhere else but the sea." He gave a small shrug. "Reckon if you're making art you're an artist, yeah?"

[apiratereject]

“Not professionally,” said Mari, with a shrug. “Alright, well, I’ve just seen a redcap I have to go stab, so as stimulating as this was, I’m going to be off.” She was quick to take out a knife that had clearly been strapped to her leg. She didn’t bother to say she might see him again, because really, what were the chances.

the end.

[kai-pak]

"Ripped apart by a fish," Kai pondered dryly. It wasn't something he would choose. Life had been hard enough the last few years, death for Kai was a peaceful thing. Maybe it was the banshee in him.

"Sounds glamourous." Somehow he could picture it. Mari on a pirate ship, flinging herself into shark infested waters. It would make a good mural. "You an artist too then?"

[apiratereject]

“Yes,” said Mari. “But a big and fierce kind of fish. Elasmobranchii fish. It’s very specific,” she nodded. “It’s worthy of a pirate.” It was something messy and chaotic and dramatic and that really encompassed who Mari was as a person. 

“I am,” she said, looking back at him. “I wouldn’t say too. Just as a hobby. I draw maps when we need them and then I also like drawing something more personal when I can.”

[kai-pak]

"Obviously," he repeated, lips tugging in amusement. Last time they'd spoke they'd not exactly exchanged much small talk, and well -- most pirates Kai knew weren't like Mari. "Try 'em out on land. Maybe one will surprise you."

"Fucking hell," he let out a breath of smoke. "That's dark." Not the weirdest question he'd ever been asked, but not exactly one with an easy answer. He'd experienced his fair share of pain, especially with his time in the penitentiary. Fights, stabbings, it was ruthless and Kai felt immune to much of it.

Banshee's had a weird relationship with death, after all. The way it surrounded them. Kai was no different to anyone else. An easy death, painless -- that would always be preferable. But knowing his luck, knowing life, it wouldn't be like that. "Whatever it is, hope 'm not sober when it happens." He took a deep inhale, refusing to dwell too much on what his death would mean. "You?"

[apiratereject]

“Yes,” said Mari, though she didn’t say anything else. As a pirate, dark topics were often discussed. They were essentially raiding and pillaging, after all. Sometimes even going to war with other ships on sea. The life of a pirate was bloody and gory. She didn’t really even think about the idea that he was a banshee and the insight into death was part of their DNA. 

“Shark,” said Mari. “I think it would be a very dignified way to go out. Not to mention, my body would be returned to the sea, her royal majesty and I would be truly at peace. Dying on land seems absolutely terrible, and I’d hope someone would drag me to the ocean and shoot me out of a cannon at the very least. This way the fish can still feast on me.”

"Maybe I'll draw that," she said. "Make it a giant mural on a wall in the city."

[kai-pak]

Kai huffed out a small laugh. Maybe it was a Wailing Waters thing, but he'd had his fair share of experience with Sirens. There was a mutual respect between the two species, a shared home. Plus, given Kai liked his women hot and crazy, he often found himself drawn to sirens without them even needing to use their song. But still -- it was valid of Mari to not want to spend too much time in those waters. He raised his brow slightly. "You a pirate?"

[apiratereject]

“Well, yes, obviously,” said Mari. At least to her it was obvious, though she didn’t point to anything that might be useful in identifying her as a pirate. She probably looked homeless more than anything else. “I’ve never had a personal run-in with a siren, but I’m not trying to test my luck, am I? I’m too young to die at sea just yet, though. Besides, how anticlimactic would it be to be taken down by a siren? I’d rather be eaten by a shark and taken out in a very gruesome but noble way. Although, I don’t think even that would happen since sharks don’t actually like eating people. Which is so boring of them.”

"Now, there's an interesting question. If you could choose to die? What would your preferred manner of death be?"

[kai-pak]

"Human," he replied easily. Generation by generation the banshee in the Pak family got less and less. In truth, Kai didn't know what Min's mother was. Banshee, human, something else? He was sure as she got older it'd come out, but for now the Pak's had their history, and that was that.

A smoke filled huff of laughter left his lips, because she said exactly what he thought she would. Despite hardly knowing the woman, he felt like he could read her quite easily. "I'll try not to get on your bad side then." He gestured towards her with the hand that held his cigarette. "You live around here too?"

[apiratereject]

Mari snorted. “Good luck with that,” she said as he mentioned not getting on her bad side, mostly because her moods could swing wildly, so it could be hard to avoid. She was self aware to know that about herself, and just didn’t care enough to course correct.

Mari didn’t answer that question right away, as if contemplating the answer to that question. “I could, if I wanted to, but trying to dock my little rowboat in waters with sirens doesn’t really seem ideal.” Pirates and sirens had a history after all. “So, I just spend my time out in the waters of Blacksand Beach. Or somewhere else if I can find a place on actual land.”

[kai-pak]

"Uh, yeah." He answered, not bluntly, simply like it was a fact. Of course he didn't know Mari's thoughts, just like to him she couldn't know that it was a luxury. That the shitty cottage down by the beach, that had been fixed up over the last year, was everything he could have dreamed of. He'd learned pretty quickly he couldn't be a big dreamer, and Kai was content with what he had.

Lighting up her smoke, then his own, he took a drag. "My gran is." It left him with enough of an intuition that he knew he had to trust his gut (even though he often ignored it), but that was about it. "You?" He would probably regret asking.

[apiratereject]

Mari gratefully took the light, and breathed deeply, before the smoke came out of her nose with an exhale. She nodded. “So, what about the rest of you?” she asked, tilting her head. 

She waved a hand. “Only in the bedroom. I’m human,” she pouted. Mari didn’t mind that she was human, but it certainly contributed to her impulsive and slightly unhinged nature. She had to keep other people guessing, otherwise they might see how she looked and think she could be overpowered. “Don’t think that means I can’t take care of myself, though,” she added as if he might think otherwise. “I’ll slit a throat if I need to just like any good redcap.”

[kai-pak]

"Like, around the corner, yeah." They'd never made it back to his place last time they met. For obvious reasons, he didn't make a habit of taking any girls he met home, but this one even more so. Not that he could fault her for that, given his own taste in women.

A glint of amusement crossed his face. "I do, actually." Growing up and living in one place for over thirty years, give or take a couple years for his time spent in jail, meant none of the town weirdos were lost on him. He especially had a soft spot for Fisheye Bob.

He fished in his pocket and pulled out a pack of crumpled cigarettes. "Want one?"

[apiratereject]

Mari’s eyes widened. “Oh, so you live in, like, a house?” she asked. For Mari, that felt unimaginable and the epitome of luxury, but considering she lived out of a small boat half the time or on the sea, having any sort of stable environment felt fancy to her and like something she could only dream of. 

She gasped at his recognition. “I love Fisheye Bob,” she said. “He’s so talented.” She went ahead and took one of the cigarettes he offered. “So, does that mean you’re a screamer?”

[kai-pak]

Kai had always been an observant man. Given his preference for solitude, a hatred of small talk (unless the woman was hot), and his inclination to always have a drink in hand, it gave him a lot of opportunity to do so.

Even now, having just dropped Min-ji off at preschool on his day off, he couldn't help his attention be caught by a crying woman being given some money, recognition lining up with the way she turned around and wiped away her tears. Amusement tugged ever so slightly at the corner of his lips and he set to head off to his local, only making it a few steps before him and the woman who's name escaped him ended up face to face.

He raised a brow ever so slightly, he never forgot how unhinged the women het met often tended to be. "I live here."

[apiratereject]

“Live here?” she asked, pointing down. “On this street corner?” Though, far from looking like that suggestion might be mildly unrealistic her face lit up. “Ohmygod, I know someone who lives right down here,” she said. “Fisheye Bob? Do you know him?” she asked. “He’s got a hook for a hand, so you have to be careful because he might swipe at you, but he knows how to play just about any song on the harmonica.”

[apiratereject]

when: 1 november 2024 where: wailing waters who: @kai-pak

Make-up was smudged on her face, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was currently thanking the kind stranger who had handed her some cash out of sympathy. Mari counted off the money in her hand, before tucking it away, but then wiping her tears from her face. 

It was often easy for her to put on a dramatic display and beg for money. Mari wasn’t above it. She often did exactly what she needed to do in order to survive, and she used her feminine wiles and innocent looks to put on a very public display of distress to get money from strangers. Really, if her life had gone differently, she could have easily been an actress. 

She turned around, once she had made sure the money was stored safely away in her chest and realized she was face-to-face with a familiar visage. “Hey,” she said. “I know you. “What’re you doing here?” She asked as if she knew his habits, though she definitely didn't. Perhaps he was exactly where he was meant to be.

[peterpfeiffer]

"I'm telling you if you give me the money, and then you go to Stinky Saul and tell him you just paid me what he owes me, he will thank you--no, praise you--for your thoughtfulness and generosity, Mari. I'll even knock a quick hundo off the top." He had a soft, honest face when it suited him as it did now. "Because we're friends, and it really was a community good I did. The fucking reek of that place when the line burst. Peeeeeeheeew. Who else was going to do it?"

In an effort to avoid any loss of limb, he occupied his hands holding his nose and fanning the air between them. A moving target would be harder to hit, though he did now also run the risk of losing a nose, too. Time to change tactics.

"But if you really don't believe me..." Both hands raised in surrender. He took note of their number: two. Incidentally, it was the same amount of hands he wanted to have at the end of this conversation. "I have the receipts."

[apiratereject]

“Yes, but then he might have the misconception that I’m thoughtful and generous, and I don’t want that reputation for myself,” scoffed Mari. It was better to be seen as someone who was rough around the edges, anyway, in a place like this. Heaven forbid people thought she was nice and took advantage of that. “Because, then he’ll come to me and want favors and other things that I just don’t want to do.” 

Even as she said she didn’t want to be thought of as nice, she finally lowered the rusty weapon. Besides, Mari had a talent for wildly swinging from mood to mood that could cause whiplash so severe, it ought to be studied. “You know what we should do?” she said as she took up his arm in hers. “I think we should team up against Stinky Saul.”

[peterpfeiffer]

Peter's palm connected with her outstretched hand making a resonating, deep clap as he low-fived the gesture for cash away, and preemptively angled his body further from the dangerous end of her rusty knife, and the capable hands that wielded it. He was pretty sure he didn't have health insurance. Or, for that matter, all his shots. If any.

"Well now wait a minute... that stinkin' son of a bitch never paid me for the community good I did in hooking his plumbing back up after the storm. So," leaning his whole body into the word he continued, "that money you owe Saul, Saul owes me." His eyes flashed to the knife and back, but he grinned, friendly. "Don't you just hate middle men? Let's cut him out."

[apiratereject]

Mari narrowed her eyes at him, her hand retracted after he’d all just given her a high five instead. “So, you’re telling me if I give you the money, and then I go to Stinky Saul and tell him I just paid you what he owes you, he won’t immediately try to cut me like a fish?” she asked. “Because honestly, I’d be very curious to know how Saul feels about cutting him out.” 

Mari scoffed at the idea. “You know, I could just cut your hand off now and then Saul wouldn’t have to do it for you when he finds out you tried to con me out of my money. Might even forgive my debts.” She looked down at her knife as if seriously considering the idea. “Or, I could give him someone else’s hand and say it’s yours and get out of my debt that way.” She paused. “No, because then he’d see you next time and you’d still have two hands.” 

[peterpfeiffer]

@apiratereject

The salt-worn pier planks shuddered unassuringly under Peter’s full weight and that of his muddy, untied work boots when he jumped down from the roof of the ramshackled fish and chip shop. A few shingles hit the ground with him, and a clattering of nails, most of which fell between the pier planks into the sea.

“Hey, woah. Mari–“ He cut off her path, spreading his long limbs wide. Peter stared at her hard from behind some too-long strands of sun bleached hair, greasy, trying to place a memory that didn’t come. “Don’t you owe me money?”  Just as likely to be the other way around, but he would be stupid to admit it. Lowering his arms to cross them over his chest, Peter considered the last time he might have seen her, calculating how likely it was he would be slapped across his sunburnt face. One half of his mouth turned downward. Or even take a knife to the guts.

[apiratereject]

Mari had a steak knife out in the blink of an eye, the rusted metal probably more terrifying due to the potential tetanus hazard rather than any sort of slice it was unlikely to yield. “Hey!” Though upon recognizing the familiar face, she was quick to lower the weapon, though she still clutched it in her hand.

She scoffed. “As if,” she said. “I owe Stinky Saul money, but I definitely don’t owe you anything. If anything, I’m pretty sure that you owe me something.” She held out her hand. He didn’t owe her anything, but Mari found that if you were confident enough about it, people were more likely to believe you. Fake it ‘til you make it, right?

[yseultcai]

"It's a bit of a nightmare, if I'm being honest. Like, I'll be out living my life and suddenly someone will recognize me. At first it was cool, and now it makes me want to crawl into a hole and ever leave it ever again." She almost asked if Marianne understood, but it was a very specific thing that she'd be asking, so she didn't bother.

The train started slowing, Yseult looking up at the screen to make sure that it was in fact the right stop. How many times had she stumbled onto the wrong platform? Too many times to ever speak of. "This one's me."

[apiratereject]

“That’s… intense.” She blinked at that. She wasn’t sure she had ever come close to feeling like that, but then again she wasn’t exactly identifiable. Mari would say she was quite the opposite and generally knew how to blend into her surroundings well enough. When she wanted to that is. 

As the train came to a slow halt and Yseult announced this was her stop, Mari perked up and then linked her arm with the other girl’s. “You’ll have to take me on the grand tour. What are the sights? What do you do here?”

[yseultcai]

"Yes," Yseult said simply, not quite knowing if that was a challenge to start talking like her or not. Some people made. comments like that but didn't actually want the weirdness of mimicry to happen. Other people liked it as much as they liked a random party trick. "I wouldn't necessarily consider myself an influencer. I guess I could be classified as that when I get sponsors that I have to shill and all of that. But, yeah, most of the time I'm just posting the covers that I'm doing. I try to post cross platform, but it's usually only tiny clips of me that actually go viral."

[apiratereject]

“Still,” said Mari. As far as she understood or was aware, that felt like sufficient enough celebrity status. After all, that meant people who were complete strangers knew who she was. Mari knew only five people in her life and those were the only five people who knew her. It was simply mind blowing that someone had greater reach and spread. “That’s impressive one way or another. I mean, you put yourself out there, don’t you? That’s not easy.” She understood that much. As an artist herself, it wasn't easy to put your art and passion out there and open yourself up to being critiqued for something you loved doing.

[yseultcai]

"Not, like, an actual celebrity. It's a weird singing part of the internet, because I'm so good at impressions, and also happen to know how to sing on key." Suddenly she was blushing, feeling silly and stupid, and incredibly overwhelmed. "I just make covers singing songs in the voice of the person who sang them originally. It trips people out enough that they subscribe and stuff, you know?"

It was hard enough explaining all of it to Fenrik, and he was the least online person that Yseult had ever met in her life. "Everyone has their Youtube thing these days."

[apiratereject]

“Oh,” said Mari with wide eyes, looking truly impressed. Mari didn’t sing. Or have any sort of talent, really, beyond anything criminal. “So, you can sound like anyone? Any singer? So, wait, can you sound like me?” Anyone hearing her might have thought it was vain of her to ask. But Mari was confident in herself, even while understanding her faults. 

“So, are you like one of those influencers? Is that what they’re called? Or are YouTube people something different? YouTube is better. I think it’s… harder to do. I mean, right?” She looked to Yseult for confirmation. 

[yseultcai]

"Yseult. I'd tell you how to spell it, but that just seems a little clunky and annoying compared to your introduction. Do you always introduce yourself like that?" Yseult laughed anyway, not having met a pirate for some time now. "I've always be a little jealous of pirates. Except for the fact that I'm pretty sure I get seasick, and any adventure I'd want to go on would be immediately cut short." Land it was.

A huff escaped Yseult's mouth. "It's more of a generalized fear, but, I'm a like, a tiny bit internet famous and recently have learned that even being a tiny bit internet famous means it's harder to trust people in general."

[apiratereject]

Mari shook her head with a small shrug. “No,” she said. “It’s not a set script or anything, anyway. It’s the kind of life you just end up in because there isn’t anything else out there for you, I think.” She supposed some people chose to be pirates, but more often than not she found many of them found there wasn’t anything left on land for them. “I guess kind of like what you were saying, about a collection of odd people just thrown together.”

Mari eyes widened. Given that she spent enough time out in the open ocean with little to no signal and didn’t have a computer to speak of, she didn’t spend a lot of time, if any time at all, on the internet. Outside of the occasional porn, she barely knew much about it. “So, are you like a celebrity?” she asked in a hushed tone, as if suddenly speaking at normal volume might cause those on the train to recognize her.

[yseultcai]

"I'm pretty sure people should have to at least give me their first name before they can start becoming my therapist. Might make it all feel a little less like a sting when spoken out loud." She was wincing, clutching onto the pole of the train like her entire life depended on it. The fact that a stranger could see so clearly through her made Yseult want to shrivel up and die a little. Was she that horribly obvious to everyone?

Yseult pushed her hair out of her face, the rumbling of the tracks below quieting the anxiousness bubbling up inside. "I'll be the first to admit that I'm scared of a lot of things, and the horrible truth is, I continue to have reasons to be."

[apiratereject]

“Marianna at your service,” she said. She put her hand to her forehead in a salute. “Former pirate and current wanderer at your service. Actually, the pirate thing comes and goes depending on if I want to take on a gig or not. And if I need the money” She shrugged. She wasn’t even sure if she’d call herself a pirate nowadays. She was just usually a deckhand. 

She tilted her head. “What does that mean? That you continue to have reasons to be?”