|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:02 pm
Growling low in his throat but not saying anything, Melchy shook from tip to tail angrily before putting his nose in the air and marching off, tightening his arm so he was (hopefully) dragging Keres with him. It hadn't occurred to him that Keres was large enough that the rather petite boy probably wasn't going to be able to drag her far.
The wind continued to curl happily around Melchy, tossing his hair and playing with Keres' feathers by default. Melchy made an irritated noise, lashing his tail in response to the cold and clenching his teeth and fists to keep from shivering. "Damn wind," he growled, moving into a trot as the bar got closer. Eventually, he let go of Keres. "C'mon!" he called, breaking into an easy lope. "I'm gonna be warm!" he called out, and that thought sent his ears upright. He gave a merry whoop, looking over his shoulder to see if Keres was following him.
"C'mon, keep up!" he chided gently, playfully. "Ye're gonna get lef' in th'cold!"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:36 pm
"Not if I'm the only one who could get you through the front door!" Keres called out after a slight moments hesitation. Breaking into her own steady lope, she soon caught up and stayed a few feet ahead of him, the thought of soon-to-come warmth causing her feathers to poof out involuntarily.
Within several more minutes -- and a dusty weave up the cliff's dirt path -- the ruckus of loud cheers, yells, and laughter was plainly heard filtering out of the very cracks of the wooden walled bar. Gold light flooded rectangular patches on the long front "porch" from the open door and the one large front window. Motorcycles were parked in tight clusters near the entrance while muscle cars and trucks sat off closer to the cliff lines. The gravel and dirt ground seemed to almost vibrate, and for a split second Keres paused mid-step amidst the motorcycles and gave a quick -- but nervous -- side sweep of her head.
"I'm pretty sure they're doing some drinking game," the Sphinx-girl said suddenly, her conclusion based on the fact that she heard no music playing. Looking over her shoulder to see if Mel was still there, she motioned with her tail to follow her as she literally slunk up to the open door. And what she saw didn't actually surprise her.
Every single body -- the exact number impossible to tell -- were gathered around a pool table that had been moved into something of the center of the bar. The smaller tables had all been pushed to haphazardly to the sides . The old-style wooden floor was wet in some places and there were a couple of broken glasses here and there, and they jumped in place from the foot stomping of the circular mob. "DRINKDRINKDRINKDRINK" they chanted, and it was then that Keres slid in, grabbing Mel's sleeve as she did so.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 5:45 pm
Drinking was by no means something that the pirate cat-child was a stranger to, and Melchy was completely unfazed by the chanting that he heard. It was about a hundred percent less obscene than what he heard whenever Katrina's crew decided to get roaring drunk at home, anyways. "Who's drinkin' anyways?" he asked casually in a voice loud enough to be heard by Keres but too soft to be heard by any of the preoccupied bargoers. Skirting wetness and broken glass (his feet were still bare) he slipped up beside Keres and pressed close to her in an attempt to make himself inconspicuous.
But not inconspicuous enough. One of the drinkers had looked around and saw the pair of them. He paid Keres no heed, but...
"Melchy?" The voice was quite loud enough for Melchy's sensitive ears to pick up over the chanting. "What in th'blazin' hell're you doin' 'ere?" The man stood up, scowling, and Melchy, who had already recognized him, confirmed what he had been afraid of.
"s**t," he said under his breath. "Hawkiss, Katrina's first mate," he hissed to Keres.
Hawkiss approached with a steady rolling gait that didn't betray anything about his alcohol consumption, and Melchy looked steadily back at him, one hand on his knife, expression deadly defiant. "What in blazes ye doin' 'ere, boy?" Hawkiss growled. "And why in hell're ye soakin' wet?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 6:09 pm
Keres quirked one side of her mouth as she leaned a little closer to him, her eyes almost locked on their destination at the far wall. "Some doomed drunk and -"
"What - KERES!?"
The drinking crowd went dead silent and Keres froze, her eyes slowing rounding on the mob just in time to see Anya -- THE Rabbit -- make her way into the open from the center of the fiesta. She moved with her own rolling, hip-swaying gate that, like Hawkiss', portrayed nothing of being intoxicated (because she most likely wasn't despite her contest).
"Anya...Double s**t," Keres mumbled. How the hell the Sven had even noticed anything going on from inside that chanting hole was beyond the girl's knowledge; the woman was just hypersensitive and weird.
"Keres!" Anya repeated as she got closer, "....and... Melchizedek?" The Sven's confusion was obvious in her voice as she raised one brow and looked at the pair with her single eye. "What in hell's name are you doing, why are you wet, and-" Anya paused suddenly and thrust out one hip as she turned to Hawkiss, her arms folding under her chest, "- and who the hell are you?"
Keres' mouth fell open just slightly and she gave a side glance to Mel
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:21 pm
At least Anya had distracted Hawkiss from his initial target—Melchy was pushed aside as the Sven confronted Hawkiss. He looked at Anya and scowled a little bit, annoyed that anyone land-bound, even a strong female that held liquor better than the majority of men he knew, dared to demand anything from him.
“Frederick Hawkiss, firs’ mate on th’good ship Ghost,” he replied. “Th’get’s my responsibility if’n the Cap’n’s nowhere t’be found. Which she ain’,” he added with an arrogant toss of his head.
It was quite obvious where Melchizedek had picked up his own accent.
He looked at Keres and made a face, putting his ears back. “This isn’t going to end well,” he said decisively.
“Ye’re right.” Melchy grimaced; even those few words had attracted Hawkiss’s attention again. The man was glaring at him. “You an’ yer little lady frien’ done some rollin’ in th’sand, or whut?” he growled, and Melchizedek flushed a little bit, moving to stand between Hawkiss and Keres.
“Ain’ nothin’ of th’sort,” he snapped, baring his teeth and putting his hand on his dagger again. “You leave ‘er outta this! I was down at th’wharves, an’ we ran int’each other.”
Hawkiss looked more or less amused at Melchizedek’s fierceness. “Alrigh’ little tiger,” he said, and laughed. “So ye met by accident, then. She’s yer little frien’ though, righ’? Little sphinx-get?” Melchy nodded and growled low in his throat as a warning to Hawkiss not to say anything untoward.
Strangely enough, the man took the hint and looked at Anya. “Ye’re Anya, I knows ‘at,” he drawled. “Cap’n speaks well of ye,” he said absently, flicking a finger at Melchizedek. “Likes ye an’ yer lioncub.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Feb 21, 2008 6:21 pm
As the two pirates snorted and growled at each other, Anya and Keres just glared instead. Two gold eyes against one blue eye; battle of death, who would win?
None.
They both looked at the Hawkiss-man when each were somewhat addressed. ... and they both folded their arms and cocked an eyebrow too.
"And I like her and her boy as well," Anya replied. "Would've given ya a free drink had I known you were a part of her crew, 'cept that she's never mentioned you before." There was some sort of a comedic tartness in her voice, as well as an airyness in her last comment.
"He's annoying," Keres breathed, blocking out the adults even though her eyes were still on them... or, well, the corner's of them. She hadn't noticed until now, actually, that Melchy had moved in front of her. Tilting her head, she unfolded one arm a little and pushed him sideways by the shoulder while she moved forward a little. She didn't need protectin'!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:25 pm
Melchizedek yielded as soon as Keres pushed him, not wanting any more tangles. He'd never admit it, but he was tired, and starting to shiver a bit from the aftermath of the cold assault of the ocean. Putting his ears back at Keres' comment on Hawkiss, he shrugged. "Ain' a bad sort, though. Not usually, anyways," he added darkly, glaring at the man, who wasn't paying attention to him anyway.
"Eh, Cap'n don' speak much of 'er crew," Hawkiss said. "An' she'd prolly verbally flog me f'r acceptin' charity on account o' knowin' her." The pirate's expression had already shifted from irritated to somewhat amused, and his stance had relaxed fully. Reaching out, he grabbed Melchizedek by the shoulder and dragged him over, ignoring the boy's furious yowls and spitting. "Bes' be goin' afore Cap'n realizes that this get's gone barhopping, though," he said, giving Melchy a little shake, and dropped a neat bow. "Miss Anya, Miss Keres," he said primly, pushing Melchy into a similar bow. "Lovely meetin' the pair'o'ye. Say sumthin' nice t'the gel," he growled to Melchy. Melchy glared at him, then looked at Keres.
"Bye then, Miss Anya," he said, then looked Keres in the face. "See y'round, Keres," he said, and laughed. "I'll call ye th'next time I needs a laugh." Lashing his tail and growling slightly, he allowed Hawkiss to drag him out of the bar, fighting for good measure but honestly glad to be home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:11 pm
Anya gave a good chuckle, and then let it fade into a smile as she nodded to both Hawkiss and Melchy. "See you around, you two," she said, giving a loose, two-fingered army salute in response to their bows. "Tell Katrina I said 'Hello'.
Keres snickered behind her wet hair as she watched her friend get shoved into a bow. "Yeah, yeah. I won't even need to call you to get a laugh; I just have to envision your face and I'm all set!" she gave a small cackle, but paired it with an actual smile a couple seconds later. She watched the two pirates slosh out the door before suddenly throwing a glance at Anya.
"Aren't you gunna give me a spiel?" the child asked, a bitter tone in her voice.
"Me? Naaaaaaahh. I'll just tell Isaac what happened and let him think of some embarrassing, untruthful story to spread around about it." She gave Keres a smirk before moving towards the back of the bar. "C'mon, it'll be fun."
"UUUGGHHH!"
(( FIN. ))
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
