come_sailaway | APRIL OPEN LOG: PIRATE JENNY

APRIL OPEN LOG: PIRATE JENNY

[early risers with odd-numbered rooms might notice that the morning sun doesn't quite come through the curtains as much as it usually does; they can peer out the portholes to see their views blocked by black-painted wood. everyone else won't realize something's off until the morning announcements. there's the chime, and Friday speaks, but...]

Passengers, I'd like for you all to join me in the atrium at your earliest possible convenience! We have a… situation!

[there is no bind on their legs; going is their choice. but, who wouldn't? something interesting is happening, at least. for once.

when they arrive, they will find Friday, and find that she is not alone. a woman - tall, dark, with a flowing coat and a lit cigar hanging from the side of her mouth like an old movie gangster - is standing on the raised area by the stairs; they are having a conversation that's too quiet to hear, and the woman's face is nearly as inscrutable. when enough have gathered, Friday steps forward, her empty hands clasped together in front of her, as the woman puts out the cigar on the heel of her boot and tosses it thoughtlessly to the ground.]

Good morning, everyone! I.. I'd like, I'd like to, well, I'd -

[the woman places a firm hand on Friday's shoulder - spins her, grabs her, dips her low to the ground, and kisses her soundly. at the first touch, Friday freezes; but, at the dip, she squeaks, and throws her arms up to hold herself up. the woman returns her to a normal position, and grins widely.]

Let me handle this, Dajutia. Hm? [Friday nods, and the woman turns to face the passengers.] Tau, everyone! My name is Jenny Storm, but all my friends call me Pirate Jenny! And I'd like to think we're all friends, sí? You could call me an... alumnus of the Serena Eterna; I spent a good five years being a thorn in the side of our good Captain! So, when I heard that he was getting up to his old tricks again, I decided to come around and see the fresh meat! And maybe have a bit of a vacation myself!

[she looks at each of them in turn. her grin widens, showing sharp canines.]

Now, I am sure you are thinking, "Señora Storm? You are a pirate! Are you here to rob us of our valuables?" [she barks out a laugh, then shakes her head.] No, no. First off, we're friends; it's Pirate Jenny! And Pirate Jenny is not interested in such things. In fact, I have valuables for you!

[she makes a quick movement: she sticks her pointer finger in her mouth, and then immediately uses that same finger to make some sort of sketch on her palm. seconds later, that same palm closes around a single white rose, which she extends to Friday. she pauses... then takes it, careful, holding it gentle as a bird.]

I may not be the Captain, but I happen to have a little bit of magic of my own! And, for a very, very low price, I can grant you a few small wishes! Trifles from home, maybe - do you like rocket launchers? I am getting very good at rocket launchers!

Jenny...

Okay, okay, no rocket launchers... Machine guns are as big as I'll go, promise!

[Friday just audibly sighs and shakes her head, but there's a clear sort of fondness in it, and Jenny laughs again.]

So, be sure to chat me up, sí? After breakfast! I may not miss much about this damned ship, but I do miss those little omelets!

[she salutes the audience, and then immediately leaves, taking the stairs down three at a time and needlessly pushing her way through the small crowd on her way to the elevators. Friday merely watches her go; her fingers have worried the rose to shreds that fall at her feet.

the rest of the month, until the 13th, is very much the same, with one exception: Jenny's ship remains at the Serena Eterna's side, a sailing ship somehow keeping pace with a modern engine craft. and Jenny doesn't seem to be keeping an especially close eye on it.]

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[He's not actually quite so given to drinking that he tends to visit Topy on a particularly frequent basis (yet), but well! The very distinct sound of glass shattering against a wall would be enough to draw the attention of pretty much anyone happening by the venue at the time, and Jade is no exception. Considering there had been a phase of pretty vehement poltergeist activity in the early days, he does almost half-expect that to be the case again here...

But imagine his pleasant surprise, when the source in fact turns out to be the lady of the hour? The lady of perhaps the next several days, even, depending on the implications of that little speech she'd made earlier. Hm.

Jade makes no move to immediately address her when he steps inside, though; instead, he idly makes his way over to the bar first as if that had been his intention all along. Helping himself to a drink of his own, he settles upon a stool that affords him just the right angle to prop an elbow on the counter and watch, with an interest he makes little effort to hide, as Jenny works through the wine bottles on the floor.]

My my, am I witnessing someone with the rare ability to determine wine quality merely at a glance? I'd never have guessed this was a pirate sort of talent... [If she's still been throwing rejects at a wall periodically, he doesn't actually speak up until around the third bottle meeting its demise, mild amusement in the lilt of his tone.] Hm, or perhaps you're looking for something else altogether, over there?

[quirks a brow] You kidding? I know at least three sailors that would trade their souls for that kind of power!

[definitely seems to have made A Choice about which questions she'll answer.]

[A Choice is being made, and A Note is being made on that choice too...! Not all information is the kind outright told, now is it? Jade returns the quirked brow with a pleasant smile, over the rim of his glass.]

Fair enough; but a high price all the same! I'd quite hope you didn't trade yours for something like that, did you? [The humored structure of a mild joke persists, but.......]

[almost idly] No, no. I traded mine for freedom.

Ah, the freedom to leave this place, I'd assume. [...Not great news, the implications there. We're already off to a grim start here, now aren't we? And yet.] The freedom to return as well, it would seem...

[The question implied practically hangs in the air, there, but he doesn't ask it directly. Instead--]

Does the Captain usually invite, ah..."willing vacationers" like yourself aboard, like this? Oh, but there I go, assuming there might have been an "invite" involved at all in the first place...

I was not invited. [snorts] He is either very pleased to see me back, or very, very upset.

[she's still alive, and mostly intact. so, she assumes he's pleased. for whatever odd reason he may have.]

For some reason I get a feeling it'd be quite noticeable if he ever was upset... [Even only being here for the meager month or so it's been so far, Jade's impression runs along the same lines of her reasoning all the same; there's sure been a lot of evidence already piling and pointing to the extent of control he has over this space, people within it likely included. But then, doesn't that sort of conclusion open more questions in itself?] Considering you were--hm, how did you phrase it, that time earlier? "A thorn in his side for five years", wasn't it? It might actually be even more concerning that he's pleased, then again...but you don't seem terribly worried about that. Unless I'm wrong?

[a little glimmer in her eye] Oh, no, it's very fun when he's upset! Have you ever met the kind of magic-user that completely forgets they have magic when they're mad?

... Of course, actually upsetting him is very difficult. But, so rewarding!

[Oh, you can most certainly bet he has, and the way that the neutrally pleasant smile Jade's been wearing now widens to a genuine smirk promptly tells as much. More than that, though, this is some legitimately pretty surprising news? Considering--]

Why, I'd go far as to say it's the greatest sort of fallacy for a 'magic' user to fall into! It is promptly taught, at least in some circles, to avoid being distracted in such a way as well as you possibly can--even if many tend to find that easier said than done. My my, but I'd never have guessed that our illustrious Captain would have such a mundane sort of issue in that vein himself...

[It's such a human sort of fallacy, really...or so he'd thought, anyway. Maybe not so human-exclusive after all? A distinctly inhuman impression of the Captain remains, with his abilities considered...

But perhaps he's also not entirely as infallible as it seems, hm?]

Of course, I can only assume I must be speaking to one of the leading experts on the matter here, thorny alumnus that you are. [Maybe he's sitting up just a bit straighter at this point, renewed interest plain in the sharpening of his focus upon her across the way.] How does one go about actually upsetting the Captain, I wonder?

You have to throw him off. He always has a little plan of how he'd like things to go - mess that up, and, oh, does he get stroppy! [a slight laugh] Doing this without knowing his plan is... difficult, usually. But, if you remember that most of his plans boil down to "I am very cool and very in control and you are my puppets..." It can be done.

So our good Captain has a surprisingly textbook case of megalomania, as it turns out... [Fascinating. Maybe not great, as implications about their collective situation go, but still. Fascinating all the same, in its own sort of way.] That's a rather succinct way to boil such plans down, all told...really, this is quite useful, as advice in this sort of vein goes. You have my thanks.

[Here, a note of genuine appreciation; not a feeling that comes to Jade terribly often, especially with strangers, but there's equal parts of it to be had both in Jenny's explanation, and--the implications, behind the kind of trial and error it must have taken to form that explanation...]

Is this the sort of methodology you used to secure your own freedom, in the past? Well, this alongside other things, perhaps...

Nope. To get that, I used his greatest weakness of all. [pause] Have you been able to figure that one out yet? He makes it so obvious.

Let's see! Using the details you've just provided here, at least... [Because this is the most viable information he's gotten to work with, so far here. Hints have been rather sparse and uncertain in legitimacy, in the month before Jenny's arrival proper, but now! Hm. It's an unpleasant sort of thought exercise, but running it objectively...if he were a sort of person with this kind of control over this sort of space, who apparently makes it a hobby of abducting people from myriad worlds, and considers said people puppets of entertainment...well. Jade takes a rather longer drink from his glass, as he mulls it over...and smiles with little humor as he sets the glass back down and adjusts his glasses.] He must think this whole setup a rather elaborate sort of game, if I had to guess. ...So you played it to the letter, did you?

[grins] Got it in one. Everything is a game to him. He's deaf to almost everything, but he cannot resist a game.

I won my freedom by betting it over a hand of blackjack.

[Blackjack, of all things--a game in the very literal sense, there, though Jade gets a sense that might not always be the case. Still...]

I wonder if he's particularly used to others actually winning. A being with a nature like this sounds like he'd be a remarkably sore loser...I wouldn't be surprised if he's tempted to cheat. Or at the very least--to make the victory as bitter as it could possibly be, for anyone else. [It's truly impressive Jenny even reached that point, with all other context clues put together. And yet...Jade plants a hand under his chin as he leans his weight a bit upon the counter, smile fading as he peers at Jenny and a couple of pieces click into place.] You won, but you didn't win the way you wanted--did you? He made you leave something behind...and now you've returned for it, hm?

[closes her eyes]

I swear, he let me win that hand. He had to have. He let me think... It was all a trick from the very start. And I was too...

I left the ones I loved most behind. I can't leave them again.

[Hm. So the Captain's not just prone to cheating, but likely a consummate cheater at every opportunity. Jade supposes it's better to know this now, as opposed to laboring under an illusion of possible fairness at any given point in any particular unpleasant-game future...

As Jenny seems to have done, by the sound of it. But could she be blamed for that? When the stakes are dire enough...and hers seemed dire indeed...

Goodness, this is shaping up to bear some very grim prospects all around.]

That's understandable.

[There's nothing much in the way of pity or sympathy, in Jade's tone--he finds such sentiments difficult enough to access even with people he knows better, sometimes, and he could guess Jenny likely has no interest in such platitudes anyhow. Seeing as platitudes would clearly do very little, for what burdens her here...]

Your loved ones...I suppose that includes Miss Friday? [Everyone in the atrium sure saw that dipping kiss, anyway; call it a shot in the (not very) dark.] But others too, by the sound of it. ...If you're here seeking a way to separate them from this place...how long do you intend to stay, this time around? Or perhaps you have a plan, to ensure your success?

Every second I stay here feels like... Like I've broken through a warding, even though I know I didn't. [you know, that relatable experience everyone has been through.] My very bones are being told to leave.

[Oh, super relatable! Very, very relatable. So relatable that Jade totally knows exactly what she's talking about, with a slight nod of his head to confirm as much.

(He doesn't, really, but that's neither here nor there in the end anyway...)]

Then you'll be staying through will alone, for the time being. A fair enough plan in itself, some would say.

[--Well. There's really not much else to get into here, now is there? Oh, there's probably more, but that would probably also be pushing the bounds of this idle conversation to its already tenuous current limit...and his glass is about empty, besides. ...He could refill it, but for once Jade would rather not--he's got quite a bit to chew on tonight now, after all, and that's never been something he does with drinks. Quite the opposite with drinks, actually...

And perhaps Jenny's the same way--where drinks are concerned. He's casting a final idle glance at the bottles on the floor surrounding her, as well as the scattered glass of bottles already rejected, as Jade sets his glass aside and rises from the bar with a dip of his head.]

Well, I hope you're able to find what you're looking for after all. Or perhaps that you manage to find a decent bottle of wine after all in here, at the very least, before the night's entirely done! A good evening to you, Miss Jenny.

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APRIL OPEN LOG: PIRATE JENNY

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