The hold of this ship reeks of bilge and rot. The swells that lift and lower the ship make the iron bars of the brig groan against their fastenings, interrupted only by the dull clinking of the iron chains that secure my manacles to the wall. It's dark. Since the lantern consumed its fuel, it has been for...days? Weeks? Months? I can't tell time anymore in the all-consuming darkness.

The hatch above the hold, outside my bars opens, and I use a little strength to move enough to see above. A sliver of moonlight shines through and a strong breeze momentarily refreshes the air down here. Nighttime...clouds now blocking the moonlight...the air smells different, charged with electricity. I am startled when the iron bars creak open and a boot shoves me roughly away from my vantage point. A bowl of mealy gruel and other half chewed scraps of the crew's dinner are dropped near me along with a cup of stale water.

"Storm's coming, captain...?" I croak out, voice hoarse with disuse. I earn a kick for my trouble and the looming threat of the use of an iron bit if I don't keep quiet. The captain stared contemptuously at me for a moment before retreating back up and out of the hold. My creaking voice murmuring up after him in a curse. "Storm is coming, captain..."



Thank you for reading my little drabble! If I have piqued your interest at all, perhaps you might expound on the story with me once you check out the concept. Also let it be know that while I wrote this in first person, I almost exclusively rp in third person.

So I love a good culture shock story, and that is what this tale will contain. In the original idea, my character is a Norse woman, taken captive in a raid, where the ship she is on wrecks off the coast of Japan during a time when the borders to the country are still closed to outsiders. (I don't know how they'll have gotten THAT lost, but I still think the idea is fun.) When they do, there will be an interesting process of learning our character's cultures, languages as she and the crew are taken in by a samurai, a daimyo, or even the Emperor/Shogun if you want.

I am not opposed to shaking things up, though. Don't want to be Samurai? That's fine, pick another culture and let's see what we come up with! Do you want to play the Norse captive? Sure! I don't mind playing the samurai, though I do still wish to play a female character opposite a male.

Though this tale is considered historical, I am NOT looking for accuracy. I want this to be fun, not a history lesson. I am a sucker for romance, and would hope this would be a thing in the tale, though we can discuss comfort levels when we talk about characters. If this idea interests you at all, drop me a line!

Cheers!