The Queen of Hearts (Buttpirates)

[Felixitous]

Cole sighed. "I'll be frank. As of now, payment is in time on the ship, food and lodging. We sold everything we had to buy our ship. By the way, 'we' is myself and this lady here, Amalia, my close associate." The stout Latina woman stepped out from behind him, fists on her hips and a stern look on her face. She surveyed them like a huntress and walked around them a moment, then sighed, relaxing slightly. "They'll do, Cole."

The captain nodded and looked at them. "I am Damien Cole, captain of the Queen of Hearts, the dazzling mahogany ship gleaming in the harbor toward your lefts." He bowed once and stood again, an adventurous gleam in his eye. "As I said, payment is currently scarce, but I can assure you, it won't stay that way long. I am not a trader. I can show you my dear, yet empty vessel, if you wish. We'll even disarm."

Amalia's eyes widened at this, and she waved her hands to try and stop him, but it was too late. Cole was much like a large stone on a hill--impossible to stop by ordinary means.

((Oh god, such corny lines. I'm so tired right now ><))  

[Princess Pachabel]

[Corny is good!]

Jack looked over Amalia the way she did him. She was quite pretty, especially since she looked nothing like the local women. Her demeanor, though, gave Jack the impression of a mother or headmistress - neither of which he had good experiences with. Jack decided it was best to keep his distance until he gathered more about her.

Pulling his eyes off Amalia, Jack considered the pirate's words carefully. If he was completely truthful, which Jack thought he was so far, then he would eventually be paid, and would always have food and a palce to sleep. Not to mention adventure on the high seas. It sounded like a pretty good deal. However, Jack had doubts about his new friend - that is how Jack saw Anton, anyhow, though he didn't even know his name yet...

"Let me consult my comrade," Jack replied with a tone of utmost importance. He turned to Anton and gave him a questioning look.

"Answer yes or no, or just shake your head. Do you have a home to be getting back to?" he asked, rather slowly. Jack couldn't trail him along if he had a home, family, or something else binding him to the land.  

[Miss Ennui]

"Nyet," Anton said in a low voice. There was nothing for him back home, except for a dying farm. He had gone all this way, on foot mostly, and now that he was here - now that he could even smell the ocean on the breeze - that was only one place he was going to go.

The tall exotic-looking man had been joined by an equally tall very, very short exotic looking woman, and Anton did not bother to hide the fact that he was staring openly. Nobody looked like that in Russia.

"Who is man?" he asked, although he could already make a good guess. This man was a captain, and if Anton was lucky, he was looking for crew. Anton felt his heart beat wildly in excitement. Was this, perhaps, what they called fate?

((continuing on the corny train!))  

[Felixitous]

((Ha, so glad no one minds horribly corny stuff XD And Frau, I don't know if I mentioned it, but Amalia's actually pretty short, about 5'2". She and Cole look funny walking together XD))

Cole sighed. "This is getting rather droll, and I'd like to set sail before the day is through, which means I'll need to do more crew-hunting. I'll let you two deliberate. Find my ship when you're ready, or come to the pub. We're likely to be at either place." He bowed again and turned on his heel, Amalia in tow. Crew-hunting was so boring.  

[Princess Pachabel]

As Jack watched the two leave, a feeling of gratefulness washed over him. He wanted time to say goodbye to what he had called home for so long. After all, who knew when he'd see it again? That, and he had Anton to worry about - Jack had no idea what "nyet" meant, but he was hoping it meant "no". Jack couldn't imagine what would happen to a teenage foreigner who knew little English. If one trader or sodomist didn't get him, another would.

"Listen, that guy is the captain of a ship. He's looking for a crew. You in?" Jack explained, hoping he had done so simply enough.  

[Miss Ennui]

((Ack, sorry! I'm a retard who doesn't know how to read, or something. I changed the post.))

"Ahh..." Anton said calmly, taking in and processing what the other boy had said. So, his hunch had been right. That man was the captain of a ship and was hiring...hiring...suddenly, it sunk in.

"Ahhhhh!" he yelled, louder. "Sheep!" his head darted quickly back and forth between where the man had walked off and Sherry. "That man...! He has sheep? We must go to him!"

Feeling confident now that he had some direction, Anton took the other boy's hands and tried to pull him towards the same way Cole and Amalia had walked.

"Sherry, we must go!"

((Anton can't pronounce ship, apparently.))  

[Princess Pachabel]

[XD it's cute, especially since I love sheep!]

"Huh? Sheep?... ohhhh, ship!" Jack replied after some computing. "Yes, that's right! A ship- WHOA! Hey now!" He was glad Anton understood what he meant, but his mini-celebration was cut off by the insistant pulling.

"Whoa, calm down. We have time! Relax!" Jack exclaimed as he dug his heels in the ground to stop himself. "Okay look. I'll leave you with them, and meet back with you later, okay? And it's Cherie, not Sherry," Jack explained. He decided it would be a better idea to leave his friend with the captain and lady rather than tote him around town. Their heads still barely in sight, Jack ran after Cole and Amalia before they disappeared, now pulling Anton.

"HEEEEEEY! WAAAAIIIIIIT!" he cried, obviously to the turning heads and curious looks.  

[Miss Ennui]

"What is difference?" Anton said, the complexities of proper enunciation eluding the Russian boy.

Nevertheless, he was grinning as he ran with Jack, holding tightly onto the younger boy's hand. Things were looking up; he had found friendly folk and possibly a ship. Anton's spirits were high.

((bleh, short short post.))  

[Felixitous]

((We're all guilty of them sometimes. That's why this guild was born, to allow for such things!))

Cole looked back at the barely-familiar voice, raising one neatly groomed eyebrow. "Amalia, I do believe we're being chased by two young boys."

"The two you just hired, all willy-nilly?"

"Yes, those."

"Then let them run. The exercise will do them good."

She took Cole's arm and led him along the street. She wasn't overly fond of children, as she saw these two boys to be. She hoped they exceeded her expectations.

Cole, on the other hand, had none. To him, they were in no place to be picky. Besides, two strapping young men seemed like great ideas to him.  

[Princess Pachabel]

Having no time to reply to Anton, Jack was surprised to see Cole and Amalia running!
What? he thought. Not that he was out of shape, but Jack had had enough running today and he didn't know about Anton. Nevertheless, he kept pace.

Several reasons occured to Jack for them to be running. One, they had done something illegal and had to get out as fast as possible, in which case would mean he and Anton would have to go aboard now. Two, it was a game. This wasn't particularly a fun game for Jack, indicated by his angry huffing.

To the common people, people running and having someone run after them wasn't a good sign. Many parted out of their way, but some didn't, and that made everything much more difficult. Jack was experienced at running through crowds. It was running after somebody while trailing someone along that seemed like a losing battle.  

[Miss Ennui]

"Whaaa!" Anton cried as they suddenly broke out into a full run. Why was the captain-man running from them? Didn't he want them on his ship?

He let Jack lead the way, and they twisted and turned through the crowds and around corners of buildings, in and out of alleyways. Anton held tightly onto the other boy, afraid of getting lost again.

It seemed the older pair was always just out of reach, just barely within their sights. They made a sharp turn around another corner and --

"This is...dead end." Anton pointed out helpfully. He looked left, and then right. They had run straight into a closed alleyway. The pirate captain and the woman were nowhere in sight.  

[Felixitous]

Amalia had stopped to snicker. They'd lost the boys. "They seem less capable than you thought," she said, but Cole wasn't listening.

"The map says go back seventeen and a half paces." He looked serious, looking behind them.

Amalia frowned. "That damned map--"

"Seventeen and a half paces."

She sighed and let him go. "Fine. Seventeen and a half. You count though, I'd rather not look like a loon."

Cole began stepping backwards, counting patiently in his head as his companion followed. He stopped at one-half past seventeen and found he was at the mouth of an alley that ended with a brick wall and two young boys with hearts set on adventures.

"We didn't lose you, there, did we?" he called out, his devilish grin plastered on once more. "Come, come lads, the Queen is this way."  

[Princess Pachabel]

[I'm going on vacation tomorrow, so the next time I'll be able to reply is the 15th or there after. Sorry! crying ]

Anton's words hit Jack the same time the frustration did. How did they get to a dead end? He knew this palce like the back of his hand! We were behind them, I know it! Jack put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath, while trying to think of where Cole and Amalia could've gone.

It was just as Jack was running the routes through his head that he heard a semi-familiar voice. He looked up only to see the object of their chase.
"Hmm!" was all Jack could say, tired and still upset from having lost them. He didn't want to ask them just yet why they had run in the first place.

Obediantly, Jack walked towards them, his breathing almost back to normal.  

[Miss Ennui]

((Tyne, I feel the need to tell you that I am like totally in love with Cole. That is all.))

Anton started at the sound of people approaching behind them (after the morning's events, his mind had inextricably linked alleyways with danger), but his panic turned to delight at the sight of the pirates they had been chasing after in the first place.

He bounded forward like a happy puppy ahead of Jack, and stuck his hand in front of the man.

"I am Anton Tarasov. I am being help for you!" he announced happily.  

[Felixitous]

((Hee, glad you like him <3 Which reminds me, I drew this forever ago and forgot to link you guys to it: Click.))

Cole smiled and shook Anton's hand. "Yes, I believe you will. Both of you, in fact." The map tucked in his waistband had a way of knowing these things.

Amalia sighed and kicked Cole. "Come on, then. We've got to be looking for more. Four people can't sail a ship, no matter how skilled they may or may not be." She grabbed her skirts and hiked them up to walk along the dusty street, headed for the pub. If nothing else, she needed a stiff drink.