Why is the Rum Always Gone? [M]

[DragonSong]

The ex-captain chuckled and returned the pat with a hearty slap on the back. "Oh, aye, I've got that too!" he laughed, eyes glinting. "Perhaps we'd better get started with the drinks before moving on to other things, eh?"

"Hey, I'll never say no to free booze." Isabeau grinned as she fell into step beside the two men, Abraham leading them along the beach toward a small but well-trod path.

"Oi, who says it's free?" her father demanded, giving her a light punch on the arm. She laughed and nudged him back, the tension that seemed to always linger around her shoulders slowly fading away with each new step.

[DaGlobster]

Gar let out a deep chortle.

"The ol' grog barrel's gettin a little thin, we haven't had a good whiskey on board in ages," Gar added. He decided not to mention the fact that him and Isabeau had drank the last of his good hooch supply when they spent that first night together.

Gods...

He watched Isabeau and Abe as they walked, smiling warmly as they went along. It was nice to see her like this, and Abe as well. He knew it was tough for the old dog to watch his two favorite girls sail off without him, and despite everything, it seemed to Gar even pirates needed some love and family time every once in a while. He'd be lying if he said that he himself didn't find a degree of sanctuary in Isabeau's touch.

[DragonSong]

"Why am I not surprised?" Abe laughed. He and Isabeau devolved into teasing banter and affectionate nudges as he led them back to his little cottage, set just far back enough from the coastline that it wouldn't be washed away in a flood, but still close enough to hear the sea and smell the salt strong on the air.

The captain of the Storm smiled when she saw the place, feeling the familiarity of it sink into her bones. She glanced back over her shoulder at Gar with a warm smile.

Her ship would always be home, but this, what he father had built for himself-- it was a pretty close second.

"Come on in, make yourselves comfortable," Abe enthused as he swung the door open, gesturing for his daughter and first mate to enter first. The cottage wasn't large by any means, but it was big enough for a nice hearth and a few cozy chairs scattered around it. And what more could she ask for, really?

Grinning, Isabeau strode inside and plopped herself into the nearest chair, relaxing back with a sigh. "Storms and crows," she breathed as she closed her eyes a moment. "Missed this place, old man."

[DaGlobster]

Gar entered behind Isabeau, setting down their packs by the door after ducking inside. Of course, he didn't take a seat for fear of breaking it, so he opted to instead sit cross-legged by the fire, leaning back onto his hands as he let a peaceful breath leave him.

"I've never been one for houses. I'd much rather live on a rocking boat..."

He smiled.

"But this house, small as it is, is comfier than any mast-hammock I've slept in."

He turned his eyes back to Abe.

"It's good to be back."

[DragonSong]

"Aw, don't get all sappy on me." Abe shoved Gar's shoulder companionably before he crossed to sink into his own chair, sighing gently. He pulled a face and complained, "I'm getting old, you two. My bones creak every time I get in this chair."

Isabeau rolled her eyes, sitting forward to the edge of her chair. "Oh, shove it. You'll be around for another few decades, at least," she teased lightly.

"You'd sure as hell hope so!" her father shot back with a grin. "What'd you lot do without this old house to come back to every few months, eh? The Storm is a good lady, it's true, but even she needs a rest now and then."

[DaGlobster]

At Abe's last words, Gar chuckled.

"If it weren't for your sorry old hide guilting me, I'd be anchoring in Thanatos. I hear they screw for religion over there," he said, and started laughing, a sound that was captured quite well by the small cottage.

But once the laughter died down, he sobered up a bit.

"But in all seriousness, what've you got for us?"

[DragonSong]

Isabeau and Abe both chuckled, but at Gar's question her father sobered rather quickly, folding his hands and bracing his elbows on his knees.

"Well, I actually do have something...real interesting," he hedged.

Isabeau blinked, then frowned. It wasn't like him to beat around the bush. "Da?"

"Right, right." Abe shook his head, then stood abruptly. "I've got to grab something from the other room. You two stay put, it's-- it's important. I'll be right back." He strode toward the door that led to the rest of the small cottage, brushing through it rather brusquely.

Isabeau all but gaped, then turned to look at Gar. "What the hells is that about?" she muttered, frown back in place.

[DaGlobster]

Gar shrugged. He shuffled a bit closer to her so he could mutter in turn.

"Hell if I know. I'm just as much in the dark as you," he said. He glanced to the door that Abe went through.

"I've never seen him like that."

[DragonSong]

The captain's frown deepened and almost unconsciously she reached out to touch her first mate's shoulder, just for a moment.

"He'd better not be losing it," she muttered, trying to joke a little weakly. "If that man goes senile it'll be a full time job keeping him from streaking down the beaches."

"Oi." Abe suddenly reappeared, clutching an oblong wooden box in his hands. He glowered at Izzie and she smiled back angelically. "Who you calling senile, pup?" He swiped at her and she ducked, laughing.

Well, at least he seemed to be acting normal again.

Or not, because as he sat back in his chair and laid the box in his lap, he glanced from side to side, as though afraid that someone might be listening. "Alright." He shuffled the box around so they could see it more clearly. "Take a good look."

It was simple enough, though clearly very old. The sides were carved with a curving, aquatic design while the lid seemed to have once been embossed with gold leaf that had all but flaked away. There was a lock, old and weathered but clearly still functional.

Izzie glanced sidelong at Gar. Where on earth is he going with this?

[DaGlobster]

Gar smiled at the shoulder touch, but her words made him frown a bit. He was about to respond, when Abe did it for him, and he had a bit of a chuckle at Isabeau's expense.

His curiosity captured, he gazed at the old box, wondering at just how long Abe had kept this box a secret.

More importantly, what had changed his mind?

"Looks older than I am," he remarked, and even as he said that he gave his beard a bit of a stroke, suddenly self-conscious about his age.

Still young enough for her, apparently...

"Go on then, Abe! The suspense is killing me."

[DragonSong]

"Shhh." Abraham glanced around again, then reached down the front of his shirt to pull up an old, battered key hanging from a leather chord. "Patience is a virtue," he murmured as he inserted the key into the lock and twisted. "That's what my father told me when he gave me this, you know."

The lid popped open and Isabeau found herself leaning forward, trying to peer inside.

Before she could get a good look, her father reached into the box and carefully pulled out a tarnished, almost ancient looking scroll. He held it out in one hand, grip firm but gentle. "This," he murmured, "is something I've been looking for a long, long while. Since I was younger than you, pup."

Isabeau shook her head, staring at his face. "Da, I don't understand... A— a map?"

Abe nodded. "Yes, a map. A map my father spent most of his life searching for, and then me. And it was only a month ago that I finally found this damned key, and now we have it."

[DaGlobster]

Even as Abe gave Isabeau the rundown, Gar couldn't help but stare.

"No way, no goddamn way, old man..."

He breathed out a laugh, and rubbed at his eyes.

"I can't believe it, you crazy old bastard, you actually found it?!"

[DragonSong]

Abe grinned, and it lifted ten years from his face. "Yeah. Yeah, I found it."

Isabeau looked between the two of them, growing exasperated. "Would one of you please tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Her father chuckled quietly and looked to her, tucking the map carefully back into the box. "Izzie, our family has been lookin' for this map for...generations. I'm not even sure how long. Your great-grandma recovered this box, but we couldn't open it, not even with magic. We needed the key, or we'd risk damaging what was inside."

Slowly, she nodded. "Okay...but what is it a map to? And why am I just hearing about it now?!"

Her father shrugged. "Honestly? I'd just about given up. I spent most of my life chasing this damned thing, and I didn't want you to do the same." His expression fell and he dropped his eyes. "Chasing this near about cost me your mother. I didn't want to lose you, too."

Isabeau felt her chest tighten. Her father almost never talked about that.

"But, it seems fate had other plans," Abe continued, suddenly brisk. "As for what it leads to..." He smiled, almost wonderingly. "It's supposed to be an island of wonders, pup. The beaches glitter, each grain of sand a diamond. Fruit and water there can actually make you younger, maybe stop ya aging entirely. The trees are supposed to be living metal, silver and gold forests stretching up tot he sky. Can you even imagine?"

Isabeau stared. "Da...that sounds like a fairy story," she said slowly. "That can't be real."

[DaGlobster]

Gar shook his head when Isabeau spoke.

For him, the generational quest to to figure out the secret of the box was introduced to him by Abe, but the way his entire family had dedicated itself to unlocking it gave it plenty of credence in the ogre's eyes. Why go through all that trouble, all of that strife, just for a fairy tale?

"Fairy story or not, if even a lick of it's real we'll be set for the rest of our lives," Gar said.

"And I wouldn't mind getting younger, either. I've seen yer old man in his prime when he was chasing this, Izzy. It's real, no way it isn't."

He looked back to Abe, growing wonder in his eyes.

"So, where is it, then?"

[DragonSong]

Abraham sagged slightly, dragging one hand down his face. "Far," he admitted. "Further than I ever took the Storm on a single run. Out past Yoreiqi, near-about...maybe three months travel, as I can reckon?"

He shook his head. "But it's more than that. This place is supposed to be protected. That's part of what the map is for, guides you in how to get past the traps and natural obstructions."

He suddenly glanced up, looking for the window. Isabeau followed his gaze, growing concerned. Why was he so twitchy? Why did Gar believe this?

"Mayhaps we'd be better off discussing this in the morning," Abe said suddenly. He pressed the box into his daughter's hands, bringing her attention sharply back to him. "There's a lot more to talk about. A lot more. But you lot have had a long trip here, and I-- I should check on the wards and such."

"Wards?" Since when had her father bothered warding his little cottage? Isabeau blinked, holding the box closet to her chest. "Da, what--?"

"You two take the room," he continued, either not hearing or ignoring her. "Izzie can have the bed, and there should be enough blankets to make sleeping on the floor okay. Sorry, mate, best I can do," he said with a quick smile for Gar. 

[DaGlobster]

While Gar knew the tale of the fabled island, as far as Abe had told him, the revelation that there were wards around the house piqued his interest. So curious, in fact, that the revelation that he would be sleeping on the floor barely phased him.

Gar had questions too, but it seemed that much like Isabeau he was going to get those answered later rather than sooner.

Abe left, and Gar just looked to Isabeau and shrugged his shoulders. He stood from the ground, and went to go grab their packs.

"Well, let's get set up in the digs, then. I get the feeling there's more going on here than Abe's gonna tell us..."

[DragonSong]

She snorted. "Yeah, no kidding." Picking up her back and starting toward the bedroom in the back of the house, she suddenly paused and turned to glower up at her first mate.

"And hang on a second-- how come I never heard about any of this from you?"

[DaGlobster]

At her question, Gar kind of nudged his head about before sighing.

"Fair truth of it is, I thought once Abe retired I'd never hear of it again. I respected his decision not to tell ya and fer all it's worth, I thought he was done with this 'till ten minutes ago," Gar said, and he set his own pack down on the bedroom floor.

As soon as they were alone, Gar wasn't afraid to get as intimate, so he gave her hips a light pat with his hand.

"That bed sure as sugar ain't big enough for the both of us," he said, voice low and tone teasing.

[DragonSong]

"Mph. Fine. You're off the hook," Isabeau grumbled as she made her way into the bedroom, stretching her arms up above her head and arching her back deeply before she tossed her pack to the side.

Then Gar's hands were on her hips and she arched an eyebrow, twisting to face him. "Oi. Watch the hands," she chuckled lightly. "We are in my father's house." Her eyes flickered to the bed, then back up to his face. "Probably a good thing that bed isn't big enough for two of us..."

[DaGlobster]

Gar nodded giving her a knowing look.

"Probably."

Giving her hips a pat, he took his hands off of her and went about stealing some of the sheets on the bed and laying them out on the ground. Gar was accustomed to hammocks, flat sleeping made his back hurt, but he suppsoed he was just going to have to live with it.

Once he finished arranging his "bed," he looked back to Isabeau.

"I'm gonna go raid Abe's liquor supply, you want anythin'?"