Fable - Ask Voyage of Wrath

[Lumen]

Lumen was on deck. Her eyes taking in the other men and women who worked the ship. Silently counting their numbers. Quietly assessing them. She was just about to make her way to the Captain when Silas caught up. Honestly, it would do him some good to be above deck. Probably help with those ginger drops.

She stopped, turned, and stared at Silas Artesto.

A slow twitch of one of her eyes as she asked very slowly and quietly.

"What do you mean Aelita bailed?"

 

[Mako]

Well this was working out rather well.

He had thought this journey would be filled with boredom and delirium, watching his time off go by until he saw the Crow on the Horizon. There were few things to do on a ship, especially when no one actually spoke the same language as you.

Having a one sided conversation was only fun for so long, and answering questions with nods or a shake of the head got rather tedious.

Some drink though really did help pass the time, especially when it was paired with a game of cards. A smile pulled at Mako's lips, and quickly, as if produced from nowhere at all, he pulled out a deck of cards. It was an ancient and frayed thing, something he'd picked up in Teth when the Crow had made it's last journey there.

The face cards were representations of various pirate lords. It was possible the Anirians might find it a bit funny, but certainly not out of place for a sailor to own.

As Wil wrapped his arm around Mako's neck, the pirate flared the deck of cards out in one swift motion. Offering the other man a wide smirk. He then motioned not towards the top deck, but rather towards where every sailor knew all the gambling had to happened; The Galley.

It was the only place with tables.

 

[Aelita]

“Cards?” Aelita asked before she saw Mako procure a deck of his own.

“Oh, nice!” Aelita exclaimed as Wil would begin to lead them away.

However, Aelita’s feet would grow heavy – sticking into place and refusing to go further. She tilted her head as she asked Wil, “What about your... employer?”

 

[Wilhelm Anireth]

"Excellent!" Wil gave Mako a hearty pat on the back and then steered them towards the Galley; it was a good idea to avoid the top deck. No doubt one of the initiates was up there and he'd get some sort of earful about staying with the Prince. Probably that blonde with her nose up some Proctors arse.

"The Prince? Oh he's fast asleep. Wanted something for the sickness so I just slipped him a little somethin' somethin', he'll be out till morning and I have the key to the Cabin. I'm sure we'll all hear if someone smashes the door down from here - ah!" Spying an empty table he steered them over and picked a chair out for himself.

"What shall we play? Poker? Rummy?"

 

[Silas Artesto]

Artesto leaned against a stack of crates to keep himself balanced, the look on his face suggesting he knew just as well as Lumen that Aelita wandering off wasn't particularly good news. "Not even a minute after you left, Wil came in and pulled her away for drinks. Wasn't much I could do, you know she wouldn't listen to me even if I'd said anything." Arguing with Aelita could be considered up there with trying to wear a boot as a helmet in terms of productivity.

A twinge of queasiness returned, but he chocked it down and pushed from the crates to walk past Lumen, peeking around the corner in hopes he'd spot them here above deck. No such luck. Yeah, he could have covered the ship in a matter of seconds, but not without emptying his stomach.

"I'd like to think that she'd know better than to get drunk already, but... You know."

It was Aelita. She could be brilliant and sweet one moment, and then impulsive and abrasive the next. Silas never really knew how to get a read on her. Looking back at Lumen, Silas offered a small smile.

"I'm feeling a lot better now, by the way... Thanks."

 

[Lumen]

Lumen gave a weary sigh. She expected more from Aelita. And that was on her.

But leaving her post?!

In the old ways if the Proctors found out she would've gotten at least a week in the block. "Are you feeling a lot better?" A gentle question with a small shake of her head. "I've heard focusing on the ocean's horizon can help."

A glance over his shoulder back toward the way below deck.

"One of us should probably go back to be outside the prince's quarters. The other one should probably go check on Aelita and make sure she's...okay."

Doesn't get completely wasted and end up over the side of the ship.

Voice lowered. "I kinda feel like Wil might be the prince. Did you see that ring he had on his finger? But I"m not a hundred percent sure. Maybe we should just ask the Captain?"

 

[Mako]

Mako wordlessly replied by beginning to shuffle the cards.

It would quickly become very evident what game he intended on them playing when he dealt each of them only two cards and then began the setting of the river. The game suggestion was made with a smile, and then he motioned to the two of them as if asking if they wouldn't mind poker.

Furthermore, he pulled free a coin purse from his belt. Dropping it on the table with an inquisitive brow raised.

Though some might have thought he would become frustrated by communicating in such a way, Mako had long since grown used to it.

He and Sabine had come up with the signs, but the only people whom he'd taught that was the crew of the Red Crow and Emilie. He paused for just a brief moment as he thought about her, frowning, but then turning his attention back towards his two companions. Smiling again as he forced himself to focus.

In a few days from now things would be very different. Might as well enjoy himself while he could.

 

[Aelita]

“Hrm...” Aelita hummed after hearing Wil’s reply.

Pursed lips, squinted eyes that drifted to the side as Wil continued to drag Mako and her to the galley.

“Right, who would even try to cause trouble at sea?” Aelita then responded with a smile to Wil’s suggestion that the prince is safe and sound in his room.

In the galley, Aelita took a seat and watched Mako deal out the cards in a holdem style poker game.

“I.. think I know this one?” Aelita said as a question.

Then, Aelita saw the bag of coin Mako plopped onto the table with a look. Aelita frowned.

“If we’re playing for coin... I may drop out, then. Allowance is a strong word for what the Academy gives us,” Aelita told them.

 

[Wilhelm Anireth]

"Come now, Aelita, don't go dropping out on us before we've begun!" Wil chidded as he pulled the two cards over to him though he didn't peel them back to see what they contained. Neither did he reach for his own coin purse; of course it was more than full as a prince, but as a servant? He knew better.

"Instead of playing for money let us play for forfeits," he grinned and produced a full bottle of rum.

"Winner gets to pick who does the shot."

 

[Silas Artesto]

It was as though somebody finally thought to say what all of them had been thinking, though perhaps for different reasons. Lumen's suspicion of the Prince's true identity was met with a raised eyebrow and a nod from Silas, who almost looked to hold back a sarcastic smile. "Honestly I haven't bought his story from the beginning, but I wasn't about to start an argument without you backing me up." To dissent and start throwing around accusations without the backing of his teammates would be a foolish decision to say the very least. "But yeah, I think we're having the wool pulled over our eyes."

For some reason, The Prince didn't want to be watched by a security detail. Normally he'd have given royalty the benefit of the doubt, but considering he'd just watched him steal away one of their comrades for drinks... well, it wasn't the first time he'd seen nobility yearning to get wasted at inappropriate times.

Silas nodded at Lumen's suggestion, but he had no intention of splitting themselves up again. Taking a brief look back the way he'd came, the young Initiate pulled in a deep breath and tap the toe of a boot against the ground, building up vibration. " I have an idea. Give me five... no, ten seconds." This shouldn't be too bad; since he knew the path from here to The Prince's chamber. Wil claimed he would hear if somebody broke that door down...

Once he'd build up enough kinetic energy, Silas practically flew back below deck, whizzing down the stairs, through the hall, and into the locked door to what was supposedly a sleeping Prince's room. What he saw beyond as the door flung open with the force of the impact was...

A sandbag from the side of the ship, tied to what looked to be some type of melon with a face drawn on it.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

 

[Lumen]

"Silas. Wai-," he was gone in a blur. Her own golden tendrils whipped across her face in his wake. She heard a definitive bang from below. Some others on the deck look mildly startled. Lumen held her hand up, a weak smile on her face.

"It's okay, everything is okay. I'll be right back."

Please let everything be okay.

With a quick clip, she followed the path Silas had taken. Arriving not as quickly as he but soon stood in the barged-open door of the prince's quarters. Stepping inside, she leaned against the inner part of the doorframe, crossing her arms as she looked over the prop.

A mild snort as her eyes fell up on the crudely drawn on melon. "You know? I expected more of an artsy flair from a royal."

Didn't they get enrolled in language and art classes all day long?

 

[Mako]

Mako shrugged his shoulders, disappearing the coin bag in much the same way a magician would.

Perhaps winning a small fortune off of these brats wasn't going to fly, but drinking was always a good choice. Though if they down all the bottles on the first night it was going to be a very long journey. Perhaps that was a lesson that would have to be learned.

He tapped the table and then began to deal the river.

And that was how the game started.

The first few rounds were as they always were, almost like a fact finding mission. Play was a slow, and each of the three of them were trying to feel out the others style. Eventually two other sailors joined them, one of whom was named Biff, and the other named Yorick.

It seemed the former used to be an Anirian Corsair before he sustained an injury, and the latter was a Naval Engineer.

Both, it seemed, were quite good at poker.

By the sixth hand, laughter was running through the galley, and the first shots were already being poured.

 

[Aelita]

Aelita’s eyes widened at the sight of the rum bottle.

It looked classy.

Her eyes squinted at the bottle. Aelita took a deep breath. A glance toward Mako.

Then with narrowed eyes looking at Wil, Aelita told the Prince, “Sure.”

The rounds of poker then began. Aelita did not play too bad to dig a hole for herself, nor too good. She greeted and welcomed Biff and Yorick with enthusiasm and a quick introduction.

With the rounds being poured, Aelita had yet to win a round - and thus had no say in who the first to take a shot would be.

 

[Wilhelm Anireth]

"The Butler," Yorick announced and Wil gladly snatched up his forfeit. This was the second time he'd been chosen, probably because the sailors who had won the hands so far thought he would be a lightweight. Wil wasn't about to correct them by telling them he'd been raised by soldiers, not with a silver spoon in his mouth. They looked a little sour when he didn't grimace and turned the little glass upside down on the table to prove he'd drunk every drop.

The next round Marko won, and then finally Wil won a hand.

"Aelita, join the party!" he exclaimed, pouring her a healthy helping.

 

[Silas Artesto]

"Artsy flair?" Silas scoffed, though not without a smirk as he turned to look at Lumen as she arrived to observe his findings. "Royals and Nobles aren't talented by nature. Most of them are simpler than you or I, they just have a name that gives them an excuse to act obnoxiously." If it were anybody else acting as Wil was on this ship, they'd be nearing a one-way trip overboard. If it wouldn't get him in trouble, Silas would have offered the same to their charge.

"Come on, we better track them down before the whole ship sinks somehow." It couldn't be an easy job with a self-preserving, cautious royal to protect. No, they'd set them up with a glorified fraternity man who wanted to party on the high seas when his home was worried enough about his safety to hire Dreadlords.

Artesto turned and moved back to the hallway, reaching out and patting Lumen's shoulder with a defeated sigh. "If they're drinking, I'd bet it's below deck. There's a chance the Captain would see him if he did it topside. Let's check all the rooms we can get to." The Captain seemed far less prone to undue celebration than Wil was, and Silas doubted he'd risk getting a chewing out.

 

[Lumen]

“Wait,” Lumen reached out to gently grasp Silas’ wrist. “Let’s keep this between us. I’ll repair the door with a spell from Proctor Gamble’s class. Better if everyone still thinks he’s just a decoy. Safer for him.”

Releasing his wrist, she scooped up the broken lock and stepped out of the room with Silas, pulling the door shut again. Putting the two pieces of the lock together, she whispered a quick, incantation. A small tug at her energy and it was done. The door looking like it had before Silas busted it open.

Turning to Silas, she squeezed his shoulder. “You go find them. Keep an eye on them. I’ll stay here to pretend to ‘keep watch.’” Crossing her arms, she leaned back against the wall.

Their number one priority was keeping the prince safe. And if that meant she had to stand a useless watch, then so be it. Plus, she wasn’t the best at lying. So better for her not to go. So they did’t let on that they knew what was going on.

 

[Mako]

This really wasn't turning out to be too bad of a trip after all.

A few more nights like this and the whole journey would be downright tolerable. Of course there would be some trouble down the line, but what could you do?

Nobody should take long trips on the sea if they weren't prepared to get kidnapped by Pirates.

Mako smiled wide and opened his mouth in a silent laugh as one of the sailors told a joke. The group waiting for Aelita to take her drink, with the next round already being quickly dealt.

 

[Aelita]

While Silas and Lumen took their roles seriously and unraveled the mystery that is Wil’s secretary, Aelita…

“Oh, you shouldn’t have!”

Diligently followed the Prince’s “order”.

Aelita smoothly took the shot of rum.

“Woo! Oh, wow,” was her initial reaction, “This’s smoother than what I can normally get.”

The perks of money.

Once the cards were dealt, Aelita took a look at her hand. Her eyes narrowed - yet she still maintained the usual smile she bore.

When Aelita’s turn came, she went, “Hmm… I think we should start upping the stakes. I’ll bet another shot that I’ll win this hand!”

 

[Wilhelm Anireth]

"Fantastic idea, Aelita!" Wil declared and the other men gave similar here here's. There was far more of them now, nearly ten of them now sitting around the table shoulder to shoulder. Wil found himself relaxing for the first time in... well since he had returned to Aniria. This was true life, what reality was. Not the stuffy balls and teas he had been forced into since coming back.

And so they went around again. It was getting hard to keep track of when and why someone should drink and it quickly dissolved into drinking when cards got thrown on the table. By the time Silas arrived the bottle of rum was empty and the table were half way through another bottle.

"Uh oh," Wil slurred. "Here comes the fun police."

 

[Silas Artesto]

Silas turned and gave Lumen a lingering gaze for a moment, trying to decide if he was for or against the idea of splitting up again. It never seemed to go well for them in the past, and to be quite honest Lumen was acting as an anchor to his sanity, with all the nonsense going on around them.

Unfortunately for Artesto, her reasoning was sound enough, and with a sigh, he nodded. "Fine, I guess you're right. Fix things up and I'll find them before they sink the whole ship somehow." Silas turned and headed off to do just that, loathing the fact that he wasn't joking about the possibility.

It didn't take very long to track them down. Above deck was noisy and difficult to see with all the workers chattering and orders being called, but the rooms below were far quieter in nature if one could tune out the muffled commotion from above. All of the rooms except one, with two very familiar voices just about leaking into every surrounding area.

"Uh oh," Wil slurred. "Here comes the fun police."

Silas approached the card and drink covered table with his arms raising up to cross over his chest like a dissapointed parent. It was a sorry sight, but at least Wil's clothes were still on. Aelita, as he'd expected, wasn't showing too much restraint in joining their festivities, and...

and...

Well he didn't really know who the hell the other guy was.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" He asked as though it were a genuine question to the slurring Prince, careful not to use his real name around the stranger at the table, in case he hadn't totally blown his cover. "And you." He looked to Aelita. "You know how you get when you drink that shit. I'd prefer not to swim home."

 

[Lumen]

Lumen stayed all of five minutes. It wasn't worth keeping the ruse to the prince. She should be where he was. Protecting him. Even if he didn't know he needed it yet.

Huffing, she picked herself up from the floor and went to follow after Silas' wake. It wasn't long before she found the drunken crew. Tawny-eyes swept across the drunken crew. The one playing cards with Aelita and Wil. Silas as he finished his speech.

Lumen didn't even look at Aelita. She marched right over to the prince and went to tug him up by the crook of his elbow. "C'mon," she urged. Even to the boos and groans of the other drunken sailors around. "He needs to talk to you about something," she whispered against the real prince's ear. A moment of rare ire flashing in her golden eyes.

How could he? What he'd done was so stupid. What if some harm had come to him because of his lie? Did he even know what would've happened to Silas because of him? To Aelita? To herself?

What a selfish prick.

 

[Mako]

The fun police.

So, apparently, the Dreadlords were a tad split on their attitude towards…well whatever the heck they were doing. Guarding a prince? Mako wasn't entirely able to remember in that moment, having consumed quite the copious amounts of liquor after a particularly misjudged hand.

Boo The pirate thought, offering the two newcomers Dreadlords a thumbs down.

"Kress! Wes on a ship!" One of the Sailors behind him barked, and Mako enthusiastically half turned and pointed towards him. "Lettem have a little fun! Won't kill ya!"

Mako pointed another finger at the sailor who had offered his jeer. "Ain't like anything is gonna happen."

The Pirate couldn't really agree with that, something was going to happen eventually. But not right now! They weren't even a bloody day out of harbor. Anyone would have been a fool to attack an Anirian ship this close to port. It would have been like walking up to a Dreadlord and asking him to eviscerate you.

Reaching out, Mako grabbed the bottle on the table and gently began to slide it against the duo of blonde buzzkills. Smiling his most winning smile and waving a enthusiastically.