Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 07:02 PM
The Moor was resting with both arms on the railing, looking out at the night sky with a calm, peaceful expression, his chest and shoulders bare after many months of bundling up in shirts and sweaters, jackets, vests and coasts.

In one hand, he held a bottle of sweet-smelling fruit juice.

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 07:13 PM
Keisuke had spent the afternoon cheerfully ambling about the dockside areas, shopping for trinkets that might be sent home, now that their course removed them from the Erins. At length, however, his wanderings brought him back to the ship, and though he hesitated a moment--wondering if perhaps he should take advantage of the opportunity and rent in a proper bed for the night, rather than returning to his hammock.

Before he had really drawn a conclusion on this front, he spotted Umar on board, and grinned at the man's lack-of-a-shirt.

All was right with the world again.

Sauntering up to the boat to say hello, Keisuke boarded cheerfully and flopped up against the railing next to the much taller man, whistling to himself--until he caught wind of what the Moor was drinking.

"Is that juice?" he asked, looking astonished. "Since when do we have juice aboard this crate?!"

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 07:18 PM
"Since I squeezed a lot of oranges while the lot of you were all off squeezing beer-fruits," Umar answered, taking another swig from his bottle. "If you want juice, you can make your own. Anything interesting in town?"

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 07:23 PM
"Beer-fruits?" Keisuke laughed at that and shook his head, scratching the back of his neck. "I've had naught to drink but cider, friend. Beer-fruit would hamper my gift-purchasing abilities, and given how poor my taste is to begin with, I'd be stepping into dangerous territory." The halfblood rustled the paper parcel he'd brought back with him, cheerily.

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 07:27 PM
Umar raised both eyebrows, taking another swig of juice. "So squeeze the gifts?" he suggested. "Who are you buying for?" he asked, after a moment, peering at the parcel.

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 07:31 PM
"Miss Molly Murphy. Well, possibly Miss. She may very well be a Missus by now, given how long I've been away," he said thoughtfully, shaking his head.

Posted by: Starling O'Dowd Sep 20 2007, 07:42 PM
As he stumbled back toward the ship, Starling's mind was a war of divided loyalties: the two-fifths of him genuinely concerned for Elaine, and the remaining three-fifths that knew that the moment he set foot on deck he would be in such deep shit.

At the foot of the gang he swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and started up. His face was blotchy-red, his hair tangled with sweat, and he hadn't realised that his forearm was smeared with blood from shoving Elaine through the door. "Oi! Somebody, I need the captain right now!"

Popping up on the deck, the first person he ran into--nearly literally, but for a quick halt--was Umar. "Um. I need the captain right now please?"

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 07:42 PM
Umar gave the younger man a knowing look. "I...have one of those, too," he answered, looking a bit sympathetic. "Mine had a brother who decided he did not want us married."

He smiled, a bit encouragingly at him. "Then again, I am sure she will be swept off h--"

He stopped at the boy's arrival. "What is it? I thought Elaine was with you; where is sh-- Oh, Merciful God in Heaven," he said, as he took in the boy's clothing. "What has happened here?"

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 07:47 PM
Keisuke peered around Umar--who was big enough to form a bit of a wall between himself and the boy. He took one look at the child, and the cheerful expression dropped off his face. "Are you hurt?!"

Posted by: Starling O'Dowd Sep 20 2007, 07:51 PM
"Nothing's wrong with me," he said, blinking with surprise as he knuckled hair out of his face. "Elaine's got hurt. Shot. Not bad, but some other fellow as says he knows Judes has his ship's doctor sewin' her up--" Starling had to take a couple seconds out of the speech to catch his breath. "Some Aquitainean captain, or something. Anyway, it was the Admiral; he's turned up again. He's here. He shot her."

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 07:58 PM
Umar took a deep breath, then looked out toward the dock. "Do you want to tell Judith yourself?" he asked the boy. "Or would you prefer we do this together?"

He murmured under his breath. "We need to put someone on watch, in case that man decides he is coming onto our ship."

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 08:08 PM
"Elaine's blood, then," Keisuke said, sounding worried. "She should be in her cabin. Was no one stationed?" he asked Umar, slightly surprised. Generally, Judith was paranoid enough to keep people on watch at all times--he knew this all too well well, given the number of times he'd attempted to rob her, and failed.

Posted by: Starling O'Dowd Sep 20 2007, 08:12 PM
Starling gave a worried look toward the cabin door. "No, that's all right, you can tell her; I think all the excitement's made me a little light-headed . . . "

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 08:19 PM
"I mean an additional watch," Umar replied, taking Starling by the arm. "I need you to come with me," he informed the boy. "To fill in the details. Key?" he asked the younger man, as he started over toward Judith's cabin.

He didn't knock so much as bellow, "Captain?!" at the door.


Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 08:24 PM
Keisuke considered remaining by the gang, but ultimately decided that this was a show he did not want to miss, and followed the pair closely, trying to appear as though he weren't rubbernecking. "I got your back," he said, as innocently as possible.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 20 2007, 08:27 PM
The cabin door swung inward, with the usual brief pause as Judith shifted her gaze two feet upward. "Aye?" She blinked once, and her eyes moved down to take in her grandchild, before she leaned against the doorframe and covered her face with a hand. "Wait. Let me guess this one. You're late. Elaine's not with you. You've got blood on your sleeves, but you came back. This is either an elaborate ruse to not get punished for breakin' curfew, or something bad's happened."

Wearily she looked back to the two older men. "Did I get it right, or do you two know yet?"

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 08:30 PM
"Right enough," Umar answered, patting Starling's shoulder. "The boy says the Admiral is in town. Elaine is hurt, another man took her in? Is that right?"

Posted by: Starling O'Dowd Sep 20 2007, 08:38 PM
Starling was determined to stay firmly between the older men until he was bodily extracted. "Admiral came out of nowhere and took a shot at us. Some fellow named Grand something-or-the-other Moreau took her back to his ship's doc. Admiral's still about."

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 08:42 PM
"You're unhurt, though," Keisuke confirmed, looking again at the blood on the boy's arm. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, wanting to ask further questions, but certain that it would be more prudent to let Judith handle that. At the moment, Elaine was a greater concern, anyway...

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 08:46 PM
"Do you know where this Moreau fellow is?" Umar asked the boy, before glancing at Judith. "Starling said the man claims to know you."

Posted by: Starling O'Dowd Sep 20 2007, 08:47 PM
"Yeah, I'm fine." The boy shyly hid his arm behind his back. "It's all hers. But they said she wasn't hurt too badly, th-they said--" He cleared the stammer out of his throat. "She was just going to need stitches. She's on his ship, the Mistral."

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 20 2007, 08:47 PM
Judith gave a sharp little hiss of dismay. "Bugger."

Immediately she moved around the three of them and out the doorway. "Double up, all of you! The old man's shown his arse again! If he shows up anywhere within sight of this ship before I get back, I want at least three identifiable bits of him to prove you nailed 'im, and I rustin' well mean it."

She turned back toward Keisuke and Umar. "Aye, Rafat, I do know 'im. You two want to come with me?"

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 08:51 PM
The Moor nodded to the Captain. "Of course, Captain," he answered. "What should we be prepared for? Is this man going to give us trouble?"

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 08:54 PM
Keisuke tilted his head, glancing up at Umar. He was hardly as impressive as the Moor, but the opportunity to get off the ship... and to be useful, after his painstakingly long and aggravating recovery from the knife wound in his gut.

"Happy to be of service," he told her, with a nod.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 20 2007, 09:02 PM
"No," Judith said in a tired voice, "he's only going to be a pain in the arse. Might want to arm up anyways, in case we run into Grandpa."

She pointed beyond them to Starling. "And don't think you're gettin' out of this clean, little man."

Posted by: Starling O'Dowd Sep 20 2007, 09:03 PM
"Elaine says he's got possessed again," Starling pleaded, as if this were enough to turn the situation in his favour. "The wraith, the one that got . . . " He looked helplessly at Keisuke. "Well, the one that were gettin' everybody for a while there."

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 09:05 PM
At this, Keisuke's expression tightened, jaw clenching. He glanced to Judith for confirmation. "That so?"

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 09:06 PM
"So or not, I'm getting my blade," Umar answered, heading below. "I'll be back in a moment.

((out for the next round of posts))

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 20 2007, 09:11 PM
"Elaine'd be able to tell faster'n either of us, Key, if only because it's her grandfather and she knows the blighter." Judith frowned. "Let's stick with one thing at a time here. Possessed or not, I think we could take some of the fight out of 'im if we run across him, and if he turns up here, the ghostie'll rip him to shreds."

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 09:16 PM
"I'll rip him to shreds," Keisuke muttered, expression caught somewhere between furious and excited at this news. "Lemme grab a bigger knife."

Tucking the parcel under one arm, he followed Umar below deck to retrieve his things.

Posted by: Starling O'Dowd Sep 20 2007, 09:18 PM
"So how dead am I?" Starling asked listlessly once the two men had gone.

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 20 2007, 09:19 PM
Judith gave him a grin. "Pretty feckin' dead."

Posted by: Starling O'Dowd Sep 20 2007, 09:20 PM
Starling bowed his head, mumbling that his mother would object to this plan.

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 09:21 PM
The Moor returned with an enormous curved blade at his hip and a knife in his hand.

He patted the pommel, as one would pat a beloved pet. "Is there a reason you still allow anyone to take shore leave?" he asked Judith dryly. "When was the last time we did not have a catastrophe?"

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 20 2007, 09:23 PM
Judith shrugged. "Can't fault me for hopin', can you? There's always that one time when absolutely nothin' happens. It hasn't happened yet, mind, but the laws of chance are with us."

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 09:30 PM
When Keisuke turned up, he was not so well-armed as the Moor. The half-blood held up his short-sword with a little smirk. "Not so impressive, I'm afraid. Thank God size isn't everything."

On top of that, there was a knife up his sleeve and one in his boot. It would have to do.

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 09:33 PM
Umar eyed Keisuke's sword for a moment, then shrugged. "It is not the size so much as the curve," he assured the younger man, and then he turned to Judith. "Shall we, Captain?"

Posted by: Judith ni Dowd Sep 20 2007, 09:36 PM
Judith barely contained a smirk. "It's not the curve, either. It's how hard you can jab it in the other fellow." She waved them after her as she headed toward the gang.

Posted by: Keisuke Suzuki Sep 20 2007, 09:38 PM
"Daresay I'll do alright, then," Keisuke allowed himself a grin and sheathed the blade before following the pair to the docks.

Posted by: Umar ibn Rafat Sep 20 2007, 09:44 PM
The Moor apparently didn't get the joke. "A scimitar is more for the swing than the thrust," he pointed out with a frown. "Which can be far more damaging."