Post by Joliette Thorne on Mar 2, 2010 7:36:27 GMT -5
Aboard The Eternity
Jolie was lying on her belly, on the deck, by the rails, talking to a prawn.
Jolie said to the prawn, "You think you have problems. Really, all you have to worry about are squid and barbecues.” She sighed, and tossed the critter back over the rail.
Mahri shouted, "Jolie! Get yer skinny butt ashore!"
In The Cove
Jolie still smelled a little of her conversational partner (and remnant of her supper) of the moments prior to Mahri shouting her off the ship, and this prawnish aroma might carry with her as she traipsed barefoot across the sands and into the cove, her pants-cuffs wet from the wade out of the ferry-skiff, and her hair doing nothing attractive by the time it'd blown free in the sharp wind a while. She was pushing this tangle out of her eyes when her voice echoed on rock in the cavern. "My ass is not skinny." Pause. "It's not fat either, though." Pause. "I'm not discussing my ass with you, Mahri. But I'm glad you're here."
Mahri wasn't sure if she should pinch her nose at the incoming stench or laugh at the stilted conversation from the other woman. "Had a feelin' I should be here." Pause. "Not there." A jabbed finger towards the anchored ship, "I'm not discussing where I should be with you, Jolie." Ok, so maybe it was a bit mocking, but it was soon followed by a low laugh and offered assistance to bring the former vampire further into the cove.
Shishi strolls into the cove from the south with the full intent of moving straight on through the 'secret' place. Hands are in his pockets and his shoulders are shrugged up so that the top of his light blue scarf covers his lips, spotting those gathered he mutters something into the enchanted cotton like, "You're got to be kidding me..."
Parsithius 's presence in the area is signified by that distinct 'click' of armored greaves, coupled with the resonance of the sound pilfering through the air like some very apparent hammer striking the anvil of chaos and molding order out of nature itself. Though, that could just be an exaggeration of his authoritive demeanor. In reality, Parsithius initially walked with Shishi, but the vampire proves to simply be too nimble, and knowing Shishi... well, the oceanic-eyed male rather forgot he bears company. And so it is several paces behind the other that the knight appears, slicing his gaze over the present. "Shishi..."
Jolie pulled a face at Mahri that involved sticking her tongue out and thumbs in her ears, but this'd dissolve before she rounded the last rock between them. "There you are. So, what did you...." It wasn't Shishi who distracted her, quiet as he was in his approach, but the clanking individual who followed. She eyed Mahri briefly, as if to ask, "What the..." then turned to the two, unlikely travelling companions, with both brows hitched high over their green and icy eyes.
Mahri took swift note of the woman's sudden change in manner. If it weren't that it would have been the smell of Blue, or more likely, the sound of Parsithius that echoed in the cove that had her spinning about, placing herself between Jolie and the Knight. Her own eyes held wariness rather than alarm. It was obvious he was following Shishi, which would have to be discussed sooner or later. "Parsithius," she says coolly, darting a questioning glance towards her best friend's husband.
Portea 's silent footsteps give no warning of his approach as the psion makes his way into the Cove. Raptor-like eyes taking in familiar details before darting to scope out those faces that are familiar, and perhaps some that are not. "Been a while since I've been here..." Those smooth tones flowing past parted lips to permeate the air with his comment, a slight twist of psionic prowess insures that he is heard.
Shishi averts his eyes quickly towards the ground and puffed out his cheeks behind that scarf that he adored so, "Hi you two..." a glance is sent over his shoulder towards the Knight, the vampire still speaking to the two women, "Ehh... You two know The Knight?" He will absolutely steer clear of his own reason for being out here.
Taeme rounds the bend a accompanied by a rustic-orange, fierce hawk perched upon one slender shoulder; its beady black eyes darting to and fro into the shadows and crevices. Ruffled feathers indicate its alter or distressed state contradicting that of the seemingly peaceful creature moving in near silence along the path with sightless hazel eyes gazing ahead. For a blind girl, her steps are sure and well placed without any stumbling or hesitation. Voices alert her to the gathering long before she appears in anyone's line of sight egged onward by one particular voice. Saying nothing, she simply lingers shrouded lightly in shadows awaiting notice.
Parsithius tilts his head sidelong at the other two, Mahri and Jolie, while swiftly narrowing his azure eyes. "Perhaps this was the wrong place to travel to, Lord Shishi," the man admits, surprisingly; he is never the one to admit such. Instead, armored gauntlets cross over a cuirass of a chest. His mouth opens to speak once more -Taeme is noticed. "Little sister," he says.
Jolie eyed the Knight, muttering at him, "Kinslayer," by way of greeting. Then she canted a curious to Shishi, Terra-less and not oft seen this side of the ferry-ride. "I suppose you're looking for him?" A tilt of head back toward the ship would tell them who she meant, and her hand already was thumbing her small throwing-dagger, idly, as if she didn't mean to, and as if it'd make a dint in the armour of her erstwhile sort-of brother-in-law, if you didn't count blood for much. The other two were so quiet in arrival, and her attention so consumed by the first three, she didn't notice them yet. She did notice Taeme, though, when the Knight addressed her as kin, and bit back a jibe about whether he was hunting her, instead.
Parsithius 's azure eyes had already taken stock of the female's frame, and thereof, the subtle thumbing of some hidden object -presumably a projectile weapon. "Always," he retorts, defiantly.
Taeme 's smile is instantaneous bringing warmth to smooth features in response to his simple greeting. "Brother. Odd to find you here, I think." Hands fall clasped before her adding to the façade of innocence and youth, soft padding steps carrying her from the wall's shadow to the Knight's. "Mahri dear and Shishi, its so nice to "see" you two again."
Parsithius , also, upon Taeme's approach, curls an armored arm around her shoulders.
Mahri noticed everything. It was her job of sorts, right? Right. So, Portea's given a nod of greeting, Shishi is offered a cool smile by way of answer and Taeme, as soon as Pars acknowledges her, receives a more or less verbal greeting. After all that's done, she straightens from her protective posture and says, "Well. The gangs all here?" A poor attempt at a joke, since the look cast Parsithius' way was far from sure if he was part of the 'gang' at all.
Jolie's viperish green gaze slid the way of the seemingly helpless girl, and a smile as thin and sharp as a sacrificial blade crossed her lips. "Quite the party, it seems." Squaring her small frame, she nodded to Mahri. "Better crack a barrel o'best, seeing as we have company..."
Taeme leans into Parsithius's side accepting, rather than needing, his protection and support.
Shishi swallowed hard, unable to hide his current discomfort even with half of his features covered up by his protective scarf. Blue's gaze followed Jolie's motion towards the ship and the vampire quickly shook his head, "Ah~. Nope. I mean, I- err... we, I guess, we were just having a walk. There's no reason for me being out here at all, for sure. In fact, I should probably be going, hmm?" He said while turning and nearly walking into Portea, "Ee~!" Shishi jumps, halting his escape momentarily. Taeme is sent a wiggling of his fingers in a wave, a thoughtless greeting to a blind woman, but thoughtless was usually a good descriptor of the assassin.
Jolie would slip a little packet of something into Mahri's hand as she passed. The gist, she hoped, would be gotten.
Jolie gave 3 poppy seed extract to Mahri.
Portea closes the remaining distance between himself and the gathered group, moving to stand firmly beside the former vampire. "Jolie. Mahri." The psion greets the two most familiar faces, offering each their own nod in turn before his gaze is directed towards the knight. Grey eyes soaking up every minute detail as though they are half starved sponges finding a puddle.
Mahri surprisingly, moves off to do Jolie's bidding. As she passes Parsithius and Taeme and their rather friendly way with each other, it might be possible that there's the slight rumble of a growl from her throat. Soon as that barrel is cracked and glasses set about, except one holding the whiskey that Parsithius preferred, Mahri leans against a nearby crate, listening and watching.
Taeme 's head cants to one side questioningly as she turns thoughtfully towards the rumbling growl. "Mahri?"
Portea narrowly avoids Shishi en route, apparently.
Mahri does some sleight of hand with that packet, in the pretence of pouring herself a forgotten drink.
Mahri said to Taeme, "Forget it, kid. We need t'talk later."
Jolie hurrumphed and gestured toward the unpopulated table not too much further inside. "Shishi, do stay for a drink. Portea, you as well?" The invitations were left at that, as far as seating went, but she would add, "I suppose, Mahri, you may as well fetch our other guests a little refreshment?"
Taeme said to Mahri, "Forget that we need to talk?"
Parsithius accepts the whiskey; certainly, Mahri would not betray him again. Not leave him to die once more. "Thank you. Lord Shishi and I were travelling through a 'short-cut', he claimed, back to the mainland." A wry grin is sent toward his friend, as he takes a pull of that whiskey.
Mahri is just about to ask if she looked like a damned serving wench, instead she lofts a brow the glasses lining the scarred bar.
Jolie's lips made a small 'o'. "Oh." Mahri was on it, already. Sharp one, that. She offered her bar manager a grin.
Mahri said to Taeme, "No, just. We need to talk."
Parsithius said to Taeme, "She doesn't like you speaking to me. Doesn't like me caring for you."
Jolie watched intently as the Knight drank the hopefully adulterated liquor. "So... " She wheeled to Portea, her tone abruptly cheerful. "How goes the baby? Any news?" But her gaze slid back the Knight's way, now and then.
Taeme flashes a playful grin towards her old friend though waving away the poured drink for fear of losing what precious self-control she'd claimed. "Thank you, I'll pass on the drink."
Parsithius snorts slightly, casting his hair about before taking another pull to finish his glass of whiskey.
Jolie said to Taeme, "Just a sip, pet. It's our way out here. Frightful insult to refuse..."
Mahri too watched Pars closely. Her words though, were for Taeme. "You speak to whom you like, kid."
Taeme said to Parsithius, "You did not like that we were friends, if I recall, Brother."
Portea chuckles softly and offers Jolie a warm smile. "I swear that little thing could give some of the grown dragons a run for their money, well, as far as eating goes." He pauses briefly, glancing over to Mahri. "Sora misses you, though. Oh, and I'll pass on the drinks, you two know I tend to stay away from it...the results could prove quiet..erm..interesting."
Taeme said to Jolie, "No insult intended Ma'am, but being that my blood boils hot, fast I'd rather not risk it. Death is not a taste I like on my tongue or a weight I like on my shoulders."
Mahri said to Taeme, "I imagine he'd like it less if ye told him we were packmates."
Jolie reached for her own drink, raising it to present company then to the ship, and her Captain in absentia.
Taeme said to Mahri, "And here I thought the pack had a new leader?"
Parsithius drops his glass, letting the thing shatter on the rock, as his gauntlet lifts to his head, "I did not like that you were friends, sister, because she betrayed me on this isle, left me to die. I just... followed her orders..." The sky is blurry. Their faces seem distorted.
Mahri said to Taeme, "New pack. We'll talk later."
Parsithius does not do well with drugs.
Jolie said. "To .. family." She eyed Parsithius as though her glance were darts and he a bullseye. "May they live long."
Mahri steps forward quick enough, her own drink as yet untouched, in order to try and catch some of Pars' weight should he fall anytime soon.
Jolie raised a delicate brow. "Doesn't hold his liquor well, does he? Perhaps we ought to get him on the ship, Mahri...?"
Taeme tenses, an arm slipping round the Knight's notable, armored bulk. "Brother?"
Parsithius wraps an arm around Mahri, narrowly and haggardly attempting to remain standing, "I just.. did as you commanded... I kept us alive..." Still reeling, so mindfully destroyed, and reminiscent of what this godforsaken isle brings.
Mahri is sure an insult by her lack of tossing back will be forgiven in this instance. "Taeme, catch 'im if ye can." A glance towards Portea, brow arched in question, "Bit o' help? And Sora's been in m'head enough t'know she'll be seein' me soon enough."
Mahri glanced into Parsithius' eyes, something like regret and sorrow flashing briefly in her own, "I know, Knight. Ye did well. I'm proud o' ye."
Shishi nervously scratches at the back of his head and pretends to be excited about staying for a drink, "Of course I'll stay for just one... Ah~! You know what? I just remembered I can't. I have to get back to Orange and Yellow soon. Tree can really only stand being alone with them for a little while. You know?" Again his escape is stopped as he raises a brow towards Parsithius when he drops his glass, "Knight?"
Jolie said to Taeme, "Oh, don't bother your pretty head, he's just a little soused. Strong stuff, this rogue's liquor. Perhaps you could tootle off to town and fetch a bag of willow sticks, for his headache he'll have later?" She'd study the Knight, with a happy little smile. "After he sleeps it off." She turned to her clansmates. "Li’l help getting him on the skiff.. and up that damn ladder, if you'll spare the time."
Taeme said to Jolie, "Sure thing. I'll just leave my beloved brother in the hands of someone I know he doesn't trust, and someone I don't even know. That's smart for sure."
Portea merely nods before moving to intercept the soon-to-be falling knight. "Easy there, wouldn't want a mouthful of rock." The psion coos, kind of, weaving a touch more psionic suggestion into his voice, planting the impulse about what direction to fall, should it occur.
Parsithius is damn good drinker. Able to beat a dwarf himself at whiskey, and only second to the Queen. But, perhaps only Taeme may know this, as he currently stumbles about, as if drunk -in reality, his vision is distorted, and desperately, he clings on to Mahri, or whomever is helping him. "You let me die, Mahri. Left me there. I just did as you said to do..." Turning somewhat, he looks at Shishi, blindly, as if his vision has gone out like Taeme's. Taeme? "Taeme?!"
Mahri said to Taeme, "Either that, or he's going to be hurting." Drawing her gaze towards the blind girl's, even knowing it won't be seen, Mahri promises, "He will be fine, but we do need the willow bark."
Jolie said to Taeme, "But you know Mahri.. are you saying, girl, you don't trust your own pack?" She glanced to Mahri, with a frown. "Is this true?"
Taeme said to Parsithius, "I'm right here, right beside you Brother. Just hold on. I"m right here."
Mahri said to Jolie, "Partly. Long story, best told later."
Portea said to Taeme, "And surely you recognize the one who helped you during those first few moments after becoming what you are now."
Parsithius is somewhat soothed by the psion's words, his coos, but moreso by his adopted sister's reassurance, smiling stupidly at those. "You're alright, Taeme?"
Taeme doesn't flinch at the accusing words intending to insult her sense of loyalty. "Mahri is a very dear friend, but I know of no pack. I roamed the Labyrinth with her, but my loyalty lies first with my Brother."
Jolie's lips pursed, in the way women's do when they want something, and now. "Poor fellow. He'd be much more comfy on the ship. Let's take him there." She stepped that way, leaving heavy limbs to be carried by bigger, stronger hands. "Pronto."
Mahri by now is tuning out Parsithius' words. More for the guilt they brought on than the fact they sounded more like buzzing in her ears that actual words at some point. "C'mon Parsithius. I'll tell ye the whys and wherefores someday an' we'll both have a good laugh. Now, ye must-a had a bad batch. Ye need t'rest. Lemme get ye somewhere." A thankful smile is given to Portea.
Jolie said, "And bring his da.. arling sister, if she cares too little to fetch the medicine."
Taeme said to Portea, "I"m sure you know the way well enough, you go fetch the bark."
Mahri tries to wiggle out from Pars' grasp and let someone bigger and stronger take the armored knight off her hands..so to speak.
Shishi sulked, looking less than pleased with his clanmates. The vampire tugs at his scarf, loosening it slightly as he asks, "Wha'd you guys do to him? And why?" sounding much like he would if he were asking Orange and Yellow after they'd played some mischievous prank on some poor soul.
Portea is apparently left holding up the knight alone, rolling his eyes slightly as he shakes his head. "Oh screw this.." The psion mutters before adding in a small bit of telekinesis to aid in the process of carrying the fully armored Parsithius over to the ship. "Yeah, sure, I'll trade you. You can carry him, and I'll go get the bark." He replies with a bit of dry wit.
Jolie was already in the skiff, though, and if Shi was close enough to be heard, she'd reply, "Hm? Nothing." And grin. "Let's get him aboard."
Parsithius doesn't even know who he's being held by, shaking his head; mumbling something incoherent -or rather, vaguely like, "Something is wrong..." His legs gave out, and he'd either collapse, or be dragged, or carried; all the while, he can't control his voice anymore. It goes out of its own volition, "Dammit, Mahri! I could have died! I should have died! You -killed- me! You -betrayed- me! I did everything for you!" Mahri's the only one he can literally see at this point, by either proximity, or odd perception.
Jolie shook her head. "Some men get so belligerent, in their cups."
Mahri winces with each word, as though a blow is struck. Gritting her teeth, she grasps Taeme by the arm, "You take him Port. I need to talk to Taeme anyway so we'll get the medicine." Tugging insistently on the girl's arm, bird or no, she will either guide her gently or drag her yelling. "C'mon, kid."
Taeme hesitantly falls into step with Mahri though anger laces each movement, each word. "Stop calling me kid, mother."
Parsithius said, "Shishi... help... We're mercenaries, you and I..."
Mahri mutters something that could have been, 'you've no idea, kid'
Shishi fumes a bit and finally snaps, pulling the scarf off from around his neck as a force of habit as he raises his voice, "Oi! Leave the Knight!" he said while moving towards the skiff to at least get in the way of the process of loading him onto it. All the while his eyes flicker crimson sporadically as he fights to stave off their true transformation, "I brought him here. I can't let you do this!"
Portea simply nods to Jolie as he pulls the drugged man aboard the skiff.
Jolie was waiting in the skiff, a tad impatiently, the oars at the ready. Slender as she was, her arms were hard-muscled with the training Leo'd put her through in Frostmaw, gruelling weeks still evident in her physique. "About time. And I'm not -doing- anything, Shishi, to him. Merely offering him .. a place of rest."
Jolie sniffed, as though deeply offended by all the fuss.
Parsithius drifts in and out of consciousness. He used to never accept drinks. He will never accept another drink in his life.
Portea glances over at the vampire, his own raptor-like eyes flashing subtly in warning. "Calm yourself, he needs rest, and as you can see, Mahri is going to get the man some willow bark. Now why would she go and do that if there were any plans to put him in harms way?"
Parsithius said, "Who are you?" Parsithius, very groggily, swivels his unfocused eyes upon Jolie.
Jolie said to Parsithius, "I'm family. And don't forget it."
Parsithius sneers. Well, half-sneers. Well, it's more of a crude mockery of the expression, since he's losing conscious control of his facial muscles. He whirls his head toward the vampire, "Shishi."
Jolie snapped her gaze toward the vampire. Something in it might demand a bit of trust, and express the importance of what she was.. or wasn't... doing to the Knight.
Shishi wrinkles his nose, and counters Jolie's sniffle with an offended look of his own, "Not even -I- believe that." This is said as he steps onto the skiff, the least he can do is stay with the Knight he's inadvertently led into this mess. "I'm -not- going to let you do anything to him..."
Parsithius said to Shishi, "Remember... when we had to take out that barracks? And, that general.... she was scary, huh?"
Jolie rolled her eyes, and started rowing. "Oh damn, and here I was planning to skin him alive for a new sail, Shishi." It was supposed to sound sarcastic.
Parsithius is simply at a stage of delirium, now. Well, sort of; the event did happen.
Shishi said to Parsithius, "Aye... aye. Pretty scary, but we made it out of there just fine, I guess. Yah?"
Portea said to Jolie, "That'd take too much work," More sarcasm. "what with all that armor."
Jolie just kept rowing. The ship wasn't far off, and they still had the winch once used to pull the nagish Saiyah aboard. More than strong enough to take the Knight's dead weight. Or not-so-dead. Figure of speech.
Parsithius nods at Shishi, "Yeah. We did make it out of there just fine." His eyes remain unfocused, as he continues to be sailed away, "Who are these people, Shishi? I hate ships. I hate the ocean," he mumbles.
Shishi dropped an elbow to the side of the boat and propped his chin up atop a balled fist, looking positively angsty about this whole situation as the skiff pulled away form the shore, "Yea yea... We'll see how much of that is a joke, I guess."
Shishi grumbled to Parsithius while rewrapping his neck in the protective scarf, "They're some of my closest friends and allies, can't you tell?"
Jolie rowed in a sort of grim silence, apart from her faint grunts of effort as whipcord muscle rounded oar to water, time and again, and red-faced would pull eventually alongside the ship. Glancing up, as the skiff knocked hollowly on the ship's hull, she said, "Back in a moment." Then, standing without the slightest sign of imbalance, she grabbed for the rope ladder leading to the deck and was up it like a rat ascending a drainpipe.
Parsithius said to Shishi, "Not at all." Parsithius seems serious, though delirious.
Jolie wasn't visible yet, as the harness dropped off the side of the ship, into the skiff. Hopefully, not smacking Shishi upside the head or anything.
Jolie called, "Knot him into that, lads, and the crew will haul aweigh."
Portea said to Shishi, "Shall I get him into that, or would you rather do it?"
Parsithius said, "This is Achilles' ship..." Parsithius 's delirious mind seems to go off on a sprint.
Shishi said to Portea, "Get him on... I'm going up."
Portea simply nods before setting about getting the knight into the harness, doublechecking to make sure it's secure and will evenly distribute his weight. "Ready when you are." He calls up to the crew.
Jolie was standing by, with a bald, fat, mute sailor known to be fond of her son. "Gideon, when I give word." Gideon, who could hear perfectly well, nodded and tightened his grip on the winch. Jolie bent to steady the line-- wouldn't want the Knight to bang himself on the hull.
Shishi maintained his dissatisfied look as he climbed his way up the ladder, sparing just one stern glance back down at Portea, making sure the psion wasn't just tossing the armored man overboard.
Parsithius’s eyes seem less delirious and more calculating -actually far more cunning and cold than before. But, his body remains dead tired, and he hangs limp, unwilling to move; much too tired. Aware, however, that piercing gaze is upon the Cabalist leader. "Achilles' ship," he repeats, apparently, his tongue is as delirious as his body.
Jolie said to Gideon, after a glance given the vampire once he was clear of the ascent, "Haul aweigh." And Gideon did, massive brute arms straining to winch the Knight aboard, where he'd dangle like a swordfish gifted with evolutionary prodigiousness, above the water.
"Shishi..." Jolie asked, sweetly. "Could you pull him in?"
Shishi offers no 'Aye aye' that had been implanted into his vocabulary before obliging Jolie's request and leaning over the side of the ship to pull Parsithius in. There's a somewhat adorable "Hmmmph" of effort that the vampire makes during the action that he would have preferred not to make so that he could keep up his pouting exterior.
Portea waits until Parsithius is safely aboard the ship before making his way up the ladder, moving to lean against the edge once he reaches the top.
Jolie gave Portea a nod of thanks. "We'll take him to the hold."
In The Hold
Parsithius is, by now, pulled in and set somewhere to the fashion of Jolie's liking -which could either be a nice bed, or strapped hatefully to a chair. Who knows.
Jolie murmured something to the faithful Gideon, who lumbered off to the ship's belly, below, while in the hold, not far from the descending stairs, Jolie had ordered the Knight lain on a pallet of sacks, which wouldn't prove too uncomfortable. "There." She eyed the lot of them. "He still has his skin."
A Rat scampered into view from above.
Jolie nudged the rat aside with her boot. "Not now, Sam."
Portea follows Jolie, playing the part of the silent observer, for now.
Shishi folded his arms across his torso and eyed Jolie, "If all you wanted to do was give him a place to rest then I could have taken him somewhere... What's this really about?" he asked, while inwardly lamenting the fact that he's never really willingly boarded this ship...
Parsithius rolls his head about lethargically, pausing to scrutinize Portea.
Jolie knelt beside the delirious warrior, her lips dipping close to his ear. "I want you to know that I could have killed you, five times over, in five different ways, from the moment you set foot on the sands of my home." Drawing back a little, she added, "But I didn't. I am no kin-slayer. I have honour." The mortal frowned. "Where it counts, anyway." By then Gideon was on his way back up from the lowest level, dragging something heavy with a bump-chink-bump-chink up the stairs.
Parsithius 's eyes slide toward Jolie, "So you poison me and bring aboard this wretched thing." A sneer, or crude mockery of one, while closing his eyes, and leaning his head back. "I am a knight, nothing more, and nothing less."
Jolie said to Shishi, "He wants to kill, or imprison his brother. I want to marry his brother. We are at odds. I intend to work things out."
She poked Parsithius in the forehead. "Are you -all- this goddamn stubborn?" Gideon arrived, lumping the sack he'd drop beside Jolie. She thanked him, and turned her gaze back to the Knight. "There's your bounty. Leave my mate the hell alone. And be thankful you're not shark food."
Parsithius shakes his head, "You think this is about gold?"
Jolie said to Parsithius, "No. But it's that, or blood. And I will not let you spill the blood of your kin. For that is unforgivable."
Portea watches the exchange intently, lofting a brow as he listens. "Just accept her offer, you fool. Crossing her is not something you'll want to do lightly."
Jolie glanced up to Portea, and back down to the Knight. "I'm doing this as much for you as Leo, you tin-headed fool."
Parsithius flits his gaze toward Portea, speaking to Jolie, "Do you always keep this mockery of an intimidator around?" Then, he slides his gaze toward Jolie, "I'm not spilling any blood. I'm locking him up."
Jolie said, "Then you're a coward, as well as a fool, to allow others to do the deed for you. Do you really think they'll let him live?"
Shishi sighed at the former vampire, "If we drugged and kidnapped everyone who wanted to lock the Captain away this ship'd sink from the weight... I guess all I'm going to ask now is that whatever you had planned, you do something that's a little nicer." He averted currently oceanic blue eyes, "He's a friend."
Parsithius said, "He's never stayed in a single prison for more than two days. Do you really think he'd get executed? He'd allow himself to get executed?"
Portea shrugs off the intended jibe, merely rolling his eyes.
Jolie snapped a look to Shishi. "If it was your wife he was hunting, would you say the same?"
Parsithius said, "Why would I hunt Terra?"
Jolie said to Parsithius, "Then why bother at all? Why make him hate you, when it could be...." She thought of Drake, how hard-won all that was. "You have a nephew. A brother. Two brothers. All this, more than many have and you'd throw it away .. for what?"
Parsithius pauses distinctly. Distinctly. Mulling over her words, mulling over Dracothius Mediccino. Leoxander. A nephew? Kinda sorta. "I'll talk to Achilles first. Not you any longer." If he's going to buy into anything, he'd better hear it from the pirate himself. The pirate that escaped him.
Shishi twitched, put on another pout and looked away from Jolie again. That managed to shut him up, at least briefly.
Jolie nodded. "You wanted a meeting. I've now arranged it. He'll be here, on the morrow. Meantime.. make yourself comfortable, Knight." She dropped to a seat on the floor, her sulk of a magnitude to match Shishi's.
Parsithius lays his head back, and drifts into his opium-induced sleep.
Shishi drops, or maybe flops is a better word, to the floor, and shimmies towards a wall that he props himself up against while his thoughts drift towards poor Detree stuck with Orange and Yellow who were probably flinging mashed potatoes at his wings or something.
Jolie was lying on her belly, on the deck, by the rails, talking to a prawn.
Jolie said to the prawn, "You think you have problems. Really, all you have to worry about are squid and barbecues.” She sighed, and tossed the critter back over the rail.
Mahri shouted, "Jolie! Get yer skinny butt ashore!"
In The Cove
Jolie still smelled a little of her conversational partner (and remnant of her supper) of the moments prior to Mahri shouting her off the ship, and this prawnish aroma might carry with her as she traipsed barefoot across the sands and into the cove, her pants-cuffs wet from the wade out of the ferry-skiff, and her hair doing nothing attractive by the time it'd blown free in the sharp wind a while. She was pushing this tangle out of her eyes when her voice echoed on rock in the cavern. "My ass is not skinny." Pause. "It's not fat either, though." Pause. "I'm not discussing my ass with you, Mahri. But I'm glad you're here."
Mahri wasn't sure if she should pinch her nose at the incoming stench or laugh at the stilted conversation from the other woman. "Had a feelin' I should be here." Pause. "Not there." A jabbed finger towards the anchored ship, "I'm not discussing where I should be with you, Jolie." Ok, so maybe it was a bit mocking, but it was soon followed by a low laugh and offered assistance to bring the former vampire further into the cove.
Shishi strolls into the cove from the south with the full intent of moving straight on through the 'secret' place. Hands are in his pockets and his shoulders are shrugged up so that the top of his light blue scarf covers his lips, spotting those gathered he mutters something into the enchanted cotton like, "You're got to be kidding me..."
Parsithius 's presence in the area is signified by that distinct 'click' of armored greaves, coupled with the resonance of the sound pilfering through the air like some very apparent hammer striking the anvil of chaos and molding order out of nature itself. Though, that could just be an exaggeration of his authoritive demeanor. In reality, Parsithius initially walked with Shishi, but the vampire proves to simply be too nimble, and knowing Shishi... well, the oceanic-eyed male rather forgot he bears company. And so it is several paces behind the other that the knight appears, slicing his gaze over the present. "Shishi..."
Jolie pulled a face at Mahri that involved sticking her tongue out and thumbs in her ears, but this'd dissolve before she rounded the last rock between them. "There you are. So, what did you...." It wasn't Shishi who distracted her, quiet as he was in his approach, but the clanking individual who followed. She eyed Mahri briefly, as if to ask, "What the..." then turned to the two, unlikely travelling companions, with both brows hitched high over their green and icy eyes.
Mahri took swift note of the woman's sudden change in manner. If it weren't that it would have been the smell of Blue, or more likely, the sound of Parsithius that echoed in the cove that had her spinning about, placing herself between Jolie and the Knight. Her own eyes held wariness rather than alarm. It was obvious he was following Shishi, which would have to be discussed sooner or later. "Parsithius," she says coolly, darting a questioning glance towards her best friend's husband.
Portea 's silent footsteps give no warning of his approach as the psion makes his way into the Cove. Raptor-like eyes taking in familiar details before darting to scope out those faces that are familiar, and perhaps some that are not. "Been a while since I've been here..." Those smooth tones flowing past parted lips to permeate the air with his comment, a slight twist of psionic prowess insures that he is heard.
Shishi averts his eyes quickly towards the ground and puffed out his cheeks behind that scarf that he adored so, "Hi you two..." a glance is sent over his shoulder towards the Knight, the vampire still speaking to the two women, "Ehh... You two know The Knight?" He will absolutely steer clear of his own reason for being out here.
Taeme rounds the bend a accompanied by a rustic-orange, fierce hawk perched upon one slender shoulder; its beady black eyes darting to and fro into the shadows and crevices. Ruffled feathers indicate its alter or distressed state contradicting that of the seemingly peaceful creature moving in near silence along the path with sightless hazel eyes gazing ahead. For a blind girl, her steps are sure and well placed without any stumbling or hesitation. Voices alert her to the gathering long before she appears in anyone's line of sight egged onward by one particular voice. Saying nothing, she simply lingers shrouded lightly in shadows awaiting notice.
Parsithius tilts his head sidelong at the other two, Mahri and Jolie, while swiftly narrowing his azure eyes. "Perhaps this was the wrong place to travel to, Lord Shishi," the man admits, surprisingly; he is never the one to admit such. Instead, armored gauntlets cross over a cuirass of a chest. His mouth opens to speak once more -Taeme is noticed. "Little sister," he says.
Jolie eyed the Knight, muttering at him, "Kinslayer," by way of greeting. Then she canted a curious to Shishi, Terra-less and not oft seen this side of the ferry-ride. "I suppose you're looking for him?" A tilt of head back toward the ship would tell them who she meant, and her hand already was thumbing her small throwing-dagger, idly, as if she didn't mean to, and as if it'd make a dint in the armour of her erstwhile sort-of brother-in-law, if you didn't count blood for much. The other two were so quiet in arrival, and her attention so consumed by the first three, she didn't notice them yet. She did notice Taeme, though, when the Knight addressed her as kin, and bit back a jibe about whether he was hunting her, instead.
Parsithius 's azure eyes had already taken stock of the female's frame, and thereof, the subtle thumbing of some hidden object -presumably a projectile weapon. "Always," he retorts, defiantly.
Taeme 's smile is instantaneous bringing warmth to smooth features in response to his simple greeting. "Brother. Odd to find you here, I think." Hands fall clasped before her adding to the façade of innocence and youth, soft padding steps carrying her from the wall's shadow to the Knight's. "Mahri dear and Shishi, its so nice to "see" you two again."
Parsithius , also, upon Taeme's approach, curls an armored arm around her shoulders.
Mahri noticed everything. It was her job of sorts, right? Right. So, Portea's given a nod of greeting, Shishi is offered a cool smile by way of answer and Taeme, as soon as Pars acknowledges her, receives a more or less verbal greeting. After all that's done, she straightens from her protective posture and says, "Well. The gangs all here?" A poor attempt at a joke, since the look cast Parsithius' way was far from sure if he was part of the 'gang' at all.
Jolie's viperish green gaze slid the way of the seemingly helpless girl, and a smile as thin and sharp as a sacrificial blade crossed her lips. "Quite the party, it seems." Squaring her small frame, she nodded to Mahri. "Better crack a barrel o'best, seeing as we have company..."
Taeme leans into Parsithius's side accepting, rather than needing, his protection and support.
Shishi swallowed hard, unable to hide his current discomfort even with half of his features covered up by his protective scarf. Blue's gaze followed Jolie's motion towards the ship and the vampire quickly shook his head, "Ah~. Nope. I mean, I- err... we, I guess, we were just having a walk. There's no reason for me being out here at all, for sure. In fact, I should probably be going, hmm?" He said while turning and nearly walking into Portea, "Ee~!" Shishi jumps, halting his escape momentarily. Taeme is sent a wiggling of his fingers in a wave, a thoughtless greeting to a blind woman, but thoughtless was usually a good descriptor of the assassin.
Jolie would slip a little packet of something into Mahri's hand as she passed. The gist, she hoped, would be gotten.
Jolie gave 3 poppy seed extract to Mahri.
Portea closes the remaining distance between himself and the gathered group, moving to stand firmly beside the former vampire. "Jolie. Mahri." The psion greets the two most familiar faces, offering each their own nod in turn before his gaze is directed towards the knight. Grey eyes soaking up every minute detail as though they are half starved sponges finding a puddle.
Mahri surprisingly, moves off to do Jolie's bidding. As she passes Parsithius and Taeme and their rather friendly way with each other, it might be possible that there's the slight rumble of a growl from her throat. Soon as that barrel is cracked and glasses set about, except one holding the whiskey that Parsithius preferred, Mahri leans against a nearby crate, listening and watching.
Taeme 's head cants to one side questioningly as she turns thoughtfully towards the rumbling growl. "Mahri?"
Portea narrowly avoids Shishi en route, apparently.
Mahri does some sleight of hand with that packet, in the pretence of pouring herself a forgotten drink.
Mahri said to Taeme, "Forget it, kid. We need t'talk later."
Jolie hurrumphed and gestured toward the unpopulated table not too much further inside. "Shishi, do stay for a drink. Portea, you as well?" The invitations were left at that, as far as seating went, but she would add, "I suppose, Mahri, you may as well fetch our other guests a little refreshment?"
Taeme said to Mahri, "Forget that we need to talk?"
Parsithius accepts the whiskey; certainly, Mahri would not betray him again. Not leave him to die once more. "Thank you. Lord Shishi and I were travelling through a 'short-cut', he claimed, back to the mainland." A wry grin is sent toward his friend, as he takes a pull of that whiskey.
Mahri is just about to ask if she looked like a damned serving wench, instead she lofts a brow the glasses lining the scarred bar.
Jolie's lips made a small 'o'. "Oh." Mahri was on it, already. Sharp one, that. She offered her bar manager a grin.
Mahri said to Taeme, "No, just. We need to talk."
Parsithius said to Taeme, "She doesn't like you speaking to me. Doesn't like me caring for you."
Jolie watched intently as the Knight drank the hopefully adulterated liquor. "So... " She wheeled to Portea, her tone abruptly cheerful. "How goes the baby? Any news?" But her gaze slid back the Knight's way, now and then.
Taeme flashes a playful grin towards her old friend though waving away the poured drink for fear of losing what precious self-control she'd claimed. "Thank you, I'll pass on the drink."
Parsithius snorts slightly, casting his hair about before taking another pull to finish his glass of whiskey.
Jolie said to Taeme, "Just a sip, pet. It's our way out here. Frightful insult to refuse..."
Mahri too watched Pars closely. Her words though, were for Taeme. "You speak to whom you like, kid."
Taeme said to Parsithius, "You did not like that we were friends, if I recall, Brother."
Portea chuckles softly and offers Jolie a warm smile. "I swear that little thing could give some of the grown dragons a run for their money, well, as far as eating goes." He pauses briefly, glancing over to Mahri. "Sora misses you, though. Oh, and I'll pass on the drinks, you two know I tend to stay away from it...the results could prove quiet..erm..interesting."
Taeme said to Jolie, "No insult intended Ma'am, but being that my blood boils hot, fast I'd rather not risk it. Death is not a taste I like on my tongue or a weight I like on my shoulders."
Mahri said to Taeme, "I imagine he'd like it less if ye told him we were packmates."
Jolie reached for her own drink, raising it to present company then to the ship, and her Captain in absentia.
Taeme said to Mahri, "And here I thought the pack had a new leader?"
Parsithius drops his glass, letting the thing shatter on the rock, as his gauntlet lifts to his head, "I did not like that you were friends, sister, because she betrayed me on this isle, left me to die. I just... followed her orders..." The sky is blurry. Their faces seem distorted.
Mahri said to Taeme, "New pack. We'll talk later."
Parsithius does not do well with drugs.
Jolie said. "To .. family." She eyed Parsithius as though her glance were darts and he a bullseye. "May they live long."
Mahri steps forward quick enough, her own drink as yet untouched, in order to try and catch some of Pars' weight should he fall anytime soon.
Jolie raised a delicate brow. "Doesn't hold his liquor well, does he? Perhaps we ought to get him on the ship, Mahri...?"
Taeme tenses, an arm slipping round the Knight's notable, armored bulk. "Brother?"
Parsithius wraps an arm around Mahri, narrowly and haggardly attempting to remain standing, "I just.. did as you commanded... I kept us alive..." Still reeling, so mindfully destroyed, and reminiscent of what this godforsaken isle brings.
Mahri is sure an insult by her lack of tossing back will be forgiven in this instance. "Taeme, catch 'im if ye can." A glance towards Portea, brow arched in question, "Bit o' help? And Sora's been in m'head enough t'know she'll be seein' me soon enough."
Mahri glanced into Parsithius' eyes, something like regret and sorrow flashing briefly in her own, "I know, Knight. Ye did well. I'm proud o' ye."
Shishi nervously scratches at the back of his head and pretends to be excited about staying for a drink, "Of course I'll stay for just one... Ah~! You know what? I just remembered I can't. I have to get back to Orange and Yellow soon. Tree can really only stand being alone with them for a little while. You know?" Again his escape is stopped as he raises a brow towards Parsithius when he drops his glass, "Knight?"
Jolie said to Taeme, "Oh, don't bother your pretty head, he's just a little soused. Strong stuff, this rogue's liquor. Perhaps you could tootle off to town and fetch a bag of willow sticks, for his headache he'll have later?" She'd study the Knight, with a happy little smile. "After he sleeps it off." She turned to her clansmates. "Li’l help getting him on the skiff.. and up that damn ladder, if you'll spare the time."
Taeme said to Jolie, "Sure thing. I'll just leave my beloved brother in the hands of someone I know he doesn't trust, and someone I don't even know. That's smart for sure."
Portea merely nods before moving to intercept the soon-to-be falling knight. "Easy there, wouldn't want a mouthful of rock." The psion coos, kind of, weaving a touch more psionic suggestion into his voice, planting the impulse about what direction to fall, should it occur.
Parsithius is damn good drinker. Able to beat a dwarf himself at whiskey, and only second to the Queen. But, perhaps only Taeme may know this, as he currently stumbles about, as if drunk -in reality, his vision is distorted, and desperately, he clings on to Mahri, or whomever is helping him. "You let me die, Mahri. Left me there. I just did as you said to do..." Turning somewhat, he looks at Shishi, blindly, as if his vision has gone out like Taeme's. Taeme? "Taeme?!"
Mahri said to Taeme, "Either that, or he's going to be hurting." Drawing her gaze towards the blind girl's, even knowing it won't be seen, Mahri promises, "He will be fine, but we do need the willow bark."
Jolie said to Taeme, "But you know Mahri.. are you saying, girl, you don't trust your own pack?" She glanced to Mahri, with a frown. "Is this true?"
Taeme said to Parsithius, "I'm right here, right beside you Brother. Just hold on. I"m right here."
Mahri said to Jolie, "Partly. Long story, best told later."
Portea said to Taeme, "And surely you recognize the one who helped you during those first few moments after becoming what you are now."
Parsithius is somewhat soothed by the psion's words, his coos, but moreso by his adopted sister's reassurance, smiling stupidly at those. "You're alright, Taeme?"
Taeme doesn't flinch at the accusing words intending to insult her sense of loyalty. "Mahri is a very dear friend, but I know of no pack. I roamed the Labyrinth with her, but my loyalty lies first with my Brother."
Jolie's lips pursed, in the way women's do when they want something, and now. "Poor fellow. He'd be much more comfy on the ship. Let's take him there." She stepped that way, leaving heavy limbs to be carried by bigger, stronger hands. "Pronto."
Mahri by now is tuning out Parsithius' words. More for the guilt they brought on than the fact they sounded more like buzzing in her ears that actual words at some point. "C'mon Parsithius. I'll tell ye the whys and wherefores someday an' we'll both have a good laugh. Now, ye must-a had a bad batch. Ye need t'rest. Lemme get ye somewhere." A thankful smile is given to Portea.
Jolie said, "And bring his da.. arling sister, if she cares too little to fetch the medicine."
Taeme said to Portea, "I"m sure you know the way well enough, you go fetch the bark."
Mahri tries to wiggle out from Pars' grasp and let someone bigger and stronger take the armored knight off her hands..so to speak.
Shishi sulked, looking less than pleased with his clanmates. The vampire tugs at his scarf, loosening it slightly as he asks, "Wha'd you guys do to him? And why?" sounding much like he would if he were asking Orange and Yellow after they'd played some mischievous prank on some poor soul.
Portea is apparently left holding up the knight alone, rolling his eyes slightly as he shakes his head. "Oh screw this.." The psion mutters before adding in a small bit of telekinesis to aid in the process of carrying the fully armored Parsithius over to the ship. "Yeah, sure, I'll trade you. You can carry him, and I'll go get the bark." He replies with a bit of dry wit.
Jolie was already in the skiff, though, and if Shi was close enough to be heard, she'd reply, "Hm? Nothing." And grin. "Let's get him aboard."
Parsithius doesn't even know who he's being held by, shaking his head; mumbling something incoherent -or rather, vaguely like, "Something is wrong..." His legs gave out, and he'd either collapse, or be dragged, or carried; all the while, he can't control his voice anymore. It goes out of its own volition, "Dammit, Mahri! I could have died! I should have died! You -killed- me! You -betrayed- me! I did everything for you!" Mahri's the only one he can literally see at this point, by either proximity, or odd perception.
Jolie shook her head. "Some men get so belligerent, in their cups."
Mahri winces with each word, as though a blow is struck. Gritting her teeth, she grasps Taeme by the arm, "You take him Port. I need to talk to Taeme anyway so we'll get the medicine." Tugging insistently on the girl's arm, bird or no, she will either guide her gently or drag her yelling. "C'mon, kid."
Taeme hesitantly falls into step with Mahri though anger laces each movement, each word. "Stop calling me kid, mother."
Parsithius said, "Shishi... help... We're mercenaries, you and I..."
Mahri mutters something that could have been, 'you've no idea, kid'
Shishi fumes a bit and finally snaps, pulling the scarf off from around his neck as a force of habit as he raises his voice, "Oi! Leave the Knight!" he said while moving towards the skiff to at least get in the way of the process of loading him onto it. All the while his eyes flicker crimson sporadically as he fights to stave off their true transformation, "I brought him here. I can't let you do this!"
Portea simply nods to Jolie as he pulls the drugged man aboard the skiff.
Jolie was waiting in the skiff, a tad impatiently, the oars at the ready. Slender as she was, her arms were hard-muscled with the training Leo'd put her through in Frostmaw, gruelling weeks still evident in her physique. "About time. And I'm not -doing- anything, Shishi, to him. Merely offering him .. a place of rest."
Jolie sniffed, as though deeply offended by all the fuss.
Parsithius drifts in and out of consciousness. He used to never accept drinks. He will never accept another drink in his life.
Portea glances over at the vampire, his own raptor-like eyes flashing subtly in warning. "Calm yourself, he needs rest, and as you can see, Mahri is going to get the man some willow bark. Now why would she go and do that if there were any plans to put him in harms way?"
Parsithius said, "Who are you?" Parsithius, very groggily, swivels his unfocused eyes upon Jolie.
Jolie said to Parsithius, "I'm family. And don't forget it."
Parsithius sneers. Well, half-sneers. Well, it's more of a crude mockery of the expression, since he's losing conscious control of his facial muscles. He whirls his head toward the vampire, "Shishi."
Jolie snapped her gaze toward the vampire. Something in it might demand a bit of trust, and express the importance of what she was.. or wasn't... doing to the Knight.
Shishi wrinkles his nose, and counters Jolie's sniffle with an offended look of his own, "Not even -I- believe that." This is said as he steps onto the skiff, the least he can do is stay with the Knight he's inadvertently led into this mess. "I'm -not- going to let you do anything to him..."
Parsithius said to Shishi, "Remember... when we had to take out that barracks? And, that general.... she was scary, huh?"
Jolie rolled her eyes, and started rowing. "Oh damn, and here I was planning to skin him alive for a new sail, Shishi." It was supposed to sound sarcastic.
Parsithius is simply at a stage of delirium, now. Well, sort of; the event did happen.
Shishi said to Parsithius, "Aye... aye. Pretty scary, but we made it out of there just fine, I guess. Yah?"
Portea said to Jolie, "That'd take too much work," More sarcasm. "what with all that armor."
Jolie just kept rowing. The ship wasn't far off, and they still had the winch once used to pull the nagish Saiyah aboard. More than strong enough to take the Knight's dead weight. Or not-so-dead. Figure of speech.
Parsithius nods at Shishi, "Yeah. We did make it out of there just fine." His eyes remain unfocused, as he continues to be sailed away, "Who are these people, Shishi? I hate ships. I hate the ocean," he mumbles.
Shishi dropped an elbow to the side of the boat and propped his chin up atop a balled fist, looking positively angsty about this whole situation as the skiff pulled away form the shore, "Yea yea... We'll see how much of that is a joke, I guess."
Shishi grumbled to Parsithius while rewrapping his neck in the protective scarf, "They're some of my closest friends and allies, can't you tell?"
Jolie rowed in a sort of grim silence, apart from her faint grunts of effort as whipcord muscle rounded oar to water, time and again, and red-faced would pull eventually alongside the ship. Glancing up, as the skiff knocked hollowly on the ship's hull, she said, "Back in a moment." Then, standing without the slightest sign of imbalance, she grabbed for the rope ladder leading to the deck and was up it like a rat ascending a drainpipe.
Parsithius said to Shishi, "Not at all." Parsithius seems serious, though delirious.
Jolie wasn't visible yet, as the harness dropped off the side of the ship, into the skiff. Hopefully, not smacking Shishi upside the head or anything.
Jolie called, "Knot him into that, lads, and the crew will haul aweigh."
Portea said to Shishi, "Shall I get him into that, or would you rather do it?"
Parsithius said, "This is Achilles' ship..." Parsithius 's delirious mind seems to go off on a sprint.
Shishi said to Portea, "Get him on... I'm going up."
Portea simply nods before setting about getting the knight into the harness, doublechecking to make sure it's secure and will evenly distribute his weight. "Ready when you are." He calls up to the crew.
Jolie was standing by, with a bald, fat, mute sailor known to be fond of her son. "Gideon, when I give word." Gideon, who could hear perfectly well, nodded and tightened his grip on the winch. Jolie bent to steady the line-- wouldn't want the Knight to bang himself on the hull.
Shishi maintained his dissatisfied look as he climbed his way up the ladder, sparing just one stern glance back down at Portea, making sure the psion wasn't just tossing the armored man overboard.
Parsithius’s eyes seem less delirious and more calculating -actually far more cunning and cold than before. But, his body remains dead tired, and he hangs limp, unwilling to move; much too tired. Aware, however, that piercing gaze is upon the Cabalist leader. "Achilles' ship," he repeats, apparently, his tongue is as delirious as his body.
Jolie said to Gideon, after a glance given the vampire once he was clear of the ascent, "Haul aweigh." And Gideon did, massive brute arms straining to winch the Knight aboard, where he'd dangle like a swordfish gifted with evolutionary prodigiousness, above the water.
"Shishi..." Jolie asked, sweetly. "Could you pull him in?"
Shishi offers no 'Aye aye' that had been implanted into his vocabulary before obliging Jolie's request and leaning over the side of the ship to pull Parsithius in. There's a somewhat adorable "Hmmmph" of effort that the vampire makes during the action that he would have preferred not to make so that he could keep up his pouting exterior.
Portea waits until Parsithius is safely aboard the ship before making his way up the ladder, moving to lean against the edge once he reaches the top.
Jolie gave Portea a nod of thanks. "We'll take him to the hold."
In The Hold
Parsithius is, by now, pulled in and set somewhere to the fashion of Jolie's liking -which could either be a nice bed, or strapped hatefully to a chair. Who knows.
Jolie murmured something to the faithful Gideon, who lumbered off to the ship's belly, below, while in the hold, not far from the descending stairs, Jolie had ordered the Knight lain on a pallet of sacks, which wouldn't prove too uncomfortable. "There." She eyed the lot of them. "He still has his skin."
A Rat scampered into view from above.
Jolie nudged the rat aside with her boot. "Not now, Sam."
Portea follows Jolie, playing the part of the silent observer, for now.
Shishi folded his arms across his torso and eyed Jolie, "If all you wanted to do was give him a place to rest then I could have taken him somewhere... What's this really about?" he asked, while inwardly lamenting the fact that he's never really willingly boarded this ship...
Parsithius rolls his head about lethargically, pausing to scrutinize Portea.
Jolie knelt beside the delirious warrior, her lips dipping close to his ear. "I want you to know that I could have killed you, five times over, in five different ways, from the moment you set foot on the sands of my home." Drawing back a little, she added, "But I didn't. I am no kin-slayer. I have honour." The mortal frowned. "Where it counts, anyway." By then Gideon was on his way back up from the lowest level, dragging something heavy with a bump-chink-bump-chink up the stairs.
Parsithius 's eyes slide toward Jolie, "So you poison me and bring aboard this wretched thing." A sneer, or crude mockery of one, while closing his eyes, and leaning his head back. "I am a knight, nothing more, and nothing less."
Jolie said to Shishi, "He wants to kill, or imprison his brother. I want to marry his brother. We are at odds. I intend to work things out."
She poked Parsithius in the forehead. "Are you -all- this goddamn stubborn?" Gideon arrived, lumping the sack he'd drop beside Jolie. She thanked him, and turned her gaze back to the Knight. "There's your bounty. Leave my mate the hell alone. And be thankful you're not shark food."
Parsithius shakes his head, "You think this is about gold?"
Jolie said to Parsithius, "No. But it's that, or blood. And I will not let you spill the blood of your kin. For that is unforgivable."
Portea watches the exchange intently, lofting a brow as he listens. "Just accept her offer, you fool. Crossing her is not something you'll want to do lightly."
Jolie glanced up to Portea, and back down to the Knight. "I'm doing this as much for you as Leo, you tin-headed fool."
Parsithius flits his gaze toward Portea, speaking to Jolie, "Do you always keep this mockery of an intimidator around?" Then, he slides his gaze toward Jolie, "I'm not spilling any blood. I'm locking him up."
Jolie said, "Then you're a coward, as well as a fool, to allow others to do the deed for you. Do you really think they'll let him live?"
Shishi sighed at the former vampire, "If we drugged and kidnapped everyone who wanted to lock the Captain away this ship'd sink from the weight... I guess all I'm going to ask now is that whatever you had planned, you do something that's a little nicer." He averted currently oceanic blue eyes, "He's a friend."
Parsithius said, "He's never stayed in a single prison for more than two days. Do you really think he'd get executed? He'd allow himself to get executed?"
Portea shrugs off the intended jibe, merely rolling his eyes.
Jolie snapped a look to Shishi. "If it was your wife he was hunting, would you say the same?"
Parsithius said, "Why would I hunt Terra?"
Jolie said to Parsithius, "Then why bother at all? Why make him hate you, when it could be...." She thought of Drake, how hard-won all that was. "You have a nephew. A brother. Two brothers. All this, more than many have and you'd throw it away .. for what?"
Parsithius pauses distinctly. Distinctly. Mulling over her words, mulling over Dracothius Mediccino. Leoxander. A nephew? Kinda sorta. "I'll talk to Achilles first. Not you any longer." If he's going to buy into anything, he'd better hear it from the pirate himself. The pirate that escaped him.
Shishi twitched, put on another pout and looked away from Jolie again. That managed to shut him up, at least briefly.
Jolie nodded. "You wanted a meeting. I've now arranged it. He'll be here, on the morrow. Meantime.. make yourself comfortable, Knight." She dropped to a seat on the floor, her sulk of a magnitude to match Shishi's.
Parsithius lays his head back, and drifts into his opium-induced sleep.
Shishi drops, or maybe flops is a better word, to the floor, and shimmies towards a wall that he props himself up against while his thoughts drift towards poor Detree stuck with Orange and Yellow who were probably flinging mashed potatoes at his wings or something.