Lucy Cassidy, Concierge

31 | Stormbreach

[lucyofstormbreach]

konigarenofgermany​:

–

Ludicrous. This woman making threats while eating a fucking cupcake. Acting like an entitled sorority girl taking over the next fundraiser from her sisters. 

Theo kept a healthy distance from whispers of a royal rebellion on the island. His sister had already died under the pirates’ watch, his little brother was in an exceptionally fragile state of mind. Theo’s own will had been broken by the Tierney daughter. He seduced himself into rotting in the comfort of his own helplessness. 

But from the distance he had admired Aaron’s quiet (and sometimes not so quiet) determination to escape. The Danish prince couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that the royals had strength in numbers yet couldn’t be rallied to come together in a show of force. 

Here they were again. 

He slid a glance to Herzog. The German prince lived with one of these barbarians. Surely he had learned something after all this time of sleeping with the enemy.  I will help you this time, Aaron. 

Because Theo would not hide his head in the sand this time. Half his family had died at the hands of rogue pirates. And he refused to return to the way things had been. 

His eyes returned to the blonde. “Tie us up.” Kill us. Aaron might not appreciate the suggestion. “Stop with the theatrics and do what you came to do, Lucy.” Theo would remember her face, her name, the cocky smile and color of her boots. He would remember every stitch of detail there in the kitchen in order to hunt her down later.

@konigarenofgermany​

-

Lucy. Aaron flinched when she made a move for him, abandoning the temptation to return a dry hallo back to her with all of the malice he could muster. He exhaled sharply and kept a dark glare on his face as the pirate explained their options, while trying to note any nearby exits in his periphery.

Aaron swallowed and tried to calm the rush of adrenaline that urged him to fight or flee. His tongue swept over his lips but his whole mouth was so dry it was hard to speak.

“I do not recognize you from the island, Lucy,” he spoke carefully, even diplomatically.

The moment she got close was the moment he would try to clock where her gun was. After that, he wasn’t sure. He could go for it. But he could get shot. If he did nothing, he would be tied up and useless, totally at the mercy of these pirates. With no hope of rescue probably. Aaron tried not to let his mind wander to where his family was–knowing they were in danger would only make him want to try and steal the gun from Lucy more.

He wondered if Theo was thinking the same thing. There were two of them and only one of her.

Aaron glanced at Theo for a moment before turning his eyes back to the pirate. She got closer. “What are you planning to do after we are tied up? Or is that your kink.”

The rope was brought to Theo first and Aaron watched for any sign of a gun. His reflex set, when he saw a flash of black metal from underneath the back of her jacket, he went for it. One hand swiped up the fabric of the jacket as the other closed around the holster, just as an elbow caught him in the face. Aaron reeled backward–he thought he had a solid death grip on the gun, but before he knew it, the gun was gone. On the floor? Aaron grabbed a fistful of jacket fabric and pulled as hard as he could to try and move her away and keep her engaged with him. Theo could sort the rest.

@lucyofstormbreach​​

“Jesus, fuck.”

The clatter of the gun was cold, metal on concrete. She kicked back, wildly, the edge of her boot connecting with something solid. Ouch. Twisting, the grip on her jacket held firm. “What the fuck is wrong with y--”

Lucy stared at the ground. Where were the others? They were supposed to be right behind her. Even armed, one on two wasn’t fantastic odds, and they needed these two. She caught a look at the German; he looked weaker than he was.

Blood rushed in her ears, the need to get control of the situation outweighing all else. 

“Let.” Her teeth gritted, hand reaching back and finding exposed skin at his wrist. Her nails dug in. “Me. Go.”

@theo-henriksen​

[lucyofstormbreach]

konigarenofgermany​:

theo-henriksen​:

Years of practice had honed the skill of discreetly hiding the panic. In many a meeting pirates entered the conversation. Theo learned to perform at least a semblance of pursed lip breathing without anyone knowing the difference. Hands clasped together, practically wrung white and worried, were obscured by the table he sat at. Or behind his back. 

It was difficult to hide in a freezer with a king much more neurotic than himself. Theo didn’t dislike Herzog, but in the claustrophobic space and under such conditions every scowl and clip of a word from the man grated. A furrow dug itself deeper on Theo’s brow. 

Not long into the ordeal Theo had snapped a shut up at Aaron. An action he would regret on a normal evening. In the industrial freezer the Danish prince couldn’t see the racks of frozen shrimp and sauces. The burn of the cold wasn’t more painful than the frost felt the moment they were shoved into a walk-in. 

He wouldn’t be going to another island or the damp, disgusting hold of a ship.  Never again, they might as well kill him this time. 

The slide of the lock moved heavily on the other side stopped his shivering. A silent question was shared between himself and Herzog. What would they find on the other side of the door? Aaron didn’t move fast enough for Theo. “Open the door.” 

@konigarenofgermany​

The king hadn’t stopped moving since he was forced into the confined freezer with Theo. The tiny space was barely long enough for three paces, and after a few seconds of muttering in German to himself, and bumping shoulders with Theo, the prince told him to shut up. 

Aaron froze in place and looked at Theo with a twitch of his nose to resist full-on snarling. Be smart about it. The words of a former pirate on a distant island echoed in his head like a mantra. His heart leapt into his throat and color started to drain from his face as the motionless seconds dragged his full on panic attack to the surface. Be smart about it.

He inhaled. “Sorry.” Theo wasn’t his enemy. They needed to work together. Maybe in the brief time they’d been alone, they should have been strategizing. There was a click from the door.

Freedom was a few steps away, but it seemed too easy. Aaron didn’t want to be target practice. Then Theo told him to open the door, and it was really their only option. He thought he’d heard a woman speak from outside. Aaron pushed open the door and stepped out, his eyes landing on an armed woman… eating a cupcake.

“Who the hell are you?”

@lucyofstormbreach​

“I’m Lucy.” Tracing her fingertip along the edge of the cupcake liner, she folded it in thirds. Then bent the edges in on the diagonal, crimping it tightly for crisp, firm lines. And then in half, and again, until all that was left of the cupcake was a tiny, golden square of foil. She flicked it with her forefinger, careening past the taller prince’s ear. “You must be Theodore.”

And then, over her shoulder just a bit: “Hi, Aaron.”

She’d heard rumors of the pirates from the first go-round with royal captivity. Leaden dolts, the lot of them. Thought with their bits rather than their brains, and they’d all seen how that went. Using her tongue to clean a bit of cupcake from her teeth, Lucy shrugged and hopped down. “You can stop looking so stern. It was just a refrigerator.”

Procuring a length of rope, she nodded to Theo’s hands. “I do have to tie you up. I don’t think you want to fight me on that. But if you do, I can shoot you first--” her boot went out to keep Aaron at bay. “--and then tie you up. It’s like one of those books. Choose your own adventure.”

She smiled.

“All roads lead to Lucy. What’ll it be?”

[lucyofstormbreach]

battleroyalehq​:

The Kitchens

Why don’t you two cool down? The armed guard says with a satisfied chuckle before shoving a German king and a Danish prince into the walk-in refrigerator. His counterpart laughs and rolls his eyes. The door slams shut on the royals, no way of opening the refrigerator from the inside. The guard taps the butt of his rifle on the metal door clang, clang before disappearing from the frosted circular window’s view.

@lucyofstormbreach @theo-henriksen @konigarenofgermany 

Anyone can start the thread. Please post on your own blog and tag your partners!

This was new.

The gun felt solid, strapped against her hip, its heft concealed beneath a cropped leather jacket. Lucy resisted the urge to check the barrel a third time before she walked into the kitchen, glancing between the two guards: Pat, taller, and Cat, shorter. And surely there was a ‘rat’ somewhere in here, Lucy mused.

She wasn’t typically the one called in for these situations, instead preferring to sit on Stormbreach and watch people come and go. She was an excellent concierge, chequier, confidant, and it was the latter that got her off the ship. People liked Lucy. They liked to talk to her, and tell her what they thought, and trust that she would keep it to herself. And she did, mostly.

Ignoring the refrigerator for the moment, she crossed the kitchen to the tall bakery shelves. Loaves of French bread stacked across the top six, but lower she found lines of cupcakes, their frosting crisp, exposed to oxygen. She took one, and nodded her head at Pat and Cat to scoot. They -- mostly Cat -- glared at the cupcake, before leaving the kitchen.

She unlocked the refrigerator but left it shut, vaguely hearing voices inside. It wasn’t like Lucy to pry. Instead, she took a bite of the cupcake -- chocolate -- and sat on one of the stainless steel tables opposite the refrigerator door. The gun remained clasped in its holster, the knife in her boot a comforting reassurance. Lucy sighed.

“Are you two coming out, or is this your kink?”

[lucyofstormbreach]

June 2021 Hanoi, Vietnam

“They arrested my parents.”

The air was thick with lotus and peach, the heady waves carried over the water. She looked remarkably unaffected for her words, a straw cloche hiding her blonde hair, a white and purple coffee mug in her hand. She could have been posing for Instagram. Maybe she should have asked Deacon to take a photo.

Except -- that was what started this mess.

“Someone took a photo of me at Port Elizabeth. With the crew of the Reckless.”

It was clear how much it bothered her, the curl of her lip, the curt clip of her words. Lucy had never been a pirate in the way that Deacon was a pirate. She didn’t pillage. She didn’t reap. She didn’t even really sail, given that Stormbreach was the ocean equivalent of a small continent. She could have worked at a Hilton or a Ritz-Carlton, for all the similarities that her job held with pirating. Except it afforded her a living, one that she couldn’t have made anywhere else.

Fucking Swiss. The royal family was almost a non-issue, most of the time, fed fat by the banks in Zurich and happy to live in their chateaus amongst the Alps. Only when it was useful did they spring out, only when it was convenient. They trotted her parents out under a publicity stunt, every angle of their arrest captured by dozens of cameras. She took a sip of her coffee, ruining the latte art.

“I need to get my son back.”

Theo was three and a half, and he’d been in the house when her parents were arrested. But she couldn’t search for him. And she couldn’t call anyone up.

Lucy looked at the older man, considering. She trusted Deacon, a fact she’d never made explicit. She hadn’t needed to, before.

“How would I do it?”

@deaconxdelon​

[lucyofstormbreach]

Brian with an I? 🍸

“I don’t think I want to be here, on Stormbreach, forever. You know?”

[lucyofstormbreach]

🍸 for my muse to drunkenly confess something to yours.

“Do you think it’s possible to be seasick on land? I think I’m seasick on land. Oh no--”

[lucyofstormbreach]

🍸 (Deacon)

“I used to think these trousers made my arse look fantastic, but now I’m not sure. :( “

@deaconxdelon

[battleroyalehq]

Send me a 🍸 for my muse to drunkenly confess something to yours.

[lucyofstormbreach]

galaxies: what are three things you want to do before you die?

1. Look real good in a pair of leather pants. 2. Aim and fire the perfect stun shot.3. Buy a house for her and her little son, Tobias.

[battleroyalehq]

late night self reflective asks 🌙

cosmos: what’s one thing you wish you could say to someone you are no longer friends with? galaxies: what are three things you want to do before you die? waxing: what is your proudest accomplishment? waning: what is your biggest regret? full moon: what type of person do you hope to be? contemplation: if you could wake up one morning and everything in your life was perfect, what would that look like? night light: who/what makes you feel safe? ponder: what do you want to do with your life? sunset: who is someone you thought would be in your life forever, but you no longer talk to? midnight: are you a different person late at night than in the early morning? candle light: are you an indecisive person? reflection: have you ever changed something you liked about yourself to satisfy someone else? sweet dreams: are you happy? nightmare: what are you most afraid of? constellations: who is someone you could talk to for hours and never stop? reminder: who is someone you will never forget? 11-11: what’s something you want, but feel like you will never have? shooting star: who is someone you trust to help you make the right decisions? earth: where do you feel most at home? soothe: what’s one thing that always makes you feel better when you’re upset? slumber: what’s one thing that helps you fall asleep when it feels impossible?

[lucyofstormbreach]

llyrofthesea‌:

Wide eyes gave him an owlish look as he glanced over the steaming mug. Out of the entire Tierney crew, who hadn’t been there? They all had a good run, and then they’d all been roped into the same fiery destruction. Really, he shouldn’t have been so surprised. Families held together for a while, and then fell apart. Natural order of things.

“I was.”

He waited a moment for her to tip-tap type that away on her little computer. Sort of like the whole laying on a couch with the therapist trope. One person always writing while the other slowly gave away their secrets.

“Got out at the last minute by the skin of my teeth, but…” He shrugged. He owed Jacob that much, as much as he hated to admit it. The ship that had sailed them all to freedom had a collection of misfits aboard. Some injured. One not even a pirate. All looking for a way out. He and the little princess had hopped ship in Greece. Of course, he had made the choice himself. Jacob dumped the other one.

Royal brats didn’t fare well alone on the streets. He’d kept an eye from afar. All the way to Germany.

“Most of the ships went down in the harbor.”

She took it in with a soft huh, but she didn’t type any of it down. Taking a long sip from her iced mocha whip frappe latte (or whatever it was, she didn’t like the taste of coffee but liked that it kept her awake when she didn’t want to be), Lucy nodded slowly. “Alright.”

Fair enough.

He was a misfit in a way that most pirates weren’t misfits. Most found their niche, developed a thick, blood-borne loyalty to each other. But here he was, alone, on a cold day, looking for work. She nodded again.

“Dress up a bit and come down for a late dinner. There’s a man named Deacon who frequents the lounge; he might have some work for you.”

Deacon, the patron saint of lost souls and causes.

She exited his file, opened up her messenger screen again. And paused, about to ignore him entirely when something held her up. Lucy glanced at him.

“I’m not a therapist, but -- do you... belong here?” She glanced around. “Like... in this life?”

[lucyofstormbreach]

deaconxdelon‌:

Arabella. The lash extensions didn’t agree with contacts and the spotlight did not mix with glasses. When the dewy highlighter was brushed off her cheekbones, little sun-kissed freckles appeared dotting all the way to the bridge of her nose. After one too many drinks (which happened frequently) the same story would be told. How she stood at the epicenter of her life, at nineteen, in front of an ice cream stand on St. Kilda beach, and felt the world shake under her feet. If Arabella didn’t sing like a nightingale, Deacon would still show up for the stories.

He was sure Lucy could write a book with what she had had collected in her head on Stormbreach, let alone what was tapped out on the keyboard beneath the counter. 

“Do you ever catch her show or are you chained behind the desk all night?” Deacon reckoned the answer was neither. He had no business in asking. 

Would you care to deposit it now, or wait until your departure? “I will drop it off when I leave the ship.” To be scanned, swabbed, subjected to whatever security necessary, but in this case entirely unnecessary. “Thank you. I’ll be at the late show tonight if anyone needs me.” Other than his first mate, Lucy’s database had the names, arrival dates, and cabin numbers of anyone who should request him.

“I catch it.” Lucy’s expression remained politely impassive. Stormbreach was large enough to have multiple identities on the same ship, her own neatly segmented. Work Lucy was separate from Not-Work Lucy was separate from Home Lucy was separated from Moooooom Lucy. As neatly as the counter separated their spaces, so did she draw the same lines. A quick glance upward, she smiled. A shrug rolled off her shoulders. “Might catch it tonight, even. You seem keen.”

--

The Enclave, After the Show

She’d checked out, swiped out, exchanged her black dress slacks and black lace top for black cigarette jeans and a black jacket, and anyone who wasn’t watching closely wouldn’t really notice the difference. Hair swept up, she waited to be served at the bar like everyone else -- Stormbreach was made of rules and people who followed them -- but Ben, the bartender, poured heavy and didn’t ask for a card. 

Arabella’s set had filled the enclave nicely, the low-lit lounge full of couples and throuples and whatever it was when four people were all sleeping together -- was that just a Christmas party? She waded through the slow-moving crowd. It was after midnight, then, nearing the next hour, but for Lucy, this was an apertif.

Spotting another singleton, she leaned against the side of the bar, cocking her head. He was much a mystery as not; they’d known each other for years on Stormbreach, but was anyone really who they said they were there?

“And here I thought you’d be busy.”

[lucyofstormbreach]

🔫 — long range weapons

7.5/10

Lucy’s a good shot, and cool under pressure. Her priorities are aligned like dominos, so when it’s time to fight... she has no hesitations.

[lucyofstormbreach]

🌲 — surviving in the wilderness

?/10Not a clue. The most wilderness Lucy’s been in was when her family went skiing in the Alps. She stayed on the bunny slopes and drank her weight in hot chocolate.

[ask-meme-addicts]

Muse skillset symbol meme

Send an emoji to learn how good/bad my muse is at that particular skill!

💋 — kissing

💄 — makeup

👾 — video games

🎵 — singing

💃 — dancing

🎹 — playing an instrument

🌷 — taking care of living things

🌲 — surviving in the wilderness

👊 — fighting

😇 — following rules

🍳 — cooking

🍼 — taking care of children

🎁 — giving presents to others

🎉 — hosting parties

💌 — romance/flirting

🎨 — art

🍀 — luck

⚽️  — sports

🏊 — swimming

🚗 — driving

🔮 — magic

🔎 — investigating

🔫 — long range weapons

💣 — explosives

🔪 — melee weapons

🔬 — scientific pursuits

🚿 — hygiene

💰 — finance

🌍 — knowledge of the world

👻 — communing with the paranormal

📚 — reading

🔧 — engineering/mechanics

⌛️ — time management

📥 — organization

🍺 — alcohol tolerance

🚴 — riding a bike

🎭 — performance art/acting

⚓️ — sailing

➗ — mathematics

[lucyofstormbreach]

llyrofthesea‌:

He took the card immediately, slipping it in his inside coat pocket. He stared at the mug for a second. Tentatively lifted it from the counter. Took a sip. Wondered exactly how much that was going to add to his bill. Probably not quite breaking open the hotel mini-fridge prices, but he doubted it was cheap. This was Stormbreach. Not some two in the morning visit to Waffle House.

Clasping his hands around the mug, he resolved to enjoy the warmth. If he was paying for it, he would damn well enjoy it. Living the high life, he was.

“They aren’t looking for a navigator.” He’d payed his dues. He’d been the bob. Lower than that even. Regular pirate potentials started as bottom of the barrel. Former princes were worth even less. He had clawed his way up. He had nearly a decade of experience under his belt.

“But if it comes down to it, I’ll ship out with them again.”

Pride wouldn’t stand in the way of making a buck in the interim.

“Wouldn’t happen to have any news about the Tierney ships, would you?”

The screen before her returned only three results for the Beloved; a manifest from a couple of months ago, a canceled supply docking, and Larry. She glanced back at him. He looked cold, elbows bowed and shoulders hunched, but it wasn’t cold inside the lobby. It was perfectly 20C, the piped in air bringing just enough movement to keep her from getting fidgety.

Navigator. She tagged his file as such, with half as many keystrokes. He was listed as an assistant, an accomplice, a cabin boy. Navigator sounded like a promotion.

“Tierney?”

The name was blackballed in many circles, rarely spoken. Riann’s tyranny combined with Jacob’s fleeting, almost flippant disregard for the world that had raised him did not leave a palatable taste in most mouths. Lucy wasn’t one of them. She’d been reading about reincarnation lately, the myths bedded in Central America. Life was long. Or, it was short. But existence was long. And feuds weren’t her problem.

Still, gossip was a treat. She shook her head, glossy blonde hair over one shoulder.

“No,” Lucy admitted, just a little candid. “Not since the island raid.”

She cocked her head.

“Why? Were you there?”

[lucyofstormbreach]

captaingraves‌:

“Thank you.” Brian took the glass with both hands and sipped. The heavy flavor woke him up more than a cup of coffee would have in that moment. Kombucha was an acquired taste. It was one of the few things he could keep on the ship that nobody would try to steal.

Busy. Of course. Brian nodded, it was smart to keep Stormbreach on the move and off the radars. “Maybe the ship could use whatever stealth tech the Outlaws are using.” 

Brian had a reputation for talking too much, and he was under strict instructions not to blab about the The Mockingbird’s whereabouts. The question about detours was easy to answer, though. “My captain likes to chase down leads. Even in the middle of a job. Something about ‘multitasking.’ I can’t tell if she’s stingy about fuel or what. She also really doesn’t care about deadlines.”

Maybe that was too much. Bellamy was paranoid about harboring Jacob Tierney’s crew. He trusted Lucy could keep better secrets than him, but better to be safe than sorry. “Thanks for the room. I’d rather be sailing, but a little ‘me time’ would be nice. Uh, to watch Netflix. And order pizza.” Not… other stuff. Ew.

The mention of outlaws did little to affect her, instead reaching for the double whip mocha frappé behind the counter and taking a long sip. Their fights seemed arbitrary, less bloodhunts, salvaging a lost way of life, and more petty tiffs meant to stave off boredom on the sea. Lucy liked boredom. She liked routine. It was why she’d stayed as long as she had.

Me time prompted a laugh, a flash of crystalline white teeth, the canines a little longer than the rest. There was no doubt in her mind what her clients got up to in the privacy of their own suites -- or even just the dark cloisters of the casino. It wasn’t her business. The janitors had bleach.

“Whatever helps you pass the time,” she said, forcing her voice to be neutral. For a moment, she glanced down at her computer screen, studying his details.

“Who is your captain, now?” Lucy barely looked up, too focused on scanning now that there was a flaw apparent. “Tierney isn’t sailing these days.”