wrenscarborough:
Her body was as tense as her psyche. She felt as if she was coiled up and ready to strike at any moment. But she couldn’t do anything if the man with the knife to Jace’s neck decided to act. She wouldn’t get there was enough. So she had to do something else. She had to play along. She had to pretend.
Wren would have liked to think she was a decent liar. She tended to avoid talking rather than outright lie, but in their line of work, that wasn’t always an option. Jace did a great job playing along, to his credit. She didn’t know how good he was at lying when he wasn’t drunk and boasting, but he was so convincing, even Wren believed that heartbroken kicked-puppy look on his face. “See? He admits it. What kinda treasure hunting pirate has as little pride as that?”
Circus friend? Were they talking about Yiran? Wren remained deadpan, not giving any real reaction as she shrugged. “Girl can’t have a hobby?”
They were almost buying it, but not quite. Wren furrowed her brow, her mothers’ wedding rings as always hung on the chain around her neck, tucked under her shirt and jacket. Take what they can get wouldn’t be applying to that, or to her knives. “Touch me without my concent and you’ll lose a hand.”
But before they could test Wren’s words, the navy showed up. Wren followed Jace’s lead, a swift kick to the shin of one of their would-be attackers and a hard shove sending them tumbling into a pile of empty wooden shipping crates and fishing gear. “Run!” She said, with equal desperation, practically dragging Jace along with her as they sprinted towards the Spectre, ducking through some other piles of crates and stands that sold various fish, hoping they’d lose those pursuing them.
As soon as Jace’s fist collided with the mugger’s nose, and made significant impact, Jace recoiled, emitting a small cry of pain, which was actually quite familiar to most members aboard the crew. He shook his hand up and down, and made a face between that of discomfort but also shock, as if he wasn’t aware of the agony that came with punching a hard object. At the same time Wren had cleared a path for them, with a swift kick and a hard shove, and Jace looked up just in time to find himself practically being dragged by the collar to safety. Or at least towards the Spectre, whether or not that was the safest option at the moment, due to the growing forces of navy men also heading in the same direction. Having been propelled forward Jace and Wren eagerly began to run ahead of the thieves and the officers which Jace had happened to attract along the way.
“Oh boy, all I had was a few drinks…What’s with all the uniforms?” Jace huffed, his eyes scanning the mini war raging in the distance, between the pirates and the navy. He wasn’t sure what would have caused such a violent reaction from the local authorities, but there was no denying the festival was over, at least for the crew of the Spectre.
A gun shot to their left made a few crates explode, and Jace let out a yelp, ducking his neck, and kicking his knees up a little more. For a moment he was worried about how they were going to get past the navy, and board the ship before they stormed it, however that was before he saw Anna and the Captain practically bulldozing down the armed uniforms with a wrecking ball. “It’s the Captain… and there’s Anna!” he exclaimed, spotting her from within the crane.
