Laelette hated pirates.

Truth be told, she hadn't given it much thought before. She had never run into pirates, or rather, knowingly done so, in her travels. She met an assortment of characters, and possibly one or two of them were pirates. No, she was sure she hadn't. And even if she did, she would hold firm to her belief that pirates were contemptuous creatures. They served no purpose other than to be inconvenient to those who were sailing to distant shores, for business or pleasure, and put a real damper on the mood.

Reality check, though, Laelette wasn't in a happy mood when she booked passage. It was more of a spur-of-the-moment type of deal that landed her on the ship. She never wanted to stay in one place for too long. Get settled in and grow roots, and those roots were likely to burn with you well tucked into them. 

So she got on the damn ship and made the best of it. The captain was well enough to look at, at least, but she wasn't here for that. She wanted to bunker down, open up a good book, and discover something new.

Instead...pirates.

Laelette heard the commotion before the ship rocked. She could hear the telltale signs of combat. Instinct kicked in, and Laelette slid along the wall. Some of the people she noticed were others who joined her on this cruise, but some of them were clearly people who had a rotten draw in life and decided to take it out on innocent people who wanted nothing more than to be left alone. She wasn't about to die here, so she moved along.

That was, until she collided with a rather stout orc man. He had his back to her and, once she slightly kissed his shoulder, he turned, long sword drawn and a nasty scowl on his face. Laelette held up her hands. "I want no trouble. I have very few valuables on me, but I will give what I have provided I can just move pa-" her words were interrupted when the afore-mentioned orc man had punched her in the face, causing her to tumble back. She felt herself bite the inside of her cheek and tasted blood. 

Okay, now she was even more pissed off.

Laelette stood and held out a hand, the orc smiling now in amusement, before a fire bolt launched itself squarely in his face. The orc wasn't smiling anymore (she assumed as his face was very much on fire now), and Laelette launched another as the orc man was engulfed. He flailed around a bit, hitting the wall and some detritus on the ground. Soon, fire started spreading everywhere, and Laelette made the conscious decision that, in the future, perhaps it was best not to shoot fire out of her hands on a ship made with flammable material. The orc was dealt with, though, as she scooted over his burning husk and made her way towards the top of the ship.

Where there was more chaos erupting.

Gods, she fucking hated pirates.