Why is the Rum Always Gone? [M]

[DragonSong]

"Bah!" She gave a token protest but settled down against him easily enough, adding in a whisper, "Not if I land him first, old man."

She gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs, but after that subsided. She allowed herself to simply draw in the quiet, breathing it like the salt on the air. It had been too long since she'd had a chance to really forget her responsibilities like this.

[DaGlobster]

If it was someone else, he'd be more eager to talk, but feeling her relax against him brought an odd sort of calm to Gar. He let himself loosen up and soon enough he was as mellow as he'd even been in the last few days.

The minutes dragged on, and he popped his flask out to take a swig, and then he reached behind him to leave it on Isabeau's flask.

"Last night's vodka," he said, and he reeled in a foot or so of line, just to keep the bait moving.

[DragonSong]

"Hmph."

Izzie smiled a bit to herself and took just a small sip before she passed the flask back to him. "And I'll tell ya what I said last night: if you wanted to get me naked, you could've just asked."

It was a careless joke, and she really didn't think much of it as she continued to use his back as a support, occasionally reeling in a few inches of her line. She wasn't so much concerned with actually getting a bite; some fish would be nice, but honestly the chance to relax was enough for her.

[DaGlobster]

"What? It's the only good hooch for leagues," Gar grumbled, and he lazily drifted his rod from one side to the other. He let his eyes close as he just took the scenery in, the comforting weight of Izzy against his back.

He didn't quite know how long he was sitting there in utter peace before his line twitched, and he stirred just a little and peeked an eye open.

He nudged Izzy just the slighted bit.

"Fish." he muttered, and then when he twitched the line and it seized he shot up even faster than he did for sex.

"Fish!"

[DragonSong]

"Mm!" Izzie jerked slightly, and only then realized that she'd started to actually doze off. She tilted sideways as Gar's support at her back abruptly vanished, laughing as she threw out a hand to catch herself against the side of the dinghy.

"Alright, alright!" She twisted around to see his line bobbing in the water. "Well, reel 'er in then."

[DaGlobster]

Gar kept his balance on the small boat, a considerable feat for a nearly twelve-foot ogre. He tugged up, and the rod bent so far that it nearly snapped. The line jerked to the side sharply and Gar cursed.

The water off the boat's port side started to surge and roil, potently enough to rock their boat. From the water emerged the muddy back of a bright pink crayfish the size of a bear. It had slurped up the rotten apple, thinking it detritus, and the hook had embedded itself somewhere in those gnashing mandibles.

"Sweet peaks! She's a whopper!" Gar yelled, and he would've laughed had the thing not reached up to clamp a meaty claw on his rod, and Gar started to struggle with the thing.

"Izzy!"

[DragonSong]

"Oh, sweet fucking gods." Isabeau blinked, then shook herself and held her hand out toward the water, curling her fingers into a fist one by one.

The boat steadied, then the water parted in two surprisingly even splits to either side of the massive crayfish, before scooping out from underneath it until--

Well, the weatherwitch had essentially created an isolated bubble around the thing.

She gritted her teeth. "Whatever you're doing to fit that thing in the boat, do it quick. I can't hold this long."

[DaGlobster]

Gar was going to ask for her pistol, but this worked too, in a way!

He took the pistol anyways, leaping down into the open space. The crayfish struggled to bear its weight without the help of the water, disoriented in the sunlight and sudden heat.

Gar landed in front of it and hopped away from a sluggish lunge with a pincer. It was tough to keep his footing on the slippery wet rocks at the bottom of the mangrove swamps, but he made his way to the side and heaved his weight onto it.

He took it to the ground, and stabbed it in the head. He stabbed again and twisted the knife to crack a hole in the shell. The crayfish kicked with its legs, and Gar nearly lost hold of the thing as he pulled the pistol. He stuffed the barrel into the hole and fired. There was a muffled pop! and a flash from inside the carapace.

The thing immediately slumped down, limp.

Gar chuckled, even as he caught his breath.

"Not the catfish I wanted, but... can't be picky. Boys're gonna love this."

[DragonSong]

Isabeau watched, a little wide-eyed, and her hand started to shake from holding the water in place just as he pulled the trigger. She gasped, letting the magic go, and the water crashed back down, but she was grinning.

"Something tells me they will," she agreed with a slightly breathless laugh. She scooted toward the side of the boat and leaned out over the water just a bit. "Ya mind giving me back my gun? I get twitchy without it," she chuckled, holding her hand out to him as she eyed the catch sidelong.

"Gods, how are we carting this thing back?"

[DaGlobster]

Gar was all grins and giggles until the water came rushing back in. and even though he was tall enough to stand in the mangrove shallows, he did get a thorough washing when the walls of water came down.

Gar looked up at her, soaked to the bone, and he spit out a bit of saltwater. He lifted a hand out of the water to drop Izzy's freshly waterlogged pistol in the boat and he did his best to hoist the crayfish up out of the water before the water got too cloudy with the creature's murky blood. He threw it over his shoulder and started trudging towards the denser copses of mangrove trees.

"Easy job, Squirt. Just row the boat over to the shore. We gotta clean it before we can pack it away."

[DragonSong]

She snorted, clapping a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound though she wasn't entirely successful. "Sorry, mate," she chuckled as she reached for the oars and started to row. "But ya can't expect a girl to hold up all that water without some sort of fallout when it lets go."

She did quietly whistle up a quick breeze to drag most of the damp out of his clothes though. It was a simple enough spell, even if the last few days of magic use had left her tired enough that her eyes actually fluttered for a moment once she'd finished. She shook herself and kept on after Gar; she was good at hiding how draining her magic could be, she'd been practicing the skill since she was a child.

[DaGlobster]

Gar dragged the creature ashore and quickly brandished his anchor sword. With a cleave and a push, he managed to split one creature's arm. By the time he'd severed the other, Isabeau was pulling in with the boat. Then, with a stab and a hack, and with a lot of leveraging with the anchor sword, he managed to split the creature's tail from the rest of the body.

He approached the boat to grab some of the spare rope, and as he gathered up an armful, he gave Isabeau an appraising look. Then, he leaned in to give her a quick peck.

"Take a load off. I'll get this ready," he said, and then he straightened back up to get to work.

Within a few minutes, he came back with the claws in his arms and the tail tied to his shoulder.

[DragonSong]

Izzie blinked, a little taken aback by the kiss, no matter it was brief. She shook herself out of it quickly and leaned into the side of the rowboat, frowning slightly.

"C'mon, now, I can help. Never shirked for work before, not about to start today." She tried to swing over the side to help, but by the time she'd waded out he was essentially done. She rolled her eyes at him and moved to take some of the catch from his arms.

[DaGlobster]

"Ach, no need to wallow through any mud or get cray-gristles on yer boots," Gar chided, but to humor her he swung one of the gristly fifteen pound claws out from under his arm (the other arm held the second claw and he'd tied the tail to his back) and let her take it from him.

Then, with a little motion of his head towards the boat, he plodded over and started the process of tying the catch down, taking multiple pauses to bask in the sunlight and breeze from the surf.

[DragonSong]

Feeling a little like she was being humored but not all that invested in challenging it, Izzie moved to drop her portion of the catch into the boat and move to the other side so she could help Gar tie it down.

"Alright there, mate?" she asked teasingly when she glanced up to see Gar enjoying the sunshine and warm sea air. "You're not about to suddenly tell me ogres are coldblooded and need some time sunning themselves, are ya? 'Cause I'll be honest, I wouldn't entirely put it past you."

[DaGlobster]

"Aye, everything's just fine... Been so much talk of islands and mages and all that flotsam, kinda nice to just forgettit for a second."

He opened his eyes, still looking out towards the horizon, taking in another deep breath. It had been these moments that had kept him together throughout the years. That, and...

Gar looked over to Isabeau, a small, fond smile playing at his features.

"As if i'd need the excuse."

[DragonSong]

Laughing lightly, Isabeau swung herself up to sit beside him, pressing close and letting her head rest against his arm. "Nah, don't suppose you've ever needed the excuse to do much of anything," she replied blithely.

She went quiet, closing her eyes and allowing the sun to warm her face. "It is nice," she murmured after a few moments. "Just...being able to be, for a minute."

[DaGlobster]

"Ayyup," Gar said, now fully distracted once she'd rested her head on his arm. He settled more and the boat dug into the sand with his small, but heavy movements.

"Not many moments like this anymore. Don't know if there's gonna be any in the next few months, either," he said, dipping his eyes down to her.

[DragonSong]

Izzie sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "Yeah," she murmured, the weight of what lay ahead them heavy in her voice.

She may have been young, but she'd been captaining her ship for over a year--and she'd known most of her crew for over half her life. And they all trusted her to get them through this. Not just through it, but to find some mystical island of magic and treasure. All while avoiding an ancient blood-enemy of her family that she hadn't known existed yesterday morning.

She allowed herself one more moment to just sit there and let the weight settle on her shoulders. Then she shook her head and shot Gar a quick smile. "Well. Anything you wanna do in our last few moments of peace?" she tried to joke.

[DaGlobster]

A short chuckle answered her words.

"Cripes girl, let an old man have some peace..." Gar murmured, but eventually tipped his hat back up so he could regard her properly. He looked strangely vulnerable, his face more expressive without the large beard he had before.

"Well, if'n ya don't mind the crawdad gettin' smelly, we could stay a bit longer, aye," he said.

"It'll be weeks on the seas at best before we can just... be." Gar continued, and the arm she was resting against came to rest on her lap, more tender than raunchy.

Then, his mouth tilted a bit higher, and he lowered his hat again.

"Either way, you're the captain tonight," he said, the memory of the bargain they'd struck earlier warmed him all the more.