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Here Be Dragons [ Forsaken Dreamer and Terucin ]

"I don't need any sort of eloquent wordplay. All I asked for was an apology, and I'm perfectly happy to accept yours just the way it is. You'd be surprised what wonders the decision not to sell someone will work on their opinion of you. Particularly when I happen to be that someone." Tessa glanced away from him with what could almost be construed as the tiniest hint of a smile, clearly satisfied with the answer he had given her. She still didn't quite trust him, and she certainly trusted just about everyone else that might be on the ship a good deal less. But it was a step in the right direction - at the very least, she no longer despised him quite as thoroughly as she had a few minutes ago.

"I wouldn't have ever made it to the port I was planning to sail regardless of whether or not you had been involved. I can get there from whichever port you've decided on as your destination. Considering my future now looks a good deal better, I'd sooner be at the wrong port and delayed a week than a corpse at the bottom of the sea forever." Following the path of his gaze, her eyes came to rest on the picture he had fixated on. It looked different than the others had; she had noticed it when she had surveyed the room but had paid no mind to it, having dismissed it as just a drawing that perhaps was never finished.

"If a behavior can be learned, then it can be unlearned. Nobody is born with a complete disregard for anyone else's life. At least, no one I can think of or know of." Tessa turned her attention back to him as he cut the bandage, one eyebrow quirking at him curiously as she watched him, but she made no move to try to help him up as he had requested, or to stand up herself. "I could help you stand if that's what you wish, but both of us may very well come to regret it. I can carry a fair amount of weight if I need to, but there are limits. I doubt I will be able to keep you up when you stand up and end up unconscious, which is what is fairly likely to happen if you really want to try to stand."

Now she stood, one hand reaching down toward him in an invitation to take it. "Unless you happen to be an excellent actor in the area of the effects of blood loss, you seem more than ready to faint even without trying to stand up. It's up to you. Try and stand if you like. I won't stop you; I'll even help, though I can't say as much when you end up on the floor again. Or do what any person with even the smallest bit of common sense would do, choose to stay awake, and ask me for help lying down instead, which I'll be able to provide much more easily. Then not only will you have a captive audience to tell the tales of your life of crime to, but you might even be awake to do it. A blanket or two wouldn't hurt either. Once you get rid of that knife of yours, of course. You'll have to forgive me if I don't share the love for weaponry you and your crew seem to have." She shifted her weight slightly as she waited for his decision, her hand still hovering just in front of him.
 
Sverdar scowled slightly, feeling a flash of anger shoot through him briefly, annoyed in the fact that it was so apparently obvious that he was suffering from a loss of blood. He didn't like depending on others, not one bit, so he had gone a very long time attempting to become as self-sufficient as he could be. He had worked to keep his problems to himself, from betraying his emotions so no one would want to help him, to guard his tongue so that people wouldn't get any ideas about offering him assistance in anything. While he had asked for Tessa's help in standing, he had suggested it simply because he thought he could just push through the symptoms and keep functioning as he might otherwise. He hadn't felt any annoyance or anger at her directly for helping him with his shoulder because he could recognize that without her he had a chance of dying; he had instead been moderately annoyed with himself for receiving such a wound so as to require help from another.

Now she was saying that he would just pass out if he tried doing anything, and was very nearly telling him what to do so that he could keep going. He hadn't asked it of her, she had just started going on. It rubbed him the wrong way, yet at the same time he was smart enough to realize that she was right. He was in no condition to move or do much of anything, and if not for her he could very well be passed out and bleeding from a poorly bandaged wound right then. He didn't know how to feel or react, and felt much more a prisoner just then, instead of the one with a prisoner. Yet he had just said she wouldn't be a prisoner in that sense, so even she wasn't. It was a very different and unpleasant situation for Sev after years of living on his own and looking out for only himself, to be at the mercy of a female younger than himself. Fate sure had a sense of humor.

Yet, he had the state of mind and ability to moderate his tone and keep his emotions in check. None of this was solely her fault, she had no idea how he acted or his reasons for doing so, and knew very little of his personality. He would just have to keep all that in mind, and perhaps over time he could explain all this to he and get her to back off and not treat him like someone who needed to be looked after. He had done fine so far, and while she had helped him, he wasn't someone who needed constant help or support.

"If you would, help me lay down, then," Sev grudgingly managed with a sigh, throwing his knife across the room with his good arm so that it embedded itself into the wood partially. He belated realized how the reaction would appear, and in a much more controlled manner he put his sword and guns on the floor next to him, and pushed them away from himself slightly. "Sorry, was just trying to get the knife away so that you won't view it as a threat," he apologized.
 
Tessa started to lean down back into a crouch, flinching back abruptly as the knife he held flew past her face to land in the wall with a solid thud. Her eyes snapped to the knife stuck point-first in the wall before looking back at him, eyeing him warily as he removed the rest of his weapons. After a long moment she moved again, gingerly extending a foot to sweep the weapons further away from him, both so he would have more room and to put her unease at least partially to rest. She could see well enough that Sverdar was in no state to be threatening her without a weapon, so any reason she had to fear him had nearly disappeared for the moment now that he had disarmed.

"You have an interesting idea of what I might view as a threat. Do you often show people your good intentions by sending weapons flying in their direction?" She settled into a crouch, leaning back on her heels as she watched him, turning over in her mind a number of ideas of how to follow through on her own advice. She wasn't nearly strong enough to pull him onto his bed on her own, and she trusted him to be able to do the same even less than she did herself. And even if she could have gotten him onto the bed, it would have come with the same risk that had gone with trying to stand up. He would have to settle for the floor, she decided, at least until he had become stable enough to risk moving across the room.

"I assume you already know at least part of what I'm going to tell you," she said after a moment, standing up again to give herself a little more leverage against his weight. "You'll need to help me at least a little; I can't do it on my own. All I can do is turn you. The rest you'll have to do. Move just about whatever you like, so long as you don't move that arm, and what you do move, move it slowly. And don't put any weight on that shoulder." Tessa leaned down to hook an arm under his uninjured shoulder, tugging up to lift at least part of his weight from the floor before pulling him to the side, a little away from the wall and the cabinets, to give him room to lean back. "You're going to have to stay there," she added as she lowered him back to the floor, careful not to bump the freshly bandaged shoulder against the wood. "Wait an hour or two, then maybe you'll be able to move to the bed."
 
Sverdar managed to notice several thigs in the few moments that told him a little about Tessa and highlighted greater differences between the two of them. First of the differences he had noticed when she held her hand out for him to take, hovering just a few inches from him. Her hand had been slim and fair, and uncovered with any form of calluses or many other abrasions that normally would cover a hand that Sev was used to on a more common basis. He couldn't tell the life she had led just from her hand, but it hadn't been a hard one full of mostly manual labor and rough surfaces. Not that she had never worked a day, that much he doubted, but more of she hadn't grown up on a pirate ship. Secondly, when she went to help him lay down and moved him, her hands were certainly much softer than he was used to from those around. Her movements weren't as rough and direct as Sev's or his crew's. With them, they needed to haul ropes or row or swing a sword or lift objects and many other actions that Sev now took for granted. This meant that when he and his crew interacted, or they interacted with each other, there wasn't any careful movements or soft touches or anything like that.

That and Tessa's body next to him was unsettling in many ways. He hadn't been close to anyone in a while, being out and sea and all that, and especially not someone like Tessa. He knew what it was like to have to shoulder up against someone to move past or with them, to clasp hands with another to pull them up or along, to get in another's face to force their attention on him and get his point across, normally in a quite aggressive and unfriendly manner. It was very different leaning on Tessa somewhat as he tried to move carefully, as she was slim and careful if deliberate, in her movements. It wasn't rough or unrefined, instead hers was soft and light in comparison. Sev wasn't sure just then how it felt for him just then how it made him feel to be so close to another like this and not trying to lop off their head.

Plus she was just dressed in only a slight nightgown. That was certainly what he wanted to be focusing on just then.

"I am fairly certain that it makes you feel better and at least partially at ease to be in control right now," Sev noted dryly, but with traces of amusement. "Not that I blame you, of course, but you don't seem quite as on edge as you were a few moments ago. Tell me: is dealing with me like this easier than if I was able to walk and everything as normal?" He wasn't asking for any real reason besides genuine curiosity and seeing how she worked and reacted as a person. His question wasn't passive aggressive or spiteful in nature, just curiosity.
 
"If you're looking for an honest answer, then I don't know." Tessa remained silent for a good several seconds, eyeing him curiously. "You can't possibly try to tell me you find it surprising that I trust you more like this than I would otherwise. I don't trust you, and you clearly seem to know that well enough. It shouldn't come as a surprise that it's easier. I haven't seen very much of you doing anything normally, so I don't have much to compare to. The first I saw of you, you'd probably lost a good deal of blood already."

It was half true, at least. From what she had seen of him in the first few seconds, he had seemed threatening enough, most likely as close to his normal self as she had seen him thus far, and he had clearly been well enough to pull the trigger on one of his crew. And if he hadn't been injured, more likely than not he never would have reconsidered his decision regardless of how many arguments she threw his way, and she would have a significantly harder time trying to deal with him. As far as she knew, he might have been just as bad as the small part of his crew that she had met, if a good deal less...coarse. Of course, she had picked up on enough of the tension between him and his crew to recognize that telling him that directly would end unpleasantly. Unless the rough exterior he had shown before he had started to feel the effects of the wound was an impressive facade, she suspected she wouldn't have been able to change his mind no matter how much she tried to batter at his conscience. Now he owed her for doing for him what she had done, but if it hadn't been necessary, no doubt he wouldn't feel quite as inclined to change his mind, as a risk to his own life wouldn't have been a factor at all.

"It depends," she decided finally, folding her arms as she stared down at him. "If you could do everything as you normally do, would you have made it as difficult to deal with you as you did before I offered to do that?" She waved a hand at his shoulder as she spoke. "Maybe fed me a few more pleasantries and attempts at explaining that it's just the way things are? It would have been a good deal easier if you'd acted the way you told me people like you act. So you tell me, what would you have done if you hadn't gotten yourself nearly killed before meeting me?"
 
"Sweep you off your feet after chasing off the miserable sod from before, tearing off your dress and mercilessly ravaging you for as long as I wish," Sverdar replied in a dry tone as he vaguely gestured with his good arm in mockingly emphatic motion. "Or something equally as cruel and heartless and selfish as that, as would be expected of a rughlesst piratet captain like me. Arrg," he replied, his immediate reaction to be sarcastic. He lapsed into silence for a period of time before answering, looking up at the ceiling in speculation.

"No, I doubt that," he replied quietly a few moments later. "I would have been stubborn and probably argued with you a great deal more. I can't say I would have entirely changed my mind, but there's something about you that would have given me pause. At least enough to get me thnking for once. The way you talk and refuse to back down... I would have, and do now, respected that."

He sighed slightly, shrugging with one shoulder, his good shoulder. His didn't live way of life that lent itself to changing one's mind easily or frequently. It was very different to encounter someone like Tessa who was willing and able to go toe to toe with him and not flinch. He doubted he woukd have acknowledged that about her as much had he been working at full capacity.

"Chances are I would have been a right ol' ass as you might expect of me. Just part of my swarthy charm, if you will."
 
"How lovely of you." The response came out a little more deadpan than Tessa had intended, though she even cracked half a smile at his attempt at humor, enough so to make it clear that she hadn't taken it seriously. But it clearly had been just that - humor - and she fully intended to wait until he gave her a real answer. After a few moments of silence she seated herself on the floor a few feet away from him, watching him expectantly. And to his credit, the answer was a good deal better than what she had expected him to give.

"That something about me, I suppose, you might call a sense of self preservation. It's something that you might recognize in yourself from a little under a half hour ago, when you were bleeding out." Almost without realizing it, Tessa had settled her head into her hand, resting her elbow on her knee. The exhaustion that had started to settle in earlier had gone away while she worked on Sev's shoulder, but now that she was finished and she had settled into at least a relatively comfortable position it had started to come back. At this point it had even overridden her general discomfort and unease, and she had relaxed visibly, even if only from the creeping exhaustion.

"I hardly think it should have been surprising that I wasn't particularly complacent with the idea of being handed off to some stranger based on the whim of another one," she said after a moment. "You're very, very nearly as bad as I gave you credit for, swarthy charm and all. And you've already been a complete ass in just about the entire time I've known you. Maybe the only reason you stopped at all was because I was armed with a needle." Tessa absentmindedly reached up with one hand to comb through her hair, tugging at the knots that had taken root in the last day or so. Her time on her little piece of driftwood and the several hours she had spent sleeping on the bed had made the tangles worse, and the water that still hadn't entirely left her hair made it that much more difficult to separate the knotted strands. After a few insistent tugs she surrendered, giving her hair up for lost, at least for the moment.
 
"A sense of self-preservation, hm?" Sverdar asked quietly, craning his head back a bit so he could look at Tessa directly. He felt at odds in this situation, and for several reasons, probably stemming from his habit of needing constant control in most situations. He didn't like how he had so little control here and now; most of the power actually rested with Tessa, someone he had rescued, in a sense, and should have been relying on him and his good graces just then instead of the other way around.

There was also how, albeit grudgingly, he had to admit that she was right on a few different points and was also probably a fair deal more intelligent than he was. He wasn't the strongest or fastest out there, nor the smartest, but he had prided himself on being faster than those stronger than him, smarter than those faster, but this was the first time he had encountered someone like Tessa who could so easily dismiss his arguments and keep going with little apparent effort.

Finally, he was uncertain of how he felt at the moment with how informal the situation was. He was laying down while craning his head back to talk with someone while they sat with their head in their hand. He was used to standing or sitting to address another, normally in control and with each step planned out so he got the outcome which he wished for. This... was closer to being with a friend or someone familiar, even though neither he nor Tessa particularly like each other. He didn't know what to make of it all, besides it was highly unorthodox for him and he wasn't certain how it made him feel.

"I can understand that, certainly," Sev said after a few brief moments of contemplation. "As I said, I would probably be much like you were our situations reversed. I do not hold anything against you for what you are saying or how you are so set against me. It puts me in a rather uncomfortable place, having to find some way to salvage something from all this, but I certainly understand."

He watched quietly as she tried to tug at her hair and failed to make any progress before giving up and letting her hand fall. "Though, an ass as I might have been to you, it does make me wonder if you understand why I am," Sev stated, unsure of hw Tessa would take this line of thought. "I'm not asking you to forgive all my foul and nefarious deeds, hell no, but just if you can understand right now just why I appear an ass to you. I'm curious as to what you make of everything so far."
 
Tessa sat there for a long while, watching him as she considered the question. There were certainly no doubts in either of their minds regarding the simple fact that she had taken a near immediate dislike to him, and nor was there any question of why that was. In the first minute after seeing him for the first time she most likely would have held him in quite high regard for what he had done, but perhaps it was for that reason her opinion of him was so strong. As far as she was concerned, he had given her hope and then ripped it away again, and what had seemed for a moment to her like the very picture of honor and courtesy had transformed before her eyes within moments to something much, much worse. But at the very least he seemed to truly understand why it was that she felt the way she did, and that was more than she had expected of him. She was comfortable enough now that there seemed to be no immediate threat, but she still didn't quite trust him.

"I understand exactly why you appear an ass to me. You told me you understand my feelings about you, didn't you? Why should I not be able to do the same? I understand perfectly. You found someone you didn't know or recognize in the ocean and decided you might make a few handfuls of gold off of it. After all, gold does seem to be the main focus of people in your line of...work. Then you decided your life was worth more than that gold, and for all I know you may well never have changed your mind at all and be planning to get that gold of yours anyway." She shrugged briefly, raising an eyebrow at him before glancing away to stare at the wall. "I wouldn't know, and it's fairly unlikely that I'll completely believe you about anything you tell me regarding that particular issue until the time comes to resolve it. It certainly wouldn't be the first time you've led me to believe something and then done another thing entirely."

Truth be told, she hadn't really considered the idea that he might have been lying through his teeth to buy himself his life back until just now. Somehow she doubted that he would have stooped so low as to do that, but she knew him as well as he knew her - that is, not at all. He seemed to be willing to make quite an effort when given the opportunity to make money, so why should it not apply to making false promises?

"I know well enough that I could kill you myself if I wanted to. I've had enough opportunities, and I still do. But then I suspect that would put me in no better a position than I was before you came in. You've put me in a position where I have no choice but to trust you. You might know the feeling - perhaps from when I patched up your arm." After a moment Tessa returned her gaze to him, eyeing him curiously to see how he would react. It had come out a little more bluntly than she had intended, and perhaps he might even take offense. He had proven to be a good deal less coarse than he had first appeared upon further conversation, and she no longer had quite as strong a desire to snap at him. But he had asked what she thought of everything, so she had given an answer. "I don't think that was quite the answer you were looking for, " she added, as if to lessen the sharpness of what she had said earlier. "But I do hope you understand at least a little more now exactly how you appear to me and why."
 
Sev's throaty chuckled resonated throughout the room once more; he was coming to enjoy the sharp wit that Tessa possessed and her lack of fear to use it as she saw fit. Few others were willing to treat him the same, and it had led to some very stale conversations over the years, and it had been far too long since he had encountered anything like this, or like her. Needless to say, she had managed to dredge out some hesitant respect from the man, not that he would admit it. He was still unsettled by the entire situation and how he now had to rely on her, but he at least found her tolerable and occasionally amusing.

"If it were not for the fact that you have recently convinced me, mostly at needle-point, to not sell or force you into slavery or any form of servitude such as that, I might have kept you around for the mere sake of your audacity and your wit. It is very refreshing and enjoyable to meet someone who does not appear to readily fear me," he paused and shrugged slightly. "Now this could be because I am very obviously unarmed and unable to do any harm from where I lay, but the point stands."

As he lapsed into silence, he studied the features of the girl's face, taking in what he could about her while he had a chance. She had a certain look to her, he supposed, but nothing that instantly leapt out and caught his attention. Compared to many of the wenches that frequented the harbors that he docked in, she would certainly stand out as stunning. However, he didn't think that she was Aphrodite come to mortal flesh or such. However, as she was a woman, he would need to watch and keep her from his crew, should they try to force themselves upon her with greater determination or numbers than Scuttlebutt had. It was going to be a most worrisome problem, and would serve to be a headache for the unwilling captain.

"No, it was not the answer I was looking for. However, it will do as a fine answer, and I am content with now. I... thank you for answering as you did. It actually means something to me." Admitting the fact wasn't the easiest thing for him to do, but to allow Tessa to keep working with him, he would need to play a bit by her rules. This would mean treating her with courtesy rather than as he normally would. It was going to be a very long few days or weeks.
 
"It means something to you that I only trust you because I have no other choice? You certainly don't seem to have very high standards - at least, as far as being trusted goes. Though that doesn’t entirely surprise me, given the fact that you seem to be used to being feared.” She smiled wryly at nothing in particular, one hand going back up to brush her hair back again from her face. At the very least he seemed to have figured out what she wanted from him, even if he only did it for convenience.

“You don’t come across very well as someone to be afraid of,” she decided with a brief nod. “No doubt that isn’t exactly what anyone in your place would want to hear, but it’s true. You’ve come across as a good person, a callous ass, and possibly even a hint of a decent person, in exactly that order. You certainly showed an impressive disregard for the wellbeing or feelings of anyone who happens to be a means to your end, but you never gave the impression that your intention was only to hurt me. Angry, yes. And it certainly shouldn’t surprise you that I’ve been…worried for what might happen when this ship of yours reaches port, but you directly? No, I was never afraid of you, because you gave me no reason to be. Maybe that better answers your question.”

Would the situation have been the same had he been no different than the first person she had met upon waking? Possibly. She was well enough prepared and able to deal with an injured pirate captain that didn’t seem to mean her harm there and then, but perhaps he was right, in a way. It did help that he wasn’t at his full capacity and wouldn’t have been able to do much in the way of aggression in his current state. She might have been a good deal more unsettled than she was now had he been at full strength, and no doubt she wouldn’t have been able to change the man’s mind since it had already been made up so firmly. It seemed to have been sheer luck that had put her in a situation where she had a form of leverage to bargain her freedom back with.

She had appreciated the later parts of their conversation more than she had expected to, and the doubts she had formed had dissipated a good deal. But even now that she was less on edge, she had very little idea of what to do, at least until the ship reached land.

After a moment she shifted to look directly at him, blinking slowly as she turned over several of the many thoughts rolling through her mind before settling on a question that had been nagging at her for the last several minutes. “At the very least, I know of one thing relevant to both our intentions, whatever yours may be. I would prefer to not try to sleep in a corner somewhere on your ship with one eye open and a knife in one hand. A place to sleep without having to do that would be very welcome, if you have one.”
 
Sverdar heaved a deep sigh as her words came to light, even if he hadn't been wishing to deal with this particular situation just yet. However, it was a pressing one and one that couldn't just be pushed aside without ill effects later on. He decided his best course of action would be to thin aloud, and allow her to fully understand why he would arrive at the conclusion he did so she didn't decide to try and stabbing him with a needle again, but without the cause of helping him or his condition this time around.

"Alright, I'll clue you into a few things about this ship, in that case so that your mind can be put to ease," he started quietly. "Or on edge, as the case may be. I won't lie, your situation is far from favorable, I'm sure. You obviously cannot be amongst the crew, unless you can handle yourself far better than I have seen, or you have some deep-seated desire to pleasure the entire crew until we hit port. As I find this nearly impossible to believe, that means we need to separate you from the others. The original plan was to throw you into one of the cells belowdecks and hold you there for the duration so that no one could get at you. It would be for your protection, as stupid and demeaning as that may seem. The only other place is, most unfortunately, here in my personal quarters. The door is solid and can be barred so that unless they decide to take a torch or cannon to the door, they will not be entering. It's the safest place for you for now." He paused and ran a hand across his face, not enjoying how this day had turned out. Why was wanting some gold such a damnable offense for the cosmos?

"Now I do hope that you appreciate what I am about to say, even if it is as much for my sake as it is for yours. You will be taking my bed for the time being," Having to say the words felt like trying to run one's hands the wrong way against a snake's scales. "That will keep you from sleeping on the floor and comfortable that maybe you will be willing to put up with everything else that may happen for a while. I will find a way to set up a cot or hammock in here for my part. Sound fair, so that we stay away from each other's throats?"
 
“I don’t need to take your bed if you have a cot or a hammock that will serve the purpose. Despite whatever opinions you may have formed regarding how well I can take care of myself and how breakable you seem to think I am, I won’t shatter if I sleep in anything that isn’t a feather bed smothered with fifteen pillows.” She straightened up slightly, the corner of her lips turning up a little into half a smile. “If there’s a hammock or cot to be had, then I’ll be perfectly fine in that, and a good deal more comfortable.” Even if she wasn’t particularly happy with the ‘clues’ he had given her regarding what he would have done with her under original circumstances, Tessa could find no reason to blame him for the idea. At the very least she would not have had the concerns that were being presented now, even if she would never have accepted such a thing. As it was, the offer he had made her was certainly not the first option she would have chosen, and nor was the idea particularly appealing. But it was a gesture she hadn’t expected, especially given his former plans.

Tessa pushed herself up to stand, heaving a sigh as she looked away from Sverdar to glance around the room. “I do appreciate the offer, so thank you. It’s quite a step up from the original alternative, and certainly won’t be any worse than the accommodations I had on the ship I was on before. But I also think both of us would rather you continue using your own bed. Regardless, that shoulder of yours will heal better if you sleep on a bed, not a hammock.” Admittedly, the man had turned out to be not quite what she had expected, and twice in the same day to boot. She hadn’t quite decided what to make of him yet, but he clearly wasn’t as callous as she had first taken him to be. Perhaps in another situations she would even have considered him a friend after what they had done for one another in the last hour.

“And it’s not up for debate,” she added as an afterthought, returning her attention to him. “A hammock will suit me well enough, and you would fare a good deal better in a bed. And I highly doubt you'd rather I take the bed. Am I right?"
 
"The bed is an over-soft piece of luxury; it is hard for me to sleep in it," Sev replied, his gaze looking into the ceiling without any great amount of expression to be found. So far, both of them had made several assumptions of the other which had been shot down rapidly on both sides. Yet they were still in this little dance of heirs of trying to gain some form of superiority of seeming to know the other person while pretending that they were equal to one another. It was an unfamiliar dance to the captain, so he decided to bow out now while he had the chance. "So I honestly do not care if I have the bed to sleep on or not. I will take it so as to appease you so that you don't try to force you morals down my throat because of some perceived offense from me."

It was something of a bad habit of his, to become rather blunt and straightforward when stress began to set in. It kept him from getting emotionally invested in what he was doing, and as far as he was concerned it kept him safe. He was an ass, but he was honest and didn't twist the truth. That much kept his crew running and functioning when he started snapping orders around.

"You are not entirely wrong that I rather you take the bed, as that would mean that I might personally care for your comfort or feelings. No offense, but I do not care enough yet to entertain such thoughts. I was trying to be courteous is all, and it seemed easier that way. I honestly do not care at this point who gets what. I would rather nothing, actually. It's an annoying fact, if true," he noted dryly, flicking his eyes upward to glance at Tessa briefly. "And I do not think you are breakable; you're just not tempered yet is all."
 
"I'm not trying to force anything down your throat - I thought the purpose of this was so neither of us would be at each other’s throats,” she replied, perhaps a little more sharply than she had intended. After a moment she drew in a deep breath, letting it out again slowly."I assumed you would want to sleep in your own bed, as I would imagine most people would want. My morals are different than yours, clearly, as we’ve found out already. But I’m not so vapid as to keep spouting the same argument at you whenever it suits me to, and nor am I stupid enough to take offense from what I know was a well-meant gesture. Which, perhaps, you might recognize if you had taken into account anything I’d said beyond ‘you’d rather I take the bed.’”

Tessa leaned back against the wall several feet from him, letting her head fall back to rest on the wall with a soft thump. This was not how she had meant the message to come across, and no doubt the irritation, on her part, at least, was just another product of this strange conversation they had entered into. Her boldness had proved productive thus far, as had her lack of fear of him, but at this point she had grown weary of bandying words with the pirate, who didn’t even seem to be tired yet, even with the amount of blood he had lost. Perhaps she wasn’t breakable, but she certainly didn’t possess nearly the amount of stamina he did, and for good reason, though she wouldn’t admit it to him. She was built for her life, he for his, and neither of them fit well into the other’s world.

After several seconds she opened her eyes as she abruptly realized they had closed on their own, scowling up at the ceiling as if it had been the source of her frustration in the past hour. “I would rather not turn things as small as sleeping arrangements into an argument,” she said quietly to the ceiling, most of the sharp edge finally gone from her voice. “It serves no purpose, and I don’t think either of us wants another fight. Am I right?”
 
Sverdar took a deep breath, before slowly letting it out, realizing that exhaustion and stress from the day had nearly come to a head just then, and undone work on both their parts. He was more annoyed with himself for letting himself go so far; he prided himself on rarely, if ever, losing control over his emotions. Yet with Tessa he had nearly done just that, and probably did nothing to enhance his reputation with her. He figured that he would need to apologize to her eventually, but right then may or not be the time, and he just plainly wasn't certain. With a grudging amount of recognition, he decided that he may as well, as it couldn't anything.

"Yeah, you are quite right, actually," Sverdar agreed quietly, looking at the ceiling once again. "I'm sorry for nearly causing a confrontation between us. It's been a long day for the both of us, I believe," The silence after his words lasted a short while as he listened to the waves. "I'll defer to your judgment and take the bed. I'm sure you know better what I need to properly take care of my arm." It wasn't the easiest call to admit this to Tessa, but he knew that getting along with her would work out better for both of them.

He rolled his shoulder slightly, mainly just stretching it more than anything. "Perhaps we could agree to argue about matters of morality and ethics rather than sleeping arrangements?" he asked, a thin layer of humor tinging his voice.
 
“Another long-winded debate over the ethics of your various ways of making money? No, I think one was quite enough, at least for now. Finally, I believe, something we can agree on.” Tessa had relaxed visibly once the other had also calmed down. As harmless as he was now, with a freshly stitched and bandaged wound, she had no particular intention or desire to make an enemy of the one person on this ship that wasn’t a threat. She had never had any significant difficulty maintaining a calm facade regardless of how frustrated she might be, but doing so now was proving to be a good deal more challenging, especially when the person she happened to be facing had no qualms about calling out what he saw.

“Apology accepted, of course, as is generally the custom when offered one,” she added as an afterthought. “I would gladly engage in another heated argument if I thought either of us had the energy, but I’m afraid mine, at least, has been spent for quite a while now. I’d be happy enough, for now, to settle for somewhere to put my head down that isn’t a wall. And perhaps the date and time, if that can be managed. I seem to have lost track of both.”

Truth be told, whether it was morning or evening, more likely than not she would have slept then and there. But now that the question of sleeping arrangements had been asked (and answered), Tessa realized that she had never asked after the time of day — or even the day itself. Surely she couldn’t have been on the water for more than a couple days, or she would have had a good deal less energy than this regardless of any adrenaline that had kicked in when she had woken. But it had been, at least, long enough to cause a fair amount of disorientation.
 
Using the hand attached to his good arm, Sverdar ran a hand across his face, gently rubbing at his eyes momentarily. He was still trying to orientate himself in this rather confusing situation and was quickly making no progress with it. He was a captain of a bloodthirsty crew of depraved souls, and essentially had few qualms about such issues himself. Yet here he was, laying on the floor having a conversation with a woman who had managed to out-argue him and had an easier time twisting his words around than he might have with her arms. To top it off, she had somehow convinced him to change his mind, twice in fact. There was no good reason why he should listen to her and give in to what she wanted instead of how he wanted it all to go.

There was also equally no reason to go against her.

"If I had to hazard a guess, based off the remains I found and the evidence of a storm we managed to weather yesterday, I would say that you have been in the sea for no more than a day or two at the very most. Not long enough to kill you, obviously, but also long enough to sap any energy you might have had. By now you are low on energy from the cold and lack of food. Of course, you would know the specifics of why and how, I just know the symptoms and usually what causes them." He removed his hand from his face, moving his arm to rest it on the wood underneath him, contemplating pushing himself up to a sitting position, but figured that getting stabbed with a needle for opening his stitches wasn't worth it.

"I do have a question for you, however. You are sitting there in a dress that is probably still quite soaked and wet from laying in the water for so long. You've only been out of the water for an hour, maybe two at the very most. I may not be the smartest, but aren't you in danger of getting sick from that? Cold and wet doesn't lend itself to one surviving for very long, especially aboard a ship that has no source of real heating," As far as he could figure, the only reason she hadn't come close to dying just yet had been from laying in his bed, which was probably soaked now, and keeping warm from the covers. It wouldn't save her for long now, or have kept her warm for more than a few minutes before. "My second question, considering my previous one, is simple: what now?"
 
“Nonsense. I’m perfectly fine, and I fully expect I will stay that way, given a change of clothes.” Truth be told, Tessa had been running mostly on adrenaline since she had woken, and she had hardly registered the heavy chill that had settled in thanks to the damp hair and clothing. Now that he had brought it to her attention, of course, she had realized just how cold she had become, and she had realized it a little too well. But she had spent too much effort convincing the pirate that she wasn’t some weak, brittle sheet of glass to let him see it. He was right, of course, and it aggravated her a little that he had pointed it out even before she had realized there was a risk at all, or felt the cold, for that matter. Most likely she would end up with a bad cold or a fever, regardless of how quickly she warmed up from now. It could be dangerous, perhaps, but not quite life-threatening so long as it didn’t worsen.

“I’m afraid I have no good answer to your second question.” She looked down at the thin dress she wore, folding her arms as she inspected the tangled mass of dark hair draped over her shoulder. It certainly wasn’t helping the chill and the ends were curling a little now that some of the water had left, but at the very least they weren’t dripping as they had been an hour before. “Or rather, the best answer I have is simple enough: rest. You may have had a relaxing, leisure-filled night, but you have a wound that needs healing and my last night was anything but restful.”

Tessa glanced down at the floor, which now presented a rather tempting offer of a place to rest for a few moments. After a moment she surrendered to the nagging urge to sit down, tucking herself securely against the wall with a brief grunt. “On the second thought, forget the hammock,” she muttered, sparing a quick glance at him before returning her attention to the floor. “I’ll sleep well enough here for a night.”
 
Sev raised an eyebrow slightly upon hearing Tessa's words, as well as noticing her actions. With a sigh, he put his hands under him and pushed himself up slowly and carefully so that he was sitting up now. Several years of long work had given him an amazing amount of stamina and resilience, for which he was grateful for just then. He would need to use this in order to get everything taken care of for the rest of today so that he could rest and get back to feeling normal once again.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we don't have any spare female clothes laying around. I can check around to see if someone stashed some away hoping to sell them or give it to some lady friend of their at harbor, but even if there is chances are they will ill suit you, and I doubt any do exist on board," his shoulders raised and fell as he stood up, stretching his neck slowly to loosen it up from laying on the floor. "So what you have to choose from is male clothing, all of it will accentuate your body. I apologize for this, but that's the reality for now so that we don't have you dying from hypothermia,"

Damn, his head was still faintly fuzzy from the loss of blood, but he could manage just fine for now. He wouldn't have to run the ship or anything, so he felt confident that he could leave his first mate in charge for now. A few test steps showed that he could walk just fine, even with the familiar rolling of the ship. It seemed his luck would hold for the time being.

He walked over to his desk and pulled a pistol from a drawer, and carefully loaded it as he spoke to her. "I'm going to leave this here with you. I can't promise someone else won't come in though I should probably scare the fear off hellfire back into all of them to prevent that. Just try not to shoot me when I return, aye?" he asked, walking over and crouching down so he could hand the weapon to her, grip first. He realized that she fully had the ability to shoot him with it and it didn't bode well for him, but he didn't feel like leaving her alone without any protection. He was supposed to be nice to her after all, she had probably saved his life from himself and his inexperience.
 
“I told you, I’m perfectly fine.” It was a blatant lie at this point, but he seemed determined to give her dry clothes regardless, so it wouldn’t hurt to push the point. “Male clothing is fine; I think I’ll manage to deal with that reality of yours.” There were just about ten dozen possibilities that Tessa would have preferred over that, but admittedly, given what he had told her earlier, it was fairly unlikely that she would be left alone regardless of what she wore. Men rarely cared what the women they went after wore — they always seemed to be more focused on what was under the clothes than the clothes themselves. She almost told him as much out loud, but she thought better of it after a moment, deciding rather to keep it to herself.

“You can’t possibly be thinking of getting up,” she snapped as she realized that he had started to move. “You’re no good to either of us dead.” As infuriating as the pirate had been when she had first met him an hour or two before, he had somehow managed to surpass even that. After everything she had done to make sure he had been able to lie flat until he was completely out of danger, as far as she was concerned, he looked to be at quite a large risk of throwing it all away if he moved so much as one muscle the wrong way. If he tore the stitches she had given him or managed to get himself hurt in another way after being told explicitly to stay as still as possible, she would swear on her life she wouldn’t patch him up again.

Tessa stiffened a little at the sight of yet another gun, watching him warily as he pulled it from a drawer. She didn’t really expect him to turn the pistol on her after they had come to an agreement — after all, she was worth nothing to him dead, regardless of his intentions. But she had already seen more than enough weaponry for one day, and she had no particular desire to see more unless it was necessary. At first she assumed he would tuck it into his belt to take with him, but instead he offered the loaded weapon to her. She eyed the thing suspiciously for several moments before slowly reaching out to take it from him.

“…Thank you.” It was a grudging thanks, but a thanks it was nevertheless — and hopefully one that wouldn’t be needed. “Don’t rip your stitches, or neither of us will be happy,” she added a few moments after. True, she could decide to shoot him. But the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind at this point. As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, she did need dry clothes and a warm place to sleep, and she needed him to provide her with all of it.
 
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