Large, heavy brown boots were propped up on an old ammo crate near a firepit laying in the sand. The thick smell of weed and roasting boar hung about the air, almost dense enough to suffocate. The pirates of Rook did enjoy the smell of the plant, but this was just too much to bare. Especially with thick amounts of it lacing in with the roasting meat.
"Fucking shit, Langley." The largest man growled out through clenched teeth. "Either put shit out or move avay." Dilated brown eyes wearily glanced towards the larger man, hand coming up to pinch the cigar between his thumb and forefinger. He retrieved it from his lips and breathed out more of the thick smog into the air.
Nonetheless, he stood slowly and staggered out towards the dock, dragging his feet through the sand. He was wobbly on his feet, and he could barely even keep his balance. A few of the men around the campfire watched him as he left, sullen and drunken looks on their tanned faces. Carlos, Vaas' second in command, decided to speak up once Langley was out of earshot.
"You know that's how he deals with all this bullshit." He mumbled, not taking his eyes off his cards while he and two others played poker. "Langley's had a pretty bad life..." Clause, the pirate Heavy whom had snapped at Langley, bared his teeth at the second in command, raising his hand to point towards the lone pirate sitting quietly on the dock.
"He's had pretty bad life? ALL of us had pretty bad lives. Life is bitch dat vay." He gestured around him with his hands. "Look vhere the fuck ve are. Some remote island in middle of fucking ocean vorking for two madmen." Clause leaned forward grumpily and sliced through the large chunk of roasting meat on the spittle above the flames. He hauled a reasonably sized piece onto his tray, stabbing the knife back into the cooking animal and sitting back with a sneer. Carlos glanced towards Clause, his lips twisting into a frown at the male's words. Smacking his cards down onto the table, and hearing some groans of defeat and some of anger, he turned to face the Russian with a hard stare.
"I know what you must be feeling is hard..." He had grumbled out through his thick Hispanic accent. "But it's our own damn fault we're here. Some want money, some want whores, some want drugs. Hell, most want all three but it's still our own fault we came to this piece of shit island to work for Vaas and Hoyt." He swore he could see the Russian seething with anger at his words, stabbing at the hunk of meat on his tray with his fork. He was probably pretending it was Vaas or Hoyt. Moving to collect his winnings from the two, he plucked the money from the table and stuffed it into the pocket of his cargo pants.
Feet rattling down the dock a bit later drew both to look at the thin, gangily pirate walking by, bags under his dark brown eyes. "Done?" Carlos asked him as he went along, but Langley merely gave a few small mumbles of reply. The thin pirate slipped down into the sand to sit, leaning forward with his mouth hanging open just the slightest bit. The pupils of his eyes told the men that he was already gone, for now.
"Stupid kid." Clause grumbled through his mouthful of food and a snarl. Another huge chunk was ripped from the piece on his tray, and it was hastily stuffed into his mouth. Angered yells for a rematch made Carlos focus on the pirates he had been playing cards with. Behind the group of lazy men, the door to the largest hut slammed open and out strutted the Pirate Lord himself. His mohawk was groomed messily on top of his skull, the scar over his left eye appeared all the more devastating than normal.
"Hello hermanos, hello." He greeted them in his usual fucked up way, bandaged hands clasping together in his withheld excitement. Or was it rage? You never truly knew with Vaas. "I want you boys to fucking guess what I just talked to Hoyt about." Confused looks all around and Vaas frowned. "I said fucking guess!" A continued silence, all men unsure whether to speak up or not.
"Robin Hood?" Carlos spoke up, making the madman focus on him with his wild hawk-like eyes.
"Close, but no cigar." Vaas had replied quick and snapped his fingers impatiently. More men swallowed and glanced to the others for someone to guess. It was easy to see they didn't want to guess right.
"Little John?" Clause finally spoke up, stabbing into his boar steak with a plastic fork. His head craned left towards Langley when Vaas impatiently shook his head. The man kicked Langley hard in the boot. His mind snapped back in place for just a moment.
"Your sissterr?" Langley slurred out, his eyes stared blankly ahead in an unfocused manner. Vaas' eyes fell on the drugged man and a snort spouted from him.
"Can you fuckin' say all three!?" Vaas snapped angrily, startling them at the sudden change of tone. "I fucking heard from Hoyt that Robin Hood had met up with Citra and are FUCKING CONSPIRING!" He raised a hand out towards the forest bordering the small compound. "So fucking Hoyt is sending in a few of his boys to do your fucking jobs and kill him!" His wild hawkish eyes glanced about everyone, and everyone became more on edge when his tone switched again. "So treat them all good...like one of the family...yeah?" He had purred the words and his grin widened when some of their responses were of snickered agreements. "Good good." His hands clasped together again, and the Pirate Lord retreated back to his hut. All eyes were on him as he strut up to the door and shifted to look at them all again. "Nighty night, motherfuckers."
"This whole business with Robin Hood is getting out of hand. It'll blow up bigger with both Robin Hood and Citra working together." Carlos finally muttered when Vaas was out of earshot. Clause went to reply, his mouth still full of food, but Langley's shifting towards the food made him pause. Drug-induced hands moved to grab the knife, but Carlos beat him to it, taking the knife up into his hands and slicing off a chunk of the boar for the thin pirate. The meat was set on a tray and given to the Hispanic man, whom gave a mumbled thanks, which was lost in the food being shoved into his mouth.
Once again, as Clause went to say something, the pounding of paws against the sand drew all to look as a large German Shepard jumped through the gap of men, making some curse loudly as the beast padded over to Langley, and curled up into the sand with its head on his foot. One of Langley's hands stretched out to pat the top of the hound's head, cooing sweet nothings to her.
"Oooh...Lassie, where have you been all this time? ah, your muzzle's all bloody. Have you been attacking animals again? Oh you good girl..." His voice was soft, but sort of slurred, almost like he was drunk as well as high. None of the other pirates liked Langley's dog. The German Shepard had been given to Langley as a puppy and as she grew, she immediately began hating and snapping at everyone. Lassie only liked Langley and Langley was perfectly fine with it. His hands rubbed across her head and face and Carlos made a face when he smooched her on her nose.
"Ya hungry girl? Yeah? Ya want some food? Naaw girl ya can't take Clause's..." Langley caught Lassie by the collar, took up the rest of the boar from his plate, and chucked it high into the air. Her collar was released, and some of the pirates had to move out of the way before the damn dog ran over them to get her snack. She caught it with a snap of her jaws and devoured it with three hungry snaps. Lassie barreled back over the pirate, her tail wagging excitedly behind her. Finally standing, the long-gone pirate walked back to his hut, bidding them all a goodnight with Lassie trailing behind him.
"He has right idea." Clause grumbled, dumping his tray in a dirty pile, and getting up from his spot. "Is about to rain by looks of it." Every pirate around the campfire glanced upwards at the dark sky, riddled with black clouds. Those dark clouds threatened them with a heavy downpour. Bidding goodnight to Clause, Carlos stumbled off to his own hut, grumbling about the Privateers that were going to be staying here for who knows how long.
Treat them good indeed.
