Oh my god-- [ tessa squeaks when she gets picked up because what, and she barely has time to process before she's suddenly off the ground, too big skirts and all. her cheeks go red and tess protests-- ] Hey! [ because she is not going to be carried out of here like someone's booty call, okay, it's just not happening.
except it is and she knows it is, because this pirate is, in fact, a pirate, and tessa is kind of her prisoner, sort of. her sort of willing prisoner? a trade? who knows.
the state up on deck is bad--there are cannonballs sunk with dead on accuracy into the wood, places where water is leaking into the ship, but everything seems to go silent as the pirate captain makes her way onto the deck. tessa looks over her shoulder and watches her home disappear as they walk over the gangplank. her ship is massive, flying the black flag as clear and true as day, and she can't help the sort of mix of despair and excitement that comes from being basically delivered to whatever her new fate is.
i'm sorry, she thinks, to her fiance, but mostly to her people--this is letting them down, and she knows it is, but it's keeping them safe in the long run, and...well, she's getting that adventure she'd wanted.
eventually, a little annoyed, tessa lifts up to get a look at the other girl. ] I don't even know your name.
[ The skirts that the upper class wear are so ridiculously inconvenient, and it just seems to get worse with royalty. Minji is vaguely tempted to tell her to leave them behind, but really she's not that much of a shank. She's just enough of a shank to carry her up to the deck, and over to her own ship.
Eyebrows raising, she can't help the frown that appears on her face. Maybe they need to work on their infamy some more, although it's not particularly shocking - this is a princess, after all. They aren't told much about the high seas. ] It's Minji. I mean, there are other names, but that's my actual one.
[ She shrugs, moving to carefully set the slighter girl down onto her feet. Minji even goes so far as to dust her off and straighten out her skirts a bit, careful to keep the gesture polite so that she doesn't edge over into copping a feel. But once everything is in order again, she has some orders she has to give out. ]
Excuse me, for a second - raise the gangplank, release the hooks, let's go! [ She throws down her orders where necessary, making sure that everyone hauls ass back onto their ship so they can leave. But then she perks a little, grinning. ] Hey, Newt! We can leave now.
[ now that she's said something, the name sounds at least sort of familiar. minji, scourge of the seven seas. she'd been a real pain in the butt for the kingdom, constantly stealing shipments from the new country before they could get here--some of which included tessa's favorite sweet cinnamon. in fact, she could vaguely remember cursing her name at the dinner table before it, and tessa has to suppress sort of a bark of laughter at the thought. kidnapped by the cinnamon thief. amazing.
(of course, that's not all she's stolen, but tessa had been a little indignant about that on top of all of the money and gold and things for the kingdom, too.)
she opens her mouth to say something about it, but minji starts giving orders and tessa snaps her mouth shut again, watching the crew come over with the kind of absurd precise motion that usually comes from military crews; whooping and yelling, fifty some odd girls come flying in from the ship off of hooks and rope, and the gangplank lifts with the last one. whoever she was talking to turns out to be a tiny blonde with her hair tied up in a ponytail--she rolls her eyes (really?) at minji, then looks at tess, clucking her tongue. you're un-shucking-believable, minji, she says, turning away from them to maybe man the ship.
it leaves, more or less, tess and minji alone. the few girls lingering around, hoisting the rigging, call things out-- "ooh, dibs!" "I want her skirts!" "Maybe she came with a bunch of girly shanky hair stuff." "Heeey, princess!" and so on and so forth--it makes tessa blush, and she takes a step back from minji, lifting her skirts again, almost like she's gonna run. she's not--she has nowhere to go--but tess likes feeling like she has the option.
at the moment, though, she's just kind of standing there, looking like a tiny, wide eyed deer. ]
[ Minji just shrugs in response to Newt's appraisal and subsequent reaction, not really all that bothered by it. Honestly, she shouldn't be surprised by it - and probably isn't, actually - and at least no one was horribly maimed in the process. The kingdom is on the smaller side, though, so even if they do get raided every now and then maybe they just realize it's better safe than sorry when it comes to piracy.
Whatever. She's got what she wants, and maybe from now on they'll dial back a little on stealing wares and shipments from them. Could mean that they don't try and steal their princess back, who knows.
Man, Newt's not going to be happy when she finds out it's a princess that Minji's decided to try and romance.
Speaking of, though. With the catcalls, she scowls a little, squaring her shoulders and straightening up. Tessa might move away from her, but Minji shifts into a stance along the lines of protective. ]
Hey! I'm gonna say this once, so you better listen - Tessa here is a guest, and her personal possessions are off limits unless she decides she wants to share them with you shanks. Any of you try callin' dibs on anything, I'll beat your shuck heads in!
[ "personal possessions" comes someone jeering from up in the rigging--a skinny girl, though tess thought she looked too young to be on the ship--"does that mean her stuff or her stuff?"
there's a chorus of "oooohs" from the girls, and tessa turns red at the ears--she could stay quiet, really, she could have learned like her parents so desperately wanted her to, to be demure and silent and only speak when spoken to, but. well, she never learned. cupping her hands around her mouth, tessa yells back-- ] It means neither for you!
[ and then, realizing exactly what she implied, tessa turns redder and attempts to cover for herself. ] Or any of you!
[ and proceeds to make it worse, by whirling around and challenging minji: ] Especially you!
[ there's dead silence for all of five seconds, before the blonde girl--newt, maybe?--suddenly cracks up laughing, and the rest of the girls follow. ]
[ At first, Minji is rolling her eyes at the crew - especially because one of the chatty ones has decided to be Aris, and really she should throw that girl off the ship, no matter what Rachel says - but then she turns her attention to Tessa again, raising her eyebrows in interest. This is definitely not princess behavior, but instead of finding it offputting like she imagines the girl's parents likely would have made her think, she's smitten.
And then Tessa whirls around on her, and she blinks down at her.
A moment after the others start laughing, she joins in with them, throwing her head back. She's not offended in the least bit, to be honest, and instead she's even more charmed.
You can't really be on board a pirate ship without having some fight to you. This is a good sign.
Holding her hands up while her laughter dies down to chuckling, she offers her mock-surrender with a shrug. ] Consent is sexy. You want to see your quarters, or should I let you glare at everyone for a while first?
[ tessa is left sort of half thinking she's going to get killed, but the atmosphere loosens considerably when newt laughs, and then it's gone all together when minji does. she's left flustered and huffy and now a little confused, fists still clenched at her sides, and a part of her wonders how awful this is really going to be. so far, it feels like emotional whiplash.
the blonde girl wipes a tear from her eyes and claps minji on the shoulder, telling her to bring tess 'round once she's gotten settled later tonight, and starts yelling for the crew to get back to work; tess figures out pretty quickly she must be minji's first mate. all of this, this whole--women doing everything thing--it's kind of amazing, though she'd be hard pressed to admit it. not because she doesn't believe it, because she totally does, but mostly just because she doesn't want to admit anything nice about the people who definitely just kidnapped her. traded her. whatever.
tessa's fists loosen and she huffs, grabbing her skirts to walk on the deck in her little heels without a word, straight past minji...even though she has no clue where she's going. ]
[ Giving Newt a nudge with her elbow, and a catcall of her own - do your work, not Allie! - that leads to the short, dark-skinned woman giving her a dry look from up where she's standing at the wheel, Minji claps her hands once before rubbing them together. Tessa's reaction to being kidnapped is pretty impressive, but hopefully she eases up a little.
If she doesn't, well. Minji doesn't want to think about it, because it involves a lot of alcohol and invading Newt and Allie's quarters to despair to them for a week.
For now, though, she just gets to watch Tess get huffy at her and march off. A second's pause has her considering whether she wants to follow or not, but then she decides to go with it, strolling along after her with her hands in her long coat's pockets. There's work to be done, but she figures she should probably tag along for a bit to make sure she doesn't fall into a hole or something. ]
[ tessa is acutely aware of the captain of the ship following her, thank you very much, but she's going to continue to walk with her head held high and pretend that she's not still blushing down to her neck. everything about this place is already kind of awful, she decides, and tessa pretty much cements it in her head that she's going to try and escape somehow. maybe she can cut her skirts and jump off and swim. the ship can't be that far off, right?
she'll look for an exit instead of her quarters, as soon as she can get minji off of her back.
tessa doesn't turn around, but keeps her head up instead, peeking in rooms occasionally. the ship is big, just as big as the one she was just on if not bigger, only..inhabited by pirates, and a lot of gold, and she could probably have the lay of the place handled within a couple days if she didn't escape. tess squares her shoulders and peers into another doorway, pretending to be nonchalant, but it's really not working that well. she's actually still absurdly curious, but she's still trying to deal with the fact that she was kidnapped, first. ] Why are you following me? Don't you have things to do?
Ain't exactly keen on the idea of you falling through to the brig or getting pulled up with the rigging from some errant rope. [ Yeah, still not really bothered too much by Tessa's reaction to her general existence. Reaching up, she plucks her (stolen) hat off her head, smoothing a hand through her bangs and over the rest of her short hair, scratching at the shorn portion now that she doesn't have to deal with the feathery monstrosity.
People make assumptions about women in general, nevermind Minji, but she's observant. She's smart, and she's not oblivious. She knows that little miss Tessarae here is trying to think of a means of escape, figuring out the lay of the ship.
Thankfully, it's kind of big and difficult to navigate. Maybe she'll warm to them while she's at it. (Definitely need to sic Newt on her.) ]
Newt's overseeing things, so I don't gotta do anything right now unless I decided to take inventory now instead.
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no subject
except it is and she knows it is, because this pirate is, in fact, a pirate, and tessa is kind of her prisoner, sort of. her sort of willing prisoner? a trade? who knows.
the state up on deck is bad--there are cannonballs sunk with dead on accuracy into the wood, places where water is leaking into the ship, but everything seems to go silent as the pirate captain makes her way onto the deck. tessa looks over her shoulder and watches her home disappear as they walk over the gangplank. her ship is massive, flying the black flag as clear and true as day, and she can't help the sort of mix of despair and excitement that comes from being basically delivered to whatever her new fate is.
i'm sorry, she thinks, to her fiance, but mostly to her people--this is letting them down, and she knows it is, but it's keeping them safe in the long run, and...well, she's getting that adventure she'd wanted.
eventually, a little annoyed, tessa lifts up to get a look at the other girl. ] I don't even know your name.
no subject
Eyebrows raising, she can't help the frown that appears on her face. Maybe they need to work on their infamy some more, although it's not particularly shocking - this is a princess, after all. They aren't told much about the high seas. ] It's Minji. I mean, there are other names, but that's my actual one.
[ She shrugs, moving to carefully set the slighter girl down onto her feet. Minji even goes so far as to dust her off and straighten out her skirts a bit, careful to keep the gesture polite so that she doesn't edge over into copping a feel. But once everything is in order again, she has some orders she has to give out. ]
Excuse me, for a second - raise the gangplank, release the hooks, let's go! [ She throws down her orders where necessary, making sure that everyone hauls ass back onto their ship so they can leave. But then she perks a little, grinning. ] Hey, Newt! We can leave now.
[ And she gestures at Tessa. ]
no subject
(of course, that's not all she's stolen, but tessa had been a little indignant about that on top of all of the money and gold and things for the kingdom, too.)
she opens her mouth to say something about it, but minji starts giving orders and tessa snaps her mouth shut again, watching the crew come over with the kind of absurd precise motion that usually comes from military crews; whooping and yelling, fifty some odd girls come flying in from the ship off of hooks and rope, and the gangplank lifts with the last one. whoever she was talking to turns out to be a tiny blonde with her hair tied up in a ponytail--she rolls her eyes (really?) at minji, then looks at tess, clucking her tongue. you're un-shucking-believable, minji, she says, turning away from them to maybe man the ship.
it leaves, more or less, tess and minji alone. the few girls lingering around, hoisting the rigging, call things out-- "ooh, dibs!" "I want her skirts!" "Maybe she came with a bunch of girly shanky hair stuff." "Heeey, princess!" and so on and so forth--it makes tessa blush, and she takes a step back from minji, lifting her skirts again, almost like she's gonna run. she's not--she has nowhere to go--but tess likes feeling like she has the option.
at the moment, though, she's just kind of standing there, looking like a tiny, wide eyed deer. ]
no subject
Whatever. She's got what she wants, and maybe from now on they'll dial back a little on stealing wares and shipments from them. Could mean that they don't try and steal their princess back, who knows.
Man, Newt's not going to be happy when she finds out it's a princess that Minji's decided to try and romance.
Speaking of, though. With the catcalls, she scowls a little, squaring her shoulders and straightening up. Tessa might move away from her, but Minji shifts into a stance along the lines of protective. ]
Hey! I'm gonna say this once, so you better listen - Tessa here is a guest, and her personal possessions are off limits unless she decides she wants to share them with you shanks. Any of you try callin' dibs on anything, I'll beat your shuck heads in!
[ harrumph ]
no subject
there's a chorus of "oooohs" from the girls, and tessa turns red at the ears--she could stay quiet, really, she could have learned like her parents so desperately wanted her to, to be demure and silent and only speak when spoken to, but. well, she never learned. cupping her hands around her mouth, tessa yells back-- ] It means neither for you!
[ and then, realizing exactly what she implied, tessa turns redder and attempts to cover for herself. ] Or any of you!
[ and proceeds to make it worse, by whirling around and challenging minji: ] Especially you!
[ there's dead silence for all of five seconds, before the blonde girl--newt, maybe?--suddenly cracks up laughing, and the rest of the girls follow. ]
no subject
And then Tessa whirls around on her, and she blinks down at her.
A moment after the others start laughing, she joins in with them, throwing her head back. She's not offended in the least bit, to be honest, and instead she's even more charmed.
You can't really be on board a pirate ship without having some fight to you. This is a good sign.
Holding her hands up while her laughter dies down to chuckling, she offers her mock-surrender with a shrug. ] Consent is sexy. You want to see your quarters, or should I let you glare at everyone for a while first?
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the blonde girl wipes a tear from her eyes and claps minji on the shoulder, telling her to bring tess 'round once she's gotten settled later tonight, and starts yelling for the crew to get back to work; tess figures out pretty quickly she must be minji's first mate. all of this, this whole--women doing everything thing--it's kind of amazing, though she'd be hard pressed to admit it. not because she doesn't believe it, because she totally does, but mostly just because she doesn't want to admit anything nice about the people who definitely just kidnapped her. traded her. whatever.
tessa's fists loosen and she huffs, grabbing her skirts to walk on the deck in her little heels without a word, straight past minji...even though she has no clue where she's going. ]
no subject
If she doesn't, well. Minji doesn't want to think about it, because it involves a lot of alcohol and invading Newt and Allie's quarters to despair to them for a week.
For now, though, she just gets to watch Tess get huffy at her and march off. A second's pause has her considering whether she wants to follow or not, but then she decides to go with it, strolling along after her with her hands in her long coat's pockets. There's work to be done, but she figures she should probably tag along for a bit to make sure she doesn't fall into a hole or something. ]
no subject
she'll look for an exit instead of her quarters, as soon as she can get minji off of her back.
tessa doesn't turn around, but keeps her head up instead, peeking in rooms occasionally. the ship is big, just as big as the one she was just on if not bigger, only..inhabited by pirates, and a lot of gold, and she could probably have the lay of the place handled within a couple days if she didn't escape. tess squares her shoulders and peers into another doorway, pretending to be nonchalant, but it's really not working that well. she's actually still absurdly curious, but she's still trying to deal with the fact that she was kidnapped, first. ] Why are you following me? Don't you have things to do?
no subject
People make assumptions about women in general, nevermind Minji, but she's observant. She's smart, and she's not oblivious. She knows that little miss Tessarae here is trying to think of a means of escape, figuring out the lay of the ship.
Thankfully, it's kind of big and difficult to navigate. Maybe she'll warm to them while she's at it. (Definitely need to sic Newt on her.) ]
Newt's overseeing things, so I don't gotta do anything right now unless I decided to take inventory now instead.