Edward Greaves's Story

Frederick had begun climbing down when he heard Edward's taunting. Given he was a few moments older, he often got that side of jokes; he, in turn, pretended Edward was still a child. Though he felt justified given some of his more immature pursuits. "At least I know which way is up," he calls back down to the man. It was something of a half-assed response, given he in actuality didn't much care for the idea of falling.

Having set his feet on solid ground again, he looks towards the Spire; they were approaching it at a steady pace, though it was apparently too slow for Lorraine. She had apparently convinced the Knight to take her down upon his Wyvern, and she was telling Edward this would be the case.

A twinge of annoyance flickers across Frederick's face. The woman had been freed from slavery and acted as if she owned everything already. Frederick had never been much of a jealous man- with a brother like his, he simply couldn't afford to be- but seeing her lavish such attention on a mere Knight, Skyborne though he may be, got him annoyed to a degree.

Still. He didn't wish to try undermining his brother's authority, relatively fledgling as it was. He would simply need to have a good talk with Lorraine after the fact.

"Cut engine power," he then bellows to the crew. "Prepare for docking!"

Receiving the second slap as expected, Cyrus turns his face to stare down at the perplexing woman. Apparently their time together was as enjoyable for her as it had been for him, though they hadn't spoken much of it during his visits. Something about her praise made him swell with pride, taking pleasure in the prowess he had exhibited.

It was as she made note of the new paint on his armor that he, too, noticed it for the first time. She was covered in it of course, but Cyrus hadn't really noticed it- just the woman underneath. And now, his armor had some rather suggestive looking smudges on it.

Looking back up at her, he gives her a rather blank expression. Something something you, you something crazy. She was perhaps calling him crazy. He hadn't really followed much of the language that dripped from her tongue like warm honey, just the feeling behind them.

But, she had requested he take her down to the city, where she would 'make it worth his while.' Intriguing a prospect as that was, the Skyborne were demanded to be on full alert, and duty, no matter his interests, would always come first.

Then again, if the Magistrate was fine with it, he had no objections.

So, he simply looks towards the man and waits, standing as firm and ready as he had since stepping off of his mount, which was curled up on the comparatively small deck.



Martellus didn't seem to know what to think of his discourse with the Magistrate. On the one hand, respect was demanded; on the other, the man seemed completely adverse to being respected. He had demanded that his informal name be used, offered the on-duty Knight spirits, and whispered a rather illicit phrase to him, not to mention mocking another Magistrate.

It was a bit much for the devout Martellus to take in, but, as he was a Magistrate, he follows every word. "Very well, Edward. My thanks upon you. Fighting alongside your powerful vessels will be an honor and a boon, to be sure," he says, taking the rum and drinking a small amount. He pauses, the powerful drink affecting his senses quickly, but he doesn't cough or attempt to regurgitate it.

"A Fine vintage," he says, as dutifully as he would to any Magistrate offering him a drink. He then switches topics. "Perhaps you should simply exert your authority over her, if she is your property?" He was somewhat dull and unimaginative, at least in appearances, but that was simply how one must be in the presence of a Magistrate.

Edward was tempted to hoist the black flag and turn his ship right around. The pirate raised a hand to rap twice on the leather gorget, making sure his brother saw. It was a brotherly gesture between them, a signal, they used to stay awake on their fathers airship and communicate though knocking on the wall between their bedrooms, they'd invented an entire alphabet of knocks.

Edward turned to face Martellus and grinned again. "It's got gunpowder in it, matey. Far more a kick than your pansy wines." The pirate took another swig, gulping greedily and then strapping it to his belt. "I'd hit her, but it just don't sit right with me." The magistrate laughed, a loud booming laugh with a tuneless haha to it.

Edward would move to drape an arm around the knight's shoulder and gesture towards Iracot with his free arm. "From Rhylie, to Iracot, to the high skies. That's where we belong, matey." Edward laughed again. "Har, listen to me mate. You don't need to lick my boots, or treat me like some king or queen, that's for her.' The pirate gestured towards Lorraine. "An' er'." The pirate gestured towards the God-Queen's castle.

"Me and you, matey. We're men, you don't owe me anything, and I don't owe you jack o' all shit, Marty." Edward grinned and would then attempt to swagger over to Lorraine with his new 'friend'. "You ain't gonna ask me, woman. My brotha' is the one you want to ask, keeping it between me and you." Edward looked between both knights and then Lorraine.

"He's the jealous type. You better make way for Frederick." The pirate lifted his arms up, half-danced his way towards Cyrus and laid a single finger on the smudged armor. "Otherwise, I'd have to hit you both hard enough to send you forward a couple of weeks, a little abuse didn't hurt anyone right?" Edward added, his voice dripping with malice and his smile was replaced with a ominous thin line.

Then there was a loud laugh, the smile reappeared and the pirate danced away a few meters. "I'm just fooling you, swabs, do whatever you want with the crew or what we own, who am I stand in the way of true love?" The pirate spun rather elegantly on the spot, half-bowed and nearly dropped the bottle of rum he held in his hand.

"Drink?" He said, offering the three his bottle.

Lorraine was not amused by Edward's antics. First he had said they'd have to ask Frederick, who surely would have said no, and then he told them they could leave. The woman was trying so very hard to keep up her act of the lustful woman with Cyrus. There was a very serious reason why she needed to be on the ground and soon.

There was a package Lorraine needed to pick up. A very valuable one. Priceless. And she had informed the both of them this but apparently they had forgotten. Lorraine never told them what it was but she did stress on the fact that there was no other like it left in the world. It was the last true treasure left in Viridian, and possibly Althaea.

Lorraine scolded Edward with a look and then glanced over at Frederick. Her facade of the doting woman was broken for that split second as she looked between the two Magistrates. Hopefully that made them understand the reason she was acting like a lovesick child.

"Zee Magistrates 'ave given us permission," Lorraine chimed, taking Cyrus's arm. "We go. Now!" she barked at him, tugging him toward his mount.

"Very well then," Cyrus replies, somewhat unsurely. He didn't question it, given the man was a Magistrate, but then he was still made somewhat curious by Lorraine's rather... forward, eager stance. He didn't really understand it.

It was irrelevant, however. "By your leave then, Magistrate." Turning towards the other Brother, Frederick, he bows his head. "And yours, Magistrate. Martellus shall remain to guard your vessels, while I guard your..." he pauses, uncertain of the proper term to use for the woman; concubine would certainly offend somebody. "Friend," he finishes lamely.

With Lorraine grasping his arm, he pulls her close to him and climbs deftly up the side of his Wyvern; it growls and howls briefly before he puts the spurs to it. It was not used to other passengers, much less those who smelled so... feral.

With a final salute to the men around him, and with Lorraine held around the waist in front of him, he spurs his steed into the sky.

For any other woman, it would have been rather exhilarating, being held by a Knight whilst riding one of the fiercest creatures in the realm. For Lorraine, it may have been less interesting. Cyrus was not usually a man to flaunt his skills- and time seemed to be of the essence to Lorraine- but he could not resist urging his mount into a few tight banks and minor tricks while flying down through the spires and structures of the Guilds Ward.

He had a relative idea of where the Magistrate's quarters were in the Guilds Ward, namely, around the Spire. He regretted he would have to tell her he was unable to stay... but, perhaps she would be willing to reschedule.


Martellus seemed somewhat out of his element, left on the ship with the Brothers and their crews. He accepted another drink, rather quietly, before handing the bottle back.

He was not at all used to a Magistrate practically telling him to be a buddy. For the proper Knight, that was a rather difficult concept. "M'l... Edward," he says, frowning slightly. "You recognize it is... untoward for a Knight to consort so with a Magistrate on a personal level. Not that I would deny you, of course, but I am out of my element." God-queen bless him, he was at least trying.

Edward wasn't one too be fooled by the charming and the knight's own attempts to be subtle. The pirate ignored it however, it wasn't his business to get too involved in this complicated backstabbing, charming and fucking. Edward liked to do the stabbing from the front, at the very last moment. It was part of being a pirate, not that he was much of one anymore. The captain gave them a lazy wave and walked up the deck, dancing out out of the way with his arms up as to not collide with any of the crew, signalling Martellus to follow him. "Well y'see matey. Not much use for sir and all that pig shit they tell you about respect up here, that's gonna lead to a mutiny. Not that'd any of the crew would do it up here, mind ya'." Edward said, grinning that smile of his.

The wards, he didn't need to worry much about them. If the wards went down and everything went to pig shit. Edward and his crew would do the only thing the other magistrates expected of him, cut his losses, loot, pillage, rape and murder his way out of the city and cut his losses. Just like any self-respecting pirate, that's what he and his brother would do right? Edward thought deeply then shook his head. The pirate coudn't do that anymore, that type of reckless thinking had him chased around the Rhylie Seas. It was time to act sensible and stick to this deal to the end, even if it was only for one person.

The Joint Magistrate cut his thinking short, turning his head up and booming up at his brother.

"Brotha'! How long till dockin'?"

Frederick had been watching the descending Wyvern for a few moments when Edward's words broke him out of his trance. Looking towards the man, he strides to the edge of the helm deck and looks down at his brother.

"Shortly," he replies, gesturing towards the Spire, which was looming on their bow now. Then, he shouts to the rest; "All hands, throw on the ropes! Pull us into dock!" He'd had quite enough waiting for one day. Jumping down lithely next to his Brother and the Knight, presuming he followed as instructed, Frederick gives the latter a nod of respect before turning to Edward. "We've got to attend a meeting," he says. "I hadn't wanted to tell you, lest you decide to leave, but all the Magistrates are to convene for a conference. I haven't been made privy to the specifics, but I'm sure it will be quite boring."

He shrugs, and sighs, looking out across the sky. "I miss it already," he remarks idly.

Edward choked on the rum he was drinking. "You mean, that the rest of your magistrate friends interrupt sky flying for..." The pirate sighed. "I get to smuggle rum in, right?" Frederick looks at the Knight and then back at Edward. He supposed the Knight may not care particularly, but he didn't know who else might be filling his pockets- and the other Magistrates probably wouldn't appreciate the news that they had a slightly illegitimate smuggling operation going. He was about to tell Edward not to speak so boldly of it, before he realized he meant smuggle rum into the meeting. "Oh, of course. Bring all the rum you like, I'm sure some of the tight suits would love it. Or they may be repulsed, which would be far more amusing."

The Kennel Dog's helmsman twirled the wheel like it was a woman, quick and dirty, using all the cheap tricks to handle the torque of the ropes pulling. Edward didn't move to join his ship, saluting his brother and striding across the ship to stop short of Martellus with a quick smile and signaled his crew to leap over to the their own ship.

The crew moved as fast and efficient as a crew of drunkards could, pulling the ropes of the Kennel Dog and pulling the black flag down into the cabin, twirling various items on the deck and parting their ways with the crew of the Bereaved Welcome.

"Marty, t'was a pleasure meetin' ya'." The pirate delivered him a devilish grin as the crew of the Kennel Dog pulled the hooks from the side of their ship and the helmsman twirled the wheel and Edward's ship. The two fearsome predators of the sky suddenly disembarked from each other and the Kennel Dog dropped down suddenly, disappearing under the Welcome.

The magistrate carelessly threw Martellus his tricorne and stepped off the ship.

There was a loud clang from the ship below them and the Kennel Dog shot upwards at full-sail. The magistrate certainly wasn't dead, Edward was hanging off the metal ram, a hand hanging onto a rope and looked as careless as a man arguing with his wife, even though there was a drop that would kill anything below him.

Edward faced Martellus from his perch, delivering him a mocking salute with his free hand, one hand was all he needed to hang for dear life. It was now a race to the Spire, something the Kennel Dog excelled in as it shot forward to beat it's brother ship to the dock.

"Now where'd I put that rum..."

Frederick stares blankly at Edward as he walks off the deck onto his own ship... in a manner of speaking. He sighs, rubbing his forehead. His brother's antics were always a bit... eccentric. Especially given he was already pulling his ship into dock, Edward would essentially be going full-speed away from the Spire, until they could get it turned about.

"Edward," he shouts, allowing his men and Martellus to pull them alongside the Spire. "I think you lost!" With a smirk on his face, he looks towards the Spire proper.

It was magnificent, something their Father had put into construction, and Frederick had finished... with a bit of not-entirely-legal assistance from Edward. The whole thing was more or less a trade hub for the Guilds, outside the Trade District, where they could barter in their own services without paying tribute to the other Magistrates.

Edward's contribution was in security. Namely, a few guards here and there, and traps for some of the higher-value areas... and break-away cannon hiding holes all over the damn thing. It was that which had given him the idea for his Begreaved Welcome.

"Well done Martellus," he says, as the ship collides with the buffers at the top of the Spire. "And well done, Men!"

The rest of the crew didn't seem entirely fond of Martellus' assistance, but they were at least appreciative of the lesser load.