The Queen of Hearts (Buttpirates)

[Miss Ennui]

Far from the mayhem and madness that the newly-formed motley crew was embroiled in, Marie Reynard stood on the docks in a sea-crusted dress. By the virtue of the intense midday sun, the fabric had mostly dried, but the saltwater had caused the material to become crusty and stiff. If she were able to afford it, Marie would have tossed the dress off and bought a new one.

Considering the fact that she'd just lost her job - that was not an option. She glared at nothing and flumped down on a nearby barrel, ignoring the way her dress made odd, crunching noises as she did so. A passing sailor whistled at her. She flipped him off.

What was she supposed to do now? She had no money and no belongings, and only through sheer luck was she still alive. It was the only good thing Daddy Reynard had done for her - give her swimming lessons, that is. Although it was considerably more difficult in full skirts.  

[Amazon]

The unlikely duo managed to follow and catch up to the rest of the crew, partially by Leon's local knowledge and partially sheer dumb luck.

Finally they sauntered up. Leon had slung a casual arm over Allen's shoulders while drinking from the pilfered wine with the other. The blonde looked a slight bit nervous, holding his meager bag of possessions tightly to his chest.

"Ah! Mon capitain! We have survived the riot and prospered greatly!" Grinning he raised the wine bottle in salute as they approached.

"I dropped my ink pot." Was all Allen could think of to say. He seemed genuinely upset at its loss.  

[Felixitous]

Cole patted Allen shoulder and gave him a reassuring grin. "Oh, come now, I'm sure we can find you a new one. I doubt they're hard to come by." He hadn't done much writing for years, aside from his bi-yearly letter to his mother. Speaking of which, he'd have to write one early--there was much to tell her.

Amalia rolled her eyes and looked at them all. "We'd best get to the ship before anything else happens." She didn't care that it was essentially her fault.

They passed Marie on their way to the Queen, and Amalia's glance lingered just a second too long. She smiled and continued on, though now embroiled in thought. Ah, pretty women. They were her weakness.

She turned and started walking toward her. She felt she had a good eye for sailors, and a better one for women, and she liked what she saw.

She sauntered up to her and smiled. "What's a pretty thing like you doin' sittin' in those rags?" She extended and hand politely. "If you're down on your luck, come along. I work on that ship, just over there, and we rather need all the help we can get."  

[Princess Pachabel]

Beside himself with anxiety that hadn't left his body, the little blonde directed the energy at tugging his sleeves. They seemed to have gained about an inch in length. His normally chatty mouth was pressed tightly closed. Talking would only increase his chances of summoning trouble, he believed.

Much to his relief, the traveling circus moved onwards - but only slightly. Odd, a pretty girl should capture the attention of Amalia, and before any of the boys. The girl was pretty, but Amalia gave off the feeling that she was a suitor. Ah well, better her arms around a woman than a huge drunk man with a broken bottle in his hand.

Jack waited, slightly less anxies now that they were farther from the pub, but his eyes still darted wildly.  

[Amazon]

As they walked Leon pointed out various ships to Allen. "Look at that one, Dutch, three masts. A good model but worn around the edges. I'd think twice about sailing 'er. You ever been sailing, mon ami?"

The blonde shrugged. "Once or twice as a passenger, never like this."

The Frenchman smiled and gave his shoulder a pat. "Don't worry, I'll look out for you. Et les petits aussi." He nodded towards their smaller crewmates.


((I got nothing))  

[Felixitous]

((I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY.))

Cole smiled. "I'm sure you'll do fine. It isn't too hard. I think. I've grown up on ships like this one." He smiled as he stepped aboard, already so far gone doting over his ship that he didn't notice the absence of the mocking tone next to him.

A small ways away, Amalia did not wait for an answer. "Come along, the ship's waiting. I fear if we dawdle much longer, we'll never leave this port. Cole and I--that is, the captain--we aren't liked very well." Not that it mattered. She was perfectly fine without men fawning over her and women dropping into Cole's arms. It had happened once, on an island apparently filled with very dense people. That each had been wearing the others' clothes made that fact very clear.  

[Princess Pachabel]

Jack hurried past the others onto the ship, his anxiety having been replaced by excitement. It was almost too much for his little heart to handle. He ran up down the deck, touching and exploring and ultimately falling in love with the ship right then and there.

"What's her name, Captain?" Jack asked dreamily whilst imagining what she looked like when all the sails were opened.  

[Felixitous]

A grin unlike any the others had witnessed spread slowly across Cole's lips. "This, my dear boy, is the Queen of Hearts."

((I'M GOING TO SKIP AHEAD A BIT IF EVERYONE'S OK WITH THAT.))  

[Amazon]

(Please do. Short posts are fine, but I got nothing in mind and nothing in particular to work with)  

[Princess Pachabel]

[Fine with me!]  

[Felixitous]

((Whoa, didn't realize anyone had posted :B All righty, time to skip or something! Also, I think Frau may have left Gaia altogether, so for the time being, I'm going to pretend that her characters are all onboard and effectively ignore them.))

It didn't take long for the crew to set sail. Every now and then, Cole would take a look at his map, make a notation on a spare bit of paper, then flip it around a few times, make another notation, and repeat. Amalia was manning all the stations currently unoccupied. She sat in the crow's nest looking bored. Lookout was the most terribly boring job when you didn't want it. Still, it was better than most other positions, particularly where the health of the crew was involved. As a cook, for example, she burned everything, even when a fire was nowhere to be found, and there was the slightest taste of tuna in almost all of her dishes--except, of course, those that contained tuna.

At some point, though, something caught her eye, something big and certainly not meant to be there.

"Somethin' ahead, Cap'n!" she yelled. However, Cole never heard her for the sound of the waves crashing against the sides of the Queen.

A thick, leathery dome of a head began rising from the dark water in front of the ship. At first glance, they thought it was an octopus, but no. It was too big, too far from its normal habitat. It was something much worse.

It hit the side of the ship, sending it rocking to the side. Cole started shouting orders, but was drowned out. Amalia tried to help, and eventually tied down the small members and went for the harpoons.

((Sorry for...whatever this is XD I figured something fun needed to happen. Feel free to run with it.))  

[Amazon]

Allen was starting to settle in to his little room. It was cozy to say the least, but it had a small desk built into the wall he could use for all his charts, inks, and calculations. Next to it was a small worn chest he was busy filling with his meager possessions, each item placed neatly and lovingly in its proper space.

The gentleman scholar was still having doubts. Doubts about the crew, doubts about the new career, doubts about boats and sailing in general. Though at the end of the day, he resigned himself to a simple fact: what other choice did he have? At least here he wouldn't starve to death or be killed in some back alley. No, said a snide little thought in the back of his mind, you'll just get killed on the deck of a ship. Isn't that better?

He was trying to shake off that nasty little thought when the boat lurched violently to the side, tossing the blonde off his feet and up against the wall. Allen hissed in pain and righted himself as quick as he could.

What was going? Fearing some sort of attack, he grabbed his rapier and ran out of the room.

~~

Leon was at home once more. He was a sailor through and through, and only at sea did he feel truely content. Most of the crew had been a bit quiet, but that would change soon enough. Besides, they'd gotten under way with hardly a fault. That alone was enough to keep the frenchman content.

He had been busy mending some rope on deck when the first cries of alarm were raised. Habit taking over, he tossed aside the rope and grabbed the pistol at his waist. "What is going on?"

Whatever it was, it rocked the boat well and Leon quickly grabbed the railing to keep his balance.

"Mon dieu!" He gasped once he had a look at the beast in the dark waters below. All his years and he'd never seen anything like that.

"Good Lord." Came a stunned voice next to him. "It's a kraken."

Leon looked over at Allen who was standing, completely shocked. "They're not supposed to exist."

Time to take charge before that thing rocked the boat again. "Tell that to him. Come on, this way." The Frenchman had entered auto pilot. There was a mythical beast attacking their ship and they were all quite likely to die. Best get on that, eh?

Leon led the way to where a couple harpoons were kept in a chest on deck. He grabbed a couple, tucking on under his arm for later use. "Bon, I'm going to go throw, you stand clear, oui? Stay above deck and watch your footing."

The blonde nodded as Leon took off at a run. Good lord, he really was going to try and throw a harpoon at that behemoth. It wouldn't work, not a chance. It was simply too big, too powerful. There had to be something he could do, something...

His eyes settled on one of the cannons. Yes! Allen ignored the orders to stay out of the way and began to run across the deck.  

[Felixitous]

In her search for the harpoons, Amalia tripped headfirst over her shirts, knocking her head against the sharp metal point of one of the harpoon heads. She hissed something in her native tongue before ripping them off and tossing them aside, baring strong legs used to rough seas. She spun and grabbed the harpoons, barely noticing the blood until it trickled into her eye. She cussed it and tromped on, grabbing Cole on the way.

"Didn't you see this coming?" she yelled angrily, shoving a harpoon in the cannon Allen was headed for. Cole got away from her and grabbed another cannon that was trying to roll away, having gotten loose of a particularly rotted bit of rope.

"The map didn't say it would be this big!" he shouted in return as she rammed another harpoon into the cannon. The pair moved on to the next repeating the process in silence as the salty spray wet their hair and clothes.

Amalia looked at Allen, stern and commanding. "Fire at will!"  

[Amazon]

(is someone else going to post or should I go ahead?)  

[Felixitous]

((I'll message Lambie and see if she's alive, but in the meantime, I'd go ahead.))