for sail by owner // bobbi & cass
TIMING: sometime before jonas disappeared PARTIES: @timetide & @stolensiren SUMMARY: cass enlists bobbi's help to find a buyer for a sculpture she 'acquired' from a rude patron at a cafe. CONTENT: none!
Usually, Cass only stole things she knew she could sell in pawn shops and the like. Watches, jewelry, electronics… small things that would fetch decent enough money if she found the right shopkeeper to buy it. But… sometimes, her hands moved a little faster than her mind did. Sometimes, she was snatching something without thinking about it. Like, sometimes she accidentally grabbed an expensive looking sculpture from the car of the wealthy asshole who’d made the barista at her favorite coffee shop cry, and she knew no pawn shop would touch it.
Luckily, she did have an alternative.
Putting on her ‘Christie’ persona — which was really just her, but with a fake name and a little more meek — she called up the one person she knew would be able to help her. A few months ago she might have called Hikari, but… the other woman had been ignoring Cass’s calls for a while now, and Bobbi was a safer bet. The captain seemed more than willing to help, and Cass got another boat ride out of it. It would be fun, she thought.
She grinned at Bobbi as she came onto the deck. “I really appreciate the help,” she said. “And… I appreciate you not asking questions.”
You already know who's gonna win
You already lost, I'm up for the win, yeah
You already know who's gonna win
I'm undefeated, I'm fearless, fearless
Guapdad 4000’s Fearless blared throughout the captain’s quarters as Bobbi tinkered with a Darlington transistor. Now, normally, most people would be wearing clothes that were long enough to cover most of them just in case, you know, they’d get electrocuted while working, but a huxian like Bobbi, especially a huxian like Bobbi, could care less. Wearing only a white tank top over a pair of jeans, Bobbi bobbed her head to the music as sparks flew around her, mostly on her paper-free table. This wasn’t her first rodeo.
“Your kid’s here,” John didn’t even bother knocking, knowing full well that with that volume, their captain wouldn’t hear him. Instead, he just grabbed the door knob with a hand towel—Bobbi wasn’t the only experienced sailor on this ship—and walked right in, informing the unfazed woman whose face shouldn’t be that close to that circuit, or any circuits for that matter, of the news. “You sure this isn’t going to be like Senkaku?”
“Huh? Oh, right, yeah, okay,” Bobbi perked up, and in a matter of seconds, cleaned up her desk, which was the shortest way of saying she turned off what needed to be turned off and then just freaking dumped everything in the drawer underneath her table. Classy. Grabbing a denim jacket on her way out, she smirked at John who had of course followed her. “This isn’t going to be like Senkaku, John. She’s just a kid, just curious and in desperate need for adventure. What could go wrong?”
“Christie, hey!” Bobbi greeted the young woman as they reunited on the deck of her ship, gesturing for John to don his captain’s hat, which he did, immediately going around to yell at the others to prepare the vessel. The huxian, however, was more focused on her guest, still at awe at how she resembled her old, lost friend. “Eh, don’t worry about it! Captain needs more info, though. He’s been on edge lately because of all the weird stuff happening in town, including the docks. You mind clearing his thoughts about this?”
She placed a hand gently on her back as she started leading her towards the captain’s quarters, gesturing for Captain John to follow them as soon as he could.
Some of Bobbi’s crew weren’t exactly thrilled to see her, which was probably fair. The last time Cass had been here, she had snuck on board, after all, had enthralled several of the sailors in an attempt to keep herself from being caught. She was pretty sure the only reason they were tolerating her presence on the ship at all was because she was friends with Bobbi. But that was okay. Cass didn’t care to impress a bunch of crusty old sailors, anyway. There was only one person on board she was interested in hanging out with.
It was with careful practice that she reacted to the fake name on Bobbi’s lips as if it was the one she’d been called all her life, smile widening as the sailor approached. “Oh, right, yeah, I totally get that,” she nodded, throwing a nervous look towards the man commanding the ship. She wasn’t really scared of him, but she figured it was better to keep up the act that she was. It was always best to remain underestimated, even among friends.
Following Bobbi towards the captain’s quarters, Cass nodded. “Yeah, things in town have been… weird lately. I mean, they’re always weird, but, like, extra weird now. It makes sense to want more info. I’m, like, a hundred percent sure the sculpture isn’t haunted, though.”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” Bobbi rolled her eyes before shaking her head. That wasn’t aimed at Christie, of course. It was more aimed at the fact that the spooks seemed to be much harder to figure out now, especially for folks like Lilian who were gifted against them. Lil had even warned Bobbi to take extra precautions, if not for her stubborn self then for the boys. They were less long-lived than the huxian, though Lil didn’t know about that. Not yet. “Shame we don’t have an Egon Spengler, eh?”
The huxian had been in town since its founding, so strange stuff like that never really worried Bobbi, even though she did sporadically sail elsewhere during its first few decades, trying to find out more about the ghostly fleet that stole her ship, her most prized possession, the same ghostly fleet that made recent events an exception to her overall apathy with regards to the non-docks parts of town. Much harder to take back her stuff if everything she’d learned so far proved useless with all these new developments.
Heaving a sigh, Bobbi tried her best to calm herself down, remove those thoughts from her head, and focus on the task at hand. John joined them shortly after, closing the door behind them, a scowl on his face. Seems like he still hadn’t forgotten that bit about Christie headbutting his little brother. Dang, man can hold a grudge. “So, uhh, captain, looks like it’s X marks the haunted sculpture. Won’t be a problem, right?” She grinned at him before turning to the young woman, winking at her right in front of the dude with the bad mood.
John just crossed his arms and didn’t take his eyes off Christie. “We’ll see. What’s the plan, kid?”
There were some things in White Crest that went beyond Cass’s understanding. Not as many things as there used to be, thankfully — she knew a lot more now than she had a year ago — but enough to leave her feeling like she was scrambling more often than not. Ghosts were something she didn’t think she’d ever understand entirely. How could she when she couldn’t even see them? Lil and Jonas could try to explain things to her, but that could really only go so far, in the end. Furrowing her brow, she shot Bobbi a curious look. “What's an Egon Spengler? Is that, like, a ghost hunting tool?”
Something passed over Bobbi’s face, there and then gone so quickly that most people might have missed it. But Cass had learned to notice such things by necessity. In foster care, noticing the smallest shift in a person’s expression could ultimately mean the difference between life and death. She didn’t even know, really, how much of her ability to read people came from the natural empathetic abilities granted to her as a siren and how much was built up through her time in the system.
Not that it mattered much here. Bobbi had earned Cass’s trust during their last encounter, and she was hardly the biggest threat in the room. The ‘captain’ was still shooting Cass dark looks that proved he wasn’t entirely forgiving regarding Cass’s attempts to remain ‘unnoticed’ when she snuck on board the boat before, and she tried not to be obvious as she eyed him warily. “I just need to find somebody who’ll buy it discreetly. And for a fair price. I figured you guys could help with that. You found somebody to buy those paintings, before.” Somebody sketchy, sure, but Cass could handle sketchy. She’d proven as much back then.
John almost broke character, the making of a full-blown cackle escaping his mouth. Bobbi was quick to turn to him, annoyed at how he was quick to make fun of her advanced age. Swiftly, and perhaps the wisest decision he has ever made in a long while, John turned away, not locking eyes with Bobbi or the girl.
The huxian herself could only sigh, shaking her head, before turning to Christie with a chuckle of her own. She was…bemused. “You don’t know Egon Spengler? Ghostbusters? Imagine life as you know it stopping instantaneously with every atom in your body exploding at the speed of light?” That last part wasn’t the exact quote, but it was the closest Bobbi could recall.
John didn’t even bother remembering the kid’s name, noting her in his head as Stowaway Who Ruined Andrew’s Picture-Perfect Nose. To say that he loved his brother would be an understatement, though he would never admit to that. Far from it, he also believed that between the two of them, Andrew could escape the fisherman’s life and become something more. Like a model in those clothing commercials. He turned to Bobbi with narrowed eyes, and as if on cue, they both opened their mouths. “Old Creepy Guy.” “The Silver Fox.” Close enough.
“You’re in luck, Christie,” Bobbi grinned from ear to ear, much to John’s chagrin. She ignored him, though, because this wasn’t about him. Or Andrew’s halted modeling career. “We’re actually going to meet a potential buyer later today! And he’s way into…esoteric wares.” John cut straight to the point, wanting his part in all this over and done as fast as possible. “You even got the statue with you right now, kid?”
“Uh…” Cass glanced between Bobbi and the ‘captain’ carefully, shrugging a shoulder. “I saw the one with Chris Hemsworth in it?” She liked pop culture, but if it wasn’t comic books or superhero related, she tended to prefer the newer stuff by default. A side effect of being in her early twenties, she suspected. Plus, the special effects in old movies were always, like, super cringey. She only ever watched them to make fun of them, really.
It was cool, the way Bobbi and the ‘captain’ seemed capable of having entire conversations without ever actually speaking at all. It reminded Cass fondly of Levi and Marina, the way they were so in sync that it seemed like they shared a mind, sometimes. Bobbi and John seemed very much the same, especially when they came up with the same ‘client’ at once. Cass laughed at their respective names for the guy, quietly settling on Old Creepy Guy as a favorite.
“That’s perfect!” She shot John another dubious look, reaching to the messenger bag at her side to produce the little gold statue. “Uh, duh. I wouldn’t be able to ask for Bobbi’s help the right way if I couldn’t show her what she was working with, could I?” Maybe sassing the ‘captain’ of the ship wasn’t the smartest move Cass could make here, but he kept shooting her mean looks and she figured she was entitled to a little payback for that. “Can I come with you to meet him?” The question was directed entirely to Bobbi.
“Who’s Chris Hemsworth?” Bobbi shot both of them a confused look, crossing her arms over her chest. She knew who he was, well, how he looked, just not his name. John answered her without missing a beat, keeping his eyes on the kid. “Thor, God of Hammers.” At that, Bobbi nodded knowingly, the reference she understood quicker than she remembered the muscled Australian’s actual name. “I liked the female one better.” John frowned and gave her a look of disbelief. No spoilers, though.
At Christie’s sass, John audibly groaned, which made Bobbi grin. It wasn’t every day she saw John get one-upped by a smaller, younger girl. Besides from her anyway. The ‘Captain’ extended his hand to gesture his desire to get a good handle on the thing, though for no real reason than to make sure the kid wasn’t conning them. He scoffed at Christie’s request and let out a loud, “No.” Bobbi put a hand on his shoulder calmly and gave Christie a wink before making her own request. “Captain, may I request a sidebar?”
John stared some more daggers at the kid before nodding his head. The two went out of the quarters, though they didn’t really move that far away from the door, with much of their conversation still in Christie’s earshot. “What do you mean no? The old man would love her!” Bobbi scoffed. John heaved a sigh, shaking his head. “That’s exactly why I said no. The old man is a pervert. You’re gonna risk the kid for a pay day? I’d end up punching him in the face, and we can’t lose him as a client, even if he deserves a punch in the face.”
Bobbi saw his sigh and raised him her own, her hands finding their way on her hips.. “Kid’s not gonna get risked, John. If she’s anything like her mom… And besides, you’re not coming. Just gonna be me and her. Old man would love that, which means he’ll lower his guard. Not much of a threat then.” They continued arguing some more until things grew quiet. Bobbi returned inside the quarters. Alone. With a grin, she gave Christie a double thumbs-up. “Captain said yes! Wanna tell me more about the statue, why you need more money? If not, we can talk about something else. How’s school?”
Cass actually felt a little disgruntled at the ‘captain’s’ reference, because she didn’t want to like John, but it was hard not to think someone was at least a little cooler when they were talking about Thor. Keeping her eyes on Bobbi, she grinned. “I mean, same.”
Reluctantly, Cass held the statue out when John reached for it, allowing him to inspect it. She had nothing to lose there; she knew the figure was legit, and she knew it was pricey. If the weight of it was anything to go off, the metal it was made out of was real through and through. She’d be able to get a good amount of cash on it for scrap metal alone, but… She didn’t like the idea of selling it to someone just so they could melt it down. Maybe her friendship with Metzli had offered her some new appreciation of art that she’d never thought possible before.
She sighed as Bobbi and John gave contradictory answers to her request, nodding for them to go ahead and duke it out as she pretended not to listen. Something about an old man being a pervert and John not wanting to have to punch him, which was unexpectedly sweet. Maybe the ‘captain’ wasn’t quite as bad as he was pretending to be.
Continuing to listen to the argument, Cass hummed at the way Bobbi came to her defense… only to stop as the woman continued. If she’s anything like her mom… The words seemed to echo. She was still frozen when Bobbi reentered the quarters, eyes a little wider than they’d been before. She almost missed what Bobbi said next, blinking. “Oh. Uh, yeah. Great.” She needed to pull herself together. She could grill Bobbi later, when John wasn’t there to listen. “I guess I don’t really need money, but I’d like some. My new job doesn’t pay quite as much as what I used to do.” Jonas paid her well, but not as well as stealing money from rich people. “I’m not in school, though. Uh, when are we leaving?”
“More money’s always a good thing to have,” Bobbi quipped as she crossed her arms, a grin on her face, chalking the strange expression on Christie’s face to John being a dick to her. While the huxian liked to consider herself a capitalist, the years have softened her stance on her pirate-y ways. It helped that there were no true pirates around anymore, at least not the ones that she was molded by, fought with and against.
“We should be leaving soon,” and as soon as the words left her lips, the crew began to yell out their usual stuff outside, barely audible from where the two girls stood. As if on cue, Bobbi opened the door and gestured for Christie to join her on the deck before continuing. “The client lives on a yacht near Harris Island. Pretty sure he owns a fancy schmancy mansion over there, too, but he’s almost always on his yacht. Rich people and their yacht parties, am I right?”
John was talking to the other sailors, with his younger brother Andrew right beside him, the same guy whose nose Christie had broken before. Andrew’s nose was all healed up now. Well, as healed up as it could. It was less perfect now and more broken, which was why he was staring daggers at her when he caught sight of her. John noticed this, too, and patted Andrew on the head before walking towards the girls, though he simply nodded at Bobbi and shoved the statue back to Christie without speaking a single word to her, and disappeared into the captain’s quarters. Man can hold a grudge.
Bobbi found the whole thing funny but she didn’t linger on it. Sooner or later, John would soften up to the younger woman. Despite his grudges, he could never resist the whole knight-in-shining-armor schtick. That was why he worked well with Bobbi, with whom he often butted heads with but always made up at the end of the day. Or the week.
The huxian simply took to the railings and watched the waves crashed against their vessel with a warm smile. There was just something about the sea that always captured her heart. Even if she had spent decades, centuries even, at the sea, with the sea, Bobbi never really got tired of it. “Huh. I honestly thought you were still in school. You’re not, like, I mean, I’m not gonna judge but, you didn’t quit school, did you? And what’s up with the new job?”
“That’s what I always say,” Cass agreed, hoping the pounding in her chest wasn’t too obvious. There was no way she’d misheard what Bobbi said; she knew that. She weighed the pros and cons of just coming out with the question, but she didn’t think it would be entirely effective. Here at the docks, it would be easy for Bobbi to avoid answering if she didn’t want to. She could decide to agree with the ‘captain’ and kick Cass off the ship, or leave herself. It would be more straightforward with the sea beneath them. Cass was positive Bobbi wasn’t going to make her walk the plank to avoid answering her questions, at least.
Cass watched as John spoke with some of the other sailors, flashing the one whose nose she’d broken a fierce grin when no one else was looking. The persona she’d built for herself on Bobbi’s boat — one that was, for the most part, a scared, meek kid who had only lashed out due to her own terror — ensured that nobody would believe him when he spoke of it later, which was kind of funny. Maybe a little mean, but Cass was okay with that.
She took the statue back, fiddling with it for a moment before tucking it back into her bag. She trusted Bobbi, but she didn’t really have the same faith in anyone else on this ship. She didn’t want to lose the statue she’d gotten with her own sticky fingers to someone else’s.
Following Bobbi over to the railing, Cass looked out over the sea. She had a newfound appreciation for it these days, built up through her friendship with Levi and Marina. “I mean, I did,” she admitted, “but that was a long time ago. I dropped out when I was sixteen. I’m twenty-three now.” It was strange, just how much time had passed. Sometimes, it felt like just yesterday that she’d run away from the latest group home the state had stuck her in. Others, it seemed like an eternity since her time living on the streets. “I got a job at an antique shop. The owner’s pretty chill, so he lets me do whatever.”
“Huh,” Bobbi seemed genuinely upset when Christie revealed she had dropped out of school, which was a little weird, considering Bobbi didn’t formally attend school. The huxian was able to get her engineering degree only through lies and deceit, as she never had any legit documents that were required of her so she could enroll in the first place. Hard to get those when you don’t die. Plus, there was the whole thing about guardians and citizenship and the ever-changing educational system. Fortunately for Bobbi, as the computer and the Internet finally arrived, so did Photoshop and more terribly illegal things that she’d rather not get into. “Ever think of going back to school? Never too late.”
The thing about the antique shop piqued her curiosity soon after. That was a pretty good situation for some shenanigans. She wondered, as her eyes narrowed at Christie and where the statue was, if that was all intended from the very beginning. “So that statue…” Bobbi cleared her throat, hoping for the best instead of the worst. She wasn’t one to judge people but she’d rather have Christie on the better side of the world than be on the same side as her and her parents. “...that’s not from the antique shop, is it? You didn’t, uhh, borrow it, right?”
“Land ho!” John would soon call out to everyone on the ship, just as Bobbi always did, as they approached the Silver Fox’s yacht, even though actual land was still further in. The rest of the crew instinctively responded, already preparing to board the other vessel. “Ho!”
Bobbi herself joined in before she started watching the yacht with steely conviction, arms crossing themselves across her chest. The damned thing was the very example of opulence. Even from afar, she could smell the expensive liquor and other party stuff wafting in the sea breeze. If only she didn’t know who owned the yacht, she’d be so impressed. Without turning to her, instead sharing a knowing look with John at the helm, Bobbi whispered to Christie a final warning, “You sure you want to come with? Those abilities of yours are always good to go, right?”
Bobbi looked disappointed and, for a second, a strange jolt of fear surged through Cass. She’d always hated disappointing people, always felt nauseous at the thought, even if it was someone she didn’t know particularly well. But the feeling quickly passed as she assured herself that Bobbi wasn’t mad at her or anything. She shrugged at the question, glancing down at her feet. “I dunno. I thought about getting my GED for a while but, like, I don’t really need it or anything. Nobody’s ever asked.” And if they did, Cass was more than capable of lying her way around it. She’d always been good at that.
It probably was a little suspicious to admit that she worked at an antique shop while holding a statue she intended to sell that was definitely an antique. But the idea of stealing from Jonas was so absurd that Cass actually laughed at it, shaking her head quickly. “God, no. I didn’t borrow it from the shop.” She had ‘borrowed’ it from a rich guy’s fancy car, but Bobbi didn’t ask about that, so it wasn’t like she was lying.
Hearing the ‘captain’ call out in a way that probably meant they were leaving soon, Cass hummed. She followed Bobbi’s gaze to the yacht ahead, thinking for a moment how fun it would be to sneak aboard that ship. There’d certainly be more things to steal than she’d be able to carry. Maybe another day, she figured.
Turning back to Bobbi, she nodded quickly in response to the question. “Oh, yeah, for sure. I definitely want to tag along. And I’m definitely good to go.” She paused for a moment. “Your friend didn’t need to warm up, did she? When you knew her before?”
There wasn’t much else for Bobbi to say on that front, especially considering that formal education was the least of the long-lived’s concern. There were far more important matters that Bobbi had to deal with, and in the end, she still managed to get that degree. Although, again: through lies and deceit. “You’ll figure it out yourself. I mean, whatever works for you, you know?”
Whether the statue was acquired through legal means or not paled in importance to the new task at hand. Bobbi will just have to inspire Christie to go down the right path instead of this one, though that felt nigh impossible to someone in her shoes at the moment. Easier said than done. “Hmm? Oh, yeah, well, she was actually always the first out the door. Or in this case, off the boat.”
Bobbi chuckled at a stray memory of the good old days, as she gestured for Christie to follow her to the dinghy. The Captain watched them both, scowling because he did not get his way, muscled arms across his muscled chest. Two others helped the ladies off, and Bobbi did not waste any time before rowing them closer to the yacht, where a pair of serious men with visible weapons watched them with eagle eyes as party music blared on behind them. “Silver Fox has his own personal guard, and even the captain and his crew are former soldiers, so the old man’s a bit protective,” the huxian whispered the fact under her breath. “Of himself.”
Then she turned towards the guards and raised a hand, “Hey, guys! It’s Bobbi. I’m here to meet with Mr. Quincey!” They just stood there for a few seconds, eyes watching them, before one of them put a finger in his ear and then nodded, gesturing to the other one to follow his lead, as they helped both ladies aboard. Bobbi gave Christie a wink and waited for her to follow before giving the same two men a playful smirk. “Thanks, guys. Always a pleasure.”
“Bet we can take them both,” Bobbi quipped as they left the guards’ range of hearing. Or at least she barely cared. “You go high, I go low.”
“Yeah. For sure.” Cass was a little relieved Bobbi didn’t push the subject; it was the kind of thing that could get awkward relatively quickly, and she didn’t want that with Bobbi. Things with Bobbi were simple in a familiar kind of way; lying to someone about the bare basics of her life, giving them a fake name and a mostly made up backstory… It was something Cass used to do all the time. There was something interesting about the strange new twist of Bobbi knowing something not even some of her friends knew about her — that she was a siren — without knowing her real name, too. It was a little intoxicating, in its own way.
Every bit of new information Cass learned about Charlotte was intriguing, especially after having met her in her brief time travel adventure with Sloane. Bobbi wasn’t entirely forthcoming with her short answers, but Cass still soaked up the new facts like she needed them. And maybe she did. Charlotte was the only other siren Cass had ever known, even if she’d known her so briefly and long before she was meant to. “Did she hang out on your boat a lot?”
Following Bobbi, Cass was a little surprised to find that they were headed towards the yacht. Maybe sneaking aboard wasn’t an option, but it didn’t have to be if she was invited. “What should I expect here?” John had seemed apprehensive about the whole thing, and Cass suspected he probably had good reason to be. The last time she’d witnessed one of Bobbi’s business dealings, the ‘customers’ had been rude and brash and kind of gross. She doubted this would be any different.
Once on board the yacht, Cass fell into step behind the guards, snorting as Bobbi turned to her. “Their boss might not wanna pay us if we do that,” she replied, though she wasn’t against the idea of fighting these guys. “But we could totally take them down if we wanted to.”
“You could say that,” Bobbi had conflicting memories of her friend. Most of what she could remember, or more precisely, want to remember were good things. She was kind, she was fun, she made her laugh a lot. Those things. But you don’t become close friends with someone and just have good memories. Long friendships tend to be a little mix of both, the good and the bad, and sometimes, some things become a little bit of both instead of choosing a side. “She was like a sister to me.” Maybe even more.
“Smart,” Bobbi grinned as they made their way further inside the yacht, leading the kid up the stairs that gave them quite a view of the large flat foredeck that was currently occupied by a bunch of girls in bikinis dancing to some party song the huxian wasn’t familiar with. That didn’t stop her from bobbing her head to the rhythm, however, as well as admiring the delicious eye candy. “Just your typical bad guy HQ.” Soon, they stopped in front of a locked door and Bobbi calmly rapped the wood three times without moving her eyes away from the young girl. “No windows inside, at least four visible guards, maybe six, and even the servers know how to fight.”
When the door slowly opened, Bobbi gestured for Christie to follow her in. What greeted them was a bar with a collection of expensive bottles but decorated terribly with plastic flowers, as if the decorator was just the bartender, who at that moment, watched them with keen eyes. The rest of the room was typical in its excess, not unlike what one would see in a Vegas casino, which was John’s favorite description of the old man: A walking Vegas casino.
“Bobbi! You look beautiful tonight!” The old man shooed the two paid arm candy fluttering around him and descended the small flight of stairs, just three steps, that propped the bar a little higher than the rest of the room. Bobbi was quick to discourage any physical contact between them by making a completely exaggerated bow. “We’ve come for business, Mr. Quincey! Something that should pique your interest.”
Bobbi then turned to Christie, gesturing for her to introduce herself, and more importantly, show the old man her ware. At the same time, she discreetly scouted the room, counting four guys just standing around, obviously guards, while noting that there were two other servers plus the bartender, which all sported terrible attitudes for the service industry. Definitely punching bags.
“What was she like?” The question came out small, uncertain. Cass had known Charlotte for a moment, when time saw fit to throw her back to the eighties where the woman was probably younger than she was. And she’d felt — something, in that time. Some kind of connection, some kind of tie. Metzli had theorized it could be something like what hunters felt when they encountered the things they were meant to hunt or, perhaps more appropriately, what fae felt when they found others like them. And that made sense, because Cass had never met another siren before, but she wondered if there might be more to it, too. Bobbi’s earlier words echoed in her head. If she’s anything like her mom… She needed, with a hungry thrum, to know more. She needed to know everything. And she needed Bobbi to want to tell her.
Though… now might not be the best time for it. The yacht was like a maze, and Cass was careful to map it out in her mind, nose wrinkling when she saw the girls in bikinis. Some of them looked younger than her which, considering the fact that Bobbi and John had both mentioned that their client was an old man, was pretty gross. “You think these guys, like, take notes during James Bond movies? If he’s got a giant fishtank with a shark in it, I’m gonna lose my shit, Bobbi.”
She followed Bobbi into the room, glancing around at the decor. She was uncharacteristically quiet as she took it all in, opting to make herself small and unassuming rather than give anything away. If they did end up having to fight anyone — which, like, they shouldn’t, should they? This was a business deal! — she wanted to be underestimated. It always served her best.
The old man was pretty much exactly what Cass had expected him to be. Old, wrinkly, and gross. His wandering eyes raked up and down Bobbi and Cass in turn, and he made no real effort to hide the hunger behind them. It took everything Cass had not to let her disgust show on her face. She let Bobbi do the talking; the sailor had a working relationship with the old man, anyway, so it would be easier to let her handle this part.
Smiling when Bobbi turned to her, she nodded at the man. “Christie,” she said, the fake name slipping easily through her lips. She offered no last name, fake or otherwise; she figured, given the situation they were in, the man wouldn’t object to it. After all, sketchy people understood sketchy practices. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the statue. “Bobbi tells me this is something you might like. I think it’d fit in pretty well with the decorations you’ve got here, don’t you?”
The thing about memories was, at least in Bobbi’s case, which she had learned to accept a few decades ago, they tend to get muddled with emotions. Sometimes, you over-remember the good of a person. Other times, you end up focusing on the hate, the rage, that you miss the more important moments where they did good beyond what you could have understood at that point in time.
But Charlotte? Bobbi could never forget how she had been quite the character in her crew. “Hardheaded, stubborn, but more or less someone you’d want holding the knife while you’re on the table.” Operating table, that was what the saying she’d heard somewhere sometime ago specified, but Bobbi wouldn’t mind if Charlotte was her butcher. She stole a glimpse of Christie, curious as to why she was suddenly so curious about the woman. Does she know? “Why so curious?”
The old man did in fact have a fish tank. Well, two of them. One was filled with expensive pet fish, clearly for show, while the other only housed a pair of baby sharks, both bigger and taller than Christie. Why anyone would keep baby sharks in a saltwater aquarium was anyone guess, but Bobbi’s was that the old man had a tiny peepee he had to overcompensate for. The tanks were propped on opposite sides of the room they were in. Marina would probably lose her shit, too, if she ever finds out about this.
“Well, well, well… Consider my interest very piqued,” the old man licked his lips at the sight of Christie, even before she showed him the product, which did not sit well with Bobbi. Crossing her arms, the huxian resisted dropping the frail old man with a quick right by clenching her jaw. John wouldn’t have had the same…decorum. When his old, decaying eyes finally landed on the statue, they widened as much as they could. “May I?” He tried to get a hold of the item, but it was already clear that he would pay as much as he could for it. “Where did you find such a fine specimen? Tell me more about it.”
Hardheaded. Stubborn. Words that had been used to describe Cass a time or two in the past, words that weren’t entirely inaccurate descriptions. She wondered if there was some kind of genetic component to a person’s personality, if you could grow up with the same traits that made your mother who she was even if you’d never met her at all. That was assuming she was right about what Bobbi’s words had meant, of course, and that Bobbi herself was right about whatever assumptions she’d made. It was a lot of ‘what ifs’ that Cass was clinging to because for a kid who’d never had anything when it came to her biological family, even the tiniest snippet felt like a feast.
She shrugged at Bobbi’s question, trying to act like it didn’t matter when the reality was that it might be the only thing that did. “I’ve never met another siren before,” she replied. “I was raised by humans, so I always just kind of… thought I was one of them, too. I’ve only known about this stuff for, like, a year, and I guess sirens aren’t that common, you know? So… I’m curious. About the one you used to know.” It wasn’t even a total lie, even if it wasn’t the whole truth, either.
The fish tank brought a faint smile to Cass’s lips, at least; she glanced over at Bobbi and inclined her head towards it, raising her brows in silent communication. Given the fact that she’d just mentioned it, she figured Bobbi would know exactly what she meant. But… it was probably best not to say it aloud.
Especially not with the way this guy was looking at her. She’d seen that look before plenty of times; it wasn’t one she particularly liked. But Bobbi was here with her, and she had a job to do, kind of. She was going to sell this stupid statue and buy something expensive with this creepy old man’s money. When he reached for it, she held it towards him, allowing him to take it for a closer look. “It was a gift,” she lied smoothly, “from a man in White Crest. Something his grandfather left him that he didn’t have room to keep. I don’t think he knew what it was worth when he gave it to me, so his loss is my gain, right? And your gain, too, for the right price.”
“Fair enough,” Bobbi gave her a knowing wink before she reminded herself of her similar experiences in the past year. “Been a while since I met someone like me, too, so I know the feeling. You met another of yours within the past year? Mine went missing.” The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the other huxian in town remained a mystery to Bobbi. Well, Hikari was a kitsune, but a rose by any other name is still a rose. She had since wondered if she just upped and left without telling her. Or if her latest encounter with Teagan was an omen, perhaps Hikari had disappeared at the hands of a hunter.
“Do your humans know what you are?” Bobbi was genuinely curious to know. Her humans, her crew, did not know what she really was, that she was not as mundane as them. John had almost caught her with the truth once or twice but so far, so good. The young man had never spoken up about it, and the rest of the crew showed no realization of any strange goings-on aboard their ship. Well, not supernatural strange, of course. They did have that encounter with Marina back when they collected that chalice to save the town, but only Bobbi and two others actually came face to face with the jellyfish queen. The rest had to stay away from the shore, remain afloat for the quick getaway.
Bobbi raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest, when she caught a glimpse of Christie’s gesture. She immediately knew what was up, having wanted to do the same first but to no avail. Younger generation’s always quicker on the draw, it seemed, and perhaps for obvious reasons.
The old man’s eyes grew wide at the sight of the item while Bobbi kept hers on him then the girl and finally stealing glances at the other men in the room, counting them in her head, as discreetly as she could. Without turning to them, Mr. Quincey had the women, his paid eye candy, escorted out of the room with the rest of his non-gun-toting guests. Okay, here we go. Bobbi braced herself as the old man suggested a price, something lower than what any of them expected. As expected. It was his strategy, it seemed, to first go low and then a few steps higher. Cheeky old man. Let’s see how the girl bites.
“If I have, they haven’t told me,” Cass replied, and it wasn’t technically a lie. She’d met Charlotte, sure… but that had been in the eighties, thanks to the town’s recent flux of time-related shenanigans. And Charlotte hadn’t told her she was a siren. Cass had just known. It would be too complicated to explain that now, especially to Bobbi. If the Charlotte Cass met was the same one Bobbi had known — which she suspected to be the case — it would raise all sorts of questions on both ends. And they didn’t have time for that now. “Missing? When?” Maybe Bobbi’s friend’s disappearance was related to the time travel stuff, too.
At the question, Cass shrugged a shoulder. “Some of them do. But, honestly… I don’t really know as many humans as I thought I did.” And in White Crest, it was hard to tell. There were plenty of people Cass had assumed were human only to find out later that they weren’t. She’d learned it was best not to make any such assumptions.
The old man sent everyone who wasn’t packing a piece out of the room, and Cass tensed. She knew that was a bad sign… but she also knew it likely meant that both she and Bobbi had been underestimated. The guns, she figured, were here to intimidate. They would use them if they had to, but they probably didn’t anticipate any kind of resistance.
Cass raised a brow at the ‘offer’ the man presented her with, pulling the statue back with a shrug and tucking it back into her bag. “Sorry. I thought you’d take this more seriously. That’s okay, though. I should be able to find someone else who’s willing to pay a fair price. Have a nice day.” She turned towards the door as if to leave, looking unconcerned about the men with guns. The best strategy in situations like this, she’d learned, was to refuse to even entertain offers like the one she’d been given. It sent a certain kind of message.
“A while back,” Bobbi simply shrugged, downplaying the loss of a recently made friend. Having been alive for that long of a time, you tend to see friends come and go more times than necessary. Besides, their kind weren’t exactly known for having stable relationships, staying with friends and family. A fleeting fancy, whether a newly met lover or a different prospect in work and lifestyle, could just easily spur a huxian, or a kitsune, to abandon everything they’ve ever known for the new pursuit. She was guilty of that herself. “Though to be fair, she’s a traveling saleswoman, and was just renting a place in the Outskirts, so she probably just left for greener pastures. Wouldn’t be the worst timing, all things considered.”
Bobbi simply nodded at Christie’s answer. With her youth and beauty, she had immediately assumed she’d have made so many human friends, especially at that age, with the whole university and stuff. Bobbi herself had made many human friends around that time, when she tried to find herself in the academe, though to be fair, most of the humans around her were inherited, few of them were friends newly made, or more precisely, from scratch. John himself was a descendant of one of her closest allies as the pirate scourge Lin Baozhai, and the rest were the same. How strange it always seems to her that some people always find each other, by blood and by fate.
When Christie started to move towards the door, Bobbi made way for her while turning towards the old man with a playful smirk. The huxian admired the proverbial balls on this one, though that would be less accurate: Balls are technically easier to hurt. She wasn’t that much of a sports fan, but the amount of balls she had to replace over the years told her the same. Especially basketballs. Those things blow out easily. Or maybe I should stop getting the cheaper ones.
“Wait,” the old man brought her, and probably everyone with that volume, out of her reverie, prompting the two large men to enter the room before anyone else could leave. Bobbi saw Mr. Quincey let out a sigh before he continued, “What’s your price? Let me see if I can top it.”
“A saleswoman?” Things were clicking into place a little, and Cass shifted. “Is her name Hikari?” It had been so long since she’d heard from her friend, any attempts at contact going unanswered. And it was easy enough for Cass to assume that the kitsune had simply thought her no longer worth whatever friendship they’d built — that was what people usually did, after all — but she couldn’t fathom Bobbi as someone so easily abandoned. Not for the first time, dread gnawed at her gut. But Bobbi didn’t seem concerned, and Cass’s instinct was, as it always was, to cling to that optimism, too. “You’re probably right,” she said, forcing herself to believe it. Getting out of White Crest wasn’t a bad thing. It was probably something more people ought to consider.
Especially human people. It wasn’t something that applied to Hikari, of course, but it was something that came to mind as Cass considered just how few humans she actually knew. Jonas and Lil, with their ghost-seeing-abilities, probably didn’t count, so… Sloane might be the only actual human Cass really knew at all. It was strange to think about, now that she considered it.
Maybe it was better that way. She was beginning to believe some of the people who insisted that humans only ever really hurt people. Even this man, old and frail, thought he could step to Cass and Bobbi just because he had money, had power. Cass wasn’t one to stand by for things like that. Bobbi wasn’t, either. Of course, she had no intention of actually leaving without making a deal, and she doubted she’d be allowed to without a fight, but if there was one thing Cass was good at, it was putting on a show.
She smiled faintly as the man called out to her, pausing and tilting her head. Without turning around, she rattled off a price. It was one she’d pulled from her research, one she figured was fair to both of them… but was a little more in her favor than his. He had tried to lowball her, after all. “I won’t go a penny lower,” she warned. “If you try to offer me less, I’m out. I can go around your guys, or I can go through them.”
“Yeah, Narisawa? You knew her?” Bobbi was a little surprised at that thought. She didn’t picture the kitsune as someone who befriended younger folk, especially since she seemed to want to stay old and ancient, putting less to no effort integrating herself with the modern times. Bobbi couldn’t blame her. She was like that herself, but being trapped in White Crest, or more precisely trapping herself in the town until she got her ship back, required creativity on her part, especially with the whole long-lived thing.
Bobbi and the old man exchanged glances. Hers was meant to only gauge his reaction. Just in case it would require her intervention. If Mr. Quincey’s frown was any indication, things were about to get a little interesting. Before he could say anything, one of his men made the unfortunate decision of approaching Christie, hand held out, as if ready to grab her. Put her in her place, that’s what another one of Mr. Quincey’s men had said when he tried the same thing on Bobbi. I wonder how One-eyed Jones is doing now.
“Yeah. We’re friends!” Cass intentionally ignored the past tense of Bobbi’s statement, feeling as if there was a rock settled into her stomach at its presence. It was like Bobbi said earlier — Hikari probably just left town. People did that sometimes, had every right to do that. Cass had left every city she’d ever lived in, hadn’t thought of most of them or the people she’d met inside their borders since the day she did. Hikari was probably the same. That was all.
A moment of silence followed Cass laying her cards on the table, a moment where the old man seemed to consider things. Cass could tell he didn’t love the number she’d thrown out, or the attitude she’d given when providing it, but she’d hoped for… a peaceful negotiation, at least. That seemed off the table when one of the men reached out to grab her. Using one of the moves Metzli taught her, the siren caught the man by the wrist and twisted until something snapped. “Like I said,” she said, pretending her heart wasn’t pounding, “I won’t go any lower.”
Perhaps acting on instincts, the other guy on Mr. Quincey’s payroll immediately pointed his gun at Christie, which prompted Bobbi to draw a concealed firearm from her back. She pointed the ancient-looking arsenal at the bodybuilder threatening a much smaller woman with a long-range weapon. On her face, a playful smirk challenged the serious scowl of the paid enforcer. “Easy, son. We don’t want to traumatize the fish in their glass prison, do we?”
“Enough!” Mr. Quincey boomed, silencing the room. For an old man, he still had some pipes in him. Bobbi stole a glimpse of him but didn’t quite sheathe her weapon yet, even as the other guy lowered his boomstick. With a sigh, Mr. Quincey shook his head, disappointed at the events that unfolded aboard his party yacht. He slowly addressed Christie with a more serious tone, though it wasn’t near anything threatening, more like a teacher trying to retake control of his classroom from an untouchable student. “If you would be so kind as to let my man go? I can wire you the money, you can leave the item with me, and we can be on our merry ways.”
At that, Bobbi gave the old man an unsolicited nod of approval, which he caught with a raised eyebrow. Something else caught his attention, though, and his disappointment immediately turned to shock. “My god, Is that…a flintlock pistol?” Mr. Quincey threw away all pretense and approached the huxian, waving off the same guy Bobbi had a dick-measuring contest with just a few seconds ago when he tried to express concern regarding hs employer walking right into a loaded gun. Bobbi flipped the gun in the air, tossing it so it would land barrel-first in her hand, and offered the item to the connoisseur. “Queen Anne. Not loaded, of course,” she turned to the annoyed grunt with a wink before grinning at the oblivious old man. “My item. Thought you’d fancy a souvenir from one of my…previous dealings.”
The gun pointed at her was something Cass probably should have seen coming, but she was surprised anyway. For all the threats she’d had made against her in White Crest, having a gun pointed at her head was actually a relatively unfamiliar thing. Even in her vigilante nightlife, it wasn’t something she saw often. Most people in this town preferred other weapons, probably because guns were pretty useless against most supernatural creatures. Cass really wasn’t looking to find out what kind of damage one could do against a siren.
Fortunately, it seemed she wouldn’t have to. Bobbi was just as quick to pull out her gun as the goon was, but the old man didn’t seem to want a firefight. Which was probably smart. Shooting projectiles in a boat probably wasn’t the best idea. Looking to the old man, she hesitantly released her grip on the goon whose arm she’d twisted, and he yanked it back to his body with a grunt. “Wire me the money first,” she said. “I think you owe me that much, considering.”
The tension seemed to evaporate a little, and Cass was glad for it. She was a thief, but she wasn’t the kind of criminal who was used to this kind of thing. She much preferred Bobbi and the old man talking about guns to the previous situation of everyone waving them around.
Mr. Quincey frowned at Christie’s statement, but when he turned to Bobbi again, the huxian simply smiled and gave him a shrug. Why not?, she exuded the thought without the need for words and the old man could only heave a sigh. They’ve worked far too long with each other to not get these subtle hints between them, not unlike inside jokes between two old friends.
He tride to return the flintlock pistol to Bobbi, only to be declined—It’s yours!—much to his delight. The old man, with the gift still in his hands, cradled like it was the most expensive thing in the world, then began to walk out of the room, his goons making way for him albeit a little embarrassed at their own conduct. Bobbi winked at Christie and nodded, a gesture for her to follow. When they started walking, the goons stayed behind them, eyeing them coldly. Bobbi could only chuckle, whispering to Christie, “You’re pretty exciting, kid. You should join the crew when you’ve got some free time from the antique shop.”
Outside, they walked past another room, catching sight of the same oblivious partygoers from earlier, before ending up inside a much smaller room where a girl with long legs and practical eyeglasses was seated behind a laptop. Bobbi grinned when their eyes met, “Hey, Sally! Heard about Jeremy. His loss.” The woman named Sally just shrugged as Mr. Quincey went behind her, whispered a retelling of what had happened in the other room, and turned to Christie with arms crossed. “What’s your account number then?”
Bobbi had her back, something which made Cass relax just a little. She was pretty sure she could get out of here without a problem — she was getting better and better at the whole ‘siren thrall’ thing, especially now that she actually knew what it was — but it was nice to have some backup, anyway. It was nice to be appreciated.
Cass preened under Bobbi’s praise, smile slipping onto her face as the whisper reached her ear. “I don’t think your captain would dig that idea very much,” she joked, thinking of John. If Cass decided to hang out on the ship as a permanent crew member, the guy would probably blow a gasket. Which, to be honest, did sound kind of fun to watch. “I’ll think about it.”
Following Bobbi, Cass flashed a smile to ‘Sally’ and walked with a confident air about her. She had just won something, in a way. The old man’s money, Bobbi’s respect… It was a pretty good trip, all things considered. Rattling off her account number when the old man requested it, she bounced. “Pleasure doing business with you, dude,” she said, watching her phone and waiting for the ping. When the money came through, she pulled the statue back out of her bag and held it out to him.
Bobbi smirked. She was growing too attached to the girl that she even started thinking about telling her the truth of it all, how she was the actual captain and not John, though John should be, considering all the work and loyalty he had put into their ship and crew. But the moment was not conducive to such truths. They had more pressing business to attend to, one that involved a whole lot of money.
Instead of the old man, Sally was the one who took the statue, nodding at Christie as a gesture of gratitude and scowling at Bobbi when their eyes met. The huxian simply shrugged at her before Mr. Quincey ushered the two women out of the room, the girl first so he could whisper something to Bobbi: “Something that resembled the Jade Wind was spotted sailing off the northern coast two nights ago.” Bobbi’s eyes widened in surprise and hope, and she thanked the old man before leading Christie back to their dinghy, as fast as she can, ignoring the goons along the way.
Once off the yacht, Bobbi ignored Mr. Quincey and his men as they stared at them rowing away, back to her own ship. The huxian herself was quiet during the entire trip back, mostly because she was too busy inside her own head, now contemplating the possibility of finally regaining her most prized treasure. And yet, she wasn’t quite sure how to do that. How could she steal from the Lost Fleet what had been stolen from her?
Cass wasn’t privy to what the old man whispered in Bobbi’s ear, only the way it made her uncharacteristically quiet on the journey back to her boat. She pushed down the feeling that she’d done something wrong, knowing it wasn’t the truth even if her insecurities insisted it very well might be. If Bobbi wouldn’t speak, Cass would fill the silence instead; she’d always been good at that. She blabbered on as they made their way back, talking about nothing in particular. And when they were finally back on the deck of Bobbi’s boat, she offered the other woman a small smile. “I really appreciate all your help here,” she said quietly. “If there’s ever anything I can do to help you… You know where to find me, right?”
“Right,” Bobbi offered Christie a warm smile. The rest of the trip had been quiet, from Mr. Quincey’s yacht to the fishing boat and finally back at the docks. Even with her crew, the huxian pirate turned fisherfolk didn’t share the burden of her past. It was too early, she told herself, tried to convince herself, and bringing someone else in could only risk their lives. After all, at the end of the day, Bobbi still had no idea how to deal with the Lost Fleet. She’d learned a few things or two about ghosts from Lil, but she wasn’t even sure the Lost Fleet were all ghosts. The thought of teaming up with a hunter just disgusted her, especially after what happened to her and Teagan. Despite the information, she was still back at square one.
Bobbi settled for sending the young girl as best as she could, reminding her that she had a home on her John’s boat, though she wasn’t as sure the crew would like that idea. She did break one of their favorites’ nose a while back. “Think about the offer, all right? Captain could use all the help he can get. Feels like a new storm’s brewing on the horizon, if it’s not here already. Take care of yourself out there, Christie. See you around.”
