Trash Panda

Masters of the Sea

Just finished my post
Cecily is quite mad xD

Masters of the Sea

Cecily had only just begun to really settle down in her cot when a very unwelcomed gush of water brought her back to the real world. Her eyes flew open and she sat up, coughing liquid from her lungs that she had inhaled while she was asleep. Her linen shirt was drenched, leaving her cold, shivering, and thoroughly livid.

Looking around furiously to see who had soaked her, she saw Stefano standing next to her bed with an empty bucket. “What the hell?” she snapped at him, swinging her legs down from the cot. However, he was already on his way out of the sleeping quarters, so her question went unacknowledged. She huffed, blowing a wet strand of hair out of her face, and hopped down to storm after him.

“Oi, Stefano!” Cecily growled, reaching up to grab him by the shoulder. It was at times like these when she felt the difference between her size and that of the real men on the ship the most. Fortunately, her height, or lack thereof, hadn’t set off any red flags for the other pirates—they just assumed she was a short man—but it made her feel the need to assert herself quite a bit in order to be taken seriously by them.

Spinning her friend around, she puffed up her chest and squared her shoulders, making herself as big as possible. “Ye have some nerve waking me up like that,” she curled her lip at him menacingly. “My cot is soaking wet! I’m gonna catch scurvy if I sleep in that tonight. What were ye thinking?” She shook her head, crossing her arms over her wet shirt. “On second thought, scratch that. I know ye weren’t thinking, because yer an empty headed knave.”

Cecily tapped her foot irritably. Not only would she have a wet bed for the next few nights, she also needed to change out of her sopping shirt without being seen by the other pirates on the ship, which was no easy task while everyone was below deck during the storm. She spat on the ground. If she wanted to put on some dry clothes before supper, she was going to have to get creative.

“I’d settle this with ye by fist if I weren’t already on thin ice with Danial for fighting on deck,” she went on with a mischievous glint in her eye. “So instead, I’ll accept yer portion of supper or another gift of the like. No backing out of it—ye owe me for my cot, Stefano.”

“To one more week aboard this cursed vessel,” Anthony raised his black jack in a toast. “And to one more week before we finally refill our liquor stock.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Agustin lifted his flask to his lips, downing a draught of sweet bumbo. He reclined with the sailing and quarter masters in the captain’s quarters, watching the storm from the small window by the table. He was pleased to see that it wasn’t nearly as bad as the hurricane two weeks ago had been. If they got thrown off course one more time, he was sure the crew would riot. It looked like their luck had finally turned around.

“Don’t get your hopes up just yet, mates,” Danial said dryly, swirling the liquor in his black jack. “The charts have been wrong before. They can be wrong again.”

“Why do ye always have to do that?” Agustin shot him a dirty look. “Can’t ye just be optimistic for once in yer life?”

“I’ll be optimistic when we see land on the horizon,” Danial sipped at his drink.

“If yer so determined to bring down the mood, go do it in the crew’s quarters,” Agustin rolled his eyes. “I’m sure ye’ll catch ‘em gaming with dice again. They always do before supper.”

“Fine,” Danial shrugged, standing up from the table and heading for the door.

“Give the scoundrels a good screamin’ for me,” Agustin called after him.

Danial just shook his head and exited the captain’s quarters without another word.

“What did ye ever do to that man, Agustin?” Anthony whistled. “He hates yer guts.”

“Simple. I got voted captain,” he answered with a shrug, taking another drought of bumbo. “He’s jealous he didn’t get the position when Captain Robert died. Thinks he’s better than me.”

“Well, that was cruel of ye, sending him to the company while he’s in a mood.”

“At least he’s not here,” Agustin pointed out carelessly.

“I suppose,” Anthony frowned, glancing at the door. “But I can’t help feeling a little bad for the blokes.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Aww, yay cx

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the minimum wage increase passed here because Phoenix is mostly made up of big companies, so it wasn't affected too badly either.
My city is a lot smaller, so our votes didn't do much against the mega city :'D
Also, there were a lot of people here who voted to increase the minimum wage, but they didn't understand how it would affect the economy. They were all happy until we lost our only two fro-yo shops, and then everybody got really sad xD
It seriously took frozen yogurt for all of the college students to realize they had made a mistake... no joke lol

It sounds like a really cool job! Would you just be writing dialogues or would it be more than that?
I don't know too much about the film industry, but I like to learn things x3

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow let out a relieved sigh when they reached the shelter of the horse stables. They had managed to get inside just before the downpour began, so they were mostly dry. There were no windows in the thin stable walls, but he could hear rain pounding on the roof, accompanied by the howl of wind and the crack of distant thunder. It sounded like a pretty bad storm, so he was glad they had found somewhere safe to take cover. He had been caught outdoors in weather like this a few times in the past, and it was something he never wanted to do again.

“Me too,” he agreed, glancing at Penelope when she said she hated the weather. However, her expression caught him off guard. She wasn’t just upset about the storm. She seemed almost… afraid of it. He frowned, observing her quietly as she began to look around the stable. Was she scared of thunder? He couldn’t tell for sure, but he was certain that something about the storm had spooked the knight.

He moved away from the stable doors and followed her over to the pile of hay in the corner of the room. Instead of laying down to sleep though, he reached to take her hand, pulling her gently back towards himself.

“Are you okay?” he met her gaze searchingly. “It’s just a little thunder and lightning. We’re safe as long as we stay inside.” It was strange for him to see her so terrified. He hadn’t realized it until now, but some part of him had always seen her as fearless because she was usually so stoic. Before, she had been the one to calm him down when he was afraid of something, such as when she had helped him cross the river even though he couldn’t swim.

She’s brave, but she’s still only human, he thought, lifting a hand to cup her face. It wasn’t that surprising that she had fears too. Everyone did. He supposed he just hadn’t seen any of hers until now.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I played on Crow's superstitions a little bit ;)

Small business owners and their employees, sadly :/
My city is made up of a lot of local small business owners, so tons of people lost their jobs when the minimum wage went up
Our minimum is supposed to reach $12 when they finish increasing it, so it's not over yet ^^;

I guess so, but I try to remember these things xD
Sounds like a fun job! I hope you get it

I'm majoring in interior design, hoping to work for an architecture firm somewhere
Recently though, I've been considering becoming an author instead because of how much I love to write.
Also, world building gives me an excuse to research the hell out of whatever I want >>
I'd probably write a dystopian novel of some sort, but I don't have a story for it yet.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

“Alright,” Crow said when Penelope suggested that they look for a stable to spend the night in. He noticed that she seemed just as nervous as he was about the castle in the distance. She was probably thinking the same thing he was: that they didn’t have much time left; that they only had the beginning of a plan worked out; that they weren’t prepared to handle whatever was waiting for them within those huge palace walls. They didn’t have long before they would find out if their efforts had been enough.

He followed her as she took them closer to the tree line in search of a nearby stable. Fortunately, it didn’t take long before she found a place that could work. “Let’s check it out,” he said, moving closer to the edge of the forest to take a closer look at the potential lodging. He crouched down by a bush, his green eyes sweeping over the clearing in front of him. From the dim glow in the upstairs window of the house, it looked like whoever lived there had turned in early for the night. The rest of the estate was quiet as well, with not a stable boy in sight.

Crow was about to turn back to tell Penelope his findings, when he felt a drop of water land on his nose. He blinked and looked up to see dark storm clouds rolling ominously across the sky.

It’s just some bad weather, he tried to reassure himself. It’s not an omen.

“Remember what I said about how we’ve been lucky with the weather?” he asked, glancing back at her. “Well, that’s over now. Let’s hurry up and get inside.” He stood up straight again and took the lead as they ran for the stables.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Yeah, you just end up in the same situation because you have more money, but it's worth less ^^;
It's not nearly as great as it sounds

Sweet! I feel like you've told me you're a film major before and I just forgot xD
Do you want to be a director or what?

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow nodded when Penelope said she doubted he would be able to sneak a bow into an inn. He thought so too. Sure, maybe he could stow it away somewhere when they got a room and pick it up later during the night, but as she said, he wouldn’t be able to conceal it once morning came. It would be risky to try, especially since there were more knights around as they got closer to the castle. He honestly wasn’t sure if it was more dangerous to stay at an inn or sleep in the woods.

Looking back towards the town that was just visible through the tree line, he slowed his step. “What if we didn’t do either?” he said as an idea suddenly came to him. He turned to Penelope. “Nobles have horses, right? We could sneak into someone’s stables and stay there for the night.” He shrugged. “It’s not the most comfortable place to sleep, but it’s better than risking knights in the town and mercenaries in the woods, right?”

He turned back to look forward as they kept walking, but then stopped completely. Just beyond the distant treetops, he could see the edge of what looked like a tall building. It was barely visible from where he stood, but what he could see told him everything he needed to know. A large flag flew over a massive crenellation, designed with the emblem of the Younisian king. He swallowed anxiously. They had come upon the palace at last.

This is it, Crow thought, staring up at the crenellation. This is the place we’ve been travelling for two weeks to find. Without thinking, he reached to take Penelope’s hand. Her touch calmed him, and he turned to her with a halfhearted smile, “Well, it looks like we’re almost there.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Oof, good luck with that
Minimum wage increases don't help much because the price of everything else goes up along with it, unfortunately :'D
After ours went up, I started spending like $20-30 more on groceries every month

I bet! Why LA?

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

“Okay,” Crow nodded when Penelope agreed that he could try to make a poison for their weapons. “I’ll see what I can do.” He stowed the henbane in one of the bags so he could use it later. Once that was done, he shouldered the quiver and one bag along with his bow in preparation to keep going. Even though he was eager to learn how to use the bow, he didn’t want to spend any more time in one spot than she did. He wanted to get farther away from the town and reach the castle as soon as they could.

He glanced at Penelope when she asked if he could lace her dagger with the henbane. “Of course,” he nodded. “I was going to make enough that we could use it on all of our weapons, if I can.” By her words, he could guess that she wasn’t very confident about making it through the palace without running into any knights either. He didn’t blame her for being worried. The task that the king had given them was no small thing. They needed every advantage they could get if they were going to succeed.

He peered into the deeper parts of the forest as they walked, thinking again about the mercenary that had attacked them the day before. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they weren’t out of danger yet. Mercenaries never attacked unless they had been paid to do so, which meant someone else really wanted them dead. He wondered who it could have been. As much as he wracked his brain, he couldn’t think of any enemies he had made that had the money to hire a killer. His father, perhaps? But that didn’t make sense because he had never wronged the man personally. He didn’t even know if Albin knew he existed. No, it couldn’t have been him.

Maybe they’re after Penelope? he thought, peeking at her from the corner of his eye. But that didn’t make sense either. Even though knights were the enemies of criminals, someone would have really had to hate her to hire a mercenary. He couldn’t imagine how she could have wronged anyone so terribly that they would want her dead. He sighed. The more he tried to find an answer, the most confused he felt about the whole thing. Perhaps it would just be easier to forget about it for now.

“What are we going to do about lodging for tonight?” Crow mused out loud, noticing the sun sinking lower in the sky. “It’s risky for us to try going back into town while I’m carrying this bow, but I don’t like the idea of spending the night in the woods either.” Not after that mercenary attack, he added silently. He didn’t want to be exposed all night after someone had just tried to kill him.

He turned to Penelope, “Any ideas?”