Sarpedon

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

oh, right, sorry. I'll get on that... maybe today will go better...

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

sounds good to me! lets go with that one!

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

I was thinking the rag-tag crew could help find a boat, and then they turn out to be kinda shitty, and they could wind up dead or too drunk to stand up, or whatever. it's a temporary measure, one that Octavius will quickly find to be a bad idea.
as for buddy, he has neither a name, nor a position XD my imagination hasn't gotten that far.

I suppose I could back it up, though, if you want...

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

Octavius had never heard of a bath on ship, but didn't say anything, figuring he would leave Ceres to that and focus on getting himself a ship. First things first, though, he had to shake. It was a good shake, too, nearly all the water went flying off of him. Then, after a quick transformation, he led the way toward the inn proper, taking the side door through the stables, rather than bother the child out back. "Welcome to The Hanged Man. Quietest hive of scum and villainy you'll ever see." the pirate chuckled as he led the way into the building, unslinging his shotgun as he did so. He had the thing by the receiver, which balanced it nicely. He opened the door, and took three quick steps, which landed him on top of the bar. He scanned the room as he moved, and grinned. As he suspected. Several members of his crew were here, and the rest of the room was very sparsely populated with smuggling and pirating types. He thrust his weapon over his head as he spoke, getting the attention of everything, announcing his return. "I will strike down upon thee, with great vengeance and furious anger, those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers! And you will know my name is The Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee!" he knew his re-purposed line was a bit out of context, but anyone in the know would recognize it. And anyone who wanted a piece of that pie, would immediately speak up.

A ragged chorus of "Amen, captain!" rang through the tavern. Maybe half a dozen men stood up ready to go. One of them fell over, too drunk to manage much of anything, but the rest were good to go. Not wanting to waste any time, he grinned and waved his crew on. Only one member of his old crew had gotten up, though, that was the disappointing part.

"I'm going to remember this." he told the room, before turning to the one man of his crew that still had faith. "Welcome back, old friend. At least I got the most important of you." he chuckled, greeting the ship's doctor with a firm handshake. The man grinned back, obviously pleased to be back in business with a real pirate. They exchanged pleasantries, quickly catching up on what the captain had missed while in prison. But while they were deep in conversation, someone saw fit to slip out the door without so much as a glance backwards. They looked like they were in a hurry, and probably were, but to where was the real concern. Having not noticed, Octavius continued his conversation. Though his casual grip on his shotgun implied he was ready to fight at any given moment...

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

Octavius nodded when Ceres suggested he could try alerting her to sudden changes. It was a decent idea, he supposed. But they would see what happened. Then, the way they wanted to go cleared, and his partner got the message. She lamented about smelling badly, and he laughed at her, a quiet, barking chuckle. She should try smelling him, he would have suggested. As it was, they had places to be. Once the woman's watery self had settled into his fur, the dog then skittered out of the alley. No one paid it any mind. Obviously it was just a poor stray that had been startled by whatever was going on in the alley. The people continued to look on curiously, while the escaping canine soon slowed to a joyful trot. He picked his way through the streets very carefully, revealing a nimbleness that most dogs of his size didn't possess in such quantity. But even with such remarkable skills, no one noticed. And if they did, they didn't care. At least most of them didn't. The captain finally struck his downfall when he heard the cry of "Puppy!" from a group of nearby street urchins. His head whipped around in their direction, ears perking up, getting ready to do something about the situation.

When he realized exactly how many children were about to descend on him, the pirate started to move faster. The kids laughed, assuming it was a game, and Octavius figured it was the perfect cover. He led the urchins on a merry chase toward his goal, knowing that people wouldn't think twice about a gang of children hounding a stray through the waterfront. Eventually, though, he was going to have to lose the brats. But that proved a lot easier than he thought, when some fellow canines appeared. None of them were pleased to see the children, though, clearly having learned their lesson. The pack was all teeth and snarls, and the urchins cleared out quickly enough, even as the pirate lord was slipping through the other end of the alley. He made a note of which way to go if he was ever in the area and needing a distraction. And then, before anyone or anything else could take a liking to him, Captain Cuttlam slipped into the yard of the tavern he had been aiming for the whole time. There was a boy splitting logs in the mud, but not much else. It looked like the place was pretty empty, since there weren't any horses to be seen in the stable. This place wasn't a frequent haunt for many locals, but the man was hopeful he'd find what he sought. If nothing else, he'd get some decent gossip and an idea of what to look for.

He picked the cleanest corner of the stable, figuring it would be best to do this sort of thing out of the stableboy's view, and then he sat, wiggled a bit, and waited for Ceres to get off. "We're here. I'd like to shake, so I suggest you hop off." he growled, wondering if she could speak when she was water. As soon as she was reforming, the pirate would have himself a good shake, and then transform. The idea was to leave him mostly, if not completely, dry. Once they were ready, he would lead the way again, but he definitely needed a chance to shake first...

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

there's a manual for this shit? that'd be handy...

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

The pirate didn't get far when water started going all over the place. It seemed his new friend wasn't about to deal with the marines the same way he was. He watched the soldiers get washed out of the alley, and then laughed, turning to keep going. He was just in time to watch another wave slip around him and prevent him from going anywhere, though. That cut short his mirth, and the captain turned back to the woman who was the cause of all this. He was quite suddenly grabbed by a massive, watery hand, and yanked back to Ceres, who immediately grabbed and shook his right hand. She threatened to drown him, and he laughed in her face some more. "I like you, Ceres. I thought I wouldn't, but I like you." he admitted, grinning stupidly. "But deal or not, the plan is the same. And since they know where we are now, we need to get moving. Try not to drown our next hiding spot, okay?" Octavius didn't have time to waste hopping from one hiding place to the next like this. It was a good way to get caught. So he waited patiently for his partner to deal with her watery issues, wondering if she was going to take the lead. If not, she needed to stop complaining about how he seemed to run off on her, and focus more on keeping up. Piracy was a game of quick thinking, and she wouldn't last long if her goal became too fixed. And she really wouldn't last long if she couldn't keep up. Or at least not as long as he would.

Every pirate wanted all of the gold, but dead and rich didn't go together, so some if it was often better than none. In this case, she might have to settle for a boat, rather than a ship. Then again, what she wanted sounded like a boat, so he wasn't too worried about her being picky. And if it turned out that she was, well, he hadn't agreed to let her do that. He had only agreed to get her a vessel of the appropriate size. Speaking of picky. Captain Cuttlam wondered exactly how particular she was about escaping. He figured it would be easy enough now, to transform and wander off. It might be a bit more convincing if she transformed too, though. And since he was wet enough as it was, it wouldn't make much difference if the wetness was from real water, or magical person-water. He figured it was worth a shot, and in an instant, he went from dashing pirate to shaggy attack dog, Where his clothes and bag went would remain a mystery, but one for later. Ceres needed to deal with her water walls, and hopefully she'd get the same idea he had. If not, a quick roll in the mud would throw off any doubters, and then the pirate lord would head off toward his goal. He'd get his new friend a sailing vessel, of course, but if she wasn't around to claim it, he couldn't help her with that...

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

you're good at this stuff. sorry I suck so much...

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

he's also a bit crazy, and a pirate, but I see what you're saying. I'll see what I can do

The great pirate era. (Sanquin/Sarpedon)

if she brings up the whole "I saved your life" thing, he'd be willing to shake hands on that and get them both away safely. if she just won't shake hands, he won't stop her from tagging along, but there will be serious trust issues. someone who won't shake hands clearly doesn't have a word that can be trusted, if only because they won't trust anyone long enough to shake their hand.