Free and Fearless

Playing With Fire || Celine & Crowe

crowerichardson

Crowe’s stupidity was far too potent to have him walking away from this. Surely, if he said something that didn’t appeal to the woman in front of him she would drop him in a heartbeat. Crowe could fight, but his style was far more fit for the drunken bar fights than it was a dance of skill and ability. The woman in front of him? He was sure she knew exactly what to do with her weapons. It was a pretty exciting idea, all things considered. Not that Crowe was looking to die, but she knew how to handle herself. There was something enticing about the idea of a woman that knew what she wanted and knew how to get it. Clearly, she wanted him or she wouldn’t have started this beautiful conversation to start with. That, more than her intimidation or ability to handle herself, was even more exiting to Crowe. Or, maybe that was just his overactive sense of self worth that made him think this woman wanted him in the way he thought and not just for an afternoon snack before tossing him in the trash. Crowe would let her toss him in the trash any day.

When she went on to reason what it was that she was basing her decision on, Crowe just shrugged. He was starting to get bored of her explaining each and every choice. Was there a reason for it? It was like having a goddamn monologue in the middle of a conversation, and he barely had a long enough attention span to stay in the conversation, let alone one that involved a speech. But he nodded instead, smiling a little too cockily and shrugging his shoulders. Sure, sure. Only a pirate would let her slip through their fingers. Or a commoner with a high libido and a lack of civic duty. Depending on the day, Crowe could be counted as just about any of those. He was more interested on getting to the end of their game and convincing the woman that he won, even if he hadn’t. For all he knew, the next word out of her mouth would actually be his name and he’d just convince her that he was Raven.

But, then, that wasn’t what happened. Instead, much to his delight, she was saying Raven. He couldn’t help but laugh, a broad grin breaking across his face as he realized that he had, in fact, won. He won without really lying. At least, not too much lying. A fair amount, and he figured with the fact that he was a pirate, he was allowed a certain number of lies in each conversation. Really, he wasn’t quite sure what to do now. Was there something he was supposed to say? Could he dance? Instead, grin still on his face, he shook his head and looked back to the pirate lord.

“Close. Real close. Except I am far better looking than my brother Raven. But that’s your guess, sweetheart.” If it were possible, his smile widened a fair bit and his confidence was all but dripping from him. “Crowe Richardson. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Pleasure to beat you. To win this bet. To get… what was the reward? Honestly, he forgot. There was probably something that they were playing for but the fact that he’d just beat this woman at their game was really satisfying enough for him. Unless she was offering to do him favors, and then it was far from enough.

#para #playing with fire #crowerichardson #I'm just gonna say that Crowe has the most amazing masochistic streak I've ever seen and it's great

She knew the moment his face lit up that she had made the wrong choice. For a man who was remarkably good at being deceptive, there were moments where he was as easy to read as a child. “...It was the other brother.” Celine sighed, although she was far from disappointed. It had been a long while since she had enjoyed a guessing game quite like this one. He had been patient as well; much more so than other men who wagered against her. Normally she would have kept talking if only to see if he would snap, at which point she would happily ensure that he never spoke another word again.

“I suppose that means I’ve lost, what a pity.” The pirate lord smirked, bouncing back from her loss quickly. Sulking over such a thing wasn't becoming of someone like her, and she was far from done with the man known as Crowe. If stringing him along for a while had been fun, it was only natural to see his reaction when she threw him a bone or two. So she drank the final dregs of her ale, setting the empty pint on the counter and waited to see what exactly would be demanded of her. Surely he wasn't the sort to drag on about the things that he wanted.

She waited a beat, then another before quirking an eyebrow curiously.

‘Oh?’

Celine wondered if perhaps he had forgotten, and relished the thought. He had proven, after all, to be simple-minded about certain things. "You do remember what that means, don’t you? Winning our game?" She tilted her head, grinning coyly as she sidled up to him. Her movements were slow and with purpose as she pressed her body against his. The blonde took one of his free hands, guiding it along her lithe frame and allowing him to touch what no other man in that tavern had been allowed to.

Her voice had been reduced to a low purr as she closed in on her newest toy. "So what will you have of me, Crowe Richardson? You can ask for whatever you like. Anything that your cunning little mind can think of, barring my title, of course." Celine let his palms rest on the curve of her ass, gleefully feeling up the firm muscles of his chest. "I'd even let you fuck me right here on this bar if you wanted. I’ve never minded an audience before."

“Oh, Celine, Celine, Celine… your mind does work in mysterious ways, love.”

“How you love to twist my words about. Would you rather I draw my sword against you and dull it with a pointless duel, or that I save it for those deserving of its bite?”

#convo #darrencavanaugh #lmnevent

“Well it keeps the four of you guessing, doesn’t it?”

“As much as I would relish the chance to eviscerate you or any of our other colleagues, we have a few more pressing issues at the moment. Now are you going to lend a hand or am I wasting my time here?”

“You know as well as I do that a sword without a whetstone will dull. I consider you my whetstone.”

“But since you asked, I have many sharply-edged implements. I just don’t care to clash them at every single opportunity, like some people do.”

#convo #darrencavanaugh #lmnevent

“Is that some subtle way of saying you have an axe to grind with me? How I’ve won that honour over our hard-headed friends, I’ll never know.”

“Are you telling me that a man who slit his captain’s throat doesn’t care for a little more bloodshed? Then I’ll gladly take those instruments off of your hands, because at least one of us has to deal with these imbeciles properly.”

Participatory Ribbon || Darren & Celine

There was this concept – apparently, it wasn’t a well-known concept, and that confused Darren more than just about anything else. It wasn’t a difficult concept, but it seemed like a minuscule number of people in the world (especially his peers), were capable of grasping it. The concept truly wasn’t that difficult. It was called thinking. All a person had to do was pause and let their mind roam over what it was they were thinking of doing and what the consequences would be. It hardly took any time at all, really, and was always worth it. Few things went to shit simply because a person stopped and thought. Usually, if things were going to be fucked, it was because of a lack of thought. For example, Barrett taking the mer Princess hostage and these fucking rogues attacking a village right by the fucking castle of Ronsanella’s monarch. Like… seriously? Fucking Christ.

When he’d first been alerted to the battle that was brewing and the bloodshed that was about to occur, he had laughed it off as a poorly-timed prank. Even Barrett had more sense than to perform a solitary raid on the village right next to the fucking monarch of all of Ronsanella. Basically, he knew that none of his fellow Lords would have commanded it – they worked together; they had sworn oaths and agreed upon codes together – there was no way just one of them would take a couple of ships and launch such a pointless attack. Not even the most bloodthirsty of them would do this. That was why he hadn’t taken it seriously when he’d first heard the news. It was just misinformation to set the population of the Kingdom even more against the pirates as a whole. He hadn’t even considered the possibility of a band of rogue pirates, who followed no code and obeyed no Lord, as the instigators of this whole affair. Once he’d learned, once he’d realised, then the phrase “seeing red” suddenly made sense. Darren had been livid and had nearly eviscerated the poor bloke who had been charged with breaking the news to the Lord.

After all, they’d just finally gotten back on the sea and bullshit like this had to happen?

Darren had roared to his crew to continue about their jobs and left his first mate in charge while he stormed to his private cabin and let out his rage in a controlled settings. Control. That was what he needed now, most of all. He couldn’t lose his head in front of his crew. He couldn’t literally shoot the blasted messenger, as much as he wanted to. However, what he could do was bury an axe (or a cutlass) in the face of the fucking imbeciles who had put them in such a situation. The village was rising up and the merfolk were finally deciding to make good on all their pitiful threats to wipe out the pirates. They were being attacked on both sides now. Darren could keep his ship out on the sea and refuse to partake in the bloodshed, but he did have some morals, for fuck’s sake. He wasn’t going to abandon the closest things to “friends” he’d ever had.

And so here he was, wandering the streets and staring at the mayhem. His sword was drawn, and while it should have made him a target, most people eyes him warily and refused to engage. Well, that was fine by him. However, his luck wasn’t to last (obviously). A tell-tale whistle cut through the air and he spun to the side just in time to see the sun glint off of a blade.

“My god, man, I’m right in front of you and you can’t hit me?” he spat in disgust.

#participatory ribbon #para #lmnevent #darrencavanaugh

“Your manners are as atrocious as always.” A sultry laugh left the lips of Darren's attacker as she made herself known. "I thought you weren't paying attention, dear. It's almost a pity that you were." Celine smiled at him sweetly, the knife she had nearly nicked him with dancing restlessly in her hands. She had tried to resist taking a swipe at him. However, the opportunity had simply been too good for her to think of passing it up. When she had eyed him meandering up the streets without a goddamned care in the world, she simply couldn't help herself from double-checking.

Not that she would have been particularly upset if her weapon had hit the mark, however.

"Why's the charming Lord Cavanaugh gracing us with his presence? Something get your knickers in a twist?" She asked innocently, kicking away the limp body of a fallen civilian that was in her way. "Is the bad weather putting you in a foul mood? Or maybe you got ripped off by some tavern wench last night?" The sarcasm was thinly veiled as she watched the ongoing battle for any signs that someone was heading their way. She hoped there was at least one moron foolhardy enough to try something. Her sword hand was itching again after being still for a few minutes.

Celine was more than a little pissed that it had taken this long to run into any of the Pirate Lords, although as of late they had rarely done anything to invoke any other sort of reaction from her. Still, the attack was either a blatant display of either supreme idiocy from one of them (something she had not ruled out), or a demonstration by a couple of strays who didn't know their damned place on the food chain. Either way, when a transgression of this magnitude occurred against their name, she expected some reaction from her soon-to-be former allies. Not entirely to her shock, she was left disappointed on that front. So, as she did time and time again, she had taken matters into her own hands and spent the last hour hacking through rogue pirates and citizens alike in an effort to quell the matter quickly.

The day when she left these clowns couldn't come soon enough. It would be a sweet relief when she could deal with people who thought before they acted. Fucking morons, the lot of them.

Her time would come soon enough. For now, it was in her better interest to play along. That was, unless another golden opportunity presented itself to her. “Love, if you’re going to stand about gaping like that, someone who might actually wish to kill you might come along. Now are you going to help me track down these barmy fools or should I leave you for the sharks?”

averywakefieldd-blog

I promise I will; I planned on keeping us tucked away in her cottage and, if that doesn’t work, then there’s an old bomb shelter I used to play in when I was a kid. I’ll take her and her brother there, if need be…bastards is a light choice of words to call them, in my not so humble opinion. If I find the dicks who initiated all of this, I’ll wring their necks.

#convo #averywakefieldd #eep thank you!#and she is #very much so #lmnevent

That sounds good- everything except that last bit. These men have directly gone against the Pirate Lords, so it’s up to the five of us to make sure that this is the last time that this ever happens. It’s a matter of reputation, dear, and if I’m the one who happens to stumble across them, they’ll suffer something far more painful than a little strangulation. They will be the examples for why no fucking pirate is to act without our discretion.

Your priorities are different, captain, so I would stick with them if I were you.

averywakefieldd-blog

I don’t know, but I’ll fucking kill them when I find out. I was out trying to gather some supplies for my…my you know, and now I’m struggling to find out where Ella is, which is a lot easier said than done with people slaughtering one another in the middle of the damn streets.

#convo #averywakefieldd #lmnevent #RIGHT?#Casanova! Natalie is one of my favourites

As soon as you find her, you best get as far away from the docks as possible. It’s only a matter of time before the mer show up, if they haven’t already. She isn’t in the right... condition to be caught up all of this. Fucking hell, these bastards chose the worst time to fight.

Honestly, and they call us monsters? There are more townsfolk looting these shops than there are pirates.

“Screeching isn’t going to make anything better.”

#convo #darrencavanaugh #lmnevent

“Really, Darren? We’re swimming up shit creek and you pick this as an opportune time to sass me? Does anything other than your tongue have an edge to it?”

“Better them than me, in all honesty. I can usually stay on someone’s good side.”

“I will take each of your words as advice, Lord Dahl. I’ve got more to worry about right now than returning to my target of a ship. And I know you can keep yourself safe, so I don’t have to tell you to.”

#convo #noah-eliot #Oh look foreshadowing #ehehehe

“Smart lad. I could use more of those around my ship.”

“That goes without saying dear. It would take a small army to take out someone like me. Now go on then, Eliot. I’d make myself scarce for the time being if I were you.”

The Fall of Icarus || Celine & Lamai

There weren't many occasions where Celine would admit to biting off more than she could chew. She had conquered ships, slaughtered men indiscriminately, and she was one of the most notorious female pirates to sail the seas around Ronsanella. When she decided on something, dozens would follow in her wake. When someone wanted her dead, she would crush them mercilessly and leave their corpse as a grim reminder of the consequences of crossing her. However, no matter how good with a sword she was, or how stubborn she could be, she wasn't invincible. She still had her limits, and from the way that things were starting to turn out for her, she was well on her way to being reacquainted with them.

She dashed down the nearest alleyway, knocking over crates and barrels in an effort to slow down the mob that was on her heels. Their angry voices and the sound of wood being smashed to smithereens kept her sprinting away, doing everything that she could think of to lose her pursuers. The Pirate Lord let out a string of curses, lungs burning with exertion as she kept running. Every door she came across was boarded up, and even if they hadn't been, she wouldn't have tried her luck with them. There were too many people after her as it was, and getting cornered by them was the last thing that she wanted.

Celine gritted her teeth, angry at the townspeople who wouldn't leave well enough alone, and even more furious with herself for being so careless. Of course they thought she had been the cause of the attack, regardless of the fact that it had been years since she and her crew had attacked a village. A pirate was a pirate in their eyes, even if she had been discovered dispatching some of the real rogues on her own. All it had taken was one person to recognize her as one of the Pirate Lords and suddenly the whole attack was her fault.

How fucking typical.

The blonde glanced behind her again, cutting across another main street into another set of winding alleys. Her pursuers had thinned, but there were still a sizable number of them- too many for her to take care of on her own without risking serious injury. As she turned another corner, the Pirate Lord had to repress a shriek of frustration. She had run into a dead end. Her eyes darted up, judging the distance between her and the nearest ledge. It was too high up for her to reach, and this time she swore loudly. As the angry voices grew closer, her options whittled back down to the cutlass at her hip. It looked like she was going to have to fight her way out of this debacle after all.

She unsheathed her sword as the townspeople caught up with her. A quick headcount told her that there were at least a dozen people closing in on her, with one of them wearing the crest of the king himself and covered head to toe in chainmail. “Of course there’s a knight. There’s always a fucking knight.” Celine muttered under her breath, charging at them with only a moment’s hesitation. The alley was cramped, and not ideal for moving around in. However, it didn’t stop her from downing the first three in her way. She was careful too, running her blade through the unguarded muscles of their thighs enough to cripple them. Celine made quick work out of most of them, and by the time she reached the one she had thought would pose the most problems, she was in far better shape than she had expected. As soon as she downed the glorified tin can, she could get back to her mission. It took too much energy to make sure that they were down for good, so Celine moved on without so much as checking on whether or not they had fallen.

That was another crucial mistake.

She didn’t notice when one of the fallen townsfolk got up. Her focus was trained onto the knight that stood between her and her escape path. She didn’t notice as the man quietly raised his spade up behind her, or the look that he exchanged with the knight in silent agreement. It was only when she felt something hard and blunt hit the back of her head, and her vision started to fade, that she realized that any of them had gotten up in the first place. But by then it was too late, and she was already going down.

‘Shit.’

#para #lmnevent #lmnstarter #lamaiwattana #oh dear there seems to be some trouble afoot #the fall of icarus #Also I rambled a little so don't worry about matching the length #closed

“Glad to be off the list. If the rumors are true, and I bet they are, I would hate to stay on it a minute longer.”

“Well, you can do that part yourself. I don’t really plan on dirtying my hands with my captain’s blood over this.”

#convo #noah-eliot #she's totally gonna try something #don't know what yet but she will

“For now, dear. The criteria is flexible, and it does you no good when the rest of your crew is still on it.”

“Excellent. Then a word of advice from me to you- I would avoid boarding your ship until Barrett is well clear of it. I can’t guarantee your safety otherwise. Battles do take such considerable tolls, after all.”

“I agree. If we don’t stop this before it starts, we might as well put the noose around our own necks and let them hang us.”

“Barrett was with the ship last I saw. I don’t really keep tabs on him. That seems more like something Templeton might know.”

#convo #noah-eliot #that's a very reasonable fear since she's debating some nasty things #like murder #it's always murder

“Finally! I thought there wasn’t a lick of sense on The Renegade. That’s one person off of my list, then.”

“Is that so? What a pity- it would make things so much easier if the son of a bitch made an appearance. It would look much more like a casualty of war that way.”

“Lord Dahl, some bloody fucking idiots are to blame. As always, they think they can just pin anything bad on our kind.”

#convo #noah-eliot #I figure she probably knows him #which may or may not be good for his health

“Regardless of the fact that these monarch-serving cretins are blind, we need to deal with this debacle before we have a fucking massacre on our hands.”

“And where the fuck is your captain? He’s the reason we have to deal with this in the first place.”

“Oh for God’s sake! Who is the bloody hell is responsible for this? Where are the others?”

#lmnevent #lmnstarter #convo #open #EEP LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD

kittcns124

“I…I would love to leave with you, Lady Dahl. Really, more than anything, I would. You’ve been nothing but kind to me ever since we first met, and you’ve treated me better than I could have ever expected from a pirate, and you’re…you’re beautiful, too. It would be an honor to stay with you, and believe me when I say that I would spend every single night doing everythingin my power to repay you for it. But it…I…Alex. If you take me, he’ll hunt you down, I know he will, and—he won’t stop until he’s slaughtered every single man, woman, and child in an attempt to take me back aboard his ship. And you’ve already suffered so much at the hands of your male counterparts, Lady Dahl, and…not with a good conscious could I ever allow that to happen to you again.”

“I don’t want you to end up injured, miss, or—or worse. You deserve to be free, you deserve to not have to worry about being tracked down by Alexander or any one of his men in their pursuit to find me. You’re so much better than all of them, Lady Dahl, and…you deserve to be free. I think it goes without saying that no women should be kept locked up in a cage, and if one of us is to find their way to freedom within the next few days, then it should be you. I just…you won’t be going rogue on your own, will you? You’ll still have someone to watch your back and keep an eye out?”

#convo #sophiawwren #all good lovely!

“Is it the position of a mermaid in chains to possess and act on good conscious? You are far too good for any of us, Lady Wren. Don’t worry about Barrett of all people. He has no power over me, even if he thinks himself to be the king of the high seas with that ego of his. My crews and ships are more than capable of taking on that oaf, and I know how he operates with a hot temper. Perhaps the only perk that ever came from our friendship is that he’s become dreadfully easy to read; a fatal flaw for any good enemy, dear, I assure you.”

“My dear girl, the pursuit is half the fun of it. What’s the point of making a statement if I have no reaction from the ones I wish to change? Besides, there’s nothing worse that these bumbling fools could possibly do to me. Any horrors I may face are like dreams compared to yesterday. However, if that is your wish, so be it. The offer is an open invitation, love. Change your mind and I’ll gladly cut through a thousand pirates to have you on my ship. I might do just that to convince you, and to tick off Barrett. I’m not through with that man by any means, and I’ll see you off The Renegade in one way or another.”

“Don’t worry about me, love. Behind every great captain is a loyal crew, and behind every Pirate Lord lies an army fit to rival a king’s. There’s enough support from my quartermaster alone to see that I’m well-guarded- not that I need his protection, of course. Unlike the others, however, he recognizes that.”

lamaiwattana-deactivated2018010

Boss *ss B*tch || Celine & Lamai

lamaiwattana-deactivated2018010

A majority of Lamai’s fighting skills came after leaving Gray Beard’s ship. While he had been taught the basics, taught to survive, the ship belonging to the old pirate was nothing like the ones that sailed the seas now. Lamai was a navigator then, and had grown to be much more since. Lamai supposed it shouldn’t come as a surprise, particularly serving under Pirate Lord Celine Dahl, a woman who had ruthlessly clawed her way to the top. Lamai couldn’t say the same thing about himself. While he had took to sword fighting, and found the weapon he fought best with, he did not find himself comparable to Celine. At least not yet. In whatever he did, Lamai strove to be great.

As Celine darted past him to retrieve her knife, Lamai covered her. When she relied on him, Lamai didn’t take chances. His blade found a more fatal spot in the body of the one men who came at them as Celine’s knife found a temporary home again in someone’s chest. As Celine commented on ambition, Lamai shoved the body of the man he’d run through forward and off his sword. “Ambition is good when you know your limits,” Lamai replied. “But they’ve overreached.”

The way they fought showed Lamai that these men relied purely on brute strength. They weren’t clever about how they moved, and Lamai was grateful for learning under Celine. She moved lithely about and killed the men who were the biggest threats before they could realize they were being approached. As if to prove his point, Celine quickly cut across the room and took down a man likely twice her size. Lamai knew what was coming next, and it made Lamai glad that he was a man on Celine’s side. She didn’t favor them too much—or at all if Lamai was being honest.

“I’ll handle it,” Lamai replied, looking back to where he’d left the man. Sure enough he’d moved to leave. Somehow. Celine hadn’t let anyone outside the door, and that left one more door. A back room maybe. Lamai moved towards it quickly. He knew the place was small but he wasn’t sure of a second door. It was soon made apparent that there was no second door, Lamai found himself facing the back end of the man as he was trying to scramble out the window of the closet. Instead, he was being ripped back. Lamai wrapped his hands in the back of the man’s shirt and pulled him to the floor. “I have him!” Lamai was holding his sword properly once more and the tip to his throat as he called back into the main room. Celine was likely finishing up in there so Lamai addressed the man he kept against the floor. “Such a cowardly thing. Leaving your men.” Lamai despised the lack of loyalty.

#boss ass bitch #lamaiwattana #eep this is late #my bad

By now the attitude in the room had shifted as their attackers realized how much they were outmatched by the captain and her quartermaster. The brighter ones dropped their swords, raising their arms in surrender. The idiots tried to barge past Celine in a desperate attempt at freedom. The latter met a swift end, the Pirate Lord wasting no time as she dispatched them one by one. After the fifth attempt, they stopped trying ltogether, huddled in a quivering flock like lambs to slaughter.

Celine smiled, leaning against the doorway as Lamai shot off after their quarry. Her hands and blades were sticky with blood, though she paid the uncomfortable sensation little mind. Gore hardly bothered her, not after years of fighting and winning battles. Cleanliness was a small price to pay for the effectiveness of close-quarters combat. Besides, she found that the flecks that stained her clothing were as intimidating a weapon as her sword was. It certainly scared the living shit out of the men in the room. It made them afraid, and it made them obediant. To hold that sort of power over those who had been so confident only a half hour earlier was intoxicating.

These beasts were fit only to lick at her boots, and they had finally realized it.

Lamai's voice floated in from the other room, and her grin grew wider. Looking at the handful of men left, she stalked towards them and took a dark satisfaction in the way that they flinched. "You heard the lad. Get moving." The men snapped to attention, filing into the room where her quartermaster held their leader at swordpoint. Celine sauntered after them, pleased beyond words at how neatly everything had gone. The man in Lamai's grip looked all but ready to piss himself in terror and rightfully so. The Pirate Lord beamed at the sight; he had come so far since she had picked him up off the docks all those years ago.

"Take a good look at him, boys. This here is the reason why all of your friends are dead." Celine knelt down, patting the sweating man's cheek in mocking affection. "While you risked your lives, he was fit to jump ship. To abandon you in order to save that sorry hide of his. Now that's no way a captain should treat his crew, is it?" What a despicable sort of creature, blubbering and floundering in his panic. He didn't deserve a quick death like the ones who had faced her upfront. No, he deserved to be doled out a punishment equal to his crimes, both against her and his men.

Her attention turned round to the small group left. "I'm a fair woman, lads. I repay my debts, and I respect others who do the same." She stood up, patting her quartermaster's shoulder in quiet praise. Celine disappeared from the room for a moment, returning with an armful of swords that she dumped at their feet. "So, the first one to bring back this man's head will have the privilege of living to see another day. Anyone who opts out will end up like the blokes in the other room. Understood?" The captain watched gleefully as they picked up their weapons again, narrowing in on the insect they had called their ringleader. She nodded to Lamai, a silent order to let the man go. His goons would make quick work of him.

averywakefieldd-blog

No, I—God, of course that’s not what happened. I got involved in this trade because I had something to take care of…I planned on returning to her within the matter of a few weeks. I didn’t even know she was pregnant. Things got delayed, I had to stay out on the ocean to stay alive, and…it was the worst decision of my life. She has forgiven me, yes…she’s always been the best of me, and I think she forgave me because she knows I love her. As for her forgiving me…I told her I would leave. The trade, that is. I just…don’t know how to without, uh, causing suspicion to rise. I didn’t exactly get involved in this lifestyle because I wanted to be a pirate…kind of thought my life would’ve gone differently, actually. Planned on settling down with her. Earning an honest living. Having a few kids, maybe.

I don’t want her out on sea. I don’t want her anywhere near a ship. I don’t want anyone in the trade to even know she exists. You and my quartermaster are the only people I trust enough to give this information to. She has one surviving relative, and trust me when I say he’ll be silent as the grave. He loves his sister too much to jeopardize her happiness.

…No thank you, I think I’ll pass. I need to have a clear head for when I go see her later.