Just a lil sumtin sumtin to hold yall over till I can get home to finish up the second upload
Enjoy, lovelies! :)
xoxo

Crack Jenny's Teacup - Spend the night with a prostitute

Alistair

The first thing my mind could recall from the day, was a swift kick to my stomach.

"Get up." Cael grunted, to which my body reacted before my scrambled, pounding brain caught on. I found myself quickly pushing this rigid body into a sitting position on the floor, with my sore joints practically on fire as I did.

"The hostility is unwarranted." I muttered, attempting to wipe the remnants of sleep from my good eye.

"Unwarranted, ye say? Hmm, well I'd say that me working on your ship for the last hour alone, was unwarranted." Cael was quick to reply with, not even registering the fact that I was still on the ground. In his defense, I guess he had seen me in worse states.

"Fuck," I grumbled, forcing myself off the ground until I stood close to eye level with Cael. His face quickly scrunched up in disgust.

"You reek of rum."

"You're lucky that's all I reek of." I countered but continued to move, first walking around the bed to the amour where I had kept a few clothes for this stay, including my long black leather coat. Next was the large sword still resting against the wooden bedside table, right where I had left it. "Not a single man made it?"

Cael shook his head no. "Not even Snips."

I would've been surprised if I didn't see how drunk the man got the night before and into the early hours before daybreak. The fact that none of my men made it to the ship however, did surprise me.

"Do you know what destination their drunken minds chose through the night?"

"Some are in the homes of Gaia's daughters, surely enjoying their time there, while the rest most likely found their way to a brothel."

I turned to Cael just as I finished fastening my sword at my side, before pulling the jacket's side flap forward and concealing some of the sheathed blade.

"Go visit Gaia's daughter's homes, Caspian and I will stop by the brothel on our way to the ship. I don't care what shape they're in, get them up. The only one allowed to rest is Coop and that is for no other reason besides the fact that my head is pounding far too ferociously for me to manage a protest from Gaia."

Cael slowly nodded, stepping aside slightly as he followed me out into the corridor and closed the door behind him. I led us down the back stairwell till we reached the dining hall, first welcomed by the smell of food, before I caught sight of Nalia. She was walking a few bowls out of the kitchen to set on one of the many now clean tables.

When she caught sight of Cael, she gave him a large smile and a nod. As her eyes panned from his to mine, I saw that smile shrink into oblivion... but she still mustered a nod, to which I politely returned. Cael approached her but I instead made my way to the kitchen.

Sure enough, Gaia and Caspian were both standing next to each other in the well lit room, only their sides visible to me as they cut vegetables together. They were discussing what sounded like the process of the harvesting season here, with Caspian asking about the rainfall on the island. I noticed he was also wearing the same clothes he was in the night before. A white shirt with long sleeves that he had now rolled up to his elbows as he cut the peeled potatoes into smaller pieces. I assumed they were to be fried. He paired that with black linen trousers that I noticed he had rolled up his calves, and a pair of sandals.

Caspian sensed me first, stopping mid sentence when his head turned left to look over at me.

"Alistair." He noted in his usual mundane voice. A tone he didn't seem to use as often with Gaia anymore.

Gaia peaked out further from next to him to get a good look at me herself. "Look who's finally awoken."

"Let's go, Caspian." I spoke directly, not troubling myself with the pleasantries. My fingers then rose to the sides of my forehead and pushed down slightly in an effort to relieve some of the aches and tension. A direct casualty from all the drinking.

"Where to?" Caspian asked. He wasn't moving quickly enough for my liking, but nevertheless he did manage to rinse his hands off in a bowl of water before drying them on a spare towel, and making his way towards me.

"The ship." I replied. Caspian took a moment to think on that answer before he eventually nodded. I said nothing else as I turned, and headed towards the entrance of the Inn, not even bothering with an hello or goodbye in regards to Gaia. Cael had finished up his own conversation with Nalia, passing by myself and Caspian as he made his way towards the kitchen. I assumed he was going to need to ask Gaia where some of her daughters now stayed. Things had changed since we last ported here.

Caspian soon had questions of his own. Most were probably in relation to me leading us from the Inn, towards the brothel.

"I thought the ship was docked slightly due west?" I heard his voice pass through the wind from behind me.

"It is." I explained, keeping our pace on this bright sunny day, brisk. Fuck the gods, it hurt to even think. "We need to gather my men first. The drink had led many, it seems, to crack jenny's teacup."

The silence from behind me indicated Caspian understood absolutely none of that. Luckily for him, the sign on the brothel's metal window brackets above us easily explained what I failed to. I heard a quiet "o-oh" behind me that made my lips twitch up into a slight smile, before my hands reached for the front wooden flap doors.

It was quiet inside, a complete change from how loud this place could get as the night progressed. Not much had changed to the layout since our last port, with the front doors spilling right into the front lobby, displaying a large winding staircase leading to the more... private rooms on the second floor.

I didn't bother with those stairs, however. Instead, my hand reached out to my right side and placed itself against the stone wall directly beside myself, as Caspian slowly inched in behind me. "Men," I spoke, my voice penetrating the cast stone. I could feel it travel through these walls, taking the space of each imperfect crack, and winding up to the second floor, before it filled every room in this establishment. "Get the fuck up."

It wasn't long after before I started hearing things drop and break upstairs, glasses carelessly tossed around as my crew scrambled to gather themselves. The first one to the top of the stairs was another pirate named Twigs. His legs barely carried that lanky body of his as he attempted to make it down the winding steps. I could tell that he was definitely still drunk.

"Cap'n" he nodded to me as soon as he was absolutely certain both feet had made it to the first floor safely. I could smell the wine on him when he drew nearer. "You're up early." His words were also still slightly slurred, making my aching head worse as I struggled to understand him.

"No," I countered, "it's almost high noon."

Another pirate came flying out of a room on the second level, before practically tumbling down the steps. His energy at the start gave me hope some of my men were still cognitive, but that tumble said otherwise.

Great.

A few more pirates joined us, beckoning some of their women companions for the evening to follow in suit. I could see the irritation visible on the women's youthful faces, most likely wondering what it was that could possibly take these well paying clients away before they bled my men's salary dry, but once they caught sight of me down below, that irritation quickly disappeared with speeds that matched what was used to retreat back to their private quarters.

"How did you-" Caspian spoke but the rest of his words were drowned out by my own as I addressed my men.

"Ahoy you scallywag, piss bucket, poor excuses for men. We have a vessel to service."

The groans were immediate, and loud, but all I did was step aside before gesturing to the flap doors. The complaints didn't subside as each pirate, still reeking of some sort of liquor, did a walk of shame out of this whore house. Caspian's gaze finally fell on mine once we were the only two left in the brothel's lobby, but I gestured for him to follow the men out as well, to which he did.

-

"I'm going to be sick." Snips whined, directing his complaining my way as he passed me by on the main deck with thick logs of wood in hand.

"This work won't do itself." I reminded him, to which all he responded with before getting back to work, was:

"I feel like if we thought hard about it, we could figure out a way where it could."

I laughed at his approach. At least it didn't slow his work, which was a reflection of the rest of my men who looked as if they had been pounding on deaths door the majority of the day.

The only one who hadn't thrown up their insides yet was Caspian, and that was including myself. Even I couldn't escape the nausea from the rocking of the ship, mixed with the salty sea air, and had found myself dashing to the edge of this vessel to clear my own insides out.

"Now ask yourself," Cael started, to which I felt my body almost immediately recoiled with. He was fully leaning into one of his lecturing moods. "What did we actually achieve by your little ploy to ply Gaia full with liquor?"

Ah, and he was leaning even further into direct line of questioning. The joys. I didn't have the mental fortitude for this.

"Well I learnt that she knows more than she first let on." I tried my reasoning.

"And?" Cael encouraged.

"She'll tell me if I promise Caspian can stay."

That unexpectedly made Cael laugh, leaning further against the rail leading down to the main desk as I pushed more of my own weight onto the side of the ship. It was practically holding me up. It  was also in the interest of everyone that I stay close to the edge, offering a place for my vomit to go that wasn't the deck my crew was currently still trying to clean.

"That's in favor with the Gaia we know." I heard him say between bouts of laughter.

"Unfortunately so," I replied, my voice holding far less enthusiasm than his.

"I'm sure we'll know more once we port in Sicoria. I often side with Gaia's reasoning on things, however if that man is working this hard to die, he might be worth something great to someone who wants him alive."

My arm slowly pushed my body away from the edge of the ship, before I joined Cael where he stood, right behind the top deck's rail. We were keeping each other company up here as my men finished up their duties, Cael refusing to touch another thing on this ship after all the work he did alone this morning, and me being too sick to even hold myself up correctly.

We made for one grand duo.

At least my men moved swiftly with the promise of another meal. Gaia had told Cael to return to the Inn shortly before the sun started to fall, which would be soon.

These days moved a little too swiftly for my liking. We would be leaving Gatvia come sunrise, and though it didn't feel so, this short trip did prove fruitful.

The men had a moment to rest. To eat. To fuck.

Those three things would always make for a clearer mind. Especially with my crew.

"We should return again soon." Cael spoke, to which I turned my head in his direction.

"Why?" I asked... to which Cael glanced over at me with an equally questionable look.

"You might not like it here, but your men do, and that's what matters. I'm also stronger here. This island feeds into my talents, as does Gaia."

"I truly do not want to know what you and Gaia partake in with your personal time." I reminded him.

"I could tell you one million times that it is nothing of sexual nature, but your mind has been made." Cael sighed, shaking his head my way.

"You share the same bed." I reminded him. "I wish to know nothing more than that."

Cael's look on his face read as nothing but annoyance with my ignorance, but I didn't care. He was the only man on this ship that I would never question, and yet he chose not to take advantage of that.

It sickened me.

"There will be a day where you and Gaia reach an understanding. She may not fully know you, Alistair, but she knows what you are. She might be able to give you some instruction on your power."

I scoffed at that. "First, that day only exists in hell. Second, I trust no advice coming from that woman."

"She's made me a better Navigator." He told me.

I was quick to respond with "and she makes me question whether or not I should blow this whole island to smithereens. Do you see the difference?"

"As clear as the water itself." Cael replied with a laugh.

I understood his angle, but hell would turn to ice itself before I even considered having Gaia touch any of my powers. I knew she knew that I was getting stronger. If she knew more of who I was, the person beneath these powers, there's no way she'd do anything to strengthen what I am.

She'd use it to destroy me.

And I surprisingly respected her for that. Cael was just too infatuated with Gaia to see it. And I didn't blame him for that either. It was simpler to lay blame on Gaia, as it always was.

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