Wolves of the Sea

[Yenpointfive]

Captain Alexander Wright was aware of what the phrase "red letter day" meant but for the life of him couldn't figure out why it meant that. Not worth dwelling on, he decided. Today was one. In the early morning his ship, the Dauntless had rolled into the harbor under cover of heavy fog, managing to catch a ship currently flying French flags off guard. After hailing them they realized what the ships true colors were and opened fire. It surprised him at first that they'd been so easy to uncover, and not smart enough to slip way from the Dauntless when they entered the harbor.

He later figured out why. They'd been reluctant to leave their captain stranded on shore. That, and not one of them made a convincing french sailor. He rather imagined that that was the captain's job, or the job of one of the men who'd also gone ashore with him. Either way, it had been their undoing and was why he was currently standing in the brig looking down at one of the most successful pirates on the high seas. Previously successful, he corrected himself. Right now the man was lashed to a chair. Alexander still needed to make sure the man wasn't hiding weaponry anywhere on his person and didn't want to take any chances on that point. The last thing he needed was a jailbreak prompted by laziness on the part of the one searching him.

"I've got good news and bad news. I'd ask which you'd like first but that's always been a painfully trite question. Bad news is, you're being taken back to England where, no one would doubt, you shall hang. Good news is that this isn't the sort of ship where we delight in tormenting our captives. You'll arrive safe and sound. I'm not the sort to begrudge a dead man walking comfort in his last days." Alexander told the captain. Honestly, Alexander was a bit of an oddity. He was young for commanding a vessel like this. Only just having entered his late twenties, he looked right at home in his uniform. It went nicely with his bright blue eyes too. His hair was a shade of brown that did decidedly less matching with the uniform. He'd opted to lose the powdered wig that was the fashion of the time. It ought to be accessorizing the high seas most fashionable cannonball still. Somewhere at the bottom of the Atlantic had seemed like the place for such a thing.

 

[nightsorceress]

The captain was not like most captains, that was do to the fact the captain was a woman. Her father was a pirate captain and having no sons he taught her the family business, so to speak. After her father had died she had taken his ship and his crew adding a few crew members of her own and set on the seas. However she had to hid who she truly was. She taped down her breast and hid her long raven hair and dressed as if she was a man.

She was desperate to hid her true identity as she watched her captures captain enter the brig. She was tied tightly to a chair her eyes narrowed as the man spoke to her. She tried not make any moves or signs to tip him off that something was different. His idiot men had missed it when the searched her for weapons missing a few weapons in the process so she knew they had not figured out her secret. But this man now standing in front of her looked smarter than them.

"Take your good news bad news crap and shove it. I won't make it to England, my crew will come and kick your sorry asses, you will dread the day you even thought you captured me" She tried to sound as if she was a man. But her voice did always sound like she was young boy instead of a rough and tough man.

 

[Yenpointfive]

Alexander didn't seem to have much problem with that idea. "Way I see it, you're not there. They're probably holed up wherever it is you make port when the heat is on. And if they do attack, a crew without a captain is looking for a costly victory at best." He told her. In truth, her crew would need a fairly clever plan to take on an English battleship after having been on the losing side of the first engagement.

He didn't comment on her voice. He wasn't going to tease his enemy after his victory. It would have been in poor form. What didn't bode well for her was how thorough he was with searching for her weapons. For one, her boots came off. That was good for uncovering a knife or two probably, and noticing that her feet were relatively small. He patted her legs down much better than his crewmen had. They'd been a bit reluctant to be thorough in certain areas but he'd have preferred to make a captive a little uncomfortable rather than be shot in the back when he was walking out. When he came to her torso however, he opted for the safe route, which was to say that he just went ahead and took off her jacket.

There was only so much you could do to hide your figure if you weren't permitted much clothing to work with and she probably hadn't expected to have her jacket taken. He prodded her chest once before reaching up and snatching her hat off as well, finding a wealth of hair that had been hidden under it. "Good lord you're a woman..." He didn't sound surprised so much as annoyed by the fact. "If the crew finds out about this there's going to be hell to pay." He commented. This was clearly not the ideal situation but the more he looked at her the more he wondered how the hell he didn't notice it sooner. Really, put her in a dress and you'd never have known she was a pirate. This was not going to make having her hanged any easier for anyone.

 

[nightsorceress]

"my crew is clever than you think, they have to be since we have survived this long." she looked him venom in her voice and eyes. As he began to search her she tried to to struggle to keep him away of finding out her secret. If he would have know she was a woman his would not be roaming so freely over her body, however they might be any way most men were pigs after all. But then again he did not seem like the type to take what he wanted for woman.

She seemed to freeze as he removed her hat, relieving her long hair. It spilled out every where and she had to shook her head to knock some of it out of her face. "Yeah so what I am woman." she sounded much tougher now that she did not have to hid her voice.

 

[Yenpointfive]

He rolled his eyes a bit when she mentioned how clever her crew was. "If they were quick witted they wouldn't be in this situation. Or was it you that thought making port in a harbor with such a narrow mouth was a good idea? We tore into them like a knife through butter before they made it beyond the mouth of the bay." He was getting a little tired of being talked down to by a woman who'd been beaten. Her gender would make things complicated if it came to light before they were in England and he did not like complications.

He chuckled a little bit when she admitted to her gender. It was a little surprising that she sounded more threatening when she wasn't trying to fake a manly voice. "So... you do know what sailors are like, don't you? You get caught for this sort of thing and men might get ideas, the kind of ideas I throw people overboard for, you following me?" He asked as he took a step back and sat against the edge of a nearby table. "So here's how it's going to be. You're going to keep your chest wrapped and I'll ensure you've got some sort of clothing that gives a bit more cover. You're getting a haircut but till then you're wearing a bandana over it. This is for your own good, partially since I doubt you really want your own crew to find out any more than I want mine to." He said, waiting to see how she'd take it.

 

[nightsorceress]

"You think you know so much" she laughed a little. "My crew knows that I am woman. They willingly follow me, because they know I am better than any man out there." she stared him down a bit. "I will not be cutting my hair, i will cover it but not be cutting it. as for why we were in that port it is none of your business" She barked almost anger at him. "I think part of you is weird what they are going to say when you drag me back to England, when you show up with just a poor helpless woman. No one will be believe I am pirate and you be made a fool of"

 

[Yenpointfive]

"Well mine doesn't yet, and I'd just as soon keep it that way." He said, deciding to let her ego slide. He was getting tired of putting up with her already. Alexander thought for a moment about whether or not he should push her on the hair argument and then decided that if her being a woman hadn't gotten out yet she could probably be trusted not to fuck it up. "Alright. I won't deny you a full head of hair when you swing for your crimes so long as you hide it." He commented. With that said he stepped behind her to untie her from the chair. Just in case she had any funny ideas about where she was supposed to go there was a click from behind her head when she was free, signifying a flintlock pointed at her head. "That may well be, but somehow I think I'll find a way to make them believe me. Into the cell now." Any attempts to do anything else would have been nothing short of suicidal. Being shot at this range would not end well for her.

 

[nightsorceress]

She was glad that he was going to let her keep her hair. Although she was a pirate she did still like her womanly features, and she hoped that some day she would find a man that would like them, as well as understanding she is a pirate. She seemed to not be worried that he was sure she was going to be hanged. she knew she wouldn't she knew in her heart her crew would come for her. As he undid the ropes she rose from the chair. before she took a step "My hat sir, i can not very well cover my head with out it. May i get it?"

 

[Yenpointfive]

He considered her request for a moment. It wasn't necessarily unreasonable, but there were a lot of things one could successfully hide in a hat that wouldn't be comfortable or practical to hide in other bits of clothing. "No. I rather think I'd like you in the cell sooner rather than later. I'll check your hat and pass it through the bars." He told her. He wouldn't have put it past her to pull a razor out of the brim and try slitting his throat with it. Alexander wanted her on the opposite side of those bars before he gave her the hat, just in case. It also made sure he had a pistol pointed at her back the whole way to the cell, rather than giving her a chance to turn and face him. Was it exactly the epitome of bravery? No, not really. But Alexander had long since decided that caution was bravery's more useful but less beloved cousin. That might also be why bravery seemed to be the rarer of the two. As traits go, it was good at getting itself bred out of the gene pool.