Welcome Aboard Ye Landlubbers! [OPEN]

[Casey]

The look of intense concentration, borderline pain was splashed across Olivia's face as she struggled with the heavy load she was pushing on a wide, wheeled cart. With brows stitched together and beads of sweat falling down her face, along with both hands put flat on the cart, she was an awkward site coming down the docks. Her body was at a 45 degree angle with the ground as she shoved the overflowing amount of supplies to the base of The Reaper's Chalice.

Olivia was now thankful for the damp moisture that clung to her jumpsuit. The cool temperature soothed her skin. Placing a hand over her eyes, she squinted up at The Reaper's Chalice through the blinding light of the sun. There was definitely someone up there, though she couldn't make out who exactly. "Oy, up there! Help me carry all this wood up there, will ya?" she yelled up to whoever would listen on deck.

With that command in mind, Olivia loaded up her arms with a large bundle of wooden planks varying in size from several feet long to relatively small and short. At the bottom of the cart was scraps of metal and a bed of countless numbers of nails. She rebuild the whole Goddamned ship if she had to. Much of her irritation from the shock in the hull had dissipated in order to be replaced with the intoxication of challenge. She was on a mission to fix this ship up, even if it took all night, so that they could sail off first thing on the morrow.

[GoblinFae]

"Oy! What are'ye two doing over there? Quit lazin' about! Just because one job is done doesn't meant you're done. Get over here and start moving some of this wood aboard, or it'll be you we use as hammers!"

Morgan shook her head angrily, willing herself not to stamp her foot like a spoiled child. "Turn my back for one second and this is the respect I get." Her own stubbornness kept her from going down there and helping when she had seen the carpenter approach.

'What was his name again? Olie? Olympus? Omar? Ohmy? Oh god! What difference does it make?[i/]'

"Orvell," the quartermaster called over to the carpenter, "how much time do you figure until you'll be done with the immediate repairs?"

[Thief]

Damon was walking up to the Reaper's Chalice, admiring it, as it was to be his home for a while. He snapped out of it quickly, when he heard someone raiser their voice. There was a young man pushing a cart of lumber, and a woman on deck bellowing commands.

With a smile, Damon walked towards the young man. "Do you need a hand?" he asked, before introducing himself. "I'm Damon, just made my way over from town. I was told I'd be working the rigging, but feel free to put me to work wherever I'm needed."

[Winters-Feather]

Chris looked up at the Chalice in mild amusement. Standing on the docks below its magnificence, it was easy to see even from below how busy and chaotic everything was on deck. He was grateful that the rigs were being attended to by his own boys; the ropes were in need of a good touch up.
He was also  pleased to see the cart full of lumber and the boy he had recruited not too long ago pulling it. Oliver... that was his name, right? That other man he had just recruited was just talking to him.
Morgan was putting everybody to work, he thought with a slight grin.
He almost felt sorry for the new lads.

As if on cue, Morgan curtly shouted down from the ship towards the newly appointed carpenter.
Chris tilted his head up so that the woman would have a clear look at his face as he lifted his cap towards her, ever the gentleman,  before making his way up the ramp and stairs of the ship. The crew he walked by politely greeted the second mate, to which all Chris muttered quick replies, but did not as much look at them. He had more important things to do, at the moment.
"So you've somehow managed to retain order, I see. I trust the recruits aren't proving to be too difficult," he said smoothly as he approached the quartermaster.
The pirate  held out the bouquet of  the vivid orange star shaped flowers accompanied with bluebells.

"Here. My promise," he solemnly declared.
Chris shrugged as he slightly turned the bouquet in his hands, examining the colors as they appeared more lively in the light.
"A bit trivial, perhaps, but the ladies on land are oddly fascinated with these dainty, pretty things."
The man had placed no emphasis on any of his words, though he knew he had said enough. Chris only hoped she didn't slap the bouquet out of his hand or hurled it into the water, at least for now. The flowers costed him a coin, after all, and he would sorely miss it if she placed all of his good effort to waste.

[NightWind]

Vladimir poked his head up upon hearing the carpenter's voice, tossed his hammer by the rail of the ship on hearing Morgan's. "Aye woman, I'm moving. Don't getcher bloomers in a knot." He set his hand on the rail and vaulted over the side of the ship. It was a long drop, but running from the law made for long drops sometimes. Thumping to the dock, he squatted and slapped a hand to the wood to catch himself. "Oy lad." He said, nodding to the carpenter.
   "Quite a load there, eh?" Saying nothing more, nodding to the lad at the carpenter's side, he scooped up an armful of wooden planks and made his way up the gangplank, glancing about and dropping them unceremoniously next to a spot that looked as if it needed repairs. 'One down...' He said to himself as he went for another load.

[GoblinFae]

The quartermaster ignored everything else going on around her the moment her eyes came to rest upon Chris. A cruel smirk curled her lips as she casually made her way over to the approaching sailor. Morgan was already thinking up all the burning, scathing statements she would hurl his way. There was nothing like letting out a little aggression on one she knew could take it.

"Well, well, well look what the cat dragged in. Come to apologize for the mess you've made Cateye? For stealing Eli from me when you know I required his service? Or perhaps it is for the pitiful recruits you have been sending aboard? What did you do, let every sob-story and sissy you could find join up? What is this?"

For a moment she froze, staring owlishly at the bouquet being offered to her. Then, hesitantly she gently took them, all the while still staring at them as if they were going to come out and bite her. Looking up again, her smirk returned and with it her caustic tongue.

"Oh I get it! You bring me flowers and expect me to fall head over heels for you? You're a buffoon Cateye. Perhaps such sentiments work on those pinheads ashore but what kind of woman do you take me for? Well, not afraid to disappoint, I'm not interested. Don't you have work to be doing? Or better yet, groveling?"

[Winters-Feather]

Ah, that was the quartermaster he knew.
Chris only grinned as Morgan lashed at him; he knew better than to interrupt her monologues, least she forgot her place.
"Now, now," he  replied as he shoved his hands into his pockets, amused.
"It's not like you to be so sentimental, Morgan. Or so dimwitted. "Heads over heels"? Perhaps I should have thought it through and arrange a dinner in the captain's quarters."
It was almost touching that she thought of them in those terms.

It didn't matter what spite she threw at him- Chris knew he had won some ground; as insulted as she sounded, Chris had a feeling the gift was an appropriate one. She had been dumbstruck. For one moment, for one small moment, she had frozen. This day wasn't going so badly, after all. Groveling, indeed.
"Besides, my love," he continued, "If you are so put off by these men, you could always go and recruit them yourself.  In any case, at least I'm doing my job properly. Under your watchful eyes, no doubt a rat or two slipped in between the cracks."

[GoblinFae]

"Well Cateye, strictly between you and me, I don't think the captain likes you like that," she whispered to him with a straight face. "I mean he might find you a bit weird if you laid out a spread for him like that. But," Morgan shrugged and chuckled, "to each's own I suppose."

Back in her realm, the ship's quartermaster was able to parry with her own verbal venom and fire. Taking a more authoritative stance, she stared the smaller man down. "Last I checked, recruiting wasn't your job. What do you do anyway? Because I don't think I ever see you working, you lazy sausage. You're usually off annoying poor Eli, speaking of which did you really just leave him there alone? The poor boy's going to melt into his seat before we get anyone else to join up. Honestly Cateye, must you torture him so?"

[Winters-Feather]

Chris' nose twitch at Morgan's whispers.
The man was a bit homophobic, and found the thought of him having a romantic dinner with Zypher though slightly amusing, definialy far out of his tastes.
"Indeed," he replied with a stiff grin.
Snapping back would have been useless. Besides, though Cateye was his name, he wasn't one to engage in catty behavior.

As the quartermast loomed over him, Chris stared up right back at her with a calm demenour, his gaze unflinching.
"Madam, if you see me doing something, that means something is wrong," he replied with a chortle of his own.
It's thanks to me riff raft don't go crawling into your quarters. What they expect to find, though, I' haven't the slightest idea, he thought with a saucy grin.
However, he knew better than to voice such an opinion; she was his superior, after all.
He had to consider his manners.
Besides, that wasn't entirely true. Though he was in charge of the night watch and security of the ship, he also worked on the ropes as well as worked with Elias when it came to navigating the ship. But the two of them knew percicely what his job was; there was no need for them to go over his duties.


"Elias is an apt and sturdy fellow," Chris said in his friend's defence, praying that his words were the truth, "The job's an easy enough one, and he has his books for company. Besides, if you've forgottten, I must pester him," he continued, "In any case, I'd wager that you'd scare off the lads before he can get them coming. Speaking of which..."
The man scanned the crew and the recruits. It was easy to pick them out among their crowd, but something was off. His eyes landed on Sky. Chris frowned as he leered at her. She was dressed in men's clothing and fithly; though it was hard for him to pick out her gender quite yet, he could still make out some feminine features.
Rather like that girlish lad, Oliver, he thought.
"I don't remember that one," he said as he turned towards Morgan, a little annoyed.
"Whose he? A new swabbie?"

[GoblinFae]

Morgan's eyes narrowed even though what she would say next would be in jest. "Are you saying that I am incapable of preforming my duties Walker? My duty is to the ship and the crew. I cannot be in two places at once, as such my duty to the ship and its current crew comes first to the attainment of new members. I would not scare off crew members, that's Zephyr's job anyway," she smirked.

"Just once could you leave Eli alone though? You know he prefers his maps to people just as you know that I had use of him today. It does not take two to man a recruitment table. You were sent to man it and yet here I find you not at the table and the work not finished. Mind explaining that? Or better yet," her eyes turned to Sky as well, "if you were indeed doing your job, then why do you not recognize the twig of a cabin boy you sent me?"

[Winters-Feather]

Chris opened his mouth and then closed it shut.
What does she bloody mean, why I don't recognize the lad?
The man fumed.
"I never sent him," he retorted, "I remember every face at the table, and that boy was not one of them!"
His good eye widened then narrowed as he realized what he just said.
"What sort of idiot is that child?" he dryly asked.
Most stowaways generally had the sense to hide, but if this one wanted to work, then why did they not bother going through the process? Chris could only assume they were ignorant of it all, but what a pain this all was.

How many more are there? he thought, his good eye scanning the crew.
Thankfully, he couldn't spot any at the moment.
Though that doesn't mean they aren't there, he grimly thought. That was something he would just have to go over the next day, before they set sail.
"Everything else seems to be in order," he said.

[GoblinFae]

"Perhaps then he came when you were not doing your duty." Morgan held up the flowers with a smirk. "Last I knew they did not sell such things as these in the kinds of places where one would find those daring enough to join a crew, Cateye."

She waited as he perused the crew before recrossing her arms and staring down at him. "Is that so now? Well since it has your approval perhaps you can get back to doing your job and assist with the loading of that wood. I will not be hearing it later how it was all arranged wrong or damaged. Your head will roll if it's not right Cateye. Now, move it," she ordered, sending him on his way and turning on heel to assess the crew for herself.

Surprise briefly shaped her features before wary curiosity took its place. "Hands! Put some backbone into your work man! This isn't some pleasure ride. You're going to get your hands dirty, so start doing so now," Morgan harshly called, marching up to the man, flowers still in hand.

[NightWind]

Shouldering a second bundle of wood and planks and with a bag of nails in his other hand, Vladimir stepped by the yellowed man and bumped his with his elbow. "Regular bucket of rose petals and daises, ain't she?" He snickered, jerking his chin towards the quartermaster. "Me ears caught wind of a stowaway on board- I can cut 'is head off, if you reckon we oughtta." He offered in a deliberately carrying whisper, grinning savagely at the scrap of a girl. It wasn't that Vladimir particularly wanted to kill the boy, and the man didn't seem to be the kind that would execute a stowaway when tossing them over was still an option- 'he ain't got the wild eyes'- but it would be fun to frighten the lad. "Or maybe we can slit 'im 'cross his middle and toss him over once we're out, fish around him. His insides'll bring sharks, and sharks is good eatin'."

[Winters-Feather]

Chris had a catty remark to that, but instead smartly straightened his back and gave a gracious bow.
"Yes, ma'am," he said curtly as he turned on his heel.
The man walked away, shaking his head.
By and by, Morgan, he thought, You're wrong. I baught it off from a girl in the market. There's a little beauty in rough palces, so it seems.
Yet he would never tell her that- a bit too long winded for his tastes, and that woman would have probably thought that would be a bit too forward.
A regular dog, he thought as a grin tugged at this lips.

The man gave a nod of greeting towards Vladimir, and snorted at the man's assessment of the situation.
"You'd take care to watch your tongue around Ms. Morgan," he sternly warned the new comer as his eye scanned the ship. Chris didn't want word of a stowaway spreading about now. It'd spread either way, but  he wanted to nip it in the bud while he still could. The image of the lad being fed to sharks didn't entertain Chris as much as it did Vladimir, nor did the man's eagerness for unnecessary violence. Still, he agreed that the boy had to be punished.
"I appreciate your concern, but kindly leave that affair to me," he dryly replied.

With that, Chris pointed in the direction of a door by the stairway that lead to the starboard.
"The hold's over there. Step lively," he said as he began to walk in its direction. It was important that the pirates  knew exactly where supplies where on the ship and where. Chris prided himself in efficency.
"Do you need a hand?"

[Zane]

Hans had long finished the task he was assigned and was about to ask for another when he noticed that the Quartermaster's mood seemed to have turned sour. So instead he assigned himself busy work and climbed up to the rigging.

Hans had read several books on ship rigging. it didn't take him long to figure things out. He began checking several things in the rigging, knot strength, pulley support, and various other essentials in the most crucial part of the ship. he kept working his way to the other part of the ship, correcting mistakes, setting up for efficiency. If he was correct, he would be turning an eight man job into a four man job. It was rather ingenious. But he would have to wait until they went to sea to test his ingenuity. If his setup didn't work, the job would be exactly the same as it was before. Climbing down from the rigging, Hans made his way to another job.

[NightWind]

((Pray pardon my tardiness, been a busy week.))

"Aw, who knows- maybe if I be lucky she'll slap me around some." Vladimir chuckled. "Always loved a wench what puts up a good fight. It breeds respect." The cloaked man nodded absent assent at the remainder of Chris' speech, uttering a simple "aye" when told to step lively and doing so. Looking up towards the rigging he spied the man that dressed as a scholar, and glancing over he saw the quartermaster glaring daggers his way. "She's got a mean eye. And from what I seen, sailing women earn them mean eyes or they ain't got 'em."
   "Naw, don't exactly 'need' help. S'only a bit of wood. Still though, the more hands we 'ave carryin' the faster it's done. Unless you got sumthin' better ta do." He replied with a shrug.

[GoblinFae]

Furious at being ignored by one of the newest seamonkies, Morgan gripped Hans' shoulder in a vice-like grip and yanked him around to face her. "Listen up, you mutt! When I tell you to do something, you damn well do it. Now in order for things to run smoothly aboard this vessel, we communicate to each other. When I give you an order, you respond in the affirmative. When I ask you to jump, your response better be "yes sir, how high sir?" Am I understood, maggot?"

The quartermaster was livid and well onto her way to going on a fullout rampage. She hated coming into port because it meant the switching of crew members. Breaking in the greenhorns was only fun once they were able to weigh anchor. As long as they still had land within sight they all tended to be far cockier in her opinion than they should be. It was only once there was nothing but an endless horizon in all directions that the fear of the sea could be fully wrought in their hearts.

Every few years there was some like this batch that seemed to take great pleasure and pride in believing they could pull one over the female quartermaster. However, without the captain close at hand to calm her agitated nerves, Morgan found that her molten rage was too close to the surface to control much longer. The next person who tried to push her buttons today was going to find themselves in a fight they most likely were not about to win.

[Winters-Feather]

Chris could have cracked a grin at Vladimir's observation about sailor women, if it weren't for the man that was checking the rigging.
"Indeed,"  he replied, distracted.
He  squinted his good eye as the sun glared down him.
That wasn't one of his men. Who was that? Why were they up there?  The rigging was his responsibility; anybody who climbed those ropes answered to him. This highly annoyed him, more than anything else. When they were on shore, Chris was a little more patient about such foolish behavior. Those recruited usually learned their place very, very quickly.

Chris nodded at  Vladimir's statement.
"Still, everything has its proper place," he explained, pulling aside a swabbie that was walking past, a straw-haired and scrawny lad of about 17. He was an inch taller than Chris.
"Yes, sir?" he replied, nervously.
"See to it that Mr. Vladimir piles the wood in the exact location," he ordered.
The man nodded curtly towards Vladimir.
"I'll join you shortly. I've something to take care of," he said.
The boy nodded. With that, the boy lead the way inside the dark hold towards the lefthand most corner in the back.

Chris briskly made  his way towards Hans. Cateye quickly noted that he wasn't the only annoyed one. Morgan got to the man first, ripping him a good one. He almost flinched; it was no good interrupting her while she was angry. The man hadn't seen her this livid for a while. Though it was amusing, he couldn't call it refreshing.  He almost felt pity for the man for igniting her wrath. When she was finished, Chris slowly approached the pair. He made a noise in his throat, a smart 'ahem' to catch their attention.

"One moment, Morgan, if you please," he said apologetically towards her. He turned towards the new recruit.
"You, there," he said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. 
"Could you  kindly explain to me what were you doing on my rigging?"

[Zane]

Hans nearly yelped when Morgan grabbed his shoulder, she caught him off guard. He then took the the tongue lashing without so much as flinching. "Aye Sir, there shan't be an issue in the future Sir." Normally that would be the end of it. But it seemed that another member of the crew found issue with him.

"Ensuing efficiency Sir. If the Quartermaster will allow me, I can show you exactly what I did. You should find that I effectively halved the labor force needed to lower and raise the sails. And I can easily undo it should you find it unsatisfactory. And should you find it unsatisfactory, I will accept any punishment for wasting time."

[NightWind]

Vladimir met the swabbing boy's nod with something between a grin and a leer, following him to the hold. "'Round anywhere then?" At the lad's gesture, he dropped the planks next to a barrel and tossed the nails nearby. "Get some meat on yer bones." He said, prodding the other man in the ribs with a finger playfully before retrieving the load he had dumped haphazardly on the deck. As he piled it atop the second, Vladimir idly wondered what had become of the carpenter and that new bloke. "Likely they still be standing around jawin'," He grumbled under his breath, "Hope that lad lays wood as good as he does yap." At this rate, he would end up loading all the wood himself! "Bah." He grunted, shrugging it all off. 'Twas a petty complaint, and the wolf-man put it behind him as he went for another load.