When the brigantine had been spotted at Galleon's Grave Outpost, Blue had expected trouble out of it. Z would have with his paranoid tendencies, and she knew that he would have impressed the same upon her through worrisome remarks. Instead, she looked at the ship more closely. It was pressed up against the dock in a relaxed position, as though its crew intended to stay for some time. There was no one about when she pulled the Forlorn Phoenix beside it before stationing the ship at the other end of the dock. She had also been able to better look at its armaments and minimal decorations — this was no unknown ship, she had sailed on it before.
So when she disembarked from her sloop and made her way to the tavern, she was only minorly surprised to find it empty. She then stepped back outside and looked up and was waved at. She waved back purely out of politeness.
Jackson and his mate — she couldn't recall his name, just knew that they dressed the same and that the other man was a toothpick compared to Jackson — had been busy since they parted ways at Sanctuary Outpost. She was unsurprised to hear that the situation had indeed been misunderstood — somehow her gut just knew that Z had been right about that. When he told her about how only one person was waiting for him at Golden Sands Outpost when he finally arrived, new plans were made to compensate. Apparently, this crewmate that he had picked up was one that they frequently sailed with. Something about his wording had made her suspicious of his reliability, however.
While Blue had found herself curious about the whole extended crew, it wasn't enough that she spoke up and actually asked about it beyond a few minor questions to pass the time with. The maximum number of people that Jackson had expected was six; only three had shown and only the one had stayed. Z had been the only one to show up at Sanctuary, the only one who took the mistake in earnest, and she got the feeling it was a minor miracle that he had appeared at all.
On the contrary, the men had far more questions that they asked Blue. Her lonely arrival in a sloop in great need of a shipwright's touch had concerned Jackson until she explained what she thought had happened, that she had awoken to a great rocking of the ship and some sort of loud noise while exiting the Devil's Roar was all that he needed to know.
Those conversations had happened a while ago. Though they had been recorded, Blue hadn't actively counted the days that had passed, taking the quiet time aboard the sloop in stride. Much of her time was spent at the table writing, but much had also been spent sleeping, alternating between her usual spot and the bed when she felt like napping during the day.
She was greatly thankful that Jackson and his crewmate had respected her space as much as they had. Or perhaps they had simply been busying themselves to much to bother her. It didn't hurt her situation when another sloop had shown up and occupied their time for much of one day, and she appreciated the exotic tea procured from them. She was… less appreciative of their methods used to obtain said tea, though she held her tongue regarding that matter.
When she realised that she was beginning to grow bored of being at the outpost, Blue searched for the other crew to discuss that. Eventually, she looked up once again and spotted them at the peak of the galleon that made up the outpost's namesake. Why, she had to ask them.
"What are you doing?"
"Lookin' around," Jackson's crewmate replied.
Jackson seemed to have something on his mind. "Hey, I got t' thinkin' — it's been a while since Z got smashed, hasn't it?"
"I suppose it has. Why?"
"Well, sometimes we go and find each other on the Ferry when it takes this long."
"… I believe I follow…"
"So we was wonderin' what ship he'd come back on if one of us went and did that," his crewmate blurted out.
Blue was certain that she was understanding them correctly. If a crewmate's trip to the Sea of the Damned was taking a particularly long time, a living member may… go looking for them, in a manner of speaking. If one knew a group of friends had a ship and space for them to come back to, would they? She was under the assumption that crews required agreements amongst each other to formally group up as a crew. Perhaps it was different for closer individuals. That had her curious.
"That is a good question."
The two men looked from her to each other, nodding. Jackson's mate had started to say something before he yelped, having been pushed. Jackson laughed. Blue was a little more horrified than he was, needing a moment to gather herself before she was able to force a small chuckle despite the thud down below.
That had been a couple of nights ago. On this night, a cold rainstorm had Blue down in the hold and in the bed proper when she awoke. Whether it was before or after waking that she felt Z sit at the foot of the bed, she wasn't sure, but she refrained from yelling at him when she saw how rough he looked. She sat up on her right arm and paused long enough for him to look from the ceiling to her, expression shifting to one of slight surprise.
"Took you long enough," she said.
"Yeah, well, y' don't really get a choice in the matter."
"And you chose now to come back."
"Woman, I swear—" Apparently he wasn't up for this fight, instead stopping himself from saying more and rubbing his eyes.
"Look, I'm tired. That was a rough trip. I jus' wanna get some sleep," he said. Without waiting for her response, he swung his legs onto the bed behind her. "And I don't think y're about t' go sleep in the rain and neither am I."
Nothing that Z had pointed out had been inaccurate, and he was very reasonable in wanting to sleep at her feet, but Blue was rather resentful about having to curl up into herself so he had space. She would survive, but that didn't mean she liked the situation any. Her disdain for it grew further when Z sat back up.
"It's cold."
"Don't you even think—"
"Relax," he said, chuckling as he stood. "I'm jus' gonna grab another blanket. Or somethin'," he declared as he went to rummage through the chest that held such things. "I can't dream'a layin' with you anymore than we have to here; this is bad enough."
A statement of that nature should have been insulting, Blue decided. She was relieved instead. Annoying as it was, she was a little more tolerable of his presence when he returned with a set of blankets that he deemed worthy, finally letting herself lie back down.
"Your pegleg—"
He cut her off with a quick, "Yeah, yeah, I know," as he pulled his half-leg back to remove the prosthetic. It fell to the floor with a satisfying thud a moment later.
It wasn't necessarily the most comfortable position that they had ever been in, but it was tolerable for the one night. Blue had just started to relax when she heard him snore, startling her. Kicking him was considered for a long while, then sleep took her as well.
For the second time tonight, Blue awoke with a start. She was just a little too warm for her liking, no doubt thanks to the extra blankets up against her back and legs. Z wasn't snoring at least — in fact, he seemed to be waking. That was probably what had roused her.
Despite that, Blue wasn't interested at all in getting out of bed. A light rainfall could still be heard and the bed was far more comfortable than it was out there where it was damp and dreary. Z was clever enough to be careful not to disturb her as he sat up and re-equipped his pegleg.
In the time it took him to do that, she became aware of other voices that she recognised as belonging to the brig crew of Jackson and his crewmate Rylund. She couldn't quite make out what they were saying and she became even less interested in figuring that out as Z stood and made his way out of the hold. If no one was going to bother her, she was going to stay exactly where she was.
Between being woken up twice and the amount of total time spent in bed, Blue wasn't getting back to sleep anytime soon. She was, however, not getting out of bed anytime soon, either. Dozing was something that she took great pleasure in and she was rather grateful to be left alone to do just that.
For a while, at least.
After an amount of time that couldn't have been too long, Blue shifted, voices coming back into earshot. She recognised them as the three pirates at the outpost currently and while that wasn't noteworthy on its own, it became concerning when she heard them shift from the dock and onto the sloop. Why, she wondered, until she recalled that this was technically Z's dormitory as well.
"Hey, where'd that skull we found go?"
Why he thought she was up for a conversation, she couldn't fathom. Yes, she was awake, but did he not notice that she was barely staring at the wall that she was pressed up against?
"I sold it days ago," she said through her teeth.
"Hey Blue!"
To say that Jackson's presence directly behind Z was surprising and unwelcome was to put it mildly. When she lifted her head, she was somehow simultaneously surprised and not to see Rylund even further behind them, waving with some amount of nervousness.
Blue took a moment to take in the scene before her. Then she reached down, threw the blanket off herself and took delight in them screeching and running off at the sight of her wielded dagger. With that taken care of, she dozed off for a while longer before finally getting out of bed.
"I'm just sayin', y' could've just asked us to leave."
"I did."
"Without the knife."
"What fun would that be?"
Jackson rolled his eyes with exasperation. Z hadn't even tried to join in that conversation. Instead, he chewed at his breakfast while she went back and forth with his friends.
"But speakin'a goin' places, the Bilge Rats are offerin' some new voyages."
"I have no interest in getting on that brigantine again for any amount of time. It was crowded enough with the appropriate crew size."
"Well, actually," Rylund started, "my girl's going to be wantin' me back by now."
"Any amount of time," Blue reiterated. Another thought crossed her mind. "And the brigantine is too fast to keep up with in a sloop."
The men looked at each other.
"Well, you sure shot that down fast," Jackson said.
"Lookit this way, y' get yer sloop back to yerself," Z said.
"Precisely. You three — two, even — can go do whatever it is that the Bilge Rats have you doing and I can get back on track with my own endeavours." Not that Blue was especially interested in going back to working for the Merchant Alliance. No, almost anything but that would suffice… not that she was going to discuss the details with the men.
"Well, that settles that then, don't it?" Jackson said with some rhetoric. "We drop you off at Dagger Tooth and go on our way."
Rylund nodded his head. "That'll work. Maybe tomorrow, though — water's rough over in that direction with the storm."
"It was not that bad," Blue said, waving a hand. "Your brig will handle that water without issue."
"Yeah, but then everything gets all wet," Jackson whined.
"Then that matter is settled as such: the three of you will depart tomorrow morning for Dagger Tooth Outpost and go about your business."
"Y' sure y' don't wanna come with?" Z asked, though she wasn't sure if he meant to tease her.
"I am quite sure. I can have my privacy back. Consider our deal more than settled on both sides so you can go back to doing… whatever it is you do exactly."
He laughed. "All right then."
"Now," Blue said, standing; "I have a sloop to clean after that storm."
The men nodded to her and though she was certain that they had more words at the tip of their tongues, no one made any attempt to stop her and for that she was glad. After the morning she'd had and the storm, a little time to herself was needed. And while breakfast hadn't been bad, she found herself craving a mango and that, too, was a good excuse to go back to the ship.
Z was clever enough that she thought he might have told the others to leave her alone. She hoped that was the case. Though, as she thought about it, she wasn't actually sure who might have been the smartest of the bunch. She didn't know the other two as well as she did Z, and while he could be very socially awkward, he wasn't stupid like she had thought initially. None of them were, it seemed; they were simply… unlike-minded to her. They got on together just fine, though, and that seemed to be enough for them.
That gave her cause to question just what exactly the Bilge Rats might have been up to. Occasionally, they had more direct business for pirates to go out on, but she had never closely investigated that, only spoken a few words to their representatives, particularly one drunkard. He always seemed to know what was going on in the Sea of Thieves despite his stupor.
It was midday when someone came to pull her from her thoughts. She heard the footsteps, heard them stop nearby on the dock, but Blue didn't lift her head from cleaning grime off the deck of the sloop.
"Hey, uh, I got a question."
It seemed that Jackson wasn't sure when his company wasn't wanted. Blue forced herself to put on a pleasant countenance when she looked up at him.
"What is it?"
"Are you really sure that ya don't wanna come with us? Rylund could take the sloop t—"
"I am certain that I am content to stay on my ship on my own," she shot.
He looked somewhat dejected. "And you don't wanna tag along as two ships? We could go slow."
"I am certain."
He brought a hand up to his face, scratching at his beard thoughtfully. "There's good money to be made workin' for the Bilge Rats."
"Money of their sort. Can those doubloons be used elsewhere?"
He shook his head.
"Precisely. Is it so much money that I could leave this place immediately after running our errands on a fancy new ship, buy an estate to call my own, find a husband whose interests align with my own, and have enough left over for a lifetime?"
He made a small 'hrm' noise of understanding and then chuckled. "They pay pretty good, but not that good."
"I rest my case."
"All right, but I say you're missin' out."
"I will keep that in mind."
They nodded to each other and Jackson made his way back to the tavern.
A surprise treat had come upon Blue: most of the day went by with her undisturbed by the others. The sloop had also been cleaned to her liking, the storm grime scrubbed away and the inside reorganised after everything, especially the disastrous leaving of the Roar.
Throughout the day, her thoughts had strayed little from current happenings. The last conversation she'd had with Jackson made her curious of that crew's view of her. Having spent enough time with him, she expected that only Z would make any attempts to get her to join in whatever their plans were, and even that was a maybe. It was also still a problematic take on the matter when she and him only got on so well. But for Jackson of all people to come and approach her… that stuck with her. Their third certainly must have been agreeable to this idea, too; these pirates operated as a democracy, and asking one to put up with an overcrowded ship was no small matter.
A lot of time had been spent taking longer than was necessary to organise things. Clearing the table and setting things in their proper place on the bookshelf was an easy enough task, but Blue had let her thoughts slow her actions. Curiously, she also discovered that there were traces of Z throughout the ship. His belongings were few and she was able to pile them under the grog barrel, but beside it was a spare barrel that she had never needed before as grog consumption aboard the ship had increased threefold when he joined the crew. Not only that but the bedding was wrinkled from constant use, the food barrel's contents were overflowing with items that were more intended to be useful than delicious and there was far more than either of them could use. That went for all of the supply barrels, in fact.
The spaces in the sloop were in a state of constant — if slight — disorganisation from of Z's influence. Allotting time to cleaning up the desk and bookshelf had been no issue, but the entirety of the sloop was overflowing with things, a lot simply 'just in case.' The only spaces that hadn't been subjected to this were down low in the hold, her barrel of swords and the fabrics chest. Even the armoury was disturbed, missing a blunderbuss that was still attached to Z's belt.
No, considering all of these things, Blue was absolutely looking forward to getting her space back.
Later in the day, she sat at the desk and picked at a pomegranate. Her mind was stuck on the men's interest in having her join them on their adventure. The way he conducted himself, Z struck her as rather antisocial. Jackson had been pleasant enough to deal with and seemed to enjoy conversations, but she didn't feel she knew him or their third well enough to discern whether it was in-character for them to want her to join them. At the very least, she expected that Z would appreciate being with his friends, if they were considered as such. What sort of criteria he had for those he considered worth spending time with was a mystery to her.
Speaking of him, it was certainly he that she heard coming down the dock and transferring onto the sloop, the soft clacking of the pegleg unmistakable.
"Hey." He looked surprised that she was ready to receive him. "You, uh— it good with you if we take some supplies?"
At first, she wanted to yell at him. They were hers— but then she considered that he had helped collect no small portion of them, and at his own suggestion. Besides, there was far more than she needed, than she could use.
"I suppose so." She raised a finger. "A fair amount. No excessive pilfering that will leave me defenceless."
"Y'know what wouldn't leave ya defenceless?"
Blue glared at him. "No."
"Fine, fine," he snickered before returning to the main-deck to begin sorting through supplies. From there he called, "How 'bout half?"
She leaned to the side to look at him through the hole in the wall. "That is a fair amount."
In a way, Blue was glad he had come to her for this reason. The amount of supplies on the sloop was excessive, overwhelming. All the ammunition and wood were useful, but too much, and there was no way she could eat through all the food, nor use it as fish bait. Plus, she was certain that her sloop used to sit a little higher on the water, glide a little faster… No, Blue indeed found relief in this. Not enough to help him go through the supplies, of course.
The rest of the day was spent with everyone checking out the supplies on the Forlorn Phoenix, though Z did most of the sorting. Despite the initial first impressions of him and Jackson being close, it seemed Jackson and Rylund were even closer. When working, they were fairly inseparable. Now it seemed almost as though Z only slightly more than tolerated them, though Blue was constantly uncertain of whether or not she was reading all of them correctly.
When it was later in the evening, Blue joined them in the tavern for dinner, if only because she thought it might have been expected of her. As it turned out, it was, and the men were rather glad to see her appear on her own accord. The food and company alike were similar to the morn's but Blue found it more tolerable now than before. There were a variety of questions that she could have posed to them — how they had all met, what they did exactly, what about them all that made them stay… friends? — but she refrained. As the newest and least permanent member of the group, Blue felt that she wasn't particularly high on the ranking list for speaking, though neither did she feel the need to voice her thoughts. It wasn't important and wouldn't be relevant after tomorrow morning. The men were quite happy to talk amongst themselves, anyway.
One question did linger, however…
"Rylund, yes?" When he nodded an affirmation of his name to her, she continued: "You said you… had a girl waiting for you?"
"Yeah, my lady doesn't like it when I'm away for too long 'cause we're engaged to be married soon."
Blue couldn't imagine what sort of woman could find any of the men's company so agreeable that they would willingly bind themselves to them. More curiously was Jackson laughing and slapping his friend on the back.
"You've been sayin' that for years now!"
"Not exactly," Rylund whined.
"Anyway," Blue said, pulling them back on topic; "You have been together a few years then?"
He nodded. "A few years now."
Blue nodded back. Before she could speak, Jackson did.
"Heh, me and my lady have been together quite a lot of years now, too."
Blue tilted her head slightly. While she didn't know them as well as she did Z, she found it very curious that his friends had such long-term partners. "I wish you the best of luck with your ladies."
As he had been quiet for a while now, Blue's attention went to Z. He looked back and immediately knew where she and everyone's line of thought was going and sat up straight, shaking his head, a string of 'No's escaping his mouth.
"No, no— I, heh, no," he chuckled. "It's not for me."
"You'd have better luck gettin' him into a fistfight with a meg," Jackson laughed.
Blue tapped an index finger against the table. How curious. She said nothing more and simply gave a polite nod, expression one of amusement. "Being tied down is not for everyone."
Z responded with emphatic enthusiasm. "Exactly!"
Jackson tilted his head slightly at her. "But I thought you said—"
"Plans for the future," she said, waving him off. The other men gave her a look; Rylund didn't speak but Z couldn't help himself.
"Plans for the future?"
"Yes, plans for the future," she repeated. "I have plans for when I am happy with my work here and leave the Sea of Thieves. Plans for the far future."
"Huh." His expression was quizzical, though he said nothing more. Rylund and Jackson made their comments of agreement and she was thankful for that.
"I want to make sure I have all the gold I'll ever need for a big family," the latter said. "I don't want no one worryin' 'bout food or a roof over their heads."
Rylund nodded once more in agreement. "Same here. Our ladies deserve the best for puttin' up with all of our shit."
Blue only allowed a small chuckle of amusement. Z hadn't acknowledged the conversation too much and she thought she knew why.
"And you never plan to leave," she said, unable to help herself.
He shook his head. "This is home 'far as I'm concerned."
Jackson nodded. "It ain't a bad one, nuh-uh. Can't say I can see myself raisin' a family here, but there are worse places t' do it."
"Way worse places," Rylund added.
"I can agree to that, too," Blue said after a moment's thought.
Dinner had been far more pleasant than Blue had expected it to be. The conversation they had proved to be stimulating enough to satisfy her curiosity about the crew. She was still dumbfounded by the idea of anyone doing more than tolerating their presences, but maybe she was missing something. Jackson and Rylund were pleasant enough if you weren't on the receiving end of their boredom.
Z, however, was still quite the mystery to her. She found this curious, considering how much time they had spent together. She wondered the specifics of his history, why he was so against socialising; had a relationship ended so poorly that he swore off entirely? Was it why he had come to the Sea of Thieves in the first place? She wasn't willing to broach the subject with him, lest he think she wanted him to stick around, but when she recorded her thoughts in a journal, she found herself regretting not taking the opportunity to ask. Getting her sloop back to herself was more important, anyhow.
In a way, the Forlorn Phoenix had already been returned to her. Supplies had been taken from it and when Blue got comfortable on the canopy for the night, it was purely because she preferred to be there, not because the bed was taken. In fact, as far as she could tell, Z never came by to sleep. She thought perhaps he might have gotten a room at the inn, but that would require him to spend money and he was stingier than she was. Then again, he seemed capable of sleeping anywhere, so who was to tell where he might have spent the night…
When Blue woke, it was so early that it was still dark. It took a moment for her to realise that she could hear the crew talking amongst each other on the other side of the dock beside the brigantine. She supposed she could get up and start the day. In the time that Blue spent downstairs getting dressed, a specific set of footsteps had come to her side of the dock. She was glad that their owner waited for her to come back up.
"Y' get one last chance t' come with us," Z said.
"I made up my mind," she said, stepping onto the sloop's canvas back. With a slight touch of amusement, she added, "You will simply have to manage without me."
He shrugged. "It's yer choice. I'm jus' sayin'— the more people, the more money."
"An, and the more that it is then split," she reminded.
"Doesn't matter when y're makin' so much more."
"Perhaps. I am still content to work alone."
"Fine, fine," he said, holding up his hands. "We jus' wanted t' make sure y' knew what y' were gonna be missin'."
"I know plenty," she said with emphasis. "I have made my choice."
"Fine," he said one last time, playful sternness to his voice. "You were warned."
"Indeed I have been."
Blue looked from him to the brigantine, listening to the movement of the other two men below deck on it. Then she looked back to Z, suspicious.
"I take it you three have not slept?"
"Nope," he said, shaking his head and unable to help the amused grin. "We'll jus' take shifts sleepin' on the way out."
Blue was unsurprised. "I suspected as much." Despite her words, she found it strange that she was relieved to have woken before they had left. That reminded her…
"One moment," she said before heading downstairs. She heard a curious noise come from him as she did that and thought it was funny that he was so oblivious to all of his effects being left aboard. The expression on his face when she came up with an armload of his things shifted to one of understanding, albeit with a hint of something she couldn't put her finger on. The transfer of items was smooth.
"Uh, thanks."
"It is less clothing that you will have to buy in the future when that set is inevitably burned away, too," she reasoned.
"Sure, I guess." Z had accepted his things, but something was a bit off. When he said nothing more of the matter, she let it be. "We'll be headin' out then, I guess," he said.
Blue looked past him to Jackson and Rylund down the dock, politely waving back to them. "Mhm. They seem ready."
"Yeah. Same. Uh…" He took a breath and chuckled. "So what, no goodbye kiss again?"
Any positivity Blue felt about the situation melted away. He laughed at her expression.
"Fine, fine, fine!" he said, taking a few steps to the brigantine. He chuckled, then said, "Jus' remember, y're the one that didn't wanna come with."
"And I am all the merrier for it."
"Y' know how to find us if y' ever change yer mind."
Did she? She supposed there was indeed a slight chance of running into someone she knew on the Ferry of the Damned, and she knew they enjoyed hunting ships. Perhaps she understood them better than she gave herself credit for.
"I suppose I do."
Jackson and Rylund looked between Z and her as she trailed behind him and he boarded the brigantine, going below deck to store his things.
"Well, I ain't gonna beg, but it's a real shame that you ain't comin' with us," Jackson said. His friend murmured an agreement.
"I am afraid it cannot be helped; I have my own matters that require tending to after this detour."
"I get that," Rylund said with a nod.
"It is much appreciated," Blue said with some sincerity. She glanced to her own ship's flag for a moment. "You three ought to leave while the wind favours you."
"Yeah, we'd better."
Z returned to the main-deck as his partners spread themselves out for departure. Rylund took control of the fore-mast, pre-angling the sail as Jackson spun the wheel. Z, on the other hand, came to the ship's stern where the main-sail's controls were, though they were not his focus. He looked to Blue for a long moment as the ship turned, then smirked and gave her a two-fingered salute. She watched him for a moment before returning the gesture.
The sails of the ship came down and the brigantine screamed out of the outpost. As Blue watched it go further and further away, she felt relief, her substantial personal bubble allowed to exist once again. And yet, something about it was also rather dreary.
Unsure of what to make of the matter, Blue went back to the Forlorn Phoenix, alone.
