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[hr][hr][indent][h1][u][b][color=875B86]Maybelline Waters[/color][/b][/u][/h1][b][color=gray]City Harbor, Blackfinger[/color][/b] -- [b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvPEAKbNgQw]Mood Music[/url][/b][/indent]
[indent][indent]It had been nineteen days since Maybelline Waters had seen the familiar sights of The City of Blackfinger. Nineteen days since she had been [i]home[/i].

For all of Maybelline’s tenacity and spirit, she was still the rambunctious little girl from Waters Street who’s capacity for adventure was equal to her familial pride. After all, Maybelline Waters was from [i]that[/i] Waters family—the very dynasty that built Blackfinger’s harbor with their bare hands. Maybelline wasn’t one to brag [i]too much[/i] but that kind of reputation was built for a reason and she was more than willing to live up to it. It was part of the reason she had set off downriver on the Natchez in the first place. Maybelline had never in her life forgotten her purpose or her responsibilities. Not to herself, not to Blackfinger, and not to her family.

And most definitely not to the [i]patriarch[/i] of her family, Anderthal Waters, SR., who had joined her on the cruise southward and back.

[color=gray]“It’s good to be back home, wouldn’t you say, Maybelline?”[/color]

The voice was coarse albeit pleasant, dignified from several decades of experience… and whiskey. But her grandfather’s presence came no surprise as they approached the harbor, preparing to link up with the barge’s designated loading and unloading zone. [color=875B86]“Tis a pity that we couldn’t stay in New Rojas longer, but I am happy to be back in Blackfinger none the same.”[/color]

[color=gray]“Baker’s Rest.”[/color] He corrected, pressing his hands down on the railing. [color=gray]“Blackfinger is a [i]nickname[/i].”[/color]

Her grandfather’s [i]insistence[/i] was nothing new for her, but it was tiresome all the same. Such pedantry was lost on Maybelline due to the fact that she didn’t care about her grandfather’s disdain for the term. Everyone called it Blackfinger and thus that was what it was becoming. A semantic change. Though it did amuse her that this was the twelfth time she could get him to repeat himself when she mentioned the name in the last month. After all, if he was going to be pedantic then she could at the very least be amused by making a game out of it. A game that either ended in him halting his incessant need to correct people that the settlements name was Baker’s Rest rather than Blackfinger or her getting bored of the game. Whichever came first. It was safe to say, at this point in time, neither had won the game.

[color=875B86]“Such a great nickname at that. Wouldn’t you agree, grandfather?”[/color]

Maybelline could nearly feel the internal pain she had caused her grandfather with such a comment. Had she not been pleasantly smiling beforehand she would’ve most certainly begun smugly smiling for such a ‘victory’. 

[color=gray]“Maybelline, dear, don’t tease me so.”[/color]

It was stated politely, but Maybelline knew what the phrase [i]meant[/i]. He was getting tired of her games and wouldn’t stand for much more of them. It was a shame, but a daring risk taker she was not—especially not when her opponent of her games had paternal superiority over her. She did not wish to be at the business end of his upset, so she decided to pause the game here for her benefit. Besides, she wasn’t sure how much more of the same monotonous game she could take before she got absolutely bored. Not only that, but they were finally back in Blackfinger and she could seek out her friend and reconvene another one of her games. 

[color=875B86]“Of course, grandfather. There is better use of your time than to tolerate my amusements. I apologize if I upset you.”[/color]

He nodded, [color=gray]“I trust you can find the marketplace to amuse you sufficiently until supper.”[/color]

[color=875B86]“Indeed! Best wishes with your business in the harbor. I shall see you in the evening.”[/color]

It was here that Maybelline wondered what her good friend from the Baker family was up to. After all, they had an unfinished game to attend to.[/indent][/indent]