Sailing the Seven Seas *Starting/Not Accepting**

Maybe>> Not yet! Later! Ask first... .____.

Captain Clare Davies:

'Twas nearly midnight out when there was a knock at the Captain's door. Her eyes lifted from the papers she'd been studying on her desk and she looked over at the door. There usually weren't too many interruptions this late at night, so she narrowed her eyes.
She had on her bedclothes; a silver silken bed-dress that hugged her athletic figure, and her bare feet touched the cold ground as she walked over to the door. The cold of the floor sent shivers up her spine.
She swung the door open, her expression hardening at the sight of Mela and Ryker.
"What is it?" She snapped, letting her long blonde hair loose from the tight ponytail she'd tied it into. The hair gently cascaded onto her shoulders and back, and she shook it out and ran her hand through the golden locks, awaiting her answer.
Mela mumbled something unintelligible, and then Ryker piped up, "Mela needs new pants...hers are, uh, ripping..."
Mela cut in. "I was just wondering if you happened to have an extra pair of pants to hold me over until we get to port."
Clare's cold stare turned into a tired gaze and she nodded, "We won't be stopping at port for awhile, so ye best get two pairs out of the closet."
The Captain ushered Mela inside, and Ryker tried to follow.
"Eh, what do you need, boy?" The Captain's eyes flickered.
"Nothing," he chuckled and walked away, waiting for Mela.
Clare shut the door and went over to sit at her desk once again, consumed in the papers. She barely heard Mela leave with the two pairs of pants because she was so consumed in the battle plans.

Mela

As soon as I caught sight of Ryker, I slapped him so hard his head snapped completely to the left and a scarlet handprint was left on his cheek. I smirked, but scowled again.

"You are such a-- gah!" I hissed, throwing my hands up.

"I'm such a what?"

"Nothing."

I climbed onto the ropes, satisfied with the way my new pants fit. I hung onto the rope tightly and stretched over the ocean, catching a little of the breeze. After indulging myself a bit, I slithered around, knotting and tugging so our speed picked up a tad.

Ryker was still whining, so I shouted, "Oh, shut ya trap and get movin'!" from my place tied between three ropes and continued climbing around.

Oy. That boy was a piece o' work, he was.

Grace sat with me while I ate today. It was quiet. I knew she was thinking about the same thing I was thinking about. Suddenly, I turned to her. "I don't think it was a mistake, okay?"
She looked up at me with surprise, then looked at her hands. "I want to think it was a mistake, but I can't. For some reason I just can't."
"Well," I said. "It's not like we can actually be in a relationship. We're of different classes of human."
She nodded. "Right, of course. I mean, you are so much richer than me. Of course," she shook her head as if to clear her mind.
Sadly, I put my hand on her shoulder. She shied away. She actually believed that I thought I was better than her.
"I was reffering to you," I admitted softly. "You're the higher class."
Once again, she looked surprised.
Stop, I told myself. You're confusing her. You're treating her like one of your games. And she's not a game.
Slowly, I stood up, stretching my legs. "I'd best be off now, and you'd best be off, too." Jokingly, I held up my water pail. "Duty calls."

I walked out, and ten seconds later slipped a note down to her that it was safe to come out. She took it. I thought about her for the rest of the day.

Quinn

His attempts to lighten the mood fall flat. "Okay, I'll figure out a way to hide you in my quarters, and I'll tell you tomorrow. And...there's a bucket right there, you know," I say, pointing.

"What does the bucket have to do with anything?!"

"You said you needed to...nevermind," I huff. Where in my quarters could I keep him? Under my bed? In my closet? Wait...oh wow, Quinn! I slap myself in the forehead.

"What?" asks Jex, seeing my frustrated expression.

"I am such an idiot. You know, I have a tin bathtub I don't use and keep in the corner. It's covered with a cloth. If you stay in my room, doors locked at all times, you can hide in there if anyone comes. Which probably won't happen. No one comes in there but me!" I look over at Jex. "Well, what do you think?"

He frowns. "How will I get there?"

"During practice I can 'forget' my sword and have to run back to get it. The entire crew will be at the front of the ship, it will be easy to avoid them!"

JEX

I grinned, already excited. I was finally going to get out of the pit! "Sounds like a plan!" I was getting happier already, Quinn seemed to cheer me up quite a bit. Much better in this stupid closet with her than in the bottom of the ocean, that was for sure.

That and she was pretty... Okay, so that was a bit of an odd thing to think... I thought. Well, she was, even with her guyish appearance. My thoughts suddenly drifted back to Rosa and I swallowed, trying to focus on the fact that I was out of the closet in a very short time.

I turned to face the wall in front of me, trying to focus on anything that wasn't Rosa. No need to start blubbering again, especially when I should be happy. I eyed Quinn without turning my head, grinning lopsidedly. "I suppose I've gotten used to sleeping on the floor anyways. Do I at least get a pillow?"

Quinn

Did I say sleep on the floor? "You sleep in the bathtub with my sheets and pillow," I tell him, "and I get the mattress."

Jex eyes me, concern on his face. "Won't you get cold?" he asks. I nod and shrug.

"If you want the mattress and sheets, I can take the bathtub and pillow." He's uncomfortable in this closet; I'm not making him uncomfortable in my room! Besides I'd feel guilty all night if I knew I had all the sheets and he was in a cold thin tub with only it's burlap covering. Again, Jex shakes his head "Fine!" I say exasperated. "We switch from day to day?"

"Deal," he says, grinning. They way he's looking at me from the side...it's awfully cute. I don't even tell myself to stop thinking these things. My thoughts are my own, and I'm free to admire whoever I want. Although I really shouldn't...

Jall Woodall
I scrubbed the poop deck vigorously. Why did I have be hit on by every girl at my home yet be despised by the one girl I actually cared about who wasn't my sister?

"Aye, I shall be back in a second! I just need to get my sword!" I recognized Quinn's terribly high squeaky voice immediately.

I walked up to her, snickering. "If you want a real guy's voice, you have to actually try." She smirked and walked away.
I followed her.
"And, on top of that, I seriously doubt you forgot your sword. You're so proud of that thing, you don't go anywhere without it." This time, she scowled.
I laughed as realization dawned on me. "You're moving Jex!"
She started to shake her head then groaned.
"And the only place you can move him is your quarters!" I laughed joyously. "Well, well, this should be interesting."
She pushed me aside and moved to the storage closet, releasing a surprised Jex.
"What's he doing here?" he asked, seeming terrified.
"I'm simply doing my job."

As they walked away, I whispered in Jex's ear. "Be careful of that one."

Turtle was swinging his sword in front of him like the massive pendulum of an upside-down clock, admiring the sun flashing on the blade.

"You'll turn your eyes pink if you continue to blind yourself like that," said the prisoner behind him.

"Oh, they already are pink."

"No they're not!"

"Yes they are! Come here, boy, take a closer look." Turtle faced the boy and Jall approched cautiously, peering at Turtle's eyes.

"They're not pink."

"In the middle, see?"

"I'm telling you, they're not -"

Even before he'd finished his sentance, Turtle swept his feet from under him. Jall fell with a look of surprise.

"If you'd just contradicted the Captain like that, you'd be dead, understand? You're welcome for the warning. Even if they're wrong, don't contradict on this boat." Turtle helped Jall up with a hand, and sat back down. "Now I'm bored."

"You could always help me," Jall offered. Turtle considered it, then shrugged. He put his sword into his belt.

"Fair enough." He got down on his knees and grabbed a brush, and started scrubbing at the deck.

Jall Woodall

I'm not sure why Turtle helped me, but he wasn't rude or anything.
I sat next to him, scrubbing. "You know," I said, carefully trying to not overstep my boundaries and get in trouble again. "I used to be a master swordsman before I got put on this darn boat."
Turtle turned to me. "Really? And exactly how good were you?"
"Well," I said cockily, "I am good enough to beat anyone on this ship."
That got his attention. "You mocking me, boy?" He asked threatiningly.
"No!" I reprimended. "I'm just saying."
"Alright," he got up swiftly and grabbed his sword. Then he went into the storage closet and got out an old, rusty one. I silently thanked god that Jex had been moved. "If you're so amazing, why don't you show me?"

Grinning, I grabbed the sword and took my position. He smiled, assured that he would beat me.

It was the other way around. I knocked him down after approximately eleven minutes of sparring.

Looking down on him, I said smugly, "If you contradicted the old me like that, you'd be dead, you know?"
He groaned and got up, ignoring my attempts to help him.

Mela

Me and Ryker were sitting at the base of the mast.

Again.

Honestly, if you didn't know where we were, you should check the ropes, or here. It's where we always, always are. Captain hadn't called for anything, so we had plonked down here.

"I feel rather useless," Ryker said.

"How now?"

"I mean, we're not falling for a cook,"

"Ick. I'm glad."

"We're not acting strange and girly... at least I'm not,"

"HEY!"

"We're not heading off to face our rival family,"

"Agreed."

"I mean, we're basically the only ones without real problems here."

"Doubly agreed."

We lapsed into silence after that, not having much to say.

"D'you think that cloud looks a bit like Captain's sword?"

"Y'know what, it kind of does..."

JEX

I breathed in deeply, closing my eyes and giving a slight smile. It felt good to be outside again. I opened my eyes to see Quinn smirking at me. I arched an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Talking would probably be fatal at the moment anyways.

I followed her closely, half-listening to the clanging metal coming from wherever the others were practicing. Oh yes, talking was fatal indeed. A shiver went up my spine and I turned to look into the distance, a grin suddenly creeping upon my face.

I tapped Quinn's shoulder, deciding to risk a very low whisper. She turned to me and I leaned close to her ear. "There's a storm coming," I whispered as quietly as humanly possible.

Quinn

Jex taps me on the shoulder and brings his lips close to my ear. "There's a storm coming," he whispers so quietly he's barely audible.

After quick scan of the sky, sure enough, dark clouds heavy with rain are headed our way. I nod briefly before taking his hand and dragging him towards my quarters. We walk quickly and silently until we reach my room. "Don't let anyone see you, or make any noise. If someone decides to come in, hide in the bathtub and cover it with the burlap. Got it?"

"Yeah," he answers. I give him a short nod of approval, grab my sword, and run back out.

Jall catches sight of me as I reach the top deck. He's holding a rusty sword, and Turtle is on the ground. We walk towards each other. "Harassing the crew members?" I smirk.

"Oh, Jex!" he replies in a screechy, squeaky voice.

As I walk away, I mutter to myself, "I don't sound like that..." I sincerely hope I don't sound like that. "Cap'n!" I call, waving her over.

"What is it, Quinlan?"

"While I was getting my sword, I couldn't help but notice a storm is headed our way," I tell her, pointing to the black cloud with my sword.

Turtle found himself thinking of battle strategies.

He was going to beat that boy. He kept thinking about how he could use his height against Jall, and other elements that he could bring into play. That boy, if he was a master swordsperson, then he had money. No one that's crook uses that money to teach their kids to fight. Rouges already know. And so Turtle was going to use his crookedness against the prisioner.

When scrubbing the opposite side of the deck, he looked over to Jall, and smiled. It wasn't threatening, or angry, but it sent three words shooting across the deck as if he'd slipped a message over.

"It's on, boy."

Jall grinned.

JEX

I sighed, shoving my hands into my pockets and walking over to the bed. Ha... sleeping on a bed. The thought seemed odd to me for some reason, probably had something to do with the fact that I hadn't been on anything relevantly soft for a while now.

I sat down on the edge and ran a hand through my hair, trying to figure out what to do next. I eyed the tub in the corner of the room. Quinn was going to sleep in that thing? Sure, she would be warmer in there... but it didn't look overly comfortable either.

I sighed again, wondering what to do to ammuse myself. We were going to be sailing through a storm, and I would be stuck in here missing it! Call me odd, but I loved sailing through storms. It was a thrill, an adrenaline rush. The captian on my old ship thought me insane, and I didn't disagree.

It had been a while...