Charmed, I'm sure... [Shizzy] [M!]

[Anonymous]

((That's either the worst darts or worst drink ever))

"Does it matter? I'll have to do it regardless," she replied with undisguised bitterness. If he'd asked whether she was any good at fighting before telling her she had no choice, that would be one thing. Now, though, it was a somewhat pointless question. Maybe they were going to take bets on how quickly she'd go down in battle.

Well, at least she could eat now, so that was one problem solved – although dinner would probably have been earlier if there wasn't all this fuss. Why did the captain have to go and get himself taken? It was ruining everything.

She stared right back at the bird as it sat on the wheel sizing her up, regarding it with a cold, impassive gaze, but it wasn't until it actually started speaking that she raised an eyebrow. All things considered, it didn't surprise her that Spektrox kept a talking crow on his ship. When the captain himself was apparently part dragon, strange and unnatural things were to be expected. Still, that didn't mean she had to like all of them, especially when they were sitting there mocking her. How dare it? It didn't even have thumbs. Such an animal, even a supposedly intelligent one, didn't deserve her attention.

"You're a bird," she observed flatly after a long pause. "I am not going to hold a conversation with a bird." So this wasn't quite ignoring it yet, but she had to let it know it was being ignored.

[Anonymous]

(((You'd wish that wouldn't you.))

"Yes...that you will." Aden said with a slight smile on his face. He would help her of course, as best he could. They were going to get Spektrox back, so he couldn't let her die. She was...an object of interest to him. He knew that, she knew that, so she had a slight leg up on him. However, he was hoping she wouldn't immediately recognize that, and if she did he could keep her in line.

Like driving straight at a rival pirate. Heh.

"Raaaaaawk. Why not? You think I'm bad don't you, Roshan Windham." The little bird said as he flew down onto the ground in front of her, regarding her impishly. Well. As impishly as a bird could anyway. "That's right rabbit. Awkh. I know you. Learn more everyday about you. Always running aren't you Roshan? Trying to escape. Is it daddy?" The bird began to preen itself, plucking out a large tail feather. He flew suddenly, his wings flapping as he dropped the feather on her lap and returned to the wheel. "I know about the papers too. I know that Spektrox doesn't know. Awkh! Sad sad." Even if she didn't want to have a conversation, he was going to give her one. "I give you a crow's feather, awkh, crow's feather to another crow. You'd look good in feathers, very good." It practically purred. Was it hitting on her, insulting her, or just generally trying to anger her? One really couldn't be sure.

[Anonymous]

Roshan glared at Aden's back as he left for the kitchen. He was making fun of her, even as he did what she asked. That was all anyone ever did – mock, mock, mock! They were all mocking her, plotting against her, whispering behind her back, and there wasn't anything she could do about it yet! It just wasn't fair. She didn't deserve that. She'd show them.

Then again, if even the animals were giving her cheek, maybe she did deserve it after all. How pathetic did she have to be for that to happen? Not only that, but it knew things, things nobody should have known, and that scared her deep in what might have been called her soul. It helped a little to know that she wasn't the only one being made a fool of, if Aden and now a mere crow both knew things Spektrox didn't. But it didn't help enough.

"Where did you hear that?" she asked, inwardly bristling but forcing herself to appear as if she wasn't bothered. She couldn't imagine how the bird had found any of that information – she hadn't breathed a word of the sort since boarding the ship, or for years before! There was no point getting angry, though. It would make a scene and give her away, and the last thing she wanted was to draw anyone else's attention when such sensitive details were being flung around. Narrowing her eyes and gritting her teeth, she made one last desperate stab at keeping her secrets secret. "None of it's true, and I'd thank you not to spread falsehoods about me."

Ugh, if it found out anything else... She'd done an awful lot of things that nobody should know about. Nobody living, anyway. Holding eye contact with the bird, she held the feather up in one hand and snapped the shaft. She knew the locations of at least two knives on the ship, and if the little loudmouth was going to ruin things for her, it might just need to be silenced.

[Anonymous]

Mocking? Yes. Plotting behind her back, no, he really wasn't planning any sort of thing like that. He was planning to get his captain back and to stop having this girl on deck as the...captain. She was a bad person to say the least, she had a lot of faults to her that were hard to handle and control.  She was also vastly unpredictable for that matter. At least with Spektrox he was more predictable in his ways. If someone was in trouble, he'd want to rescue them, if a fat merchant vessel was sailing along unprotected he'd probably want to rob it, and if they were being attacked by merfolk or sea dragons, he'd want to kill them all.

Simple, effective, easy and it was understandable how to deal with him.

"Awwwkh, the winds tell me things...and it helps to have very good eyes and ears. Always have to be on the lookout awkh, eagles could be anywhere." With that said he cocked his head sideways and took a look up to the sky for a moment, searching them and when he was satisfied with finding nothing, he turned his attention back to the woman before him. "Except it's aaaaaawll true, can't lie to the crow..." He told the woman rather self satisfactory. She was full of herself, and he was full of himself. Being a secret stealing, treasure grabbing little thief of a bird helped that part though.

"So cruel, so cruel. So cruel to me, but I won't be cruel. Awkh. Unless I have to be. I might have to tell old Shimmer Eyes about you. Awkh-awkh-awkh-awwwkh!" The crow laughed a very strange way at the woman as it fluffed a little bit. "Hey!" It was a call suddenly from Aden, carrying  a tray of food in his hands. "Birchworth, what are you doing down here?" The man asked as he approached the two of them. "Just saying hello Aden, just saying hello." The bird repeated, trying to convince the first mate as he bobbed his little crow head up and down a few times.

"Well, get back to the nest, you're supposed to be on duty. Unless you want to lose out on your pay. That nice shiny gem, I'll just toss it in the ocean." The bird gave a loud squawk at Aden as if angry before taking off back to the main mast of the ship. Aden just rolled his eyes. "Birchworth is harmless for the most part. He likes to pester people though so watch out for him." Aden held out the tray to her, a bland expression playing on his face. "And here is your dinner. The cook sends his regards but I don't think he's heard that Spektrox is missing so...eat up, extra portions."

[Anonymous]

"Hmph. What do the winds know? Superstition and trickery, that's all it is," she spat, waving her hand in calculated dismissal of the crow's unimportant, inane ramblings. It knew things, and that wasn't a danger Roshan would take lightly. It needed to be dealt with, but carefully. The bird was a tricky sort, and she'd have to tread lightly to avoid repercussions for herself. Still, letting it go wasn't an option either. If it made good on its threat and told of what it knew – and what else might it have heard somewhere? - everything would be ruined for her. So she would plan, and when she was ready... No more problems. Not from a pesky little crow with ideas above its station, anyway.

Finally, blessedly, Aden returned and she greeted him with a contented smile, as if the bird hadn't been bothering her at all. Ugh, she hadn't thought she'd be welcoming the man's presence, but she supposed that just pointed out how awful everybody else was. Taking the tray and setting it onto her lap, she nodded. "Mm, harmless, I thought as much. Thank you, I'm sure I'll be returning those regards after dinner."

Which presented a few new problems. Firstly, eating off her lap wasn't polite or ladylike, but given that she was apparently banned from the captain's chambers she'd just have to make do. Secondly... That was a lot of food. The etiquette she knew dictated eating everything served to her, even if that was twice the normal portion, or else gravely insulting the cook – and self-preservation meant she'd rather not make an enemy of anyone who handled her food... Only... This had been handled by at least one person she did not exactly trust. Looking from her meal back up to Aden, she smiled brightly. "I appreciate the generosity, but even hungry I don't have the largest appetite and I'd hate for good food to go to waste. Perhaps you would like to share?"

[Anonymous]

"Awkh, good, good, don't let them see your fear. Awwwkh." It was just a good thing that as a bird, he didn't have  good sense of smell, or else he'd know that she was definitely scared right? Of course, he was a good judge of character, for a bird, so he knew that she was pretty scared. Who wouldn't be though? A talking mystical bird seemed to know your secrets, that usually scared a lot of people. Well, except for those that knew about Birchworth. Harmless but a little....bit of a jerk really.

"Heh, if you want to get revenge on him, you just have to be very smart about it. If you mess with his seed, he'll add it to your food. If you mess with his nest, he'll mess with your hammock. It's best to just...ignore him. If you let him get a rise out of you, he just bugs you more." The first mate explained to her as he watched the bird head back to the crows nest. It used to be that the crows nest was literal, then it became figurative, and on this ship it went back to being more literal again.

Funny how that worked sometimes.

Aden looked at her rather humorously as she offered to share dinner with him. "It wouldn't go to waste, there would be someone on board that wants to eat it. Secondly, we didn't poison it. Everyone on board has been given a very strict order to ensure you live, even the cook would obey it if need be." Aden took one of the forks from the tray and poked it into each piece of food before raising some of the potato to his lips and eating it. "If we rescued Spektrox and you were dead, he'd be heartbroken, and that would not end well for any of us." He finished after swallowing the morsel in his mouth.

"You know it's okay to trust people right? Not everyone is out to get you. Sooner you figure that out with Spektrox, the better too." He gave a wry little smile as he bowed. "Anything else Lilah?"

[Anonymous]

Roshan watched the man carefully as he picked over the food on her plate. The way he poked everything before settling was slightly suspicious, but at least she knew the potatoes were safe. The rest of it, too, if she decided to believe his explanation. She was, of course, disinclined to, but for once couldn't come up with a reason not to. It seemed oddly plausible.

So it was against the rules to upset Spektrox, then. That made a lot of sense, she supposed, and more importantly it was something she could work with. Her physical safety was therefore assured, which was always welcome, and she could probably spin it to cover everything else too. After all, wouldn't finding out the truth about her ruin things for the both of them? ...She could at least make it sound like it would and that was what mattered. It should shut that crow up for the time being, anyway. The corners of her mouth twitched into a momentary smirk as she began cutting into her food. "No, I think that's everything pertinent for now. Thank you, Aden."

She still wasn't going to fall for any of this ridiculous 'trust' nonsense, she decided as she worked her way through what she could of her dinner. That sort of thing never ended well.

[Anonymous]

It had been his attempt, to dip his fork into everything and get any 'poison' that she suspected. Of course it may have looked a little odd, but...this was Lilah. He was sure that she would only truly feel safe eating something when she watched the animal be raised, eat whatever she put in front of it, killed it herself with a knife she forged, and then cooked it on a fire she built. Even then it probably wasn't enough. She was effectively the safest person on the ship right now, and she still couldn't trust them.

"My my, manners too, we'll make a lady of you yet." The first mate smiled someone sarcastically at her as he bowed and walked off to continue giving orders to the men on the ship. This would be an interesting time wouldn't it? He really wanted to have it over and done with...he wanted things back to normal. Even if he didn't like Lilah, Spektrox did, and he far preferred the wild and enigmatic man to the cold and calculating woman that was Lilah. Every sentence felt like a lie or a placation, just trying to appease people so she could stab them in the back or get them away from her.

The fact that she was using Spektrox didn't sit well either...but that would all be dealt with in the end wouldn't it? "If you need anything," The mate started as he turned toward her, just before head reached the stairs to the deck. "Just holler." And with that, descended down to start getting the men ready.