Private Tales No Jackets

[Peyton]

It was as though every time he said it another little piece of her soul was soothed, another worry washed away, another old wound healed. She let out a soft groan, an audible swoon in appreciation of those words she’d never tire of hearing.

He said it again and she smiled brightly up at him as his arms wrapped around her and she nuzzled her cheek against his chest and pressed a soft kiss against his neck. “I love you too..” she rumbled with a warm smile.

She let the silence hang for a moment and glanced down at the book he’d picked out of Kestra’s collection.. “What’s the book?..”

 

[Lucius]

"Seljal's Theories of Naval Doctrine." Lucius said with a smile, knowing that the title denoted just how boring the book actually was.

He had read it more than once as a child, mostly because he'd thought that it held some sort of secret that his father had tried to keep from him. Of course there had been no such conspiracy, but it had been an unending quest.

"It was my fathers favorite book." He explained, running his finger over the ornate tome. "He used to read it all the time."

Lucius could still picture his father sitting in his chair in their home in Alliria, leafing through the book with a fond smile on his face. "Never really could tell why though."

 

[Peyton]

She smiled softly as it seemed the book had meaning to him and she lifted her hand to absently stroke her fingertips across his cheek as she looked over the tome and listened..

"Hm.." she smiled at the look of nostalgia on his face and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "Then what's it about?.." she asked, brushing his hair back from his face. She wanted to hear all of it, the things they never thought to speak of before, every detail he'd missed out over their years as friends, she wanted to know everything about this man that she loved and she wouldn't tire of listening.

She loved seeing him smile like that. It seemed she could flick through her memory and re-live every smile he ever gave her, right back to his first day on her father's ship, and it never got old. Now, he smiled at her entirely differently. She smiled entirely differently, now she knew what it felt like to feel truly happy.

 

[Lucius]

His hand slowly trailed over her skin, absent mindedly drawing over her as he thought about how to explain the book.

"It teaches you about Naval Doctrine." He said, before quickly expanding further as he realized that didn't really answer her question in the least. "Seljal was a brilliant Admiral in the Allirian Navy, never lost a battle and supposedly averted all out war with Vel Anir by destroying half their fleet once."

History was distorted in it's own way sometimes. Lucius had been told that story more than once over the years, though every time it seemed to be more and more embellish. Seljal himself said nothing about it in his book. "In this book he writes about his strategies, tactics, everything he ever knew."

A smile crossed his face.

"No idea why my dad loved it so much." His head shook. "The Old man was a merchant sailor."

Not a warrior.

 

[Peyton]

She sighed a sound of contentment at the tender touch and she listened intently with a curious smile. “I’m sure I’ve heard the name before.. Perhaps my father mentioned it..” she shrugged gently.

“They’ll write books about you one day too..” she tilted her head and let her fingers trail to the scar above his eye. “You’ve already got yourself a bit of a reputation, now you have a galleon and title to go with it. Took a Dreadlord down in under ten seconds..Got yourself a smokin hot girl..” her eyes rolled and she shook her head with a playful smile.

“And that’s only the start of it..” she laughed under her breath and kissed his cheek softly.

 

[Lucius]

There was no doubt in his mind that Captain Sullivan had read the book at one point or another. Hell he wouldn't have been surprised if he'd owned a copy. The Captain had been an astute man, and knowledge of the enemy was an important part of being a pirate. Alliria made for a fantastic enemy. They were better at sea than the Anirians.

He smirked. "Any story they write about me..."

Lucius gently reached up with his free hand, softly grasping her chin to tilt her head. His eyes met hers, lips brushing against hers for only a brief moment before he finished his sentence.

"Starts with you." Everything he'd done up until now was for her, and everything he would do was the same.

Lucius couldn't deny that he wanted a reputation, he wanted his name to be spoken of in fear, but he would throw it all away in a heartbeat if it meant spending the rest of his life with her.

It just so happened that he was getting the best of both worlds. You're a lucky man, Lucius Albridge.

He thought to himself as he leaned in and kissed her again.

Peyton was right about one thing though, this was only the start of it. He had his staging ground, and from there he would spring as far forward as he possibly could.

 

[Peyton]

“Careful now..” Peyton grinned as he tilted her gaze toward his “Keep throwing lines like that and you’ll never leave this cabin..” she laughed, and let him smother it with another kiss.

The journey back to Teth took just over a week. The galleon was particularly fast for its size and as Ana had said, a dream to sail. Peyton had locked the journal away in the desk drawer and had given Lucius the key. Not that she’d been tempted as they both enjoyed one another to the point of physical exhaustion most days, but their wounds were healing at least.

“Luc.. We’re home.” Peyton pressed her words tenderly to his cheek in a whisper as he slept. She’d already bathed and dressed and gathered what they needed, and the crew were casting the lines. She hadn’t wanted to wake him early, their night had been particularly strenuous and he seemed too peaceful to wake.

 

[Lucius]

Lucius woke up, his head shaking slightly as though he'd been dreaming and couldn't quite shake it. His lips thinned, and then his eyes opened as he felt Peyton kiss him on the cheek.

"Mwablargs." The Captain replied intelligibly.

Sleep was...comfortable, nice, something that he had learned over the last week as he'd actually managed fall into it every night. He was sure that it was mostly because of Peyton, the calm she brought him during the day and the...exhaustion she brought at night.

He flopped over onto his side. "Five more minutes."

The Captain declared as he yawned and made sleepy noises.

 

[Peyton]

She smirked at his grumblings ... “Bath’s ready for you.” She told him with a mischievous cadence to her tone.

“You have an entrance to make, Captain Albridge. Teth hasn’t seen a ship so beautiful in decades I’ll wager..” she smiled and pulled on Kestra’s most elegant jacket, pale blue and lined with gold stitching and buttons... She smiled happily.

“Up.”

 

[Lucius]

"Blaaaaah!" Lucius made a noise at her, but did roll back over to look in her direction. As soon as he saw her he shook his head and made a small sound of protest from his throat.

"First you wake me up." He complained. "And then you're already dressed?"

She would hear the click of his teeth. "What kind of a monster are you."

Some might have called Lucius dramatic, but...well no that statement would be accurate. Like a slug the young Pirate Captain plopped himself out of the bed, rubbing at his eyes and pulling his hair back behind his head.

"I'm up." He told her. "But under extreme Duress."

 

[Peyton]

Peyton laughed and turned from the mirror, hand on her hip in response to his attitude. “I think you’ve seen enough of my skin lately to remember what it looks like, I’ve spent more time out of clothes than I have in them.” her lips curled..

“Why don’t you seem as excited about this as I am? We just took the most unbelievable Anirian galleon loaded to the brim with gold from a small army of corsairs and a Dreadlord and sailed It back to Teth with half a crew. Come on! I want to see them crowd the docks and look at you like.. what the fuuuuuck how did he get that girl.”

She grinned and winked.

 

[Lucius]

"I've heard enough of that from the crew." Lucius joked, pulling himself out of the bed as he started getting ready.

Truth was, Lucius wasn't excited about Teth for a reason.

When Peyton had been sleeping, Lucius had been researching. He would quietly creep from the bed at night, spending time at the desk in order to study and slowly decipher the Journal that neither of them really wanted to look at.

There was no real benefit for him. The only reason he did it was so she didn't have to. From what he had managed to decipher, their time in Teth would perhaps not be as pleasant as they might hope. At least not if they did any amount of digging into The Concordant's Past.

After just a few moments of washing and pulling on his dilapidated clothes Lucian ran a thumb over his jaw. "Alright."

Lucius said, stepping up behind Peyton and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"How's that?" He of course hardly looked at all like a Captain. In fact, just about the only piece of him that even resembled a quality of leadership was the sword that hung at his belt. Everything else?

Well, his reputation would have to carry him.

 

[Peyton]

She smiled warmly at him through the mirror and she sighed with a short nod, running her fingers through the loose brown waves that fell over her shoulders. "Handsome as ever.."

Peyton smoothed out her jacket and tied her boots over her knees before arming herself. Suddenly her excitement about getting back home was nerves again and she turned to face him, her hands settling against his chest.. "We'll need to leave the guards in shifts whilst we're gone. The most trusted we have. We can't let any of these bastards take this from us." she frowned, she knew there were some who'd even want to burn it out of spite of her in particular..

"The looks on their faces when they see that 'stray' I picked up is now the captain of a ship they could only envision in their wildest dreams.." she smirked, and gave him a look that said told you so. "There's no place to aim but higher." she rumbled and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"Gods I can't wait to go shopping."

 

[Lucius]

He smiled down at her at the myriad of things she said. Lucius could have listened to her talk about anything forever. "Dav and Berl already volunteered to stay on board as long as folk get them some things."

Dav and Berl were two of the new crew whom he trusted the more. A human and a half-troll, they were smart enough to keep their wits and strong enough to fight off a horde. A few more would have to stay with them, but Dav would keep them all in line.

As long as everyone got their cut anyway.

Gold was a powerful motivator for many pirates, and right now they had more gold than any crew on Teth. A large portion of it would be shared with the crew of course, but half always went to the ship itself.

Lucius already had plans for that.

"Well go wherever you want." He told her with a smile, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "Just remember."

He pinched her behind. "No jackets."

For himself of course, she could have as many as she pleased.

He had his own little sidetrips to make in the city. A few people he had to chase down, some to coax them into joining the crew and others to get things made for the ship. Peyton was right, the only way to go was up.

Lucius planned to go way up.

 

[Peyton]

She made an audible meep of a sound and flinched with a quiet laugh, pulling herself against his chest just to stay there for another short moment before they headed out. With a warm smile and a heavy sigh she nodded "No jackets..". She rolled her eyes.

"I have a few errands to run. We should visit the taverns, put out the word that we're looking for a crew, car the net and see what we catch. Let's try to avoid trouble if we can." she huffed softly and looked up at him, her chin on his chest.

"Do you know where to find Falwin?... I suppose we're going to need to deal with this stuff sooner or later.. I've been putting off thinking about it until now.." she frowned.

 

[Lucius]

Casting a net too wide could also hurt them. He was sure that once rumor of the gold got out everyone and their mother would be trying to sign up. They would have to do this carefully.

Choose only the right ones. "No trouble."

He agreed with a nod of his head, though he wasn't entirely sure that trouble wouldn't find them. A hand reached up and ran through his hair, Lucius slowly shaking his head as he thought about her question.

"Not sure." The Bastard might not even have been here anymore. "We'll check the tavern where we saw him."

He frowned a second. "I saw him."

Why had he said we?

 

[Peyton]

Peyton smirked as he agreed to avoiding trouble, but she knew as well as he did that it was easier said than done. She always tried to avoid it, but sometimes it was a hopeless task.

"You said we..." she frowned briefly and reached to grip gently at his chin to tilt his gaze downward at her, her brow arching in question. Peyton felt a sudden chill on her spine as she considered whether the man had been in the tavern she most often went to.. Perhaps he'd been watching her and she'd been totally oblivious. The thought made her uncomfortable..

 

[Lucius]

He shook his head. "Yeah, misspoke is all."

The memory was definitely his, and he was only one person so...lips thinned for a brief moment, but he decided not to bring down the moment.

"Let's do that last, shall we? Falwin can wait and so can everything else." He said with a smile, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "We'll get you a new Jacket first."

Then he glanced down at her. "Maybe some lingerie too."

Lucius refused to not enjoy the happy parts of this moment. They had a ship. They had a mountain of Gold, and very soon they would have a crew.

Both of them deserved a bit of fun...well even more fun.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton's gaze narrowed slightly as though she didn't quite believe him.. She was about to call him out for lying to her, she hated being lied to, but she decided she didn't want to ruin the mood either and his arms wrapping around her extinguished the brief notion of discontent she'd felt.

"Yes.. Lets." she smirked and glanced up at him "What for? It never stays on for long after my clothes are off.." she laughed under her breath and tiptoed to press a kiss to his jaw.

"Alright... Ready?.." she smiled and stepped back from him to open the door, where she waited for him with a gesture that he go first. He was the Captain after all.

 

[Lucius]

"Something to wear around the cabin when you're doing maps." He mused out loud, mostly because he enjoyed the image in his head.

She was probably right though.

A sigh escaped him when she waited for him, head shaking as he adjusted the sword on his belt and then gave her a small kiss on the cheek before stepping out of the door.

As soon as he did the world around him seemed to open up. A gust of wind struck him, the crew around him let out a cheer, and directly in front of them he could see the city of Teth in all it's thrown together glory. A wide grin sat on his face.

This was home. "Let's show those rats who we are!"

He called to the others and was met with a cheer.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton sighed dramatically.. "Luc, I'd never get any work done.. let's not pretend otherwise.." she grinned, and happily accepted the kiss on the cheek as he walked past her.

She stayed in the cabin doorway for a moment, her arms folding over her chest as she watched, a little like a painter enjoying her masterpiece. Seeing the crew cheer for him caused a swell of pride as she thought of the day they'd reunited. It felt like an age had passed since then, even since they'd set off from these docks, he'd accompanied her with no idea what she'd been planning for. She couldn't quite believe it'd gone so well, and she wanted him to have his moment, whilst she stood quite visibly swooning with admiration. She felt her throat ache.

Oh gods no...

She turned away to catch a tear or two with a quiet mutter to herself before turning back and clearing her throat with a frown as she tried to fight back more. "Stop being such a fucking girl Peyt."

 

[Lucius]

Lucius turned back around towards Peyton for a quick moment, raising an eyebrow at her as she frowned and half turned away. He was about to ask her what was wrong when Dav came up to him.

"Captain we'll be hitting the docks in just a few seconds. We go Guards enough and the rest of the crew are going to ashore. Anything else you need?"

He glanced at Peyton for a second again and then shook his head. "No Dav that's alright. Guard the gold and keep people off our ship."

A frown touched his face, then he added.

"Kill anyone who tries." there was a tight nod, and an understanding was formed. The Ship then slowly pulled into one of the docks, lines being thrown and achors weighed as Lucius turned back towards Peyton. "You alright?"

He asked softly.

 

[Peyton]

'Kill anyone who tries'... Oh gods. Swoon.. This, Peyton, is why you'd make a shit Captain...

"What? Yes. Fine.. Great actually, why wouldn't I be?" Peyton sniffed and threw him an accusatory look and tried to compose a serious face with a few extra blinks. She closed the door behind her and joined him on deck to wander over to the rail and see the people gathering as she'd expected, clearly awestruck by the magnitude and beauty of their ship. A few of the crew patted her on the back or called a greeting to her and she returned the pleasantries as she leaned on the carved mahogany balcony.

"Well.. Welcome home Captain Albridge.." she turned to him with a smirk. "My father would be proud."

 

[Lucius]

"Would he?" Lucius said with a smile. "Would this be before he hangs me from the rafters or after?"

The slight tease came as he ran a hand over the small of her back.

She had been right when she'd talked about the crowd gathering. There were hundreds of people watching on the Docks, most of them watching with a crazed awe at the Galleon lashing itself to Teth. He smiled for a second, glancing around.

"GANKPLANK!"​

The call came out, and Talus offered Peyton an arm. "Ready?"

This time he was the one to ask.

 

[Peyton]

Peyton bit on her lip and gave a shrug.. "Probably after..But he'd still be proud." she laughed and smiled up at him, grateful for the comforting hand on her back as her mind started to drift again. She gave him a nod, and hooked her arm though his, and walked him down the gangplank to the awaiting crowd.

Peyton knew many people in Teth, and she heard a few murmurs of her name that stood out to her, and she squeezed his arm a little tighter. The crowd parted to clear a path for them and the crew that followed behind. She felt odd, like she didn't have to pretend to be confident anymore, now that she wasn't on her own, now that she had a captain and a ship of their own, she wouldn't have to work for any bastard men ever again. She smiled up at him at the thought.

"Oi you! You!" a little boy and his younger sister caught up to Peyton and Lucius and was yanking on Lucius' shirt "That your boat?! I ent never seen no boat that big! Are.. Are you a Captain?" he asked, his eyes growing wide as he spied the blade on Lucius' hip. The little girl was staring at Peyton silently with a shy smile on her face, and Peyton smiled back.