the ghost

The name Calico brings to mind a certain imagery: patterns and colors that blend in, hiding the individual in a layer of their own design. When you hear my name, I want you to fear it. I'm Captain Calico Brimms, mate, and I'm the Ghost of the Black Sea."

[tess-volkov-blog]

Tess frowned at the mention of a daughter. It left a bitter taste in her mouth, though she knew that she had no right to feel any jealousy towards a forgotten woman of his past. “It would be cruel to murder your own daughter, yes… I suppose I’ll have to figure something a bit more practical then. I doubt any fog or hallucination-causing bugs will do much for these… people.” The blonde cleared her throat and glanced around the room–anywhere that wasn’t Cal in all honest truth. She felt an awkward air settle in between them at the mention of children, though she held no grudge against the girl herself. She was probably a very nice girl… but Tess didn’t want to dwell on the subject for long. 

[captainbrimms-blog]

“I’m not even sure she’s my own blood, but... The things she said were very pointed. They sounded like something I would say if I met my own father.” The world felt subtly heavier at the words, and he couldn’t help but wonder of the other children in the world who shared his blood. He hoped, for their own sake, they were as far from the island as the world would take them -- although it seemed they were drawn to it in the same way he was. “No, we need to get them off the island in a way that, if they die, it appears accidentally. We don’t want word to get back to the King and him to think we have something to hide. As much as I’d enjoy taking his pointed crown for my own, he’d send a fleet first, and we don’t have the sort of power to rage a war.” 

[tess-volkov-blog]

“I hope not. He was quite the man if I recall.” She smiled at the crumbling of his resolve not to say anything, but stifled it the best she could. Any traces of a smile faded, however, at the mention of familiar faces and the Navy. “There’s a way to solve all of your problems, you know. If we use the…” Tess whispered the next word as she set down the glass, “Mouri, we could scare the buggers off the island. Of course, that would mean taking a much more offensive approach.”

[captainbrimms-blog]

“You flatter me,” he returned. As she continued however, Cal couldn’t help but raise his brows, entirely considering the possibility. The Mouri were ruthless, and ruthlessness was what they needed. “An offensive approach is the only way we’ll survive. The sirens tried a defensive approach on Polaris, and look where it got them. If it were up to me, we’d wipe them out -- but I think my...daughter may be among them.” The word felt foreign on his tongue, but he wasn’t sure how else to phrase his growing concern. 

[tess-volkov-blog]

“The Calico Brimms I know would never pass up a free drink–no matter how big his concerns. It must be serious, whatever it is.” She gave him the once-over and frowned slightly. “Would you rather not talk about it?”

[captainbrimms-blog]

“Maybe that Calico Brimms is finally dead and buried.” He returned her gaze, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees. “You know me too well. I’d rather not talk about it, but you’re going to pry it from me anyways just by flashing those damn eyes at me. Damn your eyes, Tess.” 

“I think the past is finally catching up to me. Faces I never thought I’d see again are beginning to prick up, and with these ruddy Navy crawling around... For the first time in a long time, I seem to be at a loss what to do, love -- not that you’ll ever hear me say that again.” 

[captainbrimms-blog]

exposed like a nerve || matthias & cal

[matthias-salvatore-blog]

Matthias slipped through the crowds like a shadow, an impression exaggerated by his long black coat, even with the factor of his youthful face, severe. He moved with instinctive grace and with a kind of unshowy strength, but he also moved like a man who had spent his entire life slumping a touch to try to fit into crowds. With his height and his lankiness, as well as the energy that surrounded him, he managed damnably to stand out of the crowds anyway.

When the boy saw Calico Brimms, his jaw tightened slightly, a look of cold wariness coming into his eyes. Hand went to sword at his side, resting delicately and lightly on the hilt, but like the man walking now beside him, willing to kill if he needed to.

The boy did not grin, his normally difficult to read facial expression unerringly blank. “W-what do you w-want f-from me, P-pirate Lord,” he murmured, his tone of voice almost bored even though his heart was racing, preparing himself for a potential fight. “You w-wouldn’t approach me to make f-friends, s-so w-what do you w-want?”

[captainbrimms-blog]

“You say that as if it’s an insult, but here it is the highest of praise. You would do well to remember where you are, boy.” He hissed out Pirate Lord like they were words belonging in a gutter, but Cal felt no shame to them. If anything, the words were almost too simple to describe what he now was. He was something more, but as to what that something was, he could not be certain.

“You’re wrong there. I’ve approached worse than you when the situation was dire enough.” He paused a moment, looking at the boy. Yes, he could almost see it. If not in the fine features, then in the way he held himself -- like a Worthington. He wasn’t positive, but he didn’t need to be. Confidence was key in the underworld, and he had enough confidence to launch a fleet of ships. “For example, your father.” 

[tess-volkov-blog]

“Thank God for the bloody alcohol…” The woman took a long sip of her drink before glancing at her guest. “You said you didn’t want one? Why?”

[captainbrimms-blog]

“No one is more shocked than I am, love.” He chuckled softly, although the sound fell flat. “Bigger concerns, I suppose.” 

[siwonmi-deactivated20171003]

Of Old Hatred | Calicio & Zethus

[siwonmi-deactivated20171003]

Upon noticing a man move her way, the scowl ever so present on Jezebel’s lips only did seem to increase. Her lips pursed, pressed together until they turned from a rosy shade to a much lighter one. To knock the glass from his hands, crush it into pieces against his skin — the siren would have loved to pursue such actions, but it was forbidden to her present form. Promises, there were few things that the young woman promised, but those things she did she acted out upon. Sadly, a promise of such had been to murder deceitfully and not as blatantly.

No matter how much the blonde desired to wage war where she sat, to call the entire human race into the waves she had to restrain herself. For the sake of the plan. Everything happened for the sake of her devilish plan. Jezebel remained seated, brow arching upwards, as her muscles relaxed ever so slightly. The corner of her lips arched upwards in a malicious smirk. When most women would have been beautiful in such a position, she had a cruel sort of beauty. That of cutting glass, wonderful as long as you do not touch it.

❝ Thankfully, not the same hell as thee. ❞ The fair haired woman snarled, lifting her glass in her own hands as she brought it to her lips, ❝ I wonder when thou willst finally learn not to cross me, or my paths, so very eagerly. ❞ Shaking her head ever so slightly the woman began to sway her drink in her hands, making the liquid move up to the rim of the glass as her electric hues averted to look into the glass. The woman watched as the drink began to appear as a rapids would.

[captainbrimms-blog]

"I'm hurt," Cal uttered in response. His fingertips drummed lightly against the glass of his drink, and he couldn't help the small smirk that curled onto his lips. He was not a fool; he knew he was playing with a shark -- one who longed so desperately to rip him to shreds. However, he had always been a man to live on the cusp between what was sane and what was not. Instead of falling back, he leaned forward, elbows resting on the damp wood of the small table separating them.

"What can I say? I can't stay away." He took a quick swig of his drink, allowing the liquid to clear his head from any straying thoughts. He could turn many situations to his favor, and this one would be no different. "It's the curse of being human, love. We're drawn to the very things that destroy us."

One of the barmaids came rushing up with more drinks, but Cal waved her away as lazily as if she was a fly. Rumors could be as crippling as daggers, and he would rather anyone not starting any in regards to his own plans. "You may finally get a chance to get all that killing out that you so desire to enact on me. I'm sure you've heard about the island's newest...visitors."

[black-prince-isaac-deactivated2]

“Well, those of us here are hardly the most innocent of people. I’m sure that amongst ourselves we’ve got a pretty decent armoury. The real challenge is getting everyone to get a long well enough to put up a solid defence.”

Isaac grimaced, outside of Evanna and her workers the only other person he had vague connections with was his old crew. Whom he’d pretty much been avoiding since their arrival on Tortuga. He hadn’t been with the crew all too long before they found the elixir, and the nightmarish events that followed brought up waves of guilt whenever he saw them.

[captainbrimms-blog]

“And therein lies the problem. With our age comes the unique problem of attempting to move past twenty years worth of shitty things -- and we aren’t the forgiving sort.” Before Tortuga, they had been united in their efforts to survive. Now, they would only be united by a common enemy, but even that was a fragile thing. “We may need to start spreading rumors to make people think the Navy is worse than they are. If we can create an enemy... Well, even rivals would come together in face a foreign, common foe.” 

[navigatorava]

“Do you want to be remembered, Brimms? Because I don’t. I want to live a quiet and normal life. “

[captainbrimms-blog]

Then you shouldn’t have become a pirate, love. 

[captainbrimms-blog]

exposed like a nerve || matthias & cal

Cal stood on the street side, watching people walk by him with the quick eyes of one who had spent too long among the crowds. He knew how to easily slide among the masses, slipping his hand into the pockets of those bumbling along, but more importantly, he knew how to be patient, waiting until the perfect prey presented itself. Today, however, he was not waiting to play the thief; he was waiting for a specific individual to show himself.

When he finally caught a glimpse of the boy, he took his time to reach him. One hand on the sword at his side, he flashed Matthias a grin far closer to that of a shark than of a reassuring gesture. “I take it the riots didn’t carry you off then?” 

[sewer-blues]

[swift-demeter-blog]

Blood and Ale// Demeter & Calico

[swift-demeter-blog]

Demeter didn’t move an inch as Calico moved towards her. She stared back at him as she had before, icy like waves in the winter. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Captain,” she replied in a calm voice. “I’m just an island girl. I’ve only seen the navy from the distance on the docks, let alone stepped foot on a naval ship.” Her eyes left his, darting around the room. About a hundred pair of eyes were on them. Both of them. They weren’t just looking at Calico, waiting for some signal to jump her or kick her out of the bar. She took it he didn’t often have conversations like this.

She looked back at him, “you do know me, Calico Brimms,” she told him once more. “I am your past,” she stood up from the table. “Perhaps I will be your future too.” She pulled two coins from her purse, “thank you Captain but I insist,” her voice was booming, practically echoing through the bar. Her cold look was gone, replaced with a soft smile. “Thank you for your generosity,” she bowed her head before walking towards the door. The idle chatter started up again.

[captainbrimms-blog]

I am your past.

The words echoed in the tavern long after she walked away, and a tidal wave of thoughts swarmed in his head, threatening to take him out to sea to drown. There was a reason she looked so vaguely familiar -- a reason she gazed at him with such familiar coldness that he could not help but feel as if she knew precisely who he was. Her words sounded so pointed and weighted, because they were meant for only him.

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no.

It had been a lifetime ago, before the thought of Polaris was anything more than a fantastical dream. He could not remember her name now, and her face had blurred in the passing of years -- but the steady gaze was not one he was likely to forget. It was just a passing romance, one born of mutual respect and one that ended without any sense of finality. It was supposed to be just another page in the epic of his life.

The past was not supposed to haunt him.

Even as the others in the tavern surrounded him once more, buzzing about this and that, Cal stared at the doorway. He had only held one child in his arms before, and the small boy had perished before he had even learned his name.

Your son, the woman had told him, sobbing quietly as Cal tried not to notice how the curve of the boy's nose so resembled his own.

He had never thought to try the words your daughter until she walked away.

[siwonmi-deactivated20171003]

Of Old Hatred | Calicio & Zethus

To believe that Zethus was walking among the mundane was odd, it was disgusting. The siren desired nothing more than to return to the waters, the abode she had created where she could escape everyday things such as greetings. If another one of those mortals smiled at her, she would gouge their eyes out, with her nails. The blonde desired no peace, she desired not to live in harmony with such fragile and blasphemous beings. It was said that sirens were those that cast a shadow on Mother Nature herself, when in reality it is the humans that destroy everything they touch. Those wacky beings who walk upon two legs, they create empires where nature had already built their own empire.

She desired to side with the ancient goddess Ani, she desired to remove all these scale-less beings from earth’s surface. But to achieve this, the blonde would have to remain calm. How bogus was that? Remain calm? It was the most difficult act to play: to be nice. And so the way to go was to pour one drink after another down her throat. The woman would escape reality by creating a haze where she did not know the difference between her own limbs and that of another person. She would drink until the day passed and she would be able to sing a battle cry. The blonde exhaled as she cut through the streets of Tortuga, the little paths which wound through the miniature houses.

The siren slipped into a tavern, where many bodies remained and within moments she had pushed her way through towards an empty table. Seating herself the young woman ordered the largest chug of rum the tavern owner had. And so she remained, awaiting her alcohol. Hopeful that none of those mortals would dare to speak with her. It would be a shame to have to kill everyone at that very location — and then be executed for mass murder. It would have been a shame, but little would she have minded to murder the entire state if necessary.

[captainbrimms-blog]

The world was constantly shifting, even if those in it rarely did. In the end, every individual whose life was now dragged out and prolonged did not shift their ways; pirates were still pirates, and the Navy officers still clung to their thinning sense of morality. Cal walked among them, but he considered himself separate from them. Even when he had nothing, he believed himself to be above them, and eternal life -- or what certainly felt like it -- had not changed that.

The important thing was the continuous push forward. No matter the obstacles, he would not stumble, for to stumble now would be to doom them all. If he was forced to sacrifice everyone he cared about to defend them all, so be it. He’d done it once before, after all. With the King threatening to descend upon their shores, and the sirens once more thirsty for blood, Cal even imagined it would soon come to that.

So he took to drinking again. The tavern was as much of a home to him as his own place, and the bartender always greeted him with a smile and a sad look in her eyes. It was always the same; only this day, he caught a glimpse of a blonde he hadn’t seen in ages -- one he hoped he would avoid. “There she is,” he motioned to Jezebel, taking a seat across from her. He grabbed hold of his drink and held the cold glass up to his lips. “You finally managed to crawl out from whatever hell you’re hiding in? This must be a special occasion then.” 

[michaelfassyfastbender]

Michael Fassbender in Slow West

[black-prince-isaac-deactivated2]

"I’m gonna die if they take the elixir anyways, and not of old age. So I’ve no problem jumping on board with you.”

“I’m not really one for grand plans, more so executing them, the skipping off into the sunset bit sounds easy enough. Though I think I’d need a few drinks first."Isaac sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Does the island have any real defences we could use? As for narrowing down our intruders I try and set an information network up with the others at the brothel.”

[captainbrimms-blog]

“And I’d probably die with a dagger in my back. You can see why that would benefit neither of us.” 

“At the brothel? Smart lad. We’ll see what sorts of fish we can catch.” He scratched his chin, thoughts skating ahead in an attempt to think of each possible outcome. Strategy was a game he was well versed in, albeit a game he hadn’t had to partake in in a while. “The island has many defenses, but most of them are the same ones we managed to get by on Polaris -- the sirens, the spirits...” He almost shuddered at the memory. “It’s about time we upgraded, don’t you think?” 

[almostexiled-blog-blog-blog]

“Me? Making friends? Oh Captain, my Captain, I would never do a think like that. But if I was telling someone about Giles, I haven’t mentioned you. I do try and avoid talking about you. Or seeing you. So your origins are safely lost on an island.” Jorah took another big bite of bread, the crust crackling as his teeth tore into it. He wished it was something more satisfying than bread. “If it’s the idiot I think it is, I can’t very well keep too much from him. I tried to drown him.”

[captainbrimms-blog]

“I don’t care if you mention me. I care if you’re giving information to people who may use it against us. You may not care about the fate of these people, but someone has to ensure they don’t get themselves ruddy killed.” Cal muttered softly under his breath. “You should have finished the task.” 

[tylerposey]

ended up writing stuff

a hero, can fall. the light, can become the dark. an innocent, can be guilty. the powerful, can become powerless. a child, can be a victim. a hunter, can be hunted. the brave, can be terrified. an optimist, can lose all hope. the caring, can be unkind. a genius, can lose their mind.

[navigatorava]

Ava’s eyes widened. “15?” How could this be? Surely, the world can not be that bad to cause children to pirate. She knew of some of her own crew being young but they were protected. Who would protect these children? “And why are they here?”

[captainbrimms-blog]

“Why do you think? Our legend has spread, love, and everyone wants to be remembered.”