Snippet #2684300

Karena was relieved to be able to do something on the ship. It meant that, hopefully, she didn’t have to worry about being tossed overboard. But with one worry temporarily dealt with another one wouldn’t cease until much later, if at all. What was she going to do once the ship hit the next port? She had an idea of what she wanted to do; find out any information on Nathan and keep an eye on Jaqueline. If the captain had her leave the ship then there would be nothing left protecting her. But at this rate it seemed like she was being put to use much like Karena was.

A man entered the area and gave a slight bow. Karena glared at him, immediately recognizing him as the man that had invaded her personal space earlier. It was harassment as far as the girl was concerned. He then lay a bloody pistol on the table in front of him and smiled. Despite how hungry she was her appetite was fading due to this man’s mannerisms. Did he not know they were about to eat or how unsanitary blood actually was?

The part about pirates being barbaric seems to be true even on a ship owned by a former Navy man.

He then also placed a pouch of apples on the table after greeting Karena and offered them to eat. Accepting anything from the man would be the last thing Karena would voluntarily do. Even as he pulled one out and consumed it the girl was not coming any closer to accepting the offer. Then the man finally turned to Ren who was the only person, aside from the captain, Karena felt anywhere near comfortable with.

To say that the day and night preceding had taken what patience Ren had left was an understatement. Bad enough she had to dine in the same room as Carrington, but she was nowhere near the mood for conversation with the guy. He’d rubbed her the wrong way since she first met him, and though she’d tried to be as civil as she could, something about the man drew fire to her blood and made her stupid, like she was in the heat of battle anytime the bastard opened his mouth.

She cast a bemused glance at the pistol on the table, eyes barely shifting away to regard the apples, before looking up at the man speaking to her in such a subtle demeanor.

“Disappointed, Mr. Carrington? Would you believe me if I said I even played music for him? We’re to find the time for a duet once the ship is in proper order,” Ren said, taking a seat at the table as well, leaning back in her seat as she felt her muscles relax for the first time since she had stood at the Inn. She nearly fell asleep right then and there. Her sense of spite kept her awake, as well as a fear of letting her guard down with Carrington in the room, weak though it may be.

“Though since you’ve demanded my attention, Navigator, I wasn’t aware the Captain allowed for bloody weapons on the officer’s table. I know I certainly don’t,” She said, glaring at the man, “And I doubt Ms. Thuron or ms. Schneider here care much for it either.”

Carrington didn’t care one way or the other if they partook of his gift. He leaned back and bit into the succulent green flesh of the apple and was delighted to find that it was still fresh. The apple filled the room with it’s sweet aroma and Carrington’s stomach growled in response. Apple were certainly that food that he liked eating, but they only made him hungrier, never satisfying him in the least.

He couldn’t help but note that the younger woman simply glared at him and said nothing. He couldn’t blame her, they did not know one another, and why she was in the officer’s mess was a mystery to him. It would appear that the delightful Miss Thompson was making a great many ripples all around. Everyone had their place, everyone played their part and contributed. The Captain made them the fierce, blood letting pirates that they were. He himself improved morale across the ship, being the sort of man that managed to infuriate and give the men a laugh in equal measure and keeping the tedium at bay. Many of the others had some sort of effect on the crew themselves, and from the appearances Miss Thompson had made apparent so far, hers was devolving into violence and hostility in any situation and favoring any female she encountered.

Carrington smiled brightly in response to her first question as he placed the apple on a plate in front of him.
“Disappointed? Come now Miss Thompson, it would be most unbecoming of a fellow officer to be disappointed that ‘is fellow would be sad to see ‘er punishment cast by the wayside. The news of the duet is equally unsurprising, Nathaniel does love music. We play together as often as able.... I do ‘ope my instrument was not damaged during the fightin’...”, he replied, trailing off with a pensive look as he finished, making it clear the he was genuinely concerned about his instrument, whatever it was, being unscathed.
He shook his mind from such thoughts as Miss Thompson began speaking once more. He gave her his undivided attention as she spoke, and smiled all the more at her hostility. Some part of him hoped they would continue this until one finally snapped and killed the other. He could never imagine either of them finding common ground, but he was better at civility it would seem.

“The pistol is not mine, Miss Thomspon. It belonged to a fat pail of ofal. I believe ye may ‘ave ‘ad a part to play in the woundin’ of ‘is arm.”, Carrington replied, the sadism returning to his smile.

The Navigator slid the weapon towards the First Lieutenant and said, “You wounded ‘is pride more than any might, and I defended yer honor and ruined a mouth that would ‘ave spoken dissent towards yerself. It is your trophy ‘owever, not mine.” The look in his eyes just then was without the typical malice. Gone was the usual sadism and smarmy arrogance. His demeanor made it clear that whatever he thought of Ren herself, he was a man of the ship, and would brook no insolence from the crew, nor violence towards the officers.

“And besides…”, he continued as he stood and made his way towards a cabinet. “There ‘as been more than just a bloody pistol atop the table, and the Captain demands the very best when seated at ‘is table. So by that logic, neither of ye should be seated at it as ye are. And frankly, I do not give a damn what Thuron, and whoever Schneider is, thinks, this is not their mess, nor their home.” He indicated their bloody, dishevelled appearance and then his own, clean clothes and lack of blood, though his bruised chest still shone from beneath his shirt.

Carrington returned to the table, placing a glass in front of both women and one for himself, before filling each glass with a modest portion of wine. He raised his glass in salute and said, “To the Captain, the crew, the Acheron, and to our victory. My the waves be gentle, the winds be fair, and may we live to fight another day, or die without cowardice.” As he finished, Carrington drained his glass in one smooth motion and resumed his seat.

Karena looked at her hands at the mention of how dirty she truly was. She was drawn so much by the mention of food that she didn’t notice. She felt a tad embarrassed at the fact that she neglected to clean herself before coming to eat and even more so that someone else had to point it out. So she had to give the man, Carrington, that point. But it still didn’t come close to making Karena respect the man or even make her comfortable in his presence. At the mention of saying he didn’t know who Schneider was the girl stood up.

“I am the Schneider the lady speaks of. I’m sorry for not introducing myself properly earlier. My name is Karena Schneider.” Carrington came back with some glasses of wine and set one down in front of each of them. Karena had the pleasure of drinking wine only on rare occasions. Like, when she was invited to banquets and the like. This hardly seemed like a special occasion to drink wine but maybe pirates didn’t need any. Karena, indeed, had a lot to learn about them and their ways coming from almost no prior knowledge outside of books and stories that passed by on the occasional bartender’s lips.

Carrington made a toast to the Acheron’s recent victory as well as to the crew and drank before sitting down. Karena hesitantly picked up her glass and drank as well. Not taking the apples was one thing but to refuse to partake in a toast was similar to swiping the back of her hand to whomever was proposing the toast as well as whoever it was for. The wine wasn’t anywhere near as bad as Karena had expected it to be. But either way she didn’t plan on drinking much else than she already had. She was nowhere near comfortable to be tipsy amongst a band of thieves and strangers.

Karena sat at the same time Carrington did after taking a drink and took to thought what the man said before. That he defended Ren in her honor against the man that had struck her before. Maybe Carrington wasn’t a complete ruffian if he still had a sense of honor not only for himself but for others.

“So did the captain say what he intends to once he docks at the next port?” Karena spoke up. “If you don’t mind my asking.”

A brief grimace flashed across Ren’s face as she too looked down at her own uniform, but her hunger and fatigue prevented her from feeling the full levels of embarrassment that she normally would have felt. Even still, she shrugged briefly as she looked away from Carrington, her way of relenting the argument. The story of how Carrington came to be in possession of the aforementioned bloody pistol caught her interest, frowning as Carrington stood to get the bottle of wine. She stopped herself from immediately snapping, her inability to hold her tongue already having gotten her in plenty of trouble today, and instead stewed and mulled over the offending words.

It was true enough that Carrington had seen fit to punish a crewman that she had already seen to, albeit her punishment was no less a violation of the King’s Regulations, but she still felt that the act had undermined her own, as if her dislocation was insufficient when in fact it was calculated. He’d suffer on the spot, as well he should, but he wouldn’t be able to do much besides think of his actions till someone popped the joint back into place, which would give him a second dose of humility. Forcing him to dentures was needlessly cruel, she felt, but for once she decided to entertain Carrington’s perspective. She’d want to bust the mouth of anyone that spoke ill of another officer, true enough, though that still didn’t mean it was his place.

Ren accepted the wine with a nod, still in thought as she swirled the drink gently in its glass during the toast, giving a quiet “here here,” before drinking. The flavor brought her back to the summer garden parties her family would throw on a whim, the wine certainly not of noble vintage, but she’d honestly always hated the taste of such. Anything older than five years merely tasted of forced civility and moldy grapes to her. She took another long sip and waited for Karena’s question to be addressed before finally speaking.

“I appreciate the chivalry, Mr. Carrington, and I hope my previous tone doesn’t give you cause to doubt that sincerity, but the Captain already issued me warning about improper punishments, and I’d thank you to hold to the same standard. Particularly to crewman I’ve already reprimanded,” she said calmly, looking from her glass and back to the navigator. Her tone was measured and she was trying to choose her words carefully. Anger had gotten her nowhere with the man, and spry as she might be, she wouldn’t last a minute in a duel with the lunatic, not in her current pitiful state at least.


As Carrington resumed his seat and poured a little more wine into his glass, he looked towards the young woman once more and offered her a smile and a nod.
“Entschuldigung Frau Schneider… The fault is mine, a good officer would ‘ave introduced ‘imself from the start, but alas, it ‘as been an exceedingly long couple of days.”, he replied amiably and sipped from his glass.“We are ‘eadin’ to warmer waters, no destination yet, but I would presume we repair and restock, take on s’more crew if we find any worth a damn. Beyond that, well… I’d be remise indeed if I told a crewman more than they need know, so forgive me.” He was as friendly as could be given the circumstances, but he didn’t know the woman from a hole in the wall and would be willing to tell her nothing that any crew could figure out.

His gaze returned to Miss Thompson as she spoke, suppressing a smile as she, surprisingly, took on a measured, civil tone with him. He might have laughed it he wanted to provoke her, but now was not the time. They weren’t alone, and he was certain Frau Schneider would leap in to help Miss Thompson if they came to blows. He was significantly larger than either of them, but two woman would have the upper hand in the cramped mess they found themselves in, and all three were wounded and exhausted, he himself slightly intoxicated.

Carrington did smile as Ren finished speaking and nodded in agreement.
“Nathaniel ‘as told me much before, said I’m often too ‘eavy handed, but a cur never learns unless ya rub their nose in shit… As the saying goes. I merely took the liberty because I knew the man would seek revenge against ye, and I could not stand by and let something like that occur, Lieutenant.”

Karena was pleasantly surprised at Carrington knowing any German. It had been quite sometime since she had heard her native tongue. He then answered her question ending that he could not give her anymore information due to her position as a crewman. She was barely even considered crew so she completely understood not being told more detailed information. She often got the same type of briefing from the people that hired her for jobs. Telling her just enough of what was necessary. In response to Carrington’s information, Karena simply nodded as Ren started speaking to him.

As the two spoke Karena felt as if she were looking at two leads in a play and she was the audience. There was a definite flame between the two. A burning flame. The one that would normally cause destruction if left unchecked. Karena would just keep her distance if she saw these two interact each other. She wouldn’t want to be caught in the crossfire. It wasn’t her problem and Karena learned, vicariously, that getting caught up in other people’s issues could get you killed.